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Tag Archives: Iran

Pentagon’s Phony Iran ‘Evidence’: New Rationale for US Intervention? by Gareth Porter

Is what the government doing regarding Iran a replay of what it did in 2003 regarding Iraq? From Gareth Porter at antiwar.com:

Efforts to blame Iran for acts of sabotage went nowhere – but this feels way too much like 2003 all over again

ast week a senior Pentagon official accused Iran of having sabotaged four oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on May 12 and of firing a rocket into Baghdad’s Green Zone on May 19. Iran executed these events, he said, either directly or through regional “proxies.”

But instead of creating sensational headlines, the briefing by Vice Adm. Michael Gilday, the director of the Joint Staff, was a flop, because it was clear to reporters covering it that he could not cite a single fact to back it up.

The story got only the most cursory coverage in major news outlets, all of which buried Gilday’s accusation deep in stories about the announced deployment of 1,500 more U.S. troops to the Middle East. Relatively few readers would even have noticed Gilday’s inflammatory claims.

Nevertheless, the briefing raises a serious question whether National Security Adviser John Bolton intended to use the new accusation against Iran stoke a war crisis – much as Vice President Dick Cheney, in another era, used the argument that Iraq had purchased aluminum tubes for a covert nuclear weapons program to justify the invasion of Iraq. A careful examination of Gilday’s accusations make clear that they do not even claim to be based on any intelligence assessment.

Substituting syllogism for evidence

Gilday was apparently chosen to give a non-political patina and the authority of the US military to an accusation that clearly originated with Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In a prepared statement, Gilday declared, “In the recent past, Iranian leaders have publicly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. They have backed up those threats with actions, posturing their forces in an effort to intimidate the movement of international trade and global energy sources.”

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The View From Tehran: America’s Sordid History of Meddling in Iran, by Danny Sjursen

The US government certainly does not have clean hands in Iran. From Danny Sjursen at antiwar.com:

No war yet! That’s the good news…for now. A few weeks have passed since unhinged National Security Advisor John Bolton – who never saw a regime he didn’t want to change – reportedly ordered the Pentagon to update plans to send 120,000 additional troops into the Persian Gulf. All this preparation and the inherent threat to strike Iran was ostensibly based on vague and unsubstantiated intelligence that Tehran had planned attacks on U.S. troops in the region. Murky and secretive intelligence, preemptive war plans, and unrepentant neocons sowing fear within the American populace. We’ve all seen this movie before, in Iraq, just sixteen years ago, and it didn’t end well. US troops are still there and may be so indefinitely.

If the purported Iranian threats seem manufactured, its because they likely are. And all the wrongs Tehran allegedly perpetrated against the US are exaggerated and overblown. Sure, Iran is, like all countries, an imperfect actor. The Islamic Republic did hold America’s embassy staff hostage during the Carter years. Tehran has backed Hezbollah and Hamas, both of whom once specialized in suicide bombing attacks on civilians.

Still, its worthwhile – particularly in the serious business of war and peace – to step back, slow down, and walk a proverbial mile in others’ shoes. Let me offer, then, the view from Tehran; to see the world and the US through Iranian eyes. An honest historical appraisal of the complicated U.S.-Iranian relationship demonstrates that it was often Washington and its western allies that meddled in the region and acted as the aggressors.

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How the War Party Broke Trump, by Andrew J. Bacevich

The Deep State has every incentive to stifle any initiative towards peace, even if the initiative is coming from the president. From Andrew J. Bacevich at theamericanconservative.com:

He’s the closest thing we’ve had to an antiwar president in 40 years—but the entrenched interests have proven too strong.

U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, President Trump and National Security Advisor John Bolton at the NATO Foreign Ministerial in Brussels, Belgium on July 12, 2018. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

From my distant vantage point in New England, tracking the daily fluctuations of the ongoing Iran war scare poses a challenge. It’s that old problem of distinguishing between signals and noise. These days there is noise aplenty emanating from Washington. That the prospect of yet another Gulf war competes for bandwidth with intensifying efforts to impeach President Trump makes it more difficult still to know what exactly is going on.

My bet is that an actual shooting war involving the United States and the Islamic Republic will not occur. Granted, we cannot exclude the possibility of inadvertent hostilities caused by one side misreading the intentions or actions of the other side. Nor should we ignore the possibility of bellicose subordinates exceeding their briefs and stumbling into a fight that authorities at the top may not have authorized. Posturing invites misunderstanding and miscalculation—and there has been more than a little posturing coming from both Washington and Tehran.

