[paraclete]

A CIC is supposed to make decisions, he lets the chain of command cut the orders

[Athos]

with all due respect .answering with political cartoons is pretty much a conversation stopper .

A picture is worth a thousand words.

[tomder55]

Yeah and a picture was worth even more when humans dwelled in caves . But in the age of the written word ,that marketing slogan loses out to the spoken and written word .Pictures are a convenient and simplistic way to describe complexity.

Yes a CIC makes the call. But a great CIC considers the advice of the experts hired to execute the policy .Trump apparently doesn't want or need advisors.

[talaniman]

A CIC is supposed to make decisions, he lets the chain of command cut the orders

You don't do that where you are, so why should we take the dictators approach to governing? That may be the way the dufus wants things done, like his handlers and heroes Vlad, and those Saudi royals, and the Turkish guy, who rules with an iron hand, or the Chinese and Kim, who butter up the dufus and keep doing what they have always done.

Keep believing that's the way it's supposed to be.



I know you're just pulling the chain Clete, and I can't blame you for thinking us as morons for even electing a dufus in the first place for CIC.

[paraclete]

You don't do that where you are, so why should wmide take the dictators approach to governing? That may be the way the dufus wants things done, like his handlers and heroes Vlad, and those Saudi royals, and the Turkish guy, who rules with an iron hand, or the Chinese and Kim, who butter up the dufus and keep doing what they have always done.

Keep believing that's the way it's supposed to be.



I know you're just pulling the chain Clete, and I can't blame you for thinking us as morons for even electing a dufus in the first place for CIC.

Who says we do do that, but our process has more opportunity for direct intervention and censure. Im doing more than yank your chain I'm trying to flush some ideas. You cant have it both ways, you cant have a CIC with power to act and a process where he cant act without the consent of a rabble who cant agree on anything. That is a recipe for disaster

[talaniman]

The CIC isn't supposed to act unilaterally. The rabble, as you put it has the power to check his authority, if they use it. That's the real problem, congress hasn't done it's job so the people have to do theirs and make some changes.

The way our system is supposed to work is by advise, consent and consensus, that's the theory. The reality is more like conflict and contention. We just have the most conflicted and contentious lot trying to run the place at the moment. Bound to happen every now and then. Try again in two years.

The dufus is a rather messy character. I think he ambushed repubs as much as the rest of the country, but I see some adjustments coming.

[tomder55]

The CIC has tremendous powers to act in national security and war powers .Congress has to "declare war" ;but that is not defined specifically as a formal declaration of war. Funding is the only REAL power Congress has . Congress defunded the Vietnam war and the CIC no longer had the power to execute it. Trump tweeted yesterday :

Donald J. Trump‏

Verified account

@realDonaldTrump

Dec 23 More

President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey has very strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria....and he is a man who can do it plus, Turkey is right “next door.” Our troops are coming home!

But the truth is that Turkey can't "eradicate " the PKK in their own territory . So how will they eradicate ISIS in Syria ? He is at the White House today with nothing better to do instead of at Mara Largo . So he is tweeting up a storm ;attacking allies the Dems ,and former aides . He'd be better off in Fla where he could at least spend time golfing instead of tweeting.

Please explain how forcing Mattis out by Jan 1 instead of late Feb to provide for an orderly transition is anything other than Trump putting his own hurt ego above the nation's security?

[paraclete]

Any way Happy Christmas

[talaniman]

Any way Happy Christmas

A heartfelt happy holiday to you and yours Clete.

[paraclete]

Yes, it is all sun, surf, sand and of course, bbq, prawns, oysters, ham, turkey, traffic

[tomder55]

so what did Trump think the Kurds would do when he abandoned them ?


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...-assad-regime/

[paraclete]

Pragmatism

[talaniman]

Moronism

[paraclete]

No, in that world you do what you have to to survive, Assad is the devil you know, he wasn't harsh on minorities, so if they don't pursue kurdish nationalism, he may embrace them. They will get no mercy from the turks and no support from the US

[tomder55]

The Kurds have a strong sense of collective history and national identity They failed to achieve statehood after WWI through no fault of their own ;even though the case for it was as or more persuasive as those of other groups whose national hopes were satisfied.Unless they can get their own state they will always be the persecuted minority subject to the whims of the Assad's ,the Saddam's ,the 12ers and the Erdogan's .

[talaniman]

The Kurds also have many European allies involved in their security efforts and I wonder what happens to them after the US abandons them?

[paraclete]

You don't need to wonder, Kurdistan will not happen, the Kurds will go back to being a minority in four countries

[talaniman]

The real issue is abandoning a very good ally in the fight against ISIS.

[tomder55]

Time for a flip flop

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said Sunday that the U.S. military withdrawal from northeastern Syria is conditioned on defeating the remnants of the Islamic State group, and on Turkey assuring the safety of Kurdish fighters allied with the United States.

https://apnews.com/e03de193e25e4fc19377ce99f947aa45

[talaniman]

You have to love the dufus cabinet members for always trying to explain what he blurts out of his mouth. He just wanted to change the national media coverage from his own scrutiny in legal matters until the shutdown became the top story.