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Page added on June 6, 2017
Washington’s Empire Is Not Unraveling
Paul Craig Roberts
The military/security complex spent seven decades building its empire. The complex assassinated one American president (JFK) who threatened the empire and drove another (Richard Nixon) out of office. The complex does not tolerate the election of politicians in Europe who might not follow Washington’s line on foreign and economic policy.
Suddenly, according to the Western and even Russian media, the complex is going to let one man, Trump, who does not rule America, and one woman, Merkel, who does not rule Germany, destroy its empire.
According to the presstitutes, by pulling out of the Paris Accord (the global climate pact) and stating that NATO members should contribute more to the alliance’s budget for which the US taxpayer has an overweighted share, Trump has caused Merkel to conclude that Europe can no longer rely on Washington. The discord between Trump and Merkel and Washington’s resignation of its leadership position has destroyed the Western alliance and left the EU itself on the verge of being torn apart.
All of this is nonsensical sillyness. What has happened is this:
Just as men in dark suits and dark ties carrying briefcases explained to Trump that it was not Washington’s policy to normalize relations with Russia, they explained to him that it was not Washington’s policy to exit the Paris Accord. Trump said something like this: Look, you guys, you have already required me to abandon my peace initiative with Russia and my intent to pull out of Syria. Now you are forcing me off my “America First” pledge. If people realize that I am not really the president, who are you going to rule through? What about a compromise?
Here is the deal, as Trump made perfectly clear in his speech. He is temporarily pulling the US out of the Paris Accord while he immediately opens negotiations to rejoin the Paris Accord on terms less burdensome to Americans. In other words, the “pull out” is a face-saving gesture that will result in a small reduction in America’s share of the cost. We will have a “Trump victory” and no damage to the Paris Accord.
Merkel facing reelection needs a boost that will refocus German attention from the one million Muslim refugees, bringing crime, rape, and terrorism in their train, that Merkel brought into Germany. Her dramatic statement that Europe can no longer rely on America was a perfect way to refocus attention. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump and Merkel got together and agreed on how they would play this.
Yet neither reporters nor commentators could report the obvious truth. Why? The Western media could not let pass the opportunity to denounce Trump for destroying American leadership and the climate, and environmental organizations seized the fundraising opportunity to oppose Trump’s climate destruction. Russian commentators saw hope for Russia in NATO and the EU breaking up as consequences of America going its own way.
There are two serious implications of this media deception. One is that Americans and the world are blinded to the fact that there are power centers that constrain a president and are capable of substituting their agendas for the agendas on which the president campaigned. We saw this with Obama, but were given the explanation that Obama never meant it in the first place. Now we will get the same explanation of Trump. The fact that the president is constrained by the military/security complex and the financial sector will not come through. Thus, The Matrix’s myth of democracy bringing change via elections will continue to blind people to reality.
A second consequence is that the Russians, ever hopeful to be part of the West while retaining national sovereignty, which no member of the EU or NATO is permitted to do, will see in the reported withdrawal of American leadership renewed hopes of joining Europe. If the Russians take seriously the New York Times anointment of Germany’s Merkel as “the liberal West’s last defender” (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/world/europe/germany-merkel-trump-election.html?mcubz=0&_r=1), Russia might leave herself militarily and economically exposed by slowing military preparations and the development of economic relations with Asia.
People can have little idea of actual events as long as news reporting and commentary reflect political agendas and hopeful aspirations.
14 Comments on "Washington’s Empire Is Not Unraveling"
Cloggie on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 7:20 am
The military/security complex spent seven decades building its empire.
7 decades, now let me see… 2017-70=1947.
Fascinating, the good mister Roberts simply ignores 1941-1947, convinced as he is that WW2 was the “Good War”. He should have a private talk with Pat Buchanan, who btw merely lifts the veil of what happened in WW2, revisionism lite so to speak:
https://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Hitler-Unnecessary-War-Britain-ebook/dp/B0011UGM3W/ref=sr_1_2
Pat Buchanan, who doesn’t want to estrange himself from American mainstream too much, calls WW2 euphemistically the “unnecessary war”. A far more accurate description would be “pursuit of the American Century”, the title of a landmark article, published 10 months before the Roosevelt government managed to maneuver Japan (with an economy 1/6 of the US) to deal the first blow, creating the pretext for the US (economy 29% global GDP) to get its desired war with Germany, that would catapult the US to planetary pole position, all by intent:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6139.htm
(the word “war” occurs 71 times)
Paul Craig Roberts who understands more of political Washington than of history, simply overlooks that WW2 was the period where most of the present day US empire was realized.
