Reducing global exposure to US dollar

The current global financial system is highly dollar-centric and larger emerging and developed economies aim to move to a multipolar reserve currency world. Among them, Iran, China and Russia are the most active ones taking action to increase their ability to resist the US dollar hegemony and reduce the US ability to weaponize the dollar as a foreign policy tool.

Russia, for example, is issuing a yuan-denominated bond, which could be a shield from US tariffs and sanctions. The issuance of yuan bonds have been planned since 2016 and it is expected to be issued by the end of this year or early 2020. This event would mark the first time that Russia issues sovereign debt in the Chinese currency. Russia and Iran are also doing the same thing with their currencies.

Stay with us with an article in this regard written buy the staff writers of Fars News Agency under the heading: Reducing Global Exposure to US Dollar.

What has not received adequate coverage is the tectonic movements that countries such as Iran, China and Russia are making in order to reduce their reliance on the US dollar.

The current global financial system is highly dollar-centric and larger emerging and developed economies aim to move to a multipolar reserve currency world. Among them, Iran, China and Russia are the most active ones taking action to increase their ability to resist the US dollar hegemony and reduce the US ability to weaponize the dollar as a foreign policy tool.

Russia, for example, is issuing a yuan-denominated bond, which could be a shield from US tariffs and sanctions. The issuance of yuan bonds have been planned since 2016 and it is expected to be issued by the end of this year or early 2020.

This event would mark the first time that Russia issues sovereign debt in the Chinese currency.

Russia and Iran are also doing the same thing with their currencies.

The move is due to the changed global political landscape for Iran, China and Russia that has pushed the countries into a closer partnership. It's a clear step to prevent the power of the dollar from hurting their national interest and it also represents a bridge for investors of these countries. Russia has progressively reduced the US currency share from its international reserves in the past year, increasing gold, yuan and euro holdings.

Both Russian Central Bank and Russian National Wealth Fund have intervened in this direction explaining that the geopolitical risk represents a key factor in determining the new structure. The Chinese yuan has seen the biggest boost in Russian foreign reserves surging from 5 percent to over 14 percent.

Being the holder of over one trillion dollars of US government debt, China is heavily exposed to the US dollar and, as a consequence of a possible risk of decoupling from the US, China is now diversifying its foreign reserves reducing its dependency on the dollar and the pace of diversification into other currencies such as the British pound, the Japanese yen and euro as well as gold reserves will likely speed up going forward. The reduced reliance on the dollar financial conditions can offer China more room for the yuan to play a bigger role on the global stage.

China seems to be an even more forward-thinking with its planned launch of a crypto- currency backed by the People's Bank of China that will encourage worldwide use of the yuan in order to protect its foreign exchange sovereignty.

Having a proprietary digital currency could allow China to better monitor the monetary supply intervention and prevent corruption and money laundering.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the Chinese crypto-currency is that it can be seen as a way for a global distribution of the yuan by the PBOC and commercial banks through a mechanism by which the yuan can be used in everyday transactions all around the world and a foundation for the internationalization of the yuan using the Belt and Road Initiative as the first channel.

Crypto- currency is considered as one of the top currencies because they are digital currencies that have the reach of the internet and can go anywhere the internet can reach. It is also very powerful because they can bypass Western banking systems such as SWIFT, a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions, making them extremely strategic.

The attention of financial observers to the future launch of the Chinese digital currency has been amplified by the recent support in investments in the block chain technology expressed on several occasions by the Chinese leadership that considers it as a "core technology".

The strategic decisions taken by Iran, China and Russia could have a rebalancing effect on the strength and influence of the US on global financial markets. The de-dollarization has already become an ongoing process that could reduce the dominance of the dollar globally and see the rise of other currencies for a better representation of the growing weight of emerging economies.

White House-Ak Saray relations: From close friendship to conflict of interests

By Hossein Amiri

Relations between the U.S. Turkey have strained since the failed July 2016 coup in Turkey. Now, the most important reasons for the tension is Washington's strong opposition to Turkey's plan to buy S-400 missile system from Russia and Turkish military invasion into northern Syria.

Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to the U.S. on November 13 was intended to resolve the two countries' disputes and open a new horizon in economic and trade relations, differences still remain. 

Though after the meeting at the White House, Trump made some pledges, including increasing trade ties to $100 billion, it takes a long time to fulfill these promises.

Contrary to such pledges, the Pentagon announced that it had replaced all F-35 fighter parts made by Turkey.

While the Turkish and U.S. leaders were meeting, F-35 production program executive Lt. Gen. Eric Fick said at a congressional hearing that Turkey would be completely phased out until March.

At the moment the U.S. has narrowed the number of parts down from 1,000 to 12.

Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord affirmed to Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., that as of Wednesday, Turkey’s exit from the program was not expected to cause any F-35 production delays.

The U.S. government believes Ankara's move to buy S-400 missile system from Russia is not in line with NATO policies. Washington also sees Turkey’s decision as a threat to U.S. F-35 fighters. However, Ankara has announced that it will go ahead with its decision to buy the missile system.

