It Is A Time Of Crisis And U.S. Foreign Policy Is Becoming Unhinged
The Trump administration is reacting to the pandemic stress by lashing out at perceived internal and external enemies. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leading the external onslaught.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an "immediate global ceasefire" to focus on fighting Covid-19. He has appealed for the "waiving of sanctions that can undermine countries' capacity to respond to the pandemic."
But Washington is not listening.
Requests from Venezuela and Iran for emergency IMF loans to buy medical supplies were blocked by U.S. interventions.
Just a month ago Pompeo announced an increase of sanctions against Iran. The sanctions block money transfers. They make it impossible for Iran to import the medical equipment it urgently needs to counter the epidemic.
While the U.S. renewed the sanction waiver which allows Iraq to import electricity and gas from Iran the waiver is now limited to only 30 days. One third of Iraq's electricity depends on those imports from Iran and, if the waiver is not renewed, its hospitals will go dark just when the epidemic will reach its zenith.
Parts of the Trump administration are even pressing for a wider war against alleged Iranian proxy forces in Iraq:
The Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of American combat in Iraq, issuing a directive last week to prepare a campaign to destroy an Iranian-backed militia group that has threatened more attacks against American troops.But the United States’ top commander in Iraq has warned that such a campaign could be bloody and counterproductive and risks war with Iran.
...
Some top officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Robert C. O’Brien, the national security adviser, have been pushing for aggressive new action against Iran and its proxy forces — and see an opportunity to try to destroy Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq as leaders in Iran are distracted by the pandemic crisis in their country.Military leaders, including Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been wary of a sharp military escalation, warning it could further destabilize the Middle East at a time when President Trump has said he hopes to reduce the number of American troops in the region.
The plan is lunatic. One can not "destroy" Kataib Hezbollah and other Iraqi Shia groups which Iran helped to build during the war against ISIS. These groups are part of political parties with deep roots in the Iraqi society.
France, Italy and the Czech Republic have started to withdraw from Iraq. Denmark is also leaving and the UK is removing 50% of its force. There are less than 5,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and a war on Kataib Hezbollah could mobilize hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to fight against the U.S. occupation. Such a war would also involve Iran and the U.S. would certainly lose it.
The U.S. has currently two aircraft carrier groups in the Arab sea to threaten Iran. But those ships are of no use right now. They are 'cruise ships with guns'. Nuclear powered five billion dollar petri dishes for novel coronavirus outbreaks. Two U.S. carrier groups in the Pacific are already out of action because they have larger outbreaks on board. It is only a question of time until the other carriers follow.
It is not only Iraq and Iran the U.S. is aiming at. The U.S. State Department cut its contributions to health care in Yemen just in time of the highest need:
Officials with the United States Agency for International Development said the decision to halt funding, reported earlier by The Washington Post, included exceptions for “critical, lifesaving activities, including treatment of malnutrition as well as water, sanitation and hygiene programs aimed at keeping people healthy and staving off disease.”But humanitarian officials said the agency’s exceptions did not provide for continued funding of basic health care programs, which are heavily reliant on foreign aid, and did not seem to take into account what might occur when the coronavirus begins to spread.
Not happy with only messing up the Middle East the State Department also renewed its assault on Venezuela. On Thursday the Justice Department announced charges of 'Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Crimes' against President Nicolas Maduro and 14 former or current officials. It put up a $15 million reward for Maduro's arrest.
It alleges that Maduro worked with Columbian cartels to smuggle cocaine through Venezuela.
But here is a map of smuggling routes from U.S. ally Columbia where most of the cocaine is produced. It was shown during a Congress hearing. Whatever is smuggled through Venezuela is a tiny share compared to the huge stream that comes through the Pacific.

bigger
Whoever wrote and signed of the indictment also made a huge mistake. The charges included Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, a former General in the Venezuelan armed forces, and put a $10 million reward on his head.
Alcalá Cordones is no friend of Maduro. He retired in 2013 when Maduro was elected after Hugo Chávez had died. Alcalá Cordones fled to Colombia from where he supported the U.S. chosen clown Juan Guaidó as self proclaimed president of Venezuela.
After the Justice Department indictment against him he came out and revealed that he was involved in coup plans in support of Juan Guaidó:
Alcalá is implicated in a recent plot to attack the Maduro government. On March 24, Colombian authorities seized a truck full of weapons and military equipment, including 26 assault rifles, worth $500,000. Venezuelan intelligence services linked the weapons to three camps in Colombia where paramilitary groups of Venezuelan deserters and U.S. mercenaries are training to carry out attacks against Venezuela. According to Venezuela’s Communication Minister Jorge Rodríguez, these groups were planning to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to attack military units and plant bombs. He also linked the groups to Alcalá.
These allegations proved to be correct, as Alcalá, in a video he posted online hours after the indictments, admitted that the weapons were under his command. He further admitted that the weapons were purchased with funds given to him by Juan Guaidó, with whom he allegedly signed a contract. Additionally, Alcala claimed that the operation was planned by U.S. advisors, with whom he supposedly met at least seven times. Aclalá also alleged that Leopoldo López, the founder of Guaidó’s party Voluntad Popular who was sprung from house arrest during Guaidó’s April 30 attempted insurrection, had full knowledge of the terror plot.
As a result of these videos, Venezuela’s Attorney General has opened an investigation into Juan Guaidó for an attempted coup.
The U.S. blew it by accusing the one man that was willing to help its chosen clown and by not informing him before the indictment came out. That man then freaked out and blew the whistle. This is now threatening the whole opposition plan the U.S. concocted with Guaidó and the men behind him.
On Friday Alcalá Cordones decided it was unsafe for him to stay in Colombia. He 'called up' the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and gave himself up. He was extradited to New York and will now become a 'witness' against Maduro who he has publicly opposed in the first place.
This chaos was certainly created by Elliott Abrams, the neoconservative U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela. Abrams has a talent for messing things up.
U.S. foreign policy during the crisis has been abysmal. The U.S. angered China, the biggest producer of urgently needed masks and drugs, by calling the virus "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus", a practice that stopped only after a phone call between Trump and Xi Jinping. It angered Germany when it tried to buy exclusive rights for a potential vaccine that is being developed there. Requests for support by multiple European allies were left unanswered while China and Russia mobilized to help over 80 countries. Meanwhile Pompeo chastised Italy for accepting Cuban drugs and doctors.
There will be a large cost to pay for this when the pandemic is over. The U.S. has exposed itself as unreliable ally, as war mongering moron that does not shrink from damaging its own best interest and as incapable of helping its own citizens.
China on the other hand has defeated the epidemic at home and now helps defeating it wherever it can. This is going to be its century.
Posted by b on March 28, 2020 at 15:13 UTC | Permalink
next page »Thank you, b, one of your better ones.
Generally overlooked in any discussion of United States troops abroad ("combat" troops or otherwise) is the number and role of mercenaries. In Afghanistan, for example, where the United States has +/-12,000 troops, it also has 26,000 mercenaries plans for whose departure do not exist. There is also the word-game of announcing the "draw-down" of "combat troops" which results not in their being brought home but being transferred elsewhere in the region -- or simply left in place under another designation.
In short, it is reasonable to expect a "compromise" between Pompeo Magnus and the generals whereby "operations" intensify but in a way that the corporate media can ignore, to wit through reclassifying already present troops, through mercenaries and through proxies.
Stay tuned for the next episode of "Full Spectrum Dominance"!
Posted by: RJPJR | Mar 28 2020 15:32 utc | 2
Is it or not a case for any sane person to wholeheartedly vow and fight for the complete crash and destruction of the empire?
Let everyone in the four corners of the world know this.
"This chaos was certainly created by Elliott Abrams, the neoconservative U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela. Abrams has a talent for messing things up."
Never in the annuls of human history, have so few people, fu*ked up so much, for so many. Where ever there is a chosenite, there is chaos and confusion. "Fat" Mike and his christian fundamentalist cohort are provoking everyone in the ME so that it will bring back the fairy tale "sweet baby jesus." Like all fundamentalists, they will bring destruction to others who want nothing to do with their mythical sky god fairy tales.
I find it harder to live within the belly of the beast and am making plans to move out of the country and watch its fall into the cinder heap of history. Never has there been a more evil country on earth (other than those in occupied Palestine) and its demise along with the others in the anglo zionist empire will be the best thing for those on earth who wish to live a better life.
Posted by: Tonymike | Mar 28 2020 15:52 utc | 4
A single cell virus is dismantling the empire, from without and within. The rot that is exposed on the cadaver is a putrid smelly boil of the predatory financial stranglehold on the world by the US dollar that is coming to an end. Yes it will be painful to all, and the world on the other side will be much different I am sure. Public health, goodwill and love of neighbor is fighting this sickening beast and in the end will win. We all knew this was coming, but not in this health form to actuate the decline at such a fast pace. It has surprised most of us! Epic times!
