[Note: this post of mine is temporarily located in the ‘guest section’ because of the current fundraiser. Once the fundraiser is over, I will place it back in the correct section. This analysis was written for the Unz Review. The Saker]
If the first months of 2017 were a time of great hopes following the historical defeat of Hillary Clinton, the year is ending in a sombre, almost menacing manner. Not only has the swamp easily, quickly and totally drowned Trump, but the AngloZionist Empire is reeling from its humiliating defeat in Syria and the Neocons are now treating our entire planet to a never ending barrage of threats. Furthermore, the Trump Administration now has released a National Security Strategy which clearly show that the Empire is in “full paranoid” mode. It is plainly obvious that the Neocons are now back in total control of the White House, Congress and the US corporate media. Okay, maybe things are still not quite as bad as if Hillary had been elected, but they are bad enough to ask whether a major war is now inevitable next year.
If we go by their rhetoric, the Neocons have all the following countries in their sights:
- Afghanistan (massive surge already promised)
- Syria (threats of a US-Israeli-KSA attack; attack on Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria)
- Russia (disconnecting from SWIFT; stealing Russian assets in the USA; attack on Russian forces in Syria)
- Iran (renege on nuclear deal, attack Iranian forces in Syria)
- The Donbass (support for a full scale Ukronazi attack against Novorussia)
- DPRK (direct and overt military aggression; aerial and naval blockade)
- Venezuela (military intervention “in defense of democracy, human right, freedom and civilization”)
There are, of course, many more countries currently threatened by the USA to various degrees, but the seven above are all good candidates for US aggression.
Let me immediately say here that listing pragmatic arguments against such aggressions is, at this point in time, probably futile. If anything, the recent disaster triggered by the US recognition of Jerusalem clearly proves that the USA is run by people as least as stupid and ignorant as they are evil and arrogant, possibly even more so. The sad reality we now live in is one where a nuclear superpower lack the minimal intelligence needed to act in defense of its own national security interests, and that is really frightening.
Last week I took a look at the mindset of what I called the “ideological drone“. If we now look at the mindset of the US national security establishment we will immediately notice that is is almost the exact same as the one of the ideological drone. The biggest difference between them might be that the ideological drone assumes that his/her leaders are sane and most honest people, whereas those in the elites not only know that they are total hypocrites and liars, but they actually see this as a sign superiority: the drones believes in his/her ideology, but his rules believe in absolutely nothing.
Take the example of Syria. All the US decision makers are fully aware of the following facts:
- Daesh/ISIS/al-Nusra/etc is their creation and they tried everything to save these terrorists.
- The joint Russian-Iranian-Hezbollah effort defeated Daesh/ISIS/al-Nusra/etc in-spite of AngloZionist support and attacks in Syrian forces.
- The AngloZionist forces are in Syria completely illegally.
Yet none of that prevents them from claiming that they, not Russia, defeated Daesh/ISIS/al-Nusra/etc. This is absolutely amazing, think of it – the entire planet knows full well what really took place in Syria, but Uncle Sam decrees that black is white, water is dry and what is true is false. And the most amazing thing is that they know that everybody knows, yet they don’t care one bit. Why? Because they profoundly believe in four fundamental things:
- We can buy anybody
- Those we cannot buy, we bully
- Those we cannot bully we kill
- Nothing can happen to us, we live in total impunity not matter what we do
Besides people with intelligence there is another type of people which now has completely disappeared from the US national security establishment: people with honor/courage/integrity. Let’s take a perfect example: Tillerson.
There is no way we can make the argument that Tillerson is an idiot. The man has proven many times over that he is intelligent and quite talented. And yet, he is Nikki Haley’s doormat. Nikki Haley – there is the real imbecile! But not Tillerson. Yet Tillerson lacks the basic honor/courage/integrity to demand that this terminal imbecile be immediately fired or, if that does not happen, to leave and slam the door really loud. Nope, the man just sits there and takes humiliation after humiliation. Oh sure, he will probably resign soon, but when his resignation comes it will have no value, it will be a non-event, just the sad and pathetic conclusion to a completely failed stint as Secretary of State.
