President Trump

Discussion in 'The Signs of the Times' started by garabandal, Oct 17, 2017.

  1. Carol55

    Carol55 Ave Maria

    U.S. and Taliban Reach First Step of Peace Deal
    Initial period of ‘reduced violence’ set; if it holds further talks would take place
    [​IMG]
    Afghan Army soldiers patrolling in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, earlier this month.
    Photo: ghulamullah habibi/Shutterstock/euroupean pressphoto agency

    By Courtney McBride Updated Feb. 14, 2020 1:31 pm ET | https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-and-taliban-reach-first-step-of-peace-deal-11581700744

    MUNICH—The U.S. government and the Afghan Taliban have agreed to the first step of a peace deal, a senior Trump administration official said Friday, a major milestone after months of talks over ending a war that has gone on for more than 18 years.

    U.S. and Taliban officials agreed to what negotiators call a reduction in violence over an initial seven-day period, the official said, adding it would begin “very soon.”

    The U.S. military will monitor the progress of the violence reduction, the official said. If successful, the period of reduced violence is intended to lead to talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government and to a reduction of U.S. force levels. There are about 13,000 U.S. troops now in the country.

    The official said the U.S. has been renewing its efforts to reach an agreement since President Trump called off talks with the Taliban in September.

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mr. Trump on Thursday expressed optimism that work on a peace deal could begin. The senior official on Friday acknowledged the existence potential “spoilers” of any agreement.

    “[H]aving a military presence in Afghanistan is not an end in itself for the United States,” the senior administration official said.

    The reduction-in-violence agreement covers elements such as roadside bombs, suicide bombs and rocket attacks, the U.S. official said. The agreement spans the entire country and encompasses forces of the Afghan government, the official added, crediting Mr. Trump for getting the Taliban to agree to these terms.

    Representatives of the Afghan government didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Taliban couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

    The U.S. official said the agreement includes “specific commitments by the Talibs with regard to concerns of the United States”—terrorism chief among them. A senior U.S. defense official familiar with Afghanistan said counterterrorism operations would continue through the initial one-week period.

    As part of the broader agreement that would follow a successful period of reduced violence, the U.S. official said, the Taliban “agreed to break with terrorism in all of the area that they control. There will be no hosting, no presence, no training, no recruitment, no fundraising for terrorists that threaten the United States or our allies.”

    The initial period isn’t being called a cease-fire, and the senior U.S. defense official couldn’t specify how compliance with a reduction in violence would be measured. In many parts of the country, the conflict is fueled by local disputes and by tribal and ethnic rivalries, and factions might be only loosely affiliated with the Taliban group.

    The defense official said U.S. military units monitoring the reduction in violence would make use of intelligence to determine responsibility for any acts of violence that occur during the period.

    The senior administration official said U.S. officials including Mr. Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Gen. Scott Miller, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, “had a very good meeting” in Munich on Friday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his team. The official said Gen. Miller would oversee the U.S. assessment of the reduction in violence.

    Challenges remain, the administration official said. “There are people who prefer the status quo to a peace agreement,” the official said. “There are lots of people who benefit from the status quo and Afghanistan itself is…in a very complex, difficult neighborhood.”

    —Nancy A. Youssef in Munich contributed to this article.

    ***
    US, Taliban reach truce agreement calling for 'reduction in violence'

    By Greg Norman | Feb. 14, 2020 | Fox News | https://www.foxnews.com/world/us-taliban-reach-truce-agreement
    [Please click the link to read this additional article.]
    upload_2020-2-14_18-9-43.png
     
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  2. Byron

    Byron Powers

    About time, now bring our troops home.
     
  3. Richard67

    Richard67 Powers

    Mr. Pompeo is a self-admitted liar. I'm sorry you continue to believe him.

    China is not at war with the United States. Quite the opposite. It is the Freemasons and Neocons who run the United States who have placed economic pressure on China and who sail our fleet to their backyard. How are the Chinese supposed to react? Team Neocon is also behind the "protests" in Hong Kong; in this regard they are playing from the same evil playbook that brought the violent Arab Spring, Maidan and Venezuelan "protests." Tell me, how many States in the United States has China overthrown via proxy "protests?" How many aircraft carriers has China sailed to the Gulf of Mexico? As regards China, Trump is no different than Obama. Given the decades long track record of Neocon warmongering, unjust wars and proxy "color revolutions, there is every reason to think that the Coronavirus was a bioweapon introduced into China as a continuation of their proven modus operandi of proxy war. The Neocon policy towards China is not only evil, it is hypocritical: it was under Neocon Administrations that we shipped our jobs to China; now they are upset at China's growing wealth and power. Trump is either corrupt or stupid if he thinks implementing Neocon foreign and economic advice and policy will fix the problem that they themselves created.

