The United States kills Quds Commander Qasem Soleimani

[Chester]

Posted by Tintin (here)
On the Boeing 'crash'/sabotage
On the face of it and remembering that the powers that are never do coincidences an immediate hunch might be that an antagonistic actor, for example Israel, could well have been behind that. That is admittedly conjecture, but, may have some legs.

My list:

#1 - Though I don't believe in coincidences, it is within the possibility set that this was an accident. But there's a complication arising. Iran, so far, is refusing to send the black boxes to Boeing (the plane manufacturer). Who could blame them? Boeing is a US company. They have a "buyable" argument not to trust Boeing. But I can see another reason not to send the black boxes. And that is if #3 is in play...

#2 - The US and/or a US proxy using a technology that has never (yet) been used and may be hard to prove - done to send a message. Understand, I add to this "messaging" the fact that simultaneously several earthquakes also occurred in Iran, one near a nuclear plant. Another "coincidence?"

#3 - Iran did it themselves. Don't count this out as an act by Iran. Iran may have suspected some of the plane occupants were 'enemies of the state' and wanted to send a message to one or more spy agencies. They may have considered several factors including a perceived "messaging win" to blame the US (or Israel or Saudi Arabia). Sometimes two or three birds can be killed with one stone.

[Tintin]

Posted by alexius (here)

The Talpiot Program: The key to understand Israel's power.
Unit 8200

I love you all. Blessings

Short video (2min31sec) about Israel’s Intel Arc Processor presented by Brendon O’Connell:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bqy-AUb5hWw

Thanks for that contribution alexius.

Yes, and as a related piece of interesting viewing very closely interlinked to this ongoing situation, this very well made documentary:

Zero Days Unit8200 (Talpiot Program) - 2016.
Running time: 1:53:51

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6TmklVM6U0g

[Gracy]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1214598750674571267

https://twitter.com/davereaboi/statu...99490335911936

I did some digging on the author of that tweet, David Reaboi, and came across some interesting results.

Reaboi is "Vice President for Strategic Communications at the Center for Security Policy", a Washington D.C. based think tank. I found it interesting that he coordinates messaging, here is his page there:
https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy...._david_reaboi/

Now heres where it gets interesting. It looks like CSP (Center for Security Policy) is, surprise surprise, a neoconservative think tank, with such prominent neocon members from Bush's Iraq War 2 era as founder Frank Gaffney, and others:

Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney and John Bolton.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Center_f...y#Center_staff

Here's another interesting connection. Reaboi is also site founder of a group called Iran Truth (IranTruth.org). Here's a page that shows the tyoes of articles written there. Anything BUT down the middle investigative journalism:
https://irantruth.org/tag/ad/

A caption of one of his pieces, obviously not a fan or the Iran Deal:

Visit Iran: America’s Newest Ally

A deal that strengthens the theocratic regime in Tehran makes us complicit in its crimes against women, homosexuals and political prisoners.

Here's yet another interesting tidbit. A piece focused on Reaboi from yet another Iran regime change oriented group:
https://english.mojahedin.org/newsen...deal-with-iran

Who is the group the author is writing on behalf of? I didn't recognize the "People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran" (PMOI) on the cover page, but upon clicking the author's name it all became very clear, and quite familiar:

It's actually (PMOI/MEK). MEK ring any bells?
https://english.mojahedin.org/a/098e...4-80029cb617ea

Which brought me full circle, back to the initial article I came across in starting this lil odyssey. An Iran regime change group called "California Society for Democracy in Iran". Snips from the piece:

The participants called for tougher sanctions on Tehran, underscoring that the only solution for the Iran crisis is a regime change by Iranian people and the organized resistance. They expressed support for the 10-point plan articulated by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian resistance's President-elect.

Remind anybody of CIA backed Juan Guido in Venezuela?

The convention urged the Obama administration to uphold the US commitment to safety and security of thousands of Iranian dissidents at Liberty, members of the principal Iranian opposition movement the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK), through returning them to Ashraf, their home of 26 years.

And there we have (PMOI/MEK), I had missed that first time around.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...220145771.html

So who is (PMOI/MEK)? It's a complex history, and a violent history, but their overall goal for decades has been regime change in Iran. Check them out.

Bottom line is we need to be mindful of who we are listening to, and what their agendas might be.

[Iyakum]

A question I'm asking myself.

Iran is unable to attack the US from Iran, the US is too far away for that. But Iran could go on to do pinpricks on US military facilities, as the rocket attacks yesterday proved. Now what's Trump's target? Why doesn't he pull the troops out of Iraq? Can it be that Trump wants the death of Soleymani to keep Iran from attacking US targets in Iraq?

