Christopher A. Brown
03-23-2015, 05:45 PM
Someone sent me this email. I found it very interesting. Of course it makes sense that IF Russia is an enemy the US would impair its business. But this looks more like the US working to keep its own superpower position. Seems unfair while undiplomatic and bound to cause bad feelings. Where does the constitution compel our nation to work to control global business?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/18/washingtons-war-on-russia/
March 18, 2015
Only Moscow Can Stop It
Washington’s War on Russia
by MIKE WHITNEY
“In order to survive and preserve its leading role on the
international stage, the US desperately needs to plunge
Eurasia into chaos, (and) to cut economic ties between
Europe and Asia-Pacific Region … Russia is the only
(country) within this potential zone of instability that
is capable of resistance. It is the only state that is
ready to confront the Americans. Undermining Russia’s
political will for resistance… is a vitally important
task for America.”
-Nikolai Starikov, Western Financial System Is Driving It
to War, Russia Insider
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/2015/02/19/3646
“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence
of a new rival, either on the territory of the former
Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the
order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This
is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional
defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent
any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources
would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate
global power.”
-The Wolfowitz Doctrine, the original version of the
Defense Planning Guidance, authored by Under Secretary of
Defense Paul Wolfowitz, leaked to the New York Times on
March 7, 1992
The United States does not want a war with Russia, it simply
feels that it has no choice. If the State Department hadn’t
initiated a coup in Ukraine to topple the elected president,
Viktor Yanukovych, then the US could not have inserted itself
between Russia and the EU, thus, disrupting vital trade routes
which were strengthening nations on both continents. The
economic integration of Asia and Europe–including plans for
high-speed rail from China (“The New Silk Road”) to the
EU–poses a clear and present danger for the US whose share of
global GDP continues to shrink and whose significance in the
world economy continues to decline. For the United States to
ignore this new rival (EU-Russia) would be the equivalent of
throwing in the towel and accepting a future in which the US
would face a gradual but persistent erosion of its power and
influence in world affairs. No one in Washington is prepared
to let that happen, which is why the US launched its proxy-war
in Ukraine.
The US wants to separate the continents, “prevent the
emergence of a new rival”, install a tollbooth between Europe
and Asia, and establish itself as the guarantor of regional
security. To that end, the US is rebuilding the Iron Curtain
along a thousand mile stretch from the Baltic Sea to the Black
Sea. Tanks, armored vehicles and artillery are being sent to
the region to reinforce a buffer zone around Europe in order
to isolate Russia and to create a staging ground for future US
aggression. Reports of heavy equipment and weapons deployment
appear in the media on nearly a daily basis although the news
is typically omitted in the US press. A quick review of some
of the recent headlines will help readers to grasp the scale
of the conflict that is cropping up below the radar:
“US, Bulgaria to hold Balkans military drills”, “NATO
Begins Exercises In Black Sea”, “Army to send even more
troops, tanks to Europe”, “Poland requests greater US
military presence”, “U.S. Army sending armored convoy
1,100 miles through Europe”, “Over 120 US tanks,
armored vehicles arrive in Latvia”, “US, Poland to
Conduct Missile Exercise in March – Pentagon”
Get the picture? There’s a war going on, a war between the
United States and Russia.
Notice how most of the headlines emphasize US involvement,
not NATO. In other words, the provocations against Russia
originate from Washington not Europe. This is an important
point. The EU has supported US-led economic sanctions,
but it’s not nearly as supportive of the military build
up along the perimeter. That’s Washington’s idea and
the cost is borne by the US alone. Naturally, moving tanks,
armored vehicles and artillery around the world is an expensive
project, but the US is more than willing to make the sacrifice
if it helps to achieve its objectives.
And what are Washington’s objectives?
