The rules of the (Trump) game | The Vineyard of the Saker

by Pepe Escobar for Sputnik International

Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis, chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be the new head of the Pentagon, is a model functionary of the Empire of Chaos. His call sign is – what else – “chaos”. The Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) even shared his regular accolade; “Saint Mattis of Quantico, Patron Saint of Chaos”. The Saint in his pop incarnation comes fully equipped with a grenade and a knife.

Mad Dog may indeed be seen by the real world as, well, a mad dog; he was on the front line of the 2001 assault on Afghanistan; led the Marine assault on Baghdad during Shock and Awe in 2003; and masterminded the horrendous American destruction of Fallujah in late 2004. Widely hailed as a fine strategist, he retired as chief of CENTCOM in 2013.

The Saint may have been a purveyor of chaos across the Cheney regime-coined “Greater Middle East” – something that came with inevitable collateral damage; his creeping Iranophobia. Yet the key to his appointment is that it will focus on rebuilding the US military.

William Hartung, at the Center for International Policy, A Pentagon Rising: Is a Trump Presidency Good News for the Military-Industrial Complex? notes how “Pentagon spending is one of the worst possible ways of creating jobs. Much of the money goes to service contractors, arms industry executives, and defense consultants (also known as ‘Beltway bandits’).” Moreover, “such spending is the definition of an economic dead end.”

Criticizing Trumponomics as “Reaganomics on steroids” – and that includes vast military spending – Hartung stresses that if Donald Trump really wants to create jobs, “he should obviously pursue infrastructure investment rather than dumping vast sums into weapons the country doesn’t actually need at prices it can’t afford.”

To rebuild the appalling US infrastructure is one of the top Trump campaign promises.

What is to be done?

My aim with this column was to launch a debate on the possible Leninist role of White House strategist Steve Bannon. Trump, like all US presidents, is obviously no Leninist. But his chief strategist does cultivate the Leninist notion of a proletariat vanguard; call it the Angry Older White American Blue Collar Male contingent; call it haters of identity liberalism, which elevated selected minorities to the status of sacred victims; or call it simply “deplorables”.

It’s this proletariat vanguard that Bannon aims to cultivate, so they lead/influence/shape policy for the foreseeable US political future, winning election after election for Republicans. They must imperatively benefit from Trump’s spun-to-death fight against neoliberal “free” trade, although it’s not clear exactly how he will privilege “in-sourcing” and not outsourcing – which is official US corporate policy. They certainly won’t benefit from a massive rebuilding of the Pentagon.

German political analyst Peter Spengler introduces a further spanner in the works, noting how Bannon, “like all scholars (or students for that matter) of Russia/Bolshevism has ignored what Kurt Riezler could have and (would want to) unearth to them in his time in exile in New York: first-hand experience and knowledge about the continuum of subterraneous and subversive ‘diplomacy’ between Germany and Russia” in the run-up towards the October Revolution.

Bets are still off on what “subversive” diplomacy the Trump era will entail – apart from a 21^st century remix of the Kissinger-orchestrated “Nixon in China” moment. That would take the form of a “Trump in Russia-China” moment – as in Washington starting to normalize the treatment of those nations the Pentagon ranks as its top two “existential threats”, global projection and spheres of influence included.

That contentious phone call to Trump “initiated” by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen certainly didn’t contribute to any normalization. And no one should expect that the Brzezinski-conceptualized US global primacy, especially over Eurasia – as in “prevent the emergence of peer competitors” – will simply fade away.

Pentagon reborn

William Engdahl argues that the Brave New (Trump) World is all an elaborate deception. A quick look at the lucky few chosen for Trump’s plutocrat cabinet does not exactly match the Better Angels of our Nature.

A New York business source, familiar with the Masters of the Universe, who actively supported the Trump program and called his election at least two weeks before the fact, offers a blunt assessment:

“Donald is an insider. Most of the advisors Engdahl refers to are wallpaper. There are three important things to consider. 1) The Supreme Court will have conservative judges. 2) There will be a rapprochement with Russia. The tilt may not be as warm to China, but we will work on that. 3) None of the Masters care about Lenin, or Thomas Cromwell, or ideologies. They care about power and money.”

As for a possible Leninist White House, “if we want to quote Lenin, it is that truth is whatever advances the class struggle. Truth to the Masters is whatever advances their agenda. If they want the Federal Reserve to expand credit, then they look for a liberal if that works, or a conservative, or monetarist, or Keynesian, etc. One of them will support expansion of credit and those that don’t will be shunted aside. They don’t care about Milton Friedman, Keynes, Marx or Lenin. It is what works for them that counts. Hillary did not work so she is out. And Bannon will do what he is told like the rest of them. And if he gets in the way, he will be fired.”

So no matter what California screams and shouts, this is the stark way the Masters will be running Trumpland.

Which brings us, once again, to the rebuilding of the US military. Another business/investment source, who also actively supported the Trump economic plan during the campaign, stresses how “the present power of the Russian military industrial complex is greater than the US in many senses. And all of it is in Russia whereas most of that of the US is farmed out to Asia.”

Thus, “it is fortunate that Trump has come in as President to wind down this mad house that they call Washington. There is a consensus above the President that action must be done to rebuild the United States military on an emergency basis.” And that will be the Mad Dog’s top brief.

The source adds; “One easy way of repatriating all this industry at once is to set all defense contracts up with the stipulation that the entire plane, missile or tank must be made in the United States, thus requiring the massive repatriation of jobs and factories. That should be the first order of business at the White House under Trump as it does not require a tariff, or ending currency rigging.”

Hold on, Yalta, we’re coming

Meanwhile, there’s got to be some careful management of what the disgruntled neocon/neoliberalcon galaxy called the Trump-Putin “bromance”.

Trump will most certainly re-normalize Russia and work alongside Russia to smash the Salafi-jihadi dementia in Syria; the problem is to what degree Russia and China will be able to influence Trumpland not to turn Iran into high collateral damage. Russia-China-Iran is the key alliance invested in Eurasia integration.

“Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski cannot help himself from expounding the usual narcissistic absurdities, as in suggesting the US helps Russia to “transit effectively” and become a “constructive, significant member of the global community” (it’s rather Moscow that may end up doing exactly that to Trump’s America).

At the same time, it’s no wonder even Brzezinski himself is now spinning, “America is needed to pull together some larger coalition that can deal with global problems. And in that larger coalition America, China and changing Russia could be preeminent.”

“Changing” Russia in this case is code for a Russia that can be seduced, tamed and driven away from China. The key context; the Russia-China strategic partnership essentially points towards Eurasia as a vast, integrated emporium – the blending of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) with Russia’s Eurasia Economic Union (EEU).

Brzezinski, reflecting and/or influencing neoliberalcon “values”, would rather reenact Divide and Rule and try to split Russia from China – while at the same time suggesting that Trump can’t afford to be left out of the massive (Eurasia) action; there’s gotta be some sort of deal. Stay tuned for the terms of a possible upgrade; from Yalta in 1945 to…a Yalta remix in 2017?

elsi on December 05, 2016 · at 11:35 pm EST/EDT

On the cause of Trump´s victory and why there is no place for hope and why Trump is a time bomb which will explode when US workers masses realize that there was nothing from them from all what was promised.

Analysis on the state of US economy, on how US workers have lost a level of income comparable to what took place in the 30s, while the capitalists enjoy a level of acumulation of capital never seen, and why there is nothing in Trump´s basket to redistribute.

“The Trump trap” by Mariano Massaro for Rebelión, originally appeared in Contexto XXI, in Spanish, try to translate ( MUST READ )

http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=219988

“(…) In relation to the North American process, let see through what measures, other than the financial industry, operated the capital reaction to “compensate” for the fall in the rate of profit and how these are in the genesis of the current triumph of Donald Trump.

Deflation of wages: Less mass of wages and more debts. In the United States, the share of labor remuneration in national income fell to 51.6% in 2006-the lowest point since 1929-against 54.9% in 2000 (1). During the period 2000-2007 average real wage growth was only 0.1% while median household income fell by 0.3% per year in real terms.(…)

Fall of the purchasing power of workers:The deflation of wages, automatically moved to the purchasing power of the wage earners of the central countries. This contraction of the purchasing power produced a crisis of demand, which in turn again pressured the rate of profit of the capitalists, entering into a contradiction between what was sought and what was desired.
This contraction in demand discouraged productive investment, since the supply had no counterpart; Does it sound? However, this stimulated an investment outside the domestic market, in new sectors and in financial products, many of them high risk.
In this context the workers turned to taking credits to maintain their standard of life, pushing them to the indebtedness. Poorer and more indebted workers.

