Michael Hudson — On Finance, Real Estate And The Powers Of Neoliberalism Trump’s Brilliant Strategy to Dismember U.S. Dollar Hegemony

The end of America’s unchallenged global economic dominance has arrived sooner than expected, thanks to the very same Neocons who gave the world the Iraq, Syria and the dirty wars in Latin America. Just as the Vietnam War drove the United States off gold by 1971, its sponsorship and funding of violent regime change wars against Venezuela and Syria – and threatening other countries with sanctions if they do not join this crusade – is now driving European and other nations to create their alternative financial institutions.

This break has been building for quite some time, and was bound to occur. But who would have thought that Donald Trump would become the catalytic agent? No left-wing party, no socialist, anarchist or foreign nationalist leader anywhere in the world could have achieved what he is doing to break up the American Empire. The Deep State is reacting with shock at how this right-wing real estate grifter has been able to drive other countries to defend themselves by dismantling the U.S.-centered world order. To rub it in, he is using Bush and Reagan-era Neocon arsonists, John Bolton and now Elliott Abrams, to fan the flames in Venezuela. It is almost like a black political comedy. The world of international diplomacy is being turned inside-out. A world where there is no longer even a pretense that we might adhere to international norms, let alone laws or treaties.

The Neocons who Trump has appointed are accomplishing what seemed unthinkable not long ago: Driving China and Russia together – the great nightmare of Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. They also are driving Germany and other European countries into the Eurasian orbit, the “Heartland” nightmare of Halford Mackinder a century ago.

The root cause is clear: After the crescendo of pretenses and deceptions over Iraq, Libya and Syria, along with our absolution of the lawless regime of Saudi Arabia, foreign political leaders are coming to recognize what world-wide public opinion polls reported even before the Iraq/Iran-Contra boys turned their attention to the world’s largest oil reserves in Venezuela: The United States is now the greatest threat to peace on the planet....

Michael Hudson — On Finance, Real Estate And The Powers Of Neoliberalism
Trump’s Brilliant Strategy to Dismember U.S. Dollar Hegemony
Michael Hudson | President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and Guest Professor at Peking University

Col. Patrick Lang — Trump and the Spookery

Col. Lang backs the intel chiefs rather than the neocons handling Trump.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
Trump and the Spookery
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.)

At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him. During that period, he also briefed President George H. W. Bush at the White House, as he had during Operation Desert Storm.

He was also the head of intelligence analysis for the Middle East for seven or eight years at that institution. He was the head of all the Middle East and South Asia analysis in DIA for counter-terrorism for seven years. For his service in the DIA, Lang received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. — Wikipedia

See also

Sputnik International
Intelligence Community 'Wrong' About Iran, 'Should Go Back to School' - Trump

TTG — James Jeffrey wants no-fly-zone over Syria… all of Syria

This is flat nuts… Marx Brothers in Duck Soup nuts.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
James Jeffrey wants no-fly-zone over Syria… all of Syria

TTG

Alex Ward — John Bolton just gave an “Axis of Evil” speech about Latin America

Socialism is "tyranny," you see.

The US has been after regime change in Cuba —unsuccessfully— since the Bay of Pigs invasion. But it has done its best to ruin the economy. Because "socialism is tyranny."

So now we an "axis of evil" on Latin America in addition to the Bush era axis of evil — Iraq, Iran, and North Korea — and Russia and China named as chief adversaries.

Anyone else hear the sound of war drums beating getting louder?

VOX
John Bolton just gave an “Axis of Evil” speech about Latin America

Alex Ward

See also

“The recent elections of like-minded leaders in key countries, including Ivan Duque in Colombia, and last weekend Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, are positive signs for the future of the region, and demonstrate a growing regional commitment to free-market principles, and open, transparent, and accountable governance,” Bolton said in his speech at Miami-Dade College.

He did not address widespread concerns about Bolsonaro’s stated admiration for Brazil’s 21-year military dictatorship and its use of torture, and portrayed repression in Latin America as an exclusively communist phenomenon.

“[T]oday, in this hemisphere, we are also confronted once again with the destructive forces of oppression, socialism and totalitarianism” Bolton said.

“Under this administration, we will no longer appease dictators and despots near our shores in this hemisphere. We will not reward firing squads, torturers, and murderers … The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua – has finally met its match.”

