{"id":96146,"date":"2017-07-31T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=96146"},"modified":"2017-07-30T14:44:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T13:44:01","slug":"imperial-folly-brings-russia-and-germany-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/07\/imperial-folly-brings-russia-and-germany-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperial Folly Brings Russia and Germany Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Empire of Whiners simply can’t get enough when it comes to huff, puff and pout as the Empire of Sanctions.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

CCO<\/p><\/div>\n

29 Jul 2017 – <\/em>With an Orwellian 99% majority that would delight the Kim dynasty in\u00a0North Korea, the “representative democracy” Capitol Hill has bulldozed its latest House\/Senate sanctions package<\/a>, aimed mostly at\u00a0Russia, but\u00a0also targeting Iran and North Korea.<\/p>\n

The White House’s announcement\u00a0\u2014 late Friday afternoon in\u00a0the middle of\u00a0summer\u00a0\u2014 that President Trump has approved and will sign the bill was literally buried in\u00a0the news cycle amidst\u00a0the proverbial 24\/7 Russia-gate related hysteria.<\/p>\n

Trump will be required to\u00a0justify to\u00a0Congress, in\u00a0writing, any initiative to\u00a0ease sanctions on\u00a0Russia. And Congress is entitled to\u00a0launch an automatic review of\u00a0any such initiative.<\/p>\n

Translation; the death knell of\u00a0any possibility<\/a> for\u00a0the White House to\u00a0reset relations with\u00a0Russia. Congress in\u00a0fact is just ratifying the ongoing Russia demonization campaign orchestrated by\u00a0the neocon and neoliberalcon deep state\/War Party establishment.<\/p>\n

Economic war has been declared against\u00a0Russia for\u00a0at least three years now. The difference is this latest package also declares economic war against\u00a0Europe, especially Germany.<\/p>\n

That centers on the energy front<\/a>, by\u00a0demonizing the implementation of\u00a0the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and forcing the EU to\u00a0buy US natural gas.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake; the EU leadership will counterpunch. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of\u00a0the European Commission (EC), put it mildly when he said, “America first cannot mean that Europe’s interests come last.”<\/p>\n

On the Russia front, what the Empire of\u00a0Sanctions faces does not even qualify as\u00a0a hollow victory. Kommersant has reported that Moscow, among\u00a0other actions, will retaliate by\u00a0banning all American IT companies and all US agricultural products from\u00a0the Russian market, as\u00a0well as\u00a0exporting titanium to\u00a0Boeing (30% of\u00a0which comes from\u00a0Russia).<\/p>\n

On the Russia-China strategic partnership front, trying to\u00a0restrict Russia-EU energy deals will only allow more currency swaps between\u00a0the ruble and the yuan; a key plank of\u00a0the post-US dollar multipolar world.<\/p>\n

And then there’s the possible, major game-changer; the German front.<\/p>\n

The Fools on\u00a0the Hill <\/strong><\/p>\n

Even without\u00a0considering the stellar historical record of\u00a0Washington not only meddling but\u00a0bombing and regime-changing vast swathes of\u00a0the planet\u00a0\u2014 from\u00a0Iraq and Libya to\u00a0the current threats against\u00a0Iran, Venezuela and North Korea\u00a0\u2014 the Russia-gate hysteria about\u00a0meddling in\u00a0the 2016 US presidential election is a non-story, by\u00a0now thoroughly debunked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The heart of\u00a0the matter is, once again, energy wars.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0a Middle East-based US energy source not hostage to\u00a0the Beltway consensus, “the message in\u00a0these sanctions is the EU has no future unless it buys US natural gas to\u00a0cut out\u00a0Russia. To deny Russia the natural gas market of\u00a0the EU was the goal behind\u00a0the just lost war in\u00a0Syria to\u00a0put the Qatar-Saudi Arabia-Syria-Turkey-EU pipeline in\u00a0and the opening to\u00a0Iran for\u00a0an Iran-Iraq-Syria-Turkey-EU pipeline. None of\u00a0these plans worked.”<\/p>\n

The source adds as\u00a0evidence the 2014 oil price war against\u00a0Russia, orchestrated by “the dumping of\u00a0Gulf States’ surplus oil or reserve capacity on\u00a0the world market. Since this has failed to\u00a0bring Russia to\u00a0its knees, the destruction of\u00a0the Russian natural gas market in\u00a0the EU has become a national priority for\u00a0the United States.”<\/p>\n