Deformation of the distribution of wealth: If the fall of wages, is nothing other than unpaid work, here is seen the gigantic transfer of wealth from workers to capital.
In the United States, 0.1% of the richest accounted for 7.5% of national income in 2005, compared to 5% in 1995 and 2.9% in 1985. The 2005 level corresponded to that of 1929, the year of crack Of the stock market (7.6%). The same causes have the same effects.
Income concentration: At the beginning of 1980 the richest 1% of the population absorbed between 7 and 8% of national income, 20 years later the figure had doubled and in 2007 it was around 20%. For its part, the richest 10% to absorb a third of the national income in the 50’s to about 50% today.
A study conducted in August 2008 by two North American NGOs, the Institute for Policy Studies and United by Fair Econiomy, published a report called Exceos Ejecutivos 2008, which demonstrates the distributional disproportion that was reached in the US. The study takes the income received by the top 50 CEOs of hedge funds, ie the stars of the global financial market for 2007; Performs an average of these executives’ charges and compares them with the average income of an American worker. A senior executive of a company specializing in hedge funds charges 19,000 times as much for a regular worker. (…)

Relocations: This phenomenon implies the transfer of a productive activity from one country to another; A factory is closed in France and opened in China, which manufactures the same products, partly destined to be exported to France. In a broader sense, it is also the transfer of all or part of productive activities to an emerging low-wage country, through the creation of a subsidiary or through a subcontractor. It is a process by which the unit costs of production are reduced.
The cost of one hour of labor in the manufacturing industry averaged $ 24 in Germany, 21 in the US, 19 in Japan, 17 in France, is only about $ 5 in Poland or the Czech Republic, and 0,6$ in China, ie thirty times less than in France and forty times less than on the other side of the Rhine.

This search for profit maximization raised the level of unemployment in the central countries, and grossly in the US, which created a reserve army that again put downward pressure on the wages of the workers, which had already been noticeably depleted and then frozen.

All these measures annihilated the average American worker’s lifestyle, liquefying the realization of his ideals; Was a blow to its deepest materiality, but also, a symbolic blow.

Accompanying this deterioration was maturing a social and political process that dialogued with the new phase of capitalism, so that impoverished workers made various political, all systemic, bets with negative results; So we should read the support received by Barack Obama in his two terms. On this disheartening scenario, the sub-market mortgage crisis was reached, reflecting a people who did not have the resources to do so and where the whole system was complicit due to lack of regulations, lack of controls, hunger for profit, incentive of lifestyle about a society that had lost its purchasing power, as well as corrupt institutions such as the risk rating agencies that approved the whole process. In other words, this synergy reflects a clear picture that adjective the new phase of development of capitalism. It would be voluntaristic to speak of deviations from the system, or corrupt ones, or rotten apples; Is that current capitalism can not be separated from the financial industry and its consequences.

This economic, social and political scenario was rightly perceived by Trump, who so demarcated the audience with which to interact. Making a commitment to imbued remembrance by “a better past” to which it is possible to return, accepting the diagnosis of working-class poverty, but distorting their causes to fix them to very basic but effective elements such as the construction of an enemy that will crystallize all American ills. It was not capitalism in its financial face, but “the other” the cause, the immigrant. It worked. Among other things, because the American partisanship, Democrats and Republicans, could not respond for almost three decades to the unsatisfied demands of working people.

Now, Donald Trump and his promises are a trap of unimaginable consequences, because to assume a commitment of impossible fulfillment to who voted after having exhausted all the systemic options results in a time bomb. The Trump trap is a period symptom.”

71 Comments

Dennis Leary on December 05, 2016 · at 4:49 pm EST/EDT

Pepe, you out-trump Trump with words. Is the pen mightier than the sword? Trump is out to turn the world upside-down. A narcissist dream come true. You’re one too. I’m one to make two into three. Me, me, me. Wee, wee, wee? Oui, oui, oui?

Trump uses Trump Tower Power. You use Pepe Pen Power. I use Love Army Power. We’re all narcissists deep down.

But who will rule, and who will rue the day in this wet-dream world of war?

When push comes to shove, I bet on love. If Trump can turn six bankruptcies into presidency, and you can turn words into ascendancy, maybe I can turn love into relevancy.

I was on my way to the Cafe of Love when you led me astray with your wordsmith buffet. Words are cheap unless they are deep. Welcome, all, to the world of war, where words are information in an information war more potent than a gypsy’s curse or a lover’s verse.
- nice try on December 05, 2016 · at 7:35 pm EST/EDT
  
  Not sure how you missed the most important assessment (number 3) in Pepe’s article, even after it was printed in bold type: “Donald is an insider. Most of the advisors Engdahl refers to are wallpaper. … 3) None of the Masters care about Lenin, or Thomas Cromwell, or ideologies. They care about power and money.”
  
  “love” can only do so much in the face of such powerful, venal and implacable characters. “love” has not slowed the program of domination so clearly stated by Baron Rothschild in the late 1700’s as the US was coming into being, “I care not what puppet is placed on the throne of England to rule the Empire, … The man that controls Britain’s money supply controls the British Empire. And I control the money supply.” (Substitute Oval Office, Federal Reserve and US/NATO to modernize the statement.) Those Pepe calls the Masters of the Universe can also be labelled the 0.001%, or to name a few, the Soros’, Koch’s, Rockefeller’s, Vanderbilt’s and, of course, Rothschild’s. And bear in mind there is no love lost between those 0.001% individuals who deliberately and serially engulf the world in military war and economic chaos to attain personal power and wealth. Until the patriarchs/matriarchs of 0.001% are just as serially led to the guillotine as the pan-generational genocidal manipulations they engage in, we the people of the world will have no lasting peace. The 0.001% have given the 99.999% no civilized quarter, so should expect none in return.
  
  Divide and conquer has always been the game, and the Trump presidency edition of it is no different. Even Putin and Xi cannot claim zero collusion in 0.001% manipulations, but are “better” as they currently seek a kinder, gentler elite rule than the US/NATO version.
  
  As Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”
  
  Acton also said, “There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as More, Bacon, Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, Pitt, etc. The result would be an Encyclopedia of Error.”
  
  And exactly what do we see worldwide in all positions of gov’t and power (elected or otherwise) but such eminent celebrities…
  - Dennis Leary on December 06, 2016 · at 2:37 pm EST/EDT
    
    Thanks, nice try. I do think that Trump is an insider but of a special type more benign. Also, I propose real love, which is virtually unknown in our anti-love, phony love cult culture.
    - nice try on December 07, 2016 · at 3:30 pm EST/EDT
      
      “special type more benign”? The only reason Trump’s past seems “more benign” is because he never held high elected or bureaucratic public office until now. It is proven his real-estate/rental businesses racially discriminated and his foreign hotels bilked local contractors and investors. He’s a serial bankrupt who had the wealth and power to use the US/international arcane tax/legal systems to his advantage, at the expense of the rest of society.
      
      And now he will sit in the Oval Office, the main difference between him and the past residents is the MSM and political establishment went to great pains to expose his worst activities and attitudes. This was revealed purely to set him up as the easiest opponent for Hillary Clinton to defeat, but make no mistake the 0.001% will equally use the opportunity to manipulate economic and social chaos for which Trump will be “blamed”, even if for his (or anyone’s) inability to fix the unfixable.
      
      Praising Trump in alt-media as well as the MSM as able to “make America great again” (even if he believes his own BS) is most likely to produce the maximum backlash when the latest debt-bubble bursts. China and Russia will be blamed and Trump will be the patsy who spoke of negotiation, not warmongering to “make America great again”.
      
      Goering confessed the “secret”, facing the noose which was as great an incentive to be honest as any religion or truth serum.
      “Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’t want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
      
      People make the mistake of thinking Goering’s “leaders” are primarily the political or even military ones… try the 0.001% currently dominated by Soros, Koch Bros, Rockefellers and the multi-generational uber-Zionist Rothschilds.
      