The reality is that the "dictators" Bolton mentions were not socialist leaders but US puppets like Pinochet in Chile and Samoza in Nicaragua.  It was the Sandinistas led by Ortega, the sitting president of Nicaragua, whom Bolton wants to remove, that ousted the repressive Samoza regime.

The Guardian
Bolton praises Bolsonaro while declaring ‘troika of tyranny’ in Latin America

Julian Borger

See also

Bolton also announced plans to sanction Cuba and Nicaragua, which, together with Venezuela, he dubbed the "Troika of Tyranny."

"This triangle of terror stretching from Havana to Caracas to Managua is the cause of immense human suffering, the impetus of enormous regional instability, and the genesis of a sordid cradle of communism in the Western Hemisphere," he said. "Under President Trump, the United States is taking direct action against all three regimes to defend the rule of law, liberty, and basic human decency in our region."

Last week, a U.S. Treasury official said the United States should publicize Turkey's involvement in the Venezuela gold industry. Marshall Billingslea, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at Treasury, said the Turkish government skirted international sanctions by purchasing tons of Venezuelan gold in recent months.

The US policy under acting–president John Bolton is engaging in economic warfare with any nation that refuses to submit to the American Empire. "America First" acquires a necon meaning. What happened to the elected president who campaigned on reducing foreign entanglement.

I am puzzled. How did liberal interventionism in the mode of HRC, whom the American people rejected, replace the America First of DJT? And how did the national security adviser become acting–POTUS?

UPI
U.S. sanctions Venezuela's gold exports
Danielle Haynes

See also

The US gets the finger again. 189 to 2 (US and Israel), with 2 abstaining (Ukraine and Moldova). The US couldn't even get Ukraine aboard. Talk about sending a message.

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted its 27th annual resolution calling for an end to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba after a failed bid by Washington to amend the text to push Cuba to improve its human rights record.

The U.N. vote can carry political weight, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the more than 50-year-old embargo. The United States and Israel voted against the resolution, 189 countries voted in favor and Ukraine and Moldova did not vote.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the General Assembly that the resolution was an opportunity for countries “to feel they can poke the United States in the eye.”…

The United States voted against the U.N. resolution last year along with its ally Israel. The General Assembly’s remaining 191 members voted in favor....

Has the US lost all its soft power and now sees its hard power dwindling, too?

One America
U.N. urges end to U.S. embargo on Cuba, U.S. raises rights concerns

Michelle Nichols

Martin Armstrong — Why Did the USA Invade Iraq?

Short backgrounder on the recent film, "Shock and Awe."

How the neocons hijacked US policy with lies.

Armstrong Economics
Why Did the USA Invade Iraq?
Martin Armstrong

Graham E. Fuller — Syria: bottom line questions

What sense can we make out of all these strategic events in Syria? We encounter a baffling array of players: Syrian troops, Syrian insurgents, jihadis of varying ideologies, Iranians, Russians, Americans, Israelis, Turks, Saudis, Qataris, Emiratis, Shi’ite militias, Iraqis, Kurds, Hizballah—all locked in a deadly dance. But as complex as it may be, this seven-year bloody conflict still continues to pose the very same long-term fundamental questions to US policy in Syria and the region. These questions demand an answer....

Graham E. Fuller
Syria: bottom line questions
Graham E. Fuller | adjunct professor of history at Simon Fraser University, formerly vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, and a former senior political scientist at RAND

Pat Lang — The Neocons Are Selling Koolaid Again!

Excoriating smackdown.

The neocons believe so strongly that America must lead the world and mankind forward that they accept the idea that the achievement of human progress justifies any means needed to advance that goal....

The Unz Review
The Neocons Are Selling Koolaid Again!

Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.) 

At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him. During that period, he also briefed President George H. W. Bush at the White House, as he had during Operation Desert Storm.

He was also the head of intelligence analysis for the Middle East for seven or eight years at that institution. He was the head of all the Middle East and South Asia analysis in DIA for counter-terrorism for seven years. For his service in the DIA, Lang received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. — Wikipedia

Ray McGovern — Coming Attraction: Lunatic Loose in West Wing

This is a must-read. Ray McGovern tells the inside story in a gripping way.

John Bolton’s March 22 appointment-by-tweet as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has given “March Madness” a new and ominous meaning. There is less that a week left to batten down the hatches before Bolton makes U.S. foreign policy worse that it already is.

