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Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2020

Abu Mazen on Trump's Deal of the Century

For those of you who might only have a cursory knowledge of Islamic Terrorism aimed at Israel, the Abu Mazen in the title is the same person as Mahmoud Abbas. The “Abbas” name is the one used most often by the American Press.


Ari Bussel has been supportive of President Trump actions toward Israel in the past (e.g. moving U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem: HEREHERE), but here – if I am understanding correctly – Ari is not pleased with Trump’s Deal of the Century, not pleased with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s cooperation with the Deal AND highlights Mahmoud Abbas speaking threats if any action is taken to enact The Deal of the Century.

On a personal level I have not read the Deal so I am not surprised by the Faux-Palestinian vitriol who seek to deny the existence of a Jewish State. BUT from Ari’s tone the Deal must be too conciliatory toward Arabs pretending to be Palestinians. I trust Ari. So I am now going to have to locate some Deal of the Century details for future reference.

JRH 1/31/20
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BLOG EDITOR: I’ve apparently been placed in restricted Facebook Jail! The restriction was relegated after criticizing Democrats for supporting abortion in one post and criticizing Virginia Dems for gun-grabbing legislation and levying protestor restrictions. Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me completely. Conservatives are a huge portion of Facebook. If more or all Conservatives are banned, it will affect the Facebook advertising revenue paradigm. SO FIGHT CENSORSHIP BY SHARE – SHARE – SHARE!!! Facebook notified me in pop-up on 1/20/20: “You're temporarily restricted from joining and posting to groups that you do not manage until April 18 at 7:04 PM.” THAT MEANS Facebook has blocked me from ALL Pro-Israel, Pro-Jewish, Pro-Zionist, Pro-Christian Zionist and Anti-BDS Groups until 4/18/20. SO PLEASE SHARE THIS INFO in those Groups I am restricted.
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Abu Mazen on Trump's Deal of the Century

By Ari Bussel
Sent 1/30/2020 2:53 PM

Dear Friends,

The Deal of the Century was announced this week by US President Donald J Trump.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish donor Sheldon (& Dr. Miriam) Adelson were among those cheering onsite.  The President also met with MK and former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz who currently is the forerunner to lead the country after the upcoming elections on March 2nd, 2020.

The responses were quick to arrive, and we can divide them into categories:  Organizations who have to comment about anything and everything (e.g. the Reform Movement or the Zionist Organization of America); organizations who are focused on Israel (e.g. CAMERA or Arab America); and those who derive a direct benefit, some type of personal gain.  Although many in these categories employ top thinkers and analysts, allow us to ignore them all and focus on one and only one reaction.

Abu Mazen expressed what the entire Palestinian tribal collection wants to hear and what it believes:

“Jerusalem is not for sale, and all our rights are neither for sale nor for compromise.  This scheme will not succeed!”

Compare the reaction on the Palestinian side and that on the Jewish side.  The Palestinian position is Simple.  Concise.  Clear.  Unwavering.  Full of Conviction.  And now check the Israeli and Jewish side that has been entrusted with an undivided Jerusalem, the City where God resides among His people.  We are weak.  Ready to compromise.  Debate.  Give up.  Divide.  A sure recipe for destruction and fall; exactly what took place some two thousand years ago when the Second Temple was destroyed.

Not only do the Palestinians confuse sick-imagination with reality-transposed, they are not even sure who they are.  For a people that cannot even pronounce its own name (the letter “p”) or realize the root of the word is invaders to a land-not-theirs, they so crave to make their dream of a county void of Jews a reality, that anyone who is not Jewish must therefore be a Palestinian.  Jesus apparently was a Palestinian.  He is still “standing” at the checkpoints designed to prevent terrorists from passing.  Israeli citizens who happen to be Muslim are Palestinians (previously they were 1967 Arabs and before that 1948 Arabs, then 1947 Arabs and now pure “Palestinians”).  So are members of the Israeli Knesset, who spew hatred toward Israel and against the Israel Defense Forces from the podium at the parliament.  Full Israeli citizens call themselves “Palestinians,” but they will not give up their Israeli passports or all the benefits to which they are entitled as Israeli citizens.

There is supposedly a talk about some “border,” but the Palestinian have only one border in their mind:  The entire country, from the River to the Sea, is theirs!  No Jews allowed!  Al Quds (Jerusalem) is their eternal capital, has always been; will always be.  It is not up for dividing, sharing or bargaining.  And all the millions of eternal refugees are waiting to go back to their homes throughout the country.  In short:  No Israel.  No Jews.  Viva Palestine!

To this theater comes the Most Crazy American President in an announcement:  “I have the Deal of the Century!”  Is he the clown during intermission?  He is definitely not entertaining.  Does he think that the Palestinians can be bought like Putin, China or North Korea?  He simply does not understand with whom he is dealing; who really stands in front of him.  He is a most useful puppet in the hands of his Jewish Handlers.  Look, there is the Adelson couple opening their purse and pulling the strings.  What has the President not done for them already!  All will be reversed as the first order of action as soon as the new President is sworn in and replaces this travesty in announcing to DJT:  “YOU ARE FIRED!”

The Deal of the Century is weak because it has exposed what is important for the Jews and their puppets, including sovereignty and control over the West Bank, no Right of Return of the Palestinians, Jerusalem remaining under Israeli control and end of BDS and claims in international bodies such as the International Criminal Court.  Even Gantz (who ran on a platform “Just Not Bibi (Netanyahu)”) is supporting this plan.  All that the Deal has done is to show where Israel really hurts, both what subjects and what effective tools are currently working effectively against her.  In short, the Deal has emboldened the enemies of Israel that their struggle is working.

A President under Impeachment.  A Prime Minister who has been Indicted.  A main puppeteer, a filthy-wealthy Jew who controls the scene.  And a Circus like no other.  How good that people of conscience, including so many Jewish Americans and so many leading Israelis stand united against this evil plan!

To all lovers and protectors of Israel:  Israel’s enemies do not want peace.  They aspire death and destruction; a place clean of Jews.  They have no plan for the day after, for they only want the death of the Jewish body.  This is what cancer is all about, and any doctor who will prescribe the following course of treatment will likely lose his license:

“Listen Cancer, you may not even be able to pronounce your own name and likely you do not even know from where you came, but we propose the following to you:  Restrict yourself to the ovaries, stop dreaming on the liver, the lungs and the brain.  We will then let you thrive in the ovaries.  Grow and expand.  Go from strength to strength.  We love and respect you.  We will feed you and take care of you.  We will continue adoring you.  We realize you want the entire body, and that you have no plan for the day after.  (The day after, you are dead.)  We (the world) really, really like you.  We admire your convictions.  We stand with you regarding your aspirations and efforts.  Give them all up.  stay in the ovaries.”

