By Rostislav Ishchenko
Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard
cross-posted with http://www.stalkerzone.org/rostislav-ishchenko-trumps-geopolitical-cruise/
source: https://ukraina.ru/opinion/20180713/1020609493.html
The president of the United States Donald Trump put an appearance in at the NATO summit, went to Great Britain – which is leaving the EU, and now prepares to meet the president of Russia Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Nothing unexpected happened in Brussels, is happening in London, and will happen in Helsinki…
If to approach this affair sensibly, without excess emotions, then it will become clear that “unpredictable Trump” is more predictable than “predictable Obama”.
We are regularly told that Trump the businessman doesn’t understand anything in politics and acts impudently and forcefully, but absolutely unsystematically, destroying the existing western world order without offering anything in exchange. But is this so?
Let’s start with the fact that Trump has actively propagandised his concept of neo-isolationism since the middle of the 1980’s (he started even before the collapse of the USSR). Its main component is criticising the military-political and financial-economic system created by the US and its western allies, which back then (in the 1980’s) still wasn’t global, but soon, after the collapse of the USSR, became exactly that. Trump already back then rather precisely pointed out the defects of this system that will inevitably lead to its crisis, fraught with the collapse of American statehood.
In particular, he, unlike many boastful “economists” who still consider that the printing machine of the Federal Reserve System is a reliable means of solving all problems, already back then specified that the growing gap between expenses and the income of the American budget will sooner or late result in America’s bankruptcy. And the later it is, the more horrifying the system’s collapse will be. But as the lion’s share of expenses went on financing a foreign policy that was active and aggressive, but didn’t promote either strengthening the US’ security or solving its economic problems, Trump suggested to replace the policy of globalism with a policy of isolationism.
Perhaps if the USSR hadn’t disintegrated, Trump’s arguments would still have been listened to back then. But the access that started to be opened to the huge massif of resources of the suddenly evaporated socialist camp temporarily removed the sharpness of the problem and allowed the West to stretch the agony of the system out for 30+ years. And during all these years Trump perfected his arguments and the system of his views, without having doubted his correctness for even a minute.
Trump’s triumph was overdue. And he himself isn’t young any more, and the US is not in the best shape. Especially since his hands, already after being elected as President, have been tied for a long time by the counteraction of the Democrats, who for nearly a year have been seriously trying to achieve Trump’s impeachment. And he had no unambiguous support also in his own party (moreover, in his own administration).
One and a half years was needed to unshackle his hands in foreign and domestic policy. It seems that during these one and a half years Trump managed to form if not a fully-fledged, then at least partial national consensus concerning the model proposed by him of a new international policy designed to ensure the restoration of the lost American power. In any case, he forced the Democrats to shut up, investigations against him came to practically naught, and the “free press” that poured dirt on him loses the trust and support of American voters while Trump increases his approval rating. He managed to make cardinal replacements in his team, and in key directions connected to foreign policy too (Secretary of State and the Adviser for National Security).
Regardless of what hawks the new ones are considered to be, they pursue Trump’s policy, and not their own, and they work effectively. In any case, the visit of the adviser for national security John Bolton to Moscow favourably differed from the work of American diplomats during the first period of Trump’s presidency. He worked without excess noise, he didn’t make loud statements, he conducted negotiations quietly, he didn’t hide that the US and Russia’s positions are almost diametrically opposite, but placed an emphasis on the intention to reach an agreement and managed to obtain in a short period of time the consent of Moscow to hold a meeting in literally two weeks (which in world practice is a rare case – after all, meetings between heads of States demand long and systematic preparation).
I.e., a team (and not a set of officials) appeared for Trump, and this team started to work. So what is it trying to achieve?
This was shown long before the NATO summit. Without hiding the existence of deep contradictions with Moscow and emphasising the intention to take a hard negotiation line, Trump repeatedly specified to his allies that they, firstly, don’t fulfil their own obligation to spend no less than 2% of GDP on the maintenance of NATO (and for defense in general), and secondly, the money thus saved pays Russia for energy resources. He called this situation unacceptable and declared his intention to change it.
If we approach matters objectively, then the situation is indeed absurd and indeed absolutely unacceptable for the US. While Washington – sapping the last strength and inflating the bubble of national debt above any reasonable limits – spends huge money on the standoff with Russia worldwide, its allies appropriate some of this money (shifting their obligations for financing military programs to the US). Even worse – they spend this money on purchasing rather cheap energy resources in Russia. Thus, three-pronged damage is being inflicted on the US:
- The national debt and the budget deficit grow;
- American money is being spent by Europe on strengthening Russia – the geopolitical opponent of the US;
- The European economy receives an exclusive price for energy resources, which increase its competitiveness in relation to America’s.
In fact, the many-years-old position of Europe led to the fact that the US, getting into crippling debt, financed their geopolitical (Russia) and economic (EU) competitors. Obama and Clinton’s neocons agreed to suffer this situation for ideological reasons. But Trump, absolutely in a Marxist way, decided that practice is a criterion of truth, and that the financing of ideologically close regimes for having a “pretty face” inevitably leads to the crash of the donor economy, irrespective of whether the donor is the USSR financing African “Marxists” in the 1960’s-1980’s or the US financing European “democrats” in the 1990’s and the first two decades of the 21st century.
The EU didn’t immediately believe that the US President can seriously threaten them with the termination of cooperation within the framework NATO should Europe refuse to assume its part of the burden. But after Trump in fact dispersed the “G7” – having stated that it would be more comfortable to talk to them if Russia was present at the table, and also after he in fact imposed economic sanctions on Europe, having stipulated the possible cancellation of prohibitive duties on a big range of European goods should the EU abandon energy cooperation with Russia (this is a considerably wider demand than just blocking the construction of “Nord Stream-2”) – the EU was obliged to believe it. The demand to start paying for security constantly sounded.
At the last NATO summit Trump repeated and strengthened his demands. Now he considers that EU countries must spend no less than 4% of GDP on defense. Europeans reluctantly agreed to only 2%, and in the uncertain future at that. They thought to satisfy Trump with this, but faced obstruction.
After the summit Trump went to London and immediately declared that Boris Johnson, who resigned the day prior, could replace May as the Prime Minister with success. This can be attributed to the usual bravado. But if we think about it, Johnson criticised May by saying that her version of Brexit, which she presented as being strict, is insufficiently strict and suggested to behave with Europe in the same way that Trump does.
As a reminder, for three and a half decades Trump has defended the concept of “resetting” the US with the help of a strategy of neo-isolationism. But Washington can’t simply leave all global structures and to isolate itself in its shell. If the global market remains, and the US will stop participating in the structures regulating it, then it will unambiguously lose. The US needs its isolationism to become not a lonely protest against globalism, but a consequence of the dismantling of global structures – where everyone would become compelled isolationists, because the world would transition from an economy of open markets to an economy of protectionism.
That’s why the US needs Britain to exit the EU according to the most strict option (without compensation and without the preservation of any ties). Washington needs the EU to start splitting up. The US already hinted at the inexpediency of the existence of the UN, and they practically started the destruction of the WTO, having unleashed – contrary to norms of the organisation – a trade war against the EU and China. The preservation of the EU and NATO will suit Trump only in the case that both structures unconditionally accept Washington’s ultimatum. Then Europe will lose what remains of its sovereignty, it will lose its own economy, and will start to quickly degrade, turning into one big Greece (without an economy, but with debts). But it is only such a Europe that the US agrees to see as an ally, and if there is no such Europe, then all is fair in love and war.
Proceeding from this, it is easy to understand what Donald Trump will aspire to during the meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Firstly, the US needs a purely informational effect. Inside the country it is important for Trump to show that he is able to build relations with such an important partner as Russia. Outside, he needs to show the Europeans that it’s not only they who can flirt with the Kremlin behind Washington’s back, and that Trump himself can also sit down and reach an agreement with Putin, having resolved all contradictions at the expense of third parties/countries.
