Whom do you believe?

Rush Limbaugh and Sebastian Gorka are asking Nikki Haley if she told Trump about Chief of Staff Kelly and Secretary of State Tillerson trying to undermine Trump, or was she holding this as a big secret until her book came out. She says she did tell Trump. Even though I am a fan of both Limbaugh and Gorka, I believe Haley, because I am not a fan of Tillerson or Kelly!
Read more here.

Maybe this will help us understand why Tillerson was fired!

Adam Kredo reported in the Washington Free Beacon last week before Tillerson was fired,

Iran is undertaking a massive buildup of its ballistic missile program, sparking fears of a "second Holocaust" amid sensitive international negotiations that could see the Trump administration legitimize Iranian missiles capable of striking Israel, according to multiple sources familiar with ongoing diplomatic talks.

As the Trump administration and European allies continue discussions aimed at fixing a range of flaws in the landmark Iran nuclear deal, sources familiar with the progression of these talks say the United States is caving to European demands limiting restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program.

While the Trump administration went into the negotiations with a hardline stance on cutting off Iran's ballistic missile program, it appears the United States is moving closer in line with European positions that would only regulate a portion of the missiles.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the ongoing talks told the Washington Free Beacon U.S. officials have been backpedaling on key demands originally proposed by President Trump in order to preserve the agreement and appease European allies who are eager to continue doing business with Tehran.

Senior Trump administration officials recently told the Free Beacon the United States is prepared to abandon the nuclear deal if European allies fail to address what it views as a range of flaws in the nuclear deal that have enabled Iran's missile buildup and allowed it to continue critical nuclear research.

However, it appears the United States is losing ground in the talks, moving closer to the European position, which includes what insiders described as only cosmetic changes to the nuclear deal that fail to adequately address Iran's massive missile buildup.

"If Trump doesn't take control of these negotiations, he will be to Iranian missiles what Obama was to Iranian enrichment," said one veteran foreign policy official with direct knowledge of the ongoing negotiations in Europe. "Combined, Obama and Trump's negotiators could end up giving us a bipartisan Iranian nuclear weapon capable of bringing a second Holocaust. What does it say that Donald Trump's negotiators have a weaker position on Iranian missiles than the United Nations?"

Speculation the Trump administration will cave on the missile issue has been fueled by off-record meetings between Trump administration officials and foreign policy insiders, as well as recent comments by the State Department that only "long-range" missiles are currently up for discussion, according to sources who spoke to the Free Beacon.

The State Department would not comment on the current state of the talks, but told the Free Beacon the ballistic missiles issue remains on the agenda.

This includes "preventing Iran from developing or testing a long-range ballistic missile," according to a State Department official.

This does not appear to include shorter-range missiles that could strike Israel.

A White House National Security Council official also declined to discuss the current state of the negotiations, only telling the Free Beacon, "talks are ongoing."

One senior congressional official with knowledge of the efforts to crackdown on Iran's missile program expressed shock at how the administration's negotiating position has evolved.

"Give me a break," said the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the sensitive discussions. "Is the U.S. negotiating position really going to be watered down from the standard laid out in UNSCR 2231," the United Nations Security Council resolution banning Iranian ballistic missile work.

"We need to address the Iranian ballistic missile threat as it appears today, and ensure Iran does not have a free pass to potentially test and acquire ballistic missiles that can be used to rain nuclear bombs down on Riyadh and Jerusalem," the source said.

As discussions of the deal continue, the U.S. intelligence community has issued a wide ranging warning about the progress Iran has made in its ballistic missile work, which is among the largest stockpile in the region.

Iran currently "has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East," according to the U.S. director of national intelligence, who recently highlighted the issue in an annual threat assessment.

"Tehran's desire to deter the United States might drive it to field an ICBM," or intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear payload, according to the DNI. "Progress on Iran's space program, such as the launch of the Simorgh SLV in July 2017, could shorten a pathway to an ICBM because space launch vehicles use similar technologies."