Interestingly, even political analysts on the far right seem
to agree about that point. For example, check out this quote
from STRATFOR CEO George Friedman who summed it up in a recent
presentation he delivered at The Chicago Council on Foreign
Affairs. He said:
“The primordial interest of the United States, over
which for centuries we have fought wars–the First, the
Second and Cold Wars–has been the relationship between
Germany and Russia, because united there, they’re the
only force that could threaten us. And to make sure that
that doesn’t happen.” … George Friedman at The
Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs, Time 1:40 to 1:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaL5wCY99l8
Bingo. Ukraine has nothing to do with sovereignty, democracy or
(alleged) Russian aggression. That’s all propaganda. It’s
about power. It’s about imperial expansion. It’s about
spheres of influence. It’s about staving off irreversible
economic decline. It’s all part of the smash-mouth, scorched
earth, take-no-prisoners geopolitical world in which we live,
not the fake Disneyworld created by the western media. The
US State Department and CIA toppled the elected-government in
Ukraine and ordered the new junta regime to launch a desperate
war of annihilation against its own people in the East, because,
well, because they felt they had no other option. Had Putin’s
ambitious plan to create a free trade zone between Lisbon to
Vladivostok gone forward, then where would that leave the United
States? Out in the cold, that’s where. The US would become an
isolated island of dwindling significance whose massive account
deficits and ballooning national debt would pave the way for
years of brutal restructuring, declining standards of living,
runaway inflation and burgeoning social unrest. Does anyone
really believe that Washington would let that to happen when
it has a “brand-spanking” trillion dollar war machine at
its disposal?
Heck, no. Besides, Washington believes it has a historic right
to rule the world, which is what one would expect when the
sense of entitlement and hubris reach their terminal phase. Now
check out this clip from an article by economist Jack Rasmus
at CounterPunch:
“Behind the sanctions is the USA objective of driving
Russia out of the European economy. Europe was becoming too
integrated and dependent on Russia. Not only its gas and
raw materials, but trade relations and money capital flows
were deepening on many fronts between Russia and Europe
in general prior to the Ukraine crisis that has provided
the cover for the introduction of the sanctions. Russia’s
growing economic integration with Europe threatened the long
term economic interests of US capitalists. Strategically,
the US precipitated coup in the Ukraine can be viewed,
therefore as a means by which to provoke Russian military
intervention, i.e. a necessary event in order to deepen
and expand economic sanctions that would ultimately sever
the growing economic ties between Europe and Russia long
term. That severance in turn would not only ensure US
economic interests remain dominant in Europe, but would
also open up new opportunities for profit making for US
interests in Europe and Ukraine as well…
When the rules of the competition game between capitalists
break down altogether, the result is war—i.e. the
ultimate form of inter-capitalist competition.” (The
Global Currency Wars, Jack Rasmus, CounterPunch)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/13/the-global-currency-wars/
See? Analysts on the right and left agree. Ukraine has nothing
to do with sovereignty, democracy or Russian aggression. It’s
plain-old cutthroat geopolitics, where the last man left
standing, wins.
The United States cannot allow Russia reap the benefits of its
own vast resources. Oh, no. It has to be chastised, it has to
be bullied, it has to be sanctioned, isolated, threatened and
intimidated. That’s how the system really works. The free
market stuff is just horsecrap for the sheeple.
Russia is going to have to deal with chaotic, fratricidal wars
on its borders and color-coded regime change turbulence in its
capital. It will have to withstand reprisals from its trading
partners, attacks on its currency and plots to eviscerate its
(oil) revenues. The US will do everything in its power to poison
the well, to demonize Putin, to turn Brussels against Moscow,
and to sabotage the Russian economy.
Divide and conquer, that’s the ticket. Keep them at each
others throats at all times. Sunni vs Shia, one ethnic Ukrainian
vs the other, Russians vs Europeans. That’s Washington’s
plan, and it’s a plan that never fails.
US powerbrokers are convinced that America’s economic slide
can only be arrested by staking a claim in Central Asia,
dismembering Russia, encircling China, and quashing all
plans for an economically-integrated EU-Asia. Washington is
determined to prevail in this existential conflict, to assert
its hegemonic control over the two continents, and to preserve
its position as the world’s only superpower.
