By Stan Grant

 

Russian troops are massing on the Ukraine border with fears of war.

Western countries — led by the United States, including Australia — have imposed a diplomatic boycott on the Beijing Winter Olympics.

A Chinese tennis star finds herself in the middle of a geopolitical stoush replete with a Western media narrative of disappearance and sexual assault by a high-ranking Communist Party official.

US President Joe Biden warns of a battle of the ages between the forces of democracy and autocracy.

What century is this? This was supposed to be the age of unrivalled US power, globalisation and the spread of democracy. Instead we get Cold War 2.0.

Close your eyes and it is the 1980s again.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-12/china-russia-ukraine-back-to-the-future/100689336

 

Yes Stan... Open your eyes...

 

One of the major problem has been that Putin is smarter than 350 million Americans altogether. Putin has been able to hold a mirror in which we can see the sad reflection of our (Western) hypocrisy... This was the beginning. In 1989, Gorbachev gave an amazing gift to the West... and we squandered it with hubris, chest beating and highway robbery... During the Yeltsin short tenure, his ministry became loaded with CIA operatives, Banksters and Russian Oligarchs who plundered Russian assets for the price of a loaf of bread... The Mayor of St Petersburg knew what was happening and briefed young Putin on the art of management. A smart KGB agent, Putin was an expert in sniffing deception from the West. So, more than twenty-one years ago, Putin became Russia's president. He knew he had to act fast and decisively. He quickly threw out all the Oligarchs and the CIA operatives in the Russian administration. He reclaimed a controlling 51 per cent of all the Russian assets for the state. This seems like an easy operation, but only a smart cookie like Putin could do it... RUSSIA WAS LUCKY... The rest is history. 

 

One aspect we often forget in the West is that politics and philosophies are tied up in the sounds and historical contexts of the languages. We think that everyone think like us. They don't. The Chinese language is complex and demands a different concept of mind to understand what is important IN THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY — in which happiness is a major component.

 

Overall, the vision of globalisation is happening but not on our Western terms. Capitalism has robbed too many people and is only sustained by the increasing US deficit. The alliance between China and Russia is producing an alternative relative "globalisation" in which the west isn't the leader.

 

We, I mean the USA, always sure of being on top, hate this reversal of roles... The Ukraine situation is more complex than Russian troops and NATO doing "exercises" along the Russian border. We have hated the fact that Crimea IS RUSSIAN. It had to be. One cannot go beyond this fact.

 

Meanwhile would you trust a Prime Minister of Australia who does the dirty on the French, with the help of the US so-called friend Biden and the UK BoJo? Would you trust governments who keep Assange in prison? NO, YOU CANNOT.

 

The return to the 1980s has nothing to do with Russia or China. It has all to do with our little mind in which we believed we were so superior that we still think this way... And the worst part is that Russia and China will eventually ignore us. This will be more of a punishment than reverse sanctions or whatever... 

 

Think about this: Europe is desperate for Russian gas. The US want to prevent the delivery of Russian gas to Europe... Why? Because the US does not like Putin? Isn't this childish and belittling ourselves?

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This would be the good start to thinking clearly. 

 

"I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660 of March 6, 2014, with respect to Ukraine is to continue in effect beyond March 6, 2021. The actions and policies of persons that undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets, and the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation, including its purported annexation of Crimea and its use of force in Ukraine, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660 with respect to Ukraine” Joseph R. Biden, Jr. The White House, March 2, 2021.

 

"Three decades after declaring victory in the Cold War, and after the self-inflicted chaos of the U. S. "Global War on Terror,” U. S. military planners have settled on a new Cold War as the most persuasive pretext to perpetuate their trillion-dollar war machine and their unattainable ambition to dominate the entire planet. Instead of asking the U. S. military to adapt to more new challenges it is clearly not up for U. S. leaders decided to revert to their old conflict with Russia and China to justify the existence and ridiculous expense of their ineffective but profitable war machine.” Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, Consortium News.

 

 

President Joe Biden will soon regurgitate on the public the words of George W. Bush uttered in 2002. Words that ushered in a global war on terrorism, a 20 year was in Afghanistan, a second invasion of Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, thousands of Americans killed/wounded, US "Black Sites” for torture and trillions in resources/dollars squandered away:

"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

Simply replace terrorists with Russia, China, and Iran and you've got the war cry for 2022 onward. It likely will not be long until those exact words will be used when war breaks out on the Ukrainian border and, perhaps, the South China Sea. Israel may get the green light from the USA to start a bombing campaign on Iran. It's not likely that the USA wants anything to do with a ground campaign in Iran or China or Russia. But US military advisors will be active on the front in Ukraine if the Russians do invade.

In 2002, Joe Biden voted to approve George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq so it's no surprise that he is inching closer by the day to going kinetic with Russia, China, or Iran (Israel, a proxy for the USA, will do the dirty work). No matter how much war-gamers in the Pentagon try, they can't predict with certainty a victory over any of those foes.

