Highly recommended: Alistair Crooke’s remarks this morning with Judge Nap—I’ve only really started listening:

Alastair Crooke : Netanyahu Lures Trump Into War with Iran

Here’s the short version of what he’s saying so far.

The Venezuela op basically has many of the earmarks of the Assad op in Syria. In particular, Crooke points to Delcy Rodriguez. While her family has good Bolivarian ties, she herself has close ties to the Venezuelan oil sector and to Qatari families. In fact, we’re hearing that she has been in contact with the Trump regime through the mediation of Qatar (I’ve seen other reports suggesting UAE, but it amounts to something very similar: the Gulf States, who were also involved in the Assad replacement). She’s now making the usual noises about wanting to get along with the West. Crooke also reports that Maduro had a Cuban security detail and that Cuba is stating that they have all been killed.

Yesterday we reported that Venezuela has gold reserves that are currently valued at $22B. Coincidentally, the arbitration judgment that US oil companies got against Venezuela—and you have to ask yourself, what international arbitrator was going to rule against the likes of Chevron—is $21B. But there’s more to that angle:

Robert Barnes @barnes_law

17h

Since the oil ain’t coming anytime soon & the Chavistas still control Venezuela, what’s the goal? How about getting them to pay off $21B judgment owed by the government? Guess who owns the rights to $21B? The fund of Paul Singer, the Israeli-supporting big Trump donor.

So, gold, oil, Jewish Nationalists …

We the People? The Ruling Class is running this, hoping to get to the Midterms.

However, the situation remains unclear. Crooke points to the return to Venezuela (from Cuba, where he was sent by Maduro) of former Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Crooke characterizes Cabello as a “very radical, a Budanov figure, a hitman” with strong support in the Venezuelan security and intel services. Nor is it clear that those services are monolithically behind Rodriquez.

This might only be Phase One.

The Judge asks Crooke whether the US is now regarded as a Rogue State that cannot be trusted. Well, that’s been clear enough for some time, but Crooke’s response is: “I think it’s more than that.” Crooke describes a perception of the the US under the Trump regime as “extremely hyper” and that nothing is certain any longer. The example he and the Judge bring up is of Trump stating repeatedly that “we” would “run” Venezuela. That, says Crooke, was not “in the script” before the op. The script was that Delcy Rodriguez would run Venezuela as a sort of cutout for the Deep State and the Ruling Class, so Rubio had to go on the talk shows to try to walk back Trump’s off script statements. Crooke quotes Michael Wolf speaking of “an awkward tension” in Trump “between grandiosity and dementia”. I have to say, I actually did listen to some of the video clips of Trump speaking, and I didn’t think he sounded like Trump 1.0. There was a disquieting tone to his speech.

In this regard we have to be watching Russia, China, and Iran. We have the recent attempted hit on Putin (or the nuclear command bunker, which Crookes stresses), the promise to attack Iran again. The Judge notes that Trump is “a shadow of his former self” in a physical sense—and his policies are now those of Hillary Clinton’s regime change-ism which he formerly attacked vociferously. Russia and China have to be reevaluating all their views on Trump.

Dangerous times are ahead. I’ll close with this very disturbing observation by Crooke that returns to my contention that it’s all connected:

Neither the strategic bomber fleet nor the early warning radars [attacked by the US earlier] nor the command bunker in the compound at Valdai have anything to do with what’s happening in Ukraine. These are all to do about a nuclear war. What is the message, therefore, that CIA is sending? We don’t quite know what the message is. And I don’t think in Moscow they are 100% sure, but [the CIA] seems to be saying:

‘If you’re going to push back against us, Moscow, if you’re going to push back about Iran about Venezuela or anything else, Look: we can take you out. We can hit your strategic bombers. We can hit your radars and we can hit your command center. We’ve just given you a little sample to see that you understand this.’

This is a very worrying message. And I think the sentiment in Moscow that’s coming out–and I’ve seen this very clearly–is:

‘It’s finished. Negotiations are off the page. There’s no point in having negotiations with Trump. It’s just not believable. It’s completely [pointless?]. We just now have to continue our path without negotiations.’

I find this very plausible. I’ve long maintained that Trump is absolutely not seeking peace with Russia or China. He’s seeking victory, and he’s doing it with a mixture of the con, the bluff, and the bully. He’s walking along a nuclear cliff.

Now the Israeli press (says Crooke) is very clear: Trump gave a green light for a new attack on Iran. Crooke, by the way, states that the demonstrators in Iran are coming out “armed”. This is all part of the Anglo-Zionist buildup to war. Crooke warns of a simultaneous attack on Hezbollah and Palestine/West Bank.

We’re being run by madmen and fanatics.