Erdogan said it is not a right policy to ask Ankara to deprive itself of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

Erdogan's remarks came in response to some reports that Trump had requested Turkey to cancel the purchase of S-400 system, a defense system that has been deployed in some parts of Turkey since July 2019.

But after Trump and Erdogan's meeting, the Turkish president claimed that the U.S. president had a positive view on buying the missile system.

Though Trump may seek to strike a deal with Erdogan on the S-400 missile system and F-35 fighter aircraft, based on his own businessmen approach, Ankara's military intervention in northern Syria and its insistence on buying the S-400 system are at odds with Washington. For this reason, the House of Representatives has passed two resolutions against Turkey.

On October 30, the House approved a resolution against Turkey recognizing the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in 1915. 305 representatives voted in favor of the resolution, with only three opposing it. It also passed another resolution calling on Trump to impose sanctions on Turkey over military operations in northern Syria. The resolution was also adopted by 403 votes in favor and 16 against, a move that rose Turkey's anger.

After Erdogan's meeting with Trump, attended by some Congress representatives, senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee vetoed the resolution recognizing the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. 

Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Robert Menendez had called for the resolution to be approved. Lindsey Graham noted that he had listened to Erdogan's speech at the White House and criticized a House resolution that recognized the Armenian genocide. 

Menendez argued that "U.S. policy must be unanimous and honest in the face of human rights violations, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide" and sent it to the Senate for approval.

There is a difference between the White House and Congress in how to deal with Turkey. Also, there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats despite Trump's promises to Erdogan.

Trump, Clinton Show Russia How to Really Interfere

Finian CUNNINGHAM

Never mind obscure troll farms and byzantine cyber-hacking (we’re being ironic here), Russia needs to really raise its game for “interfering” in other nations’ politics. Like, how about President Vladimir Putin going on a national radio show in Britain and telling voters how to vote in the forthcoming election? Now that’s what you call real, in-your-face influence!

Three days after Boris Johnson’s Conservative government announced on October 28 that a snap parliamentary elections would be held on December 12, lo and behold American President Donald Trump gives a “world exclusive” interview to Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on October 31.

Farage, who counts himself a personal friend of Trump, hosts a nationwide radio talk-show. For nearly 28 minutes, Trump fawned over Farage and repeatedly told listeners how he thought Farage and Boris Johnson were “two brilliant people”. Trump also described Johnson as “the right guy for the times.”

Don’t forget, these public and partisan endorsements of British politicians by the US president are being given while a general election in Britain is underway.

Three times during the interview, Trump urged Farage and Johnson to form an electoral pact in order to push through the long-delayed Brexit plan to leave the Europe Union.

“I’d like to see you and Boris get together cos you would really have some numbers [of votes]… I think it would be a great thing… an unstoppable force,” Trump opined to Farage’s radio listeners.

It was also an opportunity for the American president to explicitly tell the British people to not vote for Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“Corbyn would be so bad for your country,” said Trump menacingly. “He’d be so bad. He’d take you in such a bad way. He’d take you to such bad places.”

Prime Minister Johnson has previously rebuffed the idea of forming an alliance between the Conservatives and Farage’s Brexit Party, even though both are ardent advocates of Brexit and share a similar nationalistic, neoliberal capitalist view. The two parties are in competition for the same constituency of voters. But more centrist Conservatives tend to see Farage’s party as too rightwing and toxic.

For his part, arch Euro-skeptic Nigel Farage had vowed that his Brexit candidates would fight in every parliamentary constituency – nearly 600 – across Britain in order to push their “clean-break Brexit” agenda. Farage was highly critical of the Tories (Conservatives) under former premier Theresa May for selling-out the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU. By standing in the forthcoming election, Farage said the Brexit Party would give voters the chance to voice their demand to get “Brexit done”.

This week saw a spectacular U-turn by Farage when he declared that the Brexit Party would not be standing in any areas – some 317 seats – held by Conservative parliamentarians. Tory leader Johnson welcomed that announcement as it would ensure no losses for his parliamentarians.

Farage, however, said his party will contest the 243 seats held by Labour. The objective is to try to steal votes from Labour supporters who are pro-Brexit and to keep the leftwing Corbyn out of power.

So, what we have here is a de facto electoral pact between the Conservatives and Brexit Party – just as President Trump had urged in the national broadcast nearly two weeks ago.

The intervention this week prompted Labour’s Corbyn to denounce what he said was a “Trump-Farage-Johnson alliance”. He also said such an alliance is designed to take British politics in a “hard-right nasty” direction of neoliberalism “on steroids” which will be bad news for workers’ rights, the National Health Service and other public services.

As if that American full-frontal interference in British democracy was not brazen enough, this week also saw Hillary Clinton plunging her oar into the electoral waters. The former Democratic presidential candidate who lost to Trump in 2016 was in Britain promoting a new book. She gave interviews to the BBC state-owned broadcaster and to the Guardian newspaper in which she peddled her nonsense about alleged Russian interference in US elections and Western democracies more generally. You could hardly make the irony of this up.

Clinton used both interviews to accuse Johnson’s government of covering up Russian interference in British politics. This contorted speculation was based on Downing Street delaying the publishing of a parliamentary report into allegations of Russian influence in the 2016 Brexit referendum and in the previous 2017 parliamentary elections. Johnson’s government has cited procedural issues for the delay and said the report will be released after the elections on December 12.

