Today President Trump met with NATO member and Muslim Brotherhood supporter, President Recep Erdogan, prior to heading overseas for meetings with anti-Brotherhood Mid-East alliance.  “The Joint Arab Intervention Force”.

The motive for Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan to travel to the White House today was obvious, anxiety.

A very specific foreboding type of anxiety, because President Trump is about to embark on an international trip filled with multilateral meetings attended by a coalition of people who regard President Erdogan as a nemesis to peace.

If you only absorbed the Western media headlines for the past five years you would be entirely missing the interpersonal dynamic that began immediately following the start of President Obama’s second term.  A framework of understanding that highlights the intentional policy of Obama, and how the region shifted into hunker down mode in an effort to outlast the Obama interventionist doctrine.

Within this less discussed reality we also find domestic motives to undermine President Trump’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  Both the severe left and the militaristic right have vested interests in blocking a successful Trump peace doctrine.

President Obama’s ideological left and Senator McCain’s ideological right both prefer the big cat cages remain wide open allowing blood lust extremists to create convenient chaos.  Unfortunately, Russia (Putin) and Syria (Assad) also carry a self-preservation interest within this complex and extremist dynamic.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will join President Trump at an “Arab, Islamic, and American Conference” in Saudi Arabia this coming Sunday.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE), are expected to be in attendance. (more…)

This presentation is so good and so important, we’re sticking it to the top of the page for a while. 

“The Trump Doctrine”

Earlier today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talked to the employees at the State Department and delivered outstanding remarks to explain the Trump administration foreign policy approach.  T-Rex talks about the ongoing State Dept. mission and how values and policies intersect with the larger ‘America-First’ strategy.

Specifically T-Rex explains how the distinction between U.S. ‘values’ relates to U.S. ‘policy’ but determinations of influence and our best interests cannot necessarily be contingent upon foreign governments accepting values that are inherently different to their culture.

These remarks delivered to State Dept personnel are exceptionally well presented and intensely interesting.

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[Transcript] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good morning. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.  Are we on? Can you all hear me back there in the back? Can you hear me now? (Laughter.) Can you hear me now?

AUDIENCE: Yes.

(more…)

No event is happening in a vacuum.  It is critical to emphasize this basic point when evaluating the foreign policy of President Trump and his administration.  There is a very well planned multidimensional construct within the sequencing of individual events which shows a policy thread weaving throughout.

The challenging aspect for most of the current U.S. electorate, and specifically those who follow politics closely, is the Trump administration’s position to not publicly espouse targeted and strategic policy objectives.

This deliberate yet not publicly promoted approach is a paradigm shift for those who reference modern diplomatic politics through the prism of past doctrines and their public advancement.  The Trump foreign policy approach is a planned, deliberate, consequential, and intentionally quiet undertaking.

That LOOK !

The Trumpian approach is becoming increasingly easier to see. However, it is not the typical approach customary amid politicians who use momentary events to elevate the appearance of their self-importance.

Quite the contrary, with the Trump team each action and participant provides visible dots, but the administration intentionally does not connect those dots for the media or the consuming public – or trumpet their importance.

The Administrations’ focus is on the ultimate outcome each individual event brings to the aggregate conclusion. ie. ‘the goal’; and not on the individual elements as they are assembled.

(more…)

During a February interview which broadcast just before the Superbowl, President Trump recalled riding with former President Barack Obama to the Inauguration on Jan. 20 when he asked Obama to list the three greatest issues America was facing.

[…] “I asked him what you think our biggest problem is and he told me,” Trump said, recalling the limousine ride to the U.S. Capitol with Obama.

“I can’t tell you,” Trump said after O’Reilly interrupted to ask about specifics. “But it’s a problem, its a military problem with a certain place. No, it’s not China. But it is – he did mention, cause I did ask him what would you say our number one, two, three problems are and the number one problem that he felt – I was a little bit surprised, but I fully understand.” (link)

Almost every mainstream political pundit and political observer believes the concerning country within that conversation was North Korea. Indeed, if you were to evaluate the comment in isolation, against the backdrop of world media headlines, N-Korea seemingly becomes a natural conclusion.

However, CTH does not believe North Korea was the country of concern. President Obama viewed and acted upon all foreign affairs through the prism of ideological belief. Every action taken by the Obama administration was in furtherance of an ideological world-view that was personal to the small circle of like-minded fellow travelers.

(more…)

National Security Advisor HR McMaster has been selected by conspiracy nuts and alt-reality moonbats as a necessary evil foil to retain their pearl-clutching placement at the table of doomsday drum-beating.

Apparently, when candidate Trump, then president-elect Trump, and now President Trump said: “bomb the s**t out of ISIS“, “rebuild our military” and recreate “peace through strength” – a sketchy handful of fools perceived such statements possible without actually ‘bombing‘, ‘rebuilding‘ or ‘reasserting strength‘.

Yes, cognitive dissonance relies upon use of the Mamet Principle; and yes, it happens on the fringe elements of both sides of the circular political continuum.

In the most recent proclamations of the Moonbats any adviser to the President who would be connected with presenting ‘bombing‘, ‘rebuilding‘ or ‘reasserting‘ options of military use to the President, necessarily becomes a war-mongering pod carrier intent on lulling a 70-year-old President to sleep and exit the room converted to John McCain.

