https://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/114939/lab-rat-survives-who-escapes
The Lab Rat That Survives Is The One Who Escapes
To prosper, break free of society's efforts to control you
If you're feeling like a lab rat in a science experiment, manipulated by shadowy forces for unknown purposes, that’s because you're waking up to the reality of the situation.
We are a nation of lab rats.
Tough news to hear, I know. But it’s true, nonetheless.
We're subjected to daily doses of propaganda and social conditioning, reinforced by technology, designed to:
distract and burden us by keeping us consuming as much as possible, preferably while taking on debt to do so
keep us isolated and socially fractured, to prevent any effective organization against the existing system of power and control
block information that might make awaken us to the various manipulations in play
I’ve written consistently about these forces over the years seeking to help you see the structure of the cultural walls that contain us all. I've been doing this because achieving success, as well as finding deeper meaning and purpose in life, rests upon increasing our awareness of the forces shaping our beliefs and actions.
This includes being aware of the propaganda, the sophisticated marketing ploys, and the controlling nature of our dominant cultural belief system. Once you can recognize them for what they are, you free yourself from their influence over you.
These systems of diversion and distraction have gotten orders of magnitude more potent over the recent years, pacing with advances in technology. Our brains' biological wiring is so well-understood now that it's routinely used against us.
For example, at one particular video gaming company, as part of their orientation, newly-hired developers are required to attend a “dopamine boot camp” in which they learn the best ways to deliver paced rushes of "brain pleasure" chemicals to video game players. Just as a caged rat quickly learns how to depress a bar in order to receive a sip of cocaine-infused water, video game players are intentionally hooked on the carefully-tuned dopamine stimulations that video games are designed to provide.
The stereotype of the non-stop gamer who ignores everything else in life to play videogames throughout the night? There's a lot of science behind that. Gamers are simply being intentionally turned into addicts by the video game companies. Addicted customers are profitable customers.
The mega-popular Instagram app is similarly designed. Study after study show that it breeds envy, addiction and loneliness in its users.
You might think that such outcomes are the unfortunate, unplanned side-effects that emerged after its well-meaning developers attempted to create an app that would bring people together. After all, it’s a “social media” app, right? So maybe these are accidental outcomes?
Not at all. These were precisely the effects sought by the developers. Why? Because insecurity and dependence result in more usage of the app. Instagram and its parent, Facebook, are deliberately exploiting our biological social wiring to capture our focus (and our money).
This video does a great job explaining how. It’s worth your time to understand even if you don’t use Instagram (because you certainly know someone who does).
Once you start to see how the mechanism of control works in one instance, you’ll soon be able to notice how it's being used everywhere.
The hijacking of our wiring by Instagram, principally the mirror neuron pathway that seeks to learn and quickly adopt the behaviors of the successful people around us (very useful in a tribal setting), leaves us ultimately depressed and deflated when presented with the unattainable visual images endlessly posted by celebrities and the ultra-wealthy -- most who have professional help carefully crafting their posts using Photoshop and careful staging.
The problem is, these images provide our brains with no helpful information on how to mirror the success of these individuals. Yet our wiring keeps firing away, trying to sort it all out, like a moth bumping into a lightbulb at night.
The result? Lots of frustrated, addicted people whose use of social media only results in deeper feelings of loneliness, despair and insufficiency. If you think any of this is by accident, then you're missing the point entirely. Addicted customers that are in a perpetual state of wanting are the very best customers.
The incredible documentary 'HyperNormalization' by Adam Curtis (released on Oct 16, 2016 on BBC), provides one of the best exposés I've yet seen on the intentional and deliberate strategy to keep the populace numbed and subjugated, so that it will be easier to manipulate. It really is a "must watch":
This film reveals and describes in detail the latest sophisticated methods for steering public opinion, most of which build upon the concepts of the engineering of consent (Bernays, 1920’s) and manufacturing consent (Chomsky 1990’s). Where Bernays sought to create a public consensus through propaganda resulting in a conduit for political will to exert itself, HyperNormalization aims to cut political will off at the knees.
Under HyperNormalization, the populace is polarized via isolation, conflicting data, or false information (“aluminum tubes!”) so that no public consensus can be reached. That, of course, is the point. And while confusion reigns, laws that protect the financial and political elites are busily being passed with no effective opposition or even basic inquiry happening at all.
Ultimately, public will is neutralized. The masses devolve into perpetual arguing among themselves over trivial matters while their life energy and financial well-being is sapped by an increasingly totalitarian and predatory state.
Sound familiar at all? It should. It's happening around us on a daily basis.
If we weren't so terribly distracted by social media or bickering over inane political issues, would we really tolerate:
A medical ‘sickcare’ system that financially terrorizes and bankrupts families
The largest-ever wealth and income gap in history
Facebook caught over and over again spying on its users and abusing their data…yet facing no consequences
Plummeting global insect populations that 'threaten the collapse of Nature'
Painfully low approval ratings in Congress coupled with reelection rates as high as 98%
Each one of these violations (and many dozens more I can list) shares one common feature: they're the deliberate outcome of corporate policy operating within a captured political system. They are not accidents! They didn’t "just happen".
Further, based on the observations presented in HyperNormalization, it’s also no accident that there are no organized protests or effective citizen engagement on any of these issues. Public will has been neutralized. The masses are too isolated, dispirited, and numbed to mobilize.
A particular frustration I have is when politicians spout off about the importance (the sanctity!) of democracy when there’s no evidence that any remains in America. Our country is run by the few for the few. The rest of us are just tax donkeys/debt slaves/mindless consumers to be harvested from.
Meanwhile, the past twenty years of data proves that there’s literally zero correlation between what US citizens want/don’t want and the passage of any particular piece of legislation.
(source: 20 years of data reveals that Congress doesn't care what you think)
How is it possible that there’s literally zero correlation between what the public wants and the laws that are passed? How can any politician get away with talking about how much they value “democracy” without being hounded off the stage for ignorance, dereliction of duty, or both?
Conclusion
I highly recommend that you watch the above videos on Instagram and HyperNormalization.
One, I’d like you to understand the world and its rules a little bit better -- with the hope that this knowledge affords you a better chance of charting an independent destiny and living a life filled with purpose.
True connection and being in service to others are what give our lives meaning. The research is crystal clear on that.
Two, the world is figuratively and literally on fire. While there are still spoils to be had, the powers that be are racing to secure them for themselves, at the expense of the unsuspecting masses. In order to avoid ending up inheriting a future with no resources and no prospects, we each need each other -- and the world needs us, as well -- to bring our very best selves to the story.
There are powerful forces at work that want the exact opposite of that. Not because there’s an equally valid competing philosophy they offer, but because they want your money for their bank accounts and they want their social power to remain uncontested.
But make no mistake: the trajectory we are on ends very badly. It ends in collapse -- of our economy, of our ecosystems, of society. Whether the final pin that pricks the current bubble is a resource crisis, a crash in the financial markets, or a sudden shortage of fossil fuels -- it makes no difference at all. The endgame will be the same....
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Saturday, April 6, 2019
SC187-2
https://www.globalresearch.ca/pentagon-obsession-china-china-china/5673713
Pentagon Obsession: China, China, China
Chinese nuclear bombers. Chinese hypersonic missiles. Chinese carrier killer missiles. Chinese cyberattacks. Chinese anti-satellite weaponry. Chinese militarization of the South China Sea. Chinese Huawei spying.
So many Chinese “malign intentions”. And we’re not even talking about Russia.
Few people around the world are aware that the Pentagon for the moment is led by a mere “acting” Defense Secretary, Patrick Shanahan.
That did not prevent “acting” Secretary to shine in the red carpet when presenting the Trump administration’s 2020 Pentagon budget proposal – at $718 billion – to the Senate Armed Services Committee: the top US national security threat is, in his own (repeated) words, “China, China, China”.
“Acting” Shanahan has been in charge since Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis – the original butcher of Fallujah in 2004 – resigned last December. His former employer happened to be Boeing. The Pentagon’s inspector general is still investigating whether Shanahan was in fact acting as a no holds barred Boeing commercial asset whenever he met the Pentagon top brass.
That, of course, fits the classic Beltway “revolving door” pattern. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington-based group, actually filed a complaint around the fact that “acting” Shanahan blasted Lockheed Martin, Boeing’s competitor, in every top-level Pentagon meeting.
Shanahan told the Senate,
“China is aggressively modernizing its military, systematically stealing science and technology, and seeking military advantage through a strategy of military-civil fusion.”
That includes Beijing’s development of a nuclear-capable long-range bomber that, according to Shanahan, will put it on the same level as the US and Russia as the only global powers controlling air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons.
It’s essential to remember that Mattis and Shanahan are the main authors of the National Defense Strategy adopted by the Trump administration which accuses China of striving for “Indo-Pacific regional hegemony in the near-term and displacement of the United States to achieve global pre-eminence in the future.”
Now compare it with Col. Larry Wilkerson‘s view; the whole Pentagon show is all about offense while Russia and China are always emphasizing defense.
Fighting the Trojan Horse
Even more enlightening is to directly compare the Pentagon approach with the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces under its chief, Gen. Valeriy Gerasimov.
Gerasimov identified “the US and its allies” as engaged in permanent war of all types, including “preparation for ‘global strike’, ‘multi-domain battle’, [and the] use of the technology of ‘color revolutions’ and ‘soft power’. Their goal is the elimination of the statehood of undesirable countries, undermining their sovereignty, changing the legitimately elected public authorities. Thus it was in Iraq, in Libya and in Ukraine. Now similar actions are observed in Venezuela.”
Pentagon Unveils Strategy for Military Confrontation with Russia and China
So there it is, graphically explained: Venezuela, geostrategically, is as important to Moscow as Syria and Ukraine.
Gerasimov also detailed how, “the Pentagon has begun to develop a fundamentally new strategy of warfare, which has been dubbed the ‘Trojan Horse’. Its essence lies in the active use of the ‘protest potential of the fifth column’ in order to destabilize the situation with simultaneous strikes by precision-guided weapons on the most important targets.”
Then the clincher; “The Russian Federation is ready to oppose every one of these strategies. In recent years, military scientists, together with the General Staff, have developed conceptual approaches to neutralize the aggressive actions of potential opponents. The field of research of military strategy is armed struggle, its strategic level. With the emergence of new areas of confrontation in modern conflicts, methods of struggle are increasingly shifting towards the integrated application of political, economic, information and other non-military measures, implemented with the support of military force.”
Call it Russia’s response to Made in USA Hybrid War. With the major incentive of being a value for money operation; after all the Russian General Staff, unlike the Pentagon, is not in the business, for all practical purposes, of stealing trillions of dollars from taxpayers for several decades.
There’s no question the Chinese leadership, not exactly adept at state of the art Hybrid War techniques, is studying the Russian military strategies in excruciating detail.
Of course this is all intrinsically linked to Putin’s leadership. Last month, in Moscow, Rostislav Ishchenko, arguably the top Russian analyst of the Ukraine saga, explained it to me in detail:
“Putin does not ‘take over the elites’ or ‘guide the nation.’ His genius lies in an acute intuitive sense of the strategic needs of the nation (which creates a strong feedback and causes absolute trust of the absolute majority of the people), but most importantly, he is a master of political compromise, understanding the importance of maintaining peace between different social, economic, and political groups within the country, to ensure its stability, prosperity, and international authority. Given that foreign policy is always a continuation of domestic policy, we can clearly trace his desire for compromise in Russian international activity.”
