Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Backlash! U.S. dollar as ammunition in financial war could blow up in America’s face




"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 Yanukovychhas 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


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