The Outlook for the New Year — Paul Craig Roberts
December 29, 2014 | Original Here Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter
The Outlook for the New Year
Dear Readers: The conflict that Washington has initiated between
the West and Russia/China is reckless and irresponsible. Nuclear war
could be the outcome. Indeed, Washington has been preparing for nuclear
war since the George W. Bush regime.
Washington has revised US war doctrine in order to initiate conflict with a first strike nuclear attack.
Washington has discarded the ABM treaty in order to build and deploy
anti-ballistic missiles that are intended to prevent a retaliatory
strike against the US. Washington is engaged in a buildup of military
forces on Russia’s borders, and Washington is demonizing Russia’s
government with false charges.
As the Bush/Obama regimes dismantled the safeguards put in place in
order to minimize the risk of nuclear war, no protests came from the
American public or the media. Washington’s European vassal states have
also been silent.
Washington’s drive for hegemony has brought nuclear insanity to the world.
Moscow and Beijing understand that they are Washington’s targets. As
Larchmonter explains, Russia and China are conjoining their economic and
military capabilities in order to protect against Washington’s attack.
Read what Larchmonter reports. Open the URL in my column below and run
your cursor over the bottom of the page and click “page fit.” Choose
50% and readable text will fill your screen.
Washington’s demonization of Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, and Assad were
preludes to military attacks on Iraq, Libya, and Syria. In view of
these precedents, it is reasonable to regard Washington’s demonization
of Vladimir Putin as a prelude to military action.
Russia is not Iraq, Libya, or Syria. Russian war doctrine states that
Russia can use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear or conventional
attack on Russia. For the world to sit silent while Washington’s
arrogance provokes armageddon telegraphs total political failure. Where
are the voices in behalf of humanity?
The Outlook for the New Year
Paul Craig Roberts
Washington has shaped 2015 to be a year of conflict. The conflict could be intense.
Washington is the cause of the conflict, which has been brewing for
some time. Russia was too weak to do anything about it when the Clinton
regime pushed NATO to Russia’s borders and illegally attacked
Yugoslavia, breaking the country into small easily controlled pieces.
Russia was also too weak to do anything about it when the George W. Bush
regime withdrew from the ABM treaty and undertook to locate
anti-ballistic missile bases on Russia’s borders. Washington lied to
Moscow that the purpose of the ABM bases is to protect Europe from
non-existent Iranian nuclear ICBMs. However, Moscow understood that the
purpose of the ABM bases is to degrade Russia’s nuclear deterrent,
thereby enhancing Washington’s ability to coerce Russia into agreements
that compromise Russian sovereignty.
By summer 2008 Russian power had returned. On Washington’s orders,
the US and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian army attacked the
breakaway republic of South Ossetia during the early hours of August 8,
killing Russian peacekeepers and civilian population. Units of the
Russian military instantly responded and within a few hours the American
trained and equipped Georgian army was routed and defeated. Georgia
was in Russia’s hands again, where the province had resided during the
19th and 20th centuries.
Putin should have hung Mikheil Saakashvili, the American puppet
installed as president of Georgia by the Washington-instigated “Rose
Revolution”, and reincorporated Georgia into the Russian Federation.
Instead, in a strategic error, Russia withdrew its forces, leaving
Washington’s puppet regime in place to cause future trouble for Russia.
Washington is pushing hard to incorporate Georgia into NATO, thus adding
more US military bases on Russia’s border. However, at the time,
Moscow thought Europe to be more independent of Washington than it is
and relied on good relations with Europe to keep American bases out of
Georgia.
Today the Russian government no longer has any illusion that Europe
is capable of an independent foreign policy. Russian President Vladimir
Putin has stated publicly that Russia has learned that diplomacy with
Europe is pointless, because European politicians represent Washington’s
interest, not Europe’s. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently
acknowledged that Europe’s Captive Nation status has made it clear to
Russia that Russian goodwill gestures are unable to produce diplomatic
results.
With Moscow’s delusion shattered that diplomacy with the West can
produce peaceful solutions, reality has set in, reinforced by the
demonization of Vladimir Putin by Washington and its vassal states.