The complex assassinated one American president (JFK)
At least he doesn’t buy the “Oswald did it alone” BS. Most Americans think that they are not told the full truth. I think it was an assassination with strong Israeli input, just like with 9/11.
The complex does not tolerate the election of politicians in Europe who might not follow Washington’s line on foreign and economic policy.
That’s why Washington hates Putin, Orban and the Polish & Czech governments.
and left the EU itself on the verge of being torn apart
The Macron victory in France showed that EU support in France in still big. And Germany and France are all that matters in the EU.
Roberts is probably correct that current Trump policy is the result of a compromise between Trump and the Swamp (“men in dark suits”).
I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump and Merkel got together and agreed on how they would play this.
There is no proof for that. Trump and Merkel don’t like each other and Trump really represents a break with political BAU in Washington, that makes Merkel fear for het political neck, Erich Honecker style.
The Western media could not let pass the opportunity to denounce Trump for destroying American leadership
Proving the point that Trump correctly is seen as an “alien” in Washington, who needs to be removed from the presidency at the earliest opportunity.
Russian commentators saw hope for Russia in NATO and the EU breaking up as consequences of America going its own way.
Correct. Putin has repeatedly said that Russia is a “European country” and that “we will have a European Confederation with Russia as a member”. Russian precondition: European membership not on old-school Washington terms as a “oligarch vassal”.
I like PCR as a real dissident of the US empire, but he still is a “leftist-leaning conservative”, a technocrat-economist with little feeling for the mood in the country and the deplorable Republican electorate in particular and with little understanding of history (because of decades of media indoctrination). PCR is a Washington insider but a Heartland outsider. He understands neocons, but not deplorables.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8GVtXfATtI
marko on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 8:24 am
In my opinion Trump is a loose canon , but he is a part of the establishment he will do as he was told to do no doubt in it , it is just a matter of time, Obama was the last hope of the ordinary Americans that something will change , but it didn’t happen. At the beginning I taught the same but Very soon I realize that he is a part of the establishment. Show must go on
PRINT BABY PRINT
JuanP on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 8:41 am
I think PCR is wrong about the Russians; they want to be accepted but they will not slow down their rearmament because they have been lied to too much and they simply don’t trust us any more. He is also wrong about the importance of the Paris Accord which is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. He is right about most people in the West being fooled by the media, though, but more and more are seeing the truth everyday.
Richard on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 9:18 am
Kennedy was killed by Oswald. What drivel this Paul Craig went on about.
rockman on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 9:40 am
“…the complex is going to let one man, Trump…destroy its empire.” Fortunately could stop reading there. If he has to resort to such an obvious strawman there was no need to read any more.
Outcast_Searcher on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 10:11 am
How are the Paris climate accords “burdensome” to anyone? After all, they make no firm commitments to anything, have no meaningful consequences if any promises (way down the road) are not kept, and basically do NOTHING in the short term except attempt to pacify greens.
bobinget on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 10:41 am
This entire exercise reeks of conspiratorial madness.
The fact that the nation will survive Trump, must annoy those anti American haters running out of Trump excuses.
An emotionally insecure, ignorant, cheap, crooked fakir.
Created jobs…. in late night comedy.
Turned Washington into episodes of “VeeP”
Tried to destroy the Republican Party, failed.
Attempted to corrupt our Constitution, failed.
Befriended, ‘borrowed’ from, so called ‘strongmen’ gangsters.
Made enemies within long time democracies.
No one trusts this failed president.
Cloggie on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 10:46 am
Kennedy was killed by Oswald. What drivel this Paul Craig went on about.
You are on your own, Richard.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx
bobinget on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 10:53 am
“Paris” didn’t go far enough. The time for “Paris”
past decades ago.
Having sad that..
Make a comparison with the current state of America’s health care
.
Republicans invented ACA. Look it up.
When a mixed race Democrat gained the presidency, suddenly, ACA, designed to prevent
single payer, became radio-active.
As a result of the inevitable Trump backlash, I predict we will get a (Canadian) version of single payer.
So it will be with climate change. This hurricane season will underline the need for more aggressive
action, not continued denial.
