By Pepe Escobar cross-posted on PressTV and the Saker blog and posted with the author’s permission
Southeast Asia is right at the center of international relations for a whole week viz a viz three consecutive summits: Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Bali, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok.
Eighteen nations accounting for roughly half of the global economy represented at the first in-person ASEAN summit since the Covid-19 pandemic in Cambodia: the ASEAN 10, Japan, South Korea, China, India, US, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.
With characteristic Asian politeness, the summit chair, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (or “Colombian”, according to the so-called “leader of the free world”), said the plenary meeting was somewhat heated, but the atmosphere was not tense: “Leaders talked in a mature way, no one left.”
It was up to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to express what was really significant at the end of the summit.
While praising the “inclusive, open, equal structure of security and cooperation at ASEAN”, Lavrov stressed how Europe and NATO “want to militarize the region in order to contain Russia and China’s interests in the Indo-Pacific.”
A manifestation of this policy is how “AUKUS is openly aiming at confrontation in the South China Sea,” he said.
Lavrov also stressed how the West, via the NATO military alliance, is accepting ASEAN “only nominally” while promoting a completely “unclear” agenda.
What’s clear though is how NATO “has moved towards Russian borders several times and now declared at the Madrid summit that they have taken global responsibility.”
This leads us to the clincher: “NATO is moving their line of defense to the South China Sea.” And, Lavrov added, Beijing holds the same assessment.
Here, concisely, is the open “secret” of our current geopolitical incandescence. Washington’s number one priority is the containment of China. That implies blocking the EU from getting closer to the key Eurasia drivers – China, Russia, and Iran – engaged in building the world’s largest free trade/connectivity environment.
Adding to the decades-long hybrid war against Iran, the infinite weaponizing of the Ukrainian black hole fits into the initial stages of the battle.
For the Empire, Iran cannot profit from becoming a provider of cheap, quality energy to the EU. And in parallel, Russia must be cut off from the EU. The next step is to force the EU to cut itself off from China.
All that fits into the wildest, warped Straussian/neo-con wet dreams: to attack China, by emboldening Taiwan, first Russia must be weakened, via the instrumentalization (and destruction) of Ukraine.
And all along the scenario, Europe simply has no agency.
Putin, Raeisi and the Erdogan track
Real life across key Eurasia nodes reveals a completely different picture. Take the relaxed get-together in Tehran between Russia’s top security official Nikolai Patrushev and his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani last week.
They discussed not only security matters but also serious business – as in turbo-charged trade.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will sign a $40 billion deal next month with Gazprom, bypassing US sanctions, and encompassing the development of two gas fields and six oilfields, swaps in natural gas and oil products, LNG projects, and the construction of gas pipelines.
Immediately after the Patrushev-Shamkhani meeting, President Putin called President Ebrahim Raeisi to keep up the “interaction in politics, trade and the economy, including transport and logistics,” according to the Kremlin.
Iranian president reportedly more than “welcomed” the “strengthening” of Moscow-Tehran ties.
Patrushev unequivocally supported Tehran over the latest color revolution adventure perpetrated under the framework of the Empire’s endless hybrid war.
Iran and the EAEU are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in parallel to the swap deals with Russian oil. Soon, SWIFT may be completely bypassed. The whole Global South is watching.
Simultaneous to Putin’s phone call, Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan – conducting his own diplomatic overdrive, and just back from a summit of Turkic nations in Samarkand – stressed that the US and the collective West are attacking Russia “almost without limits”.
Erdogan made it clear that Russia is a “powerful” state and commended its “great resistance”.
The response came exactly 24 hours later. Turkish intelligence cut to the chase, pointing out that the terrorist bombing in the perpetually busy Istiklal pedestrian street in Istanbul was designed in Kobane in northern Syria, which essentially responds to the US.
That constitutes a de-facto act of war and may unleash serious consequences, including a profound revision of Turkiye’s presence inside NATO.
Iran’s multi-track strategy
A Russia-Iran strategic alliance manifests itself practically as a historical inevitability. It recalls the time when the erstwhile USSR helped Iran militarily via North Korea, after an enforced US/Europe blockade.
