By Ramin Mazaheri and crossposted with PressTV
Ramin Mazaheri 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 the books ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’ and the upcoming ‘Socialism’s Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism.’
Donald Trump, in his inimitable way, continues to reveal to the world the brutal imperialist truths of “democracy with American characteristics”.
When the Iraqi Parliament voted to expel US troops as a result of Washington’s inhuman slaying of Iran’s Qassem Soleimani US President Donald Trump made it very clear: Iraq belongs to the United States, completely.
“We will charge (Iraq) sanctions like they’ve never seen before, ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.” Trump added the sanctions would be imposed on Iraq, “if there’s any hostility, that they do anything we think is inappropriate.”
In my mind this is perhaps the 2nd-most important news out of Iraq this year: the public acknowledgment that the US is never leaving Iraq, will never countenance Iraqi dissent and would rather destroy Iraq than recognise its sovereignty.
This was a naked declaration from Trump to Iraq that, “We are your imperial masters.”
Iraq cannot even dare to do anything which Washington might consider “inappropriate” – the values of Washington decide what is “inappropriate” in Iraq, not Iraqi values.
Iraqis, I’m sorry to say, should realise that they have become the 51st US state .(Well, the 52nd, after Puerto Rico.) The Iraqi people have zero sovereignty, its votes are worthless nonsense, and Iraq cannot go against the will of the US federal government any more than Wyoming, Rhode Island or Nebraska can.
My claim here is not an overreaction, and especially when we consider what exactly did Iraq do “wrong” in order to “deserve” sanctions?
Iraq is not Iran – they do not keep defending a popular revolution which successfully mixed Islam and democracy, something the West claims is impossible. Iraq is not North Korea, who refuse to let US troops and corporations based in Seoul move up to the China-Russia border. Iraq is not China, who has a government overseen by a party which refuses to let Western high finance control its major industries (however, I note that Iran is even more vigilant in this regard than China, which earns Iran even more Western animosity).
Baghdad has worked with Washington for nearly two decades.
Yes, we can say that this work was done at the barrel of a US cannon, but Iraq has complied with US demands. Iraqis have created links, contacts, contracts and all sorts of entanglements with Americans and American businesses.
And yet Trump made it clear that without the presence of US troops that all means nothing.
It is now crystal clear that there is zero goodwill from Washington after all these years, zero trust, zero desire to see Iraq stand on its own two feet. Every American smile to an Iraqi inside the Green Zone has been false; every warm word a cold lie.
It’s an amazing declaration by Trump – all the years of talk about “humanitarian intervention” and about the US desire to bring “freedom to Iraq” has been declared a sham. This was guessed at by countless billions of non-Western people, but the threat of sanctions which make the Iran sanctions look “tame”… my God, hasn’t Iraq complied enough at least to avoid that?!
In many ways, this is all a part of the “beauty” of Trump.
Trump came to office in large part because he says things which Main Street knows but which no mainstream politician would even dare to suggest. Trump is such a terror to the Pentagon, Wall Street, Madison Avenue and the Beltway – which concocted an impeachment plan before Trump was even inaugurated – because Trump cannot be trusted to lie properly, and that makes him a risk to US domination.
We cannot imagine Barack Obama bragging about the sanctions he would levy on Iraq if they voted out US troops – he was a smooth-faced liar. Obama would have talked instead about reconciliation with the past, peace and not justice, patience… and then “temporarily surge” more soldiers to Iraq.
Hillary Clinton had none of Obama’s charm – she would have reacted by boringly referring to the legal obligations of Iraq, the feasibility of processes, what the definition here of “vote” is, etc. And then should would have decided on a reaction even more brutal than one Obama or Trump could conceive.
Any “normal president” would have responded to the Iraqi vote in a way which would have calmed the situation; in a way which would have reassured Westerners that, despite their nagging consciences, they were actually doing moral and humane things in Iraq; in a way which the Western media could use as a weapon against dissenters of Western capitalism-imperialism and to further their insistence of TINA (There Is No Alternative).
And this is what so many hate Trump for, yet many others value: if the US had a “normal president” many would have complacently and mistakenly continued to believe there is genuine goodwill from Washington towards the Iraqi people. Instead Trump speaks from his gut and makes it clear: “Ha!”
It’s a big, fat “Ha!” indeed.
Trump is hated by the US 1% because he egotistically and instinctively wants to take the credit and power inherently contained by this “Ha!”, but by doing so he threatens to upset the whole enterprise of US domination; he threatens to provoke resentment which could turn revolutionary.
The Iraqi people need to understand this sadistic laughing, this murderous contempt, this arrogant gloating.
The world is often fooled by brand repackaging like Obama, (phony, alleged) technocrats like Hillary Clinton and professional foolers like Bill Clinton – nobody is fooled by Trump. Trump’s egotism make it impossible to be fooled.
To Trump the Iraqi people do not even have the power of children to mildly rebel, but he is not the only president to hold such an imperial view.
As usual, this was an overreaction by Trump: while I certainly hope it comes to pass (although the US State Department has just officially rejected any troop withdrawal), I will believe there are no US soldiers in Iraq – no “advisors”, “technicians” or “contractors” – when I finally see it. But Trump is undoubtedly on edge over an, empty, superficial, Biden corruption-covering, essentially anti-democratic impeachment process. Incredibly, incredibly lamentably, Trump assassinated Soleimani merely to provide a distraction, and he’s not about to have some puny nobodies like Iraqis make him look weak domestically now.
Iraqis only exist to serve the US – this is what Trump’s threats to terribly sanction Iraq mean.
The pity of it is that Iraqis already know all about inhuman Western sanctions: I used to ask Iraqi friends how their family was doing amid the sanctions (1990-2003) and they said, “Please, stop asking – it just gets worse and worse.” You know they were inhuman and starvation-inducing by the very name of the “concession” plan the West finally granted – the “oil-for-food program”.
Ugh. Iraqis should hope for only Iran-level sanctions, compared to that.
Indeed, it is not a pleasant past, present or future for Iraq.
Their vote to expel US soldiers and reclaim sovereignty was along sectarian lines, just as Washington would have hoped for (or the French in Lebanon, to give another parallel of “Western democratic culture”). It was unanimous, but missing about 150 public servants – Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers didn’t vote.
Will Iraq’s non-Shia politicians also absent themselves when a vote comes up to denounce Trump’s new sanctions? I really don’t see what Shia theology has to do with voting against foreign occupation – do Iraqis think the US will tolerate Iraqi soldiers and bases in the US? Do they think Washington is kidding? The Washington Post reported the new sanctions are already being drafted.
