Tag Archives: Susan Rice

Jan 3 2018

Fusion GPS Tries, and Fails, To Distance Themselves From FBI FISA Origin…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 3, 2018 by

It’s every man and woman for themselves as the collective groups of architects behind the entire FBI Counterintelligence Operation, that brought us the 18-month-long ‘vast Russian conspiracy’ narrative, now attempt to back-track from all previous assertions.

Two days ago we shared very strong confidence the joint FBI (counterintelligence) and DOJ (National Security Division) scheme was going to come out.  The reason is simple, they left too big a trail of factual and provable evidence of their activity.

It is not coincidental that just as scrutiny over the 2016 FBI FISA court application gains traction in congress and media, the insider intelligence community started leaking to the New York Times about the insignificance of the Steele Dossier as it relates to the FISA court application.  Look, over there, it was George Papadopoulos; not the DOJ FISA construct that was used by the FBI to launch surveillance upon candidate Trump. Swear.

Laughable.

Predictable.

For more than a year the Steele Dossier was the most valuable evidence to the Russian narrative; then, poof, in the blink-of-an-eye, not so much – it became a risk.  Funny that.  The transparency of motive is brutally obvious, too many FBI and DOJ people at risk now. The trail is too easy to follow.

It was only a matter of time before Fusion-GPS spoke up toward the same goal of track-covering.  Yesterday Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch [Hi Glenn] posted an Op-Ed in the New York Times attempting further distance.

According to Glenn and Pete:

[…] “We don’t believe the Steele dossier was the trigger for the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian meddling. As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp.” (more)

Additionally, Fusion GPS also claims they never spoke to the FBI: “We did not speak to the F.B.I. and haven’t since.”, which is bizarre given the previous reports of Glenn Simpson talking to FBI Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok.  Isn’t Peter Strzok in the FBI?

Conspicuously absent from the Fusion Op-Ed is any mention of Glenn Simpson’s wife, Mary B Jacoby, and her involvement therein.  Additionally their explanations are devoid of the prior meeting or contact with DOJ Deputy Attorney Bruce Ohr, the guy who was demoted for meeting with them without telling anyone.  Another curious missing detail is Simpson, Jacoby and Fritsch hiring Bruce Ohr’s wife Nellie Ohr to work on the “Trump project”.

Nope. Nothing to see here, move along, move along.

Unfortunately for Glenn and Pete the part about them saying the dossier was taken seriously because it corroborated reports the FBI had from another source, “including one inside the Trump camp”, leads to Business Insider asking questions about that source.

Who does that corroborative source turn out to be?  Oh yeah:

[…] a person with knowledge of Fusion’s testimony and the op-ed told Business Insider on Tuesday. … it was a reference to George Papadopoulos. (link)

So the current narrative is: the FBI didn’t likely use the Steele Dossier in the FISA court application, but rather the FBI’s confirmation of a source within the Steele Dossier, as given by the author of the Dossier, was likely used in the FISA court application.

See how that works?

The “dossier” didn’t originate the FISA application to conduct surveillance on candidate Donald Trump; the source (Papadopoulos) quoted “inside the dossier” originated the FISA application. Let’s play a game; it’s called “Semantics”.

Except there’s another problem.

Stuff happens when people begin the ‘every-man-for-himself‘ routine; the central narrative control collapses.

Simultaneous to Fusions’ Op-Ed protestations, the former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, appears on CNN to say, he never heard of George Papadopoulos – and he should know, because his office put out the 2016/2017 Joint Analysis Report.  That’s the 17-agency (eyeroll) definitive story on all things ‘Muh Russian Conspiracy’.

So now what?

Not what, “who”?

Yeah, who?

Who’d he throw it to?

I dunno.

“Third Base.”

Fusion-GPS’s, Glenn Simpson, is playing Abbott to ODNI, James Clapper’s, Costello.

Why?  Because the entire back-story that centers around the Steele Dossier, how it was assembled (Clinton Camp) and how it was used collaboratively by the DOJ (National Security Division) and FBI (Counterintelligence unit), is a case study in how to mislead a FISA court to gain an unlawful warrant to wiretap and conduct surveillance on political opponents.

And I remind you, that approach is what the former Obama head of the DOJ National Security Division, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin, admitted to the FISA court weeks after the Trump wiretap and surveillance warrant was issued.

A newly released court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) found that the National Security Agency, under former President Obama, routinely violated American privacy protections while scouring through overseas intercepts and failed to disclose the extent of the problems until the final days before Donald Trump was elected president last fall. In describing the violations, the FISA court said the illegal searches conducted by the NSA under Obama were “widespread” and created a “very serious Fourth Amendment issue.” These new discoveries come from a recently unsealed FISA court document dated April 26, 2017 and center around a hearing dated October 26, 2017, just days before the 2016 election, in which the FISA court apparently learned for the first time of “widespread” and illegal spying on American citizens by the NSA under the Obama administration.  (pdf link)

As the Inspector General investigation continues: ♦FBI Agent Peter Strzok has been reassigned to the HR department.  ♦FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, personal legal aide to FBI Asst. Director, Andrew “Andy” McCabe, has been returned to the DOJ side. ♦FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker has been relieved of his duties by FBI Director Christopher Wray. ♦FBI Asst Director Andrew McCabe has announced his intent to retire in March.

All of these FBI personnel moves are a preliminary outcomes of the still ongoing Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation.   All of this has been reported.  None of these moves are speculative.  All of these geese are cooked.  However, this is just one side of the 2016 political “Trump operation”, the FBI investigative Counterintelligence Division side.

The other side, the legal side of the Trump operation, stems from the National Security Division of the DOJ.  A FISA application is submitted from the DOJ-NSD  for use by the FBI Counterintelligence team.   Sunlight upon this side of the collaboration is the reason for all of the current distraction narratives.

While both sides of the corrupt political apparatus participated in the illegal unmasking and leaking, the documentation and activity behind the origin of the FISA application is the current ‘hot potato’ no-one wants any association with.

The FISA application(s) and the subsequent wiretapping and surveillance collection, along with the unmasking that followed, is the focus of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.

