Donnie Has Two Christmas Presents For His Best Bud...

[Lord Jim]

Trump Administration Set to Lift Sanctions on Putin Associate's Company

(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration is ready to remove sanctions on Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum company, United Co. Rusal, after reaching an agreement to significantly reduce his ownership stake.

Deripaska will remain under U.S. sanctions and his property will remain blocked, but Treasury intends to remove financial restrictions on Rusal, En+ Group Plc and JSC EuroSibEnergo. The move will take effect in 30 days unless Congress blocks the action, [so let's see some action] the Treasury Department said in a statement Wednesday.

“These companies have committed to significantly diminish Deripaska’s ownership and sever his control,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement. “The companies will be subject to ongoing compliance and will face severe consequences if they fail to comply.”

Mnuchin added that Treasury “maintains the ability under the terms of the agreement to have unprecedented levels of transparency into operations.”

http://time.com/5484788/trump-administr ... e-company/

Moscow celebrated Wednesday's surprise news that the US plans to leave Syria "as quickly as possible." The Russian Foreign Ministry, according to Russian media outlet Tass, said "hope emerges," arguing that "once Americans were there, there was no such hope."

The Russian military has been active in Syria since 2015. Without the US military standing in its way, Russia will be able to significantly expand its influence.

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-4-b ... 2#russia-1

(Actually I suspect that reckless pullout will not come to pass...It really smells to me like Trump just trying to change the media focus away from the bitch slapping he has accepted on his wall funding...Trump has received huge push back on this withdrawal "plan" including being publicly contradicted by his own Defense Department...)

[Burning Petard]

Yep, POTUS just gave Syria to Putin. POTUS is pulling out all American troops from Syria, with the announcement (yes, a real fact, not fake news) that ISIS in Syria is 80% destroyed. 'Course this is sort of like walking away from your front lawn in the spring with 80% of the dandelions destroyed and announcing to the neighbors that the job is done.

POTUS has confidently announced that the remaining part can be taken care of by other countries--you know, like the Russians. This also leaves the Turks free to escalate their destruction of the Kurds.

Meanwhile The GOP on the Senate security committees do not agree that the US troops should be pulled; no military leaders think it is a good idea, no spokesperson for the US intelligence community can be found who agrees. But that is ok, Donnie knows more about fighting terrorists than all the Generals.

Merry Christmas, President Putin. You can put your Syria ornament right next to your Crimea ornament.

snailgate

[Big RR]

I'm not all that sure this is a bad thing; we're not succeeding in getting much done there except to get our troops killed and piss off a lot of other ME countries at us. I think it's more like saying "the building is on fire and will burn no matter what we do, so maybe we should leave". IMHO, we should never enter into one of these actions without a definite goal and a thought out exit strategy. Sadly, we have still not learned that lesson, and are content to commit our troops to the meat grinder for no real purpose other than to show that we have the stomach to fight.

[Lord Jim]

Well, I think it would be absolutely horrendous policy to pullout like this under any circumstances, but when placed in the context of this President and his overall policy of torching US commitments wherever he finds them, it would be even worse...

But as I said, I think there's a very good chance that this sudden move was designed to be nothing more than a shiny object play and also since there has been pretty much universal push back against it on The Hill (except of course from the hardcore on the neo-isolationist right...like Rand Paul... and the defeatist left) and within his own Administration, I fully expect this ain't actually gonna happen...

It's likely going to be another one of those deals where he reverses himself and backs down over the course of the next few days, all the while insisting he isn't reversing himself or backing down...

[Burning Petard]

Actually we have less than 3000 troops in Syria. POTUS sent more than that to our Southern border to stop the invasion by unarmed civilians.

More political theater.

snailgate

[Econoline]

To quote Jim Wright: "There's a low-stamina, Trump-pulling-out-early joke in here somewhere, but fortunately for you I'm too classy to make it."

[Econoline]

Sorry, Vlad. but you're going to have to share one of those presents. It's a YUUUGE present, though, so it's big enough for both of you!

[Lord Jim]

Iran also gets a piece of the pie...

[Lord Jim]

And for the Kurds, who trusted us and have been one of our most reliable and capable allies in the region, President Feckless has a gift certificate for Blood Bath and Beyond...

[Joe Guy]

[Burning Petard]

And now Mad Dog Mattis walks away, preserving some honor for the US Marines.

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

Hmm...