Putin and Raeisi are taking it to the next level. Moscow and Tehran are developing a joint strategy to defeat the weaponization of sanctions by the collective West.
Iran, after all, has an absolutely stellar record of smashing variants of “maximum pressure” to bits. Also, it is now linked to a strategic nuclear umbrella offered by the “RICs” in BRICS (Russia, India, China).
So, Tehran may now plan to develop its massive economic potential within the framework of BRI, SCO, INSTC, the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), and the Russian-led Greater Eurasia Partnership.
Moscow’s game is pure sophistication: engaging in a high-level strategic oil alliance with Saudi Arabia while deepening its strategic partnership with Iran.
Immediately after Patrushev’s visit, Tehran announced the development of an indigenously built hypersonic ballistic missile, quite similar to the Russian KH-47 M2 Khinzal.
And the other significant news was connectivity-wise: the completion of part of a railway from strategic Chabahar Port to the border with Turkmenistan. That means imminent direct rail connectivity to the Central Asian, Russian and Chinese spheres.
Add to it the predominant role of OPEC+, the development of BRICS+, and the pan-Eurasian drive to pricing trade, insurance, security, investments in the ruble, yuan, rial, etc.
There’s also the fact that Tehran could not care less about the endless collective West procrastination on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as Iran nuclear deal: what really matters now is the deepening relationship with the “RICs” in BRICS.
Tehran refused to sign a tampered-with EU draft nuclear deal in Vienna. Brussels was enraged; no Iranian oil will “save” Europe, replacing Russian oil under a nonsensical cap to be imposed next month.
And Washington was enraged because it was betting on internal tensions to split OPEC.
Considering all of the above, no wonder US ‘Think Tankland’ is behaving like a bunch of headless chickens.
The queue to join BRICS
During the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand last September, it was already tacit to all players how the Empire is cannibalizing its closest allies.
And how, simultaneously, the shrinking NATO-sphere is turning inwards, with a focus on The Enemy Within, relentlessly corralling average citizens to march in lockstep behind total compliance with a two-pronged war – hybrid and otherwise – against imperial peer competitors Russia and China.
Now compare it with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Samarkand presenting China and Russia, together, as the top “responsible global powers” bent on securing the emergence of multipolarity.
Samarkand also reaffirmed the strategic political partnership between Russia and India (Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it an unbreakable friendship).
That was corroborated by the meeting between Lavrov and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar last week in Moscow.
Lavrov praised the strategic partnership in every crucial area – politics, trade and economics, investment, and technology, as well as “closely coordinated actions” at the UN Security Council, BRICS, SCO and the G20.
On BRICS, crucially, Lavrov confirmed that “over a dozen countries” are lining up for membership, including Iran: “We expect the work on coordinating the criteria and principles that should underlie BRICS expansion to not take much time”.
But first, the five members need to analyze the ground-breaking repercussions of an expanded BRICS+.
Once again: contrast. What is the EU’s “response” to these developments? Coming up with yet another sanctions package against Iran, targeting officials and entities “connected with security affairs” as well as companies, for their alleged “violence and repressions”.
“Diplomacy”, collective West-style, barely registers as bullying.
Back to the real economy – as in the gas front – the national interests of Russia, Iran and Turkiye are increasingly intertwined; and that is bound to influence developments in Syria, Iraq, and Libya, and will be a key factor to facilitate Erdogan’s re-election next year.
As it stands, Riyadh for all practical purposes has performed a stunning 180-degree maneuver against Washington via OPEC+. That may signify, even in a twisted way, the onset of a process of unification of Arab interests, guided by Moscow.
Stranger things have happened in modern history. Now appears to be the time for the Arab world to be finally ready to join the Quad that really matters: Russia, India, China, and Iran.
***
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https://news.abplive.com/business/9-russian-banks-open-vostro-accounts-in-indian-banks-after-rbi-approval-1563584
Things are progressing to facilitate Rupee-Ruble trade. Hopefully the mechanism will soon start.
The rules-based international order (RBIO) is in its death throes. Great to see this acknowledgment in the Western media.