Sometime this month, after the initial Inspector General Michael Horowitz release, House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte and Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley will likely call for a Special Counsel to investigate the upper-level management of the FBI and DOJ.

We should support that approach.  The SC can quickly put a Grand Jury together and start presenting the IG investigative evidence, as well as enforceable subpoenas for witnesses.

There’s a lot of different down-stream legal issues:

  • The unlawful exoneration of Hillary Clinton by political operatives in the DOJ/FBI.
  • The unlawful destruction of evidence; and the manipulation of investigative protocols to gain a specific and pre-planned political outcome. (Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe)
  • The unlawful use of the FISA court for political spy operations by the DOJ/FBI.
  • The unlawful use of the Dept of Justice National Security Division.  For weaponized political benefit.  (Sally Yates, Loretta Lynch, Bruce Ohr)
  • The unlawful use of the FBI Counterintelligence Division. For weaponized political benefit. (James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, James Baker)
  • The unlawful use of a Special Counsel (Mueller) investigation to hide the conspiracy; (James Baker, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr, Andrew Weissman, Jeannie Rhee, Aaron Zebley)

All of the origination details are part of the minutia that will surface in the next 30 days.  Devin Nunes, Bob Goodlatte and Chuck Grassley using the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees to collect evidence and tell the public everything outlined HERE and more.

Jan 3 2018

Trump Impeachment – The Democratic Agenda for 2018


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Jan 3, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

Now with the Trump Tax Reform set to really create jobs with the small business benefiting for the first time in more than 30 years (the Democrats call the “rich”), the Democrats have absolutely nothing to offer. Their agenda is simply to oppose whatever the Republicans put forth. They even lack any real leader at this point who has popular standing.

The solution for the Democrats is just to start a fight and try to throw mud at the Republicans rather than work with them to really reform the economy. This obstructive posture will be the agenda this year and we will see more and more movement to try to impeach Trump. Rumblings in Washington behind closed doors even have them talking about the people need to vote for them to take back the House and Senate in 2018 so then they can impeach Trump and go after the hated rich.

They have no other message but the same Marxist/Socialist Agenda. They are not prepared to abandon that theme despite the fact that the voting record has clearly revealed that they peaked with the first election in 1932 and have been steadily losing ground ever since. They had their knee-jerk reaction rally with Obama because he was black. They then tried with Hillary as a woman. They scheme to win, but they never review their message.

So expect a lot more talk of Impeachment this new year in 2018.

Jan 2 2018

War in the Classroom


By Tabitha Korol       

The year was 2011, and a freshman in Newton South High School, in Newton, Massachusetts, asked her father if it was true that the “Israeli occupation forces” had “imprisoned, tortured and killed” hundreds of Arabic women who had been “active in the Palestinian resistant movement.”  Her father, Tony Pagliuso, asked for the source of this misinformation.  It was her 540-page Arab World Studies Notebook, a highly explosive textbook filled with fabrications, shown to contribute, at least in part, to the marked decrease, from 84 to 57 percent, in student sympathy for Israel. In another textbook, The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography, a question reads, “If a Palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen Israeli teenagers in a Jerusalem restaurant, is that an act of terrorism or wartime retaliation against Israeli government policies and army actions?”  These are not unique.

The editor, Audrey Park Shabbas, employed by Arab World and Islamic Resources and School Services, authored the volume to improve the Arab image because the truth is unpalatable in Western society, and the Israeli image is scapegoated in the process, consistent with the 1400-year Islamic war against Jews and Western civilization.  Schools also distribute Scholastic’s maps that omit Israel from the modern Middle East.

Other education sources used across America are the Internet’s Flashpoints: Guide to World Conflicts, which identifies Jerusalem as the capital of (the non-existent) Palestine; handouts that omit the numerous and deadly Arab terrorist attacks on Israel; and A Muslim Primer that presents a deceptive, sugar-coated version of the subjugated Muslim woman’s life.  Biased textbooks in use throughout America are World History: The Human Odyssey; World History: Human Legacy; World Civilizations: The Global Experience; A Muslim Primer: Beginner’s Guide to Islam, and more.  I have personally reviewed four textbooks and written exposés accordingly, and many concerned professionals and members of the public are working hard to combat the manipulation of our youth, but the disinformation continues to proliferate.

More than 10,000 teachers attended Shabbas’s hundreds of three-day teacher-training sessions from 2000 to 2006, and were thus persuaded and made skillful at reaching and indoctrinating more than 25 million students over ten years.   Additional corroboration comes from visiting biased speakers, such as the notorious anti-Israel Noam Chomsky, an aficionado of the Iran-supported, world’s most powerful terrorist group/army, Hezbollah, responsible for large-scale bombings and suicide attacks on Americans and Israelis; Linda Sarsour, anti-Semite, jihadi and proponent of FGM (Female Genital Mutiliation); and academia’s Paul Beran, then-director of Harvard University’s Outreach Center, now leader of SHARIAsource, recognized for promoting BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) against Israel to the Presbyterian Church.

It took alert parents and involved citizens and intense investigation and reports by The Massachusetts Board of Education, Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), the American Jewish Committee and Verité Educate to expose Newton High’s ethical violations and unacceptable practices and to finally have the school admit the Outreach Center’s strong influence.  Key criticism was leveled at Harvard International Review’s Hatem Bazian’s fallacious portrayal of Palestinians as the indigenous victims and Jews as the colonialists; at the textbooks for their academic dishonesty through inaccuracies, false information, plagiarism, deceptive editing, and hate-filled, religious-proselytizing websites; assignments designed to prejudice students toward a suicidal one-state solution for Israel/the West Bank/Gaza, revealed in Miriam F. Elman’s “Palestinian Propaganda is  Infiltrating US Public Schools”; and biases against Israel and the US while sanitizing Islamic ideology and terrorism, explained by Rafael Medoff in Breaking Christian News.