To the BBC, Clinton said it was “shameful” of the British government to not publish the report sooner. “Because there is no doubt – we know it in our country, we have seen it in Europe, we have seen it here – that Russia in particular is determined to try to shape the politics of Western democracies… I find it inexplicable that your government will not release a government report about Russian influence. Inexplicable and shameful.”

Thus, here we have Hillary Clinton pre-empting a secret report by telling Britons that Russia is interfering in their political sovereignty – unlike her or Donald Trump who has single-handedly shaped the electoral landscape of British parties with his proposed Johnson-Farage alliance.

By the way, the most likely explanation for why Johnson is not rushing to publish the said intelligence report is because there is no simply evidence that Russia did interfere in Britain’s politics. Sources close to the report have already told media there is “no smoking gun”. Which corroborates what Moscow has been saying all along; that it was not running any malicious influence campaigns in Britain (or the US and elsewhere in Europe.)

And let’s take the egregious US interference in foreign politics up yet another notch. How about Washington’s sponsorship of violent streets protests in Bolivia to foment a coup against the elected President Evo Morales which Trump this week called, with Orwellian double-think, a “great moment for democracy”?

The absurd hypocrisy of American politicians is only matched by the absurd hypocrisy of Western media which “report” naked and nefarious interference by Washington as if it is normal, benign and acceptable.

Finian CUNNINGHAM

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

A short rant after a personal visit to Syria

By Martin Love

NORTH CAROLINA - So, is there some kind of looming military confrontation between Russia and the United States in eastern Syria around Syria’s oil fields, which the U.S. in a pirate role has more or less claimed as its own and seems to be all about looting the oil there?

Which never did belong to the U.S. but nevermind, the U.S. has been raping, stealing and killing around the world for decades in the name of “empire”, and more than ever since the dawn of this current bloody century. This confrontation may be ahead. What is galling most is that the outcry against the brazen U.S. theft ought to be universal.

The only good in any of this is that there ought to be absolutely no question any longer that what the U.S. has been about in recent decades has not been the seeding of ”democracy” or “human rights” or anything of that sort anywhere with its 800 plus military bases scattered across the globe and its pretensions of “exceptionalism”.

One thing you can say about Donald Trump: he seems to be more honest than the two Bush screwball warmongers, Clinton, and Obama. At least he is not trying to hide bald faced aggression, theft and rapine, mostly in the service to Zionists but also for the Military Industrial Complex, which so dominates the U.S. economy now that weeding it out, if it is ever accomplished, is going to cause economic pain never before experienced in the U.S., but that all to a good cause if it can ever occur. The smart people in the U.S. are hoping for an economic depression as soon as possible to throttle the rush towards more U.S. threats in the Middle East. Currently, this seems to be the only brake to the madness.

Trump has by one report applied more than 8000 “sanctions” against other countries and individuals since he trashed the JCPOA in 2018, affecting 39 countries representing a full third of humanity. Think about that. If Iran or any other country feels particularly set upon by the U.S., maybe it’s time for all countries subject to sanctions to accept them as just more obstacles to overcome, like say a particular spell of horrible weather that cannot be controlled. Until, anyway, the further erosion and ultimately the rejection of U.S. influence globally. This latter may seem an impossible occurrence, but consider: has any country long maintained itself as a powerful entity when it has become universally reviled as a criminal hegemon interested almost exclusively in self-service though intimidation and militancy?

If this writer seems particularly “anti” American at this juncture, it’s because from October 14 through the 27th I was in Syria. I was in Damascus, Homs, Hama, Tartous, Latakia and Aleppo and points between with a small delegation of Mideast savants who have long been disgusted by U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East. I saw, just for example, the destroyed and formerly lovely Armenian Quarter in Aleppo. I saw the 50 plus percent of Homs residential blocks that are destroyed. I saw the destruction at the finest old suq outside of Iran in Aleppo, a literal wonder of the world, and frankly, so much more that we wept at times not merely at the damage to Syria, but over the warmth and kindness of the Syrian people towards visiting Americans. And all this, while the U.S military was allegedly preparing to kill the leader of ISIS holed up somewhere, is still not fully liberated Idlib province. Does anyone believe the announced death of Baghdadi, and then that he was buried at sea like Usama ibn Laden? The U.S. government has been lying so much and for so long that anything it claims, under Trump, is met with profound skepticism. And Baghdadi, who may or may not be a Zionist plant, has now been killed multiple times! Obama managed to do it more than once.

Syria is amazing for all it has suffered and survived. So is the popular Assad government, which did nothing seriously wrong but maintain its independence for decades from U.S. and Zionist control…and prospered. Syria was, and has been, somewhat like Libya was before the U.S. and NATO bombed and murdered the most prosperous country in Africa. Syria was and remains independent and still offers its citizens benefits that far surpass what the U.S. offers its slaves. It was and may still remain a positive economic model for countries that refuse to succumb to the U.S. “Empire of Chaos”. It may also be a good political model: a secular country which allows its citizens to worship as they like – totally unlike most other Arab countries. In sum: Hats off in deep respect to Syria and its people.