    As for bringing the Nazis into this discussion, I was wondering how long it would take to play that card. But if you are going to compare China to the Nazis, I could just as easily compare Team Neocon and the Freemason Establishment running America to the Nazis. Neocon and Freemason Establishment domestic policies (Abortion, Pornography, Euthanasia, Domestic Spying, etc.) and foreign policies (unjust wars, proxy conflicts, etc.) are no less evil than the policies of the Nazis.

    And why the reference to Joe Biden? It is inaccurate. Biden and Trump both pursue a Neocon-approved Foreign Policy; the differences are cosmetic. If anyone, I sound like Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan, and I am proud of it.
     
  4. Richard67

    Richard67 Powers

    Yes, bring them home. The only reason they are still there is to protect the poppy fields that serve as the world's drug supply. Had a US President been concerned about solving the drug epidemic, an order would have been given long ago to napalm the poppy fields there.

    And while they are at it, bring the troops home from the Middle East and Europe: there ain't one vital, US national security interest in those places worth the life of a single US Marine.
     
  5. Carol55

    Carol55 Ave Maria

    R67,

    I apologize that I simply don't have the time to educate you on what is going on with China right now or what Joe Biden's stance on China is.

    Did you at least watch the World Over video that I posted?
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2020
  6. Richard67

    Richard67 Powers

    I love Raymond Arroyo. Great journalist and a faithful Catholic. His foreign policy might surprise you. Tucker and Arroyo are the only two I really find worth listening to over at Fox News.
     
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  8. AED

    AED Powers

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  9. Carol55

    Carol55 Ave Maria

    R67,

    You really didn't answer my question though.

    Did you watch the following segment and what is your opinion of what Cardinal Zen has stated in the interview with Raymond Arroyo?

    I don't believe that this good cardinal agrees with your opinion on the cause of what is now occurring in Hong Kong.

     
  10. HUGE! Author Lee Smith: “We Knew the Clinton Campaign was Giving Information to FBI – It Now Appears FBI was Giving Information to Clinton Campaign as Well” (VIDEO)

    On Friday the FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was exonerated after admitting to leaking classified information to the press and lying about it under oath several times.

    On Friday we also learned the conduct at the Obama FBI under James Comey, Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe and others was much worse than we thought.


    Last night author Lee Smith joined Jason Chaffetz on The Ingraham Angle on Friday night to discuss the latest developments in the Spygate scandal.

    The more we learn – the more corruption is revealed at the top levels of the Obama intelligence community.

    On Friday Eric Felton at Real Clear Investigations observed: “Buried in IG Report: How an FBI Team in Rome Gave Steele Highly Guarded Secrets.”

    Felton points to a meeting in Rome a month before the 2016 election:

    A month before the 2016 presidential election, the FBI met Christopher Steele in Rome and apparently unlawfully shared with the foreign opposition researcher some of the bureau’s most closely held secrets, according to unpublicized disclosures in the recent Justice Department Inspector General report on abuses of federal surveillance powers.

    What’s more, Steele, the former British spy who compiled the “dossier” of conspiracy theories for the Hillary Clinton campaign, was promised $15,000 to attend the briefing by FBI agents eager to maintain his cooperation in their Trump-Russia collusion investigation codenamed Crossfire Hurricane.

    That investigation was so closely guarded that only a handful of top officials and agents at the FBI were allowed to know about it.

    The report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz details how a team of FBI agents in early October 2016 shared with Steele extensive classified materials, just weeks before the bureau cut off ties with him for leaking his own research to the media. The secrets included foreign intelligence information still considered so sensitive that the IG’s report refers to it even now only as coming from a “Friendly Foreign Government.” In fact, this is a reference to Australia. That country’s ambassador to Britain sent the United States a tip about loose talk by junior Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. The FBI has described that as the predicate for its Trump-Russia investigation.