Iran has used billions of dollars in cash windfalls it received as part of the nuclear agreement to pursue ballistic missile research and construction, according to the U.S. intelligence community.

"Iran continues to develop and improve a range of new military capabilities to target U.S. and allied military assets in the region, including armed UAVs, ballistic missiles, advanced naval mines, unmanned explosive boats, submarines and advanced torpedoes, and anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles," the DNI warned. "Iran has the largest ballistic missile force in the Middle East and can strike targets up to 2,000 kilometers from Iran's borders."

This endangers Israel and is fueling concerns the Trump administration will fail to constrain the program at a time when Iran is increasingly threatening the Jewish state with a strike.

While United Nations Security Council resolutions currently ban Iran from conducting ballistic missile work, the Islamic Republic has openly flaunted the ban and vowed to never stop its buildup.

In 2013, the Obama administration and Congress agreed that Iran should not be able to test fire any ballistic missile exceeding 500km, or about 310 miles. That benchmark eventually increased to 2,000km, or 1,240 miles, following opposition by Iran.

Legislation proposed by Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.) includes a "zero tolerance" clause on Iranian ballistic missiles, meaning that all sanctions waived as part of the nuclear deal would snapback if Iran tests any ballistic missile. Supporters have described the legislation as the "gold standard for how to fix the Iran deal when it comes to ballistic missiles."

With concerns mounting that the Trump administration will walk back its support of a full ballistic missile ban, insiders worry that Israel will suffer the consequences.

"Trump will be legitimizing Iranian missiles that can wipe Israel off the map," said one insider with knowledge of the talks and the administration's evolving position. "What does it say that Donald Trump's negotiators have a weaker position than [Democratic leader] Harry Reid and the United Nations?"

Omri Ceren, a managing director at The Israel Project, a DC-based educational organization that has worked closely with the administration on Iran issues, told the Free Beacon that any fix that does not fully ban ballistic missiles is a failure.

"Congress and the Israelis are on the same page about this. The only acceptable fix to the Iran deal is one that prohibits all nuclear capable ballistic missiles, which is what the relevant U.N. resolution says anyway, if the international community would ever bother to enforce it," Ceren said. "House Republicans even explicitly laid out those expectations in recent legislation they advanced."

Secretary Tillerson issues statement in support of Iranian political protestors

Secretary of State Tillerson issued the following statement in support of today's political protests in Iran:

We are following reports of multiple peaceful protests by Iranian citizens in cities across the country. Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos. As President Trump has said, the longest-suffering victims of Iran’s leaders are Iran’s own people.

The United States strongly condemns the arrest of peaceful protesters. We urge all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption.

On June 14, 2017, Secretary Tillerson testified to Congress that he supports “those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of government. Those elements are there, certainly as we know.” The Secretary today repeats his deep support for the Iranian people.

read more here.

North Korea's intentions to use nuclear weapons as a larger strategy

Sundance writes at The Conservative Treehouse,

President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson are asking Chinese Chairman/President Xi Jinping to cut off the oil supply to the DPRK.

If you have not watched the prior ‘deep weeds discussion‘ by T-Rex on the specific reason why the U.S. cannot, ever, accept a DPRK with nuclear weapons, you should. Two very specific reasons why also explain why traditional state adversaries China and Russia are willing to put aside their differences with the U.S. and work to denuclearize N-Korea:

#1) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to use nuclear weapons as a larger strategy, a shield per se’, toward advanced conventional military action in the region. And more importantly…

#2) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to commercialize nuclear weapon manufacturing and distribution, thereby selling completed nuclear weaponry on the global market.

...All indications are the current status is an inflection point.

Read more here.

New York Times says White House has plan to oust Tillerson, but Is this story "Pure Political Propaganda?"

Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman and Gardiner Harris report in the New York Times that the White House has developed a plan to replace Rex Tillerson at State with Mike Pompeo and then to replace Pompeo at CIA with Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton!

John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, developed the transition plan and has discussed it with other officials. Under his plan, the shake-up of the national security team would happen around the end of the year or shortly afterward. But for all of his public combativeness, Mr. Trump is notoriously reluctant to fire people, and it was not known if Mr. Tillerson had agreed to step down by then. Public disclosure of Mr. Kelly’s transition plan may be meant as a signal to the secretary that it is time to go.

Read more here.

I checked The Conservative Treehouse, and Sundance is not buying the story. He calls it Pure Political Propaganda.

...The media agenda here is clear. Secretary of State Rex is methodically downsizing the State Department and reversing the current mission of the agency away from interventionist globalism, and back toward common sense foreign policy.

The positions of hundreds of pontificating sanctimonious career bureaucrats are being dissolved. The Deep State is being deconstructed and the globalists are apoplectic.



That reality has created the need for left-wing propaganda pushers like the New York Times to create narratives to defend their Deep State Swamp interests.

Read more here.

Why are Tillerson and Cohn still working at the White House?

Rush Limbaugh wonders why Tillerson and Cohn are still working at the White House. Read more here.

Israel is to blame for terrorism attacks committed by Palestinians?

Highly respected (by me) blogger Ace of Spades is going out on a limb. He advocates the firing of McMasters, Tillerson and Mattis, in that order,

with the possibility that the latter two will learn from the first firing and correct themselves.

What got Ace's ire? This report by Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon.

The State Department is facing harsh criticism for claiming in an official report that Israel is to blame for terrorism attacks committed by Palestinians and accusing the Jewish state of being largely responsible for an impasse in peace negotiations, according to a leading member of Congress who is calling on the State Department to correct its "inaccurate and harmful" characterization of Israel.

...Rep. Peter Roskam (R. Ill.), co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, criticized the latest report in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and called on the administration to immediately amend it to portray Palestinian terror attacks as a primary reason for the impasse in peace talks.

The State Department's current characterization, Roskam claims, is harmful to Israel and likely to impede efforts by the Trump administration to renew peace talks.

"The State Department report includes multiple findings that are both inaccurate and harmful to combating Palestinian terrorism," Roskam wrote in a letter sent Thursday to the State Department, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "This report wrongly insinuates Israeli security measures on the Temple Mount and a stalled peace process as key forces behind terrorism."

"Most egregiously," Roskam adds, "it portrays the PA as innocent peacemakers far removed from being the source of terrorist activity."

Read more here.

"This is not my first sword dance!"

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calmly answers Chris Wallace's questions. Wallace asks in his whiny voice, "Why isn't President Trump mentioning human rights or women's rights?" Tillerson says his contacts with foreign leaders indicate that their concerns are security and economic. We must improve conditions in the region so that terrorism is less of a threat.

Tillerson called the Turkish Ambassador over to the State Department to "express our dismay" about Erdogan's security thugs beating up protesters on American soil.

North Korea's on-going testing is disturbing. It is "early in the game" of putting pressure on North Korea. Yeah, it's early, after 8 years of neglect under Obama!

Secretary of State Tillerson's speech to the UN Security Council

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke this morning to the UN Security council about the need to stop North Korea from committing any further provocations. The US taxpayers have given North Korea 1.3 billion dollars since 1995. We have removed our nukes from South Korea. North Korea persists in threatening us and its neighbors. 90 percent of its trade is with China.

Secretary Tillerson is a very busy guy!

I haven't even finished my second cup of coffee, and Secretary of State Tillerson has already arrived in Italy for a G7 advance meeting of foreign ministers. Last week he met in DC with Egypt’s President Fattah al-Sisi then Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and a two-day Florida summit with President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, then appeared on at least two of the Sunday shows to answer questions about Syria, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and America. Today the foreign ministers of Italy, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Japan will get their first chance to ask him about American intentions. Then, tomorrow he goes to Russia!