“Putin, Ishchenko added, “does not try to suppress the opponents even in those cases when Russia is unconditionally stronger and the result of the confrontation will clearly be in her favor. Putin understands that both the loser and the winner lose in the confrontation. Therefore, he always offers a compromise for a long time, almost to the last opportunity, even to those who clearly do not deserve it, moving to other solutions only after the opponent has clearly crossed all possible red lines and can pose a threat to the vital interests of Russia. An agreement based on consideration of each other’s interests is always stronger than any short-term ‘victories’, which tomorrow will result in the need to reaffirm their status of the winner again and again. It seems to me that Putin understands this well. Hence the effectiveness of his actions. You can also take a look at his team. These are professionals who adhere to a variety of ideological views (or do not adhere to any). The main thing is that they perform their work qualitatively. The ability to manage such a team is another of its undoubted advantages. After all, these are all ambitious people who are aware of their professionalism and are able to defend their opinion, which is not always the same for everyone. Nevertheless, they work as a single mechanism and achieve really great results.”
Watch out for Yoda’s hordes
To expect the same from the US industrial-military-surveillance complex would be idle.
In fact, “acting” Shanahan’s deputy, Under Secretary David Trachtenberg, doubled down when addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee; he said that Washington will not relinquish its self-attributed right for a nuclear first strike.
In his own words; “A ‘no-first use’ policy would erode US allies’ belief that they are protected.” As if all US allies were begging in unison to be “defended” by US nuclear bombs. In true “war is peace” mode, this Orwellian state of affairs is justified under the Pentagonese notion of “constructive ambiguity”.
The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) exhibits a long list of causes that may detonate a US nuclear first strike – including a worryingly vague attack on “allied or partner civilian infrastructure”. Even a clumsy false flag, for instance in the South China Sea, could lead to such a stand off.
All of the above is in fact directly linked to the death of Yoda.
Yoda is of course RAND asset Andrew Marshall, who was the director of the nefarious Office of Net Assessment at the Pentagon from 1973 to 2015.
Predictably, scores of Atlanticist think tanks are celebrating Yoda as the winner in devising the new rollback US “strategy” against China.
Yoda did groom scores of analysts across the whole spectrum of the industrial-military-surveilance complex – including think tanks, universities and mainstream media.
So in the end Yoda did body-slam Bismarckian Henry Kissinger – who remains alive, sort of (if Marshall was Yoda, would Kissinger be Darth Vader?) Kissinger always advised containment in relation to China, disguised as what he termed “co-evolution”.
Yoda finished off not only Kissinger but also the Obama administration’s wobbly and ill-defined “pivot to Asia”. Yoda preached hardcore confrontation with China. There’s no question that even beyond the grave, he’ll continue to rule over his warmongering Beltway hordes.
Pentagon Obsession: China, China, China
Chinese nuclear bombers. Chinese hypersonic missiles. Chinese carrier killer missiles. Chinese cyberattacks. Chinese anti-satellite weaponry. Chinese militarization of the South China Sea. Chinese Huawei spying.
So many Chinese “malign intentions”. And we’re not even talking about Russia.
Few people around the world are aware that the Pentagon for the moment is led by a mere “acting” Defense Secretary, Patrick Shanahan.
That did not prevent “acting” Secretary to shine in the red carpet when presenting the Trump administration’s 2020 Pentagon budget proposal – at $718 billion – to the Senate Armed Services Committee: the top US national security threat is, in his own (repeated) words, “China, China, China”.
“Acting” Shanahan has been in charge since Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis – the original butcher of Fallujah in 2004 – resigned last December. His former employer happened to be Boeing. The Pentagon’s inspector general is still investigating whether Shanahan was in fact acting as a no holds barred Boeing commercial asset whenever he met the Pentagon top brass.
That, of course, fits the classic Beltway “revolving door” pattern. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington-based group, actually filed a complaint around the fact that “acting” Shanahan blasted Lockheed Martin, Boeing’s competitor, in every top-level Pentagon meeting.
Shanahan told the Senate,
“China is aggressively modernizing its military, systematically stealing science and technology, and seeking military advantage through a strategy of military-civil fusion.”
That includes Beijing’s development of a nuclear-capable long-range bomber that, according to Shanahan, will put it on the same level as the US and Russia as the only global powers controlling air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons.
It’s essential to remember that Mattis and Shanahan are the main authors of the National Defense Strategy adopted by the Trump administration which accuses China of striving for “Indo-Pacific regional hegemony in the near-term and displacement of the United States to achieve global pre-eminence in the future.”
Now compare it with Col. Larry Wilkerson‘s view; the whole Pentagon show is all about offense while Russia and China are always emphasizing defense.
Fighting the Trojan Horse
Even more enlightening is to directly compare the Pentagon approach with the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces under its chief, Gen. Valeriy Gerasimov.
Gerasimov identified “the US and its allies” as engaged in permanent war of all types, including “preparation for ‘global strike’, ‘multi-domain battle’, [and the] use of the technology of ‘color revolutions’ and ‘soft power’. Their goal is the elimination of the statehood of undesirable countries, undermining their sovereignty, changing the legitimately elected public authorities. Thus it was in Iraq, in Libya and in Ukraine. Now similar actions are observed in Venezuela.”
Pentagon Unveils Strategy for Military Confrontation with Russia and China
So there it is, graphically explained: Venezuela, geostrategically, is as important to Moscow as Syria and Ukraine.
Gerasimov also detailed how, “the Pentagon has begun to develop a fundamentally new strategy of warfare, which has been dubbed the ‘Trojan Horse’. Its essence lies in the active use of the ‘protest potential of the fifth column’ in order to destabilize the situation with simultaneous strikes by precision-guided weapons on the most important targets.”
Then the clincher; “The Russian Federation is ready to oppose every one of these strategies. In recent years, military scientists, together with the General Staff, have developed conceptual approaches to neutralize the aggressive actions of potential opponents. The field of research of military strategy is armed struggle, its strategic level. With the emergence of new areas of confrontation in modern conflicts, methods of struggle are increasingly shifting towards the integrated application of political, economic, information and other non-military measures, implemented with the support of military force.”
Call it Russia’s response to Made in USA Hybrid War. With the major incentive of being a value for money operation; after all the Russian General Staff, unlike the Pentagon, is not in the business, for all practical purposes, of stealing trillions of dollars from taxpayers for several decades.
There’s no question the Chinese leadership, not exactly adept at state of the art Hybrid War techniques, is studying the Russian military strategies in excruciating detail.
Of course this is all intrinsically linked to Putin’s leadership. Last month, in Moscow, Rostislav Ishchenko, arguably the top Russian analyst of the Ukraine saga, explained it to me in detail:
“Putin does not ‘take over the elites’ or ‘guide the nation.’ His genius lies in an acute intuitive sense of the strategic needs of the nation (which creates a strong feedback and causes absolute trust of the absolute majority of the people), but most importantly, he is a master of political compromise, understanding the importance of maintaining peace between different social, economic, and political groups within the country, to ensure its stability, prosperity, and international authority. Given that foreign policy is always a continuation of domestic policy, we can clearly trace his desire for compromise in Russian international activity.”
“Putin, Ishchenko added, “does not try to suppress the opponents even in those cases when Russia is unconditionally stronger and the result of the confrontation will clearly be in her favor. Putin understands that both the loser and the winner lose in the confrontation. Therefore, he always offers a compromise for a long time, almost to the last opportunity, even to those who clearly do not deserve it, moving to other solutions only after the opponent has clearly crossed all possible red lines and can pose a threat to the vital interests of Russia. An agreement based on consideration of each other’s interests is always stronger than any short-term ‘victories’, which tomorrow will result in the need to reaffirm their status of the winner again and again. It seems to me that Putin understands this well. Hence the effectiveness of his actions. You can also take a look at his team. These are professionals who adhere to a variety of ideological views (or do not adhere to any). The main thing is that they perform their work qualitatively. The ability to manage such a team is another of its undoubted advantages. After all, these are all ambitious people who are aware of their professionalism and are able to defend their opinion, which is not always the same for everyone. Nevertheless, they work as a single mechanism and achieve really great results.”
Watch out for Yoda’s hordes
To expect the same from the US industrial-military-surveillance complex would be idle.
In fact, “acting” Shanahan’s deputy, Under Secretary David Trachtenberg, doubled down when addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee; he said that Washington will not relinquish its self-attributed right for a nuclear first strike.
In his own words; “A ‘no-first use’ policy would erode US allies’ belief that they are protected.” As if all US allies were begging in unison to be “defended” by US nuclear bombs. In true “war is peace” mode, this Orwellian state of affairs is justified under the Pentagonese notion of “constructive ambiguity”.
The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) exhibits a long list of causes that may detonate a US nuclear first strike – including a worryingly vague attack on “allied or partner civilian infrastructure”. Even a clumsy false flag, for instance in the South China Sea, could lead to such a stand off.
All of the above is in fact directly linked to the death of Yoda.
Yoda is of course RAND asset Andrew Marshall, who was the director of the nefarious Office of Net Assessment at the Pentagon from 1973 to 2015.
Predictably, scores of Atlanticist think tanks are celebrating Yoda as the winner in devising the new rollback US “strategy” against China.
Yoda did groom scores of analysts across the whole spectrum of the industrial-military-surveilance complex – including think tanks, universities and mainstream media.
So in the end Yoda did body-slam Bismarckian Henry Kissinger – who remains alive, sort of (if Marshall was Yoda, would Kissinger be Darth Vader?) Kissinger always advised containment in relation to China, disguised as what he termed “co-evolution”.
Yoda finished off not only Kissinger but also the Obama administration’s wobbly and ill-defined “pivot to Asia”. Yoda preached hardcore confrontation with China. There’s no question that even beyond the grave, he’ll continue to rule over his warmongering Beltway hordes.
Friday, April 5, 2019
SC187-1
https://srsroccoreport.com/the-massive-increase-in-central-bank-paper-assets-warns-of-financial-danger-ahead/?doing_wp_cron=1554332760.3858540058135986328125
The Massive Increase Of Central Bank Paper Assets Warns Of Financial Danger Ahead
By purchasing increasingly worthless paper assets, we can thank the central banks for propping up the global economy for the past decade. Since the 2008 financial crisis, the top central bank’s have acquired $13 trillion worth of assets on their balance sheets. While the central banks label these balance sheet items as “Assets,” they are nothing more than glorified Paper IOU’s.
And these trillions of dollars worth of paper IOU’s can only get their value from the burning of energy… a critical factor overlooked by mainstream financial analysts. Without growing global oil production, most of these “supposed” assets would see their values plummet. Unfortunately, the world is heading towards a collapse of global oil production due to the Falling EROI – Energy Returned On Investment and the Thermodynamics of oil depletion.
Yes, the disintegration of the global oil industry is now speeding up. Here are a few headlines that should provide some clues on how the situation is rapidly deteriorating:
Wall Street Loses Faith In Shale
Saudi Aramco’s Ghawar field produces 1.2mbpd less than expected
NEXT OIL DOMINO TO FALL? Mexico Becomes A Net Oil Importer
Fracked Shale Oil Wells Drying Up Faster than Predicted, Wall Street Journal Finds
THE BLOODBATH IN U.S. SHALE STOCKS CONTINUES: Worst Is Yet To Come
US Shale Companies Facing “Catastrophic Failure” over Ballooning Debt
EXXONMOBIL U.S. OIL & GAS FINANCIAL TRAIN-WRECK: Producing Shale Is Destroying Its Bottom Line
As you can see, most of the articles are on the U.S. Shale Industry. We must remember, the majority of the increase in global oil production over the past decade (80+%) is due to ramping up of the U.S. shale oil and Canadian oil sands operations. U.S. shale oil production has surged by more than 7 million barrels per day (mbd) since 2008:
Yes, it’s true that I underestimated the growth of U.S. shale oil. I truly had no idea that the insanity would go on this long, but as long as there are new suckers to part with their money, the CIRCUS will continue. By the way, look for a major ENRON type scandal to take place in the U.S. shale oil industry. Thus, when the Fan hits the Shyte, watch as shale investors flee like rats from sinking ship.