Not only does the idea make no sense whatsoever, why would someone feeling strength, ever-growing strength, restrict oneself from taking, devouring, enjoying and destroying more and more?  The cancer has metastasized to the liver and the stomach and the lungs and the brain.  So why stop?  Because an American President decided to say so?  Even notable Israelis and many American Jews have succumbed to the cancer and have declared “Viva Palestine!  End the Occupation!  Free, free Palestine!  A country of all its people!"

Those who love Israel awake!  Not only the timing, but the mere idea of a Deal right now is contrary to basic business practices (which the President understands).  One does not negotiate from an inferior position of weakness, and both Israel and the USA are weak.

We must learn from the Palestinians.  They speak clearly.  They are unified.  They know exactly what they want, and this is everything.  And they  have the courage to stand by their convictions.

“Jerusalem is not for sale, and all our rights are neither for sale nor for compromise.  This scheme will not succeed!”

Always,

Ari Bussel
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Blog Editor: More info added after signature in the same email:
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For those who want to expand, you are invited to continue reading:

The Deal of the Century was not a secret.  There was access to it on the White House website in the weeks leading to the announcement.  For very many months, it was mentioned in every opportunity.  The timing of the celebratory announcement is questionable, for the President is trying to ignore the Impeachment proceedings in the US Senate, possibly  to deflect attention, while in Israel nothing can be done permanently binding by a temporary government.  Netanyahu’s government is twice temporary, after he forced the country to go into an election following which neither he nor his opponent was able to form a government.  A second election was called with practically the same result, and now the country faces a third election in less than a year.  Without a proper budget, nothing operates as usual, and with a country under the iron grip of the judiciary and advisors who grab power, even appointments or removal of bureaucrats translate to lengthy battles.

The US Administration is aware of what is happening in Israel, so what might be the specific reason for the release at this time?  Possibly a parting gift to Prime Minister Netanyahu before his defeat and removal?  Alas, this is not a reason for policy that is shaping a new Middle East.

As much as everyone likes to think Israel is the center of the universe, Israel is a tiny country with nine million people.  It is the home of the Jewish people - all 14 to 15 million of us around the world - and the only country we can call our home.  By any stretch of the imagination, Israel is tiny.  In China, the center of outbreak of the current Corona Virus is much larger than Israel, both in size and in population.  But the world continues to focus only on Israel, as if it is the source of energy for the entire universe.

The powers in the Middle East are impressive:  A Turk who wants to become a Sultan over a re-emerging Ottoman Empire.  Iran whose tentacles are pressing the Mediterranean on both sides, from its southern and northern shores.  A KGB Uber-Oligarch who is meddling in Syria and wants to establish his country’s dominance in the region.  A Kingdom that is always on a threat of collapsing.  The persecuted Christians, who are raped, murdered, kidnapped, sold for slavery (sexual and labor) and burned alive in their churches throughout the region and the continent of Africa, and the world stands silent.  And then, there are the Palestinians.

The Palestinians invented a nationhood and borrowed the craving of the Jews to return to their homeland.  They are a very special breed.  Their brethren in the Arab world view them as inferior.   They never wanted anything to do with them.  It is a class structure, where the Iranians view themselves as superior to all, and the Arabs view the Palestinians as inferior.  Indeed, who are the Palestinians?  Their forefathers emigrated to Palestine when the Zionists from Europe came and turned a desolate area into a blooming oasis.  They (the Zionists) dried the swamps, defeated the malaria that was carried by mosquitos, created new technologies (such as drip irrigation and water desalination) and made areas previously uninhabitable into thriving communities basking in greenery, a light unto the nations, a source of goodness to the world.  

Israel became a miracle, and it attracted workers.  Many came from Egypt, and among them Yasir Arafat and Abu Mazen’s family, as well as the families of many of the Palestinian leadership.  The area was called “Palestine,” the Jews and their institutions were often referred to as “Palestinians” and Arab nationalism was alive and thriving.  There were Arabs and Jews, the Arabs did not want the Jews, and the superpowers who inherited and dived the Ottoman Empire kept slicing the area designated for the Jews into an ever diminishing slice of land.  

After the formation of the modern State of Israel, the nascent country absorbed some 750,000 Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries.  Those Arabs who fled Israel - under the false promise “you will get to your homes within days, after we defeat and eliminate the Jews” - were never assimilated.  They remained as garbage in the countries to where they fled momentarily.  No one wanted them; no one was interested.  But then something unique happened:  The United Nations has created a special body to treat the newly formed “Palestinians.”  They and their descendants forever, for all eternity, are called “Refugees.”  There is no need to assimilate; there is no need for anyone (their own brethren) to absorb them.  It is very big business, employing tens of thousands of UN employees, and channeling billions of Dollars to corrupt people.  Why rattle such a thriving and successful business?

For several decades the Arab nations went along with this ploy, as they realized that Israel cannot be defeated militarily, despite all odds stacked against the nascent Jewish state.  Something bigger is protecting Israel (and it is NOT the United States of America).  1956.  1967.  1973.  Nothing helped.  The Jews survive and thrived.  To the Arabs, right in their corner were the Palestinians, a disposable, no-cost commodity that could be utilized to harm Israel.  Thus, for instance, Gaza remained as it is - an open wound - where Israel left it and Egypt does not want it.

The refugee camps in Lebanon are a source of endless liberation fighters willing and able to sacrifice themselves.  Keep them!  And in Jordan, a full majority of the entire Kingdom is made of Palestinians creating an entire Eastern front against Israel.  [The situation in Jordan has changed since Jordan is the only country that absorbed the real Syrian Refugees, and they realize what “refugee-dom” is all about and how the Palestinians are not “refugees” by any stretch of the imagination.]

With the advance of Iran and the real threat to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, with the Arab Spring that turned quickly in Winter and the Muslim Brotherhood stronghold on Egypt, and with the continued slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Muslims by their Muslim brethren in Syria, the Arab World has realized the utter and complete fallacy of the Palestinians and their dream to eradicate Israel, to wipe Israel off the map.

The Palestinians squander the money they receive and stash it in secret bank accounts in Switzerland and France.  The Palestinians cry foul all the time, crying and bickering.  They work with Iran.  They send their young ones to explode themselves - and soon the Arabs realized that what is effective against the Jews, is also employed against them!  