Secondly, Trump needs to evaluate just how strong the Russian president’s negotiation position is and whether or not it is possible to somehow shift him from this position. He isn’t going to just frighten the EU. If Putin shows an interest in the possible full destruction of Europe, then Trump with pleasure will conclude an agreement on interaction in relation to this important issue. In the end, the EU is an unreliable partner, and it’s not only the US that it irritates with its ambitiousness (at the same time being unable to implement even minimally organised actions). And Russia is a powerful growing economy. In one of the variants of the calculated future Moscow could quite agree on the destruction of the globalised world – in which (including via Europe’s efforts) it wasn’t allowed to occupy the appropriate position – in order to obtain an atomised world, in which Russia will be able to use its opportunities and resources to be among the leaders.
Trump will try to convince the Russian president that Putin’s concept of a multipolar world and Trump’s concept of an atomised world of conflicting autarkies is the same thing. Meanwhile, if Europe drops out of the scheme of big Eurasia, Russia and China – being only two – won’t be able to create a stable united economic space in a short period of time — there will be a lack not only of European technologies (and there certainly will be a shortage), but also of a half-a-billion European market.
Thus, if it was succeeded to persuade Putin to support the anti-European course of Trump, then almost all American problems would be solved (starting with the fact that the threat of preserving the global economy in the conditions of American isolation would disappear, and finishing with the fact that the American market would remain the only solvent market capable of absorbing Chinese goods, which would deprive China of having possibilities to resist the US).
But having dealt with the EU and China, it would be possible to start the formation of new American globalism and, once again, on anti-Russian foundations.
Thirdly, Trump will try to agree about the implementation of several practical deals. Since the US needs to exit crisis points (in Ukraine, in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Iraq), he will try to “sell” them to Russia before he will be obliged to simply abandon them.
Fourthly and last of all, Trump indeed needs to establish personally cordial and confidential relations with Putin in order to push forward American interests in the international arena more effectively. There came such a time when even not help, but the benevolent silence of Russia is a big gift in a crisis situation.
Trump now doesn’t even hide that he will probe Putin, and after the meeting he won’t hide what topics they discussed. Trump will simply leave his European partners in the dark concerning how far the presidents of the two superpowers went in this discussion and whether it was succeeded to reach an informal agreement about something, and if it was, then whether these agreements will be formalised at the interstate level or will remain the personal obligations of two politicians. Europe will never find out; it will worry, rush about, and will be obliged to fall into someone arms (either Russia’s or the US’).
Trump counts on it being his arms, but even if the EU will choose Russia, the US hopes that the mass of European problems, the absence of unity in the EU, the special position of the Polish-Baltic limitrophe, and the need to shovel away the horrifying consequences of the Ukrainian crisis won’t allow to realise the potential of such a union, but on the contrary, it will assist in the final collapse of the EU (it looks as if this is in the US’ interests and at the same time Trump isn’t guilty).
Before when the electoral campaign of Trump entered the home straight, I and a number of other observers wrote that “pragmatic” Trump can appear to be a more difficult partner for Russia than “crazy” Clinton. He knows what he wants, he stubbornly tries to achieve it, and he obviously isn’t going to be reconciled with the inevitability of the US’ defeat, which Obama-Clinton’s strategy unconditionally led to. He risks seriously weakening his position, but he transfers the great game from the area of guaranteed defeat to the sphere of the unknown and uncalculated, where answers to unexpected “wrong” moves should be sought away from the [chess – ed] board in real-time, without understanding what scheme the opponent tries to build and as a result being mistaken.
And nevertheless, it is much more interesting with a Trump that is lively and inclined to taking risks than with Obama and Clinton – “correct” up to absolute sterility, politically correct hawks who saw that they were losing, but didn’t want to change the scenario of the game and started to blackmail the world with a flipped [chess – ed] board, hinting that they can also launch the third world war if they are driven into a corner.
Trump is more interesting – he is an intellectual player, and not an obtuse yob. I think that for Putin it won’t be boring with him in Helsinki.
The “isolationist” posture of Trump is simply a fig leaf.
US policy hasn’t changed and will not change. They only thing that could change is the manner by which it reaches its objectives.
At best what Trump will offer Putin is a junior partnership (a higher status than given to EU) plus maybe some concessions in its near abroad.
The drama with the EU is simply to extort additional money and maybe to put some pressure on Putin by hinting at increased armaments spending.
Will Putin fall for it?
We shall see.
Only a big leaf?
I am not so sure. Isolationism is a deeply rooted mainstream in US politics, it ruled from the 1920’ies to the late sixties, and these had been good times for the common US citizen. Of course on the expense of the new colonies in LA, Europe and Asia – just to name the take over of Europe industries after WWI and in particular, one program of WWII, Paperclip.
But it would be a serious miscalculation to expect peaceful times on a global scale from this other side of the US foreign policy’s coin. It’s isolationist policy did not hinder the US to organise Hitler’s rise and war against Russia, to overtake the remains of British empire, to smash and overtake Middle East and to continue WWII in Korea and Vietnam. It won’t change the long term tune of the US song, the quest for a global Empire, as usual by war, extortion and extermination (old European traditions, by the way).
Russia is well advised to analyse carefully and to look suspicious on pawn sacrifices offered.
Neither Trump, nor any of the other European, Russian, or Chinese leader is an isolationist. That seems fairly obvious with all the international drama. Like the World Cup, the world is the economic playing field where the profits come from. We have been reduced to a win – lose game because everybody’s corporations and banks need more markets and money, so they are taking from others. All Trump, the Europeans, Russians and Chinese are arguing over is who gets what from whom – thus the trade wars, sanctions, false flags, increases in military spending and Mideastern wars. Problem is, maybe there just isn’t enough to go around to pay for all the deficits countries and corporations have taken out. As the Fed tightens, countries are going to go broke. I think there is a real fear and desperation in government that the US will be one of the failed states. This all reminds me of the world before WWI and especially WWII including the emergence of “identity politics.”
Kassandra
America “isolationist” ? When was America ever “isolationist”. Only when it dealt with countries with which it had no interest. The US placed Central and South America under it’s sphere of influence back in the 19th century with the Monroe Doctrine. In the 20th century it financed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Both Lenin and Trotsky were banker agents. It provided technology to Germany in both world wars, even building up German industry after the First World War and preparing it for war with the Soviet Union (Russia).
The Second World War began in September of 1939, yet the US entered it in December of 1941. Why so late ? Because it became clear that the Germans would be defeated at Moscow, as they were; Stalin brought reinforcements from Manchuria, and everybody knew what happened to Napoleon in 1812. Tzar Aleksander I ended up in Paris, and Western bankers did not want a repetition of that.
NATO was created to keep the US in Europe and Germany under control, preventing it forming an economic alliance with Russia. The EU is the civilian component of NATO, based on the US Federation. It’s job is to curtail the sovereign status of European nations and place them under the control of private bankers. Both the US and EU have private central banks. Both NATO and the EU started moving towards the East after the Warsaw Pact collapsed in 1989. The final aim was the destabilization and break up of Russia, after which NATO would move in followed by Western corporations. It did not happen.
NATO’s sole aim today is to keep Western Europe out of the Russian-Chinese economic alliance and prevent European nations from joining eastern organizations like the Eurasian Economic Union, which Wall Street wants to destroy. NATO is becoming a financial burden. Trump has the audacity to demand that EU states spend 4 % of their GDP on NATO, ie. to finance Wall Street’s further occupation of Europe. It will never happen.
And the EU ? It’s on the road to break up. It will either have to be reformed, returning to EU member states their full sovereign rights, or else dissolved.
