Category Archives: U.S. State Department

Donald Trump, POTUS, Trump, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. State Department

Moron Fires Rex Tillerson while in African Exile: Haley and Bolton Sharpen the Knives……

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I wrote the following post late last night, did not publish it. Too late now, but here goes anyway:

“Earlier today, Secretary Tillerson arrived in N’Djamena to meet with Chad’s President Idriss Déby and Foreign Minister @cherif_mz to discuss ways we can work together to counter terrorism, advance peace and security, and promote good governance. ………..” State Dept

“Secretary Tillerson honored those lives who were lost & injured in the 1998 terrorist bombing & emphasized the shared U.S.- commitment to working together to end terrorism at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Park in Nairobi. ….” State Dept

“Secretary Tillerson met with President in on March 9 to affirm the U.S. commitment to our broad partnership with the Government of Djibouti as it addresses regional political, development and security challenges…..” Heather Nauert

Rex Tillerson is in his African exile, with one or two sick days, reported.

Meanwhile back in the rest of the world and Washington DC, Tillerson’s rivals continue to sharpen the knives. Mainly his aspiring successor Nikki Haley (UN ambassador) and co-conspirator the aspiring warmonger and Vietnam draft-dodger John Bolton* are setting the stage for his departure within this year. Just give it a few more weeks or months to make the departure look respectable if hasty. Remember: it was Rex Tillerson who last year reportedly called President Trump a “f-cking moron“.

(*Bolton is reported to have supported the Vietnam War, but declined to enter combat duty, instead enlisting in the National Guard and attending law school after his 1970 graduation. “I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy,”. How about Afghanistan or the Persian Gulf?).

Trump will have his new war cabinet now, ready for new wars, likely in the Middle East. But wars in Muslim lands have a way of traveling back to the West, to Europe and other places. Still, being fired by a moron is always preferable to being fired by an intelligent person

 

Cheers

M Haider Ghuloum

Arab Revolutions, Migrant labor, Muslim Wars, Syria, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. State Department

Western Fun and Travel in Liberated Muslim and Arab Lands……..

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“The 52 most incredible places to visit in 2018….. New year, new travel goals. Traveling is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions and since 2017 was found to be the safest year on record for commercial air travel, now may be a good time to plan your next trip. It also helps that January tends to be the best time of year to find cheap flights. If you’re looking for some travel inspiration, here are 52 of the best travel destinations for 2018, according to The New York Times. Keep scrolling for destination inspiration……”

Also sprach the periodical Business Insider.
I also have some destination inspiration for it readers. I have my suggestion for many of the traveling Western elites (the individualists, not the gawking sardine-can-cruise types).

Try some of the many Muslim places recently that some believe have been liberated in the Middle East or North Africa (MENA). Places the alleged current leader of the free world has talked about a lot, mostly in negative terms:


Try anywhere in Libya, which was liberated by NATO in 2011 at the behest of absolute elected Arab kings and potentates. The dictator Gaddafi was tortured (along with one f his sons) and killed extra-judicially (the way many others are killed in our region). In liberated post-Gaddafi Libya, you may be lucky enough to witness a few internecine skirmishes between rival armies, or even catch a rarity: a slave auction in (North) Africa. You can also get a front raw look at the migration disaster unleashed by the Western wars of regime change in our mis-ruled region of MENA.

You might also notice that those famous would be vocal liberators (only of Muslim lands): John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, Bernard-Henri Levy, James Woolsey, Joe Lieberman, et al, all stay away from Libya now. Not even a hint of a Trump Hotel or Tower in Benghazi or Tripoli.

Or try Mosul in Iraq, or Raqqa in Syria.
In Iraq in 2014, right after the fall of Mosul, Baghdad was saved from the clutches of ISIS Jihadi terrorists only through the efforts of local popular militias and with Iranian help and advice. They gave the Iraqi military and the supporting American military effort enough time to push back the menace that threatened Baghdad.

Syria was almost liberated for the joys of public beheadings and mayhem by Jihadi cutthroat fighters, Arab Salafi money & volunteers, and misplaced American weapons. In Syria you could witness the end-game of Western and allied Arab regime efforts: weapons and money inflow to the Jihadi cause. They came close to establishing their joyful Caliphate in Damascus.
Or, if you are more into more graphic ongoing action, try any hospital that still stands in Sanaa (capital of tormented Yemen) or in Aden. Get a first-hand view of Western attempts to put an incompetent Yemenite general back in power.