Posted by: Taffyboy | Mar 28 2020 15:56 utc | 5
A conspiracy-minded man might think Trump was hired to demolish any illusions about the decency and competence of the US and to leave it isolated and despised around the world. I’m not that man.
Posted by: NoOneYouKnow | Mar 28 2020 16:00 utc | 6
Is anyone in charge in the US?
Anyone with any analytical ability?
There's nothing you can say beyond.
"Those the God's wish to destroy.
First they make mad,"
Posted by: Jpc | Mar 28 2020 16:08 utc | 7
Kudos b; herculean work. Thank you.
for those still doubting, the US during this pandemic has confirmed the ogre that it is. Allies and adversaries will simply ignore US imposed sanctions.
Russia announced it has created a Anti-Covid-19 Drug
Russia's FMBA is working "on an effective and safe scheme to prevent the coronavirus infection on the basis of mefloquine, which will not only overcome the peak of incidence but also effectively control it in the future", their press service said.
CDC: What is Mefloquine? Mefloquine (also known as mefloquine hydrochloride) is an antimalarial medicine. It is available in the United States by prescription only.
Also, Mefloquine is used in areas where chloroquine-resistant malaria is widespread.
Posted by: Likklemore | Mar 28 2020 16:10 utc | 8
I rather think the US government reaction is a good sign. I have been suspecting that the virus is going to be shortlived - that all of us, or many more of us, may indeed have already contracted it, and that is why the tests are only being given sporadically, not rolled out for everyone at once, so that the 'numbers' can be shown increasing day by day just as the numbers of dead killed in Vietnam originally sparked the protests that brought an end to the Johnson Administration's war there, on which ending Nixon rode into power and continued the killing apace before he too finally had to give it up.
If the government only has a short time before this charade will be recognized, the flailing about of the scorpion's tail is a good sign. Just maybe, and indeed this is speculation, the rapid progress of the virus signals it is going to burn out quickly.
I think we ought to suppose something of this sort, and start to live calmly again. Not saying it isn't dangerous for some, but for most it isn't. And this hyping the numbers in folk tested isn't telling us anything.
Posted by: juliania | Mar 28 2020 16:13 utc | 9
I think this is a rational choice by the USA. A crisis is always an opportunity, and it's up to the rest of the world to stop the USA, not for the USA to stop itself.
An invasion of Venezuela makes sense. If the USA is to be diminished in the geopolitical arena, that would mean it would be kicked out of the ME. That leaves Venezuela as the last reliable oil source for an hypothetical regional power USA.
It's up to the Venezuelan people - with China and Russia as its allies - to stop the Americans. If the USA lose the war against Venezuela, then we can speculate about the de facto end of the American Empire.
Another possibility is for a socialist revolution to happen in the USA. If that would happen, then it would be violent and very bloody. I don't think it will ever happen: the tendency of the working classes of the imperialist powers (i.e. the First World countries) is to first resort to fascism, that is, to always turn right, than to revolution. This is the "conservative pact" they made in the post-war period.
The most likely scenario is for the USA to successfully invade Venezuela, be expelled from the ME, double down on the capitalist system at a societal level and emerge as a diminished power in the geopolitical arena after the pandemic is over.
@b
I understand and agree with what you're saying, but the reality is that the US is waging economic war on Venezuela and Iran.
Why would it matter that the deaths are slow due to economic, food and medical supply shortfalls or fast due to these same shortfalls combined with nCOV?
Equally, regarding Iraq: the US is showing what being on the "wrong" side can feel like. Is this so surprising given the US desire to maintain presence in Iraq as well as in the Middle East overall?
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2020 16:23 utc | 11
Respond to #6 above
Morris Berman in 2008 book "Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire" notes than when empires are going down, they choose leaders that accelerate the decline.
Posted by: Don Utter | Mar 28 2020 16:27 utc | 12
vk @ 10
Highly unlikely, given b's analysis here of the hasty and clutching at straws actions the US is attempting to perpetrate. Who in their sane minds will be voting for such a government? Nobody needs to revolt; the system is imploding before our eyes.
Patience. If this were Russia I would be expecting a firebird to appear. Unfortunately it isn't, but perhaps Franklin's idea of a wild turkey has finally found its day to shine.
Posted by: juliania | Mar 28 2020 16:33 utc | 13
Meanwhile, China is flying medical workers, supplies and equipment around the world...
Posted by: Godfree Roberts | Mar 28 2020 16:42 utc | 14
During the "War on Death" (see at Off-Guardian), the first two casualties, entirely wiped out the media, were actually the two actors that occupied most of it in the preceding weeks: migrants and demonstrators. no need to ask cui bono?
Posted by: Mina | Mar 28 2020 16:42 utc | 15
b mentions in his post an artice in the NYT yesterday about the US cutting healthcare money for Yemen. Very interesting, it would indeed point to the virus being used as a weapon of annihilation: civil servants in northern Yemen have not seen their salaries for three months. Usually, they finally get them by travelling to Aden or elsewhere in the so-called "free world" (sarcasm). This time, I suspect that if they do travel, it will result in a sanitary catastrophe (or, another type of). As for now, the Houthis have closed the border with the south.
Posted by: Mina | Mar 28 2020 16:46 utc | 16
The close quarters in which sailors live on naval ships (and even more on submarines!) make the spread of communicable diseases very easy.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 28 2020 16:53 utc | 17
It could be worse. The fake opposition "Democrats" could be in charge, doing the same thing, but with more gentility, thus provoking less worldwide outrage and exposing fewer worldwide hypocrites.
Posted by: corvo | Mar 28 2020 16:54 utc | 18
It angered Germany when it tried to buy exclusive rights for a potential vaccine that is being developed there.
I think that from your perspective it is not there, but here.
Posted by: hopehely | Mar 28 2020 17:05 utc | 19
There's no accountability. So CRISIS! is used unabashedly to pursue Imperial priorities.
Empire Games: CRISIS! as the New Bloodsport
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 28 2020 17:07 utc | 20
It's not really news that Uncle Sam still wants to destroy Iran and Iraq (once again). What is news is the leak that a high-ranking US general is strongly dissenting. But what we really need to know is, who is leaking?
In particular, I am wondering, if Trump gives the order to openly attack Iran and Iraq, will the military mutiny?
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 17:10 utc | 21
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2020 16:23 utc | 11
An invasion of Venezuela makes sense.
An invasion of anyone during pandemic makes NO sense.
Posted by: hopehely | Mar 28 2020 17:11 utc | 22
@juliania
You seem to be very optimistic about the outcome of the COVID 19 virus pandemic.
Disciplined people can slow the transmission of the virus. But the US is not inhabited by
a disciplined population.
The Chinese show that it takes a complete lockdown of the affected area to reduce and stop
transmission. There the country enjoys a monolithic government focused on the well being of
its people.
The US govt, however, is keen on making the most out of the crisis in terms of filling the PTBs deep pockets.
Meanwhile, in very little time, medical facilities are soon to be submerged.
You seem to believe that the virus only affects old people. This is not true. Even young athletes
that get it, suffer from a permanent reduction of their pulmonary capacity. It may not have killed
them but it may very well have sidelined them professionally.
Some young people do die from it.
I hope your optimism is warranted. But I cannot share it.
Posted by: CarlD | Mar 28 2020 17:15 utc | 23
Norway is receiving help from China
"China says they will prioritize Norway"
I say thank you China.
Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 28 2020 17:15 utc | 24
During and after 9/11, the public was galvanized into accepting the government's overreaching wrt FP and surrendering of civil liberties. They managed to get a few years out of a stunned populace to run roughshod over their own citizems and establish themselves as the world police.
The great recession again forced a mobilization of the populace to accept the government's will, however counterintuitive it seemd to bailout irresponsible banking and financial behavior. TARP and stimulus checks helped keep the blood pressure down and the Dodd-Frank Act was passed, making it seem we would evolve from this kind of event and avoid it down the road. Unfortunately, it was no Glas-Steagall and has since been eroded and tossed out.
In both instances, we see a waning consent over time from the start of these events. It took a few years after The War on Terror to see the MIC's blueprints and exploitation. Similarly, with the Great Recession, it did not take long to understand how it happened, how they were bailed-out, and for growing resentment against the rentier class.
Covid-19 seems to be a hybrid of the two events and is being capitalized upon as such. Indeed, forfeit of civil liberties and more corporation bailouts are this event's defining characteristics. The only problem is, I don't see a way-out for TPTB in this instance. The people are on to their government at a much more rapid pace this time, and it indeed shows as b makes clear. Our FP is becoming unhinged. I don't think this means that Covid-19 is lessening its fear-inducing grip over the populace, however. What I detect, is growing anger and mistrust with the establishment. And they are acting accordingly, swiftly and dangerously, knowing domestic troubles are brewing.