Trump and Wall Street have now found themselves into a situation of not fully knowing what to do. The US has the largest foreign and domestic debt in the world, while the dollar is printed backed by nothing. The US cannot go on financing NATO, nor does Europe wish to make any more contributions. Both NATO and the EU are looking into dissolution. The US is seeing it’s foreign policy being defeated in Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan. The US Naval expedition against North Korea achieved nothing, except bring North and South Kore closer to each other. On the other hand Trump and Wall Street are looking at the rise of the East, Russia and China and the organizations they have created: The Shanghai Cooperation Zone, the Eurasian Economic Union, the BRICS and the Silk Road. Worse for Wall Street, Europe is looking towards the East too.
Trump and Putin will meet in Helsinki. What does Trump have to offer Putin ? Termination of sanctions ? They worked wonders for Russia, which turned to its domestic infrastructure. Anything else ?
And Putin ? Does Trump expect him to make concessions ? Why should he ? Perhaps join the Anglo-American camp and turn away from China ? I don’t see either Russia and China falling for the old divide and conquer trick.
If Trump wants isolationism, he can always get it. However, this cannot be a false isolationism which the US practiced in it’s history, saying one thing and doing something else. Trump will soon be two years in office. I fail to see what he has achieved, except continue what Bush and Obama did before him. He will try to uphold Wall Streets globalist, imperial agenda. He will fail. I have my doubts if he can even rebuild Americas infrastructure, bearing in mind it’s cracking up, with 70.000 factories being closed down.
Finally, all Putin needs to do is continue what he has been doing so far, namely continue working with China and wait for Europe to come to him, as it will. The US has the simple choice of either dissolving it’s globalist empire or seeing itself financially implode, as it will if it continues on the present path.
My reading of the situation is similar. Not identical, just similar. Historically the USA advantages were continent-wide resources, safety beyond 2 oceans, relative internal stability with huge economic opportunities for smart hard working people. +++ lack of the above in the rest of the world. Naturally people from all over the world flocked here. Now both China and Russia are catching up. They always had geography, natural resources and demographics on their side. They always suffer in safety and internal stability. It looks like they are rapidly managing to fix both. As the result I see 3 (approximately) equal power centers in the mid-century: China, USA, Russia. With India rapidly approaching. Europe will become a peninsula on a huge Eurasian economic conglomerate.
Albert Greenbaum
The point is that Wall Street is having a tough time keeping it’s globalist empire under control, yet at the same time is seeing US infrastructure crumble. Worse, the US has a huge foreign and domestic debt, with the dollar backed by nothing. The elite in the US was building up a globalist empire for it’s personal gratification and forgetting domestic needs. Now I wonder what the US is going to do.
“The point is that Wall Street is having a tough time keeping it’s globalist empire under control”
Evidence please?
Global stock markets are near all time highs, global wealth concentration is at all time high.
Why do you imagine the US rich care about rust belts outside their gated communities?
The Euro and Renminbi are similarly “backed by nothing”
https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124
“if you add up the debt held by Social Security and all the retirement and pension funds, almost half of the U.S. Treasury debt is held in trust for your retirement”
The US elite are invested globally – it’s known as Portfolio management. They don’t need be concerned with the “rust belt” – if they had been, do you think they’d have let it occur in the first place?
US high tech and military is fine and Chinese / Russian elite benefit as much from military spending /wars as do those in the US.
Either of Clinton / Trump would have ensured the continuing success of Raytheon and Google – the drama is of exactly the same quality.
The issue is not so much what is the US going to do but rather which levers are the global elite going to pull to continue to increase the rate of their wealth/power accumulation and who have been identified to suffer most by that.
On a cash accounting basis, the US is $21 trillion in debt. On an accrual accounting basis, the US debt is over $200 trillion. If you add in the derivative losses the US Treasury will owe Wall Street for Interest rate swaps they purchased and used to hedge their treasury bond purchases…???
It’s misleading to investors for corporations to use cash-based accounting that why it’s illegal and that’s why they use accrual-based accounting.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/accrualaccounting.asp
Too much personal, corporate and government debt relative to the size of the US economy will result in the greatest financial crisis since the Depression of the 1930’s, the end of the US Ponzi Scheme and a lot of ex-rich Americans jumping off of tall buildings same as 1929.
The only lever that the global elite have left to pull is the disappearing act with the money after the Ponzi Scheme collapses.
The FAANG stocks took the Nasdaq and the Russel 2000 to higher highs, but the Dow, the SP500 and bank stocks aren’t participating.
It’s called lack of market breadth. Not a sign of a healthy bull market. It’s what to expect at the end.
Between the Fed raising rates and Trump’s foolish trade war, I doubt it if the bank stocks will break the $30.09 high set in early 2018.
http://schrts.co/9KgnFV
The only lever that the global elite have left to pull is the disappearing act with the money after the Ponzi Scheme collapses””
It seems that is the only one they need – presumably they already know the inevitable and have switched to assets that will rise after the impending collapse.
One can imagine they already have a future (not too hot) WW lined up in order to kick start the next Ponzi Scheme.
At least, it seems, some of the ex “relatively” rich Americans” will have been stupid enough to get their just deserts.
“It seems that is the only one they need – presumably they already know the inevitable and have switched to assets that will rise after the impending collapse.”
My guess is a commodities bull market led by oil&gas.
The movement “America First” had 800,000 members in 1939 – Trumps choice of labels for his own game plan has precedent – in those days also, leaders were outside the establishment career path as well – they wanted no entry into the debacle in Europe
“Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island;
Who rules the World-Island commands the world.”
Russia commands the Heartland and will command it for the foreseeable future. The idly talk that America is in any position to offer Russia the role of a ‘junior partner’ is preposterous.
Anonymous
I fully agree. Why on earth should Putin become a junior partner ? What does he and Russia get out of it ? False promises ? I think not.
“US policy hasn’t changed and will not change.” The establishment hopes you are right. With respect though, you are not.
All things change. USSA policy *will* change at some point, simply because amerikkka cannot dictate it’s fortunes like it could in the past. It cannot keep printing it’s funny munny without serious consequences, some of which we see already.
Amerikkka, in it’s present form is unsustainable. Fiscally, or militarily. No longer the ‘shining light on the hill’ – the veil has been lifted off that particular meme. It’s people are angry. Civil war angry. A few get incredibly rich, and the greater majority get incredibly poor. Do you really think this is a situation that can go on for ever?
No. It cannot. So, things *will* change. I have no idea from wither the world goes from here, but one thing is certain. History is always in motion. It is *not* a static beast.
jiri
Of course Putin will not fall for it, when things are going in his favor. He has a sound economic partnership with China, while Europe is slowly but surely turning towards him. Why would Putin back down and make concessions ?
I am actually very surprised by the number of commentators that are taken in by the Trump act.
Trump says one thing – then confirms to the bro con agenda.
The NATO summit resulted In
– agreement to pay 2%
– agreement to expand NATO to include Macedonia and Georgia
-agreement to place more troops on Russia’s borders and conduct more exercises
– Armenia and Azerbaijan were there more plotting to include countries in Russia’s South
They also issued their usual anti Russian demand to get out of Ukraine, Crimea, South Ossetia and Transnistria
I am very disheartened by the lack of depth in analysis and this fiction that Trump is different
I am even worried that Russia despite what has been happening in the last 4 years still thinks America is their friend.
Sanctions remain
And the west is more Anti Russian than ever
James2
You are so right!
I am also amaze of how some ‘pro-russian’ experts and commenters that buy into Trump and his foreign policy despite of the glaring facts of ever increasing sanctions, property confiscations, diplomat explosions, kidnap/arrest of Russian citizens, business extortions, courtroom manipilations, demonization, and list goes on and on.
Obama may have started it, but Trump ramp it up to High Gear while throwing out the occasional –“We can do a deal”–as part of the Con.
