The Democrats Latest Dumpster Fire.

For the past two weeks or so I've been extremely busy with what would normally be described as the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. On that I've got one big topic post left to do. Then it is on to the prize giving.

Meanwhile I'm very much on stand-by waiting for news that the Iraqi city of Mosul has finally been liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Therefore I may have to break away from the Song Contest and finish it at a later date.

In the meantime though I think I have to quickly comment on some of the latest events from America.

I should start by pointing out that yesterday (16/5/17) US President Donald Trump held his first meeting with Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This weekend Donald Trump will begin his first overseas trip as President.

That tour will include Saudi Arabia where Trump will attend a conference of Middle Eastern leaders including Israel and Palestine. Trump will then head to Israel before visiting the Vatican before the G7 leaders summit.

On April 7th (7/4/17) President Trump held his first meeting with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.

Ahead of that meeting it was announced that Trump had dispatched at US carrier strike group to the Korean peninsula. However it emerged that it in fact was heading in the opposite direction. Something Chinese monitoring of the US Navy may well have picked up on. During the meeting the US conducted missile strikes against Syria. Apparently they were eating chocolate cake at the time.

As such I think it is fair to assume that for better or worse President Trump seems to enjoy drama.

On Monday (15/5/17) the Washington Post newspaper announced that Trump had shared classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at their meeting on May 10th (10/5/17).

The truth of this report is far from clear. After all it's hardly unheard of for a spy to lie to a journalist to achieve a wider objective. The story has been fully denied by the US government. However on Tuesday (16/5/17) Trump to Twitter claiming that he wanted to share intelligence with Lavrov at the meeting.

I should make clear though that even if the story is true we're not talking about Trump handing the Russians an intelligence dossier and pointing them towards the nearest photocopy. Instead we're talking about the possible existence of a piece of intelligence being brought up in conversation. Possibly to see whether other person could confirm that they'd also heard the rumour.

It has since been rumoured that the intelligence - if it exists - relates to Islamist terror groups such as ISIL's attempts to bomb civilian passenger aircraft causing mass casualties.

In writing about groups like ISIL I frequently say that there I certain things I simply can't publish on the Internet. This is one of those things. In fact I've been putting a lot of effort into not talking about it ever since the January 29th (29/1/17) US intelligence gathering raid in Yakla, Yemen.

However I don't think it is any secret that Islamist terror groups have long had an aspiration to use and attack civilian passenger aircraft. You may well have heard of the events of September 11th 2001 (11/9/01).

Back in August 2006 British security services arrested 24 people who were conspiring to blow up 9 civilian passenger aircraft flying between the UK and the US and Canada using liquid explosive. It is due to this plot that you are still unable to bring more than 100ml of liquid onto a passenger aircraft.

On Christmas Day 2009 (25/12/09) Islamist terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab smuggled an explosive device aboard a civilian passenger jet flying between London, UK and Detroit, US and detonated it. Fortunately the bomb did not explode correctly and the aircraft - with 290 people aboard - was able to land safely.

In October 2010 bombs disguised as printer cartridges were discovered aboard two aircraft both en route to the US from the UK and US. Although the bombs were found aboard cargo planes it is a common practice for air freight to be carried in the hold of passenger aircraft.

What has changed since then is the rise of ISIL. This has meant that Islamist terrorists have gone from being underground groups operating in the shadows to being almost nation states able to operate openly. The areas where they're able to operate freely include facilities such as Mosul International Airport.

As a result Islamist terrorists now have behind the scenes access to airport security measures and plenty of time to conduct training exercises against those security measures. As a result their capacity to attack civilian passenger aircraft seems to have increased.

On October 31st 2015 (31/10/15) Russian Metrojet flight 7K9268 was bombed out of the sky over Egypt. This killed 224 civilians. It was quickly followed up by the February 2nd 2016 (2/2/16) bombing of Daallo Airlines flight DAO 159 over Somalia. Fortunately that bomb did not succeed in bringing down the aircraft.

Then of course there is the mysterious downing of Egyptair flight MS804 on May 19th 2016 (19/5/16). French investigators seem determined to keep that as a mystery.

The notion that this type of intelligence wouldn't be shared amongst all members of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is ridiculous. This includes intelligence being share by the US with Russia.

Since 2002 NATO and Russia have operated the NATO-Russia Council (NRC). This means that Russia has a permanent delegation to NATO with their own offices at NATO HQ where they regularly attend meetings. NATO have a permanent delegation to the Russia military.

It is this intelligence sharing that allowed NATO members to help prevent Islamist terror attacks against the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. However it was in response to that success that former US President decided to shut down the NRC.

So it is the 12 years of NATO and Russia sharing intelligence that are normal. It is the three years where Obama refused to share intelligence that are abnormal.

At around 11:25 on 17/5/17 (UK date) I'll be adding to this later.

