Misguided Foreign Policies Against Russia And Others Damage The U.S. And Its 'Allies'
Political corruption, a lack of knowledge, and irrational foreign policies have brought the U.S. to a point where it is losing its primacy in the world.
In response to the 2014 U.S. coup in Kiev the Russian Federation supported ethnic Russian rebels in the Donbas region to resist that anti-Russian progroms with which the Nazi-controlled Kiev regime threatened them. This blocked U.S. plans to move Ukraine into NATO and to station U.S. missiles directly at the Russian border.
In 2016 the Democrats sought revenge by pushing fake claims of Russian interference in U.S. elections. To justify her loss in the presidential election Hillary Clinton created 'Russiagate', the false claim the Trump was somehow directed by Russia. She was supported by high ranking officials throughout the deep state and especially within the FBI. In hindsight their behavior was beyond belief:
An FBI supervisor repeatedly testified Tuesday that agents did not corroborate an explosive allegation from a former British spy of a “well-developed conspiracy” between the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign before citing the claim as a reason to initiate surveillance of a former Trump campaign official.
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The FBI used the unconfirmed report, Auten testified, to seek court approval of a secret surveillance warrant to monitor Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser, and then successfully got that warrant reauthorized on three occasions, based in part on the same, uncorroborated claim.
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Auten told the jury that shortly after receiving the first batch of Steele documents in the fall of 2016, a group of FBI officials met with Steele and offered him “anywhere up to $1 million” for information that would corroborate the claims in his reports. But Steele never did provide corroboration, Auten said in response to Durham.
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Steele had been hired to produce reports by research firm Fusion GPS, which had been retained by a law firm that represented Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee.
'Russiagate' created a feverish anti-Russian atmosphere especially within the Democrats and their followers.
Adding to this was a serious ignorance of Russia economic and technological capabilities. U.S. politicians rely on biased media which created a false picture of Russia. I did my best to debunk that as often as I could:
The rest of the NYT piece is not any better than its very first paragraph. It simply repeats false stereotypes about Putin as an "autocratic leader" or about the non-existing Russian influence on U.S. elections.Nearly thirty years ago when the Soviet Union broke apart Russia had a deep fall. The liberalization of its economy had catastrophic consequences. But it has since reformed itself. It is now back to its traditional position in the world. A large Eurasian power which is in nearly all aspects independent from the rest of the world and able to protect itself. It must therefore be taken into account when one thinks of global polices. That is simply a fact and not the effect of a "mindgame" that Russia allegedly plays with the "west".
That the U.S. still has problems to understand that is not Russia's fault but the result of the skewed descriptions of it.
I wrote the above in December 2019(!). Ten month later I revisited the issue:
Over the last years the U.S. and its EU puppies have ratcheted up their pressure on Russia. They seem to believe that they can compel Russia to follow their diktat. They can't. But the illusion that Russia will finally snap, if only a few more sanctions ar applied or a few more houses in Russia's neighborhood are set on fire, never goes away.
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Russia does not accept the fidgety 'rules of the liberal international order'. Russia sticks to the law which is, in my view, a much stronger position. Yes, international law often gets broken. But as Lavrov said elsewhere, one does not abandon traffic rules only because of road accidents.Russia stays calm, no matter what outrageous nonsense the U.S. and EU come up with. It can do that because it knows that it not only has moral superiority by sticking to the law but it also has the capability to win a fight.
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Russia is militarily secure and the 'west' knows that. It is one reason for the anti-Russian frenzy. Russia does not need to bother with the unprecedented hostility coming from Brussels and Washington. It can ignore it while taking care of its interests.As this is so obvious one must ask what the real reason for the anti-Russian pressure campaign is. What do those who argue for it foresee as its endpoint?
The answer to my question was revealed in mid of last year when the U.S. and the EU threatened Russia with 'crushing sanctions'. The idea was to destroy Russia's economy to then breakup the country. It was a very stupid one:
Russia is the most autarkic country in the world. It produces nearly everything it needs and has highly desirable products that are in global demand and are especially needed in Europe. Russia also has huge financial reserves. A sanctions strategy against Russia can not work.To use the Ukraine to gaud Russia into some aggression to then apply sanctions was likewise a rather lunatic attempt.
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Instead of splitting Russia from China the U.S. has unintentionally done its best to push them into a deeper alliance. It was the most severe strategic error the U.S. could make.Instead of a taking a new strategic posture that would support a pivot to Asia strategy the U.S. is now moving troops back to Europe.
The narrow-minded bigotry of U.S. decision makers, fed by a belief in U.S. exceptionalism while lacking any conception of real power, has led to this defeat.
The U.S., through NATO, had build up the Ukrainian army with the intent to use it against Russia. As NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg proudly claimed:
As you know, NATO Allies provide unprecedented levels of military support to Ukraine. Actually NATO Allies and NATO have been there since 2014 – trained, equipped and supported the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The recent war was launched by Ukraine on February 17 with artillery barrages against the Donbas republics. Massive sanctions against Russia were introduced. The Russia army finally marched into Ukraine.
It took only a few weeks to recognize that the sanctions, as I had expected, utterly failed. In the first days the Rubel fell only to come back much stronger. There were no shortages for Russian consumers. Russia's industries kept buzzing along.
But the sanctions did crush the 'west' and especially its consumers.
Over the years the U.S. and the EU have held up sanctions against the oil producers Iran, Venezuela and Russia. They also destroyed parts of Libya's oil industry. In total the sanctions have kept some 20% of global oil production either off the markets or made them more difficult to buy and sell. On top of this U.S. relations with major Middle East producers, especially Saudi Arabia, have cooled down.
In late 2021 consumer prices for hydrocarbon products exploded. When they threatened to derail the Democrat's chances in the mid terms President Biden used tax payer money, in form of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to subsidize gasoline prices:
The United States and five other world powers announced a coordinated effort to tap into their national oil stockpiles on Tuesday, attempting to drive down rising gas prices that have angered consumers around the world.The move appeared to underwhelm oil traders, who had been expecting President Biden to announce a larger release from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the biggest in the world with 620 million barrels.
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The concerted effort, the largest ever for a release of strategic reserves across multiple countries, is meant to address fluctuations in supply and demand for oil, administration officials said. And it was a shot across the bow of OPEC Plus, the name for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia and other countries. Mr. Biden has pushed those countries to increase production, but has been rebuffed.The move could bring a response next week when the group holds its monthly meeting. While it could prompt those countries to increase production, it could just as easily push the cartel to restrict supply further and push global prices higher.
The SPR voter bribe has since continued:
Since 2021, the nation’s SPR has diminished by about 35%, with 2021 starting with 638 million barrels in inventory. By the end of the year, that figure had dropped to 594 million barrels. Today, there are 416 million barrels—and even more are set to be released.
The U.S. has not only sanctioned major oil producers, it also instigated a war against the third largest (Russia) and pissed of the second largest one (Saudi Arabia).
The peak of such stupidity was the idea to limit the price 'allowed' to be paid for Russian oil:
A sane actor would conclude that the sanctions were a mistake and that lifting them would help Europe more than it would help Russia. But no, the U.S. and European pseudo elites are no longer able to act in a sane manner. They are instead doubling down with the most crazy sanction scheme one has ever heard of:
[T]he European Union pushed ahead on Wednesday with an ambitious but untested plan to limit Russia’s oil revenue.How do you make a big producer of a rare commodity sell those goods below the general market price? Unless you have a very strong buyers cartel that can also buy the product from elsewhere you can not do this successfully. It is an economic impossibility.
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Under the plan, a committee including representatives of the European Union, the Group of 7 nations and others that agree to the price cap would meet regularly to decide on the price at which Russian oil should be sold, and that it would change based on the market price.
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Russia has declared that it will not sell any oil to any party that supports the G7 price fixing regime. That is why neither China nor India nor any other country besides the EU and U.S. will agree to adhere to it.
A month ago OPEC+ finally fired back by decreasing its output aim by 2 million barrels per day. To some of them a price of oil around $80 per barrel is simply a budget requirement:
The quiet understanding emerging from [Biden's] trip was that Saudi Arabia would increase its production by about 750,000 barrels a day, and that the United Arab Emirates would follow suit with an additional 500,000, pushing down gas prices and worsening President Vladimir V. Putin’s ability to fund a war that was stretching much longer — and with much higher casualties — than Mr. Biden had expected.But the production increases were fleeting. While Saudi Arabia boosted production significantly in July and August, it backed away from their promise to sustain those levels over the rest of 2022. Its leaders, and all of OPEC, worried that the specter of global recession was driving prices down, from $120 a barrel over the summer to below $80. Below that level, they fear, budgets have to be cut and social stability is threatened. So the Saudis decided they had to act.
The sanctions and the bad relations with Saudi Arabia mark a major failure of U.S. foreign policy writes M. K. Bhadrakumar:
The Biden Administration tempted Fate by underestimating the importance of oil in modern economic and political terms and ignoring that oil will remain the dominant energy source across the world for the foreseeable future, powering everything from cars and domestic heating to huge industry titans and manufacturing plants.
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The Western powers are far too naive to think that an energy superpower like Russia can be simply “erased” from the ecosystem. In an “energy war” with Russia, they are doomed to end up as losers.Historically, Western nations understood the imperative to maintain good diplomatic relations with oil-producing countries. But Biden threw caution into the wind by insulting Saudi Arabia calling it a “Pariah” state. Any improvement in the US-Saudi relations is not to be expected under Biden’s watch. The Saudis distrust American intentions.