The same goes for the US military: not one single officer has found in himself/herself to resign to protest the fact that the USA is deeply in bed with those who are responsible, at least according to the official conspiracy theory, for 9/11. Nope, in fact US special forces are working with al-Qaeda types day in and day out and not a single one of these “patriots” has the honor/courage/integrity to go public about it.
Imbeciles and cowards. I also happen to think that they are traitors to their country and their people. Patriots they are not.
Delusional imbeciles giving orders and dishonorable cowards mindlessly executing them. That is the setup we are dealing with. As Trump would tweet “not good”.
Alas, this is also a very hard combo to deter or to try to reason with.
And yet, somewhere, to some degree, these guys must know that he odds are not in their favor. For one thing, an endless stream of military defeats and political embarrassments ought to strongly suggest to them that inaction is generally preferable to action, especially for clueless people. Furthermore, one simple way to look at risks is to say that risks are a factor of probability times consequences: R = P x C.
I don’t think that US decision-makers actually formally think that way, but on a gut level this is rather straightforward, even for ideological drone types. If we assume that this is the case, we can now revisit our 7 countries listed above as seen by Neocon decision makers (not me! I already outlined how I saw the risks of attacking these countries in this article written this summer):
Possible/likely consequences | Probability | Risk | |
Afghanistan (surge) | more body bags | high | low |
Syria (military intervention & attack on Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria) | Iranian & Hezbollah counter-attacks | high | high |
Russia 1 (economic attack: SWIFT & theft of assets)
Russia 2 (shooting of Russian aircraft in Syria) |
non-military response
military response |
high
medium |
unknown for me
medium |
Iran (renege on nuclear deal) |
non-military response | high | low |
Donbass (US backed attack on Novorussia) | Russian intervention | medium | low |
DPRK (attack; blockade) | Nuclear war in Asia | unknown | unknown |
Venezuela (direct military intervention) | quagmire | high | high |
A couple of points here:
Afghanistan: is rather straightforward and least controversial: there will be a surge in Afghanistan, it will result in more body bags, it will achieve nothing cost a shitload and nobody cares.
Syria: very tempting, but the big risk is this: that US forces will find themselves face to face with Iranian and Hezbollah forces who have been dreaming about this day for decades and who will make maximal political use of the US forces they will capture or kill. Frankly, to engage either the Iranians or Hezbollah is a very scary option. Ask the Israelis :-)
Russia option 1: rumors that the US would disconnect Russia from SWIFT or steal (that is politely called “freeze”) Russian assets and funds in the USA have been going in for a long time already. And the Russians have been making all sorts of menacing noises about this, but all of them very vague which tells me that Russia might not have any good retaliatory options and that this time around the hot air is blowing from Moscow. Of course, Putin is a unpredictable master strategist and the folks around him are very, very smart. They might hold something up their sleeve which I am not aware of but I strongly suspect that, unlike me, the US intelligence community must be fully aware of what this might be. I am not an economist and there is much I don’t know here, I therefore assessed the risk as “unknown” for me.
Russia option 2: the reaction of Russia to the shooting down by Turkey of a SU-24 in 2015 might well have given the US politicians and commanders that they could do the same and get away with it. In truth, they might be right. But they might also be wrong. The big difference with the case of the SU-24 is that Russia has formidable air-defenses deployed in Syria which present a major threat for US forces. Furthermore, if a Russian aircraft is under attack and the Russians reply by firing a volley of ground-to-air missiles, what would the US do – attack a Russian S-400 battery? The USA is also in a tricky situation in an air-to-air confrontation. While the F-22 is an excellent air superiority fighter it has one huge weakness: it is designed to engage its adversaries from a long range and to shoot first, before it is detected (I mention only the F-22 here because it is the only US aircraft capable of challenging the Su-30SM/Su-35). But if the rules of engagement say that before firing at a Russian aircraft the F-22 has to issue a clear warning or if the engagement happens at medium to short range distances, then the F-22 is at a big disadvantage, especially against a Su-30SM or Su-35. Another major weakness of the F-22 is that, unlike the Su-30/Su-35, it does not have a real electronic warfare suite (the F-22’s INEWS does not really qualify). In plain English this means that the F-22 was designed to maximize it’s low radar cross section but at a cost of all other aspects of aerial warfare (radar power, hypermaneuverability, electronic warfare, passive engagement, etc.). This all gets very technical and complicated very fast, but I think that we can agree that the Neocons are unlikely to be very impressed by the risks posed by Russian forces in Syria and that they will likely feel that they can punch the russkies in the nose and that these russkies will have to take it. Local US commanders might feel otherwise, but that is also entirely irrelevant. Still, I place the risk here at ‘medium’ even if, potentially, this could lead to a catastrophic thermonuclear war because I don’t think that the Neocons believe that the Russians will escalate too much (who starts WWIII over one shot down aircraft anyway, right?!). Think of it: if you were the commander of the Russian task force in Syria, what would you do if the US shot down on of your aircraft (remember, you assume that you are a responsible and intelligent commander, not a flag-waving delusional maniac)?