The U.S.S. Carl Vinson carrier group is being re-routed back toward North Korea.

Sundance reports at The Last Refuge that he is seeing a lot of media reports about

the U.S.S. Carl Vinson carrier group being re-routed back toward North Korea.

However, stunningly, what we are not seeing is any media pointing out the specific conversation between President Trump and President Xi Jinping about North Korea (as shared by Secretary T-Rex).




First, the latest media report via Reuters:

A U.S. Navy strike group will be moving toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday, as concerns grow about North Korea’s advancing weapons program.

Earlier this month North Korea tested a liquid-fueled Scud missile which only traveled a fraction of its range.

The strike group, called Carl Vinson, includes an aircraft carrier and will make its way from Singapore toward the Korean peninsula, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity. (link)

It is critical to consider the decision to reposition the Navy strike group against the backdrop of President Trump and President Xi’s meeting only 24 hours earlier.

From the debrief by Secretary T-Rex:

[…] "I think President Xi, from their part, shared the view that this has reached a very serious stage in terms of the advancement of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

They discussed the challenges that introduces for both countries, but there’s a real commitment that we work together to see if this cannot be resolved in a peaceful way.

But in order for that to happen, North Korea’s posture has to change before there’s any basis for dialogue or discussions.

President Trump indicated to President Xi that he welcomed any ideas that President Xi and China might have as to other actions we could take and that we would be happy to work with them, but we understand it creates unique problems for them and challenges and that we would, and are, prepared to chart our own course if this is something China is just unable to coordinate with us."

I don’t know how everyone else would be interpreting that specific line of commentary from T-Rex; but it sure seems to me that President Trump asked, in a very diplomatic way, for the nod from Xi Jinping to take unilateral action if needed. And, not wanting to compromise their relationship with N-Korea, yet understanding the stupid behavior of their adolescent-minded neighbor, China gave tacit permission therein.

What say you?

More here.

Ending an entitlement!

Secretary of State Tillerson is going to Asia, but has made no arrangement for American media to travel with him. They are very upset. Read more here.

China stopping imports of NorthKorean coal for the remainder of the year

CNN reports, China is stopping imports of North Korean coal for the rest of 2017.

"Imports of coal produced in North Korea -- including shipments already declared to the customs but yet to be released -- will be suspended for the remainder of this year," said the statement posted on the ministry's website.

Coal is North Korea's main export and an important source of foreign currency for its fragile economy. Most of North Korea's coal is shipped to China, its only major ally on the global stage.

...In their first meeting, new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday stressed to the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

Tillerson urged China to "use all available tools to moderate North Korea's destabilizing behavior," said acting US State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

In late January, several Chinese ministries jointly issued an extensive list of prohibited items for export to North Korea in compliance of Resolution 2321.
That ban covered military-civilian dual-use articles related to weapons of mass destruction -- including not only chemicals and weapons technologies, but also design software, high-speed cameras and truck chassis.

...Beijing remains Pyongyang's biggest trade partner, providing an economic and political lifeline to the increasingly isolated regime.
China views North Korea as a strategic buffer between itself and South Korea, which has a sizable US military presence. It also fears a potential refugee crisis on its doorstep if the Pyongyang regime suddenly collapses.

Read more here.

Trump's Secretary of State pick: China should be denied access to islands it has built in the South China Sea.

Reuters reports on the Tillerson hearings today.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state set a course for a potentially serious confrontation with Beijing on Wednesday, saying China should be denied access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea.

In comments expected to enrage Beijing, Rex Tillerson told his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China's building of islands and putting military assets on those islands was "akin to Russia’s taking Crimea” from Ukraine.

Asked whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China, he said: “We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed.”

Read more here.

We mustn't have Friendship, now must we?

Pat Buchanan cautions that if only three Republicans vote against Rex Tillerson, he would not become Secretary of State.

