By Brandon TurbevilleIn a surprising turn, it has been announced that National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has resigned from his post after allegations surrounding his “inappropriate” contact with Russian officials and his subsequent admission of providing “incomplete” information to the President and Vice President regarding that contact. The resignation takes place amide FBI investigations into Flynn’s phone calls with the Russian ambassador and weeks after the Justice Department sent a warning letter to the Trump administration regarding the potential for Flynn to be subject to blackmail if the allegations were true.
In addition, the U.S. Army was reportedly investigating Flynn for his possible acceptance of Russian money during trips made to Russia in the past.
Of the less hysterical reports, Yahoo News at least attempted to refrain from channeling the ghost of Joe McCarthy. For that reason, its article “Conway: Flynn Resigned Because He’d Become ‘A Lighting Rod,’” can be used as a sample of how corporate media outlets are trying to portray the resignation, minus the hyperbole. It reads,
National security adviser Michael Flynn has resigned following reports he misled Vice President Mike Pence about contacts with a Russian diplomat, up-ending President Donald Trump’s White House team less than a month after his inauguration.The Washington Post was the first to report the communication between former acting attorney general Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, and the Trump White House. The Post also first reported last week that Flynn had indeed spoken about sanctions with the Russian ambassador.
In a resignation letter, Flynn said he gave Pence and others “incomplete information” about his calls with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. The vice president, apparently relying on information from Flynn, initially said the national security adviser had not discussed sanctions with the Russian envoy, though Flynn later conceded the issue may have come up.
Such conversations would breach diplomatic protocol and possibly violate the Logan Act, a law aimed at keeping private citizens from conducting U.S. diplomacy. The Justice Department also had warned the White House late last month that Flynn could be in a compromised position because of contradictions between his public depictions of the calls and what intelligence officials knew to be true based on routine recordings of communications with foreign officials who are in the U.S.
. . . . .
A U.S. official told The Associated Press that Flynn was in frequent contact with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on the day the Obama administration slapped sanctions on Russia for election-related hacking, as well as at other times during the transition.
An administration official and two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the Justice Department warnings on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. It was unclear when Trump and Pence learned about the Justice Department outreach.
Flynn’s Crime
In 2017, there has yet to be a single shred of evidence that the Russians hacked or influenced anything to do with the American elections or American policy, foreign or domestic. Regardless, the corporate media piranhas have a new carcass to chew on in their race to remind Americans of the big Russian bogeyman, drum up support for war in the Middle East and Ukraine as well as Russia itself, and to curtail virtually all rights and free speech under the guise of “national security” and Russophobia.
But what did Flynn actually do that was so wrong? His discussion with the Russian ambassador was nothing close to a scandal. He did nothing that would be interpreted as undercutting the Obama Administration’s aggression nor did he even say that Obama’s sanctions would be removed once Trump was in office. In fact, all he did was state that the Russians should not overreact to America’s current state of aggression because a new administration was soon to take over. A hint? Yes. A violation of the law or a scandalous act? Hardly.
Even the hawkish and McCarthyistic New York Times had to admit that, at worst, Flynn’s statements could be interpreted either way. “Still,” wrote the New York Times, “current and former administration officials familiar with the call said the transcript was ambiguous enough that Mr. Trump could have justified either firing or retaining Mr. Flynn.”
The New York Times then goes on to argue that Trump himself was more concerned with Flynn’s actions becoming a focal point of controversy than actual risks to national security or any real lawbreaking or perhaps that he was more angry that Flynn lied to Vice President Pence regarding the nature of the call and the statements made in it. But it doesn’t seem like Donald Trump to be overly concerned with controversy. It’s simply not in his character. After all, his entire campaign was built on controversy. So why is Flynn really out?
To be clear, Michael Flynn should have long ago been fired from his position as National Security Advisor. His radical obsession with Iran and his obvious crazed determination to go to war with the Persian nation is reason enough to ensure that he never gets near any position that would allow him to influence the U.S. government toward yet another imperialistic war of aggression in the Middle East. However, merely suggesting to Russia that, perhaps, when the new administration takes over, the U.S. might not continue to pursue a policy of World War Three is not necessarily Watergate or even grounds for firing. Given the fact that Trump had won the election and was merely waiting in the wings, Flynn’s statements should be taken in the proper context.
Even taking all the other accusations into consideration, such as the dinner with Putin, Flynn’s alleged crimes pale in comparison to what is considered business as usual in Washington. After all, where was the outcry regarding Hillary Clinton’s obvious and only thinly veiled financial relationship with China and Saudi Arabia when she was acting Secretary of State? If Clinton could maintain her position within the State Department amid all the clear evidence of her own scandals, then why is Flynn being held to a much higher standard?
Indeed, American politicians have, for years, violated the Logan Act by meeting with and actively planning policy at such global confabs like the Bilderberg Meeting without one word from the U.S. government or the mainstream media.