What will not stop is the full-spectrum demonization of Russia, thus the relationship between the two countries will further deteriorate. Putin’s Russia is a kind of Mordor which represents all evil and stands behind all evil. Denouncing and openly hating Russia has now become a form of virtue-signaling. Since the entire US political elites have endorsed this phobia, it is exceedingly unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
Iran: Trump has announced that he wants out of the deal and while technically and legally he cannot do that, it’s not like he will care one bit. The USA has long given up any pretense at respecting any kind of law, including international law. Also, since Trump is clearly Israel’s shabbos-goy I think that we can safely assume that this will happen.
Donbass: will the Ukronazis finally attack? Well, they have been for many months already! Not only did they never stop shelling the Donbass, but they have this new “frog-jump” (pseudo) strategy which consists of moving in military forces in the neutral zone, seize an undefended town and then declare a major victory against Russia. They have also been re-arming, re-organizing, re-grouping and otherwise bolstering their forces in the East. As a result, the Urkonazis have at least 3:1 advantage against the Novorussians. However, we should not look at this from the Ukronazi or Novorussian point of view. Instead we should look at it from the Neocon point of view:
Possible outcomes | US reactions |
Option one: Ukronazis win | Russia is defeated, USA proves it power |
Option two: Novorussians win | Russia is accused of invading the Ukraine |
Option three: Novorussians lose and Russia openly intervenes | A Neocon dream come true: the NATO has a purpose again: decades of Cold War v2 in Europe. |
The way I see it, in all three cases the AngloZionist prevail though clearly option #2 is the worst possible outcome and option #3 is the best one. In truth, the AngloZionists have very little to lose in a Ukronazi attack on Novorussia. Not so the Ukrainian people, of course. Right now the USA and several European countries are shipping various types of weapons to the Ukronazis. That is really a non-news since they have been doing that for years already. Furthermore, western made weapons won’t make any difference, at least from a military point of view, if only because it will always be much easier for Russia to send more weapons in any category. The real difference is a political one: shipping “lethal weapons” (as if some weapons were not lethal!) is simply a green light to go on the attack. Let’s hope that the Urkonazis will be busy fighting each other and that their previous humiliating defeat will deter them from trying again, but I consider a full-scale Urkonazi attack on the Donbass as quite likely.
DPRK: that is the big unknown here. With some opponents, you know for an absolute fact that their people will fight down to the very last man if needed (Iranians, Russians, Hezbollah). But authoritarian regimes tend to have a pretty low breaking point unless, of course, they convince their own people that they are not fighting for a specific political regime, but for their country. I think that nobody knows for sure what the North Koreans will do if attacked, but I see no sign to simply assume that the North Koreans won’t fight. From what I hear, the memories of the ruthless attacks against North Koreans by US forces during the previous war on the Korean Peninsula are still very very real. Here is what an intelligence officer in the region wrote to me recently:
The Trump Administration’s bluster is pathetic. If this were a movie, and not real life, it would be funny (it’s still funny, but being in *******, I don’t fully appreciate it). The sad thing is that central casting couldn’t create a better foil for NK propaganda: in every way, including physically, he fits their caricature of the evil, imperial arch-capitalist Yankee businessman. It’d be like if Hitler came back to life and off-handedly threatened to destroy the US every other day (and had the capability to do so).