Hillary Clinton called Putin the new Hitler. While Washington
incorporates former constituent parts of the Russian and Soviet empires
into its own empire and bombs seven countries, Washington claims that
Putin is militarily aggressive and intends to reconstitute the Soviet
empire. Washington arms the neo-nazi regime Obama established in
Ukraine, while erroneously claiming that Putin has invaded and annexed
Ukrainian provinces. All of these blatant lies are echoed repeatedly by
the Western presstitutes. Not even Hitler had such a compliant media as
Washington has.
Every diplomatic effort by Russia has been blocked by Washington and
has come to naught. So now Russia has been forced by reality to update
its military doctrine. The new doctrine approved on December 26 states
that the US and NATO comprise a major military threat to the existence
of Russia as a sovereign independent country.
The Russian document cites Washington’s war doctrine of pre-emptive
nuclear attack, deployment of anti-ballistic missiles, buildup of NATO
forces, and intent to deploy weapons in space as clear indications that
Washington is preparing to attack Russia.
Washington is also conducting economic and political warfare against
Russia, attempting to destabilize the economy with economic sanctions
and attacks on the ruble. The Russian document acknowledges that Russia
faces Western threats of regime change achieved through “actions aimed
at violent change of the Russian constitutional order, destabilization
of the political and social environment, and disorganization of the
functioning of governmental bodies, crucial civilian and military
facilities and informational infrastructure of Russia.” Foreign financed
NGOs and foreign owned Russian media are tools in Washington’s hands
for destabilizing Russia.
Washington’s reckless aggressive policy against Russia has
resurrected the nuclear arms race. Russia is developing two new ICBM
systems and in 2016 will deploy a weapons system designed to negate the
US anti-ballistic missile system. In short, the evil warmongers that
rule in Washington have set the world on the path to nuclear armageddon.
The Russian and Chinese governments both understand that their
existence is threatened by Washington’s hegemonic ambitions.
Larchmonter reports that in order to defeat Washington’s plans to
marginalize both countries, the Russian and Chinese governments have
decided to unify their economies into one and to conjoin their military
commands. Henceforth, Russia and China move together on the economic
and military fronts. http://www.mediafire.com/view/08rzue8ffism94t/China-
Russia_Double_Helix.docx
The unity of the Bear and the Dragon reduces the crazed neoconservatives’ dream of “an American century” to dangerous nonsense.
As Larchmonter puts it, “The US and NATO would need Michael the
Archangel to defeat China-Russia, and from all signs Michael the
Archangel is aligned with the Bear and its Orthodox culture. There is no
weapon, no strategy, no tactic conceivable in the near future to damage
either of these rising economies now that they are ‘base pairs.’”
Larchmonter sees hope in the new geopolitics created by the conjoining of Russia and China. I don’t dispute this, but if the
arrogant neoconservatives realize that their hegemonic policy has
created a foe over which Washington cannot prevail, they will push for a
pre-emptive nuclear strike before the Russian-Chinese unified command
is fully operational. To forestall a sneak attack, Russia and China
should operate on full nuclear alert.
The US economy–indeed the entire Western orientated economy from
Japan to Europe–is a house of cards. Since the economic downturn began
seven years ago, the entirety of Western economic policy has been
diverted to the support of a few over-sized banks, sovereign debt, and
the US dollar. Consequently, the economies themselves and the ability
of populations to cope have deteriorated.
The financial markets are based on manipulation, not on fundamentals.
The manipulation is untenable. With debt exploding, negative real
interest rates make no sense. With real consumer incomes, real consumer
credit, and real retail sales stagnant or falling, the stock market is a
bubble. With Russia, China, and other countries moving away from the
use of the dollar to settle international accounts, with Russia
developing an alternative to the SWIFT financial network, the BRICS
developing alternatives to the IMF and World Bank, and with other parts
of the world developing their own credit card and Internet systems, the
US dollar, along with the Japanese and European currencies that are
being printed in order to support the dollar’s exchange value, could
experience a dramatic drop in exchange value, which would make the
import-dependent Western world dysfunctional.