If my assumption is correct ... (which need not be). Then it could be that Trump will not withdraw the US troops. Trump would further provoke Iran to attack US targets in Iraq. Sometime or somehow Iraq will have to answer that. If I interpret the situation correctly, Israel's closest ally would be Iran's next target. So the provocation remains. The answer will follow, Trump, Netanyahu and possibly Iraq who has no choice but to answer it, all go to war together against Iran, ...

I suspect that Trump and the United States will not attack Iran on their own. I don't know if the US is militarily strong enough to attack and hold Iran on its own. Because if this should happen, a change of power will naturally also be sought. Because the EU will certainly not take part in the war. So Trump has no choice but to provoke the mullahs. He wants to replace Iran and the mullahs' regime. But for that he needs allies who are already on the way.

As I said, that's just a guess. Provocations are part of war games like the weapons and soldiers who have to play along ... unfortunately.

[silvanelf]

Posted by Tintin (here)
On the Boeing 'crash'/sabotage
On the face of it and remembering that the powers that are never do coincidences an immediate hunch might be that an antagonistic actor, for example Israel, could well have been behind that. That is admittedly conjecture, but, may have some legs.

Some more details -- the emphasis is mine:

Hours after Iran had launched the missiles a Ukrainian airliner crashed three minutes after it had taken off from Tehran airport. All 176 people on board died. The passengers were mostly from Iran, Canada and the Ukraine. The airplane was a three years old Boeing 737-800 NG operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, the country's flag carrier.

Video shows the burning airliner coming down on a glide path. Photos from the crash side show shrapnel like impacts on the fuselage. The evidence is consistent with an uncontained turbine disc rupture but other potential causes can no be ruled out. The incident will be investigated like all other airliner crashes.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/0...luff.html#more

[edina]

Posted by Gracy May (here)
Bottom line is we need to be mindful of who we are listening to, and what their agendas might be.

Does this now mean that the many, many people who are expressing the viewpoint of the woman in the tweets are no longer legitimate?

And therefore ought to be dismissed out of hand?

Does this also apply to the women from My Stealthy Freedom?

Iran has claimed that they too, are MEK, and that is the reason they are beaten, sent to prison, and treated as terrorists.

There's been a point of view shared in this thread by Elijah J. Magnier, who self identifies with what he calls "The Axis of Resistance". (What the Freedom Fighters of Iran, and other ME countries, call the "mullahs regime".)

Many people who read Moon of Alabama also follow Elijah and are informed by his point of view.

That's how I discovered him, in the comments section of Moon of Alabama. His blog posts are very insightful to the mindset of the people who consider themselves part of the Axis of Resistance.

The logic, to understand and take into account the bias of people when considering the overall picture applies to all sources, in my opinion.

It's an educational process to learn situational awareness, when looking at information.

There have been so many people expressing the woman's point of view.

And have been expressing it since the 80's.

I feel it's an important voice to hear, and THANK YOU Bill, for sharing those tweets.

[T Smith]

Below is President Trump's address to the nation. This suggests to me Iran's response was theater, that the United States will not retaliate (other than ramping up sanctions), and neither party wants to escalate hot-war tensions.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LLTDTVEqOXo

[Satori]

Posted by T Smith (here)
Below is President Trump's address to the nation. This suggests to me Iran's response was theater, that the United States will not retaliate (other than ramping up sanctions), and neither party wants to escalate hot-war tensions.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/specia...-iran-general/

The video is dated 1/3/2020 and is not the address Trump gave to the Nation today.

[edina]

Today's address is posted on Trump's twitter feed, https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/statu...46620053184513

It hasn't been posted in YouTube video on the White House YT channel yet.

President Trump Delivers Remarks

I feel T Smith's comments probably still apply, most likely he heard today's address but inadvertently posted a previous one here.

(Oops, already corrected within T Smith's post)

Please feel free to delete this one, it's redundant.

[T Smith]

Posted by Satori (here)

Posted by T Smith (here)
Below is President Trump's address to the nation. This suggests to me Iran's response was theater, that the United States will not retaliate (other than ramping up sanctions), and neither party wants to escalate hot-war tensions.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/specia...-iran-general/

The video is dated 1/3/2020 and is not the address Trump gave to the Nation today.

Noted, and thank you; I inserted the correct video...

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Yep. My comments apply to the address today, 1/8. I just clicked on the wrong video and inserted. I made the changes above as well. Thanks Edina!

[Gracy]

Hi edina.

Well first off, I can only speak to the people in this one tweet. The author of that tweet (David Reabol) is up to his eyebrows in groups dedicated to Iranian regime change, and I simply pointed that fact out.

Take it for what you will in that single case.

Are there others? I would certainly imagine so, so I went pecking around again. The very next group you laid out for us all to have a look at was "My Stealthy Freedom". Sounds innocuous enough, and it mentions freedom in the title so what could possibly be the problem?

