"Therefore, to
paraphrase a famous saying, when you go the route of sanctions, you should dig
two graves. One for your rival’s economy, and one for your own."
The U.S. Congress, made up of millionaires who are largely
untouched by their actions and the legislation they pass, has been using
sanctions against any country that refuses to bend to the will of the Deep
State oligarchs. With no regard for the
people of the world let alone the American people these politicians, many with
dual citizenship, operate like drunks in a bar with broken beer bottles
threatening everyone in sight.
Unseen hands pull the strings on these marionettes who wreak
havoc across the globe based on unfounded, unproven allegations of wrong doing
by the enemies of the Deep State. Lo and
behold, the backlash is coming. There is
a price to pay when the holder of the world’s currency uses that currency as an
explosive to destroy everyone in their path.
That monetary nuclear bomb will detonate and explode in the face of the Deep
State imperialists, but it is not they but the American people who will absorb
the shockwaves.
Peace across the globe is the enemy of the Central Bankers
who control the Deep State’s lucrative war machine. Much of the Deep State’s war profit largess
comes from the selling of arms, bombs and war equipment across the globe. War is profitable in ways that peace is
not.
Reviving failed
policies is a losing proposition
President Trump was elected based on his platform of peace
across the globe through normalized relations with Russia and an end to the
senseless, unwinnable wars that have devastated America and the world. Now, the
“Never Trump” and “Ever War” Deep State operatives embedded in the Trump
Administration and congress are digging America’s grave through the impulsive use
of sanctions designed to lead to World War III.
But as anyone who has paid attention since the overthrow of
America in 2000, the neocon cabal’s foreign policies have been an abject
failure and no matter how many times they revive their failed policies the
result is the same. From Ron Paul at LewRockwell:
Excerpt:
Neocons Demand 'Crushing' Sanctions on Russia
You can always count on the neocons in Congress to ignore reality,
ignore evidence, and ignore common sense in their endless drive to get us
involved in another war. Last week, for example, Senators John McCain (R-AZ),
Lindsey Graham (R-NC), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and others joined up to introduce
what Senator Graham called “the sanctions bill from hell,” aimed at applying
“crushing” sanctions on Russia.
Senator Graham bragged that the
bill would include “everything but the kitchen sink” in its attempt to ratchet
up tensions with Russia. Sen Cory Gardner (R-CO) bragged that
the new sanctions bill “includes my language requiring the State Department to
determine whether Russia merits the
designation of a State Sponsor of Terror.”
Does he even know what the word “terrorism” means..?
There is a big problem with these accusations on Russia: they’re based
on outright lies and unproven accusations that continue to get more bizarre
with each re-telling. How strange that when US Senators like Menendez demand
that we stand by our NATO allies even if it means war, they attack Russia for
doing the same in Syria.
Is the Syrian president a “war
criminal,” as he claims? We do know
that his army is finally, with Russian and Iranian help, about to defeat ISIS and al-Qaeda, which with US backing
for seven years have turned Syria into a smoking ruin. Does Menendez
and his allies prefer ISIS in charge of Syria?
And how hypocritical for Menendez
to talk about Russia violating Ukraine’s sovereignty. The unrest in Ukraine was started by the 2014 US-backed coup
against an elected leader. We have that all on tape!
How is Russia “attacking our democracy”? We’re still waiting for
any real evidence that Russia was involved in our 2016 elections and intends to
become involved in our 2018 elections. But that doesn’t stop the propagandists,
who claim with no proof that Russia was behind the election of Donald
Trump. These Senators claim that sanctions will bring the Russians to heel, but
they are wrong. Sanctions are good at two things only: destroying the lives
of innocent civilians and leading to war.
Recent polls show that the majority
of Americans approve of President
Trump’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among
Republicans, a vast majority support the meeting. Perhaps a good defeat in
November will wake these neocon warmongers up. Let’s hope so!
Yep, the neocons never learn from their failed
policies. So now that the neocons in
congress and those infesting the Trump Administration have levied their “sanctions
bill from hell” what has the all too predictable result been? From Eric Zuesse at Strategic Culture:
Excerpt:
Not ‘in Tatters’: Why the West Has Failed to Destroy Russia’s Economy
Despite Barack Obama’s economic
sanctions against Russia, and the plunge in oil prices that King Saud agreed to
with Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry on 11 September 2014, the economic damages that the US and Sauds
have aimed against a particular oil-and-gas giant, Russia, have hit mostly
elsewhere — at least till now.
This has been happening while
simultaneously Obama’s violent February 2014 coup overthrowing Ukraine’s
democratically elected pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych… has
caused Ukraine’s economy to plunge even further than Russia's, and corruption
in Ukraine to soar even higher than it was before America’s overthrow of
that country's final freely elected nationwide government, so that Ukraine’s economy has actually been
harmed far more than Russia’s was by Obama’s coup in Ukraine and Obama’s
subsequent economic sanctions against Russia (sanctions that are based on clear
and demonstrable Obama lies but that continue and even get worse under Trump).
Bloomberg News headlined on
February 4th of 2016, “These Are the
World's Most Miserable Economies” and reported the “misery index” rankings
of 63 national economies as projected in 2016 and 60 as actual in 2015 — a
standard ranking-system that calculates “misery” as being the sum of the
unemployment-rate and the inflation-rate. They also compared the 2016 projected
rankings to the 2015 actual rankings.