Al-Baghdadi dies for the fourth time? Fake raid? Have Zionists lied to Trump again?

By Javad Heiran-Nia

TEHRAN - Robert David Steele, a former Marine Corps infantry officer and CIA spy as well as an activist for Open Source Everything Engineering (OSEE), regularly answers questions from the Tehran Times.

Q. Within minutes of President Donald Trump’s announcement of an alleged raid that allegedly killed an alleged ISIS leader known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, skeptical commentary emerged. What is your summary appreciation?

A. Let me begin by saying that people I trust tell me that the raid was very real, with helicopters flying 50 feet above the ground at 130 knots. The cost of the raid has been estimated at $30 million. What does not appear to be real are the actual location, and the alleged target.

I am among those who denounced the fake Bin Ladens including the last one provided by the Pakistani military as a gift to help Barack Obama win re-election. We sent men to their death for political theater. I knew immediately that this latest alleged raid was a fake, but chose to start with a headline, “Russia says Baghdadi killing faked by US [& Israel],” credited to Gordon Duff, founding editor of Veterans Today.  Gordon, whom I know personally, has a rich network of contacts on the ground, including Russian military commanders as well as honest Jews who despise Zionist provocations and lies. The official Russian denunciation of the raid as having never happened is a matter of record.  To that I add the earlier reported death of Al-Baghdadi in 2015 in an Israeli hospital, and the alleged but credible aspect of al-Baghdadi being a Mossad operative and Israeli citizen named Elliot Shimon, and you have the perfect storm. I believe the Zionists and the US neo-conservative lied to President Donald Trump, faked the entire raid, faked the alleged DNA testing, and have now put the President in a terrible spot.

Accepting that our Special Forces carried out a raid – somewhere -- either al-Baghdadi / Elliot Shimon is still alive as Gordon suggests, and the death was faked; or al-Baghdadi died in 2015 and this new death was faked. It is of course possible that as with Jeffrey Epstein, the President is a party to the deception one way or the other, but I tend to think not.  I think our President has been lied to.

A deeply suspicious person would also wonder if this is not a potential “kill shot” by Benjamin Netanyahu against Trump – here is what Ha’aretz says, in “Trump Basks in al-Baghdadi’s Bloody Assassination, but the Festivities Will End Shortly,”

Trump is bound to be criticized for his blood-thirsty style, as well as the fact that he hurried to announce al-Baghdadi’s demise before the Pentagon had signed off on final and incontrovertible DNA proof that the ISIS leader had indeed been killed. On the extremely unlikely chance that al-Baghdadi will emerge somewhere safe and sound, which has happened before, Trump would instantly transform, not into a lame duck but into a dead duck.

The above tells me two things: that the DNA was not confirmed as the President claimed; and that Benjamin Netanyahu might well choose one day to “resurrect” Elliot Shimon aka al-Baghdadi, as a reprisal for the Miriam Adelson Medal of Freedom that set the stage for her public denouncement of Netanyahu’s wife as crazy and Netanyahu as a servant to his wife – this cost him dearly.

Q. Apart from the Russians, who have very sophisticated S-400 target acquisition radars covering the entire region, who else is saying this is a fake raid that never happened?

A. As you might imagine, because the Zionists control most mainstream media enterprises, and this fake raid serves both the Zionists and the warmongering neo-conservatives in the USA that want to keep ISIS alive, keep stealing Syrian oil, and continue to undermine Syrian sovereignty, almost no one else is challenging the narrative with two exceptions: the Daily Star in the UK has run two pieces, “Shock claim top ISIS leader is 'Israeli spy',” and “ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ‘not killed by US military’ Russia claims; and citizen journalists everywhere are pointing out the obvious flaws in the story. My favorite comes from a Nordic country, where an alert citizen quickly noticed that Google Earth, which updates on a monthly to yearly basis, not a daily basis, shows the alleged raid site as having been destroyed in the past, not recently. In addition Newsweek has run with a story, “Obama White House Photographer Suggests Trump Situation Room Photo of Unfolding al-Baghdadi Raid Was Staged,” a story I agree with. 

Q. You have been a Marine Corps infantry officer; a clandestine operations officer or spy; the senior civilian responsible for creating a new national intelligence analysis center; and a J-2 intelligence analyst in Afghanistan. What other “indicators” do you personally see that suggest this story is completely false?

A. Please allow me to emphasize my view that President Donald Trump has been lied to, and is not a party to the total deception that has been imposed on him by a combination of Zionists and neoconservatives including members of his own staff who failed to defend him – in my view this terrible situation demonstrates that his new National Security Advisor – a very talented and nice person – is not up to the task of protecting the President from being lied to by the military-intelligence complex that is still in a state of treason, selected officials not-withstanding.  The Secretary of Defense and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency as well as the Secretary of State have all failed the President by going along with a false narrative that they probably knew was false but allowed to go forward because of some combination of political opportunism, Zionist bribery and blackmail, and the President’s own ego – he fell into this one, made it his own, and in so doing has disgraced himself in the eyes of Xi and Putin.

