by Ramin Mazaheri and cross-posted with PressTV
What the four-year epoch of Donald Trump has made staggeringly clear to non-Americans is that no one – not even a democratically-elected American – will be able to even moderately alter the US capitalist-imperialist foreign policy trajectory without undergoing a no-holds barred attack aimed at bringing that person down.
What the election of Joe Biden (although “installation” is clearly more accurate) shows is that the current American elite is wrongly yet firmly guided by the the self-serving and evangelical ideas which have dominated US foreign policy since the implosion of the USSR in 1991: “the end of history”, unipolar dominance and “humanitarian interventionism”.
Trump’s defeat is still an assumption, but – given that the Supreme Court will likely continue to sidestep the issue of state executive orders for mail-in ballots that bypassed a democratic check and balance by the legislative branch – the staggering burden of proof on those who claim a criminal conspiracy of electoral fraud have a lot of proving to do, and in a very short period of time.
What’s certain is that Trump was undoubtedly the one person who put fear into the all-smothering US establishment in my lifetime, and probably yours. He dared to cast mainstream doubt on the elites’ versions of free trade (neoliberal capitalism) and foreign policy (imperialism), and he progressed the American conversation from Eisenhower’s seemingly technocratic “military-industrial complex” to the far more nefarious yet accurate “Deep State”.
Yes, Trump has weakened America domestically via his policies of deregulation and liberal (not neoliberal) capitalism, but this column talks about the new post-Trump realisations now breaking over the non-American world:
Trump has irrevocably changed foreign perceptions of America – in it’s cultural, social, political and economic totality – because the world witnessed the shocking extremism the US establishment/1%/Deep State/military-industrial-media complex/etc. was willing to use day after day just to take him down.
Trump showed the world who they are really dealing with: forces much stronger than even the US executive
Few Americans wanted to openly admit that what Trump initially suggested to the world was actually a new type of global competition, instead of one predicated on the usual American, “You’re either with us and for goodness and progress, or against us and for the terrorists”. But that was a major change, and it was predicated on Trump’s non-mainstream politician admission that America had fallen so far that people had to actually do some work to “Make America Great Again” – he essentially admitted it was no longer a unipolar world.
Trump openly promised death to Iran, Palestine and Cuba, but in 2016 part of his shock was that he clearly had accepted a multipolar world as he shockingly talked about extending an olive branch to Russia and a purchase order to China.
Trump saw that because of the financial crimes and corruption of the US elite, as well as their failed neoliberal response to the Great Recession, it was undeniable that America (and it’s European allies) had degraded and been equalled, or in some areas surpassed by, China and Russia. Trump admitted this, and thus the businessman wanted to “do business” with America’s two recalcitrant peers while still crushing revolutionary, sovereignty-demanding or just smaller nations with the competitive might the US still had held on to.
Trump – of course – was not just unhindered but applauded by the US Deep State in expanding upon the existing policy of crushing revolutionary countries, but he was clearly forced into antagonising those two American equals when initially he obviously did not want to.
So what does Trump’s ousting now mean for those two major countries? It means normal, peaceful relations with the US are now impossible for at least four years. How can they possibly conclude otherwise?
Why would China, Russia, or the other undoubted enemies of Washington possibly expect any detente with the US from 2021 onwards when the Trump era has unequivocally proven to them that such detente will never be permitted by the US elite at any cost?
It is now crystal clear that the US president does not shape foreign policy – he only implements it. If he doesn’t we see what happens: the US establishment was aghast at his calls to prosecute “crooked Hillary”, but Trump looks like he will be the first ex-president to ever face prosecution.
Who is actually giving the foreign policy orders? Feel free to guess my opinion, but we know it is certainly not public opinion. Trump obviously tried to please public opinion and pull out of Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere and we all saw what happened – he was absolutely vilified for it in all the US power circles.