Yet even if armed conflict is averted, the Iran War Scare of 2019 will deserve recognition as a moment of genuine strategic significance. With the current dustup involving Iran, the likelihood of President Trump ending the “forever wars” is now gone for good.

Only rarely have I agreed with Trump on anything. His frequent and apparently sincere denunciations of our various wars in the Greater Middle East stand as the principal exception to that statement. As both candidate and president, Trump has repeatedly made clear his intention to extricate the United States from the vast military quagmire that his several predecessors, both Republicans and Democrats, have created in that region.

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Washington’s Mighty Warriors: Draft Dodgers and Scoundrels, by Philip Giraldi

The people pushing hardest for war within the Trump administration have never been in one. From Philip Giraldi at strategic-culture.org:

Remember Shakespeare’s line “he jests at scars that never felt a wound?” That epithet could have been written with National Security Advisor John Bolton in mind. Bolton was notoriously a draft dodger during the Vietnam War, like his current boss, not due to any scruples regarding what was occurring, but out of concern for his own sorry ass. He is now credibly believed to be the driving force behind the punishment being meted out to Venezuela and, far more dangerously, of the creeping escalation that is taking place in the Middle East that is seeking to draw Iran into a misstep that would lead to war. Bolton, who has received the “Defender of Israel” award, has long been an outspoken advocate for attacking Iran and now he has the power to do just that.

The psychopaths in the White House have been pretending that the United States “and its allies” are being threatened by Iran, a ridiculous conceit in and of itself as the Persians are hugely outgunned by the local U.S. presence as well as by the weapons in place in the region in the hands of the Saudis and Israelis. Israel is, one might recall, armed to the teeth through the beneficence of the United States and is also the region’s only nuclear armed power by virtue of the theft of U.S. technology and enriched uranium. The Saudis, meanwhile, are about to receive another $8 billion American made weapons due to the “Iranian threat.” That Trump has arranged the arms sale on his own questionable authority as an “emergency response” seems to bother some in Washington and the media, but no one will ultimately do anything about it as everyone inside the Beltway hates Iran due to the assiduous work of the Israel Lobby.

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The Limits of American Destructiveness, by Dmitry Orlov

The main limit on American destructiveness is that the rest of the world is getting tired of destruction. From Dmitry Orlov at cluborlov.blogspot.com:

US foreign policy has always been directed at wrecking anything that wasn’t deemed sufficiently American and replacing it with something more acceptable—especially if that something allowed wealth to flow into the US from the outside. Compromises were reserved for the USSR, but even there the Americans constantly tried to cheat. For everyone else there was just submission, which was usually tactfully disguised as a positive—a seat at the big table which offered better chances for peace, prosperity and economic and social development.

Of course, it was a simple enough matter to pierce this veil of hypocritical politeness and to point out that the US, living far beyond its means, has only managed to survive by looting the rest of the world, but anyone who dared to do so would be ostracized, sanctioned, regime-changed, invaded and destroyed—whatever it took.

The US establishment has lavished its wrath on anyone who dared to oppose it ideologically, but it reserved its most extreme forms of malice for those who dared commit the cardinal sin of attempting to sell oil for anything other than US dollars. Iraq was destroyed for this very reason, then Libya. With Syria the juggernaut bogged down and stalled out; with Iran it is unlikely to ever get started.

Even the spineless European politicians are now forced to admit that US policies are designed to enrich certain American interests at the expense of their constituents; they understand by now that further denial would cause them further harm at the polls. Most insultingly to the American ego, US attempts at making Russia and China submit are being greeted with shrugs, titters and eye rolls. And now anybody who wants to can openly criticize the US and scheme behind its back.

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Globalists Only Need One More Major Event To Finish Sabotaging The Economy, by Brandon Smith

They only need one, and Brandon Smith thinks they may get three. From Smith at alt-market.com:

As I predicted in my article ‘Trump Trade Wars A Perfect Smokescreen For A Market Crash’, published in March of 2018, as well as in my article ‘The Trade War Distraction: Huawei And Linchpin Theory’, published in December of 2018, the US/China trade dispute has escalated into an all out war with no end in sight. The claims of many analysts and skeptics a year ago that the trade war would be over quickly and that China would fold to US tariffs has been proven incorrect. The reason why these analysts got it so wrong centers primarily on their misunderstanding of the true purpose behind the events.