Examples of other schools across the country that inculcate Islamism and unfairness in the classroom include Bellaire High, in Houston, Texas, cited for extreme claims about Israel’s history; Carlmont High in Belmont, California, which invited Linda Sarsour and other anti-Semites to advocate BDS and tutor radical positions against Israel; and La Plata High, a Maryland public school that forces the children to learn about Islam, memorize the Five Pillars of Islam, and recite the Shahada, the Islamic oath of conversion.  By contrast, there is a considerable lack of parallel information being taught about Christianity and Judaism because Islamists precedently announced their aversion and umbrage.  This generation of children is being fed an egregiously biased version of an ideology that is incompatible with democracy and corrosive to our beliefs, morals, and ideals.  Let us be clear: their ultimate purpose is the conversion of our children.

The Intense focus on Islamic subjects is carefully selected.  For example, the status of women is profoundly misrepresented, the origin and purpose of their sharia-compliant clothing falsified and unsupported by scholarship.  One author asserts that “Islam and the Quran created major improvements in the status of women,” when the truth is otherwise.  The worst conditions for women are concealed, including the practices of genital mutilation and honor killings; accusations of adultery and stoning; their treatment as property and legal inferiority; endorsed beatings by their husbands; the fact that a woman may have no rights to show her face, walk alone, drive a vehicle or attend schools. International speakers and experts who offer genuine facts, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Anni Cyrus, Brigitte Gabriel, and Noni Darwish, are not among the invitees.

The textbooks elevate Islam over Judaism and Christianity, one being John Esposito’s Islam, the Straight Path, in which he declares that revelations given to the Jews and Christians were false. By contrast, he cites as truth, rather than belief, that God sent Muhammad as his final messenger and that God’s sacred language is Arabic.  Students write about Moslem pilgrimages, including to Jerusalem as “your homeland,” when Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Koran.  Many textbooks explain the rise and spread of Islam as being a successful acceptance of ideas, rather than the result of persecution and wantonly destructive conquerors who beheaded the non-believers, kidnapped the women for forced conversion and sexual slavery, and enriched themselves with appropriated bounty.

The textbooks’ definition of jihad varies from the benign, the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin, to the traditional, the struggle against the enemies of Islam, but the goal is always the same – that of bringing the whole world under Islamic law, as explained by Bernard Lewis. Omitted is the account of hundreds of members of the Jewish Meccan tribe, the Quarayza, beheaded in 627 AD for rejecting Muhammad as Prophet, and the more than 109 verses in the Quran that decree violence and death to Jews and Christians, and the destruction of Israel.

Not found in textbooks is Israel’s history – not 1948, when five surrounding Arab states declared war on the new state of Israel and lost, or 1967, when the Arabs again attacked Israel and lost, leaving behind Arabs who stayed and accepted Israel citizenship and Arabs who fled and remained as stateless pawns, neglected by their brethren.  Mislaid is the number of Jews – between 800,000 and one million – who fled for their lives from Islamic countries, and were absorbed by Israel.  Missing are a timeline that would verify Israel’s attacks as retaliatory to the Arab leaders’ calls to annihilate Israel, and a correct definition of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “religious,” as declared in the Quran, confirming that anti-Semitism is integral to the Moslem culture. The textbooks do not explain Islamic terrorism and radicalism as religious precepts of jihad, or the incitement to hate that permeates Palestinian and Islamic society. Palestinians extol terrorism, praise terrorists as heroes and deceased murderers as martyrs after whom streets, cultural events, and public squares are named, and for which parents are handsomely rewarded – with “humanitarian aid” funded by UN countries. Anti-Semitism is endemic to the Koran, and none of this is mentioned.

The correct definition of Islam, with its religious, legal, political, economic, social and military components is a 100% system of life, and the greatest threat to the world.  There are organizations that work to free our schools of Islamic propaganda, but the programs of study have been bought and paid for by the Saudis, and theirs is the agenda.  Hence, the lessons are plagued with poor scholarship, revisionism, and blatant anti-Israel bias, and supported by a corrupt media that fuels the skewed perspective.

It is now evident that we are at war, a war that is being waged in the classroom, with its weaponry aimed at our children’s minds.  The diligent work, “Indoctrinating our Youth,” by CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, has resulted in the removal of some curriculum materials, but not all.  Despite parental rights to know what their children are learning, teaching staff does not provide full disclosure.  And, for every school that removes falsehoods, there are a hundred more that are continuing its use, now beginning at 3rd grade level.  It is up to us to pursue what must be stopped for the sake of our survival as a republic.  Go to www.schoolbias.org or call CAMERA, at 617-377-6911.  To quote a popular phrase, “If you see something, say something.”

 

Jan 2 2018

Deadline Tomorrow For FBI To Turn Over Documents To Intel Chairman Nunes…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 2, 2018 by

Tomorrow, January 3rd, is the deadline presented by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes for the FBI to turn over responsive documents, their field agent investigative notes and contact summaries.

The FBI Counterintelligence Division began an official investigation on/around July 15th, 2016. The target of the investigation was the Donald Trump campaign.  The FBI has refused to answer questions or allow investigative oversight toward the origin of their endeavor.

Numerous leaks from the FBI imply the leadership is attempting to shape the narrative surrounding the origin. Suspicions are high.  Key questions we hope to see answered soon with specific detail are:

  • 1.) who was the FISC judge that signed off on the FISA application?
  • 2.) what was the underlying evidence presented to the FISA court?

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♦FBI Agent Peter Strzok has been reassigned to the HR department.  ♦FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, personal legal aide to FBI Asst. Director, Andrew “Andy” McCabe, has been returned to the DOJ side. ♦FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker has been relieved of his duties by FBI Director Christopher Wray. ♦FBI Asst Director Andrew McCabe has announced his intent to retire in March.

In October 2016, immediately after the DOJ lawyers formatted the FBI information (Steele Dossier etc.) for the FISA application, the head of the NSD, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin, left his job.  During his exit John Carlin informed the FISA court the DOJ-NSD frequently provided false information to the court to gain FISA warrants – Read Here.

