Pompeo is as credible as Cheney

[malaise]

That is all.

Loud scream

[RKP5637]

1. Yep, united sleaze, deception, lies and corruption are their best traits. n/t

[malaise]

3. I heard a good point raised

A Japanese shipment is attacked at the same time the Japanese PM is visiting Iran - absolute bullshit.

[RKP5637]

4. Yep! Bolton, Pompano and tRump want a war at any cost IMO. ... feeling the buildup like Iraq.

SOS IMO

[Thyla]

2. Less so IMO n/t

[Wounded Bear]

9. Definitely agree! nt

[spanone]

5. No shit...

Bloomberg: Iran Has Little to Gain From Oman Tanker Attacks

Two oil tankers have been damaged in a suspected attack in the waters between the United Arab Emirates and Iran as they were leaving the Persian Gulf. This is the second incident in four weeks, and raises the question of who gains what from them.

Fingers will certainly be pointed at Iran as the mastermind behind these events. But the potential benefits to the Persian Gulf nation are outweighed by the risks. And even if Tehran isn’t responsible, it will still suffer the consequences.

The first tanker to report a problem was the Front Altair. It was reported to be carrying 75,000 tons of naphtha, loaded in Abu Dhabi, to Japan, although it was signaling a destination of Kaosiung in Taiwan when it was damaged. The second vessel was the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, which was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Singapore with a cargo of methanol.

A person who’s heard local radio transmissions between ships in the region told Bloomberg that a torpedo attack is suspected to have caused an explosion and fire on the Front Altair. The managers of the Kokuka Courageous said in a statement that “the 21 crew of the vessel abandoned ship after the incident on board which resulted in damage to the ship’s hull starboard side.”


https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-06-13/iran-has-little-to-gain-from-oman-tanker-attacks


NYTIMES:

Despite Mr. Pompeo’s assertion, it was not immediately clear how the most recent incidents unfolded or who was involved, just as the circumstances of last month’s attacks remain murky. The two ships that were struck on Thursday appeared to have been more seriously damaged than those hit in May.

Iranian officials have denied any involvement in attacks on tankers. But in late May, John R. Bolton, President Trump’s national security adviser, said that Iran was “almost certainly” responsible for the earlier attacks, and Mr. Pompeo agreed, saying that they were “efforts by the Iranians to raise the price of crude oil.”

Officials of other countries have been more cautious about publicly assigning blame. The United Arab Emirates described the attacks as state-sponsored, but did not specify a state.

Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., both American allies, have long been at odds with Iran, and are backing opposing sides in the civil war in Yemen. But the sharpest recent changes have been in the United States-Iran relationship.


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-attack-gulf-oman.html

[H2O Man]

6. Recommended.

We desperately need Dick and his Scooter to verify that Iran was behind 9/11, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and is currently stock-piling yellow cake and frosting. We need to know for sure if Iranians were playing golf at Tonkin, rather than at one of Trump's courses. And we need to get to the bottom of their theft of our oil, which they have hid under the sand.

Or maybe we need to wake the fuck up.

[malaise]

8. I'll take

wake the fuck up for $2,000 Alex

[H2O Man]

11. I am confident

that you will recall discussing the possibility that the Trumpsters were start a military conflict when their corruption was being exposed, about a year ago.

[malaise]

14. Absolutely

These are monsters

[panader0]

19. That sums it up neatly.

[Vinca]

7. They're definitely trying to gin up a war.

[Wounded Bear]

10. My money is on the Saudis...

They're the ones that want to take the Iranis out, and they want to do it on our dime, and letting our people do the dying.

[mopinko]

12. calling colin powell on the white courtesy phone.

you country needs to talk to you sir.
pick up the white courtesy phone please.

[Ghost Dog]

13. Why Trump's Hawks Back the Iranian MEK Terrorist Cult (NY Review Of Books)

On July 22 (2018), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to address an Iranian-American audience at the Reagan Presidential Library in California. The speech is part of a deliberate policy of escalating tensions with Iran, targeting its economy and supporting Iranian opposition groups—all for the purpose of pressuring and destabilizing Iran. At least one member of an Iranian terrorist group that has killed American citizens will also be in attendance. But it won’t be to disrupt Pompeo’s speech; rather, to support it. In fact, the member is on the invitation list.

Last month, the same terrorist group held an event in Paris, busing in thousands of young people from Eastern Europe to hear Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani call for regime change in Tehran. A similar event in Paris last year was addressed by John Bolton, who recently became President Trump’s national security adviser.

How an organization that was only delisted by the US Department of State as a terrorist group in 2012 could so soon after win influential friends at the heart of America’s current administration is the strange and sinister story of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, better known by its initials, MEK. Commonly called a cult by most observers, the MEK systematically abuses its members, most of whom are effectively captives of the organization, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Regardless of its delisting by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—a political calculation on her part since many senior Democrats, as well as Republicans, had been persuaded by the MEK’s lavish lobbying efforts—the group has never ceased terrorizing its members and has continued to conduct assassinations inside Iran.

In the 1980s, the MEK served as a private militia fighting for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. Today, it has a different paymaster: the group is believed to be funded, in the millions of dollars, by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In Washington, D.C., as in Paris, France, the MEK pays tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to US officials. Bolton, in particular, is a long-time paid supporter of the MEK, reportedly receiving as much as $180,000 for his appearances at the group’s events...

(Much more...) https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/07/20/why-trumps-hawks-back-the-mek-terrorist-cult/

So, "Intelligence" might point to the use of these people in a false flag op., conserving US-UK special forces direct action for, soon?

(See also MEK website: https://mek-iran.com/ )

[soryang]

15. Abe was in Tehran so one of the ships "attacked" was Japanese?

I guess Abe should have stayed home instead of trying to smooth things over for the US. That seems to be the message.

One ship operated by a Japanese company, both ships carrying Japanese cargo.

Japan’s Trade Ministry said both ships were carrying “Japan-related cargo.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-attack-gulf-oman.html

[malaise]

16. That to me is the biggest giveaway

This looks more like a threat to Japan - stay out or else

[soryang]

17. exactly nt

[spanone]

18. Let's hope he's not as 'successful' as cheney.

[Rene]

20. I don't trust Bolton or pompeo