      Trump is only “benign” compared to such obvious hired psychopaths as the Clintons or Bushes. Never forget Trump’s real estate empire nest egg opportunistically originated in the ownership/operation of brothels in the US/Cdn gold rushes, from his grandfather who skipped out of mandatory military service. I trust Trump about as far as I can throw the eponymous Tower such ill-gotten gains built.
      
      To paraphrase Gump, honest is as honest does. Trump honestly believes skirting the spirit of the law is OK, and has the had the where-with-all to beat the establishment 0.001% at their own game. But he is now both target and manipulated tool of the 0.001%. I expect his lame-duck status will be apparent shortly after inauguration, when the swamp creatures he selected for his cabinet follow their 0.001% orders, not Trump’s.
      
      But benign he is not.
- Anonymous on December 05, 2016 · at 8:50 pm EST/EDT
  
  The pen is not mightier than the sword
  - Mr Reynard on December 06, 2016 · at 9:22 am EST/EDT
    
    Yupp.. We have a fight & you hold a pen & I have a sword ??
  - Earthrise on December 06, 2016 · at 11:32 pm EST/EDT
    
    Dead wrong my anonymous friend. If the sword were mightier, the US flag would be planted in Beijing, Moscow and Tehran. There is no country on earth, or even a combination, who could stand against the unfettered might of the largest military which has ever existed. What is stopping them?
    
    Why did Hitler only declare total war in 1942, after the war from History’s point of view was already lost; why not in 1938? Why did he bother with the most sophisticated propaganda machine before the advent of the modern MSM?
    
    How have goat herders and camel riders, sandal-wearing rice farmers and grenade-carrying little girls defeated the greatest military machine every envisioned?
    
    The pen is mightier than the sword, because without the pen, no-one would pick up the sword except in defence.
    - Bro 93 on December 07, 2016 · at 9:40 pm EST/EDT
      
      I would add the following:
      
      1 pen may mobilize a million swords.
      
      1 sword cannot silence a million pens.
      
      Social communication is far more powerful than random acts of violence.
      
      The problem is that a super-communicator can mobilize and army to commit violence against the natural law rights of others.
      
      The solution is that many communicators can mobilize an army of unarmed or armed persons to resist and repel violence with force of will (just their bodies in large enough numbers), or arms, if needed.
      
      Spirit reigns over steel, because it directs steel, for better or for worse. That’s the crux of the matter: The sword does not wield itself. It is wielded by evil or righteous spirit.
- mot on December 06, 2016 · at 2:22 am EST/EDT
  
  Dennis,
  Seek help.
  - Earthrise on December 06, 2016 · at 7:42 am EST/EDT
    
    Disappointed this personal attack got through the gatekeepers. Attacking someone’s mental health is a weak debate.
  - Anonymous on December 06, 2016 · at 7:00 pm EST/EDT
    
    Well written.
Othmar Regin on December 05, 2016 · at 4:50 pm EST/EDT

This makes sense, they can use Trump as a last ditch effort to save the Empire, rebuild the Military Industrial Complex and re-normalize some relations(Russia) and further antagonize others(China, Iran) in a typical divide-and-rule strategy.

Weather Trump is “in on it” is beyond the point – they will coerce, co-opt and one way or the other maneuver him into it.

And when they are done with him after he served his purpose he will be the perfect scape-goat to dump whatever needs dumping on his head(economic collapse, racial tensions, false-flag terrorism etc.).

After which in 2020 the Left can have their Transgender-Muslim-Latino-Midget President to complete the job of destroying what’s gonna be left of the Western Culture. Thus leaving them with a strong Military an intact Empire AND a culturally shattered easy to control population.. unless we preempt them first.
- Nussiminen on December 05, 2016 · at 5:51 pm EST/EDT
  
  “After which in 2020 the Left can have their Transgender-Muslim-Latino-Midget President to complete the job of destroying what’s gonna be left of the Western Culture.”
  
  Sorry, you botched it. Cultural Marxism is a manifestation of Western Culture just as is psychotic violence, money worship, and bogus (post-industrial) parasitic economics. So even if a Transgender-Muslim-Latino-Midget President would curry favour with the Cultural Marxists first and foremost, he/she/it can be sure of general acceptance and approval as long as imperialism continues unabated.
  
  Bottom line: In today’s West, you just can’t have Western Culture without Cultural Marxism while Russia keeps holding her ground against George Soros. Cultural Marxism has gained widespread acceptance as a credible Regime Change tool aimed at Russia. The West’s zio-faggots are firmly committed to “The Cause”.
Harry_Red on December 05, 2016 · at 5:18 pm EST/EDT

Sorry for my bluntness, but…

every nation on this planet knows by now that the US and anyone ruling this corrupt and criminal excuse of a country cannot be trusted and is unreliable.

How can you in your right mind even think about trusting such a Zionist ruled entity??

Their arrogance and corruption makes them unreliable.

All nations should attempt to use and blackmail the US to the maximum extent possible for their own interests with the combination of threatening them with force if possible. This is the only thing that works with Zionist ruled corrupt Americans.

Keep bogging them down with as much proxy wars your economies can handle, until they are bankrupt, nuked or dumped by the Zionists.

For a good history lesson, just look at these European pathetic excuses of countries who are US slaves. They are willing to destroy their countries for the US-zionist cause.
- Harry_Red on December 05, 2016 · at 5:42 pm EST/EDT
  
  For example, if I was Putin, I would concider with the Chinese to simultaneously invade Donbass and the Sprately Islands on the day of Trump’s inauguration……and make the Americans and European slaves s**t themselves.
  
  The major powers can accomplish so much if they just combine forces.
  - Auslander on December 05, 2016 · at 8:56 pm EST/EDT
    
    Why would President Putin invade ‘Donbas’, whatever that is. Or do you mean Novorossiya? All that needs to be done is to slip the leash on NAF and tell them to call home when they are about 100 klicks west of Zhitomer.
    
    Auslander
    - Blondinka Florida on December 06, 2016 · at 5:46 am EST/EDT
      
      Agreed. So right. And Holiday Makers shall join.
  - Simon Chow on December 06, 2016 · at 6:01 am EST/EDT
    
    What are you talking about? The Chinese are already in defacto possession of the Spratlys courtesy of Obama. Obama will very likely be welcomed in China after he stepped down.
- Penelope on December 05, 2016 · at 11:34 pm EST/EDT
  
  As Harry Red says, “every nation on this planet knows by now that the US and anyone ruling this corrupt and criminal excuse of a country cannot be trusted and is unreliable.” And they are meant to, Harry. They are meant to conclude with Nice Try ” Even Putin and Xi cannot claim zero collusion in 0.001% manipulations, but are “better” as they currently seek a kinder, gentler elite rule than the US/NATO version.”
  
  The US has purposely exposed its evil to shag us willingly towards the other path to a world oligarchy, the one that doesn’t have US hegemony written on it. The US has bragged about its use of torture, had an insider disclose the plan to destroy 7 countries in 5 years, publicly calls itself the one irreplaceable, and has scarcely tried to hide its support of terrorist proxies. Now it reveals, thru its psyop Wikileaks/Assange, the sordid Pizzagate to complete our revulsion.
  
  Russia is better because it speaks of the rule of law thru the Rockefeller-controlled UN? Putin LIKES the international institutions which usurp national sovereignty: Putin at Valdai “I am certain that if there is a will, we can restore the effectiveness of the international and regional institutions system. We do not even need to build anything anew, from the scratch; this is not a “greenfield,” especially since the institutions created after World War II are quite universal and can be given modern substance, adequate to manage the current situation.”
  
  74% of Russian wealth is held by 1% of the population. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/credit-suisse-global-wealth-world-most-unequal-countries-revealed-a7434431.html
  
  Both China & Russia censor the internet. Many Chinese live in squalid, overcrowded company dormitories. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese are being forcibly resettled from the countryside to the prepared “empty cities.” in what looks like Agenda 21.
  
  Agenda 21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3NbhgZUZQo Don’t be put off by her wild hair; she knows a lot.
  