The economic and geopolitical base upon which the institutional superstructure of (RBIO) was built has simply evanesced. The old order is beyond salvation, even if the new is still struggling to be born. What key elements need to be in place for a better global order? Nations trading in national currencies, integrated multiple payment networks, no private money usage, closer of 800+ foreign military bases,… All nations will be sovereign, creating sovereign money to enable, enhance and enrich lives of their populace. No more imperialism, reserve currencies, enslavement, usury,… It needs to be built on the core value of INTEGRITY!
The new order will reflect a more multipolar and multicivilizational distribution of power!
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3736389-the-rules-based-international-order-is-ending-what-will-replace-it/
Our West European friends are all stating that President Putin is in secret meetings with the US. Yet, no one here, or anywhere in print or “online” is recognizing this.
How can that be?
The longer that secret meeting lasts, the more worried we become for Russia and its people.
Is there anyone here who can tell us about these meetings?
No……that’s the purpose of secret. The meetings are about itchy finger, de-escalation on the hot buttons. Everything else is still on the table….While Mr Lavrov is at the G20 meeting, he should gift Elinsky a box of candles, me thinks they may come in handy when the grifted one gets back to Kiev.
Cheers M
“Our West European friends are all stating that President Putin is in secret meetings with the US.”
My personal opinion is that it is fool’s hope, wishes that our”leadership” knows what they are doing and we need not to worry, all will be well and we will soon return to normal…
Just looking for someone to save our behinds… so we can continue to be lazy and apathetic and do nothing about it.
Thank you, Gregor and Sean, for your responses.
Living in the US, and knowing how dangerous these US Big League Financiers/Lawyers are, President Putin better have the Tip Top Best Russian Financiers & Lawyers sitting right next to him.
The US has spawned the most highly manipulative, and corrosive thieves in the World. They will stop at *nothing* and *nobody” who stands in their way………..all to ensure they garner huge profits out of said meetings.
I believe there was a mention of some “back channels” being open in times as these between the great powers. It may have been one of Mr. Martynov’s presentations, one not listed here yet. Anyone may correct me if this be an error.
Personally, don’t think anyone of those upper echelon “glass house” types would want to “dick” with Putin anyways. He knows how to deal with them and can think-on-his-feet in any situation.
do you really believe this BS??? they been rained with least 45 missiles…..
Remember that before the end of the war in Vietnam the US and North Vietnam met without inviting South Vietnam to participate. Also, before the end of the war in Afghanistan the US and the Taliban met without inviting the then government in Kabul to participate. Both these series of meetings led to the eventual victory of US’s erstwhile opponents.
“ Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan – conducting his own diplomatic overdrive, and just back from a summit of Turkic nations in Samarkand – stressed that the US and the collective West are attacking Russia “almost without limits”.
Erdogan made it clear that Russia is a “powerful” state and commended its “great resistance”.
The response came exactly 24 hours later. Turkish intelligence cut to the chase, pointing out that the terrorist bombing in the perpetually busy Istiklal pedestrian street in Istanbul was designed in Kobane in northern Syria, which essentially responds to the US…”
That’s it. Swift punishment and a warning to Turkiye from the Hegemon.
India is a two face as well as turkey, they will backstab at a first opportunity, I wouldn’t touch them with a 10 foot pole. Some economic relations are fine, in peace time, but that’s about it. Absolutely nothing strategic.
Russia selling them military hardware is abomination. Potato is fine, though.
The real force is China-Iran-Russia-N. Korea.
Only if they would have guts to form an alliance: one at war = all 4 at war,
the hegemon can be thrown into the abyss.
Well, the way I see it, it is brotherhood compared to the way USA treats its allies!
The huge nuclear station they are building together seems well underway, they didn’t get your approval?
The stated objectives of the SMO were to 1) demilitarise, and 2) denazify Ukraine.
Russia realises that achieving these objectives requires demilitarising and denazifying NATO.
It is slow work and will take perhaps a decade or more if we read into Putin’s recent speak at Valdai of ‘dark decades’ ahead. It took imperialism, colonialism, and neoliberalism centuries to get us here. We should at least give the ancient civilisations of Russia, China, Persia, India etc. a few decades to throw of the shackles of Empire and restore the world to multipolarity.