Chairman Devin Nunes wants answers to the origin of the FBI counterintelligence operation.  Back in February 2017 Devin Nunes went to a secure SCIF and saw some of the unmasking reports that stemmed from that operation.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/368046067/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-vr2l2OIJk8i7MlYmEX4h

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Those who have followed the back-story closely can see clear political outline of the 2016 operation. Here’s the way the entire construct looks in simple outline.

Career officials, managers and staff within the DOJ and FBI wanted to help ensure Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election.  Those people were ideologically aligned with President Obama, and held the goal of maintaining progressive advances as part of their motive.

A “small group” was formed within the DOJ and FBI to facilitate this goal.  The first goal was to remove Clinton from the burden of the FBI email investigation.

Once that goal was achieved, they moved on to Clinton’s 2016 challenger.  By the time the 2016 GOP convention drew near, everyone accepted that challenger would be Donald Trump.

As such the FBI “small group” began monitoring candidate Donald Trump in June/July 2016 as part of a plan toward the benefit of candidate Hillary Clinton.

However, the FBI and DOJ officials also needed an actual basis, a legal justification for their behavior and the time they were spending.  The plan to justify that behavior was to create an official counterintelligence operation.

To get the counterintelligence operation going, they needed a reasonable basis for creating one.  That basis was the formative seeds of claims of Russian connections to the Trump campaign.

To establish the basis the Russian elements needed for the operation; the DNC and Clinton campaign has earlier paid Fusion GPS (April ’16) to contract Christopher Steele to write a dossier that would form the legal grounding for the counterintelligence operation.

The wife of Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS), Mary B. Jacoby, with years of Russia-angled reporting –including Donald Trump– visits the White House on April 19th 2016.

Fusion GPS (Mary B. Jacoby, and Glenn Simpson) hired DOJ Deputy Attorney Bruce Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, who was well versed in counterintelligence operations, CIA operations, and using CIA tradecraft to create illusions.

Nellie Ohr worked with retired British MI6 Agent Christopher Steele to manufacture the Steele Dossier.  The dossier would take innocuous connections between Trump and Russian people, enhance them, fabricate some nefarious appearance, and then be turned over to Bruce Ohr’s counterintelligence buddy in the FBI Peter Strzok.

In essence, the Clinton’s created the Russian “angle” out of thin air; and the FBI and DOJ used that creation as the legal underpinning for the counterintelligence operation.

The cointel op was always just a ruse for wiretapping, surveillance and monitoring of Donald Trump campaign officials.

The FBI (Strzok) and DOJ (Ohr) dressed up the Steele Dossier to apply for a FISA warrant (Asst from DOJ/FBI intermediary Lisa Page).  The surveillance was happening with or without the FISA approval; but the FISA warrant would make the surveillance legal.

The initial application to the FISA Court was so sketchy (June-2016) it was actually denied.   Denials rarely happen.  One-in-a-thousand.

The Steele Dossier was dressed up some more.  More stuff added, thanks to Christopher Steele and Nellie Ohr, to the second FISA application in Sept./October.  That FISA application again submitted by Bruce Ohr, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page. That warrant was approved.

If Hillary was elected, the entire counterintelligence operation just disappears into the ether.  No-one would ever know about it.

But Hillary didn’t win.

Trump did.

Subsequently, the insurance policy is deployed.  The entire Trump Counterintelligence Operation (Trump spying) now evolves into “A Russian Probe”.  So the team behind the CoIntel scheme, again “the small group”, had to make up the “Russian Interference in The Election” narrative, a larger narrative, as the insurance policy and to cover their tracks.

The manufactured basis for the FISA warrant, ‘Muh Russia’ now REALLY needed to become real; or at least have the IMMEDIATE appearance of being real or justified.

March 2017 …”Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left; so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy, um, that the Trump folks – if they found out HOW we knew what we knew about their, the Trump staff, dealing with Russians – that they would try to compromise those sources and methods; meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence.”…

[VIDEO HERE]

That’s also why the goofy “Joint Analysis Report on Russian Interference” was created.  Brennan (CIA), Clapper (ODNI), and Comey (FBI), and to a much lesser extent the outsider Mike Rogers (NSA).  This became the “17 intelligence agencies” blah.. blah… blah.

It was never 17 intel agencies.  It was four.  Only three pushed it.  Mike Rogers said he had low/moderate confidence in the underlying intelligence within the report.  The report was created as evidence to enhance the insurance policy. Nothing more.

[My hunch is if you put the Steele Dossier together with the Joint Analysis Report, you will find 90% of the FISA application documentation.]

Additionally, the entire crew, from the Obama Administration and current career people within the DOJ, FBI, etc., who understood the larger scheme, needed ongoing people to continue ensuring the insurance policy was maintained and deployed.

That drove the need for a Special Counsel investigation. Demand-Demand-Demand.  Mueller’s investigation was really just another way the players within the original scheme could keep a lid on the events in 2016.

That’s why many of the FBI/DOJ “small group”, the crew who cleared Hillary in the email investigation, were also assigned to the Mueller investigation.  Controls were  needed.

Inside Mueller’s crew, the “small group” essentially works to watch over what information the Trump officials or congress could possibly be discovering…. under the auspices of investigating ‘Muh Russia’ etc.  If the “DOJ/FBI small group” comes across a risky trail being followed, they work to impede, block, delay or deflect anyone from that trail.

That’s the ‘high-level’ summary of the way things look from a researched perspective.

The Big Ugly

Jan 2 2018

No More Games – Ambassador Nikki Haley Announces U.S. Removing $255 Million Aid To Pakistan…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 2, 2018 by

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley delivered strong remarks today during a press briefing surrounding U.S. policy toward Pakistan and Iran.

“The administration is withholding $255 million in assistance to Pakistan. There are clear reasons for this. Pakistan has played a double game for years. They work with us at time, and they also harbor the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan. That game is not acceptable to this administration.”

WATCH:

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Think BIGLY – On a geopolitical level the U.S. relationship with Pakistan is shadowed by a strong  Pakistani economic relationship with China.  China is Pakistan’s biggest investor.  China has also recently been identified as covertly propping up North Korea with smuggled oil shipments: “Very Disappointing“.