If this specialist is correct, and I have no reason to believe that he is not, then it is quite reasonable to assume that the possible dislike the North Korean people might have for their ruling elites is dwarfed by their hatred for the United States.
[Sidebar: he also had some interesting comments about my own assessment of the consequences of a war on the Korean Peninsula. Here is what he wrote to me:
Japan is a major target, for a number of reasons. The biggest is that there are a lot of US bases there that would be used to bring-in additional US troops/direct the war, but there’s also the fact that North Korea (and most South Koreans, actually), straight-up hates Japan. I won’t go into a history lesson (which you probably already know), but there is no love lost. Even if the war was confined to the Peninsula, which it won’t be, the global economy would take a major hit, because a ridiculous amount of global supply chain runs through South Korea (which on its own, bounces between the 15th and 10th largest economy in the world). Off the top of my head, I think Incheon (just west of Seoul) is the busiest airport in at least the region – it’s a major international hub, and Busan and Incheon are some of the busiest ports in the world – I want to say Busan is top 5, even busier than the Japanese ports. All the Chinese goods that go to America flow through the Sea of Japan – those will have to be re-routed. And a lot of the components that go in fancy electronics are actually made in SK, prior to final assembly in China – so that will be an issue. So even if we’re the only ones to go down, it’ll be bad news for the global economy. Your assessment of the artillery and special forces threat mirrors mine. One of the things I always thought was funny was how people disparage “World War 2 artillery.” As a whole, “World War 2 artillery” has probably killed more people than any weapon system in modern history (unless you say something really general like “knife” or “gun”). It’s not like you’ll be any less dead if your house is hit with a 152 as opposed to a J-DAM.]
And here is the deal, if you attack a small and defenseless country you can basically ignore the consequences of making the wrong guess, but when dealing with a country like the DPRK this is a miscalculation which no sane politician or military commander would ever take the risk of making. But delusional imbeciles giving and dishonorable cowards – would either one of them show the kind of caution needed when dealing with such a major threat?! I frankly don’t think so. In fact, I see no reason to believe that at all. Remember the “cakewalk in Iraq”? This term, coined by one of my former teachers at SAIS, Ken Adelman, is a wonderful illustration of the Neocon mindest: pure ideology and to hell with caution. We all know that this “cakewalk” ended up costing the Iraqi and American people: well over one million deaths for the former, well over five trillion dollars for the latter. Some cakewalk indeed… The truth is that at this point nobody knows what the outcome of a US attack on the DPRK might be, not even the North Koreans. Will that be enough to deter the delusional imbeciles giving and dishonorable cowards currently at the helm of the Empire? You tell me!
Venezuela: as much hatred as there is for Venezuela in the US elites, this country is not a lucrative target or, let me rephrase that, it is a great target to subvert but probably not a good one to intervene in. Violence in Venezuela is directly in the US interests but a direct military intervention is probably not. My contacts tell me that the Venezuelan military is an unholy (and rather corrupt) mess, but they also tell me that the popular will to resist the “Yankees” is so strong that a any military intervention will immediately trigger an ugly guerrilla war (not to mention a political backlash in the rest of Latin America). The truth is the US probably has the means to militarily intervene in Venezuela, but they also have much better options.
Now let’s sum this all up.
The chances are high that in 2018 the USA will
- Escalate the war in Afghanistan
- Renege on the nuclear deal with Iran
- Back an Ukronazi attack on Novorussia
It is quite possible that the USA will also
- Shoot down a Russian aircraft over Syria
I find it unlikely that the USA will
- Invade Syria
- Invade Venezuela
I am unable to evaluate whether the USA will:
- Disconnect Russia from SWIFT or seize Russian assets
- Attack the DPRK
Frankly, I am not very confident about this attempt as analyzing the possible developments in 2018. All my education has always been based on a crucial central assumption: the other guy is rational. That is a huge assumption to make, but one which was fundamentally true during the Cold War. Today I find myself inclined to think that psychologists are probably better suited to make predictions about the actions of the rulers of the AngloZionist Empire than military analysts. Furthermore, history shows us that the combination of delusional imbeciles and dishonorable cowards is what typically brings down empires, we saw a very good example of that with the collapse of the Soviet Empire.
