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U.S. facing dramatic decline in power because of hubris, bellicosity, stupidity


Sputnik
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 22:40 UTC
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© AP Photo/ Richard Drew
With the exception of the USSR, no country has ever faced such a dramatic decline in relative power as the US, Patrick Buchanan points out, adding that hubris, ideology, bellicosity, and stupidity have dealt a blow to America's positions.

By the end of George H.W. Bush's presidency, the United States had come out on top as the sole global superpower; however, a lot has changed since then, admitted Patrick J. Buchanan, an American conservative political commentator and publicist, noting that Washington's once unchallenged supremacy is vanishing into thin air.

"With the exception of the Soviet Union, some geostrategists contend, no nation, not defeated in war, has ever suffered so rapid a decline in relative power as the United States. What are the causes of American decline? Hubris, ideology, bellicosity, and stupidity all played parts," Mr. Buchanan pointed out.

The political commentator emphasized that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Washington demonstrated "imperial content" to Russia, "shoving NATO right up into Moscow's face" and carrying out "color-coded" revolutions in the former Soviet Republics.
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USA

US warmongering: Will Germans again claim 'they didn't know'?

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 21:38 UTC
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Amid knee-slapping and beer-drinking, Germans greeted US President Obama with rapturous applause as he opened the G7 summit in Bavaria at the weekend.

Obama was addressing the crowds in a public square in the historic town of Krün on a sunny morning; with the Bavarian mountains serving a splendid backdrop. Alongside him was his "great friend Angela".

Merkel, the German chancellor, was beaming smiles at every jocular quip from the American president, as if the American NSA spying on her personal communications never happened.
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Cow Skull

We're moderate, see? Syrian 'rebels' parade the severed heads of ISIS members

John Hall
Daily Mail
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 19:38 UTC
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Rebel groups battling the Islamic State in Syria have proudly paraded the severed heads of their defeated enemies, in the latest sign that all sides in the conflict are resorting to shocking barbarism.

A coalition of anti-Assad forces were stationed in the town of Azaz, close to the Turkish border, when ISIS militants prepared to carry out a suicide bomb attack followed by a massive assault.

But the rebels were tipped off about the attack in advance and were prepared for the jihadis when they arrived - slaughtering them in the streets of the Azaz before posing with the extremists' severed heads and displaying their mutilated corpses in the centre of the city.

Large crowds of cheering locals took to the streets of Azaz in the aftermath of the failed attack, which was actually under the control of ISIS for several months in 2013.

The ritual humiliation and public exhibition of the butchered corpses was in fact highly symbolic - with the jihadis' severed heads displayed in exactly the same location that ISIS themselves would show off the bodies of those they had brutally executed after Friday prayers.

Describing the attack, one anonymous rebel fighter told VICE News: 'Last night, [ISIS] sent a suicide truck to Sawran, which is the frontline now next to Azaz, but we had info of the operation,'

'So they targeted the truck with a missile... Then the fighters following the truck were caught,' he added.

On the subject of the subsequent beheadings of ISIS fighters, the rebel soldier said: 'It is not the way we act... but it's sort of revenge for all the civilians and leaders they killed.'


Comment: If these 'rebels' are so concerned about civilian casualties, then how come they're causing them? Or how come they're at the same time beaheading ISIS and collaborating with them?


The news comes as US-led aircraft bombed ISIS fighters while the jihadis were battling rival Syrian rebels, including Al-Qaeda loyalists, in a first such intervention, a monitoring group said.

Comment: The so-called Syrian 'rebels' are armed and funded by the US and their associates, the same goes for ISIS, what's the difference? There isn't one. It's only a name change. The whole story looks like a convenient excuse for the US to make it seem as if there a moderate 'rebel' force in Syria and thus continue basically supporting ISIS.

3,000 'moderate rebels' defect to ISIS - US preparing 5,000 more

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Megaphone

Putin: Ukraine crisis created deliberately by West's unprofessional actions


Sputnik
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 19:25 UTC
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© REUTERS/ Gleb Garanich
The conflict in Ukraine was created intentionally and follows "unprofessional actions" by the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"I believe that this crisis was created deliberately and it is the result of our partner's unprofessional actions," Putin said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera ahead of his visit to Milan.

