The Trump administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency.

The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration’s political agenda.

“Pompeo can’t trust the CIA bureaucracy, so we need to create this thing that reports just directly to him,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official with firsthand knowledge of the proposals, in describing White House discussions. “It is a direct-action arm, totally off the books,” this person said, meaning the intelligence collected would not be shared with the rest of the CIA or the larger intelligence community. “The whole point is this is supposed to report to the president and Pompeo directly.”

North, who appears frequently on Trump’s favorite TV network, Fox News, was enlisted to help sell the effort to the administration. He was the “ideological leader” brought in to lend credibility, said the former senior intelligence official.

Some of the individuals involved with the proposals secretly met with major Trump donors asking them to help finance operations before any official contracts were signed.

Read more:

https://theintercept.com/2017/12/04/trump-white-house-weighing-plans-for...

Please visit:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/5163

The one thing that make this little site (YD — yourdemocracy) work is that in general we provide a CONTINUING narrative to the various bullshit (hard and sloppy) that our powers-in-charge think we, especially you, have forgotten... Read from top.

“We will have to build a new Syria after the war. And that’s why the US role is very important,” Macron said.

But Trump is not signaling the end of American involvement in Syria. What he is planning is a new division of labor and capital in the pursuit of strategic goals.

When the president fired up a rally of his supporters in Ohio at the end of March he said: “We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let other people take care of it now.”

Then on April 13, when announcing the US-led air strikes on Syria over an alleged chemical-weapons attack, Trump again hinted at eventually taking American forces out. He said: “We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money.”

The concern of some within the American political and military establishment, as well as foreign allies like France’s Macron, is misplaced. Trump is not scaling back Washington’s involvement. He is instead seeking to outsource the military dirty work.

That plays well for Trump from a political point of view. It looks as if he is delivering on his “America First” agenda to his voter base. It also gives the chance for the US to wash its hands of bloody conflict.

In reality, however, Washington is pursuing its same hegemonic and destabilizing ambitions in the oil-rich Middle East, such as regime change in Syria, confronting Iran, and containing Russia.

Last week, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir confirmed his country was in talks with Trump administration officials about sending Saudi troops to Syria as part of “an international coalition” to replace the contingent of American troops present there. What the Saudi diplomat was referring to was Gulf Arab states and possibly Egypt forming an expeditionary force for Syria.

There were also reports of Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater USA, a private mercenary firm, being lobbied by Gulf Arab states to recruit a similar force for deployment to Syria. Prince, who is known to be on good terms with Trump, said he is waiting for the president’s decision. He has also worked previously with the Saudis and Emiratis in supplying mercenary battalions to fight in Yemen against the Houthi rebels. 

The idea of a Saudi-led Arab expeditionary force to Syria is not new. During the Obama administration, the Saudi rulers lobbied for such a deployment, to no avail. Though, under Trump they may have a willing president.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/424898-us-syria-withdrawal-troops/

Read from top.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged foreign meddling in the 2016 US election took an unexpected turn as it is now looking into “social media manipulation” by an Israeli-linked company, The New York Times reported.

According to the report, the special counsel’s team is investigating contacts between Joel Zamel, an Israeli social media expert, and George Nader, a special adviser to leaders of the UAE, who purportedly offered to help Donald Trump win the race.

The New York Times suggested that the third person, who served as a mediator, having arranged the meeting between the two, was Erik Prince, former head of the Blackwater private security contractor.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/us/201805201064619015-israeli-linked-firm-trump-...

Read from top... When will Mueller investigate the Prince of News: Uncle Rupert?

During his Head to Head talk show, Hasan asked Prince why he called people in Iraq “chanting barbarians American troops had been sent to liberate” in his memoir. Prince explained that people who set off car bombs in packed squares to hurt American troops deserve the name, especially given that civilians are also hurt.

Hasan immediately called him out: “You were not sent to liberate terrorists. Sounds like you are talking about Iraqis.” Prince was left speechless for a moment as the audience burst into applause. Attempting to smooth things over, the Blackwater founder replied that he did not have any role in making the decision to “liberate” Iraq.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/453232-prince-blackwater-interview-barbarians/

Read rom top. See also:

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/5163

Please note that Erik's merry men and the US army killed more civilians than any terrorists combined, including ISIS (or whatever its name is).

Report Says Blackwater Founder Had $10Bn Plan to Develop Weapons, Create Private Army in Ukraine

Prince's ambitious plans for the Eastern European country reportedly failed to come true mostly because former US President Donald Trump did not win a second term in the White House, as he was deemed to be closely affiliated with the ex-commander-in-chief.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince planned on hiring a private army of Ukrainian combat veterans and purchasing factories that make military aviation parts back in 2020, Time magazine reported.

At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities were reportedly suspicious of the fact that Prince relied in his deals on politicians Andrei Derkach and Andrei Artemenko, against whom a criminal investigation is being conducted in the United States and who were suspected of being tied to alleged Russian interference in the US election — which has been dismissed by Moscow as lacking any evidence.

In February 2020, Prince reportedly met with his Ukrainian associates at an unusual location — the Vodka Grill nightclub (which no longer exists) next to a KFC restaurant. Igor Novikov — ex-top aide to the Ukrainian president, apparently knew little of the American billionaire apart from his private military company's war crimes in Iraq, as he reportedly wondered, "What does this guy want from us?"

"It soon became clear that Prince wanted a lot from Ukraine," Time writes.

At the same time, the private security mogul is claimed to have been acting on behalf of the US government, and is referred to in the mainstream media as a 'Trump donor'.

Both Prince and the Trump administration have denied accusations that the private security mogul was actually working for the White House. In January 2020, Bloomberg reported Prince's "scouting effort for gold investments" as he reportedly paid a secret visit to the Venezuelan vice president — potentially violating US laws by meeting with a sanctioned official.

The actions of Prince's Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq have sparked an international debate about the role of private security companies hired by the US government to work in war zones. On September 16, 2007, Blackwater guards opened fire against unarmed locals while escorting US diplomats, claiming that the convoy was targeted by a car bomb. No explosives were found in the vehicle. Afterward, Blackwater was temporarily banned from Iraq. The Iraqi Interior Ministry said that year, citing the results of an initial investigation, that the mercenaries were fully responsible for killing the civilians.

In December, just less than a month before Biden was inaugurated, Trump granted full pardons to four former Blackwater contractors convicted in connection with the death of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baghdad in 2007.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/military/202107071083332372-report-says-blackwater-founder-had-10bln-plan-to-develop-weapons-create-private-army-in-ukraine/

Read from top.

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The EU has targeted individuals working with Russia's Wagner Group, a private military contractor, which the bloc said is involved in "serious human rights abuses" in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine.

Read more crap:

https://www.dw.com/en/eu-sanctions-target-russian-wagner-mercenary-group/a-60109326

 BULLSHIT... 

READ FROM TOP. The Wagner Group is the most sensible mercernary outfit to help DEMOCRACIES THAT ARE UNDERTHREAT FROM THE US HEGEMONY... Think about it.

WHAT TYPE OF "serious human rights abuses" PERFORMED by the Wagner Group in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine? Protecting Syria from US cronies (ISIS, al Qaeda, al Nusra, etc)? preventing a blood bath by the Nazi Armies of Ukraine in Donbass? Protecting DULY ELECTED governments in Africa against their former colonialist masters?

Give us a break, please... 

See also: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/41387

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