The central U.S. Pakistani relationship has always been about our fight against the terrorist networks of the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Pakistan has played both sides of that coin.  In August of 2017 President Trump warned Pakistan our relationship with them would be different if they did not stop enabling the Taliban.

The U.S. primary goal in Afghanistan is to force the Taliban to enter negotiations with the legitimate Afghanistan government and achieve a peaceful resolution toward a stable, non terrorist/non-extremist, nation.  Pakistan’s duplicitous action has become an impediment to that goal.

Knowing that ultimately a decision-point would would be reached with both Pakistan and China, President Trump began constructing the counter-leverage last year via an enhanced economic relationship with India and Prime Minister Modi.

Given the current antagonism by both Pakistan (via Afghanistan) and China (via North Korea), we can anticipate that President Trump will now enter a phase of elevated and open (ie. very public) economic engagement with India.  “Indo-Pacific”

Predictable leverage in the ongoing dynamic will remain centered around economics.

In addition to the withdrawal of direct financial support for Pakistan, China will now face increased trade-policy-scrutiny, as well as lesser beneficial economic trade outcomes.

Predictably, the Most Favored Nation (MfN) trade status, a primary driver of U.S./China trade with great benefit toward Xi Jinping, is going to become increasingly leveraged as a negotiation strategy.

U.S. India ties are NOW a key and central component to the approach.

NOT COINCIDENTALLY the following surfaces as an ‘ah-ha moment’ for many:

President Trump thinks long term… and VERY strategically:

T-REX […]  Prime Minister Modi’s visit in June highlighted the many areas of cooperation that are already underway in this new area of our strategic relationship.

Our defense ties are growing. We are coordinating our counterterrorism efforts more than ever before. And earlier this month, a shipment of American crude oil arrived in India, a tangible illustration of our expanding energy cooperation. The Trump administration is determined to dramatically deepen ways for the United States and India to further this partnership.

For us today, it’s plain to see why this matters. India represents the world’s largest democracy. The driving force of our close relationship rests in the ties between our peoples – our citizens, business leaders, and our scientists.

Nearly 1.2 million American visitors traveled to India last year. More than 166,000 Indian students are studying in the United States. And nearly 4 million Indian Americans call the United States home, contributing to their communities as doctors, engineers, and innovators, and proudly serving their country in uniform.

As our economies grow closer, we find more opportunities for prosperity for our people. More than 600 American companies operate in India. U.S. foreign direct investment has jumped by 500 percent in the past two years alone. And last year, our bilateral trade hit a record of roughly $115 billion, a number we plan to increase.

Together, we have built a sturdy foundation of economic cooperation as we look for more avenues of expansion. The announcement of the first Global Entrepreneurship Summit ever to be hosted in South Asia, to take place in Hyderabad next month, is a clear example of how President Trump and Prime Minister Modi are promoting innovation, expanding job opportunities, and finding new ways to strengthen both of our economies.

When our militaries conduct joint exercises, we send a powerful message as to our commitment to protecting the global commons and defending our people. This year’s Malabar exercise was our most complex to date. The largest vessels from American, Indian, and Japanese navies demonstrated their power together in the Indian Ocean for the first time, setting a clear example of the combined strength of the three Indo-Pacific democracies. We hope to add others in coming years.

In keeping with India’s status as a Major Defense Partner – a status overwhelmingly endorsed last year by the U.S. Congress – and our mutual interest in expanding maritime cooperation, the Trump administration has offered a menu of defense options for India’s consideration, including the Guardian UAV. We value the role India can play in global security and stability and are prepared to ensure they have even greater capabilities.

And over the past decade, our counterterrorism cooperation has expanded significantly. Thousands of Indian security personnel have trained with American counterparts to enhance their capacity. The United States and India are cross-screening known and suspected terrorists, and later this year we will convene a new dialogue on terrorist designations.

In July, I signed the designation of Hizbul Mujahideen as a Foreign Terrorist Organization because the United States and India stand shoulder-to-shoulder against terrorism. States that use terror as an instrument of policy will only see their international reputation and standing diminish. It is the obligation, not the choice, of every civilized nation to combat the scourge of terrorism. The United States and India are leading this effort in that region.

But another more profound transformation that’s taking place, one that will have far-reaching implications for the next 100 years: The United States and India are increasingly global partners with growing strategic convergence.  (more)

~ Secretary Rex Tillerson

 

… Think BIGLY

Jan 1 2018

President Trump Calls Out Pakistan “Lies and Deceit”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 1, 2018 by

On August 21st, 2017, President Trump began a very familiar process toward Pakistan within the geopolitical strategy known to us as The Trump Doctrine: ‘the accurate assignment of responsibility’, by honestly calling out the historic nature of the relationship.

In a remarkable speech on Afghanistan policy, President Trump addressed the nation and stated the continued Pakistani support of the Taliban extremists was only impeding the quest for peace.

The Trump policy goal was not Pakistan eliminating the Taliban, but rather outlining how the Afghanistan solution begins with the Taliban entering negotiations with the Afghan government.  Pakistan -supporting the Taliban- continues to undermine that goal.

With little change since August, today President Trump calls out Pakistan:

(Twitter Link)

AUGUST 2017 […] “The next pillar of our new strategy is to change the approach in how to deal with Pakistan. We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond.

“Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists. In the past, Pakistan has been a valued partner. Our militaries have worked together against common enemies.

“The Pakistani people have suffered greatly from terrorism and extremism. We recognize those contributions and those sacrifices, but Pakistan has also sheltered the same organizations that try every single day to kill our people. We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars, at the same time they are housing the same terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change. And that will change immediately.

“No partnership can survive a country’s harboring of militants and terrorists who target U.S. service members and officials. It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilization, order, and to peace. (transcript link)

President Trump states truth boldly.  If anything President Trump stated was not the truth the Trump Doctrine -placement of strategic ownership- would not work.  However, the entire international community knows that Pakistan, including their intelligence service ISI, has a great deal of hidden sympathy toward Islamic extremists within Afghanistan.