And Israel?  Contrary to what the Palestinians teach their children and the hatred they spew at every opportunity, Israel does good.  Israel extends a helping hand at a time of disaster.  Israel brings new technologies about water and agriculture in the times of peace.  Commerce with Israel is bilateral.  Israel opens field hospitals for Syrian refugees and brings the wounded from Lebanon, Syria and even Gaza to her hospitals.  Israel is the only deterrent against the spread of Iran, and she is not afraid to act - at whatever time and place she sees fit.  Israel can be trusted - by friend and foe alike.  She is always true to her word.

Israel wants what every normal human being wants - to live, raise her children, thrive.  She is focused on herself, not on harming others.  She has no aspirations at expanding, colonizing or occupying.  It is not easy for Israel, for where there are two Jews, there are five opinions.  And Israel has always been a country of all generals!  They Arabs see Israel; the Arabs hear the pleas and contact demands by the Palestinians; and when the Arabs do an accounting, or simple arithmetic, they understand they want to be associated with the Israelis, not with the Palestinians.

And so there is a titanic shift, which is based on much common sense.  What would we do if faced in the same situation:  on the one hand a group that whines and brings death and mayhem, evil and bickering; on the other a group that is good for you, and good for the entire world and humanity, that does not talk much but acts, and when it acts - there are no boundaries to the love shown.  

The Palestinians feel neglected, left behind.  They are angrier than ever.  Remember, the Palestinians are a business.  Their main stronghold, the United Nations, that seems to be serving them and ignoring everyone else (e.g. the really-persecuted Christians) is on shaky grounds as well.  The United States, the UN's main financial sponsor, has woken up and is bringing common sense back to the playground.  And the European Union has finally started limiting the flow of money, as a major part of it goes to reward terrorists and their families for life - for every person murdered or injured.

And so comes The Deal of the Century.  The USA (what one commonly refers to as “America”) has a crazy President.  He dares stand up to Putin (the Democrats say he cooperates with him), to China, to North Korea.  And now he decided to tackle the Israeli-Arab Conflict.  Alas, the Conflict seems to have resolved itself - between Israel and the real Arabs.

The only thing that is left from the “Conflict” (the objective of the Arabs to “throw the Israelis to the (Mediterranean) Sea”) is Iran’s promise to “Wipe Israel Off the Map” (and this must be taken seriously; with one qualification that the only reason for Iran to do so is that Israel is the only obstacle standing in its way to control the entire region, and Europe should be concerned for Europe’s sake) and the Palestinians who do not even show Israel on their maps.

So if there is no Israeli-Arab Conflict, what is the deal to do?  Appease the so-called Palestinians?  Serve the Jewish Puppeteers of the President of the US?

Whether the Deal of the Century has been in the works for the past three years or not at all, it matters not.  Also the timing of the announcement which is most suspect is not very important.  Be the reasons what they might be, they are irrelevant.  Both the US President and the Israeli Prime Minister quickly understood it - their folly was exposed, no one treats it seriously, not even those cheering in the background.  The Prime Minister announced, even before leaving DC, “we are going to annex next Sunday,” and the Trump-Team (Administration) replied “not so quickly, let us wait until after the elections.”  So quickly the two main players realized it was an exercise of hot air, that the entire exercise became beneficial only to all those “experts” and organizations that benefit from it (on the pro-Israel or anti-Israel side).

A Peace Plan has to be achieved by two sides who want it.  And a lasting peace will continue as long as both sides really want it.  Israel has a peace treaty with Egypt and another with Jordan.  Israel could have had a peace treaty with Syria, had it not been for the Civil War there and Assad’s butchering hundreds of thousand of his own people.

Another Peace Plan that should serve as an applicable example is the one between the Allies and the Nazis.  Except, the Middle East is not there yet.  The main lesson is that one side really wanted “Peace” to bring the cessation of its utter and complete decimation, and the other side was both benevolent and smart to help the Germans rebuild.

The Palestinians live a very good life.  Visit their homes and see.  Visit their shopping centers.  Watch their tv channels.  The Palestinians need Israel.  They come to work in Israel.  They sell products to Israel.  They depend on Israel as a neighbor and partner.  And they want to eliminate her and have an area free and clean of Jews.

Instead of investing in infrastructure and institutions of civil society, they dig death tunnels, manufacture weapons of mass destruction and excel in death and mayhem.  In short, they do everything opposite logic.

In addition to glorifying homicide martyrs as deserving 72 virgins, they propagate and expand the fantasy that the Jews will be eliminated, that the Jews do not deserve to live.  They twist history, using elements they like as their own and others to their advantage.  So they tell the Jews to pack their belongings and “go back.”  They remove the archeological findings under the Temple Mount and trash them as rubbish, and then they declare the Temple Mount was really never there, the Jewish “story” of the Bible has not connection to the place.

They do excel, however, in a thousand and one Arabian nights - weaving a story like no other.  And the story resonates with people around the world.  Where a story takes hold, no deal or reality program can overcome.  The Deal of the Century has not even lived its millisecond of fame, it was an orchestration that failed, a momentary distraction.   Until Israelis  take hold of the helm, until they start fighting for their own existence and survival, no substitute (as good and well-intentioned as it might be) will succeed.  Now, let us return to real life.
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BLOG EDITOR: I’ve apparently been placed in restricted Facebook Jail! The restriction was relegated after criticizing Democrats for supporting abortion in one post and criticizing Virginia Dems for gun-grabbing legislation and levying protestor restrictions. Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me completely. Conservatives are a huge portion of Facebook. If more or all Conservatives are banned, it will affect the Facebook advertising revenue paradigm. SO FIGHT CENSORSHIP BY SHARE – SHARE – SHARE!!! Facebook notified me in pop-up on 1/20/20: “You're temporarily restricted from joining and posting to groups that you do not manage until April 18 at 7:04 PM.” THAT MEANS Facebook has blocked me from ALL Pro-Israel, Pro-Jewish, Pro-Zionist, Pro-Christian Zionist and Anti-BDS Groups until 4/18/20. SO PLEASE SHARE THIS INFO in those Groups I am restricted.
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Edited by John R. Houk
Source links are by the Editor.

© Ari Bussel

Ari Bussel Bio via BeverlyHills.org

Ari Bussel is Vice President of Operations at Saybrex International, a privately held family business specializing in the distribution of fine wines and spirits. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company and has held various positions in the company since 1993.

Prior to joining Saybrex, Mr. Bussel served as First Lieutenant in the Center for Systems Analysis at General Headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces, where he led the implementation of the Logistics War Doctrine in the Computerized Wargame Program.