  Global oligarchy is not inevitable. We are many & they are few. We have only to recognize our power.
  - Rublev on December 06, 2016 · at 7:47 am EST/EDT
    
    Penelope, I’ve been thinking in that line of thought for some time. And it includes the inner Jekyll & Hyde discussion with so far the grey pessimist prevailing over the hopeful optimist. This thought line follows the old thesis-antithesis-synthesis strategy, which is still working amazingly well.
    
    But you can run here into some notorious optimist dreamers, who will bash you as “anti-Putin troll”, or something similar.
    For example, I still do not buy some “explanations”, offered here, of the obviously friendly Putin-Kissinger relationship…
    
    Peace
    
    PS: Thx for the video link. I’ve seen some already, but will check that one too
Dogwood tree on December 05, 2016 · at 5:34 pm EST/EDT

My comment is for the Palestinians.

Jesus said, Matthew 23:38 & 39, “Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

I believe that many of you Palestinians are the remnant of the people of ancient Judea who somehow escaped the destruction of the Romans in 70AD. Maybe it is time for you people to say, “BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.

The prophesy of Jesus in verse 38 came true in 70AD. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD and the Hebrew power was later in the 8th century moved to Khazaria. These people are not the people of Judah. 90% of them at least are gentiles just like the rest of us. They are phonies. They are the synagogue of Satan.
- Earthrise on December 06, 2016 · at 12:39 am EST/EDT
  
  Dogwood,
  
  My research backs up your conclusion. The Tribe brought something evil back with them from the Babylonian Exile; usury for one. Black voodo economics which creates wealth out of nothing. Couple this with the most racist philosophy on the planet (the Babylonian Talmud). The Christ called them out; Pharisees who “claim to be Jews but are liars instead”
  
  Something happened by the Rivers of Babylon. I have said elsewhere the Tribe found the Ring of Power at the bottom of the Euphrates. The invisibility it imparts means it is hard to see their evil overtly, but the longer they stay in one place, the villagers get wind and kick this Golem out.
  
  The Hebrews on the other hand have helped give the West it’s Liberation soul through the Passover story, and through the institution of the Judges. The Dead Sea Scrolls talk about a final battle between the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, at least we know who is who. Palestinian liberation is my strongest advocacy, and I will not be free until the Palestinians are. For that day will signal the defeat of the Empire, and liberation for us all.
luca on December 05, 2016 · at 6:18 pm EST/EDT

“the present power of the Russian military industrial complex is greater than the US in many senses. And all of it is in Russia whereas most of that of the US is farmed out to Asia.”

Dear Pepe and Saker, pls give me some links or information so as for me to learn deeper into this US military outsorcing in Asia, as I am curious abt this. Thks a lot and pls keep doing what you have been doing till now, we all need you guys
- Larchmonter445 on December 06, 2016 · at 1:32 am EST/EDT
  
  Here’s a study 2016, on military outsourcing. It speaks to SE Asia and other areas such as So. Asia. It’s a pdf.
  
  “U.S. military logistics outsourcing and the everywhere of war”
  
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290607064_US_military_logistics_outsourcing_and_the_everywhere_of_war
J on December 05, 2016 · at 6:38 pm EST/EDT

I have posed most of this in different thread:

Trump is doing a classic divide and conquer here. Trump was gushing over Pakistan, flattering Philippines president, praise Putin, talking to taiwan, than start bashing china in earnest. Basically, Trump has made all 3 countries thinking Trump is thinking them highly, and have something very special for them. These three countries are all important, close, or getting closer to china. Now Trump is setting stage to enticing them back into US orbit, and extract concessions from China. Taiwan is only a tool. I am wondering if they will fell for it, if so, for how long…

It will work if you replace China with Iran.
- Blondinka Florida on December 06, 2016 · at 6:02 am EST/EDT
  
  Its all about the U$ dollar being devalued and economies going back to the gold standard. U$ has no gold. All re-hypothecated and borrowed and foreign leased stolen They stole all of Ukraine’s 2 bars of gold, didn’t they?. China & Russia & S Africa only countries actively mining gold. Wonder why they are on $hit list?
twilight on December 05, 2016 · at 6:57 pm EST/EDT

Trump has suffered the most astonishing organised attack by the Anglo-zionist forces yet seen in Human History. So desperate are the Deep State that they are literally burning many of their *very* deep ‘sleeper’ assets- especially people and organisations ordinary people (even those ‘awake’) thought were against the demons of the Deep State. Look how the *true* purpose of the zionist run ‘green’ party in the USA has been fully exposed, for instance- and how many people on ‘our’ side told you the greens could be trusted? And what’s the green’s no.1 propaganda agenda? If the greens shout it, the Deep State wants you to believe it.

I am suspicious of *any* person attacking Trump at this stage. Of course he was going to fill his cabinet with people you and I instinctively hate- he’s a Republican president after all. But the demons have worked to change the US governmental system to give the President near *dictator* powers since the days of Bill Clinton. This means the President matters, and his cabinet (and both houses of the US parliament) do *not*- so long as the President chooses to take active charge.

This ‘mad dog’ general has one *very* notable property- he follows orders to the letter. He is a ‘mad dog’ in utter and loyal service to his master- the precise reason Trump chose him. Most other generals in the USA are loyal to the Deep State, loyal to Israel, or serve only their own psychopathic desires.

I *know* an awful lot of people who *pretend* to be on our side are going to expose themselves in an ever more desperate attempt to prevent Trump from rolling back all the Tony Blair led progress they’ve made since the rise of Blair. The old ‘we all hate Republicans’ is their most obvious weapon. What Blair did was end the need for public proof of the fake left-right system we have in the UK and USA. In the UK today the so-called ‘extreme’ ‘socialist’ leader of the Labour Party has his MPs vote to support every piece of ultra fascist law-making by the extreme Right wing government of the UK- and no-one in Britain is supposed to think this *odd*. Once upon a time (before Blair), things were significantly slowed in the UK cos the Labour and Conservative party had to *pretend* to be enemies and vote against each other in parliament. Since Blair, the two main parties vote in the same direction- which has speeded up the rise of Orwellian laws in the UK 1000%.

Remember, the official Republican candidates were chosen to guarantee Clinton’s victory- Blair had the Democrat and Republican parties operating on his British model. Trump has ruined everything which is why just so many forces (those you expect and those you were naive enough to trust) attacking him in every way. Trump represents the return to the need to show the US public that ‘left hates right, right hates left’- and this forces a public demonstration of *zero* co-operation between the two forces- slowing down their agenda to a remarkable degree.

Fate has given Humanity a real Xmas present this year. Let’s hope we don’t squander it. At the very least- no matter how Trump turns out- let’s use the opportunity to discover the traitors in our ranks. And the more the left and right are forced to fight in the USA, the better for all of us.
- Franz on December 05, 2016 · at 7:46 pm EST/EDT
  
  I agree that the rabid attacks against Trump and Trumpism are beyond the acting abilities of CrapOrCrap CIANN disinformation media. They are just not that good.
  Whatever Trump turns out to be, those who say that this is a charade, will very probably be proven as wrong as those who believed CrapOrCrap News, when it said Hillary’s win was in the bag.
- Santiago Alejandro Maldonado Ricoy on December 06, 2016 · at 9:53 am EST/EDT
  
  Anyone who is “awake” knows that a member of the tribe (STEIN) is a member of the tribe “.” Some people will work with that and seem to not notice it, but they know and use it, that is different, that is strategy. Trump son in law is a member of the tribe, this alone should tell you much.
- Santiago on December 06, 2016 · at 10:02 am EST/EDT
  
  People that are AWAKE, know that a “tribe” member is a tribe member no matter which party or apparent side of the political spectrum they tend to supposedly lean to, although they all seem to prefer the left. Jared is a member of the tribe, much higher up than Stein which anyone who is awake knows that just like with Sanders, it is all BS, they are members of the same group. These people deceive they are experts at it, they have hijacked three religions and many denominations and sects, so many countries, and political organisations, as well as international institutions. TRUMP is either another puppet like most US presidents have been puppets, or even a crypto.
  
