Iran

Empire In Decline

/ went2thebridge / 3 Comments
Saudi Minister of State and National Security Adviser Musaed Al Aiban, China’s Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi, and Iran’s Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, in Beijing. Reuters

Some events in history seem significant at the time. They often involve explosions (like the bombing of Nord Stream pipelines) or mass deaths (9/11 attack on NYC skyscrapers). But sometimes they are more subtle. When Iran and Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic relations this week with China brokering the agreement, nothing exploded and no one died. Yet this event is evidence of a seismic shift in global power dynamics as the world moves steadily away from domination by the U.S. hegemon and, not incidentally, the U.S. petrodollar. In short, the U.S. can no longer exploit a regional rivalry that has been resolved.

Meanwhile, China announced it was appointing a new head for the People’s Liberation Army. General Li Shangfu has been sanctioned by the U.S. for buying weapons from Russia. Probably more significant is his expertise in aerospace. The Pentagon has long since established it intends outer space to be the next “warfighting domain” and in fact all nations use communications satellites already to connect their military personnel and outposts.

Some of you may remember China earlier this month publishing a gloves-off document detailing the many war crimes and other belligerent actions of the U.S. If you haven’t yet had time to read “U.S. Hegemony and Its Perils“, I recommend you do. It is also likely to be seen in hindsight as historic, a highly significant departure for usually tactful conduct by Chinese officialdom as it is blunt, truthful, and, well, undiplomatic.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. a cycle of bank failures seems to be underway with the first domino to fall being the Silicon Valley Bank. Most of its deposits were uninsured, and several other banks lost millions upon SVB’s descent into insolvency.

Many more tech firms who banked with SVB could also suffer significant losses. RocketLab USA is among them.

Will we see a repeat of the Obama administration’s signature “banks got bailed out, we got sold out” in 2008? Of course we will. It’s already underway. This just in from CNN:

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday instructed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee Silicon Valley Bank customers will have access to all of their money starting Monday.

By guaranteeing all deposits – even the uninsured money customers kept with the failed bank – the government can ensure public confidence in America’s banking system, Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, using migrant children as young as 9 to work in meat packing facilities is happening all over the U.S., implicating firms like Whole Foods (owned by Amazon). Some states are even legalizing the practice. Oh, and some in Congress want to raise the Social Security and Medicare retirement age from 65 to 70. So that would amount to six decades of working for the man many earning only a minimum wage that hasn’t risen in decades.

No wonder so many branches of the federal government are engaged in taxpayer-funded thought control via social media platforms. Testimony before a House committee this week by journalist Matt Taibbi went far beyond anything envisioned by Kafka.

The video of the exchange between bonehead reps and a seasoned journalist who believes in both the 1st amendment and protecting his sources is worth watching if only for the astonished expression Taibbi wears throughout much of the hearing. He is clearly struggling not to LOL while remaining respectful in a governmental body that he may have once respected.

If you’re a reader like me, Taibbi’s report after the fact is available here.

Too long, didn’t read? Here’s the executive summary: Multiple agencies of the feds insisted that platforms like Twitter and Facebook shut down user accounts that were telling inconvenient truths or asking inconvenient questions (e.g. Could the covid pathogen been created in a lab rather than evolving in nature?). This was and is done under the guise of combating misinformation, but examining Twitter’s internal documents reveal that it is after all just plain censorship. 

The U.S. government does not want people to think thoughts that might threaten its power to rule over us.

Dying empires typically use their remaining strength to control and threaten those who cannot be controlled. While you might think that the U.S. would consolidate its power by regulating banking fraud, railroad safety, and providing for its elderly, you would be wrong. The empire appears determined to keep doubling down until it arrives at nearly zero.

China, Russia, and Iran are mature civilizations whose conduct contrasts sharply with that of the bully who is getting his comeuppance.

May we all survive the next few years.

