Global South

Hezbollah wades in

Garland Nixon interviews Laith Marouf — Tuesday’s West Asia update.
Israel (and the combined West) can’t go left.

Iran’s exposure of western air defenses was exploited by Lebanese Hezbollah in the last 48 hours. Send swarms of drones to saturate ADs, followed by the pinpoint kamikaze drones/missiles..
Zionists have switched from direct Iran confrontation (for now) to the non-state actors, starting a spade of Hezbollah assassinations in last week and resuming culling Palestinians, in their fine traditional style.
Hezbollah has matched the raised intensity of attacks — jumping to obliterate command bases 25-30 km from the border with high-value targets (at least one general admitted killed, see Salon)
Israel has been totally defeated on all fronts, including intelligence gathering, with secret commands being taken down several times, including those skulking in arab-israeli community centers used as human shields (!). The only remaining card remains: drag in USUK somehow, but now to save their necks from Hezbollah
a tit-for-tat liquidation of Israeli/Hezbollah commanders is underway in last week, with Hezbollah having acquired unprecedented up-to-date surveillance capability of enemy movements, in addition to precision projectiles.
the zionists, supported to the hilt by western elites, will continue to perpetuate massacres and abominations against Palestinians, until physically stopped by the Resistance. That is the only recourse left.
The masks have been dropped by combined West. This war will continue, and intensify, through at least the US Elections.. (he doesn’t anticipate inclusion of Iran again as a direct front, until after elections)
There was a feeble, symbolic response by Israel on Isfahan, driven by US fear of repercussions, given severe depletion in 404. Most likely they used a few quadcopter drones hoisted by MEK terrorists from within Iran, given their ranges.
… instability in CONUS will be driven by fuel prices … and continuing student protests which will continue as Genocide in Palestine will certainly continue, in echoes of Vietnam, with similar hit pieces by the national guard (NG) to soon play their knuckle-dragger roles… the chaos and agony of West Asia comes home.. and will those NG really turn their guns on their own class??

Sunni-Shiite shism, carefully curated by Anglo-Zionists since 2006 Hezbollah victory over Zion, is now kaput. Billions upon billions invested in Hate between sects was exposed by the Shiite led Resistance being sole members coming to defense of Sunni Hamas and Palestinians. The Lie was exposed. Youth are now immunized against these divide et impera lies. The totering criminal compradore regimes are more exposed than ever. The Sunni street can not be tricked now to join a crusade against Iran or Hezbollah or Houthis or Iraqi Resistance — seeing who the real enemies are. The Empire is bereft and isolated in the region.
The Victories of Russia and China will happen in Palestine. As with Napolean and Hitler, obsession over defeating Russia has severely weakened USUK in West Asia, critical center of global trade and commodities and silk/maritime roads…..
Soleimani’s genius: Bury yourself 70m and you cannot be touched by a casualty-averse Empire with insufficient boots. This has been the secret strategy (in addition to cheap tech precision dronification, patience and attrition warfare) to outlast and beat the Last Satanic Empire, as exemplified by Yemen.
Yemen’s gift to mankind: its resolute chokehold over the Bab El Mandeb has sped up the fall of the thalassocratic Anglo-Zionist Empire.
Geography largely determines fate. Sea-based will lose out to land-based that is immovable. The owners and friends of the Holy Land will move the World (take that Mackinder! This is the real Heartland), not those who in senseless futility went to die in the rich black soil of Novorossiya
The Cradle of Civilization, the Triangle between Iraq, Egypt and Yemen, were the land-based empires and powers. As the USUK collapses, this region will regain its traditional heft and role in relations of nations, as China has regained hers in last decades
Yemen, Iran and the West Asian Axis of Resistance have got China’s back in applying commensurate pressure on USUK’s SLOCs if the deranged dare to shut down Malacca and SCS… China has defeated USUK without a single battle
The bluster of USUK has been called by Iran, shown to be weaker than a spider’s web, which will lead to further dominos toppling in Korea, Monroe-lands, etc…

Global South

How Iran’s ‘True Promise’ was Kept

An early glimpse how the air defenses of the combined Genociders were breached. Jon Elmer takes a look at the Iranian missile counterstrike against Israel.

 “You can hear Palestinians in the West Bank underneath these missiles… cheering the Saturday Night LIVE.”

Global South

Iran – Israel on the Brink of a “Safe Abyss”

when is it no longer “safe” ?? A free article by Elijah Magnier. Presciently published 2-3 days PRIOR to the Iranian retaliation. Iran moved from Patience to direct Power. Henceforth, there will be consequences for Zio-USUK, as in Novorossiya!

By Elijah J Magnier on 11/04/2024.

In a calculated move of retaliation, Iran has decided to respond to Israel’s actions by earmarking several targets from its extensive list for initial and, if deemed necessary, subsequent more destructive reprisals. Reliable sources reveal that Iran’s strategic planning includes the Israeli Chief of Staff’s headquarters among the range of potential targets. This decision is a direct consequence of Israel’s targeted assassinations of Iranian generals on Monday, 1 April 2024, which targeted the Iranian diplomatic consulate in Damascus, Syria. This attack destroyed the consulate and the death of seven senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers, including a brigadier general and general, his second in command. In the light of these events, Iran has vowed to retaliate.

Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, proposed a joint attack on Israel. However, reliable Iranian sources report that Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, rejected the proposal. Sayyed Khamenei’s refusal is based on a desire to prevent harm to Iran’s allies and a belief that retaliation should be an exclusively Iranian response, especially after the attack on its diplomatic consulate. The purpose of Iran’s planned retaliation is not necessarily to effectively harm Israel by destroying its diplomatic mission but to send a warning. This serves as a deterrent message to Israel and the international community to refrain from similar actions in the future. Iran’s strategy is not aimed at escalating the situation into a wider conflict unless Israel retaliates. Instead, Iran is trying to navigate out of the position it has been placed in by Israel’s actions against its diplomatically and legally protected consulate in Syria.

Israel’s conduct violates essential norms protecting the inviolability of diplomatic premises and representatives, as enshrined in the Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), the Convention on Consular Relations (1963), and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents (1973).

Invoking Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which sanctions the right of individual or collective self-defence in response to an armed attack against a UN member state, Iran is in a position to retaliate against Israel without the option of restraint. This stance is based on the need to protect its diplomatic missions around the world. Iran has notified the United States of its intention to retaliate by international legal frameworks while at the same time preparing for possible further escalation by Israel by preparing additional countermeasures in the event of significant Israeli retaliation.

Delaying a retaliatory strike does not put Iran at a disadvantage, as strategic depth and patience define its approach to conflict. This stance emphasises that time serves Iran’s interests by allowing it to respond to any aggression in a calculated manner and by draining Israel’s resources and nerves in anticipation of Iranian retaliation. The notion that the explicit intent of a “damaging strike” would typically come from the “Axis of Resistance” that aims to underscore a strategy of surprise and direct engagement. On the other hand, Iran’s primary goal isn’t just tit-for-tat but to prevent future provocations and maintain established limits of engagement.

Iran’s decision-making process is not hasty or impulsive but deliberate and methodical. It is based on a thorough assessment of the immediate facts, strategic evaluations, and broader implications on the regional and international stage. This approach instils confidence, as it shows that Iran’s actions are not driven by the clamour of public opinion on social media but by a complete understanding of the potential consequences.

The leadership’s emphasis on strengthening the resilience of the Iranian people, increasing national enthusiasm, and reinforcing ideological cohesion is not just a prelude to military action but a testament to Iran’s commitment to its citizens. The Iranian leadership considers this internal fortification more important than the act of retaliation itself, highlighting the depth of their commitment.

The symbolic gesture of Sayyed Khamenei appearing with a Russian Dragunov semi-automatic sniper rifle during the Eid al-Fitr sermon, an action usually reserved for Friday sermons, is a deliberate display of readiness for conflict. This act is not just a message of defensiveness but a declaration of Iran’s readiness and resolve, reinforcing its strategic position and ideological steadfastness.

In sum, Iran is a nation that approaches the prospect of conflict with caution, strategic planning and a deep-seated commitment to preserving its sovereignty and principles rather than being swayed by external pressures or immediate provocations.

Iran’s measures

Iran has upgraded security measures around more than 91 Iranian sites deemed ‘sensitive’ as a defensive measure. These measures included its infrastructure, nuclear facilities and military installations, underlining its comprehensive approach to hardening its critical infrastructure against potential Israeli threats. This strategy appears to mirror tactics seen elsewhere, including by Israel and highlights a trend towards multi-layered defence systems that combine physical interception measures with electronic warfare capabilities.

Indeed, Iran’s deployment of anti-aircraft and interceptor missiles at critical sites, including nuclear facilities and military bases, represents a direct approach to countering air threats such as human-crewed aircraft, drones and missiles. These systems range from short-range air defence (SHORAD) systems designed to engage targets at lower altitudes to advanced long-range missile defence systems capable of intercepting high-altitude threats and fighter jets.

Furthermore, the Iranian deployment of GPS jamming systems throughout Iran indicates a significant emphasis on countering precision-guided munitions and navigation-dependent drones and missiles. By degrading the accuracy of GPS-guided weapons, Iran aims to reduce the effectiveness of potential attacks on its territory, particularly on sites critical to its national security and infrastructure. GPS jamming can create a defensive buffer, making planning and executing air strikes more challenging.

By publicly demonstrating the enhancement of its defensive capabilities, Iran seeks to deter potential adversaries from considering direct attacks by projecting a willingness to defend its critical assets. This move reflects the ongoing technology race in military capabilities, where corresponding improvements match advances in offensive weapon systems in defensive technologies. Also, strengthening Iran’s defensive posture may have implications for regional security dynamics, potentially affecting the calculus of NATO, Israel and other regional actors regarding their security strategies and policies.

Using GPS jamming on a national scale highlights the growing importance of electronic warfare in modern defence strategies. It not only complicates adversaries’ operational environment but also represents an investment in non-kinetic means of warfare.

Israel measures

Israel’s approach to missile defence is indeed multi-layered and highly sophisticated, designed to counter a wide range of threats from short-range rockets to medium-range ballistic missiles. This defence strategy includes several key components to provide a comprehensive shield. In addition, the involvement of NATO, particularly with naval assets equipped with missile interceptors, provides an international dimension to regional missile defence efforts.

Israel’s missile defence architecture consists of several layers, each designed to engage different types of threats at various ranges and altitudes:

Iron Dome: Primarily aimed at intercepting short-range rockets and artillery shells. It is known to have been effective in intercepting projectiles from Gaza.

David’s Sling: Targets medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles, filling the gap between the Iron Dome and Arrow systems.

Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems: Designed to intercept ballistic missiles at high altitudes, including outside the Earth’s atmosphere, providing a last line of defence against long-range threats.

Role of Patriot Missiles in Israel’s Air Defense: Israel’s inclusion of the Patriot missile system in its air defence arsenal is a significant component of its multi-layered defence strategy aimed at countering various aerial threats. Initially developed by the United States, the Patriot missile system is designed to detect, track, and engage incoming ballistic missiles at high altitudes, as well as aircraft and drones.

GPS jamming and non-GPS-guided threats: The Israeli army uses GPS jamming to mitigate the threat posed by precision-guided munitions, including missiles and drones that rely on GPS for navigation. By jamming or spoofing GPS signals, defenders can degrade the accuracy of incoming threats, potentially diverting them from their intended targets. However, as noted above, not all missiles and drones deployed by Iran and its allies rely on GPS for guidance. Many systems may use alternative navigation methods, such as inertial guidance, which uses gyroscopes and accelerometers to maintain a course without external references. Others may use Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) or optical or radar-based homing technologies that are not susceptible to GPS jamming.

Furthermore, NATO’s deployment of missile interceptors around Israel and in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean demonstrates a high level of cooperation and commitment to Israel’s defence. These ships will likely be equipped with Aegis combat systems capable of tracking and shooting down enemy missiles and aircraft, enhancing Israel’s national missile defence capabilities.

Countermeasures

However, missile guidance systems, especially those used by countries such as Iran and its allies (Hezbollah, Iraqi Resistance), have evolved to incorporate a variety of technologies aimed at improving accuracy and reliability while evading countermeasures. One such technology is using gyroscopes in the missile’s guidance system. Let’s look at the basics of how these systems work, their advantages and their potential limitations.

A gyroscope in a missile guidance system performs a critical function: it provides inertial navigation data. This means that it can measure and maintain the orientation and angular velocity of the missile without external references. It tells the rocket whether it has rolled, pitched or yawed during flight and by how much.

How it works? A gyroscope maintains its orientation using the principle of angular momentum. In the context of missile guidance, it can provide a stable reference that indicates the missile’s orientation relative to the Earth’s surface. By integrating data from gyroscopes with accelerometers (which measure acceleration), the missile’s inertial navigation system (INS) can calculate its position, orientation and velocity without needing external references such as GPS.

One of the main advantages of using a gyroscopic guidance system is its independence from external signals such as GPS. This makes the missile less susceptible to jamming and spoofing techniques, which are common electronic countermeasures used to disrupt the guidance of GPS-guided weapons. Relying on an internal guidance system allows the missile to be guided to its target even in environments where GPS signals are compromised.

Gyroscopes make missiles more resistant to jamming and spoofing. They do not rely on external updates and can operate in GPS-denied environments. When combined with accelerometers in an INS, gyroscopes can provide precise navigation capabilities.

However, Inertial navigation systems, including gyroscopes, can accumulate errors over time. The longer the missile is in flight, the greater the potential error in its calculated position. Thus, implementing a robust gyroscopic guidance system can be complex and expensive compared to simpler GPS-based systems. Still, it is necessary when facing an advanced enemy with a GPS jamming system. Gyroscopic missile guidance systems offer significant advantages regarding autonomy and resistance to electronic countermeasures, making them particularly useful for countries such as Iran that can anticipate GPS jamming techniques.

Legal approach

The attack on the consulate of a nation, which caused both material damage and fatalities, is a severe violation of international norms, in particular the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which stipulates the inviolability of diplomatic premises and the protection of diplomatic personnel. In response, Iran lodged a formal protest with the United Nations, highlighting the international condemnation by entities such as the United Arab Emirates, the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (except Bahrain), Russia and China, all of which emphasised the sanctity of diplomatic premises and condemned the violation of these principles.

The collective condemnation by the 121 countries of the Non-Aligned Movement demonstrates global solidarity with Iran and highlights the significant geopolitical implications of disregarding diplomatic norms. Yet the Western response has been muted, with minimal public condemnation, reflecting a polarised global perspective on the incident.

Iran’s efforts to rally international support to isolate Israel diplomatically, coupled with Israeli Minister Benny Gantz’s call for a coalition against Iran, reflect the complex global dynamics at play. Iran is criticising the United States, Britain and France for not supporting a UN Security Council condemnation of the Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus, which Iran blames on US-supplied weapons. This position is being portrayed as a tacit endorsement of the aggression, risking further instability in West Asia. Iran asserts its right to seek legal redress and retaliation under international law for this affront.

In solidarity, Ansar Allah in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon expressed their unwavering support for Iran and condemned the attack on the consulate. The support of Iran’s powerful allies was manifested during Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s talks in Muscat, Oman, which focused on sending the right message and soft warning to the US administration to remain neutral.

Since 7 October, the United States has already sent four indirect messages to Iran, urging Tehran to remain in control and not to be provoked into joining Netanyahu’s conflict. The messages stressed that the US administration would do everything in its power to contain the conflict. However, Iran perceives that the US has not lived up to its commitments and points to Israel’s actions, which have further antagonised Iran, including the destruction of its consulate in Damascus, as evidence of this failure.

Iran is aware that the US will not abandon Israel, just as Israel and the US know that Iran’s main allies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen will stand by it. This mutual recognition is what led Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to believe that he could carry out a strike on the Iranian consulate with impunity and expect no retaliation from Iran.

The US is limited to intercepting missiles and drones aimed at Israel and using its diplomatic clout to defuse tensions and prevent Israel from escalating the situation, given the potential for full-scale conflict. The prospect of the US becoming embroiled in a Middle East conflict, especially one it could start but find difficult to end, is particularly unappealing as President Joe Biden faces a presidential election in two months. The US administration, already unhappy with Israel’s conduct in the Gaza conflict, is putting pressure on Netanyahu to cease hostilities and facilitate humanitarian aid. As a result, there is little appetite for escalation, which could only benefit Netanyahu by prolonging his tenure and aiding his domestic political survival while significantly undermining Biden’s re-election ambitions. This precarious situation encourages all parties to remain vigilant and avoid Netanyahu’s potentially dangerous strategies, especially as he faces declining domestic and regional support due to various failures.

Global South

Iran Destroyed Israel’s Calculations

Global South

Iran’s ‘New Equation’ Soars Beyond The Holy Land

‘Anything that was good and true about Western civilization is preserved and thriving in Russia.’ And after a millennium of playing catch-up, she now has the dominant military heft and osmotic alliance with Iran and China to help craft new civilizational calculations.

By Pepe Escobar at Sputnik International.

A Holy of the Holies was shattered in the Holy Land as Iran staged a quite measured, heavily choreographed response to the Israeli terror attack against its consulate/ambassador residence in Damascus, a de facto evisceration of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity.

This game-changer will directly interfere on how the Anglo-American system manages its simultaneous conflagration with Russia, China and Iran – three top BRICS members.

The key problem is escalations are already built in – and will be hard to remove. The Total Cancel War against Russia; the genocide in Gaza – with its explicit policy masterfully decoded by Prof. Michael Hudson; and the decoupling/shaping the terrain against China won’t simply vanish – as all communication bridges with the Global Majority keep being torched.

Yet the Iranian message indeed establishes a “New Equation” – as Tehran christened it, and prefigures many other surprises to come from West Asia.

Iran wanted to – and did send – a clear message. New equation: if the biblical psychopathic entity keeps attacking Iranian interests, from henceforth it will be counter-attacked inside Israel. All that in a matter of “seconds” – as the Security Council in Tehran has already cleared all the procedures.

Escalation though seems inevitable. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak: “Netanyahu is influenced by his [fundamentalist] political partners to go into an escalation so he can hold onto power and accelerate the coming of the Messiah.”

Compare it to Iranian President Raisi: “The smallest act against Tehran’s interests will be met with a massive, extensive, and painful response against all its operations.”

Goodbye to Your ‘Invincible’ Defense Maze

For Tehran, regulating the intensity of the clash in West Asia between Israel and the Axis of Resistance while simultaneously establishing strategic deterrence to replace “strategic patience” was a matter of launching a triple wave: a drone swarm opening the path for cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

The performance of the much-vaunted Iron Dome, Arrow-3 and David’s Sling – aided by F-35 fighter jets and the US and the UK naval force – was not exactly stellar. There’s no video of the “outer-layer” Arrow-3 system shooting down anything in space.