In my opinion, it took the Russians and Chinese too long to
comprehend the evil that has control in Washington. Therefore, both
countries risk nuclear attack prior to the full operational capability
of their conjoined defense. As the Western economy is a house of cards,
Russia and China could collapse the Western economy before the
neoconservatives can drive the world to war. As Washington’s aggression
against both countries is crystal clear, Russia and China have every
right to the following defensive measures.
As the US and EU are conducting economic warfare against Russia,
Russia could claim that by wrecking the Russian economy the West has
deprived Russia of the ability to repay loans to the European banks. If
this does not bring down the thinly capitalized EU banks, Russia can
announce that as NATO countries are now officially recognized by Russian
war doctrine as an enemy of the Russian state, Russia can no longer
support NATO’s aggression against Russia by selling natural gas to NATO
members. If the shutdown of much of European industry, rapidly rising
rates of unemployment, and bank failures do not result in the
dissolution of NATO and thus the end of the threat, the Chinese can act.
The Chinese hold a very large amount of dollar-denominated financial assets. Just as the Federal Reserve’s agents, the bullion banks, dump
massive shorts onto the bullion futures markets during periods of little
activity in order to drive down the bullion price, China can dump the
equivalent in US Treasuries of years of Quantitative Easing in a few
minutes. If the Federal Reserve quickly creates dollars with which to
purchase the enormous quantity of Treasuries so that the financial house
of cards does not implode, the Chinese can then dump the dollars that
they are paid for the bonds in the currency market. Whereas the Federal
Reserve can print dollars with which to purchase the Treasuries, the
Fed cannot print foreign currencies with which to buy the dollars.
The dollar would collapse, and with it the power of the Hegemon. The war would be over without a shot or missile fired.
In my view, Russia and China owe it to the world to prevent the
nuclear war intended by the neoconservatives simply by replying in kind
to Washington’s economic warfare. Russia and China hold all the cards.
Not Washington.
Russia and China should give no warning. They should just act.
Indeed, instead of step by step, Russia and China could simultaneously
use the counter-measures. With four US banks holding derivatives
totaling many times world GDP, the financial explosion would be the
equivalent to a nuclear one. The US and Europe would be finished, and
the world would be saved.
Larchmonter possibly is correct. 2015 could be a very good year, but
pre-emptive economic moves by Moscow and Beijing could be required.
Putin’s current plan seems to be to turn away from the West, ignore the
provocations, and mesh Russia’s strategic and economic interests with
those of Asia. This is a humane and reasonable course of action, but it
leaves the West untroubled and undistracted by its economic
vulnerabilities. An untroubled West remains a grave danger not only to
Russia and China but also to Americans and the entire world.
Ukraine Crisis Continues — Paul Craig Roberts
August 20, 2014 | Original Here Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter
Ukraine Crisis Continues
Paul Craig Roberts
Having served Washington’s propaganda purposes, the downed Malaysian
airliner and the alleged Russian armored column that entered Ukraine and
was allegedly destroyed have dropped out of the news even though both
stories remain completely and totally unresolved.
Washington’s stooge government in Ukraine has not released the
records of communications between Ukrainian air traffic control and
Malaysian flight 17, and Washington has not released the photos from its
satellite which was directly overhead at the time of the airliner’s
demise.
We can safely and conclusively conclude from this purposeful
withholding of evidence that the evidence does not support Washington’s
and Kiev’s propaganda.
We can also safely and conclusively conclude that the Western media’s
sudden disinterest in the unresolved story and failure to demand the
evidence kept secret by Washington and Kiev is in keeping with the
Western media’s role as a Ministry of Propaganda.
In other words, Washington and its presstitutes are protecting the
lie that Washington and its media vassals successfully spread around the
world and have used as the basis for further sanctions that escalate
the conflict with Russia. Washington could not possibly make it clearer
that Washington intends to escalate, not defuse, the conflict that
Washington alone orchestrated.