The president added that the coverage of the situation surrounding Ukraine has been "absolutely unacceptable."

The West has been accusing Russia of meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs and supporting independence fighters in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, where Kiev launched a special military operation in April, 2014. The United States and the European Union have also criticized Moscow over the reunification of Crimea with Russia in March, 2014.

Russia has repeatedly stressed that it is not involved in the situation in Ukraine, also pointing to the fact that 96 percent of Crimean residents voted for rejoining Russia at a referendum following a declaration of independence from Ukraine.

"I would like to emphasize once more: this was not our choice, we did not seek it, we are simply forced to respond to what is happening."
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War Whore

Pentagon admits its dumb strategy of Russian sanctions is ineffective and makes no sense


Sputnik
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 19:15 UTC
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© Flickr/ Michael Baird
Anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective and will not force Moscow to reverse its political course, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said after a conference with top US diplomats and military brass in Stuttgart.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says it would be better to admit that anti-Russian sanctions are not effective and Moscow will not abandon its political course under pressure.


Comment: Russia's "political course" is merely to remain a sovereign nation with the right to control its destiny and will not bow to the American Empire's demands.


The West did not recognize Crimea's reunification with Russia after the last year's coup in Ukraine

"What's clear is that sanctions are working on the Russian economy," Bloomberg cites Carter as saying after a conference with top US diplomats and military officials in Stuttgart, Germany. "What's not apparent is that that effect on his economy is deterring [Russian President Vladimir] Putin from following the course that was evidenced last year in the Crimea."

The West has also accused Russia of meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs and aiding Ukrainian independence supporters, but these allegations have not been supported by any proved factual evidence.
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Light Sabers

Despite G7 propaganda, it's clear Russia has better things to do than start WW3

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 18:39 UTC
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© Reuters/Stephen Crowley
Leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations hold a working dinner in the Bavarian village of Kruen, Germany June 7, 2015
Vladimir Putin said this weekend that "Russia would attack NATO only in a mad person's dream." Unfortunately, there are a lot of mad people working in western politics and media.

If the G7 were based on GDP, adjusted for purchasing power, it would be comprised of the USA, China, India, Japan, Russia, Germany and Brazil. Such a lineup would have remarkable clout. Members would boast 53% of the globe's entire GDP and the planet's 3 genuine military superpowers would be represented.

The problem for Washington is that this putative G7 might actually be a forum for a real debate about the world order.

Instead of a real G7, we have a farce. An American dominated talking shop where the US President allows 'friendly' foreign leaders to tickle his belly for a couple of days. There is no dissent. Washington's dominance goes unquestioned and everyone has a jolly time. Especially since they kicked out Russia last year - Vladimir Putin was the only guest who challenged the consensus.

However, the problem is that this 'convenient' G7 is way past its sell-by-date. The days when its members could claim to rule the world economically are as distant as the era of Grunge and Britpop. Today, the G7 can claim a mere 32% of the global GDP pie. Instead of heavyweights like China and India, we have middling nations such as Canada and Italy, the latter an economic basket case. Canada's GDP is barely more than that of crisis-ridden Spain and below that of Mexico and Indonesia.
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Hardhat

Not political: China forbids its construction workers from building Israeli settlements


RT
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 17:02 UTC
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© Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
Israel's talks on migrant workers with China are deadlocked due to Beijing refusing to allow its citizens to participate in the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank, a high-ranked Israeli official told AFP.

"We are negotiating with China for an agreement on the arrival of thousands of additional workers," an unnamed government official said.

According to the source, there are several stumbling blocks to the talks at the moment, including "the employment of these immigrants in settlements in Judea and Samaria [in the West Bank]."

"Beijing is demanding that we ensure there are no workers in this region," he added.

Comment: This would really be news if it was politically motivated. Too bad it doesn't appear to be the case.