No quick end to this conflict. This has to be cooked carefully over a slow fire.
SMO is the first step of “military-technical measures” announced after NATO dismissed Russian call for new European security framework. Meaning retreat of NATO beyond 1997. positions.
With that in mind, it is clear that conflict(s) will continue for quite some time.
Well, I’m fairly certain a dozen of Iran’s best drone operators/manufacturers are working out of Crimea.
Russia-China, South China Sea naval/air force drills
2 military bases in Iran where Russia operate from, providing easy access to Syria
Russia training India’s military
Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation
All this to the chagrin of 5-Eyes & their pet mongrel Israel.
@ Rubicon on November 15, 2022 · at 5:11 pm EST/EDT
Our West European friends are all stating that President Putin is in secret meetings with the US. Yet, no one here, or anywhere in print or “online” is recognizing this.
How can that be?
The longer that secret meeting lasts, the more worried we become for Russia and its people.
Is there anyone here who can tell us about these meetings?
——————————————————————————-
President Putin is too busy creating the New Multipolar Order to waste his time in useless meetings with the US.
Which meetings are you referring to? Turkey? Those meetings have been initiated by the US, and Russia obliges, that’s Russian diplomacy, it has always been.
The US/NATO is looking to exploit their (very) temporary “successes” on the battlefield, magnifying them behind a PSYOP with the intention of creating a lull to allow Ukraine to go through a winter that promises to be a cruel one, for soldiers and civilians alike.
The PSYOP implies an offer of “negotiations” that may or may not contemplate a cease fire, but it will come handy. It is typical of negotiations in military conflicts to inject some “good will” from the parties, with a cease fire appeal, using any pretext, Christmas, New Year, whatever. The offer comes at a moment the RF Army Forces are going through a reset in leadership, tactical considerations, and more importantly, a surge. Ukraine’s army is by all means, spent, it has been able to exploit Russia’s mistakes during phase 1 and 2 of the SMO, thanks to a large infusion of mercenaries from sundry countries, and US/NATO C&C.
I won’t go into the details of the “negotiations,” but here is an article that deconstructs the ongoing PYSOP.
https://m.vz.ru/politics/2022/11/8/1185672.html
Need Yandex or Edge to translate.
The presstitute western MSM has taken full advantage of the rumor of negotiations, mixing it up with the Kherson withdrawal, creating a make believe that Kherson’s moves were the result of “secret” deals between Russia and the US. There are always “dealings” between warring parties, exchange of prisoners, evacuation of civilians, wounded, dead etc., all kinds of dealings. From having dealings to having a “DeaL” (all caps here) the distance is as large as the Grand Canyon.
First of all, the US and Russia are as far apart as they ever have been in history. The current confrontation in Battlefield Ukraine, is an existential one for both countries and for the other forces aligned behind them which they represent, old bastard Eurostan, Australia, New Zealand, and other minions behind the US, and the Quad behind Russia.
The possibility of a negotiation as a solution for Country 404, is non-existent. Full stop.
Pepe posted on his Telegram channel a clear example of wartime “dealings.”
—————————————————————————————————–
https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics/5551
‼️THIS EXPLAINS A _LOT_‼️ READ THINK SHARE ‼️
https://t.me/vdv_union
🔥Attacks on Ukraine’s railroad and critical infrastructure prevent Russian oligarchs from delivering, Sivkov said.
The Ukrainian railway infrastructure has not yet been destroyed, because Russian, Ukrainian and Western oligarchs are interested in this, continuing to earn money together on business schemes that have not changed since the start of the NWO.
Konstantin Sivkov, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Troops, stated this on ORT.
According to Sivkov, Russian titanium is delivered to the West via Ukrainian railways, on which a number of industries, including the military, critically depend.
“Under the existing sanctions that everyone must comply with, there is only one “gray” communication that connects Russia and Europe. These are Ukrainian railways…”
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The war has not stopped Russian titanium from going to Europe through Ukrainian railways, even though the same railways are used to bring NATO weapons to kill Russians. All wars have those “apparent” contradictions, the rationale behind them are deeply hidden in the strategy of the parties at war.
