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IPFS News Link • NeoCons

Bannon Down, Pentagon Up, Neocons In?

• http://lobelog.com, by Jim Lobe

Bannon's decline suggest that he no longer wields the kind of veto power that prevented the nomination of Elliott Abrams as deputy secretary of state. Moreover, the administration's ongoing failure to fill key posts at the undersecretary, assistant secretary, and deputy assistant secretary levels across the government's foreign-policy apparatus provides a veritable cornucopia of opportunities for aspiring neocons who didn't express their opposition to the Trump campaign too loudly.

Ninety days into the administration, the military brass—whose interests and general worldview are well represented by National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster and Pentagon chief Gen. James Mattis (ret.), not to mention the various military veterans led by National Security Council (NSC) chief of staff Gen. Kenneth Kellogg (ret.) who are taking positions on the NSC—appears to be very much in the driver's seat on key foreign policy issues, especially regarding the Greater Middle East. Their influence is evident not only in the attention they've paid to mending ties with NATO and northeast Asian allies, but also in the more forceful actions in the Greater Middle East of the past two weeks. These latter demonstrations of force seem designed above all to reassure Washington's traditional allies in the region, who had worried most loudly about both Obama's non-interventionism and Trump's "America First" rhetoric, that the U.S. is not shy about exerting its military muscle.


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