Saturday, August 4, 2018

American Deep State’s impending imperial implosion, she’s come undone



A boss I once had told me a story.   He went to high school in the 1950’s when tough guys with duck tail haircuts wore engineer boots, jeans and had a pack of Lucky Strikes wrapped into their T-shirt sleeve.  My boss was a short guy but he was scrappy and he told me about when he picked a fight with this big guy, who didn’t want to fight.  Ed wanted to show how tough he was and wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept instigating attacks until the big guy finally decided to fight him.

Back in the 50’s the guy who won the fight was the guy that refused to “give.” So Ed started fist fighting with the big guy and the big guy beat the crap out of Ed, but Ed refused to “give.” The big guy finally got tired of using Ed’s face for a punching bag and “gave.”  Ed said he’d won, but his face told a different story.  Two black eyes, a broken nose, split lip and chipped tooth while the other guy was unscathed. 

Ed thought he had bragging rights because he didn’t “give”, but as an adult he now realized just how stupid that was.  That has been America’s foreign policy since the overthrow of the U.S. Government on December 12, 2000 when five of the most corrupt Supreme Court Justices ever to serve in America overturned the Presidential election and installed George W. Bush as President.  One of those Supreme Court Justices was Anthony Kennedy who is now retiring.  If ever there were a reason to revoke life-time appointments to the high court it was then.  We can lay the blame for the state of America’s impending Deep State imperial implosion at the door of those five corrupt Justices.

The foreign policy ushered in by George W. Bush and continued by Barack Obama of instigating undeclared wars across the globe to show how tough we are and then refuse to accept the obvious conclusion that we can’t win has left America trillions in debt, our infrastructure in shambles, a corrupt casino based Wall Street economy, a media owned and operated by billionaire tycoons and corrupt billionaire think tanks, while the American people suffer the effects.  According to the Economist:

 “From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans aged 35 to 64 increased nearly 30 percent. The largest increases were among men in their fifties, with rates rising nearly 50 percent, and for women aged 60 to 64, with rates rising 60 percent.”

The “big guys” that don’t want to fight today are Russia and China, but they are now finding themselves having to fight an adversary already bloodied and beaten from previous lost fights that refuses to “give.”  From Russia Insider:

Excerpt:


US Military Superiority Is a Propaganda Myth. Russia's Forces Are Actually Far More Capable

When was the last time the US won a war?  Unlike their US counterparts, Russian weapons are designed to kill, not to make money and, second, Russians understand warfare because they understand what war really is.

The fact that the US is facing a profound crisis, possibly the worst one in its history, is accepted by most observers, except maybe the most delusional ones. Most Americans definitely know that…  

When speaking of this crisis, most people will mention the de-industrialization, the drop in real income, the lack of well-paid jobs, healthcare, crime, immigration, pollution, education, and a myriad of other contributing factors. But of all the aspects of the “American dream”, the single most resilient one has been the myth of the US military as “the finest fighting force in history”…

In this new book, Andrei Martyanov not only comprehensively debunks this myth, he explains step by step how this myth was created and why it is collapsing now…  First, he defines military power, then he explains where the myth of US military superiority came from and how the US rewriting of the history of WWII resulted in a complete misunderstanding, especially at the top political levels, of the nature of modern warfare. He then discusses the role ideology and the Cold War played in further exacerbating the detachment of US leaders from reality.

Finally, he demonstrates how a combination of delusional narcissism and outright corruption resulted in a US military capable of wasting truly phenomenal sums of money on “defense” while at the same time resulting in an actual force unable to win a war against anything but a weak and defenseless enemy… in the words of Martyanov:

Surely when America fought against a third-rate adversary it was possible to rain death from the skies, and then roll over its forces, if any remained by that time, with very little difficulty and casualties. That will work in the future too against that type of adversary—similar in size and flimsiness of Iraqi Forces circa 2003. But Ledeen’s Doctrine had one major flaw—one adult cannot continue to go around the sandbox constantly fighting children and pretend to be good at fighting adults.