Top rank, #1 both years —
the most miserable economy in the world during 2015 and 2016 — was Venezuela, because of that country’s
95% dependence upon oil-export earnings (which crashed when oil-prices
plunged). The US-Saudi agreement to flood the global oil market destroyed
Venezuela’s economy.
#2 most-miserable in 2015
was Ukraine, at 57.8…
Ukraine went from a misery-index of 24.4 in
2013 to 36.9 in 2017 — and worsening its rank from #23 to #9. During that five-year period Ukraine’s
figure peaked in the year of Obama’s coup at 57.8. So, at least Ukraine’s
misery seems to be heading back downward in the coup’s aftermath, though it’s still considerably worse than
before the coup.
But, meanwhile, Russia went from 19.9 to 18.1 — and had no year that was as
bad as Ukraine’s best year was during that period of time. And, yet: that
coup and the economic sanctions and the US-Saudi oil-agreement were targeted
against Russia — not against Ukraine.
If the US were trying to punish the people of Ukraine, then the US coup in Ukraine would have been
a raving success; but actually Obama didn’t care at all about
Ukrainians. He cared about the owners
of America’s weapons-making firms and of America’s extractive firms.
Trump likewise… During the interim, and
even in the years leading up to 2014, Russia had been (and still is) refocusing
its economy away from Russia’s natural resources and toward a broad sector of
high technology: military R&D and
production.
On 15 December 2014, the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute headlined, “Sales by Largest Arms Companies Fell Again in 2013, but Russian
Firms’ Sales Continued Rising,” and reported, "Sales by companies
headquartered in the United States and Canada have continued to moderately
decrease, while sales by Russian-based companies increased by 20 per cent
in 2013.”
By building the world’s most
cost-effective designers and producers of weaponry, Russia wouldn’t only be
responding to America’s ongoing hostility — or at least responding to
the determination of America’s aristocracy to take over Russia, which is the
world’s largest trove of natural resources — but would also expand Russia’s export-earnings and international
influence by selling to other countries weaponry that’s less-burdened with
the costs of sheer corruption than are the armaments that are being
produced in what is perhaps the
world’s most corrupt military-industrial complex: America’s.
Putin’s economic plan has softened
the economic blow upon the masses, even while it has re-oriented the economy
toward what would be the future growth-areas. The country that Putin in 2000
had taken over and inherited from the drunkard Yeltsin (so beloved by Western
aristocrats because he permitted them to skim off so much from it) was a
wreck even worse than it had been when the Soviet Union ended.
Putin immediately set to work to
turn it around, in a way that could meet those two demands. Apparently, Putin has been succeeding — now
even despite what the US aristocracy
(and its allied aristocracies in Europe and Arabia) have been throwing to
weaken Russia. And the Russian people know it.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
and expecting different results."
Insanity is the order of the day with the neocons who never
learn from their mistakes because they don’t believe anything they do is a
mistake. They continue with the same
failed policies and beliefs that gave the world the failed Iraq state after the
US led war, the failed Libyan state after the US overthrow, the failed US
instigated Syrian War, the failed US bullying of Turkey and the list goes
on.
Now that the neocons have infiltrated the Trump
Administration they believe these same failed policies will be successful THIS
time. The world is laughing at America’s
crumbling Empire. From Dmitry Sudakov at
Russia Insider:
Excerpt:
Bemused Kremlin Celebrates America's 60th Russia Sanction Since 2011
Russia's
Deputy FM wonders if passing Russia sanctions has become America's national
pastime
Spokespeople for the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation commented on the expansion of US sanctions against Russia because of the alleged
interference in the 2016 presidential election. According to Russian
officials, there is already a round number of anti-Russian restrictions.
"We continue watching the
United States practicing sanctions against our country. It appears that it has turned into some kind of national fun there,
because yesterday's anti-Russian measures have become the 60th since
2011," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
Ryabkov noted that Washington continues to introduce new sanctions because old ones
bring no results. "We can also
see the excitement that has engulfed
American politicians, many of whom, being prisoners to their beliefs of their
own "exceptionalism," hope that they need to take a little
bit more effort before they can start dictating their conditions to
Russia," Ryabkov said.
"No one will succeed in this
ever," the official continued.
"Washington operators of the sanctions machine ought to get acquainted
with the history of Russia, to stop the unnecessary fussing," he
added. He also noted that the Americans "thoughtlessly rock global
stability by escalating tensions in the Russian-American relations." "It's stupid to play with fire, because
it can become dangerous," the deputy head of the department said.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for “Washington operators of
the sanctions machine” to get acquainted with the history of Russia or with the
history of America for that matter. They
disdain history and facts and call them “liberal.”
This cabal that was ushered in with the George W. Bush
Administration and embraced by the Obama Administration will never, ever
embrace the reality that swirls around them.
Stupid is as stupid does, their hatred of Vladimir Putin blinds them to
the reality that their ridiculous sanctions actually help Putin. From Tyler Durden at Russia Insider:
Excerpt:
How Russian Sanctions Are Helping Putin Achieve His Most Desired Goal
"Russian
billionaires have been forced to move some of their assets back to state-run
banks and out of an offshore system that has been a popular tax haven"
A recent flurry of Russian
sanctions put in place by the United States are causing Russia's oligarch
billionaires to repatriate more of their offshore assets, perversely aiding a long-held ambition for Vladimir Putin, who has been
trying to encourage such repatriations for the past two decades according
to a new Bloomberg report.
