Friday, 24 January 2020

updated
Assassinations Are Now Part Of U.S. Official 'Deterrence'
Foreign Policy [Secretary Of State Pompeo]
Will The New 'Deterrence' Deter?

Assassinations Now Officially Part Of U.S. Foreign Policy
Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo,in a recent speech to the Hoover Institution, has said that political assassinations are now officially a part of U.S. foreign policy.
The speech continued that this should be a warning to (and has been widely interpreted as signalling to) Russia and China, amongst others, not to oppose U.S. foreign policy or side with 'terrorists.'
This statement places all U.S. personnel, diplomats and their families worldwide, in very real and immediate danger.
I cannot remember a speech in my lifetime from a U.S. Secretary Of State where assassinations are now officially a part of U.S. foreign policy. The implications of such a statement go very far and wide.
The danger here is that countries rivalling or in opposition to U.S. foreign policy in conflict zones and beyond will now base an official part of their foreign policy to include targeted assassinations.

The statement would appear to have been made with total disregard for Americans and their families serving all Departments of the United States Government overseas - and all of which are highly vulnerable and do not serve in any military nor paramilitary capacity nor have the protection afforded to such individuals. I would go even further and say that this speech, unintentionally and unwittingly, without a full appreciation of the implications of what was written for the Secretary Of State for him to deliver (or by himself on behalf of The President) 'sets them up' as targets for terrorist attacks in parts of the world where local conditions are, to say the least, challenging at the best of times.

The Secretary Of State has signalled a radical shift in U.S. official foreign policy.

The decision of Turkey to close the Black Sea to NATO cannot, as I earlier mentioned, be seen in isolation to concerns about unprovoked 'accidents' in the sea or air above these waters – which could (accidentally) start a wider-reaching regional war between Russia and NATO.
[Speculation:I do not think Turkey would be happy to see a civilian nor military plane of the Russian Federation shot down over the Black Sea, especially now that a 'rapprochement' between both countries has taken place and serious differences are now emerging between Turkey and the U.S. over the future of Syria, Libya, gas and oil pipeline directions from the Caspian Sea, transiting Turkey in partnership with Russia, then on to Europe.]


©Patrick Emek
January 2020

















at