The main problem for the US today is that there are very few of those third-rate adversaries left out there and that those who the US is trying to bring to submission now are either near-peer or even peer adversaries…  Still, one can live in an imaginary world only as long as reality does not come crashing in, be it in the form of criminally overpriced and useless weapon systems or in the form of painful military defeats…

In this book, Martyanov explains why, in spite of the absolutely catastrophic 1990s, the Russians succeeded in developing a modern and highly capable combat force in a record time…  There are two main reasons for this: first, unlike their US counterparts, Russian weapons are designed to kill, not to make money and, second, Russians understand warfare because they understand what war really is…

In contrast, Americans have no experience of real warfare (that is warfare in defense of their own land, family and friends) at all. For Americans warfare is killing the other guy in his own country, preferably from afar or above, while making a ton of money in the process. For Russians, warfare is simply about surviving at any and all cost. The difference couldn’t be greater.

Yes, indeed “the main problem for the US today is that there are very few of those third-rate adversaries left out there and that those who the US is trying to bring to submission now are either near-peer or even peer adversaries” but it was inevitable that after 20 years of war.  However, the bloodied, battered America refuses to “give” and continues bullying and demanding a confrontation.  Sadly, they will get one.  From Strategic Culture:

Excerpt:

Two Knockout Blows to US Imperialism: De-Dollarization and Hypersonic Weapons

In the current multipolar world in which we live, economic and military factors are decisive in guaranteeing countries their sovereignty. Russia and China seem to be taking this very seriously, committed to the de-dollarization of their economies and the accelerated development of hypersonic weapons.

The transition phase we are going through, passing from a unipolar global order to a multipolar one, calls for careful observation. It is important to analyze the actions taken by two world powers, China and Russia, in defending and consolidating their sovereignty over the long term. Observing decisions taken by these two countries in recent years, we can discern a twofold strategy. One is economic, the other purely military. In both cases we observe strong cooperation between Moscow and Beijing. The merit of this alliance is paradoxically attributed to the attitude of various US administrations, from George Bush Senior through to Obama.

The special relationship between Moscow and Beijing has been forged by a shared experience of Washington’s pressure over the last 25 years. Their shared mission now seems to be to contain the US’s declining imperial power and to shepherd the world from a unipolar world order, with Washington at the center of international relations, to a multipolar world order, with at least three global powers playing a major role in international relations…

Both de-dollarization and the development of hypersonic weapons serve the purpose of defending both countries’ sovereignty. Economic sovereignty entails, among other things, elimination of dependence on the US dollar, the abandonment of an international banking system based on the SWIFT payment system, the inclusion and increase in the share of the yuan in the basket of international currencies, the reduction of dollar-denominated public debt, the constant accumulation of gold, and, of course, the elimination of any residual debt with international institutions that are part of the world governance model controlled and manipulated by Washington for its own interests…

From an economic point of view, the international order is very similar to a duopoly rather than anything multipolar, without forgetting that the European Union has an important role to play should it regain some form of sovereignty by freeing itself from dependence on Washington. For Moscow and Beijing, reducing public debt is one of the best ways of achieving strong economic sovereignty.

The Russian Federation has reduced its public debt in relation to GDP from 92% at the beginning of 2000 to 12.9% today. The People's Republic of China, over 20 years, has increased its public debt from 20% of GDP to around 48%. Compared to the public debt of European countries (Italy and Greece are over 120%, France 100%, the EU average is 85%), Japan (240%) and the United States (110%), Beijing and Moscow have paid particular attention to keeping their accounts in order. Another important strategy involves the steady accumulation of gold in the reserves of these two countries…

China and Russia are once again trending in an opposite direction to that of the West. Since 2005, Russia and China have accumulated huge amounts of gold, with the clear intention of diversifying their reserves. Both Moscow and Beijing are among the top 10 countries in terms of gold reserves, with an exponential increase over recent years.