And it looks like the ball just might be rolling due to this GEM of a news-release: WHITING PETROLEUM INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of Whiting Petroleum Corporation:
On January 2, 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported in an article titled “Fracking’s Secret Problem—Oil Wells Aren’t Producing as Much as Forecast” that, according to a review of available public data on production, many of the Company’s shale wells, specifically those involved in the fracking process, were producing oil and gas at a much lower rate than the Company had forecasted to investors. Further, the report noted that “findings suggest current production levels may be hard to sustain without greater spending because operators will have to drill more wells to meet growth targets.”
KSF’s investigation is focusing on whether Whiting’s officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to Whiting’s shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.
Basically, the lawsuit is trying to find out if Whiting’s officers or directors failed in their fiduciary duties to inform investors of the negative implications of the severe decline rate of shale oil wells.
Get used to seeing more of this as the SHALE OIL PONZI TURD starts to unravel, and with it, hundreds of billions of debt held by investors.
And if you think the major oil companies like Exxon are going to make it rich producing shale, please read my following article, EXXONMOBIL U.S. OIL & GAS FINANCIAL TRAIN-WRECK: Producing Shale Is Destroying Its Bottom Line. Exxon is spending gobs of money increasing shale oil production but its U.S. upstream earnings (oil and gas wells) are a complete disaster.
I believe large shareholders of ExxonMobil will eventually have a meeting and force management to stop throwing good money after bad at shale oil. Mark my words.
Lastly, on this subject of U.S. oil production, the next chart shows the long-term trend since 1920. You will notice that it took approximately 30 years (1940-1970) for U.S. domestic oil production to increase by 6 mbd. However, the magicians in the shale industry did it in less than 10 years:
Take a good look at those oil production trends shown by the arrows. So, how quickly do you think U.S. shale oil production will decline? If you answered that it will most likely decline the same way (or faster) than it went up, then I would say you got your head screwed on correctly. Moreover, the companies producing U.S. oil from 1940 to 1970 probably didn’t go into serious debt while the shale industry has racked up more than $300 billion. A most clever trick.
Maybe if we are really lucky, the U.S. Shale Oil Ponzi might just start to unravel right around Halloween… TRICK OR TREAT.
The reason the oil producers during the 1940-1970 period didn’t go into much debt (probably made nice profits for the most part), was because conventional oil production has a high EROI and ROI (Energy Returned On Investment & Return On Investment). However, shale oil, which is unconventional oil, has a very low EROI and an ROI… seemingly, a good secret kept from investors by the PR departments at the shale oil companies.
Please keep an eye on U.S. shale oil production as I believe it will be the canary in the coal mine in regards to the peaking of global oil production and the ensuing collapse of financial assets and debts.
Central Banks Buy Up Garbage Assets To Keep The Economy From Collapsing
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, central banks purchased $13 trillion worth of assets since the 2008 financial crisis. According to a chart by Lioncrest Capital, the total of the top central banks’ balance sheet assets are approximately $20 trillion. Now, I did see some data by Ed Yardeni suggesting that the figure is closer to $19.6 trillion. But hey, what’s a few hundred billion amongst friends… ah?
Regardless, I highly doubt the Fed or other central banks will sell these assets into the market, especially since the global economy is now rolling over. But, please… don’t mention that to the sheep trading in the stock market as it continues higher.
Now, if we compare the increase in central bank balance sheet assets to gold, there is a troubling trend unfolding:
While central banks bought $13 trillion of increasingly worthless assets since 2008, the value of central bank gold reserves increased a paltry $446 billion. Furthermore, central bank gold reserves accounted for 12% of total balance sheet assets in 2008, but have fallen in half to only 6.4%. Now, I say increasingly worthless assets because if these assets were “high quality,” then why in the hell didn’t someone else buy them?? Why did the central banks have to come in and buy these assets? Well, the answer is probably a simple one.
They were the last poor slobs on the block to be able to do so.
Thus, we have the final straw to the Global Financial Ponzi Scheme. The central banks came in to bail out the commercial banks. So, who will bail out the central banks? Of course, the collapse of the biggest financial Ponzi scheme in history won’t happen tomorrow, but if you want to keep an eye on a good indicator, watch what happens with U.S. shale oil production. That will be one of the keys.
Lastly, we must remember gold and silver are stores of ECONOMIC ENERGY while stocks, bonds, and real estate, are ENERGY IOU’s. Energy drives the markets, not finance. When energy becomes a problem, and it will, so will the value of most financial paper assets.
The Massive Increase Of Central Bank Paper Assets Warns Of Financial Danger Ahead
By purchasing increasingly worthless paper assets, we can thank the central banks for propping up the global economy for the past decade. Since the 2008 financial crisis, the top central bank’s have acquired $13 trillion worth of assets on their balance sheets. While the central banks label these balance sheet items as “Assets,” they are nothing more than glorified Paper IOU’s.
And these trillions of dollars worth of paper IOU’s can only get their value from the burning of energy… a critical factor overlooked by mainstream financial analysts. Without growing global oil production, most of these “supposed” assets would see their values plummet. Unfortunately, the world is heading towards a collapse of global oil production due to the Falling EROI – Energy Returned On Investment and the Thermodynamics of oil depletion.
Yes, the disintegration of the global oil industry is now speeding up. Here are a few headlines that should provide some clues on how the situation is rapidly deteriorating:
Wall Street Loses Faith In Shale
Saudi Aramco’s Ghawar field produces 1.2mbpd less than expected
NEXT OIL DOMINO TO FALL? Mexico Becomes A Net Oil Importer
Fracked Shale Oil Wells Drying Up Faster than Predicted, Wall Street Journal Finds
THE BLOODBATH IN U.S. SHALE STOCKS CONTINUES: Worst Is Yet To Come
US Shale Companies Facing “Catastrophic Failure” over Ballooning Debt
EXXONMOBIL U.S. OIL & GAS FINANCIAL TRAIN-WRECK: Producing Shale Is Destroying Its Bottom Line
As you can see, most of the articles are on the U.S. Shale Industry. We must remember, the majority of the increase in global oil production over the past decade (80+%) is due to ramping up of the U.S. shale oil and Canadian oil sands operations. U.S. shale oil production has surged by more than 7 million barrels per day (mbd) since 2008:
Yes, it’s true that I underestimated the growth of U.S. shale oil. I truly had no idea that the insanity would go on this long, but as long as there are new suckers to part with their money, the CIRCUS will continue. By the way, look for a major ENRON type scandal to take place in the U.S. shale oil industry. Thus, when the Fan hits the Shyte, watch as shale investors flee like rats from sinking ship.
And it looks like the ball just might be rolling due to this GEM of a news-release: WHITING PETROLEUM INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of Whiting Petroleum Corporation:
On January 2, 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported in an article titled “Fracking’s Secret Problem—Oil Wells Aren’t Producing as Much as Forecast” that, according to a review of available public data on production, many of the Company’s shale wells, specifically those involved in the fracking process, were producing oil and gas at a much lower rate than the Company had forecasted to investors. Further, the report noted that “findings suggest current production levels may be hard to sustain without greater spending because operators will have to drill more wells to meet growth targets.”
KSF’s investigation is focusing on whether Whiting’s officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to Whiting’s shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.
Basically, the lawsuit is trying to find out if Whiting’s officers or directors failed in their fiduciary duties to inform investors of the negative implications of the severe decline rate of shale oil wells.
Get used to seeing more of this as the SHALE OIL PONZI TURD starts to unravel, and with it, hundreds of billions of debt held by investors.
And if you think the major oil companies like Exxon are going to make it rich producing shale, please read my following article, EXXONMOBIL U.S. OIL & GAS FINANCIAL TRAIN-WRECK: Producing Shale Is Destroying Its Bottom Line. Exxon is spending gobs of money increasing shale oil production but its U.S. upstream earnings (oil and gas wells) are a complete disaster.
I believe large shareholders of ExxonMobil will eventually have a meeting and force management to stop throwing good money after bad at shale oil. Mark my words.
Lastly, on this subject of U.S. oil production, the next chart shows the long-term trend since 1920. You will notice that it took approximately 30 years (1940-1970) for U.S. domestic oil production to increase by 6 mbd. However, the magicians in the shale industry did it in less than 10 years:
Take a good look at those oil production trends shown by the arrows. So, how quickly do you think U.S. shale oil production will decline? If you answered that it will most likely decline the same way (or faster) than it went up, then I would say you got your head screwed on correctly. Moreover, the companies producing U.S. oil from 1940 to 1970 probably didn’t go into serious debt while the shale industry has racked up more than $300 billion. A most clever trick.
Maybe if we are really lucky, the U.S. Shale Oil Ponzi might just start to unravel right around Halloween… TRICK OR TREAT.
The reason the oil producers during the 1940-1970 period didn’t go into much debt (probably made nice profits for the most part), was because conventional oil production has a high EROI and ROI (Energy Returned On Investment & Return On Investment). However, shale oil, which is unconventional oil, has a very low EROI and an ROI… seemingly, a good secret kept from investors by the PR departments at the shale oil companies.
Please keep an eye on U.S. shale oil production as I believe it will be the canary in the coal mine in regards to the peaking of global oil production and the ensuing collapse of financial assets and debts.
Central Banks Buy Up Garbage Assets To Keep The Economy From Collapsing
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, central banks purchased $13 trillion worth of assets since the 2008 financial crisis. According to a chart by Lioncrest Capital, the total of the top central banks’ balance sheet assets are approximately $20 trillion. Now, I did see some data by Ed Yardeni suggesting that the figure is closer to $19.6 trillion. But hey, what’s a few hundred billion amongst friends… ah?
Regardless, I highly doubt the Fed or other central banks will sell these assets into the market, especially since the global economy is now rolling over. But, please… don’t mention that to the sheep trading in the stock market as it continues higher.
Now, if we compare the increase in central bank balance sheet assets to gold, there is a troubling trend unfolding:
While central banks bought $13 trillion of increasingly worthless assets since 2008, the value of central bank gold reserves increased a paltry $446 billion. Furthermore, central bank gold reserves accounted for 12% of total balance sheet assets in 2008, but have fallen in half to only 6.4%. Now, I say increasingly worthless assets because if these assets were “high quality,” then why in the hell didn’t someone else buy them?? Why did the central banks have to come in and buy these assets? Well, the answer is probably a simple one.
They were the last poor slobs on the block to be able to do so.
Thus, we have the final straw to the Global Financial Ponzi Scheme. The central banks came in to bail out the commercial banks. So, who will bail out the central banks? Of course, the collapse of the biggest financial Ponzi scheme in history won’t happen tomorrow, but if you want to keep an eye on a good indicator, watch what happens with U.S. shale oil production. That will be one of the keys.