While sanctions were first put into
place during the Obama era as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, which
however resulted in a muted financial response, as a result of the Trump administration‘s unpredictability and Trump's
desire to demonstrate his anti-Kremlin stance to Mueller, Russian
billionaires - increasingly at risk from a hostile financial regime - have been
forced to move some of their assets back to state-run banks and out of an
offshore system that has been a popular tax haven since communism has collapsed…
The reversal started back in April
when oligarchs close to Putin such as Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, and
their respective companies, wound up losing billions after being hit by
penalties. With the threat of further
sanctions looming, the pace at which money is being repatriated has accelerated… It's not just the billionaires: numerous
Russian exporters have moved their assets out of United States and European
banks, as well.
Here one can argue that raising sanctions on Russia, and the
accelerated repatriation wave, is playing right into the Russian president's
hands… While one can argue whether
Trump's sanctions have led to a perverse benefit for Putin, there is another
indirect consequences: accelerating de-dollarization.
While the US dollar is still the
dominant currency in global trade, Russian
exporters are taking steps to minimize
their use of the world's reserve currency which is becoming increasingly
"weaponized" to pursue political goals. They hold the
currency for commercial purposes, but they are also starting to stockpile
rubles in case of an emergency…
While it is unlikely that Russian
companies will abandon the dollar altogether, major exporters are increasingly asking lenders to allow them to repay
dollar loans in other currencies…
The result has been an emergence in
local-currency funded bilateral trade:
diamond company Alrosa has been selling gems to some Asian clients in rubles
after also recently accepting Rupees from an Indian customer for the first time.
According to Bloomberg, another major metals company has been selling its
products for Euros while experimenting with the Chinese Yuan…
There is another clear winner from the crackdown on US offshore wealth: lawyers,
as legal and consulting work related to adjusting for sanctions has flourished, growing to a $100 million per year
industry in Russia right now, and the boom shows no signs of ebbing,
according to Ilya Rybalkin, who started his own practice this month with a
dozen other lawyers who left western firms to join him…
For now, the forced dedollarization is largely confined to Russia, where it is helping Putin amass much of
Russia's wealth which fled the country in the past 20 years; however as
the US pursues the use of a weaponized currency to hit back at more adversaries
around the globe, it may serve two purposes: i) further weaken the role of the
world's reserve currency and ii) provide indirect financial support for
those very regimes that the US is seeking to challenge.
China, buy our
overpriced military junk or else…
Yes, stupid is as stupid does. The more the neocon lunatics increase
sanctions the more the dollar as a global currency is endangered. The U.S. sanctions against Russia are
reaching tantrum levels and now the neocon loons are sanctioning any country
that chooses to purchase Russia’s superior, more economical military equipment. From Tyler Durden at Russia Insider:
Excerpt:
Hilarious. Delusional US Slaps Sanctions on Chinese Military for Buying
Russian S-400, Su-35s
What is the purpose of this? Is
China supposed to buy American hardware (it would never be granted a license)
now? The sanctions mean the Chinese military may no longer pay for its
weapons imports in dollars which will suit yuan backers just fine.
It has been barely two weeks since
China joined Russia in the "Vostok" war games, the largest display of Eurasian military might since 1981 when the
Soviet Union was still a global superpower, and already the US has found an
opening to try and drive a wedge between China and Russia, or at least express
its displeasure with their increasingly close relationship.
Amid a simmering trade dispute
between the US and China, the US has imposed sanctions on a branch of the
Chinese military in retaliation for
China's recent purchase of Russian combat aircraft and anti-air surface to air
missiles.
The sanctions are more of a nuisance than anything else, blocking
China's Equipment Development Department from participating in the dollar-based
financial system and from doing business with US businesses, while also
blocking the agency and its head, Li Shangfu, from applying for US export
licenses…
As one might expect, the
sanctions provoked an outraged response from China, which demanded that
the US correct its "mistake" immediately or face
"consequences", per RT.
Beijing has threatened that Washington will face
"consequences" if it doesn’t withdraw the recent batch of sanctions
against China over military cooperation with Russia. China’s Foreign Ministry did not mince words,
saying Washington should immediately correct its "mistakes" before
it’s too late…
Geng also insisted that the
purchases were part of "normal" military exchanges between Russia and
China - pushing back against the US as
it seeks to dictate the terms of global trade between two geopolitical rivals.
China has "normal"
military exchanges and cooperation with Russia, aimed at protecting regional peace and stability, which is not against
international law or aimed at any third party, Geng added. China will continue to work with Russia to
promote strategic cooperation at an even higher level, he said…
One US administration official,
who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the sanctions imposed on the Chinese agency were aimed at
Moscow, not Beijing or its military, despite an escalating trade war
between the United States and China…
One Russian lawmaker insisted that
the sales would have "zero impact" on Russian arms sales… "Both
countries are opposed to what they see as U.S. bullying and these kind of
actions will just push Beijing and Moscow even closer together," he
said, adding that Moscow needed Chinese money and Beijing wanted advanced
military technology.
President Trump issued the
sanctions on Thursday, shortly after China announced that it would cut import
levies for foreign goods (except for the US). But beyond the trade war and
rising geopolitical tensions between the US and Russia, the subtext of Trump's decision
is clear: If you're going to buy arms, buy them from a US defense
contractor, or face the consequences.
