United States

War With China? It’s Already Under Way

February 18, 2019 By Michael T. Klare, Tomdispatch.com Educate! China, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, United States, Wars and Militarism

In his highly acclaimed 2017 book, Destined for War, Harvard professor Graham Allison assessed the likelihood that the United States and China would one day find themselves at war. Comparing the U.S.-Chinese relationship to great-power rivalries all the way back to the Peloponnesian War of the fifth century BC, he concluded that the future risk of a conflagration was substantial. Like much current analysis of U.S.-Chinese relations, however, he missed a crucial point: for all intents and purposes, the United States and China are already at war with one another. Even if their present slow-burn conflict may not produce the immediate devastation of a conventional hot war, its long-term consequences could prove no less dire.

Coalition Of The Unwilling

February 16, 2019 Fred Kaplan, Slate.com Educate! Iran, Regime Change, United States

There’s a saying among lawyers: Don’t take a case to the Supreme Court unless you’re sure you’ll win. Diplomats follow a similar rule: Don’t call a large international summit unless it promotes your agenda. By that measure, the 60-nation summit in Warsaw, Poland, this week has been a disaster—another sign of the shallow thinking and clueless incompetence that has marked U.S. foreign policy since Donald Trump entered the White House. The two-day event, co-sponsored by the U.S. and Polish governments, was originally intended to be a conference of the anti-Iran coalition. But when most of the European nations bowed out, the billing was changed to address Middle Eastern issues in general.

America Is Already Socialist, And That’s a Good Thing

February 13, 2019 Miles Mogulescu, Ourfuture.org Educate! New Economy, Revisionism, United States

During Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech, many of the old, white, Republican Senators and Representatives must have gotten more exercise than in weeks, jumping to their feet to applaud almost every sentence of the endless rhetoric. One of the moments that got the loudest applause was Trump’s attempt to blame progressive Democrats for the problems of the current Venezuelan government, proclaiming the U.S. “will never be a socialist country” to a loud standing ovation from Republicans (and too many Democrats) and chants of “USA, USA, USA.”

Placing The USA On A Collapse Continuum With Dmitry Orlov

January 17, 2019 Staff, Thesaker.is Educate! Crisis, United States

I have mentioned the very visible decline of the USA and its associated Empire in many of my articles already, so I won’t repeat it here other than to say that the “ability to exert influence and impose its will” is probably the best criteria to measure the magnitude of the fall of the USA since Trump came to power (the process was already started by Dubya and Obama, but it sure accelerated with The Donald). But I do want to use a metaphor to revisit the concept of catastrophe. If you place an object in the middle of a table and then push it right to the edge, you will exert some amount of energy we can call “E1”.

The US Government Has Amassed Terabytes Of Internal WikiLeaks Data

January 17, 2019 By Emma Best, Gizmodo.com.au Educate! Government, Surveillance, United States, Wikileaks

Late last year, the US government accidentally revealed that a sealed complaint had been filed against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Shortly before this was made public, the FBI reconfirmed its investigation of WikiLeaks was ongoing, and The Wall Street Journalreported that the US Department of Justice was optimistic that it would be able to extradite Assange. Soon after, portions of sealed transcripts leaked that implicate WikiLeaks and Assange in directing hackers to target governments and corporations. The charges against Assange have not been officially revealed, though it’s plausible that the offences are related to Russian hacking and the DNC emails.

United States Doesn’t Even Make Top 20 On Global Democracy Index

January 14, 2019 By Andrea Germanos, Commondreams.org Educate! Democracy, United States

A new index released this week offers a sobering look at how democracy is faring in the United States. According to the 2018 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, the U.S. doesn't even make the list of top 20—its demonstrably "flawed democracy" notching it the 25th spot. The ranking is based on 60 indicators spanning five interrelated categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Each category gets a 0-10 score, with the final score being the average of those five.

New Documents Reveal Covert UK Military-Intelligence Smear Machine Meddling In US Politics

January 11, 2019 By Mark Ames and Max Blumenthal, Mintpressnews.com Educate! Electoral Politics, Intelligence, United Kingdom (UK), United States

Grayzone Project — A bombshell domestic spy scandal has been unfolding in Britain after hacked internal communications exposed a covert UK state military-intelligence psychological warfare operation targeting its own citizens and political figures in allied NATO countries under the cover of fighting “Russian disinformation.” The leaked documents revealed a secret network of spies, prominent journalists, and think-tanks colluding under the umbrella of a group called “Integrity Initiative” to shape domestic opinion—and to smear political opponents of the right-wing Tory government, including the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.

The Election Circus Begins

January 9, 2019 Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com Educate! Electoral Politics, presidential elections, Reform, United States

It is January 2019. This signals the start of the 2020 election circus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the first big-name Democrat on stage. But we will soon be deluged with candidates, bizarre antics and endless commentary by fatuous TV and radio pundits. The hyperventilating, the constant polling, the updates on who has the largest campaign war chest, the hypothetical matches between this hopeful and that hopeful, the mocking tweets by Donald Trump, will, as we saw in the 2016 election campaign, have as much relevance to our lives and political future as the speculation on cable sports channels about next year’s football season. This farce takes the place of genuine political life.