How about the wild territory of Northern Sinai, the expanding no-mans-land of ISIS and her terrorist sisters? Almost slipping out of the hands of Generalissimo Al Sisi.

Or you can try doing AirBnB in a rundown Bahrain Shi’s village besieged by the regime’s imported mercenary forces. You might get your first experience of teargas and broken down doors during dawn raids. Might remind you of your younger days if you are of the right age and were at the right place.

The list goes on, and it will go on as long as the Western powers seek foreign places to try their new weapons (or so most people in the Middle East believe; something their regimes and their controlled media never tell you)…..

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Donald Trump, Moron, Trump, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Politics, U.S. State Department

From the Age of Aquarius to the Stormy Age of Morons: Tillerson’s Parting Shot………

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The 1960’s were occasionally dubbed the Age of Aquarius, and not just by The 5th Dimension in 1969. It reflected the atmosphere, culture, and flavor of a particular era. The brief Age of Aquarius immediately followed the brief Age of Camelot in Washington.

Then immediately at the tail end of that started the Age of Nixon, a brooding era of expanding unwinnable wars in Southeast Asia. An era of political malfeasance, when first the Vice President, then the President were forced to resign from office, for unrelated reasons.

But the American center held throughout the following eras, through Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Obama. As the USA and the World moved away from the Age of Aquarius.

The 2016 US elections ushered in an unusual new era. I have been thinking of an appropriate name for it. The “Trump Era” seems too tame and banal for this wild ride of the past nine months.
Enter Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who took a parting shot at Donald Trump as he is preparing to depart this dysfunctional administration.

Moron, actually a “F—ig Moron” is what he reportedly called the president to a reporter. Trump has publicly denied that Tillerson called him a “F—ing Moron”.  Tillerson, when given a chance to deny, has publicly refused to deny that he called Trump a “F—ing Moron”.

So, that parting Parthian shot by Rex Tillerson will likely define this era. Rex succinctly but perhaps unintentionally, defined this Trump age as a “F—ing Moron” age. It may go down in history as such……

Cheers

M. Haider Ghuloum

 

 

Trump, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. State Department, US Foreign Policy

Offshore Rex vs the Contractors: Trump and the Privatization of American Foreign Policy…….

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There has been some recent speculation, mostly by me, about the whereabouts of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. I noted weeks ago that he has vanished after his swearing-in. I tweeted that he seems to have gone AWOL, joined Waldo in his undisclosed location.
Then there have been media reports that Donald Trump is gutting the State Department’s budget, shifting the savings to other departments, mainly Defense (prices of military-grade toilets must have skyrocketed since his election) and Homeland Security. It looks like Mr. Trump is getting ready to “go to the mattress”, in old Mafia parlance. Waging internal, external, as well as border wars.

Now my private barely credible source reports of rumors that the Trump Administration plans to keep Secretary of State Rex Tillerson out of sight. Making him an ‘offshore’ foreign-based cabinet member, perpetually traveling outside the country. Some mythical character like Ulysses or a ghost aboard the Flying Dutchman. He will discharge his shrinking duties from the various US embassies around the world.

Eventually, the whole State Department will be privatized, its policy functions taken over by the White House staff, its field duties contracted out to the private sector. Ambassadorial appointments and posts will no longer be based on experience or merit, not even on Party loyalty and donations to political campaigns. These desirable posts will go to the highest bidder.

When I expressed some doubts about the veracity of his report, my source pointed out to General Flynn. He noted that Flynn was reported to have been already a lobbyist for Erdogan, the strongman of Turkey, before Trump picked him to lead his National Security Council. He claimed that was a form of privatizing the National Security Council. A hint of what is to come when you run a country as a business: something that makes conservatives go orgasmic but does a lot of harm to the country.

“It s all about privatization and the money. What W Bush privatized was peanuts compared to the new land grab that is unfolding under Trump“. My source said. He added “However, trump insists that all posts will go to American citizens. and all privatized departments will be run by Americans. The president said that ‘it would be unseemly to be seen to let Russians or Chinese or foreign potentates run US foreign policy. Bigly unseemly, or maybe just unseemly in a bigly way’.”

More on this later, stay tuned.

Cheers
M. Haider Ghuloum