At least 9 ballistic missiles penetrated the dense Israeli defense network and hit the Nevatim and Ramon bases. Israel is absolutely mum on the fate of its Golan Heights intel installation – hit by cruise missiles.

Amidst classic fog of war, it’s irrelevant whether Tehran launched hundreds or dozens of drones and missiles. Regardless of NATOstan media hype, what’s proven beyond the shadow of a doubt is that the supposedly “invincible” Israeli defense maze – ranging from US-made AD/ABM systems to Israeli knockoffs – is helpless in real war against a technologically advanced adversary.

What was accomplished by a single operation did raise quite a few professional eyebrows. Iran forced Israel to furiously deplete its stock of interceptors and spend at least $1.35 billion – while having its escalatory dominance and deterrence strategy completely shattered.

The psychological blow was even fiercer.

What if Iran had unleashed a series of strikes without a generous previous warning lasting several days? What if US, UK, France and – traitorous – Jordan were not ready for coordinated defense? (The – startling – fact they were all directly dispensing firepower on Tel Aviv’s behalf was not analyzed at all). What if Iran had hit serious industrial and infrastructural targets?

Establishing an Equation Without Disturbing a Pivot

Predictably, there has been less than zero debate across NATOstan about the sudden collapse of the Fortress Israel Myth – which underpins the larger myth of Zionism offering Impregnable Security for those living in Israel. No more. This narrative spin is D.O.A.

Iran, for its part, could not care less about what NATOstan spins. The shift towards the New Equation in fact was generous enough to offer Tel Aviv a de-escalation escape route – which will not be taken, at Israel’s peril.

For Tel Aviv, everything that happened so far spells out Strategic Defeat across the spectrum: in Gaza, in Lebanon, with the economy tanking, totally losing legitimacy around the world, and now with the added painful loss of deterrence.

All eyes are now on what may happen next: will it finally become clear whether the Hegemon prevails or whether Israel runs the “wag the dog” show?

It’s essential to consider the Russia-China strategic partnership view. The consensus among Chinese scholars is that the Hegemon prefers not to commit too many resources to West Asia, as this would affect the – already collapsing – Project Ukraine and the strategic planning to counter China in the Asia-Pacific.

When it comes to Russia, President Raisi personally called President Putin and they discussed all relevant details over the phone. Cool, calm and collected.

Additionally, later this week Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani – who said Iran will respond “within seconds” to any new Israeli attack – visits Moscow for the Conference on Nonproliferation and will also meet with the top echelons of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

It’s quite remarkable that Iran managed to establish the New Equation without disturbing its own pivot to Eurasia – after the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal – while protecting the complex framework engaged in the defense of Palestine.

The Hegemon’s options are dire. They run from being eventually expelled from West Asia and the Persian Gulf to an unwinnable existential clash against three civilization-states – Russia, China, Iran.

What’s left as the number one feasible scenario is a carefully calculated retreat to an easily controlled backyard: Latin America, especially South America, manipulating new, convenient, sovereign-deprived asset Argentina.

And of course maintaining control over a de-industrialized and sovereignty-deprived Europe.

That does not change the fact that US power projection on the wane, globally, is the way the wind is blowing. The Straussian neocon psycho-dementia is unsustainable. The question is whether they can be progressively purged from the US power structure before they attempt to plunge the Global Majority into their irrational depths of doom.

And Don’t Forget the New BRICS Equation

By contrast, on the Global Majority front, over 40 nations want to join BRICS – and counting, according to the head of the Russian Council Committee on International Affairs, Grigory Karasin.

After a meeting of the chairmen of the international affairs committees of BRICS Parliaments last week in Moscow, Karasin noted how many BRICS member-nations understand that they should not rush to create a rigid charter, “seeing how counterproductive and even provocative the European Union is acting.” The name of the game is flexibility.

Alastair Crooke has touched on a key theme that runs through my new book, Eurasia v. NATOstan: “Anything that was good and true about Western civilization is preserved and thriving in Russia. This is the unspoken insight that so infuriates the western elites. And it is also why, in part, BRICS states so evidently look to Russia for leadership.”

The New Equation established by Iran, a sovereign BRICS member, will do wonders to solidify this – multilateral, multicultural – state of cooperation as the Empire and its “aircraft carrier” in West Asia, except in the covert ops department, are increasingly reduced to the role of a paper tiger.

Global South

Iran Strikes Israel

Garland Nixon interviews Laith Marouf — West Asia update — on a seismic week which changed our world. Le roi est mort, vive le roi!

Iran’s retaliation is historic for Palestine, the region, our world. Zio-USUK suffered a strategic defeat, on top of moral defeat of Gaza
the regional war has moved from non-state actors to state-on-state [with the implications of aligned alliances a la 1914]
Iran forced Anglo-Zionist-NATO alliance to reveal their air defenses (AD), including radars, locations, capabilities, occult allies (GCC), tactics, etc.  It made clear Franco-Brits are vassals; the combined West is a totalitarian Empire under a single diktat, for those oblivious the last six months of Genocide…
Iran has started bleeding both their budgets/treasure ($3+ BILLION cost in a few hours!) and air defense interceptors/warjets wear & tear/munitions through massive unprecedented swarm of cheap drones
Iran demonstrated, in addition to precision of its older drones/missiles (! Thx Comrades BeiDou & GLONASS), significant deterrence
Israel demonstrated its survival is dependent on combined West – demoted to abject vassal like Bahrain from its former optical strut
even this western defense is proven worthless, as in 404. US funded and part-built air defenses were thoroughly exposed.
as they proved they could take down western AD using older drones and Scuds, in real war they would rapidly degrade airbases and hardware required for the sole remaining advantage of Anglo-Zionists – air power; Hamas has exposed ground war inadequacy and Houthis the lost naval force projection.
Everything in Israel today exists by Grace of Iran (!!!). It can be leveled
Hezbollah today salted the wounded by blasting another “Iron” Dome AD complex in north occupied Palestine
during the Iranian aerial slap, Netanyahoo hid in the Jerusalem bunker of the messianic Jewish billionaire funding the Red Heifer sacrifice, destruction of Al Aqsa Masjid and building of the Third Temple on its ruins. The crazed want Armageddon. The Danger remains
A lesson learned by multipolar Global Majority during this measured & mild Iranian deterrence action: the US will need to bring all its forces for zionazi proxy to have a chance! Thus dominoes will quickly fall everywhere else, whether 404, Korea, etc.. [unfortunately, this INCREASES risk of total West Asian war.. all now have a vested interest in finishing off the Last Satanic Empire in such a distant and predictable weak theater, also given its tenuous logistics and abject emotional messianic devotion. iow, an emotional albatross]
As Houthis have same weaponry as Iran, they are shown to have pulled their punches in Red Sea.. more proof of imperial lunacy to keep fighting a lost war, merely for optics
if USUK persist, they will end up third world countries at the end of this mad devotion to Zion [AHH: actually, a best case scenario at this point]
Jordanian compradore regime will soon cease to exist; its fate is linked to zionism now
the Arab region now plans for the day after collapse of Zion, and eviction of USUK (provided we’re still alive); this is not merely Greater Syria but other natural agglomerations which used to exist prior to arrival of West or even Turks
Garland: the strike on Israel was an Exclamation Point of the [arrival] of the Multipolar World

Global South

Iran’s ‘Strategic Patience’ lifts to Serious Deterrence

Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel were not conducted alone. Strategic partners Russia and China have Tehran’s back, and their role in West Asia’s conflict will only grow if the US doesn’t keep Israel in check.

By Pepe Escobar at The Cradle.

Global South

Iran’s Retaliation: Early Implications

Iran’s Retaliation: Implications of the Attack on Israel | Syriana Analysis W/ Mohammad Marandi

Join us as we explore the recent unprecedented Iranian attack on Israel, which consisted of a wave of drones and missiles launched in retaliation for an attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria. Dr. Mohammad Marandi, a Professor at the University of Tehran, provides insights on the implications of this attack.

“The era of strategic patience is over.” As with Bears forced to awaken over Genocide in Novorossiya, it is active deterrence from now on.

Global South

Iran’s Retaliatory Strikes

Last night, Iran carried out retaliatory strikes on Israel in response to the Israeli attack on the consulate in Damascus. We are joined by veteran war correspondents Hala Jaber and Elijah J. Magnier to discuss the significance of the strike, what it means for the conflict in Gaza, and its geopolitical implications.

Hala Jaber, a Lebanese-British journalist, was honored with the Amnesty International Journalist of the Year Award in 2003. She garnered the title of Foreign Correspondent of the Year at the British Press Awards in both 2005 and 2006 for her exceptional coverage of the Iraq War.

Elijah J. Magnier, a veteran war correspondent with over 37 years of experience covering West Asia. He has resided in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, and Syria for extended periods, specializing in political assessments, strategic planning, terrorist organizations, and non-state actors.

Global South

Five Nations Attack Zion

Forgive the young man, radiant and exuding like the Sun. We were all firebreathers once. He doesn’t realize this is round one. Last night, the messianic midgets received the biggest gift of their foreshortened lives; they will run with it now, fully suiciding USUK and the demented Old Order….

STRATPOL

L’armée russe avance sur tous les axes en RPD, selon un conseiller de Pouchiline

Dans toutes les directions, dans la République populaire de Donetsk, il y a eu un tournant en faveur des forces

L’article L’armée russe avance sur tous les axes en RPD, selon un conseiller de Pouchiline est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

Global South

Swine Lake

A Brief History of Bullshit in America – Everything, that is EVERYTHING, is presented counter to reality. There aint NO Money for nothin’ and NO chicks for free. And that’s the whole enchilada …

with thanks from FiveGunsWest and penned by Bones!

Judge Napolitano: “I told Trump, ‘you promised you would release the records of the JFK assassination.’ He said to me ‘If they showed you what they showed me, you wouldn’t have released it either.’ I said ‘Who’s they? What did they show you?’ Trump said “Someday when we’re not on the phone and there aren’t 15 people listening to the call, I’ll tell you.'”

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: “It has been said that after the Kennedy assassination, there has been no president. They have only been factotums of the system since then.”

Lake Flaccid

Notes on the Magic Christian

Guy Grand, an eccentric billionaire prankster, is rich enough to do whatever he likes. And what he likes is to carefully execute projects where he can cauterize by ridicule what the rest of the world ignores: complacency, greed, corruption, and idiocy.

Determined to “make it hot for people,” Grand spends his billions staging a series of hilarious, sometimes bewildering stunts, lampooning along the way the American holy cows of money, status, power, beauty, media, and stardom.

Concocting deliciously perverse mayhem, he throws a million one-hundred-dollar bills into an enormous vat of steaming offal, proving just what people will do for money, and he promotes a new silky shampoo that turns hair to wire and a deodorant that becomes a time-released stench-bomb.

He inserts subliminally suggestive and perverse images into well-loved classic films, takes a howitzer on safari, and brings a panther to a kennel club dog show.

His most elaborate adventure is an ultra-exclusive cruise aboard the S.S. Magic Christian, where elite passengers are treated to a series of madcap indignities.

The Jackal Gargles With Plasma

A Brief Review of ‘A Brief History of Bullshit in America’

Bullshit can be so many things. It could be anything from a degree in Gender Studies to something simple as a three-word campaign slogan, or even something as complicated as our nation’s 6,550-page tax code.

Political speeches, self-help books, marketing, press conferences, tax code, song lyrics, conspiracy theories, many college majors, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the multi-billion-dollar diet industry, medicine, and even the Constitution of the United States itself are all some form of bullshit in one way or another.

Bullshit is everywhere all around us. It influences the clothes we wear, shapes our political views, and even determines what food we eat.

Bullshitters are beautiful highly intelligent individuals, and they play a vital role in our world.

They start almost all of our wars, make our drugs, sell us our cars, raise and lower our taxes, regulate our economy, they tell us what to wear, and in many instances what to believe. You should develop some basic bullshit strategies that you can use in your own life as well.

April is Confederate History Month.

‘Good Foot in Heaven, Bad Foot in Hell’

Musings of a Crippled Writer Concerning Post-Modern Mesmerism with our hero James LaFond

Lori, a physical therapist of 30 years, choked back tears as she told me, “You are strong, but you have a serious injury. We can’t have you do anymore work then you are doing until the spinal specialist examines you… In the mean time, when taking the stairs, remember this, ‘Good foot in heaven, bad foot in Hell.’ It’s easy to remember that way. Put the weight on the good foot.”

In the week since then, as I have crawled, shrimped, crab walked, crutched, used a walker, wall walked and counter crawled around the Brickmouse House, and out at my mother’s house whom I visited in Whitebreadistan, I had a prawn’s eye view of the world passing bye. The news is all positively delusional and has the same exact messages as the ball games, the TV dramas, the movies and the commercials.

Everything, that is EVERYTHING, is presented counter to reality.

Worried about crime?

The news profiles dangerous white supremacists being brought to justice on hate crime charges. The news paints a picture of the last likely type of American violence, Ghost on Gawd, as the most likely.

Back to school shopping?

Well, the commercials depict the most common concerned parent, a black man shopping for his son. Would you like to vacation on a ranch in your four-wheel drive vehicle? Black cowboys will be there wrangling cattle.

Is there a threat to world peace?

No, it is not the nation that has 931 military bases in other countries. It is the nation that is the largest exporter of fuel and grain to less well off nations, ruled by a cartoon dictator, who makes all military decisions based on how mean and cruel the result would be for enemy civilians.

The news broadcast to the people of Goodland, is full of images of tyrannical nations that are utterly evil threatening world peace. Materialism, or utility, having the best most recent gadget, serves as a great handle for inculcating falsehoods, such as most cowboys, combat soldiers, and truck drivers are black and most violent criminals are white.

The Magic Christian is a 1969 British satirical black comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with appearances by John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Raquel Welch, Spike Milligan, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski. It was loosely adapted from the 1959 comic novel of the same name by American author Terry Southern, who co-wrote the screenplay adaptation with McGrath.

Here’s the whole enchilada …

James continued …

… WWII was so expensive, that it cost so much valuable time and material to be spent on wiping out not enough working class Аrуаns to achieve hive stability, that the Plutocrats decided that war on human flesh and artifacts would only be a stage prop in the real war waged to control the human mind.

When I see the ridiculous news that Doctor Evil is targeting, not tanks and soldiers with his missiles, but “blood banks” “hospitals” and “civilians,” it is clear that the phony war is the one where Eastern Europeans are actually getting killed, and the real war is on the TV and the Smartphone.

 

STRATPOL

Des drones ukrainiens parviennent pour la première fois à frapper des sites au Tatarstan

Des véhicules aériens sans pilote (UAV) ukrainiens ont attaqué le Tatarstan pour la première fois depuis le début de l’opération

L’article Des drones ukrainiens parviennent pour la première fois à frapper des sites au Tatarstan est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

STRATPOL

Des experts russes trouvent le site d’assemblage de drones ukrainiens Baba Yaga

Des spécialistes du Centre russe pour les solutions intégrées sans pilote (CDBR) ont étudié un drone ukrainien Baba Yaga capturé,

L’article Des experts russes trouvent le site d’assemblage de drones ukrainiens Baba Yaga est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

Global South

Epic Lone Wolf in the West Bank

On the day of the Crocus terrorist massacre in Moscow, lost in the global outrage, one Palestinian warrior in the West Bank single handedly helped collapse Zionism a little more.. courage, honor and self-sacrifice appeared from the very bastion of the traitorous compradore special forces of the Palestinian Authority! Woe to the alien invasive species of the Imperial settler-state. Their future is written in stone.

@Resistance News Network:
Armed clashes are continuing between one or more resistance fighters and zionist forces following a shooting operation targeting a settler vehicle in “Dolev,” west of #Ramallah.

The IOF has deployed a helicopter and drone to search for the fighters, and the zionist forces opened fire on journalists. Zionist media reports that War Minister Benny Gantz is on his way to the location.
The heroic “Dolev” operation shows what the determined, resistant Palestinian is capable of achieving.

Early before sunrise, Mujahid Barakat Mansour lay waiting in the hills west of #Ramallah, near the settlement of “Dolev.” Evidence shows us that he had prepared for this moment: From a fortified point he had established for himself, he rang in the dawn of a blessed Friday with bullets and fire from his rifle, targeting a vehicle carrying settlers.

Occupation forces responded swiftly to the area, precisely as Mansour had expected. Contrary to what the invading soldiers believed, the incident was far from over. Mansour, from his fortified point in the hills, opened fire on the soldiers. Having trained as part of the Palestinian Presidential Guard, rejecting the security coordination, betrayal, and failure of the Palestinian Authority, he was prepared for this moment. From his fortified perch, he shot swiftly and accurately, waging a clash against soldiers through the harsh terrain for over five hours.

Seven occupation soldiers were wounded, some critically, before they gave up their fight. Refusing to meet the dignified Palestinian on the battlefield, they dispatched drones and began targeting Mansour. Rather than give up the fight, Mansour managed to escape to an even more fortified position he had prepared in advance. He continued shooting at soldiers and even downed one of the drones that was sent to kill him.

In the end, the cowardly occupation was forced to fire missiles at Mujahid Mansour by way of Apache helicopter, having failed to target him through any other means. He ascended to martyrdom after leaving his permanent mark on the occupation. One determined Palestinian fighter, waging combat from the land which he belongs to, proved that heroes are made in Palestine, and that no foreign usurper can ever put a stop to the resistance.
The executor of the heroic shooting operation in “Dolev,” west of #Ramallah, is the martyr Mujahid Barakat Mansour (32 years old) from the village of Deir Ibzi’, west of Ramallah.

After targeting a settler vehicle, he clashed for nearly 5 hours with IOF soldiers who failed to reach him, leaving 7 of them wounded, and downed an IOF drone according to eyewitnesses, before a zionist helicopter launched a missile towards him.

Mujahid is a retired military officer in the Presidential Guard, having retired years ago. He is also a freed prisoner who was previously held in zionist prisons.

His name, Mujahid Mansour, means victorious fighter.

Glory to the heroic martyr.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades:
—
“Then let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. And whoever fights in the way of Allah and is killed or achieves victory – We will bestow upon him a great reward.”

With great pride and honor, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades exalt their heroic fighter who carried out the heroic Ramallah operation, and salute the sons of our nation rising up in an intifada in all arenas.

On the path of the first martyrs and on the road of struggle and resistance, and in victory for Gaza and the sufferings of the prisoners in the enemy’s jails, and in response to the crimes of the occupation against our people everywhere, the fighters of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades continue their heroic operations against the occupation forces and their settler gangs as part of the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, to affirm that the volcano of the West Bank will not be extinguished and that the blood of our people in Gaza, our prisoners, and our Al-Aqsa is a red line.