Do Iraq’s non-Shia politicians still think that Washington is their friend and partner? Do non-Shia Iraqis really view their fellow Shia as more dangerous and disagreeable than the current reality – permanent colonisation by the US? Or are these politicians too close to the US (to use a polite phrase) and not close enough to the lower classes, their crushed reality and and their legitimate demands?
We will not get another Trump era anytime soon – we should appreciate the way he shatters one illusion after another, laying bare the realities which so many Westerners have laboured so hard to cover up for so very, very long.
Well as the Saker acknowledges; “dialectically”, Donald Trump serves the world revolution. There is more than one way to be a revolutionary. Flashing of lightning appearing inside the mists of carefully managed lies. Disturbing and unsettling indeed, of the comforts that surround and smooth adjustment to empire.
I agree. Joe Bob Briggs had it pegged back in August 2016 when he wrote the line, Donald Trump is Human Luminol..
His article is very funny, and clever; and, anyone seeking to understand the Trump phenomenon would be well served to read it. (My opinion.)
Snow Leopard
Too true!
I will go one step further and pose what amounts to a few very simple rhetorical questions that should be dead simple to answer for anyone other than a complete Drumpftard or foaming at the mouth Deep Stater.
#1 Would the shootdown of the Ukrainian 737 in Tehran have occurred if Suliemani had not been murdered and the war on Iran taken to this new level?
#2 Would then a certain war council not be the ultimately responsible…unintended consequences yes…but responsible nevertheless?
#3 Given that this war council is appointed by the TIC [Tweeter in Chief] is his hands not then in effect covered with the blood of yet another 176 innocent people?
If the TIC is not already firmly ensconced as a Deep State asset then they need to formally recruit him and take him into their fold quick-smart.
Indeed he is such a wizard at causing mayhem that he could actually teach them a thing or two about their very own craft. Matter of fact, while they are at it they could clone him…imagine the scale of the chaos they could create then.
YCHMTSU
Col
Very hard to keep up…yet another development…
“British ambassador in Tehran, Rob Macaire, was arrested shortly after photographing the protests. Iranian state sources are alleging he was helping to “organize” and incite the protests.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/death-liars-iran-protests-demand-ayatollah-quit-over-airliner-shootdown-uk-ambassador
and…well actually, every other trick in the book you could possibly mention…
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-warns-iraq-it-risks-losing-access-to-key-bank-account-if-troops-told-to-leave-11578759629?mod=breakingnews
And last but definitely not the least CJ’s take…man does this lady tell it like it is!
“Like, of course we want you to be a sovereign nation! Just not the kind of sovereign where your elected government has any say in what happens in your country. We want you to be the kind of sovereign nation that does everything our government tells it to do. That kind of sovereignty we can really get behind!
I also love the “America is a force for good in the Middle East” bit. Right. When a bunch of guys with guns show up at my house, start killing my family members and refuse to leave, the first thing I’m going to think is, “These guys are such a force of good!”
YCHMTSU
Col
and the link…https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/01/11/so-the-us-is-invading-iraq-again/
Not so sure of that for Trump is part of the deep state,he is street wise,a con artist,knows how the mob is run,knows how to twist peoples minds,like others before him in the past who lead their countries into destruction,Germany,Japan and Italy comes to mind.
The only thing Trump has done is to put it out into the open, and people are clapping and cheering for more, as in the American mind we sit at the right hand of the almighty,God is on our side will will win come hell or high water,hell will come before water for blood will be spilled, rivers of blood before this one plays out,but after all the American people put him office now they bear the responsibility for Trump does it in their name not his.!!!!!
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/01/iraq-withdrawal-troops-status-of-forces.html
U.S. Rejects Iraqi Demand to Withdraw Troops. Can We Do That?
The U.S. response to Mahdi’s demand has been more or less “No.” A State Department statement on Friday, after beginning dramatically, “America is a force for good in the Middle East,” made clear that any future negotiations would be “dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal.”
I imagine the author didn’t meant it literally, but to avoid any confusion among the readers I would just like to point out that Puerto Rico is NOT the 51st state of the United States.
Yes, about half of the Island’s people want statehood and the other half wants to remain an U.S. controlled territory without becoming a state because us Puerto Ricans have been brainwashed by the Empire for 100 years to think that the U.S. is good, can do no wrong, and that Puerto Rico can’t survive without it.
But Puerto Rico is still NOT a state, and it will NOT become one, at least in the short and medium term, in the long term I can’t really predict accurately), because the U.S. NEVER INTENDED to turn Puerto Rico into a state of the Union.
In fact, not only Puerto Rico isn’t a state, it has NOT even been incorporated into the United States. Meaning, that (to quote one of the Insular Cases which I can’t remember): “Puerto Rico belongs to, but is not part of, the United States.” So rather than having a place in the indivisible Union of states, Puerto Rico is just a mere possession that the U.S. usurped to serve their strategic interests. In other words, it is a colony.
What we Puerto Rican need is to realize that the Zionist, Wall Street, and Deep State controlled U.S. Empire is evil and a threat to the world; regain confidence in ourselves, and excercise our legitimate right to self-determination by demanding our independence.
I just wanted to write the same 10 minutes ago . PR Is not a State and will never be one. PR belongs to the spanish speaking family but pricans.have been brainwashed for decades, many boricuas thinks that the anglos see them as equals. Wrong.
During the Summer it happened to me to be in the canary Islands in the same Hotel with Farruko AND His troupe,(during the demos against Roselló) i spoke with a few of them, itsurprised me that most of them wanted the us out of PR, they only wanted the us passport, …other than that..
Vieques was still fresh in their minds.
Anglos are vacating PR….when the Island is almost empty, they will give you independence.
Paciencia se llama el juego, tarde o temprano se irán. Un abrazo
The Sunni and Kurds are cooperating in the tripartite division of spoils taken from the dismembered body of a deceased Iraqi state. Just watch. There is plan. This is not random. The Shia need look to the unity of their own house.
The author seems caught by surprise and very naïve. This plan has been in the works for decades and wont be stopped because of some minor setbacks or impotent rumblings from Russia or China. By now, Iraq’s younger generations have become accustomed to internet access, video games, western music, western fashion, western culture, pornography, pre martial sex, and all the other gifts of ” democracy ” and many don’t even want the US to leave. For all the talk of impendence and national free will, asks yourself this, why hasn’t ” powerhouse ” Germany kicked out US troops yet ? What about ” free ” Japan ? South Korea ? What would happen if they tried ? Why are they afraid ? Do you think poor battered and traumatized Iraq has a chance ? Also, unless Iran is prepared to go to total war, it too will fall as its young generations are ” modernizing ” and its only a matter of time till they want to join the ” civilized ” world.