With the latest Trump fiasco I have personally given up any hope of ever seeing a US President capable of making a positive contribution to the welfare of the people of the USA or the rest of the planet. The burden now is clearly on Russia and China to do everything they can to try to stop the USA from launching even more catastrophic and deeply immoral wars. That is a very, very difficult task and I frankly don’t know if they can do it. I hope so. That is the best I can say.
The Saker
Iran Cuts Off Internet Amid Mass Protests, Calls For “Armed Uprising”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-30/iran-cuts-internet-main-networks-amid-mass-protests-calls-armed-uprising
US State Department Hints At Iran Overthrow: Are We Witnessing The Early Stages Of Regime Change?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-30/us-state-department-hints-iran-overthrow-are-we-witnessing-early-stages-regime
LOL,
zerohege most likely citing wapo, nytimes or businessinsider, or maybe british papers like
dailymail.
this is trying to ‘create a new reality’, most likely nothing happening in Iran, maybe a small
local protest, which the West tries to blow outta proportions.
to go full insane, i’d recommend the US to just proclaim there was a overthrow of the Iranian government,
and put one of the ‘shah of sunset’ characters as the new Iranian president. full press coverage and all.
give em UN diplomatic credentials and ‘re-negotiate’ with them the iranian nuclear deal.
Then proclaim victory, GO USA! hell YEA!, and send some trump trolls to tell us how trump is winning. Bigly!
I’ve been to one of these fake protests – in LA close to Ronald Reagan memorial Library. A friend from Georgia (I forgot whose side he was on) organized a protest against the president of Georgia (about 6 years ago) – he brought 3 of his friends (including me), his father and maybe 10 young people he met in a church somewhere in LA (they had no clue what they were doing and why- and were too young maybe 16-19). My friend made sure to take a lot of photos (so it appears there were many more people). I felt really embarrassed about it and left early
Flores analysis…excellent.
What a set of old script “coincidents”:
Israeli jets strike Gaza after shelling with ‘Iran-supplied missiles’
https://www.rt.com/news/414660-israel-strikes-gaza-blames-iran/
Who still believes such shit?
Next coincidence:
Jihadist Group Blows Up Oil Pipeline In Iran, In Midst Of Protests
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-30/jihadist-group-blows-oil-pipeline-iran-midst-protests
At the same time ISIS is probably being refurbished by Potus, all to improve business conditions for *rael.
The US Deep State has swindled 23 Trillion Dollars from America, and has been using these funds to buy AlCIAda mercenaries to wage Proxy wars for years in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
The current uprising in Iran is financed by funds stolen from the Pentagon and USAID, CIA drug money from Afghanistan and Columbia, and funds from the Saudi Kingdom.
The Saudi Kingdom is part of the US Deep Stat, and is in deep financial trouble. The Kingdom can not sell their large holding of US Treasury notes to gain funds; otherwise the US dollar will collapse.
First the Saudi kingdom extorted their neighbour Qatar for funds, by threatening to invade Qatar.
Later the Saudi Kingdom arrested many members of the Saudi Royal family and is extorting them for funds, before they can be released from prison.
A few days ago the Saudi Kingdom introduced WATT tax for the fist time in Saudi Arabia.
After the disclosures during the war against Syria, of the Saudi King participating in financing AlCIAda, and after AlCIAdas defeat in Syria, the Saudi Kingdom is now up against the population of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar and Yemen, but also up against the Saudi population and its own family.
The Saudi Kingdom and the US Deep state are making a last attempt to deflect its problems.
But the current operations against Iran will likely backfire.
Trump has no money to fight a war against the alliance of Iran, Russia and China.
And NATO has no mandate to support the Saudi Kingdom.
The US and British troops are now in Yemen to avoid Saudi Arabia being overrun by Yemen when the Saudi King and the Saudi mercenary army flee the country.
The Saudi Kingdom is going down.
As Maestro says a lot of coincidents and Saker has the answer to the questions in the article above, Iran its the next one for Cia Mossad Regime change. But noone expect the time to be too soon, not at 2018 but at the fall of 2017. I have to admit that they are good in what they are doing becouse time for such events is crucial. There already reports about snipers and two dead protesters, lets see what happens today. Russia China reaction or they are celebreting the New Year?
