Moon of Alabama

April 18, 2025

Survival Or Looting? What Trump's Revolution Is Really About

Many people, including me, are still not sure what Trump's revolution - in trade, international relations and in his fight against the U.S government at large - is all about.

Trump, it seems, sees that the current path the U.S. is on, with ever increasing deficits and debt, is unsustainable. He and his people argue that the dollar as a reserve currency is doing more harm than good for the country. They point to the decrease in manufacturing as the main symptom of a larger disease.

They believe it is necessary to destroy the old system before a new, more glorious one, can arrive. They know that the process will be painful for many but hope for a better outcome on a new trajectory. (There is also a motive of personal profit.)

Alastair Crooke is alluding to all that when he writes (also here):

The Trump ‘shock’ – his ‘de-centring’ of America from serving as pivot to the post-war ‘order’ via the dollar – has triggered a deep cleavage between those who gained huge benefit from the status quo, on the one hand; and on the other, the MAGA faction who have come to regard the status quo as inimical – even an existential threat – to U.S. interests.
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Vice-President Vance now likens the Reserve Currency to a “parasite” that has eaten away the substance of its ‘host’ – the U.S. economy – by forcing an overvalued dollar.
Just to be clear, President Trump believed there was no choice: Either he could upend the existing paradigm, at the cost of considerable pain for many of those dependent on the financialised system, or he could allow events to wend their way towards an inevitable U.S. economic collapse. Even those who understood the dilemma the U.S. faces, nonetheless have been somewhat shocked by the self-serving brazenness of him simply ‘tariffing the world’.

Trump’s actions, (as many claim), were neither ‘spur of the moment’, nor whimsical. The ‘tariff solution’ had been pre-prepared by his team over recent years, and formed an integral part to a more complex framework – one that complemented the debt-reduction and revenue effects of tariffs, by a programme to coerce the repatriation of vanished manufacturing industry back to America.

Trump’s is a gamble that may, or may not, succeed: ...

A similar argument can be found here:

Even though Trump explained the logic of the tariffs as an attempt to correct the trade imbalance between the US and the rest of the world, White House officials [(archived)] outlined the expected goals behind the tariffs in more detail. They described these goals as concentrating economic forces nationally to “push for structural changes to the global economy to rectify challenges that are difficult to overcome, including high tariffs globally, currency and tax policies, intellectual property theft, and even health and labour standards”. Ultimately, Trump aims to reshape the global economic order by prioritising America’s national interest through this wide range of tariffs.
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Trump fully understands the consequences of his policies. America’s “aggressive unilateralism”, which started in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan, has now peaked. Trump isn’t an outlier; he embodies the genuine interests of a waning superpower, whose policies mirror the conflicting and shifting global reality he navigates. Trump’s 2nd administration is poised to instigate a major crisis and widespread devastation worldwide to prevent its inevitable downfall. Their rise to power and the ensuing actions merely reflect the profound structural and historical changes occurring in the international political economy and the global power architecture.

There are also such headlines

Trump’s in-the-know plan to demolish the US economy - Asia Times
Trump insider claims demolition plan will necessarily ‘decimate millions of investors’ while reset will bring ‘greatest wealth creation’ ever seen

I do not know if those are Trump's real intentions or if all such talk is just obfuscation to hide the immense insider dealing and looting that is coming along with it. The later might very well be its sole purpose.

As Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism sees it:

[W]e are in the midst of a revolution, one run by reactionaries trying to cement the advantaged position of the rich and further immiserate the rest of the population. I warned from the outset that the only way to make sense of the Trump policy blitz was that he and his allies intended to created a Russia-in-the-1990s level crisis so as to facilitate elite asset grabs.

She is on board with Michael Hudson in this. Hudson ...

.. explains why the seemingly novel part, the heavy use of tariffs, represents continuity of neoliberal and libertarian policies, of reducing the role of government in commercial and private life. He contends they therefor have perilous little to do with “rebuilding” America and are intended to allow the super-rich to extract even more from ordinary citizens.

Trump is not alone in doing this. There is a swarm of multi-billionaires around him who are pushing for it:

A sector of the U.S. capitalist class is now openly in control of the ideological-state apparatus in a neofascist administration in which the former neoliberal establishment is a junior partner. The object of this shift is a regressive restructuring of the United States in a permanent war posture, resulting from the decline of U.S. hegemony and the instability of U.S. capitalism, plus the need of a more concentrated capitalist class to secure more centralized control of the state.

Trump is slashing the budgets of many vital institutions and, via Elon Musk's DOGE, eliminating their means to function and to measure outcome. He is enriching himself by building a cryptocurrency empire while destroying its regulators.

While this is mostly a fight at home there is an strong international component to it. As Brian Berletic provides:

The US is preparing to subject its own population as well as those of its supposed “allies” to immense long-term economic, social, and political pain. The cost-of-living crisis in the US will only grow worse. The US hopes that it can endure economic pain and disruption at home and abroad better than the emerging multipolar world can. Multipolarism’s survival will depend on proving otherwise.

And therein lies the trouble for Trump. The looney tunes trade policy will be felt in China and elsewhere. But the pain level in the U.S. will be much higher. Other government will provide for their populations while the Trump administration has no intent do similar at home.

His tariffs against China will have similar consequences as the European sanctions on Russia. The targeted country will have no problem to handle the onslaught while the initiators will deeply hurt their own polities.

Posted by b at 15:32 UTC | Comments (217)

April 17, 2025

Palestine Open Thread 2025-082

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Posted by b at 10:28 UTC | Comments (175)

Ukraine Open Thread 2025-081

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

Posted by b at 10:28 UTC | Comments (197)

Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-080

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine ...