American cannot be trusted–Ever–, and Trump is a truly corrupt perp
James2
Faith
Both of you are correct. America has always been “America First”. Look at Trumps election promises and his post election deeds. He has not kept one single promise, introducing more of the same. He is just continuing the policies of the US elite, this been done in conjunction with the elites in Europe. However, this aristocratic partnership of the elites is not going smoothly any more. We have a triple partnership. The prime partnership is between the Ango-American elites, with the European continental elites coming second. However, the European continental elites are beginning to look towards the East, with the Anglo-Americans trying to prevent this. The Skripal false flag attack in England, directed against Russia before the presidential elections and the World Cup, did not go too well. It was obviously planned between London and Washington, the two of them expelling the greatest number of Russian diplomats. Continental Europe responded with symbolic expulsions, obviously not believing a word of what was said against Russia.
Some commentators have stated that Trump is fighting the Deep State in a discreet way, doing his utmost to prevent a military conflict with Russia and China. This is debatable. If somebody can explain to me how Trump can possibly fight the power of Wall Street and the Military Industrial Complex, bearing in mind what they did to JFK and RFK and a number of presidents before that. The Office of the President of the USA has been reduced to the level of an entertainer who does as told. Are we to believe that the neocons in the US are going to sit back and watch Trump implement what he promised during his election ? Of course not. The Deep State is going full way, destroying America financially and politically if need be. This destruction will not bother the Deep State. It’s members have for years been preparing hideaways outside the US. Even George Bush Jr. bought himself an estate in Paraguay. Strange for a Texan. Why not an estate in Texas ?
The real power in Washington has been stripped away from the democratically elected offices. Simply put, the power does not lie with Trump.
We saw this with Syria. Trump told a cheering crowd that he’d be getting out of Syria real soon. The very next day, high ranking generals testifying before Congress said “No”. They instead said the US was staying in Syria and would be expanding its presence there.
And that’s what has happened since.
At this point, the defense establishment, what has been called the “Military Industrial Complex” holds power in Washington no matter who is the President. The Congresspeople who take bribes/contributions from the defense industry controls Congress by a large majority. And, beyond that, the Pentagon and the CIA and the NSA and the rest have gotten used to doing whatever they want to do, no matter what the elected officials say. Even if a majority in Congress tried to stand up to them, they’d be faced with lots of election challenges from candidates well financed by the MIC with the MIC friendly media calling those who opposed the Pentagon traitors for doing so.
What Trump says doesn’t really matter very much.
And, BTW, it was Obama that got the Europeans to agree to a 2% of GDP level of defense/offense spending in a conference in Wales in 2014.
It won’t change because in America, we have a saying. “If Elections could change things, then elections would be illegal.”
A big show of Trump ( elites behind him ). The potential target: Putin.
They carefully prepared his trump cards for the meeting with Putin.
1.Threats
2 – 4 % increase in EU military spending ( preparation for war with Russia and boost for US military complex )
Nord Stream 2 and other likely Russian- EU energy projects cancellation
2.Temptations
Accelerating Brexit and EU split up, trade wars.Leaving Syria…it smells like a trap!
Let’s wait and see what they want from Russia,in exchange!
The only thing the US has to offer is to return to normal diplomatic relationship and dialogue with RF. Judging from Lavrov’s interview with Larry King the US and RF are barely on speaking terms.
No doubt Trump will try and get some concessions for getting back to a normal relationship. But what has Trump on offer?
Syria- US mistake, stay if you want but you will be thrown out sooner or later.
Ukraine- US mistake. Prop it up at your expense. We can take care of ourselves.
Crimea- Recognition or no recognition will not change anything.
Sanctions- Your mistake. Correct it if you want. We can live with it.
Nordstream- We have other markets if the Germans are not buying.
The Germans have to buy Russian gas or their manufacturing industries become uncompetitive. But if they buy Russian gas, they might lose the US market. Looks like a sword of Damocles above their head. We live in interesting times.
The things is Trump wants it both ways. Hes going to kill Nrth Steam and then go after the EU anyway. Hes already done it with China. As soon as he got China to really put the screws on Nrth Korea, then he goes for the throat against China.
Youve got to wonder when everyone is going to wise up to it. It would have been interesting to see NATO members say “no” to Trump, that they were not going to pay for US world adventures. Then see what happens when Trump goes home and tells Congress he has ended NATO. All Trump is going to hear is “your fired”.
So whats going to happen when Trump meets Putin behind closed doors. This is what Trump wants and I expect the reason is, he wants to discuss who next gets thrown under the bus. Iran must be top of the list. What Putin needs to consider is, that after Trump gets what he wants then he will be back to throw Russia under the bus. Nothing personal, just business.
Indeed, what Trump wants is to continue exploiting everybody, and scaring the Russians, and what he tries with this “meeting”, is testing the Russian mood, the only thing in what I agree with the author.
For the rest, I very doubt that Europe is taking advantage in any way from US money, on the contrary, Europe is always graceful with the inescapable export of every and each of the US economic crisis and maket crashes, like the last of 2008 which, at least European taxpayers, still have not recovered from. So as to tell us, European taxpayers, that we must tighten our belts, even more, to pay for US hegemony. Trump knows that, were the European elites to succumb to his treats, thiw would translate in rising of populisms who favour his agenda in Europe on dismantling the EU he started with the Brexit movement.
It is USA which always make Europe pay for its, clearly, now more than ever, over the top, way of life, including their warfare adventures everywhere around the world, not sparing countries located thousand kms far away which do not do any harm at all to the US but could have something of value to plunder….
Not to mention that every of the World Wars were fought in European soil for the sake of preservation of US hegemony over the world and its, and European elites´, neoliberal order. Of course, waging your wars on others soil, implying the absolute ground leveling of others land and infrastructures, for you to continue peacefuly and safely developing and enjoying high standars of living, has a price to pay…. What Trump is trying to achieve is that we Europeans become the bitch and besides we put also the bed…..
BobHNZ
We don’t really know what the Chinese and North Koreans have been talking about. All North Korea has closed down is one old testing site for it’s missiles, which was damaged some time ago. It has not closed down anything else as far as I know. However, Russia, North Korea and China have saved Trumps face after he sent the US Navy to the North Korean coast, which was done without any real planning and achieved nothing as far as American interests go, but achieved quite a bit as far as North and South Korean interests go, as both started negotiating, even before the US Navy arrived. Trump by now knows he cannot rely on the South Korean military in any conventional war scenario with North Korea, just like he knows he cannot rely on Poroshenko and his Ukrainian Army which is seeing mass desertions, probably the chief reason why Poroshenko did not attack the Donbass.
Normally I like this author but he is seriously off the mark here.
Trump is not Russophobic but the Democrats are? So why did he keep Nikki Haley at the UN, close Seattle and throw 50 Russian diplomats out based on Mendacious May’s absurd Novichuk story? If he is so isolationist, why is he threatening Iran? He went to Singapore and stroked Kim and then sent Pompeo to work out the details. Pompeo recommended assassinating Kim. Some negotiating partner. And of course from conciliation in Singapore, the US reverted to its usual hard ball ‘Denuclearize or else! and then maybe we’ll do our part of the deal (NOT!–just ask Iran).” Same thing with China…Xi is great guy, Trump’s good friend, but China is the trade enemy faced with various threats and a real trade war. With friends like Trump, Xi doesn’t need enemies.
He says Europe is unreliable which is absurd, they are totally reliable satraps of the US as they always have been.
He wants to ratchet down tension with Russia and increases the military budget by more than Russia’s entire miitary budget. And his ‘enemy within, the Democrats, not only agree but increase military spending!
In fact:
Trump is either in league with or controlled by arch zionists like his son in law and Netanyahu. He violates international law by moving the embassy to Jerusalem, gives Palestinians an ultimatum that offers oblivion to their cause, bombs Syria and maintains military bases there, while Nikki Haley flirts with the White Helmets.
US policy and Trump’s exemplifies, “White Man speaks with forked tongue”. Trump just speaks with a different accent but the language is the same: America Uber Alles.