Mr. Bussel is involved in a variety of philanthropic and civic activities. Mr. Bussel completed the Team Beverly Hills Leadership Program and served on the Environmental Sustainability Topic Committee of the City of Beverly Hills. He was a member of the Steering Committees of former Beverly Hills Mayor MeraLee Goldman and the current Beverly Hills City Treasurer, the Hon. Eliot Finkel. Mr. Bussel also completed and participated in the Community Emergency Response Training Program of the City of Beverly Hills as well as … READ THE REST


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Dreams of Prosperity and an Inflated Currency


I actually comprehend little when it comes to economics and numbers. But history is easier to grasp. History informs us a Capitalist based Market System has enabled a Liberty-minded America to prosper more than the fail. While oppositely a Socialist based Government Managed System robs Liberty from citizens stifling individual prosperity and increasing government despotism and oppression.

Though I have difficulty grasping the actual effects of a repo (buyback) stocks market on the economy I grasp well that an unrestrained Federal Reserve with near zero checks and balances adds to government despotism and decreases Liberty and Freedom of America’s individual citizens. And so … here are Justin Smith’s thoughts on American Markets and the actions of the Federal Reserve.

JRH 10/10/19
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Blog Editor: Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me. Recently, the Facebook censorship tactic I’ve experienced is a couple of Group shares then jailed under the false accusation of posting too fast. So I ask those that read this, to combat censorship by sharing blog and Facebook posts with your friends or Groups you belong to.
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Dreams of Prosperity and an Inflated Currency
Congressional Warning Bells Are Silent

By Justin O. Smith
Sent  10/8/2019 10:42 PM

"Long before we wake up from our dream of prosperity through an inflated currency, our gold, which alone could have kept us from catastrophe, will have vanished and no rate of interest will tempt it to return." U.S. Senator Elihu Root (R-NY) 1913 

The Federal Reserve Bank has been a bone of contention, since our nation's founding. This rogue agency has proven itself to be the evil entity that many early American leaders believed it to be, but not one word on the Fed was forthcoming, when Congresswoman Maxine Waters announced the schedule of the House Financial Services Committee on October 3rd, after the Federal Reserve Bank started transferring billions of dollars into the Repurchasing Market on September 17th. This activated its proposal to hand seventy-five billion dollars a day to unnamed banks on Wall Street, until November 4th, the first such intervention since the 2008 economic collapse and the bailout of financial organizations deemed "too big to fail"; and, it is just one more criminal act in a long line of abuses committed against all America.  

In 2011, James Felkerson wrote in an academic piece, that from 2007 to 2010, the Fed had funneled an unbelievable $29 trillion in revolving loans to Wall Street and global banks. It did this without any apparent realization and authority from Congress, even though by law both the House Financial Services and the Senate Banking Committees are to be briefed on any such emergency loans, including the names of those banks taking the loans. 

[Blog Editor: I am not an economist. In trying to make sense of the repo market and reverse-repo market the information muddied rather than bring clarity to my understanding. Since it is my mantra that Dems lie and deceive I become skeptical when the likes of Dem candidates for President (e.g. Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders among others) begin to rail against the buyback repo markets. I’ll start with an explanation of repo markets then add some criticism titles for you to look noting who the critics are:


·       What's Holding Up the Market? Charles Hughes Smith; OfTwoMinds.com; 10/7/19



·       U.S. repo rates surge on tax payments, bond settlements; By Richard Leong; Investing.com; 9/16/19 02:46 PM ET

Like I said, I am no economist. BUT the tax issue seems less about taxpayers funds and more about banks and corporations taking advantage of tax breaks to expand money returns which may or may not blow up DEPENDING on the security controls of the money-printing Federal Reserve. Not being an economist means my take could be entirely off basis.]

These Big Banks and corporations are taking this "free" taxpayer dollars and buying back stocks in their own companies, rather than risk investment in productive investments, which creates an illusion of economic growth. The purchases give companies the appearance of being more profitable than they actually are, even though their earnings have remained stagnant. And it is the Fed's perverse incentives that have given rise to this debt-dependent speculative system that allows companies to pocket their profits, while at the same time, they socialize their losses and pass them along to the taxpayer, 'We the People'.  

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson, extremely antagonistic towards the Bank of the United States, stated: "Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching You for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin [a] thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, I will rout you out." [Bold-Italics Blog Editor’s]

We are currently witnessing a continuation of the malinvestments that led to the 2008 economic collapse and massive loans combined with another huge expansion of credit. When banking institutes issue huge credit lines, any future economic collapse is proportional to that amount of outstanding credit. 

This isn't a true "boom economy" and the current boom is the culmination of monetary inflation and an expanded credit cycle, in the wake of the residential property and stock market booms, between 2005 and 2007, and malinvestments that have not yet been fully corrected. To date, this is by far a larger credit elevation than that of 1922-1929, and the Great Depression on the 20th century.  

It seems as though everyone in America has bought into the promise of applied macroeconomics, refusing to acknowledge the contrary signals through the prism of classic economics, while they accept macroeconomist premises that economic truths on a micro-level are not applicable to the whole at the macro-level. This level of ignorance will soon prove to be a huge mistake, since nobody can live forever beyond their means and ability to repay amounts owed.  

One should note that the JP Morgan Bank, one of the largest in the United States, was hit with three felony counts under the RICO Act last month, concerning the precious metals market. This is particularly alarming in light of JP Morgan's $158 billion cash reduction in the Federal Reserve, between January and June of 2019, a fifty-seven percent decline this year.  

Why hasn't the need of the United States' largest bank to acquire such a large loan over a six month period raised any warning bells in Congress? Why does JP Morgan need such a large loan if it has $1.6 trillion in deposits and a "fortress balance sheet", as asserted by JP's CEO, Jamie Dimon?  

By the end of June 2019, America's four largest banks had a combined $5.45 trillion in deposits: JP Morgan claimed $1.6 trillion; Bank of America claims $1.44 trillion; Wells Fargo posts $1.35 trillion, and Citibank holds a bit over $1 trillion.  

So why the current panic at the Fed? If the liquidity doesn't exist to allow these banks to issue billions in loans, when they supposedly hold $5.45 trillion, something very serious has occurred in the financial industry and another economic crisis looms on the horizon.  

Recently, CNBC reported that U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index was the lowest it's been since June 2009, at 47.8 percent, and in recent days, many hundreds of Americans have been laid off from companies, such as Kroger and many others. Bayou Steel just laid off 376 workers, according to Market Realist; Daimler Trucks North America is laying off 450 people; WeWork is set to end five thousand jobs, one-third of its workforce; Hewlett Packard Inc is cutting approximately 8,000 positions, and lets not forget that Walmart was forced to close 63 locations last year.  

