Bob Manning

US Dept. of State, Policy Planning Staff 2004-08 NIC Strategic Futures Group, 2008-12. US Foreign Policy, Asia, Future of energy, nuclear & strategic issues,

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Pretty much. Hard to argue.

[Sari Arho Havrén @SariArhoHavren]

Fiona Hill, the former aide to Trump during his first term, participated in the #Kultaranta Talks, organised by the President of Finland, and gave an interesting interview to the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. Some excerpts:

▪️Greenland could suffer the same fate as Crimea.
▪️Hill says she sees the United States acting more like Russia, the White House more like the Kremlin, and Trump behaving more like Putin. ▪️Hill says that Trump's desire to take over Greenland is psychological. “He wants to own things. This is about him."
▪️”If we look at history, this is exactly how the Soviet Union acted towards its own Warsaw Pact allies: it occupied Hungary, it occupied Czechoslovakia, and it pressured Poland in a way that led to the declaration of martial law in Poland," Hill says.
▪️”Trump is now essentially treating his NATO allies the same way the Soviet leaders treated the Warsaw Pact members: as vassal states and states that have no decision-making power of their own."
▪️On the stage of the Kultaranta discussions, Hill was asked whether Europe can trust the United States.
Hill answered bluntly no. And she reminded that the next administration cannot necessarily be trusted either.

1/

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Exactly. Unnecessary wars of choice rarely end well. There was a reason previous presidents didn’t start a war with Iran. Hormuz was widely predicted and predictable.
Sad Hubris Déjà vu.

[Danny (Dennis) Citrinowicz ,داني سيترينوفيتش @citrinowicz]

לפני שכל מיני גורמים יספרו לנו על ההישגים הנפלאים של ההסכם המתגבש, ראוי לזכור כמה עובדות בסיסיות:

א. המלחמה שהחלה ב־28 בפברואר לא נועדה להביא להסכם על דילול מלאי האורניום של איראן. מטרתה המוצהרת הייתה להביא לקריסת המשטר האיראני. ישראל לא חיסלה, לראשונה בתולדותיה, מנהיג של מדינה ריבונית כדי להגיע בסופו של דבר להסכם גרעין משופר.

ב. בשורה התחתונה, ואיך שלא נסובב זאת, המשטר באיראן צפוי לצאת מההסכם הזה מחוזק – כלכלית, מדינית ואזורית. די להביט בהתקרבות הגוברת בין איראן לבין מדינות המפרץ, ובראשן איחוד האמירויות, כדי להבין שהמשטר בטהרן רחוק מאוד מבידוד.

ג. חשוב לזכור שרוב ה"וויתורים" האיראניים המוצגים כיום כבר היו על השולחן בפגישה בג'נבה לפני המלחמה, כאשר שר החוץ האיראני עבאס עראקצ'י הציג אותם בפני סטיב ויטקוף. איראן לא מוכנה לדון בהגבלת תוכנית הטילים שלה, לא בתמיכתה בשלוחותיה האזוריות ולא במרכיבי הכוח האחרים שלה. בפועל, לא נותרה ברירה אלא להתמקד בסוגיית הגרעין בלבד, מתוך ההבנה שעדיף הסכם שמרחיק את איראן מפצצה בטווח הקרוב, גם אם הוא מחזק את המשטר, מאשר המשך לחץ שעלול לדחוף את טהרן להחלטה לרוץ לנשק גרעיני.

ד. ההסכם הוא תוצאה ישירה של הכישלון האסטרטגי של המערכה. לאחר חודשים של לחימה, הממשל האמריקני נותר ללא פתרון לסוגיית מצרי הורמוז וללא יכולת לכפות על איראן ויתור על מלאי האורניום המועשר שבידיה. ההישגים המבצעיים המרשימים של המערכה נבלעים בתוך אותו כישלון אסטרטגי רחב יותר.

ה. חמור מכך, עצם קיומו של הסכם עקרונות והקלות כלכליות אינו מבטיח כלל שיושג הסכם גרעין סופי. לא ברור אם לארצות הברית יהיה בעתיד הרצון לחזור לאיום צבאי, כאשר כבר כיום היא אינה מגלה נכונות לכך. במבט קדימה, ספק גדול אם ממשלים עתידיים יהיו מוכנים לחזור להרפתקה מהסוג הזה.

ו. נכון לעכשיו, שום דבר עדיין לא סגור עד שהכול ייחתם, וטראמפ עוד עשוי לשנות כיוון. אולם גם אם יעשה זאת, קשה לראות אילו חלופות טובות יותר עומדות בפניו. במצב הנוכחי, ההסכם נראה כהמחשה של הפער שבין הצלחות טקטיות ומבצעיות לבין כישלון אסטרטגי. ומי שמביט על התוצאה הכוללת מתקשה להתעלם מהשאלה מי באמת יצא כשידו על העליונה.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

What decay looks like. Defining deviancy down.

[Steve McGuire @sfmcguire79]

A Berkeley history professor said he’s gone from assigning 100 pages of reading per week to 35.

Another “said the earliest version of the…course he taught required seven full books, while his most recent iteration exclusively consisted of excerpts.”