War on Russia: The Sword

It appears that Ukraine-Russia is the most dangerous flashpoint heading into 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not tolerate a NATO-led buildup on the border between Russia and Ukraine. He has watched as NATO has expanded its membership to 30 countries including Poland and Hungary, countries that border Russia. Biden is threatening wicked sanctions if the Russians invade. So what? Russia has been living under a US sanctions regime since they annexed Crimea in 2014. By the way, I was in Crimea three months after they took the place. No soldiers were patrolling the streets of Sevastopol or Yalta or Simferopol. When Russians asked where I was from, I'd say Washington, DC. No one jumped me or attacked me, not even the Russian Mafia guys I met. Further sanctions will just drive Russia closer to China. And if they succeed in taking over resource rich (minerals, coal, natural gas) Eastern Ukraine, they'll be sitting on top of a financial goldmine.

The USA has been at work in Ukraine for a long time now. According to ANSWER, "The same neoconservative politicians and strategists that drove the country to war against Iraq in 2003, against Libya in 2011 and nearly against Syria in 2013 have been neck-deep in a protracted regime change effort in Ukraine as part of a larger geo-strategic struggle against Russia. The fact that they have worked hand in glove with armed neo-Nazis in Ukraine-with Sen. John McCain and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland literally joining the protests-speaks volumes about the political nature of the events.”

Indeed, General Wes Clark, USA (Ret.) visited Ukraine as a military advisor in 2014. I wrote about his report in Dissident Voice that summed up the military needs of Ukraine: "General Clark and a former strategy advisor to Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger named Dr. Phillip Karber, indicates that the two "participated in 35 meeting [sic] with senior officials, military commanders and various politicians; with Karber visiting front line formations on the Northern, Eastern and Southern Fronts.” The two aging Cold War Warriors recommend immediate shipments of American Body Armor, Night Vision Devices, Communications Equipment, Aviation Fuel and "to maximize their defense potential” Clark and Karber recommend the acquisition of Mig-29's, T-72 tanks, Man-Portable Air Defenses, and Anti-Tank weapons.”

But Biden's propaganda is working. I've asked many here in the Washington, DC area what they think of war with China, Russia, or Iran.

The first response I normally get is, "Oh, that Putin.” Then comes, "COVID was created in a lab in China.” And lastly, "Iran has those Ayatollahs.”

So, there's that to think about.

War on COVID: 800,000 Deaths-Pestilence

There is another war going on and that's the War on the COVID virus and its variants. With 800,000 dead/casualties in the USA, that war is not going well at all. Biden has proclaimed that no schools or businesses will be closed even though roughly 1,000 Americans die each day and a new variant, Omicron, is beginning its trek around the world and in the USA. Biden, like Trump, figures that he'll just convince Americans that death from COVID is just like automobile-related deaths or heart attacks that kill. You are just another statistic in this world. According to the CDC, roughly 548,000 Americans died who were between 65 and 75 or older. Yup, that frees up some space for the Social Security Fund and, in this ever more mercenary world, rids the country of those old and in the way of the young.

War on the Fascist Wing of the Republican Party-Civil War

There are 74 million loyal Trump supporters in the USA. Biden refuses to battle them in the political sphere essentially giving them a free ride to victory in the 2024 presidential/congressional elections. Those 74 million constitute the fascist, racist elements of the Republican Party, the same ones that attempted a coup on January 6, 2021. They also support groups like the racist Patriot Front that staged a 100-man march at the Lincoln Memorial (Dec. 4, 2021). Biden's limp response to that event reveals that he seems not up to the task of taking on anti-democratic elements in his own country.

And this guy wants to run for president in 2024?

War on the Environment, Wolves-Slaughter of the Earth

According to Public Citizen "under Biden, the U. S. government continues to lease land for drilling and issue permits for drilling at a frightening pace. In the coming months, energy companies are likely to mount a well-funded campaign to continue business as usual. Congress and the Biden administration must resist that pressure and push aggressively to move the nation — and the world — away from planet-destroying fossil fuels.”

What's wrong with Americans? This excerpt is from a letter written by Stacey Liguori to the newspaper the Daily Freeman located in New York. It captures the atrocity of the wolf hunt in excruciating detail.

"Today, hunters in Montana can sit just feet outside of Yellowstone National Park and use baits and recorded calls to lure wolves out of protected areas. They can gun down as many as 10 wolves each. In Idaho, private contractors have been hired by the state to trap and shoot nearly all of the wolves there. Montana will soon allow the use of neck snares that strangle nearly any animal unfortunate enough to come across them. Montana and Idaho are in the process of repeating the horrific mistakes of our forefathers, and there is no response from Washington. The Biden administration can stop this slaughter.”

Even though Biden has said he wants to protect wolves, states like Montana have gone to court to overturn any "protection” order from the federal executive branch. And while the US Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that wolves in the Western States may warrant protection, that protection has not been forthcoming. Environmental groups like the Human Society have brought lawsuits in the courts to save the wolves from slaughter but right-wing trophy hunters and trappers file countersuits that seek to allow them to kill more of these wonderful creatures.