During a recent interview with The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill (minutes 35 to 51) I mentioned that Bolton fits seamlessly into a group of take-no-prisoners zealots once widely known in Washington circles as “the crazies,” and now more commonly referred to as “neocons.”

Beginning in the 1970s, “the crazies” sobriquet was applied to Cold Warriors hell bent on bashing Russians, Chinese, Arabs — anyone who challenged U.S. “exceptionalism” (read hegemony). More to the point, I told Scahill that President (and former CIA Director) George H. W. Bush was among those using the term freely, since it seemed so apt. I have been challenged to prove it.

I don’t make stuff up. And with the appointment of the certifiable Bolton, the “the crazies” have become far more than an historical footnote. Rather, the crucible that Bush-41 and other reasonably moderate policymakers endured at their hands give the experience major relevance today. Thus, I am persuaded it would be best not to ask people simply to take my word for it when I refer to “the crazies,” their significance, and the differing attitudes the two Bushes had toward them.

George H. W. Bush and I had a longstanding professional and, later, cordial relationship. For many years after he stopped being president, we stayed in touch — mostly by letter. This is the first time I have chosen to share any of our personal correspondence. I do so not only because of the ominous importance of Bolton’s appointment, but also because I am virtually certain the elder Bush would want me to....

Consortium News
Coming Attraction: Lunatic Loose in West Wing

Ray McGovern

See Also

Whether it is the structural violence of neoliberal economic policies or actual military violence, the welfare of ordinary folk around the world does not enter the equation. In an imposed oil-thirsty, war-driven system of globalised capitalism and over-consumption that is wholly unnecessary and is stripping the planet bare, the bottom line is that ordinary folk – whether workers in the West, farmers in India or civilians displaced en masse in war zones like Syria – must be bent according to the will of Western capital.

We should not be fooled by made-for-media outpourings of morality about good and evil that are designed to create fear, outrage and support for more militarism and resource-grab wars. The shaping of public opinion is a multi-million-dollar industry....

Defend Democracy Press

Mass Deception and the Prelude to World War

also

Particularly important because of the author. Zizek is a global public intellectual.

Assange works for the people – now we need to save him

Slavoj Žižek | senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities of the University of London

Trump is the weakest president in American history.

Despite all his tough talk and bravado, Trump is the weakest president in American history. He has lamely, and in record time, become the most malleable puppet of the neocon, military/security state. He is the embodiment of what Eisenhower warned against. Even the meek and thin-skinned Obama wasn't this bad. Obama at least pushed back. sometimes. He had limits. Trump? A total puppet.

On Iran, Trump Follows Iraq War Neocons — Aaron Maté interviews Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

Wilkerson sees war approaching.

TRNN
On Iran, Trump Follows Iraq War Neocons

Aaron Maté interviews Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

See also

In the U.S., Russia-hating liberals are joining the neocons in seeking more war in Ukraine, as the prospects for a rational and peaceful resolution to the crisis continue to fade, explains James W. Carden.

Consortium News
Fueling More Bloodshed in Ukraine

James Carden

Also

US forces conducted airstrikes against two ISIS training camps in Yemen on Monday, killing dozens of ISIS fighters and "disrupting the organization's attempts to train new fighters," according to a statement released by the Pentagon.

A US defense official told CNN this is the first US strike specifically targeting ISIS in Yemen. Two camps, containing an estimated 50 fighters, were targeted.

CNN
First US airstrike targeting ISIS in Yemen kills dozens
Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen, CNN

Also

Taliban militants struck government targets in many provinces of Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 69 people, including a senior police commander, and wounding scores of others.

Reuters
Taliban attacks kill at least 69 across Afghanistan
Mirwais Harooni

Also

Taliban forces overran two district centers in Kandahar and Farah provinces over the past two days, according to reports from Afghanistan. The jihadist group continues to gain ground in Afghanistan despite a change in US strategy that has reduced restrictions on commanders to launch airstrikes against the group.

FDD's Long War Journal
Taliban overruns 2 districts in southern Afghanistan
Bill Roggio

Also

“The bottom line is we don’t know,” said Ted Postol, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor emeritus of science, technology and international security. “I believe it’s unlikely they can deliver an atomic bomb to the United States at this time, but we can’t rule it out.”

Los Angeles Times
Can North Korea’s missiles deliver an atomic weapon to the U.S. mainland? Maybe.