I don’t know what’s more delusional that you believe the Iraqis are the same ase the Germans or Japanese, or that what the AngloZionist cancer has to offer is even remotely civilized.
I don’t know about Japan, or Korea, but I know for sure that most Germans, especially the younger generations, would like to see the Americans out of their country. However, they have the same problem the Iraq is now having. The ass…. just won’t leave.
Impeach him and then present him to the Hague.,,,,,,,,,,
As the Iraqi Prime Minister explained……..After my return from China, Trump called me and asked me to cancel the agreement, so I still refused, and he threatened me with massive demonstrations that would topple me. Indeed, the demonstrations started and then Trump called, threatening to escalate in the event I did not cooperate and do as he asked.
This is what led to the US Attacks on Iraqi Military and PMU Hundreds of Miles from the “Incident” at K1 base. The attack Trump claims to be retaliating against was against an Iraqi base, not an American base, an attack by ISIS where an American oil worker was killed on an Exxon oil facility…where oil has been stolen from Iraq for years. This is Trump escalating the situation in Iraq as he threatened to do.
The base which was attacked housed not just Iraqi regulars but PMF units, who were also attacked, the same units Trump says staged the attack. The attack was using a Romanian built 122mm rocket, that were supplied to ISIS by the US. The BBC admits that the K1 base housed PMF militias who were there to protect K1 from ISIS. Trump used his ISIS proxies to escalate by attacking K1. Trump then bombed PMU forces in northern Iraq who were actually fighting ISIS which then led to the US embassy being attacked,
Trump then escalated further by murdering General Qassem Soleimani in the most despicable way possible……Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdl Mahdi has now officially revealed that the US had asked him to mediate between the US and Iran. General Qassem Soleimani had come to talk to him and give him the answer to his mediation efforts. Thus, Soleimani was on an OFFICIAL DIPLOMATIC PEACE MISSION as part of a diplomatic initiative INITIATED BY THE USA.
Thanks for that succinct explanation of details of event & persons surrounding this incident.
I didn’t know the Iraqi PM was in China right before, discussing ??.
Maybe promising China its oil, too, after the squatters leave (one way or another)?
There must have been a last straw moment for Mr. T. in here some where.
Think of the magnitude of treachery this act openly crows over, say, that mass 60 cruise missile sea attack on Syria in 2017, & thus the message intentionally sent to all world “leaders” & their diplomats—much stronger than just saying ‘my way or the highway’. They’re all targets now, if they ever thought before in their arrogance that they were specially exempt.
It’s also far stronger & threatening than the previous tenant’s flippant “I have a pen, & a phone” comment, referring to how he selects who gets droned.
That puts absolutely at the top of the list the Syria leadership.
Reports say Mr. T. looked downright shocked & glum at that press conference claiming Iran backed down, same with his surrounding coterie. It would thus seem he played his trump card & it backfired big, but again why now?
If we look at a financial timeline, it’s notable that since Sept. 17/2019 the Fed has embarked on an unprecedented money binge, to the tune of $100b+ some nights in repos , & lots of POMO permanent injections rarer but still same magnitude in USD.
Almost exactly 60 days before that, on Sept18, INSTEX became operational, & several i-net writers have noted this.
Then, in a live reporter press Q/A session around November/2019, Putin starkly issued the statement that the USD will be gone very soon.
He didn’t just say “soon”.
But how is he harmonizing this with China, who still has a huge stash to get rid of, around $1 trilliion supposedly? (ZH reported a few months ago that Russia had sold almost all its USD holdings, now near zero.)
China and the Iraqi PM were negotiating oil for infrastructure. China will help rebuild Iraq. They have prior deals for oil and have had “security forces” in Iraq to protect some of the properties involved. Making a barter deal makes sense, but it is tricky because oil prices fluctuate.
Here’s a good article by Federico Pieraccini that goes into details of the China deal with Iraq, threats by the US President and the Soleimani assassination as a desperate move by the US because the region’s leaders showed strong signs of moving away from US demands, especially a looming war with Iran.
https://theduran.com/the-deeper-story-behind-the-assassination-of-soleimani/
Its way more than oil for infrastructure, the trip to China was about removing the US from Iraq…….“Upon arriving in Beijing on September 19 at the head of a 55-member delegation, Iraq Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi described the visit to China as heralding a “quantum leap” in bilateral relations. The five-day visit culminated in the signing of eight wide-ranging memoranda of understanding (MoUs), a framework credit agreement, and the announcement of plans for Iraq to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since then, however, a wave of angry anti-government protests have swept across much of Iraq, leaving more than 100 dead and thousands wounded — a vivid reminder of the country’s ongoing struggle for stability and of the obstacles to the further consolidation of China-Iraq relations.”
Tom asks: When is the US $ hegemony ended? Good question.
He answers the question”…China (which) still has a huge stash the get rid of, around $1trillion…”. Yes! Check the PRC-Cambodia relationship.
Twenty-four ‘countries’ use the S$ domestically, Cambodia is by far the most significant and the largest nation and is in an investment frenzy with mega-massive construction projects (roads, railways, hotels, apartments,Sihanoukville, Naga Town, casinos, ports, new cities, etc.). Primarily Chinese sourced.
When Cambodia is built-out, the $ ‘processed’, the money ‘land banked’ then the guillotine comes down on the dollar, the timing will be Chinese (IMO).
In the last few months, 470,000 Chinese have left Cambodia.
Locals are concerned.
The time cometh.
Doom Sternz
You said…”Impeach him and then present him to the Hague”.,,,,,,,
Slight problem here though. The Hegemon has publically stated that it does not recognize the authority of this court.
https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-why-does-u-s-have-it-out-for-international-criminal-court-/29484529.html
It’s a great idea but of course, Trump appearing before this court would set a precedent where a procession, of at the very least, the last four Presidents should all be tried for horrendous war crimes.
I would respectively suggest that there is less than a snowball’s chance in hell of this happening, at least in my lifetime anyway. Of course, Tony Blair and Hitlery should also be right up there in this grim murderous queue.
Cheers
Col
”Impeach him /Trump/ and then present him to the Hague.,,,,,,,,,,”
…where the judges would sit and listen in total agreement with his inanities and reactionary demagoguery. A rehash of Hitler’s trial in Munich early 1924. The crimes of Western imperialism such as NATO’s terror bombings in former Yugoslavia will never be addressed in a Western kangaroo court. Mind you, if Russia is defeated then Putin, Lavrov, and Shoigu will be instantly jailed and paraded in the Hague, accompanied by overwhelming Schadenfreude and raw, total hatred from top to bottom of Western society. Trump, Obama, Blair, and other enlightened folks are exempt from its jurisdiction.