Thanks to a limited public debt, huge quantities of gold, and a progressive reduction in the amount of US government bonds held, Moscow and Beijing have embarked on the path of full economic sovereignty, independent of the US dollar system and strongly protecting themselves against any future financial crises…

A decided acceleration in this general direction was made following the exclusion of the Islamic Republic of Iran from the SWIFT system, a ringing alarm bell for the Eurasian duo. Despite their reduction of public debt and significant de-dollarization, both countries remain dependent on, and therefore vulnerable to, an economic and financial system that orbits around Washington and London…

The workaround has therefore been to create two alternative bank-payment systems to SWIFT…   Never mind the petrodollar system that is one of the main problems that China and Russia face when dealing with the international financial system. Efforts to progressively switch from USD to Yuan in paying oil commodities have been in place for years especially by Beijing.

This is an example of how countries like Russia and China have found ways of circumventing the means used to limit their sovereignty. The inclusion of the yuan in the IMF basket of world reserve currencies is associated with the Chinese strategy of supporting the renminbi for export, reducing the share of the US dollar. The strategy adopted by Moscow and Beijing seems to leave Washington unable to stop the protective measures of these two Eurasian powers.

In practice, we are already beginning to see the effects of this alternative economic world order. The sanctions imposed by Washington and her satraps on Moscow and Tehran are easily circumvented by Russia and Iran, with exchanges denominated in currencies other than the dollar (often gold), or simply through bartering.

China and Russia, with strongly diversified economies, with treasuries chock full of gold, and with minimal public debt, leave very little room for international speculators to have an effect on their domestic economies with actions that amount to financial terrorism.

Being able to minimize the impacts and risks of a new financial crisis, or resist the threats and blackmail of the international bodies steered largely by Washington and London, are the key means of being able to chart an economically independent course and ensure national sovereignty…

If this strategy proves successful, it will only be natural to start offering other countries the opportunity to hop onto the Eurasian train, enabling those willing to shift their military, economic and diplomatic leaning from the Atlantic to the Eurasian world.

Given the momentous significance of India and Pakistan’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as permanent members, it would seem that Moscow and Beijing are on track to eliminating the central role of the United States in international relations in favor of a multilateralism that will benefit everyone.

There are two main reasons for this: first, unlike their US counterparts, Russian weapons are designed to kill, not to make money and, second, Russians understand warfare because they understand what war really is…

After Ed won his fight by not “giving” he learned his lesson of how foolish the bullying route was.  Unlike Ed, America continues to bully its counterparts demanding that they buy America’s “criminally overpriced and useless weapon systems” instead of Russia’s less expensive, superior military equipment.  America’s congress is throwing a tantrum levying sanctions against Turkey, Iran and threatening India.   From Zero Hedge:

Excerpt:

India Defies Washington, Will Acquire Russian S-400 Missile Shield

Washington’s so-called allies continue to gravitate towards the Russian sphere of influence, and specifically the Russian S-400 Triumph advanced anti-aircraft weapon system.

First it was Turkey, which openly defied Trump's threats that the US would sanction Ankara if it completes the purchase of the anti-aircraft missiles, saying the acquisition of the missile defense system is "a done deal and Turkey will not turn back from its decision."

Now India is also moving towards acquiring five or more S-400 from Russia despite the threat of US retaliation. The Defense Acquisitions Council (DAC), chaired by Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, last week approved the “minor deviations” in the $5.7 billion deal to purchase S-400s for final government approval, to the finance ministry and the Prime Minister’s office sources told the Times of India.

The DAC discussed the S-400 deal just one day after Washington on Wednesday canceled a “two-plus-two” discussion involving foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and defense minister Sitharaman and Washington officials Mike Pompeo and Jim Mattis, which was scheduled for July 6.