I see two levels of indicators that persuade me that this story is completely false. At the strategic level this strikes me as a blatant attempt by the Zionists and their CIA collaborators who hate President Trump to keep the Kurds whom they are arming and training and leading, in the game. The Daily Beast published “The Kurds Spotted Baghdadi. The U.S. Abandoned Them Anyway” early on, and then I saw “Baghdadi’s death underscores what we’ve lost by abandoning Syria’s Kurds,” from The Washington Post, and a series of CIA-sponsored stories about how the Kurds continued to provide leads “even after Trump abandoned them” – below is from The Economic Times of India, “CIA got initial tip-off from one of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's wives and a courier: Report,”

American officials told the newspaper that the Kurds continued to provide information to the CIA on Baghdadi's location even after President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the American troops left the Syrian Kurds to confront a Turkish offensive alone.

The Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, one official said, provided more intelligence for the raid than any single country.

suggest that in combination, the Zionists and their bought and paid for allies in the US Departments of State and Defense and the CIA, are all seeking to block the President from fulfilling his campaign promise to get our forces out of the Middle East.

Given that al-Baghdadi has been reported dead multiple times, in 2014, in 2015, in 2016, I have to ask myself, is it possible that CIA and DoD and State did not know this? Or that their Middle East action officers are all Zionists, many dual US-Israeli citizens, and some being bribed and blackmailed directly by the Zionists? From where I sit, the President has fallen victim to a grand deception and he has no one – least of all the treasonous FBI – that he can rely on to protect him from traitors within our own ranks.

At the tactical level there are too many false notes across the entire story, to include dogs, an alleged tunnel with no exit, a site that has clearly been destroyed in the past, instantaneous DNA testing with the samples provided by the Kurds who are controlled by the Zionists, and more.  The similarities with the false final Bin Laden raid that led to many US deaths after the fact as part of the cover-up, are startling to include – I am not making this up – throwing the alleged target’s body parts into the ocean.  I keep waiting for CIA to release a photo of al-Baghdadi’s library before the alleged hide-out was allegedly flattened, it would not surprise me at all to learn that the long-dead al-Baghdadi was allegedly reading Team of Vipers, about all the traitors in the White House.

Q. This apparently falsified “triumph” against ISIS – and in favor of the Kurds and the US keeping military troops and even tanks on top of the Syrian oil fields – comes just as Trump appears ready to criminally indict Obama, Clapper, Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok, and Page, among others. How do you assess Trump’s prospects for the next months?

A. This falsified event will play well across America, and commentaries like mine and those of Gordon Duff will not be noticed. For all practical purposes, this event is a political triumph, never mind that it is rooted in lies. The Chinese know this is a fake attack, the Russians know this is a fake attack, by now Trump knows this is a fake attack. There are now media reports that Trump has ordered the release of the video of the alleged attack, when it comes it I expect it will be picked apart the way the video from the Christ Church false flag in New Zealand was picked apart.

On a positive note, my colleague Ben Fulford, a long-time observer of high finance and low crime based on Tokyo, has published “Third (fourth?) death of Mossad agent Shimon Elliot “al-Baghdadi” actually signifies major Middle East change,” and strikes a very upbeat note that I am prepared to embrace. The view of his Pentagon sources is that this event is going to lead to increased US-Russian collaboration in cutting off illegal oil, arms, human, and drug trafficking in the Middle East that all benefit the Zionists and the Deep State.

You mention the criminal indictments.  I published “SPECIAL: Game-Changing Court Filing by Michael Flynn Defense Lawyer Sidney Powell…PLUS DoJ Criminal Inquiry Plus Seth Rich Murder Central Brennan Task Force Plus Stone & Manafort to Get Off?” a few days ago and it has gone viral in part because Sidney Powell, the attorney for my colleague General Michael Flynn, has filed a detailed federal court document that itemizes the many crimes committed by all those seeking to fabricate the narrative of Russian election interference and Donald Trump as a Russian asset. The murder of Seth Rich is now part of the conspiracy led by President Barack Obama, and complicity in murder is on the table for all those who committed treason in mis-directing secret intelligence against then candidate Donald Trump.

I will end on a most positive note: while I would like to see our President do more to defend the US Constitution (especially  the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments), to bring all our troops home from all over the world; and to address the huge problems facing the working class and people of faith in the USA, on balance I believe that in the next few months the world will see political, legal, economic, and cultural triumphs by our President that could not have been imagined since the days of John F. Kennedy.

Unlike JFK, our President cannot be assassinated.  He will triumph. It is my hope that Iran will understand that behind the political theater and completely apart from our President’s continued tolerance of traitors in key positions, there is a house cleaning going on. From election reform to military tribunals to a global currency reset and a national debt jubilee to the reinstatement of family values and civic virtue, “Orange Man” is on a path pre-ordained by God, who absolutely has a sense of humor.