There are countless articles in American mainstream media which prove this analysis right; which confirm that Biden will be even more belligerent to China and Russia; which confirm he will use the same drones and sanctions on all “un-invadable” nations as Trump did. It’s clear from Biden’s statements and cabinet choices that – in policies towards non-Americans – he is going to deploy the worst of Trump’s tools but, crucially, combine them with the worst of phony Clintonian “humanitarian interventionism”.
So why would China or Russia kowtow to Biden when the 2016-2020 era shows that total belligerence is the only possibility Washington permits? Why would China or Russia expect Biden to extend mutually-beneficial cooperation? It’s not going to arrive, and part of Trump’s downfall was that he even tried.
One must look at it from the perspective of non-Americans: 2016-2020 has been incredibly shocking in the way that a political newcomer who seemed to want peace in some places was pulled down by a myriad of rabid and hysterical monkeys. Biden and the US establishment wants the non-American to act as if 2016-2020 never happened, but who could possibly forget what shockingly terrible actions were on display in the US over the past four years to prevent any new policies, especially in foreign relations?
Obama was a successful ‘brand change’, but Biden will not be
In 2016 the US was already so weakened by its Great Recession-inducing financial crimes that Trump came to the fore. In 2020 the US is even more gutted, due to this spectacularly awful year. So why would Russia and China not meet the confrontations which Washington is clearly still intent on posing to them?
Biden has none of Obama’s charisma, youth, acting ability, etc. He behaves like an old grandfather who will do anything to earn the attention and admiration of his grandchildren, not someone who can credibly back up claims of being the competent leader of the self-appointed “leader of the free world”.
That is why China is now showing a shocked Australia who really needs who economically via unprecedented tariffs. It’s why Russia is sending the S-400 defense system to Turkey and is having their ambassador to Israel stick up for Iran no matter who it offends. It’s not a question of America being too “weak” nor realpolitik but common sense – the fall of Trump emphatically proves detente with the US is simply not going to be permitted.
More of these challenges to the US will occur in the next four years because that is all Washington wants. Of course the American people don’t want that: half the American people voted for Trump, after all, and we know that they meant nothing to the American elite for four years; the half-leftist Bernie Sanders supporters were similarly shut out once their vote has been used to push out Trump.
When we consider that 2016-2020 was more an American cultural era of “Trump, the ousting” rather than “Trump, the democratically-elected leader” it’s clear that for non-Americans Trump truly heralded the end of global cultural domination by the US, which started after World War II. Didn’t everybody say that would happen in 2016, after all? They were right, but usually for the wrong reasons. It’s no coincidence that the Iranian term gharbzadegi – or “Westoxification” – goes back to the 1940s.
Yet despite their increased division and overall weakness Washington still expects non-American nations to accept the exact same amount of smothering domination as in 1991, 2001, 2007 and even 2015.
But why?
The US is trending in the right direction economically and culturally? The election of Biden has restored US prestige? The manner in which he won inspires confidence? Biden has a foreign policy agenda which is going to be less belligerent than Trump’s unprecedented call to end America’s endless foreign wars? The US has a Belt and Road Initiative which I don’t know about?
Let’s take this moment to realise that an unprecedented, four-year confusion has come to an end: It’s clear that US reformism lost.
It wasn’t a great reformism, but it was something different and positive in some ways. To stop it the US elite gutted their own nation’s psyche, culture, integrity, friendships, families and communities.
On a visceral level, which is not yet registered intellectually, the world saw that proposing changes away from US unipolar domination inspired shocking, debasing cultural war every day for the last four years – is that a system to have faith in, or a system to give in to?
The weakest nations of the world will be pushed into line with post-Trump US leadership, but the strong nations wouldn’t be strong if they had faith in the restoration of the Washington establishment, which Biden represents. Biden is certain to keep challenging strong nations, no matter how unjust or foolish that is.
However, it’s obviously incredibly unfortunate that the moderate reforms suggested by Trump – especially the peaceful ones in foreign policy – could not even be attempted. Maybe some other American will try, but they should now be prepared to undergo the Trump treatment.