The Times of India noted that in October 2015, India had planned to procure the S-400s - which can detect, track and destroy supersonic bombers, drones, fifth-generation fighters, spy planes, and supersonic missiles at a range of up to 400km and altitude of 30km - in what many Indian officials have praised as a game-changing military acquisition…

And while Washington officials briefed India on the use of Patriot system, it seems that the country is more interesting in purchasing Russian made BMDs instead.  The New York Times reported in April that the Indian/Russian deal serves as a blow to the United States’ ”struggling Patriot missile defense system.”

“India wasn’t very impressed with the Patriot compared with the S-400, which wins hands-down in capability, in its availability, service availability. It’s a more efficient system,” it cited Rahul Bedi of Jane’s Information Group as saying.


India and Russia have worked on a plan to beat the financial sanctions called CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act) that attempts to prevent countries from purchasing Russian weapons.

“The acquisition of this technology will limit, I am afraid, the degree with which the United States will feel comfortable in bringing additional technology into whatever country we are talking about,” US armed services committee chairman Mac Thornberry said back in May, noting that there is also concern that “any country that acquires the system [S-400] will complicate the ability of interoperability” with US forces.

In an act of growing desperation that in spite of passing an almost trillion dollar defense bill surely to enrich the military industrial complex, congress has now levied sanctions against NATO member Turkey, something unheard of before.  From Strategic Culture:

Excerpt:

US Imposes Sanctions on Senior Turkish Officials

This is something unheard of. A NATO country has imposed personal sanctions on senior officials of another member of the bloc! The White House has announced that the US Treasury Department is imposing sanctions on two Turkish officials, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu, because of what has happened to Andrew Craig Brunson, a detained American pastor who was tried on espionage and terror-related charges.

He faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted. Brunson is one of 20 Americans who were charged after the coup two years ago. The US has refused to extradite Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is wanted in Turkey for allegedly organizing the 2016 coup d’état attempt…

Turkey’s private citizens and companies have been sanctioned before, but imposing punitive measures on top government officials is a game-changing move. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to bow. He warned that the US may lose a “strong and sincere ally” in Turkey. No doubt the bitter diplomatic spat is at risk of escalating further…

The US Congress has just finalized the fiscal 2019 defense bill, which contains restrictions on weapons sales to Ankara. The idea to hit Turkey with punitive measures over alleged “human rights violations” and its purchase of the Russian S-400 Triumf missile-defense system has substantial support in Congress…

The deterioration of US-Turkish relations may lead to a standoff in northern Syria, due to American support for the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It may affect the status of America’s military aircraft stationed at the Incirlik air base. Ankara may not allow the US to use Incirlik against Iran if a conflict ignites, which would significantly restrict US air power in the region. The United States Air Force may have to leave the base completely, like the German aircraft did some time ago.

Turkey’s disappointment with the US and NATO is deepening. The talks on joining the EU are in limbo. During the recent BRICS summit, Ankara said it wanted to join that organization, which is positioning itself as a global pole of power that is independent from the West. Turkey doesn't look ready to ditch NATO for good just yet, but it won’t be a US partner if push comes to shove and a US-Iran conflict is triggered.

At the moment Iran is readying a large-scale military exercise in the Persian Gulf, which is generally perceived as a step to block oil exports. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. “We will make the enemy understand that either everyone can use the Strait of Hormuz or no one,” declared the IRGC’s commander, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, on July 5, 2018…

It all has gone too far. Even if President Trump turned a blind eye to Turkey’s S-400 deal and its fruitful energy cooperation with Russia, the US Congress would not. A Senate committee has approved the Turkey International Financial Institutions (TIFA) bill, restricting loans to that country. The House is to follow suit. The process is unstoppable. The lawmakers will go on introducing new measures against Turkey as well as Russia, making the two nations natural allies in opposition to the US global domination…

Actually, there is little the West can offer Turkey that would be in its best interests. The differences are irreconcilable, which will shift Ankara’s foreign-policy priorities from the West toward the East. Eurasian integration is much more promising for Turkey than the continuation of futile attempts to find its place in the West as an equal partner.