Lastly, we must remember gold and silver are stores of ECONOMIC ENERGY while stocks, bonds, and real estate, are ENERGY IOU’s. Energy drives the markets, not finance. When energy becomes a problem, and it will, so will the value of most financial paper assets.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
SC186-15
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/04/01/cnn-and-wapo-demand-that-trump-further-escalate-tensions-with-russia/
CNN And WaPo Demand That Trump Further Escalate Tensions With Russia
CNN has aired a segment in which pundit Fareed Zakaria tells the network’s audience that the US president has “been unwilling to confront Putin in any way on any issue” and asks “will Venezuela be the moment when Trump finally ends his appeasement?”
The segment is a near-verbatim reading of Zakaria’s Washington Post column from a couple of days prior, so that’s two massive prongs through which this false and pernicious narrative is being driven into mainstream consciousness claiming that the Trump administration has been far too dovish toward Moscow, rather than dangerously hawkish as is actually the case.
Zakaria begins his segment by describing the Trump administration’s (completely illegitimate) efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, then describing Russian efforts to counter this agenda as an attempt to “taunt the United States.” He then spends the rest of the segment asking if Trump will be brave and patriotic enough to further escalate tensions against a nuclear superpower. Zakaria concludes by implying that if Trump fails to increase world-threatening nuclear tensions to effect yet another US regime change intervention in yet another oil-rich country, it will be because he is a Kremlin agent.
“The big question for Washington is: Will it allow Moscow to make a mockery of another U.S. red line?” Zakaria said. “The United States and Russia have taken opposing, incompatible stands on this issue. And as with Syria, there is a danger that, if Washington does not back its words with deeds, a year from now, we will be watching the consolidation of the Maduro regime, supported with Russian arms and money.”
Yes Fareed, there is a real “danger” that if the Trump administration you liberal pundits claim to oppose doesn’t act like the reckless madman you claim he is and tempt hot war with a nuclear superpower in order to effect regime change in a sovereign nation, that regime change agenda will fail. Very, very dangerous to not flirt with nuclear war over US resource control agendas.
“The administration has been tough on Russian involvement in Venezuela,” said Zakaria. “Trump himself has even declared, ‘Russia has to get out.’ But that is an unusual statement from Trump, who has almost never criticized Putin and often sided with Russia on matters big and small.”
Zakaria goes on to cite the Obama administration’s ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul, who claimed in a Washington Post article that, contrary to the Trump administration’s claims of being hawkish toward Russia, “Even on small issues of little relevance to American national interests, Trump sides with Putin.”
“I have never alleged collusion or conspiracy between Russia and Trump, writing merely that we should wait to see what evidence special counsel Robert S. Mueller III presented,” Zakaria concludes, trying to shelter himself from the ridicule that is being directed at the debunked Russiagate conspiracy while simultaneously promoting it. “But the real puzzle remains: Why has Trump been unwilling to confront Putin in any way on any issue? And will Venezuela be the moment when Trump finally ends his appeasement?”
You could not ask for a more perfect illustration of just how dangerous and toxic this years-long Russiagate psyop has been. Even after the Mueller investigation concluded with no mass arrests, no sealed indictments, no further indictments and no evidence of Russian collusion, the mass media war propagandists are attempting to use the Russia hysteria they’ve already manufactured via the collusion narrative to create demand for more escalations against Russia. Fragmenting and undermining Russia and shoving it off the world stage has been an agenda of opaque US government agencies since the fall of the Soviet Union, and steps have been taken into a new cold war to effect this agenda for more than five years now, long before liberals in America spent any part of their day thinking or caring about Vladimir Putin. Mass media outlets like CNN and WaPo have been actively facilitating this agenda by promulgating these false narratives, and they are playing an instrumental role in convincing the US populace to keep their foot off the brake pedal in an accelerating and world-threatening new cold war.
Trump has already greatly escalated tensions with Russia by implementing a Nuclear Posture Review with a much more aggressive stance against Russia, withdrawing from the INF treaty, bombing and illegally occupying Syria, arming Ukraine, staging a coup in Venezuela, and many, many other hawkish actions taken against the interests of Russia’s geostrategic and economic interests. It is an indisputable fact that Trump has been more aggressive toward Russia than any other president since the fall of the Berlin wall. But the Russiagate narrative enables the war propagandists to not only ignore these escalations and the danger they pose to all life on earth, but to demand more and more of them.
Stephen Cohen, one of the foremost experts on US-Russia relations in America, made the following observation way back in April of 2017 in an interview with Democracy Now:
I think this is the most dangerous moment in American-Russian relations, at least since the Cuban missile crisis. And arguably, it’s more dangerous, because it’s more complex. Therefore, we—and then, meanwhile, we have in Washington these—and, in my judgment, factless accusations that Trump has somehow been compromised by the Kremlin. So, at this worst moment in American-Russian relations, we have an American president who’s being politically crippled by the worst imaginable—it’s unprecedented. Let’s stop and think. No American president has ever been accused, essentially, of treason. This is what we’re talking about here, or that his associates have committed treason.
Imagine, for example, John Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis. And for the viewers who are not of a certain age, the Kennedy administration was presented—and the evidence, by the way, was presented to us; they showed us the surveillance photos. There was no doubt what the Soviets had done, putting missile silos in Cuba. No evidence has been presented today of anything. Imagine if Kennedy had been accused of being a secret Soviet Kremlin agent. He would have been crippled. And the only way he could have proved he wasn’t was to have launched a war against the Soviet Union. And at that time, the option was nuclear war.
To be clear, we came within a hair’s breadth of total nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nobody likes to think about how close we all came to losing literally everything, and we didn’t find out exactly how close we came until years later, but armageddon came *this* close to happening. The primary risk of nuclear war isn’t that one will be planned and carried out in the hope of one side emerging victorious, it’s that something can go cataclysmically wrong as a result of miscommunication or misunderstanding in the midst of complex and confusing escalating tensions. This almost happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Due to his extensive knowledge of the dynamics in play, Cohen saw all this coming long before anyone else, and accurately predicted the waves of cold war escalations we’ve seen since. Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard recently confirmed his prediction, tweeting, “Short-sighted politicians and media pundits who’ve spent last two years accusing Trump as a Putin puppet have brought us the expensive new Cold War and arms race. How? Because Trump now does everything he can to prove he’s not Putin’s puppet—even if it brings us closer to nuclear war.”
This is how depraved the mass media are. They’re willing to lull the populace into complacency with the formation of a new cold war that threatens everyone they love, even get them demanding direct confrontation, all to please their plutocratic owners, their military-industrial complex sponsors, and the intelligence agencies with which they are aligned. They’re willing to risk getting us all killed for money and crude oil.
If we’re going to begin bringing our society and ecosystem into health, we’re going to have to find a way to extricate the influence of these toxic manipulators from the minds of the greater populace. As long as they’re able to propagandize the majority into consenting to even the most insane omnicidal agendas, we’ll never be able to use our superior numbers against the malignant manipulations of the few who would rule us. Whoever controls the narrative controls the world, and right now it’s the evil fingers that are pulling the strings of empire lackeys like Fareed Zakaria.
CNN And WaPo Demand That Trump Further Escalate Tensions With Russia
CNN has aired a segment in which pundit Fareed Zakaria tells the network’s audience that the US president has “been unwilling to confront Putin in any way on any issue” and asks “will Venezuela be the moment when Trump finally ends his appeasement?”
The segment is a near-verbatim reading of Zakaria’s Washington Post column from a couple of days prior, so that’s two massive prongs through which this false and pernicious narrative is being driven into mainstream consciousness claiming that the Trump administration has been far too dovish toward Moscow, rather than dangerously hawkish as is actually the case.
Zakaria begins his segment by describing the Trump administration’s (completely illegitimate) efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, then describing Russian efforts to counter this agenda as an attempt to “taunt the United States.” He then spends the rest of the segment asking if Trump will be brave and patriotic enough to further escalate tensions against a nuclear superpower. Zakaria concludes by implying that if Trump fails to increase world-threatening nuclear tensions to effect yet another US regime change intervention in yet another oil-rich country, it will be because he is a Kremlin agent.
“The big question for Washington is: Will it allow Moscow to make a mockery of another U.S. red line?” Zakaria said. “The United States and Russia have taken opposing, incompatible stands on this issue. And as with Syria, there is a danger that, if Washington does not back its words with deeds, a year from now, we will be watching the consolidation of the Maduro regime, supported with Russian arms and money.”
Yes Fareed, there is a real “danger” that if the Trump administration you liberal pundits claim to oppose doesn’t act like the reckless madman you claim he is and tempt hot war with a nuclear superpower in order to effect regime change in a sovereign nation, that regime change agenda will fail. Very, very dangerous to not flirt with nuclear war over US resource control agendas.
“The administration has been tough on Russian involvement in Venezuela,” said Zakaria. “Trump himself has even declared, ‘Russia has to get out.’ But that is an unusual statement from Trump, who has almost never criticized Putin and often sided with Russia on matters big and small.”
Zakaria goes on to cite the Obama administration’s ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul, who claimed in a Washington Post article that, contrary to the Trump administration’s claims of being hawkish toward Russia, “Even on small issues of little relevance to American national interests, Trump sides with Putin.”
“I have never alleged collusion or conspiracy between Russia and Trump, writing merely that we should wait to see what evidence special counsel Robert S. Mueller III presented,” Zakaria concludes, trying to shelter himself from the ridicule that is being directed at the debunked Russiagate conspiracy while simultaneously promoting it. “But the real puzzle remains: Why has Trump been unwilling to confront Putin in any way on any issue? And will Venezuela be the moment when Trump finally ends his appeasement?”
You could not ask for a more perfect illustration of just how dangerous and toxic this years-long Russiagate psyop has been. Even after the Mueller investigation concluded with no mass arrests, no sealed indictments, no further indictments and no evidence of Russian collusion, the mass media war propagandists are attempting to use the Russia hysteria they’ve already manufactured via the collusion narrative to create demand for more escalations against Russia. Fragmenting and undermining Russia and shoving it off the world stage has been an agenda of opaque US government agencies since the fall of the Soviet Union, and steps have been taken into a new cold war to effect this agenda for more than five years now, long before liberals in America spent any part of their day thinking or caring about Vladimir Putin. Mass media outlets like CNN and WaPo have been actively facilitating this agenda by promulgating these false narratives, and they are playing an instrumental role in convincing the US populace to keep their foot off the brake pedal in an accelerating and world-threatening new cold war.
Trump has already greatly escalated tensions with Russia by implementing a Nuclear Posture Review with a much more aggressive stance against Russia, withdrawing from the INF treaty, bombing and illegally occupying Syria, arming Ukraine, staging a coup in Venezuela, and many, many other hawkish actions taken against the interests of Russia’s geostrategic and economic interests. It is an indisputable fact that Trump has been more aggressive toward Russia than any other president since the fall of the Berlin wall. But the Russiagate narrative enables the war propagandists to not only ignore these escalations and the danger they pose to all life on earth, but to demand more and more of them.
Stephen Cohen, one of the foremost experts on US-Russia relations in America, made the following observation way back in April of 2017 in an interview with Democracy Now:
I think this is the most dangerous moment in American-Russian relations, at least since the Cuban missile crisis. And arguably, it’s more dangerous, because it’s more complex. Therefore, we—and then, meanwhile, we have in Washington these—and, in my judgment, factless accusations that Trump has somehow been compromised by the Kremlin. So, at this worst moment in American-Russian relations, we have an American president who’s being politically crippled by the worst imaginable—it’s unprecedented. Let’s stop and think. No American president has ever been accused, essentially, of treason. This is what we’re talking about here, or that his associates have committed treason.