Only Russia can stop the United States and we believe it will.
MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He is a contributor
to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK
Press).
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/18/washingtons-war-on-russia/
March 18, 2015
Only Moscow Can Stop It
Washington’s War on Russia
by MIKE WHITNEY
“In order to survive and preserve its leading role on the
international stage, the US desperately needs to plunge
Eurasia into chaos, (and) to cut economic ties between
Europe and Asia-Pacific Region … Russia is the only
(country) within this potential zone of instability that
is capable of resistance. It is the only state that is
ready to confront the Americans. Undermining Russia’s
political will for resistance… is a vitally important
task for America.”
-Nikolai Starikov, Western Financial System Is Driving It
to War, Russia Insider
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/2015/02/19/3646
“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence
of a new rival, either on the territory of the former
Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the
order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This
is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional
defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent
any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources
would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate
global power.”
-The Wolfowitz Doctrine, the original version of the
Defense Planning Guidance, authored by Under Secretary of
Defense Paul Wolfowitz, leaked to the New York Times on
March 7, 1992
The United States does not want a war with Russia, it simply
feels that it has no choice. If the State Department hadn’t
initiated a coup in Ukraine to topple the elected president,
Viktor Yanukovych, then the US could not have inserted itself
between Russia and the EU, thus, disrupting vital trade routes
which were strengthening nations on both continents. The
economic integration of Asia and Europe–including plans for
high-speed rail from China (“The New Silk Road”) to the
EU–poses a clear and present danger for the US whose share of
global GDP continues to shrink and whose significance in the
world economy continues to decline. For the United States to
ignore this new rival (EU-Russia) would be the equivalent of
throwing in the towel and accepting a future in which the US
would face a gradual but persistent erosion of its power and
influence in world affairs. No one in Washington is prepared
to let that happen, which is why the US launched its proxy-war
in Ukraine.
The US wants to separate the continents, “prevent the
emergence of a new rival”, install a tollbooth between Europe
and Asia, and establish itself as the guarantor of regional
security. To that end, the US is rebuilding the Iron Curtain
along a thousand mile stretch from the Baltic Sea to the Black
Sea. Tanks, armored vehicles and artillery are being sent to
the region to reinforce a buffer zone around Europe in order
to isolate Russia and to create a staging ground for future US
aggression. Reports of heavy equipment and weapons deployment
appear in the media on nearly a daily basis although the news
is typically omitted in the US press. A quick review of some
of the recent headlines will help readers to grasp the scale
of the conflict that is cropping up below the radar:
“US, Bulgaria to hold Balkans military drills”, “NATO
Begins Exercises In Black Sea”, “Army to send even more
troops, tanks to Europe”, “Poland requests greater US
military presence”, “U.S. Army sending armored convoy
1,100 miles through Europe”, “Over 120 US tanks,
armored vehicles arrive in Latvia”, “US, Poland to
Conduct Missile Exercise in March – Pentagon”
Get the picture? There’s a war going on, a war between the
United States and Russia.
Notice how most of the headlines emphasize US involvement,
not NATO. In other words, the provocations against Russia
originate from Washington not Europe. This is an important
point. The EU has supported US-led economic sanctions,
but it’s not nearly as supportive of the military build
up along the perimeter. That’s Washington’s idea and
the cost is borne by the US alone. Naturally, moving tanks,
armored vehicles and artillery around the world is an expensive
project, but the US is more than willing to make the sacrifice
if it helps to achieve its objectives.
And what are Washington’s objectives?