Edited at around 14:25 on 17/5/17 (UK date) to add;

Yesterday (16/5/17) the New York Times newspaper - citing anonymous sources - claimed this intelligence - if it exists - had been provided by Israel.

At the 2017 Oscars the New York Times ran commercials declaring itself to be the newspaper of Truth. Or Pravda in Russian. It's a long-running joke that in the days of the Soviet Union the newspaper that declared itself to be the Truth never, ever told the truth.

The big political movie of 2017 was; "Jackie." Set in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of President JFK it is about how the Democrat supporting media colluded with his widow Jackie Kennedy to create an almost entirely false account of JFK's life. The movie was released in 2016 as a commentary of the current media's own myth-making regarding Hillary Clinton.

At the inauguration Melania Trump wore an outfit that was almost identical to the one Jackie Kennedy wore at JFK's inauguration. This seems to have been done in reference to the Oscar nominated movie.

I think then it's fair to assume that the New York Times is a newspaper the Trump administration really enjoys winding up.

The notion that Israel wouldn't share intelligence with Russia is even crazier than the notion that the US wouldn't share information regarding terrorism with Russia.

The Israel Defence Minister is a man called Avigdor Lieberman. He was born in Moldova when it was part of the Soviet Union. In short he's Russian. His support base is the large number of recent immigrants to Israel from Russia.

Season 5 of the Israeli produced TV Show; "Homeland" actually touched on the close intelligence links between Russia and Israel. A lot of it centred around a Russian spy called Ivan Krupin. Although he was very convincing the actor who played him - Mark Ivanir - is not Russian but Israeli. Before becoming an actor Mark Ivanir actually served in Israeli Military Intelligence - making him a real-life Israeli spy.

That struck me as the show's Israeli  producers making a joke at the expense of the Democrats anti-Russia hysteria that even in 2015 was reaching fever pitch.

In its current refusal to share intelligence with Russia the US is not behaving normally. In fact it is taking an extreme position in which it is finding itself increasingly isolated amongst its peers.

For example although it was cancelled due to the April 4th (4/4/17) Khan Sheikhoun Sarin attack the UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson was supposed to meet Sergei Lavrov on April 10th (10/4/17).

Two weeks before that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Russia to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 14th (14/5/17). Before travelling to Russia Netanyahu visited the US. He explained his upcoming visit to Russia by saying he wanted to talk about Iranian influence in Syria.

On April 27th (27/4/17) Israel conducted airstrikes against Iranian allied groups in Syria. This seems to have prompted the US to wonder whether when Netanyahu said; "Iranian influence in Syria" he really meant Iranian influence in Syria. After all the Israelis don't seem to need Russia's help on that issue.

Creating all this drama about Israeli intelligence getting into Russia hands while preparations are underway for Trump's visit to Israel seem like a good if loud way to pressure Israel into clarifying its position.

This drama has also had the nice side-effect of making the US Democratic Party look publicly and utterly foolish.

The story broke on the same day that Trump's travel ban was back in Court. The case really rests on the US government being able to demonstrate that the ban is proportionate to an increased terror threat. In order to do that the US government will have to share classified intelligence.

So while the Democrats were saying this intelligence is far too sensitive to be shared in a closed meeting between governments the Democrats were at the same time demanding it be broadcast live on the Internet.

Realising they'd dug themselves into a bit of hole the New York Times last night desperately tried to change the story away from the Democrats hypocrisy.

On May 9th (9/5/17) Trump of course fired FBI director James Comey. Much of the Democrat supporting media immediately compared this to Richard Nixon. The famously impeached US President.

The thing is though that the only other US President to fire an FBI director was Bill Clinton. He narrowly escaped impeachment himself by screaming; "Russian Aggression!" and attacking Serbia.

Nixon however did fire a Special Prosecutor. The Democrats have long called for a Special Prosecutor to be appointed to prosecute - apparently there's no need to investigate - President Trump. By incorrectly comparing Trump to Nixon a lot of the US media revealed that they'd rather report the story the Democrats wish were happening rather then the facts of the story that is actually happening.

Trump had a lot of fun with this. For example the following day he met with Henry Kissinger - Nixon's Secretary of State. He then Tweeted out a message suggest that he may have secretly bugged the White House. Just like Nixon did.

This seems to have gotten particularly under James Comey's skin. He told the New York Times that he'd been so concerned during his meetings with Trump he'd kept written records. Particularly the Democrats have called for these written records to be released.

Obviously if the Democrats continue their calls we shall see what these memos contain. However they seem likely to reveal that Comey effectively kept a daily diary of how much he personally disliked President Trump.

With Comey having previously and inexplicably declined to seek the prosecution of Trump's rival Hillary Clinton that's the sort of revelation that casts doubt on Comey's political independence and his fitness to continue as FBI director.

So don't be too surprised if the Democrats suddenly change their minds.

15:10 on 17/5/17 (UK date).