This isn't a "boom economy" anyway one looks at it, especially when we see Democrats and Republicans alike engaging in out-of-control deficit spending, as if the U.S. Treasury is their own personal piggy bank and there is no tomorrow. If this were truly such a golden period of economic recovery, our financiers wouldn't be clamoring for interest rate cuts, when they are already at historically low levels.  

America has seen this greed motivated reach for more and more before, as the borrowers seem not to have one care on how their loans will be repaid, and most of America cares not so long as they get their cut. It is this extreme callous character flaw and apathy and a complacency and the turning of a blind eye by corrupt Congressmen, a national immorality, that is allowing the Fed to once more bail out the worse white collar criminals on Wall Street, as they continue to take huge portions of bail out funds to reward themselves with tens of millions of dollars in bonuses and billions of dollars to lawyers to prevent them from being prosecuted for fraud.  

It is an indication of America's collective genius or its collective madness that permits Her people to hold so many contradictory assumptions, combined under the same economic system, and blindly and blithely proceed as if they were all joined by perfect cogent thought, logic and reason. And yet, many Americans cannot escape the nagging feeling that something is going extraordinarily wrong, as our best and brightest economic experts call madness "common sense", denying that their deal with the devil doesn't come at some terrible price eventually.  

The impeccable and brilliant Senator Elihu Root strongly opposed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, noting in a blistering and prescient manner that "the Federal Reserve ... provides an expansive currency, not an elastic one". He noted that the temptation to expand the currency would cause the Fed to create the very cycles it was supposed to prevent.

It is far past time to eradicate the Federal Reserve Bank and the economic sickness that accompanies centralized banking, wherever one finds it. 

Whatever a man sows, so shall he reap. Need little, want less and love more.

By Justin O. Smith
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Blog Editor: Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me. Recently, the Facebook censorship tactic I’ve experienced is a couple of Group shares then jailed under the false accusation of posting too fast. So I ask those that read this, to combat censorship by sharing blog and Facebook posts with your friends or Groups you belong to.
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Edited by John R. Houk

Source links and text embraced by brackets are by the Editor.

© Justin O. Smith


Friday, September 27, 2019

Israel’s flailing democracy


Caroline Glick views parallels between the Marxist-Dems fabricating allegations against President Trump and Israel’s Left loosely examining Israeli statute law to render Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a criminal to question his legitimacy as a Prime Minister. It’s an interesting read for both Americans and Israelis.

JRH 9/27/19
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Israel’s flailing democracy


By Caroline Glick
September 27, 2018
Originally published at Israel Hayom.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement Tuesday that she is opening an official impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump struck many Israelis as yet another sign that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump are in the same boat. Both are hounded by legal elites who will stop at nothing to oust them from office.

There are parallels between the two leaders.

Pelosi’s move followed the leak of a whistleblower complaint to the US intelligence community’s inspector general. The complainant alleged that during a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, Trump sought the Ukrainian leader’s assistance in advancing his 2020 reelection prospects. This is arguable.

During the course of the phone call, Trump asked Zelensky to speak with US Attorney General William Barr about the private cybersecurity company Crowdstrike. Crowdstrike is the private contractor that was hired by the Democratic National Committee in the spring of 2016 to investigate the alleged hack of the DNC’s computer server.

Crowdstrike concluded that the DNC’s server was hacked by entities related to the Russian government. The DNC never permitted federal investigators to take possession of the breached server, or receive Crowdstrike’s full report. Despite the fact that they were never given the opportunity to verify Crowdstrike’s claims, those claims were the basis of the US intelligence community’s assertion in December 2016 that the Russian government hacked the DNC server to interfere in the 2016 election. It was also a foundation of the claim that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia against the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.

In his conversation with Zelensky, Trump said, “Our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike…the [DNC] server, they say Ukraine has it…I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it.”

Trump also talked with Zelensky about Democratic presidential aspirant, former vice president Joe Biden.

During his tenure in office, Biden was responsible for US ties with Ukraine. As investigative journalist Peter Schweitzer reported, in April 2014, Biden’s son Hunter was appointed to the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company. Over the next 16 months, Bursima paid Hunter Biden $3.1 million. Biden joined the company while Burisma was under criminal probe by British and Ukrainian investigators.

In a post-vice presidency appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations, Biden bragged that he had conditioned the provision of $1 billion in US loan guarantees to the Ukrainian government – loan guarantees that had already been approved by Obama – on the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor carrying out the investigation against Burisma. Given the stakes, the Ukrainian government bowed to his demand. The prosecutor was fired and the loan guarantees were extended.

Speaking of Biden’s admitted intervention with the Ukrainian prosecution, Trump said, “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it…It sounds horrible to me.”

Democrats claim that Trump’s discussion with constitutes an illegal solicitation of foreign assistance for his 2020 campaign for reelection. Republicans counter that Trump was reasonably trying to understand what happened to the DNC server in 2016. The story has served as a basis for claims that his presidency is illegitimate, and continuous investigations of his campaign.

Leaving aside the weight of the opposing claims, the fact is that there is nothing unique about Trump’s actions. As Mark Thiessen noted in the Washington Post, in 2018, three Democratic senators urged the Ukrainian government to continue investigations into Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.

National Review noted that during the 2016 campaign, the Obama administration asked the Ukrainian government to open a criminal probe against Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort. So too, revelations regarding the origins of the Trump-Russia probe which fomented the nearly two-year Special Counsel investigation showed that the Obama Justice Department based wiretap requests against Trump campaign officials on a dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign and the DNC, and compiled by a former British spy on the basis of contacts with Russian operatives.

Democrats braying for impeachment have never shown the slightest interest in investigating the Obama administration’s actions. No Democratic lawmakers has called to impeach Obama or members of his administration.

The criminal probes against Netanyahu relate to actions he took to secure positive media coverage that are similar, if not identical to routine political behavior. The two major probes against Netanyahu – dubbed Case 2000 and Case 4000 allege that Netanyahu acted criminally when he met with media owners in bids to secure more positive coverage.

In Case 2000, Netanyahu is accused of having breached the public faith when he met with Yediot Ahronot publisher Arnon Moses in an effort to secure positive media coverage. Yediot Ahronot’s coverage of Netanyahu has been unstintingly negative. In Case 4000, prosecutors allege Netanyahu accepted a bribe in the form of positive media coverage on Walla news portal from Walla owner Shaul Alovich. Like Yediot, Walla coverage of Netanyahu has almost uniformly hostile.

Leading jurists from Prof. Alan Dershowitz of Harvard University to Prof. Avi Bell from Bar Ilan University agree that the legal proceedings against Netanyahu are political and based on prejudicial and selective enforcement of statutes which prosecutors are interpreting inventively.