The congruence of interests on the part of the OPEC to keep the prices high is essentially because they need the extra income for their expenditure budget and to maintain a healthy investment level in the oil industry. The International Monetary Fund in April projected Saudi Arabia’s breakeven oil price — the oil price at which it would balance its budget — at $79.20 a barrel.
The budget point is an obvious one. But more important is that all of OPEC+ recognize the new sanction scheme as a potential attack on each of them:
Meanwhile, a “systemic” crisis is brewing. It is only natural that the OPEC views with scepticism the recent moves by the US and the EU to push back Russia’s oil exports. The West rationalises these moves as aimed at drastically reducing Russia’s income from oil exports (which translates as its resilience to fight the war in Ukraine.) The latest G7 move to put a cap on the prices at which Russia can sell its oil is taking matters to an extreme.
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No doubt, the West’s move is precedent-setting — namely, to prescribe for geopolitical reasons the price at which an oil-producing country is entitled to export its oil. If it is Russia today, it can as well be Saudi Arabia or Iraq tomorrow. The G7 decision, if it gets implemented, will erode OPEC’s key role regulating the global oil market.Therefore, the OPEC is proactively pushing back. Its decision to cut down oil production by 2 million barrels per day and keep the oil price above $90 per barrel makes a mockery of the G7 decision. The OPEC estimates that Washington’s options to counter OPEC+ are limited. Unlike in the past energy history, the US does not have a single ally today inside the OPEC+ group.
Due to rising domestic demands for oil and gas, it is entirely conceivable that the US exports of both items may be curtailed. If that happens, Europe will be the worst sufferer. In an interview with FT last week, Belgium’s prime minister Alexander De Croo has warned that as winter approaches, if energy prices are not brought down, “we are risking a massive deindustrialisation of the European continent and the long-term consequences of that might actually be very deep.”
All this is the consequence of U.S. 'Russiagate' phobia, originally raised for purely domestic policy reasons. It is a consequence of misrepresenting and misjudging the size and importance of Russia's economy. It is consequence of believing that Russian (and Saudi) interests can be ignored.
Russia's aim is to de-NATO-size Europe. It will do this by using the sanctions against it to deprive Europe of cheap energy. Sustained over months or years it is all that is needed to make NATO fall apart.
The sanctions will finally split Europe from the U.S. and its failed foreign policy.
Some U.S. politicians still think they must continue to pile onto the mountain of failure that U.S. foreign policy has become:
The congressional backlash against Saudi Arabia escalated sharply on Monday as a powerful Democratic senator threatened to freeze weapons sales and security cooperation with the kingdom after its decision to support Russia over the interests of the US.Washington’s anger with its Saudi allies has intensified since last week’s Opec+ decision to cut oil production by 2m barrels, which was seen as a slight to the Biden administration weeks ahead of critical midterm elections, and an important boost to Russia.
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Hitting out at Mohammed bin Salman’s decision to “help underwrite Putin’s war through the OPEC+ cartel”, Menendez said there was “simply is no room to play both sides of this conflict”.“I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine. Enough is enough,” he said.
Another Democratic senator and a member of Congress – Richard Blumenthal and Ro Khanna – expressed similar sentiments in an opinion piece for Politico that also accused Saudi Arabia of undermining US efforts and helping to boost Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The senators want to block weapon sales to Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin Salman will rather happily buy Russian air defense system. In contrast to U.S. systems they have the advantage of actually functioning. Saudi Arabia's Intermediate Range Missiles are from China. It will be happy to add more of those too.
Pissing off Russia, China and the whole Middle East - all at the same time - while condemning its 'allies' to a systemic economic crash and utter poverty, is the result of an irrational U.S. foreign policy.
I find it unlikely that the Biden administration with its librul ideology will be able to correct its own errors. The failures and mistakes will stay uncorrected and their consequences will multiply. It will take a regime change in Washington, and a change in its deep state ideology, to find back to some realistic view on foreign policies.
Posted by b on October 12, 2022 at 16:06 UTC | Permalink
next page »Kicking Americans out will solve a lot of the world's problems.
Posted by: chunga | Oct 12 2022 16:18 utc | 2
That was a particularly good article! Thanks.
For a graphical overview of the futility of sanctions have a look at the Euribor rates.
https://www.euribor-rates.eu/en/euribor-charts/
Posted by: too scents | Oct 12 2022 16:31 utc | 3
Thanks for the posting b.
Yeah, it is sickening to see the bought US congresscritters spouting the empire bullying.
If empire cannot say the Reserve Currency is the petrodollar and it isn't linked to gold anymore, then just what is its intrinsic value?
I have been thinking that the China/Russia axis does not want to release its alternative Reserve Currency with intrinsic value until the empire ponzi schemes fail and the US dollar measure against everything crashes....this will make it so the God of Mammon folks cannot buy there way into the new monetary system with any significance.
But hey, this is all just show and tell for the masses as this has already been decided behind the scenes.......
Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 12 2022 16:32 utc | 4
The parade of failed kicked out of power Western leaders will be a busy one next few months. I can see Liz's big head in the line already. Cant say it wont be fun to watch.
I had already added Indian Punchline to my must reax list so alreadybhad read his great articles.
Posted by: Comandante | Oct 12 2022 16:33 utc | 5
I was reading along here and I started wondering which is more pathetic, the US' Congress of pompous-blowhard-grifters or the Yurpean parliament of sanctimonious-blowhard-grifters. Both are in theory there to govern, but in practice sell out to the corporate money racketeers.
Biden has always been a low-class loser, so no surprise everything he does is too little and too late, or just not at all.
Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 12 2022 16:34 utc | 6
Super good work, b. The ultimate 'I told you so.'
While the US talks of being gracious to Putin if Russia surrenders, and offering various 'off-ramps', it is the Empire of Lies that looks for a way out without igniting nuclear winter, which is very bad for business.
Just like they redefined the definition of vaccine, I suppose we'll see the meaning of 'surrender' redefined a la Orwell to mean glorious victory.
The US has lost and its elites, decadent, and dumbed down to the level of dirt-clods, have a fateful decision to make; declare victory in the wake of uni-polar surrender, or destroy all that the profit-motive has worked for.
Posted by: gottlieb | Oct 12 2022 16:43 utc | 9
Well, as truth it is, one crucial problem remains: the US will not simply give away its main NATO assets like Germany and Italy. At least not without substantial fighting in one way or the other. They have invested too much in those countries, built their bases there, and still need them for various purposes. So, if for instance a significant anti-NATO movement would emerge in b’s Germany and the German government fail to suppress it (or even support it!), the US would intervene and crush its participants. They already acted this way during the 1948 general strike in the Bizone territories of West Germany. Trying to pry its main auxiliary countries out of the NATO system is the same kind of red line for Washington as Crimea’s belonging for Russia. And there, for me, lies the great danger for all of us.
Posted by: Seneschal | Oct 12 2022 16:44 utc | 10
US citizens must start taking the rest of the world seriously instead of electing assorted warmongers, smooth-talkers, populists and recently bumbling eco-radicals just because “they can”.
For god sake, they even considered Oprah at a given moment.
Posted by: alek_a | Oct 12 2022 16:45 utc | 11
Compared to Russia and even more so China, US history is very short. The US hasn't suffered like Russia and China from invasions, famines and internal strife. Well, stupid NATO is poking the Bear and he's regained his strength. In the past we had two oceans protecting us but it now means nothing since ICBMS and Ballistic Missile Submarines.
If those damn Nazis who've taken over our government keep poking, the USA is gonna get a taste of some Real History!
Posted by: Longtrail | Oct 12 2022 16:46 utc | 12
World elites have subverted democracy through algorithms, and since Blair consistently fed voters a toxic mixture of lies and spin.
Nothing wrong with the system of democracy, imho, just politicians thinking they know better than the people. If we don't change the cheating, nothing will ever change.
Consult the people and implement their views. End of.
Posted by: Giyane | Oct 12 2022 16:46 utc | 13
Does it really? I have a theory that complex systems and organisms tend to defend themselves. Like with a bad dose of the flu the system can get very sick. It can even die. The western world has been obviously infected for some time now. And so it is now trying to fix things by putting a senile man in charge of the US and a group of morons in charge in Europe. Will it work? Who knows. But trading peace, plenty and prosperity for dis-ease, scarcity and poverty it might fix a lot of problems. Those misguided foreign policies might be just what the doctor ordered
Posted by: Guy L’Estrange | Oct 12 2022 16:48 utc | 14
great summary b.
the empire of lies is also hostage to its own falsified reality. and its foreign plundering, impeded, must prey now on allies and the domestic population.
like the Roman empire, the foreign policy also remakes the homeland, inside and out. even shielded by two oceans at its flanks, the US cannot avoid the blowback. the anglo empire's island mentality, the US and UK think they can wreck everyone else and be safe faraway.
Posted by: mastameta | Oct 12 2022 16:52 utc | 15
Excellent analysis. Thank you.
There is, and will be, no Europe without Russia.