U.S. Will Now Steal Palestinian Land Also

/ went2thebridge / 1 Comment
Source: “REVEALED: Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ map for Palestine, Israel“
Middle East Eye, January 2020

What is that “also” about?

It could be read either way: 

the U.S. is now joining chief thief Israel in illegally occupying land belonging to Palestinian families in Jerusalem;

or, if you prefer, 

in addition to stealing land for military bases (e.g. Okinawa, Somalia) and oil theft (e.g. Syria, Iraq), the U.S. now plans to steal land in Jerusalem to construct an embassy.

The advent of neoliberal faker Joe Biden as POTUS has done nothing to halt U.S. enabling of Israel’s violent occupation of the West Bank and bombing of blockaded Gaza. Remember when he told a roomful of oligarchs “nothing will change”? Following on the heels of the most pro-Israel president ever, Biden has in fact kept many of 45’s bad policies in place. 

Building an embassy on Palestinian land in Jerusalem is the icing on the cake.

Back in July when Biden traveled to Israel (and before the election of the most right wing government in Israel’s history), the White House issued the “The Jerusalem U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration.” This document contains incendiary, even apocalyptic language: 

“unshakeable U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, and especially to the maintenance of its qualitative military edge [emphasis mine]”

“The United States further reiterates that these commitments are bipartisan and sacrosanct [emphasis mine]”

(One might wonder how a Democratic administration can pledge the support of Republicans. Or, one might have long since concluded that both the D and the R parties are wings of the same imperial government in service to corporate business interests.)

The statement also contained some astonishing hypocrisy:

“the United States and Israel affirm that among the values the countries share is an unwavering commitment to democracy, the rule of law..[emphasis mine]”

Israel is and has long been an apartheid state with full rights for its Jewish citizens — and even its foreign settlers as long as they profess the correct religion. It detains, tortures, and executes Palestinians, including children, regularly. In May an Israeli military sniper assassinated a U.S. citizen, journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, well-known as an Al Jazeera t.v. correspondent for decades. Succumbing to pressure to investigate the murder of a U.S. citizen by a foreign military, last month the Biden administration announced the FBI will investigate the incident. Not holding their breath for that outcome, Al Jazeera Media Network has requested that the International Criminal Court investigate and prosecute those responsible.

As for the U.S. “commitment to democracy” and “the rule of law” one has only to look at its many coups toppling elected governments (e.g. Ukraine 2014, Australia 1975, Iran 1953) to bely that claim. And the destruction and looting of Iraq beginning in 2003 is emblematic of what the U.S. means when it proclaims it values the rule of law. Or maybe persecution of journalist Julian Assange would be a clearer example of how little the U.S. cares for the law?

Three paragraphs in, we get to the heart of the matter:

The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome. The United States further affirms the commitment to work together with other partners to confront Iran’s aggression and destabilizing activities..

The U.S. is building new nuclear weapon systems as fast as it can since the Obama administration’s green light, and Israel pretends not to have nuclear weapons though everyone knows it does. But it’s Iran that’s the threat! 45 scuttled the U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement and Biden, despite campaign promises to restore it, is letting the JCPOA sink to the bottom of the sea.

Source: “Exclusive: Tracking the flow of stolen Syrian oil into Iraq“
The Cradle, September 2022

Iran is indeed a threat to U.S. ambitions in Syria where the theft of oil proceeds apace.

So Israel, the wealthiest of nations, receives billions from U.S. taxpayers each year as credit to buy weapons that further enrich the oligarchy that owns and operates Congress and the White House.

Stealing from Palestinians to construct an embassy in Jerusalem is arguably the least of U.S. crimes against an occupied people. By contrast, 45’s closure of the U.S. Consultate General for the Palestinians in Jerusalem remains in effect.

But the land theft for an embassy is highly symbolic of the dangerous alliance between two aggressive nuclear powers. 

It’s an alliance the U.S. will go to great lengths to support as the lure of cooperating with Russia beckons amid the global economic meltdown over sanctioned energy supplies and soaring prices.