China, Taiwan, Iran, Russia, and the Continuing Obama-led Intel Witch Hunt for Donald Trump's Scalp

As Trump takes the reins of American power in the lead up to his inauguration, several world issues are feeding global anxieties about a man they know only through the US mainstream media's portrayal of him as a bullying racist idiot of a madman who will start World Way III. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Trump is dealing with real issues in real timeframes while the Obama team of Progressives bent on destroying the Trump presidency continues to broadside his efforts. • • • THE NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR THREAT. Fox News reported Tuesday that the Pentagon weapons testing office annual report states that the US has a "limited capability to defend" its homeland from a small number of “simple,” intercontinental ballistic missiles launched by countries like North Korea or Iran. The report says that the US maintains ground-based interceptors based in Alaska and California, but they cannot be counted on with any degree of certainty due to “lack of ground tests,” according to Bloomberg. Vice Admiral James Syring, the director of the missile defense agency, responded to the report and told Bloomberg he has “high confidence” in the system in place : “I am very confident in the systems and procedures we will employ to intercept a North Korean ICBM were they to shoot it toward our territory.” • With Donald Trump getting ready to take office as President, North Korea is talking about launching a newly perfected intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has not explicitly said it will conduct an ICBM test in the immediate future, and it is safe to assume US policy has always been to shoot down any missiles that threaten its territory, BUT, the recent war of words could suggest Pyongyang and Washington are feeling each other out ahead of President-Elect Trump's inauguration on January 20. A successful ICBM launch would be a major step forward for North Korea and a serious concern to Washington and its allies. Kim Jong Un announced in his annual New Year's address that the country has reached the "final stages" of ICBM development. Trump himself responded with a tweet two days later, saying the possibility of the North developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the US "won't happen!" In response, North Korea's state KCNA news agency quoted an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying Sunday that Pyongyang reserves the right to conduct a test whenever it sees fit : "The ICBM will be launched anytime and anywhere determined by the supreme headquarters of the DPRK." • The Progressives seem to have decided how to handle the Noprth Korean nuclear threat that their President Obama had a lot to do with racheting up to its current near-crisis level. CNN's Christiana Amanpour suggested on Tuesday that the US now has no choice except to treat North Korea as it treated Iran -- that is, by negotiating a deal under which NK and its dear leader would agree to inspections and to limit its nuclear development program to non-military uses in exchange for economic aid and permission for North Korea to continue its "controlled" nuclear development work. You heard it here first, dear readers, I didn't make up that bit of "now that we have lost the battle let's enter into the appeasement stage" -- the Progressives made it up all by themselves. What better way to undermine Trump's hand before he ever gets to the negotiating table. • • • THE TAIWAN ISSUE. Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz met Sunday with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Houston, and in a statement informed Beijing that “in America, we make decisions about meeting with visitors for ourselves.” Cruz said he and the Taiwanese leader discussed “our mutual opportunity to upgrade the stature of our bilateral relations in a wide-ranging discussion that addressed arms sales, diplomatic exchanges, and economic relations.” • China was not pleased. The mainland Chinese Communist government regards Taiwan as a renegade province that will eventually be reunified with the mainland -- by force, if necessary -- and rattles its sword every time any strengthening of Taiwan links with other nations seems to be brewing, particularly when the nation is America. A Chinese Communist Party spokesman warned Sunday that if President-Elect Donald Trump tears up the “One China” policy, Beijing should take “revenge” on both the US and Taiwan. Senator Cruz said the congressional delegation in Houston had received, shortly before the meeting, “a curious letter from the Chinese consulate asking members of Congress not to meet with President Tsai, and to uphold the ‘One-China policy.’” Cruz's response was clear : “The People’s Republic of China needs to understand that in America we make decisions about meeting with visitors for ourselves. This is not about the PRC. This is about the US relationship with Taiwan, an ally we are legally bound to defend. The Chinese do not give us veto power over those with whom they meet. We will continue to meet with anyone, including the Taiwanese, as we see fit.” Cruz added that : “The US-Taiwan