So again, the question must be asked . . .
What Is Behind Michael Flynn’s Resignation?
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev’s reaction to Flynn’s resignation is perhaps the most accurate and simplified version of what is taking place in the U.S. government command structure. Shortly after Flynn’s resignation was announced, Kosachev posted a status on Facebook stating that the decision for Flynn to resign upon request was “not just paranoia but something even worse.” Kosachev also wrote that “either Trump hasn’t found the necessary independence and he’s been driven into a corner … or Russophobia has permeated the new administration from top to bottom.”First, it should be noted that Kosachev’s statement is the statement of a Russian lawmaker and not the official statement of the Russian government, i.e. the Kremlin. However, Kosachev’s statement is illuminating to say the least.
There are, indeed, four possibilities here, two of which are mentioned by Kosachev.
The first possibility is that, simply put, we are witnessing yet another seamless transition of power and that the same anti-Russian, pro-imperialist policies will continue to be implemented in a Trump administration just as they were in the Obama administration, albeit in a “conservative,” “Republican” version.
The second possibility is that, as Kosachev pointed out, perhaps Donald Trump is finding out that he is nothing more than a figurehead for a well-entrenched and well-established Deep State and that he has no real control over events. It is also quite possible that elements within the Deep State, amply represented in Trump’s cabinet, are taking the reins and steering the wagon in another direction, independent of anything Trump has to say. This, of course, is assuming that Trump is actually working for the benefit of the American people, a highly implausible assumption to say the least but still worth considering since it has happened several times in the past.
A third possibility is that we are simply witnessing a new act in a carefully scripted theatre; partly designed to further the agenda of anti-Russian pro-war sentiment under Neo-Con/Republican cover and partly designed to reinforce the anti-Russian narrative being peddled mostly by the Left until there is a clear synthesis of delusion that Russia is the natural enemy of the United States and a threat to our way of life.
Lastly, there is the possibility that we are witnessing an intelligence community micro-coup against the Trump administration, eliminating Michael Flynn as the first shot over the bow. Whatever the nature of Trump in this scenario, there is the very real possibility that there are two factions in the American government and that an internal civil war is taking place.
Admittedly, we could also be seeing a mixture of any number of these possibilities taking shape before our eyes.
Who Replaces Flynn? Who Replaces The Replacement?
At the moment, it appears that Flynn will be replaced with retired Gen. Keith Kellogg. Kurt Nimmo of Another Day In The Empire, summarizes Kellogg’s history which is questionable to say the least. In his article, “Trump Replaces Flynn With Boss Of Super Secret Surveillance Contractor,” Nimmo writes,Kellogg has an interesting history. In addition to his disastrous mismanagement of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, Kellogg was president of Abraxas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cubic Corporation. Cubic provides diversified systems and services to the transportation and defense markets worldwide, according to MarketWatch.What is even more frightening, however, is the fact that, according to a “senior administration official” quoted by the Associated Press, Trump is also considering former disgraced General and CIA Director, David Petraeus for the post. Petraeus is a man of an intelligence pedigree of epic proportions, despite having been burned by a Mata Hari type operation. Petraeus is an eager warmonger with roots so deep in the intelligence community, a Petraeus appointment would no doubt please the Deep State.
In 2006, The LA Times reported on Abraxas:
In the burgeoning field of intelligence contractors, an especially aggressive upstart is Abraxas Corp., a privately held company that has assembled a deep roster of CIA veterans to handle a wide range of clandestine assignments — including secret work for an elite team of overseas case officers.
The company was founded by a group of former high-ranking agency employees, led by Richard “Hollis” Helms, a longtime overseas officer in the Middle East and onetime head of the CIA’s European division, and Richard Calder, who was the agency’s deputy director for administration.
Abraxas is right down the street from the CIA.
The company occupies an unmarked, third-floor office suite in McLean, Va., two miles from CIA headquarters. It has mainly specialized in providing veteran operatives and reports officers for positions in overseas stations and at CIA headquarters.
Abraxas is responsible for TrapWire, a tech company that develops a homonymous predictive software system designed to find patterns indicative of terrorist attacks.
The secretive project was discovered through a WikiLeaks disclosure in 2012 after emails were hacked from Strafor, often described as a shadow version of the CIA.
TrapWire uses a series of surveillance cameras around the country and also abroad to detect “suspicious behavior.” The system is reportedly located in every high-value target in New York City.
The system is sold to local law enforcement. From RT:
PrivacySos reports that a website maintained by the US Homeland Security Department’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) includes TrapWire as a product for sale to law enforcement agencies and first responders. It’s there that the background and operational concept of the system are described in detail and direct curious customers to AbraxasCorp.com for more information. When a link to the URL is clicked, the banner at the top of the developer’s homepage described Abraxas as “A Cubic Company.” On the FEMA page, the product information is detailed as provided directly by Abraxas Applications.