And there are many more dealings between Russia and Ukraine, oil, gas, you name it.
All those dealings have no effect whatsoever in their respective strategic objectives, Country 404 as a tool for US/NATO, Russia’s SMO to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. Kherson is not the result of a deal, it is a corrective move imposed on General Armageddon by a series of mistakes in the field of logistics and otherwise, that he inherited.
Before Surovikin took over, Gen. Bulgakov, who was in charge of logistics from the beginning of the SMO, was replaced by Col. Gen. Misintzev. The main reason stated by Surovikin for the Kherson withdrawal was he was incapable to supply the troops in the area. That usually happens when troops are overextended, and the supply line is either far behind, or inefficient. Bulgakov was heavily criticized by Chechen leader brother Kadyrov, and by the director of the Philharmonic Orchestra, Prigozhin.
SMO logistical situation was untenable.
The Ukrainian “victories” are part of the PSYOP, and they only obey to a manipulation of the necessary corrective measures imposed on the current Russian leadership of the SMO. Beyond that, we fall into speculation and triumphalism. I have read many comments from posters under the impression Russia makes no mistakes. Others making assurances as if they have a red line to the Russian High Command.
The SMO is finding cracks in Russian society, and those need to be corrected as the war goes on. Those cracks can also be found in the Army Forces, complacency, superiority complex, arrogance, etc., which have an effect on the battlefield. We certainly hope the Russian Army will be able to acknowledge and overcome these weaknesses, as they carry the weight of the world in their shoulders.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation, too many rumors to quash, too little time…and space.
Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf,
Very excellent commentary. Also praise your last commentary on the Iran trip, in Pepe Escobar’s previous article, Rewiring Eurasia: Mr. Patrushev goes to Tehran. Very precise observations, congratulations. Bricks, SCO are the way forward for the future of the world. What could really accelerate the demise of the Empire of Lies, is the actual up and running of a common BRICKS, SCO currency/financial network and a Swift system equivalent. Perhaps when the World Cup Qatar is over, that will become a priority among the BRICKS, SCO member countries. I will raise my own Russian flag high when the World Cup starts and have it up until the closing ceremony and until Russian defeats the Neonazis. It was incredibly stupid of the world football body to have banned the Russian national team from the World Cup, very immature and childish. Anyway, the best candidate for winning the World Cup: #1- Brazil, #2- France.
@ maskazer2022 on November 16, 2022 · at 5:16 am EST/EDT
Thank you.
My trip to Iran was a highmark in my life, a life-changing experience. JCPOA negotiations restarted while I was there, with both Iran and the US upping the ante in their demands to avoid a resolution. US demands on subjecting Iran’s missile program to the JCPOA agreement was unthinkable, as it was Iran’s demand to remove the IRGC from the US list of terrorist organizations.
Very glad that Pepe thinks Iran has put the final nail on the JCPOA.
There’s also the fact that Tehran could not care less about the endless collective West procrastination on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as Iran nuclear deal: what really matters now is the deepening relationship with the “RICs” in BRICS.
Our group was supposed to meet with Javad Zarif, former Iranian foreign minister, unfortunately our schedule was tight, and his no less, it would have been a great opportunity to find out directly from the architect of the JCPOA what he thought about the future of his brainchild at that time, now dead.
Since you mentioned my comment on another of Pepe’s articles, Rewiring Eurasia: Mr. Patrushev goes to Tehran, it seems like eons ago even though it was, last week? In any event, I went back to read it again, and was flabbergasted by the similar lines in Pepe’s current article, e.g.,
/rewiring-eurasia-mr-patrushev-goes-to-tehran/#comment-1161143
“…The Russia-Iran strategic alliance is a historical inevitability, and it’s been in the works for a long time. Khomeini’s anti-communist stance caused the Soviet Union to support Iraq’s Hussein during the proxy war he launched against Iran for his US masters. Regardless that initial support, the Soviet Union provided military help to Iran via North Korea, after the west blockaded Iran from weapons acquisition. The Putin era marked a new opening in that relation, and all is well that ends well.