Interestingly, even political analysts on the far right seem
to agree about that point. For example, check out this quote
from STRATFOR CEO George Friedman who summed it up in a recent
presentation he delivered at The Chicago Council on Foreign
Affairs. He said:
“The primordial interest of the United States, over
which for centuries we have fought wars–the First, the
Second and Cold Wars–has been the relationship between
Germany and Russia, because united there, they’re the
only force that could threaten us. And to make sure that
that doesn’t happen.” … George Friedman at The
Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs, Time 1:40 to 1:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaL5wCY99l8
Bingo. Ukraine has nothing to do with sovereignty, democracy or
(alleged) Russian aggression. That’s all propaganda. It’s
about power. It’s about imperial expansion. It’s about
spheres of influence. It’s about staving off irreversible
economic decline. It’s all part of the smash-mouth, scorched
earth, take-no-prisoners geopolitical world in which we live,
not the fake Disneyworld created by the western media. The
US State Department and CIA toppled the elected-government in
Ukraine and ordered the new junta regime to launch a desperate
war of annihilation against its own people in the East, because,
well, because they felt they had no other option. Had Putin’s
ambitious plan to create a free trade zone between Lisbon to
Vladivostok gone forward, then where would that leave the United
States? Out in the cold, that’s where. The US would become an
isolated island of dwindling significance whose massive account
deficits and ballooning national debt would pave the way for
years of brutal restructuring, declining standards of living,
runaway inflation and burgeoning social unrest. Does anyone
really believe that Washington would let that to happen when
it has a “brand-spanking” trillion dollar war machine at
its disposal?
Heck, no. Besides, Washington believes it has a historic right
to rule the world, which is what one would expect when the
sense of entitlement and hubris reach their terminal phase. Now
check out this clip from an article by economist Jack Rasmus
at CounterPunch:
“Behind the sanctions is the USA objective of driving
Russia out of the European economy. Europe was becoming too
integrated and dependent on Russia. Not only its gas and
raw materials, but trade relations and money capital flows
were deepening on many fronts between Russia and Europe
in general prior to the Ukraine crisis that has provided
the cover for the introduction of the sanctions. Russia’s
growing economic integration with Europe threatened the long
term economic interests of US capitalists. Strategically,
the US precipitated coup in the Ukraine can be viewed,
therefore as a means by which to provoke Russian military
intervention, i.e. a necessary event in order to deepen
and expand economic sanctions that would ultimately sever
the growing economic ties between Europe and Russia long
term. That severance in turn would not only ensure US
economic interests remain dominant in Europe, but would
also open up new opportunities for profit making for US
interests in Europe and Ukraine as well…
When the rules of the competition game between capitalists
break down altogether, the result is war—i.e. the
ultimate form of inter-capitalist competition.” (The
Global Currency Wars, Jack Rasmus, CounterPunch)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/13/the-global-currency-wars/
See? Analysts on the right and left agree. Ukraine has nothing
to do with sovereignty, democracy or Russian aggression. It’s
plain-old cutthroat geopolitics, where the last man left
standing, wins.
The United States cannot allow Russia reap the benefits of its
own vast resources. Oh, no. It has to be chastised, it has to
be bullied, it has to be sanctioned, isolated, threatened and
intimidated. That’s how the system really works. The free
market stuff is just horsecrap for the sheeple.
Russia is going to have to deal with chaotic, fratricidal wars
on its borders and color-coded regime change turbulence in its
capital. It will have to withstand reprisals from its trading
partners, attacks on its currency and plots to eviscerate its
(oil) revenues. The US will do everything in its power to poison
the well, to demonize Putin, to turn Brussels against Moscow,
and to sabotage the Russian economy.
Divide and conquer, that’s the ticket. Keep them at each
others throats at all times. Sunni vs Shia, one ethnic Ukrainian
vs the other, Russians vs Europeans. That’s Washington’s
plan, and it’s a plan that never fails.
US powerbrokers are convinced that America’s economic slide
can only be arrested by staking a claim in Central Asia,
dismembering Russia, encircling China, and quashing all
plans for an economically-integrated EU-Asia. Washington is
determined to prevail in this existential conflict, to assert
its hegemonic control over the two continents, and to preserve
its position as the world’s only superpower.
Only Russia can stop the United States and we believe it will.
MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He is a contributor
to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK
Press).