    The IG report also discloses that FBI agents knew Steele worked for Glenn Simpson, whose opposition research firm Fusion GPS was paying Steele to dig up dirt on Trump for the Clinton campaign, and that Steele informed the FBI that the “candidate” – Clinton herself – knew about Steele’s work.

    According to Lee Smith, the information sharing between the Clinton campaign and the DOJ-FBI was much more extensive than previously reported.

    Author Lee Smith: We have known for a long time, of course, that Steele and the Clinton Campaign was providing information to the FBI. It now appears the FBI was giving information to the Clinton campaign, as well. Was that in order to direct the FISA so that they could obtain the spy warrant?… People involved who were sharing this information with Steele including Peter Strzok and Bill Priestap.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/20...nformation-to-clinton-campaign-as-well-video/
     
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  11. Don't know how much worth to give this since it's from Drudge Report which has gone totally "never Trump" but I've been watching for just which old candidate she'd team up with as a possible VP. But as things close in I think the prediction of the "lock her up" chant may come to pass sooner! If so Bloomberg had better then have a taster from that point on. But it figures since the Clintons' income has lessened due to their current status of not having political influence to sell to the enemy and obviously they've grown accustomed to life with the "swells".....remember, they tried to walk off with some of the White House's furnishings....sooooo:


    Sources close to Bloomberg campaign tell DRUDGE REPORT that candidate is considering Hillary Clinton as running mate, after their polling found the Bloomberg-Clinton combination would be formidable force... MORE

    DRUDGE has learned that Bloomberg himself would go as far as to change his official residence from New York to homes he owns in Colorado or Florida, since the electoral college makes it hard for a POTUS and VPOTUS from the same state... Developing..



    EXCLUSIVE: BLOOMBERG CONSIDERS HILLARY RUNNING MATE
     
  12. Carol55

    Carol55 Ave Maria

    etoa, Neil Cavuto on Fox News just reported on this also and Fox stated that they contacted the Bloomberg campaign to ask them about it and they stated they are not focused on the VP candidate but they did not deny that Hillary Clinton could, in fact, be Mike Bloomberg's running mate.
     
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  13. HeavenlyHosts

    HeavenlyHosts Powers

    Aaaagghhhh
    :eek::sick:
     
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  14. AED

    AED Powers

    :eek:
     
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  15. Richard67

    Richard67 Powers

    Cardinal Zen is wrong about the causes of the protests in Hong Kong. Those protests show every sign of being organized by the same Neocon Deep State that gave us the Arab Spring and Ukrainian Maidan. Same modus operandi, same pattern, same cast of characters. Sadly, Cardinal Zen is being used for political purposes by the Neocons in their ongoing cold, proxy war against China. Cardinal Zen never challenges the Neocons; he is constantly used by them; this doesn't help his relationship with his own Chinese government. As for the reality of the situation of the Catholic Church in China, I agree with the approach Pope Francis has taken, one that is consistent with the Church's historical approach towards civil authorities. I agree with how Fr. Kelly summed up the situation:

    "Throughout its history since the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th Century AD, the papacy has always had to play politics with kingdoms and empires. Popes fought for the church's interests; kings and princes fought for their own; both parties made concessions and shared control of vital aspects of the church's governance.

    Dealing with the government of China is very different because it isn't part of the Catholic world that saw deals done between the pope and Catholic monarchs. China's political and historical precedent is Imperial China that has always found it difficult, if not impossible, to deal with difference and the world outside the Middle Kingdom. The Communists are no different.

    And why does the Vatican do it? For one simple reason: to preserve what little space and formal arrangements they can for the survival of the institution of the church which, after all, is their job. Far from being the cowards and quislings Cardinal Zen would have us believe Cardinal Parolin and the Vatican's Secretariat of State are.

    Standing on your dignity and only making demands and no concessions, as Cardinal Zen does, is not only a doomed strategy. It is also an approach that is completely ignorant of what the church has done in other circumstances throughout history in contexts far less amenable than contemporary or historical China. Take the Nazis in Germany or the Fascists in Italy in the 1920s or the Eastern Bloc Communists in the 1950s and '60s.

