By M D Nalapat | Singapore
According to the analysts spoken to, ‘had the investigation of Hillary
Clinton including the Clinton Foundation, begun, that would have filled
the news cycle for months’.
Analysts assisting policymakers in the United
States are dismayed at the “speed with which the Donald Trump
administration is being pushed back into the same policy box as the past
administration” by an “expertly implemented campaign designed to throw
the President off-balance and reduce him to lame duck (i.e. ineffectual)
status at the very start of his tenure”. Candidate Trump’s freeing
himself of Cold War (Atlanticist) shackles that have bound US policy
since the 1950s, alarmed the traditional establishment, which profited
hugely from such a policy. “Contingency plans had been prepared by the
Atlanticist establishment to insulate existing policy from Trumpian
changes”, and these were brought into operation, hours after it became
certain on 8 November that the New York-based billionaire would on 20
January 2017, become the 45th President of the US.
“A decisive victory (over President Trump) was won early on, by
convincing incoming Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in mid-November itself
that it would be a statesmanlike gesture to (in effect) pardon Hillary
Clinton”. This would be through the new administration declining to
investigate the conduct of her and her aides during both the nomination
process as well as during the campaign itself. It was informally
promised “more than once”, according to an analyst, that such a gesture
would lead to “cooperation between the Democratic Party and the Trump
administration on several initiatives that are at the top of the agenda”
of the 45th President. Such expectations were subsequently proven to be
false once Hillary Clinton escaped the investigative dragnet that was
being prepared for her by select members of the Trump team (who
thereupon came into the Clinton crosshairs). According to the analysts
spoken to, “had the investigation of Hillary Clinton including the
Clinton Foundation, begun, that would have filled the news cycle for
months”. Instead, the reprieved Clinton machine (which has been
assiduous in diverting blame towards Barack Obama for their own actions)
has “used the reprieve to let loose a volley of accusations against
President Trump, as well as those within his team who they regard as
implacably opposed to Hillary Clinton and understand the machinations of
her backers”. Thanks to the virtual free pass gifted to Hillary Clinton
by the incoming administration, “it is President Trump rather than the
former First Lady who is having to defend himself and is being discussed
in a negative way on a daily basis”.
CLIMATE OF FEAR
Acting through their contacts in the incoming administration, the
Clinton machine “created such a climate of fear within the Trump
administration that a prime target of theirs, dismissed National
Security Advisor Michael Flynn, was brought down “unexpectedly in a
panic reaction”, once orchestrated insinuations were made that he was an
agent of influence of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian
Federation. “Even if Flynn met the Russians and persuaded them to drop
reciprocal action against US diplomats in reaction to President Barack
Obama’s expulsion of Russian diplomats from the US, that was in the US
interest and was nothing to get alarmed about”, an analyst tracking
relations with Russia claimed, adding that “discussions on possible
future policies are routine in any post-election environment in
Washington” and that therefore, Flynn’s discussions were not different
from the Washington norm. However, “the reach of the Clinton machine in
US media was partnered with a corresponding toxicity in European media
to create a perception of criminality where none existed”. The Trump
team “panicked at the orchestrated clamour and sacrificed Flynn, showing
itself to be a soft nut to crack”, a senior analyst said.
Why this campaign against the new President? On the other side of the
Atlantic, it was evident that there was uneasiness that Donald Trump,
with the hard-headed logic of the successful businessman, had understood
that the overpowering hold of the Atlantic Alliance on US policy, which
has been in operation since 1945 needed to give way in to an
Indo-Pacific Alliance, in view of the geopolitical changes that have
occurred during that period. Asia now accounts for three times more
trade with the US than Europe, and Russia since the 1990s has ceased to
be a threat to US supremacy, that role being increasingly filled by
China, which will within a decade become the world’s largest economy and
in five more years after that, its strongest military and space power,
given present US policies.
The analysts concerned about the orchestrated effort to create a
meltdown in the Trump administration warn that “Clinton-linked
individuals within the intelligence and investigative agencies have
(since Trump won the Republican Party Presidential nomination) been
selectively disclosing information that has been scissored and curated
in a manner that portrays Moscow as a much bigger threat and perpetrator
of evil than is the case”, the object being to divert President Trump
away from his stated objective of working with Russian President Putin
in a collaborative way as mandated by the needs of the Indo-Pacific
Century. The way in which “National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was
pushed under the bus by the Trump administration rather than supported
has conveyed an impression of weakness across the globe”. It has led to
the perception that Donald Trump is a boss who is willing to instantly
sacrifice even those closest to him to save himself from inconvenience,
an impression that those who have worked with the President when he was a
private citizen say is untrue. “Donald Trump stands by those loyal to
him”, an individual in contact with Trump Tower in New York claimed,
adding that “getting rid of Flynn was clearly a panic reaction of the
White House that was brought about by worry among aides that the
President would be the next target if the (then) NSA was spared”, an
analyst familiar with the national security establishment
revealed.
revealed.