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Dispatches from the United States after the presidential election
Results are in: Americans lose, duopoly wins, Trumpism not merely a cult (1/2) – November 5, 2020
Results are in: Americans lose, duopoly wins, Trumpism not merely a cult (2/2) – November 6, 2020
4 years of anti-Trumpism shaping MSM vote coverage, but expect long fight – November 7, 2020
US partitioned by 2 presidents: worst-case election scenario realized – November 9, 2020
A 2nd term is his if he really wants it, but how deep is Trump’s ‘Trumpism’? – November 10, 2020
CNN’s Jake Tapper: The overseer keeping all journalists in line (1/2) – November 13, 2020
‘Bidenism’ domestically: no free press, no lawyer, one-party state? (2/2) – November 15, 2020
Where’s Donald? When 40% of voters cry ‘fraud’ you’ve got a big problem – November 17, 2020
The 4-year (neoliberal) radicalisation of US media & Bidenites’ ‘unradical radicalism’ – November 22, 2020
80% of US partisan losers think the last 2 elections were stolen – December 3, 2020
Trump declares civil war for voter integrity in breaking (or broken) USA – December 5, 2020
Mess with Texas via mail-in ballot? States secede from presidential vote – December 8, 2020
Ramin Mazaheri is currently covering the US elections. He is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of ‘Socialism’s Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism’ as well as ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’, which is also available in simplified and traditional Chinese.
There is an interesting psychological component that fits into Ramin’s analysis. I first saw it articulated by Gorby’s foreign minister, “The Americans cannot handle not being number one.” I have observed this myself. There is a psychological trait with white American males that I run into constantly. Their incredible psychological insecurity, and lack of real maturity. We have to deal with males who are not taught how to be men. So in their unspoken desperation they present us with a paradox. The have to be the top dog that commands all the shots, but they are visibly not qualified to be so. They simply cannot handle not being in total control. Their ego bound denial structure absolutely compels this approach. I see them as trapped in this with no way out but to fall into their own uniquely crafted collective hell on earth. This unspoken psychological weakness explains to me a lot of what Ramin is writing about. This, in my opinion, has got a lot to do with why the initiative is passing to the female of the species. They are less trapped in the desperate need for ego control. One gets the impression that the underlying trait within the capitalist machine that drives this great monster is a hyper inflated ego-mania. Does our political analysis need to integrate a critic of egoism?
I was with you all the way until these lines:
This, in my opinion, has got a lot to do with why the initiative is passing to the female of the species. They are less trapped in the desperate need for ego control.
I’ve yet to see any evidence whatsoever that the females seeking power any different than their male counterparts. In fact, they seem to be many times more virulent in their desperate need for control.
But the rest is spot on. In a winner take all society, it would be surprising if it were any way else.
”They have to be the top dog that commands all the shots, but they are visibly not qualified to be so. They simply cannot handle not being in total control. Their ego bound denial structure absolutely compels this approach.”
Correct, and this becomes particularly vile and obnoxious as soon as they travel abroad; the more so if English is not the spoken language at the destination. Making up for their helplessness and anxiety by arrogance and aggressiveness.
After reading the entire Article by Ramin, I was “confused”, and had to desiccate his article, in order to concentrate what his message was.
I have highlighted expression used by Ramin to illustrate his message:
“This column talks about the post-Trump realizations”
“Trump was undoubtedly the one person who put fear into all”.
“The election of Joe Biden”
“staggeringly clear to non-Americans” – “not even a democratically-elected American”.
“Trump’s defeat is still an assumption”
“The staggering burden of proof on those who claim a criminal conspiracy of electoral fraud”
“The half-leftist Bernie Sanders supporters were similarly shut out once their vote was used”
“In 2020 the US is even more gutted, due to this spectacularly awful year”. CORONA?