"Donald's right, and I agree with him," Putin said of Trump's decision to withdraw American forces from Syria, according to The New York Times.

Putin did, though, express some skepticism that the pullout would occur, noting that the U.S. had announced a withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2014 but still has forces in the country.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-ne ... from-syria

And then, just a few hours after Putin's comments...

US military ordered to begin planning to withdraw about half the troops in Afghanistan

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/20/politics ... index.html

The Donald just can't do enough to please his daddy Vladdy...

[Lord Jim]

If Lindsey Graham has been sucking Trump-butt in the hopes of becoming Secretary of Defense, comments like these are probably not going to help his cause:

Graham: Trump's Syria withdrawal a 'stain on the honor of the United States'

WASHINGTON --

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called President Donald Trump's decision to immediately withdraw US troops from Syria a "disaster" and "a stain on the honor of the United States."

In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday night, Graham, one of Trump's closest allies in Congress, called the move "disastrous to our own national security" and a decision that was made "against sound military advice." Graham said this decision would make Americans around the world and here at home "more at risk, not less."

The South Carolina congressman said he was shocked by the decision and characterized the move as a betrayal to our allies in the region.

"We have been dishonorable. This is a stain on the honor of the United States," Graham said.

"I'm not saying we need to be in Syria forever. I'm saying now's not time to leave," Graham said.

Graham was one of a group of senators who wrote a letter to Trump on Wednesday night asking him to change course.

Republican Sens. Joni Ernst, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton; Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen; and independent Sen. Angus King sent the letter.

In it, they wrote, "If you decide to follow through with your decision to pull our troops out of Syria, any remnants of ISIS in Syria will surely renew and embolden their efforts in the region. However, ISIS is not the only threat. The brutal dictatorship of Bashar al Assad continues to weigh heavily upon the Syrian people, and we fear that a withdrawal of our troops may embolden Bashar al Assad to take further actions to solidify his power."

https://abc7chicago.com/politics/graham ... s/4936541/

Graham: Afghanistan withdrawal would be ‘paving the way toward a second 9/11’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan would be a “high risk strategy” that could pave “the way toward a second 9/11.”

“Like in Syria, troop withdrawal should be based on conditions on the ground," he said in a statement. "The conditions in Afghanistan – at the present moment – make American troop withdrawals a high risk strategy. If we continue on our present course we are setting in motion the loss of all our gains and paving the way toward a second 9/11.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/422 ... econd-9-11

It's tough to know what game Graham is playing when you put principled, spot-on comments like these, (and similar uncompromising spot-on comments he has made about MSB and the situation with Saudi Arabia) up against some of the Trump sycophant-like things he has said...

Last fall, he called for the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate supposed bias against Trump in the FBI, and just two days ago he was urging Trump not to sign the Senate passed CR to keep the government open (inviting a government shutdown over wall funding.)

It's almost like Graham is suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder...

I like Good Lindsey, but I really wish we could lose his Evil Twin...

[Crackpot]

I think Trump wants a terrorist attack. He could use it to push his agenda while simultaneously using it as a deflection for all of his problems.

[Lord Jim]

I think Trump wants a terrorist attack

That possibility also crossed my mind...

We and our allies have been very successful at preventing major Islamist terror attacks from occurring for some time , and I can see where Trump would want to create conditions where they could have some breathing space to plan and pull something off...

He could use it to help gin up the xenophobic fears he thrives on, also to justify draconian security measures that would enhance his ability to act with greater authoritarianism, and also (as you suggest) serve as a convenient shiny object to use as a diversion from all the scandals enveloping him...

I don't doubt for one single moment that he possesses the complete lack of conscience and morality required to be thinking that way...

[Burning Petard]

terrorist attack? what about all those thousands of really really bad guys poised to invade our sabotaged-by-the-democrats unsecured southern border?

Just think of the potential if all those undocumented aliens employed at Trump establishments were to join in an old fashioned job action. Imagine the horror if wet towels just stayed on the floor.

snailgate

[RayThom]

Vlad... tastes like Trump steaks.

[BoSoxGal]

And for the Kurds, who trusted us and have been one of our most reliable and capable allies in the region, President Feckless has a gift certificate for Blood Bath and Beyond...

That is some seriously clever black humor; did you come up with that yourself or see it somewhere on the interwebs?

[Lord Jim]

I thought of it myself BSG, but it wouldn't surprise me if somebody else didn't think of it as well.

[BoSoxGal]

I am in your thrall!