As part of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades’ responses to the ongoing aggression of the occupation, one of our fighters attacked a number of settlers’ cars and military reinforcements that came to their rescue near the settlement of “Dolev” west of the city of Ramallah this morning, Friday, 12 Ramadan 1445 AH / corresponding to 22-03-2024, and the clash lasted for more than 4 continuous hours, resulting in 7 zionists wounded with serious and critical wounds, ascending to the highest, the hero of this operation:

The martyr and liberated prisoner fighter, Mujahid Barakat Mansour (31 years old) from the town of Deir Ibza’ – west of Ramallah

As the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades declare their responsibility for this heroic operation, they affirm the following:

Firstly: This operation is a continuation of what the fighters of its brigades started in Nablus and Tubas this morning, where they confronted with all courage and capability the incursions of the zionist occupation forces into their cities with machine guns and explosive devices.

Secondly: This operation is part of a series of operations responding to the continuous aggression of the occupation against our steadfast people in Gaza and our brave prisoners, the latest of which were the operations of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in Gaza, Jenin, Al-Khalil, Tubas, and Nablus, over the past days, resulting in a number of dead and wounded.

Thirdly: We salute the sons of our nation rising up in an intifada in all areas of our revolutionary [West] Bank, who have written an epic in the past days in steadfastness and confrontation against this criminal enemy, especially in Nour Shams camp, Nablus, Jenin, Al-Khalil, and Tubas.

Fourthly: The continuation of the enemy’s aggression and its persistence against our people in Gaza, our Al-Aqsa, and our prisoners will ignite a fire that disperses its security and shakes its foundations.

Fifthly: The attempts and targeting of the enemy against our people’s fighters will not succeed in stopping our resistance, and the enemy’s incursions into our areas and camps will be an opportunity – by Allah’s will – for our fighters’ rifles and their explosives to reap more lives of the occupation soldiers and settlers. What is coming is more severe and greater.

And it is a revolution until victory, until victory, until victory…

Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – The military wing of the Fatah movement

Friday, 12 Ramadan 1445 AH / corresponding to 22 March 2024

@Strategika51:
For four hours, hundreds of Israeli soldiers, special forces and reservists have been battling a lone Palestinian resistance fighter who attacked an Israeli car in #WestBank .

The Israeli army used an AH-64/D #Apache helicopter gunship armed with anti-tank missiles in the area for the first time in 20 years.
The gunman pursued by hundreds of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank was killed by three Air to-Ground #missiles fired by an attack #helicopter and an armed #drone

Global South

VVP’s Announced Telephone Conversations in Last Two Days

Per Newton’s third law, Hell cometh to the demented Anglo-Zionist satanists in Greater Syria….

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

The President of the Republic of Belarus expressed his heartfelt condolences on the monstrous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, conveyed words of sympathy and support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, emphasising that the people of Belarus stand together with the people of Russia in this time of sorrow.

Alexander Lukashenko offered any assistance that may be needed, and expressed his confidence that the organisers and perpetrators of this heinous crime will face inevitable punishment.

For his part, Vladimir Putin informed his counterpart about the detention of the terrorists directly involved in the attack, as well as about the ongoing investigation.

Both leaders expressed mutual readiness to continue close cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

During his telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his deep condolences over numerous victims of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, stressing that he resolutely condemns this barbaric crime, and asked to convey words of sympathy and support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.

Both Leaders reaffirmed their intention to step up anti-terror cooperation.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Shavkat Mirziyoyev strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, expressed his sincere condolences in connection with the tragedy, and asked to convey words of support to the victims’ families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.

Both Sides reaffirmed their intention to continue close cooperation to counter terrorism.

On March 23, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his deep and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the heinous terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. He noted that the Republic of Türkiye stands with the people of Russia in this dark hour.

Vladimir Putin emphasised that Russia appreciates the support of the Turkish people and informed his Turkish counterpart on the status of the investigation into the terrorist attack.

During the conversation, the Turkish Leader stressed the urgent need for closer bilateral cooperation in the fight against the terrorist threat.

President Putin expressed gratitude for the condolences and supported the idea of stepping up cooperation in countering terrorism.

On March 23, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad held a telephone conversation.

The President of Syria strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, stressing that Syrian citizens share the pain and grief of the Russian people. He wished fortitude to the victims’ families and friends and a speedy recovery to the injured.

Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad discussed the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the current situation in Syria, which is directly facing the terrorist threat.

The Leaders agreed to intensify contacts both in addressing counterterrorism and in all other areas of bilateral cooperation.

ADDENDUM:

President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon telephoned Vladimir Putin to express deep condolences and solidarity with the Russian people over the death of innocent civilians in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. The President of Tajikistan emphasised that there was no nor could not be any justification for that crime.

During the conversation, Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon noted that the security services of Russia and Tajikistan were working closely together to counter terrorism and that they would build up their cooperation.

Tajikistan’s President Rahmon during phone conversation with Russia’s Putin condemns terrorist attack in Russia, says terrorists have neither nationality nor religion

During the conversation, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, which claimed the lives of over 100 innocent civilians, expressed deep condolences to their families and friends, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Ilham Aliyev stressed that the people of Azerbaijan stand together with the Russian people on this day of national mourning and expressed confidence that the severe punishment of the criminals and those who masterminded that crime was unavoidable.

Vladimir Putin thanked the President of Azerbaijan for his words of support and expressed readiness to further strengthen practical interaction in the spirit of strategic partnership and alliance between Russia and Azerbaijan.

Global South

Dien Bien Phools

We Won’t Get Dien Bien Phooled Again! Once the French have defeated Russia, they will attack all of Europe. France cannot be allowed to win!

with gratitude to FiveGunsWest and penned by Bones!

Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys

I must have every book about Dien Bien Phu there is. I also have the French Communist Party books on this topic and various and sundry others of the time, and Bernard Fall’s books as well.

‘A Street Without Joy’ is the benchmark of French military decline and the onset of loss of empire for the country that has gone from a lion, De Gaulle, to a mouse, Micron. And now the mouse that roars.

The history of Dien Bien Phu is a study in miscalculation multiplied Force Ten. Fuck up after fuck up. Cascading idiocy. They so underestimated their enemy that they didn’t even dig in their gun emplacements. The man in charge of the artillery discovered his mistake as 100s of projectiles per minute rained down on the camps and took out the artillery. Despondently, he went down into his bunker sleeping quarters, pulled the pin on a grenade and placed it over his heart. He was such a larger than life individual and an inspiration to the men that the ‘overseer’s of the men’, the officers, lied to them and told them that he’d fallen on the field of honor. There is no honor in a colonial war for the occupier.

The artillery stood exposed. No sandbags. They disdained the abilities of the eventual victors so much that they stupidly held their last stand in a valley surrounded by mountains riddled with caves. They thought the Vietminh couldn’t shoot straight. Turns out they were crack shots, sighting through the barrels of their guns in the high caves surrounding Frenchy and Heinz.

Most of the “French” troops at Dien Bien Phu were former SS Nazi storm troopers. I guess the US took the cream of the NAZI crop. General Gehlen who set up our Gestapo Security State. Mr. Werner “I just make the mizziles, vhere they come down izz not my koncern” Von Braun. Eva wasn’t available.

The rank and file SS troops wound up in Vietnam, getting their asses shot off by the Vietminh and their ashes hauled in the official French brothels that always traveled with the troops. This practice is still current. They come to San Francisco once a year for fleet week. You can see the prostitutes. Some whores got the Croix de Guerre for ‘services above and beyond the call of booty’.

@robertjames6640 1 year ago:

“An amazing movie. I served with men who fought at Dien Bien Phu and they held the greatest of respect for the Vietnamese people who defeated them. Vietnam and its people are resilient, hard working and truly delightful.”

The Frogs Made It Personal For Giap

In the late 1930s, Giap married a fellow member of the party, whom he had met in prison years earlier. She gave birth to a daughter, Hong Anh, in 1940. Four months later, the party’s central committee decided to send him to join Ho, who was living in exile in China, where he was preparing plans for the revolution he intended to launch.

Soon after Gen. Giap left for China, his wife was taken into custody by French authorities. She died in prison, either by suicide or while being tortured. Because of the intervening world war, it was years before Gen. Giap learned of his wife’s death. In 1947, his father also died while in French custody, refusing to publicly denounce his son, although he never agreed with his communist ideology.

“He carries in his soul wounds that even time cannot heal,” Hong Anh told biographer Currey of her father.

It’s not my intention to recap history on this fascinating and well deserved defeat of the French who were ferreted out of their holes and FROG MARCHED off to a POW camp as they should have been, but to rub this humiliating defeat in their faces as they consider war with Russia. I consider them stupid like the rest of the crime syndicate of the Western satellite colonies of the former US empire.

The Frogs Can’t Get Enough

The Dien Bien Phools can’t get enough humiliation, death and defeat. Now they want to send their children to Ukraine to kill Russians for Joe Biden’s corrupt regime, all the while blathering on about freedom and democracy, meaningless crap that Ukraine doesn’t have or represent. They are fighting for western leaders endless supply of Merck cocaine and children to rape and abuse. They may not know it, but that is the reality.

The rank and file French soldier has no idea what they’re fighting for and for the most part, they never have. Remember, once invaded by the Nazis in WW2 they sided with the NAZIs and became Vichy France. The French Foreign legion … the former SS Nazis … didn’t care what they fought besides the kicks they got out of usual frolics colonial powers derive from killing the natives who have no standing army, navy or airforce. A turkey shoot as it’s called. Once again they’ve sided with the Nazis to boot.

That said, US troops have no idea what the fuck they’re doing from moment to moment. They’re a largely uneducated rabble and the non-coms are just as bad. An immoral uneducated rabble using the military as a jobs program in much the same way as a corrupt Congress critter uses the arms manufacturing as a jobs program bringing money into their coffers and sharing a little with the community. The last thing the US military wants to do? Their jobs.

Most of the world is watching Russia systematically destroy what was by far the largest most capable and equipped NATO-commanded army in the world (the Ukrainian army), understanding that what is unfolding is Washington’s Waterloo.

The US general stuff are all rear echelon muthafuckas

So drive on, it don’t mean nuthin’

Larch445:

“When or where have the French been correct in their strategic judgment?
SE Asia? Algeria? Sahel? West Africa? Central Africa? NATO? WWII?
Where or when?
They always get it wrong.”

smoothieX12:

“Yes, some imbeciles in Paris think so, but considering the level of French Armed Forces–they will be hunted down and killed.

What Paris is going to do about it? Right–nothing. France’s nuclear deterrent is dwarfed by Russia’s conventional, let alone nuclear capability–so, does Macron and his buddies want to die?

They will. So will France as a whole. Hey, French voted for this. Time to face consequences. And here is the funny thing–France is alone in all that.”

Bones:

“I predict popcorn shortages. Be sure to lay in a big supply. Enough to binge eat for a couple of days. ‘French cooking’ will not take that long. If US enters the fray, it may take a week to fry and die. They haven’t met Mr. Thermobaric. Have fun guys. Ta Ta.”

Global South

Yemen Ends Thalassocratic Rule

Garland Nixon interviews Laith Marouf — West Asia update: Yemen and the beginning of the end of imperial naval force projection;

wide ranging talk includes:
Zionist attempt to break the Syrian landbridge to Hezbollah again (after ISIS a decade ago);
the Vichy regime of the Palestinian Authority;
Prof Ali Kadri: the role of directed Genocide in western Capitalism; for more see:
— https://guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/palestine-war-occupation-and-proletarianization-w-ali-kadri
— http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue91/Kadri91.pdf
the European lunch of the Empire
COVID and Deagleian depopulation of the Golden Billion…

Global South

WHAT?! Yemen Just Closed the Indian Ocean to USUK Ships too

“… and all linked to zionists…”

Richard connects a terrible dot on the back of my mind! Yemen didn’t merely extend the Gauntlet to the Indian Ocean for the zionists, but to the same western parties they currently fight in the Red Sea. They closed the South Africa route to USUK and those of the combined West that partake of the aggression against Palestine and/or themselves in the Red Sea or hinder the Gauntlet in the Red Sea! They emphasized this on day one by droning or missiling two US ships in the Indian Ocean………..

Let’s see if they can carry it off. Assuming they will be as resourceful as only motivated Yemenis can be.. and that several civilizational-states work to ensure they get accurate targeting and manifests of cargo ships to be targetted, what would be the consequences for severing the India/China sea trade to Europe and to the eastern US seaboard?? The US has the Pacific coast option, but Europe.. would be reduced to railroads, mostly through.. Russia as they helped torch West Asia, the Ukraine, and currently stoke Transcaucasia. This is unliveable

Global South

Resistance Report: Drones & Missiles

Global South

Confident China Lays out the Refined Roadmap

As Project Ukraine goes down the drain of history, Project Taiwan will go on overdrive. Forever Wars never die. Bring it on. The Dragon is ready.

By Pepe Escobar at Strategic Culture.

This is the Year of the Wooden Dragon, according to China’s classic wuxing (“five elements”) culture. The dragon, one of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, is a symbol of power, nobility and intelligence. Wood adds growth, development and prosperity.

Call it a summary of where China is heading in 2024.

The second session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was finalized on Sunday in Beijing.

The wider world should know that within the framework of grassroots democracy with Chinese characteristics, an extremely complex – and fascinating – phenomenon, the importance of the CPPCC is paramount.

The CPPCC channels wide-ranging expectations of the average Chinese to the decision level, and actually advises the central government on a vast range of issues – from everyday living to high-quality development strategies.

This year, most of the discussion focused on how to drive

China’s modernization even faster. This being China, concepts – like flowers – were blooming all around the spectrum, such as “new quality productive forces, “deepening reform,” “high-standard opening-up,” and a fabulous new one, “major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.”

As the Global Times emphasized, “2024 is not only a critical year for achieving the goals of the ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ but also a key year for achieving the transition to high-quality development of the economy.”

Betting on strategic investment

So let’s start with Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s first “work report” delivered a week ago, which opened the annual session of the National People’s Congress. The key takeaway: Beijing will be pursuing the same economic targets as in 2023. That translates as 5% annual growth.

Of course deflationary risks, a downturn in the real estate market and somewhat shaky business confidence simply won’t vanish. Li was quite realistic, emphasizing Beijing is “keenly aware” of the challenges ahead: “Achieving this year’s targets will not be easy.” And he added: “Global economic growth lacks steam and the regional hotspot issues keep erupting. This has made China’s external environment more complex, severe and uncertain.”

Beijing’s strategy remains focused on a “proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy”. In a nutshell: the song remains the same. There won’t be a “stimulus” of any kind.

Deeper answers should be found in the work report/budget released by the National Development and Reform Commission: the focus will be on structural change, via extra funds to science, technology, education, national defense, agriculture. Translation: China bets on strategic investment, the key for a high-quality economic transition.

In practice, Beijing will be heavily invested in modernizing industry and developing “new quality productive forces” such as new-energy vehicles, biomanufacturing and commercial space flight.

Science Minister Yin Hejun made it clear: there was an 8.1% increase in national investment in research and development in 2023. He wants more – and he will get it: R&D spending will grow by 10% to a total of 370.8 billion yuan.

The mantra is “self-reliance”. On all fronts – from chipmaking to AI. A no holds barred tech war is on – and China is totally focused to counter “tech containment” from the Hegemon as much as its ultimate goal is to wrest tech supremacy from its prime competitor. Beijing simply cannot allow itself to be vulnerable to U.S.-imposed tech choke points and supply chain disruptions.

So short-term economic problems will not be causing sleepless nights. The Beijing leadership is always looking ahead – focusing on long-term challenges.

Learning lessons from the Donbass battlefield

Beijing will continue to steer the economic development of Hong Kong and Macau, and invest even more in the crucial Greater Bay Area, which is the premier southern China high tech, services and finance hub.

Taiwan of course was central to the work report; Beijing fiercely opposes “external interference” – code for Hegemon tactics. That will become even trickier in May, when William Lai Ching-te, who flirts with independence, becomes president.

On defense, there will be only a 7.2% increase in 2024, which is peanuts compared to the Hegemon’s defense budget now approaching $900 billion: China’s stands as $238 billion, even as China’s nominal GDP is approaching the U.S.

A great deal of China’s defense budget will go for emerging tech – considering the immensely valuables lessons the PLA is learning out of the Donbass battlefield, as well as the deep interactions part of the Russia-China strategic partnership.

And that brings us to diplomacy. China will continue to be firmly positioned as a champion of the Global South. That was made explicit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress.

Wang Yi’s priorities: to “maintain stable relations with major powers; join hands with its neighbouring countries for progress; and strive for revitalisation with the Global South”.

Wang Yi once again stressed that Beijing favors an “equal and orderly” multipolar world and “inclusive economic globalization”.

And of course he could not allow U.S. Secretary of State Little Blinken – always out of his depth – to get away with his latest “recipe”: “It is impermissible that those with the bigger fist have the final say, and it is definitely unacceptable that certain countries must be at the table while others can only be on the menu.”

BRI as a global accelerator

Crucially, Wang Yi re-emphasized the drive for “high-quality” cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework. He defined BRI as “an engine for the common development of all countries and an accelerator for the modernisation of the whole world”. Wang Yi actually said he’s hopeful about the emergence of a “Global South moment in global governance” – in which China and BRI play an essential part.

Li Qiang’s work report, incidentally, had only one paragraph on BRI. But then we find this nugget as Li refers to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor – which links China’s landlocked southwest with the eastern seaboard, via Guangxi province.

Translation: BRI will be focusing on opening new economic roads for China’s less developed regions, diversifying from the previous emphasis on Xinjiang.

Dr Wei Yuansong is a member of the CPPCC and also the Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party – which happens to be one of the eight non-CCP parties in Chinese politics (very few outside of China know about this).

He offered some fascinating comments on BRI to Fengmian News and also stressed the need to “tell China’s story well” to avoid “conflict and incidents” along the BRI road. For that, Wei suggests the need to use an “international language” in telling these stories; that implies using English.

As for what Wang Yi said in his press conference, in fact that was discussed in detail at the closed-door Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work in late 2023, where it was established that China faced “strategic opportunities” to raise its “international influence, appeal and power” despite “high winds and choppy waters”.

The key takeaway: the narrative war between China and the Hegemon will be pitiless. Beijing is confident it’s capable of offering stability, investment, connectivity and sound diplomacy to the whole Global South, instead of Forever Wars.

That is reflected, for instance, by Ma Xinmin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s legal advisor, telling the International Court of Justice that the Palestinians have the right to armed resistance  when it comes to fighting the colonialist, racist, apartheid state of Israel. Therefore, Hamas cannot be defined as a terrorist organization.

This is the overwhelming position across the lands of Islam and across the majority of the Global South – linking Beijing with fellow BRICS member Brazil and President Lula, who compared the genocide in Gaza to the Nazi genocide in WWII.