When one's friend continues to drive one into abject poverty it is surely time to ask said "friend" to leave one's house and to go back to their own home.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Oct 12 2022 16:55 utc | 16
I always suspected it would come to something like this. As the USA has been winding down after the post WW2 high, more and more drastic measures have need to be taken. Eventually when the rest of the world began to wake up and smell the tyranny there had to be some pushback. Even the people of EU nations are taking to the streets. Who would ever want to be ruled over by some gaggle of unelected technocrats?! Without representation indeed. Once again, the entities pushing this agenda have only two ways home: Victory or Death. I dont get the sense that USA or any of the cancerous entities current directing it as a blunt object are just going to give up and go home…. So here we are. Syria and then 2014 signified “game time!” Although to be fair (for those that bother to observe) the USA and its vassals have been trying to destroy Russia for decades, it’s just that the glove are now off. Of course there is the attendant screeching and virtual signaling in some vain attempt to stoke the fires of hatred, but in the end money talks (this includes warfare of all types) and bullshit walks (this includes hiring 100 PR firms for your war effort). In this grappling match the stakes have been raised, and the usual techniques used by the USA are not going to win the day, which is not to say they wont try. Like in chess its a game of moves and countermeasures, bluster and bluff simply wont cut it. As always there will be casualties. I would not like to be in Europe this winter as their economic suicide come due…..
Posted by: Chevrus | Oct 12 2022 17:02 utc | 17
"Powerful Democratic senator [and patron of underage prostitutes] Melendez"
Posted by: Peter D. Bredon | Oct 12 2022 17:02 utc | 18
Putin's Energy Week speech can be read here.
The future of the entire energy issue lies with the Global South and Russia, not the Outlaw US Empire and its soon to be shrinking network of vassals. Just look at which nations want to join SCO. Russia's busy gathering the gas producing nations into their own OPEC-like organization. Proven reserves for oil and gas within the Outlaw US Empire are down to less than two more decades of extraction at the current pace which will be impossible to maintain because of how oil basin decline functions. Canada's bitumen or tar sands while massive in quantity will never come close to being completely mined since that requires two other scarce resources: water and gas, the latter of which is far too small and is something that's been known for several decades (I know first hand as a former investor in gas-based Canadian Royal Trusts). As I provided yesterday, Venezuela has the most proven reserves on the planet, but they require special treatment too, although not the same as Canada's bitumen. The Russian Energy Week program is filled with many important presentations that cover all aspects of the topic.
Geopolitically and Geoeconomically, the energy issue ought to be front and center since it's the #1 item needed for national development in the Global South. Putin mentioned a $2.5 Trillion deficit in energy related investment caused by the Outlaw US Empire's policies:
"The fact is that due to the aggressive promotion of the green agenda, which, of course, needs support, as I have already said, but all this must be done wisely, and when it comes to aggressive promotion of this agenda, including in the eurozone, the global oil and gas sector has already been underinvested. Already have! At the same time, EU and US sanctions were imposed against the leading oil producers – and this is about 20 percent of the global industry.
"As a result, in 2020-2021, investments in oil and gas production fell to minimum levels over the past 15 years. You see, in 2020 and 2021, long before the start of our special operation in Donbass. And these investments turned out to be more than two times lower than in 2014, due to the actions of so-called Western politicians, and business underinvested $ 2.5 trillion. I'll talk about this later: what does the OPEC Plus decision have to do with this? The decision of "OPEC Plus" is aimed solely at balancing the world market. We found another last one – "OPEC Plus". What this has to do with this is not clear. In other words, it is clear that they cover up their own mistakes, I repeat, and try to cover them up. I'll say a few more words about that."
I'd very much like to read a fact-based rebuttal to Putin's speech, but it appears there aren't any fact-based people in Western governments, so none will be forthcoming. Yes, there's much more to discuss about this entire topic.
I have been thinking that the China/Russia axis does not want to release its alternative Reserve Currency with intrinsic value until the empire ponzi schemes fail and the US dollar measure against everything crashes....this will make it so the God of Mammon folks cannot buy there way into the new monetary system with any significance.Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 12 2022 16:32 utc | 6
Russia and China do not want dominant World Reserve Currency status since the Triffin Dillema would ruin the basis of their export driven economies, as it did for the USA.
If IMF and World Bank reserve currencies (there are currently 8 plus gold) were set in approximate proportion to annual trade surpluses (average prior 5 years), the problems of:
1. Too many useless USD reserves
2. An artificially strong dollar vs other currencies
3. Sustained trade surpluses/deficits
would all self-correct.
Manufacturing would gradually return to the USA, almost everyone would benefit. The FinTech class would still have currency arbitrage to sustain their lifestyles. ;-)
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Oct 12 2022 17:08 utc | 20
Whistling past the graveyard?
Chrystia Freeland delivered an eloquent obituary for the relative peace and stability of the 33 years between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Russia's "barbaric violation" of Ukrainian sovereignty in late February of this year…
"It was a relief and a vindication to imagine the entire world peacefully marching together towards global liberal democracy," she said. "It is dispiriting and frightening to accept that it is not."
"We will quite likely continue to face a tyrannical Russia on Europe's border and powerful authoritarian regimes elsewhere," Freeland warned.
"We need to understand that authoritarian regimes are fundamentally hostile to us. Our success is an existential threat to them. That is why they have tried to subvert our democracies from within and why we should expect them to continue to do so…
As a result, the world's ongoing dependence on "petro-tyrants" in countries like Russia, which are vital international suppliers of oil and natural gas, simply cannot continue.
"As fall turns to winter, Europe is bracing for a cold and bitter lesson in the strategic folly of economic reliance on countries whose political and moral values are inimical to our own."
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/let-s-get-serious-about-a-putin-era-strategy-for-energy-economy-climate-freeland-1.6105391
Posted by: jayc | Oct 12 2022 17:18 utc | 21
The Trumpery is preposterous. Clinton won the vote, and Trump fluked out in the Electoral College. The FBI was the security agency that contributed most to diminishing Clinton's margin, via it's absurd email servers and Comey's October Surprise. (The email server was marginally "better" than Mar-a-Lago and neither is evidence of treason, the coded lying message meant by fools determined to criticize Trump *from the Right* insane a goal as that is.) Russiagate did not create the underestimation of Russia, which if anything has been overestimated militarily by decades of military and security service demonization to justify budgets. The underestimation of Russia is based on the careers of Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin's twenty year long pursuit of a deal with agreement-incapable US. And, Trump's reignition of economic (aka "hybrid") war with Iran blaming "librul" for the folly is merely partisan.
The notion that a strong currency is a sound society and economy is right-wing, but not necessarily right. The dollar is strengthening, and by this reactionary understanding the US must be getting stronger, not failing.
Deciding that the SPR is a voter "bribe" exposes viciously backward economic views, motivated purely by partisan agenda. Almost every country in the world suffers from inflation, some impeccably conservative in money like the Netherlands worse than the others, and others, blithely ignoring the musty nostrums of hard-money thugs suffer less. The price of gas was inflated worse than the dollar as a club to beat Biden personally. That's because Biden really is the target of all the mass media and has been since withdrawal from Afghanistan. In economics Biden is the equivalent of a doctor who wants to use a band-aid instead of a tourniquet but misreading a political maneuver to save face as a bribe of the masses (as if they mattered!) merely exposes the typical mad-dog reactionary contempt for humanity.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 12 2022 17:19 utc | 22
From Escobar's VK:
PARIS ALERT
LA VIE EN ROUGE
Well, it's my main home. And when I'm away, I do worry. A lot.
From one of my moles:
"It's pandemonium here, only one out of seven gas stations is open, people are abandoning vehicles and trucks along the highways. This is the revenge of the middle class on a neoliberal government who wants to collapse the economy."You pretend to be our government, then we will pretend to work."
It's very effective, the government is getting desperate because the whole country is on standstill and the interior minister has 'threatened' the workers and the syndicates (collectives) with all types of fines and police action.
The strikers want higher wages precisely because there is massive inflation caused by government deliberate mismanagement of the economy. This is the law of unintended consequences and Klaus Schwab must be seething in anger. For the French lower middle class has simply started a firewall. You want to burn us down, we will burn down things first. This is how countries end. Lower middle class versus the bourgeoisie and the gentry.
A sixth Republic should be near if the strikes continue and we will be hard pressed to see who is going to replace the oil and gas station workers. So after the Canadian truckers, the farmers in Holland, it is now the French gas station and oil workers. The blueprint of massive non-compliance with government directives works and should be copied everywhere in the world."
I can see such a strike by this particular group of workers spreading EU-wide to the point where the EU will become paralyzed. And national governments are constrained by EU's ECB from going beyond 3% deficit spending to subsidize their societies, while inflation goes 15% and higher. The issue isn't forming new republics; it's leaving the EU/NATO Dictatorship so economies and lives can be rebuilt.
To get a handle on the direction the U.S. foreign policy establishment is going, I would suggest observing and analyzing the foreign policy decisions made by the UK during its trajectory of decline. Remember, at one time, the pound sterling was the world economy’s currency of trade, it possessed the largest world military presence (especially its navy), and the largest empires.
Its ruling elite did almost anything it could to reverse the UK’s industrial, financial and military decline relative to Imperial Germany. Eventually, the British establishment decided upon a 30 year war against Germany (WWI & II). Ironically, the aftermath of these wars made both German & the UK vassals of the US and forced both nations into the dollar trading regime.
The US was now the world economy’s hegemonic power (though it was unable to swallow the only independent nation -the USSR). Another autarkic power followed with rise of communist China. At present, America is in a British-type imperial decline and both Russia and China are deemed the deflating hegemon’s existential enemy. Expect the US establishment’s future decisions to be based on hubris, panic, ignorance and nonrationality.
Posted by: Frank | Oct 12 2022 17:25 utc | 24
and yet, when the Sibyll is asked what she wants, she repeats herself: "I want to die". the trick is to take the image you see in the mirror and instead of saying, "I want to die," you say, "I want to nuke someone." Then you can be a Hilary Clinton, an absolute Gorgon, a real monster, not a myth.