How can you police the world as we have been doing when domestic issues are rocking the party-boat? You can't.
And so I offer a prayer ror resiliency on the part of Venezuela, Iran, and the Axis of Resistence.
Trump has gone full-neocon, bankster-neolib here. He will not be challenged by his opponent (D) in November. It is up to us now.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 28 2020 17:16 utc | 25
In blocking IMF loans to Iran and Venezuela, the US might have actually done them a favour. Once you are in the clutches of the tentacles of the IMF, you are rat-fucked. Your economy will be sucked dry by enforced austerity and foreign investment, until there is nothing left.
Antoinetta III
Posted by: Antoinetta III | Mar 28 2020 17:21 utc | 27
Tonymike @ 4 said;"Never has there been a more evil country on earth (other than those in occupied Palestine) and its demise along with the others in the anglo zionist empire will be the best thing for those on earth who wish to live a better life."
Given recent and past histories, any reasonable person would have to agree...
taffyboy @ 5 said;"A single cell virus is dismantling the empire, from without and within. The rot that is exposed on the cadaver is a putrid smelly boil of the predatory financial stranglehold on the world by the US dollar that is coming to an end."
From your thoughts, hopefully, to the universal ear. People of the world need the empire's demise, but, without overcoming
the massive propganda shoveled by MSM corporate lackeys, it's an up-hill battle.
Maybe,just maybe, this virus will cause a bit of introspection, that will change some minds.
Posted by: ben | Mar 28 2020 17:22 utc | 28
Modi sees no problem in letting 1 million Indian workers who are now walking back to their villages with nothing to eat. Soon a model for Trump? Like his buddy Bolsonaro who has decided to leave churches and congregations open?
The way the MSM is announcing apocalyptic numbers (600,000 infected! as if no one had been discharged from the hospital?) show they are running 24/7 propaganda.
Posted by: Mina | Mar 28 2020 17:22 utc | 29
Well, I'd say the Outlaw US Empire's policies were already unhinged and have been so for decades.
My working hypothesis on the current crisis views Imperial planners as upset as mad hornets given the massive blowback China initiated when it Cried Wolf and got WHO and its Asian neighbors to recognize COVID-19 as a pandemic threat and to react extremely proactively to it in a manner never anticipated by Pompeo and TrumpCo. They may dream of launching military operations, but those risk spreading the virus throughout its armed forces--and the medical support system for the Outlaw US Empire's military is just as terrible as its civilian counterpart--perhaps even worse. Its only allied Bloc is also in disarray with its individual members looking after their own as the false mirage of bloc solidarity rapidly vanished. Both the EU and NATO as organizations are under heavy attack by the virus and their future's tenuous.
On the other side, both China and Russia are emerging as huge winners for their unqualified aid to stricken neighbors and nations beyond. China's introduction of a Health Road component to its BRI proposal is a huge coup that the Outlaw US Empire can in no ways equal anywhere--not even within its home nation. The Playground Bully's been reduced to cat-calling and shaking its fist while the rest of the world looks on, while trying to figure out how to jettison the dollarized international commercial & financial systems before more damage is done. IMO, the world's better able now than in 1929 to localize the coming financial crisis to North America. And it will be that crisis that finally forces the retrenchment of the Outlaw US Empire. The measures it took yesterday to aid its economic situation will fail as they're the wrong medicine prescribed for the wrong crisis, which will result in an even deeper crisis, somewhat repeating events after 1929. Yes, those are future events. IMO, the only way the Empire can avoid that path is to instigate nuclear war, which would result in its annihilation.
Ultimately, the only way a new path will be taken by the USA is if its citizenry can regain control of the national government--yes, I've been writing that same sentence for awhile. The fuse is lit and Congress just made it much harder to extinguish through its very misguided "bailout." My local newspaper opined New Orleans will be the next mass eruption node of viral infection. As Prashad noted in his essay I linked to yesterday, we don't want to return to normal because normal is a big part of the problem.
Posted by: corvo | Mar 28 2020 16:54 utc | 17
Excellent comments, that's why I refuse to votes or supports the "Democrats" after 2008 housing bubble and sub-prime debacles.
Sorrie, there are too many US of A's especially the Black, Hispanic, Chinese, Asian or minority still believe the "Democrats" are on their sides. I'm not ashamed to said in front of their (Black) faces for over 200 years you were bought into the US of A as slaves and you will continue to be slave(s) for another 200 more years, unless you change your thinking.
Disclaimer: (for newbies) I'm overseas Chinese American and did not vote for freaking Trump either in 2016 election.
Posted by: JC | Mar 28 2020 17:32 utc | 31
#12 / Don - that's been every president for the last 40 years.
But US Presidents (and congressmen too) are just puppets controlled by oligarchs.
Posted by: Noah Way | Mar 28 2020 17:34 utc | 32
>How can you police the world as we have been doing when
>domestic issues are rocking the party-boat? You can't.
>Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 28 2020 17:16 utc | 24
Dear Leaders were faced with the same dilemma in the late 1960s when many urban areas exploded at the same time. The possibility of a general insurrection helped convince Dear Leaders to start winding down the organized mass murder of Vietnam. It became more important to subdue and incarcerate US peons than to kill Vietnamese.
If these "lockdowns" (I hate this phrase; it is prison jargon!) continue for long the US will explode as it did 50 years ago. I speculate that the Pentagram knows this, even if the rest of the brain-dead DC Dunces don't have a clue.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 17:35 utc | 33
Thank you b and also karlof1 @29 for excellent coverage and analysis!
Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 28 2020 17:39 utc | 34
Of course the proto-fascists like Pompeo are trying for a war. If anything, I think b is underestimating the extent of what is being planned.
for
US has 2 aircraft carriers in the middle east
- operating with B-52 bombers
- deployed along patriot air and defence missile systems
- emptied its embassies in Iraq and Lebanon
- semi-mobilized its reserves (up to a million reservists called up in the US is "semi"?))
- Entire world in state of martial law
Plus
The Covid-19 "command" group has been moved to a bunker under Cheyenne mountain.
Israel is bombing Gaza again. Turkey is rearming in Syria. The "guaido/ alcala" info by b is new to me but fits the scenario well, since g-guy has lots of venezuelan money.
Against;
Putin has said that some sort of arrangement for OPEC is possible (ie incuding the US this time). - The usual Russian tactic of giving the "others" an "opt-out" option. Those that don't take the offer should be beware.
see Likklemore | Mar 28 2020 16:10 utc | 8 for link to drug to use against Covid and
a new system of testing to find those with natural immunity to treat the others
https://tass.com/world/1136573
I'm reading the art of war. Putin has prepared Russias defense in advance. The rest follows.
Since the dollar is going to collapse or be used as toilet paper very soon, the proto-fascists seem to have decided that there is a "window" in which their wet dreams of an empire could be realisable.
----
Just for the "apocalyptic" part, some guy 20 years ago calculated that the MAYA had miscalculated the end of the world and gave the new date as 2020. Humm.
-----
juliania | Mar 28 2020 16:13 utc | 9
I'd like to agree with you, as the present "pandemic" is showing more and more signs of being an immense and cruel scam for big Pharma to make money, for Banks to introduce Moneyless transactions (card) and Governments to increase police powers, Intelligence to increase surveillance. The "termites" that run our world might have overstepped because of their own greed.
Posted by: Stonebird | Mar 28 2020 17:42 utc | 35
Wait for it! The empire fanbois will be by arguing that it wasn't a screw-up, but instead part of an insanely convoluted (but somehow successful) plot the empire's strategists cooked up that is so complicated that simple mortals like us cannot possibly hope to comprehend it.
Sorry, but the fact is that the American establishment went off the rails years ago and are charging full speed along a path through a delusion-based world that only they can see. A world where Russians flip elections with cat memes and Cubans cripple their best and brightest with crickets.
They are barking mad and more dangerous because of it.
Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 28 2020 17:44 utc | 36
>Modi sees no problem in letting 1 million Indian workers who
>are now walking back to their villages with nothing to eat.
>Posted by: Mina | Mar 28 2020 17:22 utc | 28
As bad as things may get in Uncle Sam Land, it will be far, far, far worse in India. There are already stories and photos of Indian day laborers being publicly humiliated by the police for breaking house arrest. Apparently they are supposed to starve in their homes!
Modi has worked overtime to promote division, hate, and fear, and now India will reap the whirlwind. There are stories of Indian physicians being evicted for fear of the Evil Virus, and airline employees who worked on flights to repatriate their fellow countrymen are being ostracized. Will medical workers stick around to expose themselves to a virus while being attacked by neighbors?