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Bad Guys

Recent 'ISIS' gains are the direct result of US support

Steven Chovanec
Underground Reports
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:23 UTC
eeuu_terrorista
© Desconocido

The rebel opposition in Syria has in recent months made a series of gains against the Syrian army, most notably in Idlib, Palmyra, and Ramadi in Iraq. However, given that from the very beginning the opposition had taken "a clear sectarian direction" and has been dominated by "ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra... in addition to other extreme jihadi groups", itself consisting of "no moderate middle", and the fact that "in reality there is no dividing wall between them [extremists] and America's supposedly moderate opposition allies", it is no wonder why all of the recent gains have been made by hard-line Islamists.(1) The radicalization of the opposition was the result of a covert US/CIA-led program in collusion with regional allies to expand the dissent base in Syria and strengthen Islamist rebels against the Syrian government.(2)

These recent Islamist advances are the result of an increase in support from the US-led coalition to their proxies inside Syria. Recently both Turkey and Saudi Arabia, who operate out of US-led command centers in Turkey and Jordan, signed a pact in early March to coordinate support to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in order to further attack the Syrian government. Huffington Post quotes Usama Abu Zeid, a legal advisor to the Free Syrian Army, as confirming that this new coordination had facilitated recent rebel advances.(3) The pact subsequently lead to the al-Qaeda takeover of Idlib in late March, where the two countries have since set up a joint command center to further coordinate and command their extremist proxies from the captured province. Syrian government sources thus accurately blame Turkish intervention as the key factor in the fall of Idlib. The city's fall however is only the 2nd provincial capital that has been captured by the opposition during the entire 4-year war, the other being Raqqa, which is now the de facto capital of the fake Islamic State "Caliphate."(4)
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Bad Guys

The role neo-Nazi extremists play in Ukraine

Alexander Mercouris
Russia Insider
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:11 UTC
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© Unknown
The last few days have seen Ukraine's far right groups in action again: violently dispersing an anti-government protest on Maidan Square hours after they violently dispersed an attempt to hold a gay pride parade in Kiev.

The two incidents taken together illustrate the role of far right groups in today's Ukraine.

Western governments and media try to minimise the importance of these groups by pointing to their very limited election success.

Comment: All of the psychopaths have been unleashed in Ukraine, from Right Sector all the way up to the oligarchs. Meanwhile Western oligarchs steal everything right from under Ukraine's nose, and laugh while the world blames Russia:

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Sherlock

Skirmish in the Spratlys - China will have to beat U.S. at its own game to preserve independence and survive Cold War

Mike Whitney
Counter Punch
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 18:34 UTC
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"Washington is not looking for peace or war. They're looking for domination. If they can achieve domination peacefully - that's fine. If they can't, they'll use war. It's that simple."

— William Blum, Interview with Russia Today
"The U.S. is frantically surrounding China with military weapons, advanced aircraft, naval fleets and a multitude of military bases from Japan, South Korea and the Philippines through several nearby smaller Pacific islands to its new and enlarged base in Australia.... The U.S. naval fleet, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines patrol China's nearby waters. Warplanes, surveillance planes, drones and spying satellites cover the skies, creating a symbolic darkness at noon."

— Jack A. Smith, "Hegemony Games: USA vs. PRC", CounterPunch
The vast build up of military assets in the Asia-Pacific signals a fundamental change in U.S. policy towards China. Washington no longer believes that China can be integrated into the existing US-led system. Recent actions taken by China - particularly the announcement that it planned to launch an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that would compete head-to-head with the World Bank and IMF— have set off alarms in the Capital where behind-the-scenes powerbrokers and think tank pundits agree that a more "robust" policy is needed to slow China's ascendency. The current confrontation in the South China Sea - where the US has demanded that China immediately cease all land reclamation activities - indicates that the new policy has already been activated increasing the prospects of a conflagration between the two nuclear-armed adversaries.

There's no need to go over the details of China's land reclamation activities in the Spratly Islands since reasonable people can agree that Washington has no real interest in a few piles of sand heaped up on reefs 10,000 miles from the United States. The man-made islands pose no threat to US national security or to freedom of navigation. The Obama administration is merely using the Spratlys as a pretext to provoke, intimidate and harass Beijing. The Spratly's provide a justification for escalation, for building an anti-China coalition among US allies in the region, for demonizing China in the media, for taking steps to disrupt China's ambitious Silk Roads economic strategy, and for encircling China to the West with US warships that threaten China's access to critical shipping lanes and vital energy supplies. This is the ultimate objective; to bring China to its knees and to force it to comply with Washington's diktats. This is what Washington really wants.
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