Bravo, great job anonymous neocon U.S. official, Moscow is
trembling in their boots at your sanctions against China for buying Russia’s
highly advanced military equipment over America’s overpriced crap.
The neocons in congress continue to pour trillions of
American tax dollars into what Eric Zuesse called “the world’s most corrupt
military-industrial complex”.
America has become the supplier of overpriced, outdated before it
reaches the market junk due to a “war profiteering” based system of
procurement. From Robert Gore at
Straight Line Logic:
Excerpt:
Naked Emperors Don’t Get Much Respect, by Robert Gore
What
happens when most of your military infrastructure is suddenly obsolete?
The emperor was the last to realize
he was naked. This is not unusual, emperors are the last to find out anything.
Who has the fortitude to tell them the truth, especially an upsetting truth?
And so it is with the US’s empire, the existence of which most of its citizens,
media organs, and officials are unaware or won’t acknowledge. The truth is, the American empire, acknowledged or not,
is over…
Empires are built on military
strength. The American empire was no exception. Many Americans still think the
US military enjoys the dominance it had back in 1946, a notion Vladimir Putin
buried March 1. On that date he announced
new weaponry which will render our naval surface fleet, ground forces,
worldwide bases, and antiballistic systems obsolete. The US military
leadership has grudgingly acknowledged many of Putin’s claims.
The unmistakable conclusion: most
US military spending is the welfare state with epaulets. It pays for weapons, bases, and personnel whose uselessness would be
revealed within half an hour after a non-nuclear war with Russia began. We
have no conventional defenses against Russia’s new weaponry…
Fortunately, it can be said with 99
percent certainty that Russia has no
desire to launch a war, nuclear or conventional, against the US. That
nation wants what many nations and US citizens want: for the US government to
leave it alone. Although spending only 10 percent of what the US does on its
military and intelligence, Russia now has the muscle to back it up. The Chinese
are right behind.
The story doesn’t say what happened
to the emperor and his courtiers after the lad revealed his nudity, but we can
assume the emperor’s smarter toadies started heading for the exits. Why stay on a vessel that can’t navigate
the shoals of reality?
Welfare states—giving money to
people who haven’t earned it—so inevitably lead to corruption that they might
as well be synonyms. For years the US has bought compliance with its dictates
within its confederated empire, picking
up the lion’s share of the defense tab…
Defending on sea or land against
the Russians’ new nuclear powered cruise missiles—which have essentially
unlimited range—is possible but problematic, especially if they’re launched in
a swarm. Location has become irrelevant. It
doesn’t matter if the US outpost is in Germany, Texas, or floating in the
middle of the Pacific, they’re all vulnerable.
Poland’s recent proposal for the US
to establish a military base there, at Poland’s expense, possibly to be named Fort Trump, is a strong contender for the
year’s, perhaps the decade’s, most insane idea. Fort Courage, from the zany
F Troop TV show, would be a more appropriate name.
It’s
one thing to hop on the US military spending gravy train, that’s just venal and
corrupt. To install a useless military base and pay for it as well is
incalculably stupid. The goal of politics is to get someone else to pay
for your stupid ideas, but perhaps they do politics differently in Poland.
If you’re running one of the US’s
protectorates, why should you accept the
empire’s dictates when it can no longer defend your country? The question
has added piquancy in Europe. Setting aside Russia’s new weapons, how would a country that’s botched military
engagements in second string nations like Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria
defend Europe short of nuclear war?
If the answer is that it can’t,
where does US leverage come from? The US
demands more useless defense spending and presses Europe to curtail or cease
profitable trade relations with Russia and Iran, both of which pose a minimal
threat to Europe’s safety. Why should Europe comply..?
It should come as no surprise that some countries aren’t toeing the US line,
faithfully parroted by the EU. Turkey, straddling Europe and Asia, is
edging toward Russia and China, and the goodies promised by their Belt and Road
Initiative.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor
Orban and Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the League party
that shares power there, are seeking better relations with Russia, notwithstanding the US and Europe’s long
running demonization of Vladimir Putin. Those two are also challenging received wisdom on the
desirability of open borders and unlimited immigration. They and other nationalist leaders are finding an
increasingly receptive audience among Europe’s voters.
The two Koreas are also writing
their own script, one that diverges from the one the US has written for them
since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Among those who favor the status
quo, the line is that impoverished albeit nuclear-armed North Korea poses an
offensive threat to South Korea, Japan, and the US. Kim Jong Un is singing a beguiling song of denuclearization,
rapprochement, trade, and peace, but he’s not to be trusted. Only if he
agrees beforehand to the complete subjugation of his country can negotiations
proceed.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in
has other ideas. The people of both
Koreas want reconciliation and an end to the war (there’s an armistice but
no official peace)… The impetus for negotiations has come from these two
leaders and Trump has jumped on the bandwagon, much to the consternation of a
motley collection of swamp denizens who profit from current
arrangements. Peace may come in spite of their efforts to prevent
it.
As the US government continues to
spend money for weapons, bases, and personnel our putative enemy can
obliterate, defend countries that are under no threat, and intervene in
conflicts that promise only interminable stalemate and lost blood and treasure,
the question presents itself: are those
running the empire and its satrapies stupid, rapaciously corrupt, evil, or
all of the above? We’ll take the obvious: all of the above.
Those who have placed their safety in the hands of the US’s would-be
emperors can no longer afford to ignore the emperors’ nudity…and insanity.