It has been several days now and I am still waiting for Mr Mazaheri’s take on the shooting down of the Ukrainian Boeing. Which are his reactions to this disaster I wonder?
A day or two Larchmonter made a comment and I thought, oh boy – its a little over the top. But I tell you, I am there, with Larchmonter, a little over the top. So ..
Welcome newby.
What makes you think Ramin Mazaheri owes you a special column on the shooting down of the Ukrainian Boeing. And which ‘several days’ are you talking about, given that Iran took responsibility for that only in the last 24 hours or so? Maybe he writes about that, maybe not.
Oh boy.
I can foresee an Iran-Iraq reunion to displace the American military troops….get them out of Iraq.
They could do it if they planned it without the knowlege of the US (which could be hard to do), but there is a way they could do it and I think that they will find it! It will be the only path to regaining what sovereignty they had.
Iraq could ask Iran for assistance in removing the US from Iraq.
Iraq sent official protest to Iran abput military action on “its” territory……not happy. Not everything is as rosy as we would hope.
WSJ: U.S. Warns Iraq It Risks Losing Access to Key Bank Account if Troops Told to Leave
The story is behind a paywall at WSJ.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-warns-iraq-it-risks-losing-access-to-key-bank-account-if-troops-told-to-leave-11578759629?mod=breakingnews
However ZH distills it for us peons.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/if-us-does-itll-lose-iraq-forever-trump-threatened-cut-baghdads-access-its-ny-fed-cash
“The warning regarding the Iraqi central bank account was conveyed to Iraq’s prime minister in a call on Wednesday, according to an official in his office, that also touched on the overall military, political and financial partnership between the two countries.
When Iraq needs hard currency, its central bank can request a shipment of bills that it then distributes into the financial system through banks and currency exchange houses. While the country’s official currency is the dinar, U.S. dollars are commonly used.
“The U.S. Fed basically has a stranglehold on the entire [Iraqi] economy,” said Shwan Taha, chairman of Iraqi investment bank Rabee Securities.
The potential economic and financial fallout is weighing on Iraqi officials”
Trump loves the sanction weapons and financial-banking weapons the Hegemon possesses. He’s all in on using every coercion to strangle, starve and screw everyone, friend, foe, ally, adversary. A power-hungry guy who has all the power to dominate the globe, break sovereignties, ignore laws and trample opponents to get his way.
This is Hegemony in full global dominance.
Interesting to be sure but this economic strategy of the hegemon is doomed to fail. Money is only a secondary instrument of political power but one the U.S. braggadodious political frontman has relied on his entire life. For example, if I offered you 6 trillion dollars to you in exchange for your life and those of your progeny you would be unlikely to take the offer.
First the hegemon will offer ideas like freedom and democracy in exchange for total power. Then the use of force will predominate as the lies behind these ideas are exposed. Lastly the bribes will start to take center stage. When money starts to dominate politics it is a sure sign that the power of the hegemon is weakening and that a power struggle is forth coming.
The idea of a shared religion, identity, and history tied to a geographical space is far more important than money. It worth sacrificing even your life for.
We are witnessing the final stages (the outcome, the moment of truth) of the completely experimental “trickle down” economic model that the Fed, etc. unleashed in ’08 – ’09. It is described as follows in the Fed’s one-page Bilble.
“First, there was only darkness. Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’ Then God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ Then God said, ‘Let there be banks.’ Finally, God said, ‘Let there be man.”
As you can see, contrary to what one might expect, there is no complexity to this new economic experiment. It all boils down to this: TBTF banks come first; humanity later. That is, Humanity’s Ultimate Purpose is to serve the TBTF banks; not the other way around. Before humanity will be allowed to enter Heaven On Earth (Utopia), TBTF banks must first control everything.
And, slowly but surely, as all of the TBTF banks’ “enemies” (ironically, NON-TBTF banks) are being assimilated by the TBTF banks, we are getting closer and closer to Heaven.
Fed members know full well that the official inflation / employment statistics are pure B.S. and that inflation is in fact rampant and that low-paid people are borrowing and spending far more than they should.
In the past, under these circumstances, the Fed would raise interest rates WITHOUT raising the IOER, until borrowing and spending were damped down, but this cannot be done today. So some how, any way, the Fed has to “encourage” banks to raise the interest rates that they charge for loans and the use of credit cards, as well as pay to “investors”, while at the very same time preventing the banks from moving their excess reserves (that they’ve been handed by the Fed during QE and, now, repo.) into the real economy. Again, the Fed’s twin moves attempt to do just that.
The Fed-funded US military-security-industrial complex’s (MSIC) vital role in this new experiment is to enforce Fed policy domestically and, globally, to literally force the rest of the world to continue to accept printed-out-of-thin-air USD as payment for real goods and services. (The latter is the real US “foreign policy”.)
To reiterate, there is very little complexity to the real, “forward going” goal of the Fed and other central banks. It is to do literally “whatever it takes”, including ignoring the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and, if necessary, even instituting martial “law” and mass domestic incarceration, to prevent TBTF banks from failing and thereby maintaining the Elite in the lifestyle to which they feel that they are entitled.
Of course how to conduct the interminable wars and at the same time prevent the bewildered herd from stampeding (revolting) is a very complex task that requires a 24/7 MSM propaganda machine as well as a never-ending stream of obfuscating gibberish from Jerome and the members of the FOMC.
Of course the wars and supporting MSM propaganda machine, as well as various Fed-funded hand-outs to keep the herd at manageably quiescent, are astronomically expensive, but all Jerome’s not-so-invisible hand has to do is hold down the “0” key for longer and longer periods of time and all of the Elite’s invoices magically get paid, their wealth infinitely increased, and the stock market going in only one direction.
The above is the US’s new economic system in a nutshell, folks. Jerome holds down the “0” key for longer and longer periods of time; the TBTF banks get bailed out by taxpayers time and time again; the US national debt skyrockets; and the US’s Fed-funded MSIC literally forces the rest of the world to accept those printed-out-of-thin-air USDs as payment for their real goods. Any nation that does not comply with US diktat and accept fiat USD as payment either has its government replaced or is reduced to stone-age chaos.
The Fed’s USD used to be backed by gold. Jerome’s trillions of fiat USD are backed by drones. Mercenaries paid by fiat USD
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1
now replace draftees, so there are no coffins flying back to Main Street, USA to get the bewildered herd riled up, so, as far as the herd is concerned, the wars can go on forever. (Likely another US military cargo plane, loaded with pallets of freshly-printed $100 bills is already flying to Iraq in order to bribe the members of the Iraq parliament into, once again, making nice with their American occupiers. Don’t worry, Jerome’s finger on the zero key pays for all of it.)