“The current American elites’ versions of free trade”
“The corruption of the US elite, as well as their failed neoliberal response to the Great Recession”
“Trump policies of deregulation and liberal capitalism”
“In 2016 Trump shockingly talked about extending an olive branch to Russia”
“Trump was absolutely vilified for it in all the US power circles.
“Eisenhower’s seemingly technocratic “military-industrial complex”
“The fall of Trump proves detente with the US is simply not going to be permitted.
“Trump was not just unhindered but applauded by the US Deep State
“Trump still crushing revolutionary, sovereignty-demanding or just smaller nations
“Trump openly promised death to Iran, Palestine and Cuba
“Trump looks like he will be the first ex-president to ever face prosecution.
“There are countless articles in American mainstream media which prove this analysis right”
“So why would China kowtow to Biden?
“Biden will do anything to earn the attention and admiration of grandchildren”
“Why would China expect Biden to extend mutually-beneficial cooperation?
“Obama was a successful brand change”
“Biden has none of Obama’s charisma, youth, acting ability”
“Maybe some other American will try”
“Feel free to guess my opinion”.
I fully support the Saker community rules of free speech, without attacking the Author personally.
But Ramin please saved us all some time, by stating your message short and precise.
As an example you could just write:
“I’m an Iranian who has fled the Ayatollah to (Gay Paris?), and now I hate all things connected to Trump”.
Trump was democratically elected but Biden’s is a fraud?
How convenient that election fraud only just happened in 2020
What if Trump’s election was also a fraud along with every other president in recent or past history?
Its easy to see every previous president’s allegiance to the Military Industrial complex. and it’s even easier to see it in Trump.
Trump casually tweeting about troop withdrawal does not equate to Him announcing a serious policy of peace. Or even a formal announcement of an intention to peace.
That never happened.
Obama talked peace and continued wars, how is it that when Trump does exactly the same thing he is somehow not a tool of the permanent state?
To an outside observer all the wars and military bullying including assassinations continued uninterrupted.
Is anyone aware that Obama supporters also claimed that he was hampered in making “peace” by the very same deep state.
As a non American I continue to see journalists who write for alternative publications display their cultural bias and stick to familiar and false left / right paradigm in defending whoever is on their preferred side of the aisle.
There simply is no basis in fact or evidence to claim that Trump has been acting against his wishes or the deep state in any of his executive decisions on foreign or domestic policy.
He isn’t playing 4D Chess and Q is a political propaganda construct. The other side of the Russiagate coin is Q Anon. Both so inane that to an outside observer it is absolutely incredible that millions of Americans believe one or the other like a religion.
It doesnt have to be election fraud. It could just as easily be a financial fraud like occurred in the Ukraine and jr. Biden.
Should his position verses his pay become legally questionable and then prosecutable, and he then was found guilty of something, papa Biden would be just as guilty but not just as prosecutable.
Now if this did occur, papa would either freak out and go nuts over the situation right on stage, or he would he turn his back and thank the boy for taking the hit for the good of the “country”, his country.
K
A good point, stating the obvious –
“What if Trump’s election was also a fraud along with every other president in recent or past history?”
Meanwhile propaganda is unleashed to obfuscate the populace, so that, they don’t quite realize who is actually ruling them. As a bonus, the people have a ready-made excuses to blame all their problems. In quick succession we have Russia-gate and then Dominion-gate both seemingly stolen elections, given one’s perspective. The problem is that the excuses are becoming more frequent, and what with a pandemic in between, this has led to Americans’ mental health issues hitting 20 year lows as per a recent Gallup poll –
https://twitter.com/GallupNews/status/1335929686719913987?s=20
The swarthing of Russia — which continued thru parts og Bolshevic yearas –and continues to this day: It started shortley after the Napoleonic wars and i a psy-op lasting to this day. Thru the crimean war thay from London weakened both the Russians and the Ottoman Turks and secured their grasp and grabs over Mustafa Alli’s Egypt and the feauchur Gulf Kanel between the MEDITARRANIAN ND RED (ARAB/INDIAN seaways.