The empire is fraying at the edges and it won’t be long before fraying becomes
unraveling. Nobody respects a naked emperor, certainly not one who doesn’t even
realize he’s naked.
The neocons have squandered America’s standing in the world,
first by attacking and destroying Afghanistan after 911, then by destroying
Iraq for no good reason and marauding across the Middle East. Just because you are the most powerful nation
that doesn’t give you a free pass to destroy the world. From Geopolitics:
Excerpt:
What if the world started using US logic in its relations with America?
You’re sanctioned! You’re bombed!
You’re invaded! The US has plenty of
punishments lined up for states which it claims are doing things wrong. But
what if the rest of the world held the US to the same standards?
Last Thursday was quite an unusual
day. The US didn’t impose new sanctions
on anyone…
At present the US operates active sanctions programs against almost 20 countries:
from Belarus to Zimbabwe. And guess what? By and large the reasons the US
gives for sanctioning these countries could just as equally be used to sanction
the US.
Let’s look at the recently
re-imposed sanctions on Iran, some of which came into force on August 6, with
others set for November 4. The financial punishments don’t just target Iran. In a particularly nasty, school
playground-style bullying tactic they target countries and foreign financial
institutions which trade with Iran too. The Islamic Republic is accused of
“malign behavior.” Of being a leading, sorry, make that “THE world’s leading
state sponsor of terror.”
In fact Tehran’s crime has been to help defeat the terrorism,
euphemistically described as “rebel activity” supported by the US and its
regional allies in Syria.
If sanctions are to be imposed for
“malign behavior” and being a “sponsor of terror” then it’s the US that should
be sanctioned, and not Iran. Moreover,
if we followed the US logic, countries and financial institutions trading with
America would be hit too. Just imagine the outcry from Washington if Iran
had announced the sort of comprehensive measures against companies and banks
that do business with the US, that the US has announced against companies and
banks that do business with Tehran. But
they would be justified, if we followed the State Department’s line of
reasoning.
Russia has been subject to US
sanctions since 2014. The Kremlin was
accused of “annexing” Crimea, and “undermining” the “democratic processes and
institutions in Ukraine,” and threatening Ukraine’s “peace, security,
stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
“You don’t just in the 21st century
behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely
trumped-up pre-text,” declared Secretary of State John Kerry, without any sense
of irony. Because when it comes to invading other countries on “completely
trumped-up pretexts” no-one has done it
more often in recent decades or more shamelessly than the US and its allies. Iraqi
WMDs anyone?
In April it was reported that the US was illegally occupying around 30
percent of Syria – the areas where most of the oil is located. Did the
Syrians vote for this, as the Crimeans voted? In the case of the latter, an
overwhelming majority of the population chose to return to Russian authority in
2014.
Of course, you don’t hear anyone talk about the US “annexing” Syria – “annexing”
is only what “official enemies” do. Russia
has also been sanctioned for “interfering” in the 2016 US Presidential election.
Never mind we’ve got no hard evidence of this.
But what we do have proof of is
massive US meddling in Russia’s
presidential election of 1996 (Time magazine even boasted about it on its front
cover) and in countless other elections around the world. Being accused of
interfering in other countries’ affairs by the US is like being told to sit up
straight by the Hunchback of Notre Dame, or being lectured on moral rectitude
by Count Dracula.
If US standards on “election
meddling” were applied to itself, then at least half the countries in the world
would be justified in sanctioning the US.
A country that most certainly does interfere in US politics is Israel.
“Israeli intervention in US elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians
may have done,…even to the point where the prime minister of Israel,
(Benjamin) Netanyahu, goes directly to Congress, without even informing the
president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to
undermine the president’s policies – what happened with Obama and Netanyahu in
2015,”says Noam Chomsky…
So is the US sanctioning Israel? Au contraire: ‘key US lawmakers’ want to increase the $38bn in military aid it gives
to Israel! The same ‘key US
lawmakers’ who, surprise, surprise, are so keen to punish Russia!
The Democrats and Republicans are just two wings of the same pro-war,
pro-capital party, one just a little bit more socially liberal than the other
to give voters the illusion of choice… The US loves to punish other countries, but
it has no legal or moral authority to be the world’s judge, jury and
executioner. It’s time it was held accountable to the same standards it demands
of others, and where appropriate, subject to the same penalties.
In the words of my fellow OpEd
columnist John Wight: “Only when we are
living in a world in which sanctions are imposed ‘on’ the United States rather
than ‘by’ the United States will we know justice reigns.”
The neocons are upping their attacks on Syria, demanding
Syria’s elected President Assad be removed from office. With their death grip on the American media
the neocons are portraying Syria as a dictatorship with a bloody despot as
their leader. Nothing could be further
from the truth. From Sputnik News:
Excerpt:
Staged Gas Attacks & US Shortcomings: US Senator Tells Sputnik
About Syria Trip
US Senator Richard Black in an
exclusive interview with Sputnik, revealed
how the Syrian people see their president, what went wrong with the US policy
in the Mideast and also expressed his admiration for the state of human
rights in the country, as "Syria has the greatest women’s
rights and the greatest religious freedoms of any Arab country."
Black, a Republican member of the Virginia State Senate, has recently returned
from Syria, where he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and discussed
recent developments in the country.
Sputnik: You recently met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. What
was your general opinion of the man and how accurately is he represented in
Western media?
