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US Empire

The New Anti-China Campaign Is Built On Lies

To avoid self-examination of the failures that let the U.S. exceed the covid-19 casualty numbers of every other nation the powers that be decided to blame someone else. Trump's first attempt was to blame the World Health Organization for not providing all information. But 16 U.S. administration officials were embedded with the WHO in Geneva. They relayed real time updates of all information the WHO received. As the Democrats and the media did not join Trump in blaming the WHO another scapegoat was needed. Everyone then agreed that it China would be the most convenient target. The intensity of the current anti-China campaign reminds one of the run up to the war on Iraq. The people who now claim that 'China lied, people died' are the very same who ran the Iraq WMD campaign.

US Plots To Replace Military Forces In Iraq With CIA-Trained Agents

Baghdad – A prominent Iraqi security expert warned that the US is attempting to replace its military personnel in Iraq with forces trained by the CIA to protect its interests in the country. “The US is trying to replace the military units present in Iraq with a number of forces trained under the supervision of CIA with the aim of supporting its interests in the country,” Adnan al-Kanani told the Arabic-language al-Ahd news website on Monday. Elsewhere, he criticized the political groups in Iraq for weak positions against the US plots, warning that Washington is now seeking to conduct military action in Iraq after the parliament’s approval to expel the American forces. His remarks came in line with earlier calls by the Iraqi parliament and military for all foreign troops to leave the Arab country as soon as possible.

SOS! Save Our Sailors And Soldiers! Stop The Spread Of Covid-19

US military rank and file soldiers and sailors are being ravaged by an invisible enemy — the same enemy that is killing civilians across the country – COVID-19. This presents a quandary for the US military: do they prioritize readiness to launch wars and continue the many imperialist objectives the US is pursuing in places like Venezuela, Iran, Syria, Yemen, the Asian Sea, Europe, Africa, Latin America, etc. . . . or do they take seriously the wholesale threat of COVID-19 to the lives of US GIs and sailors? The Pentagon is suppressing the breadth of the infection of its rank and file forces and mostly disregarding any real effort to minimize their casualties. The US does not want the rest of the world – that it constantly bullies, invades, bombs, and threatens - to know that it is militarily vulnerable right now due to the depleted morale and health of the rank and file.

Love In A Dangerous Time

A profusion of anonymous axioms and memes floods social media these days but one remains my very favorite: “It’s like we’ve all been sent to our room to think about what we did.” My friends, if there ever was a nation that needed a “time out” for that purpose, it’s ours. With nearly every minute of round-the-clock news cycles dedicated to updates on the Covid-19 pandemic, one needn’t restate examples of the plague’s panic, suffering, fear or insecurity. It’s all right there, worsening with each iteration. Fortunately, we’re also witnessing an abundance of human compassion that assuages some of the pain and fear. Every day people find creative ways to express their concern and confirm our common humanity. In a stellar essay, New York Times columnist David Brooks reflects, “Already there’s a shift of values coming to the world. We’re forced to be intentional about keeping up our human connections."

Empire Files: US Empire Exploits #COVID19 For More War

"We're in the midst of a global pandemic. Billions of people around the world are worrying about how they are going to survive it physically and economically. The US Empire sees it as a perfect opportunity to advance. This new reality exposes the great contradictions of the current world order. So-called enemies of the US, Cuba and China, are exporting hundreds of doctors and medical supplies while the capitalist icon, the United States, doles out death abroad and trails the world in caring for its own people. First claiming COVID19 was being used as a Democratic Party hoax, now Trump boasts it would be a great success if only 200,000 Americans die. Most Americans who don't know how they are going to pay rent can clearly see the $2.2 trillion bailout prioritized corporations and billionaires, handing out billions of dollars for candy dynasties and cruise liners.

Letter From President Maduro As US Threatens Venezuela With War

Associated Press reports the United States is sending naval ships to patrol the Caribbean as the US falsely accuses the Maduro administration with trafficking narcotics while ignoring the countries actually engaged in drug trafficking such as US allies Ecuador, Colombia and Honduras. "President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Navy ships are being moved toward Venezuela as his administration beefs up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean following a U.S. drug indictment against Nicolás Maduro." AP adds, "The deployment is one of the largest U.S. military operations in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama to remove Gen. Manuel Noriega from power and bring him to the U.S. to face drug charges. It involves assets like Navy warships, AWACS surveillance aircraft and on-ground special forces seldom seen before in the region."

US Is Losing World Superpower Status Over Failures On COVID-19

The US may be reaching its “Chernobyl moment” as it fails to lead in combating the coronavirus epidemic. As with the nuclear accident in the Soviet Union in 1986, a cataclysm is exposing systemic failings that have already weakened US hegemony in the world. Whatever the outcome of the pandemic, nobody is today looking to Washington for a solution to the crisis. The fall in US influence was visible this week at virtual meetings of world leaders where the main US diplomatic effort was devoted to an abortive attempt to persuade the others to sign a statement referring to the “Wuhan virus”, as part of a campaign to blame China for the coronavirus epidemic. Demonising others as a diversion from one’s own shortcomings is a central feature of President Trump’s political tactics. Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton took up the same theme, saying that “China unleashed this plague on the world, and China has to be held accountable”.