True, the timing surprises me a lot.
I was much more afraid of next years’s sport events and elections in Russia.
But then it’s the more so frightening what the puppet masters plan for those time frames.
Maidan in Moscow?
And what is this Sobchack piece of dirt all about?
ad hominem comment removed … please read my reply to your prior comment … mod
WW2 artillery? There was never a field piece like the 88. Wonder if there are any that are still operational.
A general observation is that average people in the AngloWest and EU are heartly sick of hearing about the Middle East and this fraudulent war on terrorism. People, particularly younger ones, will not support a war or escalation of existing conflicts and the consequences for any Govts that try will not only face protests and internal sabotarge but also get rolled at elections (aka Nov 2018 US mid terms) and given the divide and knife edge majorities many Govts are sitting on it (Germany, UK, Aust, US) will have lasting effect. It will be the turning point of politics for this century.
People in the West have been bombarded with all this tripe in the media for the past 17 years and the result has been many people have turned off their TV sets and radio and not listening to the screed the mainstream media pumps out as they know it is false news. As a result their ratings and mkt share has collapsed as has their ability to influence and deceive the populus. Therefore their plans and their manipulation system is imploding.
I predict that any attempts to escalate the current situation will backfire on those responsible, one way or another.
Its an ironic twist that 100 years from the 1917 Revolution there has been a 180 degree turn as in reality Russia and its leaders are showing that they are the worlds primary freedom fighters against unjustified conflicts and the internal subversion & corruption in the West. Putin, like Stalin, knows that wars are madness and both have tried to ensure they are averted so everyone can pursue a more productive existence.
The real tragedy is that the basic human rights and interests of the vast majority of living people everywhere, in every country, count for little to nothing. After 5000 years of history, this is all we got? Behold, it’s progress we are told, but must say it looks rather more like like a milennial fractional reserve rut than the fairy tails we’ve been sold.
If the conflict gets really “hot” and the underwater cables have “failures” then naturally one might also expect “trouble” with satellites… Along those lines there is a body of experimental “know-how”…and every State knows how…
How?
Yes, alas…read, and weep…
http://www.futurescience.com/emp/fishbowl.html
an essay on “how”. This may be a feature in our time. Unspeakable.
Oh, come now, Dear Saker, surely you must know that the North Korean people all hate their government, and that they would shower US troops coming to liberate their nation with candies and flowers!
Snark of course. There is a fascinating documentary on Netflix by Werner Herzog titled Into the Inferno. It is an exploration of a few of the world’s volcanoes, covering both the scientific aspects of their eruptions and their cultural significance to the people who live near them.
One of the subject volcanoes is Paektu Mountain, near the border with China. It has a deep mythical significance to the Korean people, both north and south. This segment of the doc is about 20 minutes (the whole thing is worth watching). Herzog was able to film in a very limited way at other sites and talk to a few people on camera, much more access than they normally give outsiders.
Anyway, I don’t come away from watching this with the impression that Koreans are going to turn on their government that easily, especially if the US attacks them. They might be plenty unhappy with lots of things, but there is no reason they would feel love for Americans!
Your analysis of the Venezuela situation I think is quite good. They may be fighting with each other, but there would be a terrible armed fury against US troops. It is likely that millions of people are quite well armed for such a contingency.
In neighboring Ecuador, there is a golpe blando, or soft coup, underway. In some ways, it is not unlike what was done to Dilma Rousseff in Brasil. There is almost certainly US, CIA, etc. involvement. That is more the pattern the US empire likes to use in Latin America if they can.
a thoughtful,well reasoned assessment.
Regarding the Korean war,the US also employed
bacteriological warfare using jap war criminals (unit 731) .The N.Koreans claim Anthrax & bubonic plague were dropped on them.Their hatred of Amerika is not hard to understand
I also think you should put Pakistan at number 0 in your list.
The Neocons want her denuclearized as Sheikh Imran would say.