1st simile in the Aeneid, the statesman calming the troubled waters with his discourse:
"tum pietate grauem ac meritis si forte uirum quem
conspexere silent arrectisque auribus astant;
ille regit dictis animos et pectora mulcet:
sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor...."
today's superhero politician not only has the tumult of the Roman mob to quiet with authoritative speech (again, speech, not guns, got that America?) but also the uproar of a global sea of troubles. all the while remaining what Hamlet said: one who would circumvent God.
Putin's sure trying harder than Biden and Truss and co. and Russia deserves full support against the Nazis in Ukraine.
but what kind of "axis of global beneficence" is being formed that runs thru Bolsanoro, Modi, Ft Zion, Ft Mecca et al, w/ Moscow and Beijing really double super crossing their hearts that their capitalism and nationalism will be better this time? all the while boasting that they win b/c their guns are more kick ass than those of NATO's?
color me skeptical. beside, the forces of nihilism that Russia is warding off, hopefully successfully, will be turned against the nations that cultivated those forces. what's Russia supposed techno superiority going to do for me in the US against all the Azov Nazis that are likely about to wash up on these shores? uh, let me guess: stir envy, like it's doing now? and nothing else? oh wait, find lots of support and help from the same people supporting them now?
take it away Flaubert (MB, ch 1, headmaster trying to calm the mob called a classroom)
"Five hundred lines for all the class!" shouted in a furious voice stopped, like the Quos ego*, a fresh outburst. "Silence!" continued the master indignantly, wiping his brow with his handkerchief, which he had just taken from his cap. "As to you, 'new boy,' you will conjugate 'ridiculus sum'** twenty times."
"Burn down the government, they don't speak for me." Radiohead.
oh wait, dammit. I don't want the NSA boys and girls and those in between or unidentified to be confused, so let me try that again, cuz who quotes Radiohead? they play in Israel so screw them.
"Burn down the government, they don't speak for me." Radiohead.
the USG doesn't seem to need my help in burning itself down. i'm very happy to be dead worthless useless weight draining the med/welfare systems amidst the US mighty efforts to burn everyone else down with us.
since the tenth of the month is new colostomy bag day and I am really feeling so blessed,
happy Shavuot everyone! may your tents leak never more than as required to fulfill divine law. and may your catheters be made in China! China should just donate a bunch of insulin to the US, to win hearts and pancreases. "when your enemies' glucose is low, dump insulin on his LGBTQXYZ-friendly but still unaffordable 'free market'." that's in the bible, ain't it?
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Oct 12 2022 17:27 utc | 25
imho and for what it is worth the above is an accurate analysis of the current madness that emanates from the U.S. State Department and its European colonies. Unless there are changes in the insanity otherwise known as U.S. foreign policy there will be no resolution.
Posted by: NewJerseyJoe | Oct 12 2022 17:28 utc | 26
i meant to put "sarcasm" tags around the radiohead quotes. HTML knowledge, when will you not fail me?
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Oct 12 2022 17:28 utc | 27
At the same time the US is imposing draconian restrictions on all semiconductor trade with China, effectively saying that 'free trade' is no longer sacrosanct and that China must stay poor. It is an insult to every human being in the Third World.
The problem is not just 'librul ideology' and the 'deep state'. Those are mere expressions of capitalism and its global dynamics of imperialism.
The solution is communist revolution and the eradication of private property in the means of production, the abolition of the nation state system, and global coordination of production and exchange for human need.
Posted by: Sam B | Oct 12 2022 17:35 utc | 28
karlof1 @ 31
Here is a short video of what fuel shortage in France looks like:
https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1579923863471034368?t=GEYEVm2tqTNNpoAMio0F8w&s=09
Early days.
Posted by: oldhippie | Oct 12 2022 17:39 utc | 29
Excellent analysis, except there's nothing liberal, left, or socialist about the Biden Administration. Liberal and left candidates were systematically weeded out by the big money is speech process, and the big money for national Democratic politicians comes from Wall Street and the MiC who then call the shots. Republican money comes from Oil and Gas, and they own nearly half of the Congress too.
None of this has anything to do with "God" or "Satan" either, because they don't exist.
It all looks like the inevitable flailing of a hegemonic empire nearing collapse. Nobody wants to hear the bad news, so it's drowned out by more doubling down. Which only expedites the collapse.
One might think that cooler heads with green eye shades would be able to see beyond the smoke and mirrors. But there's always one more bet to be won, since collapse always starts slower than anyone thinks.
Posted by: Charles Peterson | Oct 12 2022 17:40 utc | 30
What will it take to change the deep state ideology of the US? Nothing less than a total economic collapse, which will cause a total collapse of society and governing institutions. Since the US's only culture is capitalism, a collapse of the economy will cause the remaining house of cards to come down quickly. It won't be so nice for the people who live here, but the rest of the world will be much better off.
Posted by: Mike R | Oct 12 2022 17:40 utc | 31
Underlying the Carter Page warrant was the two hop rule which meant that with just the Carter Page warrant the FBI could access the communications of practically the entire Trump team:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/fisas-license-to-hop
Posted by: M Le Docteur Ralph | Oct 12 2022 17:44 utc | 32
@Sam B | Oct 12 2022 17:35 utc | 38
Agreements to uphold intellectual property rights are based upon what exactly?
Posted by: too scents | Oct 12 2022 17:44 utc | 33
Biden himself joined in, making vague threats against Saudi Arabia today.
“There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done with Russia,” Biden said in an interview with CNN.
“I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be, there will be consequences.”
Posted by: Brendan | Oct 12 2022 17:45 utc | 34
The nightmare for USA geopolitically has ALWAYS been the combined might of Russia (immense resources and intellectual capability) and China (immense wealth and gloried history dating back 2 millennia). Nixon went to China mainly to separate China from the Soviet Union (predominantly Russia) and make China strong economically so that it could be a powerful adversary to Russia and hence geopolitically highly useful to USA. It worked for a while and the fall of the Soviet Union validated the approach. But then US went on to make China a manufacturing giant by transferring technology and its own factories. China became immensely rich, but refused to be a client state of US, unlike countries in the collective West. US then realized the Frankenstein monster it created and has tried to walk back, but it is too late. Russia has also recovered from the economic, military and geopolitical disaster the fall of the Soviet Union was to it.
Now, any sane strategy would have been to make Russia and China frenemies. However, fed by the hubris of "exceptional and indispensable nation," US has decided to double down and maintain its (military and petro-dollar-derived economic) hegemony over the world. It has alienated both Russia (through NATO expansion and by engineering a Russophobic, neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine) and China (through interfering in the internal affairs of China through Taiwan). The consequence is that the NIGHTMARE has become a REALITY. The Global South (fed up by having to follow US dictates), Russia and China have now come together to challenge US hegemony through BRICS and SCO.
One reaps what one sows! What a stupid neocon foreign policy, which both Democrats and Republicans in the White House and Congress blindly follow to the detriment of not only USA and Europe, but the whole world! I just hope it does not end in a nuclear holocaust!
Posted by: Kant | Oct 12 2022 17:47 utc | 36
Well one possible outcome to the positive is that the USA ruling class does such a fantastic job of alienating just about everyone, that the “international community” simply discards or kicks them out of their affairs….of course this could entail bloody prying process but you know what they say about the inherent consequences of omelette making, right?
Posted by: Chevrus | Oct 12 2022 17:48 utc | 37
I suppose that all of you have been reading and re-reading the latest speech of Putin when he declared the annexation. That is a must. Every European citizen must read this speech – and you, in particular.
said - who would have thought that - a Mr. Josep Borrell on the EU Ambassadors Annual Conference. He provided quite an interesting view of the actual political situation, and then threatened the rest of the world. Some highlights:
Our prosperity has been based on cheap energy coming from Russia. Russian gas – cheap and supposedly affordable, secure, and stable. It has been proved not [to be] the case. And the access to the big China market, for exports and imports, for technological transfers, for investments, for having cheap goods. I think that the Chinese workers with their low salaries have done much better and much more to contain inflation than all the Central Banks together. So, our prosperity was based on China and Russia – energy and market....
Everything is being weaponised. Everything is a weapon: energy, investments, information, migration flows, data, etc. There is a global fight about access to some strategic domains: cyber, maritime, or outer space.
...
This is a battle that we are not winning because we are not fighting enough. We do not understand that it is a fight. Apart from conquering a space, you have to conquer the minds. The Russians and the Chinese are very good in that. They are industrialising, they have [troll] farms systematically repeating, reaching everybody in the world - once and again, once and again. We do not have a Russia Today or a Sputnik, not even Radio Liberty.
...
It is a big battle: who is going to win the spirits and the souls of people?
When we say that China is our rival, systemic rival, systemic rival means that our systems are in rivalry. And the Chinese are trying to explain to the world that their system is much better. Because, well, maybe you are not going to choose your head of government, but you will have food, and heat, and social services, you will improve your living conditions. Many people in the world, yes, they go and vote and choose their government, but their material conditions are not being improved. And in the end, people want to live a better life.
We have to explain what are the links between political freedom and a better life. We, Europeans, we have this extraordinary chance. We live in the world in this part of the world where political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion are the best, the best combination of all of that. But the rest of the world is not like this.
Pretty frightening stuff, that is.
Posted by: Udkanten | Oct 12 2022 17:49 utc | 38
Charles Peterson | Oct 12 2022 17:40 utc | 40
Yes there is. Liberalism is the mythology of capitalism, translating wage labor, private property, and a bunch of other obsolete Puritan stupidity into the social sphere. It is a kooky religion that denies its own nature, not a middle-class feeling.