As is the case with the allegations related to Trump’s dealings with Zelensky, the first problem with the probes against Netanyahu is that his actions were far from unique – although less successful than similar actions by other politicians.

In just one striking example of the inherent bias of the charges against Netanyahu consider the behavior of the prosecutors in relation to Blue and White party co-chairman, and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid.

While serving as finance minister in 2013 and 2014, Lapid held regular meetings Mozes. Government ministries controlled by Lapid’s party colleagues provided millions of shekels in government advertising to Yediot Ahronot. And Lapid and his Yesh Atid party received unstintingly positive coverage in Yediot Ahronot.

Lapid has never been investigated for his actions.

Today, post-election wranglings in Israel over governing coalitions are guided by varied assessments of the likelihood that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will indict Netanyahu. During the campaign leading up to the April elections, Mandelblit cast legal norms distinguishing politics from law to the seven winds. He took the unprecedented step of announcing that pending the outcome of Netanyahu’s pre-indictment hearing, which is scheduled for next week, he intends to indict the premier on bribery and breach of trust charges over his dealings with Mozes and Alovich.

Now, as Netanyahu prepares for his pre-indictment hearing, the prosecution has leaked its intent to indict Netanyahu by mid-November. In other words, they have no intention to consider Netanyahu’s defense claims. The outcome is preordained.

For many Israelis, Pelosi’ decision to begin an impeachment investigation parallels moves by Mandelblit and State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan to fast track the probes against Netanyahu. But the opposite is the case.

Pelosi’s impeachment bid is a sign that America’s legal system and indeed its democracy is far healthier than Israel’s.

For nearly two years, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his partisan investigators spent millions of dollars on a massive, and barely veiled bid to find a legal excuse to oust Trump from office. But in the end, they failed. The evidence of collusion between Trump and his campaign and Russia, simply wasn’t to be found.

Mueller could have kept going. The media wanted him to. The Democrats wanted him to. But after feeding the media prejudicial leaks against Trump and aggressively prosecuting Manafort and other Trump officials on unrelated issues, Mueller ran out of steam. Although in his final report Mueller tried to provide Democrats with the means to continue the Russia probe on the political level, he closed down his investigation and went home. US practice doesn’t permit the indictment of a sitting president. But even if it allowed for indictments, the materials he had assembled were too weak to justify and indictment.

In other words, Mueller walked his prosecutors to the brink of political interference, and then he walked them back. He did not replace politicians with prosecutors.

Until Mueller submitted his report, Pelosi used his ongoing probe to fend off pressure from the increasingly powerful radical members of her Democratic caucus to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump. Since then, Pelosi argued, rightly, that impeachment proceedings require a huge political investment and hold little chance for success. Most Americans oppose impeaching Trump. The Republicans control the Senate. If the House votes to impeach Trump, chances of getting the two-thirds majority of Senators required to convict an impeached president and remove him from office are effectively non-existent.

Unfortunately for Pelosi – the Democratic base, including the media and the empowered radical faction of her Democratic caucus – have become deaf to reason. According to a Politico poll, whereas 70 percent of Democrats support impeachment, only 37 percent of the public does. The likes of Anastasia Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, like the New York Times and the Washington Post live in an echo chamber. Members of the echo chamber are so cut off from those outside it that just as they cannot fathom anyone objecting to socialism, so they cannot imagine that anyone supports Trump or accepts the validity of the 2016 election results.

It is hard to know how the impeachment proceedings will play out. But a likely scenario is that the proceedings will damage Democrats more than they will damage Trump.

This then brings us back to Israel.

Like Pelosi and her colleagues, Blue and White leaders Benny Gantz and Lapid and their colleagues on the Left claim that the very fact that Netanyahu is under investigation renders him illegitimate. They refuse to form a unity government with Likud unless Netanyahu is first ousted as Likud leader.

But unlike Pelosi, Gantz and Lapid don’t need to make their claims themselves. Lapid, whose ministers gave preferential treatment to Yediot through government advertising contracts and received glowing coverage in the paper, does not have to argue the case for impeaching Netanyahu. He stands behind the ostensibly “objective” state prosecutions.

Pelosi’s decision to open impeachment proceedings against Trump despite the great political risk involved going into an election year indicates that the radical faction of the Democratic party has swallowed the party. But more importantly, her move is a testament to the abiding power and fortitude of American democracy. The difference between the situation in Israel, where the prosecutors happily abuse their legal power for transparently political aims and the US, where politically motivated prosecutors backed away from the brink and compelled politicians to take over their political investigations, is the difference between a flailing democracy and a resilient democracy.

Blog Editor: Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me. Recently, the Facebook censorship tactic I’ve experienced is a couple of Group shares then jailed under the false accusation of posting too fast. So I ask those that read this, to combat censorship by sharing blog and Facebook posts with your friends or Groups you belong to.
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© 2013 All Rights Reserved to Caroline Glick
All rights reserved to Israel Hayom

About Caroline B. Glick

Caroline B. Glick is a senior columnist at Breitbart News and the senior contributing and chief columnist for The Jerusalem Post. She is also a senior columnist for Maariv. She is the author of The Israeli Solution: A One State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, (Crown 2014) and of Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad (Gefen 2008). The Israeli Solution was endorsed by leading US policymakers including Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Ted Cruz and National Security Advisor John Bolton. Shackled Warrior was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former CIA director James Woolsey.

Glick is the adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC and directs the Israeli Security Project at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. She travels frequently throughout the world to brief policymakers on issues related to Israel’s strategic environment and other related topics. She lectures widely on strategic and political issues affecting global security, Israel and the Jewish people, US-Israel relations, Israel-Diaspora affairs and Israel’s changing strategic landscape.

In 2008 Glick founded Latma, the Hebrew language satirical media criticism website. She served as editor in chief of the site until it ceased operations in 2015.

Latma changed the face of Israel’s social media and revolutionized the Israeli entertainment industry by bringing an alternative voice to the popular culture. Latma launched “Hakol Shafit,” a primetime, half hour satirical newscast on Israel television Channel 1. Glick served as the editor in chief of the program.

Glick was born in Houston, TX and grew up in Chicago, IL. She moved to Israel in 1991, two weeks after receiving her BA in Political Science from Columbia University. She joined the Israel Defense Forces that summer and served as an officer for five and a half years.

From 1994-1996, as an IDF captain, Ms. Glick served in the Defense Ministry as a core member of Israel’s negotiating team with the Palestinians.