    Moreover, it takes us back to what happened some 46 years ago when President Richard M Nixon and his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger did what was unthinkable during the high time of the Cold War: accepted that the Chinese Communists were the established government of China and like it or not, they had to be dealt with as its government.

    Many in the church today – Cardinal Zen included – act as if that's not the final word on who runs China. All my life I have known – in the Jesuits and elsewhere – what in clerical and missionary circles were called "old China hands." I live in a house in Bangkok that was built in the mid 1950s to accommodate a group of Jesuits expelled from China.

    They simply couldn't accept what had happened in history and argued to just wait till Communist China collapses and they can go back to China and resume their work as foreign missionaries. The "old China hands" expected Chiang Kai-shek to reclaim China and allow the missionaries to resume their work.

    Cardinal Zen not only needs to read a bit more history. He also needs to turn the emotional volume down. His "cops and robbers" narrative that he shouts at everyone who doesn't agree with him – this writer included – does little more than encourage anyone listening to walk away from him.

    Whatever he thinks he's doing for the people he sees himself supporting, he isn't doing them any good with his approach. The value of what he might contribute is lost in his hysterical outbursts against those he accuses of being evil.

    It's some claim to be speaking for half the Catholics in China when he has no actual evidence to support the assertion about people living in a country he hasn't visited in over 20 years. Moralize all you like, but Cardinal Zen offers no path forward." https://international.la-croix.com/news/cardinal-zen-is-just-wrong/6944
     
  16. djmoforegon

    djmoforegon Powers

    Bloomberg must have a death wish. :rolleyes:
     
  17. AED

    AED Powers

    Let's just say such a partnership could have a negative effect on his health.:sneaky:
     
  18. Byron

    Byron Powers

    He has no choice Hillary still runs the party.
     
  19. Carol55

    Carol55 Ave Maria

    R67, I think that we will have to agree to disagree once again.

    I will add this, you stated that you "love Raymond Arroyo" but yet it appears that you do not value his opinion of Cardinal Zen because Raymond Arroyo appears to have high regard for Zen's opinion on China and Hong Kong being that he has had Zen on the World Over multiple times over the past 2 years or so speaking of what is occurring there.

    In addition, that article that you posted is 2 years old now and much has occurred in China in relation to the Church which imo has proved Cardinal Zen to be correct. The Chinese government has been destroying churches and rewriting the bible for starters.

    I think that you often let your hatred for the USA get the best of you. Peace. +

    Edited to add:

    The following article was recently posted by member earthtoangels on the VHF thread, https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020...an-is-giving-everything-to-chinas-communists/. I hope that reading it helps you.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2020
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  20. jackzokay

    jackzokay Powers

    It is not hatred of the USA, Carol, to have a view that puts a slight on the moves and motives of the rulers of that country; and to subsequently comment on how one perceives a given situation.

    Your leaders are corrupt.

    That's not a trait exclusive to the States, though. Far from it!

    Most countries have been taken-over by the free masons, deep-state, communists, leftists, liberals....oh God, I don't know the exact label, i suppose when you think about it, a label doesn't really matter.

    The free world have been overcome. And these infiltraitors destroy from within: they attack the church. They introduce and promote abortion. They have usurped the education of the young. And often they enact strange, crazy false flag operations designed to instigate international disharmony.

    Surely this cannot be denied.

    And surely too, when a man highlights this, he is not exhibiting hatred of a particular country.

    I have been accused many times on this site of hating the USA when highlighting its leaders' craziness... whence in fact nothing could be further from the truth. I've been there often, and I absolutely adore your country.

    Saying that, I'm often accused by my peers of hating Ireland, because I regularly highlight our leaders degenerate agenda and policies.

    This next bit, I hope it doesn't offend, it's not directed at you Carol. But it is a bit tetchy...

    It often amazes me that people speak so forcefully about their rulers stance on abortion, gay marriage etc. Yet fail to even contemplate how the very same ruling hypocrites might behave less than impeccably in their dealings internationally....

    This, well, its particularly relevant given that so many good, patriotic young American men are sent to their deaths fighting phoney wars in far flung places...

    I regularly castigate my Irish friends, family members and countrymen and women for being like sheep, and for following blindly this new path to modernity that we're currently treading.

    I ask this genuinely and as an outsider, looking in..
    Are Americans equally as blind as we stupid, gullible Irish?
     

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