As it stands, 30% of\u00a0all EU oil and natural gas imports come from\u00a0Russia. In parallel, the Russia-China energy partnership is being progressively enhanced. Russia is already geared to\u00a0increase oil and gas exports to\u00a0China and Asia as\u00a0a whole.<\/p>\n

The leadership in\u00a0Berlin is now convinced that Washington is jeopardizing Germany’s energy diversification\/energy security via\u00a0the \u00a0sanctions war. Russian natural gas and oil is secured by\u00a0overland routes and is not dependent on\u00a0the oceans, which, as\u00a0the energy source stresses, “are no longer under\u00a0United States control. If Russia in\u00a0response to\u00a0United States belligerency drops an Iron Curtain over\u00a0Europe, and redirects all its natural gas and oil exports to\u00a0China and Asia, Europe will be utterly dependent on\u00a0largely insecure sources of\u00a0natural gas and oil such as\u00a0the Middle East and Africa.”<\/p>\n

And that bring us to\u00a0the “nuclear” possibility in\u00a0the horizon; a Germany-Russia alignment in\u00a0a Reinsurance Treaty, as\u00a0first established by\u00a0Bismarck. CIA-related US Think Tankland is now actively discussing the possibility.<\/p>\n

Another US business\/political source, also a practitioner of\u00a0thinking outside\u00a0the (Beltway) box, stresses, “this is what it’s all about. That is the true goal of\u00a0Russia, and the United States has fallen into\u00a0the trap. The United States has had enough of\u00a0Germany and what it considers dumping of\u00a0German products on\u00a0the United States through\u00a0rigged currency. They are now threatening Germany with\u00a0sanctions, and there is nothing Germany can do with\u00a0the EU on\u00a0their back facing vetoes from\u00a0Poland, who is giving them trouble once again. The fools in\u00a0Congress are really going after\u00a0Germany, and throwing Germany in\u00a0the arms of\u00a0Russia.”<\/p>\n

The US as\u00a0the New Carthage<\/strong><\/p>\n

A possible Germany-Russia alliance, as I’ve written before<\/a>, rounds up\u00a0the China\/Russia\/Germany entente capable of\u00a0reorganizing the entire Eurasian land mass.<\/p>\n

The Russia-China strategic partnership is extremely attractive to\u00a0German business, as\u00a0it smoothes access via\u00a0the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). According to\u00a0the business\/political source, “the US is at\u00a0war with\u00a0China and Russia (but not Trump, our President) and Germany is having second thoughts about\u00a0being nuclear cannon fodder for\u00a0the US. I have discussed this in\u00a0Germany, and they are thinking of\u00a0renewing the Reinsurance Treaty with\u00a0Russia. No one trusts this US Congress; it is considered a lunatic asylum. Merkel may be asked to\u00a0leave for\u00a0the leadership of\u00a0the UN, and then the treaty would be signed. It will shake the world and end any thought of\u00a0the United States being a global power, which it isn’t anymore.”<\/p>\n

The source adds, half in\u00a0zest, “we think that Brzezinski died under\u00a0the pressure of\u00a0the realization that this was coming and that all his hatred of\u00a0Russia and his life work to\u00a0destroy them was becoming utterly undone.”<\/p>\n

So, in\u00a0a sense, it’s “welcome to\u00a0the 1930s all over\u00a0again and the rise of\u00a0nationalism in\u00a0Europe. This time Germany will not make the mistakes of\u00a01914 and 1941 but\u00a0will stand against\u00a0their traditional Anglo-Saxon enemies. The United States has truly become today’s Carthage and the disorder in\u00a0Congress reflects the same stupidity of\u00a0Carthage facing Rome. Legislators undermined their genius Hannibal as\u00a0they are undermining the greatest president of\u00a0the United States since\u00a0Andrew Jackson. As Sophocles wrote in ‘Antigone’, ‘God first makes mad those he wishes to\u00a0destroy.’ This Congress is mad.”<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pepe Escobar is a Brazilian independent geopolitical analyst. He is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. He has been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9\/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of \u201cGlobalistan<\/a>\u201d (2007), \u201cRed Zone Blues<\/a>\u201d (2007), \u201cObama does Globalistan<\/a>\u201d (2009) and \u201cEmpire of Chaos<\/a>\u201d (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is \u201c2030<\/a>\u201c, also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 sputniknews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

29 Jul 2017 – Economic war has been declared against Russia for at least three years now. The difference is this latest package also declares economic war against Europe, especially Germany. Make no mistake; the EU leadership will counterpunch. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, put it mildly when he said, “America first cannot mean that Europe’s interests come last.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}