Russia Debates Sending Second Military Group To Venezuela

December 29, 2018 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Latin America, Russia, United States, Venezuela

Just weeks after the first group reached the Bolivarian shores, Russia believes additional protection may be necessary. Russia may send a second military brigade to Venezuela, Russian Ambassador Vladimir Zaemski said Wednesday, citing the continued threat of intervention from U.S. forces. "An invasion cannot be ruled out, especially because some aggressive powers plan to overthrow the current government, but they can not achieve it only with sanctions," said Zaemski. Just weeks after the first fleet of military planes reached the Bolivarian landing ports, the diplomat said additional protection may be necessary, although he denied all rumored plans of a Russian military base being built in the South American country.

Bolton Threatens To Force Africa To Choose Between The US And China

December 22, 2018 Glen Ford, Blackagendareport.com Educate! Africa, China, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, John Bolton, Trump Administration, United States

Donald Trump last week trotted out his war dog, National Security Advisor John Bolton, to growl and snarl over China’s attempts to “gain a competitive advantage” in Africa through “predatory” practices that supposed include “bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive” to Beijing’s global schemes. Bolton gave his speech at the right-wing Heritage Foundation, a place that specializes in crafting social policies that appeal to white supremacist majorities within the U.S. domestic order. He could be confident that the Heritage audience knows little about the actual state of the world, holds facts in low regard, and gives less than a damn about Africa.

Intel: Why Israel Plans To Fill In US Void In Syria

December 22, 2018 Staff, Al-monitor.com Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Israel, Syria, United States, US Imperialism

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared today that Israel would increase its efforts against Iran’s influence in Syria "in a very decisive way and with support and backup from the US.” The comments come after US President Donald Trump’s announcement Wednesday that he was pulling US troops out of Syria caught Israel by surprise, just as it did other US allies as well as Congress and key figures in the Trump administration itself. The United States had previously promised Netanyahu that US troops would remain in Syria until Iran and its proxies were removed. The Israeli leader, after speaking with Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said that the pullout will be coordinated with Israel.

Canada Serves The US Empire…Again…And Again…

December 20, 2018 By Jim Miles, Globalresearch.ca Educate! Canada, United States, US Imperialism

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is an agreement between Iran, the U.S., Russia, China, France, U.K., and Germany in order to limit what nuclear activities are available to Iran. The plan is truly comprehensive. After a leading section on principles and general provisions, a much longer and much more technical section follows defining what activities are allowed and not allowed, and after that is another long section clearly outlining what sanctions are being lifted against Iranian personnel and assets. Two other important sections are included. The first is an extensive presentation on the extensive rights of the IAEA to inspect and verify whether Iran is upholding its end of the agreement.

Canada To Pay Heavy Price For Taking Chinese Hostage For The United States

December 19, 2018 Finian Cunningham, Strategic-culture.org Educate! Canada, China, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, United States

December 17, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - You do have to wonder about the political savvy of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government. The furious fallout from China over the arrest of a senior telecoms executive is going to do severe damage to Canadian national interests. Trudeau’s fawning over American demands is already rebounding very badly for Canada’s economy and its international image. The Canadian arrest – on behalf of Washington – of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, seems a blatant case of the Americans acting politically and vindictively. If the Americans are seen to be acting like bandits, then the Canadians are their flunkies.

North Korea Critical Of US Inaction, And Waiting

December 18, 2018 Robert Carlin, 38north.org Educate! North Korea, United States, US Imperialism

After a lengthy, six-week silence, Pyongyang finally weighed in again with extended criticism of Washington’s stance regarding US-DPRK talks, using what appears to be an authoritative-level article, written under the name of Jong Hyon and carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The article appeared only three days after the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Choe Ryong Hae—Korean Worker’s Party vice chairman, Politburo Presidium member, and vice chairman of the State Affairs Commission, which DPRK officials say is in charge of negotiations with the US. Though the Jong Hyon article did not mention this latest development, it surely rankled Pyongyang...

US-Russia Tensions Mount Over Warplanes In Venezuela

December 15, 2018 Bill Van Auken, Wsws.org Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Russia, United States, Venezuela

The landing of two Russian long-range strategic bombers at an airport outside of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas Monday touched off a bitter exchange between US and Russian officials, underscoring the increasingly tense and dangerous relations that prevail between the world’s two major nuclear powers. The supersonic bombers, Tupolev Tu-160 aircraft, capable of carrying short-range nuclear missiles, were accompanied by an AN-124 transport aircraft and an Il-62 passenger jet, together with 100 pilots and other Russian personnel. All had made the flight of over 10,000 km (6,200 miles), in what constituted both a show of support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro and an exercise in the long-range projection of Russian military power.

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