Sounds pretty much like a CIA front organization operation.
If Kellogg replaces Flynn, we can undoubtedly expect an expansion of the surveillance state and its associated industries.
In late 2015, Trump said in an interview he tends “to err on the side of security” and restoring parts of the Patriot Act that have been amended would “be fine.”
Trump’s CIA director, Mike Pompeo, introduced legislation to block the USA FREEDOM Act in 2015. The act enacted on June 2, 2015 restored in modified form several provisions of the Patriot Act, which had expired.
The Method of The Controversy – Intelligence Community Behind The Resignation Controversy
While virtually every mainstream outlet is joining in the hysteria regarding Flynn’s resignation, a fact that is, in and of itself, reason enough to suggest a coordinated campaign, it is also important to note that the “leaks” of the conversation was originally printed in the Washington Post, an outlet that has long been known as a “leak outlet” for the CIA. In fact, it was the acting Attorney General left over from the Obama administration, Sally Q. Yates, who issued the warning to the Trump administration regarding Flynn’s statements and conversation with the Russian ambassador.Even more so, the attack on Flynn was initiated before Trump ever took office. During the last days of the Obama Administration, CIA Director John Brennan and James Clapper, the Director of the Office of National Intelligence, two individuals who were instrumental in cocking up the ridiculous “Russian Election Hacking” scandal and its evidence-bare reports were involved in monitoring Flynn’s conversation and arguing that his appointment would be a potential risk to national security and the Trump administration. As the Washington Post writes,
In the waning days of the Obama administration, James R. Clapper Jr., who was the director of national intelligence, and John Brennan, the CIA director at the time, shared Yates’s concerns and concurred with her recommendation to inform the Trump White House. They feared that “Flynn had put himself in a compromising position” and thought that Pence had a right to know that he had been misled, according to one of the officials, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.As former Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich pointed out, it is important to remember that a phone call from the incoming National Security Advisor to the President-elect of the United States was “intercepted” by the intelligence community and then given to the media for dissemination. This is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle, demonstrating that the entire affair is clearly part of an intelligence operation.
“What’s at the core of this is an effort by some in the intelligence community to upend any positive relationship between the U.S. and Russia,” Kucinich said.
“And I tell you there’s a marching band and Chowder Society out there. There’s gold in them there hills,” he said. “There are people trying to separate the U.S. and Russia so that this military industrial intel axis can cash in,” Kucinich added.
Kucinich also stated “There’s a game going on inside the intelligence community where there are those who want to separate the U.S. from Russia in a way that would reignite the Cold War.”
“What’s going on in the intelligence community with this new President is unprecedented. They’re making every effort to upend him. Who know what the truth is anymore?”
“There’s something very wrong here in the intelligence community,” he said.
When asked what Donald Trump should do, Kucinich answered, “First of fall, he has to get a hold of his own intelligence apparatus. You know? This isn’t a joke. This is a serious matter. If he doesn’t get control of where the information’s coming from, he’ll never know the truth, the American people won’t know the truth and we can be set at war with almost any country. Be very careful is my warning this morning.
Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the resignation of Michael Flynn and the controversy surrounding it is clearly the result of a coordinated intelligence operation that determined, from day one, to remove Flynn from his position. This much is clear. The reason why, however, is much less obvious. Flynn was and still is a dangerous rabid Neo-Con warmonger and an obsessive anti-Iran fanatic. But having the CIA oust a member of the President’s cabinet because the organization finds him unpalatable is a new low for the United States. The CIA has, ever since its creation, functioned as the enforcement arm of the Deep State within the U.S. government but rarely are its actions so public.When corruption becomes public and when even the formalities of democracy begin to disappear, the situation becomes incredibly dangerous. As social and domestic tensions continue to boil and foreign relations with other countries are at an all-time low, a power struggle within the power structure is likely to carry many Americans down the drain with it. If there is no power struggle, however, and all of this is mere theater, there is undoubtedly a reason that Americans are being allowed to view a thinly veiled CIA ouster of a Presidentially-appointed advisor. While we may not know the specifics of the reason just yet, we do know that it will only further the agenda of the Deep State and put every American citizen at risk.
If there is a civil war in the power structure of the U.S. government, it is imperative that Americans do not resort to taking sides, especially against one another. It is time the American people allow cooler heads to prevail and use this incident as a wake-up call so that they realize just who is in control of the direction of their country, i.e. the Deep State. Americans must turn their sights away from each other and toward those who are attempting to manipulate them. The future of the United States literally depends on their ability to do so.
Brandon Turbeville – article archive here – is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of eight books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, and The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, The Difference It Makes: 36 Reasons Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President and Resisting The Empire: The Plan To Destroy Syria And How The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome. Turbeville has published over 700 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.
