Trump’s US Sadomasochist, or Just Plain Stupid?

Finian CUNNINGHAM

The Trump administration has shot itself so many times in the foot, it’s a wonder it is still able to stand. Time and again, whether to do with Venezuela, Russia, China, Europe, Iran or the rest of the world, Washington keeps blowing holes in its own credibility and ultimately longevity as a global power. Is the Trump administration sadomasochist or just plain stupid?

Take this report from Bloomberg that US imports of crude oil from Russia are set to triple this year compared with last year. If we use 2017 as a base figure, then US imports of Russian oil are in line for a ten-fold increase. Why? Because the Trump administration has slapped sanctions on its erstwhile chief supplier, Venezuela, supposedly in a “smart” strategy to force regime change against President Nicolas Maduro by making the South American country “cry Uncle”.

Right, so then to make up for the resulting shortfall to US oil refineries keeping the US economy running, Washington is having to call up alternative sources like Russia. But hold on a minute. Russia is supposed to be a “bad guy”. The US has imposed sanctions on Moscow for allegedly destabilizing Ukraine, annexing Crimea and meddling in American elections. Some of these US sanctions have even targeted Russian oil companies presumably to “teach Moscow a lesson”. Yet, here’s Washington buying up Russian oil like there’s no tomorrow. A likely ten-fold increase over a two-year period, all because Trump has a fixation about forcing illegal regime change in Venezuela, an ally of Russia. And remember this is the same US which is threatening to impose sanctions on Europe over the Nord Stream II project with Russia amid Washington’s accusations that the Europeans will be dependent on Russia for energy. Say what?

Then there’s China. Here’s another case of aiming the gun at the barn door and blasting yourself in the foot. Trump’s “genius” trade war with America’s biggest source of exports is, at it turns out, hitting US consumers and producers hardest. Tariffs imposed on Chinese goods to force Beijing to submit to Washington’s demands for “fairness” are rebounding with higher consumer prices in US retail stores like Walmart. American farmers are finding that their orders for soybean and other products to China are being slashed by Beijing in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. Low-income Americans and farmers are supposed to be Trump’s voter base for his reelection bid in 2020.

Nike, the iconic American sportswear brand, is “crying Uncle” over Trump’s trade war with China. The firm is reportedly among 170 shoemakers whose production lines based in China are being clobbered by Trump’s tariffs on Chinese exports. Nike is pleading for Trump to exempt it and other US suppliers from his “smart” tariffs.

The Trump administration is banning Chinese telecoms giant Huawei over “national security” concerns, which is just a cover for strong-arming out of the marketplace because supposedly “free market” America can’t compete on market principles. Trump is having to reverse the ban after finding that a lot of US consumers actually use Huawei and are pissed off. Also, quite a few American technology producers are suppliers to Huawei for its phone products. Trump’s gung-ho policy against the Chinese firm is backfiring on American consumers and producers alike.

In a globally integrated world of supply chains and consumer markets, it is nonsensical and self-defeating for the Trump administration to think that it can simply shut China out from US trade. With an annual trade deficit with China of $350 billion, the US economy depends on Chinese exports for its existence. Cutting off China as Trump is doing is tantamount to cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Let’s look at Europe. The Trump administration is bullying the Europeans over a number of issues. Continually griping that they are not spending enough on the NATO military alliance, Trump has ended up forcing the Europeans to consider setting up their own European Army. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are among those leaders who are pushing the rest of Europe to take care of its own defenses independent from the US. If NATO becomes shelved then that’s a crucial pillar gone for American influence over European geopolitics.

Trump’s insufferable browbeating over NATO is only one issue among many. Like China, he wants to slap tariffs on European exports because the Europeans are also accused of being “not fair” to “benign” ever-so “righteous America”. Eh?

The European Union is threatened with US sanctions over doing business with Iran. Business the EU is entitled to do because they are upholding the 2015 international nuclear accord that they signed up to, along with Russia, China – and the US. Only the Trump administration unilaterally decided last year to trash the UN-backed accord, accusing Iran of bad faith against all evidence to the contrary.

So, the US pulls out of its international commitments and expects everyone else to do too, under pain of imposing sanctions. Having not been able to gets its bullying way over Iran, it looks like the US is now resorting to gunboat diplomacy by sending naval carriers and nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf. Huffing and puffing, the petulant American bully seems willing to start World War III in order to get its way come hell or high water – and to hell with the planet.

The contradictions of a would-be hegemon stem from its winner-take-all capitalist ideology. The US presumes to be a unipower in its own delusions, when in reality it is living in a multipolar world where all sides must live in mutual respect and inter-dependence. Until the Americans realize this reality, their hegemonic rulers will continue to shoot their country in the foot. At some point it won’t have a leg to stand on, if, that is, the delusional would-be tyrant doesn’t destroy the planet first.