Never was that reality more stark than when the international community realized that 9/11 terrorist Osama Bin Laden held refuge inside Pakistan for almost a decade.  Within the governing systems inside Pakistan there is a large contingent of Taliban sympathy.  This reality has been the 800lb gorilla amid public discussions of international national security for several years.

August 2017 was the first time a U.S. President called it out, publicly.

This is where those who follow Trump closely will note a familiar pattern emerging.

The Taliban in Afghanistan are to Pakistan, as the DPRK is to China.

Remember, the solution to the threat that is Kim Jong-un is to assign direct responsibility toward Beijing.  In a similar approach, the solution toward eliminating the threat of extremist violence from the Taliban is to assign direct responsibility toward Pakistan.  President Trump began that process in August.

However, those who have followed closely will note there’s additional references.

♦When the threat is Sunni Extremism, the problem was/is the Muslim Brotherhood and the enabling of Qatar.  Trump assigned responsibility for solving that issue to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council.   It is the GCC who are confronting Qatar, not the United States.

♦When the threat is Syria’s chemical weapon, the problem was/is the Assad regime and ISIS.  Trump assigned responsibility for solving that issue to Russia; Russia initially refused to solve it, so Trump bombed the shit out of Assad – Russia/Assad took ownership, the chemical weapon use stopped; further action was not needed by the United States.

♦When the threat is DPRK’s nuclear weapons, the problem was/is Kim Jong-un and the enabling China.  Trump assigned responsibility for solving that immediate threat to China.  It is Beijing who can force Kim Jong-un to stand down, without war – Not the United States.

See the pattern?  In each example President Trump assigns responsibility.  However, the important element is the underlying ownership must be based entirely on truth.  In each of the examples the truth was/is that Gulf States/Qatar, Assad/Russia, and China/Beijing were manipulating and enabling the problem behavior.  By calling out that truth, each enabler was forced to take ownership and corrective action.

The same approach extends here with Afghanistan.  However, the solution is not Pakistan eliminating the Taliban per se’; the solution lies in leveraging Pakistan to force the Taliban into negotiations with the legitimate Afghan government.   Like the previous examples of Saudi Arabia and China, Trump has now assigned ownership of this objective to Pakistan.

 

Jan 1 2018

The Russian Collusion Narrative Was, As FBI Agent Peter Strzok Explained: “An Insurance Policy”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 1, 2018 by

“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office that there’s no way he gets elected – but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”

~FBI Agent Peter Strzok to FBI Lawyer Lisa Page

Let us be clear on what the “insurance policy” was.  The insurance policy was, in totality, the entire fraudulent Russian Conspiracy Narrative; and all of the accompanying –and subsequent– FBI and DOJ collaborative actions that were taken, under the auspices of an FBI counterintelligence operation, in order to generate an entirely false premise. The goal of using the “insurance policy” was to destroy, and possibly impeach, President Trump.

All of it.

As the Inspector General investigation continues: ♦FBI Agent Peter Strzok has been reassigned to the HR department.  ♦FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, personal legal aide to FBI Asst. Director, Andrew “Andy” McCabe, has been returned to the DOJ side. ♦FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker has been relieved of his duties by FBI Director Christopher Wray. ♦FBI Asst Director Andrew McCabe has announced his intent to retire in March.

All of these FBI personnel moves are a preliminary outcomes of the still ongoing Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation.   All of this has been reported.  None of these moves are speculative.  However, this is just one side of the Trump operation, the FBI investigative Counterintelligence Division side.

The legal side of the Trump operation, stems from the National Security Division of the DOJ.  A FISA application is submitted from the DOJ-NSD side for use by the FBI Counterintelligence team.  That’s the side the current New York Times Papadopoulos story is intended to protect. CTH anticipated that maneuver was coming; that’s why we wrote an outline about the DOJ-NSD collaboration two days before the NYT silly defense article.

In October 2016, immediately after the DOJ lawyers formatted the FBI information (Steele Dossier etc.) for the FISA application, the head of the NSD, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin, left his job.  During his exit John Carlin informed the FISA court the DOJ-NSD frequently provided false information to the court to gain FISA warrants – Read Here.

The New York Times never wrote about the admission by the Obama DOJ to the FISA court.  The court itself declassified their opinion of the DOJ conduct, in May of 2017, and that’s the way the public discovered the 2016 admissions by the DOJ National Security Division.

New York Times Reporter – Maggie Haberman

WATCH THIS and remind yourself of what was openly visible at the time in 2016:

.

The 2016 FBI counterintelligence operation was surveillance on the Trump Campaign and was thinly disguised under the fraudulent auspices of a DOJ National Security Division FISA warrant; the justification was later sold as a defense of U.S. democracy from Russia, which permitted wiretaps, surveillance and the ammunition to build a false narrative.

…“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office that there’s no way he gets elected – but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”…

The false ‘Russian Conspiracy’ narrative was the insurance policy.  If Hillary Clinton won, the insurance policy would never have been used, Russia would never have been accused of interfering in the election, and all prior activity just disappears.  It’s that simple.

♦Constructing the Insurance Policy – The specific responsibility of the DOJ-NSD involvement surrounds legal arguments, processing of FISA applications, and use of the legal system, to support the FBI counterintelligence operation with actionable legal tools against Trump. The DOJ National Security Division carried out that collaboration with the FBI.

Responding to a 2015 request by the DOJ Office of Inspector General, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told the internal watchdog they cannot investigate the National Security Division.  That’s right, there was essentially no oversight on any activity happening inside the NSD.

In 2015 the OIG requested oversight and it was Sally Yates who responded with a lengthy 58 page legal explanation saying, essentially, ‘nope – not allowed.’ (PDF HERE) All of the DOJ is subject to oversight, except the NSD.

The Department of Justice’s own Inspector General (currently Michael Horowitz who opened a January 2017 investigation into the 2016 politicization of the FBI and DOJ) was not allowed to investigate anything that happened within the NSD branch of the Department of Justice until Jeff Sessions was confirmed.

