Sun Tzu, The Art of War
And as far as I am concerned the BRICS constitute the beginning of the new free world…
May not be perfect, but it is a far sight better than the last failed free world…
I am sent e-mails from deep within Washington DC and they tell me, not ask me, to stop writing about the USA. Many times death threats are attached…
I am sent comments asking me to not talk bad about America, for it has supported them well with many benefits financially…
I have been sent (You get the drift! I hope?)
We have been at war with Iraq for 24 years, starting with Operations Desert Shield and Storm in 1990. Shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait that year, the propaganda machine began agitating for a US attack on Iraq. We all remember the appearance before Congress of a young Kuwaiti woman claiming that the Iraqis were ripping Kuwaiti babies from incubators. The woman turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US and the story was false, but it was enough to turn US opposition in favor of an attack.
This month, yet another US president – the fifth in a row – began bombing Iraq. He is also placing in US troops on the ground despite promising not to do so.
More evidence, about which I hope to write at length, is piling up that Europe has acquiesced to Washington’s drive to war with Russia, a war that is likely to be the final war for humanity. By Russia’s low key and unthreatening response to Washington’s aggression, thereby giving the West the mistaken signal that Russia is weak and fearful, the Russian government has encouraged Washington’s drive to war.
It appears that the Russians’ greatest weakness is that capitalism has raised enough Russians to a comfortable living standard that the war that Washington is bringing to them is scary, and they want to avoid it in order to continue living like decadent Western Europeans.
The same thing happened to the once fierce Vandals in North Africa in the 6th century when the Vandals were exterminated by a small force from the Eastern Roman Empire. The Vandals had lost the valor that had given them a rich chunk of the Roman Empire.
Russia needs to save the world from war, but the avoidance of war requires Russia to make the costs clear to Europeans.
Faced with economic sanctions, essentially illegal and warlike actions, applied to various Russian individuals and businesses by Washington and Washington’s EU puppets and by Switzerland, a country taught to be more fearful of Washington than of Moscow, Russian President Putin has asked the Russian government to come up with countermeasures to be implemented in response to the gratuitous sanctions imposed against Russia.
But, Putin says, Russia must hold back: “Obviously we need to do it cautiously in order to support domestic manufacturers, but not hurt consumers.”
In other words, Putin wants to impose sanctions that are not really sanctions, but something that looks like tit for tat.
The amazing thing about Russia finding herself on the defensive about sanctions is that Russia, not Washington or the impotent EU, holds all the cards. Putin can bring down the economies of Europe and throw all of Europe into political and economic chaos simply by turning off the energy supply.
Putin would not have to turn off the energy supply for very long before Europe tells Washington good-bye and comes to terms with Russia. The longer Putin waits, the longer Europe has to prepare against Russia’s best weapon that can be used to peacefully resolve the conflict that Washington has orchestrated.
Washington’s aggressive moves against Russia will not stop until Putin realizes that he, not Washington, holds the cards, and plays them.
The world has had enough of Washington, its constant lies, its constant wars, and its bullying. Putin would do well to spend a few hours with Belisarius, Justinian the Great’s great general.
“When I treat with my enemies,” Belisarius said, “I am more accustomed to give than to receive counsel; but I hold in one hand inevitable ruin, in the other peace and freedom.”
That is precisely the position that Vladimir Putin is in with regard to Europe. In one hand he holds the ruin of Europe. In the other peace and freedom in the relations between Russia and Europe.
He needs to call up the [expletive deleted] European “leaders” and tell them.
If Putin does not put his foot down hard and make clear to the Europeans what the stakes are, Washington will succeed in its determination to drive the world to war, and “exceptional and indispensable” Americans will die along with all the rest.
Paul Craig Roberts served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration. He was associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal and columnist for Business Week and the Scripps Howard News Service. In 1992 he received the Warren Brookes Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 1993 the Forbes Media Guide ranked him as one of the top seven journalists in the United States. He is also chairman of The Institute for Political Economy.
Sveta was mean to me and sent me a picture of her Globus meal… 🙂
This morning after the walk with the dog and doing some thinking about life in general. I am sitting here at the computer with a great cup of coffee and writing down my thoughts. The first thought went to an image that I left sitting on my desktop of the laptop and I looked at it again as I thought about my sweetie. This image is Sveta’s meal at Globus the other day and for just about $5, she got the whole tray that you see in the image and it includes all the hot tea refills she desires and with Sveta that is a bunch…
That is chicken breast with a mayo based cheese sauce on top, cabbage, a dessert pie, Okróshka (cold soup), tons of greens or grasses on top and hot tea…
UnionPay a Chinese Credit Card…
Things are changing and I know that most western people are being left behind. The very least people can do is to keep abreast of the financial changes all over the world. Why? Okay I guess that is a fair question, because the world financial power shift has reached a new level and Russia and China are behind it…
This is why the U.S. is attacking Russia and China for that matter, at every turn of the page and screw…
Carp pond… (above)
You can not sanction this gigantic Fish farm we live near; The equipment is all home made, or Russian made and or Soviet made. The fish hauling trucks are all old Soviet made. Why even the owners drive nothing but brand new Uaz and Gaz trucks and vans. But then while they do not care about sanctions from the west, they simply love those Russian sanctions and I could see them seriously hope that Russia never lifts a fish ban against the west…
This is going to be most likely the biggest year for these fish farmers that they have ever had…
I do not think like many Americans, for if I did, I would not be in Russia, I would not travel the world and I would not enjoy life in freedom…
And once upon a time, in a land called America, the people would come in from their mountain cabins, farms, and mill towns with their young ones to joy in the closeness of community on warm sultry summer nights. The American dream was never about grand mansions, designer wear, exotic vacations, health clubs, silicone implants, Viagra love affairs, fortress malls, boutiques, forever war, the prison industry, or slave labor junk stores. It was about a man being able to make a living for his family. It was about a simple life of small town living, where people congregated on Main Street for the Fourth of July parade. It was about swimming holes, country lanes, fields of corn, teachers who challenged the young to greater heights (not social engineering! ), doctors (not technocrats), marshland songs, a whippoorwill, splashing streams, and woodlands with secret paths. It was about rain washed streets; where barefoot children splashed in puddles, blew magic bubbles, caught fireflies, and played hide-and-seek long into a muggy summer’s night. It was about concerts in the park, the clink of milk bottles, and visits to Grandma’s house; with her blue hair, flowered dress, and flour dusted apron. It was about the certainty of love with the slamming of a screen door, a child running in flowered meadows, and at day’s end, neighbors gathered on darkened porches, holding tight the wonderment of the day. It was about Hometown. — by Judith Moriarty
Once upon a time, in a land called America…