Any other Americans who have just climbed out of the Cave of Shadows where infantile moral oneupsmanship is a politics should read at least one book. How about Indispensable Enemies: The Politics of Misrule in America?
Posted by: sippy the shot glass | Oct 12 2022 17:57 utc | 39
To justify her loss in the presidential election Hillary Clinton created 'Russiagate', the false claim the Trump was somehow directed by Russia. She was supported by high ranking officials throughout the deep state and especially within the FBI. In hindsight their behavior was beyond belief:
If you think back to the Clinton-Trump debates, she was dropping hints about it even before he unexpectedly won the election. She kept saying things like "well, *I'm* not the candidate Russia wants to win ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"
They were going to try to put Trump in jail and destroy his supporters whether he won or not, because the United States is a shitty banana republic run by incompetent sociopaths. The war with Russia was meant to take place in 2016-20 on the 98.8% chance Hillary won, but got interrupted by the Orange Man.
Posted by: ZX | Oct 12 2022 18:16 utc | 41
oldhippie @39--
Thanks for that. Pandamonium to be sure.
//////
After Putin's speech, at about the 42 minute mark on the video, the panel discussion featuring the CEOs of Russia's energy companies begins, which can be found by scrolling down this page to Putin's speech and clicking the Broadcast button. In fact, all the panel discussions have videos, and the topics are all pertinent.
Great article B
It all boils down to cocaine use in the west really. The government and elites in the US have been off their heads for decades and it is only because of trump's interruption of the party back in 2016 that we're all alive today. In Ireland the government and elite are all coked up too, no beer bellies anymore, every politician looks like a model, they don't care what they say or do, super insulated by their druggy media while the rest of us beer drinking normals look on in horror at the utter chaos being created by their actions.
Posted by: Eoin Clancy | Oct 12 2022 18:18 utc | 43
RT provides a Malaysian POV in this op/ed, "In the battle for the ‘Global South’, an ancient evil rears its head: Modern Western powers are alarmed at the prospect of losing influence over countries regaining their historic power."
RT links still block comments from posting, so link is removed.
RT provides a Malaysian POV in this op/ed, "In the battle for the ‘Global South’, an ancient evil rears its head: Modern Western powers are alarmed at the prospect of losing influence over countries regaining their historic power." I found this rather provocative for RT but a good read.
Some of the very finest social-political writing and thought in the world appears on the Moon of Alabama, and the above writing exemplifies the high order of integrative thinking and expression at this site. Understating this exigent fact would be nearly impossible. Bravo.
Posted by: Elmagnostic | Oct 12 2022 18:26 utc | 46
I suppose it has been another running assumption that the governments of the West have mysteriously been trying to dismantle themselves under the auspices of the UN, WHO, WEF and their corporate backers, and that behind the disintegrating Biden Obama - a somewhat competent but devious figure - pulls the strings, and that they have the objective of depopulation and global enslavement through techno-feudalism. I suppose what joins this project with the Ukraine operation is ruthless corporate interest. But beyond this it is terribly hard to read.
Posted by: John Stone | Oct 12 2022 18:27 utc | 47
One thing I've never understood about the proposed price cap on Russian oil: why would anyone want to pay more than the capped price - from any supplier? If Russian oil becomes cheaper if a cap is imposed, why pay more from, say, Saudi Arabia?
What am I missing here?
Posted by: ian | Oct 12 2022 18:34 utc | 48
Posted by: Eoin Clancy | Oct 12 2022 18:18 utc | 43
Yes. Prevalent drug use by the elite is one of my conspiracy theories and is one of the least talked about issues in the West and the World. Everyone on a position above a certain power or influence level is a highly functioning drug addict. They are compromised.
Posted by: alek_a | Oct 12 2022 18:36 utc | 49
Posted by: ian | Oct 12 2022 18:34 utc | 47
That is what makes the price cap one of the last effective, albeit very risky, means of the West to impose its worldview. The other being the n word.
What it will eventually boil down to is the forming of a buyers cartel. We have the sellers kartel (Opec+) and the G7 wants to effectively create a buyers cartel. Will it work?
The thing is, this make take a whole life of its own with unintended consequences everywhere.
Posted by: alek_a | Oct 12 2022 18:44 utc | 50
They were going to try to put Trump in jail and destroy his supporters whether he won or not, because the United States is a shitty banana republic run by incompetent sociopaths. The war with Russia was meant to take place in 2016-20 on the 98.8% chance Hillary won, but got interrupted by the Orange Man.
Posted by: ZX | Oct 12 2022 18:16 utc | 41
Yes, the Russia fixation began with the "Clinton home mail server scandal" and all the Huma Abedin bullshit, and the dead Clinton tech help guy.
Since then it has been a rolling snowball, heading downhill, picking up steam.
Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 12 2022 18:51 utc | 51
Posted by: ian | Oct 12 2022 18:34 utc | 47
I don't understand YOU !
You go to a street full of used car dealers because you need one urgently.
The model you want is offered by all sellers between 3000 and 3200 dollars in comparable states.
You go back to the first salesman and you tell him:
"listen, I'm going to buy you this car not for 3000 as written but for 1000 dollars whether you like it or not.
And you should consider yourself happy because I prefer to buy from you where it is much cheaper than from others who sell for 3000 dollars."
What do you think will happen? In my opinion, maybe you should carve out the road (walking) before the seller gives you his feeling?
Posted by: UncleTom | Oct 12 2022 19:08 utc | 52
Sputnik interviewed "NJ Ayuk, executive chairman of the African Energy Chamber and CEO of pan-African corporate law conglomerate Centurion Law Group, who is participating in the Russian Energy Week" about "the nature of the current energy crisis and weighing in on the prospects of Russian business in Africa."
There's a panel discussion on this topic at the top of the program barflies might be curious about given Africa's potential, which is a region I'm certain will be discussed more frequently in the future.
A very insightful comment:
"Does it really? I have a theory that complex systems and organisms tend to defend themselves. Like with a bad dose of the flu the system can get very sick. It can even die. The western world has been obviously infected for some time now. And so it is now trying to fix things by putting a senile man in charge of the US and a group of morons in charge in Europe. Will it work? Who knows. But trading peace, plenty and prosperity for dis-ease, scarcity and poverty it might fix a lot of problems. Those misguided foreign policies might be just what the doctor ordered."
Posted by: Guy L’Estrange | Oct 12 2022 16:48 utc | 21
Failure is a great Teacher for hubris, arrogance, and a host of other symptoms. There is nothing like running into the brick wall of reality to force a re-evaluation and reflection.
I can attest to Its effectiveness as i have been involuntarily enrolled in Its class for longer than i care to admit and am running out of time to graduate. I have to give credit where credit is due and thank the bar for upping the ante with cracker jack commentary, informative articles and a touch of hot sauce on the side. Missing Peter-AU. He has been on the front line of the most vicious neo-fascist crackdown in all the five eyes vassal countries. Hope he is surviving because he makes a great contribution to this bar.
My apologies for my last ignoble post.
Posted by: simon crow | Oct 12 2022 19:14 utc | 54
Posted by: sippy the shot glass | Oct 12 2022 17:57 utc | 39
Limited, flawed, outdated, and superb.
Add to it Foord's His Majesty's Opposition (origin of the viciously antidemocratic "two-party" system, "agreed on fundamentals"--aristocracy/plutocracy), Beals' Brass Knuckle Crusade (riveting picture of antebellum "democracy"), Riordan's Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (local patronage politics and other "honest graft", where most American politicians start), and Jackley's Hill Rat.
Posted by: John Kennard | Oct 12 2022 19:15 utc | 55
Unfortunately, I don't think regime change (at least of the kind currently possible, that is, between the two mainstream parties) will have much of an effect. There was a time, a couple decades ago, when the neocons were pretty much a group (somewhat marginalized) in the Republican party. During the Trump years, they leveraged the rabid anti-Trump fervor of the Democrats to ingratiate themselves in that party. Neocons are not deeply entrenched in the foreign policy apparatus of both parties, and their ideas are driving policy in that area.
For the moment, I don't think it will matter much one way or the other who is in charge in the US. Policy is dictated not by the needs of the state, or the needs of the people, but by the lunatic desires of a group of people who believe (truly) in the goal of permanent US hegemony. Change will come when it is forced from within (a rational realist foreign policy becomes dominant) or without (neocon policies fail spectacularly; this has been happening for a while, so I'm not sure what level of spectacle will actually be required here) and the neocons are sent off to the dustbin of history.
Posted by: BrianM | Oct 12 2022 19:20 utc | 56
Now everyone can witness who/what Zelensky really is... a hologram created by British PR machinery, serving British neo-colonial interests.
https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/status/1580218956530712579
Posted by: unimperator | Oct 12 2022 19:29 utc | 57
Superficial analysis. No deep state decision maker ever believed the Russiagate nonsense. Likewise none believe in the fragility of the Russian economy. Indeed it is precisely Russia's strength that demanded it be attacked. And no deep state planner ever believed for a micro-second that Ukraine would defeat Russia militarily. The purpose of the war and sanctions is to permanently separate Europe from Russian energy and the Chinese market. The economic consequences for Europe were obvious—and desirable—from day one. Equally obvious to US planners is that ordinary citizens will rebel and a political crisis in Europe will occur. None of this stuff requires any particularly profound insight. The political crisis will likely be dealt with with a combination of repression and the co-option of any political alternative that emerges with a "new" party or movement. Given the state of the “Left”, fascism is the likely outcome--fascism being a fusion of the state and corporate interests. The position of the Global South will be determined by whether or not Russia/China can offer a viable financial system with the loans and credit necessary to provide the food and energy these nations require. Recommend paying less attention to the distracting blither that comes from the media and EU and US faux “leadership.” Any element of truth or reality they present is coincidental.