The problem is that US politics is extremely complicated, it isn’t a unilateral structure. Nikki Haley isn’t a separate entity either – she represents America’s official policies. Why does Trump threaten Iran? AIPAC. JFK learnt the hard way concerning this topic. To cut a long story short, US politics is not the result of what 1 person thinks. It is an equilibrium of forces. Frankly, it is childish to say that Trump is “zionist” or “neocon” or other mainstream slogans. It is not at all black and white, and attempts to cartoonise matters is a road to nowhere in terms of understanding.
For the same token it is highly improbable that Trump by itself, even with all his cabinet behind, could change the structure of NATO or even break the EU….In fact, “damage control” of his theater towards the Helsinki summit, towards which he tries to play an anti-NATO role to congraciates himslef with Putin in order to acheve something apart from polite words, is working already and Pentagon has stated that things in NATO will remain the same, as well as US bases on European soil, including Germany ( read this morning, can not find the link anymore )
Of course, there is an increasingly obvious effort by some “alt-news” organizations in painting again Trump as the almighty who will change the world for the better, when his is not, in face of the November midterm elections….
I did not know that R.Ischenko was a Trump supporter, btw….I was trying to figure out what The Stalker Zone website was about, at ideologcial level, especially ….Starting figuring out…
Ischenko is not a supporter of Trump. He simply understands that he is fighting against the same forces that put a bullet in JFK’s head. As for us, Stalker Zone is run by 2 people – me and my colleague Angelina, who is from Ukraine. There is no mystery here. Our “ideology” revolves around not liking bombs being dropped on children’s heads. We don’t beg for donations on Patreon and copy and paste existing material and present it as our own either, unlike the shame that you cited.
A good mission statement about bombs dropped on children’s heads, Ollie.
You and I wonder what might be the mission statements of other “sites”. Jungle combat?
Knowledge without values is the stuff of cults, ideologies and elitism. A lot of that is going on in some places.
Yes, jungle combat seems like a good description. It reminds me a lot of bandits who patrol highways, waiting for a horse and carriage to pass, and when one passes they jump out of the bushes and demand to hand over the goods. And in the end all members of the bandit formation turn on each other. Too much “me” and “I”, not enough “us”.
Here’s JFK on Churchill https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-129/the-statesman-john-kennedy-admired-most/
“IN DARK DAYS AND DARKER NIGHTS, when Britain stood alone, and most men save Englishmen despaired of England’s life, he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. The incandescent quality of his words illuminated the courage of his countrymen.”
—President Kennedy proclaiming Churchill an honorary citizen of the United States, 1963″
Here’s a small flavour of Churchill in action
https://crimesofbritain.com/2016/09/13/the-trial-of-winston-churchill/
Churchill arranged for the BBC to send coded messages to let the Shah of Iran know that they were overthrowing the democratically elected government. Instead of the BBC ending their Persian language news broadcast with “it is now midnight in London” they under Churchill’s orders said “it is now exactly midnight”.
Churchill went on to privately describe the coup as “the finest operation since the end of the war [WW2]”. Being a proud product of imperialism he had no issue ousting Mosaddegh so Britain could get back to sapping the riches of Iran.
Trump has a bust of Churchill on his desk – his “hero”.
Trump’s support for such infers a bullet in his brain should be as welcome, for most, as those that ended up in JFK’s.
Only problem is the other side of the mafia is always ready to take up where the other left off.
“He simply understands that he is fighting against the same forces that put a bullet in JFK’s head.”
I question this. Without going into a discussion as to the (IMO) the most likely explanation for who originated the plan to kill JFK (I don’t think it started with the Zionists), I would still say:
Trump seems to be acting out of conviction vis-a-vis Israel and his son-in-law Kushner’s uber-Zionist agenda. That is, doing a heck of a lot more than he would have to merely to avoid being eliminated, or to keep AIPAC funds rolling into the pockets of American politicians. So, he seems by conviction to be aligning with at least some of the forces that wanted JFK out of the way and got him out of the way. And not just to stay alive.
Katherine
@ Ollie Richardson
No-one needs to paint Trump as a cartoon, he does that very well all by himself. What is required to understand politics (the Great Game) is a clear and critical mind.
The essence of Trump’s actions so for to friend and foe alike is—“I’m not gonna hurt you, I’m just going to bash your head in.” (to varying degrees)
This is a deeply depraved man in a country gone Mad.
To The Russians—Trust him at own peril.
I agree. Ischenko’s article even mentions the chess board, and attributes far more strategy to Trump than the facts warrant — it’s all speculation, and bypasses some important objective conditions. The idea that Trump needs to weaken Europe to contain the Chinese economic juggernaut, etc. — way to complicated.
[1] The Europeans are not underspending on defense and leaving it to the Americans. America contributes 22% of the NATO budget, and how much America spends in Korea, Japan, and on obsolete aircraft carriers is not relevant. America spends too much on defense, leading to catastrophes such as Libya, which never would have happened without the American “lead”. Europe apparently (judging by its defense] is less worried about the Russian “threat”. The European population is much less in favor of Russia sanctions or Afghanistan missions than its rulers — who are being “lead” by America.
[2] Trump doesn’t really care about NATO. He just wants them to spend money on weapons in the US. It really is that simple. It has nothing to do with re-ordering global institutions, etcetc. The outcome is likely not to be what people expect, and may serve as an impetus to more European integration and independance instead of weakening it. Europe might put its excess production into its own defense industry instead of shipping it to the states in exchange for dollars. Or perhaps the Europeans could kick out the Americans and do business with Russia, both spending less on defense and more on improving their own country.
[3] The idea of buying American gas instead of Russian gas is bogus. Europe has always been dependant on Russian gas, just routed through the Ukraine (which has in the past proved to be unreliable). The infrastructure does not exist to support such volumes of imported LNG from America. Even if it did, the gas volume does not exist, and would raise gas prices in America by at least 25% to keep supply/demand in balance. The notion that Europe is gifting Russia by getting cheap gas while screwing America by not paying for defense and American LNG is simply a narrative about American benevolence and the advantages to relations with the USA instead of with Russia. What to do when the fracking gas is depleted?
[4] A large part of Trump’s non-policy in the middle East is simply based on what Israel wants, largely on the basis of his daughter’s being married to jew and even converted to Judaism.
It’s a big mistake to over analyze Trump. He does not read, and his thoughts are on the level of beer talk in the pub.
“That’s why the US needs Britain to exit the EU according to the most strict option (without compensation and without the preservation of any ties).”
Just wait for the moment when the US encourages other EU countries to
stop paying their debt to Germany. POOF goes Deutsche Bank. POOF goes
the German “Wirtschaftswunder”.
Britain needs to leave the EU. I have been fighting for this since 1992. The perception by some commentators here about how Americans view Russia don’t reflect the fact that almost no one in the west any longer believes anything the MSM say and many people have been led to be pro Russia by the insane Mrs May. President Donald Trump is the best thing that has happend to the US for decades and President Putin is the best thing to have happened to Russia since.. the Tsar? The enemies of Russia are the Clinton liberals (not goingt to Zionist debate here as time too short). Many prayers should be said for both Presidents who ought to be friends. Find out who has tried to stop them meeting and you’ll find the viper’s nest. The “Deep State” is not in the US alone but in the Vatican, London and of course the other nations. It’s all in the Bible. Read it.
“President Putin is the best thing to have happened to Russia since.. the Tsar?”
thank god for small mercies, eh https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-190891858.html
” THE Romanov dynasty lasted 300 years: the lives of its tsars and emperors and empresses is a bejewelled but bloodsplattered chronicle of assassinations, adulteries, tortures, secret marriages, coups, reckless rises and brutal falls. It is peopled by heroic, brilliant statesmen, soldiers and reformers as well as nymphomaniacs, martinets, murderers, blunderers, monsters, megalomaniacs and lunatics.
