Discussion: Iran Pits The Machiavellian Pompeo Against Policy Ideologue Bolton

So is this like the old parable of the cobra offering the scorpion a ride across the river?

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So… Which one of them runs the working group that oversaw the Saudi oil tanker bombing mission?

Makes a difference who has the upper hand in this, because the one with that group in hand has the power to provide the forcing incident.

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Pompeo is Machiavelli? Maybe in this Keystone Kops administration.

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Trump this week denied reports of infighting and told Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan that he doesn’t want war with Iran.

Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here! This is the war room!

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The analogy that fits the entire Trump presidency.

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Weird title: Bolton is Machiavellian. Pompeo is mostly a blow-hard.

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“Though both men are hawkish, in this case Pompeo has been erring more on the side of negotiation, or at least mixing it into his saber-rattling …”

Yeah, I am sure Iran will want to “negotiate” after all the good faith that you have shown, like withdrawing from a nuclear arms reduction agreement that they were complying with – without holding a single meeting of the National Security Council on the subject – and the absence of which draws us closer to war.

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“Machievellian vs Ideologue?” No.

“Semi-crazy vs Crazy?”. Hmmm. Not quite right.

“Crazy vs Totally fucking over the top apocalyctically Crazy.”. Yep.

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This war talk has me really worried. Will we have to lose a war before these armchair generals stop playing their war games? How many have to die to satisfy Bolton’s blood lust?

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Chaos and infighting in the Trump administration? Shocking… Ho, hum.

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Bolton wants a crowning achievement for his career, I’m afraid. He is also well known as a bureaucratic infighter.

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Cobras swim?

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Rough and ready Bolton is another hero of Vietnam.

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I am sorry, but the US behavior towards Iran is a typical schoolyard bully or wife-beater:

Break a treaty unilaterally on BS pretext, impose economic sanctions, deploy two carrier groups off their coast, make up some bullshit case of that a fishing boat with a missile in their home waters is an “aggressive move”.

There will be war, because the Netanyahu and Addelson and the Saudis want it, and the US Military-Industrial Complex wants to justify it’s existence, and many Iranian civilians are going to die. Sorry US Servicemen, but you are no heroes, you are the stormtroopers of the evil empire.

Lets not forget what happened last time we were trying to bait Iranians into fighting

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Most snakes can.

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we have already lost every war since WW2…These men don’t care how many’young’ men die or bleed…this is how they get their jollies.

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Trump is the worst negotiator in history. All Iran has to do is take a page from the North Korea playbook and send Trump a really flattering letter. He will roll over like a puppy dog and give you whatever you want.

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That hasn’t worked so far.

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I so agree with you…as long as old impotent men have control of the war machine…young men, women and children will die.

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