“We are now reaching a crisis point where if the number (of pages) goes down further, it’s unclear to me whether my discipline of history can really be taught,” the first one said.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

What if he’s making it up?

[Laura Rozen @lrozen]

Any theories, @gbrew24

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Script already written. Hegseth is unintended self-satire.

[Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom]

Okay, if Colin Jost isn't writing this one up right now, what's the point of the SNL cold open

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Completely backwards. Election process was fine. Trump won in 2024, GOP won House, Senate, majority of states.
Now when the fear losses upcoming , it’s all rigged. Really? Elections only fair if you win? Insult to election workers and states running them.
No evidence. Con job.

[Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 @JasonJournoDC]

💥NEW: Jillian Michaels: “I gotta be honest: it seems to me that Trump is the ONLY one standing between US and the COMPLETE loss of free and fair elections.”

“You know, I used to think that Trump was INSANE for suggesting that the 2020 election was stolen. And now, I’m just — I’m actually not so sure.”

“Because these ANIMALS in California are not just changing election law — they’re changing what elections actually ARE!”

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Great way to build trust and reach a deal.

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

MAJOR BREAKING: Trump just announced that we have been secretly stealing “millions of barrels of oil” from Iran at night. And that Iran just found out.

wtf?!?

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Are you gonna suit up and join the thousands ground troops needed to have a chance of that outcome?
Just like the mushroom cloud in Iraq?
How many times do you get to be wrong before being discredited?

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

Agree.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Imagination if Biden had said that.

[Stew Peters @realstewpeters]

TRUMP: “I’m not concerned about the latest inflation numbers that came out this morning. I love it. I love the inflation.”

At this point I’m convinced Trump is intentionally trying to destroy the United States.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

@pstAsiatech @jessicacweiss Exactly they set out to achieve self-sufficiency - using US technology. 30 yrs of US obliviousness to the rare earth issue let them weaponized it.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Hmmmm

[Joe Kent @joekent16jan19]

Or……we could just leave the Middle East & do a Marshall plan-style reconstruction for OUR nation.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

👇Facts are stubborn things.

[Micah Erfan @micah_erfan]

CNN = Owned by a right-wing billionaire.
CBS = Owned by a right-wing billionaire.
FOX = Owned by a right-wing billionaire.
WaPo = Owned by a right-wing billionaire.
WSJ = Owned by a right-wing billionaire.

Ah yes, tell me more about how the mainstream media is “far left.”

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

A rare honest statement.his elections rigged mantra is the exact same logic : to delegitimize the election process — if he loses.

[Amber Woods @AmberWoods100]

In 2016, Trump was asked why he had repeatedly attacked the press.

His answer:

“I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”

When someone tells you exactly who they are and exactly what they’re doing, pay attention. Believe them.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

👇he broke the code

[Anthony Scaramucci @Scaramucci]

Trump said something outside a press gaggle that I don’t think enough people caught.

A reporter called him out on the corruption. He gave three responses.

1. I have the right to do it.
2. He’s not stealing that much. A billion or two billion dollars. Not that much money. Classic Trump.
3. People don’t care.

That’s the permission structure. Our collective apathy is what they’re using to justify everything happening in Washington right now.

Please stand up and prove him wrong.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

@elonmusk They let you in.

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Maybe. But give us the evidence. You can’t just make allegations— if you lose, it’s rigged.
Tired of BS conspiracies with zero facts. Insult to election workers.

[Bret Weinstein @BretWeinstein]

The rigging of the LA Mayoral primary is obvious. Outrage should be independent of party, and that’s not what I’m seeing. What’s wrong with you Blue Team people? Do you not understand what it means? Snap out of it and stand up for your neighbors, your country and the West!

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Idiocracy has consequences.

[Robert E Kelly @Robert_E_Kelly]

My thought too

Trump is obviously bored by the war & wd rather talk about his ballroom. He thought the Iran War wd be a drive-by regime-change like Venezuela

Now he’s stuck & can only win w/ a ground invasion

So yeah, if you’re Israel & Iran,you’re not listening to him anymore

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

👇facts are stubborn things.

[Chris Cillizza @ChrisCillizza]

Donald Trump walked out of an interview with “Meet The Press” host @kwelkernbc over the weekend — after being challenged on his false 2020 election claims.

I went through his full interview and pulled out the 32 lines you NEED to see.

Link is in the next tweet!

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

We know who is crooked and is a firehose of lies and fantasy reality.

[Sean Hannity 🇺🇸 @seanhannity]

'CROOKED' KRISTEN: Trump Abruptly Ends ‘Meet the Press’ Interview After Clash With Host, Network [WATCH]

https://t.co/wFMFb4YPry

[Bob Manning @RAMEAP]

Yes, once upon a time journalism was about holding officials accountable.
That is often contentious, especially when politicians outright deny reality.
What would you expect?

[The Megyn Kelly Show @MegynKellyShow]

“The whole thing was very antagonistic…”

@megynkelly on why Donald Trump was right to leave the biased NBC interview.

Watch and download:
https://t.co/FjIiAjfKnK