The former head of the NSD, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin, admitting their intentional misuse of the FISA court process is actual evidence of why Sally Yates kept the NSD operating without oversight.

Post election, the legal aides, career bureaucrats, investigators and agents within the entire ideological operation of the FBI and DOJ-NSD then transferred to the Robert Mueller investigation so they could keep a lid on any of their risk exposure and simultaneously maintain the entire false premise behind the Russian Collusion Narrative.

How did they get in the Mueller investigation?  Through the assignment, advice and assistance of FBI Chief Legal Counsel, James Baker – who would be the point person assigning people to assist his long-time friend, Robert Mueller.

See? That’s where James Baker becomes exposed.

When the IG (Horowitz) exposed Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr, immediate and critical eyes were on Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  Why did Mueller hire them? At first no-one was paying attention to FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker.  It was only after Baker was removed from his Chief FBI role that things added up.

Mueller’s entire Russia Conspiracy investigation was really just another way the players within the original scheme could keep a lid on the events in 2016 and still retain the insurance policy.  That’s why many of the FBI/DOJ “small group”, the crew who cleared Hillary in the email investigation, were part of the Trump Operation, and later also assigned to the Mueller investigation. Controls were/are needed.

Inside Mueller’s crew, the “small group” essentially works to watch over what information the Trump officials or congress could possibly be discovering…. under the auspices of investigating ‘Muh Russia’ etc. If the “small group” comes across a risky trail being followed, they work to impede, block, delay or deflect anyone from that trail, including congress.

However, the back-story to the FISA warrant is the FBI and NSD collaboration.  The back-story to the FISA warrant is the cornerstone to expose this entire charade. The back-story to the FISA warrant contains action by the FBI and the DOJ upper-management and leadership.  The back-story to the FISA warrant outlines the conspiracy and the nature of the relationships amid all the conspirators.

Expose the FISA back-story and the entire ‘muh Russia’ conspiracy fraud, aka ‘the insurance policy‘, collapses under the weight of sunlight, becomes useless, and all of the co-conspirators are discovered.

That’s why the NYT was used to create chaff and countermeasures; to get people to take their eyes away from the FISA application and use thereof.

Nothing more.

The Big Ugly

Dec 31 2017

Jumpin’ Ju-Ju Bones, What a Year…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on December 31, 2017 by

During the final hours of each year there are people, pundits and authors much more eloquent than I who are able to encapsulate the prior twelve months, and all the ramifications therein.

Perhaps part of the reason CTH struggles with philosophical hindsight is because we spend almost all of our time looking, as far as possible, in the opposite direction – always toward the horizon.

Maybe, just maybe, that purposeful decision is part of the reason we find it easier to relate to the strategic goals and planned objectives of President Donald John Trump.  Indeed, as someone acutely stated ‘our president seems to have an eery ability to see around corners’.  Often, what initially seems as a disconcerting position to take, quickly finds the criticism unfounded as the larger truth is something invisible until we turn the corner.

What a journey we are on.

Decades of economic manipulation by the professional political class has now turned upside-down, and more than ever people are realizing the extent to which our national wealth was been intentionally undermined by global control agents and their purchased enablers in Washington DC. Arguably, the greatest achievement in the past year is the resurgence of Main Street and common sense economic policy.  A lot of people hate President Trump because of that simple fact.

The beauty of it is, POTUS Trump doesn’t care.

With or without the support of DC -often by just sheer will, grit and determination- President Trump is going to Make America a Great and balanced economy again. It is no longer an ‘if’ proposition, it’s happening.

POTUS Trump doesn’t care if the benefactors are blue or red, black or green, or any other category of constituency or self- identity; if you are American, you will benefit. Period.

Pretty cool.

Additionally refreshing is knowing all the cabinet members put on their socks every day knowing their mission objective is not political.  As the President directs all oppositional fire upon himself, all of the officials stay MAGA-mission-centric.  If you think about it, it’s the exact opposite approach of historic reference.

Usually the higher up the politician is within the apparatus, the more they try to retain their own placement and avoid controversial positions.  President Trump flips that dynamic and takes all the controversial positions so those underneath his leadership can advance their action toward the larger goal.  Whenever Trump takes a rare break, the opposition is able to look around, briefly, and realizes “oh, snap” they’ve lost ground.

Trump’s opposition spends so much time confronting him personally, while looking only at the granules moving at their feet, they fail to notice the tectonic plates have shifted.  It’s really quite remarkable.  Funny too.  As soon a Trump tweets “BOO”, they quickly go back to chasing him…. “curse you villain“!   Too funny.

I’ll admit, y’all know, back in 2015 I thought this MAGA approach was possible… yet, I had no idea it would be this level of MAGA successful.  We always knew who the decepticons were – but we also thought they would attempt to retain their masks.

Boy howdy was that ever wrong.

As soon as the decepticons realized Donald Trump was actually intent on destroying their 30-year-built Potemkin village, the UniParty dropped all pretense and came screaming out of the shadows right behind us…. man, that was weird at first.  It was like living amid the vampire pod-people as our neighbors and not knowing who was actually infected at the checkout line in the grocery store.  Fortunately MAGA hats, or MAGA discussion, is like garlic to ’em.

In 2017 their uncontrollable autonomic responses became known as “triggering”.

Funny stuff.

The funniest of all funny things is when you ‘trigger’ someone infected with TDS, their expressed world-view can change instantaneously.  Their belief is whatever is opposite of Trump.  The most recent example highlights Islamic Terrorists and Iranian Mullahs as the great defenders of institutions cherished by those with anti-Trump sensibilities. Weird people.

He’s one guy, and he has them entirely surrounded.

Perpetually triggered, consistently paranoid and surrounded.

Damned funny, if you ask me.

When it comes to 2018 all I can tell you is, if the decoder ring holds up, this is going to be exciting.  Yes, more winning. After a year of increasing success, POTUS Trump appears to have the timing of the whac-a-mole machine down pat.

Before Donald Trump won the presidency we accepted his approach. Trump enters a battle-space, any battle-space, with adversaries 360° around him; and yet somehow he has them surrounded. As President Trump enters year #2, this approach continues.