There is very little MSM “coverage” of the thousands of US-funded murders and atrocities all over the globe and what little coverage there is only serves to support the US’s exceptional “peace-making”, “nation-building”, “democracy-spreading” efforts. It’s a tough job, but the US simply has no other choice than to do it.
In short, the TBTF banks’ insulation is thick and the number of fiat USDs is infinite, so, unfortunately, it’s beginning to look like the one only thing that will stop the US’s new, politically-unstoppable “whatever it takes” perpetual-war / TBTF-bank-based economic system is a nuclear strike undertaken by nations who are being victimized by it.
In the times of Dayton, Slobodan Milosevic gave a paper to American officer Lawrence Eagleberger, asking him to write down:
– What things US ask from Yugoslavia to do, in order to let us alone?
L.E. was surprised:
– What things? We need you to do always and everything we order!!
The article states:
I disagree with that.
I really don’t think that Trump is anything new in admitting how the empire behaves.
In the past 20 years, Washington has become more open as to what they are all about. For instance, George Bush admitted that the US engages in torture. Yes, he called it “enhanced interrogation” but realistically, everyone knew what was happening. Government officials admitted to “waterboarding” which has long been defined as torture under international law. There was even a mainstream American TV program series which gave the impression that torture was just fine as long as it was done by the US.
In Presidential debates, the moderators asked loaded questions meant to get the candidates to agree that they would use torture if they were elected. They generally agreed. I remember Rudy Giuliani saying the he “would do whatever is necessary” in response to such a question. A person could realistically conclude that he was okay with torturing people.
It was the same with Obama. I remember a spokesman (I think it was Eric Holder) saying that they make careful decisions on who they eliminate with drones. It was a flat out admission that America has an assassination program.
They have been admitting these things for years now. Trump may be the most open about it, but this is not anything new.
It is called ‘barter’ and you get better value than any fiat currency can provide.
It is also under the radar consequently the TBTF banks are completely unaware of it. AND everyone from private individuals through to whole national governments can do it.
Genuine currency has only been in existence for 3500 years.
How do you think people traded for millennia before that? And they did trade far and wide.
Don’t be fooled by the commentators and article writers…most of them live within the TBTF banking system and to some extent approve of it.
Barter. Simples…
Before Trump was elected I told all my acquaintances and family, to their utter disbelief, that I was certain Trump would win the election. When asked how I could believe that, I said, again to their disbelief, that Trump will make a much better President than HRC. When asked why I thought that, I said, HRC will have us smiling and feeling good about ourselves as WWIII consumes the planet, whereas Trump has as a small chance of avoiding WWIII by normalizing relations with Russia (at which he has failed), and failing that he will strip naked the barbarity of the West and possibly push Europe into the arms of Russia. At the time I felt, and still do, that when WWIII happens (notice I said ‘when’ and not ‘if’) the more countries aligned against the U.S. the greater the chance something in the way of human civilization will survive WWIII. The stripping away of the veneer of Western civilization is key.
(And no, I am not from Central Europe nor do I read/listen to much MSM media.)
Hans, you wrote:
I said the exact same things to people and got the exact same look of disbelief.
You also wrote:
That never occurred to me, but that is exactly what is happening.
Mike, Hans
The comment…“…he will strip naked the barbarity of the West and possibly push Europe into the arms of Russia.”…in one small sentence brilliantly summarises the Drumpf reign.
This is the only real legacy of his term. It is precisely what will save humanity. To update it, the word “possibly” can be left out now, as this is exactly what is happening.
Look no further than the recent meeting between Putin and Merkel. It is obvious that Germany and Russia will complete the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 and this will bring them ever closer together and provide yet another resounding slap in the face for the Hegemon.
They will also aid Iran in its current crises and have publically stated that they want to save the JCPOA that was so stupidly torn up. This is an important card in Iran’s hand in almost guaranteeing German and Russian aid in their current crisis. …see below links…
It goes without saying that Drumpf deserves no credit whatsoever as all of this unfolds. He is not part of any grand or noble plan. His blundering actions are simply akin to bull in a china shop lurching around and breaking everything whilst remaining stupidly and insanely oblivious to the damage.
The analogy was completely by accident but happens to be exceedingly apt. The world is indeed now “The China Shop” and a wild bull rages within.
Cheers
Col
and the links…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJT3x_YTLQk
https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/11/merkel-meeting-putin-amid-escalating-iran-us-tensions
Too true.
Behind it all is the mediocre bourgeois class of the West(the civilization that uses the Latin alphabet). It is the sacred duty of every person that is descended from warrior nobility, of both high and low rank, as well as those who aspire to be members of the warrior class, to wage war against the Western bourgeoisie and it’s quintessential state, the US, a country founded by bourgeois landlords and merchants. This command for war applies especially to Italians, French and Hispanics. The five hundred plus years of bourgeois development in the Roman West must be destroyed.
The playbook is nothing new and has been used many times before.
In Argentinia 1933 the elites were bribed and signed up to become a de facto colony of Gb.
Check the Roca-Runciman treaty and its background.
It is also in line with Israel’s long term goal of conquering the Fertile Crescent.
This is Pompeo’s statement in full regarding being a force for good.
>It is a truth that isn’t often spoken in this part of the world, but because I’m a military man by training, I’ll be very blunt and direct today: America is a force for good in the Middle East.
We need to acknowledge that truth, because if we don’t, we make bad choices – now and in the future. And our choices, the choices we make today have consequences for nations, and for millions and millions of people, for our safety, for our economic prosperity, for our personal freedoms, and those of our children.
So, he shows America is a force for good by then sending a veiled threat, a warning: If countries don’t acknowledge this truth they make bad choices with bad outcomes for millions and millions of people for safety prosperity and freedoms, even threatening children.
I was actually right when I was a very little boy and used to hide under my blanket: There really are monsters in the world! It doesn’t matter if they are called Pompeo, Trump, Esper, Bolton, Clinton, Bush, Obama, democrat or republican, it is the same ugly, blood thirsty monster who operates without a conscience, or so it appears. How can anyone put out an order to blow someone to bits, or starve an entire nation to death and then claim to have a functioning human conscience and be a force for good?
I’m afraid this monster is so vile that they would rather destroy everything than not possess what they covet.
You wrote:
That is exactly what I thought when Barack Obama publicly cried about the children killed at Newtown. I thought to myself, “either this man is the biggest hypocrite who ever lived or he doesn’t grasp the fact that the children he was murdering Middle East are just as loved as children in the United States.”