Posted by b at 10:27 UTC | Comments (149)

April 16, 2025

Growth Of Ukraine's Azov Units Follow Path Of The Waffen-SS

The rise of Nazism in Germany was accompanied by the rise of its armed militants. These were used to fight opposing political parties and militia formations. They were ruthless.

The units were later known as the Waffen-SS:

After release from prison Hitler decided that he needed a paramilitary group to protect him personally. That group should be steadfastly faithful and loyal to him alone; not least to protect him from possible SA intrigues. Therefore Hitler established a personal bodyguard in his hometown München (Munich). Initially this group numbered only ten men with one officer. It was first called "Stoßtruppe Hitler" (Shock Troops Hitler). Again the title derived from divisional assaults groups from World War I. Later it was renamed "Schutz Staffel" (SS or Protection Squad).
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By 1932 the SS had some 30,000 men, ...
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In March 1935 Hitler renounced the Treaty of Versailles and announced the expansion of the German Army and the formation of the SS Verfügungstruppen (SS VT or SS special purpose troops) as the core of a full military division. This unit was financed by the police budget to counter any Army fears.

After the start of the war the 'armed evil' grew further:

By 1939, four regiments (Standarten) had been organized.
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During the following winter and spring, regiments that had fought in Poland were expanded into brigades and later divisions. ... These three divisions were to be the nucleus of the Waffen-SS in its subsequent rapid expansion.
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At the end of 1940, the Waffen-SS numbered slightly more than 150,000 men. By June 1944, it had grown to 594,000. Intended as an elite force, the Waffen-SS evolved due to the exigencies of war from the original SS concept of a military organization imbued with Nazi ideology and loyalty to Hitler into a polyglot force of decreasing combat effectiveness.

The Waffen-SS was not part of the regular army. It had its own financial resources. It recruited and trained its own officers through Nazi youth organizations. These were 'true believers' .

There are a lot of parallels between the rise of the Waffen SS and the Ukrainian Nazi formation known as Azov.

Cont. reading: Growth Of Ukraine's Azov Units Follow Path Of The Waffen-SS

Posted by b at 11:26 UTC | Comments (285)

April 15, 2025

Ukraine Confirms Sumy Strike Target - Russian Build Up For Summer Campaign

Yesterday I reported of Sunday's missile attack in Sumy, Ukraine:

There was a ceremony planned for the seventh anniversary of the founding of the 117th Territorial Brigade. This was to take place in the congress center of the Sumy State University. Medals were to be presented for the recent participation of the brigade in the attack on the Russian oblast of Kursk. Invitations to the commanders of neighboring units were sent out.
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The Russian military got wind of the event and destroyed the congress center (pics) with two Iskander missiles. There were military and civilian casualties. But under the rules of war the strike was on a legitimate target.

Ukrainian politicians had alleged that the head of the Sumy Oblast State Administration Volodymyr Artiukh had send out the invitation for the event and had arranged for the military ceremony to take place in the middle of the city.

The government of Ukraine essentially confirmed that today by removing Artiukh from his position:

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the dismissal of Volodymyr Artiukh from the post of head of Sumy Oblast State Administration and the appointment of Oleh Hryhorov to this position.
Konotop Mayor Artem Semenikhin accused Volodymyr Artiukh, Head of Sumy Oblast State Administration, of organising a gathering of soldiers from the 117th Brigade for an award ceremony in the centre of Sumy on 13 April.

Artiukh acknowledged that an award ceremony for servicemen took place in the city centre, but did not name the initiator.

Do not expect any western mainstream media to report these facts.

I have for quite some time not reported on the progress of the war in Ukraine. That is not because nothing is happening there. The Russian forces are pressing on all fronts while building up their reserves. Most of the many small pushes are successful but the current progress isn't measured in miles per day.

This is an attrition war. The capturing of land, which still happens, is not the measure of success. The destruction of the enemy's material and personnel resources is what matters. In this regard the Russian forces are making good progress. Over the last month the daily Ukrainian casualties as reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense have crept up from a low of about 1,200 per day to some 1,500 per day now. That is still far away from the 2,500 per day reported during the summer and fall of 2024 but still a noticeable increase.

There is also an intensification of air and drone strikes on military factories far behind the frontlines. Instead of once or twice per week these are now a daily occurrence. The results of these strikes are only rarely reported. They do not have an immediate effect on the fighting. But they will over time diminish Ukraine's resources and its supplies of weapons and munition.

The ground in Ukraine is still muddy. Only when it dries up will we see a general campaign by the Russian forces.

They will look for weak spots in Ukraine's defense lines and push on each of those until one or more breakthroughs occur. Fresh forces will then moved up to exploit the breaches.

Posted by b at 15:07 UTC | Comments (186)

April 14, 2025

Palm Sunday Attacks On Sumy And Al-Ahli

In yesterday's week-in-review I had linked to a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy:

Russia launched a missile attack on the center of Sumy. More than 30 people were killed - Strana

Machine translation:

This morning, the Russians fired two ballistic missiles at the center of Sumy. 31 people were killed, including 2 children.
84 people were injured, including 10 children.

The Prosecutor General's Office reported that at about 10:15, the Russian military launched two missile strikes on the center of the city of Sumy. Rescue operations are continuing, the number of victims is being specified.

One of the pictures Strana provided showed the destroyed congress center of the Sumy State University .

bigger

Shortly after the incident the Member of the Rada Mariana Bezuglaya accused the military command of staging a ceremony in the city despite it being less than 20 kilometer from the active fighting front (machine translation):

Cont. reading: Palm Sunday Attacks On Sumy And Al-Ahli

Posted by b at 15:27 UTC | Comments (182)

April 13, 2025