Richard Black: This is the second
time that I've met with President Assad. We had a 45-minute schedule and we ended up talking for three hours.
The last time he was optimistic, he was determined. This time there was almost
a spring in his step. He was quite joyous and happy.
I think, like all Syrians, he
realizes that unless the West gets
involved in a very malign fashion, the War will end rather soon. I think
all Syrians are ready for that, but he seemed very upbeat and very happy. You asked about how he is portrayed in the
media. People in Syria know that he is a very humble individual. There is
almost a touch of shyness about him. Incredibly intelligent and very devoted to
his people…
He doesn't have an imperial presidency like we have and many Western
countries have. When he suddenly goes to a religious ceremony, whether it's
for the Muslims or the Christians, he drives himself, in his own SUV. He
doesn't have an escort and people love him for this.
There has never been one attempt on President Assad. And he says:
if the Syrian people wanted me out, soldiers would march in one day, they would
say: Mr. President, it's time for you to leave, pack up your things, we are
going to escort you out; you are no longer the president. And he would say: I
accept that, it's the will of the people.
I do not know any other politician
in any country who enjoys the level of popularity of President Assad. I ran
into this in the countryside when I talked to shepherds. They would say: "We love our president; you need to
let people in the West know how much we are devoted to President Assad."
My, my, my. A much
different picture than what is portrayed in the US. Recently Israel blew up a Russian plane and
our National Security Advisor, John Bolton accused Assad of downing the
plane. What a sad state of affairs. Now, Russia is responding, From UprootedPalestinians:
Excerpt:
DANGER? S-300 Delivery To Syria Increases US Risk, Says State
Department
The delivery of Russia’s S-300 air
defense systems to the Syrian government will increase the risk against the
US-led coalition, a State Department
official said on Monday. “Russia’s delivery of improved air defense
systems to the Assad regime will only increase the risk of escalating the
conflict in an already dangerous environment and will increase the risk to the US and its partner forces conducting an
operation against ISIS in Syria,” said the official of the State Department…
On September 17, a Russian aircraft
of the Il-20 model was downed by Syria’s air defense system while returning to
Hmeimim’s base, about 35km off the coast, according
to the official story. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, four
Israeli F-16s, targeting Syria in Latakia province, used the Il-20 as a shield,
leaving it vulnerable to Syrian air defense attacks and caused the incident. The
fall of Il-20 left 15 Russian soldiers dead.
The US State Department official recalled that it was Syria’s
anti-aircraft defense system that brought down the Russian aircraft. “Positioning even more air defenses will
not solve the problem of unprofessional and indiscriminate missile launches by
Syria, and will not reduce the risk to regional aviation,” the official said. He also said that the death of the Russian
crew is “unfortunate incident”
Yeah, right the “the US and its partner forces are “conducting
an operation against ISIS in Syria.”
What a load.
The neocon’s weaponized American dollar has as much chance
of being a winning strategy as their foreign policy of endless war. The neocons have pushed America down a shit
chute to hell, sanctioning everyone in sight.
Will the world cave to the neocons “drunk in the bar with broken beer
bottle” diplomacy? From StrategicCulture:
Excerpt:
Defections From Pax Americana Coming Louder And Faster
Over the weekend Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte hit
back strongly at US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific
Affairs Randall Schriver who told Duterte to “think very carefully” about
acquiring a Russian submarine.
Now if you know anything about
Duterte he rarely thinks very carefully before opening his mouth. And this time
was no different. He rightly told
Schriver publicly to get stuffed and make his case why the Philippines
shouldn't pursue its best interests…
The US is applying the same pressure to India over buying S-400 missile
defense systems from Russia. Turkey's troubles with the US are all over the
news with Pastor Brunson the public reason but it is Turkey's working closely
with Russia on important energy projects like the massive Turkish Stream
pipeline, nuclear power plants as well as committing India's sin of choosing the
S-400 over the US Patriot system.
A Patriot system, by the way, that has been proven in recent months
by the Syrian Army to be very
ineffective. Meanwhile Iran unveiled its first homegrown fighter jet in a
clear act of independence which will not be tolerated.
What started as small moments of
defiance a few years ago are turning into full-throated
shouts of opposition as the US pushes its leverage in financial markets to step
on the necks of anyone who doesn't toe the line…
What we are seeing is the culmination of a long-term plan by global elites
to tighten the financial noose around the world through overlapping trade
and tariff structures and weaponizing the dollar's position at the
center of global financial interdependence.
Trump is against that in principle, but not against the US maintaining
as much of the empire as possible.
So, everyday another round of sanctions makes the case against continuing
to do business with the US stronger. Everyday another global player speaks
with Russian President Vladimir Putin and makes contingency plans for a world
without the dollar at the center of it all.
The latest major one was with
German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This meeting wasn't expected to provide
anything concrete, only vague assurances that projects like the Nordstream 2
pipeline goes through. But, no
breakthroughs on Crimea or Ukraine were expected nor delivered. It was,
however, an opportunity for both Putin
and Merkel to be humanized in the European media.
Between Putin's attending Austrian
Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl's wedding as well as the garden party photo op background for their talk, this meeting
between them was a bit of a 'charm tour' to assist Merkel in the polls while
expanding on Putin's humanity post World Cup and Helsinki.
That said, however, the statement by Merkel's Foreign
Minister, Heiko Maas, about the need for a new financial payment system
which bypasses the US-dominated SWIFT system was the big bombshell.
