U.S. may be bumping up against the limit of its “empire” schemes

By Martin Love

NORTH CAROLINA - Ray Dalio, head of Bridgewater, the largest and one of the most most successful hedge funds in the U.S., and no fool when it comes to finance and economic matters, has warned that because of the expansion of debt both personal and governmental the country might be facing sooner or later an inflationary debt crisis that could see the value of the dollar decline by 30 percent or more.

 This is an ominous warning, and from the standpoint of geopolitics, if a crisis ever occurs, it will have immense ramifications for geopolitics – especially on the U.S. capacity to project military power and even apply odious sanctions on other countries like Iran.

Triple-digit inflation has taken hold in countries across the globe by storm in 2018. Argentina, Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Venezuela and others have all suffered economic and financial blows this year, and in the U.S. virtually every market – real estate, stocks and bonds -- has declined except for the cash dollar.

On top of this, Donald Trump has done something this month no one predicted – announced a withdrawal of some 2000 troops from Syria, which marks a concession, if it happens, that the U.S. lost its war with its allied and various terrorist groups on Syria and the Assad government.
 It should be noted that Trump probably won the Presidential election in 2016 because he claimed to want to pull the U.S. out of military engagements in the Middle East, and seemed to recognize that the war in Afghanistan, the longest by far in U.S. history, was accomplishing nothing and could not be “won”.

Trump has also announced plans to halve the number of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. In announcing the withdrawal from Syria, he also claimed the U.S. had defeated ISIS and therefore implying that the U.S. had no reason to linger in Syria – even though everyone knows that the U.S. (and Israel’s) aim in Syria was to destroy the Assad government and leave Syria in chaos and ruin -- something that was almost accomplished were it not for the assistance Russia and Iran and even Hizballah rendered to the Syria people.

 ISIS was actually served by the U.S. at critical moments in the conflict. Trump was never going to say the U.S. was defeated or even that it had not been aiding ISIS from time to time, but this is not important. Let him falsely claim the U.S. “won” something in Syria when in fact the U.S. squandered many billions and maybe more than a trillion dollars in Syria.

The only discouraging aspects of Trump’s moves are that the Neocon and Neoliberal denizens of the U.S. Congress and government, especially the corrupt Democratic Party opposition, are angry about the withdrawal and will use it to make Trump look foolish.

 Trump’s “Defense” secretary, “Mad Dog” general James Mattis, also known as a “Chihauhua” if he were literally a “dog”, resigned in a huff of opposition, too. Hilary Clinton is also screaming about the Trump decision as some sort of “victory” for Vladimir Putin, when it’s really a victory for the entire world.

How these sudden moves play out, and who might replace Mattis, is anyone’s guess. But the Trump-Zionist plan to topple Iran’s government or go to war on Iran will be less viable or possible with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Syria is, after all, an ally of Iran and owes it as much support as it can give, even if it’s just moral.

 Erdogan, meanwhile, has allegedly said Turkey will do whatever it can to reduce the effects of U.S. sanctions on Iran, and some of the Arab states are warming a bit to Syria and Assad and seem to be preparing to establish diplomatic relations once again. And as well, Muhammad Bin Salman remains in the U.S. Congressional “doghouse” by and large with even some of the most hawkish Congressional members like Sen. Lindsey Graham calling for action against MBS.

But here’s the real question: at the far margin, given what Trump has stated this month regarding Syria and Afghanistan, and the message he successfully campaigned on in 2016, is it even slightly possible that he’s having second thoughts about his Mideast policies to date so far? And with the stock market collapse and signs of weakening economic activity worldwide,  is it possible that Trump sees, or is beginning to see, that the U.S. is way too far extended in every respect overseas and must address growing problems internally in the U.S., even if it may cost him popularity with the warhawks and imperialistic extremists in both parties, and also with Netanyahu, who has vowed to step up action against Iranian assets in Syria even though the Zionists risk facing a solidified and coordinated air defense system run by Syrians and the Russians? My bet, even though it is tentative, is that the U.S. may soon be bumping up hard against the limits of its “empire” schemes, which will be a relief for practically the entire world.