Again what is not seen in the public statements are the private influences instigating them. I can see some generals on their knees (like paulson in 08) begging the secretary to publically declare that we are not leaving Iraq. He would be throwing all the bad things we are not allowed to discuss pubically on the table as to what the consequences would be to the ruling elite if such a statement as we are leaving Iraq would bring. This is not rocket science, its mind control of the few remaining public figures we have in the administration. I would be tossing these beggars out the door and closing their depts.
Beautiful article by Ramin Mazaheri (best journalist in the world).
Well, if Puerto Rico is the 51st US colony (since the Treaty of Paris), then Germany is the 52nd US slave colony (since the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI), and Iraq the 53rd US colony.
(then the US/AngloZionists set up the SS in Germany, and the IS IS in Iraq)
The increasingly (losing) desperate AngloZionist shadow government, in a desperate attempt to turn the tide, put Trump in the White House, because drastically changing policy (in order to hopefully turn the tide) could only convincingly be done by an “outsider” like Trump, and – which is also a reason in itself – keeping up the appearance of democracy is still a priority, anyway.
But it has benefits and risks for them, because in order for Trump to become popular, and to convincingly fool the people, Trump had/has to tell the truth (say the things people want to hear) to a certain extent.
An interesting recursive function, Laika!
“It’s a trap!”
An Infinite Hall of Mirrors We Are All Trapped In Forever……or at least until someone or something……shatters the mirrors. But WAIT!: Is that Bad Luck…..or Humanity’s Collective Good Fortune???
And what If Trump shatters the mirrors???
Should he then be blamed???…..or thanked???
I reject being mesmerized by mind mazes and pessimistic, unsolvable puzzles.
WHY?
Because # 1, Being trapped in them isn’t any fun….. and # 2) Misery may love company, but I won’t provide it with any of mine……nor any of my agreement, ………..sorry!
Remember a few complicating factors that mitigate against the pessimistic outlook prevalent in so many comments here:
1) The real, most intense life and death struggle going on today in the world is going on for the hearts and minds of Americans.
2) So far, Trump is winning that war….and to him every other consideration everywhere…..is less important than maintaining and widening his advantage.
3) In the meantime, the Empire Corrupted Legions of Bureaucrats’…best hope of surviving and prevailing over the Orange Wrecking Ball is A) Ending his life before this goes much further ….or 2) Trapping him into a war, at the behest of their Anglo (that’s Brit, folks….Steele’s bosses…) Empire…..British……the REAL “foreign interference” in US elections.
4) Accordingly I am not 100% convinced that the Soleimani hit was not a trap set for Don, but which not only he, pivoting on a dime, but also those like Rogers and Flynn are intent on him surviving. In which case, everything else we are so pessimistically lamenting here …………. would be just political spin and misdirection for the consumption of the masses…and political damage control by nearly all the players………..as what has unfolded hasn’t gone 100% according to anyone’s “Plan”. In that regard, consider this article of two days ago:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/09/the-kerfuffle-war-trumps-iran-de-escalation-succeeds/
excerpt..now:…(from what I understand Chewning and Sweeney are dismissed senior US military personnel said to have effected the “hit” and then been axed by DJT) :
The immediate termination of Chewning and Sweeney, at the same time as the assassination of Soleimani and Iran’s response raises some big questions. In the near future it will be of critical importance to get to the bottom of any possible relationship that Esper and his subordinates Chewning and Sweeney – who both served as Defense Secretary Esper’s Chiefs of Staff – had to the assassination of Soleimani. The assassination and any number of possible Iranian responses, can push the U.S into a broad and open military conflict with Iran. Such a war would also be Trump’s undoing.
We might otherwise be led to believe that Chewning and Sweeney’s sudden departure has something to do with Ukraine and the recent release of unredacted emails relating to L3Harris Technologies and funding in Ukraine. These of course also relate to the case against Trump and any possible impeachment. But the timing and symbolism of these as concurrent with the provocation against Iran and the blowback, as well as Esper’s backing of the ‘Kerfuffle theory’, lends strong credence to an Iran connection.
The connection to impeachment cannot be denied, but the necessity of uncovering its potential relation to Iran is tremendously important because it directly relates to larger constitutional and practical questions of the president’s ability to have a Department of Defense that works either for or against U.S strategy as formulated and executed by its democratically elected leadership, as opposed to its permanent bureaucratic administration. This is what Trump and his supporters quite rightfully refer to as the ‘Deep State’.
Were elements in the defense department working towards a heightened brinksmanship that the president did not really want? It would be far from the first time in history that such was the case.
And there is another point of view, IMHO more worthy of consideration than the prevalent fatalism of pessimism…because there is ZERO of any durable important value (other than perverse, wallowing satisfaction of the “little me” Victim Ego….) to be gained by pessimism…..and everything to be lost.
Coming up in a separate comment, next.
The assassination and any number of possible Iranian responses, can push the U.S into a broad and open military conflict with Iran. Such a war would also be Trump’s undoing.
You’re seriously misunderestimating the permanent war psyche of the the ameros!
They are actually slobbering for a war with Iran. They think it’s funny, they welcome it & think it’ll be cakewalk like Grenada & panama 1980’s.
I came across by pure accident while searching for other kinds of humor just days ago, after the JAN3 hit but before Iran showcased what it promised to do (note that!), and found this:
I GOT DRAFTED INTO WORLD WAR 3 PRANK ! JAN4/2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poMY5d0Qa50
Painful to hear.
The Iraqi blogs /tweets I’ve perused repeat the same mantra: “We don’t want to be the battleground in the America/Iran war”
The Iraqi people have been bled white for decades, and they do not want to feed yet another generation to the crows.
The USA has announced that they are A. Force. For. Good. (ie “forever”)
sums up american attitude
(oups, think I messed up the formatting – here is the thing I was linking, for those who feel the need for more outrage /despondency)
https://mobile.twitter.com/Syricide/status/1214727710574071809
If I remember correctly (it was a long time ago) talks about the possibility of an occupation of the ‘ME’ by Americans troops emerged in the wake of the Iranian revolution. At the time the Oded Yinon Plan was not known. But it became later apparent that the plan could not have been implemented without American military presence. Admittedly, it took a long time to effectively break Iraq (in fact to eliminate completely a ‘national’ factor of unity – Baath and Christians- and deepen the sectarian divide), but as Ramin sadly observed the conditions are in place, unfortunately with the full cooperation of the Iraqi people who proved to be incapable of getting over sectarian differences. The fact that Iraq did not make a major issue out of the assassination of their own official is ominous. Iran is designed again as the enemy.
Americans and Israel will never renounce the creation of ‘Kurdistan’.