  If you have not noticed the power these people wield, then you are not awake, yet.
  - bill burke on December 07, 2016 · at 10:24 pm EST/EDT
    
    yes, so it would appear, however, the script has them and the masonic folks, and religious leaders, other obedient groups being betrayed. Who killed sharon? Who is the head of aipac? ect ect
vot tak on December 05, 2016 · at 6:59 pm EST/EDT

There are a couple of interesting references to trump in this article:

‘I rigged parliament votes for President Poroshenko’ – fugitive Ukrainian MP

https://www.rt.com/news/369239-poroshenko-vote-rigging-allegations/

The first:

“Onishchenko is among more colorful figures in the Ukrainian political world. A reputed womanizer and professional horse-rider, he represented Ukraine in the London 2012 Olympics equestrian events. He claims to be an acquaintance of US President-elect Donald Trump through equestrian competitions the American tycoon organizes every year in Florida.”

During the election, porkshank bad mouthed trump and trump declined to meet him. Now the Ukrainian mp exposing porkshank’s corruption just happens to know trump. It doesn’t sound like porkshank will remain head quisling in the Ukraine much longer. Remains unknown whether his replacement will be better or worse, though.

The 2nd reference to trump raises a question, which in turn creates more questions:

“The accusations come shortly after another Ukrainian politician, former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, resigned his position as head of Ukraine’s Odessa Region and declared his opposition to Poroshenko. Saakashvili accused the Ukrainian president of corruption and unwillingness to reform the country. The demarche last month came a day before Trump won the highest office in the US in a surprise victory.”

A coincidence saak quit and turned on porko the day before trump won the election? Doubtful. But how did he know trump would win? My guess he was following orders and somebody wants to keep saak around for further use. Could saak be slated for another role in the Ukraine once porkshank is out? Hope not.
- Franz on December 05, 2016 · at 7:53 pm EST/EDT
  
  You show a strong grasp of Realpolitik.
  I wish we lived in a text book universe of Honest Abe and the CrapOrCrap memes like ‘Leader of the Free World’ and the “most humane military in the world”… O, wait! That is an Israeli borrowing.
  But Watching the Hawks (good title by RT) is where you will discover who they have recently killed and are tearing to pieces.
  Being torn apart could not happen to a nicer guy than Poroshenko, unless of course, it happened to Katzeniuk.
Larchmonter445 on December 05, 2016 · at 7:07 pm EST/EDT

Well, we stopped Clinton.

Trump, we have to see how he unfolds his policies and relationships.

I see a nugget of hope, in spite of all the machinations in process around Trump as indicated with many of his “advisors” and appointments. Putin has an opening to work his “magic”, as a defender of Christianity and as a very effective commander against Islamic terror. Trump is attracted to both those, and he requires immediate assistance in order to put an end to the radical terror wars.

So Putin can have impact.

China, less so. But the Chinese may concoct a way to mitigate the anti-China warriors. Trump needs a constructive relationship with China for Trade and for dealing with the Korean issues.

And there is one thing not any analysts have addressed in all these developments—the unraveling of the EU. That is China’s largest trade partner and Russia’s sanctions nemesis.

As the EU comes apart, Russia will strengthen, while China will have to readjust 28 trade and investment agreements.

And if a reverse flow of migrants cannot soon be engineered, presumably to safe zones in their home nations, the US bases by the hundreds throughout Europe will be massive security problems or hot spots neither NATO nor the US will be able to control.

Merkel’s millions of trojan horses will run wild all over Western Europe and hundreds of Fallujahs, Mosuls and Raqqas will arise.

Mattis will have all the wars he could ever imagine.

And Trump absolutely wants none of this. He can’t accept the Khazarian plotting and avoid the inevitable chaos.

The Liberals and neocons have dialed up trouble-making in Asia and the Russian near abroad, but it is in the Rothschild’s Europe where the world war with the Wabbahis may be fought. Unintended consequences?
- Eimar on December 05, 2016 · at 8:29 pm EST/EDT
  
  The Liberals and neocons have dialed up trouble-making in Asia and the Russian near abroad, but it is in the Rothschild’s Europe where the world war with the Wabbahis may be fought. Unintended consequences?
  
  RT reports Mogherini has come up with a new EU plan to deal with the ‘migrant crisis’: pay Damascus instead of Erdo.
  
  The plan still goes with Zio-‘cantonization’ – demanding that some regions of Syria become autonomous.
  
  But the ‘Assad-must-go’ mantra has been dropped.
  
  I wonder how much of this has to do with the reputed secret Kerry-Lavrov pact?
  
  Or just a last-ditch desperate attempt to avert the consequences of destabilizing the Middle East?
  - Larchmonter445 on December 05, 2016 · at 10:36 pm EST/EDT
    
    The secrecy in Kerry-Lavrov agreements, pacts, deals, is to shield the US from its domestic critics and its psychopathic proxy moderates (al Nusra, ISIS, AQ). They are in a trap of their own making. They have sponsored, trained, equipped and, in some cases, led on the ground and supported with targeting information (like the mortaring of the Russian mobile hospital yesterday that killed one Russian woman medic and wounded several others). Now their proxies are losing big as the Syrians and Russians close the cauldron on the terrorists.
    
    Lavrov is merely accommodating the dopes from the US. They are about to have their “armies” decimated or cause the death of thousands of innocents still caught in the battlezones of Aleppo.
    
    So, if it takes “secrecy”, the Russians don’t care. The news of it is self-evident. The reality of Syria is the US has led an unlawful military attack from the air and on the ground, using terrorist formations to try to foment an insurgency against the legitimate government of a major nation in the region. These are war crimes, criminal acts with consequences that will require reparations to the Syrian people.
    
    The US (Kerry) is trying to weasel away from the scene of the crime and is trying to save as many terrorists as he can, in hopes that within the political settlement ahead, the US will still have leverage and some representatives at the table.
    - Eimar on December 05, 2016 · at 11:48 pm EST/EDT
      
      Thanks Larch – makes a lot of sense.
      
      If you have time, or think its relevant, where does this switch by the EU fit in?
      
      Just a sticking- plaster ‘solution’?
      
      A sidelining of Erdo to avoid his blackmail?
      
      Or is there more to it?
      
      After all, as Thierry Meyssan long ago exposed, France was one of the main instigators (Quatari-backed) of the Syrian debacle.
      
      The US was not the only political outsider, though it provided most of the ‘muscle.’
      
      And there was German involvement at the level of ‘strategy’ too.
      
      So I wonder what this initiative says about NATO’s future as a front for old Euro players (Bilderbergers, Rothschiids etc..)
      - Larchmonter445 on December 06, 2016 · at 1:49 am EST/EDT
        
        Sarkozy was a warmonger. Libya, he led the charge. French bombers did huge damage in the enforcement of the NO FLY.
        
        He loved the heroics of bombing. French colonialism runs deep. Their military has been waging war in Chad, Mali and most of North Africa for 70 years, off and on. Their stake was the Levant in ME. So, Syria is a natural for them to attack. They always have cover as NATO, doing their best to represent what the Hegemon wants.
        
        The terrorist blowback into Paris, not withstanding, hasn’t changed their propensity to destroy nations, the smaller and weaker the better. Go deeper into Africa, sub-Sahara, and you’ll see they are at it in former colonies.
- Alan on December 05, 2016 · at 8:55 pm EST/EDT
  
  Yes Clinton is stopped but not sure about the war on China that has been steathily unleashed by O
  
  http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/02/the-coming-war-on-china/
- Auslander on December 05, 2016 · at 9:42 pm EST/EDT
  
  Larchmonter, my good friend, I should have known your voice of reason would be heard in this thread. I won’t address all you wrote, it’s late, well after midnight, but I will address one known that few have mentioned.
  
  Mr. Trump’s apparent appointment of a retired Marine General to head the armed forces I see as a very positive development and one that augers well for the Marines in particular and our Armed Forces in general. The Marines are a traditional outfit and they have a particular sore spot in regards to the social engineering of our military which I am positive the good General is aware of. I would be willing to bet that if the General is given the order this foolish social experimenting with our military will stop instantly. I await that day regardless of how many noses I put out of joint with this statement.
  
  Auslander
  - Eimar on December 05, 2016 · at 10:26 pm EST/EDT
    
    Those ‘red-heels-walk-in-her-shoes’ stunts – not to mention the ‘transgender’ freakery lately endorsed by that bozo Carter – must have gone down like a lead balloon….
    
    I’m sure Dilma Roussef spent s lot of time trying to balance on three-inch-heels in her armed revolutionary days…not!
    