THE NEXT TARGETS
However, “this forced resignation of a loyal and competent assistant
with a healthy contempt for the ‘policy as usual’ mindset of the Beltway
exposed the vulnerability of Trump confidants. This has been caused by
their complete unfamiliarity with the ways of the Beltway.” The claiming
of Flynn’s scalp “ensured that the green light got flashed to launch an
attack on another known foe of Hillary Clinton”, Attorney General Jeff
Sessions, whose sought after resignation would energise the Clinton
machine to move on to their next targets, Counsellors Kellyanne Conway
and Stephen Bannon, two others regarded as being “too loyal to President
Trump to play along with those within both the permanent as well as the
political government who seek to retain the centrality of the
(anti-Moscow) Atlantic Alliance”, rather than follow the President’s
lead and transition to an Indo-Pacific Alliance that has China, and not
Russia, in focus as the primary challenge to US global primacy. Why
Flynn, Sessions, Bannon and Conway are toxic to the Clintons is because
of their distaste for the Clintons and their ways. Also, equally
importantly, “they would put the interests of President Trump first,
above that of the (heavily Atlanticist) permanent establishment”. A
colleague added that “Flynn as NSA would have warned the President if
trouble was heading his way from any source, whereas the Clintons hope
his successor will not perform such an early warning function, as they
regard him as 100% committed to the geopolitical line of
Clinton-Bush-Obama. However, a source familiar with General McMaster’s
way of functioning says that “this general is 100% loyal to his chief
and can be counted upon to refuse to play along with any of the
shenanigans of the Beltway”, of which Hillary Clinton remains the
acknowledged empress, almost daily meeting key media persons and
officials in contrast to (former) President Obama, who is enjoying his
freedom from responsibility for high policy, and is yet being tarred by
carefully-directed salvoes from the Clinton machine as being responsible
for the barrage of attacks on President Trump and his confidants.
THE CHINESE CONNECTION
An analyst claimed that an investigation into the Clintons (who
remain the most influential couple in Washington because of the
extensive network of sympathisers they have built up within the
permanent government) would have revealed “numerous meetings between
those close to Hillary Clinton and the family foundation and diplomats
from the Chinese embassy in Washington”. How did the Clintons acquire
such power? “Because of the way the couple have systematically promoted
the careers of those who obey their instructions and who report
information to them”, an analyst revealed, adding that “the careers of
most of those who oppose them very soon get blighted, which is why few
in the permanent government dare to challenge the Clintons”. Also, “the
Clintons stand by those loyal to them, which is why even today Huma
Abedin remains a constant (if private) presence in their midst despite
the embarrassment she caused during the campaign” . Had Hillary Clinton
been elected on 8 November, “within her first term the Clinton machine
would have ensured its domination over most processes of government for
at least a decade more”. Of course, although Hillary Clinton may not get
another chance at the world’s top job, her charismatic and brilliant
daughter Chelsea is seen by many as a potential future candidate for the
US Senate and thereafter the White House. The former First Daughter may
however face competition in charm and ability with another outstanding
near-millennial, Ivanka Trump, who is known to have an idealistic streak
that is at variance with the focus on business opportunities of brother
Eric. The current First Daughter of the United States is regarded as
having a strong influence over the 45th President, and is pressing for
an inclusivist and tolerant direction in policy that is wholly congruent
with the tenets of her adopted Jewish faith.
According to a top policy source, “during the 2016 (Presidential)
campaign, future policies and approaches were discussed in meetings
between Clinton associates and Chinese diplomats as well as academics
known to be members of the Chinese Communist Party”. Another analyst
revealed that “meetings (also) took place almost every week between
European diplomats and office-holders of the Clinton campaign at which
promises were made” of a continuation of the hard-line policy towards
Russia and the retention of primacy of the Atlantic Alliance in a future
(Hillary) Clinton Presidency. However, “the Trump team has been either
unwilling or unable to reveal details in the possession of the
investigative agencies of meetings between Clinton associates and
foreign diplomats, including several with those from the Middle East,
whose interests often diverge from that of the US. In particular, the
smoothly functioning public relations infrastructure of the Chinese
embassy has ensured that there has so far been zero coverage of meetings
between Clinton associates and diplomats of a country that is far more
powerful than Russia in the present century, and which is challenging
the US across the world in a way that would be impossible to replicate
for President Putin, even if he had the desire to do so.