relationship is not on the negotiating table. It is bound in statute and founded on common interests. I look forward to working with President Tsai to strengthen our partnership.” • The Chinese government had urged the US not to let Tsai stop over on American soil and tried to dissuade US politicians from meeting with her if she did, but its real concern was that she not be received by President-Elect Donald Trump or anyone representing him. And, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported Saturday that a Trump transition team spokesman confirmed that neither Trump nor anyone from the team would be meeting with Tsai in Houston. In an editorial commenting on Trump’s decision not to meet with Tsai, the Global Times, a Communist Party organ, said with the usual Chinese hauteur that China has no need to feel grateful to the President-Elect for not doing so : "Sticking to the “One China policy is not a capricious request by China upon US Presidents, but an obligation of US presidents to maintain China-US relations and respect the existing order of the Asia-Pacific. If Trump reneges on the One-China policy after taking office, the Chinese people will demand the government to take revenge. There is no room for bargaining.” The revenge suggested by the Global Times was that Beijing would “rather break ties with the US if necessary,” than accept Trump’s tearing up of the policy. • Taiwan and President Tsai, meanwhile, are feeling China’s anger directly, according to the Global Times. It noted that Chinese warplanes had recently patrolled around Taiwan and its first aircraft carrier had sailed past the island, adding : “It is widely expected that the mainland will impose further military pressure. Tsai needs to face the consequences for every provocative step she takes. The mainland should mobilize all possible measures to squeeze Taiwan’s diplomacy as well as deal a heavy blow to Taiwan’s economy. It should also impose military pressure on Taiwan and push it to the edge of being reunified by force...” • Reuters reported that in a dinner speech Saturday to hundreds of overseas Taiwanese, Tsai said the United States holds a "special place in the hearts of the people of Taiwan" and that the island via bilateral exchanges has provided more than 320,000 jobs directly and indirectly to the American people. Tsai said Taiwan looked to create more US jobs through deeper investment, trade and procurement. Tsai's office said James Moriarty, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, which handles US-Taiwan affairs in the absence of formal ties, told the Taiwan president in Houston that the United States was continuing efforts to persuade China to resume dialogue with Taiwan. • The real question here is whether Senator Cruz and other Texas officials, including the Texas Governor, were speaking only for themselves or whether they were also delivering a message from President-Elect Trump, who, almost simultaneously, was meeting in New York with Alibaba's Jack Ma. After the meeting, Ma said he mainly talked to Trump about small business, especially in US Midwest. Ma says Trump is 'very smart' and 'very open-minded' and said the US-China relationship should be strengthened and should be friendlier. In turn, Trump said the two had a 'great meeting.' So, the second part of the real question is whether Jack Ma was at Trump Tower to talk only about business or whether he was delivering a message to Trump from China. The Trump-China negotiations about the US-China relationship seem to have begun. Expect Jack Ma to be part of the informal messenger system. Will Ted Cruz also be involved? Stay tuned. • • • IRAN RATTLES ITS SWORD AS TRUMP TAKES POWER. A US Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack vessels after they closed in at a high rate of speed near the Strait of Hormuz, two US defense officials told Reuters on Monday. The incident, which occurred Sunday and was first reported by Reuters, comes days before President-Elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.The two unnamed defense officials said the USS Mahan established radio communication with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats but they did not respond to requests to slow down and continued asking the Mahan questions. The Iranian vessels came within 900 yards of the Mahan, which was escorting two other US military ships, the defense officials said. When the Mahan's radio calls, flares and other signals to steer the ships away, failed to get a response, a US helicopter overhead dropped smoke grenades. The US.ship finally fired three warning shots with a crew-operated .50 caliber machine gun, and the Iranian ships, belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, stopped their approach. The confrontation came as the Mahan was headed through the strait toward the Persian Gulf with the USS Makin Island and the USNS Walter S. Diehl. A US Navy spokesman said : "This was an unsafe and unprofessional interaction, and that's due to the fact that they [the Iranians] were approaching at a high-level of speed with weapons manned and disregarding repeat warnings via radio, audible sirens, ships whistle, and only stopped their approach following warning shots being fired." • The US Navy called the Iraniain action "somewhat out of character" based on its recent behavior. Neither the IRGC nor the Trump transition team has commented. But, one US defense official said similar incidents occur occasionally. In August, another US Navy ship fired warning shots towards an Iranian fast-attack craft that approached two US ships. In January 2016, Iran freed 10 US sailors after briefly detaining them in the Gulf. The official added that the warning shots fired on Sunday were just one of seven interactions the Mahan had with Iranian vessels over the weekend, but the others were judged to be safe. Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Teheran last year after Obama's nuclear deal. But, serious differences still remain over Iran's ballistic missile program as well as conflicts in Syria and Iraq. • Perhaps Iran was testing Trump's statement last September that any Iranian vessels that harass the US Navy in the Gulf would be "shot out of the water"? If so, they are also using another tool -- one ostensibly provided by the $150 billion payment President Obama made to iran as part of the nuclear deal. On Monday, Iranian lawmakers approved a five-year plan to expand military spending to at least 5% of Iran's budget, up from 2%. The plan includes developing Iran's controverisal long-range missile program, according to a report by Reuters. President-Elect Donald Trump has pledged not to let Iran develop missiles capable of reaching the United States. "We're not letting that happen," Trump stated last March at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference. Critics say the move is inconsistent with a United Nations resolution that calls on Iran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran says it has not carried out any work on missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads. Cory Gardner, the GOP Senator from Colorado and a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for immediate sanctions on Iran for its support of terrorism, its missile program and human rights abuses. Gardner said : "I urge the incoming Administration to support these actions to stop Iran’s aggression." The approval of the greatly increased military budget plan comes a day after the Iranian speedboats with their weapons manned harassed the USS Mahan transiting into the Persian Gulf. • • • DEAR READERS, the worst element of Obama's legacy is that with the Iran nuclear deal, he shifted the focus from Iran, America's and Isreal's real enemy, to Russia strictly for the political purpose of damaging Trump. By doing so, Obama has used national security strictly for political purposes to explain away the election loss of his proxy Hillary to Trump. Obama, in a 2008 presidential debate, mocked Mitt Romney when Romney said Russia was our main geopolitical enemy. But now, for domestic political purposes, to explain away Hillary and his loss, he is trying to restart the Cold War. This endangers US national security because it strengthens Iran and weakens Israel, and it increases the risk of an attack on Israel. • Could it be that, at least in part, Obama and the parts of his Intellignece services tarnished by following his political agenda are aiming at throwing the world's attention and the Trump team's efforts into dealing with the "fake news" smokescreen of Russian hacking while Obama's real goal is to strengthen Iran as much as possible before January 20? Of course. Nothing is too small-minded or risky for America in the Obama Progressive play book to stop Trump. Those on the right who call them "toddlers" or "snowflakes" miss the point entirely. Obama intends to lead a Progressive / Democrat war against Donald Trump and his presidency. The ethical norms generally followed by the GOP and conservatives are lost on the Left. The only 'norms' they follow are from Alinsky's play book for radicals. They will do anything to regain control of America in their obsession to take over the world in a globalist victory. • And, just an hour ago we learned from CNN that a British MI6 official almost a year ago received information about Russia having compromising information on Trump that the MI6 official gave to a US intel operative (maybe FBI) 'friend'in Rome who passed it on to the FBI in Washington who shared it with the CIA -- etc etc -- and CNN says that the intel was also shared independently with Senator McCain -- until it finally ended up as an addendum to the classified version of the Russia Hacking report prepared by US intelligence for President Obama and shared with both House and Senate GOP and Democrat leaders and intelligence committee chairmen and minority ranking members -- and that the addendum apparently suggests that Russia has compromising information about Donald Trump. More to follow tomorrow after the Trump office releases the response it is preparing and as the details of this latest questionable intel leak are made public. • Be warned. Be aware. Be ready to fight back, not with "fake news" but with the truth pounded home every day to every American and to the watching world trying to figure out which side will win. The answer is "we must win" if the world is to be saved from radical globalist elitism.