Finian CUNNINGHAM

Former editor and writer for major news media organizations. He has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages

US will defeat EU army

Finian Cunningham

The testy slap-down by US President Donald Trump to the idea of a European army was telling. Any notion of the Europeans stepping away from American "protection" would be anathema to Washington.

That's because American power is not about "protecting" Europe. That's just the vainglorious, propaganda mythology. In reality, it's all about Washington maintaining a lucrative protection racket in Europe, imperial control over supposed "allies", and militarily targeting Russia as the main objective.

The idea for a European army was floated again last week by French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron has been particularly keen on the European Union forming its own military, independent from the US.

Speaking on a tour of World War I battlefields in northern France, Macron said: “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America.”

In response, Trump immediately took Macron to task, saying his remarks were "insulting". In a subsequent meeting in Paris for WWI commemorations, the French leader appeared to backtrack under pressure, trying to assure his American counterpart that a European army would be "complementary" to the US-led NATO alliance.

Still, the proposal of Europe going its own way from the US has not been abandoned. This week, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told German business publication Handelsblatt that Europe must "stand up to the Trump administration" and not be afraid to assert its own power as an "empire".

Le Maire said in an interview, "Everybody knows it takes guts to stand in the way of Donald Trump's administration. The people of Europe have had enough of the babble from Brussels. They want to see action."

Echoing Macron's comments last week, the senior French cabinet minister said that Europe must become a "peaceful empire" in order to stand up to China and the US.

Le Maire also challenged Germany to back the French plans for creating an independent force — "political, financial and military" — from Washington. "We have talked about it for a long time. Now it's time for decisions."

These are certainly pushy words from the French leadership. But the idea of Europe taking on a more assertive, independent international role from the US has also been growing among Germany's political class in recent years. The residual shame over Nazi Germany's horrors seems to be gradually fading as Berlin strives for more global influence.

There are several factors in why the EU seems to be becoming more estranged from its erstwhile transatlantic partnership with the US. Under the Trump administration, tensions have intensified over his barracking about NATO expenditures; his browbeating over perceived "unfair" European trading practices; the threat of sanctions on Iran hitting EU multi-billion euro investments with Tehran; and the walking away from the Paris Climate Accord.

In this quarrelsome context, the notion of Europe forming its own military security organization takes on even greater appeal. France's Macron seems especially ambitious to rejuvenate European and French global standing. Having its own continental army augments that ambition.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed the proposal. Moscow views such a development as moving towards a more multipolar world and away from the unipolar would-be dominance of the US.

At a glance, one would think too that Washington might also endorse European defences being independently bolstered. After all, for years, American politicians have been bitterly complaining that Europe is a "freeloader" on US military protection. Trump has taken the grievance to new heights, aggressively badgering European nations to stump up more spending on their military to "share the burden" more evenly with the US.

There is a conceited American myth that Washington is the "chivalrous protector" of Europe, as portrayed in countless Hollywood movies, such as Spielberg's ‘Saving Private Ryan'.

Since 1945, tens of thousands of US troops stationed in bases all over Europe are said to be there out of noble duty to defend allies, so goes the myth.

Such a conceited narrative is then used by Trump to castigate Europeans to spend more on defences and "share the burden".

However, notice how the American tune suddenly shifts if the Europeans actually begin to propose setting up their own defences. If the issue were all about "sharing" costs of defence more equitably, then logically Washington should welcome the move towards a European army.

But that is not the real issue. Washington would never accept Europe becoming independent in terms of military power, because military power through NATO is how the American ruling class exert their hegemonic control over Europe.

Recall that NATO was set up in 1949 in the aftermath of the Second World War with the expressed objective to, "Keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down". Note that while the civilian post of secretary general of NATO can be held by Europeans, the military organization is invariably commanded by an American armed forces general.

NATO is America's "protection racket" in Europe. It has grown to a 29-member bloc which has expanded over recent years all the way to Russia's borders. This US-led military matrix sprawling over Europe gives Washington huge leverage over European policy and a vital projection of force at Moscow.

Moreover, European members of NATO are obliged to spend their military budgets largely on American weapons, including Patriot missiles and fighter jets. European nations are lined up to buy hundreds of the latest-generation and wildly overpriced American F-35 warplanes.

If Europe somehow created its own army to satisfy the vanity of politicians like Napoleonic Macron, then Washington stands to lose tremendous strategic control over Europe and the latter's relations with Russia. It also stands to lose trillions of dollars flowing to the Pentagon's military-industrial complex that props up American capitalism.

Washington for all its rhetoric about "protecting allies" and "burden sharing" is not going to let that happen. European fanciful talk about setting up its own army would be viewed by US imperialism as an intolerable act of insolence. But the tensions over the issue do show one instructive thing: US relations with Europe are not the partnership. It's all about domination.

The author of what you heard is Finian Cunningham, famous analyst specializing in political affairs.