Q. You have included two book covers in your collage. How do they bear on the matter at hand?

A. My own book, EYES ONLY, signals the distress that the USA is undergoing, and the need, a need the President acknowledges, to #UNRIG the system. The book consists of two briefings and sixty-eight answers to key questions, all intended to help our President be the greatest president ever. The other book, Orange Man Good, is from America’s greatest conservative cartoonist, a man whose life has been destroyed by the Zionists because his cartoons celebrate our President and tell the truth about the Deep State and its Zionist / banker underbelly. If anyone wants to understand the bright future that is emergent in the USA, a future made possible by the accidental election of President Donald Trump, these two books tell that story.

Laugh with us, not against us. Be assured that we conservatives committed to a foreign policy of freedom, a foreign policy of peace, commerce, and honest friendship, see Iran as our friend.

Invite our President to visit Iran. I predict he will accept.

Matthew EHRET

A long night of suffering has kept one of the richest continents on the globe in a state of virtual dark age for over a century. Although the age of science has given humanity the means to access the highest standards of living in world history, 2019 has seen 15 000 children die of preventable deaths every day (illness, starvation and murder) with half occurring in Sub Saharan Africa. In a world of advanced energy technology, only five of 54 African countries have access to 100% electrification and all are North African.

Africa’s dark situation was never due to simplistic terms like “corruption” or “incompetence”, nor was Africa ever “culturally incompatible” with western technology as some racists have taught in social science classes. The truth is that Africa was never given true independence as is popularly believed. Sure there was nominal independence, but the economic independence needed to become a sovereign country was never granted by the empire.

This is why the growing presence of nations such as China and Russia on the continent are increasingly seen as beacons of hope for a new generation of Africans who recognise in this Eurasian alliance an opportunity to capture the future they were robbed of over half a century ago.

The Russian African Summit in Sochi

A watershed moment in this systemic change has occurred with the first Russia-Africa Economic and Security Summit in Sochi (Oct. 23-24) co-chaired by President Putin and Egypt’s President el-Sisi, featuring 50 African heads of State alongside 3000 representatives of business, government, and finance. This summit was the first of its kind, and followed hot off the heels of China’s first China-Africa Economic and Security Summit which was held in July 2019. In the past two years, 40 African states have signed onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative which has scared many imperially minded technocrats in the west.

In an interview leading up to the Summit, President Putin beautifully echoed the Chinese philosophy of win-win development for Africa:“We are not going to participate in a new ‘repartition’ of the continent’s wealth; rather, we are ready to engage in competition for cooperation with Africa, provided that this competition is civilized and develops in compliance with the law. We have a lot to offer to our African friends.”

While it does not have the same level of investments as China (which leads the world with $200 billion/year), Russia’s investments have quadrupled since 2009 now clocking it at $20 billion/year and growing with a focus on rail, energy diplomacy, education, culture sharing and military assistance. Russia is currently building Egypt’s first nuclear reactor in El Dabaa, and is negotiating with several other nations such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Kenya to go nuclear which will end the policy of technological apartheid imposed onto Africa for decades. Russia has announced the construction of an Africa Center of Excellence and Nuclear Power in Ethiopia and the Russian Academy of Sciences announced branches opening up across Africa. A vital driver for development, Russian Railways is working to construct trans-border and intra-border rail in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt and East Africa (just to name a few). During the summit, Russia announced a cancellation of a $20 billion African debt as an act of goodwill.

President Putin pointed out the elephant in the room when he said: “We see a number of Western states resorting to pressure, intimidation, and blackmail against governments of sovereign African countries. They hope it will help them win back their lost influence and dominant positions in former colonies and seek—this time in a ‘new wrapper’—to reap excess profits and exploit the continent’s resources without any regard for its population, environmental or other risks. They are also hampering the establishment of closer relations between Russia and Africa—apparently, so that nobody would interfere with their plans”

Unlike the west, Russia has the advantage of having encouraged African development during the dark days of the Cold War and is thus infinitely more trusted than the west, whose positive attempts to genuinely help Africa develop (as seen under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, Italian Industrialist Enrico Mattei or President de Gaulle) ended with either assassinations or coups.

Some may call Putin’s words anti-west hyperbole, but a comparison of the quality of investments Russian vs American into Africa demonstrates the two opposing intentions referenced by Putin.

The Trap of Conditionalities

Where US Aid, the World Bank and IMF have poured billions of dollars into Africa over decades, standards of living, and stability of those recipient nations have only plummeted. This is the opposite result one would expect from such “generous” behaviour. Why?

The answer can be partly be found in the shift towards IMF/World Bank conditionalities which grew out of a monstrous paradigm shift that occurred in the 1950s-1970s. Where leaders such as Franklin Roosevelt and his ally Henry Wallace envisioned an industrialized Africa liberated from colonialism, the Bretton Woods instruments they created to provide long term low interest loans internationally were cleansed of anti-colonial leaders and replaced with deep state tools early in the Cold War ensuring that any credit issued would be tied to deadly conditionalities as exposed by John Perkins in his book Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

Under this neo-colonial formula, Africa was allowed to get money. But those dollars would no longer be “permitted” to be invested into genuine nation building or advanced technological progress as Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah or Thomas Sankara intended. Only “appropriate technologies” such as windmills or solar panels were permitted. Small wells were ok, but major water/energy projects like hydroelectric dams or Great Manmade Rivers were not allowed. Certainly no nuclear power was permitted (unless you happened to be an apartheid state run by white racists of course). Oil drilling and mining investments were ok, but only if foreign companies like Barak Gold or Standard Oil did the work and none of the revenue or electricity benefited the people. Without the means of producing real wealth (defined as combination of material, intellectual and spiritual growth), Africa’s productive powers of labor collapsed with their sovereignty and the debts only grew.