"My Stealthy Freedom", championed by a parent group called National Democratic Institute (NDI).

Masih Alinejad, Women’s Rights Activist, Author and Journalist (Iran), who is the founder of the ‘My Stealthy Freedom’ campaign in Iran to resist compulsory wearing of the hijab.

https://www.ndi.org/our-stories/ndis...ance-democracy


So (NDI), with Mr. and Mrs. Pro Establishment themselves Joe and Mika there as the head celebs. Who is "National Democratic Institute" (NDI)?

In 2005, Venezuelanalysis.com reported an interview with former CIA operative Philip Agee[1] In the interview, Agee described some of the background of how he understood the purpose behind the establishment of agencies such as the NDI.

According to Agee, the CIA had in the past supported "brutal military dictatorships in all of the Cono Sur [Southern Cone]—Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and of course, in Chile with Pinochet". However a "process of new thinking began in the upper echelons of the makers of US foreign policy, the new thinking being that these military dictatorships, with all the repression and the disappearances and death squads and so forth, might not be the best way to preserve US interests in Latin America, or other areas for that matter".

Agee goes on to claim that the "new thinking was that the preservation of US interests could better be achieved through the election of democratic governments formed by political elites who identify with the political class in the United States". These were not the popular forces, but the traditional political classes in Latin America, such as the ‘Oligarchies.’

Agee continues by saying "So the new American program, which became known as “Project Democracy,” was adopted and United States policy would seek to promote free, fair, transparent democratic elections but in such a way that it would assure that power went to the elites and not to the people".

https://powerbase.info/index.php/Nat...ffairs#History

This group runs shoulder to shoulder with another similar group,
"International Republican Institute" (IRI):

The International Republican Insitute (IRI) is one of the components of the National Endowment for Democracy by which it seeks to influence political outcomes and civic society in lesser developed countries around the world[1]. Its efforts are to channel politics and civic society to promote a neoliberal economic and political model; NED/IRI also engage in activities previously performed by the CIA.[2] IRI is mainly funded by U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy.[3] IRI is loosely affiliated to the Republican party – which doesn’t provide any of its funding.[4]

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index. php/International_Republican_Institute

In turn, there is also another group running shoulder to shoulder with this former two, maybe we all will recognize them better by their recent meddling around in Venezuela. (I'm quite sure Hervé
would from his extensive research into that one)

"National Endowment for Democracy" (NED):

ORIGINS

In the aftermath of World War II, faced with threats to our democratic allies and without any mechanism to channel political assistance, U.S. policy makers resorted to covert means, secretly sending advisers, equipment, and funds to support newspapers and parties under siege in Europe. When it was revealed in the late 1960’s that some American PVO’s were receiving covert funding from the CIA to wage the battle of ideas at international forums, the Johnson Administration concluded that such funding should cease, recommending establishment of “a public-private mechanism” to fund overseas activities openly.

On Capitol Hill, Congressman Dante Fascell (D, FL) introduced a bill in April, 1967 to create an Institute of International Affairs, an initiative that would authorize overt funding for programs to promote democratic values. Although the bill did not succeed, it helped lead to discussions within the Administration and on Capitol Hill concerning how to develop new approaches to the ideological competition then taking place between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

Might we see a trend with these three sister groups? All taking over for former CIA operations, taking these operations from covert, to overt.

How do we know for sure these groups are intimately connected?

NED, NDI, IRI, CIPE AND SOLIDARITY CENTER WELCOME INCREASED FUNDING FROM CONGRESS

NED and our four core grantees are deeply gratified that the U.S. Congress has shown strong bipartisan support for our work with a substantial increase in NED’s annual appropriation.

https://www.ned.org/

Now to be clear this doesn't necessarily mean everyone associated with these groups a bad actor, no more than it necessarily means every intelligence operative is a bad actor.

Even nefarious groups have good people, and also good people can easily get caught up in things they don't understand, or even want to understand because said group is supporting their efforts, but don't you think it's important to at least be aware of such covert operations operating under the guise of freedom and democracy, right under our very noses?

And how they use people, media, social media, and much much more, to further their aims?

[edina]

Am I to take it then, that you feel we ought to be dismissive of what everyday people on the street are expressing.

People are saying the same of the Hong Kong protests, calling it a color revolution.

And the same is said of the French Yellow Vest's protests.

I think my point is that anyone's point of view can be debunked or tied in some manner to the CIA, or some other "nefarious" organization.

Does that make the experiences that people are describing any less valid?

One of the ways I thought of to help me to discern in this environment of the "fog" of information war, because it's happening in all directions from many factions, is I look to see what and how the Western media covers it.