The goal of this war is NOT to balance the US trade deficit or pursue more fair circumstances for US exports and imports. The intention of the Trump Administration is NOT to fight back against Chinese “exploitation” of US markets, this kind of rhetoric is pure theater.  Nor is it Trump’s intention to undermine globalist structures or agreements in order to bring back American manufacturing (a carrot that has been flaunted in front of American faces for a long time to lure them into supporting destructive policies such as dollar devaluation). On the contrary, the real purpose of Trump’s trade war is to provide a distraction massive enough to cover for the controlled demolition of the US economy and parts of the global economy by globalists and the central banks they control.

The tariff soap opera and most of Trump’s other foreign and domestic policies are eerily similar to those of Herbert Hoover just before the advent of the Great Depression. This is not a coincidence. The narrative for an economic collapse rivaling that of the Great Depression has been set, and the root circumstances are very similar.

Since the crash of 2008, the US has been suffering a slow grinding decline in fundamentals (the collapse of an empire often takes time). The response of central banks was to slow the crash using stimulus measures and near zero interest rates, but this strategy was not meant to reverse US economic decline. The purpose of QE was meant to inflate an even larger bubble than before, one that would encompass every aspect of the economy including the dollar; a bubble that when popped would devastate the US specifically and create panic around the world.

Now the stimulus phase of the globalist agenda is over. US M2 money supply growth has been decelerating and is hovering near 10 year lows, while stimulus measures have evaporated in most countries except China. Global dollar liquidity has been dwindling as the Federal Reserve continues to cut its balance sheet unabated.

This would explain why US equities are struggling to stay afloat despite the fact that corporate buybacks of stocks have increased to historic highs in 2019. Central banks, most importantly the Fed, are no longer propping up the system; the life support has been pulled and the parts of the economy that have been dependent are taking their last breaths.

The trade war situation as it is now is not enough of a distraction in my view, however. At least one more major event with global ramifications (or perceived global ramifications) is needed by the elites before they can implode the ‘Everything Bubble’ without taking the blame for the consequences.

Trade War Shock And Awe

There are several powderkegs that exist today that would serve the purpose of occupying the minds of the masses while the globalists finalize the crash. As noted, I continue to predict the trade war as it stands will accelerate unabated until the plunge in fundamentals and equities is complete. We haven’t seen anything yet as far as trade war chaos.

The US/China conflict has the potential to become an economic world war, with multiple countries beginning to take sides. Japan and the UK have opted to support US interests, which is not surprising since China and Japan have hated each other for generations and the US is the UK’s strongest economic partner in the wake of the Brexit. Already some people are declaring this to mean that the US will gain the majority of global support and crush China.

But keep in mind, as I outlined and evidenced in my recent article ‘America Will Lose The Trade War Because That Is What Globalists Want To Happen’, the trade war itself is a farce on both sides of the Pacific, as both China and the US are controlled by the same financial power centers (such as the Bank for International Settlements).  The fact that some people are jumping on the patriot bandwagon to cheer for expanded confrontation with China as if a globalist engineered war is a war we can “win” is disturbing and sad to witness.  My suspicion is that there is a concerted disinformation campaign in play on the internet to drum up the false impression of consensus support for the trade war while the activities of the real villains (the international banks) are ignored.

As this Kabuki theater moves forward, I think many analysts will find themselves shocked as more and more nations start taking China’s side in the conflict.

The most powerful option China has at its disposal is the dumping of US Treasuries and the dollar as the world reserve mechanism, but it is likely to use this tactic only when the US economy is at its most unstable. China is the number one exporter/importer in the world and the US consumer is ready to tap out as retail numbers stumble and household debt skyrockets. The US market is only 18% of Chinese exports, a sizable piece of the pie, but hardly a devastating blow to the Chinese economy should it be denied to them.

The bottom line is that China will ultimately dictate global trade terms as they possess the largest manufacturing base, they decide what currency they will accept, and whose debt they will prop up.  China has also established very close economic ties with key nations over the past decade, including Russia, Germany, India, Australia, and even Saudi Arabia. Do not be surprised if most if not all of these nations eventually support China in the trade war, dropping the dollar as the reserve currency and following China’s lead.

Skeptics of this outcome are pretty much the same people that originally claimed the trade war would be over by now and that Trump would be victorious.  They will cry foul today at the idea that the globalists have rigged the game and that the US is being set up to fail, but when they are shown to be wrong once again they will state proudly that they “saw it coming all along”.