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 17:50 utc | 37
Several months ago I posted a piece on MoA that posited the questions: How stupid do you have to be to make US foreign policy and do US foreign policy elites take stupidity pills? Apparently the answers are really, really stupid and by the freight car load, respectively. If the late American journalist H.L. Mencken could come back from the dead, he would be flabbergasted at how much he understated the stupidity of the great unwashed. Lord Acton the 19th century British observer of all things political and historical, once said that "never underestimate the influence of stupidity on history." However if he too came back from the dead, he too would be amazed at how damn dumb our leaders can be.
Posted by: GeorgeV | Mar 28 2020 17:52 utc | 38
Several months ago I posted a piece on MoA that posited the questions: How stupid do you have to be to make US foreign policy and do US foreign policy elites take stupidity pills? Apparently the answers are really, really stupid and by the freight car load, respectively. If the late American journalist H.L. Mencken could come back from the dead, he would be flabbergasted at how much he understated the stupidity of the great unwashed. Lord Acton the 19th century British observer of all things political and historical, once said that "never underestimate the influence of stupidity on history." However if he too came back from the dead, he too would be amazed at how damn dumb our leaders can be.
Posted by: GeorgeV | Mar 28 2020 17:52 utc | 39
French Prime minister and health minister are now on tv for a press conference with some scientists, who are given the floor by the prime minister himself to provided figures, curves, statistics and explanations... Sounds like a free country, no?
Posted by: Mina | Mar 28 2020 18:06 utc | 40
...It angered Germany when it tried to buy exclusive rights for a potential vaccine that is being developed there.
is this story really true? i know, lots of media, also state-owned ones, reported this, but the company in question (curevac) denied these reports: "there was never an offer".
i am surprised to see this repeated here (after reading the same on thesaker...)
regards + thx, b, for this website
hg
Posted by: hg | Mar 28 2020 18:07 utc | 41
Regarding Pompeo: this just in.
(gotta love that crowd sorced research & reporting)
This should be particularly interesting for anyone who has indulged in 911 conspiracy…
Posted by: Desolation Row | Mar 28 2020 18:09 utc | 42
Re: India (and rest of South Asia)
@36 TT: "As bad as things may get in Uncle Sam Land, it will be far, far, far worse in India."
Very possible indeed, the numbers are scary big.
When this is over, you have to figure a bunch of politicians will be thrown out. If Modi is one, that would be an enormous development.
International relations also. With a possible global economic crisis expected to follow, India (and South Asia in general) would be in more need of Chinese assistance (i.e. credit for goods) than before. Simultaneously, record low oil and natgas prices reduce everyone's need for dollars.
Posted by: prb | Mar 28 2020 18:10 utc | 43
@ Posted by: GeorgeV | Mar 28 2020 17:52 utc | 38
America's post-Cold War policy is only stupid if you have an idealized vision of the USA.
But they make perfect sense if you think the USA as, essentially, a capitalist empire. From this point of view, its foreign policy is very rational.
The essence of Trump's psychology is that he likes to dominate people. He accomplishes this by hiring incompetent psychopaths who make him legitimately look good by comparison. This is why he's constantly overruling their worst plans. But once every so often, his incompetent underlings convince him to do something exceptionally stupid. This is because occasionally going along with them allows him to feel like a wise, discerning ruler who occasionally follows his advisors' guidance and occasionally overrules them.
Posted by: Timothy Hagios | Mar 28 2020 18:14 utc | 45
Yesterday March 27, 2020 LINK
Trump signs EO due COVID-19 - order up to 1,000,000 Reserve Units for active duty -not to exceed 24 months.
and doctors protest over medical shortages
yes America, you have the best and most expensive healthcare in the world -
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The sum of known coronavirus U.S. cases soared well past 100,000, with more than 1,600 dead, as weary doctors and nurses protested at shortages of scarce medical supplies that some have to keep under lock and key or even buy on the black market.
[.]
“The masks are supposed to be one-time use,” one nurse said, according to videos posted online. “Now, all of a sudden the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is saying that it’s fine for us to reuse them. These choices are being made not based on science. They’re being made based on need.”One resident at New York Presbyterian Hospital said they were issued with just one mask.
“This is your mask forever. You can bring it home with you. Here’s how you can clean your mask,” said the resident, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “It’s not the people who are making these decisions that go into the patients’ rooms.”
Phone call out to Xi: SOS.
Posted by: Likklemore | Mar 28 2020 18:15 utc | 46
Here is an excellent interview with Pepe Escobar on COVID-19, hybrid war, rise of Eurasia, and more .....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYf5h0wOV1Q
Posted by: Nathan Mulcahy | Mar 28 2020 18:19 utc | 47
Trailer Trash @36
India is facing a nightmare nexus of crises. Even beyond the covid, if they have another late monsoon or weak monsoon this summer then large parts of the country (cities with millions!) will go dry this year. Even if they do dodge the bullet this year they are pumping out groundwater far faster than the monsoons replace it, so their water situation just gets more precarious each year.
The upsurge of fascism in India, and now the covid on top of that... India is a powder keg primed to go off. I am glad I don't have any friends or family there.
Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 28 2020 18:22 utc | 48
@45 Likklemore, txs for the link, more fuel to the "Phase 2" possibility. Btw, been listening to Trudeau's daily CV updates and I can shake the feeling he is in on something we dont know. His repeated pleas that "Its time Canadians come home" and calls to be ready for "whatever may come after" are fishy a.f..
Posted by: Lozion | Mar 28 2020 18:42 utc | 49
You mean Trump foreign policy wasn't unhinged before this pandemic or are you now finally seeing him for the first time and for the egomaniac Ziofascist he's been all along?
So today, idiot Trump is going to Norfolk, Virginia for his pandemic photo-op with the Navy hospital ship that's leaving for New York State to help with the pandemic crisis. And this after he's been in denial and pushing back on the urgency of response to the pandemic since January but now he wants to be there when the ship sails to take credit for saving lives. F*ck him!
Right this minute he's responsible for hundreds of deaths in Iran, Yemen and in Venezuela AND in the U.S.
He can go straight to hell where he belongs! I'm sure Roy Cohn, his mentor in depravity, is reserving a seat for him there right next to his.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 28 2020 18:43 utc | 50
Has anyone received an Important Message From Our President in their mailbox? It is postcard sized and says on the front:
President Trump's Coronavirus Guidelines For America
The backside can be summarized as OBEY ORDERS. No information on who to call if one needs help, food, etc. or anything remotely helpful. And of course, it is all in English. Thank you CDC. Each new day brings new evidence of their total incompetence. Since the AIDS debacle CDC and NIH have worked overtime to improve their image, but the public relations consultants are polishing turds. Too bad they can't put a bit more effort into something of substance.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 18:45 utc | 51
There seems to be a theme running through the comments thread that the COVID-19 national lockdowns are essentially political in nature, which is pure nonsense. Lockdowns, quarantines and the like have been standard practice during epidemics dating back to the Middle Ages. And they actually work to reduce the spread of infection and all that goes with it. B. has been making this very point for weeks.
Is there a possibility that governments will seize upon this precedent of social control to abridge freedom and civil rights after the pandemic is over? Yes, I think there is, but it is not a certainty.
Posted by: Rob | Mar 28 2020 18:50 utc | 52
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 28 2020 17:26 utc | 29
Do you mean "Vijay Prashad"? Yes, I love his vids since lost touch - after Paul Jay and Sharmini Peries booted out of TRNN in June 2019. I also like Tariq Ali another Socialist (leaning Maxis).
Walk extreme care regarding China's BRI and Socialism with Chinese Characteristic. The diehard NeoCon and NeoLib will do anything to destroy anyone (including you) even hinting Socialism. For me I dun give a shit!
"...On the other side, both China and Russia are emerging as huge winners for their unqualified aid to stricken neighbors and nations beyond...."
Latest China even sending Convid-19 medical aids to Malaysia including 200 Ventilators
Slowdown, please. China having unconfirmed problems in Hubei.... it seem there were riots (unconfirmed except vids) in Hubei and most likely cuz by the gang of NTD (New Tang Dynasty Television), Epoch Times's Jennifer Zeng, Guo Wengui, and Gordon C. Chang. I'm monitoring closely for debunks - riots.
http://lunaticoutpost.com/thread-177075.html
Our only hope......?????
Posted by: JC | Mar 28 2020 18:52 utc | 53
thanks b... the exceptional empire continues to unravel and the consequences begin to sink in for more and more.. i am surprised it has taken covid 19 to help create this situation, but i will take it..
Posted by: james | Mar 28 2020 18:56 utc | 54
I think the measures against Iran and the token measures on Venezuela have as much to do with Europe and the UN wavering on support for sanctions as any newfound resolve to go on the offensive.
