Casing the Colors © Week 21

Casing the Colors © Week 21 • • • CHAPTER 38 • • As the military jets raced out over the Atlantic cloud banks, Paul listened on his headset while Kate tried to make sense of the disasters in Atlanta and Pittsburgh and to figure out what else could have been done. "People I knew must be dead," she said. Her imagination was counting familiar places destroyed and friends killed in the fight against Raqqa, but she didn't want to feel the chaotic scenes created in her mind. "Hell," Paul said, "who knows what we could have done to save them. Maybe the chemicals would have been released anyway, even if we'd attacked." "Who's meeting us in Rome?" she asked, changing the subject. "There's a Marine detachment waiting at the airport, plus two planes and four helicopters. That's more than enough to get us in and out. The real problem will be getting the Pope to come with us to Germany. You've met President DiCarlo. Do you think there's a chance he'll help us?" "A lot will depend on Bill Stevens' phone call to DiCarlo. Let's hope Bill can persuade him to speak with the Pope. How much time will we have?" "Two hours, no more. We'll use one helicopter and go straight to DiCarlo. On the way back to the airport, we'll take the Pope, whatever it requires, and explain it to him later, when he's safe in Germany." "I hope the US helicopter markings don't give us any trouble," Kate said, "but we would have had to ask permission from DiCarlo's office to use Italian copters." "Don't worry about it," Paul said. "One helicopter will stay behind to seal off Vatican security and give us time to get away before anyone knows we've been there." At just after 8 a.m. they landed in Rome. They took two Marines with them in one helicopter and headed for President DiCarlo. The rest of the Marine detachment stayed behind at the airport, ready for the signal to rendezvous at the Vatican. The Italian president was at a villa near Rome, working with his personal advisors on a plan to deal with the Africans in Sicily. The American helicopter circled over Rome and landed on the lawn of the villa. Bill Stevens had made his phone call and, smooth and reassuring as ever, he had convinced President DiCarlo that he was urgently needed at a meeting of European leaders in Germany. "I understand the reason for such an unusual arrival," President DiCarlo said, greeting the American Admiral and Assistant Secretary of State as he explained their mission to his staff standing behind him in startled silence. "May I introduce my wife, Serena, who will travel with me," he announced. The group was quickly airborne again, heading to the Vatican. "Mr. President," Kate Gordon said, "we need to take the Pope with us as well. It would be much easier if you would explain the emergency to him." "The Pope, but that is impossible," he answered incredulously. "He will never agree to come. The Holy Father keeps himself separate from Italian political matters. What could possibly make you think he would come to our meeting?" "But, if you talked to him, perhaps he would understand that it is a matter of the gravest importance," she replied. "He will not come, believe me," the Italian president answered firmly. "President DiCarlo, if the Pope stays in Italy, it will make the world even more unstable. He must come with us," Kate argued. "Miss Gordon, what do you want me to do? The Italian government and the Vatican don't meddle in each other's decisions. I have no special influence with the Pope. It may be just the reverse. My advice might be counter-productive." Their helicopter was approaching the Vatican. The other helicopters fell into formation above and behind them. Kate appealed again to the man whose country was about to be sacrificed. Angelo DiCarlo was 64, a politician who had survived thirty years in the unpredictable Italian republic formed from the ashes of Mussolini's defeat. DiCarlo had amassed a fortune in real estate and banking, but he escaped the clutches of the Milan judges during the 1990s clean hands investigations and was now able to devote all his time to his passion, politics. His wife, Serena, was a chic fifty-year-old dressed in Versace and dripping gold jewelry. With their money and sophisticated tastes, Paul Taylor thought, they were an unlikely couple to be asked to save the Pope. "President DiCarlo, I need your help," Kate pressed. "The world needs your help. We are going to take the Pope to Germany, even if we have to use force. It would be much better if you could persuade him." "Americans," the Italian president muttered. Admiral Taylor tried his hand. "Mr. President, I am going into the Pope's apartment with a detail of US Marines. We will bring him out, without casualties, I hope. But, we will take him to Germany. Believe me." "Admiral Taylor, I hope you succeed if it is so important. But, I do not think I can help you, and certainly not with force." Serena DiCarlo, who had been sitting at her husband's side listening to the argument, leaned over and put her arm through his. She pulled him slightly toward her and touched his jacket lapel with her other hand. "Caro, perhaps we can do something. At least the household guard would recognize us. We could try to talk to the Holy Father." The president looked from his wife to Admiral Taylor. "Can you guarantee my wife's safety?" he asked. Admiral Taylor took the question as agreement. "Yes, Sir, and yours as well. Your wife will wait in the helicopter with Miss Gordon. We will have only a few minutes before we lose our advantage. We will land behind St. Peter's near the Pope's apartments. I'll be with you all the way." Paul Taylor turned to Kate. "Stay here and keep a line open to Germany command. You know what to do if anything goes wrong. The Marine guard will be with you. If we're not back in fifteen minutes, lift off and head for the airport." Paul was on the radio giving the other helicopters instructions as they circled around over the great dome of St. Peter's and landed in the gardens behind the basilica. One of the other helicopters settled on the ground first and Marines jumped out and headed for the building. They were in place before Admiral Taylor and President DiCarlo caught up to them. The other two copters circled above the gardens, swinging out away from St. Peter's Square in a languid pattern to avoid attracting too much attention. Serena DiCarlo and Kate Gordon stood near the open door of the helicopter, looking toward the building outlined in the morning light. The wait seemed like hours. Kate looked at her watch. Finally, two figures emerged onto the path leading from the apartment to the gardens. Paul Taylor was in the lead with President DiCarlo behind him. Behind them, two Marines were on either side of the Pope, holding his arms. It was only when they got nearer that she realized the Marines were carrying the unconscious Pope, holding him upright. The helicopter doors slammed shut as soon as the last Marine was on board. The Marines on the ground deployed around the building to prevent an alert. Their helicopter sat like a giant grasshopper in the quiet garden. The helicopter carrying the Pope circled up and over the great dome, followed by the two that had been circling in readiness. People below went about their business, unaware of the bizarre event taking place above them. As the helicopters turned toward the airport, Kate said, "Paul, tell the pilots to go to Corsica, not Rome. Tell them we need radio silence for half an hour." "Corsica? Why in God's name do you want to go to Corsica?" he asked. "Please don't ask questions. I'll explain later. Just get us to Corsica, without telling the Rome Airport or our people on the ground there." Paul Taylor studied her, trying to decide if she had lost her mind or was acting on orders he wasn't aware of. Then, unwilling to interfere with the decision of General Gordon's daughter, he gave instructions to the pilot and the helicopter swung around and away from the city, out over the Mediterranean. The helicopter passengers buzzed with the excitement of their success. Paul explained that he and President DiCarlo had tried to convince the Pope to come with them. He refused flatly. Paul signaled the Marines standing behind the Pope. They stepped up behind him, one of them tapping the Holy Father's neck, piercing it with a tiny needle. The sedative was powerful and quick. The Marines took his arms and simulated walking with him. The whole thing took less than a minute. The household guard had indeed been calmed by the presence of the President of Italy and didn't realize what was happening until the Marines started out with the Pope. When they tried to alert the Vatican police and the rest of the household guard, they were stopped by the Marines stationed at the doors. The others in the Marine detail continued to hold the Vatican police force incommunicado for a half-hour to give the others time to escape Italian airspace. As the helicopter sped out over the Mediterranean, they heard on their radio that a bomb had exploded at Rome airport, injuring two mechanics, killing another and destroying one helicopter. "Paul, that's the clincher," Kate said. "I'm certain who the source is. I set up the opportunity to sabotage us and the Pope." Paul Taylor immediately radioed Rome airport to tell the escort planes to meet them in Marseilles. They touched down in Corsica, refueled and flew on to the rendezvous. The Pope was still unconscious. President DiCarlo continued to believe they were going to a European summit meeting. In Marseilles, a stretcher took the Pope from the helicopter to a US military plane so he wouldn't be recognized. He was asleep when the group landed at Ramstein. President and Mrs. DiCarlo were quartered in a senior VIP suite. The Pope was hurried to an isolated unit in the air base hospital, where a medical team was waiting. Paul stayed with the Pope. Kate tried to explain to President DiCarlo what was going on. "We need to discuss today's schedule. It concerns you and Italy directly," she said, outlining the Alliance's decision to attack southern Italy. "You mean you kidnapped me and used me to kidnap the Pope so you could