For Iran, the sky is the limit, besides the strategic nuclear umbrella he gets from Russia/China/India, there is a vast economic potential in the multiple organizations Iran is joining, just in time to prop up its faltering economic conditions…”
——————————
From Pepe above,
“…A Russia-Iran strategic alliance manifests itself practically as a historical inevitability. It recalls the time when the erstwhile USSR helped Iran militarily via North Korea, after an enforced US/Europe blockade.
Putin and Raeisi are taking it to the next level. Moscow and Tehran are developing a joint strategy to defeat the weaponization of sanctions by the collective West.
Iran, after all, has an absolutely stellar record of smashing variants of “maximum pressure” to bits. Also, it is now linked to a strategic nuclear umbrella offered by the “RICs” in BRICS (Russia, India, China).
So, Tehran may now plan to develop its massive economic potential within the framework of BRI, SCO, INSTC, the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), and the Russian-led Greater Eurasia Partnership…”
———————————————————————————————————————————-
What a coincidence. It is satisfying to find out our meager contributions are in line with those whose vision we seek to learn from.
Lone Wolf
Yes absolutely right. I have been reading and closely following Pepe Escobar’s writings since more than a decade. A lot of my own personal understandings about what’s really happening in the world is what I learn from his articles. Always very informative and refreshing.
So what is going on with Brazil as part of BRICs? Noticed it wasn’t mentioned at all the article. Is Lula pro American and hence they won’t be part of this group anymore?
Hi Cindy… I think we can answer your question by reflecting on the huge amount of groundwork in the last 22 years that Lula has already done in moving towards a South American trade zone, plus a joint currency that was to be called the “South”.
He even had a vision of a collective South American regional central bank that would be completely divorced from the Nazi-inspired BIS thieves based in Basel with their tentacles also reaching out from the City of London and New York. In short, Lula was basically using a Colonel Gaddafi-style blueprint and as such massively risking life and limb in the process.
In absolute contrast to Lula’s agenda, the fact that Bolsanaro, knowing he lagged well behind in the polls, has been desperately trying to sell a majority state-owned Banco Brasil, Petrobras, and the postal and electric public utilities to predatory international corporations who could then proceed to victimise the entire Brazilian population, even on a much larger scale than they do now, proves his allegiances to me… actually beyond any shadow of doubt.
Quoted from NB back in 2018 as background is a link entitled “Welcome To The Jungle”… https://kboo.org/media/68893-welcome-jungle-pepe-escobar
“His [Bolsanaro’s] ascension was facilitated by an unprecedented conjunction of toxic factors such as the massive social impact of crime in Brazil, leading to a widespread belief in violent repression as the only solution; the concerted rejection of the Workers’ Party, catalyzed by financial capital, rentiers, agribusiness and oligarchic interests; an evangelical tsunami; a “justice” system historically favoring the upper classes and embedded in State Department-funded “training” of judges and prosecutors, including the notorious Sergio Moro, whose single-minded goal during the alleged anti-corruption Car Wash investigation was to send Lula to prison; and the absolute aversion to democracy by vast sectors of the Brazilian ruling classes.”
… endquote…
How dare Lula attempt to take his country out of the clutches of the thieving western banking cartel? How dare he try to secure public utilities and resources to develop the social and economic wealth of his society? How dare he challenge multipolarity and the AAZ hegemony which assumes it has some sort of god-given right to rape and pillage all of Latin America and indeed the entire globe.
I just hope Lula’s security is absolutely top notch otherwise this could all end in tragedy. Brazil is a huge deal within the context of the entire BRIICS+++ juggernaut, but particularly in the global south.
Most of this confusion comes from noise that is made by the West with factions that are trying to dress up Trump and Bolsonaro as some sort of global saviours. I regard this as simply a distraction in trying to unravel the Brazil conundrum. These parroted memes that are destructive to Lula being constantly repeated by all and sundry, and of course endlessly by the MSM, could end up getting Lula killed before he even takes office.