Posted by: Rodrigo | Oct 12 2022 19:35 utc | 58
Political corruption, a lack of knowledge, and irrational foreign policies have brought the U.S. to a point where it is loosing its primacy in the world.
So true! The rise of China's national strength over the past two decades has incited punditry foaming at the mouth about Thucydides Trap. Given Sammy's mentality and lack of long perspectives, it might still yet happen. But even if it doesn't, b's assessment in the quote above says it all regarding Sammy's inescapable decline, regardless of whether being rendered at the hands of a more powerful entity such as China or Russia, or at its own hands out of stupidity and arrogance. It is happening at a pace faster than most of us barflies here anticipated, which is one reason why many of us have sounded surprised and puzzled. Two years ago no one would have predicted Afghanistan booting Sammy out in high profile, or the middle east Arab states thumbing noses, or South Pacific island nations urging Sammy to buck off. Well, these all happened, and we can tell more is to come. It is conspicuously losing primacy in its South America backyard, ain't it?
It is a good thing that the most evil (of all times) hegemon/warmonger is losing its primacy in the world. It's good for world peace because an isolated warmonger is less likely to launch nuclear war as its last resort, since doing so would require wiping out the whole world leaving themselves nothing to rule or exploit even if they win the nuke war.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 12 2022 19:38 utc | 59
Even Sophocles couldn't script a tale of such hubris.
Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 12 2022 19:51 utc | 60
b also said:
It will take a regime change in Washington, and a change in its deep state ideology, to find back to some realistic view on foreign policies.
I doubt that even a regime change in Washington and deep state ideology change would make any difference. Deep state ideology change would require removal of at least three layers of deeply entrenched bureaucrats totally. There isn't the obvious reserve in the society to replace these morons with any intellectual credibility to make the Fed function. I think it would take hitting the abyss and then building from the pit-bottom level back up. This might also apply to most of EU and the laughable entity called UK.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 12 2022 19:54 utc | 61
John Stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Allen
In 1971, Allen co-wrote a book titled None Dare Call It Conspiracy with Larry Abraham. It was prefaced by U.S. Representative John G. Schmitz of California's 35th congressional district, the nominee of the American Independent Party in the 1972 U.S. presidential election. It sold more than four million copies[9] during the 1972 presidential campaign opposing Richard Nixon and U.S. Senator George S. McGovern.[10]
In this book, Allen and Abraham assert that the modern political and economic systems in most developed nations are the result of a sweeping conspiracy by the Establishment's power elite, for which he also uses the term Insiders. According to the authors, these Insiders use elements of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto to forward their socialist/communist agenda:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/eisenhower001.asp
Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
"A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present
and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.
V.
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."
Establish an income tax system as a means of extorting money from the common man;
Establish a central bank, deceptively named so that people will think it is part of the government;
Have this bank be the holder of the national debt;
Run the national debt, and the interest thereon, sky high through wars (or any sort of deficit spending), starting with World War I.[11]
Posted by: Gully Foyle | Oct 12 2022 20:03 utc | 62
Great post b!! America just keeps digging the hole deeper. They have no "allies", just useful idiots, cannon fodder, etc etc. They'll throw the whole works under the bus just to try and remain somewhat revelant. Too many mistakes to reverse this downhill spiral. Their desperation has been on display for a long time already. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Hopefully some intelligent adults take control soon.
Posted by: Watzov | Oct 12 2022 20:06 utc | 63
"It is a good thing that the most evil (of all times) hegemon/warmonger is losing its primacy in the world. It's good for world peace because an isolated warmonger is less likely to launch nuclear war as its last resort, since doing so would require wiping out the whole world leaving themselves nothing to rule or exploit even if they win the nuke war.
Posted by: Oriental Voice"
Unless it's part of the plan.
Knock the US down the way the Soviet Union was then rebuild it over the next decade or two.
It takes less than a decade for people to forget or remember what times were like.
It takes less than a year for people to accept armed troops guarding anything.
Today the Genpop are so easily manipulated because they simply don't care. Or TPTB has splintered any effective group into so many sub-groups demanding special rights and privileges they can never unite.
Posted by: Gully Foyle | Oct 12 2022 20:12 utc | 64
re Patroklos | Oct 12 2022 19:51 utc | 59
"Even Sophocles couldn't script a tale of such hubris."
well, I would hope that a modern day Sophocles or Shakespeare could/would/will do it, and soon
but obviously, and sadly enough, we don't have anyone even remotely capable of such as Herculean feat right now! neither in the theater or on the screen
I gotta say, very good article/blog for the day, b, in fact, another great one!
Posted by: michaelj72 | Oct 12 2022 20:12 utc | 65
Political corruption, a lack of knowledge, and irrational {foreign} policies…
Kind of like something else we all knew:
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/pfizer-did-not-know-whether-covid-vaccine-stopped-transmission-before-rollout-executive-admits/news-story/f307f28f794e173ac017a62784fec414
The comments on the linked trash newscorp tabloid give a more accurate picture of public opinion than any official numbers - defenders of bullshit being called out as shills in msm heartland is great to see.
Posted by: Rae | Oct 12 2022 20:13 utc | 66
@ Udkanten 38
The content of Borrell's speech is exactly
the same drivel waffle of Chris Donnelly Institure for Statecraft yesterday.
It's clear that there is no independent , original thought going on in the West.
Just script reading from right-wing think-tank , Great Re-set , WEF, zombies.
It's called Opera, perfect for a good two hour snooze.
Posted by: Giyane | Oct 12 2022 20:22 utc | 67
Any other Americans who have just climbed out of the Cave of Shadows where infantile moral oneupsmanship is a politics should read at least one book. How about Indispensable Enemies: The Politics of Misrule in America?
Posted by: sippy the shot glass | Oct 12 2022 17:57 utc | 39
Yes, I can't think of a single book(*) that better explains what politics is really about here. Karp's "The Politics of War" is also a good intro. to US politics and how it got this way.
(*) - Not saying there aren't any.
Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 12 2022 20:23 utc | 68
@Gully Foyle, #63:
Thanks for reply on my post, but I take exception of
Knock the US down the way the Soviet Union was then rebuild it over the next decade or two.. USSR wasn't knocked down. It just naively self-destroyed. I doubt Sammy would ever take that same medicine.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 12 2022 20:27 utc | 69
@ Posted by: Rae | Oct 12 2022 20:13 utc | 65
"Pfizer did not know whether Covid vaccine stopped transmission before rollout, executive admits."
LOL...of course they knew. Anyone with a basic understanding of virology knew that.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it." ~ Upton Sinclair
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Oct 12 2022 20:28 utc | 70
And why would anyone ever want to rebuild the US? It has proved itself to be a congregation of pompous arrogant bastards not worthy of glory ever again. Not until it apologizes for what it has done over the past two centuries.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 12 2022 20:31 utc | 71
michaelj72
"well, I would hope that a modern day Sophocles or Shakespeare could/would/will do it, and soon
but obviously, and sadly enough, we don't have anyone even remotely capable of such as Herculean feat right now! neither in the theater or on the screen"
Have you missed the last few decades of film and television?
Damn man they hang, literally beat you in the face with it, these days.
Mr. Robot
"Elliot:
Oh, I don't know. Is it that we collectively thought Steve Jobs was a great man, even when we knew he made billions off the backs of children? Or maybe it's that it feels like all our heroes are counterfeit? The world itself's just one big hoax. Spamming each other with our running commentary of bullshit, masquerading as insight, our social media faking as intimacy. Or is it that we voted for this? Not with our rigged elections, but with our things, our property, our money. I'm not saying anything new. We all know why we do this, not because Hunger Games books makes us happy, but because we wanna be sedated. Because it's painful not to pretend, because we're cowards. F*** society."
Posted by: gully foyle | Oct 12 2022 20:42 utc | 72
Regarding the SPR:
The decline in the crude held by the SPR has returned its state to about what it was in 1985.
Literally an entire generation of US policy - erased in less than a year.
Posted by: c1ue | Oct 12 2022 20:44 utc | 73
@alek_a "What it will eventually boil down to is the forming of a buyers cartel. We have the sellers kartel (Opec+) and the G7 wants to effectively create a buyers cartel. Will it work?"
In other words, to punish Russia (and possibly Saudi Arabia) we have to punish everyone. That's sure to go over well. Also, even with a capped price, oil producers still get to choose to whom they sell.
I can't see how this scheme would work.
Posted by: ian | Oct 12 2022 20:50 utc | 74
Excellent article! Calling out the unbelievably stupid foreign policy of the USA. These fools have it coming. Thank you.
Posted by: Dotar Sojat | Oct 12 2022 20:51 utc | 75
@Posted by: Udkanten | Oct 12 2022 17:49 utc | 38
Borrell is a demagogue who, moreover does not know ehre the wind blows, and is not even capable of remebering his own past words.
He is a full clown.
"political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion" were dinamited in the EU throughout the "pandemic", as the European Comission was following orders from the WEF ( that is anglosaxon banking, finance and transnational corporations ) in throwing European poeople against each other, maiming and killing them in the higuest numbers, to tnen fall like vukltures over the remnants of the welfare state to privatize everything once relieved of the more expensive patients/citoyens for the former public health system and national budgets.
Way too late to cry about the comparisons with China...That was just the goal of the WEF, that the European citizens woul compare themselves with those in China and would take a sum favourable to the Chinese system of social credit.