    Just shows how much influence the Rockefeller cabal have on the political stooges in the MIC.
Mario64 on December 05, 2016 · at 7:48 pm EST/EDT

CHAOS
Trump is the wind of history actual agent of CHAOS, because CHAOS is the way choosen by history to bring down the crumbling Sodoma & Gomorra Western World. The System is doomed. RIP.
- Rublev on December 06, 2016 · at 8:27 am EST/EDT
  
  I’m not endorsing your comment, as I do not know yet, who Trump really is.
  But regarding “chaos”:
  
  from Greek khaos “abyss, that which gapes wide open, is vast and empty”
  source: http://www.etymonline.com
  
  Revelation 9:11 (note the numerology)
  “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”
  
  Coincidence? I don’t believe in them…
Eimar on December 05, 2016 · at 8:07 pm EST/EDT

I find the Brzezinski quotes kinda quaint.

Sounds like he’s trying to maintain relevance, coasting on former ‘glories’ ( the break-up of the Soviet Union.)

The idea that the long-planned synergy between China and Russia can be ‘re-modeled’ by the Trump admin is simply hilarious. They get to join in – maybe – but that’s it.

Has he been under a rock these past two decades?

Or does he think his Atlantic cabal inside Russia are operating unbeknownst to Putin?

And can put the Sino-Rus synergy into turnaround?

Amazing.
- Franz on December 05, 2016 · at 8:40 pm EST/EDT
  
  Zbigeniew Brzezinski is a Polish ghost from the Sixteenth Century assault on Russia. His ‘Nightmate life-in-death’ (Coleridge) daughter on CIANN is the reincarnation of Countess Bathory, the Poly-sexual throwback to Messalina, the royal debauchee of decadent Rome and throwforward to Hillary Clinton.
  History repeats itself. Russia has nothing to fear.
  - GoraKoshka on December 06, 2016 · at 8:07 pm EST/EDT
    
    Now, come, come… you’re doing dis-service to the dear departed countess… mika B. cannot hold a candle to Ms. Bathory (known – or reputed – to bathe in the blood of young maidens). Mika is a non-entity, parroting a few lines she manages to read off the telepromter
    - Franz on December 06, 2016 · at 8:21 pm EST/EDT
      
      I should have elaborated. I think of Pani Brzezinska as a bourgeois, pretentious and vulgar facsimile of the Great Sinner and Psychotic Polish Sex Criminal, Countess Bathory.
      One has to work with what one is given. She is insipid, but still a good take on Coleridge’s ‘nightmare life in death’. I just got to daydreaming about her a bit.
      
      I blame Coleridge:
      
      “Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
      How fast she nears and nears!
      Are those her sails that glance in the sun,
      Like restless gossameres?
      
      Are those her ribs through which the sun
      Did peer, as through a grate?
      And is that Woman all her crew?
      Is that a Death? and are there two?
      Is Death that Woman’s mate?
      
      Her lips were red, her looks were free,
      Her locks were yellow as gold:
      Her skin was as white as leprosy,
      The Nightmare Life-in-Death was she,
      Who thicks man’s blood with cold.”
      
      Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
      
      But I am sure you will agree that Daddy as vampire and and daughter as play-acting victim might make an interesting video… ahem…’interlude’.
      - Eimar on December 06, 2016 · at 11:47 pm EST/EDT
        
        Sure looks like a vampire:
        
        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03ApSE6mgHE
ActivePatriot on December 05, 2016 · at 8:40 pm EST/EDT

I see writers and analysists basically over analysing Trump and what he is going to do. He has basically told everyone what he’s going to do. Until it proves not true take it as the clearest indication of what will be coming.

He is a pragmatist, expect that to stay consistent. He states he wants to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., expect that to happen. That is his counter to China. How is he going to rebuild relations with Russia? He is going to do business with them instead of imposing sanctions. Expect a deal to lift sanctions and a new business alignment.

He doesn’t want a big war with anyone. Big wars kill customers. He will look at big picture of American business and workers and make decisions on that. It he brings jobs home and we Americans are making more money than we were before, well, we are pragmatic too and we will re-elect him to do more of the same.

That is KISS (keep it simple stupid)
elsi on December 05, 2016 · at 11:35 pm EST/EDT

On the cause of Trump´s victory and why there is no place for hope and why Trump is a time bomb which will explode when US workers masses realize that there was nothing from them from all what was promised.

Analysis on the state of US economy, on how US workers have lost a level of income comparable to what took place in the 30s, while the capitalists enjoy a level of acumulation of capital never seen, and why there is nothing in Trump´s basket to redistribute.

“The Trump trap” by Mariano Massaro for Rebelión, originally appeared in Contexto XXI, in Spanish, try to translate ( MUST READ )

http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=219988

“(…) In relation to the North American process, let see through what measures, other than the financial industry, operated the capital reaction to “compensate” for the fall in the rate of profit and how these are in the genesis of the current triumph of Donald Trump.

Deflation of wages: Less mass of wages and more debts. In the United States, the share of labor remuneration in national income fell to 51.6% in 2006-the lowest point since 1929-against 54.9% in 2000 (1). During the period 2000-2007 average real wage growth was only 0.1% while median household income fell by 0.3% per year in real terms.(…)

Fall of the purchasing power of workers:The deflation of wages, automatically moved to the purchasing power of the wage earners of the central countries. This contraction of the purchasing power produced a crisis of demand, which in turn again pressured the rate of profit of the capitalists, entering into a contradiction between what was sought and what was desired.
This contraction in demand discouraged productive investment, since the supply had no counterpart; Does it sound? However, this stimulated an investment outside the domestic market, in new sectors and in financial products, many of them high risk.
In this context the workers turned to taking credits to maintain their standard of life, pushing them to the indebtedness. Poorer and more indebted workers.

Deformation of the distribution of wealth: If the fall of wages, is nothing other than unpaid work, here is seen the gigantic transfer of wealth from workers to capital.
In the United States, 0.1% of the richest accounted for 7.5% of national income in 2005, compared to 5% in 1995 and 2.9% in 1985. The 2005 level corresponded to that of 1929, the year of crack Of the stock market (7.6%). The same causes have the same effects.
Income concentration: At the beginning of 1980 the richest 1% of the population absorbed between 7 and 8% of national income, 20 years later the figure had doubled and in 2007 it was around 20%. For its part, the richest 10% to absorb a third of the national income in the 50’s to about 50% today.
A study conducted in August 2008 by two North American NGOs, the Institute for Policy Studies and United by Fair Econiomy, published a report called Exceos Ejecutivos 2008, which demonstrates the distributional disproportion that was reached in the US. The study takes the income received by the top 50 CEOs of hedge funds, ie the stars of the global financial market for 2007; Performs an average of these executives’ charges and compares them with the average income of an American worker. A senior executive of a company specializing in hedge funds charges 19,000 times as much for a regular worker. (…)

Relocations: This phenomenon implies the transfer of a productive activity from one country to another; A factory is closed in France and opened in China, which manufactures the same products, partly destined to be exported to France. In a broader sense, it is also the transfer of all or part of productive activities to an emerging low-wage country, through the creation of a subsidiary or through a subcontractor. It is a process by which the unit costs of production are reduced.
The cost of one hour of labor in the manufacturing industry averaged $ 24 in Germany, 21 in the US, 19 in Japan, 17 in France, is only about $ 5 in Poland or the Czech Republic, and 0,6$ in China, ie thirty times less than in France and forty times less than on the other side of the Rhine.

This search for profit maximization raised the level of unemployment in the central countries, and grossly in the US, which created a reserve army that again put downward pressure on the wages of the workers, which had already been noticeably depleted and then frozen.

All these measures annihilated the average American worker’s lifestyle, liquefying the realization of his ideals; Was a blow to its deepest materiality, but also, a symbolic blow.

Accompanying this deterioration was maturing a social and political process that dialogued with the new phase of capitalism, so that impoverished workers made various political, all systemic, bets with negative results; So we should read the support received by Barack Obama in his two terms. On this disheartening scenario, the sub-market mortgage crisis was reached, reflecting a people who did not have the resources to do so and where the whole system was complicit due to lack of regulations, lack of controls, hunger for profit, incentive of lifestyle about a society that had lost its purchasing power, as well as corrupt institutions such as the risk rating agencies that approved the whole process. In other words, this synergy reflects a clear picture that adjective the new phase of development of capitalism. It would be voluntaristic to speak of deviations from the system, or corrupt ones, or rotten apples; Is that current capitalism can not be separated from the financial industry and its consequences.