Imagine, for example, John Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis. And for the viewers who are not of a certain age, the Kennedy administration was presented—and the evidence, by the way, was presented to us; they showed us the surveillance photos. There was no doubt what the Soviets had done, putting missile silos in Cuba. No evidence has been presented today of anything. Imagine if Kennedy had been accused of being a secret Soviet Kremlin agent. He would have been crippled. And the only way he could have proved he wasn’t was to have launched a war against the Soviet Union. And at that time, the option was nuclear war.
To be clear, we came within a hair’s breadth of total nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nobody likes to think about how close we all came to losing literally everything, and we didn’t find out exactly how close we came until years later, but armageddon came *this* close to happening. The primary risk of nuclear war isn’t that one will be planned and carried out in the hope of one side emerging victorious, it’s that something can go cataclysmically wrong as a result of miscommunication or misunderstanding in the midst of complex and confusing escalating tensions. This almost happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Due to his extensive knowledge of the dynamics in play, Cohen saw all this coming long before anyone else, and accurately predicted the waves of cold war escalations we’ve seen since. Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard recently confirmed his prediction, tweeting, “Short-sighted politicians and media pundits who’ve spent last two years accusing Trump as a Putin puppet have brought us the expensive new Cold War and arms race. How? Because Trump now does everything he can to prove he’s not Putin’s puppet—even if it brings us closer to nuclear war.”
This is how depraved the mass media are. They’re willing to lull the populace into complacency with the formation of a new cold war that threatens everyone they love, even get them demanding direct confrontation, all to please their plutocratic owners, their military-industrial complex sponsors, and the intelligence agencies with which they are aligned. They’re willing to risk getting us all killed for money and crude oil.
If we’re going to begin bringing our society and ecosystem into health, we’re going to have to find a way to extricate the influence of these toxic manipulators from the minds of the greater populace. As long as they’re able to propagandize the majority into consenting to even the most insane omnicidal agendas, we’ll never be able to use our superior numbers against the malignant manipulations of the few who would rule us. Whoever controls the narrative controls the world, and right now it’s the evil fingers that are pulling the strings of empire lackeys like Fareed Zakaria.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
SC186-14
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51384.htm
How Brzezinski's Chessboard Degenerated Into Brennan's Russophobia
“Russia is an inalienable and organic part of Greater Europe and European civilization. Our citizens think of themselves as European. That’s why Russia proposes moving towards the creation of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a community referred to by Russian experts as ‘the Union of Europe’ which will strengthen Russia’s potential in its economic pivot toward the ‘New Asia.’” Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, February 2012
The allegations of ‘Russian meddling’ only make sense if they’re put into a broader geopolitical context. Once we realize that Washington is implementing an aggressive “containment” strategy to militarily encircle Russia and China in order to spread its tentacles across Central Asian, then we begin to understand that Russia is not the perpetrator of the hostilities and propaganda, but the victim. The Russia hacking allegations are part of a larger asymmetrical-information war that has been joined by the entire Washington political establishment. The objective is to methodically weaken an emerging rival while reinforcing US global hegemony.
Try to imagine for a minute, that the hacking claims were not part of a sinister plan by Vladimir Putin “to sow discord and division” in the United States, but were conjured up to create an external threat that would justify an aggressive response from Washington. That’s what Russiagate is really all about.
US policymakers and their allies in the military and Intelligence agencies, know that relations with Russia are bound to get increasingly confrontational, mainly because Washington is determined to pursue its ambitious “pivot” to Asia plan. This new regional strategy focuses on “strengthening bilateral security alliances, expanding trade and investment, and forging a broad-based military presence.” In short, the US is determined to maintain its global supremacy by establishing military outposts across Eurasia, continuing to tighten the noose around Russia and China, and reinforcing its position as the dominant player in the most populous and prosperous region in the world. The plan was first presented in its skeletal form by the architect of Washington’s plan to rule the world, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Here’s how Jimmy Carter’s former national security advisor summed it up in his 1997 magnum opus, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives:
“For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia… (p.30)….. Eurasia is the globe’s largest continent and is geopolitically axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions. …. About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s GNP and about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources.” (“The Grand Chessboard:American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives”, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Basic Books, page 31, 1997)
14 years after those words were written, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took up the banner of imperial expansion and demanded a dramatic shift in US foreign policy that would focus primarily on increasing America’s military footprint in Asia. It was Clinton who first coined the term “pivot” in a speech she delivered in 2010 titled “America’s Pacific Century”. Here’s an excerpt from the speech:
“As the war in Iraq winds down and America begins to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, the United States stands at a pivot point. Over the last 10 years, we have allocated immense resources to those two theaters. In the next 10 years, we need to be smart and systematic about where we invest time and energy, so that we put ourselves in the best position to sustain our leadership, secure our interests, and advance our values. One of the most important tasks of American statecraft over the next decade will therefore be to lock in a substantially increased investment — diplomatic, economic, strategic, and otherwise — in the Asia-Pacific region…
Open markets in Asia provide the United States with unprecedented opportunities for investment, trade, and access to cutting-edge technology…..American firms (need) to tap into the vast and growing consumer base of Asia…The region already generates more than half of global output and nearly half of global trade. As we strive to meet President Obama’s goal of doubling exports by 2015, we are looking for opportunities to do even more business in Asia…and our investment opportunities in Asia’s dynamic markets.”
(“America’s Pacific Century”, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton”, Foreign Policy Magazine, 2011)
The pivot strategy is not some trifling rehash of the 19th century “Great Game” promoted by think-tank fanatasists and conspiracy theorists. It is Washington’s premier foreign policy doctrine, a ‘rebalancing’ theory that focuses on increasing US military and diplomatic presence across the Asian landmass. Naturally, NATO’s ominous troop movements on Russia’s western flank and Washington’s provocative naval operations in the South China Sea have sent up red flags in Moscow and Beijing. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao summed it up like this:
“The United States has strengthened its military deployments in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthened the US-Japan military alliance, strengthened strategic cooperation with India, improved relations with Vietnam, inveigled Pakistan, established a pro-American government in Afghanistan, increased arms sales to Taiwan, and so on. They have extended outposts and placed pressure points on us from the east, south, and west.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been equally critical of Washington’s erratic behavior. NATO’s eastward expansion has convinced Putin that the US will continue to be a disruptive force on the continent for the foreseeable future. Both leaders worry that Washington’s relentless provocations will lead to an unexpected clash that will end in war.
Even so, the political class has fully embraced the pivot strategy as a last-gasp attempt to roll back the clock to the post war era when the world’s industrial centers were in ruins and America was the only game in town. Now the center of gravity has shifted from west to east, leaving Washington with just two options: Allow the emerging giants in Asia to connect their high-speed rail and gas pipelines to Europe creating the world’s biggest free trade zone, or try to overturn the applecart by bullying allies and threatening rivals, by implementing sanctions that slow growth and send currencies plunging, and by arming jihadist proxies to fuel ethnic hatred and foment political unrest. Clearly, the choice has already been made. Uncle Sam has decided to fight til the bitter end.
Washington has many ways of dealing with its enemies, but none of these strategies have dampened the growth of its competitors in the east. China is poised to overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy sometime in the next 2 decades while Russia’s intervention in Syria has rolled back Washington’s plan to topple Bashar al Assad and consolidate its grip on the resource-rich Middle East. That plan has now collapsed forcing US policymakers to scrap the War on Terror altogether and switch to a “great power competition” which acknowledges that the US can no longer unilaterally impose its will wherever it goes. Challenges to America’s dominance are emerging everywhere particularly in the region where the US hopes to reign supreme, Asia.
This is why the entire national security state now stands foursquare behind the improbable pivot plan. It’s a desperate “Hail Mary” attempt to preserve the decaying unipolar world order.
What does that mean in practical terms?
It means that the White House (the National Security Strategy) the Pentagon (National Defense Strategy) and the Intelligence Community (The Worldwide Threat Assessment) have all drawn up their own respective analyses of the biggest threats the US currently faces. Naturally, Russia is at the very top of those lists. Russia has derailed Washington’s proxy war in Syria, frustrated US attempts to establish itself across Central Asia, and strengthened ties with the EU hoping to “create a harmonious community of economies from Lisbon to Vladivostok.” (Putin)
Keep in mind, the US does not feel threatened by the possibility of a Russian attack, but by Russia’s ability to thwart Washington’s grandiose imperial ambitions in Asia.
As we noted, the National Security Strategy (NSS) is a statutorily mandated document produced by the White House that explains how the President intends to implement his national security vision. Not surprisingly, the document’s main focus is Russia and China. Here’s an excerpt:
“China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity. They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.” (Neither Russia nor China are attempting to erode American security and prosperity.” They are merely growing their economies and expanding their markets. If US corporations reinvested their capital into factories, employee training and R and D instead of stock buybacks and executive compensation, then they would be better able to compete globally.)
Here’s more: “Through modernized forms of subversive tactics, Russia interferes in the domestic political affairs of countries around the world.” (This is a case of the ‘pot calling the kettle black.’)
“Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data.” (The western media behemoth is the biggest disinformation bullhorn the world has ever seen. RT and Sputnik don’t hold a candle to the ginormous MSM ‘Wurlitzer’ that controls the cable news stations, the newspapers and most of the print media. The Mueller Report proves beyond a doubt that the politically-motivated nonsense one reads in the media is neither reliably sourced nor trustworthy.)
The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community is even more explicit in its attacks on Russia. Check it out:
“Threats to US national security will expand and diversify in the coming year, driven in part by China and Russia as they respectively compete more intensely with the United States and its traditional allies and partners…. We assess that Moscow will continue pursuing a range of objectives to expand its reach, including undermining the US-led liberal international order, dividing Western political and security institutions, demonstrating Russia’s ability to shape global issues, and bolstering Putin’s domestic legitimacy.
We assess that Moscow has heightened confidence, based on its success in helping restore the Asad regime’s territorial control in Syria,… Russia seeks to boost its military presence and political influence in the Mediterranean and Red Seas… mediate conflicts, including engaging in the Middle East Peace Process and Afghanistan reconciliation….
Russia will continue pressing Central Asia’s leaders to support Russian-led economic and security initiatives and reduce engagement with Washington. …Russia and China are likely to intensify efforts to build influence in Europe at the expense of US interests…” (“The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community”, USG)
Notice how the Intelligence Community summary does not suggest that Russia poses an imminent military threat to the US, only that Russia has restored order in Syria, strengthened ties with China, emerged as an “honest broker” among countries in the Middle East, and used the free market system to improve relations with its trading partners and grow its economy. The IC appears to find fault with Russia because it is using the system the US created to better advantage than the US. This is entirely understandable given Putin’s determination to draw Europe and Asia closer together through a region-wide economic integration plan. Here’s Putin:
“We must consider more extensive cooperation in the energy sphere, up to and including the formation of a common European energy complex. The Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea and the South Stream pipeline under the Black Sea are important steps in that direction. These projects have the support of many governments and involve major European energy companies. Once the pipelines start operating at full capacity, Europe will have a reliable and flexible gas-supply system that does not depend on the political whims of any nation. This will strengthen the continent’s energy security not only in form but in substance. This is particularly relevant in the light of the decision of some European states to reduce or renounce nuclear energy.”