But throughout, Russia’s tsars projected their country’s greatness in the majestic flamboyance of their clothes, a never-ending parade of ermine, gold and diamonds. “
Since years I am looking forward to the dismantlement of NATO. To hell with it! Since 1990, only some nut jobs need it and drag it along.
The US is dishonest when protesting that it pays a fortune to NATO. First of all, it was and still is US policy that is pursued within NATO. Hence, he who orders the plate shall pay it. Secondly, NATO was established by the US to gobble up half of Europe – as evidenced by the true reasons it entered the world wars. Thirdly, Germany was divided because of the US’, France’s and UK’s refusal to discuss and establish a non-allied unified Germany after WW II (and by the Germans’ poop in their trousers when thinking of it). How much did the division and the later reunification cost? I don’t know the exact number – its in the multi-trillions in todays currency.
Next, the EU was a co-creation by the US, the UK, Germany and France. Now that neither the US nor the UK get free lunches anymore, their impetus turns 180°. Captain Obvious speaking! Frankly, let them walk away. End of story.
Finally, the European countries better grow spines to tell the US and the UK to get off. Consequently, military escapades in foreign countries should be stopped presto. If Trump thinks Germany will shy away from North Stream II, he should know that the German government will be sacked by its economic heavy-weights the day after such decision. If the US thinks a trade war is due, the EU shall erase its trade imbalance with the US and stop donating goods and services. Since decades, the US can only spend horrendous amounts on “defense” because it does not pay for its imports with equal value in exports.
In conclusion, please, Mr. Trump, bury NATO asap. It is long overdue.
By the way, the EU countries could use raises in defense spending to buy ingenious Russian hardware. And then proudly proclaim to the US, “See we spent our 2%!” The faces of the US MIC execs would be priceless.
:-D
That’d be fun…
But EU leaders are too fearful and timid to challenge even the likes of Trump.
It’s good to read something about Trump that is a bit more nuanced than an ad hominem diatribe or a repetition of the theme that he is simply a neocon shill. The reality is a good deal more complex than that, and while I don’t agree with everything this author has to say, he does bring up some interesting points, especially regarding the strategy at Helsinki.
“Trump will try to convince the Russian president that Putin’s concept of a multipolar world and Trump’s concept of an atomised world of conflicting autarkies is the same thing.” This is interesting in that it’s true, and I don’t think I’ve read that anywhere else. That realization could at least be a starting point for improved relations by seeking to find common ground.
I think that the real Trump has been speaking from the heart for a long time. I also think that while he’d still like to pursue a more isolationist foreign policy, he’s been stymied by the Neocons and the Deep State to such a degree that it’s hard not to imagine he’s been turned against his own will. That said, his core instinct is what he still espouses-fair trade, reduced foreign adventures, better relations with Russia. He ran on that platform against the media, the advice of every pundit, and even the support of his own party-and he still won. Those who bet against him because they underestimate him are often left looking foolish.
So far, he’s disappointed me in many ways, but whenever I get all worked up over some recent madness I think of how much worse it would be under the alternative. By now, she would have us in a shooting war with Russia and perhaps Iran as well, while opening the borders to tens of millions of additional undesirables. Obama’s policies on steroids. No thanks.
Trump wants to split Europe?. big surprise. USA has been at war with Europe since the start.
Fact- USA and its father UK always saw Europe as an enemy and tried to keep it divided to keep their sea power
Europe is the richest and strongest continent on earth, if only it can keep united…
Anglo Saxons are trying everything now, even an alliance with their enemy Russia.
To stop Europe from becoming the dominant power.
Serbia. Albania. Macedonia. Montenegro will all join EU soon.
Why is this bad?? Europe is stronger than ever before.
Read the work of Guillaume Faye. A united Europe with a common destiny is essential to stand against China, Anglo Saxons, Africa, Islam etc. And Vladimir Vladimirovoch Putin says europe should be one space between Lisbon and Vladivostok. Russia is European racially.
Europe is trying its best right now to make itself into African and the Middle East racially, and with an unfortunate degree of success. The rise of nationalist movements within the FSU countries and elsewhere in Old Europe notwithstanding, the future doesn’t look too bright, I’m afraid, for a Europe united.
I don’t say this to be argumentative, but simply to be realistic. What is Europe’s “common destiny”? Because what Putin envisages and what May, Macron, et al envisage are almost diametrically opposed. While I certainly would like to see Putin sway the rest of Europe in his direction, I’m afraid it’s far more likely that most of the EU balkanizes into a disparate group of multicultural failures. I hope that I’m wrong, but the demography says I’m right.
For any rapprochement with Russia,Trump will have to work against a tide of belligerent smear:
Trump and Putin meet under a nuclear cloud By Grace Vedock, July 12, 2018
“In Russia, returning President Putin became increasingly paranoid about alleged US sponsorship of popular uprisings known as “color revolutions.” He annexed Crimea in 2014, in a startling continuation of neo-imperialist invasions of Georgia, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia”
https://thebulletin.org/2018/07/trump-and-putin-meet-under-a-nuclear-cloud/
Incidentally does anyone think the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is anything but a Hegemon bullhorn parroting MSM and MIC ‘thinktank’ lobbyists?
A fearful nation is a controllable one and the Bulletin is doing a good job with that fear.
Out of seven articles on today’s front page, four are undeniably russophobic lies and distortions, as in the quote above.
Putin: The one-man show the West doesn’t understand
Trumping The Manchurian Candidate. Again.
Now it’s Murder (Novichok)
Trump and Putin meet under a nuclear cloud
I don’t think that Trump can reasonably be regarded as an Isolationist. His main motivating precepts that I can see are advancing the interests of the State of Israel and the maximal return on investment corporate mindset.
Trump opposed involvement in Iraq but not for ideological reasons. Not because the US was violating Iraqi sovereignty or that the war was immoral but simply because the return did not justify the expense. For example, Trump said on Iraq:
We go in, we spent $3 trillion. We lose thousands and thousands of lives, and then look, what happens is we get nothing.
Doesn’t sound unreasonable but Trump finishes with this:
You know, it used to be the victor belong the spoils, Now, there was no victor there, believe me. There was no victory. But I always said, take the oil.
I don’t see how such statements can be regarded as Isolationist in the classic sense. Nationalist perhaps but not Isolationist.
“take the oil“
I remember that well David.
Ties up perfectly with the earlier comment here of Trumps’s hero worship of Churchill who similarly had no issue ousting Mosaddegh so Britain could get back to sapping the riches of Iran
Trump is advancing the interests of the state of Israel hand in glove with Russia.
Russian oil companies produce most of the oil in Iraqi Kurdistan, and pay most of the taxes to the US controlled Kurd Regional Authority.
The US did take the oil of Iraq, and gave Russia it’s cut. ‘Eurasianist’ Igor Sechin has been quiet for a long time and for very good reason.
The US-centric Rockefeller-Koch Deep State Faction is officially entering negotiations with the Russian Deep State in Helsinki on July 15. Helsinki is Yalta 2.0, with the Rothschild-UK Deep State Faction being sidelined as was their representitive Churchill by Stalin and Roosevelt in 1945.
The US and Russian Deep States are attempting to forge a NWO which favours smaller players, including especially themselves. Recall the Rothschild-UK Deep Stae plus allies control perhaps 40 to 50% of all wealth in existence.
Russian Oligarch Valentin Yumashev, of the Yeltsin clan, will pull the strings of the Russian Deep State appointed negotiating team. For the US the situation is much more complex but includes everyone lining up behind Donald Trump, while the Rothschilds do everything in their power to avoid being cut out completey.
The latter Rothschild-UK Deep State had hoped China would act on their behalf but the Chinese have been reluctant to become too deeply involved, they being themselves divived between a pro Rothschild-UK Deep State based in Hong Kong and a semi-Nationalist Chinese Deep State based in Shanghai. China is, for now, mostly on the sidelines hoping to inherit the earth after the Barbarians finish destroying one another.