Ditto for the alleged Russian armored column. The Russian government
has labeled the story a fantasy, which it clearly is, but nevertheless
Washington and its media vassals have left the story in place.
As English is the world language and as the European press follows
the lead of the American presstitutes, the propaganda war is stacked
against Russia (and China). Russian and Chinese are not world
languages. Indeed, these languages are difficult for others to learn
and are not well known outside the countries themselves. The Western
media follows Washington’s lead, not Moscow’s or Beijing’s.
As facts are not relevant to the outcome, Moscow and Beijing are in a losing situation in the propaganda war.
The same holds for diplomacy. Washington does not engage in
diplomacy. The exceptional country uses bribes, threats, and coercion.
The Russian government’s diplomatic efforts come to naught. As Russian
President Putin has complained, “Washington doesn’t listen, the West
doesn’t hear us.”
And yet the Russian government continues to try to deal with the
Ukrainian situation with facts and diplomacy. This approach is proving
to be very costly to the residents of the former Russian territories in
eastern and southern Ukraine. These people are being killed by air and
artillery strikes against their homes and infrastructure. Large numbers
of these people have been displaced by the Ukrainian attacks and are
refugees in Russia. The Western media does not report the violence that
Washington’s stooge government in Kiev is inflicting on these people.
The Western media speaks only with Washington’s voice: “It is all
Russia’s fault.”
The crisis would have been prevented if the Russian government had
accepted the provinces request to be reunited with Russia as in the case
of Crimea. However, the Russian government decided to avoid any
decision that Washington could misrepresent as “invasion and
annexation,” thinking that Europe would see Russia’s unprovocative
behavior as reassuring and resist Washington’s pressure to enter into
conflict with Russia.
In my opinion the Russian government over-estimated the power of
diplomacy in the West. Washington is interested in fomenting crises,
not in resolving them.
In the 23 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Russians
have been of the opinion that Washington, not the Soviet government,
was the party to be trusted in the Cold War. What the Russian government
has learned recently is that Washington cannot be trusted and that the
Soviet government’s suspicions of the West were very well founded.
Kiev’s military assault on eastern and southern Ukraine is not going
to stop because Europeans finally see the light and object. Europeans
not only stood aside for 13 years while Washington bombed civilians in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen, and organized
outside forces to attack Syrians, while isolating Iran for military
attack, but also actively participated in the attacks. Europe has stood
aside while Israel has massacred Palestinians on numerous occasions.
For Russia to rely on Europe’s moral conscience is to rely on something
that does not exist.
The continued slaughter and destruction of the Russian populations in
eastern and southern Ukraine will eventually demoralize the Russian
people and undermine their support of Putin’s government for failing to
halt it. The Russian government’s acceptance of the slaughter makes
Russia look weak and encourages more aggression against Russia.
If the Russian government intends to resolve its problems in Ukraine and to forestall
Washington’s ability to further erode Russia’s political and economic
relationships with Europe with more sanctions, the Russian government
will have to turn to more forceful measures.
In Ukraine the Russian government has two alternatives. One is to
announce that the ongoing slaughter and the unresponsiveness of Kiev and
its Western backers to Russia’s efforts to end the killing with a
diplomatic settlement has caused Russia to reconsider the provinces’
requests to be reunited with Russia and that any further attacks on
these territories will be regarded as attacks on Russia and be met with a
devastating military response.
The other alternative is for Putin to meet privately with
Washington’s stooge and convey to the corrupt oligarch that enough is
enough and that if the attacks continue Russia will accept the requests
for reunification and protect the provinces. Putin would explain to
Washington’s stooge that if he wants to retain the former Russian
territories as part of Ukraine, he will have to work out satisfactory
arrangements with the provinces. In other words, Putin would deliver an
ultimatum, one that required an immediate answer so that the stooge
couldn’t run to Washington and Washington would not have time to create a
new propaganda.
Karl Marx regarded morality as a rationale for class interests. As
each class created a morality to justify its interests, there was no
basis for good will between people. With reform impossible, violence
becomes the only effective method of change. Washington has its own
version of Marx’s doctrine. As the exceptional country, history has
chosen the US to prevail over other countries’ interests. Prevailing
rules out diplomacy which requires compromise. Therefore, Washington,
like Marx, relies on violence.