Sheesh, talk about cutting off ones nose to spite ones face.  One thing that’s becoming painfully apparent is that members of our government who have become millionaires in service to the military industrial complex are completely incompetent.  It looks like Eurasia is going to have a “lion laying with the lamb” come to Jesus moment.  From Lew Rockwell:

Excerpt:

Pakistan’s ‘Jack Kennedy’

The Kashmir border is the world’s most dangerous flash point.

Imran Khan may be able to calm tensions over Kashmir and open meaningful talks with India where he is very popular.  In the 1980’s, Gen. Zia ul Haq headed off an invasion by India by flying to Delhi on the spur of the moment to attend a cricket match.  This writer expects Imran Khan to similarly appear in India for his ultimate diplomatic test match.

The words ‘hope’ and ‘Pakistan’ do not often appear together.  Pakistan, a sprawling nation of 205 million, is hard to govern, even harder to finance, and seething with tribal or religious violence and discord.

But Pakistan, which for me is one of the most interesting and important nations on earth, is by far the leading nation of the Muslim world and a redoubtable military power.  Created in 1947 from former British India as a haven for oppressed Muslims, Pakistan has been ruled ever since by military juntas or by slippery and often corrupt civilian politicians.

After decades of dynastic politics under the Bhutto and Sharif families, there is suddenly hope that newly elected cricket star Imran Khan and his Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) may – just may – tackle Pakistan’s four biggest problems: endemic corruption, military interference, political tribalism, and a half-dead economy…

Imran Khan is sometimes called ‘Pakistan’s Jack Kennedy’ for his movie-star good looks, charisma and zesty love life.  He no longer plays professional cricket though he is still idolized in Pakistan and, interestingly, bitter foe India.

Khan (who is of Pashtun tribal blood) is also a philanthropist and respected thinker.  He says he is determined to begin rooting corruption out of Pakistan and to revivify its ailing economy.  Pakistan’s GDP is only $1,641 per person compared to India’s $2,134.  The illiteracy rate is about 40%, notably among women who are the primary teachers of the young.

As Imran Khan is about to take office, Pakistan’s coffers are almost empty.  Islamabad has had to take 12 loans from the International Monetary Fund in the last 40 years, in part to pay for its oil imports.  Now, Islamabad is negotiating yet another loan of $57 billion from its most important ally, China, whose vast belt and road project covering transportation, ports and infrastructure seeks to modernize Pakistan and turn it into a primary conduit to the Arabian Sea.

But Donald Trump’s Washington is angry over China’s dollar diplomacy, formerly a preserve of US foreign policy.  US State Secretary Mike Pompeo, who plays bad cop to Trump’s bad cop, lambastes Pakistan for the Chinese loan.

The White House is obviously dismayed by China’s growing influence over Pakistan caused, in large part, by the US decision to cut aid to Pakistan and favor its old enemy, India.  President George Bush aided India’s military nuclear program, alarming China and Pakistan.  Now, Trump is working to mobilize India against China.  So far, India has been too smart to act as an American strategic proxy.

Imran Khan will now have a chance to resolve the Indo-Pakistani dispute over contested Kashmir that has flared since 1947…  The new Khan government must also try to find a way to get the US out of the giant hole it has dug in Afghanistan.  Imran has been a vocal critic of the stalemated US war in Afghanistan. Soon, he will control the major supply lines to US forces there.  India and Pakistan are important nuclear-armed powers…

We need to get all members of congress out of office and get a new, unencumbered group that is not in service to special interests.  As explained in the video below, Trump must repair America’s relationship with Russia’s Putin.  The Russian hysteria that has overtaken America is deadly.