Posted by: Cesare | Mar 28 2020 18:59 utc | 55
Another excellent blog b.,
karlof1 | Mar 28 2020 17:26 utc | 29, I agree in general with your hypotheses.
May I suggest a scenario for how these events might unfold.
1. The unlimited printing of money by the Fed (the initial $4+ Trillion resulting from the bail-out bill is only the beginning) will destabilize the dollar and cause it to be replaced as the world's reserve currency. The replacement will likely be the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) but could also be some form of gold.
2. Having lost its role as a reserve currency, the US$ will collapse in value. It will go from being a massively over-valued currency to an under-valued currency.
3. Inflation in the U.S., particularly related to resources and imported goods, will cause the price of goods to skyrocket. The U.S. will become materially poorer. It will no longer be able to afford imported goods, nor will it be able to afford its bloated military and foreign adventures.
4. The U.S. will need to redevelop its goods producing sectors in order to produce for itself what it can no longer import (with over-valued dollars). With an under-valued currency, it will eventually become an net exporter.
5. The U.S. government will continue to run massive deficits in order to fund the transformation of the economy from a military/security economy with overpriced services (that are for the most part not exportable) to a goods producing export economy.
Only when this transformation is substantially complete will the U.S. be able to run either fiscal or balance of payment surpluses.
6. In the end the U.S.' massive debts will be inflated away. Likewise the wealthy elites, whose wealth is largely in U.S. dollar based financial assets, will also see their wealth inflated away.
7. The decimating of the financial assets, through inflation, combined with the re-employment of U.S. workers in goods producing industries will begin to reverse the income inequality that has taken place over the last 40 years. With the loss of wealth and the reversal of income inequality, the ability of the elites to control the political system will be greatly diminished. The voice of the people will gradually be restored.
The above scenarios will take many decades to complete. However, the first two steps are likely to happen quite quickly, catalyzed by the current crises. Any pretensions that the U.S. has to being the Unilateral Super-power or the Indispensable Nation will collapse alongside the dollar.
Posted by: dh-mtl | Mar 28 2020 19:03 utc | 56
>Is there a possibility that governments will seize upon this
>precedent of social control to abridge freedom and civil rights
Every crisis of the past 50 years has been used to gradually usurp rights and impose more repression. It's true we don't have to worry about a US police state since that police horse left the barn at least 20 years ago and has been mowing down civilians ever since. Don't forget that three civilians will be gunned down by police today, just like yesterday, and the day before, and tomorrow as well.
"Stay at home" is a useful message. Threatening to fine and/or arrest someone for being outside after 6 PM (as in some cities) will do nothing to stop the evil virus. Instead of expanding hours to spread out shoppers, walkers, etc. they are cutting them. People who are paid to plan for disaster have failed completely and are shifting the blame to evildoers who evade curfew. As always, it's important to blame the victims.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 19:11 utc | 57
This article is further reinforcing my increasing hunch that Covid19 could turn out to be the catalyst for significant diminishment of the US on the international stage, if not a definitive moment similar to the fall of the USSR or the end of an empire moment a la Suez canal fiasco for the British. At the very least, that linear progression of decline will see a steep acceleration.
A major withdrawal of troops is looking more and more likely, a significant amount of unrest at home is brewing due to big political divisions, a corrupt ruling class that has become ineffective at basic governing, the country is so dysfunctional, divided and led by the worst people one needs in a time like this. Covid19 is turning all those cracks into canyons.
I am sure China and Russia (et -non insignificant- al... about 2/3 of the world including parts of Europe now perhaps?) are just waiting for the right moment to turn the screws. Take the oil price war for example, it's killing US shale; what else is awaiting them? Tell me Iran hasn't got a few surprises ready to destabilise the US elections, and why wouldn't they be coordinating with Russia and Iran at a time like this?
It just feels like something has to break at some point somewhere, irreparably, but maybe it's just my wishful thinking.
Lord knows what a world with China in charge could look like... it won't be all roses either that's for sure, but it will be different no doubt about it.
Posted by: EtTu | Mar 28 2020 19:22 utc | 58
RE: Posted by: Likklemore | Mar 28 2020 18:15 utc | 45
"Trump signs EO due COVID-19 - order up to 1,000,000 Reserve Units for active duty -not to exceed 24 months."
Somebody should tell Trump -- the US does not even have anywhere near a million reservists. The actual number is around a half-million.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Mar 28 2020 19:24 utc | 59
@ 55 dh-mtl... quote -" The replacement will likely be the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) but could also be some form of gold." the problem with this is that the IMF is a big part of the problem and subject to the same malevolent forces that have brought us to where we are today... anyone who looks into the imf - world bank and etc. etc. see how they too are a part of this mafia ponzi scheme.. i wish it was different.. some other path will need to be taken and it will include a dismantling or a complete redefinition of what these institutions were supposed to be for... they have been manipulated badly by the west..
i guess i have to say although much of the financial dynamic seems centered around the us$, it is really not just the us$ that is the problem... let me give you an analogy that you can relate to... notice the usa imposing sanctions and how the west generally always complies?? it is the same arrangement on the financial platform too... they all conform to a particular hierarchy that is corrupt and about maintaining power at fear of losing position and power themselves... so, it is a hard nut to crack and it will impact not only the usa, but the whole world when it does start to crack... sort of like what this covid-19 is doing, but on a larger scale...
Posted by: james | Mar 28 2020 19:37 utc | 60
The deflation is already starting:
GM Employees Hit With Salary Reduction During Coronavirus Pandemic
Salaried employees pay will be cut 20%; the pay is "deferred" until sometime in the future, probably the next set of GM bankruptcy proceedings. Some kind of gradual transformation will not happen without massive debt write-downs, and that is just not going to happen. So it will be gradually worsening deflation followed by a massive hyperinflationary event as endless dollars are poured into a shrinking supply of goods and services.
As for services in the US, they are completely unaffordable for working people. Car dealers charge $80 an hour for a technician. Lawyers are charging $200 an hour? More? Who can afford that! College education is a service that charges $40,000 and up for a piece of paper, permission to have a job. Meanwhile the federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour.
There will be a debt jubilee when the dollar utterly collapses; I don't think we will much like the way it will unfold.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 19:40 utc | 61
@ Posted by: EtTu | Mar 28 2020 19:22 utc | 57
Most likely will be a multipolar order (with China being one of these "poles").
The events that had to align for the USA to emerge as the unipolar superpower were very unusual even for historical standards. It's highly unlikely a unipolar order will ever emerge again.
In fact, that's not even what China and Russia are betting on. All their foreign policy are drawn in order to foment and stimulate a multipolar order. Unipolar order are very unstable either way.
@hopehely #21
You are exceeding foolish if you think literally fabricating a quote works when the original post is 10 entries above yours.
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2020 19:43 utc | 63
JC | Mar 28 2020 18:52 utc | 52
You pay a price when you "tune in" to US media and then vomit up their shit. Dig into the Hubei story and find that the CCP declared the quarantine over and people were free to travel. The problem was the police of a neighboring town, always there to protect and serve, thought it unsafe for the recently infected to visit the town to see family or to go to work. So the Hubei police got mad at the police enforcing a blockade and a fight ensued. People from both towns beat up the cop cars and turned them over.
If you think, like you are told, that the Chinese people are slaves with no freedom imagine what those videos would look like if they happened in the USA. Ya the blue wall would try to stop the over turning of their cars with educated reason.
Posted by: diveshopingoa | Mar 28 2020 19:43 utc | 64
William Gruff @ 35
I am of the firm conviction that the Nov 2020 US election is all about deciding who will be a late-stage soviet leader and the subsequent path is unclear. But if we apply Orlov's framework for collapse.....
Stage 1: Financial collapse. Faith in “business as usual” is lost
Stage 2: Commercial collapse. Faith that “the market shall provide” is lost
Stage 3: Political collapse. Faith that “the government will take care of you” is lost
Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that “your people will take care of you” is lost
Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in “the goodness of humanity” is lost
....then the virus has already sped the country through stage 1 and stage 2 is upon it with the lack of PPE and other essentials. Game is on after the govt stimulus package fails to have anything more than a short-term effect and the bail-out induced inflation appears. The vast military structure is as incompetent as the domestic response to the virus, a failed invasion of some sort will make that clear, and the legionnaires will all be going home as the dollar collapses.
Posted by: sad canuck | Mar 28 2020 19:44 utc | 65
@ hg 40 Re CureVac denial. You posit CureVac denied so it is not true that the US wanted a monopoly.
Conspiracy Fact.
CureVac's and US' denial is the confirmation. And as always the 11th commandment kicks in - "Follow the Money." Gates-CEPI and its connection to CureVac.