This economic, social and political scenario was rightly perceived by Trump, who so demarcated the audience with which to interact. Making a commitment to imbued remembrance by “a better past” to which it is possible to return, accepting the diagnosis of working-class poverty, but distorting their causes to fix them to very basic but effective elements such as the construction of an enemy that will crystallize all American ills. It was not capitalism in its financial face, but “the other” the cause, the immigrant. It worked. Among other things, because the American partisanship, Democrats and Republicans, could not respond for almost three decades to the unsatisfied demands of working people.

Now, Donald Trump and his promises are a trap of unimaginable consequences, because to assume a commitment of impossible fulfillment to who voted after having exhausted all the systemic options results in a time bomb. The Trump trap is a period symptom.”
- chimmy on December 06, 2016 · at 2:12 am EST/EDT
  
  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the alternative to Trump (as a phenomenon– not as a candidate counterpoised to consummate establishment stooge, Hillary) was record non-participation, which in many ways is worse from the perspective of TPTB. Looking back in time a pattern emerges. In 1992 an relatively unknown figure (occult establishment nevertheless) defeats the old guard Bush 41– change. In 2000 a candidate, W, emerges whose qualification is that he is not Bill Clinton (helped along the way in 2000 and 2004 with election fraud)– change again. In 2008 Americans sick of war turned out for another unknown quantity who said all the right things– even Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com rooted for him — hope and change. Such an obvious scam cannot continue forever, hence the rise of the ‘outsider’ –Trump. Chalk it up to hysteresis of the system.
- Bruce Marshall on December 06, 2016 · at 7:42 am EST/EDT
  
  Thanks for this post, including the feature analysis, Trump Trap, translated from Spanish, of Mariano Massaro for Rebelión, which I suppose is of some sort of Marxist pedigree. What ever that is, the fine analysis is missing something, even though its conclusions answer the question, to an extent, that excludes something of great import.
  
  What is missing is an explicit identification of the fact that at the root of all collapse of wages is the collapse in commodity prices, agricultural commodities.
  
  Wages depend upon a profit, and if the producers of new wealth, that wealth that keeps us alive,
  are not able to make a fair profit, then that means that less of that “earned-income” is circulated through out the economy, which the Raw Materials National Council demonstrated in the late 1930’s from their research into the economic records of the nation, which helped convince Congress to finally adopt, that which is still the law, of Parity for Agriculture, where the policy adopted during World War II worked. Yes crisis forced the adoption of measure to ensure that the
  “Engine of Democracy” was running full bore, where we did not have to force farming at the end of bayonet. What worked for WWII and the post war boom, was then left to run without an oil change and democratized profit, from fair labor, exchange at a price consistent with that of manufacturing and service, which are an extension of successful agriculture.
  
  This arrangement, upon first principles, the Golden Rule in practice, Parity, developed capital across the nation and was the engine of American success, was sabatogued by those who wanted to sell credit to people. It was General Motors at the behest of Wall Street that pushed for the dropping of Parity in 1952, which is the beginning of America’s economic decline. A decline which has been matched by the rise of conspicuous consumption, bread and circus’s and the like, driven by the abandonment of labor, and the exploitation of cheap labor.
  
  The danger with Trump, the Trump trap, is that he will build a fake gold patina of economic botox injections, that will serve not the true needs of labor, which is the increase in the productive power and profit of labor, which can only be done when labor for the production of such actual wealth is translated into something that increases the wages of laborers, in a way that universal labor, that ability of labor, to be creative, is expressed.
  
  Trump could easily, as it is law, and was done with success before, to bring the pay to the productive power of labor, of Agriculture, out of the fact that it is only getting 35 cents on the dollar they should be earning with Parity, such that they, and we of the economy, are loosing billions of dollars in earned income, that has made up through, credit such that we are in quadrillions of dollars in debt, as fictions of financial paper, inflate and deflate at the same time, with mergers, outsourcing, downsizing… etc, etc.
  
  Instead Trump is set up to borrow, when he could just issue the treasuries as projects are put to task, and at the same time issue non recourse loans at what would be a phase in towards parity, which would include a graduated increase to a “Parity Minimum Wage” which is around $18/hr which is also the parity price of wheat, but the market price as I write is only $3.70,
  - elsi on December 06, 2016 · at 1:13 pm EST/EDT
    
    Hi, Bruce, I have not the knowledge on Economics to make my own opinion on if the price of agricultural comodities have influence in the level of wages, but, most probably that you are right, since there is also cassino economy going on with agricultural comodities through Chicago Stock Market, where these wizards of finances play with something so basic to survivance as food sovereignity of the peoples in the world.
    
    What seemed to me was that the analysis was right acording from what I have seen happening with wages, debts and profit of the CEOs of banks who went bankruptf and then were rescued by our loses in wages and labor rights ( which all is income, since a day of rest also has its cost ), and besides, was explained is such a way that everybody, included those neofits in economy as me could understand.
    Independently of the author being of Marxist pedigree or whatever, what he is telling is the plain true, and are facts on the table. Obviously, perhaps is lacking more factors playing a role, but understanding the limited space for an article I think has provided enough highlighting issues for to explain what has been the play of this election and, certainly, for the people to, as soon as possible awake, recognize having been fooled once more time and start organizing to claim what is their right to do.
    
    P.S: Also I must add that I have not translated all the article to the risk of not being published because of being too long, or whatever reason, as has happened to me several times. In fact I was waiting for it not being published, after the effort made in translating, what would have lead to giving up from my part since my spare time, as has been ilustrated, is few and thus gold so as to waste it.
    - Eimar on December 07, 2016 · at 11:12 am EST/EDT
      
      Certainly hasn’t been wasted Elsi.
      
      Very informative.
      
      Thanks for your effort – I will share.
Student on December 06, 2016 · at 2:36 am EST/EDT

Should we be asking the question of whether Russia will be forced to strike if the movement to rebuild the US MIC shows momentum? The US will suck dry the world’s leading scientists and rebuild its military technological advantage. I wonder what the Russian leadership will or will not do in that situation, given that this is their advantage given the overwhelming soft power of the empire.
- Earthrise on December 06, 2016 · at 5:07 pm EST/EDT
  
  “I wonder what the Russian leadership will or will not do in that situation”
  
  Firstly, the US is bankrupt and running on force and voodoo economics. All that is left is their battered reputation, which looks like a derelict cavalry flag at Custers Last Stand. All the rest of the world has to do is grit their teeth and pull off the band-aid. Once they lose the reserve currency, it is over. Bases close, carriers go into mothballs, and the GIs come home. The risk is they roll the dice once more and ‘use it or lose it’. Soft or hard landing, this is the question of our times.
vot tak on December 06, 2016 · at 3:26 am EST/EDT

Iraq war a ‘strategic mistake’ – leaked Gen. Mattis audio

https://www.rt.com/usa/369286-mattis-iraq-war-mistake/

“I think people were pretty much aware that the US military didn’t think it was a very wise idea,” Mattis said. “But we give a cheery ‘aye aye, sir.’ Because when you elect someone commander in chief – we give our advice. We generally give it in private.”

“Nobody elected me,” Mattis continued. “But I did feel I had to be heard. And I was very blunt. And I gave my advice. But when it’s all over and done with, ladies and gentlemen, your military is obedient to the constitution that says we obey the president. We swear an oath to protect that constitution, and we live up to it. Loyalty only counts, we say, when there’s one hundred reasons not to be.”
- Bruce Marshall on December 08, 2016 · at 3:44 am EST/EDT
  
  Thanks for that!
  
  Yes General Mattis, you have a duty to uphold the Constitution, but that does not mean following out what are illegal orders by the President.
  
  Of course why would you actually act with courage and moral conviction, as well as to the protocols of our Constitution, when Congress had no fucking guts, less any intelligence to support such patriotic action against the 9/11 Coup. The same being the fact that in the civilian arena, the antiwar left was for the most part a ‘limited hangout operation’ intended to prevent any serious challenge to the war machine of the neocons. that is another whole story.
  