All Rothschild Banks, including Deutchebank and the entire City of London Finance Establishment have built their Houses of Cards on trillions of dollars of worthless derivatives. Hundreds of trillions with which they have bought up the world. The collapse of the US dollar will also destroy the Rothschild Banks, so the most important question to be answered is who will get stuck with the bill for decades of theft by Globalist Elites when the system is intentionally brought down.
The UK wants the US and Russian citizens to pay for their pilfering. Donald Trump has other ideas and so do the Russians. The Russians will receive their offer from Trump in Helsinki and then compare it to what the UK-Rothschilds have offered but unfortunately and quite remarkably there is still a possibility the Russian and Yeltsinite-led Deep State will chose the Rothschilds over Rockefeller-Kochs due to close connections between Russian and UK/Euro elites.
In this case there would be civil war inside Russia between so-called Atlanticists and Eurasianists. The more likely outcome is a deal with the US but even in this case the Rockefeller-Kochs have precious little to offer Russia except lessening aggression in Syria and perhaps accepting that the EU is slowly moving back into the Russian sphere of influence. This is certainly what Donald Trump is saying to the EU as he demands they pay their own way or get stuffed. NATO is likely doomed but for this to happen Russia and the US Deep States must reach a comprehensive agreement.
Unfortunately the position of Donald Trump is precarious so their ability to deliver anything by way of negotiations must be questioned. Either by impeachment or at the next election Donald Trump will be removed so the Rothschild-UK will inevitably overturn whatever agreements the US and Russia might agree upon. In this scenario the US military may very well overthrow the President who replaces Donald Trump since they are lined up on the side of the Great Orange Horn.
Here is some additional reading regarding the position of Russia.
http://johnhelmer.net/valentin-yumashev-is-still-president-vladimir-putins-rope-puller-after-twenty-years/
http://johnhelmer.net/the-sale-of-another-century-the-putin-trump-summit/
What will Trump offer Putin in exchange for removing the RAF from Syria?
“On the Syrian front, Putin has already demonstrated his readiness to withdraw Russian air and ground forces – before the US and its allies have made a reciprocal move.
“Comrades,” Putin told a Kremlin ceremony for graduating cadets last week “over the past years a great deal has been done to develop the Russian Armed Forces. The Russian Army demonstrated its increased potential and coordination when it fought terrorists in Syria. It is now up to you and your comrades-in-arms to make full use of this operation in your military training. As you know, we started the withdrawal of our forces during my visit to Khmeimim. The withdrawal carries on as we speak: 13 aircraft, 14 helicopters, and 1,140 personnel were withdrawn over the past few days. All these people were tested in combat. You and your comrades-in-arms will have to make full use of this experience…””
What does Putin get for selling the offshore wealth of the Russian oligarchs to America?
Referring to the sanctions:
“Since the Kremlin assessment is that Trump is too weak politically to attempt this, and Putin is hard-pressed by the oligarchs to save their businesses in Russia and their fortunes abroad, the question that is being considered for a private exchange between Putin and Trump is a modern-day version of the Alaska Purchase. Today, the offshore Russian colony is of vastly greater wealth than Alaska ever was to the imperial tsar. Alaska fetched a small fraction of the value of Russia’s national income in 1867. The offshore Russian colony today is almost equal in value to the national income.”
This is what John Helmer is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_Operations_(United_States)
So in exchange for sanctions relief for Deripaska, Putin coughs up what?
What does George Washington: “Who cannot tell a lie or renege on a treaty” offer Putin?
Ischenko appears to have been observing Trump closely for decades, so I am assuming his speculations are rooted in solid information.
But there is a glaring lacuna in his analysis of Russia/US ‘deals’ under Putin/Trump.
China.
As Russia and China have a strategic and powerfully interconnected fate, precisely because of US decay, I can’t see how Ischenko can exclude any serious consideration of this in his analysis of the coming summit.
I didn’t really learn much from this, other than a vague takeaway of ‘imperial rivalry’ – something I would never accuse Putin’s policies of pursuing.
Russia, so far, is much more interconnected to the US/UK than to China, through the shares and financial ties of Russian major corporations, be them state or private, since both have foreign participation. It is because of this lacra, present since the dismantling of the USSR by a “parternship” of US and Russian oligarchs, that the US has the power of impossing sanctions on Russia. That undermines clearly the priviledged position of Russia right now, who, out of his military campaigns, would be in a position of dictating certain rules, if it not were for the considerable Russian wealth possitioned abroad by Russian oligarchs.
Indeed China is also absolutely interconnected with the West…. economically…..
What seems is going to be the Helsinki summit, is a deal on the world and spheres of influence, with the US in a weak position, but things for the working people, in Russia, the US, Europe and the world, will remain the same, the only thing that will change is where will be the next scenerio of confrontation once the Syrian battlefield cleaned, and most probably will be Afghanistán, which will bring inestability to the, still not recovered from the fall of the USSR, suffered and developing peoples of Central Asia…..
You describe the situation exactly and in a nutshell.
Afghanistan is reputedly sitting on trillions of lithium deposits – a major component in the battery-powered ‘green energy :electric vehicles that are slated to replace the standard gas models.
Even Royal Shell is investing in battery production and recycling,making the alleged rivalry between fossil fuels and renewables something of a smokescreen..
Trump, is a loud mouthed Yankee who should have had his ass kicked a long time ago, to quote a coal miner who didn’t fall for his “clean coal” bid during the campaign.
Trump is easy to manipulate, all you have to do, apparently, is be the last person to talk to him before he commits to a decision with his signature. He is also easily impressed and thus takes you more seriously, if you are famous, powerful or significant in another way. There is a video of him forsaking one of the pillars on which his campaign was based on, the wall, because Diane Feinstein casually spoke of the time of her and John F. Kennedy, which impressed Trump so much that she got him to shelve the wall for after a bipartisan deal was made. A disastrous move for Republicans and a supreme victory for Democrats, were it not for the Republicans in the room who quickly jumped in and woke him up as if from a trance to reverse his already made verbal agreement.
Trump is not a smart politician. One of his supposed victories is the Korean peace talks. Nonsense. His rhetoric only succeeded in making it abundantly clear to the South Koreans that the US does not care one iota about them and that it sees them only as cannon fodder. Kim Jong-Un wanted the summit to happen to pretend that the US is part of the peace process, to stop them from sabotaging it. And while Trump and all the other morons are giving out undeserved Nobel peace prizes to each other and pat themselves on the back, the North and South continue to shape a unified future behind their backs – one which doesn’t include an occupational force on Korean soil. As soon as they reach a point of no return and the US, still believing themselves to be part of this process, thus not seeing the need to sabotage it, will no longer be able to do so, the South will shift their tone and demand that US troops leave the country.
Trumps world revolves around Trump. He wants to be remembered as a great leader. He wants his name to be forever etched in history. He had multiple eastern European wives so he, I would assume, has deeper knowledge of the former Soviet space than most westerners and thus knows that Putins support among the Russians is genuine, unlike what western media says. What I’m getting at is his open admiration for Vladimir Putin, which his opponents continue to use against him. He wanted to be the US version of Vladimir Putin. A strong leader who is loved and admired by his people. Putin will go down in history as one of the most respected, loved, admired and most impactful person in shaping modern Russia. Trump wanted this for himself so he adopted the most popular policies of the heart land. Remember, the guy was a Democrat most of his life, not a Republican. I don’t believe for one second there is some grand plan he has been shaping in the last 30 years to further the US empire. Trump cares about Trump. What he does is for his own image and legacy, not the empire.
He also said he wished he hadn’t ran for president, the media liked him more before he did. His actual plan, to create a legacy for himself, failed. He got branded a traitor instead. Time will tell if it sticks in the end. But a great leader he is, so far, not. And I have my doubts whether or not he will succeed in becoming one. I do believe he will be reelected though, but he will never get out from underneath the deep states thumb.