In 1997 and 1998 Ms. Glick served as Assistant Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

From 1998-2000 Ms. Glick studied at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and received a Master’s in Public Policy in June 2000. READ MORE


Wednesday, June 26, 2019

If There Is a Neocon Warning – Pay Attention


John R. Houk
© June 26, 2019


The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in conjunction with the Think Tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has put together a report measuring Russia’s potential threat to American interests today.

In the Bush II Presidential years the AEI had a Neoconservative reputation in its policy advocacy. In this day and age Neocons are pretty much castigated by the American Left and American Right.

On a personal level I have been an admirer of Neoconservatism’s American Exceptionalism and a Foreign Policy based on military strength. Traditional Conservatives (sometimes called Paleocons) view this kind of aggressive Foreign Policy as a Big Government budget destroyer. There are those the American Left would label as the racist Right who castigate Neocons as ex-Communist Jews that can’t be trusted.

There is a large amount of truth to the “ex-Communist” association since a large number of early Neocon proponents were indeed Communists or at least Marxist sympathizers, BUT these rebels against Communism woke up to the ideological failures. Socialism (and yes this includes National Socialism aka Nazism) and varieties of Marxism have led to much of history’s oppressive regimes and the genocide of huge groups of human beings.

However, to label a “Communist” a “Jew” is a bit of an oxymoron. Communists are anti-religion atheists by nature and a good Jew practices the religious faith of Judaism. It is true there are people of a Jewish heritage that have repudiated the religious tenets of Judaism and embraced Marxist-Communist ideology. If one embraces Communism one rejects religion. That would make a Jew who became a Communist an ex-Jew. Incidentally, a person of Christian heritage, Islamic heritage, Buddhist heritage or any religious heritage who embraces Communism have rejected their religious heritage and have become an ex-whatever heritage.

Condemning all Jews because a few rejected their religious heritage should logically lead to the same condemnation of other people rejecting their religious heritage. I doubt Jew-haters follow that logic since one rarely hears the label that all Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. are evil because a few accept atheistic One World Government Communism. Hence the hypocrisy of hating Jews because of Communism is just plain racism. (Muslims hate Jews because their revered writings tell them to hate Jews [Percentages]. That’s a whole different kind of racism. One sees that kind of racism among idiot Christians who believe all Jews are responsible for killing Jesus when it was a secret night tribunal of Jewish leaders fearing a rebellion would displace status among their Roman overlords. Human fear and jealousy got Jesus Crucified. God’s love Resurrected the Son of God which offers Saving Redemption to ALL who Believe in the Risen Savior – to the Jew first then to the non-Jew.)

The American Left deride the Neocons’ American Exceptionalism as nationalistic anti-globalist rejectors of Socialism/Marxism.

Have Neocons made mistakes? DEFINITELY! The principle of nation-building based on American Republic Representative-Democracy only works in cultures amenable to the Western heritage. This unfortunate discovery became evident in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those cultures have been brainwashed into Islamic thought for too long for the populace to understand let alone accept Western Representative Democracy.

When Neocons have a warning about Russia in relation to American National Interests and National Security the benefit of the USA is what is in mind.

JRH 6/26/19
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CONFRONTING THE RUSSIAN CHALLENGE

Russian Soldier

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (PDF)
[Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute]
June 2019

Russia poses a significant threat to the United States and its allies for which the West is not ready.  The West must act urgently to meet this threat without exaggerating it.  Russia today does not have the military strength of the Soviet Union. It is a poor state with an economy roughly the size of Canada’s, a population less than half that of the U.S., and demographic trends indicating that it will lose strength over time.  It is not a conventional military near-peer nor will it become so.  Its unconventional warfare and information operations pose daunting but not insuperable challenges.  The U.S. and its allies must develop a coherent global approach to meeting and transcending the Russian challenge.

[Download the full report here and the Executive Summary here.]

The Russian Threat

President Vladimir Putin has invaded two of his neighbors, Georgia and Ukraine, partly to stop them from aligning with NATO and the West.  He has also illegally annexed territory from both those states. He has established a military base in the eastern Mediterranean that he uses to interfere with, shape, and restrict the operations of the U.S. and the anti-ISIS coalition.  He has given cover to Bashar al Assad’s use of chemical weapons, and Russian agents have used military-grade chemical weapons in assassination attempts in Great Britain.  Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons, even in regional and local conflicts. And Moscow has interfered in elections and domestic political discourse in the U.S. and Europe.

The Russian threat’s effectiveness results mainly from the West’s weaknesses.  NATO’s European members are not meeting their full commitments to the alliance to maintain the fighting power needed to deter and defeat the emerging challenge from Moscow. Increasing political polarization and the erosion of trust by Western peoples in their governments creates vulnerabilities that the Kremlin has adroitly exploited.

Moscow’s success in manipulating Western perceptions of and reactions to its activities has fueled the development of an approach to warfare that the West finds difficult to understand, let alone counter.  Shaping the information space is the primary effort to which Russian military operations, even conventional military operations, are frequently subordinated in this way of war.  Russia obfuscates its activities and confuses the discussion so that many people throw up their hands and say simply, “Who knows if the Russians really did that?  Who knows if it was legal?”—thus paralyzing the West’s responses.

Putin’s Program

Putin is not simply an opportunistic predator.  Putin and the major institutions of the Russian Federation have a program as coherent as that of any Western leader.  Putin enunciates his objectives in major speeches, and his ministers generate detailed formal expositions of Russia’s military and diplomatic aims and its efforts and the methods and resources it uses to pursue them.  These statements cohere with the actions of Russian officials and military units on the ground.  The common perception that he is opportunistic arises from the way that the Kremlin sets conditions to achieve these objectives in advance. Putin closely monitors the domestic and international situation and decides to execute plans when and if conditions require and favor the Kremlin. The aims of Russian policy can be distilled into the following:

Domestic Objectives

Putin is an autocrat who seeks to retain control of his state and the succession.  He seeks to keep his power circle content, maintain his own popularity, suppress domestic political opposition in the name of blocking a “color revolution” he falsely accuses the West of preparing, and expand the Russian economy.

Putin has not fixed the economy, which remains corrupt, inefficient, and dependent on petrochemical and mineral exports.  He has focused instead on ending the international sanctions regime to obtain the cash, expertise, and technology he needs.  Information operations and hybrid warfare undertakings in Europe are heavily aimed at this objective.

External Objectives

Putin’s foreign policy aims are clear: end American dominance and the “unipolar” world order, restore “multipolarity,” and reestablish Russia as a global power and broker.  He identifies NATO as an adversary and a threat and seeks to negate it.  He aims to break Western unity, establish Russian suzerainty over the former Soviet States, and regain a global footprint.

