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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Revealed: Trump team hired spy firm for ‘dirty ops’ on Iran arms deal
Just a clarification for those who aren't familiar with it: In days long past, the Guardian and the Observer were separate newspapers. These days, the Observer survives as 'the Guardian on Sunday' which is why this news article is on the Guardian's website but keeps referring to the Observer.
People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to “get dirt” on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.
The extraordinary revelations come days before Trump’s 12 May deadline to either scrap or continue to abide by the international deal limiting Iran’s nuclear programme.
Jack Straw, who as foreign secretary was involved in earlier efforts to restrict Iranian weapons, said: “These are extraordinary and appalling allegations but which also illustrate a high level of desperation by Trump and [the Israeli prime minister] Benjamin Netanyahu, not so much to discredit the deal but to undermine those around it.”
One former high-ranking British diplomat with wide experience of negotiating international peace agreements, requesting anonymity, said: “It’s bloody outrageous to do this. The whole point of negotiations is to not play dirty tricks like this.”
Sources said that officials linked to Trump’s team contacted investigators days after Trump visited Tel Aviv a year ago, his first foreign tour as US president. Trump promised Netanyahu that Iran would never have nuclear weapons and suggested that the Iranians thought they could “do what they want” since negotiating the nuclear deal in 2015. A source with details of the “dirty tricks campaign” said: “The idea was that people acting for Trump would discredit those who were pivotal in selling the deal, making it easier to pull out of it.”
edited 6th May '18 5:28:11 AM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.![]()
From Colin Kahl.
[1]
Tonight, as my wife read this story, that date triggered a very creepy memory.
Last year, my wife was serving on the fundraising committee of my daughter's public charter school in DC. One day, out of the blue, she received an email from someone claiming to represent a socially responsible private equity firm in the UK. 2/10
This "UK person" said "she" was flying to DC soon and wanted to have coffee with my wife to discuss the possibility of including my daughter's school in their educational fund network. 3/10
This was not a generic "Nigerian prince" scam. This person had all sorts of specific information on my wife's volunteer duties at an obscure DC elementary school. 4/10
There was a website for the firm (which no longer exists, by the way), but it had no depth to it, and there was no detailed information about the "UK person" who reached out to my wife. 5/10
My wife shared the email with me and a few people we know in both the finance and education fields. All agreed that the entire scenario seemed implausible and seemed like an approach by a foreign intelligence entity. 6/10
To test the implausibility, my wife kept trying to encourage the "UK person" over email to meet with other school fundraising officers & leadership while "she" was in DC, providing relevant contact info. But the "UK person" kept insisting that "she" had to meet with my wife. 7/10
At that point, my wife stopped corresponding.
This all happened in late May and early June of last year. 8/10
Perhaps it was just a coincidence that this obvious scam targeting my family had all the hallmarks of an intel op and coincided with Team Trump's reported efforts to "dig up dirt" on me. 9/10
But the fact that I even have to think about the possibility that my family was targeted by people working for the President is yet another sign of the fundamental degradation of our country that Trump has produced. 10/10
Hopefully they kept Screenshots and UR Ls.
edited 6th May '18 5:47:07 AM by megaeliz
I think it is safe to say that that Trump's base is primarily Reactionary as opposed to truly Fascist.
Not a very big difference in practice I know (at least at this point), but I do think there is a difference between your average Trump supporter and what they want and someone who attended Unite the Right.
And even if he wasn't, he's perfectly willing to support those who are.
Speaking of anti-Semites though, the top Republican candidate to oppose Dianne Feinstein
was kicked out of the California Republican Party’s convention yesterday. Why?
Isn't that basically Some of My Best Friends Are X?
edited 6th May '18 7:01:36 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from historyI know it's already been mentioned two pages back, but I'm honestly starting to get worried about how much Trump's approval rating has been going up and the Republicans have been gaining in the generic ballot. I know the midterms are still months away and a lot can happen in that time, but am I the only one who's worried that it could end up becoming a clean sweep for the Republicans?
"What do we say to the God of Death? Sean Bean is over there."
x8 Yeah, I posted about Patrick Little a little while ago. The Sad thing is he is still the leading California Republican for Feinstein's seat.
Honestly, with the whole party being taken over by Neo-Nazi's, outright crooks and racists, I can't see how the party survives when most/all the Baby Boomers go. There aren't enough young Alt-Righters to replace them.
Just gonna give you guys some comparatives, Trump’s net aproval rating is 12.5% lower than Obama’s was at this point, 61.2% lower than Bush’s was at this point and 24.9% lower than Clinton’s was at this point.
So I’m not seeing a reason to freak out yet, Trump’s aproval raining hasn’t really moved seriously, it’s slown a slow reversion to the mean, but there’s been no jump, just standard stead reversion to a net of zero.
I’ll start to worry when Trump is doing better than Obama did in the lead up to the 2010 midterms.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranNorth Korea calls out Trump for taking credit in the peace talks that he didn't take part in.
"Hey, we may be backing down from our nuclear weapons, but you're still a showboating dick" pretty much sums the whole thing up.
Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
When North Korea says that..
Ugh, I hate giving them the reason on anything.
Watch me destroying my country...Does anyone else feel unclean realizing they actually agreed with North Korea on something?
And as for that Neo-Nazi Republican running in California...he's living proof that California is no liberal paradise despite being a Blue State.
edited 6th May '18 9:46:55 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
I mean, it is a republican, no matter if the rest of the state is blue. They are gonna be bad regardless
And yeah, I feel dirty.
We did not agree that Republicans are based on being as evil as possible.
edited 6th May '18 9:59:56 AM by KazuyaProta
Watch me destroying my countryOne of my weirdest things is that I actually admire how the Right Wing manages its publicity, the whole family values thing sounds nice.
Until you see that they use it all the time to have reasons to be racist, and sexist and practically all evils in the world.
Their economics arent even good.
I guess that you could qualify me as a weird Leftist Conservative if that makes sense. I like a lot of Leftist ideas but I like order more than anything in the world.
Albeit, the Right Wing is also based on weakening the govermnent, so how they are the party of Law and Order makes no sense.
I used to considerate myself a "Moderate", something which makes sense in my natal country because the Political Spectrum is non existent and we have Left Wing terrorist apologists competing against Christian Fundamentalists.
But seeing USA and how it's Right Wing is based on being evil and how that's actually a worldwide situation (Europeans Right Wings are hardly better in most cases). Eh...
The best that I can say is that my Right Wing President wanted legalizate Gay Marriage before being stopped for other Right Wingers
Trump and his war against every person with a funtional brain.
edited 6th May '18 10:27:36 AM by KazuyaProta
Watch me destroying my country

edited 6th May '18 5:15:10 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history