save us while you destroy Italy?" he asked, his voice shaking with anger. "We couldn't leave you or the Pope in Italy to be killed or taken hostage," she responded. "Wasn't that my decision?" he demanded, pivoting and starting toward her. "I am holding you and the United States government responsible for whatever happens," he said, spitting the words into her face. "Sir," she answered as calmly as possible, "there may not be a United States government if we don't stop the invasion of Europe and America. Don't you understand?" "But, Italy," he said, "beautiful Italy. How could you sacrifice us?" "Because we can seal off your northern border but we cannot patrol all your coastline. There's too much of it. You can stay here or go to England or the United States. We will help you keep your government intact from wherever you are. We will offer the same assistance to the Pope." While DiCarlo was walking back and forth, arguing with himself in Italian, Paul came into the room, looking very agitated. "Is something wrong with the Pope?" Kate asked. "No. I've been on the phone with General Bennett. Miguel has started the border attack. Somehow, he anticipated our next Mexican assault. He's using chemical agents again. Almost five thousand US troops are dead or incapacitated. The Rio Grande defenses have been seriously compromised in several places. And to make matters worse, Texans are on a rampage, shooting anything that looks Mexican. They're getting in the way of our air attack. Scott thinks we've probably already caught some of them in our strafing sorties." "What are you and I supposed to do?" Kate asked. "The air attack on Italy will begin within the next hour. I've got orders to get you and President DiCarlo and the Pope out of Germany." "I am not going to the United States," DiCarlo said, "if that is your plan. I will not support what you are doing by appearing there with you." Serena DiCarlo, anticipating Paul's next suggestion, said, "I will stay with my husband." Paul and Kate, anxious to deal with more important things, headed to base headquarters to coordinate schedules, leaving the Italian president and his wife to do their worrying alone. "We need to talk to my father," Kate said. Paul got a secure line through to General Gordon at his Pentagon office. "Dad, the helicopter bombing at Rome airport was ordered through George Morrison. Alexei and President LeNoir gave me the plan and I fed the information to George before I left the White House. He was the only one who knew about the Pope, except for the people in the cabinet room, Alexei and Jacques LeNoir. Find out who George is talking to." "I'll get on it, Kate," General Gordon answered. "We'll neutralize George Morrison, but right now, I want you both to get out of Germany." "Leave George in place," Kate responded. "Let's watch him for awhile. Just make sure he doesn't get any more vital information until we have what we need to get the whole network, whoever they are." "Right. But, if George is the source, he was responsible for Jack Wilson's assassination. Tell Alexei and President LeNoir to move smartly. Where will you be?" "I'm going to Paris. Alexei wants me to work with Jacques LeNoir again, about using the Arabs to eliminate Raqqa. That's why we want George to be left in place for a little longer. President LeNoir believes we can get many Arab leaders to cooperate if we keep the heat turned up. And, Dad, Scott has ordered Admiral Taylor back to Washington, but I'd like him to stay here in Europe with me and take the Pope to England, if you'll issue the order." "Of course." I'm on board," Paul said. After the phone call, Paul and Kate prepared to go their separate ways after what had been long, crucial hours. He held her by the shoulders and kissed her forehead. "That's for luck. You may need it without the Navy around. Be safe." She watched as he walked away toward the hospital, his short, stocky frame too heavy, but his back and shoulders ramrod straight. Back in headquarters, she asked for a private office and a secure line to the United States. She dug Chelenko's phone number out of her purse. The voice at the other end didn't ask who she was but simply said, "Please wait." "I know who the source is and I need to talk to President Katerinov," she said, when she heard Chelenko's familiar voice. "Tell me what you want us to do," he replied. "You don't need to talk to the president. You can trust me." "I want him to know what we're doing and where I'll be. I want to speak with him personally," she demanded. Chelenko laughed. "You can't really believe that the president doesn't know where you are? Stay at the phone. He will call you," he offered, silently wishing things could just occasionally be simple. Fifteen minutes later, Alexei was listening to her account of the conversation with General Gordon and his agreement to proceed. "I'll arrange everything," Alexei said. "But, promise to follow every instruction exactly. Go to the American Embassy in Paris and wait for Jacques LeNoir to contact you. And, Darling," he added with just a trace of sarcasm, "you really can trust Chelenko."

Iran's Nuclear ICBM Program in Cooperation with North Korea -- What to Do?

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP AND THE US MILITARY ARE ON THE SAME PAGE. • After a tough start because of Congress letting the Democrats drag appointment consents out forever, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is getting his ducks in order. The Senate this week confirmed Christopher Wray as FBI director, replacing James Comey. With all this new activity, the military is shaping up to be a real Trump ally. • • • The UK Independent published an article on Tuesday about some of the new military "Star Wars" hardware in the pipe. For example, the Lockheed Martin HULC is an exoskeleton that allows soldiers to carry loads of up to 200 lbs for long distances There is also the electromagnetic rail gun that uses an electromagnet to propel a projectile at speeds up to 2500 meters per second. Or, how about the PHASR (Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response) rifle that fires a blinding green laser to dazzle the enemy. Although blinding weapons are illegal to use in war, the PHASR only causes temporary blindness. And, there is the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) that shoots a 3-kw photon beam capable of burning holes in unmanned vehicles and confusing the navigation of enemy vessels. Also, let's not forget the drone swarms -- to solve the problem of expensive drones being shot down, the military are experimenting with swarms of small, low cost drones, which are hard to shoot down, and when they are, another can carry on the mission. My favorite is the XM2010 sniper rifle that gives exact accuracy up to 1.2 kilometers away, and has a thermal sleeve over the barrel so it's invisible to infrared scanners. And, finally, there's the Active Denial System that fires electromagnetic waves which are absorbed by the skin. The sensation is so painful, the army call it 'The Goodbye Weapon.' • I haven't read about these weapons-in-progress on US news outlets, but the UK still does some old-fashioned factual reporting. So, when Iran raises its ugly head, President Trump may one day soon have one of these new weapons at his disposal. • • • RUSSIA AND THE NEW US SANCTIONS LAW. On Tuesday, President Trump has signed a sweeping sanctions measure that targets Russia, Iran and North Korea, the White House said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. The President's signature comes after some speculation that he could veto or not sign the legislation, which passed both chambers of Congress in overwhelming votes last week. Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials had signaled, however, that the President planned to sign the bill into law. While he signed the bill, President Trump made clear in a statement Wednesday that he's signing the bill "for the sake of national unity" even though he isn't satisfied with some of its provisions : "I favor tough measures to punish and deter bad behavior by the rogue regimes in Teheran and Pyongyang. I also support making clear that America will not tolerate interference in our democratic process, and that we will side with our allies and friends against Russian subversion and destabilization. Still, the bill remains seriously flawed -- particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate." The new sanctions bill maintains and expands sanctions against the Russian government. Most important, it will require congressional approval before the President can ease or lift sanctions on Russia. The measure also targets sanctions on Russian activities that undermine US cybersecurity, sanctions on Russian crude oil projects and on certain transactions with foreign sanctions evaders and human rights abusers, among other things. • A day after the Senate passed the new set of sanctions, Russia's Foreign Ministry last Friday announced countermeasures in which it set a September 1 deadline for Washington to reduce the number of diplomatic staff in the country and ordered some US-run facilities in Russia to close. Trump's signature is significant because he spent time on the 2016 campaign trail promoting a platform that included a warming of relations with Russia and its President, Vladimir Putin. The two leaders met in person for the first time in early July at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. Trump later came under fire for a previously undisclosed conversation that he had with Putin at the time over dinner in which only a Russian interpreter was present -- fake news because it turned out that President Putin was seated next to Mrs. Trump at dinner and when the President went over to say hello to her, he chatted with Putin for about 15 minutes about US adoption of Russian orphans -- another fake news attack on Trump!!! • • • NORTH KOREA AND THE NEW SANCTIONS LAW. As for North Korea, the new sanctions law enforces compliance with United Nations shipping sanctions against North Korea and imposes new sanctions in response to human rights abuses by the North Korean government and its