This post was published at Jason Goodman
Trump Responds To Comey Testimony
Earlier today we noted that CNN, and its anonymous sources, seemingly made a ‘mistake’ by reporting that Comey would offer testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee tomorrow refuting Trump’s prior claims that he had been told on three separate occasions by the former FBI Director that he was not personally under investigation. Unfortunately, at least for CNN, Comey’s opening comments released earlier today confirmed that Trump’s original statements were, in fact, perfectly accurate (see “Looks Like CNN’s Anonymous Sources Got This One Wrong“).
Marc Kasowitz, the lawyer representing President Trump in the Russia probe, has now released Trump’s thoughts on Comey’s opening statements saying he feels “completely and totally vindicated.”
“The president is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russia probe. The President feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda.”
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jun 7, 2017.
The American Catastrophe
This is my quarterly call for your financial support. Remember, this is your website.
This website was launched 5 years and 4 months ago on New Year’s Eve, 2011. Here is the inaugural column: The inaugural column remains an accurate description of the American Catastrophe.
According to AWeber, the service that sends out the announcements of new postings, 1,840 notices of new postings have been sent during the 5 years and 4 months. That comes to 345 per year or practically one per day.
This is a heavy workload. It explains why I cannot respond to the many requests to read and comment on the books, articles, flash drives, and solutions to problems that you send to me, provide advice, participate in an event as an activist or speaker, or grant every interview request. I can write for you, or I could set up as a financial adviser, or as an editor and literary agent, or I could go on the speaking circuit, but I cannot do all of these things.
This post was published at Paul Craig Roberts on June 8, 2017.
Biggest Middle East Ports Shun Qatar as Saudis Tighten Isolation
The biggest Middle East oil and container ports banned all vessels sailing to and from Qatar from using their facilities amid a diplomatic crisis gripping the world’s main energy-exporting region.
Saudi Arabian and Bahraini authorities closed off all of their ports to Qatari-flagged vessels or ships traveling to or coming from the Persian Gulf state, according to a notice posted on the website of Inchcape Shipping Services Tuesday. Container and oil terminals in the United Arab Emirates also closed off traffic to any ships touching Qatar, according to separate statements from three port operators.
The three Persian Gulf countries and Egypt severed ties with Qatar Monday citing its support for regional rival Iran and for extremist groups. The dispute pits two of OPEC’s largest oil producers — Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. — against the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas and further disrupts stability in the region. The shipping restrictions risk hurting shipments of oil and refined products from the world’s biggest energy exporting region.
Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast is home to the port of Ras Tanura, which state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. says is the biggest crude terminal in the world. Jebel Ali port, the region’s biggest container terminal, will be restricted from Tuesday until further notice, its operator Dubai’s DP World Ltd. said in an emailed statement. In the U.A.E., DP World operates Jebel Ali along with Dubai’s Mina Rashid and Mina Al Hamriya ports, according to its website.
Government-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. closed its crude and refined-product ports to any vessels to or from Qatar, according to a notice obtained by Bloomberg News. The port at Fujairah, a main oil transit and refined product hub, said Monday it was closed to Qatar-linked traffic.
This post was published at bloomberg
What Do ‘Think Tanks’ Think About?
‘Russiagate’ WEST RIVER, MARYLAND – We’re back at our post – watching… reading… trying to connect the dots. And we begin by asking: What do ‘think tanks’ think about? The answer in a minute.
First, there is a dust-up in the Washington, D. C., area. ‘Russiagate,’ it is called. As near as we can make out, some people think the Trump team had or has illegal or inappropriate contacts with the Russian government.
***
It’s all very obvious, if one looks closely… Putin has inundated the brains of US voters with his evil Putin rays from his redoubt in Moscow, causing them to make the wrong choice.
This knowledge, such as it is, has apparently been obtained by illegal or inappropriate leaks of information gotten by illegal or inappropriate eavesdropping by government agencies doing illegal or inappropriate things for illegal or inappropriate reasons.
Does it matter one way or another? Probably not. The insiders are firmly in control no matter which way it turns out. What we have here is a fight among insiders – a scrap over who gets to rip us off and how.
Mr. Trump has proven to be flexible and compliant. He is willing to go along with practically every scam and bamboozle in the Deep State repertoire. But much of the establishment finds him unreliable, embarrassing, and vulnerable.
This post was published at Acting-Man on June 8, 2017.
NATO Cracks: Germany Withdraws Troops From Turkey’s Incirlik Airbase
Two days after Germany’s foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel – standing next to his Turkish colleague Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara – said his “country has no choice but to begin the process of pulling its forces out of Turkey’s Incirlik air force base” as the Turkish government will not allow all German lawmakers to visit troops there, Germany followed through on its threat and on Wednesday, the German Cabinet backed the withdrawal of the country’s troops from Incirlik air base in Southern Turkey.
***
The decision was announced on Wednesday by Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen after a lengthy and often bitter diplomatic impasse over the visits, raising friction between the NATO allies and according to some, putting the fate of the alliance in jeopardy.
Germany now plans to redeploy the 280 military personnel stationed at Incirlik, along with surveillance planes and refueling jets to an air base in Jordan. However, it stressed it wants to minimize any disruption to the US-led coalition operation against ISIS. In light of the complete failure in diplomatic relations between the two member nations, that may be problematic.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jun 7, 2017.
North Korea Fires Multiple Ballistic Missiles
The day before “Berserker Thursday” with its UK elections, Comey testimony and the ECB decision, was supposed to be quiet. Instead we had the first domestic Iran terrorism in decades, Iran vowing revenge on Saudi Arabia, rising Qatar crisis tensions, South Korea telling the US it can go to hell, Syria threatening to strike US forces, the biggest crude crash in months, Germany pulling out of Turkey, Turkey approving the deployment of troops to Qatar, and stocks of course finishing the day higher.
And now, to top it all off, moments ago North Korea fired not one but multiple ballistic missiles, confirming the earlier story from Japan’s Asahi.
" – , "(2) 4 # # pic.twitter.com/I0WZtMypnS
— – (@yonhaptweet) June 7, 2017
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jun 7, 2017.
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