The gas pipelines and high-speed rail are the arteries that will bind the continents together and strengthen the new EU-Asia superstate. This is Washington’s greatest nightmare, a massive, thriving free trade zone beyond its reach and not subject to its rules. In 2012, Hillary Clinton acknowledged this new threat and promised to do everything in her power to destroy it. Check out this excerpt:
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described efforts to promote greater economic integration in Eurasia as “a move to re-Sovietize the region.”…. “We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it,” she said at an international conference in Dublin on December 6, 2012, Radio Free Europe.”
“Slow down or prevent it”?
Why? Because EU-Asia growth and prosperity will put pressure on US debt markets, US corporate interests, US (ballooning) national debt, and the US Dollar? Is that why Hillary is so committed to sabotaging Putin’s economic integration plan?
Indeed, it is. Washington wants to block progress and prosperity in the east in order to extend the lifespan of a doddering and thoroughly-bankrupt state that is presently $22 trillion in the red but continues to write checks on an overdrawn account.
But Russia shouldn’t be blamed for Washington’s profligate behavior, that’s not Putin’s fault. Moscow is merely using the free market system more effectively that the US.
Now consider the Pentagon’s 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) which reiterates many of the same themes as the other two documents.
“Today, we are emerging from a period of strategic atrophy, aware that our competitive military advantage has been eroding. We are facing increased global disorder, characterized by decline in the long-standing rules-based international order—creating a security environment more complex and volatile than any we have experienced in recent memory. Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.”
(Naturally, the “security environment” is going to be more challenging when ‘regime change’ is the cornerstone of one’s foreign policy. Of course, the NDS glosses over that sad fact. Here’s more:)
“Russia has violated the borders of nearby nations and pursues veto power over the economic, diplomatic, and security decisions of its neighbors…..(Baloney. Russia has been a force for stability in Syria and Ukraine. If Obama had his way, Syria would have wound up like Iraq, a hellish wastelands occupied by foreign mercenaries. Is that how the Pentagon measures success?) Here’s more:
“China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model…
“China and Russia are now undermining the international order from within the system…….
“China and Russia are the principal priorities for the Department… because of the magnitude of the threats they pose to U.S. security.” (National Defense Strategy of the United States of America)
Get the picture? China and Russia, China and Russia, China and Russia. Bad, bad, bad.
Why? Because they are successfully implementing their own development model which is NOT programed to favor US financial institutions and corporations. That’s the whole thing in a nutshell. The only reason Russia and China are a threat to the “rules-based system”, is because Washington insists on being the only one who makes the rules. That’s why foreign leaders are no longer falling in line, because it’s not a fair system.
These assessments represent the prevailing opinion of senior-level policymakers across the spectrum. (The White House, the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community) The USG is unanimous in its judgement that a harsher more combative approach is needed to deal with Russia and China. Foreign policy elites want to put the nation on the path to more confrontation, more conflict and more war. At the same time, none of these three documents suggest that Russia has any intention of launching an attack on the United States. The greatest concern is the effect that emerging competitors will have on Washington’s provocative plan for military and economic expansion, the threat that Russia and China pose to America’s tenuous grip on global power. It is that fear that drives US foreign policy.
And this is broader context into which we must fit the Russia investigation. The reason the Russia hacking furor has been allowed to flourish and spread despite the obvious lack of any supporting evidence, is because the vilifying of Russia segues perfectly with the geopolitical interests of elites in the government. The USG now works collaboratively with the media to influence public attitudes on issues that are important to the powerful foreign policy establishment. The ostensible goal of these psychological operations (PSYOP) is to selectively use information on “audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of… organizations, groups, and individuals.”
The USG now sees the minds of ordinary Americans as a legitimate target for their influence campaigns. They regard attitudes and perceptions as “the cognitive domain of the battlespace” which they must exploit in order to build public support for their vastly unpopular wars and interventions. The relentless Russiagate narrative (which was first referred to the FBI by the chief architect of the Syrian War, former-CIA Director John Brennan) represents the disinformation component of the broader campaign against Russia. Foreign policy elites are determined to persuade the American people that Russia constitutes a material threat to their security that must be countered by tighter sanctions, more sabre-rattling, and eventually war.
How Brzezinski's Chessboard Degenerated Into Brennan's Russophobia
“Russia is an inalienable and organic part of Greater Europe and European civilization. Our citizens think of themselves as European. That’s why Russia proposes moving towards the creation of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a community referred to by Russian experts as ‘the Union of Europe’ which will strengthen Russia’s potential in its economic pivot toward the ‘New Asia.’” Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, February 2012
The allegations of ‘Russian meddling’ only make sense if they’re put into a broader geopolitical context. Once we realize that Washington is implementing an aggressive “containment” strategy to militarily encircle Russia and China in order to spread its tentacles across Central Asian, then we begin to understand that Russia is not the perpetrator of the hostilities and propaganda, but the victim. The Russia hacking allegations are part of a larger asymmetrical-information war that has been joined by the entire Washington political establishment. The objective is to methodically weaken an emerging rival while reinforcing US global hegemony.
Try to imagine for a minute, that the hacking claims were not part of a sinister plan by Vladimir Putin “to sow discord and division” in the United States, but were conjured up to create an external threat that would justify an aggressive response from Washington. That’s what Russiagate is really all about.
US policymakers and their allies in the military and Intelligence agencies, know that relations with Russia are bound to get increasingly confrontational, mainly because Washington is determined to pursue its ambitious “pivot” to Asia plan. This new regional strategy focuses on “strengthening bilateral security alliances, expanding trade and investment, and forging a broad-based military presence.” In short, the US is determined to maintain its global supremacy by establishing military outposts across Eurasia, continuing to tighten the noose around Russia and China, and reinforcing its position as the dominant player in the most populous and prosperous region in the world. The plan was first presented in its skeletal form by the architect of Washington’s plan to rule the world, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Here’s how Jimmy Carter’s former national security advisor summed it up in his 1997 magnum opus, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives:
“For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia… (p.30)….. Eurasia is the globe’s largest continent and is geopolitically axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions. …. About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s GNP and about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources.” (“The Grand Chessboard:American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives”, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Basic Books, page 31, 1997)
14 years after those words were written, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took up the banner of imperial expansion and demanded a dramatic shift in US foreign policy that would focus primarily on increasing America’s military footprint in Asia. It was Clinton who first coined the term “pivot” in a speech she delivered in 2010 titled “America’s Pacific Century”. Here’s an excerpt from the speech:
“As the war in Iraq winds down and America begins to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, the United States stands at a pivot point. Over the last 10 years, we have allocated immense resources to those two theaters. In the next 10 years, we need to be smart and systematic about where we invest time and energy, so that we put ourselves in the best position to sustain our leadership, secure our interests, and advance our values. One of the most important tasks of American statecraft over the next decade will therefore be to lock in a substantially increased investment — diplomatic, economic, strategic, and otherwise — in the Asia-Pacific region…
Open markets in Asia provide the United States with unprecedented opportunities for investment, trade, and access to cutting-edge technology…..American firms (need) to tap into the vast and growing consumer base of Asia…The region already generates more than half of global output and nearly half of global trade. As we strive to meet President Obama’s goal of doubling exports by 2015, we are looking for opportunities to do even more business in Asia…and our investment opportunities in Asia’s dynamic markets.”
(“America’s Pacific Century”, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton”, Foreign Policy Magazine, 2011)
The pivot strategy is not some trifling rehash of the 19th century “Great Game” promoted by think-tank fanatasists and conspiracy theorists. It is Washington’s premier foreign policy doctrine, a ‘rebalancing’ theory that focuses on increasing US military and diplomatic presence across the Asian landmass. Naturally, NATO’s ominous troop movements on Russia’s western flank and Washington’s provocative naval operations in the South China Sea have sent up red flags in Moscow and Beijing. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao summed it up like this:
“The United States has strengthened its military deployments in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthened the US-Japan military alliance, strengthened strategic cooperation with India, improved relations with Vietnam, inveigled Pakistan, established a pro-American government in Afghanistan, increased arms sales to Taiwan, and so on. They have extended outposts and placed pressure points on us from the east, south, and west.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been equally critical of Washington’s erratic behavior. NATO’s eastward expansion has convinced Putin that the US will continue to be a disruptive force on the continent for the foreseeable future. Both leaders worry that Washington’s relentless provocations will lead to an unexpected clash that will end in war.
Even so, the political class has fully embraced the pivot strategy as a last-gasp attempt to roll back the clock to the post war era when the world’s industrial centers were in ruins and America was the only game in town. Now the center of gravity has shifted from west to east, leaving Washington with just two options: Allow the emerging giants in Asia to connect their high-speed rail and gas pipelines to Europe creating the world’s biggest free trade zone, or try to overturn the applecart by bullying allies and threatening rivals, by implementing sanctions that slow growth and send currencies plunging, and by arming jihadist proxies to fuel ethnic hatred and foment political unrest. Clearly, the choice has already been made. Uncle Sam has decided to fight til the bitter end.
Washington has many ways of dealing with its enemies, but none of these strategies have dampened the growth of its competitors in the east. China is poised to overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy sometime in the next 2 decades while Russia’s intervention in Syria has rolled back Washington’s plan to topple Bashar al Assad and consolidate its grip on the resource-rich Middle East. That plan has now collapsed forcing US policymakers to scrap the War on Terror altogether and switch to a “great power competition” which acknowledges that the US can no longer unilaterally impose its will wherever it goes. Challenges to America’s dominance are emerging everywhere particularly in the region where the US hopes to reign supreme, Asia.
This is why the entire national security state now stands foursquare behind the improbable pivot plan. It’s a desperate “Hail Mary” attempt to preserve the decaying unipolar world order.
What does that mean in practical terms?
It means that the White House (the National Security Strategy) the Pentagon (National Defense Strategy) and the Intelligence Community (The Worldwide Threat Assessment) have all drawn up their own respective analyses of the biggest threats the US currently faces. Naturally, Russia is at the very top of those lists. Russia has derailed Washington’s proxy war in Syria, frustrated US attempts to establish itself across Central Asia, and strengthened ties with the EU hoping to “create a harmonious community of economies from Lisbon to Vladivostok.” (Putin)
Keep in mind, the US does not feel threatened by the possibility of a Russian attack, but by Russia’s ability to thwart Washington’s grandiose imperial ambitions in Asia.
As we noted, the National Security Strategy (NSS) is a statutorily mandated document produced by the White House that explains how the President intends to implement his national security vision. Not surprisingly, the document’s main focus is Russia and China. Here’s an excerpt:
“China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity. They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.” (Neither Russia nor China are attempting to erode American security and prosperity.” They are merely growing their economies and expanding their markets. If US corporations reinvested their capital into factories, employee training and R and D instead of stock buybacks and executive compensation, then they would be better able to compete globally.)
Here’s more: “Through modernized forms of subversive tactics, Russia interferes in the domestic political affairs of countries around the world.” (This is a case of the ‘pot calling the kettle black.’)
“Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data.” (The western media behemoth is the biggest disinformation bullhorn the world has ever seen. RT and Sputnik don’t hold a candle to the ginormous MSM ‘Wurlitzer’ that controls the cable news stations, the newspapers and most of the print media. The Mueller Report proves beyond a doubt that the politically-motivated nonsense one reads in the media is neither reliably sourced nor trustworthy.)
The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community is even more explicit in its attacks on Russia. Check it out:
“Threats to US national security will expand and diversify in the coming year, driven in part by China and Russia as they respectively compete more intensely with the United States and its traditional allies and partners…. We assess that Moscow will continue pursuing a range of objectives to expand its reach, including undermining the US-led liberal international order, dividing Western political and security institutions, demonstrating Russia’s ability to shape global issues, and bolstering Putin’s domestic legitimacy.