”Who is actually giving the foreign policy orders? Feel free to guess my opinion, but we know it is certainly not public opinion.”
Yes, it’s definitely not public opinion. Here’s my analysis.
The “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” (EESA) — the act that prevented the Oligarchic Transnational Elite Collective (OTEC) from suffering losses and created the TBTF banks:
https://www.congress.gov/110/plaws/publ343/PLAW-110publ343.pdf
Although there are many formerly illegal, unprecedented actions allowed/required by that act, for the present purpose, the following Section 112 is most important:
“SEC. 112. COORDINATION WITH FOREIGN AUTHORITIES AND CENTRAL BANKS.
The Secretary shall coordinate, as appropriate, with foreign financial authorities and central banks TO WORK TOWARD THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SIMILAR PROGRAMS BY SUCH AUTHORITIES AND CENTRAL BANKS. To the extent that such foreign financial authorities or banks hold troubled assets as a result of extending financing to financial institutions that have failed or defaulted on such financing, such troubled assets qualify for purchase under section 101.”
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Just exactly how much of this unprecedented, completely-experimental “coordination” between foreign financial authorities and central banks is taking place this very day, and just exactly WHAT is its REAL goal?
IMO, the human beings doing the “coordinating” are the not-so-famous “Group of 30” and their very famous members:
https://group30.org/members
A pretty diverse, pretty rich, pretty international bunch, don’t you think? I couldn’t think of a better bunch to guarantee the continuing existence of the OTEC and their TBTF banks – more correctly, “global systemically important banks” (G-SIBs).
https://www.fsb.org/wp-content/uploads/P111120.pdf
And that is the REAL purpose of the EESA, TARP and the Group of 30 – to maintain the OTEC as the OTEC. Nothing else matters to them.
”It wasn’t a great reformism, but it was something different and positive in some ways. To stop it the US elite gutted their own nation’s psyche, culture, integrity, friendships, families and communities.”
The question is, just exactly WHY did the OTEC do all of that damage? And the answer is once again, as always, to remain the OTEC and protect their G-SIBs.
IMO, the importance of Nixon closing the gold window in 1971 and the secret establishment of the petrodollar with Saudi Arabia just a few years later cannot be overstated. Why? Because were Saudi Arabia to sell all of its US treasuries, terminate the petrodollar arrangement with the US, stop buying US weapons and, say, do a similar deal with, say, China today, the USD would lose de-facto reserve currency status overnight and the lifestyle of average Americans would change dramatically for the worse almost as quickly………… at least until major systemic changes came into being within the US proper. This is why Trump could not punish or sanction Saudi Arabia after MbS had Khashoggi disappeared. This is why any US president will be literally forced to oppress Iran as long as the US-petrodollar arrangement exists. Literally NOTHING ELSE but the petrodollar arrangement “backs up” the printed-out-of-thin-air USD. The US and at least several of its vassal states and the EU organizations would be “over” without it, and the latter know it (which is also the reason for the financial/monetary “circle jerk” between US and foreign central banks and “financial authorities” having to continue).
Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea would not be “over” should the US and its vassals all fail. And THAT is precisely why the former are a great threat to the latter, and MUST remain so forever. Any candidates for public office in the US who threaten to create peace MUST, and will, be destroyed …………. because peace would destroy the US’s war-addicted economy.
You know what’s funny. All of the above could be explained to the US Bewildered Herd very quickly and very understandably, But the tens of millions who are directly or indirectly employed by the MIC don’t want to hear it………..they don’t want to know what’s really going on. They just want to keep their jobs.
Any candidates for public office in the US who threaten to create peace MUST, and will, be destroyed …………. because peace would destroy the US’s war-addicted economy.
Bingo! No MIC = US economic collapse. Exactly as was always intended.
I am more than a bit baffled by the take of these articles on the the election and the identification of Trumpas a reformer perhaps that is because i am a citizen of the US but more likely it is because I follw the advice of one of my professors, “Watch what they do not what they say.”