FSD* marches on.
https://www.ccn.com/instagram-is-suspending-iranian-profiles-that-mention-soleimani/
Published: January 11, 2020 10:30 PM UTC
Instagram Is Suspending Iranian Profiles That Mention Soleimani
*Fool Spectrum Dumbinance
Now, more specifically on Iraq …. as opposed to Iran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51BM4YVB7Yc
Backchannels Are Important, Trump Removing [WWIII] Hotspots: Harley Schlanger
What does Harley know that y’all either don’t know …..or far less likely, in my humble opinion….would be loathe to admit…. or dare to even hope for???
Behind all the kabuki theater …..Mr Schlanger says…..Trump….Xi…. Putin agree in back channels to co-operate on the reconstruction and sovereignty of Iraq:
1. By the US troops leaving.
2. By China rebuilding the country’s infrastructure…..
3. By Russia guaranteeing the deal militarily.
And most of the outrage here is …..IMHO……young bulls charging red capes……or Orange Ones…..meant to deceive not you……….but his Empire enemies.
Oh well, Collateral Deception!
As unpalatable as this hopeful hypothesis may be……just have a look at the comments, and decide if you…..or Putin for example, could not find allies for a Multi-Polar, Non Imperial World Order in the sentiments of these Americans:
MMTA USA
7 hours ago
Putin is more of an ally to Trump that most of our government. Putin isn’t a globalist and has probably been screwed by our government more than we know
SPIT-N-SHOOT
6 hours ago
In the early 1900s the central bank got into there country and completely raped there wealth and took over 50 years to get back to where they were to start with and if you think about it what do we know about Russia that didn’t come from the MSM
Yogi Girl
6 hours ago
He (she means Putin) knows how crooked and evil the deep state really is.
Carolyn Dennis
2 hours ago
MMTA USA 🇺🇸 Agree 💯
HawkEye Lockhart
51 minutes ago
Bingo! He has been draining the Soviet Swamp and uprooting the globalist cancers from early on taking the helm from Yeltsin. Which make him highly unpopular with the (so-called) globalist masters. Recall the head-on-collision assassination of his long-time driver and confidant… (or was it a botched hit?)
He has restored the Eastern Orthodox faith and rebuilt many churches damaged or destroyed by the Soviet plague. When his mother took him to be baptized, happened to be on the Day of St. Michael, an auspicious sign.
Mitch Cohn
33 minutes ago (edited)
MMTA USA The Democrats are the true enemies of this country not Russia or Putin you are right we have to clean the Democrats out of the house and a few Republicans as well.. WWG1WGA 🇺🇸👌
I hate to say this and I say it with a heavy heart but Iraq is going to be reoccupied by the US and of course Nato, Israel and its sister KSA — we can hardly mention the US without mentioning the others — one way or another. Sadly it will be accompanied by another round of blood-letting of mainly Iraqis.
Present day Iraq’s precursor, the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, was constructed by the British and like most post-colonial British constructions, Iraq was cobbled together with a particular legacy in mind: post-colonial dependence on the former colonial power. When the Kingdom of Iraq was formed three disparate groups were corralled into a ‘state’ — Sunnis and Shias along with a separate ethnic group, the (mainly Sunni) Kurds. Fissures were bound to appear; communal frictions almost guaranteed.
Surprisingly, Iraq didn’t fall apart quickly. Iraqis saw themselves as Iraqis first and Sunnis or Shi’as second. We saw this in the Iran-Iraq war — Pan-Arabism (Saddam) vs Revolutionary Islam (Ayatollah Khomeini). Despite the Iranians couching the war from the start in religious terms in order to appeal to Shia Iraqis to assist Iran’s war effort, the mainly Shia Iraqi forces waged war with Shia Iran for eight years That says something about Iraqi nationalism.
But that was then. Post-2003, the attitude has changed. 20 years of US (et al) presence along with some pretty inept, small-minded politicians have broken the fissures wide open and entrenched sectarianism amongst Iraqis. Hence the parliamentary vote on foreign forces in Iraq taken (or not taken) along sectarian and ethnic lines. Sadly Iraqis now identify more with their sect or ethnic group rather than being Iraqis. Which suits the US, its master Israel, and their vassals perfectly. Unity is the holy grail in Iraq and asking for unity is a very big, nay gargantuan, ask but unless Iraqis unite, their country will once more be plunged into a terrible nightmare.
Stand Easy: “their country will once more be plunged into a terrible nightmare”.
So will your country, whatever it is. Real War: a nightmare coming soon to a shopping mall near Uncle. Join the club.
“History is a nightmare that I have been trying to wake up from|”. — James Joyce
But there have been intervals of respite for different countries from the nightmare that is history. I am sanguine: The Axis of Resistance has grown steadily ever since Hezb’Allah kicked Uncle Reagan’s marines out of Lebanon. In my opinion it will soon include Iraq.
The Arc of Resistance: Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, China, Korea (to mention the most prominent). And don’t forget Cuba, Vietnam, Venezuela, Donbass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZEdPnSbRjc
rust never sleeps,as does ”the force for good”,the killing fields of, seria,libya,iraq,afghanistan,gaza,iran,yugoslavia,ukrine will just get wider as sacrifice never ends for the elites/corpos.the nation of cherokee and the ex slaves of africa are still witness for what awaits the rest..
give me shelter…https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwii7Mnr0_3mAhUnSxUIHXk2A1gQyCkwAHoECA4QBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DRbmS3tQJ7Os&usg=AOvVaw2bcidXNVAz-gvrH_qXoZcd
Uncle has not experienced the ravages of war on its own soil since the 1860’s, Doctor. He’s forgotten what the Union’s ‘Uncle Billy’ Sherman did to Confederate Georgia — in the words of a Georgian public broadcaster, “When Georgia Howled.” So he has no real understanding of war. Not really.
“The man recovered from the bite,
The dog it was that died”.
I’m pessimistic about Iraq but not without hope. That little ditty quoted by Arnold Toynbee in an essay sums up my fervent hope for the country.
More quotes from Arnold Toynbee:
“Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now.”
― Arnold Joseph Toynbee
tags: cultural-decay
“The only real struggle in the history of the world…is between the vested interest and social justice.”
― Arnold Toynbee
“Militarism has been by far the commonest cause of the breakdown of civilizations. The single art of war makes progress at the expense of all the arts of peace.”
― Arnold Toynbee
Generally speaking:
As long as banks are somehow extremely “intertwined” with US banking systems as long it will be extremely difficult to expel the occupier from an occupied country.
Point.
USA is always on a “stealing spree” when starting to “overturn” an independent country. First gold and money of the state, then other important “minerals” whatever it would be.