Ghung on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 12:11 pm
Again, the discussion is stuck at the level of arguing about symptoms of the devolving underlying reality: Too many humans running out of planet to exploit…..
Yet while modern civilization is subject to cyclical constraints, in our case the boom has been fueled to an unprecedented extreme by a one-time-only energy subsidy from tens of millions of years’ worth of bio-energy transformed into fossil fuels by agonizingly slow geological processes. One way or another, our locomotive of industrial progress is destined to run off the rails, and because we’ve chugged to such perilous heights of population size and consumption rates, we have a long way to fall—much further than any previous civilization.
Perhaps a few million people globally know enough of history, anthropology, environmental science, and ecological economics to have arrived at general understandings and expectations along these lines. For those who are paying attention, only the specific details of the inevitable processes of societal simplification and economic/population shrinkage remain unknown.
There’s a small cottage industry of websites and commenters keeping track of signs of imminent collapse and hypothesizing various possible future collapse trajectories. Efforts to this end may have practical usefulness for those who hope to escape the worst of the mayhem in the process—which is likely to be prolonged and uneven—and perhaps even improve lives by building community resilience. However, many collapsitarians are quite admittedly just indulging a morbid fascination with history’s greatest train wreck. In many of my writings I try my best to avoid morbid fascination and focus on practical usefulness. But every so often it’s helpful to step back and take it all in. It’s quite a show.”
http://richardheinberg.com/museletter-300-juggling-live-hand-grenades
Apneaman on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 1:58 pm
hair clog, Pat Buchanan is a shameless self promoter, bullshit artist and all around retard. More tellingly, I could spend 2 months listing all the books about ‘necessary’ and ‘unnecessary’ wars in over a hundred different languages spanning centuries – Big fucking whoop.
The Great War 1914-1918: ‘The most unnecessary war in history’
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4691650-the-great-war-1914-1918-the-most-unnecessary-war-in-history-/
Was the Great War Necessary?
A young historian argues iconoclastically that Britain’s entry into the First World War, in 1914, was “the greatest error of modern history,” born of neurotic fears projected onto Germany.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/05/was-the-great-war-necessary/377605/
15 Reasons Why the Vietnam War was Unnecessary
https://prezi.com/mdh8bnsqnioq/15-reasons-why-the-vietnam-war-was-unnecessary/
and on and on.
Still think you can right your perceived wrongs of history by yelling your entire life? Even if the entire world fell down, hit their head and agreed with you it would not take your bitterness away. Your tribe still lost and you do not possess the intellectual honesty and maturity to accept that. What you desire is an impossibility unless maybe you get one of those DeLorean’s with a flux capacitor in it and hook it up to 1.21 jigawatts – GREAT SCOTT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5cYgRnfFDA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsKbwR7WXN4
Cloggie on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 3:55 pm
hair clog, Pat Buchanan is a shameless self promoter, bullshit artist and all around retard. More tellingly, I could spend 2 months listing all the books about ‘necessary’ and ‘unnecessary’ wars in over a hundred different languages spanning centuries – Big fucking whoop.
TalmudTurd, still feeling resentment against good ‘ol Pat for his frank remarks about Israeli influence on US politics?
“Congress is Israeli occupied territory”
Can’t say that eh, even if it is true.
https://www.adl.org/education/resources/profiles/pat-buchanan-in-his-own-words
https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/1/5/the-ten-worst-u-s-purveyors-of-antisemitism-6-patrick-buchanan/
I like Pat, one of the last courageous Americans.
Pat on the death of western civilization:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GG1rFA_QEk
(Can’t happen fast enough in my view so we can start all over again, to begin with with a good civil war)
Still think you can right your perceived wrongs of history by yelling your entire life? Even if the entire world fell down, hit their head and agreed with you it would not take your bitterness away. Your tribe still lost and you do not possess the intellectual honesty and maturity to accept that.
Wtf do you mean??!! You are the weakling and manic depressed here, not me, I’m upbeat because I know that the salvation and European rebirth is near. I’m not bitter, I just point out to you how we are going to hang you, morally speaking. That’s the true purpose of my revisionism.
Hubert on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 4:15 pm
America is little more than a bankrupt third world with a large army that it can no longer afford to maintain.
Chris Hedges – “The Myth of Human Progress and the Collapse of Complex Societies” – Full Speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAo7ky1kq-Q&t=667s
makati1 on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 6:48 pm
I agree, JuanP. I also agree with Hubert. The U$ is toast.