“With the latest Trump fiasco I have personally given up any hope of ever seeing a US President capable of making a positive contribution to the welfare of the people of the USA or the rest of the planet. The burden now is clearly on Russia and China to do everything they can to try to stop the USA from launching even more catastrophic and deeply immoral wars. That is a very, very difficult task and I frankly don’t know if they can do it. I hope so. That is the best I can say.”
An excellent statement.
We both agree things are getting rather dark with the United States and its nasty colony in the Middle East.
While the Cold War was terrible, I think it is only now that an immense new level of uncertainty has been added to these affairs, as well as new, more terrible weapons.
And that really has to do, I believe, with America’s new determination to be “full-spectrum dominant everywhere.”
Israel and its Lobby are the loudest cheering section for this approach to the world.
It is of course a great irony that hopes in the world rest with Russia and China, countries most Americans have been trained like Pavlov’s dogs to regard as dark and dangerous and enemies of freedom.
But there is that wonderful Graham Greene quote about the writer always having to be with the underdog and the situation defining who is underdog changing all the time.
I don’t see the least hint of light from the establishment in the United States, not from the two parties, not from the mainline press, and not from the bloated monstrosities tasked with defending and assisting the establishment – 17 security agencies and the Pentagon.
It’s almost as though American policy is set on auto-pilot.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/01/01/john-chuckman-comment-what-is-deeply-ailing-the-united-states-and-why-it-is-unlikely-any-election-or-new-leader-can-change-it/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/01/04/john-chuckman-comment-the-strange-relationship-between-america-and-israel-some-interesting-observations-and-analysis/
Ukraine / Novorussia
Valery Pyakin – Russia begins operation in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin gave order – 03.01.2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am5G4laHBxA
Vladimir Putin – I won’t hide with Ukraine, it is time to finish – 04.01.2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGzWPpSATFU
Syria
Mariya Zakharova – The USA enter troops into Syria, there will be a slaughter – 04.01.2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWuS_EZ5nMs
Africa, Middle-East, Europa
Sergey Lavrov – Russia dismisses NATO, USA in panic – 05.01.2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJJi9IXqejo
PS: at all videos English subtitles available
The most potent force of any army has been its invincibility. Once this myth is destroyed the army becomes an ‘also ran’.
The US military has used its myth of invincibility since WW2, and frequently describes its defeat in Vietnam as the consequence of internal politics of the US. The rise of the ‘Anti-war’ movement within America, and its opposition to the politics of the MIC caused serious problems for the MIC which it addressed in the very same manner as it addressed the JFK problem. One of the main leaders of the ‘Anti-war’ movement was John Lennon. He was assassinated.
Another attack on the ‘Anti-war’/Hippie movement was the psy-ops of the ‘Manson Family’ and the murder of Sharon Tate. However Sharon Tate was seen with her husband, Roman Polanski in Europe and in South America by people who knew the couple and thus a ‘younger sister’ of Sharon Tate emerged.
The governor of California, which was the State in which the Sharon Tate ‘murder’ occurred then ran for and became President, with the MIC’s main man, George Bush as his Vice. Within 100 days of Reagan winning the presidential election, another assassination was planned. However, there was a major flaw within this psy-op.
“John Hinckley loaded his twenty-two with exploding Devastator bullets. The sixth and final bullet nearly killed the President. This bullet ricocheted off the car, then hit the President in the chest, grazed a rib and lodged in his lung, just inches from his heart.”
Firstly, ‘exploding Devastator bullets’ do not ricochet as they are designed to explode on impact. Thus John Hinckley could not have fired the bullet that struck Reagan. Secondly, the surgeons found the entrance wound of the bullet in Reagan’s left armpit, which means that Reagan was shot whilst waving to the crowd. No wonder Reagan dismissed his Security guard and replaced them with a naval contingent.
Had this assassination attempt been successful, then the MIC’s main man, George Bush, would at that point have become President. This however did not hinder the MIC’s ‘Star Wars’ concept of being initiated.
And so we come to an article published this week in Australia. http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/us-too-weak-to-rescue-aust-former-general/ar-BBHQ6iz?li=AAgfLCP&ocid=iehp
Forget about the main focus of this article, look at the secondary information.
General (retired) Jim Molan said until he was deployed to Iraq with the US military in 2004-05 he made the mistake of assuming the US power was infinite.