The protests supported by Western media are probably more likely to be what the status quo, controlling elite, George Soros, Open Society organization paid for protests want the people to see.

The ones not covered by Western media, or covered in a negative light, may be more genuine.

What's genuine here and what's not?

I think this is going to be the crises of the everyday person on the street in coming months and years.

Did Iran shut down all outside communication during the recent protests?

Were people killed, during that process? (About 1500 people killed, the media is not covering it.)

Are women beaten and imprisoned because they have the audacity to chose NOT to wear a hijab, in Iran?

It's probably also helpful for people to get a better sense of the long history of the situation?

There are a lot of "experts" here, maybe their information can be helpful in unpacking the enormity of it all.

[Bluegreen]

Re: Posts #163 - #171

This is some good work Gracy
Your voice and respect for others are appreciated
edina - same thing
Thank you for posting

[mountain_jim]

I have not had time to listen to speech - did he really say all this?

(and I welcome fact checking on his claims but I remember the pallets of cash quite well - also saw videos where pallets were stored in Red Cross warehouses later.)

I've always wondered about those pallets of cash and expect more Obama-corruption-related information to come out related to that at some point.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...tration-video/

President Trump addressed the nation Wednesday morning following the Iranian missile attacks that hit US facilities in Iraq.

The President called out Barack Obama for the sham nuke deal that gave Iran $150 billion.

Trump also blasted Obama for the additional $1.8 billion in cash that he delivered to Iran in unmarked cargo planes on wooden pallets.

President Trump said the missiles that were fired last night were funded by the Obama Administration.

The garbage nuke deal wasn’t worth the paper is was written on (Obama never required Iranian leaders to sign the nuke deal).

The Obama Admin admitted that the Iran nuke deal wasn’t “an executive agreement” or even a “signed document.”

The Iranians laughed at Obama and fired off ballistic missiles many times breaching the so-called nuke deal.

Iran shipped 30 tons of yellow cake (uranium ore) to a facility in Isfahan last January, which if enriched could provide material to make atomic bombs.

[shaberon]

The casualty reports were probably saber rattling.

This, however, from NPR, represents what happened to at least five buildings at Ain al Asad:






As for the plane, at first:

Kashani, the public relations official at Imam Khomeini International Airport, said the crash had not affected traffic at the port and that all other flights were taking place according to schedule.

But by this point most of the world is voluntarily avoiding the region.

[Chester]

Looks like it is all simmering down. If so, this will go down as a Trump positive for a majority of those who go out and vote in 300 days. I, personally, will only be pleased if soon there's a plan for withdrawal of troops but I am also a realist and know this will depend on several parties feeling comfortable that Iraq (and not Iran) will decide Iraq's destiny.

[edina]

Posted by Sammy (here)
Looks like it is all simmering down. If so, this will go down as a Trump positive for a majority of those who go out and vote in 300 days. I, personally, will only be pleased if soon there's a plan for withdrawal of troops but I am also a realist and know this will depend on several parties feeling comfortable that Iraq (and not Iran) will decide Iraq's destiny.

I would like to include that Iran doesn't get weaponized nuclear technology.

I feel people underestimate how dangerous that would be.

If Trump is doing what I think he is doing, all of this, plus the freedom for the Iranian people and stability in the region may be within reach.

[apokalypse]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TG3hw1fNQJA

Ben is spot on comes to Iran thing, i thought there gonna be a war and middle east topic are not my thing but he said days ago and research for myself Iran doesn't want go to war also Trump aswell, media overhype this **** and they want a war.

there's a theory go around Iran want to kill Sole guy for various reason...

[shaberon]

Posted by Sammy (here)
Looks like it is all simmering down. If so, this will go down as a Trump positive for a majority of those who go out and vote in 300 days. I, personally, will only be pleased if soon there's a plan for withdrawal of troops but I am also a realist and know this will depend on several parties feeling comfortable that Iraq (and not Iran) will decide Iraq's destiny.

Yeah, the "moment" seems to have gone by; I doubt any side really wants open widescale conflict.

The more reliable reports seem to be saying the air bases were given enough warning that everyone could go in the bomb shelter.

The thing is they have shown pretty accurate destruction, at range, at either a speed that is too fast, or, with their own jamming equipment, and air defense failed to do anything, with advance notice. Two of twenty-two missiles failed to detonate, but that still makes 20/22 hits at the two sites.

Since they are prepared to use this, it seems to me that military pressure is not exactly diminishing. Apparently Baghdad HQ is now in Kuwait. One of the Syrian posts was abandoned.

The Syrian adventure showed the "intelligence war" or "Spring conflict" no longer works, and this latest exchange makes "show of force" take a serious beating. I am not sure what this means to voters, but, it is not a grand future for Unipolar Dominance.

[ExomatrixTV]