Of course, the intention by the WEF passes through bringing in the worst of all possible worlds, the worst of the Chinese social credit, the worst of the USSR, the worst of capitalism, the worst of the feudal system.
They simply have freunited to thought how they will manage to make the life of most of the inhabitants of this planet so miserable that they would prefer claiming for being applied euthanasia or suicidize themselves directly, or indirectly by taking the new WEF´s "meds"....
There was never a plan to save the people of Europe, and that is understood by whomever was paying attention to what have been developing by the hand of this trio of US´ foreign agents, Von der Leyen, Charles Michel and Borrell.
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Oct 12 2022 20:53 utc | 76
Looks like Politico tries to play a little "good cop, bad cop". They realize the sentiment in western Europe is dangerous for the US sugar daddy. It won't matter one bit for the outcome, which is EU will get crushed to maybe buy a few years extension for US.
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-american-president-paradox-ursula-von-der-leyen/
Posted by: unimperator | Oct 12 2022 21:00 utc | 77
Great piece, b. I do take exception to your description of the Biden administration as “librul,” which, in most people’s minds, implies leftist or left of center. There is almost nothing leftist about the present day Democratic Party. The best descriptor might be centrist corporatism. A truly leftist party would not have allowed itself to be drawn into pathological Russophobia. It would not be sanctioning nations all over the world. It would not be building barriers to friendly relations with economic competitors, etc, etc… And yes, I am including in my indictment seemingly progressive voices who have jumped on board the Russophobia train. They are the Empire’s useful idiots.
Posted by: Rob | Oct 12 2022 21:03 utc | 78
Posted by: Gully Foyle | Oct 12 2022 20:03 utc | 61
Ah, old school erudite and superbly elegant speeches. Refreshing to read, made my day. Thanks!
Posted by: alek_a | Oct 12 2022 21:04 utc | 79
rjb1.5 | Oct 12 2022 17:27 utc | 25
I'm afraid you mangled the Radiohead quote too, overrated song anyway.
I often think of "Electioneering" these days, written at the beginning of the current phase of the imbecilisation of the West:
I will stop
I will stop at nothing
To say the right things
When electioneering
I trust I can rely on your vote
When I go forwards, you go backwards
And somewhere we will meet...
Riot shields
Voodoo economics
It's just business
Cattle prods and the I.M.F.
I trust I can rely on your vote
Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Oct 12 2022 21:04 utc | 80
None of this can be understood without mention of Syria. It was the Russian intervention to help stop another disastrous US/Israel 'regime change' operation that led to the neocons flipping out. 'Russiagate' was bourne out of Trump's comments on the US intervention in Syria (These match his previous outspoken comments on Iraq) and branding Hilary and her state department as the 'mother of ISIS'. It was because of this that the neocons were able to suggest that Trump was 'Putin's puppet', this is now forgotten. The progressive liberals, hungry for any reason to see Trump as illegitimate, disgracefully ran with it (Perhaps many of them, particularly those on social media were just truly ignorant geopolitically and in terms of the neocons) and now have deluded themselves into being neocons on Russia and have no idea what is going on. They were unable to accept that Trump won the election through winning previously solid blue state great lakes states that voted for Obama twice since they have sacralised immigration as a religious rite. They couldn't comprehend why Trump won so they accepted any reason given for why it wasn't real.
Generally the neocons have been the most successful political conspiracy of the 20th and 21st centuries despite their actions and influence repeated having disastrous consequences and representing a tiny interest group running roughshod over all these supposed democracies, they never face any consequences. Only their political proxies ever do. Chuka Umunna in Britain, for example, fell on his sword when the 'Friends of Israel' asked him to after the whole disgraceful Jeremy Corbyn anti-semitism farce. Everyone goes on about George W. Bush and Dick Cheney but all the neocons in the background (And not so background) remain politically active and face no real scrutiny. The neocon columnists in the American and Western MSM face no consequences or scrutiny as to why major newspapers keep giving them such space to spread their hysterical lies.
The neocons are right wing Jewish nationalists and any attempt to explain what is going on without reference to this and their influence means they will get away with it, just like they have with all their other gross misuses of American military hegemony since the end of the cold war. You have to name them, their motivations and why they have them.
None of this makes any sense from even a very cold hard-nosed American national interest and to analyse this from that perspective will fail. This is why the US can't be negotiated with because this isn't about US interests. Peeling Russia off China is an imperative US interest but this is pure fubar because the neocons (Chiefly Azkenazi Jews) were driven by ethnic animus and a short-term desire to remove obstacles to regime change in Syria. That it would mean Russia and China being forced together was a problem for later. Not unlike Israel foreign policy which follows an endless 'whack-a-mole' pattern of making new enemies as it single-minded seeks to destroy their present one.
It is also inescapable to not notice that a lot of highly ethnocentric supposedly left-wing anti-war Jews are most prominent and energetic in pushing this, from Sean Penn and Ben Stiller to Paul Mason and Jon Stewart.
At what point are we supposed to finally trust our own eyes that the emperor has no clothes?
Posted by: Altai | Oct 12 2022 21:17 utc | 81
Posted by: Rodrigo | Oct 12 2022 19:35 utc | 57
"The purpose of the war and sanctions is to permanently separate Europe from Russian energy and the Chinese market. The economic consequences for Europe were obvious—and desirable—from day one. Equally obvious to US planners is that ordinary citizens will rebel and a political crisis in Europe will occur. None of this stuff requires any particularly profound insight. The political crisis will likely be dealt with with a combination of repression and the co-option of any political alternative that emerges with a "new" party or movement. Given the state of the “Left”, fascism is the likely outcome--fascism being a fusion of the state and corporate interests...
Recommend paying less attention to the distracting blither that comes from the media and EU and US faux “leadership.” Any element of truth or reality they present is coincidental."
Very well said. You say none of this requires great insight and yet very few - even at this bar - are willing to countenance that the mayhem and decline clearly in evidence has been deliberately induced. There is a deep lesson to be learned in how this is so but am not (yet) wise enough to discern it. Something to do with herd instinct, desire to conform, fear of being perceived as outside normal, inability to think outside the box, but that's all rather trite. Anyway, thanks for your refreshingly pithy and penetrating broadside. A pleasure to be on the receiving end!
Meanwhile: Colonel MacGregor on a roll:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-1wV1kDQTA
Interview starts slow with Judge N providing conventional view and then gradually it picks up.
It seems the EU policy is on autopilot towards self destruction (servant to the globohomo US/Nato order). There are dissenting voices, even relatively high up, but they don't matter because things are on autopilot. Thing is, even if you are steering a plane towards a mountain and everyone aboard is aware of it, there will be some who will jump out of it with parachutes.
How many will save themselves? I don't know, but it's pretty certain that there will be an alternative EU without the current parasitic influences. Funnily coinciding with Soros organizations getting banned from a lot more countries.
Those who save themselves will be better off after the dust settling vs. those who don't. Hungary, Austria, Italy, etc. and others have the potential to become very very wealthy, through acting as intermediator states between the Eurasian Economic Union and the rest of the rabble trying to recover after the US piloted destruction.
Posted by: unimperator | Oct 12 2022 21:23 utc | 84
NATO´s Stoltenberg has stated that Putin can not win, otherwise what would to expect for them all? He has said they will be in danger....
This is why they can not but continue escalating, and are now planning for exercises involving nuclear weapons...
Because,
How to explain to the citzenry the current economic ruin, while 4.5 billion of vaccine doses were bought in advance for just 450 million inhabitants Europe has, without knowing a bit about their effectivenes or security?
How to explain the current rates of mortality by all causes especially in the most vaccinated European countries with the sanitary and developing standards of XXI centiry Europe?
How to explain the secrecy of the email interchanges between CEO of US Big Pharma and Ursula von der Leyen and the vaccine contracts?
In the end the US Big Pharma spilled the beans before the EU parliament´s comitee, and von der Leyen was conveniently in that new terrorist hub Estonia to be shifted to wherever safe place...
If Europe would not be such a miasma right now by the actions of US agents, she would be already on Interpol search....
https://t.me/rafapalreal/25415
https://twitter.com/plaforscience/status/1579818891450404865?s=20&t=gBGe8DNExanrObVkNiDmFw
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Oct 12 2022 21:33 utc | 85
> 22 steven t johnson
"Clinton won the vote"
I hear this trope all of the time. It's nonsense. The very reason the Founders structured our electoral system this way. HRC's vote majority came entirely from NY and California.
What you advocate is that basically California should decide all national elections. There will always be 4 or 5 million demoniac voters in Calif who will vote for any neo-national-socialist schemes.
Basically in the US urban voters vote to exploit and overrule rural voters. Calif is a perfect example. The costal urban vote in the Bay Area and LA vote consistently to impoverish everyone in the resource rich eastern half of the state.
Posted by: Dan Farrand | Oct 12 2022 21:34 utc | 86
USSR wasn't knocked down. It just naively self-destroyed. I doubt Sammy would ever take that same medicine.
Posted by: Oriental Voice
Dude we have been eating our own since before the founding.
We have OPENLY corrupt government that no one cares about. We have a militarized police force in every community.
The Genpop will take it.
Where were the riots when we discovered the NSA spied on EVERYONE in the world?
Where are the protests about foreign WAR aid instead of helping the homeless and rapidly growing pool of once middle class?
This is from the Archer cartoon
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-movies/5-real-world-covert-operations-archer/
5 real-world covert operations in FX’s “Archer”
I'm not even going to crawl through South Park.