On a scale of 1 to 10 the average person has a sense of internal purpose around level four. People of intense historic consequence generally exhibit a stronger personal drive which pushes their scaled sense of purpose to around a seven. However, Donald Trump, now President Trump, as exhibited throughout his life’s accomplishments, carries a sense of purpose considerably higher – perhaps the highest in our life time.

During the phase of the industrial revolution the highest captains of Main Street industry were known as “Titans”. The economic Titans accomplished incredible achievements in building and industry.

These giants moved the nation forward. Relentless forward progress. They never stopped moving forward, and they carried a resolve so severe and consequential they never allowed anything to stand in the way of their purpose driven objectives. National politicians knelt at the desks of these nationalist Titans.

Wolfmoon’s explainer more true today than it was a year ago:

“Well, I don’t really have to do any holding together, now that I figured out what Trump is up to. He is shaking things out, but counting on Trump gravity to pull things back together as he moves along.

He is moving “forward” at speeds Obama could not even dream of.

You and I will be anti-Trump trolls one day and MAGA heroes the next. Get used to it. Trump speed is the new normal. Some will call it flip-flopping, but that’s not what it is. Trump is dodging and weaving through reality faster than the reality can react to disrupt his plans.

I was explaining this to my wife. This is a roller-coaster now. Trump is no longer waiting for people to keep up. He is taking his bewildering art-of-the-deal campaign schtick into geopolitics, and for a lot of people who can’t keep up or hold on, it will be a rough ride.

Trump is no longer playing only with evil and cunning players who are still predictable, easily beatable dopes, like Hillary. He is playing against killers, with his own team of killers, and all the while he has scheming creeps like Hillary, BGI, SPLC, and the neocons gunning for him. Snake Ryan ready to bite when nobody is looking. “Warhead” McCain screaming for Russian blood. Psycho Kim and Samoa Obama plotting some kind of intrigue to take him down. And THOSE are the lightweights.

This is the majors now. Trump has to outwit world-class adversaries and “frenemies” by defining the deals that they will agree to. One minute they will think Trump is their friend – the next minute, a cunning, bitter foe.

And he has to do this with evil cheerleaders like Warhead, Linderace, Dipsy Dowd, Maggie Haterman, and Fake Yapper trashing him or praising him alternately, no matter which way he goes. They can’t keep up, either.

Neither can many around him. I think that half of the problem with advisers crashing into each other is they don’t realize what Trump is doing.

And people will trash you, and they will trash me. Get used to it. I’ve already caught plenty of people mocking me. Well, just wait a week in Trump time. Look stupid and conned by Trump one minute, and you look like a sage three days later.

Trump will not find perfect solutions. He will find OPTIMAL solutions. We cannot ask for more. Trump has stood by and watched Perfect murder Good for 8 years – maybe longer. He’s not gonna do it. He’s going to deliver the best outcome possible, and he’s not waiting for us to feel relaxed about it.

Best presidency ever! Just hang on. More winning is coming, but a lot of people are going to scream that it’s all over at EVERY turn.

The best way through this is to define viewpoints, not people, because people will shift as they change position and velocity in Trump gravity. Bash the neocon, warmonger, and dopey globalist positions – not the people who are going to hold them one moment and come loose from them later.

Trump is Jupiter moving through the asteroid belt. He is going to pull people into his orbit. A few will get slung off into space, but most will come along for the ride of their lives.

I am ON the Trump Train for good, even if I scream that I want off and can’t take it.

In the end, I only want to scream “TOO MUCH WINNING!!!” (link)

….”And we will win, and you will win, and we will keep on winning… Believe me. And we will win so much, you will get tired of winning; and you will say: please Mr. Trump, we can’t take all of this winning… And I will say to you, NO. …We will win more, and we will keep winning,.. and we will win, and we will keep on winning…. I love you”…

~ President Donald Trump

Happy New Year !

Dec 31 2017

Sunday Talks: Senator Lindsey Graham -vs- Major Garrett…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on December 31, 2017 by

Interesting discussion today between Senator Lindsey Graham and CBS journalist Major Garrett.  Senator Graham went through a myriad of issues, from his specific perspective, including: Iran (and current protests), North Korea (nukes), DACA, Robert Mueller and the Russian Dossier.

Dec 31 2017

South Korea Intercepts SECOND Oil Tanker Headed To North Korea…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on December 31, 2017 by

Many readers might remember back in the summer 2017 (throughout July) when there were indications that President Trump, and allies, were positioning assets and drills for what appeared to be a strategic naval blockade. Well, today Reuters is reporting that South Korea has seized a second oil tanker, flagged under Panama, headed to North Korea.

The cost of smuggling oil into North Korea is getting very high. These oil tankers are very expensive and the cost of commerce in international ocean freight is underwritten by massive global insurance companies. Each of these interdictions’ makes the business end of smuggling much more unstable.  Additionally, each of these violations opens up the co-dependent enabler as a target for massive U.S. Treasury Sanctions previously established.

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean authorities have seized a Panama-flagged vessel suspected of transferring oil products to North Korea in violation of international sanctions, a customs official said on Sunday.

The seizure was the second to be revealed by South Korea within a few days, as the United Nations steps up efforts to squeeze essential oil supplies to the reclusive North following its nuclear or ballistic missile tests.

The ship, KOTI, was seized at Pyeongtaek-Dangjin port, the official told Reuters, without elaborating, due to the sensitivity of the issue. The port is on the west coast, south of Incheon.

A marine official also confirmed the seizure, which he said was done “recently”.

The KOTI’s estimated time of arrival at the port was Dec. 19, according to VesselFinder Ltd., a tracking service provider,

The ship can carry 5,100 tonnes of oil and has a crew mostly from China and Myanmar, Yonhap News Agency reported, adding that South Korea’s intelligence and customs officials are conducting a joint probe into the vessel.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the probe, declining to provide details.

“The government has been in close consultations with related countries and ministries to thoroughly implement the sanctions by the U.N. Security Council,” the spokesman said. (read more)