Hysterical Neocons Lash out

It is no secret that just as China began outpacing the Americans in African investment in 2007. Rather than acting intelligently to increase genuine infrastructure funding as the Chinese had done, the US Deep State not only continued its outdated debt-slavery practices, but created AFRICOM as a military arm across the continent. Ironically AFRICOM’s presence coincided with a doubling of militant Islamist activities since 2010 with 24 groups now identified (up from only 5 in 2010) and a 960% increase in violent attacks from 2009-2018. Just as western lending has caused a pandemic of slavery, so too has western security forces only spread mass insecurity.

The fact is that the neo cons infesting the Military Industrial Complex have openly identified both countries as co-equal enemies to the USA and understand that this alliance represents an existential threat to their hegemony. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation last year, former National Security Advisor John Bolton said (without blushing): “The predatory practices pursued by China and Russia stunt economic growth in Africa; threaten the financial independence of African Nations; inhibit opportunities for US investment… and pose a threat to US national security interests.”

His words were bolstered by acting head of AFRICOM Thomas Waldauser in Feb. 2019 “To thwart Russian exploitative efforts, USA AFRICOM continues to work with a host of partners to be the military partner of choice in Africa.”

Luckily for the world, Bolton and Waldauser were both flushed from their posts by an American President who has chosen to ally with Russia and China rather than risk World War III. However, the dangerous ideology and deep state power structure they represent is not yet defeated, and with Trump’s intention to pull troops out of Syria, these psychotic forces are as dangerous as ever.

Matthew EHRET

Matthew J.L. Ehret is a journalist, lecturer and founder of the Canadian Patriot Review.

The Real Reason Why the West Is Upset Over the Syria-Turkey Debacle

Cynthia CHUNG

In tense world situations like this it is easy to get caught up in wave after wave of headlines as we are hourly updated on what is supposedly happening in a region that we really can’t rely on for ‘accurate’ timely reporting. In addition, there is the very problematic issue of a constant and very conscious intent to misinform the public as to what is going on and even resort to fallacious, fabricated, information in order to escalate tension rather than de-escalate.

Notorious examples of this include the accused chemical attacks claimed to have been done by President Assad on the Syrian people, accusations that were caught in a web of lies committed by the Western press and the Obama administration. There have also been continual lies on the source of funding and training of the terrorist groups in these areas which is also largely dependant on the West for its function and existence, not to mention the cases of Libya and Iraq and all the lying that is ongoing on those subjects.

The first question I would ask myself then is why is the Western press so concerned over the lives of the Kurdish people, when they have never cared about all the murder and terror going on against the Syrian people, the Yemeni people, the Libyan people and the Iraqi people that has led to a horrific level of death and an enormous refugee crisis which has largely been ignored by the West. In fact, the only time Western governments and media show some level of human concern is when there is an intention to intervene militarily in these areas.

The topic of the Kurdish peoples’ welfare is the number one topic in the news and even the US Democrat presidential candidate debates. The same Democrats who, with the exception of Tulsi Gabbard, would rather go to war with Russia than work with Russia to attain peace in the Middle East.

The reason for this extreme level of passion and concern for the Kurdish people is said to be because they helped the US fight the terrorists in Syria…the same terrorists that the US was largely implicated in training and transferring into Syria, the so-called ‘moderate rebels’. This was a rather unsustainable circular pattern, which if carried out for long enough would have resulted in the erasure of the Kurdish fighters in that region due to the US’ direct support for the very terrorists they were fighting, something the Democrats don’t want to bring attention to.

But now there is massive uproar that the Kurdish people are being slaughtered in North-East Syria by the Turkish military. ABC News was at the forefront in the exposure of this terrible genocide showing footage that was claimed to be of the Kurdish massacre. It turned out to be a video from April 2017 of a Kentucky gun-range show. ABC News has apologised for their ‘mistake’ and ho hum let’s go on as if there isn’t something deeply concerning going on. The desperation to rile up Western outcry over this issue should raise suspicion.

When in Doubt Look Toward Putin

President Putin is without a doubt the most competent person in the world to know how best to handle this ‘situation’, which is much more complicated than a simple condemnation of Erdogan or Trump’s seemingly blasé abandonment of the Kurdish people.

In the October 17th weekly briefing by the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova was asked in the Q&A section what Russia’s thoughts were on the EU meeting that occurred on Oct 14th discussing the North-East Syrian situation. Zakharova’s response to this question of the EU’s role in the conflict resolution in Syria was basically…that it was non-existent and thus a non-issue from the standpoint of a constructive agenda. She went on to say that she could have provided a more diplomatic response to this question but if it were not for the millions of people who are indeed suffering who do not even have the opportunity to hear the statement given by the EU High Representative about her involvement in their destinies and in their fate. Zakharova ended by stating that “the years of which this conflict has evolved and the consequences of this conflict as well as the evident results of certain countries involvement in the conflict, allow us [Russia] today to forget about superficial tolerance and call things what they are.”