How to resist collective West sanctions

The Two Sessions did reflect Beijing’s full understanding that Hegemon containment and destabilization tactics remain the biggest challenge to China’s peaceful rise. But simultaneously it reflected Chinese confidence on its global diplomatic clout as a force for peace, stability and economic development. It’s an extremely sensitive balance that only the Middle Kingdom seems capable of pulling off.

Then there’s the Trump factor.

Economist Ding Yifan, a former deputy director of the World Development Institute, part of the State Council’s Development Research Centre, is one among those who’s aware China is learning key lessons from Russia on how to resist collective West sanctions – which will be inevitable against China especially if Trump is back at the White House.

And that brings us to the absolute key issue being currently discussed in Moscow, within the Russia-China partnership, and soon among the BRICS: alternative settlement payments to the U.S. dollar, increasing trade among “friendly nations”, and controls on capital flight.

Nearly all Russia-China trade is now in yuan and rubles. As much as Russian trade with the EU fell by 68% in 2023, trade with Asia rose by 5.6% – with new landmarks reached with China ($240 billion) and India ($65 billion) – and 84% of

Russia’s total energy exports going to “friendly countries”.

The Two Sessions did not get into detail on some extremely thorny geopolitical issues. For instance, India’s version of multipolarity – considering New Delhi’s unresolved love affair with Washington – is quite different from China’s. Everyone knows – and no one more than the Russians – that within BRICS 10 the biggest strategic issue is how to accommodate the perpetual tension between India and China.

What’s clear even behind the fog of goodwill enveloping the Two Sessions is that Beijing is fully aware of how the Hegemon is – deliberately – already crossing a key Chinese red line, officially stationing “permanent troops” in Taiwan.

Since last year U.S. Special Forces have been training Taiwanese in operating Black Hornet nano microdrones. In 2024 U.S. military advisers are deployed full time at army bases on Kinmen and Penghu islands.

Those actually driving U.S. foreign policy behind the Crash Test Dummy at the White House believe that even as they are powerless to handle the Houthi Ansarallah in the Red Sea, they are capable of poking the Dragon.

No posturing will alter the Dragon’s roadmap. The CPPCC’s political resolution on Taiwan calls for uniting “all patriotic forces”, “deepen integration and development in various fields across the Taiwan Straits”, and go all out on “peaceful reunification”. That will translate in practice into increased economic/trade cooperation, more direct flights, more cargo ports and logistics bases.

As Project Ukraine goes down the drain of history, Project Taiwan will go on overdrive. Forever Wars never die. Bring it on. The Dragon is ready.

STRATPOL

La menace des drones navals en mer Noire

La marine eut, tient, et conservera probablement un rôle essentiel dans les opérations militaires de grande ampleur, car la voie

L’article La menace des drones navals en mer Noire est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

Global South

The Rocky Road to Dedollarization

An Interview with Sergei Glazyev, guru extraordinaire of multipolar geoeconomics… ‘the dogs bark — the Caravan of the Global Juggernaut moves on‘

By Pepe Escobar at Sputnik.

Very few people in Russia and across the Global South are as qualified as Sergei Glazyev, an academic with a prominent role within the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), to speak about the drive, the challenges and the pitfalls in the road towards de-dollarization.

As the Global South issues widespread calls for real financial stability; India inside the BRICS 10 makes it clear that everyone needs to think seriously about the toxic effects of unilateral sanctions; and Professor Michael Hudson keeps reiterating current policies are not sustainable anymore, Glazyev graciously received me at his office at the EEC for an exclusive, extensive conversation, including fascinating off the record odds and ends.

These are the highlights – as Glazyev’s ideas are being re-examined, and there’s huge expectation for the green light from the Russian government for a new trade settlement model – which for the moment is in the final stages of fine-tuning.

Glazyev explained how his main idea was “elaborated a long time ago. The basic idea is that a new currency should be first of all introduced on the basis of international law, signed by the countries which are interested in the production of this new currency. Not via some kind of conference, like Bretton Woods, with no legitimacy. At the first stage, not all countries would be included. BRICS nations will be enough – plus the SCO. In Russia, we already have our own SWIFT – the SPFS. We have our currency exchange, we have correspondent relations between banks, consultation between Central Banks, here we are absolutely self-sufficient.”

All that leads to adopting a new international currency:
“We don’t really need to go large scale. BRICS is enough. The idea of the currency is that there are two baskets: one basket is national currencies of all countries involved in the process, like the SDR, but with more clear, understandable criteria. The second basket are commodities. If you have two baskets, and we create the new currency as an index of commodities and national currencies, and we have a mechanism for reserves, according to the mathematical model that will be very stable. Stable and convenient.”

Then it’s up to feasibility:
“To introduce this currency as an instrument for transactions would not be too difficult. With good infrastructure, and all Central Banks approving it, then it’s up to businesses to use this currency. It should be in digital form – which means it can be used without the banking system, so it will be at least ten times cheaper than present transactions through banks and currency exchanges.”

That Thorny Central Bank Question

“Q: Have you presented this idea to the Chinese?”

“We presented it to Chinese experts, our partners at Renmin University. We had good feedback – but I did not have the opportunity to present it on a political level. Here in Russia we promote the discussion via papers, conferences, seminars, but there’s still no political decision on introducing this mechanism even on the BRICS agenda. The proposal by our team of experts is to include it in the agenda of the BRICS summit next October in Kazan. The problem is the Russian Central Bank is not enthusiastic. The BRICS have only decided on an operating plan to use national currencies – which is also a quite clear idea, as national currencies are already used in our trade. Russian ruble is the main currency in the EAEU, trade with China is conducted in rubles and renminbi, trade with India and Iran and Turkiye also switched to national currencies. Each country has the infrastructure for it. If Central Banks introduce digital national currencies and allow them to be used in international trade, it’s also a good model. In this case crypto exchanges can easily balance payments – and it’s a very cheap mechanism. What is needed is an agreement from Central Banks to allow a certain amount of national currencies in digital form to participate in international transactions.”

“Q: Would that be feasible already in 2024, if there is political will?”

“There are some start-ups already. By the way, they are in the West, and the digitalization is conducted by private companies, not Central Banks. So the demand is there. Our Central Bank needs to elaborate a proposal for the summit in Kazan. But this is only one part of the story. The second part is price. For the moment price is determined by Western speculation. We produce these commodities, we consume them, but we do not have our own price mechanism, which will balance supply and demand. During the Covid panic, the price for oil fell to nearly zero. It’s impossible to make any strategic planning for economic development if you do not control prices of basic commodities. Price formation with this new currency should get rid of Western exchanges of commodities. My idea is based on a mechanism that existed in the Soviet Union, in the Comecon. In that period we had long-term agreements not only with socialist countries, but also with Austria, and other Western countries, to supply gas for 10 years, 20 years, the basis of this price formula was the price for oil, and the price for gas.”

So what stands out is the effectiveness of a long-term, long view policy:
“We did create a long-term pattern. Here in the EEC we are looking at the idea of a common exchange market. We already prepared a draft, with some experiments. The first step is the creation of an information network, exchanges in different countries. It was rather successful. The second step will be to set up online communication between exchanges, and finally we move to a common mechanism of price formation, and open this mechanism for all other countries. The main problem is that the major producers of commodities, first of all the oil companies, they don’t like to trade through exchanges. They like to trade personally, so you need a political decision to make sure that at least half of production of commodities should go through exchanges. A mechanism where supply and demand balance each other. For the moment the price of oil in foreign markets is ‘secret’. It’s some type of colonial times thinking. ‘How to cheat’. We must create legislation to open all this information to the public.”

The NDB in Need of a Shake-up

Glazyev offered an extensive analysis of the BRICS universe, based on how the BRICS Business Council had its first meeting on financial services in early February. They agreed on a working plan; there was a first session of fintech experts; and during this week a breakthrough meeting may lead to a new formulation – for the moment not made public – to be put into the BRICS agenda for the October summit.

“Q: What are the main challenges within the BRICS structure in this next stage of trying to bypass the US dollar?”

“BRICS in fact is a club which doesn’t have a secretariat. I can tell it, from a person that has some experience in integration. We discussed the idea of a customs union here, on the post-Soviet territory, immediately after the collapse. We had a lot of declarations, even some agreements signed by heads of state, over a common economic space. But only after the establishment of a commission the real work stated, in the year 2008. After 20 years of papers, conferences, nothing was done. You need someone who’s responsible. In BRICS there is such an organization – the NDB [New Development Bank]. If the heads of state decide to appoint the NDB as an institution which will elaborate the new model, the new currency, organize an international conference with the draft of an international treaty, this can work.

The problem is that the NDB works according to the dollar charter. They have to reorganize this institution in order to make it workable. Now it works like an ordinary international development bank under the American framework. The second option would be to do it without this bank, but that would be much more difficult. This bank has enough expertise.”

“Q: Could an internal shake-up of the NDB be proposed by the Russian presidency of BRICS this year?”

“We are doing our best. I’m not sure the Ministry of Finance understands how serious this is. The President understands. I personally promoted this idea to him. But the chairman of the Central Bank, and ministers are still thinking in the old IMF paradigm.”

‘Religious Sects Don’t Create Innovation’

Glazyev had a serious discussion on sanctions with the NDB:
“I discussed this issue with Mrs. Rousseff [the former Brazilian President, currently presiding the NDB) at the St. Petersburg Forum. I gave her a paper about it. She was rather enthusiastic and invited us to come to the NDB. But afterwards there was no follow-up. Last year everything was very difficult.”

On BRICS, “the financial services working group is discussing reinsurance, credit rating, new currencies in fintech. That’s what should be in the agenda of the NDB. The best possibility would be a meeting in Moscow in March or April, to discuss in depth the whole range of issues of BRICS settlement mechanism, from most sophisticated to least sophisticated. It would be great if the NDB sign up for it, but as it stands there is a de facto gulf between the BRICS and the NDB.”

The key point, insists Glazyev, is that “Dilma should find time to organize these discussions at a high level. A political decision is needed.”

“Q: But wouldn’t that decision have to come from Putin himself?”

“It’s not so easy. We heard statements by at least three heads of the state: Russia, South Africa and Brazil. They publicly said ‘this is a good idea’. The problem, once again, is there is no task force yet. My idea, which we proposed before the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, is to create an international working group – to prepare in the next sessions the model, or the draft, of the treaty. How to switch to national currencies. That’s the official agenda now. And they have to report about that in Kazan [for the BRICS annual summit]. There are some consultations between the Central Banks and Ministers of Finance.”

Glazyev cut to the chase when it comes to the inertia of the system:
“The main problem for bureaucrats and experts is ‘why they don’t have ideas?’ Because they assume the current status quo is the best one. If there are no sanctions, everything will be good. The international financial architecture that was created by the United States and Europe is convenient. Everyone knows how to work in the system. So it’s impossible to move from this system to another system. For businesses it will be very difficult. For banks it will be difficult. People have been educated in the paradigm of financial equilibrium, totally libertarian. They don’t care that prices are manipulated by speculators, they don’t care about volatility of national currencies, They think it’s natural (…) It’s a kind of religious sect. Religious sects don’t create innovation.”

Now Get on That Hypersonic Bicycle

We’re back to the crucial issue of national currencies:
“Even five years ago, when I spoke about national currencies in trade, everybody said it was completely impossible. We have long-term contracts in dollars and euro. We have an established culture of transactions. When I was Minister of Foreign Trade, 30 years ago, at the time I tried to push all our trade in commodities into rubles. I argued with Yeltsin and others, ‘we have to trade in rubles, not in dollars’. That would automatically make the ruble a reserve currency. When Europe moved to the euro, I had a meeting with Mr. Prodi, and we agreed, ‘we will use euro as your currency, and you will use rubles’. Then Prodi came to me after consultations and said, ‘I talked to Mr. Kudrin [former Russian Finance Minister, 2000-2011], he didn’t ask me to make the ruble a reserve currency’. That was sabotage. It was stupidity.”

The problems actually run deep – and keep running:
“The problem was our regulators, educated by the IMF, and the second problem was corruption. If you trade oil and gas in dollars, a large part of profits is stolen, there are a lot of intermediate companies which manipulate prices. Prices are only the first step. The price for natural gas in the first deal is about 10 times less than the final demand. There are institutional barriers. A majority of countries do not allow our companies to sell oil and gas to the final customer. Like you cannot sell gas to households. Nevertheless, even in the open market, quite competitive, we have intermediates between producer and consumer – at least half of the revenues are stolen from government control. They don’t pay taxes.”

Yet fast solutions do exist:
“When we were sanctioned two years ago, transfer from US dollar and euro to national currencies took only a few months. It was very quick.”

On investments, Glazyev stressed success in localized trade, but capital flows are still not there:
“The Central Banks are not doing their job. The ruble-renminbi exchange is working well. But the ruble-rupee exchange doesn’t work. The banks that keep these rupees, they have a lot of money, accrue interest rates on these rupees, and they can play with them. I don’t know who’s responsible for this, our Central Bank or the Indian Central Bank.”

The succinct, key takeaway of Glazyev’s serious warnings is that it would be up to the NDB – prodded by the leadership of BRICS – to organize a conference of global experts and open it for public discussion. Glazyev evoked the metaphor of a bicycle that keeps rolling along – so why invent a new bicycle? Well, the – multipolar – time has come for a new hypersonic bicycle.

Global South

Pagan American Rome and Christian Russian Rome

” … These two Romes are fulfilling the legacies they inherited: American Rome, like its pagan predecessor, has become an oppressive conqueror, seeking to impose its culture on all its victims. Russian Rome, like Orthodox Constantinople, seeks friendly relations with anyone on the basis of shared spiritual values … And just as the old Roman West once envied New Rome Constantinople and sought to rob her … so now pagan American Rome eyes Russian Rome with the same envious look (mainly her natural resources).”

by Walt Garlington at Katehon.

When most folks look at a map, they will see only a single Rome, the one in Italy. But there are actually two more, neither of them in Italy: one is identified with Washington, D.C., in the United States and the other with Moscow in Russia, each quite different from the other as they represent two different stages of Roman history. In the American Rome one will see a continuation of pagan, pre-Christian Rome, while in the Russian Rome one will see a continuation of Orthodox Constantinople/New Rome.

Let us look first at American Rome. From her earliest days, the leaders of the US identified closely with the pre-Christian Roman Republic:

‘Throughout the course of history, the ancient civilization of Rome has been widely discussed, praised, and emulated by writers, statesmen, and philosophers alike. Rome has no shortage of admirers, and arguably some of its most enthusiastic supporters were the American Founding Fathers who were enamoured of the Roman past largely because of Rome’s unique form of government, which had supposedly preserved liberty for hundreds of years. The Founders lavished praise upon the Roman republican heroes who defended their government from tyranny in the turbulent final days of the Republic.

‘ . . . The American Revolution further intensified interest in the Roman world. By anchoring those arguments for freedom to ancient precedent, Revolutionary American authors aimed to demonstrate that their arguments were timeless and firmly embedded in history. Historians such as Plutarch, Livy, and Tacitus successfully encapsulated in writing the eternal and unavoidable struggle between liberty and power.[4] Parallels between Rome and America were made frequently by Revolutionary writers and orators. Josiah Quincy compared the tyrant Caesar to King George, asking “is not Britain to America what Caesar was to Rome?”[5] One of the most dramatic and obvious examples of reference to Rome was Joseph Warren’s oration on the Boston Massacre in 1775, during which he wore a Roman toga.[6] It would be difficult to find any public figure of the Revolutionary period who did not quote a classical author in their pamphlets, orations or letters.[7]

‘ . . . The founding generation admired Cicero as a steadfast defender of liberty and a deeply philosophical thinker on the ways in which government can best preserve our naturally endowed rights and freedoms. He was referred to as a constant source of wisdom on the topic of political philosophy as well as a guide to civic virtue and was described by Josiah Quincy as “the best of men and the first of patriots.”[15] Cicero’s oratorical prowess was emulated by many early American lawyers and statesmen who wished to be as eloquent and impassioned as the man who defied tyrants.[16]

‘ . . . Historical figures such as Cicero and Cato were considered fitting role models not only due to their character, but because of the similarity between their predicament and that of the Founders. Cicero and Cato, faced a power far greater than themselves, but were steeled by the cause of liberty. Regardless of how history played out, the Founders viewed Cicero and Cato as heroes of freedom and enemies of tyranny.’

The preoccupation in US thinking vis-à-vis Rome, as with nearly everything else, is the idea of a religiously agnostic individual liberty. This will contrast with Russia, as we shall see. But to begin with, we must see what it is that Russia, the Third Rome, inherited from the second Rome, Constantinople:

‘As the historical, lawful descendants of ancient Rome, which was destroyed by barbarians in the fifth century, the inhabitants of Byzantium called themselves Romans. In a vast empire divided into many nationalities there was one faith—Orthodox Christianity. The Byzantines literally fulfilled the Christian teaching of a new humanity living in a Divine spirit, where “there is neither Greek, nor Jew, nor Scythe,” as the Apostle Paul wrote. This hope preserved the country from the destructive storm of ethnic conflict. It was enough for any pagan or foreigner to accept the Orthodox Faith, and confirm it in deed, in order to become a full member of society. On the Byzantine throne, for example, were almost as many Armenians as there were Greeks; there were also citizens of Syrian, Arabian, Slavic, and Germanic origin. Amongst the higher ranks of government were representatives of all peoples in the Empire—the main requirements were their competence and dedication to the Orthodox Faith. This provided Byzantine civilization with incomparable cultural wealth.

‘The only foreign elements for the Byzantines were people who were strange to Orthodox morals and to the ancient Byzantine culture and perception of the world. For example, coarse, ignorant, money-grubbing Western Europeans of the time were considered barbarian by the Romans. . . .

‘We must admit that our own Slavic forebears were no more well-mannered, and also succumbed to the barbaric temptation to get rich quick at the expense of Constantinople’s seemingly inexhaustible wealth. However, to their credit, and fortunately for us, their lust for the spoils of war did not eclipse the most important thing: Russians comprehended Byzantium’s greatest treasure! This was neither gold, nor expensive textiles, nor even art and sciences. The greatest treasure of Byzantium was God.

‘Having traveled the world over in search of the truth and God, Prince Vladimir’s ambassadors experienced only in Byzantium that a true relationship between God and man exists; that it is possible for us to have living contact with another world. “We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth,” said the ancestors of present-day Russians, astounded by their experience of Divine Liturgy in the Empire’s most important cathedral, the Hagia Sophia. They understood just what kind of treasure can be obtained in Byzantium. It was upon this treasure that our great forebears founded not banks, nor capital, nor even museums and pawn shops. They founded Rus’, Russia, the spiritual successor of Byzantium.’