Maas openly accused the US of weaponizing the dollar and disrupting
the very foundations of global trade, which is correct, to achieve its goals of
regime change in Turkey and Iran. Maas mainly tied this to Trump’s pulling out
of the JCPOA but the reality is far bigger than this…
The US is blocking the simplest of
transactions in the dollar now, claiming
that any use of the dollar is a global privilege which it can revoke at a whim.
Aside from the immorality of this, that somehow dollars you traded goods or
services for on the open market are still somehow the property of the U.S to
claw back whenever it is politically convenient, this undermines the validity
of the dollar as a rational medium of exchange for trade…
Moreover, Maas’ statement didn’t go
out to the world without Merkel’s approval. This tells me that this was likely
the major topic of conversation between her and Putin over the weekend. Because a payment system that skirts the
dollar is one the US can’t control…
Because what used to be a node of
political stability and investor comfort is now a tool of chaos and abuse. And abusing your customers is never a
winning business model in the long run. Customers of the dollar will remind
the US of that before this is over.
This is a dangerous game of monetary roulette that America
with its fiat currency cannot win. The
neocons have all but destroyed America militarily and now seek to drive the
stake through the heart of America financially.
So starts the great dollar dump. From RT:
Excerpt:
Japan & China slashing US sovereign debt is Washington's worst
nightmare
Latest figures from the US Treasury
Department show that Russia and Turkey
are not the only countries to dump US debt bonds. Washington’s second-biggest
creditor, Japan, is doing the same. Tokyo
dumped $82.9 billion, or seven percent of its US Treasuries holdings, over the twelve
months ending in June - the latest month for which data is available.
In June alone, the country sold off
$18.4 billion worth of the US securities. Japan’s
holding as of June totals $1.03 trillion, the lowest since October 2011,
though the country still remains the second-biggest holder of US debt…
China, the biggest holder of the US sovereign debt at $1.178 trillion,
sold $4.4 billion worth of the US bonds in June. Since October 2011,
China’s share of US Treasuries has declined by $138 billion. A fairly
insignificant amount, but the escalating trade conflict with Washington could
prompt Beijing to start massively dumping its holdings. The move could spell
disaster for the US financial system.
Liquidating US Treasuries, one of
the world's safest and most actively-traded financial assets, has recently
become a trend among major holders.
Russia dumped 84 percent of its holdings this year, with its remaining holdings
as of June totaling just $14.9 billion. With relations between Moscow and
Washington at their lowest point in decades, the Central Bank of Russia
explained the decision was based on financial, economic and geopolitical risks.
Well looks like China, Japan and Russia are telling the US
neocons to pound sand but will the US’ evil twin the UK stick with the
“insanity plan” of sanctions against Iran?
From RT:
Excerpt:
Back US on Iran sanctions or face 'serious consequences' for business –
ambassador to UK
In the latest threat to the US-UK
special relationship, the US' top
diplomat in Britain has called on London to back its pressure on Iran, warning
of "serious consequences" for businesses who flaunt Washington's
sanctions.
Accusing Iran of "squandering its money on proxy wars and malign
activities abroad," US Ambassador Woody Johnson's op-ed in the Sunday
Telegraph asked the UK to "use its considerable diplomatic power and
influence" to join the US "as a united front" in its effort to
secure "a genuinely comprehensive agreement" on Iran ending its
nuclear program.
Reiterating a threat made by his
boss, US President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, Johnson added that: "The President has been explicit: any
businesses that put their commercial interests in Iran ahead of the global good
will risk serious consequences for their trade with the US."
Earlier this week, British Minister
for Middle East Affairs Alistair Burt backed
the current deal negotiated with Iran, rejecting the idea that the UK would
"go along with" the US…
Calling the renewed sanctions
"the most biting ever imposed," Trump
also threatened via Twitter that "anyone doing business with Iran will NOT
be doing business with the United States."
Ooh, ouch. That is
rich, “a US diplomat is accusing Iran of squandering its money on proxy wars
and malign activities abroad."
Don’t make me laugh. Any takers
for the neocon lunacy? From RT:
Excerpt:
US can’t force trade rules on others, Germany must invest more in Iran –
economy minister
Washington cannot dictate trade
rules to others, Germany’s economy minister said, adding that his country should be more assertive and defy American
sanctions – particularly by investing more in Iran. “We don’t let Washington dictate [their will]
on trade relations with other countries,” German Economy Minister Peter
Altmaier told Bild newspaper on Saturday. He said the US sanctions on Iran are
one instance in which America’s neglect of its partners are clearly shown.
Therefore, Germany and other European countries should feel free to pursue
improved relations with Tehran. “German businesses can continue to invest
as much as they want in Iran,” Altmaier said, adding, however, that “many
companies depend on loans from banks, most of which refinance themselves in the
US – and it creates problems…”
With that in mind, the German
minister said, the world now risks sliding into an all-out economic conflict,
adding that “we are just a few yards from the edge,” and “a global trade war
would not know winners, only losers.” Politicians
have no right to jeopardize hundreds of thousands of European jobs that depend
on US-EU trade, he stated…
Sounds like Germany’s a solid “no.” So as the dying embers of imperialism gasp
for their last breath of air, perhaps we should look at where we were taken as
a nation and what the future may hold.