bellicose behavior abroad. • • • IRAN AND THE NEW SANCTIONS LAW. The measure also targets Iran's ballistic missile program, its support for terrorism and human rights violations, although the US has certified that Iran is in compliance with the terms of the Iranian nuclear deal. Specifically, it imposes sanctions on any foreign person or foreign entity that does business with an entity already designated by the administration that has a connection to Iran's ballistic missile program. These sanctions could apply to any financial institution or any foreign company that provides key parts or components to Iran's missile program. • Again, we turn to UK news outlets. The UK Telegraph reported in mid-July that the United States had unveiled new economic sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile programme and for contributing to regional tensions, and said it was deeply concerned about its "malign activities across the Middle East." The Tlegraph pointed out that the announcements came a day after President Trump's administration warned Teheran that it was not following the spirit of its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers. The US Treasury Department said in a statement it was targeting 16 entities and individuals for supporting what it said was "illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity." Those sanctioned, said the US Treasury which enforces individual and economicsanctions, had backed Iran's military or Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by developing drones and military equipment, producing and maintaining boats, and procuring electronic components. Others,a ccording to the Treasury, had "orchestrated the theft of US and Western software programs" sold to Iran's government. The US State Department had also designated two Iranian organizations involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, according to the Treasury Department. The US State Department released a prepared statement saying : "The United States remains deeply concerned about Iran’s malign activities across the Middle East which undermine regional stability, security, and prosperity." It said the activities "undercut whatever 'positive contributions' to regional and international peace and security were intended to emerge" from the nuclear agreement. The StateDepartment statement also listed Iranian support for groups including Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movement as well as the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and Houthi rebels in Yemen. • • • THE US CERTIFICATION OF IRAN COMPLIANCE. The Trump administration declared in July that Iran was complying with the nuclear deal concluded between Iran and six world powers, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Iran's foreign minister said in New York recently that his government has received "contradictory signals" from the Trump administration and doesn't know how to interpret them. Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Council on Foreign Relations he has not communicated with Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State. But he said "it doesn't mean that there can't be (communication), because the possibilities for engagement with regard to the nuclear deal have always been open." Zarif stressed that "Iran is serious about the nuclear deal" which "can lay the foundation, not the ceiling." He said the International Atomic Energy Agency has verified Iran's compliance with the agreement, but unfortunately the US has not complied. Zarif said this "creates the impression in Iran that the United States' hostility toward Iran will never end. And I think that can be remedied." • Mohammad Zarif was also on the Charlie Rose talk show defending Iran as if it were the injured party instead of the world's leading terrorism exporter. But, it isn't as simple as that. • • • IRAN'S ICBM PROGRAM. Business Standard reported on Wednesday that Iran launched a rocket on July 27, and that was what prompted the US to impose sanctions on six companies. The United States, backed by France, Britain and Germany pushed for action at the UN Security Council following Iran's launch of a satellite rocket that all four countries described as a "threatening and provocative step." US Ambassador Nikki Haley argued in a letter to the Security Council that the Simorgh space launch vehicle system, "if configured as a ballistic missile" would have a range of over 300 kilometers and enough payload capacity to carry a nuclear warhead. The letter said : "This launch therefore represents a threatening and provocative step by Iran." Haley signed the letter on behalf of the four countries. • The sanctions were imposed on six companies that Washington said were linked to Iran's missile program. AFP, the largest French news outlet, said it saw the letter that charged : "Iran's longstanding program to develop ballistic missiles continues to be inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and has a destabilizing effect in the region." Resolution 2231 was passed two years ago to endorse the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Under that resolution, which lifted sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, Teheran is "called upon" to refrain from carrying out launches of missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly said that it is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons and is not in violation of the resolution. But, in the letter, the US said the technology necessary for the space launch vehicle was "closely related to those of ballistic missiles, in particular to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile." It said that the missile technology control regime defined any ballistic missile system with a 500 kilogram payload and a range of at least 300 kilometers as being capable of delivering a nuclear weapon. This information should "allow the council to draw informed and timely conclusion as to what action should be taken," said the letter. • Haley has repeatedly called on the Security Council to respond to Iran's missile tests, but Russia has said Iran is not in violation of the resolution. Now, the four countries have called on Iran to "immediately cease" all ballistic missile activities, saying the international community must "send a clear message to Iran." The four couuntries requested that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres report to the Security Council on Iran's ballistic missile and space launch activities. • At a Security Council debate on preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons, Haley accused Iran of supporting armed groups with weapons, funding and training : "Weapons don't always just 'fall into the hands of terrorists.' Too often, they are pushed. This is the threat that we face today in Iran. As long as we allow the Iranian regime to violate this council's prohibitions with impunity, it will be a source of weapons to terrorist groups that will only grow in volume and destructive capability. The United States will continue to raise this issue of Iranian non-compliance with international obligations at every opportunity." • Iran remains defiant. Its foreign ministry on Saturday said it will continue "with full power" its missile program and criticized the US sanctions as "hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable." Teheran has accused the US administration of seeking to weaken the nuclear deal that US President Trump labelled "the worst deal ever" during his election campaign. • • • THE US MILITARY POSITION ON IRAN. The Daily Caller in July quoted Secretary of Defense James Mattis as saying that regime change will be necessary before the US and Iran can have substantially positive relations : “Until the Iranian people can get rid of this theocracy, these guys who think they can tell the people even which candidates they get a choice of. It’s going to be very, very difficult.” Mattis was speaking to the Mercer Island High School Islander in a rare and special interview with high schooler Teddy Fischer. Improving relations with Iran will be particularly difficult, according to Mattis. He noted that any potential rapprochement would be difficult because Iran is not really a democracy : “It’s the supreme leader [who] decides who gets to run in. It would be like having the current American President decide who gets to run in the next campaign, and by the way, when they come in he stays in the White House and the others just kind of rotate through.” Mattis noted that the Iranian regime was his “biggest problem” while he commanded US Central Command. Mattis has had no qualms about confronting the Iranian regime in the past, having called for a retaliatory strike on Iran after Iran supplied rockets to Iraqi insurgents fighting US troops in 2011, killing several. Mattis’ strike never happened, as his proposal was rejected by the Obama administration. Now, Mattis says everyone in the Middle East, from Tel Aviv to Cairo, has told him Iran continues to be a major problem. He added that the country’s evil influence has helped keep Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, in power, has escalated the conflict in Yemen by supplying ballistic missiles to Houthi rebels, while it continues to murder its own people. “Iran is certainly the most destabilizing influence in the Middle East,” Mattis told the Mercer Island High School Islander. Iran acts more like a “revolutionary movement” than a functional country looking out for the interests of its people, according to the Defense Secretary. It’s remarkably young population is known to have a less belligerent attitude toward the US and the West, compared to the zealot religious leaders who dominate the country’s governance, said Mattis : “The Iranian people are not the problem. The Iranian people are definitely not the problem, it’s the regime that sends agents around to murder ambassadors in Pakistan or in Washington D.C. It’s the regime that provides missiles to Lebanese Hezbollah or the Houthi in Yemen.” • • • THE BIG QUESTION -- IRAN OR NORTH KOREA??? The New York Post wrote on Tuesday : "It’s time to take on the Iran-North