He detailed the shortcomings in the US military.
* Of the 50 Army brigades that make up the combat elements of the 10 US divisions, only three are said to be combat ready.
* The US Navy had 594 ships in 1987 but today it has 278 and needs 355.
* The US Air Force says it needs 1200 fighters but had 923. It’s short of 1000 pilots and 3000 maintenance workers. Pilot experience is said to be at historic lows.
Rightio, if this is correct then just exactly what does it mean?
It means that the US cannot attack the DPRK! No matter what, any attack on North Korea would then include the possibility of China and Russia, and with the shortcomings stated by General Molan, the US requires the backing of NATO to accomplish such a mission, but I feel NATO would not be prepared to fight in the Pacific.
That only leaves an operation in Donbass with the backing of NATO. However, if General Molan is aware of the US military shortcomings then so would most of the other NATO military leaders. They may not be prepared to carry the extra load.
That only leaves Iran with the Saudi Arabian and Israeli designs to instigate another war there. Such prospects must have the US military leaders constantly needing to sit on the throne.
DPRK
Deafening Silence Around the Moon – Putin Plan. One Possible Path To Peace
https://www.globalresearch.ca/north-korea-deafening-silence-around-the-moon-putin-plan/5625321
Inter-Korean Talks
https://www.globalresearch.ca/inter-korean-talks/5625410
This way would be much more better to peace than Trump’s “Fire and Fury”
2008 New York Philharmonic visit to North Korea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_New_York_Philharmonic_visit_to_North_Korea
National Anthems of North Korea and USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGi-R4MZoOg
Since 2001, it was Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia, Egypt, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Yemen etc. but never did US-Israel tried to take steps on Iran. Isn’t it too obvious as a deception (divide et impera) for the Sunni World? The enemy of my enemy is my ally?
Based on my time studying in DPRK and my extensive study of the country, I can confirm that they will fight hard – arguably harder than the Iranians, Russians or Chinese who never experienced life under US military occupation. Resistance is taught from a young age, and everyone is well aware of what happened to women and children in US military camps, and how firebombing and biological weapons among other means killed 20-30% of the population. A study of their ideology, from their museums to their popular music, reveals that Korea today is more united and prepared for war than any other – and notably lacks the fifth columns prevalent in states such as Russia and Syria due to both its greater control of information and its narrative based on the Korean War. Indeed, their unity is comparable to that Israel would show today if Nazi Germany were conducting military drills on their border.
There is no attack that can be made on Russia without the connivance and cheerleading by the khazi eg rachelmadcow. By stationing nuclear weapon ships in Syria near to khaziland, Putin has put the khazi on notice that Russia will wipeout khaziland in any confrontation. This means that they only have the option of killing him or dethroning him from within via Russian pokhorovskys/kasparovs.
I actually think that Trump still wants a rapprochement with Putin. I don’t quite understand his reason, but so far Trump has only acted against Russia when the Washington Consensus have forced his hand. So, I suspect the Donbass is fairly safe for now, unless the U.S. intelligence community decide to act autonomously, or through EU channels.
North Korea: there is a mild possibility that both sides will try and negotiate a unification of North and South Korea. The neocons will be opposed to a non-aligned, demilitarised unified Korea; but Kim Jong-in and Trump may favour this option – if Kim sees himself as another Gorbachev.
Unlike you, Saker, I think the most likely thing in 2018 is a considerable increase of U.S./Israeli forces in Syria in order to remove Syria as Putin’s bargaining chip towards a political settlement of Ukraine’s international/strategic status. Putin wants Ukraine to be an internationally recognised non-aligned and demilitarised buffer state; so far, U.S. and NATO have been able to pretend they don’t know this. If they can reduce Russia’s military presence in Syria and its political leverage in that part of the Middle East, the U.S. will feel it has more room to manoeuvre in Ukraine. So: Syria seems likely to be the 2018 flash point; Ukraine in 2019, maybe.
Beautiful and brilliant analytical article, even if we came to expect no less :). Regarding the closing sentences, still, limiting oneself to the rational players only could be difficult – the politics has strong irrational elements in general, not only in the extreme examples like war, or empires where it is most obvious.