Here at sciencebusiness.net
[.] The European Commission has offered of up to €80 million in financial support to the German biotech CureVac AG after it was reported US President Donald Trump was attempting to secure exclusive access to a COVID-19 vaccine it is developing.In a call to CureVac on Monday evening, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, EU Research Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and European Investment Bank vice-president of innovation Ambroise Fayolle, pledged financial support “to scale up development and production of a vaccine against the coronavirus in Europe.”
“In this public health crisis it is of utmost importance that we support our leading researchers and tech companies,” von der Leyen said after the call. “We are determined to provide CureVac with the financing it needs to quickly scale up development and production of a vaccine against the coronavirus. I am proud that we have leading companies like CureVac in the EU. Their home is here. But their vaccines will benefit everyone, in Europe and beyond.”
[.]US officials also strongly denied the reports of an offer to CureVac. "Not true," tweeted Richard Grenell, acting director of National Intelligence and the US Ambassador to Germany, referring to the report, which first appeared in Die Welt am Sonntag.In a statement on Sunday CureVac said, "The company rejects current rumours of an acquisition". It followed this up on Monday, just before the call from von der Leyen, “To make it clear again on coronavirus: Curevac has not received [an offer] from the U.S. government or related entities.”
CureVac’s headquarters and the site of its vaccines manufacturing facility is Tübingen. The company has had a US office in Boston since 2015 and before that began collaborating with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to apply its messenger RNA technology to vaccines against infectious diseases in 2011.
The company’s then CEO Dan Menichello was one of several pharma company heads to be invited to the White House earlier this month to meet members of the US coronavirus task force. A week later, on 11 March, Curevac announced Menichello was leaving and would be replaced by the company’s co-founder and former CEO, Ingmar Hoerr. (emphasis added)
"strongly denied" No, we were caught in an embarrassing position; in the nude bare buttocks.
More here covers timeline and exposes the mRNA :
See these investors and their timeline for launch -After the Lockdown: A Global Coronavirus Vaccination Program…
the CEPI-GATES-CureVac partnership:
[.]What is the next step in the evolution of the COV-19 Crisis?
A coronavirus vaccine program was announced at Davos at the World Economic Forum (21-24 January) barely 2 weeks after the cornonavirus was identified by the Chinese authorities on January 7.
The lead entity for the novel coronavirus vaccine initiative is the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) an organization sponsored and financed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Note the chronology: The development of the 2019 nCoV vaccine was announced at the Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) a week prior to the official launching by the WHO of a Worldwide Public Health Emergency (January 30) at a time when the number of “confirmed cases” Worldwide (outside China) was 150 (including 6 in the US) [.]
The Central Role of CEPI:["Today we announced funding for three programmes to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus nCoV-2019. Given the rapid global spread of the novel coronavirus, the world needs to act quickly and in unity to tackle this disease."]
The foregoing statement by CEPI was made nearly two months prior to the official declaration of a pandemic on March 11.[.]CEPI is dealing simultaneously with several pharmaceutical companies. The Moderna- NIAID in all likelihood is slated to implement the COV-19 vaccine in the US.
On January 31st, the day following the WHO’s official launching of the global public health emergency and Trump’s decision to curtail air travel with China, CEPI announced its partnership with CureVac AG, a German-based biopharmaceutical company. A few days later, in early February, CEPI “announced that major vaccine manufacturer GSK would allow its proprietary adjuvants— compounds that boost the effectiveness of vaccines — to be used in the response”. (The pandemic was officially launched on March 11)
[Richard Hatchett, CEPI CEO in interview with stat.news.com]. …
The underlying focus is to develop a global vaccine.
And part of that was doing a global survey of manufacturing capacity to think about where we wanted to plant the manufacturing of any successful products we were able to bring forward.
Of significance, Hackett confirmed that the project to develop a vaccine commenced not only prior to the discovery and identification of the coronavirus (January 2020) but several months prior to the October 2019 simulation exercise.[.]
Where is Billy G since his resignation from MSFT board some 2 weeks ago?
Posted by: Likklemore | Mar 28 2020 19:46 utc | 66
Trailer Trash 50: President Trump's Coronavirus Guidelines For America
The postcard also states several times: STAY AT HOME. But says nothing about testing.
Based on this postcard, people will not be tested until they are in serious condition. A condition that is likely to necessitate strong, expensive drugs and possibly time on a ventilator.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 28 2020 19:47 utc | 67
JC @ 52:
I already "debunked" the so-called riots at the bridge joining Hubei and Jiangxi provinces on a previous MoA comments forum. Police from both provinces were arguing because Jiangxi police had allowed some migrant workers to cross over from Hubei into Jiangxi but were forcing back Hubei citizens. The rationale behind Jiangxi police's actions is dubious: COVID-19 disease infects everyone alike. Anyway, people came out in support of both sets of police officers, as they might if those officers had been football players, and obviously some got carried away and thumped some police cars. The actions of Hubei police in not holding back their people, if the reports turn out to be true, might bring upon them (the Hubei police) disciplinary action for not holding people back and for not dispersing crowds when the should. Much the same could be said for the Jiangxi police for creating an unnecessary conflict.
Of course one can always rely on US-funded Falun Gong operators like The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty TV news to turn a local stoush into something different and insinuate that the CCP is coming under attack. Talk about clutching at straws!
Posted by: Jen | Mar 28 2020 19:59 utc | 68
Russia is to close all it's borders from Monday.
Russia will “temporarily” initiate a complete shutdown of its borders staring Monday in order to curb the pandemic, impacting all automobile, railway, pedestrian and river checkpoints along all Russian border points.
The total border closure looks to be among the most comprehensive measures any country has yet taken to halt the spread of the virus,
This is probably simply another effective action to take, but obviously it is also to eliminate "second wave" infections from returning citizens.
The "coincidence", or "conspiracy" if you prefer, is that it might coincide with what is left of the NATO exercises that are to take place. Some 6'000 US troops, tanks and heavy artillery with one or two other countries. Thinking back, one possible "vector" (means of) spreading the virus in China were the US soldiers staying near Wuhan before the outbreak. Who were probably "pre-infected". Whether or not this is how the outbreak actually got started, another load of infectious soldiers in European countries with a large minority of Russian speakers and porous borders with Russia, must be a potential threat that the Rus. Military would have to take into account.
The US no longer has to specify the number of the military that has beeen affected by Coronavid-19. There is little reason to suppose that they would tell the military bods themselves. (In the original scenario, the infected soldiers at the Army games would not have known that they were carriers. Particularly if they visited Wuhan during the "no-symptoms" phase.)
(Is this the "exercise" that Pompeo was referring to in post by Desolation Row | Mar 28 2020 18:09 utc | 41 . ?)
Posted by: Stonebird | Mar 28 2020 20:01 utc | 69
Posted to VK @ 43.
In the 72 years that I have been on this earth, my idealization of US Cold War foreign policy ended when I left the 6th or 7th grade. I wasn't any genius in elementary school or junior high, but I wasn't stupid either. Afterwards my idealism toward US foreign policy continued to decline steadily. The last remnants of that idealism disappeared forever in that 'fun-n-sun' spot in Southeast Asia called Vietnam. Ah that pleasant aroma of rotting vegetation and dead bodies! Does wonders for sense of smell! Not to mention your stomach. Anyhow, as per your comment on my initial post. Did you read it? How did you arrive at your conclusion? There's nothing to indicate I had any idealist view of US foreign policy elites. I really think you should re-read it.
Posted by: GeorgeV | Mar 28 2020 20:07 utc | 70
>The postcard also states several times: STAY AT HOME. But says nothing about testing.
A very good point. Thank you for highlighting it. There will be no widespread testing. I speculate Uncle Sam intends to surround China with virus-contaminated nations, to keep them "contained". But as always, they fail to consider that US "enemies" can also act.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 20:08 utc | 71
Just reading different opinions. Interesting! Thanks
Posted by: John Riddle | Mar 28 2020 20:27 utc | 73
DH-MTL @ 55:
The success of Pt 7 of your scenario depends on whether people can take back economic decisions from government and the elites that control it by forming their own collective organisations such as farming co-operatives or their own councils running factories, farms, schools, colleges, hospitals and newspapers or news blogs. They don't need to start from scratch: they can follow examples in their own neighbourhoods that already exist or follow other countries' examples. The MSM never reports on these kinds of grassroots organisations so you may not know that they exist.
You probably need to consider also that the US might break up and become Balkanised, and what consequences might follow. Certainly some parts of the US will do better than others in the next half-century and some may end up becoming the property of other nations (Britain no doubt, in a last pathetic stab at reviving an empire before it too joins the US in the scrap-heap of history).
Posted by: Jen | Mar 28 2020 20:30 utc | 74
As I tried to tell some people here months ago, US wont leave Iraq because Iraq gov do not want them to leave.