Korea nuke alliance." The NYPost pointed out that except for the bad weather, North Korea would’ve tested an ICBM last week at almost the same time as Iran did. It missed the date -- the anniversary of the 1953 armistice pact that ended the Korean War because of a rain storm. But, NK tested the next day, creating a "Mideast-East Asian stereo boom heard around the world," according to the NYPost, which reported that American experts no longer think it’ll take North Korea years to be able to hit the continental United States. Most watchers now expect it sometime next year. So, says the NYPost, "President Trump has drawn the short straw" -- three predecessors failed to stop the Kim regime’s nuclear and missile advances. If he wants to stop the North Koreans, Trump has no choice but to act -- and all of his options are bad. And, adds the Post, much of President Barack Obama’s Iran deal is expected to unravel during Trump’s tenure as well. • What are President Turmp's options? Americans have for a long time noted the cooperation between the rogue regimes in Iran and North Korea -- the exeprts say there are design similarities between North Korea’s home-built Rodong and its Iranian clone, the Shahab 3, and the Rodong B and Shahab 4. Iranian nuclear scientists were present at Pyongyang’s first nuclear test. Iran ally Syria modeled its nuclear plant (later eliminated by Israel) on a similar North Korean one. Rather than violating the Obama deal by experimenting at home, Iran can advance its nuclear program simply by observing North Korea’s and contributing to its progress. The NYPost says, "The mullahs have what Kim Jong-un needs most: cash. Pyongyang’s only foreign-currency-worthy export is weapons and knowing how to build and use them, which Iran craves. It’s a match made in hell." • We might ask why countries like Japan, which are threatened by North Korea, are eager to do business with Iran? The Ayatollahs enable NK’s development of the missiles that get fired near Japan. But, Japanese officials told the NYPost : “There’s no proof” of such cooperation." The truth is that the Obama administration, and prior administrations, didn't reveal what the intelligence community knew about the Teheran-Pyongyang nuclear cooperation because they were searching for a diplomatic breakthroughs on both fronts (and feared revealing spy methods). • BUT, the Trump administration and the US military under Commander-in-Chief Trump are less hesitant about the Iran-NK nuclear axis. Last Saturday's North Korea ICBM test proved that. America’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted Sunday that “China is aware they must act” and that Japan and South Korea must increase pressure. It’s “not only a US problem” but one that requires an international solution. AND, the wrench in the cogs is Russia, whose diplomats argue there’s no proof this was an ICBM, therefore no need to increase sanctions -- a short-sighted position at best. But, the bet is that Russia and China will block attempts to corner Kim Jong-un and his henchmen -- especially now that administration officials like CIA Director Mike Pompeo are starting to push the idea of toppling the Kim Jong-un regime, which both Beijing and Moscow oppose. • The New York Post suggests one possible US action -- introduce a UN resolution naming and sanctioning persons and entities involved in the Iran-North Korea arms cooperation. Western diplomats say it is very unlikely to pass, but it would put America’s intel on Iran-NK cooperation out in the open for the world to see and react to. • Iran’s ballistic missile program was, bizarrely, left out of Obama’s nuclear deal, so revealing the Teheran-Pyongyang nexus might convince allies wobbly about Teheran’s violations that the Ayatollahs’ threat is global. It could also start the process of stopping a major cash source for the NK regime. There is also the Proliferation Security Initiative, a treaty signed by 105 countries that allows search and seizure of ships carrying illicit arms. If the US exposed the Iran-North Korea connection at the UN, then it could use the PSI to disrupt the cooperation, with allied help. • Thus, says the New York Post, the Iran-North Korea problem would be seen as a single issue to be addressed. • • • DEAR READERS, President Trump and his military commanders are doing several things useful to open up the Iran-North Korea connection -- US flights over South Korean skies; talking publicly about adding Japan and South Korea to the global nuclear club as a way to put China into action; and, blacklisting companies that do business with Kim Jong-un. A change in diplomatic strategy is needed to expose what everyone knows but never says -- as the New York Post put it : " Kim and the mullahs are BFFs." • One other thing President Trump could do is shut down Iran's propagandists operating in the US. The American Thinker reported this week on a June meeting in Washington of concerned Americans of Iranian origin as well as other Americans at the US Congress to set the stage for regime change in Iran. They assembled at the House Visitors' Center and discussed practical ideas for bringing about regime change in Iran. The impression the meeting made among those concerned with the situation in Iran and the Middle East was so positive that the event immediately made headlines around the world. On June 14, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the US policy toward Iran is based on the support of Iranian forces who can bring about peaceful regime change -- to which Iranian dissidents warmly responded by an open letter. But, says the American Thinker, the Iran regime's lobby in America, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), immediately attacked the "June 8 Coalition" meeting in the press and on their blogs, as well as directly confronting the participants on social media with their Iran regime supporters' echo chamber, and bragged about in the New York Times by former Obama White House staffer Ben Rhodes. • The American Thinker suggests that the US should start by investigating and auditing all Iran lobby groups and their financial resources, the misuse of their 501(c)(3)s, and the possible misuse of their 501(c)(4)s. To improve the situation, says the American Thinker, President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson should immediately consider John Bolton's appointment to a now understaffed State Department. Former UN ambassador Bolton is perhaps the most experienced person in American politics when it comes to the Iranian regime and the Middle East. Bolton will bring his much needed experience and a coherent Iran policy, as well as order to State's Middle East section. • These actions would help to win back the Iranian people who were left alone to suffer in the streets of Iran during the 2009 election protests by President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton. President Trump should continue to declare US support for the Iranian people and implement tough sanctions on Iran's leaders as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the IRGC, based on human rights abuses and the export of international terrorism. • The Iranian regime has spread throughout Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Through Hezbollah, the regime threatens Israel at the Golan Heights. It is also threatens Iraqi Kurdistan over its independence claim and is increasing its troop strength along the Iran-Kurdistan border. The US is the only power that can stop the advance of the IRGC under Soleimani into Kurdistan, where his Quds Force seem ready to open yet another Middle East front. • The Iranian regime has made a mockery of justice, severely violated human rights, abused minorities, imprisoned and executed dissidents in show trials; held Americans and other westerners hostage on fake charges; funded terrorism and war, stolen land from its own people, and generally oppressed and terrorized the country since 1979. Tahlilrouz.com -- a new Persian language website operated from the US to give voice to Iranian dissidents -- published on June 26 a letter from 111 intellectuals and other dissidents who oppose the Ayatollah regime in Iran. Here is the English translation of the letter : "Dear Secretary Tillerson, Millions of Iranians took to the streets of every major city in 2009 to call for regime change in Iran. They reached out to President Obama to not only draw a “red line” between the freedom-loving people of Iran and the most oppressive regime in its history, but also to genuinely express their solidarity with the standard-bearer of human rights and democracy in our times, namely the United States of America. However, their appeal fell on deaf ears and their hopes were dashed. Consequently, a massive wave of repression was unleashed upon them by the Islamist regime to silence their voice of dissent. It is no secret that in the past four decades the Iranian people have suffered immensely at the hands of the Islamist regime. Millions have been forced out of their homeland, thousands publicly executed in city squares, and many more imprisoned and brutally tortured on a daily basis. In addition, the regime continues the development of its ballistic missile program, support for terrorist organizations and networks around the world, and destabilization of the Middle East. It is abundantly clear that the Islamist regime in Iran cannot be rehabilitated to respect international law and join the community of nations. Your latest remarks concerning the need for Iran’s peaceful transition to a free, democratic state truly lit up the torch of hope and warmed the hearts and minds of millions of Iranians who are taken hostage by the nefarious theocracy. America, given its moral authority and global leadership in safeguarding fundamental human rights, can no longer afford to be a bystander. As such, we the undersigned wholeheartedly support the newly adopted US policy of regime change in Iran. Warmest Regards, (signed by 111 peopel whose names read like a Who's Who of Iranian dissident activists)" • It is time to get tough with Iran -- and North Korea -- two faces of the same renegade nuclear program coin.