The Russian Rome would go on to develop characteristics unique to herself:

‘When Orthodoxy spread throughout the Russian plains, the Russian soul in its collectiveness [sobornost] sought its own gift of God, which it found by turning to the Mother of God. The Russian people particularly venerate the Mother of God, which distinguishes our country and our traditions of the Orthodox faith. Of course, other peoples also venerate the Mother of God, but the Russian people chose the Mother of God for special veneration and reverence, as the door to the Heavenly Kingdom. The Mother of God was our special Protectress: there was not a single corner of the whole expanse of the former Russian Empire into which some miraculous icon of the Mother of God had not appeared that was venerated either locally or throughout the nation. The entire Russian land was sanctified by these holy icons; the Russian people believed that the Mother of God herself was invisibly present, as it were, at each icon.

‘This is our particularity. We will enter the Heavenly Kingdom through the Mother of God. The Mother of God is always depicted with the infant Christ the Savior. This particularity of icon-painting hearkens back to an ancient tradition that tells of some freethinking and insolent people who, looking at the Mother of God during his lifetime, said: “How can she be the Mother of God? How could she have given birth to God? How is this possible?” Then the Mother of God raised her most pure hands to heaven, seeking the protection of God, just as she is depicted on the Kursk-Root Icon. Then the Lord showed Himself to these disputers of this world in her most pure womb, just as He is depicted on her icon. These cowards, seeing such an incredible miracle, were cast into the fear of God; and the insolent people, who were infected with incurable pride, fled in terror, having seen the Savior’s face as Judge in anticipation of His Second Coming.

‘This is our icon. With the raised hands of the Mother of God it addresses all non-believers and believers alike, that they might learn to fear disbelief. This best witnesses to our entire people that the Mother of God is truly the Theotokos, that she truly bore our God and Savior.

‘The particular Russian piety for venerating the Mother of God is a response to the Russian soul’s age-old yearning to perceive God’s grace, which cannot be reduced to an abstract concept, distinctly and actually. The Mother of God also showed her protection to such great saints as our St. Sergius of Radonezh, to whom she appeared more than once, and in more recent times to St. Seraphim of Sarov. Recall how St. Seraphim, sitting on a log in the dense forest, revealed God’s grace to Motovilov distinctly and actually. St. Seraphim embraced him and suddenly the grace of the Holy Spirit moved from the saint to Motovilov who, perceiving God’s grace in fear and trembling, felt as though he were not on earth but in heaven.

‘This is what the Russian people seek: it desires to perceive God’s grace actually and completely. This is the ideal of the Russian soul.’

Thus, in contrast with the American Rome, the preoccupation of Russian Rome is not with worldly ideologies about individual liberty but with acquiring and experiencing the Grace of God.

These two Romes are fulfilling the legacies they inherited: American Rome, like its pagan predecessor, has become an oppressive conqueror, seeking to impose its culture on all its victims. Russian Rome, like Orthodox Constantinople, seeks friendly relations with anyone on the basis of shared spiritual values.

The two ends find expression in the symbols of each Rome. American Rome, like pagan Rome, has a single-headed eagle for its symbol, representing its monoculture that it forces all others to accept. Russian Rome, like the Christian Second Rome, has the double-headed eagle for her symbol, representing a harmonious unity-in-diversity of peoples and their cultures.

And just as the old Roman West once envied New Rome Constantinople and sought to rob her –

‘The capital city’s incalculable wealth, its beauty and elegance, amazed all the European peoples, who were still barbarians at the time when the Byzantine Empire was in its apogee. One can only imagine—indeed, history records it as such—how crude, ignorant Scandinavians, Germans, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons, whose chief occupation at the time was primitive sacking and pillage, after arriving from some town like Paris or London (which had populations of some tens of thousands) to this megalopolis of millions, a city of enlightened citizens, scholars, and elegantly dressed youths crowding imperial universities, dreamt of only one thing: invading and robbing, robbing and invading. In fact, when this was actually accomplished in 1204 by an army of Europeans calling themselves Crusaders, who, instead of freeing the Holy Land treacherously sacked the most beautiful city in the world, , Byzantine treasures were carried away in an uninterrupted flow over the course of fifty years.’

– so now pagan American Rome eyes Russian Rome with the same envious look (mainly her natural resources).

May the Mother of God, dear to Russians, through her Softener of Evil Hearts icon, turn the peoples of the States to repentance, to friendship with Russia, and to acceptance of the same Apostolic Faith of the Orthodox Church:

‘“Softener of evil hearts”… What a great deal of hope there is in the name of this icon: hope that someday justice will triumph on earth, that people will become kind and charitable, will begin to love one another. How difficult that is in our embittered world, and sometimes the mere sight of someone else’s suffering is enough to soften our own evil hearts…

‘This Icon is also called the “Simon’s Prophecy” icon. . . . It was after he had blessed St. Joseph and the Most-immaculate Mother of the Savior, that he addressed Mary with that same prophecy: “Behold, this child is set for the falling and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sin which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Just as Christ would be pierced with nails and a spear, so the soul of the Most-pure One would be pierced by a certain weapon of sorrow and pain in the heart, when she saw her Son’s suffering. After that, the heretofore hidden thoughts of the people regarding the Messiah would be revealed, and they would face a choice: to be with Christ, or against Him. Such an interpretation of Symeon’s prophecy became the subject of a number of icons of the Theotokos. All those who turn to them in prayer sense that with the softening of evil hearts comes an easing of spiritual and physical suffering. People come to recognize that when they pray for their enemies before such icons, their feelings of enmity are softened, and that internecine strife and hatreds abate, giving way to kindness.’

≈≈

Sakerites will remember our author Walt Garlington, mellifluous voice of the American South. I lived almost a decade of my life in Virginia, among most pleasant folks in USA like the Pacific NW, endearing me to southerners. He is a landscape artist like Batiushka, whom we also miss

Global South

Axis of Asymmetry In Da House!

“The Houthis down a $30 million MQ-9 Reaper with a 10k missile.
Axis of Asymmetry in da house.” — Pepe Escobar

with thanks from FiveGunsWest and penned by Bones!

“I had to go to the black soil of Novorossiya to watch where the rules-based international order came to die,” — @RealPepeEscobar told the #NewRulesPodcast

“So the cowardly genocidals say Lula is persona non grata in Israel.”

“Lula did not assassinate 29k+ Palestinians – and counting, the overwhelming majority women and children.”

“History will eventually judge the genocidals as personae non grata for all of humanity.”

“ADVEEVKA.”

“Everything in Donbass is always pregnant with meaning.”

“Russian soldiers plant flags on the monument to USSR heroes – many from Donbass – who fought the Nazis in 1943.”

“History repeating.”

As much as I think Hypocracy Now is pretty much complete BS, it must also be pointed out it is also covered by CNN, another bastion of CIA rodents.

“Americans are watching CNN and just learning they are the bad guys. LOL.”

“Evidence of a plot to murder a citizen of another country, in the embassy of a third country, located in the sovereign nation of another country.”

“Not sure how many intl laws that breaches but just asking is conspiracy.” – @JerryTakesChina

From Vice News;

“As international conflicts and natural disasters rage on, billionaires are now looking toward self-preservation—by investing in multi-million dollar bunkers complete with water cannons and a moat that sets on fire in case of intruders.”

Umlait the Bumbo Klat sez:

“Billionaires: when the shit hits the fan and we aren’t stuck toiling away in your trinket factories; all we will have is time. And anger. Lots of anger.”

“Imagine how fun it will be to haul these evil pussies out of their bunkers after overwhelming their defenses.”

“Funny thing is…life in a bunker will inevitably become completely miserable, and they will understand that all they’ve done is create a fancy prison, occupied with a bunch of people they do not love.”

The Houthis’ Allah is kicking the shit out of the West’s pretend Judeo-Christian Super Friends Dept.

From @Wire Dispatch:

“#Yemen #Houthis are the first entity in the history of the world to use anti-ship ballistic missiles ever, against commercial and #US navy ships, in addition to being the first to have a ballistic missile interception in Space.”

I don’t yet now what the interception in space is but I’m sure we’ll find out.

Military Overload opines thusly –

“Yemens “Houthis” Capture American Recon Submarine: #Yemen | #Houthis

“The Yemeni Houthis have seized the American Remus 600 unmanned underwater vehicle.

“This is regarded as one of the most advanced underwater reconnaissance units in the United States.”

The fellator capitalist press says this about that …

$1.3 million apiece.

“One of the most capable Hydroid UUVs is the REMUS 600, a torpedo-shaped underwater drone designed to carry a large payload of sensors to great depths for meteorological and oceanographic surveying. The MK18 Mod 2 Kingfish, a variant of the REMUS 600, costs the Navy around $1.3 million apiece.”

The reverse engineering is going to be great. Soon the entire Global South that wants them, shall have them.

Add up these costs to USUK and it’s astronomical with all these sunken and damaged ships.

The self-proclaimed greatest power on earth and their lap poodle are being house trained about life on the planet by the down trodden. If nothing else, these brave and valiant men are putting the world on notice that the US is a paper leech and not a tiger.

If you live in the US you’ve been bullied, one way another, all your lives. Where do you think garage and punk rock came from? Most of us want to be left alone. Some will violently oppose anything that interferes with their rights to privacy and the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

One must admit that their shitty lifestyle, at this point, depends on Uncle Spam fucking over the world.

From the point of view of making people around the world realize what a modern liberal-democratic dictatorship is, which is vividly represented in today’s US ruling class. VVP

The FWG palatial estate and experimental farm has been woe beset with three atmospheric rivers as of late. Many structures damaged. Two missing animals, presumed dead. One missing for four months returns. Intense coyote predation. A rodent invasion. We’re a flooded island in the mountains.

Marty and friends will be glad to know I hadn’t set my Cuban tobacco plants out yet. Other larger plants were damaged as was the barn roof. We have a lot to accomplish in little time on our hands.

Our STEM kiddie tried to AI automate the blog. You could set parameters for comments, whether or not you were kindly disposed to someone or not. The thing went completely apeshit, like it was drunk, flinging complements out left and right. So, you know, the marriage proposals are null and void.

STRATPOL

L’armée russe prend la ville d’Avdeïevka, l’agglomération de Donetsk complètement libérée

Samedi, les troupes russes ont pris le contrôle total d’Avdeïevka. Les forces armées ukrainiennes ont transformé cette banlieue nord de

L’article L’armée russe prend la ville d’Avdeïevka, l’agglomération de Donetsk complètement libérée est apparu en premier sur STRATPOL.

Global South

Real-Life Economic Solutions

Political economists Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson discuss realistic alternatives to the neoliberal model of financialization, and tangible policies to build a productive, sustainable economy.

Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson at The Geopolitical Economy Hour

Video:

Podcast:

Transcript:

RADHIKA DESAI: Hello, and welcome to the 22nd Geopolitical Economy Hour, the show that examines the fast-changing political and geopolitical economy of our times. I’m Radhika Desai.

MICHAEL HUDSON: I’m Michael Hudson.

RADHIKA DESAI: And working behind the scenes to bring you this show every fortnight are our host, Ben Norton, our videographer, Paul Graham, and our transcriber, Zach Weisser. We all urge you to click the Like button, if you like what we are doing, share it on social media, and subscribe to our work by hitting the Subscribe button.

In our last show, which we entitled “The Debt Explosion: How Neoliberalism Fuels Debt Crises“, we promised that our next show would be about what the solution is, what is the solution to the myriad problems that we were describing. And that is indeed what we are going to discuss today.

The solution, we feel, in the United States and in all countries that have gone down the road of neoliberalism and financialization involves a root and branch reform of the financial system. And this would be the foundation for the urgent economic transformation. It will be the single largest component of the economic transformation that so many of us realize we also badly need.

We must reorient the financial system away from the sort of predatory lending and speculation that we described last time, the sort of predatory lending and speculation on which it has come to rest for the past five decades, and increasingly so over the last five decades.

It has to reorient away from that and towards lending for more sustainable production, pure and simple, and the sustainable production of the goods and services which everyone needs. This involves transforming the very basis of our money and credit system.

And given the link between the US financial system and the dollar’s world role, it would also involve ending that role and setting up an international monetary system for the world on the basis of cooperation among the different countries of the world.

Most Americans, I mean this may surprise many Americans, because they are all invited to feel rather proud of their dollar’s world role. However, precisely those who invite American citizens to feel proud of their role are hiding the fact that it is precisely this financial system or it is precisely this world role and the financial system that underpins it that has undermined the US’s productive economy and its capacity to create well-paying, skilled and meaningful jobs for most people in the United States.

Most people in the rest of the world have been asked to regard the dollar’s world role as natural and inevitable. But as Michael and I have shown repeatedly in so many shows, it is anything but natural and inevitable. It is indeed instead unstable, volatile, crisis-prone and profoundly exploitative.

The dollar’s world role has always rested, as we have argued in our shows and our writings, on an attempted and never successful imperialism, and it has to give way to international cooperation for universal development and planetary sustainability, and the international monetary and financial system that promotes production, sustainability, equality and a broad-based prosperity, a broad-based well-being, let’s say, if not prosperity.

The ultimate goal has to be economies in which money plays as small an independent role as possible, where most things are available as entitlements in kind, whether it’s food, clothing, housing, education, transport, culture, goods produced publicly and equitably and provided in adequate quantity and quality with a view to sustainability.

However, to get there from here, from our very highly financialized economies, transformations are necessary in a number of spheres.

So today we want to focus on some of the main elements of this transformation, and one way to summarize what these elements would be is we’ve tried to divide our conversation into the following topics: Who should create money? What should monetary policy aim for? How do we redesign the taxation system? What about land, rent and so on? Should we nationalize the land and eliminate rent? How should the financial system be regulated? What should replace debt? Obviously, income rather than credit. And finally, how should international money be reorganized? So that’s what we want to discuss today.

So Michael, why don’t you start us off by just offering some thoughts on what should money creation look like in the different type of economy we’re talking about now?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, the key word that you used was system. And a system has many dimensions of the solutions. And so all the points that you mentioned are various parts of the overall system that we’re trying to put together. There’s not one single reform that can cure the problem.

And the problem basically is that most money is issued by commercial banks, not by the government. And bank credit, as we’ve discussed in the last episode, is largely created for the wrong things. It’s created against housing to inflate housing prices. It’s granted for corporate takeovers.

One thing bank credit is not issued for is to build new factories and to employ labor and to increase economic growth. That’s the job of the government when the government treasury creates money to spend into the economy for functions that are supposed to serve society and serve economic growth.

But when a government lends money, it’s for very different reasons. It’s for the real economy. And when banks lend money, it’s for the financial overhead economy. And that’s why we would like to see all money created basically by the Treasury.

And of course, if the loans are lent out by commercial banks, if they are the agents of the government, they will get credit and the ability to issue credit from the Treasury, but really not from the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve was created to get rid of the Treasury in 1913. The Treasury wasn’t even allowed on the Federal Reserve. Most people don’t realize that before there was a Federal Reserve here, all of the functions that are now done by the Fed were created by the Treasury.

And that’s the same in most countries. Every country that has a central bank is to essentially take power away from the government to spend money into the economy, to insist that the government should run a balance and not create money and force everybody to depend on bank credit for whatever they need.

And the bank credit, as we’ve described before, is not very helpful. And so money is created by running into debt for a commercial bank.

We want money created by the Treasury where it does not involve this kind of debt. There are many ways of doing it.

If the commercial banks acted like savings banks, 100 percent reserve, then they would essentially be reliant on the government to create their credit for the kind of thing that the treasury creates credit for, for growth.

And so if you look at the solution, what is the problem that you’re trying to solve? The problem is to minimize the debt overhead and to maximize economic growth.

RADHIKA DESAI: Absolutely. And just, you know, you’ve said so many interesting things, Michael, and I just, you’re prompting me to say a few things in this response.

So what are the implications of what we’re talking about here is that essentially the government would be, because it is the main issuer of money, it would be capable of lending to itself the money that it needs, whether to build roads or schools or hospitals or what have you. And for that matter, engage in all sorts of sustainability initiatives, whether it is protecting forests or transforming the fossil fuel economy into a different type of economy. All of these investments can be made. So that’s the first thing.

And so the key here in terms of the creation of money is to take away the power that has been given by governments to the private sector to create money as credit and essentially create instead money as cash on the part of the government, minimizing the role of credit and therefore also minimizing the kind of indebtedness that has been so problematic for economies.

This would then also lead to the merging of essentially fiscal policy and monetary policy, because in the sense that, you know, today the two are divided because in order to expand government spending, governments are told that they have to borrow from private creditors. This will no longer be the case.

And finally, thirdly, you know, central banks, you know, a lot of people, I mean, I’m against what the Federal Reserve has been doing for a very long time. But having said that, central banks are necessary because there has to be some institution that mediates the relationship between the national currency and the currency of other countries.

So typically, historically, central banks have had three roles: number one, to maintain the external value of your currency; number two, to set the interest rates; and number three, to regulate the financial sector.

So obviously, the first function is, of course, important. And the way in which it will be different in the scenario that we are talking about, the kind of anti-financialization scenario, is that the maintenance of the external value of the currency would not just be governed by the need to keep the value of the currency high in order to enable rich people to benefit from it. Sometimes devaluation may be necessary because that is what will be necessary to expand employment, etc.

As far as setting interest rate is concerned, the simple fact should be, as the old adage goes, credit should be cheap, but not easy. And I think that’s the way in which this should be run.

And finally, the whole regulation of the financial sector, I mean, this is exactly where the Federal Reserve in particular, and many other central banks that have permitted vast degrees of financialization to occur, have essentially abused their power. Because instead of regulating the financial sector in the interest of a productive economy, they have regulated it in such a way as to permit financialization and predatory lending.

And the whole nature of financial regulation will have to change radically, and go back to something like what it was in the aftermath of the Depression-era banking legislation that was implemented in the United States.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, you pointed to another product of the banks, and that’s junk economics, pretending that the bank credit fuels economic growth and that it does so in a way that promotes stability.

But what it really does is financial parasitism, a debt overhead. You mentioned cash, and that you want to replace the bank credit with cash. What you mean, basically, is like the paper money in your pocket.

The government would spend the equivalent of paper money by any kind of government-created credit through the Treasury or through Treasury banks, or even by commercial banks acting like savings banks with the savings coming from the government.

The distinguishing feature of the paper money you have in your pockets that’s different from bank credit is the paper money doesn’t have to be repaid. Nobody is going to somehow repay your currency and say, I’m going to cash it in. You cash in a $10 bill, you get two $5 bills. But bank credit does have to be paid and comes with interest.

The Treasury credit does not have to entail this huge increasing debt overhead that banks create. That’s basically it. It’s this debt overhead that actually, as we will discuss later, deflates the economy instead of inflates it.

Bank credit inflates prices for assets, for houses, for stocks and bonds. But it deflates the economy by making people spend more and more of their income on debt service to buy the higher-priced houses or to buy the higher-priced retirement income that the banks bid up.

RADHIKA DESAI: Michael, I think that you’re absolutely right that this is exactly what’s going on right now. However, in our past programs, one of the things we have emphasized is that, historically, this was not the case even in the United States in the immediate post-War period. It was a very different type of banking system which did lend for productive expansion.