Trump has basically continued all the wars initiated by Bush and Obama intensified the war in Yemen, cancelled arms control treaties, moved troops closer to Russia, increased provocations in The South China Sea, started a trade war with China, interfered in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Instituted unilateral sanctions against Iran after leaving the nuclear treaty. So what is so great about his reforms?
He also pulled out of the Paris accords and gutted domestic environmental protection regulations worsening chances to address global warming. ( a major issue ignored by this website.)
Finally elections in the USA are always questionable and unfair. Trump never won the popular vote. The Electoral college has always been rigged to favor the right. Voter suppression of minorities is a national disgrace which allowed Trump to win the Electoral college in 2016. That is the rule in the US but he no more won the election in 2016 than many commenters maintain that Biden lost in 2020. For the world at large it is a good thing that the US is as divided as it is. Please get over the 2020 US presidential election and report on the rest of the world.
Folks outside the US need to understand the truth of my Finnish Uncle John comment about US politicians. “They are all crooks except Bob La Follette” Well Bob La Follette is dead. We have very few replacements and Donald Trump is certainly not one of them.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/12/18/roadmap-to-trump-reelection-yes-still-possible/
Trump has all the valuable cards.
Trump gave up quite a while back, his tweets and statements are mere tokens to ameliorate his supporters.
It’s best to quit clutching at straws.
Biden doesnt really enter into the equation because he will be removed from the top fairly quickly if he were to be let in on 20 January and from my info and recent reports him getting there wont happen. So there isnt any brand change of the type you alleged as you can guarantee Hillary will end up in his spot within 3 months. And she has the charisma of an earthworm.
And as for this notion Trump would be leaving – his support base wont be leaving but still be around to sabotage and wreak havoc for the next 50 years on both the country and GOP. Trump is merely the figurehead of a extraordinarily powerful voting and eco block. Do you think Trumpers will give future votes, election party support and donations to establishment GOP if they let the Democrat election fraud be gotten away with ?
This notion that getting rid of Trump will get rid of his ideas and policies is an illusion because a phoenix would rise from the ashes to destroy those who took him down – if in fact it were to happen. Like cutting of the head of a cobra and it grows another much bigger one.
So just removing Trump himself will not get rid of Trumpism at all.
It will in fact solidify his supporters into retaliatory efforts and even more advanced efforts in future elections and there is even talk now of campaigning against he 2 Georgia GOP Senator, candidates in the runoff election pending as punishment for failing to assist Trump – which means the GOP & McConnell wont control the Senate (and I predict Mitch wont be their Senate majority leader for much longer).
I dont agree with every Trump policy but on balance its certainly better than what Hillary and Biden would have delivered.
As for China-Australia, Aust doesnt need China trade it can source from elsewhere, but China needs Australian iron ore, alumina, magnesite, mineral sands, natural gas etc… and clean food stuffs.
A US President does control US foreign policy because if he refuses to follow the deep state line then they cannot do much about it.
US reformism wasnt lost but merely frustrated for the past 4 years and the opera isnt over until the fat lady sings.
I think you made some wrong assessments in your calculations, the first being those billions in trade that Australia receives from its trade with China, products they can buy/trade from other countries, the second that the president controls foreign policy ask Ike and Nixon about how the CIA screwed up the upcoming peace meeting in Paris with the V, C. Or the Gary Powers flight over Russia which torpedo the upcoming meeting with the Russian leader or JFK about that one.
Trump was meant to win for if he haden’t been all those to close to call states Mich., Wis., Fla., would have gone to Clinton, and he served them well with the huge tax cut he gave the 1% which isn’t adding in the trillions that flowed into the financial system due to the virus, or the billions over the four years that he increased in the defense budget.!!
The Biden era has started already. Yesterday listening to my car radio was a report alleging ‘hacking’ of the US by a ‘foreign power’ and we all know who that might be. Right on cue today came this report in the Guardian newspaper.