Indeed, the influence of Beijing even within the Trump administration
quickly became obvious by the about turn of Donald Trump on Taiwan,
from being the first President-elect to talk directly to a Taiwanese
President for the past 40 years, to repeated and public acceptance of
the “One China” policy. It remains to be seen if President Trump will
continue on this “approved by the Beltway” course, or follow his own
instincts in the matter and come closer to the Japanese view, which
leans towards Taipei.
THE EU CONNECTION
Not only concerning China, but in the case of other countries as
well, there has not been any media coverage of the numerous meetings
during the last four months of 2016 between Clinton staffers and even
the Democratic Party candidate herself with European diplomats, in which
future policies were not just discussed but, according to analysts,
promised. However, as the target of the Atlantic Alliance partners
(whose diplomats have unmatched access to the Washington Press Corps) is
Russia and in particular Vladimir Putin (who has disappointed EU
chancelleries by being wholly unlike both Boris Yeltsin as well as
Dmitry Medvedev), US media has not reported on any meetings other than
those of Trump campaign officials with Russian diplomats, and neither
has the Trump White House demonstrated the will needed to ensure that
details of such meetings (including those of Democratic Party notables
with Russian diplomats) get revealed to media outlets in order to take
the focus away from the high-octane effort by the Clinton machine and
its Atlanticist allies to pin President Trump in a subsidiary role to
Vladimir Putin, an individual the new US head of state has “not had a
one on one meeting with throughout his career in either business or
politics”, according to an analyst familiar with records of meetings
between important US citizens with foreign dignitaries. The
Clinton-Atlanticist alliance is apparently working at high speed to make
official contacts with Russia so toxic that President Trump will remain
anchored to the Russo-phobic Atalanticist policy they wish to see
continued even in what is clearly the Indo-Pacific century.
Anxious at the increasing chances of success of National Front
candidate Marine Le Pen in the May 2017 Presidential polls in France,
backers of the Atlanticist policy framework are flooding the media,
warning voters in France not to support her “or the chaos in Washington
will spread to Paris”. This despite the fact that much of the “chaos” is
in carefully planted media reports designed to destabilise the Trump
administration. The EU bureaucracy is now seeking to prosecute Le Pen
for the “crime” of making available details of the barbarity of ISIS and
its ideological cousins in the Middle East, several of whom are getting
assistance from (as yet) the US, France and the UK even as they
continue to murder hundreds of Christians, Druze, Yazidis and Alawites.
Even killers outed in internet images (which the EU bureaucracy seeks to
hide from the world) are being given money, weapons and other
assistance to battle the Russia-Iran-Syria triumvirate. Turkey, in
particular, is performing the function of a safe haven for such
fighters, the way Pakistan has been for the Taliban since that militia
were driven out of Kabul in 2001. The panicky and thus far amateurish
response of the Trump administration has played into the ongoing
campaign by the Clinton-Atlanticist alliance to discredit them into a
state of policy paralysis. The purpose of this is to ensure that the
Cold War basket of policies continues to be followed by the new
administration, as indeed some of its prominent appointees seem eager to
do. Meanwhile, those working towards removing President Trump from
office before a thousand days has passed in his present term seem to
have the upper hand over the shrinking number of those loyal to him and
his 21st century vision of what the US needs in order to retain its
geopolitical primacy well into the Indo-Pacific century in the face of
the challenge posed by the “China Firsters” working under PRC President
Xi Jinping.
OPERATION 1,000 DAYS
According to the analysts, the effort is to set up either a
“Bipartisan” Congressional Commission (that would from the Republican
side be loaded with known critics of Trump) or a Special Prosecutor to
probe the linkages between the Trump administration and the Kremlin. The
Clinton machine is confident that either body would ensure that the
circus of daily allegations continues into the next two years, in the
course of which they expect that the White House would actually be
thrown into chaos. The expectation is that the operation to reduce
President Trump’s stay in the White House to a thousand days or less is
proceeding successfully, in fact at a faster pace than originally
conceived. Clearly, President Trump needs to break free of the web of
insinuations and charges thrown daily at him, if he is to escape the
fate of Richard Milhous Nixon in his very first term. The analysts
spoken to, who belong to what they claim is the silent majority within
sensitive agencies of the US Government, back President Trump and his
drive for fresh policies. They are looking to the US President to “show
the same courage and grit in office” that he so often displayed during
the 2016 Presidential campaign, rather than “get sandbagged by the
Beltway coterie determined to protect their privileges from being
obliterated” by the new sheriff in town. However, with every day that
passes, such a fightback is becoming more difficult. What sustains them
in their confidence is that Donald Trump seems to have mastered not only
the Art of the Deal but the Science of the Miracle, as shown by his
ascent to the office he now holds.
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