Well, what can you say about a country that almost exterminated its national symbol, the Bald Eagle, by illegal hunting and DDT (pesticide) usage?

 

 

Читайте больше на https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/149825-biden_apocalypse/

 

 

Well, what can you say about a country that keeps hunting Julian assange?

 

Well, what can you say about a country of which the old dithering president wrote "The Patriot Act"...?

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW √√√√√√√√√√√√√√

Militarisation has become a means of promoting economic welfare, and the ‘defence industry hub’ in Geelong is just the latest such project.

 

BY Dr William Briggs — political economist. His special areas of interest lie in political theory and international political economy. He has been, variously, a teacher, journalist and political activist.

 

Once upon a time, our political masters announced economic plans and industry policies. Defence and military spending were not central planks of industry policy. Something changed. In the Alice in Wonderland world of late capitalism, militarisation, war preparations, and defence spending have, apparently, become central to our economic welfare.

Hardly a month goes by without there being a new announcement that billions of dollars are to be spent on buying or producing new and more sophisticated weaponry. Our leaders have pledged support for Australian weapons manufacturers to sit in the top 10 global arms exporters. It is said with pride. An industry policy, based on destruction, death, and war! Oh, brave new world!

It is a disease that has swept the planet like a pandemic. Allies of the United States have all been increasing military budgets and pledging to reach the “target” of 2 per cent of GDP, an arbitrary sort of figure that will satisfy the needs of national and international “defence”. There is a uniformity about all of this. Economies are in dire straits but there are no recessionary fears when it comes to military spending.

In Australia there is, unfortunately, a political bipartisanship. Militarisation, for our politicians, means jobs and growth and not potential destruction. Australia is among so many other countries engaging in the greatest increase in spending on military hardware since World War II. The list of new warships, fighter aircraft, anti-shipping missiles, or drones, are spoken of in the gentlest and friendliest of terms. They are not offensive weapons but innocuous requirements for national defence and to keep us “safe”.

The latest of these initiatives is the creation of an Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Geelong. Who cannot but love a good centre of excellence? This one, however, is to be focused on building self-propelled howitzers and armoured ammunition resupply vehicles. No doubt they will be excellent, provide jobs, and despite keeping us safe, will also undoubtedly help to heighten military tensions in the region.

A week before Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the official announcement he travelled to Geelong. The Geelong Advertiser’s front page read “Scomo in Geelong — PM’s plan to fix local worker shortage”. Seven days later and that particular story about a new housing estate has been eclipsed by the new “centre for excellence”.

The prime minister’s statement is a beautiful thing. The project seems to have little to do with the capacity to enhance the killing power of armies. On the contrary, it “will establish a further strategic defence industry hub and future export opportunities for Australian businesses”.

“This contract will create a minimum of 300 jobs spread across facility construction, acquisition and maintenance, as well as generating ongoing support opportunities for Australian industry until the late 2040s.” So, there we have it. Jobs and growth. Peace and security, and we can have that comforting feeling that our interests are being advanced in the nicest possible way.

Our Defence Minister Peter Dutton must have been talking of something quite different. His emphasis was on the firepower of the deal. He gushed about the “initial” contract for 30 self-propelled howitzers, 15 armoured resupply vehicles, and weapon locating radars that help find enemy artillery.

Warming to his subject, Dutton explained that “the prime ability of the new vehicles is to fire and move quickly, avoiding enemy counter-attack. This project will mean a significant increase in the level of firepower and security for Australian artillery capability”.

Is there any contradiction between Morrison’s support of Australian manufacturing capacity and Dutton’s promotion of firepower and artillery capability? Clearly not! Dutton is, in his own words, “committed to keeping our region safe, while protecting our interests in a rapidly changing global environment”. What better way to keep the region safe than by a regional arms race? But our interests are being secured. Both Morrison and Dutton assure us of this and so it must be the case, or have we, like Alice, followed the white rabbit into Wonderland.

The choice of Geelong to be the base for this “centre for excellence” is entirely logical in the grotesque world that pitches militarisation as industry policy. The Ford factory in Geelong opened in 1925. Many thousands of workers were employed across the decades. They did what workers do best — build things. The things that they built were the product of capitalism, they were exploited by capitalism and finally tossed onto the scrapheap by capitalism, but the product they made had an intrinsically positive use. It served some socially useful purpose.

Their labour was not used to produce things that have the express purpose of destruction. All that has changed as the late capitalist world of the white rabbit and Wonderland turns reality on its head. Today, militarisation has become a means of promoting economic welfare. If that is the case, then heaven help us all.

 

Read more:

https://johnmenadue.com/government-chooses-jobs-and-growth-over-peace-with-defence-spending/

 

READ FROM TOP. Note this isn't new for the USA which employ about 20 per cent* of the US workforce on weapon manufacturing, directly and indirectly...

 

see also: cost of the new subs...

 

 

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