Also, Biden and his lunatics in the halls of power could conceivably be quite content to have Lula as a temporary President-elect especially when his party is a fragile coalition which doesn’t even hold the House majority. After all, Warshington knows full well that Bolsanaro, with all of his assets including state and federal police, and truckies, can basically make Brazil ungovernable in the interim so that Lula never even gets to take up office.
This way they could get rid of Lula and his Gadaffi-style financial independence aspirations for good. Depending on which way the military jumps, they will most likely end up the kingmakers in yet another example of deliberate destabilisation of Latin American countries… AKA Murica’s sandpit.
… quoted from the same link above…
His [Bolsanaro’s] ascension was facilitated by an unprecedented conjunction of toxic factors such as the massive social impact of crime in Brazil, leading to a widespread belief in violent repression as the only solution; the concerted rejection of the Workers’ Party, catalyzed by financial capital, rentiers, agribusiness and oligarchic interests; an evangelical tsunami; a “justice” system historically favoring the upper classes and embedded in State Department-funded “training” of judges and prosecutors, including the notorious Sergio Moro, whose single-minded goal during the alleged anti-corruption Car Wash investigation was to send Lula to prison; and the absolute aversion to democracy by vast sectors of the Brazilian ruling classes.
This evolving militarization of politics perfectly meshed with the cartoonish BBBB (Bullet, Beef, Bible, Bank) Brazilian Congress.
Congress is virtually controlled by military, police and paramilitary forces; the powerful agribusiness and mining lobby, with their supreme goal of totally plundering the Amazon rainforest; evangelical factions; and banking/financial capital. Compare it with the fact that more than half of senators and one-third of Congress are facing criminal investigations.
The Bolsonaro campaign used every trick in the book to flee any possibility of a TV debate, faithful to the notion that political dialogue is for suckers, especially when there’s nothing to debate.”
…Unquote…
I always break these apparent puzzles down to just one question alone, which is… in any particular situation what are the ultimate wishes of the thieving private banking cabal that causes more than 90% of the military, economic, and social mayhem in the world. IOW who do they want in office in order to aid their routine economic hitman playbook antics?
This makes it all extremely simple… Lula has been trying for 20 years or more to implement almost exactly the same nationalistic agendas for Brazil as Gadaffi tried to do for Libya. TPTB took him out in the cruellest fashion imaginable, right when he was well on into the process of transforming Libya into one of the economic powerhouses of the African continent.
Consequently, I am hugely concerned and saddened about what is currently unfolding. I believe it will be an absolute miracle if Lula can actually get through to take up office in January 2023.
These “experts” getting this wrong are unwittingly aiding the monumental Mr Global collective, including the entire global MSM, in demonising Lula and taking him out of office either dead or alive. Why can’t we all see this blatantly obvious parallel?
It’s what I always say… Mr Global is one hell of a skilled recruiter… he is even successful at times amongst those who fancy they are fighting the good fight. He often stealthily coopts them into actually helping his own agenda. The Brazil situation is yet another classic, and very likely another tragic example, unfolding before our eyes right now.
How Brazil negotiates this transition of power is a huge deal, not just for the BRIICS+++ collective, but for humanity going forward into multipolarity and escaping the clutches of the western economic and military hegemon.
Cheers from Downunder
Col
@ Col… \’the farmer from NZ\’ on November 16, 2022 · at 3:10 pm EST/EDT
You left no stone unturned, Downunder friend.
I certainly hope Pepe is reading it, and at some point he can squeeze an article about his own country, touching on all the points you’re bringing to the fore. I have said it before, and say it now, “liberal democracies” and their electoral farce are the best tool in the hands of the empire to control countries across the board. Those who refuse to play the game, like Cuba, are demonized as “dictatorships” by the rest of Latin American puppets, and sanctioned to death by the Empire.
Any country in search of true freedom has to do away mimicking the US “two party system,” in reality a dictatorship of the oligarchs who control them for their own benefit. As you described it, Lula’s political margin and space to wiggle is similar to a straight jacket. One move in the direction of the people, and the jackals and hyenas will be ready to pounce. Lula’s real power seems to be abroad, where his credibility, prestige, and credentials, can serve him well…as long as he’s using them to bring money to the ruling elites.