American Suez?: The Costs Of Bombing Iran

Decaying empires behave badly.  Late-stage imperial states easily fall prey to perilous insecurity and irrationality, and tend to lash out like wounded, cornered animals.  Perhaps it must be so: naught but a collective macro-reflection of the human condition.  Unfortunately, many thousands - often millions - of innocents tend to die at the denouement of empire.  "Dirty wars" usually ensue during the imperial endgame.  That time is near, it seems, for the American hegemon.  There’s hardly “dirtier,” or nastier, proof of “bad behavior” than recent reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (unsuccessfully, thus far) urged President Trump to use this pandemic opportunity to bomb Iran; or of the administration’s persistent devotion to lethal “maximum pressure" sanctions certain to multiply the Corona-mortality of innocents.

Scheer Intelligence: The Afghanistan War Turned Americans Into ‘Good Germans’

Nearly 19 years into the Afghanistan War, it seems the U.S. might be finally ready to end the longest armed conflict in its history. The Trump administration announced in late February that a peace deal was being negotiated with the Taliban and there was intention of recalling U.S. troops. Retired Maj. Danny Sjursen, an author and historian who spent half of his life in the Army, speaks with host Robert Scheer on this week’s episode of “Scheer Intelligence” to analyze how we got caught up in Afghanistan in the first place. Tracing the conflict through his personal and professional experiences, Sjursen recalls how the Sept. 11 attacks became the impetus for so many young men like himself to put their lives on the line for a country they believed would be on the right side of history. Not long into his service, however, the retired army major learned that the multiple wars he fought in had little to do with the terrorist attacks billed as the cause, as evidenced by his first deployment.

The US Land Of Make Believe

If what happens in courtrooms across the country to poor people of color is justice, what is happening in the Senate is a trial. If the blood-drenched debacles and endless quagmires in the Middle East are victories in the war on terror, our military is the greatest on earth. If the wholesale government surveillance of the public, the revoking of due process and having the world’s largest prison population are liberty, we are the land of the free. If the president, an inept, vulgar and corrupt con artist, is the leader of the free world, we are a beacon for democracy and our enemies hate us for our values. If Jesus came to make us rich, bless the annihilation of Muslims by our war machine and condemn homosexuality and abortion, we are a Christian nation.

Why The Bloated Military Budget Threatens To Bring Down The US Empire

The continued, unchecked, expansion of the American military budget, as described in this month’s CPNN bulletin reminds me of what happened to the Soviet empire in the 1980’s. In the beginning of the 1980’s there were three things that foreshadowed the end of the Soviet empire: 1. The decision of the CIA to destroy the Soviet empire, not by war, but by the arms race to bankrupt their economy. By matching the West’s military budgets ruble for dollar, but based on an economy only half as great, the Soviet Union was forced to divert almost all of its resources to the military. For example, in the West about 40% of scientists and engineers were engaged directly or indirectly with the military, but in the Soviet Union it was closer to 90%. There was nothing left for economic development or for the needs of the people.

The World Demands US Out Of The Middle East – Will The US Listen?

The world is saying no to war with Iran and US out of the Middle East. Hundreds of protests were held in the United States and around the world on Saturday with a unified voice of "No War." These protests are in solidarity with massive protests in Iraq calling for the US to get out where it is now an occupying force as the government has asked it to leave. These protests and the uprising over the US remaining in Iraq are not being covered in the US corporate media. Millions of people participated in the memorials for General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes after the US assassinated them. Now, millions have protested the refusal of the US to leave Iraq. The Pentagon knows the reality is that US troops in Iraq are at increasing risk every day the US stays in that sovereign nation.

Iran, China And The Challenge To US Hegemony

In order to mount a serious challenge to American empire, the U.S. anti-war movement must understand the terms of engagement: economic terrorism through sanctions and political isolation and destabilization have become the primary modes of U.S. imperialism. Often obscured by overt acts of military violence, U.S. hybrid warfare waged against not only Iran but Venezuela, Bolivia, North Korea, and China is the primary contradiction facing the global struggle against imperialism. For too long, U.S. critics of American empire have evaded the derisively termed “China question” in favor of false equivalences and the repetition of U.S. state talking points. But behind the Cold War rhetoric, China has proven itself as a strategic ally for countless nations with which U.S. leftists claim solidarity.

Our Responsibility As Citizens Of Empire

The United States reached a new height of recklessness on January 3 when the military assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes in Iraq, igniting major mobilizations throughout Iraq and Iran of mourning and rage. We spoke with Ajamu Baraka of Black Alliance for Peace shortly after we learned of the murders. He describes what they mean, how to counter the militarists' messages in support of war and next steps for the anti-war, anti-imperialist movement. We also bring you clips from the national day of action in the United States on January 4 when people took the streets in protest in more than 80 cities and 38 states. And we discuss what really happened at the Venezuelan National Assembly on Sunday.

How Fake ‘American Exceptionalism’ Hides Shame, Creates Stupidity & Dangerous Imperialism

The culture and nation-state of the United States of America are founded on the egregious and forceful dispossession of others. You might even call it an earlier version of fascism – institutional dehumanization for private profit. A myth, or grand lie, was created that we are an exceptional people, effectively pre-empting openly experiencing the important feeling of social shame and, in turn, blocking any accountability or genuine inquiry into our genocidal origins built on stolen land and labor, that murdered millions with impunity. Thus, we live by the fantasy of our superiority, which functionally makes us stupid, as if in a stupor.
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