Posted by seumasach on February 10, 2016
10th February, 2016
Tehran has taken revenge on Washington for years of US-driven economic warfare against Iran: the National Iranian Oil Company has announced that Iran will only accept payment in euros, not dollars, for its oil, F. William Engdahl notes, adding that Saddam Hussein had adopted a similar ‘petroeuro’ practice, prompting the US to invade Iraq.
Posted in Currency Wars | Tagged: BRICS(Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), dollar collapse, End of empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 8, 2016
“American policy toward Central Asia should be based on the premise that it is a region of convergent rather than competitive interests… Thus, wherever possible and appropriate, Washington should better harness…(the) Chinese presence in the region to its favor… Similarly, Washington should not try to impede China’s Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. It is not necessary and will prove ineffective for Washington to take an overly competitive approach to challenging Chinese… political, economic, and security engagement in the region”.
M.K.Bhadrakumar
8th February, 2016
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace brought out a paper recently on the United States’ policy options toward the Central Asian region in the period ahead following the drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan. Three pundits rooted in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie co-authored the paper and what distinguishes them is also their long stints in the US state department and National Security Council, and/or the intelligence community.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: End of empire, Obama's realist turn, retreat from empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 8, 2016
This is a fair summary of the situation with the best hope for Western diplomacy the claim to have stopped the “barrel bombs”. The complete fiasco and humiliation for Western imperialism so long predicted in these pages!
An Exasperated John Kerry Throws In Towel On Syria: ”
7th February, 2016
“Russian and Syrian forces intensified their campaign on rebel-held areas around Aleppo that are still home to around 350,000 people and aid workers have said the city – Syria’s largest before the war – could soon fall.”
Can you spot what’s wrong with that quote, from a Reuters pieceout today? Here’s the problem: “could soon fall” implies that Aleppo is on the verge of succumbing to enemy forces. It’s not. It’s already in enemy hands and has been for quite some time. What Reuters should have said is this: “…could soon be liberated.”
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Assad must stay, End of empire, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 7, 2016
5th February, 2016
Iran indicated on Friday that it wants to settle payments for its new and outstanding oil sales in euros and not in dollars or any other currencies.
Posted in Currency Wars | Tagged: dollar collapse, End of empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 10, 2016
Just the Beginning: Iran, India Dump Petrodollar, Settle Oil Payments in Rupees
6th January, 2015
Iran and India have announced that they intend to settle all oustanding crude oil payments in rupees, as part of a joint strategy to dump the dollar and trade instead in national currencies.
Posted in Currency Wars | Tagged: dollar collapse, End of empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 17, 2015
M.K.Bhadrakumar
16th December, 2015
The announcement by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday regarding the formation of an Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism has caught everyone by surprise. The announcement came in the nature of a ‘joint statement’ purportedly by 34 Muslim states (here and here). The Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has personally identified himself with the initiative and held a rare press conference to claim that Riyadh would “coordinate efforts to fight terrorism” in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. MbS announced that the alliance will be headquartered in Riyadh.
Read more
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: End of empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 15, 2015
11th November, 2015
The paradox of the current global crisis is that for the last five years, all relatively responsible and independent nations have made tremendous efforts to save the United States from the financial, economic, military, and political disaster that looms ahead. And this is all despite Washington’s equally systematic moves to destabilize the world order, rightly known as the Pax Americana.
Posted in Global peace process | Tagged: BRICS(Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), End of empire, global reset, new global financial architecture, Obama agenda, retreat from empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 9, 2015
“He also noted that Berlin’s interests are “more in line with those of Russia and China than those of the US,” echoing what German political scientist Matthias Küntzel in 2009 referred as the emergence of a “new constellation” of powers with USA/UK/France on one side and Russia/China/Germany on the other.[8]
With the recent upgrade of Sino-British relationship to “comprehensive strategic partnership” and EU members clamoring to join China’s AIIB and ‘One Belt One Road’ initiatives earlier this year, the Beijing-Moscow-Berlin based constellation may actually be expanding.[9]“
9th November, 2015
In 2003, Germany opposed US invasion of Iraq, and again in 2011 when US bombed the Gaddafi regime that tragically transformed Libya from a relatively stable country to a failed state.[1]
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Chinese soft power, End of empire, Russian diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on October 12, 2015
Cailean Bochanan
12th October, 2015
The long awaited coup against Jeremy Corbyn has finally materialized. Up to fifty Labour MPs are reported to be prepared to vote for military action in Syria were it to be put to a vote. What possessed them to put forward this woefully mistimed move is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they had been reading Socialist Worker and been inflamed by its reports of “some 10,000” barrel boms “dropped in the first six months of this year” and how Russia “wants to shore up Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which is crumbling, so it is attacking all forms of opposition.” In any case, they have decided that the time has come for another UK intervention to protect civilians by creating safe havens for them. That would involve, as Labour MP John Woodcock put it, “greater involvement from air forces to sustain a no-fly zone and will certainly require an end to the hand-wringing over President Putin’s disgraceful deceit in bombing anti-Assad rebels rather than Daesh [Isis].”
Posted in Syria | Tagged: corbyn leadership, End of empire, Russian diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on October 7, 2015
The operative word here is “still”: we still, despite the fact that Syrian airspace is under the control of the Russians with de facto US collaboration, are considering airstrikes against ISIL,
“But Cameron has also said he would only take the vote to parliament if he had a convincing plan for Syria after the bloody four-year civil war.’
So he won’t be taking it to a vote then! The people with a convincing plan are the Russians.
Yet, still, we hear the faint and forlorn cry of regime change:
“We need to demonstrate that we have a vision and a plan for what Syria should look like and I’m clear that means a government not led by Bashar Assad but led by someone who can bring the country together. You need a Syrian government that can appeal not just to the Alawites but to the Sunnis, the Kurds and Christians.”
Still, I agree with the last sentence, but that Syrian government is none other than that of Bashar-al-Assad!
The British government is in total disarray.
7th October, 2015
Britain is still seeking to conduct airstrikes in Syria even though Russia’s military action there is making the country extremely dangerous, Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, has said.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: End of empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on October 7, 2015
See also: New Cold War or War on Terror
“I have, for some time, been talking up a strategic alliance between Washington and Moscow as the great paradigm shift in global geo-politics. It was, admittedly, difficult to see how such a shift could come about. Indeed, the failure of Obama’s reset was just another amongst a litany of seeming failures. But if that remains a strategic goal of Obama, and I believe that it must, then War on TerrorII would be the key to its realization.”
7th October, 2015
Baku – APA. The Russian Defense Ministry and the Pentagon are working on an agreement to coordinate military flights in Syria, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, RT reported.
Posted in Global peace process, Multipolar world, Syria | Tagged: East-West alliance against ISIL, End of empire, Obama's realist turn, retreat from empire, Russian diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