However, the “banking system” is the most difficult possible to get rid of.
And small countries have even more difficulties as other bigger countries.
So Trump has clearly spoken his blackmail message, his quid pro quo: submit or else…. which has indeed meant the usual mafia style extortion, but why is their no new impeachment article now that he has spoken openly?
The Middle East is quite a much different region as for example continents like Africa or South America.
I mean in our times, not the past.
China has big plans for the good of mankind – i.e. business not war.
And so has Russia.
If USA and its allies stand there to hinder those plans both will interfere.
It must not be necessarily with a big war. Maybe there are other means of reign in a rough state like USA and its allies.
Both countries don’t play colonial games. Both countries have on their agenda to rise the income of its citizen – by means of more business in first line and backing up its defense systems for security means.
Both countries try to work out how to interfere with the disastrous banking system the West has adopted (or had to adopt).
Times are always changing. No colonial state ever could hold for long its status. Neither in the past nor nowadays. And so it will be in coming decades/centuries.
It is extremely useful to study past empires. For how long could really exist a colonial state ? And – to my knowledge – many times it rots from inside out and then gets from outside curtailed (by other countries/intruders/wars etc.).
For how long could Great Britain exist or hold its status after colonizing India ??
And how got its population poorer and poorer while some elites got richer and richer ? And moreover, how hypocrisy played its role (within the elite/rulers) so that it didn’t see the signs (of its decline – business and defense – and waning influence on the monetary front) early enough ?
While I agree with Ramin in what he says here, it certainly is a time where we cannot ‘trust our lying eyes’. The misdirection and lying is so thick, that we have to question most information. The West is on a Tear to ‘propagandize themselves right’.
Today, Sunday, the main big headline in Fox News is about some Iranian Olympic medalist *reportedly* defecting from Iran. The word *reportedly* should give you a clear indication that it may or may not be true, but certainly it is being used for propaganda. Tell me if they cared about the Iranian medalist last week?
Trump is tweeting about protests in Iran and sending messages of support. I’ve just been through probably 30 Iranian tweets and twitters and from the ground they say the protests are a bunch of students and not very big. So, let’s take a look – consider this Zerohedge report about the protests – https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/death-liars-iran-protests-demand-ayatollah-quit-over-airliner-shootdown-uk-ambassador –
Check out the pics and the videos embedded. That very first pic showing ‘massive protests’ – Have you seen it before? And then go through the videos – the videos are all misdirection – they don’t show crowds but all of them are very smoking, showing way too much sky and a few voices crying out. Can we believe our ‘lying eyes’.
For Iraq, Tom Luongo puts forward a possibility for the move of the US to kill Soleimani and this is what makes most sense to me. Yet, I cannot ‘believe my lying eyes’ at this stage.
“China moving in to sign a $10.1 billion deal with the Iraqi government to begin the reconstruction of its ruined oil and gas industry in exchange for oil is of vital importance.
It doubles China’s investment in Iraq while denying the U.S. that money and influence.
This happened after a massive $53 billion deal between Exxon-Mobil and Petrochina was put on hold after the incident involving Iran shooting down a U.S. Global Hawk drone in June. “
https://tomluongo.me/2020/01/10/after-missiles-fly-iraq-becomes-battleground/
But what makes most sense is that the antidote to western dominion has to be cohesive local populations. Ramin explains this very clearly in his piece. In Venezuela, we saw this – they have come this far because the cohesion could not be broken. (There are new plans being built here by the usual Axis of Colonizers and False Force for Good, I believe).
In Iran, the Qatari Emir is now visiting, purportedly ” … the talks will focus on “bilateral relations between the two countries and ways of promoting and enhancing them, as well as the latest developments in the region and the regional and international issues of mutual concern.”
http://english.almanar.com.lb/912903
So, one would automatically assume this may be good news, knowing that Qatar is West-leaning. But, it may not be so. That Emir may be there as envoy, to bring threats, or to bring some level of negotiation.
At this stage it is very necessary to “not trust our lying eyes”. There are many moving parts, everyone is spinning their own story and the US people are being wildly propagandized. To make any reasonable judgement now, one has to insist on specifics – and nobody will tell you those at the moment. One of the Trump tweets tells this story. “To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1216356280933273600
Such filthy SOB propaganda trying to inflame some more – Last week he wanted to missile plus 50 Iranian sites? See why I say .. we cannot trust anything? The fingers are too close to the triggers and they’re shooting jets right out of the skies.
Quagmire was my word (even before Tulsi used it).
And just a little off-topic, while Trump tweets to inflame, Putin and Erdogan manages to get a ceasefire agreed to in Libya. https://www.rt.com/news/478042-haftar-forces-ceasefire-libya/
And a ceasefire in Idlib, also, both starting today. (Though never respected by the terrorists al Nusra and ISIS.
Libya, at first Haftar didn’t agree. 24 hours later, he agreed. We can assume he got a message from Moscow.
Putin’s SuperPower status continues to amass influence and importance.
RT contributing cameraman killed in southern Iraq
https://www.rt.com/news/478033-rt-contributing-cameraman-killed-iraq/
“Ghali was shooting footage for a local Iraqi TV channel and was working together with a local correspondent, Ahmed Abdel Samad, when they were assaulted by an unknown gunman. Both men were shot while they were sitting in a car in the Iraqi southern town of Basra.
On Friday, they were covering local protests still engulfing the city months after citizens first took to the streets in Baghdad and the Shiite-majority south to call for political reforms. The two journalists were about to leave the site of a protest when they were attacked.”
A standard mossad murder technique.
Isn’t it about time we all become part of an Anti-USA/Israeli Terror Movement? How many more human lives around the world need to be destroyed economically, ecologically and physically by the psychopaths who rule Israel and USA? For those who live in Israeli/USA vassal states in Europe, Canada, Australia, UK and elsewhere – how much more brainwashing, corruption and destruction of social structures and civil liberties in your own countries are you prepared to put up with before it’s your turn for total enslavement?
We urgently need an International Anti – USA/Israeli Terror Boycott Movement like The Anti-Apartheid Movement that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system. My personal contribution – I’ve never visited those two countries and I haven’t purchased anything made in the USA/Israel ever since my epiphany moment – March 24th, 1999 – the start of NATO agression on Serbia.
Do Iraq’s non-Shia politicians still think that Washington is their friend and partner?
Of course some Iraqis think the U.S. is a friend, because it is — to these people. As long as these compradores prosper, they don’t care that 99% of their country’s population is suffering. Every country, even Russia or Iran, has traitors willing to sell out their fellow citizens for personal benefit.