And it’s only really sort of in the ‘60s and particularly from the ‘70s onwards that the kind of deregulation we have witnessed have converted the bank lending into lending essentially for mortgages and the kind of lending you’re talking about.

And of course, the other thing we’ve emphasized is that historically in countries like Germany or Japan or China today, the banking system is very different. And it is geared not towards lending for mortgages, et cetera, alone, but rather lending for productive activities. And so there is a different model. And that’s the model that we need to go for.

I just wanted to add one other point, which is that, of course, when you talk about increasingly taking away the right, [or] the franchise, that has been given to private financial institutions to create credit, create money in the form of credit.

One of the subjects that has become increasingly discussed these days is, of course, that today we can, in fact — the system of government creating money can be made far more efficient thanks to information technology, which is why so many central banks are looking at central bank digital currencies.

Now, the thing to remember about anything you read about central bank digital currencies is that a large part of the discourse is affected by the need to placate the financial sector, which would be wiped out — the private financial sector would be wiped out if you had central bank digital currencies. And I’ll explain why in a minute.

But so it’s either those who are trying to sort of create the world in favor of it, but they are afraid of the power of private finance. They articulate their discourse in a way as to placate private finance. And of course, private financial interests are dead set against the creation of central bank digital currencies.

But on the other hand, precisely because other countries, countries like China and so on, are going to look at it and may well be in the forefront of implementing it. Other central banks have to look at what’s being done and look at its potential. So this is what you have to understand.

Now, the reason why the private financial sector is dead set against creating central bank digital currencies is very simple. Historically, the existence of a private financial sector has been justified by saying that, well, the central bank cannot have, you know, a presence in every locality.

So the idea has been that in order to create a dispersed financial system, you should have private, you should allow private banks to set up shop wherever it is needed. And all you then have to do is regulate it. And we’ve seen what has happened to that regulation, particularly over the past five decades.

But now, essentially, information technology allows every person to have an account directly with the central bank. And therefore, the central bank can essentially regulate, central banks can essentially regulate the money system in a much more tactile way than was ever possible without the intermediation of private interests.

And this would also have a further effect, which is that, you know, today there is a so-called financial exclusion. A number of people who are excluded from having bank accounts, etc., they would be included. And there are a number of people who are excluded from participating in payment systems like credit cards and so on, because they are unable to get them.

But if the government creates a payment system, then everybody could use it without the sort of usurous credit card charges that are essentially charged by central banks.

So, in this way, central bank digital currencies can be part of the solution.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Okay, next topic.

RADHIKA DESAI: Okay, next topic. So, what should monetary policy aim for?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, we were going to, the monetary policy has to go hand in hand with tax policy. It always does, because what gives money its value is its ability to be accepted in payment of taxes.

One of the problems is that banks have led the fight for the last 100 years against progressive taxation. And the result has been that banks have united with the landlords and monopolies to create monopolies to finance an absentee ownership class.

And essentially, instead of following the classical economics that we discussed last time, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill, and Marx and the others, instead of making economic rent the basic tax base, land rent, monopoly rent, and financial rent, the banks have led the fight to untax real estate and to untax land because they know, they say, there’s all this economic rent, this free lunch, the advantage of price over and above the cost of production, purely empty prices, monopoly prices, when monopolies raise the price of your pharmaceuticals or when stores raise the price of groceries, the banks want all of this monopoly rent for themselves.

And so if the government were to pursue anti-monopoly regulations, or if it was to do the classical policy of taxing the land, then there would be two results: number one, the land tax would not be paid to the banks and not be capitalized into higher housing prices; and number two, the price of housing would be kept down, the price of monopoly goods would be kept down, the price of doing business would be kept down because this excess economic rent, which means empty pricing, which means free lunch, would not be paid to the banks as its major source of income.

And we’ve talked before, last time, about how 80% of bank loans are mortgage loans. So the whole idea of progressive taxation is not simply taxing incomes higher, it’s taxing a particular kind of income higher, bad income, unearned income, economic rent income, not wages, not corporate profits.

The original American income tax in 1913, along with the Federal Reserve, didn’t tax wages, and it didn’t tax normal small businesses. It taxed the wealthy bankers and the wealthy real estate owners and the monopolists. And the last century has been moving away from this because banks became the mother of trusts, as they used to be called. Banks became the main fighters against any kind of economic progress toward the kind of free markets that the classical economists talked about.

So we’re not going to go into value, price, and rent theory here, but if you’re looking at the principles of credit reform and bank reform, you want to ask, how does this affect the relationship between the prices that people have to pay and what it actually costs to build a house? The land is provided freely by nature. The locations are more valuable than others. But banks don’t create this money, but they get all the rent for it, just like before the 20th century, landlords used to get all the rent for it.

You want to fulfill the fight that the classical economics had to free the economies from the legacy of feudalism. Banks want to restore a kind of feudal economy where the richest people live off rent, rentiers. They live off interest, off landlord rent, and monopoly rent. And you want to get rid of that, and that’s what makes socialist economies so much more cost-efficient than finance capitalist economies. There are hardly any industrial economies anymore, except for the socialist economies. And if you want to say, what is a socialist economy? It’s an industrial economy free of the rentier class.

RADHIKA DESAI: Well, exactly, and this reminds me of a point that I made earlier, and this is very, very important. Just as you pointed out, these days, bank credit is designed to inflate the value of already existing assets. And in fact, in doing so, it tends to strangulate the production of new goods and services, which people need. So I call this a form of necromancy, the love of the dead, because the already existing goods whose values are being inflated, whether they are houses or fine wines or pictures or what have you, this is dead labor. And in order to inflate the value of dead labor, you are strangulating the exercise of living labor without which no economy can prosper. So that’s one point.

And before we move away from the issue of monetary policy, I just wanted to also share my screen once again and just remind people of how absolutely awful monetary policy has been for such a long time. So this is just a graph of U.S. interest rates and historically from 1955 onwards. And you see that there have been various periods of very high interest rates. This is us right here with the big increase in interest rates.

And all these increases in interest rates have been designed to strangulate the economy, to induce recessions, so that the value of existing money and of existing assets will be preserved rather than being undermined in any way. And this is precisely what we have to avoid.

And this type of policy is followed because it is believed, as Milton Friedman claimed, that inflation is everywhere and every time is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. That is to say, it results from creating too much money. So you have to stop creating money. You have to decrease money supply, increase interest rates and essentially strangulate the economy.

In reality, inflation is a supply problem. And if prices of certain things are going up because there is not enough supply, the best thing a government can do is to organize the supply, either incentivize the private sector to produce it or go into the production of those goods and services on its own. And this is the way to deal with inflation, not by strangulating the economy, as has been done in the past.

And as we are continuing to do so, one of the things you will have noticed is that even today, Jeremy Powell has said that he would like to decrease interest rates, but he’s not sure exactly when. Why? Because the U.S. economy is doing too well. I mean, consider the absolute, how can you say, obscenity of this. But that is what monetary policy is doing right now. And again, in the kind of economy we are talking about, the economy which will solve these problems, we will not have that kind of monetary policy. We will instead recognize that inflation is not always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, that it is a phenomenon bound up with production and it will be attacked as such.

Michael, do you want to add anything else to the monetary policy matter before we go on to the next question?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Yes. The reality is just the opposite. The deflation is everywhere a monetary problem. The function of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School is to make sure that people are confused and do not understand how the economy works. You want to produce students that end up like Paul Krugman, not people who understand what Radhika and I are taking.

You can say just as well that increased money creates deflation. How does this work? If most bank credit is created to increase the price of housing, to lend against houses and raise the price of housing, that is going to increase the amount of money that people have to pay for housing.

From 1945 to 1980, 25% of American income was what you would pay for a mortgage or for rent. Today it’s up to 43%, guaranteed by the government and even higher for many people. If you have to raise the amount of your income from 25% to 43% to pay the banks for mortgage credit, you’re going to have to cut back your spending on goods and services accordingly.

In the 1930s, this was called debt deflation. Everybody knew what it was. Irving Fisher wrote a great article on debt deflation. My book, Killing the Host, describes debt deflation. The banks try to say, no, no, money inflates the economy and our credit helps employ labor and raise wages, but when we create too much, meaning when wages go up, then we have to step it back down. The worst thing that can happen to an economy for a banker is for wages to go up. The banker wants wages to go down, so the banker wants all the money to be paid as interest in the economy.

Somehow they can turn everything upside down. What you get in the press and the politician speeches is an inside-out economics, not realizing that bank credit deflates the economy, causes unemployment, and that’s how the Federal Reserve manages the banks to make sure that wages don’t grow, that housing prices grow, that rents grow, that money paid to the banks grows, but not money paid to labor or to industry. Because if you had industrialization, if America was still a manufacturing economy, there would be higher employment for labor, and that’s not what the class war is all about in a financialized economy.

RADHIKA DESAI: Exactly. Just one side point, Michael. You and I were discussing this a few days ago. You had written a book called Junk Economics, and you were doing a search on whether you were the first to use the term junk economics, and you found, no, somebody else had used the term before, and guess who that person ended up being? It was me.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because I wrote this book, Geopolitical Economy, in which a large part of my narrative actually rests on reading the economic reports of the president. As the U.S. economic policy became more and more essentially neoliberal, financialized, etc., which could not be justified on any sane basis, the economic discourse emanating from the highest places of the administration could be seen to be visibly deteriorating. It made less and less economic sense. I used the term junk economics when I was giving a presentation based on chapter 9 of that book, which covered the George Bush Jr. period, and I said that by this time the level of irrationality of economic policy had risen to such a great extent that essentially what was essentially a bubble economy was justified as being just perfectly fine on the basis of what I call five tall tales, that the highest, best-paid economists of the country were telling Americans and the rest of the world why they should keep investing. This is essentially when you create a junk economy, then you need junk economics to justify it, and that’s what we’ve had so far.

Having said that, Michael, you already have touched on our third question, which is how do we redesign taxation? I think you have some really important things to say about this, so go ahead.

MICHAEL HUDSON: As I said, should I repeat myself? You want to tax economic rent, not value. Value is created by labor. You don’t want to tax labor, because if you tax labor, the employer has to pay a higher price, and if the price of labor is what determines what goods industrial products are sold for, the more you tax labor and the more you tax industry, then the less competitive you are in the world, and you lose out to countries like Asia or countries that are not post-industrialized, but continue to industrialize. That’s basically it.

Interest is an element of cost. Debt service is an element of cost. If you have to pay higher interest, then, of course, this is the cost of production, and the American economy, by being taken over by the banks, has made itself so high-cost an economy that that is what has de-industrialized the economy. The only way that you can re-industrialize the economy is to prevent all of this unearned income, this free lunch income, the land rent, the interest charges, the monopoly rent. You want to prevent that from being subsidized by the politicians that are put in place by bank contributions so that all of this rent can be paid to the banks.

If there is unearned income, obviously some houses and some locations are going to be better. You want this to be the tax base. If it’s the tax base, it’s not going to be capitalized into higher prices.

RADHIKA DESAI: You mean a land tax?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Yes, a land tax primarily.

Also, you don’t want to charge for student loans. You don’t want students to say, OK, I want to get a job, I’ll go to college, I’ll pay $40,000 a year, and I’ll come out owing so much money that I can’t afford to buy a house and I can’t afford to buy many of the goods and services I produce. They’re not even producing many goods and services because those are basically industrial services and they’ve all been moved offshore.

It’s not that foreign countries have stolen this industry. It’s that America said we don’t want industry that employs labor because you’d have too high employment and you’d have high labor prices and we’re running the economy and we want the money, not labor. We bankers and monopolists and billionaires want all the money for ourselves, not labor. That’s why we’re moving it offshore to keep wages down because we want a low-wage economy. That’s what we call an efficient economy, an economy where people can’t afford higher education, an economy where people can’t afford housing because they’re paying us. They take out student loans that we get the money from. That’s the kind of economy that economists say is efficient. Another word for it is race to the bottom, and that’s the kind of economy we have.

RADHIKA DESAI: Absolutely. And just one final point on redesigning taxation. What Michael is saying essentially is that instead of taxing earned income, particularly labor income, what should be taxed is land, and that should be the main basis on which— and the rationale for this is very simple.

Basically, land becomes more valuable not because of anything you’ve done. Imagine I own a piece of land. I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it’s in a sleepy, faraway place in the country, and it’s really worth very little. And then somebody discovers that there is some new mineral that can be found on my land. Well, with me having done nothing to earn it, suddenly I become the beneficiary of a vast inflation in the price of my land. And ideally, since this discovery itself is a result of broader social processes, society as a whole should benefit from the increase in the value of the land, and that’s why the land tax makes sense.

I mean, you can have other scenarios as well. You can have a scenario in which imagine that I bought a piece of land for next to nothing, and then 10 years down the road, the government decides to put a bus route near it or put a railway line near it. Suddenly the value of my land would go up for my having contributed nothing because of broader social processes. So on the whole, the value of land tends to fluctuate as a result of this. And so neither should people not unduly benefit from such increases in valuations, and nor should they suffer from decreases in valuation. And that’s why a land tax makes sense, because the increases and decreases in the value of land is a result of broader social processes for which the government should take the benefit and also the hit. So I think this is one thing.

And the only other thing I would say about taxation is that, of course, in the first instance, we want progressive taxation. That is to say that the absurd and obscenely high incomes and wealth of the people we have become so rich on the basis of the last 50 years of economic policy should, of course, be taxed.

But in the long run, the aim should be to depress the differentials in wages as well. There’s absolutely no reason why somebody should make hundreds of times more money than somebody else. It simply doesn’t make sense. They’re not a hundred times better. They’re not hundreds of times more intelligent. They’re not working hundreds of times harder, etc., etc.

Michael, please.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Modern monetary theorists, as you know, say that it’s not necessary to tax, that the government can simply create money without taxing. But even if the government could create money, there’s a good reason for taxing. Some taxes are necessary because taxes prevent unearned wealth from being created.

For instance, here in New York, they spent a few billion dollars on extending the subway on the Upper East Side a few miles in a very high-rent, high-housing district where a lot of wealthy people live. When the subway was finally built along 2nd Avenue, housing prices and rents went up all along the line. So all of a sudden, the landlords got a free lunch. Radhika was just talking about landlords getting money for nothing. This is an example. They got a free lunch. The city could have said, OK, by building this subway line, we’ve created a much higher valuation for rents because people now don’t have to walk so far to the subway and they’re willing to pay for that. But instead, the transit authority raised the fares and stopped paying money to maintain the switches throughout the system. The system throughout all the rest of the city decayed. Fares went up, and the city did not recover this money from the absentee landlords who made a killing off the $2 billion that America paid.

You don’t want people to make money that way. You don’t want money to be taken by people who will then bribe the politicians or not bribing, but contribute to their political campaigns and mounting attack ads on their opponents and distort the economy. So the failure to tax economic rent, the failure to tax land rent and bank financial gains is you let a class develop whose economic interests are in fighting against the economy as a whole and turning the economy into getting wealth by unearned income, getting wealth by financial maneuvering and by rent-seeking, as economists say, not by actually producing labor and raising living standards, not by industry and improvements in productivity, but essentially not reinvesting in long-term development, research, and the kind of investment that the countries that are actually growing.

And if you look at what the Asian countries are doing, they’re avoiding this. The Asian countries are doing exactly what Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Marx, and the other classical economists defined as a free market. America’s going back towards the kind of 17th, 16th, 13th century. We’re going back to feudalism, not moving out of it.

RADHIKA DESAI: Yeah, I’d only say, by the way, that I personally tend to avoid using the term feudalism for our economic system, because it tends to let capitalism off the hook. I mean, this is what capital, senile capitalism looks like. And so we should, you know, but it’s a terminological problem.

Now, our fourth point was nationalization of land and elimination of rent. And I think we’ve kind of covered that as much as possible. I just wanted to make one small point, which is that, you know, which matters for ordinary people, because a large part of our lives are dominated by things like long commutes. Long commutes happen precisely because of the unfair process of some people benefiting from the increase in the value of land, which again, they have nothing to do with, and essentially pricing people out of living near where they work. And a rational land policy, which would be possible if you had nationalized land, would actually enable people to live near where they work and not suffer from this kind of long commutes and all the distortions of life that that brings, and of course, distortions of productivity that that brings. So it would also be a solution that you’d have a rational location policy, rational location of workplaces, housing, and of course, a rational transportation policy, as a consequence as well.

MICHAEL HUDSON: This is exactly what’s happened in London. Now they can’t afford to live there anymore.

RADHIKA DESAI: Exactly. Okay, so our fifth point was financial regulation to prevent speculation and predatory lending. So do you want to start off with anything there?

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, basically, speculation is a function of how much credit will the Federal Reserve let banks lend against. Donald Trump could buy huge swaths of real estate for putting down no money at all. And most of the private capital companies are able to say, here’s a profitable company like Sears Roebuck, or Toys R Us, lend me the money to buy it, and I will pay you interest on it, and I’ll buy it, and I will immediately essentially break it up into parts, sell it off, fire the labor force, squeeze labor more, and then leave a bankrupt shell, but you, the banker, and I can get rich off this. That’s basically speculation.

Speculation is making money financially by dismantling an industrial economy. Speculation is taking over a company, borrowing money, using the money to pay out as dividends, using the money for stock buybacks. Speculation is when you buy a company and say, well, look at a company like Boeing. Why is this company spending so much money on engineering aircraft? Let’s not develop a new aircraft. Let’s just take the money that we’re getting already and pay it out as dividends, make stock buybacks, pay it to ourselves, and of course the company is going to go bankrupt and end up crashing in time, but that’s not our problem because we’ll become billionaires by the end of that. We’ll make the banks rich. We’ll get rich. Who needs investments? Let’s just run it all down to the ground.

The whole economy is looking like Boeing right now, and what they’ve done to Boeing, what they’ve done to General Electric has become the model of how to de-industrialize and wreck an economy. They call it speculation, but it’s really debt leveraging. It’s really loading a company down with debt and using its income to pay debt service, not to invest in new capital formation.

RADHIKA DESAI: You know, you say such an important thing about Boeing. Honestly, I remember reading in the Financial Times recently, just as these scandals are coming out about Boeing, that for the last several decades, actually engineers have been refusing to work for Boeing because it’s no longer an engineering firm. It’s a firm that values extraction of value out of whatever carcass is left of that firm and does not emphasize engineering good airplanes as it once used to do. So, this is really quite an interesting point you make.

Several other quick short points. Number one, you know, just a very basic thing, you know, you were talking about how this speculative activity, it happens in a kind of club-like environment. And that reminds me that one of the things I always like to say is that people think that credit relationship is a market relationship. It’s not a market relationship. A credit relationship is effectively a social and political relationship in which you give credit to those who you know. And every model that has been created to try to replace that has essentially either not been practiced by the financial institutions or it has led to huge problems. So, I think that’s the first thing I want to say.

