US MILITARY

PHILIP A. FARRUGGIO—Imagine if you will that if just 25% of that money immediately went for things like A)  Jumpstarting full Medicare for All  with no need for buying supplemental private add on insurance Which Path to National Improved Medicare for All? ← ) B) Fixing our roads, bridges, power distribution below ground like in Europe, and money to sure up coastal areas to stand up to hurricanes better; C) Having an Amtrak to rival the railroad travel and accessibility that the Europeans have had for generations; D) Begin to institute public banking whereupon , with low or non profit, the consumer will save immeasurably. The Public Banking Revolution Is Upon Us by Ellen Brown

THE SAKER—If this was an Iranian provocation, then it was one designed to impress upon the Empire that Iran is also very much “locked, cocked and ready to rock”.  But if that is the case, there is zero change that any limited strike would achieve anything.  In fact, any symbolic US attack would only signal to the Iranians that the US has cold feet and that all the US sabre-rattling is totally useless.

REBECCA GORDON—Given Trump’s “America first” rhetoric, it should hardly be surprising that the ICC is among the international organizations he and his top foreign-policy officials particularly despise. As a result, his administration has already rolled back Obama’s rapprochement and then some. In view of the president’s lack of attention to detail (not to mention his short attention span), it seems likely that John Bolton is the true architect of this latest move. It’s the State Department that grants (or doesn’t grant) visas, so Mike Pompeo made the official announcement, but this approach fits Bolton’s MO.

MoA—All the above incidents were caused by the crews of the U.S. navy ships. When one reads reports of those incidents one finds that the 7th fleet ships are undermanned and badly maintained. Its crews are insufficiently trained. They obviously do not know the basic international rules at sea or how to handle their ships. It should be CNN’s task to point that out instead of blabbering about ‘Russian harassment of U.S. ships’.