  Anyways it is nice to hear that General Mattis says he was against the war in Iraq….lets hope he
  realizes that Iran is not our enemy.
vot tak on December 06, 2016 · at 3:42 am EST/EDT

China urges parties in Iran deal to stick to pact as Trump presidency approaches

https://www.rt.com/news/369281-china-iran-deal-trump/

“The implementation of the Iran nuclear deal should not be affected by any changes in the domestic situations of countries involved in the agreement, China’s foreign minister said. The comment comes days after the US Senate voted to renew sanctions against Iran.”

A warning by China to israel’s american colony, who have an extremely dismal record of keeping to agreements they sign.
Doom Sternz on December 06, 2016 · at 4:41 am EST/EDT

As Thomas Hardy once said……You can do anything with bayonets, except sit on them.
- Spiral on December 06, 2016 · at 6:58 am EST/EDT
  
  Obviously, T. Hardy had a very limited life experience, or IQ.
  
  Regards, Spiral
pogohere on December 06, 2016 · at 4:54 am EST/EDT

The people Engdahl (http://journal-neo.org/2016/11/25/the-dangerous-deception-called-the-trump-presidency/) refers to have been embedded in gov agencies and neocon think tanks making gov policy for decades, along with now long forgotten CIA embeds. The congers is owned by the Zionists who had enough inside info to have sent a film crew to film 911.

The Iranian hardliners have received the perfect gift from Trump et al: the reformist Atlanticists among them who negotiated a deal with the US (which it renegged on by blocking Iranian funds and threatening to blacklist banks that finance Iranian projects) have been shown to be fools. Iran has received the Russian S300s and paid for them and is gearing up for the coming war:

IRANIANS SHOULD BE THANKFUL FOR TRUMP (http://katehon.com/article/iranians-should-be-thankful-trump)

Pepe isn’t as sophisticated or connected as he implies. The guys Trump is hanging with mean to own the planet–and will take down the Anglo-Zionist construct on the way.

The Russians and the Chinese are playing for time. You won’t see Russians engaged with Mosul, but there are thousands of US troops there now (http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/10/17/us-troops-in-harms-way-as-battle-for-mosul-begins.html) and probably more (http://tinyurl.com/zaomhsg) coming (http://tinyurl.com/zxot2o6). And this was supposed to suck the Russians in !!!!! The empire needs an independent state in northern Iraq. The Barzani clan exploited the Kurds there shamelessly with the help of Israel, which bought the oil stolen from there and transported it to them via Turkey.
Earthrise on December 06, 2016 · at 5:22 pm EST/EDT

I am moving on tax cuts. I have been thinking, what if the ploy is to reduce the tax base to such a low level, it becomes guns or butter? Then we will see the true support for the Empire amongst the American people.

The re-election of Bush and Howard in 2004 broke my heart. I found out how mercenary and selfish my people are. All they cared about was their new flat-screen TVs, while thousands of innocent dead Iraqis counted for nothing. I learnt the lesson that people vote with their wallets, not with their hearts or minds.

Taking this lesson into outside-of-the-box politics (which Trump practices with surprising skill), if we put the US people under real budget pressure and force them to choose between guns or butter, they will chose butter. They only vote guns to get more butter, even if this operates just below their consciousness.

Maybe this is in the heart of true conservatives when they rile against government spending.
GoraKoshka on December 06, 2016 · at 8:21 pm EST/EDT

Thanks, Pepe… always look forward to your articles
It seems to be the case that the overtures to Russia are precisely to peel it away from China
Hope Moscow knows this
One cannot trust the anglozionist beast – ever.
Robert McMaster on December 06, 2016 · at 11:41 pm EST/EDT

Bannon is a Leninist the way some neo-cons are said to be Trotsky inspired. The implication is that they are Jedi knights and not to be trifled with. Armed with privileged knowledge and Jesuitical discipline they are the Avengers. Beware and be afeared of them!

Bannon is Gregor Strasser awaiting the Night of the Long Knives. The neo-cons, well you get too far ahead of the crowd, you get shot in the ass comrade Bolton.

None of this matters. These factions have little influence now. You can’t herd cats.
And Trump is a herd of cats.
- Eimar on December 07, 2016 · at 12:19 am EST/EDT
  
  Bannon really meant that as analogy – Lenin as iconoclast, a breaker of the state.
  
  But he’s no Marxist: Marxism is like garlic to a vampire to old-school conservative capitalists like Bannon.
  
  ‘Trump is a herd of cats’.
  
  Lol!
  
  Probably the best description yet of the new president-elect..:/)
low voltage on December 08, 2016 · at 2:24 am EST/EDT

If what this article says is true, then one question is screaming to be answered. Why was “The Donald” chosen for this role?
Simon Chow on December 08, 2016 · at 12:16 pm EST/EDT

The real Mad Dog is Trump. He is just choosing a cabinet that reflects his image. But there are simpler, less messy ways to deal with a mad dog. Trump is acting as though the US is the pre-eminent hyper power by far. His arrogance and hubris knows no bounds. But the world had already passed the US by. It is now only a shadow of its old self, kept alive by its fiat dollar still being accepted for oil payments and an international financial architecture now being shadowed by a new architecture led by China. But it still has its out-dated but massive military which it can use to extort money by threatening and making trouble.

China had millenia of experience in dealing with such barbaric tactics. The US will likely be eased into its decline like the USSR. In fact its present hubris imitates that of the USSR. E.g. it is banking on a massive military build-up of its navy and air-force with the help of its allies (like Japan and Korea), a build-up which neither the US nor its allies can afford. The likely resultant economic collapse should also bring down the economies of the US allies. In the wake of the US-led economic collapse, only Eurasia, OBOR countries, Africa, South America and Pacific Rim countries other than those allied with the US, are likely to advance and prosper.
- Talks-to-Cats on December 10, 2016 · at 4:37 pm EST/EDT
  
  Many excellent points. But fragmented. History repeats itself. In the 18th century, the British oligarchs made huge investments in Argentina. After some reverses in fortune, this produced a flood of beef and grain. Needing to sell these in Britain, Parliament (oligarchs all) repealed the “corn laws” (tariffs on foreign agricultural products). Unable to compete with the flood of cheap imported food, the British farmers were absolutely destroyed. Their livlihoods destroyed, they flooded into the cities to become an impoverished urban proletariat. They provided cheap labor to the factory owners who easily exploited them because workers were in oversupply. Their farms, now worth nearly nothing, were bought up for pennies by the same oligarchs who had economically destroyed them and allowed to go fallow for shooting preserves.
  
  Fast forward to today. Beginning in the 1960s (if not before), oligarchs like David Rockefeller made immense loans to industrialize third world countries in Asia. As their products (initially simple products like steel; later manufactured goods like TVs, computers, cars etc.) came online, the congressional/regulatory analogues of the British Parliament turned a blind eye to “dumping” this production into the US market at cheaper rates than US producers could match and remain in business. This guaranteed big return on investment for the shylocks in NYC, who cared no more about the American people’s wellbeing than the British had about theirs. Regulatory agencies even helped by putting impossible restrictions on steel mills, “fossil fuels” &c. to destroy (as much as possible) US heavy industry and coal mining (while benefitting the oil cartel and the petrodollar founded on it).
  
  2) It is necessary (in my view) to stop thinking in unrealistic (us vs. them) terms. Yes, US finance is in the hands of the shylocks, and has been for longer than people want to acknowledge. But so is Russia’s. The Russian people have agitated for an end to this for years without seeing their hopes realized. But Putin has accomplished miracles anyhow. Their power constrains him, but does not control him. Same with Trump. Both by their exceptional persuasive abilities and astute grasp of realpolitik.
  
  Until control of the creation of money changes, this uneasy truce will be the context of all matters political, back to which they will all ultimately refer.
William Crain on December 11, 2016 · at 11:36 pm EST/EDT

I donno, Hartung isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.

1….bomb-making materials from getting into the hands of terrorists… Uhhh Willy dear, the murikkkans/Statagon already have the Bomb making material, they, the Satagon are the hands of the Terrorists. And Any Bomb will do (economic bomb) (Water destruction bomb)(everyone is beautiful bomb) … i was kinda shocked at the same old meme that Russia spends 10 times less than we do… is there someway to measure this accurately? First, Russia owns all the factories; Whereas, in the US of A, it’s all contractual to private corporations.