North Korea's ICBM Test Is a Decision Point for the US and Its Asian Allies

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS THAT NORTH KOREA AND IRAN ARE HOT BUTTON TOPICS. • While US mainstream news is busy telling President Trump how not to stop North Korea's nuclear threats -- the New York Times published an Opinion piece on Tuesday with the headline "Drop the Bluster on North Korea" -- the British press is actually following the story with fact-based reporting. • • • THE NORTH KOREA ICBM TEST. The UK's Independent published a photo of NK Dear Leader Kim Jong-un watching the Saturday midnight test-fire of the Hwasong-14 and reported on Tuesday that American intelligence officials say North Korea may now be capable of hitting almost the entire continental US after its latest missile test showed it had mastered new technology allowing its projectiles to travel much further. • In the latest test, the ICBM reached an altitude of 2,314.6 miles and flew 620 miles before landing in the waters off the Korean peninsula's east coast, according to the North Korean official news agency KCNA. The flight demonstrated successful stage separation, and reliability of the vehicle's control and guidance to allow the warhead to make an atmospheric re-entry under conditions harsher than under a normal long-range trajectory, KCNA said. Independent weapons experts also said they believe the launch demonstrated many parts of the United States were within range if the missile had been launched at a flattened trajectory. • The NK ICBM flew for 45 minutes and traveled more than 1,000 kilometers laterally, defense officials and analysts said. US officials believe the missile broke up upon re-entering the atmosphere. So, analysts say, Pyongyang has not yet showed that the ICBM can inflict serious damage once it reaches its target. The re-entry of the Hwasong-14 launched Saturday was captured on video by the Japanese, showing the re-entry vehicle shortly before it crashed into the sea, and US and South Korean experts say the video suggests that the ICBM failed to survive the extreme heat and pressure after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. The analysts say the apparent failure probably means the North will conduct more flight tests of the Hwasong-14 to ensure the warhead can survive the re-entry from space and hit its intended target. • NK's latest ICBM test also showed the increased range of Pyongyang’s arsenal, according to two officials. North Korea’s ICBM test last Saturday had greater height, range and power than the previous test because it used force-stabilizing engines that counter the effects of winds and other forces that can knock an ascending rocket off course, said one analyst. The latest expert assessment underscores the growing threat posed by NK's nuclear and missile programs, and could add pressure on the Trump administration to respond to North Korean leader Kim Jung-un's boast that the successful test of an ICBM that proved NK's ability to strike America's mainland. Kim Jong Un called it a "stern warning" to the US that it would not be safe from destruction if it tried to attack, the official KCNA news agency said. • But, the two US intelligence officials who spoke to the Independent said Kim wants to develop a nuclear-capable ICBM to deter any attack on his country and gain international legitimacy, not to launch an attack on the US or its allies that he knows would be suicidal. • The Pentagon declined to comment on the US Intel assessment of the missile launch, but it acknowledged that the latest test represented the longest test flight of any North Korean missile. Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told a news briefing : "The specifics of our assessment are classified for reasons I hope you understand." Captain Davis did, however, acknowledge that the missile could fly at least 3,420 miles, the minimum range for what the Pentagon classifies as an ICBM. • In a related story, CNN, quoting a US defense official, reported that North Korea had been showing "highly unusual and unprecedented levels" of submarine activity, in addition to its third "ejection test" this month. The ejection test was carried out on land at Sinpo Naval Shipyard on Sunday, the US defense official told CNN. No other details about the increased submarine activity are known. The Independent explained : "Ejection tests from submarines usually gauge the ability to 'cold launch' missiles, when high pressure steam is used to propel missiles out of launch canisters. The shipyard is in Sinpo, a port city on the east coast where NK had previously conducted tests of submarine-launched ballistic missiles." • Japan Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, spoke with President Trump on Monday and agreed on the need for more action on North Korea, just hours after the US Ambassador to the United Nations said Washington was "done talking about North Korea." The Pentagon acknowledged military-to-military talks with US allies Japan and South Korea after the test. • • • TILLERSON TRIES TO LOWER THE US-CHINA-NK TONE. A few days after the North Korean ICBM launch, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said relations between the US and China -- both are nuclear and economic superpowers -- has reached “a pivot point” as tensions over global affairs escalate. President Trump has repeatedly called on China to rein in North Korea, accusing China of “doing nothing for us with North Korea, just talk” in a Twitter series last week. In a State Department briefing on Tuesday, Tillerson mirrored the President’s frustration over what he called America’s “differences” with China. He suggested that “a long period of no conflict” with China could come to an end if relations continued to go sour, saying : “How should we define this relationship and how do we ensure that economic prosperity to the benefit of both countries and the world can continue, and that where we have differences -- because we will have differences, we do have differences -- that we will deal with those differences in a way that does not lead to open conflict?” Tillerson said the “situation in North Korea” tests the relationship between the US and China : "Can we work together to address this global threat where we have a common objective? And where we have differences -- in the South China Sea, and we have some trading differences that need to be addressed -- can we work through those differences in a way without it leading to open conflict and find the solutions that are necessary to serve us both?” Secretary Tillerson made a direct appeal to North Korea and Kim Jung-un : “We're not your enemy. We do not seek a regime change, we do not seek the collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula, we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel.” • But, almost simultaneously, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham revealed Trump’s plan for war with North Korea if it doesn't stop testing ballistic missiles. In an interview with NBC’s Today program, he said : “There will be a war with North Korea over their missile program if they continue to try to hit America with an ICBM. He [Trump] has told me that, I believe him, and if I were China I would believe him too, and do something about it.” Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Norio Maruyama said he was unaware of Senator Graham's remarks, but that his country -- a key ally of the US -- was in favor of the Trump administration's posture "using both words and action to show that all choices are on the table." Another longstanding ally in the region, the Philippines, will host an international regional security meeting on Monday, when leaders could pressure Pyongyang to halt its intermediate-range missile tests. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to attend the meeting in Manila. On Wednesday, flamboyant Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte went on the attack against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom he referred to in a speech as a "fool" and a "son of a b----," according to Reuters. "That chubby face that looks kind....If he commits a mistake, the Far East will become an arid land," Duterte said, "It must be stopped, this nuclear war. A limited confrontation and it blows up here, I will tell you, the fallout can deplete the soil, the resources and I don't know what will happen to us," he added. Duterte had previously called for the US to show restraint in dealing with Kim's totalitarian regime. • • • MORE US TROOPS TO SOUTH KOREA AS US MILITARY DESCRIBES THE CATASTROPHE OF A WAR WITH NK. The UK's Express newspaper said on Tuesday that the US is sending 200 more troops to South Korea, adding that the increase in troop numbers "amid an ever-tightening spiral of threat and counter-threat," raises the stakes. According to the Express, 12 F-16 fighter jets will also be deployed to Kunsan Air Base, located in mid-South Korea around 180 miles from the capital of Seoul, in August. • The US Pacific Air Force (PAF) said the move would help stabilize the region and “maintain peace.” General Terrence O'Shaughnessy, a PAF commander, said : “If called upon, we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing.” A PAF prepared statement said : “PAF Theater Security Package deployments to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region signify a continued commitment to regional stability and security, while allowing units to train in the Pacific theater. F-16s routinely deploy throughout the US Pacific Command area of responsibility. The United States routinely evaluates readiness and repositions forces as needed to ensure capabilities necessary to meet obligations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. These deployments demonstrate the continued US commitment to fulfil security responsibilities throughout the Western Pacific and to maintain peace in the region.” The PAF action follows a high-profile joint training exercise between the USA and Japan. • Expert Michael Elleman told the Express : "No one outside of North Korea knows the precise status of its nuclear-bomb making capabilities. However, it is reasonable to assume North Korea can construct a bomb that weighs less than one metric ton, with a diameter of less than one meter. This could be easily carried by the Hwasong-14, though to reach the US mainland, a lighter-weight bomb may be required." • But, amid the attempts to cajole North Korea into talking instead of launching ICBMs, the United States and its allies flew supersonic bombers and fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula in a 10-hour show of force Sunday against North Korea following its latest ICBM launch. The US B-1 bombers first flew over Japanese