The people selling this narrative are both nuts and gnats.

Please pay attention to HR McMaster in this interview laying out a very reasonable perspective on the various regional issues, his praise for the diplomatic approach by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and his accompanying overview to include (@10:38) the answer to the question: “do you think we need more troops in Syria?“.  McMaster’s response: “I don’t think so“.

(more…)

A background briefing transcript from yesterday might aid in larger understanding of White House policy and strategic objectives toward Syria, Russia, North Korea and China.

[Transcript] – SENIOR ADMINISTRATON OFFICIAL:  (In progress) — on the relationship between the leaders of the United States, our President and Premier Xi, and then applying that newly formed relationship to complex problem sets from the Middle East to Northeast Asia, and then a result in the United Nations, it helps advance our mutual interests and the interests of all civilized people.

So I think it’s difficult to portray this as anything but a really great week for our citizens and the United States.

♦  Q    Thanks so much.  Japanese media is reporting that the USS Carl Vinson is in operations with the Japanese naval forces.  As you know, they have a (inaudible.)  What happens if there is a confrontation this week between North Korean forces and Japanese and U.S. forces?  And how will you prevent this from spiraling into a broader military conflict?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATON OFFICIAL:  Well, as you heard from the President many times, we’re not in the business of trying to predict with a high degree of certainty precisely what our response is going to be.

I think what we demonstrated last week was the ability of the President’s national security team to come together, convened by the National Security Council, to look at events such as those that might occur on the Korean Peninsula, quickly analyze those events, place them in context with U.S. vital interests, establish objectives that protect American citizens and advance our interests, and then develop and present the President with options.

So we have a team that is, I think, particularly adept at doing that.  And if there were to be continued destabilizing and aggressive behavior by the North Korean regime, that’s how the national security team would respond. (more…)

This speech was delivered March 21st 2016. With many people confused about President Trump and Syria, this reminder is worth the time and attention. Again, this was March 21st 2016:

[Transcript] Candidate Donald J Trump remarks to the AIPAC audience on March 21st 2016.

Good evening. I speak to you today as a lifelong supporter and true friend of Israel. I am a newcomer to politics but not to backing the Jewish state.

(more…)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a lengthy bi-lateral meeting earlier today on the heels of considerable political posturing surrounding the Syrian conflict and Assad’s use of chemical weapons.

Lavrov enters the meeting with a weak hand as the international community has fully supported the approach of U.S. President Donald Trump toward halting Bashar al-Assad’s attacks on his political opposition within Syria.

Gamesmanship and optics are very important to Russian President Putin as his position in Russia is entirely dependent upon his projection of strength.

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Minister Lavrov and President Putin do not yet know how to approach Secretary Tillerson and President Trump because the U.S. administration is now entirely different from their former frame of reference. That unsettled nervousness comes through in Lavrov’s comments and statements.

The weaker player within bilateral diplomacy is always the one using the most words to justify their position. In the transcript below, the “tells” are emphasized by me.

(more…)

According to Russian state media reports President Vladimir Putin has reversed his prior position will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.   This is the first flinch from Putin and highlights his awareness of how weakened his political hand has become.

The Trump administration, led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, has maneuvered a strong-play (punched Assad, Russia and Iran directly where it hurts) and gathered the support of a massive international audience.

Putin’s intransigence and unwillingness to state publicly that chemical weapons are out-of-bounds, has created his isolation and diminishment. Additionally, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley made Russia’s Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov look like a disconnected apologist for Assad’s brutality at the emergency U.N meeting.

Prior attempts to play out the optic of the unaffected strong-man (staying away from direct talks with T-Rex), have now collapsed and the political optic reversed.  Secretary Tillerson looms internationally as the tower of moral strength.  Instead of projecting strength President Putin looks weak, cowered and afraid of T-Rex on the international stage.  Hence, it does not come as a surprise to hear Vladimir Putin has reversed his decision:

(Via Daily Mail) Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Donald Trump’s chief diplomat after all during his stay in Moscow, a Russian television station has reported.

Putin’s spokesman said Monday that the foreign leader did not plan to see Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state. Tillerson was to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, instead.

(more…)

Prior to leaving the G7 Summit in Italy, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson deliberately outlined the U.S. policy and objectives toward: Syria, the Syrian People, Bashir Assad, Russia and the extremist Jihadist elements on the ground in Syria.

The statement and answers to the questions are intensely important [transcript below], particularly the clarity from Secretary Tillerson regarding the future of Bashir Assad. Do not focus on the media interpretation of T-Rex’s words; listen and watch directly the words themselves.

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[TRANSCRIPT] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good morning. I’ve got a statement. I want to share it first, and then I’m happy to take a couple of questions.

Last week, Bashar al-Assad’s regime killed even more of its own people using chemical weapons. Our missile strike in response to his repeated use of banned weapons was necessary as a matter of U.S. national security interest.

We do not want the regime’s uncontrolled stockpile of chemical weapons to fall into the hands of ISIS or other terrorist groups who could, and want to, attack the United States or our allies.

(more…)