The strong message sent was therefore that the West has no place in the resolution of the Syrian – Turkey conflict, but rather, that this will be resolved by an agreement between Erdogan and Assad with Russia as the mediator.

Interestingly, Putin’s meeting with Erdogan that occurred on Tuesday Oct 22 resulted in an agreement that the Kurdish fighters would have to move 30 km away from the border area in northeast Syria within 150 hours, and that this 150 hour time period would begin at noon on Wednesday. It was also agreed that both Russian and Syrian troops would control the rest of the border with joint patrols with the Turkish military occurring on the northeast Syrian border area.

There is an obvious long-term plan here, and the US military is not physically sticking its nose in it. So why is everyone so upset again over the US military leaving this region?

The Real Reason for the West’s Emotional Fervour

It should not be news for anyone at this point that Syria is part of the Western geopolitical regime-change warfare that is leading to an eventual direct confrontation with Russia, if successful. This has always been the plan, and started with the toppling of the Iraqi government, followed by the Libyan government and the attempt to overthrow the government of Syria, which has been saved purely due to the intervention of Russia. The plan was to cause an increasing level of chaos that would reach a peak level of mayhem along the Russian border, and like a swarm of wasps one would not be able to identify who stung who and amongst the confusion could easily lead to full scale war. However, the orchestrators of this plan have seriously under-estimated the Russians, in not only their intelligence gathering capabilities, their military strength but also in their very wise diplomatic resolutions and patience for long-term peace plans.

This Western confrontation against Russia would also be backed by NATO’s setting up of ‘defense systems’ in their members’ territories. Turkey is among the absolutely vital strategic regions for the placement of these weapons systems. Therefore, it is no surprise that NATO and the American military industrial complex are very concerned over Erdogan’s succumbing to the strategic advising of Putin. With the recent purchase by Turkey of the S-400 Russian missile system this past summer, which went ahead despite threats by NATO that they would no longer consider Turkey an ally, the balance in the Middle East is increasingly abandoning the West in favour of the Russia-China alliance.

At this point, I think it highly unlikely that Erdogan is under any illusion of how his Western counterparts truly regard the role of Turkey in this fiasco, which is the same poisoned honey they having been dripping into the ears of anyone in the Middle East who has held the grand delusion of becoming a super power as the favourite pet of Britain and the US, and that the reality is that these wannabe demi-gods of the Middle East are completely dispensable and in fact the plan by their Western ‘allies’ is to dispense of them at some point, the uncertainty is just exactly when.

When Erdogan announced an apology to Russia for shooting down the Russian fighter jet in Syrian air in June 2016, there was an attempted coup d’état against Erdogan by a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces orchestrated by US asset Fethullah Gülen only days later. This was no coincidence in timing and Erdogan to the surprise of everyone…survived (it is said only due to receiving intelligence from the Russians merely hours before the actual coup). The West has been a little insecure about where Turkey stands ever since, after all, what can be said when you find yourself in the awkward situation of having to continue relations with someone you tried to dispose of, “Hey I am really sorry about that time I lost my temper and tried to have you brutally killed…But we’re good now right?”. Erdogan is fully aware that Russia is Turkey’s only solution to getting out of its hostage situation under NATO.

So why is there so much uproar against Trump’s decision to remove the US military from Syria?

Because, the presence of the US military was the last controlled hold-out to furthering instability in that area. I think we can all agree that it is not in the interest of Turkey, Syria, the Kurdish fighters nor Russia to have these terrorist cells in the northeast region of Syria activated, it would only be in the interest of the US military, which has been its function there from the get go. The Russian military is fully capable of managing what remains of this clean-up job, nobody needs the US’ continued presence there. And the US military should further remove its presence in any country that does not welcome it.

As some journalists on Strategic Culture have already acknowledged, there is a situation going on within the US that is pretty much equivalent to that of a second civil war. This has been further confirmed by Project Veritas’ expose thanks to a CNN whisteblower, where CNN was caught enforcing the agenda to push the impeachment of Trump on the American people, above all other news. In addition, there is a clear intention from one side to go to war with Russia, and there is another side that does not. Trump despite his distasteful choosing of words and concerning personal beliefs on certain subjects, clearly does not want to go to war with Russia and that is the number one issue in the world because no one will be unaffected by such a catastrophic outcome if there is war. Any drama that is cooked up by the Western press has at this point a near 100% certainty that they are trying to rile up a sentiment to go to war, most notably with the ongoing Russia Gate hoax, the British orchestrated alternate dimension of the Skripal case and the present Ukraine-Gate absurdity.

President Putin is leading one of the most challenging diplomatic situations in history. We should be confident when the Russians say that they don’t need anyone else’s nose in this and we should rather be weary that the largest threat to stability in this region is if the West, notably the US, succeeds in revving up a fervour for another foreign military occupation.

Cynthia CHUNG

Cynthia Chung is a lecturer, writer and co-founder and editor of the Rising Tide Foundation (Montreal, Canada).