Raoul Rañoa and Angelica Quintero | Contact Reporters

The Saker — Trump goes full shabbos-goy

The American Century? Or Twilight of the Empire?

The Vineyard of the Saker
Trump goes full shabbos-goy
The Saker

Stephen M. Walt — That ‘Israel Lobby’ Controversy? History Has Proved Us Right

Ten years ago, John Mearsheimer and I published a controversial article and subsequent book examining the impact of the “Israel Lobby” — that is, a loose coalition of pro-Israel individuals and organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Christians United for Israel, just to name a few. We argued that decades of unconditional U.S. support for Israel — the so-called “special relationship” — is not explained by U.S. strategic interests or by shared values, as is often claimed, but is due primarily to the political efforts and activities of the lobby.

The result, we also argued, does more harm than good to both the United States and Israel. For the United States, the “special relationship” undermines America’s standing in the Arab and Islamic worlds, has encouraged a more confrontational approach with Iran and Syria, and contributes significantly both to America’s terrorism problem and to needless and costly debacles like the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For Israel, unquestioning U.S. support for almost all its actions has allowed the decades-long subjugation of the Palestinians to continue unchecked, undermining the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and threatening Israel’s future as a democratic and/or Jewish state.

We made it clear the lobby was not a monolith controlling every aspect of U.S. Middle East policy, but rather a collection of disparate groups and individuals united by the aim of defending Israel’s actions and deepening the special relationship. We explicitly rejected the idea that anything nefarious was going on, explaining that AIPAC and related organizations were simply part of a powerful interest group like the farm lobby or the National Rifle Association. Their efforts to influence U.S. policy are “as American as apple pie.” And we used the term “Israel lobby” to highlight that not all American Jews support these policies and that some key members of the lobby (such as Christian Zionists) aren’t Jewish. The book also emphasizes that none of these groups or individuals is solely responsible for the choices U.S. leaders make....

Forward
That ‘Israel Lobby’ Controversy? History Has Proved Us Right
Stephen M. Walt

See also

MIDDLE EAST POLICY, VOL. XIII, NO. 3, FALL 2006 

THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY (PDF)
John J. Mearsheimer, professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen M. Walt, professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

London Review of Books
The Israel Lobby (PDF)
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2008)

Philip Giraldi — How I Got Fired

Apropos in light of all the furor over "Russian influence," what about Israeli influence through the American neocons? Philip Giraldi had the temerity to ask and found that it is not only politically incorrect, but it is also a firing offense.

The Unz Review
How I Got Fired

Philip Giraldi | former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, and a founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

Tom Luongo — Neocons Are About to Run Amok

In the past few days it became quite clear to me that Donald Trump made a deal with the Neocons in Washington. He traded part of his domestic agenda for ceding control of foreign policy to the D.C. establishment.

It’s obvious when you connect the dots. Signing the sanctions bill, the non-shift in Afghanistan policy, the tit-for-tat diplomatic aggression with Russia, weapons to Ukraine, etc. I’ve written extensively about this. Graham is suddenly touting his Obamacare replacement bill.

But, taking Graham at his word what this means is that the whole repeal vote was nothing more than a set up, because in no way could they have put this together in the last few weeks.

Therefore, this was held back from Trump and the rest of Congress for the purpose of finalizing a number of foreign policy initiatives that Trump was hostile to, namely expanded sanctions on Russia and Iran and a troop surge in Afghanistan...

The art of the deal? I don't usually agree with Tom Luongo on much, but this seems quite plausible to me. Trump does have to sign off on foreign and military policy and that gives him considerable leverage over the establishment to work deals like this. On the other hand, it's very difficult to tell what is happening in Trump's brain.

Russia Insider
Neocons Are About to Run Amok

Tom Luongo

Robert Parry — Neocons Leverage Trump-Hate for More Wars

The enactment of new sanctions against Russia and Iran – with the support of nearly all Democrats and Republicans in Congress – shows how the warmongering neocons again have come out on top, reports.

It's really amazing how a relatively small number of people can capture US policy and use propaganda to convince the American public that it is in their interest even though the public is largely fed up with foreign adventurism.

Slouching toward war, or rushing?

Consortium News
Neocons Leverage Trump-Hate for More Wars

Robert Parry

Tom Palley — Trump and the Neocons: Doing the Unilateralist Waltz

The neocon goal is unchallenged U.S. supremacy. If that goal frames U.S. foreign policy, international economic policy must conform with it.