airspace, where they were joined by two Japanese F-2 fighter jets, before flying over the Korean Peninsula with four South Korean F-15 fighter jets, US Pacific Air Forces said in a statement. The Air Force said the 10-hour mission was a direct response to North Korea's two ICBM tests this month, including the latest on Friday. • When Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley spoke at the National Press Club in Washington a day before the latest NK ICBM launch, he said a land war with North Korea would be “highly deadly,” and that the United States has no good options for how to deal with the rogue nation. General Milley told his audience : “War in the Korean peninsula would be terrible, however, a nuclear weapon detonating in Los Angeles would be terrible,” but he added that the United States is “at a point in time where [a] choice will have to be made once way or the other. None of these choices are particularly palatable. None of them are good.” Milley said he believes the United States “would utterly destroy the North Korean military,” if it came to such a point. But “that would be done at a high cost in terms of human life, in terms of infrastructure.” • Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made similar comments in May, saying that a war with North Korea would be “catastrophic,” and would place United States allies in the region at extreme risk. General Mattis said earlier this month that he does not believe North Korea’s new ballistic missile capability brings the United States "closer to war" with the country, but he asserted that the US military "remains ready" for any conflict. • • • NEW US ICBM TEST. The Associated Press and NBC News reported Wednesday that the US test-launched an unarmed ICBM. The US Air Force successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the fourth such test this year. The 30th Space Wing says the missile was launched at 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday. Vandenberg Air Force Base is 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. An Air Force statement said that the test was not a response to recent North Korean actions, but shows that America's nuclear enterprise is "safe, secure, effective and ready to be able to deter, detect and defend against attacks on the United States and its allies." The ICBM was equipped with a test reentry vehicle, which officials said showed it traveled about 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The operation was conducted by a team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen from the 90th Missile Wing, along with the 576th Flight Test Squadron and the 30th Space Wing stationed at Vandenberg. Colonel Michael Hough; commander of the 30th Space Wing and launch decision authority, said in a statement : "These test launches require the highest-degree of technical competence and commitment at every level." • Air Force Global Strike Command has tested 299 Minuteman III ICBMs over the program's history. The Minuteman IIIs are the US military's only land-based ICBMs. Another one was tested earlier this year in February from Vandenberg. • The US military schedules four test-launches each fiscal year, with the actual schedule plotted out several years in advance -- so it's unrelated to recent events, Air Force Captain Michele Rollins, a spokesperson for the strike command, told CNBC. • Asked about possible US military action against North Korea, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reiterated on Tuesday that "all options are on the table" but the administration would not "broadcast what we're going to do." The focus for the administration remains on stopping North Korea's nuclear program and halting their aggression, Sanders said. • • • HOW REAL IS THE FANTASYLAND IN NORTH KOREA? On Wednesday, the UK's Telegraph reported that North Korea has condemned Britain and other nations that fought the Korean War under the banner of the United Nations as a "despicable burlesque of losers." State-run media has criticized a series of events organized by the South Korean government to mark the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that brought the three-year Korean War to an uneasy truce in 1953. Accusing the "South Korean puppet forces" of arranging a "confrontational farce," the Korea Central News Agency said the administration of Moon Jae-in had invited "mercenaries of the US and its satellite countries" to attend commemorative events in South Korea. "Meanwhile, they held such [a] despicable burlesque of sending 'friendship missions' made up of young people to Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands to let them visit mercenaries who took part in the Korean War and the families to read letters of 'thanks'," the KCNA report added. "This is a detestable farce of the losers aimed to cover up their sordid nature as provoker of the Korean War and paint the defeat as 'victory' and thus justify their confrontational racket against the DPRK." • The facts are that the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when around 75,000 North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel to attack the pro-Western Republic of Korea in an effort to unite the peninsula under Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un, the current North Korean dictator. The UN, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of the South and reversed the North's initial advances. With North Korea facing defeat, China intervened on the side of North Korea, until the conflict reached a stalemate at the pre-war border. An estimated five million civilians and soldiers died in the course of the war. • North Korea refers to the conflict as the Fatherland Liberation War and insists the South attacked the North with the connivance of the US and other nations. Pyongyang also insists that, despite the stalemate at the border that divides the peninsula, it was a victory for North Korea. The Telegraph said the NK government mouthpiece also took the opportunity to threaten the international community, warning that "If the US and the puppet forces ignite a war again, oblivious of the lesson of history, the army and people of the DPRK will mercilessly wipe out the enemies so that there would not be left even a single man to sign the surrender document." • • • DEAR READERS, the US and its Asian allies, especially South Korea and Japan, have good reason to be cautious and attempt to de-escalate Kim Jung-un's rush to long-range nuclear capability. He is a madman in charge of a Hermit Kingdom so secretive that nobody can be sure just how far advanced its nuclear program is. But, the need to deal with North Korea is excalating rapidly, and the only sure-fire fact is that the longer we wait to tamp down Kim Jung-un's fantastical ambitions, the bigger and more risk-laden the task will become. • American Thinker's Robert Arvay wrote on Wednesday : "It seems possible that plans are already being implemented to invade North Korea. I am not speaking of contingency plans; I am speaking of a date certain, a definite schedule, with step number one being the recent flyover of B1-B bombers near the North Korean border. I am not, of course, privy to any such information, but President Trump seemed supremely confident when he made his assurances that (inexact quote) "we will handle North Korea." Arvay says NK already have nuclear weapons and ICBMs "which pose as close to a clear and present danger as we dare to allow without taking decisive, pre-emptive action -- immediately. The only constraint now is feasibility. Are we able to attack and win? Can we accept the consequences of action versus those of inaction?" Arvay describes potentially cataclysmic consequences : "North Korea reputedly has thousands of artillery guns in caves, within firing range of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. Seoul is a huge metropolis with some eight million or more inhabitants....Those artillery weapons can be expected to deploy within minutes, to fire an overwhelming barrage, and to kill as many as a million people within the first hour of a major war. There can be no doubt that the Norks [the military jargon buzzword for North Korea] would do this in the first moment they perceived an existential threat." • But, Arvay raises another very real spectre -- Iran : "There is no doubt that even if the North Koreans would hold their fire, their Iranian allies are committed to bringing about worldwide chaos and destruction as part of their apocalyptic religious beliefs. The collusion between North Korea and Iran is deep and demonstrable and poses no less a threat, perhaps more so, than the crisis on the Korean peninsula." Arvay also raises the question of the gulags where North Korea operates political prisons among the most inhumane in recent history : "Satellite photos confirm the location of one mega-complex that holds a quarter-million people. Defectors and escapees report that the inmates are routinely tortured, starved, and subjected to abject humiliation on a large scale. Summary executions (murders) are commonplace....Do we have a right to interfere? Do we have an obligation to do so? What if we tried to help, but our good intentions resulted in a war with much greater suffering than is already the case?" • These are all pertinent questions and need public discussion. But, that is something not likely to happen in the US and Europe as long as the media and Progressive, globalist politicians are singlemindedly pursuing their effort to bring down President Trump and every vestige of citizen-based democratic society in the West. They do not even talk about the eight years lost by Barack Obama and his silence in the face of the growing North Korea threat to Asia and America. So, while the MSM and Progressives attack President Trump and leave all other critical issues to languish in the inbox of journalists, if there are any left in the US and Europe, it seems that we have now arrived at the critical moment, that we are finally being forced into action, regardless of the "collateral damage" that years of dithering by Obama and other Progressive leaders has created. Our own lives are at stake, and those of our children -- if not now, soon. No doubt South Koreans and Japanese justifiably fear the outcome. Fear? Dread would be a better descriptor. Ten years ago, the military and collateral costs of action against North Korea would have been far less. Today, the likely costs are far greater. • And lurking in the background are the Ayatollahs. Will Iran counterpunch if the US strikes North Korea? Is Israel the unspoken pawn that the "Axis of Evil" dangles, hidden in the sleeves of its flowing shiite robes? Iran and North Korea, and Russia, are inextricably bound together. Tomorrow we'll discuss Iran.