Putin works to break Western unity by invalidating the collective defense provision of the North Atlantic Treaty (Article 5), weakening the European Union, and destroying the faith of Western societies in their governments.

He is reestablishing a global military footprint similar in extent the Soviet Union’s, but with different aims. He is neither advancing an ideology, nor establishing bases from which to project conventional military power on a large scale.  He aims rather to constrain and shape America’s actions using small numbers of troops and agents along with advanced anti-air and anti-shipping systems.

Recommendations

A sound U.S. grand strategic approach to Russia:

·       Aims to achieve core American national security objectives positively rather than to react defensively to Russian actions;

·       Holistically addresses all U.S. interests globally as they relate to Russia rather than considering them theater-by-theater;

·       Does not trade core American national security interests in one theater for those in another, or sacrifice one vital interest for another;

·       Achieves American objectives by means short of war if at all possible;

·       Deters nuclear war, the use of any nuclear weapons, and other Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD);

·       Accepts the risk of conventional conflict with Russia while seeking to avoid it and to control escalation, while also ensuring that American forces will prevail at any escalation level;

·       Contests Russian information operations and hybrid warfare undertakings; and

·       Extends American protection and deterrence to U.S. allies in NATO and outside of NATO.

Such an approach involves four principal lines of effort.

Constrain Putin’s Resources.  Russia uses hybrid warfare approaches because of its relative poverty and inability to field large and modern military systems that could challenge the U.S. and NATO symmetrically.  Lifting or reducing the current sanctions regime or otherwise facilitating Russia’s access to wealth and technology could give Putin the resources he needs to mount a much more significant conventional threat—an aim he had been pursuing in the early 2000s when high oil prices and no sanctions made it seem possible.

Disrupt Hybrid Operations.  Identifying, exposing, and disrupting hybrid operations is a feasible, if difficult, undertaking.  New structures in the U.S. military, State Department, and possibly National Security Council Staff are likely needed to:

1.   Coordinate efforts to identify and understand hybrid operations in preparation and underway;

2.  Develop recommendations for action against hybrid operations that the U.S. government has identified but are not yet publicly known;

3.  Respond to the unexpected third-party exposure of hybrid operations whether the U.S. government knew about the operations or not;

4.  Identify in advance the specific campaign and strategic objectives that should be pursued when the U.S. government deliberately exposes a particular hybrid operation or when third parties expose hybrid operations of a certain type in a certain area;

5.  Shape the U.S. government response, particularly in the information space, to drive the blowback effects of the exposure of a particular hybrid operation toward achieving those identified objectives; and

6.  Learn lessons from past and current counter-hybrid operations undertakings, improve techniques, and prepare for future evolutions of Russian approaches in coordination with allies and partners.

The U.S. should also develop a counter-information operations approach that uses only truth against Russian narratives aimed at sowing discord within the West and at undermining the legitimacy of Western governments.

Delegitimize Putin as a Mediator and Convener.  Recognition as one of the poles of a multipolar world order is vital to Putin.  It is part of the greatness he promises the Russian people in return for taking their liberty.  Getting a “seat at the table” of Western-led endeavors is insufficient for him because he seeks to transform the international system fundamentally.  He finds the very language of being offered a seat at the West’s table patronizing.

He has gained much more legitimacy as an international partner in Syria and Ukraine than his behavior warrants.  He benefits from the continuous desire of Western leaders to believe that Moscow will help them out of their own problems if only it is approached in the right way.

The U.S. and its allies must instead recognize that Putin is a self-declared adversary who seeks to weaken, divide, and harm them—never to strengthen or help them.  He has made clear in word and deed that his interests are antithetical to the West’s.  The West should therefore stop treating him as a potential partner, but instead require him to demonstrate that he can and will act to advance rather than damage the West’s interests before engaging with him at high levels.

The West must not trade interests in one region for Putin’s help in another, even if there is reason to believe that he would actually be helpful.  Those working on American policy in Syria and the Levant must recognize that the U.S. cannot afford to subordinate its global Russia policy to pursue limited interests, however important, within the Middle East.  Recognizing Putin as a mediator or convener in Syria—to constrain Iran’s activities in the south of that country, for example—is too high a price tag to pay for undermining a coherent global approach to the Russian threat.  Granting him credibility in that role there enhances his credibility in his self-proclaimed role as a mediator rather than belligerent in Ukraine.  The tradeoff of interests is unacceptable.

Nor should the U.S. engage with Putin about Ukraine until he has committed publicly in word and deed to what should be the minimum non-negotiable Western demand—the recognition of the full sovereignty of all the former Soviet states, specifically including Ukraine, in their borders as of the dates of their admission as independent countries to the United Nations, and the formal renunciation (including the repealing of relevant Russian legislation) of any right to interfere in the internal affairs of those states.

Defend NATO.  The increased Russian threat requires increased efforts to defend NATO against both conventional and hybrid threats.  All NATO members must meet their commitments to defense spending targets—and should be prepared to go beyond those commitments to field the forces necessary to defend themselves and other alliance members.  The Russian base in Syria poses a threat to Western operations in the Middle East that are essential to protecting our own citizens and security against terrorist threats and Iran.  Neither the U.S. nor NATO is postured to protect the Mediterranean or fight for access to the Middle East through the eastern Mediterranean. NATO must now prepare to field and deploy additional forces to ensure that it can win that fight.

The West should also remove as much ambiguity as possible from the NATO commitment to defend member states threatened by hybrid warfare.  The 2018 Brussels Declaration affirming the alliance’s intention to defend member states attacked by hybrid warfare was a good start.  The U.S. and other NATO states with stronger militaries should go further by declaring that they will come to the aid of a member state attacked by conventional or hybrid means regardless of whether Article 5 is formally activated, creating a pre-emptive coalition of the willing to deter Russian aggression.

Bilateral Negotiations.  Recognizing that Russia is a self-defined adversary and threat does not preclude direct negotiations.  The U.S. negotiated several arms control treaties with the Soviet Union and has negotiated with other self-defined enemies as well.  It should retain open channels of communication and a willingness to work together with Russia on bilateral areas in which real and verifiable agreement is possible, even while refusing to grant legitimacy to Russian intervention in conflicts beyond its borders.  Such areas could include strategic nuclear weapons, cyber operations, interference in elections, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty, and other matters related to direct Russo-American tensions and concerns.  There is little likelihood of any negotiation yielding fruit at this point, but there is no need to refuse to talk with Russia on these and similar issues in hopes of laying the groundwork for more successful discussions in the future.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE.
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If There Is a Neocon Warning – Pay Attention
John R. Houk
© June 26, 2019
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CONFRONTING THE RUSSIAN CHALLENGE

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