The second thing I want to say is that the best way of preventing speculation was already found and it was found in the United States and it was called the Glass-Steagall Act. And the Glass-Steagall Act said something very simple. We are going to back those parts of the financial system that do not engage in speculation with federal deposit insurance. And if you want to engage in speculation, fine, you can do that. We’ll let you do that, but you do it on your own dime. You do it at your own risk. If you lose money, the Federal Reserve is not going to come and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is not going to come and rescue you. And I think that was fair.

And they didn’t stop speculation, but it sure contains speculation to a very, very small number of people and a very small amount of money, et cetera, et cetera.

But beginning with the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and before it was repealed, it was also softened up quite a bit, beginning with the repeal of Glass-Steagall, the Federal Reserve has created a situation in which the big banks, which sit on your and my money, the billions and billions and trillions of dollars, which are made up of your and my small deposits can be thrown into the market for speculation. And as a result of that, what most people don’t realize is that in 2008, all the small boutique banks that used to be the speculative banks, not protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance, were wiped out by the big commercial banks, which were now backed by the Federal Reserve, even though they were engaged in speculation.

I mean, so we know how to do it. We can do it. And I think that it would be not that difficult to do it.

A final point I want to make, you know, we’ve always emphasized that the problem with the financial system is predatory lending and speculation. And I think that, you know, we have had two very distinct periods in the history of neoliberalism and financialization. In the 1980s and 1990s, interest rates were relatively high. And there, basically, you just made money if you had a lot of money, because essentially, you were being paid lots of money just to sit on it with high interest rates. So in that sense, that was one type of, and of course, those who borrowed money paid through the nose for borrowing that money. So it was an era where predatory lending was much more, I mean, still happens, but it was sort of in the lead.

In the, after 2000, what you got were long periods of very, very easy credit, easy monetary policy. And that is what essentially fueled speculation, because it was easy to borrow money. And you, you know, if the margin was, you know, 0.0001%, on that margin, if you just put in a few thousand dollars, you’re not going to make more than a couple of bucks. But if you could throw in millions and millions and billions of dollars into the trade, then you could make a lot of money. And that’s the two different types of economies we had. And all of this is easy to regulate. It’s just a question of finding the political will to do so.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, you use the word market, and that people don’t realize that every economy is some kind of a market. Ancient Babylonia had a market. Briggs and Rome had a market. China has a market. Even Stalinist Russia had a market. The question is, what kind of a market are you going to have? And what’s the relation between prices and the cost of production? And who gets the income? Labor, capital, landlord?

And today, almost all the economists say a market is something where the bank, where the government doesn’t do anything. It’s a free market, meaning the billionaires control the economy. The government will not regulate them. The government will not try to steer credit to be productive. The government will not help the people. It will help the 1% exploit the people. A free market is an economy won by the 1% in an oligarchy where democracy has either no role to play, or if you let the people vote, they don’t understand how the market works and how to create an economic alternative.

So what we’re really talking about in this broadcast is, what kind of a market do you want to have? And where does finance fit into this market? Where does tax policy fit into this market? And how do you then create an alternative?

Well, any economist, Paul Krugman or the New York Times or the entire Council of Economic Advisers will say, with Margaret Thatcher, there is no alternative. But of course there’s an alternative. And that’s what our program is all about. Every few weeks, we’re trying to outline an alternative that it doesn’t have to be this way. Economists say it has to be this way if you want a free market, a free market for the 1% to take whatever they want, to control the banks, to control real estate, to create monopolies, and to extend this all throughout the world so that there’s no country in the world that has a different kind of a market to show that there is an alternative. That’s really the geopolitics of our analysis of how an economy works. And every economy is a market. The question is, do you want an oligarchic market, a democratic market, a productive market, an industrial market, or a financialized market?

RADHIKA DESAI: Exactly, Michael. So well put.

Okay, so our sixth point is expansion of income in place of debt. And my point here is a very simple one. At the moment, we have, over the last five decades and more, we have created a financial system which prioritizes, which strangulates ordinary people’s income and instead invites them to expand credit, to become debtors instead. The kind of economy we are talking about would not do that. It would in fact leave the government free, either to encourage private enterprise or itself engage in the types of investments that will be necessary to increase the incomes of ordinary people. You have what you have by right. The government creates the kind of conditions in which you are able to make a contribution and make a good income, the kind of income you need for a decent standard of living. And the root and branch reform of the existing financial system is the conditio sine qua non of this kind of system. We have to eliminate it if we want to have a kind of economy in which we are capable, every society is capable of producing what it needs, employing its labor to good effect, and so on. So to me, that’s the most important thing to say about this point. Yeah, you agree.

So a final point is the point about international money, moving from the dollar disorder to an international monetary system based on the kind of proposals that Keynes had made. So essentially, maybe just to start us off on the discussion of this, these are the main elements Keynes had proposed to create. Let me just begin with the center and then we’ll move to each one of these things.

But essentially, Keynes proposed to create a new currency. It was not going to be the currency of any country. All countries would continue using their national currencies. But this bancor would be used among central banks to settle imbalances. So if one country imported more from another country over a given year, at the end of that year, if you are clearing the balances, then that country owed a certain amount of bancor to the other country, et cetera, and so on. So bancor was the key thing I want to emphasize here is that bancor was not to be used in ordinary daily transactions. For that, every country would continue using its own currency. Bancor was only international currency to be used by central banks.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Yes. Obviously, something like that should be used today. There are two alternatives. One is the International Monetary Fund special drawing rights. They created an artificial currency, and they did it because the United States said, we’re running a budget deficit because we have 800 military bases all over the world, and we can’t afford them. Give us enough money. But of course, you can’t give us money. In order to give us money to have our military bases to control the world, to make sure there’s no alternative to our kind of free market, you have to give other countries the ability to special drawing rights, too, so that the IMF can lend money to Argentina and the global south so that they can pay for the banks for the balance of payments deficit from following the kind of warped economic growth that the World Bank sponsors, privatization and dependency on American exports.

What we want is indeed an international currency to be used, but it’s not going to be to enable debtor countries to pay the American and European banks. It’s not going to be a currency to finance American military spending. It’s going to be a currency that people will not have to keep their money in dollars anymore.

Imagine you’re Saudi Arabia, and you’d say, we’re getting a lot of pressure from our Palestinian population to support Gaza. But if we support Gaza and don’t support the United States, they’re going to grab all of the money that we keep in the United States. They’re going to do to us what they did to Russia. The United States can grab any country’s foreign reserves if they support a policy that the United States doesn’t support militarily. We need an alternative that is not controlled by the American military and by the American neoconservatives.

Countries do need credit, just like the economy needs credit that we’re urging should be created by the Treasury. What Keynes suggested is the equivalent of an international treasury, but that would lend money for the things that treasuries are supposed to create money for, to promote economic growth, not military spending, not trade dependency, and not a debt-ridden international economy, which is now breaking apart as a result of the last 75 years of IMF and World Bank lending.

RADHIKA DESAI: Great points, Michael. Let me just emphasize one quick thing, though, about SDRs, special drawing rights of the IMF. The problem with SDRs is that while in some respects it looks like a bancor, in a key respect, it is not like bancor, maybe in two key respects. Number one, because it is issued by the IMF, it is still under US control because the US still retains a veto in the IMF. So that’s the first thing.

And the second reason is that, of course, thanks for historical reasons, the IMF and the World Bank are deeply implicated precisely in the US-based financial system, whereas a proper bancor would be extricated from the extremely unproductive, predatory, exploitative, speculative US-type financial system.

You also mentioned, Michael, not creating trade dependency. And another feature of the principles that were embedded in Keynes’s idea of a bancor was the principle of creditor adjustment. Today, we have a situation in which if you are a trade deficit country, you are the one who is forced to adjust. If you owe money, if you’re a debtor country, you are the one that is forced to adjust. But Keynes said that one person’s deficit is another person’s surplus. One country’s deficit is another country’s surplus. And therefore, the two are co-responsible for that situation, and the two must cooperate in order to get out of that situation.

So, for example, take Germany and Greece as a classic example of a persistent surplus country and a persistent deficit country. Germany and Greece have to come up with an agreement to end these persistent imbalances, deficits on the one hand and surpluses on the other, either by Germany investing in Greece, in the Greek economy, in a way as to make it capable of producing more things, which Germans can then buy from them, or by reducing its deficit. Have one way or the other. So, creditor adjustment for both trade flows and capital flows was a very, very important principle.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, we’ve just solved the world’s problem.

RADHIKA DESAI: Well, we still have a couple of other points here. So, anyway, let me just discuss the rest of this and then give it over to you, Michael, for whatever else you want to say. So, a third principle was, of course, that there should be capital controls. That is to say, governments and central banks should be able to monitor and control the inflows and outflows of large amounts of money with a view to ensuring that what was happening would not harm the economy.

So, for example, the kind of inflows of hot money that gave rise to the East Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 would not happen, would not be permitted, etc. So, capital controls were a very, very important principle and that would have to be accepted. And all capital flows that are flowing in and out of the country would be based on what is good for that economy.

The price of Bancor, the value of Bancor was to be set on the basis of the 30 most traded commodities. Today, we may expand the list, maybe 50, 60 commodities, but whatever. The idea being that the prices of commodities, that is to say, primary commodities like wheat or copper or gold or what have you, these were the prices that were the most volatile. And if the value of the currency was based on that, oil, of course, was based on that, then this would provide a kind of stable and acceptable value to the commodities.

And finally, the whole system was to be run — Michael mentioned the equivalent of a treasury. That equivalent was to be the International Clearing Union, which would be a multilateral agency agreed by all countries on the basis of, you know, and whose principles would be to prevent persistent surpluses and deficits and where there were surpluses and deficits, essentially to tax them, both surpluses and deficits, in order to provide financing for development. So, these were some of the principles that Keynes brought to Bretton Woods.

This, if they had been implemented, they would have actually led to the creation of a permanently expansionary world economy because it would have allowed every country to govern its economic fate. But of course, precisely because of that, the United States essentially nixed his plans. And every time there’s a big economic crisis in the world, people recall the sensibleness of Keynes’ ideas.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Well, these ideas that we’ve discussed were all discussed 75 years ago. And there were big political arguments about them. I’ve summarized them in Super Imperialism, a chapter on this. And the result of the way that the world economy was malstructured by rejecting Keynes’ idea was the United States did not want to have economic balance. It wanted all the money for itself. The United States said, we’re the world banker. What does a banker do? The banker impoverishes the rest of the economy to get rich. That’s why you’re a banker. And that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to create an economy, especially to the World Bank, through diplomacy, through military spending, and especially by regime change, so that raw materials prices go down. We’re not only fighting labor, we’re fighting the third world raw materials exporters. We’re fighting the copper producers. We’re fighting the agricultural producers of warm climate tropical crops that we import. We’re fighting everybody who supplies us with what helps our economy so that we can get rich, not them. We can get rich in America and our satellites in Europe by keeping the global South poor, and by keeping Asia poor. There’s not going to be any kind of bancor. There’s not going to be any creditor responsibility for not monopolizing the world gains, because the economic system we want is all about monopolizing the world gains, and that’s what the dollar standard has become.

All of this was foreseen 75 years ago, and because of America’s power after World War II, it was able to establish this regressive, exploitative, unfair economic system that finally today, for the first time, the world is looking back at these principles and saying there is an alternative, while the United States educational system tries to convince economic students that there is no alternative, and the military and the neocons want to say, hey, if you got an alternative, we have some people who can take care of you and have a regime change.

RADHIKA DESAI: Quite so, and you mentioned imbalances, Michael, and one of my favorite points, you reminded me of one of my favorite points about Keynes’s bancor system and the current dollar system. The dollar system relies on imbalances. The greater the imbalance is, the more there will be a demand for dollars, etc., etc. Whereas the genius of Keynes’s — and of course, imbalances create volatility, create crises, and all these things we’ve discussed, all these things in previous shows — the genius of Keynes’s idea was actually that if you reduced imbalances, then the actual amount of bancor that would be needed to make the system work would actually be as little as possible, you know, because ideally, think about it, if you buy $100 worth of goods from me and I buy $100 worth of goods from you, there is nothing, we don’t need money to settle imbalances. The only reason you need bancor is when there are imbalances, and the idea was to reduce imbalances, and the purpose of this was that, again, with credit adjustment, Keynes basically said that, look, if you’re in a stronger position, you should be able to help your partner who is in a weaker position to become productively stronger. That was the whole point, and I would say that it still makes a lot of sense, as you just said, Michael.

So here we are, we’ve dealt with actually all our seven questions, and I hope that we’ve given you something to think about, about the kind of economic system we could have, we could easily have. The most important difficulty is not intellectual, it is political, and as the political legitimacy and power of those who are running the system, particularly in the United States, is visibly declining, cracking, etc., now is the time to strike, now is the time to raise demands for an alternative system, much as, by the way, Jill Stein is doing in her campaign, and I should add that Michael and I are both part of her advisory team, and so please look out for it. We hope to have her on one of our shows very soon, as soon as she is able to find some time, so that we will discuss the kind of economy that the U.S. needs, and I would say if the U.S. turned around, boy, so many other problems would be solved.

So, on that note, unless Michael, you want to add anything, we will end for now, and see you again in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, please like, please share, please give us our comments, please subscribe, and look forward to seeing you next time. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Global South

Chains We Can Believe In

Joe Biden is not mentally competent to stand trial but he is competent to be president

with thanks from FiveGunsWest and penned by Bones!

Bibi Biden and Blinken: That Old Black Magic

“If we don’t stop Israel over there, we’ll have to stop them over here.” – General Cosplay Killmore

LOL. And why not? It makes as much if not more sense than anything these hoodrats in Congress (remember Fetterman if you don’t believe me), the State Department, the Department of War (let’s call a spade a spade – no offense to the fine Russian shovel) and Erectile oops Executive Orifice.

Gang behavior always reflects the dominant paradigm. Simians in the street reflect the apes in power, right Dr. Zaius?

Throw in a little AI (snicker) and transhumansim designed by amoral retards and what could go wrong, right?

“Dr. Zira, I must caution you. Experimental brain surgery on these creatures is one thing, and I’m all in favor of it. But your behavior studies are another matter.

“To suggest that we can learn anything about the simian nature from a study of man is sheer nonsense.

“Why, man is a nuisance. He eats up his food supply in the forest, then migrates to our green veldts and ravages our crops. The sooner he is exterminated, the better. It’s a question of simian survival.” ―Doctor Zaius.

You’ll think this song an odd choice but bear with us. Here at the palatial FGW estate and Home of the Follytechnical Institute, one out of four simians voted for this tune. In America that is a solid majority if not a “landslide victory”, just like the war pig’s overseas victories. Let’s hum along and dance a jig, shall we?

That was so bone chillingly fun (Oh, sink me.) let’s skip part two. War is Pablo Picasso visits the Planet of the Apes.

America Defanged!

I’m from another time zone beset with memories of valor that wasn’t stolen battling goons whose valor was. Those goons are at it again. They’re back, fouler and more stupid than before.

The times themselves call for us to be great. To stand up and say no. To man the barricades if needs be but we quake and we quail. We fail and falter at the altar.

Why? All of us have seen with our own eyes what THEY do to tellers of truth, to those who are not empire simps, are not empire bootlickers. They were all shot or removed in some way.

It hasn’t stopped today. We see it all around us. A list of names, were I to insert them here, would blow up your phone.

“So, what is to be done?”

America Has Dada Issues

“Dada was an artistic and literary movement that began in Zürich, Switzerland. It arose as a reaction to World War I and the nationalism that many thought had led to the war.

“Influenced by other avant-garde movements – Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism – its output was wildly diverse, ranging from performance art to poetry, photography, sculpture, painting, and collage.

“Dada’s aesthetic, marked by its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes, proved a powerful influence on artists in many cities, including Berlin, Hanover, Paris, New York, and Cologne, all of which generated their own groups.

The movement dissipated with the establishment of Surrealism, but the ideas it gave rise to have become the cornerstones of various categories of modern and contemporary art.

“The Dadaists used absurdity as an offensive weapon against the ruling elite, whom they saw as contributing to the war.”

“Banding together in a loosely knit group, these writers and artists used any public forum they could find to challenge nationalism, rationalism, materialism, and any other -ism that they felt had contributed to a senseless war.

“If society was going in this direction, they said, we’ll have no part of it or its traditions, most particularly artistic traditions. We, who are non-artists, will create non-art since art (and everything else in the world) has no meaning anyway.

“I write a manifesto and I want nothing, yet I say certain things and in principle I am against manifestos, as I am against principles. I write this manifesto to show that people can perform contrary actions together while taking one fresh gulp of air; I am against action: for continuous contradiction, for affirmation too, I am neither for nor against and I do not explain because I hate common sense. Like everything else, Dada is useless.”

America is an apartheid state

Our gov’t is NOT legitimate. They aren’t OUR gov’t. They are an occupying force. We, as citizens live in an apartheid nation where a set of inbred clowns enjoy a standard of living we will never be allowed to see.

They are temp workers and nothing more and should be treated as such. See ya.

Global South

The Order of Skull and Bones and US Society

“The Order has so wrecked education that reading comprehension is difficult for many – that’s part of the brainwashing program.” – Antony C. Sutton

Professor Dr. Syed Mujahid Kamran at Daily Pakistan

The Order of Skull and Bones is a highly important secret society that was established in 1833. It has, over the years, provided leaders in U.S. society, including presidents, judges of the Supreme Court, ambassadors, intelligence operators, business leaders, academic administrators, etc. It has persistently and relentlessly moulded the life and thought of the United States of America silently and profoundly. The Order has ceremonial rites such as lying in a coffin, its members are sworn to secrecy, and always deny membership of the society. It is headquartered in a windowless building known as “The Tomb”, where meetings of its members are held in secrecy. The “Tomb” was constructed in 1856. It is one of the four secret societies that exist in Yale University, the other three being Scroll and Key, Wolf’s Head and Elihu. However, it happens to be, by far, the most powerful and most controversial of these four.

“Tapping” the Controllers of the imported Prussian Totalitarian Paradigm for Totalen Krieg

In order to understand the purpose of the Order and its enormous influence, one has to delve into its origins, various interconnections at the very start, and the sources from where its drew its inspiration. In the words of author Kris Millegan, Yale is the place “[W]here three threads of American social history – espionage, drug smuggling and secret societies – intertwine into one.” One of the founders of the Order of Skull and Bones was William Huntington Russell. He was a cousin of Samuel Russell who, in 1823, founded Russell and Company for smuggling opium. Opium, acquired from Turkey, was smuggled by Russell and Company into China. Millegan notes that in 1830 Russell and Company merged with a Boston syndicate known as Perkins, becoming the primary opium smuggler of the U.S. Russell partners included Warren Delano Jr., the grandfather of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Cleve Green who funded Princeton, Abiel Low who financed construction of Columbia, and others. Important partners, who influenced life in the U.S. included Joseph Coolidge, whose son organized the United Fruit Company whose role in South American politics has always been crucial, and whose grandson Archibald C. Coolidge was one of the founders of the Council on Foreign Relations.