"Iraq's president on Tuesday named pro-Western lawmaker and former Najaf city governor Adnan Zurfi as the next prime minister"
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1183057.shtml
Posted by: Zanon | Mar 28 2020 20:35 utc | 75
These moves are obviously a sign of complete desperation, US financial markets are crashing with millions jobless, broke, armed and dangerous, add to that NY is now not just the epicenter of US financial collapse but also the epicenter of COVID-19 in the US. Time to Escape New York.
Posted by: TJ | Mar 28 2020 20:38 utc | 77
Boots in bodybags is the only thing the pushes Americans out of their apathy. Numbers are starting to look good on the coronavirus trackers. Daily numbers approaching the vertical line in the chart
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2020 20:43 utc | 78
juliania | Mar 28 2020 16:13 utc | 9
Stonebird | Mar 28 2020 17:42 utc | 34
Rockefeller published their future scenarios paper in 2010 with 4 main options one being LOCKSTEP – a more authoritarian governance rolled out as a result of a global pandemic.
https://www.nommeraadio.ee/meedia/pdf/RRS/Rockefeller%20Foundation.pdf
(Global Research covered the topic recently)
https://www.globalresearch.ca/lock-step-no-futuristic-scenario/5705972
This was a foundation document and subsequent role exercises have had updates. It’s still worth the read (Page 16 on PDF above) to understand the scale of the thinking and the longer term consequences. The point is this document and its hybrids have been in circulation for some time. The scenarios outlined are well understood in ruling class. The data centres to track the movements of every citizen in real time are in place. Those like Bill Gates power and dollar value would move to new unprecedented levels in such a world. every keystroke every time, every movement - all for your own good of course! (sarc) The only force stopping its implementation are the moral code of the perpetrators (cross your fingers on that one!) and the push back of the citizenry who recognise it for what it is and will stand in front of tanks to prevent it.
Posted by: dennis | Mar 28 2020 20:51 utc | 79
Vigilantes in Maine are already challenging the state's monopoly on violence. "We are all in this together" is an empty slogan that no one believes.
Report: Men with guns cut down tree, block driveway to quarantine Vinalhaven residents
Vinalhaven is a coastal island with an active lobster industry, which has a long history of disputes over who can set traps and where they can set them, so it's not surprising that "local vigilantes decided to take matters into their own hands and barricaded these [arrogant] guys [from New Jersey] into their rental property.”
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 20:51 utc | 80
dh-mtl @55--
Your steps provide a good breakdown of the coming breakdown. I agree with James about the IMF being useless. IMO, a new organization will be formed with very little input by the Outlaw US Empire in a flip of Bretton-Woods. Some additional happenings I expect to see before the year's end:
Big international pushback of Outlaw US Empire unilateralism and attempt to impose extraterritoriality via its sanctions, lawfare and such. The UNGA Debate in September will likely be the hottest ever. Iraq and Syria will be free of Imperial occupation forces. Iran will become full SCO member. Imperial occupation forces will still remain in Afghanistan. Something exciting will happen in Korea besides the RoK's refusal to pay the Empire to occupy it further. It's difficult to say what will occur in South America. In Mexico, AMLO will continue his program to deneoliberalize his economy and its financial system, which will make Mexico the economic magnet the USA was once. Another surprise will come with the increase in UK nationalism which will widen the already foundering "special relationship." The BoE's director having already provided his idea of a post-dollar order being very significant.
But what the Outlaw US Empire does regarding its financial crisis will cause other effects that can't be predicted finely enough at this juncture, although we'll certainly see a big drop in asset prices and a probable implosion of the Bond Market. One outcome Keiser's explored is most US-based equities being taken private by the Fed, with investors only given back a fraction of the wealth they assumed they had prior. The citizen-side of the bailout wasn't nearly enough by a huge factor and will need to be done again if not twice more before the COVID has run its course. How rapidly that will evolve is unknown, but I anticipate the nation's political temper will be very different from now come November. And no, I don't expect TrumpoCo to try and postpone the election.
Back in December, Hudson gave a talk in NYC "on the 2008 economic crisis, what’s happened over the past ten year, and what we can anticipate in 2020." Yes, that was before COVID broke, but IMO there's still useful info within the talk. Hudson posted this essay shortly after his WaPost op/ed calling for some form of debt jubilee and seems to be a similar proposal to Steve Keen's CoronaBond, which is actually being worked on as a relief mechanism. And lastly for now, Steve Keen was on RT's Renegade, Inc on the 16th for a show entitled "Capitalism: Closed for business," which I've yet to see. And for those who don't have it, Keen's Twitter page.
dennis
Your senario - tracking every keystroke ect is here and has been here for some time.
Five-eyes is not only external but internal. US cannot track (spy on) its own citizens. Big deal - UK or any of the other five-eyes can.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2020 21:01 utc | 82
"The U.S. has exposed itself as unreliable ally, as war mongering moron..."
Could the "war mongering moron" be using the virus as cover for something more sinister, like preparations for large scale war? If Iran is attacked I suggest running to the store for more supplies...
This seems an over-reaction to a virus with a relatively low death rate:
I'm not saying this scenario is most likely, but it does appear plausible. I think it won't be long now before we find out.
Posted by: red1chief | Mar 28 2020 21:06 utc | 83
Reading the Rockefeller Foundation report linked by dennis, I am wondering how did they so accurately predict the future...
However, a few countries did fare better — China in particular. The Chinese government’s quick imposition and enforcement of mandatory quarantine for all citizens, as well as its instant and near-hermetic sealing off of all borders, saved millions of lives, stopping the spread of the virus far earlier than in other countries and enabling a swifter post-pandemic recovery.
Posted by: Trailer Trash | Mar 28 2020 21:07 utc | 84
"An invasion of anyone during pandemic makes NO sense." hopehely@21
And thus confirms b's analysis that this Empire is being run by idiots. The reality is that the US has been preparing for guerrilla attacks on Venezuela for years now. The excitement of the Bolsonaro victory in Brazil led to those plans being accelerated. This crisis-in Bolivar's Gran Colombia- will end with revolution in Colombia or a foreign military dictatorship in Venezuela. The status quo cannot be maintained. And to ensure that people recognised this most of the country's voting machines were burned by US backed arsonists, recently. The message is there will be no more elections.
"There seems to be a theme running through the comments thread that the COVID-19 national lockdowns are essentially political in nature, which is pure nonsense. Lockdowns, quarantines and the like have been standard practice during epidemics dating back to the Middle Ages. And they actually work to reduce the spread of infection and all that goes with it. B. has been making this very point for weeks." Rob@51
Agreed.
One of the least understood currents in politics is the enormous negative power that various demoralising forms of propaganda of the " Resistance is useless. The ruling class has everything under control" have on the stirring of popular movements: no sooner was the complete bankruptcy of neo-liberalism revealed to all sorts of new layers of society, previously apathetic or fatalistic, than a pseudo left, pseudo opposition campaign promoting the idiocy that the virus had been deliberately employed to create panic began.
"The people united can never be defeated" is not just a slogan but an infallible rule. Equally a people constantly riven by sectarian disputation- an opposition which barely has time to oppose power, all its energies being necessary for internecine fighting- is the greatest security that the ruling class can have. Even in moments of panic and complete disarray, our rulers have the luxury of being able to collect their scattered forces and re-think their exploded strategies because, instead of going for the jugular exposed in the crisis, the 'opposition' is split between those who urge action and the siren sounds of those who tell us that it is all a trap, that there is no crisis, that the number of deaths is deliberately being exaggerated and that 40% of the workforce are unemployed in order that nobody will notice Boeing being subsidised or Iraq being attacked or so that Pharmaceutical companies can be given massive contracts.
Posted by: bevin | Mar 28 2020 21:08 utc | 85
Posted by: JC | Mar 28 2020 18:52 utc | 52
I read that these riots were debunked in that careful viewing revealed that it was protesters WITH police in dispute with OTHER protesters WITH other police. The argument was about access at a China province boundary and one group whose confinement had ended wanted to pass, and the neighbouring district was still enforcing the quarantine.
I believe it was debunked on a previous thread here on MoA, and somewhere in the twitter storm was the sensible narrative - please don't ask me to find it again, I've just flushed 10,000 cookies!
Posted by: denis | Mar 28 2020 21:12 utc | 86
As I tried to tell some people here months ago, US wont leave Iraq because Iraq gov do not want them to leave.Posted by: Zanon | Mar 28 2020 20:35 utc | 74
That's quite incorrect. The US gets a veto on who's appointed Prime Minister, i.e. US representative in the room. The choice doesn't represent popular feeling. I mean here Shi'a feeling, as we've seen in recent bombardments of US bases, which led to US withdrawal from exposed bases. That's only going to increase. The Sunnis are going to remain neutral as far as I can see (and not support the US idea of a Sunni mini-state).