”The US government is still in the dark over how deeply Russian hackers penetrated its networks during the worst ever cyber attack on federal agencies, members of Congress warned on Friday.”
No further comment necessary. It begins.
They are extremely upset that someone circumvented the intelligence community, and in doing so they triggered a national security alert.
The elite just dont eat and sleep the same when the possibility of losing control of something enters the equation.
Pompeo mouthing the same propaganda this morning. Is he now jockeying for a position in the Biden administration? In my mind, after Bolton, Pompeo is the one clear signal that Trump was never on the up and up. He could have fired the fat bastard blowhard at any time, but he didn’t. Fatal flaw, that. The “Trump was a reformer” meme is tragically mistaken. He was never anything of the kind, he was just an embarrassment to the Beltway crowd (and rightfully so), so they dealt with him the way they saw fit.
The amusing thing here is how this horse manure contradicts another core belief of propaganda-addicted retards of the West: Russians are cruel, savage, unintelligent brutes. How could it ever be they would ever master computer hacking? Web pornography might be within Russian intellectual capabilities, but hacking??
Brilliant article and as I made the following points in a previous answer that not only deals with the ‘international’ problems of the new administration it is the combination of those in conjunction with the US internal conflicts that will make things change. I wanted Biden to win as I beleive that three particular considerations are paramount for the US to come to its senses.
1. Education or nowdays referred to as ‘trans gender equity studies’ There is no future in this either economically or scientifically. The belief that as AI and machines take over and therefore we must find something for us humans to occupy ourselves. That we have reached the end of scientific innovation is a fallacy. The Chinese don’t think so.
2. Economics: that the Chinese have developed a system of computerised money transfer from basic shopping to international commerce without the US dollar. The dollars future is in peril.
3. The undue influence of Israel on the US foreign policy of the and the huge sums of money spent in the Middle east and elsewhere. The Holocast finished years ago. Generational guilt is distracting US policy makers.
In all these instances Biden administration is more likely to promote such and therefore the demise of the failed state is more immediate. That will allow the reconstruction to begin much sooner and a reconstruction, as all understand, is inevitable.
Regarding the final point a little satire if you like a laugh … https://youtu.be/l3czFJxV3Z4
Excellent video, John. I’m surprised it hasn’t been taken down yet.
Agreed on all your points as well. The way forward is, alas, not in reforming the system, it’s helping the system implode of its own accord. Political jiu-jitsu in other words. Encourage the system to overcommit its resources and get off balance, and then be ready to apply the minimal force necessary to assist it in falling when it’s ready. Both China and Russia are both doing yeoman’s work in that regard as we speak.
Hi Disaffected.
In answer to your comment but slightly off topic (Moderators note) I believe the algorithm cannot quantify satire. By exaggerating the positives to a point of ridiculousness confuses the algorithm. It would need human intervention and that costs money.
Interesting …… we shall see what happens as I do this with a lot of my videos … apart from the painting ones. Also I don’t monetise the videos. So there may be an opening for comedy and satire on youtube (also seems to work onTwitter). We can only hope. The only video not shown was one of mine by ‘UNZ Review’ called ‘The Merchant of Vice’ starring Jeffery Epstein. They would not show it on the site but provided the link with a warning. For those interested here is a link: https://youtu.be/TKwofXANYWU
cheers.
Updated the same video today in the hope it will now pass the moderators. Also I made Epstein Caesar and Maxwell Cleopatra all the others true lookalikes and specifically called it satirical comedy.
https://youtu.be/pcAJzAPhqmk
Just whom is to manage, (and pay for), this so called reconstruction?
And how does one know if they are any more competent than their predecessors were at what appears to be the destruction of part of the human race.
