On Appointments

This will be a busy day. One thing is clear—at MiH we don’t have the time or resources to chase appointment rumors or “reports”. However, …

Listening to Alexander Mercouris just now, he offers the same sound advice others are putting forward: Wait till Trump himself makes announcements. Mercouris maintains that all these reports are being put forward by various Neocon operatives “in Washington and London.” “Treat these stories with extreme caution.” Trump himself is wisely holding his cards close to his vest this time around, but Don Jr. has made it clear that Trump 2.0 will not be another Neocon front. They’re trying to push Trump into some kind of confrontation with Russia.

My addition: We see that in the first fake “report” of the Trump - Putin phone call. Note this. The Kremlin obviously knew this was a fake—it never happened. But the important thing was that he fake report was portraying Trump as belligerent and threatening toward Putin. The various “reports” of top National Security appointments also have that in common: all the appointments constitute a sort of Neocon wish list of war mongers who have consistently urged direct warfare with Russia. Trump himself felt compelled to shoot down the Pompeo/Halley “reports”. The objective appears to be to alarm the Kremlin about the prospects for a new, warlike Trump, possibly prompting Russia to take drastic actions before Trump ever is inaugurated. For example, when Russia sees increased US provocations during the transition, like this one (h/t commenter Megan Jane):

Pentagon confirms lifting of ban on entry into Ukraine for US military contractors

The Department made this decision "after careful risk assessment and in coordination with interagency stakeholders," the official said

WASHINGTON, November 9. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense (DoD) has confirmed the lifting of the ban on entry into Ukraine for American military contractors to repair and maintain the US-supplied equipment, with all possible risks related to the decision taken into account, a Pentagon representative said, responding to a TASS request.

"In order to help Ukraine repair and maintain military equipment provided by the US and its allies, DoD is soliciting bids for a small number of contractors who will help Ukraine maintain the assistance we’ve already provided. These contractors will be located far from the front lines and they will not be fighting Russian forces," he said, adding that "some of the equipment the US has provided Ukraine - or will provide Ukraine in the coming months - such as F-16s and Patriot air defense systems require specific technical expertise to maintain."

The Department made this decision "after careful risk assessment and in coordination with interagency stakeholders," the official said. "Each US contractor, organization or company will be responsible for the safety and security of their employees and will be required to include risk mitigation plans as part of their bids," he noted.

There already are a wide array of American companies who have personnel in Ukraine, "fulfilling contracts for the Ukrainian government," so this is not going to lead "to a substantial increase of employees of US companies working on the ground in Ukraine," the DoD representative said. "There also already are US government contractors working in Ukraine as the Department of State and USAID have been directly contracting US companies to assist with a variety of tasks, including helping strengthen Ukraine’s energy grid and providing economic support," he added.

Earlier, Reuters said citing sources that the US administration had decided to remove the ban on entry into Ukraine for US contractors. On June 25, CNN reported citing US officials that the US administration was working on lifting the ban on deployment of US defense contractors in Ukraine. Back then, the Pentagon refuted those reports, saying that no such decision had been made yet.

The reference to the “Interagency” is pretty much a dead giveaway—it’s laying down a line in the sand for the incoming President Trump. This is an assertion that it’s the Interagency that makes policy, no matter what We the People may have voted for, or what the Commander in Chief wants. The giveaway for that is that the terms of the fake phone call reflect Neocon scheming that we’ve been hearing for months. The big picture for the transition and beyond is that this all works together with the reports of who the Deep State wants heading the Interagency. Count on seeing more of this, and this will undoubtedly be on the agenda at the WH today when Trump visits. Hopefully, Trump is well prepared for the coming confrontation with the Deep State. The two assassination attempts certainly should have put him on notice.

The thing to keep in mind is that the Russians are probably fully aware of these dynamics. Russian personnel stationed in the US—at their Embassy, above all, but also at the UN—have undoubtedly been burning the midnight oil, divining the true shape of the Trump 2.0. They’ve heard all Trump’s peace mongering statements over the past year or more. They will not want to upset that possibility.