William Huntington went to Germany and spent a year studying there (1831-1832). At the time the German society was fermenting with new ideas and a new educational system, based on what was called the “scientific” method, was being developed. It was Johan Wolfgang Fitche who, in an address to the German nation, had declared that children would be taken over by the state and the state would determine what the children should think and how should they think. Fitche was a Freemason, and most likely Illuminati – he had support of the famous Illuminati Johan Wolfgang Goethe. Fitche was succeeded by the famous Hegel, who remained a professor at Berlin University until his death in 1831. It was Hegel who bequeathed the dialectical idea to the world. In the words of Kris Millegan: “To Hegel, our world is a world of reason. The state is Absolute Reason and the citizen can only become free by worship and obedience to the state. Hegel called the state the ‘march of God in the world’ and the ‘final end’. This final end, Hegel said, ‘has supreme right against the individual, whose supreme duty is to be a member of a state.” William Huntington Russell imbibed these ideas and was destined to import Hegelianism into American society.

Alphonso Taft, founder of the Taft political dynasty … Attorney General and Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant

Upon returning to Yale in 1832 William Huntington Russell formed a secret society with Alphonso Taft. The secret society was initially named Scull and Bones. Subsequently the title was revised to Skull and Bones (abbreviated as S&B). Sometimes it is called the Brotherhood of Death. It is known as the Order by its members. Its insignia is the same as that on the flag of a pirate’s ship, with the number 322 printed beneath. The year of founding of this secret society is 1833, the year from which hails the first batch of this secret society. Russell went on to become a general and also became a legislator in Connecticut. Alphonso Taft became Attorney General of the U.S., and subsequently became Minister of War. Taft also was the U.S. ambassador to Austria as well as Russia. His son William Taft, was also a member Skull and Bones and became the Chief Justice as well as President of the United States, the only man in history to occupy these two positions. This indicates the enormous power and influence of this secret society formed by Alphonso Taft and William H. Russell at Yale even in its early phase.

Every year, since 1833, 15 students are selected and offered membership (they are “tapped” as the phrase goes). Membership was all male and white until 1992 when women were admitted, followed by colored members as well as LGBT community members. To date, in over 190 years of existence, the total number of members of S&B is close to 3,000. At any given time, the number of members alive is estimated to be between 500 and 600. The establishment of this society was not something done in isolation in an American institution. At one point Yale students broke into the headquarters of this society and recovered secret documents. One of the documents states: “Bones is a chapter of a corps in a German University . . . General Russell, its founder, was in Germany before his Senior Year and formed a warm friendship with a leading member of a German society. He brought back with him in college, authority to found a chapter here.” While this fascinating document reveals Skull and Bones as a chapter of a German secret society, it still does not reveal the name of the individual with whom Russell formed a friendship, nor does it identify the name of the German society. It even does not specify the name of the university where the parent society of Skull and Bones existed. Since Russell had gone to Berlin University, it is likely that the parent secret society existed in that university. Skull and Bones is chapter 322 of some German secret society. In fact, a list of S&B members supplied anonymously to Antony Sutton shows that in the S&B batch of 1833 the name at number 11 is not mentioned – instead two blank lines appear indicating that this could be the name of the anonymous German connection. Eustace Mullins has remarked that Skull and Bones is a branch of German Illuminati.

The Primary Task: Mold the Minds of Children

The Order of Skull and Bones has worked for promoting a Hegelian set up in the United States, where the state is supreme and individual liberties and rights are subservient to the demands of the state. Further the Hegelian dialectic, thesis versus anti-thesis, generates activity through clash of opposites and their resolution, followed by the generation of new opposites and so on. Members of S&B manage the conflict by being on both sides. John Kerry of the Democratic Party contested presidential elections against the Republican George Bush, when in fact both belonged to S&B! The Order has focused on education with particular fervor as a means of “dumbing down” the American mind. In this regard Kris Millegan writes: “Daniel Coit Gilman (1852) along with two other ‘Bonesmen’, formed a troika which still influences American life today. Soon after their initiation in Skull and Bones, Daniel Gilman, Timothy Dwight (1849) and Andrew Dickinson White (1853) went to study philosophy in Europe at the University of Berlin. Gilman returned from Europe and incorporated Skull and Bones as the Russell Trust in 1856 with himself as Treasurer and William H. Russell as President. He spent the next 14 years in New Haven consolidating the order’s power.”

The focus of the order on education, particularly higher education, can be noticed from the following facts about this troika. Daniel Coit Gilman became the first President of the University of California. He also became the founder President of John Hopkins. Timothy Dwight became President of Yale in 1886, whereas Andrew D. White became the first President of Cornell University. Yale, John Hopkins, Cornell, and University of California are first rate institutions and it is highly significant that these were headed in their initial phases by three members of the Order of Skull and Bones who had gone to Berlin University for studying philosophy. It is likely that many subsequent presidents of these institutions have also been members of the Order of S&B. In fact, Yale is almost always headed by a Bonesman.

In addition to heading academic institutions this troika founded and/or headed other highly important organizations that have had, and continue to have, a profound influence on American society. Gilman was the first president of the Carnegie Institution and founded the Peabody, Slater, and Russell Sage Foundations. White became the first president of the American Historical Association, an organization established for the supremely important purpose of writing sanitized history and incorporating this sanitized history in the syllabi of the history courses throughout the United States. This troika also founded the American Economic Association, American Psychological Association and the American Chemical Society. Millegan states: “Through their influences on John Dewey and Horace Mann, this trio continues to have enormous impact on American education today.” Thus control of higher education has enabled them to control education of the United States at all levels. The number 322 in the emblem of the Order is thought by some to represent 322 B.C. when Greek orator Demosthenes died. This year marked the transition of Athens from a democracy to a plutocracy and is thought to represent the belief of S&B members that the U.S. should also become a plutocracy.

From the list of members provided to Sutton an interesting picture emerges. Initially the most important S&B members belonged to certain family lines. Initially the so-called Old Line families that had settled in Massachusetts in the first half of 17th century and had acquired wealth dominated the Order of S&B. These were the Gilman, the Taft, the Whitney, the Lord, the Stimson, the Perkins, the Bundy and the Phleps families. All these families settled in Massachusetts between 1630-1638, except for the Taft family which came in 1679. To these Old Line families were added families which came later and had acquired wealth in the 19th century. These included the Rockefeller, the Payne, the Harriman, the Davison, the Pillsbury, the Sloane and the Weyerhaueser families. Afterwards came families such as the Bush family which joined S&B during the 20th century.

Antony Sutton writes in his groundbreaking book on the Order: “The Order has either set up or penetrated just about every significant research, policy, and opinion making organization in the United States, in addition to the Church, business, law, government and politics. Not all at the same time, but persistently and consistently enough to dominate the direction of American society. The evolution of American society is not, and has not been for a century a voluntary development reflecting individual opinions, ideas and decisions at grass roots. On the contrary the road direction has been created artificially and stimulated by the Order. Not all organizations know they have been penetrated or used for another purpose.”

Not only have members of the Order the very first heads of several key higher education institutions as mentioned, they have also been key players in various Foundations whose wealth is used for the purposes pursued by the Order. Some Foundations set up and/or headed by members of the Order have already been mentioned. In addition, the Ford Foundation was headed by S&B member McGeorge Bundy from 1966-1979 even though the Ford family had views opposed to the secret societies. The American Society for Settlement of International Disputes was set in 1910 by Theodore Marburg who was its President. But the first Chairman of this society was William Howard Taft of S&B. This society was the precursor of the League to Enforce Peace, which evolved into the League of Nations idea and eventually became the United Nations. The brain behind UNESCO was another S&B member named Archiblad McLeash. These organizations reveal how the influence of the Order has acquired a global dimension, touching each and every nation on the planet! In the U.S., the Institute of Policy Studies evolved, in 1963, out of the 1960 Peace Research Institute established by an S&B member named James Jeremiah Wadsworth.

Members of the Order acquired ownership of highly important media organizations from the very start. Henry Luce of S&B owned the Time Life magazines and their allied publications. John Chipman Farrar (S&B 1918) owned the Farrar Strauss publishing enterprise. Alfred Cowles (S&B 1913) became President of Cowles Communications which owned the Des Moines Register and Minneapolis Starr. Similarly the Atlantic Monthly was owned by an S&B member, etc. The first Director of the Nieman Fund, which awards the prestigious Nieman Fellowship in journalism at Harvard, was an S&B member named Archibakld McLeash. Several hundred Nieman Fellowships have been awarded to date.

Members of the Order of Skull and Bones are found on both sides of a conflict. They supported Hitler as well as Stalin! S&B member Averell Harrimann spent a good deal of time by Stalin’s side during WWII. According to Kris Millegan: “Funding and political maneuvering on the part of ‘Bonesmen’ and their allies helped the Bolsheviks prevail in Russia. In defiance of federal laws, the cabal financed industries, established banks, and developed oil and mineral deposits in the fledgling U.S.S.R.” Webster Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin write: “Following his services to Germany’s Nazi Party, Averell Harrimann spent several years mediating between the British, American and Soviet governments in the war to stop the Nazis. He was ambassador to Moscow from 1943-1946. President Harry Truman, whom Harrimann and his friends held in amused contempt, appointed Harrimann U.S. ambassador to Britain in 1946.” Millegan writes that according to some Harrimann also “oversaw the transfer of nuclear secrets, plutonium and dollar printing plates to the U.S.S.R.”

From the list of members supplied secretly and confidentially to Antony Sutton an interesting picture emerges. Sutton had lists that covered approximately the first 150 years of the existence of the Order. He found that 77% i.e. more than three quarters of the members were concentrated in five areas. These areas are Law (18%), Education (16%), Business (16%), Finance (15%) and Industry (12%). As Sutton observes, these five areas are “the key fields for the control of society.” Although Government and politics account for only 3% of the members this is misleading because, on account of the “revolving door” phenomenon, people in these five fields can temporarily occupy important governmental positions. Sutton further notes; “Notably the areas of society least represented are those with the least ability to influence the structural direction of society.” Thus Sutton could find only five engineers in the list of members in 150 years! Further “Art, architecture and music are underrepresented. We can identify only 16 members in these three occupations in 150 years. Again these occupations are not influential in determining the structure of society. Farmers are under represented, only 16 in 150 years, but we suspect that some took up farming to get away from the Order.”

Around 1985, Vice President George HW Bush came to visit his mother Dorothy Bush on Jupiter Island…

Jupiter Island

George H.W. Bush spent his early childhood with his mother on Jupiter Island in Florida, but this is generally not mentioned. The reason for this has to do with the fact that Jupiter Island had been made “a staging ground for the 1940s takeover of the U.S. national security apparatus” by Averell Harrimann. On account of this the island had become “possibly the most secretive place in America”. It was owned by Permelia Pryor Reed, daughter of Samuel Pryor, chairman executive committee of Remington Arms, and a partner of S&B dominated Brown Brother Harrimann, and her husband, Yale graduate Joseph V. Reed. They bought the entire island, which is about half a mile wide and nine miles long, in 1931. The couple sold the land only to people that would fit in with them.

When George H.W. Bush became President he used to visit Jupiter Island frequently. Webster Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin write: “But for several decades before Bush was President, Jupiter Island had an ordinance requiring fingerprinting of all housekeepers, gardeners and other non-residents working on the island. The Jupiter Island police department says that there are sensors in the two main roads that can track every automobile on the island. If a car stops in a street, the police will be there within one or two minutes. Surveillance is a duty of all employees of the town of Jupiter Island. News reporters are to be prevented from visiting the island.”

Jupiter Island resident Robert A Lovett, a partner of Prescott Bush (S&B 1917) was Assistant Secretary of War from 1941-1945. It was Lovett who was the main American advocate of terror-bombing of civilians. It was Lovett who organized the Strategic Bombing Survey in collaboration with the Tavistock Institute in order to terrorize the civilian population of Germany by such actions as fire-bombing of Dresden. He also advised Lyndon Johnson to carry out such terror-bombing of Vietnam. C. Douglas Dillon, a neighbor of George Bush on Jupiter Island, became undersecretary of State after the death of John Foster Dulles in 1958. From 1953 – 1957 Dillon had been ambassador to France and had coordinated the U.S. backing of the French imperialism in Vietnam. The results of this policy became catastrophic for France and eventually the U.S. and Vietnam and adjoining regions leading to tens of millions of deaths. Jock Whitney, ambassador to Britain, was a neighbor of Prescott Bush on Jupiter Island and set up a propaganda organization for the CIA and the British intelligence.

S & B member Averell Harrimann betrayed John F. Kennedy’s attempts to de-escalate the Vietnam war. James Douglas writes about John Kenneth Galbraith’s proposal to JFK to use the Indian government to communicate with the Communist bloc in the matter. “In response to the President’s order to wire such instructions to Galbraith, Harrimann ‘struck the language of de-escalation from the message with a heavy pencil line’ as scholar Gareth Porter discovered in examining Harrimann’s papers. Harriman dictated instructions to his colleague Edward Rice for as telegram to Galbraith that instead ‘changed the mutual de-escalation approach into a threat of the U.S. escalation of war if the North Vietnamese refused to accept U.S. terms’ thereby subverting Kennedy’s purpose. When Rice tried to reintroduce Kennedy’s peaceful initiative into the telegram Harrimann intervened. He again crossed out the de-escalation proposal, then ‘simply killed the telegram altogether.’ As a result of Harrimann’s obstruction, Galbraith never did receive JFK’s mutual de-escalation proposal to North Vietnam.”

John Kennedy was betrayed during the Bay of Pigs invasion by three leading lights of the CIA: Director Allen Dulles and two Deputy Directors Richard Bissell and Gen. Charles Cabell. Bissell had studied at Yale and had refused an offer to become a member of S&B. However, his brother was an S&B member. All three were to play a role in the JFK assassination as JFK had sacked all three of them for having betrayed him. The real disaster during Bay of Pigs occurred when McGeorge Bundy called off the attack on the surviving T33s of Castro’s air force in violation of explicit orders of JFK. Bundy was a member of Order of S&B. His brother William Bundy was also a member of the Order of S&B. Thus S&B members played a crucial role in subverting JFK’s administration. Antony Sutton et al writes about the Bundy brothers: “The two brothers from their positions in the CIA, the Department of Defense and the State Department and as special assistants to President Kennedy and Johnson exercised significant impact over the flow of information and intelligence during the Vietnam war.” William Bundy became the editor of Foreign Affairs, the quarterly journal of the Council on Foreign Relations while McGeorge Bundy became head of the Ford Foundation.

When Gen. Eisenhower instructed that U2 flights over U.S.S.R. be stopped in view of an impending summit with Khrushchev, it was Bissell who betrayed the orders and managed the U2 flight, flown by Gary Powers, which came down over U.S.S.R. leading to a cancellation of the summit. Donald Gibson wrote: “Richard Bissell was the man who developed and almost certainly played a role in the Gates-Powers mess.” Gates was then secretary of defense. Thus S&B members sabotaged the policy of reduction of tensions with the Soviet Union and at the same time sabotaged JFK’s policy of disengaging from Vietnam, eventually playing a role in his assassination. James Jesus Angleton, the head of the CIA’s counter-intelligence wing, played a key role in the JFK assassination. He was a member of the Order of S&B. Members of the Order were responsible for horrendous bombing of civilians during WWII as well as the Vietnam and subsequently Iraq wars under S&B presidents the Bushes, killing tens of millions of innocent civilians.

The Bohemian Grove: An Elite Satanic Club

The Order of S&B stands for serious and managed or forced population reduction as well as the elimination of those who are poor or weak, or have physical or mental handicaps. George H.W. Bush stated: “The per capita income gap between the developed and developing countries is increasing, in large part the result of higher birth rate in poorer countries … Famine in India, unwanted babies in the United States, poverty that seemed to form an unbreakable chain for millions of people – how should we tackle these problems … It is quite clear that one of the major challenges of the 1970s … will be the curb of the world’s fertility.” This thinking is quite similar to that of Adolf Hitler, with whom S&B members cooperated. Hitler had stated: “Those who are physically and mentally unhealthy must not perpetuate their suffering in the body of their children… The prevention of the faculty and opportunity to procreate on the part of physically degenerate and mentally sick over a period of 600 years would … free humanity from an immeasurable misfortune.” The Order of S&B subscribes to this philosophy.

Averell Harriman’s mother had funded the race-science movement in the U.S. in 1910 because she shared with the Farish family an interest in raising thorough breds among horses, extending the same to humans. Dr. Ernst Rudin of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Genealogy and Demography was brought to New York for the 1932 New York Eugenics Conference arranged by the Harrimanns, where he was unanimously elected president of the International Federation of Eugenics Societies. In 1928 Dr. Rudin had addressed the Federation’s meeting in Munich speaking on “Mental Aberration and Race Hygiene.” According to Webster Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin components of the world eugenics movement included: “sterilization of mental patients (‘mental hygiene societies’); execution of insane criminals and terminally ill (‘euthanasia societies’); and eugenical race purification by prevention of births to parents from ‘inferior’ blood stocks (‘birth control societies’). Before Auschwitz death camps became a household word, these British-American-European groups called openly for the elimination of ‘unfit’ by means including force and violence.” This movement was backed by the S&B members, particularly the Harrimann family. The Rockefellers also funded this movement significantly.

In summary the Order of Skull and Bones has produced three U.S. presidents, two chief justices, numerous Senators, Congressmen, ambassadors, and cabinet members. They have influenced the U.S. society in a profound way through control of education, law, business, finance and industry. Chief Justice and Bonesman M.R. Waite simply declared in 1886, without any debate, that corporations have the rights of a person. The Order has had a global impact through setting up of UN and international judicial organizations. The Order has promoted war and genocide as a part of its Malthusian philosophy and has worked for making the state more powerful and the individual rights subservient to the demands of the state. The state does not exist to serve the individual, it is the other way round. The Order is, to use Sutton’s phrase, America’s Secret Establishment.

Antony C. Sutton, who had exposed the Order of Skull and Bones through his books and ongoing work died mysteriously in 2002. Kris Millegan wrote: “Antony Sutton was a giant among men. His integrity cost him dearly, his vocation, his income, his family … maybe even his life. Tony had collapsed to his kitchen floor early one morning. All the coroner would tell me was ‘natural causes’. I asked his partner for many years what happened; she said she didn’t know, she was sleeping. The only thing strange was some folks had moved into the apartment upstairs a few weeks before and then moved right out after Tony’s passing.” The Order may have had a hand in his death.

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