The Russian government cannot rely on diplomacy and good will if the West is relying on violence.
Perhaps a solution could be found by President Putin meeting
separately with Merkel and Hollande and explaining that Russia cannot
indefinitely accept sanctions based on lies and propaganda without
taking more determined steps than Russian sanctions against European
agricultural products. Putin could make it clear that if Europe
continues to accommodate Washington’s assault on Russia, the flow of
energy could be restricted or be turned off.
Additionally, President Putin might explain to the European leaders
that the dynamics of Washington’s campaign to demonize Russia can escape
control and result in war that would devastate Europe. Putin could
tell Europeans that by disassociating from Washington’s foreign policy
and adopting foreign policies that serve their own interests instead of
Washington’s, Europeans have nothing to lose but their chains of
vassalage.
Putin could explain to Europeans that Russia is prepared to guarantee
Europe’s security and, therefore, that Europe does not need
Washington’s guarantee against a nonexistent Russian threat.
If this very reasonable and diplomatic approach to Europe fails, then Russia and China know that they must prepare for war.
The World Is Doomed By Western Insouciance — Paul Craig Roberts
July 26, 2014 | Original Here Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter
The World Is Doomed By Western Insouciance
don’t expect to live much longer
Paul Craig Roberts
European governments and the Western media have put the world at risk
by enabling Washington’s propaganda and aggression against Russia.
Washington has succeeded in using transparent lies to demonize Russia
as a dangerous aggressive country led by a new Hitler or a new Stalin,
just as Washington succeeded in demonizing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the
Taliban in Afghanistan, Qaddafi in Libya, Assad in Syria, Chavez in
Venezuela, and, of course, Iran.
The real demons–Clinton, Bush, Obama–are “the exceptional and
indispensable people” above the reach of demonization. Their horrific
real crimes go unnoticed, while fictitious crimes are attributed to the
unexceptional and dispensable people and countries.
The reason that Washington demonizes a leader and a country is to
permit the creation of circumstances that Washington can use to act with
force against a leader and a country.
Washington’s incessant lies alleging “Russian aggression” have
created Russian aggression out of thin air. John Kerry and the State
Department’s Marie Harf issue new lies daily, but never any supporting
evidence. With the stage set, the US Senate, the NATO commander and the
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff are busy at work energizing
the wheels of war.
Senate bill 2277 provides for beefing up forces on Russia’s borders
and for elevating Ukraine’s status to “ally of the US” so that US troops
can assist the war against “terrorists” in Ukraine. http://un.ua/eng/article/522930.html See also: http://www.globalresearch.ca/collapse-of-ukraine-government-prime-minister-yatsenyuk-resigns-amidst-pressures-exerted-by-the-imf/5393168
NATO commander Breedlove is preparing his plans for stockpiling war
material on Russia’s borders so that US/NATO troops can more quickly
strike Russia. http://rt.com/news/175292-nato-poland-supply-base/
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, is at work preparing American opinion for the upcoming war.
On July 24 Dempsey told the Aspen Security Forum, a high level group
where US opinion is formed, that Putin’s aggression in Ukraine is
comparable to Stalin’s invasion of Poland in 1939 and that the Russian
threat was not limited to Ukraine or Eastern Europe but was global. http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/07/25/gen-dempsey-were-pulling-out-our-cold-war-military-plans-over-ukraine
The intellects in the Aspen Forum did not break out laughing when
Dempsey told them that Russia’s (alleged but unproven) involvement in
Ukraine was the first time since 1939 that a country made a conscious
decision to use its military force inside another sovereign nation to
achieve its objectives. No one asked Dempsey what Washington has been
doing during the last three presidential regimes: Clinton in Serbia,
Bush and Obama in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen, Obama
in Libya and Syria.