Democrat Likely Links to Fusion GPS Has Turned the Russia Collusion Story Back on Them

Sorry, dear readers, tonight I have to post early. If you haven't read yesterday's post, just spool down to it. • • • TODAY'S TRUTH IS THAT FUSION GPS AND THE DEMOCRATS SEEM TO BE THE REAL RUSSIAN COLLUDERS. After more than a year of daily / hourly Democrat and mainstream media bashing of President Trump and his team and family about their supposed "collusion" with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton, it now appears that it was the Democrats all along who were "colluding" with Russia to defeat Donald Trump. • • • VESELNITSKAYA'S MEETING WITH DONALD TRUMP JR. ZeroHedge reported last Friday that "a few weeks ago we wrote a post entitled 'How Hermitage Capital, Ziff Brothers and The Clinton Global Initiative Prompted the Trump Jr. Meeting.' " According to ZeroHedge, there is a long-standing feud between the founder of Hermitage Capital, William Browder, and the now infamous Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who met with Trump Jr. last summer. Browder, on the one hand, lobbied in favor of the Magnitsky Act after being expelled from Russia under controversial circumstances -- the Moscow-based accountant serving as hedge fund manager Browder's tax attorney allegedly uncovered a $230 million tax-refund ripoff being looted by Russian agents from the Russian government, refused to back down on the finding and was subsequently arrested, beaten, and murdered in a Russian prison; his death was the basis for the sanctions on Russian thugs enacted through the Magnitsky Act -- while Veselnitskaya has made it her mission to repeal the Magnitsky Act. • So, ZeroHedge says that when Democrats decided to have Browder testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, they undoubtedly expected Browder, an anti-Russian witness, to confirm what had been front page news in the US for over a year : "that Russian intelligence was behind the Summer 2016 meeting between Veselnitskaya and Trump Jr. and that the meeting really had nothing to do with the Magnitsky Act but rather was a carefully-plotted, nefarious attempt to collude with the Trump campaign to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton." • The Democrats got a big surprise and have been shocked into silence. Browder failed to deliver for them. Instead, Browder delivered the exact opposite message from what the Democrats had hoped for -- he confirmed that the Trump Jr. meeting was entirely linked to Veselnitskaya's mission of repealing the Magnitsky Act. That isn't terribly shocking news, BUT, Browder offered an even more interesting piece of information, one that has been completely ignored by the mainstream media, and it casts the entire Democrat structure of the Trump / Ruissia collusion story into outer darkness. Browder confirmed that Fusion GPS, now known as the infamous firm behind the 'Trump Dossier,' was actually being paid by -- the Russians !!! • Here is the relevant exchange between Senator Lindsey Graham and William Browder, as published by ZeroHedge : "GRAHAM : You believe that Fusion GPS should of registered under FARA, because they were acting on the behalf of the Russians? BROWDER : That’s correct. GRAHAM : So, I just want to absorb that for a moment. The group that did the dossier on President Trump hired this British spy, wound up getting it to the FBI. You believe they were working for the Russians? BROWDER : And in the Spring and Summer of 2016 they were receiving money indirectly from a senior Russian government official. GRAHAM : Okay. So, these are the people that were trying to undermine Donald Trump by showing the nefarious ties to Russia. Is that what you’re saying? BROWDER : Well, what I’m saying with 100% certainty is that they were working to undermine the Magnitsky Act and the timing of that. GRAHAM : But, the Fusion GPS produced apparently, as they hired a guy to look into Trump? BROWDER : Yes. GRAHAM : Right. BROWDER : Correct." • ZeroHedge summarizes : "it does seem weird that if your sole mission in life is to 'collude' with the Trump administration to defeat Hillary Clinton that you would simultaneously fund research intended to undermine the Trump campaign and then share that information with the FBI." • Excellent point. • • • KELLYANNE CONWAY SPEAKS OUT ON RUSSIA. Christian Post contributor Anugrah Kumar wrote on Monday that Kellyanne Conway, senior advisor to President Trump, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said that while media was obsessed with the "ridiculous Russian collusion delusion" about the 2016 presidential election, they should have looked at the left-wing firm Fusion GPS, which is allegedly responsible for the Trump-Russia dossier, which is full of "falsities and lies." Kellyanne, who never minces words, told Fox : "Look what's happened with this ridiculous Russian collusion delusion. You see all these journalists who built entire TV sets and lower thirds and screaming graphics and breathless coverage now slinking away this week...from Russian collusion coverage, why, because you have everybody from Jared Kushner giving his -- meeting with the Senate and giving his public statement....We were promised the next Watergate. We don't even have water polo. We don't even have watermelon. It's so ridiculous and the only thing I can see happening with Russia right now is this Fusion GPS matter....Somebody's being paid by the Russians to compile a damaging dossier on Donald Trump, again, filled with falsities and lies." • Kellyanne was referring to the dossier revealed in January that was allegedly commissioned by the Hillary Clinton-backed firm Fusion GPS and paid for by a large contributor to the Hillary campaign. The dossier was an unverified intelligence dossier with salacious allegations about Trump, and it was referenced by James Comey when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committtee this summer as the reason he began the Trump / Russia collusion investigation. The unverified dossier is seen by most experts as a fake document full of lies. • • • FUSION GPS AND RUSSIA. In her Wall Street Journal column that we discussed in Monday's blog, Kim Strassel points out that "the exact time Fusion was working with the Russians, the firm had also hired a former British spy, Christopher Steele, to dig up dirt on Mr. Trump. Mr. Steele compiled his material, according to his [Trump Dossier] memos, based on allegations from unnamed Kremlin insiders and other Russians. Many of the claims sound eerily similar to the sort of 'oppo' [former Soviet counterintelligence officer] [Rinat] Akhmetshin peddled. [Akhmetshin attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump, Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner.]" • Strassel notes that Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson "is tight with Democrats. His current attorney, Joshua Levy, used to work in Congress as counsel to no less than Chuck Schumer," according to Strassel. • In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Heritage Capital founder Bill Browder's prepared remarks said : "Veselnitskaya, through [US law firm] Baker Hostetler, hired Glenn Simpson of the firm Fusion GPS to conduct a smear campaign against me and Sergei Magnitsky in advance of congressional hearings on the Global Magnitsky Act. He contacted a number of major newspapers and other publications to spread false information that Sergei Magnitsky was not murdered, was not a whistle-blower, and was instead a criminal. They also spread false information that my presentations to lawmakers around the world were untrue. As part of Veselnitskaya's lobbying, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Chris Cooper of the Potomac Group, was hired to organize the Washington, DC-based premiere of a fake documentary about Sergei Magnitsky and myself. This was one the best examples of Putin's propaganda." • When the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier asked Fusion GPS to provide records about the financing of the dossier, it refused to cooperate, according to the New York Post. • In a statement to the New York Times, Trump Jr. said he had met the Russian lawyer at the request of an acquaintance from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which his father took to Moscow. Here is Donald Trump Jr's account : "After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton. Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information." He added that the lawyer's real intent appeared to be adoption of Russian children and the Magnitsky Act in the US, which blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers, adding : "It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting." • The Daily Beast wrote last week that a surprising news report "in the sprawling, surging octopus of the Russiagate investigation have reintroduced the probability that we are much closer to the beginning than to the end of the scandal....on Friday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein of California demonstrated their impatience with Glenn Simpson, founder of the opposition research company Fusion GPS : 'Glenn Simpson, through his attorney, has declined to voluntarily attend Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing regarding compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Therefore, a subpoena has been issued to compel his attendance. Simpson’s attorney has asserted that his client will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to the subpoena.' What is it that Simpson knows about that he has decided to take the risk of becoming a target of major voices of both the Republican and Democratic parties?" The Daily Beast says Fusion GPS looms as a crossroads in the inquiry into Russian meddling, adding one new bit of information : "In 2013, well-connected Russian citizen Denis Katsyv turned to his attorney, Veselnitskaya, in order to refute money-laundering charges brought by then-US Attorney Preet Bharara. Veselnitskaya, not licensed in the United States, hired American law firm BakerHostetler. BakerHostetler hired Fusion GPS to develop information to help defend Katsyv and his enterprise, Prevezon Holdings. The entanglement also included Fusion GPS investigating information about principals in the Magnitsky Act of 2012. The now controversial meeting in June 2016 at Trump Tower, including Donald Trump Jr. and Veselnitskaya, is said to have turned on a discussion of the Magnitsky Act. There is new information that Veselnitskaya has in the past represented the Russian intelligence service FSB." All the Russiagate elements are unlikely to be explained in the near future, but says the Daily Beast : "it would be a satisfying start just to have clarity about the striking role played by Fusion GPS in the 2016 election." • • • FUSION GPS AND VENEZUELA. American Thinker wrote on Friday that Fusion GPS is deeply in bed with Venezuelan Chavista thugs. Monica Showalter asks in the article : "Was Fusion GPS or its sleazy Venezuelan client, Derwick Associates, behind the thuggish break-in into the apartment of blogger Alek Boyd? It's a question that should be asked, given the other activities coming to light in congressional testimony about this opposition research firm, run by two leftist former reporters from the Wall Street Journal named Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch. Testimony has revealed that this pair, in addition to being behind the 'golden showers' fake dossier on President Trump, were also paid by boliburguesa oligarchs made rich by their affiliation with the Venezuelan government [and] known as Derwick Associates. The latter have been accused in sworn testimony of absolutely filthy opposition research tactics that steps over the line of both ethics and probably the law. They tried to stop Human Rights Foundation President Thor Halvorssen (born in Venezuela but of Norwegian descent) from exposing Derwick, according to his testimony this week, and then tried to falsely smear him as a pervert and criminal. They also threatened Wall Street Journal reporter Jose de Cordoba and got him to stop reporting on the multi-billion-dollar thievery of Derwick....Alek Boyd in his blogging has reported that UK's intelligence service, MI-6, got the London cops to stop investigating his case of clear political violence -- it was a break-in at his London apartment in 2012 with clear threats to his children. That raises questions about Fusion's murky ties to MI-6, which had an ex-agent cook up the phony Trump file on "golden showers." Is MI-6 compromised? It sure looks like a pattern." • Those are several very interesting questions from Showalter. Showalter also says that when she was at American Media Institute, her editor didn't want to touch any story about Fusion GPS's ties to Chavista thugs because he knew how tangled and sleazy it was going to be, as well as becoming a huge drain on resources. So, Showalter has written small articless about Fusion GPS and Venezuela -- BUT, Showalter says that "a Google search will only turn up Berwick references, not Derwick ones under a search of my name. I am very suspicious of my inablity to find any of my past pieces on this issue to link." • Showalter says Fusion GPS is also 'behind the smearing of Sergio Magnitsky, who was William Browder's Moscow tax attorney. • And, according to Showalter, Fusion GPS was behind the counter-smear attempts put on by Planned Parenthood after activists caught them red-handed on film trying to sell baby parts, and was behind the digging in the trash cans of Mitt Romney 2012 campaign donor Frank VanderSloot of Idaho, and attempting to smear him. • If Showalter is right about even a part of this, we can only hope that Senator Grassley will persist until he gets to the bottom of the numerous allegations about Fusion GPS. If these kinds of activities are proven, Fusion GPS lives in the deepest part of the Swamp and should be sought out and eliminated by the FBI and the Justice Department after Senator Grassley provides the background material. • • • DEAR READERS, the Democrats must be in a real state of shock over Fusion GPS -- the Daily Caller last week wrote an article about Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley "blasting Democrats" for shutting down a Committee hearing focused on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, particularly on the opposition research firm behind the infamous Trump dossier, Fusion GPS. The Daily Caller explains that by deploying the Senate’s two hour rule, the Democrats can keep committee meetings from happening beyond the first two hours of the upper chamber’s work day. Senator Grassley was not pleased : "Over the last few weeks, my Democrat colleagues have delayed and blocked Judiciary Committee hearings, shuttered a national security briefing and now cut off a hearing about interference in our political system by agents working for foreign powers.” The hearing was expected to include as witnesses Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Hinckley, Assistant Director of the FBI Counter Intelligence Division E.W. “Bill” Priestap, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management Mr. William Browder. This was the third time the hearing was rescheduled because of the Democrats’ procedural blocking. Grassley said : “I don’t know if the minority is intentionally trying to block testimony that may be critical of a firm behind the unverified Trump dossier, but I’ll bet two bits that had Paul Manafort or Donald Trump, Jr. appeared at today’s hearing, it would not have been prematurely shut down. The Democrat leadership is playing politics, plain and simple. But our national security and our democratic systems are no game. So we will reconvene tomorrow to get more of the information we need.” • Republican Senator Lindsey Graham isn't too happy, either. After his questioning of Bill Browder, Graham tweeted : "What we learned today is that the Russians were behind the organization that tried to get dirt on Trump." • And it doesn't stop there. Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, whose Russia-connected firm produced the Trump dossier, was asked to testify in front of the Committee last week but allegedly refused to appear unless the Committee promised not to ask the question about who paid for the Trump dossier. He has since agreed to a transcribed interview. Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein released a joint statement : “Last week, we subpoenaed Mr. Simpson after he initially declined to voluntarily cooperate with the Committee’s request for information and asserted that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights at a public hearing. However, since that time, Mr. Simpson, through his attorney, has agreed to provide a transcribed interview and requested that the subpoena compelling his attendance at Wednesday’s hearing be waived. We’ve reached an agreement on this request and have withdrawn the subpoena. As with other witnesses who have agreed to provide interviews, this agreement does not constitute a waiver of Mr. Simpson’s rights nor prejudice the committee’s right to compel his testimony in the future. Our goal remains obtaining substantive information from witnesses to advance our oversight work and get answers the American people deserve." • It should be noted that transcribed testimony is usually done around pre-submitted questions and leaves very little room for follow-up questions. • President Trump has weighed in on the Fusion GPS matter using Twitter : "One of the things that has been lost in the politics of this situation is that the Russians collected and spread negative information.....about then candidate Trump....So why doesn't Fake News report this? Witch Hunt! Purposely phony reporting." • As Senator Grassley says, this is not a game. It is about the integrity of America's security systems and election processes. The Democrats can run, but they can't hide from Fusion GPS. Finally, America's constitutional procedures will uncover the Russia / Democrat collusion, if these allegations are true. • And, while we heap deserved scorn on those Republicans in Congress whose goal seems to be to get rid of President Trump because the Swamp has always been easy pickings for them, we should remember that there are honorable House members and Senators like Chuck Grassley, who love America and work hard every day to serve and protect the Republic and her Constitution.