But
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10231312/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_12
For employees of the Deep State, conspiracies aren't just theories, they're fact. And keeping them a secret is a full-time job.
Posted by: Gully Foyle | Oct 12 2022 21:34 utc | 87
Here’s another thought on Clinton.
It was expected she would run in 2016 so thr events of 2022 were planned for 2017. Only trump won.
This Arabic thread discusses it
https://mobile.twitter.com/amhfarraj/status/1579607714883579904
If true this would suggest the increase in attacks in early February were designed by Washington to press russia to ‘invade’ rearing Afghanistan 2.0 Brzezinski style.
I doubt Brussels was involved because the result has been harsh on Europe
Also likely trump was cheated out of a second term
Posted by: Brian | Oct 12 2022 21:38 utc | 88
Should we use less energy in the future? Is that what we’ve been told? No, that’s not true, nobody is saying that.
Contrary to the vague and general feeling that fight against climate change, net-zero – and every other programm there’ll be – is about using less energy is nothing but a well-woven deception. One meant to be as such.
In reality, here is WEF about renewable energy:
“More renewable energy means more investments in electric grids to manage loads and demands,” outlined Ignacio Sánchez Galán, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Iberdrola, Spain. Over the next 25 years, energy demand will increase by more than 80% globally, he added…”
So, in 25 years energy demand is going to grow 80% globally. That's because:
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, however, is not only about smart and connected machines and systems. Its scope is much wider. Occurring simultaneously are waves of further breakthroughs in areas ranging from gene sequencing to nanotechnology, from renewable energies to quantum computing. It is the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital and biological domains that make the Fourth Industrial Revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions.
This system is going to be un-imaginably fragile in Nassim Taleb’s sense. As fragile, it’ll be totalitarian and authoritarian. For such a complex system energy security is paramount, and no notion of independece should have a chance, no narrow dreams of particular people shoud have any ground to grow their roots into.
Under the Blue Sun, plants will grow in high-rise buildings without ever being touched by the rays of the real Sun. We, glued to blue screens. Oh brilliant desire, never consummate.
Posted by: js | Oct 12 2022 21:40 utc | 89
UNGA passed the resolution rejecting Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories, citing it as a violation of the UN Charter and affirming the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
143 votes in favour
5 against
35 abstentions
Posted by: Tom UK | Oct 12 2022 21:42 utc | 90
To: ian | Oct 12 2022 18:34 utc | 47
I read the question puzzling your troubled mind. You wonder "why would anyone want to pay more than the capped price - from any supplier? If Russian oil becomes cheaper if a cap is imposed, why pay more from, say, Saudi Arabia?"
I take it you are not trolling and are not trying to be cute. So here is a simple answer.
Try walking into your neighborhood store and demand to be provided ice cream at the capped price that you and your friends have imposed. If you persist in your demand, your neighborhood store will call the cops and have you evicted. An older-style store will evict you themselves.
Prices CANNOT be imposed by any single person or group. They are the result of opposing forces of demand and supply. Buyers bid lower prices while suppliers ask higher prices. The market price is simply the result of balancing out the bids and asks.
Looks like you have been watching too many Mafia movies or Rambo style movies. What Rambo says goes, whatever Godfather says goes and becomes the law or the price. Biden and his gang of usual suspects can offer a lower price for oil but they cannot force anyone to sell at their offered price.
Posted by: amused | Oct 12 2022 21:42 utc | 91
"It will take a regime change in Washington, and a change in its deep state ideology, to find back to some realistic view on foreign policies".
Hope it won't happen.
What the world needs is a COMPLETE economical and political crash of the US of A, not some change of foreign policy.
Murica needs to **disappear** from the international maps i.e. going back to what it was in the mid-19th century : a provincial power.
Then planet Earth will be a better place to live in.
Posted by: Nanker | Oct 12 2022 21:43 utc | 92
Rodrigo | Oct 12 2022 19:35 utc | 57
Agree with your analysis. In particular the triumph of fascist regimes in the US imperialist heartland. Whether it be a Trumpian or some other variety. The political liberal centre in the US is collapsing. The alternatives were described precisely by a political prisoner in 1916.
'either the triumph of imperialism and the collapse of all civilization as in ancient Rome, depopulation, desolation, degeneration – a great cemetery. Or the victory of socialism, that means the conscious active struggle of the international proletariat against imperialism and its method of war.”
The imperialist economic, military and propaganda war against the Russian Federation has one underlying aim. The break up of the Federation into a balkanised non-entity and finally the pillage of the energy and food resources for the benefit of US imperialism and their Russian compradors. We are far from socialist revolution in any European or Australasian country. So its fascism in the short term.
Posted by: Paul McGrory | Oct 12 2022 21:44 utc | 93
Oriental Voice @60--
Correct! Regime change is insufficient as it's the institutions and the operating system that are at the root of the overall problem. Not only is Uncle Sam's head filled with rotten teeth that are now infected, his extremities are all afflicted with gangrene, while his heart suffers from congestive failure. In other words, Uncle Sam is on his Death Bed inviting his replacement along with his worn-out furnishings. The majority likely agrees with that diagnosis. The problem arises with the replacement and the related problem of how much of the old should be retained. By institutions, is that the entire government or just some parts or both government and out-of-control businesses like the entire private financial network, related FIRE sector plus the MIC? Perhaps a loose confederation of states and unicameral legislature with an executive officer and offices to conduct international affairs--a modified Articles of Confederation concept whose aims are people-centered development, not Empire, and sustainable, steady-state economy with the vast majority of institutions publicly owned. Yes, almost the exact opposite of what now prevails.
Much of what I just described is today's Russia--the genuine Russia, not the propagandized Russia. There are several successful alternative political-economic models along with Russia's. Time to trade in the old decrepit vehicle for a new modern one.
From Le Figaro/Économie Publié il y a 2 heures, mis à jour il y a 2 heures
Bruno Le Maire asks for “cheaper” prices for American liquefied natural gasEuropean imports of this gas from the United States have increased considerably to compensate for the drop in Russian exports.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday asked the United States to deliver "cheaper" liquefied natural gas to France at a time when the energy crisis is raging in Europe due to the war. "We expect more from the American administration," said the French minister during a remote speech at a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Washington.
According to him, France is waiting “to obtain cheaper LNG through a long-term approach”. After the invasion of Ukraine, Russia considerably reduced its gas deliveries to Europe, on which certain countries such as Germany were very dependent. The continent then turned to the United States, whose share of European LNG imports rose from 28% to 45% between 2021 and 2022.
De nombreux États sont de fait en concurrence pour avoir accès au gaz naturel liquéfié dont les États-Unis sont l'un des principaux fournisseurs dans le monde. Mais ce gaz est beaucoup plus cher à importer que celui qui arrivait via les gazoducs entre la Russie et l'Europe. La prise de parole du ministre français fait suite à celle du ministre allemand de l'Économie Robert Habeck qui a déploré début octobre les prix «astronomiques» demandés par les pays «amis» de l'Allemagne, États-Unis en tête, pour fournir le gaz permettant de compenser la fin des livraisons russes.
Posted by: António Ferrão | Oct 12 2022 21:48 utc | 95
Posted by: Gully Foyle | Oct 12 2022 20:03 utc | 61
Establish an income tax system as a means of extorting money from the common man;
Establish a central bank, deceptively named so that people will think it is part of the government;
Have this bank be the holder of the national debt;
Run the national debt, and the interest thereon, sky high through wars (or any sort of deficit spending), starting with World War I.[11]
Related article which popped up today referencing two old books about all this from the late 1800s; controversial but:
https://www.unz.com/article/for-its-security-and-survival-china-must-understand-rothschild-zionism/
Seven Financial Conspiracies which have enslaved the American People by Mrs. S.E.V. Emery 1894
'Dedicated to the Enslaved People of a Dying Republic.'
https://ia802708.us.archive.org/9/items/sevenfinancialc00emergoog/sevenfinancialc00emergoog.pdf
Legal Tender Paper Money 1869: https://ia800908.us.archive.org/8/items/resourceofwarthe00spaurich/resourceofwarthe00spaurich.pdf
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Deep State swamp element within the US body politic is no new thing but has been there since the beginning. After the Civil War, in which it funded both sides, it was entrenched. After the creation of the Federal Reserve, it assumed an overt leadership role. After the public execution of JFK, none dared rise against it and the US became a post-constitutional polity rightly monikered by President VVP as 'The Empire of Lies.'
So here we are with the sort of endemic inanities that b well described in his piece.
And so it goes...
If the Confederacy had been able to win Southern independence, the U.S. would be much less of a world power. Would the world have been better off?
Posted by: Lysias | Oct 12 2022 21:54 utc | 97
Thanks b for this great summary of the current western world's brain disease.
It seems they've morphed from "peak oil" to "peak oil stupidity" in their planning.
Posted by: Dim sim | Oct 12 2022 22:05 utc | 98
@Altai, #80:
You brought up the Russian intervention in Syria angle. It is a great point. I didn't think in that term before. I learned something reading MOA, again! Thanks!
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 12 2022 22:05 utc | 99
@Lysias #96
Since the British empire wanted to split the Us like that, it probably would have made Britain stronger.
In view of all the mayhem Britain had caused until then, including that very civil war, I tend to doubt that we would have been better off.
Actually from the turn of the century Britains anglophile networks inside the Us managed to excersize substantial control and the modern Us is largely the result of that.
americans4innovation have expounded on that theme more than most.
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Oct 12 2022 22:07 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Thank you b for posting the truth once again.
Posted by: NJH | Oct 12 2022 16:17 utc | 1