China has yet to fully retaliate against the latest increase in US tariffs. When it does, the attack will be far larger than cutting off purchases of US agricultural goods. The next escalation could be the trigger than sends the crash into overdrive.

Iran War Looming

War with Iran at this time makes no sense whatsoever unless you look at it from a globalist perspective. The globalists are the only group that stands to gain from such catastrophe, as war with Iran would seal the fate of the US economy. The most immediate threat would be the potential shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, which would take nothing more than sinking a few large cargo vessels along the narrow and more shallow portions of the straight, placing mine fields, or staging anti-ship missiles within striking range. The subsequent explosion in oil prices would be devastating to the global economy and the US economy would struggle under high energy prices even with expanded domestic oil drilling.

In the longer term complete destabilization of the Middle East would result, well beyond what we have already seen, and the costs to taxpayers as well as the cost in American lives would be high. Beyond this, the distraction would be epic and very effective. This event coupled with the trade war would fulfill the globalist narrative that the Trump Administration and the conservatives that support him are a “menace” to global stability. Any financial crash at that point would undoubtedly be blamed on Trump as well as his supporters.

Currently, the mainstream media is very quiet on the Iran situation despite the sudden shift of US military resources to the region, which leads me to believe that a conflict is being planned in the near term.

Brexit Finalized

This event may not be concluded until the end of this year, but I still maintain as I always have that the Brexit and the growth of populism in Europe is a distraction that has actually been encouraged by globalists through the use of forced mass immigration measures to terrify the citizenry.  I successfully predicted the outcome of the Brexit vote in 2016 based on this theory, and it still holds true so far today.

The “rise of the populists” in Europe and the US at the exact same time that central banks are withdrawing liquidity and at the exact same time that fundamentals are plummeting is yet another unlikely coincidence.

The only event that was needed to fulfill the populist takeover narrative was a major win by a nationalist party on the European mainland.  Thanks to French president Macron being the worst leader in recent French history, that event has occurred.  Marine Le Pen’s National Rally Party has overtaken Macron’s LREM party in the EU parliamentary elections.  The populists have gained ground in Italy and Germany as well; not enough to retain any real influence, but enough to get blamed for the financial disaster that is about to happen.

The final plot twist the elites need in the EU, I believe, is a no-deal Brexit.  I predict the Brexit will conclude and that the UK will indeed break with the EU. The latest announcement of Theresa May’s resignation seems to indicate that this will be the case, and that a no-deal scenario is the most probable scenario. The EU has publicly stated that there will be NO renegotiations of the Brexit deal after May leaves.  Sovereignty activists will cheer the Brexit outcome, and then things will start to go horribly wrong. European markets will tank and certain major banks (Deutsche Bank and Italian majors?) will announce insolvency. The panic felt in 2008 will return and hit the EU and the UK hard, and the Brexit movement will get the blame while central banks escape any culpability.

Only one of these events is needed to initiate the next stage of economic collapse, but it is possible we will see all three occur in due course. While the current crash started at the end of 2018, the year of 2019 will probably be the one that is most remembered in history books as the beginning of Great Depression 2.0.

 

The Geography of War: No Iraq…? No Iran! by Brett Redmayne-Titley

Iran alone presents quite a military challenge, which is only magnified when you look at its neighbors. From Brett Redmayne-Titley at off-guardian.org:

No other country in the Middle East is as important in countering America’s rush to provide Israel with another war than Iraq. Fortunately for Iran, the winds of change in Iraq and the many other local countries under similar threat, thus, make up an unbroken chain of border to border support. This support is only in part due to sympathy for Iran and its plight against the latest bluster by the Zio-American bully.

In the politics of the Middle East, however, money is at the heart of all matters. As such, this ring of defensive nations is collectively and quickly shifting towards the new Russo/ Sino sphere of economic influence. These countries now form a geo-political defensive perimeter that, with Iraq entering the fold, make a US ground war virtually impossible and an air war very restricted in opportunity.

If Iraq holds, there will be no war in Iran.

In the last two months, Iraq parliamentarians have been exceptionally vocal in their calls for all foreign military forces- particularly US forces- to leave immediately. Politicians from both blocs of Iraq’s divided parliament called for a vote to expel US troops and promised to schedule an extraordinary session to debate the matter. “Parliament must clearly and urgently express its view about the ongoing American violations of Iraqi sovereignty,” said Salam al-Shimiri, a lawmaker loyal to the populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

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