It has happened many many times before in history and more recently to France, Russia and China. Initally it is upsetting but to destroy corruption and a corrupt elite it becomes necessary particulary when a country divides itself into rich and poor as in the US now and loses any morality. Initally, in most cases, the reconstruction is severe as you imagined and those who first achieve power are not usually competent. Just read history and you will get the answers. Finally you or me will likely not see the results as they take some time yet our children will perhaps be saved. Cheers. John
I think its conjecture, it will never come to pass as imagined.
”Who is actually giving the foreign policy orders? Feel free to guess my opinion, but we know it is certainly not public opinion. Trump obviously tried to please public opinion and pull out of Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere and we all saw what happened – he was absolutely vilified for it in all the US power circles.”
Well, yes and no. The average Pindo of course doesn’t give any orders, but the popular mood in the US is squarely behind the parasitic misappropriation of other countries’ land, labour output, and natural resources. The Pindos don’t take lightly to being refused their ”fair share” of the booty. If — and that’s a big if — Trump did try to please public opinion by hinting at pulling out of several oppressed countries militarily, then either he was contemplating political seppuku or his audience (real or imagined) was non-American.
Putting Vladimir Putin in charge of Pindostan would make an actual difference. Would the Pindos approve of it? Of course not. Intelligent, courageous people don’t resonate with Pindo proclivities, LOL.
Biden only won a trip to GITMO. He will never be president.
“However, it’s obviously incredibly unfortunate that the moderate reforms suggested by Trump – especially the peaceful ones in foreign policy – could not even be attempted. Maybe some other American will try, but they should now be prepared to undergo the Trump treatment.”
You as an Iranian should know that Trump’s foreign policy “reforms” included killing the JCPOA, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, and screwing the Palestinians with “the deal of the century.” This was all done in return for Sheldon Adelson’s “thirty pieces of silver.” Now, having lost the 2020 election, he’s the most dangerous man on the planet as he schemes to invoke near-dictatorial powers under the USA Patriot Act. Expect a redo of 9/11 this time blamed on Iran. I’m certain the Israeli’s are working on it.
Ramin’s expose is very descriptive of only one side of the scenario of the last four years.
Yet for all his deep analysis and extrapolation he misses a glaring side of this landscape.
You illustrate Trump as some sort of lone gunman who rode into Dodge. My take is he didn’t come alone. A deeper analysis would entail who brought him
there. Who or what is holding his feet to the fire and preventing him from surrendering
against all odds even until today. Analyze and answer that question, Removed. Mod.
Smoke and Mirrors for distraction. The Crimes of the Rule of Law powers ,which here in Canada would be the Crown ,were not intended to be forever hidden. In the past 500 years much wrangling and jangling has carried on mostly unabated. Here We Are. The Crown/Crowns of Europe thought it good to’ Now’ encourage American Colonization by whites ,back awhile ,for to build a Military Pitbull Power which would serve Them well in the Last War Ever. WW wtf? A Glimmer of A New Day has put the Wild Beast in a Panic. This is Evident. Strong Delusions. Just Saying.
A broad brush discussion of the 2016 and 2020 elections that does not mention Bernie Sanders is seriously deficient. Few people who watched this closely would deny that given a fair process, an honest vote count, and a Deep State that wouldn’t have dispatch him if he had won as was done in Chile, Bernie would now be preparing for his second term as President and US politics would be very different.
Despite having largely been locked out of the Mainstream Media, Bernie remains America’s most popular and trusted politician. and his views and policy positions on fundamental issues have the support of a substantial majority of the people, including a majority of the white working people and a majority in America’s “flyover country”. Witness in 2016, Bernie carried every single county in West Virginia and every single county in Kansas.
Bernie’s challenge to the Deep State and the Empire is much more fundamental and principled than Trump’s. Say what you like about him and the strategic and tactical choices he made, love him or hate him, yet any analysis of our current political situation and dilemmas, of how and why the Trump phenomenon happened and what its future might be, must include a reckoning with this underlying reality and complete success so far of our political system in excluding Bernie’s working-class base from any real access to power or even influence.