We assess that Moscow has heightened confidence, based on its success in helping restore the Asad regime’s territorial control in Syria,… Russia seeks to boost its military presence and political influence in the Mediterranean and Red Seas… mediate conflicts, including engaging in the Middle East Peace Process and Afghanistan reconciliation….
Russia will continue pressing Central Asia’s leaders to support Russian-led economic and security initiatives and reduce engagement with Washington. …Russia and China are likely to intensify efforts to build influence in Europe at the expense of US interests…” (“The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community”, USG)
Notice how the Intelligence Community summary does not suggest that Russia poses an imminent military threat to the US, only that Russia has restored order in Syria, strengthened ties with China, emerged as an “honest broker” among countries in the Middle East, and used the free market system to improve relations with its trading partners and grow its economy. The IC appears to find fault with Russia because it is using the system the US created to better advantage than the US. This is entirely understandable given Putin’s determination to draw Europe and Asia closer together through a region-wide economic integration plan. Here’s Putin:
“We must consider more extensive cooperation in the energy sphere, up to and including the formation of a common European energy complex. The Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea and the South Stream pipeline under the Black Sea are important steps in that direction. These projects have the support of many governments and involve major European energy companies. Once the pipelines start operating at full capacity, Europe will have a reliable and flexible gas-supply system that does not depend on the political whims of any nation. This will strengthen the continent’s energy security not only in form but in substance. This is particularly relevant in the light of the decision of some European states to reduce or renounce nuclear energy.”
The gas pipelines and high-speed rail are the arteries that will bind the continents together and strengthen the new EU-Asia superstate. This is Washington’s greatest nightmare, a massive, thriving free trade zone beyond its reach and not subject to its rules. In 2012, Hillary Clinton acknowledged this new threat and promised to do everything in her power to destroy it. Check out this excerpt:
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described efforts to promote greater economic integration in Eurasia as “a move to re-Sovietize the region.”…. “We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it,” she said at an international conference in Dublin on December 6, 2012, Radio Free Europe.”
“Slow down or prevent it”?
Why? Because EU-Asia growth and prosperity will put pressure on US debt markets, US corporate interests, US (ballooning) national debt, and the US Dollar? Is that why Hillary is so committed to sabotaging Putin’s economic integration plan?
Indeed, it is. Washington wants to block progress and prosperity in the east in order to extend the lifespan of a doddering and thoroughly-bankrupt state that is presently $22 trillion in the red but continues to write checks on an overdrawn account.
But Russia shouldn’t be blamed for Washington’s profligate behavior, that’s not Putin’s fault. Moscow is merely using the free market system more effectively that the US.
Now consider the Pentagon’s 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) which reiterates many of the same themes as the other two documents.
“Today, we are emerging from a period of strategic atrophy, aware that our competitive military advantage has been eroding. We are facing increased global disorder, characterized by decline in the long-standing rules-based international order—creating a security environment more complex and volatile than any we have experienced in recent memory. Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.”
(Naturally, the “security environment” is going to be more challenging when ‘regime change’ is the cornerstone of one’s foreign policy. Of course, the NDS glosses over that sad fact. Here’s more:)
“Russia has violated the borders of nearby nations and pursues veto power over the economic, diplomatic, and security decisions of its neighbors…..(Baloney. Russia has been a force for stability in Syria and Ukraine. If Obama had his way, Syria would have wound up like Iraq, a hellish wastelands occupied by foreign mercenaries. Is that how the Pentagon measures success?) Here’s more:
“China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model…
“China and Russia are now undermining the international order from within the system…….
“China and Russia are the principal priorities for the Department… because of the magnitude of the threats they pose to U.S. security.” (National Defense Strategy of the United States of America)
Get the picture? China and Russia, China and Russia, China and Russia. Bad, bad, bad.
Why? Because they are successfully implementing their own development model which is NOT programed to favor US financial institutions and corporations. That’s the whole thing in a nutshell. The only reason Russia and China are a threat to the “rules-based system”, is because Washington insists on being the only one who makes the rules. That’s why foreign leaders are no longer falling in line, because it’s not a fair system.
These assessments represent the prevailing opinion of senior-level policymakers across the spectrum. (The White House, the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community) The USG is unanimous in its judgement that a harsher more combative approach is needed to deal with Russia and China. Foreign policy elites want to put the nation on the path to more confrontation, more conflict and more war. At the same time, none of these three documents suggest that Russia has any intention of launching an attack on the United States. The greatest concern is the effect that emerging competitors will have on Washington’s provocative plan for military and economic expansion, the threat that Russia and China pose to America’s tenuous grip on global power. It is that fear that drives US foreign policy.
And this is broader context into which we must fit the Russia investigation. The reason the Russia hacking furor has been allowed to flourish and spread despite the obvious lack of any supporting evidence, is because the vilifying of Russia segues perfectly with the geopolitical interests of elites in the government. The USG now works collaboratively with the media to influence public attitudes on issues that are important to the powerful foreign policy establishment. The ostensible goal of these psychological operations (PSYOP) is to selectively use information on “audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of… organizations, groups, and individuals.”
The USG now sees the minds of ordinary Americans as a legitimate target for their influence campaigns. They regard attitudes and perceptions as “the cognitive domain of the battlespace” which they must exploit in order to build public support for their vastly unpopular wars and interventions. The relentless Russiagate narrative (which was first referred to the FBI by the chief architect of the Syrian War, former-CIA Director John Brennan) represents the disinformation component of the broader campaign against Russia. Foreign policy elites are determined to persuade the American people that Russia constitutes a material threat to their security that must be countered by tighter sanctions, more sabre-rattling, and eventually war.
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
SC186-13
https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2019/04/01/is-the-world-already-multi-polar/
Is the World Already Multi-Polar?
A hefty case can be made that the Empire of Chaos currently has no allies; it’s essentially surrounded by an assortment of vassals, puppets and comprador 5th columnist elites professing varied degrees of – sometimes reluctant – obedience.
The Trump administration’s foreign policy may be easily deconstructed as a crossover between The Sopranos and late-night comedy.
– Pepe Escobar, in his recent Consortium News piece: Empire of Chaos in Hybrid War Overdrive
While the U.S. empire’s existed in various states of decline for much of the 21st century, I’ve been opining on the topic with far more frequency and urgency since the election of Donald Trump. This isn’t because he’s fundamentally much different from the imperial managers (aka presidents) that came before him on foreign policy, but because his personality, style and overall boorishness serve to accelerate the pace of decline.
As many astute observers have noted, what really bothers establishment types on the “NeverTrump” right and the “Russiagate conspiracy theory” left is not so much what Trump does, but how he does it. These political cliques may disagree on many issues, but what they have in common — aside from Trump derangement syndrome — is a love affair with U.S. empire and an unwavering dedication to the maintenance of American geopolitical dominance at all costs.
Both the NeverTrump right and the Russiagate conspiracy theory left are concerned that Trump, unlike Obama, is a poor global salesman for empire. Obama had the rare quality of being able to bailout bankers and keep them out of prison, pass healthcare “reform” only an insurance company could love, and expand American wars across the globe and still be revered around much of the world and celebrated as a liberal at home. That’s the sort of person you need in charge to keep a corrupt and violent empire running smoothly.
It keeps the mask on a while longer and allows everyone to pretend the status quo still works. In contrast, there’s no lipstick on the imperial pig under Trump and his band of creepy recycled neocons. It’s just an endless stream of threats and sanctions, and most importantly, an increased willingness to use the U.S. dollar and the global financial system as a weapon, even against allies.
What’s most interesting is that as the U.S. runs around sanctioning and trying to regime-change any sovereign state that dares to be anything less than an obsequious poodle, many traditional allies have begun to bristle. We saw it with the opening of a new trade channel earlier this year by France, Germany and Britain to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iran following Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA last May. We saw it again recently with the European Commission decision to allow individual countries to decide for themselves on Huawei’s participation in the 5G buildout, despite the Trump administration calling for a ban. We also saw it with Italy recently signing up for China’s belt and road initiative despite U.S. objections, as well as Xi Jinping signing a variety of deals with France last week while the U.S. remained in the midst of a trade war.
The mere fact that America’s European allies have been so glaringly dismissive of U.S. demands on a variety of fronts recently makes me consider that perhaps a multi-polar world isn’t coming at some point in the distant future, but is in fact already here. In other words, it seems the world as it stands today is already being shaped and influenced by a variety of geopolitically significant powers as opposed to just one. The only faction that doesn’t seem to understand this yet is the U.S. government itself, which is of course a very dangerous situation. The rest of the world doesn’t know how to break reality to those in charge of the levers of power in America. No one wants to tell them bluntly, because it’s become pretty clear that many diehard imperialists are still willing to double down on some very evil and stupid things in order to maintain an illusion of world dominance.
With the failed regime change attempt in Syria and now the flailing coup in Venezuela, it’s become clear the U.S. can’t easily get whatever it wants anymore despite its gigantic defense budget and 800 formal military bases in 80 countries. The most effective weapon the U.S. empire still currently has at its disposal is a dominance of the global financial system and the core role of the USD in it. This is why the Trump administration’s been flexing these financial tools so aggressively, but of course, this abuse of America’s exorbitant privilege is precisely what will ultimately lead to a serious decline in the global position of USD down the road (I expect it to play out by 2025).
If you’re an American reading this and find it depressing, don’t despair. The U.S. empire as it stands today is exceedingly corrupt, violent and works against the interests of the average American citizen, both economically and from a civil liberties perspective. Although the transition from being the unipolar power to just one of several major powers will be challenging, we should see it as an opportunity. Our government and our culture spends far too much of its energy and wealth trying to dominate the world that we’ve collectively lost sight of caring about the country we actually live in.
Our media’s a joke and bridges are crumbling as I write this, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Trump pledged to change this, but his campaign promises are being brushed aside as he fills foreign policy positions with wild-eyed neocons focused on making imperial dominance great again. Nothing will get better until we stop spending all our time playing Game of Thrones with the world, and transition our domestic affairs away from the corrupt and unaccountable oligarchy we have today....
Is the World Already Multi-Polar?
A hefty case can be made that the Empire of Chaos currently has no allies; it’s essentially surrounded by an assortment of vassals, puppets and comprador 5th columnist elites professing varied degrees of – sometimes reluctant – obedience.
The Trump administration’s foreign policy may be easily deconstructed as a crossover between The Sopranos and late-night comedy.
– Pepe Escobar, in his recent Consortium News piece: Empire of Chaos in Hybrid War Overdrive
While the U.S. empire’s existed in various states of decline for much of the 21st century, I’ve been opining on the topic with far more frequency and urgency since the election of Donald Trump. This isn’t because he’s fundamentally much different from the imperial managers (aka presidents) that came before him on foreign policy, but because his personality, style and overall boorishness serve to accelerate the pace of decline.
As many astute observers have noted, what really bothers establishment types on the “NeverTrump” right and the “Russiagate conspiracy theory” left is not so much what Trump does, but how he does it. These political cliques may disagree on many issues, but what they have in common — aside from Trump derangement syndrome — is a love affair with U.S. empire and an unwavering dedication to the maintenance of American geopolitical dominance at all costs.