From Strategic Culture:
Excerpt:
The Death of US and UK Neo-Colonialism
The colossal project to re-colonialize the world started with United
States President Ronald Reagan eagerly backed by United Kingdom Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher in 1981 and over the next 20 years seemed to sweep all before
it. But we can now see that the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) and the 9/11 attacks in 2001 marked the turn of the tide.
Since then one super-ambitious project of nation destruction and rebuilding after
another generated by Washington and eagerly embraced by its main Western
European allies has collapsed
spectacularly.
As if living out one of Aesop’s
Fables, the hammer of US kinetic power
so eagerly embraced at the urging of neo-conservatives and neoliberals alike following
the collapse of communism exhausted the Western welders of the weapon instead
of their targets.
The reckless resort to
indiscriminate military power in the
US-dominated invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the following
campaigns to topple the governments of Syria and Libya created unexpected
consequences comparable to Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion – Every
Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction.
Nevertheless, US and Western
confidence in the triumph of liberal, free trade and democratic ideals around
the world has remained almost totally
impervious to the sobering lessons of recalcitrant global realities. The
great reawakening of Western imperial and capitalist resolve heralded by Reagan
and championed by his loyal spear carriers, Thatcher and her successors as
prime ministers of the United Kingdom continued unabated: Until 2016.
Two epochal events happened that year: The British people, to the
astonishment most of all of their own leaders, pundits and self-selected
Platonic guides and “betters’ voted for Brexit:
They opted by a narrow but decisive vote of 48 percent to 52 percent to leave
the 28-nation European Union. The disruptions and chaos set in motion by that
fateful outcome have still only begun to work their way through the political
and economic systems of Europe.
Second, Donald Trump, even more amazingly was elected president of the United States to the limitless fury of the
American “Deep State” which continues unabated in its relentless and
frantic efforts to topple him.
However, the motives of the scores
of millions of Americans who voted for Trump were perfectly clear: They were opting for American nationalism
instead of American Empire. They were sickened by the clear results of 70
years of post-World War II global imperium
that had arrogantly and casually allowed US domestic industry and society to
wither on the vine for the supposed Greater Good of Global Leadership.
A decade and a half of endless, fruitless,
ultra-expensive global wars entered into
by the feckless and stupid George W. Bush and continued by the complacent and
superficial Barack Obama advanced this process of weariness and rejection.
Two years after the election of
Trump and the British people’s vote for Brexit, the great surge of the West
that outlasted the Soviet Union is clearly on the ebb: Now the United States is exhausted, the EU is falling apart and NATO is
an empty shell – a paper tiger if you will. Why is this happening and can
it be reversed..?
The idea that democracy – at least
in the narrow, highly structured, manipulative and patchy form practiced in the
United States is some sort of universal guarantee for happiness, national
stability and growth has also been repeatedly confounded. Instead, the Western democratic states have
fallen into exactly the same intellectual pit that trapped and eventually
wrecked the Soviet Union. They have
launched a worldwide ideological crusade and poured wealth and resources
into it to ignoring the well-being and advancement of their own domestic
economies and populations.
Far from bringing eternal and
universal world peace – the alluring Holy Grail of every dangerous idealistic
idiot since Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant – these policies only brought failure, frustration and rising military
death lists for the countries that pursued them instead. This year, new hammer blows are following on
the Reagan-Thatcher-spawned era of revived Anglo-American global leadership and
domination… Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and
Libya all remain wrecked societies
shattered by the repeated air strikes that Western compassion and reverence
for human rights and democracy have visited upon them.
Now India and Pakistan – two English-speaking democracies and
members of the once British-led Commonwealth of Nations, still so dear to Queen
Elizabeth II’s aging heart – have opted
to bury their existential rivalry and jointly join the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization – confirming it as the premier and by far the most powerful
security alliance on the planet.
These developments, to echo US
President Thomas Jefferson’s telling phrase nearly 200 years ago, are grave
warnings. They are firebells in the
night. They serve notice to Washington and London that their facilely
optimistic “ever onward and upwards” drive
to reshape the entire human race in their own image must be abandoned.
Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom is a remotely united
society any more. Both of them need to turn inward to resolve their own
problems and abandon the fantastic quest to reassert global dominance that
Reagan and Thatcher launched nearly 40 years ago.
And they had better move fast.
Jefferson’s firebell is tolling and the sands of time are running out.
The unseen hands of the Deep State that pull the strings on
these marionettes who wreak havoc across the globe have become
dismembered. Lo and behold, the backlash
is here. The price to pay by the holder
of the world’s currency for using that currency as a weapon, a bomb is now
due. The monetary nuclear bomb is set
to detonate and explode in the face of the Deep State imperialists, but it is
not they but the American people who will absorb the shockwaves.
I would say that we have only ourselves to blame, but the
American people are not to blame. Our
country was overthrown by the neocons in 2000 and together the neocons in the
Republican and Democratic parties passed the HAVA (Help America Vote “the right
way” Act) legislation that ensured the American people could not elect their
leaders.
Donald J. Trump figured out the
secret to detonating that election bomb and in 2016 the American people truly
elected their leader for the first time in 16 years. Now the millionaires backed by the
billionaires who comprise legislature have sanctioned America into
oblivion. Under their guidance America
has become the Emperor with No Clothes, waving its worthless fiat currency in
the air and demanding submission from a world that has moved on. America has become the lonesome loser,
standing alone with no one to back their fiat currency backed sanctions.
By Patricia Baeten