Posted by: Laguerre | Mar 28 2020 21:17 utc | 87
Re: Russia, Putin, and its citizens.
You can really tell that Putin and the Russian leadership care for their people and have turned it around since Putin took the reigns. Contrast their birth/death rate with the U.S. birth/death rate over the last twenty years and it is all you need to see, writ large.
In the U.S., native population growth is never an issue if you are willing to import exploited labor to the detriment of their own people. Russia has stated repeatedly that it wants Russians to have children. I don't think I have ever heard a U.S. president talk about wanting to see more U.S. babies. Maybe parts for sale for medical research.
Here is Russia's and Here is the U.S.
I like the thesis that states that when the Soviet Union fell, the sound of the rats leaving the ship and getting on the U.S.S.U.S. was deafening. From the looks of it, we are about thirty years behind them now on the dot. Watch out China, don't fall prey to the same dark elements.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 28 2020 21:17 utc | 88
Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2020 21:01 utc | 81
Yes aware of that, I was seeking to focus on the openness of this technology which has now moved to private contractors and the laws unfolding to increase and further legitimise this data's use.
I could have worded it better. fair call.
Posted by: dennis | Mar 28 2020 21:29 utc | 89
bevin @84--
This article was in my local newspaper and appeared all across the nation today: "Are gun shops ‘essential’ businesses during a pandemic?" The numerous events put in place to distract the citizenry are silent, so one muses at how the COVID will affect their political thinking. The four months it took for China to mostly rid itself of COVID so it can get back to work will take even longer within the Outlaw US Empire, with March counting as month #1. Maybe August and two additional citizen bailouts later.
Thanks dennis for R'feller report. Interesting stuff.
"lockdown" starts as is now happeneing (more or less) but the ending (An Indian looking at a cleaned Ganges) is a bit of moral boosting fluff. But it will be worth reading fully with a bit more time. Thanks.
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bevin | Mar 28 2020 21:08 utc | 84
I don't think it is an "either-or" situation that most people are writing about, as there are people who are really suffering (ie, selfie vids on twitter of oxygen in an emergency room). Very few people deny this. However, the various "termite" groups (incl. Government grift, pharma greed etc) are using this as an excuse to massively make money or consolidate power. It is difficult to talk about the two truths at the same time.
One feature of the present scandal is the crass meaness of some of those I accuse of being profiteers.
Israeli forces on Thursday entered a Palestinian village in the northern Jordan Valley to confiscate materials designated to build a clinic to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Officials from the Israeli Civil Administration came to the village of Khirbet Ibziq with a military escort, bulldozer and two trucks equipped with cranes on Thursday morning to demolish community clinic and emergency housing, according to Israeli human rights monitor Btselem.
The group reported that Israeli officials seized poles and sheeting designated to form eight tents, two for a field clinic, two for a mosque, and four for emergency housing for people evacuated from their homes.
A power generator, as well as supplies of sand, cement and cinder blocks to be used for the floor of the tents, were also confiscated.
Posted by: Stonebird | Mar 28 2020 21:40 utc | 91
Stonebird | Mar 28 2020 21:40 utc | 90
A pleasure, glad a few picked up on it (thanks also Trailer Trash for the quote - it stuck out as soon as I read it also!)
Stonebird - I would guess this is the report "lite" for public consumption, I would hazard a guess that other versions circulating around DoD etc are not so flowery, we should probably have Snowdon's work on the second screen and read in parallel, for a clearer insight to the objectives, if they are the ones in play?
Posted by: dennis | Mar 28 2020 21:47 utc | 92
Parts of the Trump administration are even pressing for a wider war against alleged Iranian proxy forces in Iraq:
I quite agree, not a chance.
Posted by: Laguerre | Mar 28 2020 21:51 utc | 93
Stonebird@90
In a thread discussing the depravity of the United States nothing can be more timely than a reminder that when it comes to sadism as state policy and the most dramatic examples of sheer evil at the government level nothing can compare with the disgraceful behaviour of Israelis towards Palestinians.
To put this in perspective, the Nazis were very conscious that nothing was more likely to demoralise the general population of Germany-however much it might please the fascist movement- than actions such as these openly carried out against Jews. The sad reality is that, in Israel to day, it would appear, no enormities, no vicious crimes against Gaza or Palestine as a whole, do not win the approval of the majority of the electorate- the trashing of the Coronavirus emergency centre was just another chapter in Netanyahu's campaign for a mandate to carry out genocide.
Posted by: bevin | Mar 28 2020 21:56 utc | 94
b?
denis | Mar 28 2020 21:12 utc | 85
dennis | Mar 28 2020 21:47 utc | 91
In case anyone is wondering I wrote both these comments the "nn" is the normal version, not sure what's happened here.
Posted by: dennis | Mar 28 2020 21:57 utc | 95
@ Lozion 48
use the mute button.
Trudeau and Chyrstia denied said "they strongly protested" the balloon floated by Trump to put troops on the US-Canada border. They quickly compromised with a fence in one border town I am familiar with. Two of three US-Canada border crossings are now closed. Canadians returning by car after leaving Canada Immigration and Customs at 100 ft away will go through the RCMP barricade. ..monitoring less than 20 cars per day or is it the Greetings brigade for returning snowbirds from Florida.
End of 2020 will confirm whether we enter a global depression. Who would have thought a "pandemic" would be the catalyst to shutdown economic life. Imagine governments foregoing taxes and banks foregoing revenues for 6 months. That's the tell, it's not a medical emergency as profferred. It is the crisis triggered by a broken credit system..the volcano of debt.
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Posted by: AntiSpin | Mar 28 2020 19:24 utc | 58
Somebody should tell Trump -- the US does not even have anywhere near a million reservists. The actual number is around a half-million.
Who said Trump is good at 2+2?
When he comes up short maybe he will bring the troops home, just as he promised and only if Pompus allows.
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karlof1 | Mar 28 2020 21:00 utc | 80
"Stay at Home" - it's mandatory to prevent the rioting as we usher in a debt jubilee. Not only Professor Hudson's proposal for a debt jubilee, DR. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury - Reagan Admin has collaborated on a joint article with Hudson on writing down the Trillions of debt. $265 Trillion global debt will not be repaid.
Here is a great link on the activities behind the curtain - Pam Martins' ..Wall Street On Parade without the drums and saxophones. They need both hands to shovel the dollars.
Posted by: Likklemore | Mar 28 2020 21:59 utc | 96
dennis 88
Just a thought that has come to me from your comment. Most within five-eyes are unaware of how everything digital they do is recorded. Communications, cards ect giving a readout of everybody's life and what they are up to. Bringing it into the open, while making it a little easier for the powers that be to track us, would at the same time wake everybody up to the fact that they are monitored 24 7.
Even so, I suspect the majority - the duopoly voters - would go along with with it.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2020 22:04 utc | 97
Attacking Kattaib Hezbolah right now is a suicide, with few thousands soldiers many not combat ready troops, inside bases and surrounded by an hostile population and hundreds thousands fighters well equiped and prepared from months or years to this eventuallity (as Hezbolah in Lebanon in 2006)
For sure the PMU's have a few hundreds MANPAD, so when they take down some dozens of helicos full of soldiers then all the US operation will crash, and they ask for a truce quickly. Good luck if they try to leave the bases by road in Humvees, strikers and tanks, they will be received by some hundreds modern ATMG (forget RPG's, as Hezbollah did in 2006 but a much higer scale
This really will be the end of the American Empire
This new translation of the Bible, where Jesus throws the elderly into a plague by Easter, to save the money changers, seems to be missing the spirit of the original text....unknown
Posted by: oldenyoung | Mar 28 2020 22:07 utc | 99
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2020 20:43 utc | 77
"Boots in bodybags is the only thing the pushes Americans out of their apathy"
Excellent comment and let me share.... bodybag.
Recalling the late 60s till early 70s was working for American Airlines (AAL). Me, aircraft mechanic sometimes assigned to AA Airfreight terminal. AA chartered planes to MAC (military Air Chartered) ferrying troops to and from Da Nang Airbase Vietnam including sealed caskets back to the States and never seen outside the airfreight terminal in LA Ca. The freaking evil empire hides them from public views. Over 60,000 young Americans died in that useless war for freak god, family and country.
It still makes me damn freaking mad endless wars and regime change. When will this regime end!! Now she is going after China, while China lifted 800millions from poverty. Just in case anyone wanna trash my rants... Let me be clear, I was in Vietnam 63s visiting my schoolmate parent in Cholon (Chinatown) before the freaking Americunts invades the country. It was beautiful and peaceful country, corrupts, yes but peaceful...
Posted by: JC | Mar 28 2020 22:25 utc | 100
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Posted by: foolisholdman | Mar 28 2020 15:26 utc | 1