When word leaked that Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, a holder of the Order of Friendship award in Putin's Russia, was Donald Trump's choice for secretary of state, John McCain had this thoughtful response:

"Vladimir Putin is a thug, a bully, and a murderer and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying."

Yet, Putin is something else, the leader of the largest nation on earth, a great power with enough nuclear weapons to wipe the United States off the face of the earth. And we have to deal with him.

McCain was echoed by the senior Democrat on foreign relations, Bob Menendez, who said naming Tillerson secretary of state would be "alarming and absurd ... guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the (Trump) Cabinet guiding our nation's foreign policy."

Sen Marco Rubio chimed in: "Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a Secretary of State."

If just three GOP senators vote no on Tillerson, and Democrats vote as a bloc against him, his nomination would go down. President Trump would sustain a major and humiliating defeat.

...And here is the heart of the objection to Tillerson. He wants to end sanctions and partner with Putin's Russia, as does Trump. But among many in the mainstream media, think tanks, websites, and on the Hill, this is craven appeasement. For such as these, the Cold War is never over.

...The people who most indignantly condemned Trump's questioning of Obama's birth certificate as a scurrilous scheme to delegitimize his presidency, now seek to delegitimize Trump's presidency.

...Early in his presidency, if not before, Trump is going to have to impose his foreign policy upon his own party and, indeed, upon his own government. Or his presidency will be broken, as was Lyndon Johnson's.

A good place to begin is by accepting the McCain-Marco challenge and nominating Rex Tillerson for secretary of state. Let's get it on.

Pat: he did!
Read more here.

Where critics will attack the Tillerson nomination

Fred Lucas writes at the Daily Signal about Trump's pick for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. Some, like John McCain, are critical of the fact that Tillerson has worked well withPutin, who gave Tillerson an award called "the Order of Friendship." Is it wrong for America and Russia to live in friendship with one another? Lucas brings up another point of criticism:

Tillerson is also meeting resistance from some social conservatives for his support of allowing gay youth members in the Boy Scouts and for his company’s financial support of Planned Parenthood.

During Tillerson’s tenure as CEO, Exxon Mobil was among the corporations that gave money directly to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

Tillerson was a Boy Scout in his youth and went on to become an Eagle Scout. He became the national president of the Boy Scouts of America in 2010, and served in the role until 2012. He continued to serve as the organization’s national executive, where he reportedly played a key role in building a consensus to do away with the scouts’ ban on gay youth members.

“Under his chairmanship, Exxon Mobil’s score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate ‘Equality’ Index has … skyrocketed to 87 percent,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wrote.

Perkins continued to attack Tillerson’s record on social conservative issues:

Still, Trump calls Rex a “world class player and dealmaker,” but if these are the kinds of deals Tillerson makes — sending dollars to an abortion business that’s just been referred for criminal prosecution and risking the well-being of young boys under his charge in an attempt to placate radical homosexual activists — then who knows what sort of ‘diplomacy he would champion at [the Department of State]?

...On Facebook, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised the choice of Tillerson.

“Rex Tillerson is an excellent choice for secretary of state,” Rice wrote. “He will bring to the post remarkable and broad international experience; a deep understanding of the global economy; and a belief in America’s special role in the world.”

...Trump spent much of 2016 opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal with the United States and 11 other countries. However, Tillerson has gone on record supporting the deal, the Daily Beast reported.

“Even when a nation does not have a rich endowment of resources, we have learned that open markets and free trade can bring nations the energy supplies they need,” Tillerson said in a June 3, 2013, speech at the Asia Society Global Forum in the District of Columbia. “But only governments can open the avenues of free trade. … One of the most promising developments on this front is the ongoing effort for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The 11 nations that have been working to lower trade barriers and end protectionist policies under this partnership are a diverse mix of developed and developing economies. But all of them understand the value of open markets to growth and progress for every nation.”

Read more here.