Here are Dempsey’s words: “You’ve got a Russian government that has
made a conscious decision to use its military force inside another
sovereign nation to achieve its objectives. It’s the first time since
1939 or so that that’s been the case. They clearly are on a path to
assert themselves differently not just in Eastern Europe, but Europe in
the main, and towards the United States.”
Washington’s view that the world is its oyster is so ingrained that
neither Dempsey nor his upper echelon audience at the Aspen Forum
noticed the absurdity of his statement. Washington and the
brainwashed US population take for granted that the “exceptional,
indispensable nation” is not limited in its actions by the sovereignty
of other countries.
Washington takes for granted that US law prevails in other countries
over the countries’ own laws–just ask France or Switzerland, that
Washington can tell foreign financial institutions and corporations with
whom they can do business and with whom they cannot–just ask every
country and company prevented from doing business with Iran, that
Washington can invade any country whose leader Washington can demonize
and overthrow–just ask Iraq, Honduras, Libya, Serbia, and so forth, and
that Washington can conduct military operations against peoples in
foreign countries, such as Pakistan and Yemen, with which Washington is
not at war.
All of this is possible, because Washington has claimed the title
from Israel of being “God’s Chosen People.” Of course, Israel’s loss of
the title has not stopped Israel from acting the same way.
Washington now has in motion the wheels of war. Once the wheels of
war begin to turn, momentum carries them forward. The foolish, indeed
utterly stupid, governments and media in Europe seem unaware of
Washington’s orchestration of their future or lack thereof, or they are
indifferent to it. They are dooming themselves and all of humanity by
their insouciance. Heaven help if the British PM or French president or
German chancellor were not invited to the White House or the Polish
nonentity did not get his Washington stipend.
Readers who cannot tolerate problems without solutions always request solutions. OK, here is the solution:
The only possibility of avoiding war is that Putin take his case to the UN. If Washington can send Colin Powell to the UN unarmed with any truth
to make Washington’s case for war against Iraq, Putin should be able to
take his case to the UN against Washington’s war against Russia.
The case that the emperor has no clothes is an easy one to make.
Unlike Washington, Putin is willing to share the evidence that Russia
has about who is doing what in Ukraine. It is a simple matter to
establish that Washington organized a coup that overthrew an elected
government, supports violence against those who object to the coup, and
has turned a deaf ear to Russia’s repeated pleas for Kiev and the
separatists to negotiate their differences.
Putin should make it clear to the world that Washington continues
with provocative military steps against Russia, with force buildups on
Russia’s borders and calls for more buildups, with S.2277 which reads
like a US preparation for war, with provocative actions and accusations
by top US generals and government officials against Russia, and with
efforts to isolate Russia and to inflict economic and political injury
on Russia.
Putin should make it clear to the world that there is a limit to the
provocations that Russia can accept and that Russia believes that Russia
is in danger of preemptive nuclear attack by Washington. Putin can
describe Washington’s withdrawal from the ABM treaty, the construction
of ABM bases on Russia’s borders, and the announced change in
Washington’s war doctrine that elevates US nuclear forces from a
retaliatory role to a preemptive first strike role. These actions are
clearly directed at Russia (and China–wake up China! You are next!).
Putin must state clearly that the likely consequence of the world
continuing to enable Washington’s lies and aggression will be not merely
another disastrous war but the termination of life.
The governments of the world, especially Washington’s vassals in
Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan, need to be told that it is their
responsibility to stop their enabling of Washington’s aggression or to
accept their responsibility for World War III.
At least we could all have the enjoyment of watching the arrogant
Samantha Powers and the craven British lapdog rise and walk out of the
UN proceedings. There is no doubt whatsoever that Washington is unable
to answer the charges.
Here again is the Wolfowitz Doctrine that controls US foreign policy and that condemns Planet Earth to death:
“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
posses 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.”
A hostile power is defined as any country that is not a Washington vassal.
The Wolfowitz Doctrine commits the United States, its peoples,
Washington’s gullible EU allies and those peoples to war with Russia and
China. Unless Russia and China surrender, the world will be destroyed.
The destruction of the world is what the idiot EU governments and the
presstitute Western media are fostering by their enablement of
Washington’s lies and aggression.