Both the NeverTrump right and the Russiagate conspiracy theory left are concerned that Trump, unlike Obama, is a poor global salesman for empire. Obama had the rare quality of being able to bailout bankers and keep them out of prison, pass healthcare “reform” only an insurance company could love, and expand American wars across the globe and still be revered around much of the world and celebrated as a liberal at home. That’s the sort of person you need in charge to keep a corrupt and violent empire running smoothly.
It keeps the mask on a while longer and allows everyone to pretend the status quo still works. In contrast, there’s no lipstick on the imperial pig under Trump and his band of creepy recycled neocons. It’s just an endless stream of threats and sanctions, and most importantly, an increased willingness to use the U.S. dollar and the global financial system as a weapon, even against allies.
What’s most interesting is that as the U.S. runs around sanctioning and trying to regime-change any sovereign state that dares to be anything less than an obsequious poodle, many traditional allies have begun to bristle. We saw it with the opening of a new trade channel earlier this year by France, Germany and Britain to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iran following Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA last May. We saw it again recently with the European Commission decision to allow individual countries to decide for themselves on Huawei’s participation in the 5G buildout, despite the Trump administration calling for a ban. We also saw it with Italy recently signing up for China’s belt and road initiative despite U.S. objections, as well as Xi Jinping signing a variety of deals with France last week while the U.S. remained in the midst of a trade war.
The mere fact that America’s European allies have been so glaringly dismissive of U.S. demands on a variety of fronts recently makes me consider that perhaps a multi-polar world isn’t coming at some point in the distant future, but is in fact already here. In other words, it seems the world as it stands today is already being shaped and influenced by a variety of geopolitically significant powers as opposed to just one. The only faction that doesn’t seem to understand this yet is the U.S. government itself, which is of course a very dangerous situation. The rest of the world doesn’t know how to break reality to those in charge of the levers of power in America. No one wants to tell them bluntly, because it’s become pretty clear that many diehard imperialists are still willing to double down on some very evil and stupid things in order to maintain an illusion of world dominance.
With the failed regime change attempt in Syria and now the flailing coup in Venezuela, it’s become clear the U.S. can’t easily get whatever it wants anymore despite its gigantic defense budget and 800 formal military bases in 80 countries. The most effective weapon the U.S. empire still currently has at its disposal is a dominance of the global financial system and the core role of the USD in it. This is why the Trump administration’s been flexing these financial tools so aggressively, but of course, this abuse of America’s exorbitant privilege is precisely what will ultimately lead to a serious decline in the global position of USD down the road (I expect it to play out by 2025).
If you’re an American reading this and find it depressing, don’t despair. The U.S. empire as it stands today is exceedingly corrupt, violent and works against the interests of the average American citizen, both economically and from a civil liberties perspective. Although the transition from being the unipolar power to just one of several major powers will be challenging, we should see it as an opportunity. Our government and our culture spends far too much of its energy and wealth trying to dominate the world that we’ve collectively lost sight of caring about the country we actually live in.
Our media’s a joke and bridges are crumbling as I write this, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Trump pledged to change this, but his campaign promises are being brushed aside as he fills foreign policy positions with wild-eyed neocons focused on making imperial dominance great again. Nothing will get better until we stop spending all our time playing Game of Thrones with the world, and transition our domestic affairs away from the corrupt and unaccountable oligarchy we have today....
Monday, April 1, 2019
SC186-12
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51347.htm
Staring Into The Void
Humans can’t duck fatality. A terminally ill or addicted person has to accept the fact if he hopes ever to be free the drug or to die at peace. The mortal struggle with his hard reality begins, almost without exception, in denial.
Our long national psychotic break is over. After two years of tedium--hyped by a slavering press as foreplay to a shattering climax--and vacuuming of a dirtbagful of gross and petty financial, lobbying, influence peddling crimes by Trump punks, Mueller has declared there was no Russian collusion.
This, in a rational world, would be fatal to the Democratic Party. Upon the unimaginable humiliation of Hillary, its Geezer/Crone Politburo decreed that her appalling channeling of Marie Antoinette could not have undone her. Nor Trump’s Deplorables, either... It had to have been demonic forces.
The Dems, and the Deep State War Machine they openly front for, had long settled on their Archdemon of choice. It was him, then: Putin.
Just before Hill’s electoral faceplant, a Dem insider smuggled a ton of dirty top-secret oppo on Bernie to Wikileaks, so why not script and package a Trump-Putin-Assange yarn and sell it in holy outrage? Treason to America by Trump was the perfect compelling story though, awkwardly, it was false, silly, and based on bought lies and perjurers’ inventions. Mox nix: Bring it.
This had consequences. Sowing pyroclastic, penny-dreadful bullshit daily in the MSM to hook the credulous, Dems morphed from a party lying with Obama’s suavete and decorum to one lying with vulgarity and desperation. That is to say, style change had no effect on its real character at all, but by going all in on a lie they set off a powerful petard with which they are now hoist. They have the choice of flogging their dead hobbyhorse or admitting they indeed are the noisomely discharging cloaca their lies baldly confirm.
They and their filthy media sluts--from the demented Harpy, Maddow, to the Grey Lady who, hiking her skirt, was gleefully putting out to sell the line--are all stunned their toxic con has imploded and its bad gas evaporated. Their tactic now will be to move the goal posts, to alter the bill of attainder, to try to refocus their animus where it should have been all along: on the sick, sleazy, pimp-and-hustler “ethics” of the odious swine whose scurrilous methods and means they knowingly embraced as their own.
If this revolting saga concerned a rabid, lunatic tyrant and two degenerate gangster cabals, squalling and brawling in a small, inconsequential country it could be gagged over and dismissed, but it’s the central reality of the blundering, murderous giant whose bullying madness appalls the world.
A further empowered ethical monster is now free to inflict his horrifying want of humanity and judgment on mankind with the abject complicity of two cowering covens of moral castrati, one avid only to foul, enslave and loot the planet, the other to insanely provoke world war until they have it.
To put this dynamic disaster in context is not just sobering, it’s terrifying. The U.S. is failing economically--making bombs, costly toys, and debt--raping its resources, siphoning wealth to the top and hard-wiring inequity. Its War Machine has ravaged Arab nations only to be swiftly given the Bums Rush. It has failed spectacularly with the world’s most overhyped, wasteful army to achieve its purposes in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. It’s been stalemated, balked, and rebuked by the only nations comparable in power--Russia and China--against either of which in a war scenario, according to military and RAND assessments, it would, quote, “have its ass handed to it”. It has alienated friends, foes, and victims with daft indifference. It has had its lordly dictums and ultimatums derided and laughed at while denying all science and evidence in favor of destructive profiteering and infantile pique. It has quashed efforts by weaker nations toward decent governance and humane policies while embracing as allies the most brutal, ugly, racist regimes on earth in all their apartheid tyranny.
It sickens the soul that such horrific crimes are perpetrated in our name. In that sense, we are also victims. The vicious cliques who govern us belong to the juggernaut, Cancerous Capitalism. Democracies--so called--fail historically, subverted by money. Ours, born impaired, is dead. Innocent, deluded people will continue to be hoodwinked by the cowardly, decayed entities Big Capital endows to exacerbate their fears, hates and prejudices.
Primo Levi, in “Surviving Auschwitz”, cites the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as a comprehensible human response to The Intolerable. We’re conditioned to accept the intolerable and deny it and, of course, our intolerable is not the horror theirs was. Yet. Ours is more like that of the Germans in ‘42. They were able to deny it to the very end. Do we have that kind of endurance?
Staring Into The Void
Humans can’t duck fatality. A terminally ill or addicted person has to accept the fact if he hopes ever to be free the drug or to die at peace. The mortal struggle with his hard reality begins, almost without exception, in denial.
Our long national psychotic break is over. After two years of tedium--hyped by a slavering press as foreplay to a shattering climax--and vacuuming of a dirtbagful of gross and petty financial, lobbying, influence peddling crimes by Trump punks, Mueller has declared there was no Russian collusion.
This, in a rational world, would be fatal to the Democratic Party. Upon the unimaginable humiliation of Hillary, its Geezer/Crone Politburo decreed that her appalling channeling of Marie Antoinette could not have undone her. Nor Trump’s Deplorables, either... It had to have been demonic forces.
The Dems, and the Deep State War Machine they openly front for, had long settled on their Archdemon of choice. It was him, then: Putin.
Just before Hill’s electoral faceplant, a Dem insider smuggled a ton of dirty top-secret oppo on Bernie to Wikileaks, so why not script and package a Trump-Putin-Assange yarn and sell it in holy outrage? Treason to America by Trump was the perfect compelling story though, awkwardly, it was false, silly, and based on bought lies and perjurers’ inventions. Mox nix: Bring it.
This had consequences. Sowing pyroclastic, penny-dreadful bullshit daily in the MSM to hook the credulous, Dems morphed from a party lying with Obama’s suavete and decorum to one lying with vulgarity and desperation. That is to say, style change had no effect on its real character at all, but by going all in on a lie they set off a powerful petard with which they are now hoist. They have the choice of flogging their dead hobbyhorse or admitting they indeed are the noisomely discharging cloaca their lies baldly confirm.
They and their filthy media sluts--from the demented Harpy, Maddow, to the Grey Lady who, hiking her skirt, was gleefully putting out to sell the line--are all stunned their toxic con has imploded and its bad gas evaporated. Their tactic now will be to move the goal posts, to alter the bill of attainder, to try to refocus their animus where it should have been all along: on the sick, sleazy, pimp-and-hustler “ethics” of the odious swine whose scurrilous methods and means they knowingly embraced as their own.
If this revolting saga concerned a rabid, lunatic tyrant and two degenerate gangster cabals, squalling and brawling in a small, inconsequential country it could be gagged over and dismissed, but it’s the central reality of the blundering, murderous giant whose bullying madness appalls the world.
A further empowered ethical monster is now free to inflict his horrifying want of humanity and judgment on mankind with the abject complicity of two cowering covens of moral castrati, one avid only to foul, enslave and loot the planet, the other to insanely provoke world war until they have it.
To put this dynamic disaster in context is not just sobering, it’s terrifying. The U.S. is failing economically--making bombs, costly toys, and debt--raping its resources, siphoning wealth to the top and hard-wiring inequity. Its War Machine has ravaged Arab nations only to be swiftly given the Bums Rush. It has failed spectacularly with the world’s most overhyped, wasteful army to achieve its purposes in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. It’s been stalemated, balked, and rebuked by the only nations comparable in power--Russia and China--against either of which in a war scenario, according to military and RAND assessments, it would, quote, “have its ass handed to it”. It has alienated friends, foes, and victims with daft indifference. It has had its lordly dictums and ultimatums derided and laughed at while denying all science and evidence in favor of destructive profiteering and infantile pique. It has quashed efforts by weaker nations toward decent governance and humane policies while embracing as allies the most brutal, ugly, racist regimes on earth in all their apartheid tyranny.
It sickens the soul that such horrific crimes are perpetrated in our name. In that sense, we are also victims. The vicious cliques who govern us belong to the juggernaut, Cancerous Capitalism. Democracies--so called--fail historically, subverted by money. Ours, born impaired, is dead. Innocent, deluded people will continue to be hoodwinked by the cowardly, decayed entities Big Capital endows to exacerbate their fears, hates and prejudices.
Primo Levi, in “Surviving Auschwitz”, cites the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as a comprehensible human response to The Intolerable. We’re conditioned to accept the intolerable and deny it and, of course, our intolerable is not the horror theirs was. Yet. Ours is more like that of the Germans in ‘42. They were able to deny it to the very end. Do we have that kind of endurance?
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