Putin's meeting with Trump in Helsinki has caused American politicians to go berserk.  The media in America is useless and a danger to America.  They report lies and propaganda 24/7 but then they are owned and operated for the benefit of the CIA.  The media demanding that Trump unquestioningly believe America’s intelligence agencies fact-free allegations of Russian meddling in our elections is laughable.  From The Burning Platform:

Excerpt:

Trump was recently questioned as to whether he trusted US intelligence. He waffled. A light-hearted answer would have been:

“What sort of idiot are you to ask me such a stupid question? Of course they are lying! They were caught lying more than once, and therefore they can never be trusted again. In order to claim that they are not currently lying, you have to determine when it was that they stopped lying, and that they haven’t lied since. And that, based on the information that is available, is an impossible task.”

A more serious, matter-of-fact answer would have been:

“The US intelligence agencies made an outrageous claim: that I colluded with Russia to rig the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. The burden of proof is on them. They are yet to prove their case in a court of law, which is the only place where the matter can legitimately be settled, if it can be settled at all. Until that happens, we must treat their claim as conspiracy theory, not as fact.”

And a hardcore, deadpan answer would have been:

“The US intelligence services swore an oath to uphold the US Constitution, according to which I am their Commander in Chief. They report to me, not I to them. They must be loyal to me, not I to them. If they are disloyal to me, then that is sufficient reason for their dismissal.”

But no such reality-based, down-to-earth dialogue seems possible. All that we hear are fake answers to fake questions, and the outcome is a series of faulty decisions. Based on fake intelligence, the US has spent almost all of this century embroiled in very expensive and ultimately futile conflicts.

Thanks to their efforts, Iran, Iraq and Syria have now formed a continuous crescent of religiously and geopolitically aligned states friendly toward Russia while in Afghanistan the Taliban is resurgent and battling ISIS—an organization that came together thanks to American efforts in Iraq and Syria.

The total cost of wars so far this century for the US is reported to be $4,575,610,429,593. Divided by the 138,313,155 Americans who file tax returns (whether they actually pay any tax is too subtle a question), it works out to just over $33,000 per taxpayer. If you pay taxes in the US, that’s your bill so far for the various US intelligence “oopsies.”

The 16 US intelligence agencies have a combined budget of $66.8 billion, and that seems like a lot until you realize how supremely efficient they are: their “mistakes” have cost the country close to 70 times their budget. At a staffing level of over 200,000 employees, each of them has cost the US taxpayer close to $23 million, on average. That number is totally out of the ballpark!

There are two possible hypotheses for why this is so.

First, we might venture to guess that these 200,000 people are grossly incompetent and that the fiascos they precipitate are accidental. But it is hard to imagine a situation where grossly incompetent people nevertheless manage to funnel $23 million apiece, on average, toward an assortment of futile undertakings of their choosing. It is even harder to imagine that such incompetents would be allowed to blunder along decade after decade without being called out for their mistakes.

Another hypothesis, and a far more plausible one, is that the US intelligence community has been doing a wonderful job of bankrupting the country and driving it toward financial, economic and political collapse by forcing it to engage in an endless series of expensive and futile conflicts—the largest single continuous act of grand larceny the world has ever known.

How that can possibly be an intelligent thing to do to your own country, for any conceivable definition of “intelligence,” I will leave for you to work out for yourself. While you are at it, you might also want to come up with an improved definition of “treason”: something better than “a skeptical attitude toward preposterous, unproven claims made by those known to be perpetual liars.”

The purpose of my Boss Ed telling me his story of what a punk he was in high school, was to point out where he was back then and how he came to become a successful, self-taught businessman.  He realized that his bully attitude was counterproductive and would lead to his ruin.  Instead he channeled his energy into high school wrestling or “rassaling” as he called it.   Unfortunately America refuses to ever say “I give” admit they were wrong and correct their course.   
Instead, the American Deep State is on a high speed train toward impending imperial implosion, she’s come undone.


By Patricia Baeten

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