Well said Serg. You’ve described Trump exactly. The most unprepared US president in the last 100 years, a successful businessman who is out of his depth in government. The scary part is, he’s president of a country with a powerful and nuclear-armed military that is slowly losing its global hegemony and there are powerful forces in the US that want to keep the status quo and who are adept at steering him their way. And the only way they can maintain that hegemony is via conflict or a military confrontation. Perhaps analysts’ time would be better spent by analysing Trump’s advisers and enlightening us on how they influence him because I doubt he’s put any thought on any major policy be they economic, defence or foreign, at all. Yes, there’s certainly no grand plan on Trump’s part. His much touted ‘unpredictability’ is not a bug, it’s a feature. I’m glad that Putin will at last be ‘summiting’ with Trump. That will give a real leader like Putin an opportunity to get a good measure of the US president. BTW I also agree that he’ll probably get reelected.
basil
Here is to a real alliance against the evil forces of the New World Order!
Removed – no need for insulting other commenters or their views. Mod
No one knows what Trump will do next but even after signs in Korea that he has a lot more of a sense of humor (an indispensable requirement of a creative mind, BTW…….) by presenting Kim Il Sung with a special commerorative copy of Elton John’s Rocket Man…….. than they do, will the cynics loosen up their minds one iota and think through some of the obvious facts.
Some of those facts are:
1. The author of the article probably has infinitely better access to Russian government sources than any of us do….with more competent readings of the entire panorama.
2. Putin is not about to give away the store on any account, so all your fretting and cynicsim is worse than useless, other than signalling to each other how much …..and unproductively….you “think” alike.
3. Things are going quite badly for the InternationalDeep State and quite well for those leaders Putin, Xi AND Trumpthat know quite well the Deep State Disorder is a bunch of Satan Worhippers….that they don’t want themselves or their nations to be sacrificed to. If that were not the case, the Helsinki Summit would not even be occurring tomorrow, and the Satanists would not be pulling out ALL their fear tactics and lies to try to stop it. (see link below)
But Rod Rosenstein and his idiotic “12 Russian Indictments” is seen by a growing number of Americans as treasonous and desperately self-serving BS…..and impeachment proceedings by the US Congress against HIM, not the president…….. may begin tomorrow. But NO! “Nothing EVER changes!” LOL.
Petition to President Trump: https://action.larouchepac.com/declassifyukdocs?recruiter_id=139893
“……Mr. President:
The Congressional investigations into the origins of the ongoing, fake Russiagate coup against your presidency have revealed that the Obama Administration used false information and evidence fabricated in London, by official and unofficial British intelligence agents, to justify an unprecedented FBI counterintelligence investigation of your campaign.
Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele told his Department of Justice handler, former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, that Steele would “do anything” to prevent Donald Trump’s election and was desperate to stop it from happening. Steele was the author of the notorious fake dossier claiming that Donald Trump, having previously been sexually compromised by Vladimir Putin, was working with Putin to defeat Hillary Clinton. Steele’s bizarre, amateurish, and totally fake dossier was used by a corrupted FBI to justify steps in its illegal investigation, despite the fact that this dossier was paid for by the Clinton campaign and its facts were unverified.
According to multiple published reports, Obama’s CIA Director, John Brennan, convened an illegal intelligence task force at the CIA to launder and investigate fake dirt on Trump, produced by a British spy circle led by former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove for purposes of destroying the Trump presidential campaign. Brennan did this because, he said, Donald Trump’s election would jeopardize the “special relationship” between U.S. and British intelligence agencies. Dearlove played a key role in the faked intelligence which led the United States into the Iraq War………………….”
The practical and acheivable task right nowis to deepsix the “Special Relationship”…..with Britain……..which is sodomic ( a common feature of Imperial Rot….since Antiquity…) in any case, to the detriment of the USA ……which, after all is made up practically all the countries all commenters hail from.
THEN, let’s see what is possible….and if anything more changes.
It could be Yuge……so you might not want to keep Singing the Same Old Song….very much longer.
BTW…jon’s comment is quite good imho ….and…be careful what you wish for.
I second Thorax’s E-Motion
Cheers!
That was me, Bro 93 and I can’t even remember my opening statement.
In any case, I don’t want to antagonize anyone except obvious trolls.
I don’t see any of those above but I do see way, way too much nervousness and suspicion when what would help more is some openness…..and a LOT of vigilance always goes without saying but saying that only..forever….no matter what…….”misses the boat” of real opportunity, IMHO.
Exciting things could occur within 48 hours or less…..including quite possibly absolutely damning Uranium One evidence on Deep State Empire Gofers Obama and Hitlery and crew, presented by Vlad to Donald.
Possibly not, but just in case, trying here to preempt some embarrassment some Russia Well Wishers may soon feel…..if they stick to too rigid a view of what is possible out of the Donald and a rapidly changing Rip Van Winkle Deplorable Populace, now at least rubbing their eyes and blinking….if not yet 100% awake.
The Trump Regime represents one faction of the American Deep State that seeks to maintain the American Empire’s unipolar global dominance by implementing a divide-and-conquer strategy against Eurasian integration and playing Russia against Iran and China.
Despite the disinformation of many Trump loyalists or even supposed Alternative Media, Trump’s “peace” overtures to Russia are phony. In actuality, they are a tactic to break Eurasian integration by co-opting Russia and turning it away from Iran and China.
The Dangerous Deception Called The Trump Presidency
http://www.williamengdahl.com/englishNEO25Nov2016.php
Brzezinski’s Ghost Shapes Washington Eurasia Geopolitics
http://www.williamengdahl.com/englishNEO14May2018.php
Once China and Iran are subjugated, America will then turn on its Russian “partner” like a mafia godfather disposing of an asset who has outlived his usefulness. There is a reason why the USA is nicknamed the United Snakes of America….
In short, the Trump Regime is just the latest spawn of Henry Kissinger’s and Zbigniew Brzezinski’s geopolitical imperative that America must subordinate Eurasia to uphold US unipolar tyranny …sorry… world leadership.
As Brzezinski openly admitted in his seminal work The Grand Chessboard:
“For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia… Now a non-Eurasian power is preeminent in Eurasia – and America’s global primacy is directly dependent on how long and how effectively its preponderance on the Eurasian continent is sustained.”
“Two basic steps are thus required: first, to identify the geostrategically dynamic Eurasian states that have the power to cause a potentially important shift in the international distribution of power and to decipher the central external goals of their respective political elites and the likely consequences of their seeking to attain them;… second, to formulate specific U.S. policies to offset, co-opt, and/or control the above…”
“…To put it in a terminology that harkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.”
For the American Empire, the “barbarians” that must be kept from coming together are Russia, China, and Iran in particular.
Sorry, Anonymous, I know Bill Engdahl a lot better than you do.
He’s a lot better than another former LaRouche associate Webster Tarpley, (now inexplicably cheering on Mueller……well …no I think there is an explanation how he went off the rails…losing a mid six figures libel judgment won against him by Donald and Melania for asserting during the campaign that Melania was nothing but a high priced call girl….but enough about him…) in terms of keeping his own ego and ambitions in check, but there are legitimate reasons to be a bit more patient with Mr Trump……and Engdahl got very impatient very quickly. Like before the 2016 election! LOL.
One reason for that may be that he has not lived in the USA for a very long time.
Ya gotta get out in the field from time to time, you intel pros. Otherwise your view becomes too theoretical, too unbalanced for lack of “on the ground” sights, smells and sounds. Too simplistic. Too much colored by your own ideological prejudices.
Maybe a lot will be revealed in Helsinki.
Maybe nothing will be revealed there with which to re-evaluate him.
But you can’t wait 48 hours?
This business requires more patience than that.