The chances of Lula being killed, as you pointed out, are high. All you need is a Bolsonaro “fanatic” gone crazy, and of course, Bolsonaro had nothing to do with it. There is more than the future of Brazil at stake with Lula’s reentry to the political fore, the effect will be felt on surrounding countries, and beyond, whatever way Lula’s destiny goes.
We hope for the best…
Thanks for bringing it to our awareness.
Lone Wolf
Thank you @Lone Wolf… I just don’t understand why the Colonel Gadaffi analogy is not widely seen and I can’t fathom why there is almost no talk of the planned “South” currency either.
I have a very bad feeling about this now as almost all of the people I know, that I considered geopolitically informed and aware, are all bagging Lula as a crook and talking up Bolsanaro as Brazil’s saviour big time
The excellent point you make… “Lula’s real power seems to be abroad, where his credibility, prestige, and credentials, can serve him well”… I hear this loud and clear, but I genuinely fear that this is simply not going to be enough.
I have a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about all of this.
Cheers and warmest regards
Col
The only question I see is how long can Ukraine/EU survive without Power in Winter
Russia’s employment of ‘old man winter’ is going to save russian lives…a good thing!!
I don’t see how Ukraine lasts much longer in a war with Russia
nor do I see how EU is gonna survive it’s collapse losing 40% of it’s energy
I do think this could be the last great battle that brings the world the closest to nuclear destruction but will be stopped in time by the Return of the King …amen
Being good as fundamentalism
Baerbock, Habeck, von der Leyen, Borrell belong to those who are ethically superior to Russia, China, Iran – in other words, they belong to the good guys and the mentioned states to the bad guys. They have the status of the good guys because they represent what the USA pretends and it is the USA that determines what is good and evil and true and false – and thus what is right.
The world hegemon cannot subjugate the world purely militarily – so he must Americanize it: He determines what is good, what is truth, and what is right.
‘Fundamentalism of the good’ means taking a position by which the others are ‘the bad guys’: it thereby establishes a claim to domination and divides the world. The criterion of ‘good’ is to be against the ‘bad’ – but of course the bad cannot be against the bad: they have only the possibility to submit.
The ideology of the good against the bad has replaced the ideology of capitalism against communism.
The division of the world or the hostility towards Russia, China, Iran will continue as long as they do not submit to the Fed (US central bank), that is, to the US financial system. What other scenario would be possible? We must not forget the background, namely that the dollar system handled by the US is not a static system (as I suspect), wants to say that it will crash without expansion.
What has been said suggests that world politics as practiced by the USA is a purposefully operated system of dependencies based on money exchange and money lending.
Great comment Paul ….you nailed it nice and concise and to the nuts an bolts …write more
in the clash of civilization’s nuthin new under the sun ….been there done that….same ol same ol…
Looking forward to the next world …getting off this merry-go-around for sure!!!
Thanks for the compliment! If you are interested in the philosophical view of politics, or more generally, an analytical view, you might find it here (the eventual translation is no problem these days):
https://paulhollenstein.net/
Why the usual elimination of Israel and its control over the U.S. Government at all levels? How can an analysis work if a major force is censored out ?
US policy, especially foreign policy, is made by the neocons, and the neocons act in Israel’s interest. So Israel has power over the USA, but through what?
If someone has capital, he can influence a lot of things, set them in motion or make them dependent on him – and if very wealthy or influential people join together in certain goals, then they can form something like a state within a state, whose field of activity is international; this circle can have the power to support or promote people who correspond to its ideology into powerful positions, be it political, financial, business, media. Does anyone think that Israel – a Western state – could have been installed in the Arab region without such a grouping?!
Arab unity? Who are the Nassers and Qadaffis?
Since 1991, Ukraine has been a dysfunctional, corrupt black hole.. Since 2014, it was joined by a few Fascist sponsors, making it permanently broken..
It is always a relief to read Pepe’s good news about progressive developments affecting the 85% of the free world, with no signs of delays due to outside interference..
It is no wonder that Russia deals with Ukraine in a half-hearted manner; UA doesn’t really matter..