In the Cold War era, the currency of power was provision of weapons and ideology. In the new era of globalization, commerce has become a major new currency of power, making international economic policy a key concern.

Consequently, under Trump, neocon unilateralism is now spreading into international economic relations....

Tom Palley hits one out of the park, connecting neoliberalism (economic) and neoconservatism (political) with globalization and US global hegemony.

The Globalist
Trump and the Neocons: Doing the Unilateralist WaltzTom Palley

Philip Giraldi — Do High-Level Leaks Suggest a Conspiracy?

Duh. There may be no cabal, but there are networks of people with shared purpose. These cohorts are not necessarily linked directly but they have a common purpose and act in tandem.

Consortium News
Do High-Level Leaks Suggest a Conspiracy?

Philip Giraldi | executive director of the Council for the National Interest and a former CIA officer.

Also

Donald Trump at a Lonely Crossroads

Alastair Crooke, former British diplomat and founder and director of the Conflicts Forum

The plan is to hogtie Trump, which is already largely accomplished, and remove him from office if possible, which is difficult given the high bar set by the US Constitution.

The Saker — The history of the Neocon takeover of the USA (a 4 part analysis)

If you didn't catch this as it was published serially, the Saker posts all four parts.

Foreword by the Saker: the four articles below, combined into one, are an exception to the normal rule which is that this blog doe not republish articles already published in the past. In this case, at the request of Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, I decided to make an exception due to the importance and interest of the topic: the origins of the Neocon movement. I am particularly grateful to Paul and Elizabeth who have agreed to my request to remove the original copyright restrictions on this material for publication on the Saker blog. The analysis they wrote offers a very valuable insight into the roots and history of the Neocon phenomenon.

The Vineyard of the Saker
The history of the Neocon takeover of the USA (a 4 part analysis)
The Saker

Jim Lobe — Bannon Down, Pentagon Up, Neocons In?

Balanced article on US politics relative to international relations and foreign and military policy.

LobeLog
Bannon Down, Pentagon Up, Neocons In?

Jim Lobe

Robert Parry — Neocons Have Trump on His Knees

After slapping Donald Trump around for several months to make him surrender his hopes for a more cooperative relationship with Russia, the neocons and their liberal-interventionist allies are now telling the battered President what he must do next: escalate war in the Middle East and ratchet up tensions with nuclear-armed Russia.

Star neocon Robert Kagan spelled out Trump’s future assignments in a column on Sunday in The Washington Post…

And confrontation is surely what Kagan has in mind, adding:

“Instead of being a one-time event, the missile strike needs to be the opening move in a comprehensive political, diplomatic and military strategy to rebalance the situation in Syria in America’s favor. That means reviving some of those proposals that Obama rejected over the past four years: a no-fly zone to protect Syrian civilians, the grounding of the Syrian air force, and the effective arming and training of the moderate opposition, all aimed at an eventual political settlement that can bring the Syrian civil war, and therefore the Assad regime, to an end.

“The United States’ commitment to such a course will have to be clear enough to deter the Russians from attempting to disrupt it. This in turn will require moving sufficient military assets to the region so that neither Russia nor Iran will be tempted to escalate the conflict to a crisis, and to be sure that American forces will be ready if they do. …

“Let’s hope that the Trump administration is prepared for the next move. If it is, then there is a real chance of reversing the course of global retreat that Obama began. A strong U.S. response in Syria would make it clear to the likes of Putin, Xi Jinping, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Kim Jong Un that the days of American passivity are over.”…

[The neocons] will not be satisfied with anything short of a massive U.S. military intervention in the Middle East and a full-scale confrontation with Russia (and perhaps China).

This sort of belligerence is what the neocons and liberal hawks had expected from Hillary Clinton, whom Kagan had endorsed....

Now, with the neocons regaining influence on the National Security Council via NSC adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, a protégé of neocon favorite Gen. David Petraeus, the neocon holding action against the New Détente has shifted into an offensive to expand the hot war in Syria and intensify the Cold War with Russia....

America elected Donald Trump and got Hillary Clinton instead in less than three months. Tell me there isn't a US Deep State.

Consortium News
Neocons Have Trump on His Knees
Robert Parry

See also

Fort Russ —  Op-ed
Trump has obviously decided to join Neo-Cons and Netanyahu

Vladimir Golstein