The country’s Senate urges the president to reconsider military action threats against Niger as Sunday deadline arrives.
Pressure is growing on Nigerian President Bola Tinubu by opposition parties to reconsider military action against neighboring Niger, ahead of the Sunday deadline to reinstate ECOWAS-backed President Mohamed Bazoum.
The military takeover in Niger was the latest in a series of rebellions led by African young leaders against governments imposed by France as part of its colonial efforts, including the recent coups in Burkina Faso and Mali and public protests in Senegal.
The uranium-rich nation is showing no signs of giving in to military threats by French-affiliated African governments, as the new widely popular leadership announced earlier that it “resolutely defend their homeland.”
Behind closed doors, Nigeria’s Senate met on Saturday to discuss the developing situation.
According to the country’s constitution, any foreign military actions or combat engagement must be approved by the upper chamber, unless the president deems national security is under “imminent threat or danger”.
“The Senate calls on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as chairman of ECOWAS to further encourage other leaders of ECOWAS to strengthen the political and diplomatic options,” the Senate’s President Godswill Akpabio told reporters after the talks.
Innocent citizens
Senators representing states in northern Nigeria – seven states of which collectively share around 1,500 km of borders with Niger – have urged against taking military steps until all other political options are exhausted.
Northern regions also share deep historical ties with southern Niger areas, including social, religious, and cultural relations, in addition to trade links and linguistic heritages.
“The consequences will be casualties among the innocent citizens who go about their daily business,” Suleiman Kawu Sumaila, spokesman for the Northern Senators Forum said, just after ECOWAS announced its ultimatum for Niger.
Sumaila also warned that a conflict in Niger risks a widespread insurgence of terrorist groups along the Sahel region.
“We are also aware of the situation of Mali, Burkina Faso and Libya, which may affect the seven Northern states if military force is used,” he said.
Nigeria would face serious repercussions “if military force is used without exhausting all the diplomatic channels”.
The mounting fears among Nigerian parties were also voiced by the country’s largest opposition bloc, which slammed plans for a military operation against Niger as “absolutely thoughtless”.
“The Nigerian military have been overstretched over the years battling terrorism and all manners of insurgency that are still very active,” the Coalition of United Political Parties said Saturday.
In parallel to battling terrorist militants in the northeast, Nigeria’s security forces are preoccupied across the country also fighting organized crimes across the country and separatist groups in the southeast.
The country’s dire economic state, which plunged deeper after the government’s decision to lift fuel subsidies last May, is also a risk factor that threatens to escalate in case Nigeria goes to war with its neighbor.
“Nigeria, in its current socioeconomic state, cannot afford such a costly intervention,” the coalition argued.
“President Bola Tinubu should avoid plunging Nigeria’s fragile economy into more depression by intervening militarily in another country.”
In light of Lebanon’s current energy and unprecedented economic crises, Hezbollah’s decision to import Iranian oil to aid Lebanon led the US into a state of confusion, thus limiting its options.
Lebanon’s economic crisis is a book with many authors. This is a tale of a country that plunged into poverty, dragging down a large percentage of its population.
The Lebanese are desperate, as the economic situation in the country worsens. So, the hopes of some Lebanese were pinned on the United States, which issued several statements and expressed some reactions, but made no solid actions. In other words, the United States never intended to provide an action plan to help the country out of its crisis.
It is worth mentioning that one factor of the country’s economic crisis is the siege that the US has put the country under.
The opening; oil ships to Lebanon
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on August 20, stated that the “Caesar Act on Syria was not only meant to besiege Syria alone but also Lebanon.” The country is isolated from all directions, Syria from the north and east with the longest borderline, and Palestine since its occupation in 1948.
During the same speech, Sayyed Nasrallah announced, “We agreed with the Iranians to start loading the third ship of oil derivatives,” adding that Lebanon will need more than 3 ships to face the forthcoming stage of the crisis.
He emphasized that there are no aims for trade or profit, “our aim is to alleviate the suffering of the people.”
International politics and its game rules dictate that there is no clear agenda on the table, especially when it comes to western agendas in West Asia. However, history can sometimes speak for itself.
During a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Sep 24, 2020, former US Under Secretary of State, David Hale, revealed that the United States has spent $10 billion in Lebanon, on security forces and the army on one hand, and on the civil society represented mostly by non-governmental organizations on the other, throughout several years.
He continued to say that Washington’s support for the Lebanese army comes within the US strategy to confront Hezbollah’s “terrorism”, explaining that the Lebanese army is “capable of carrying out its tasks.”
Back in 2010, July 8, the former US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman revealed that after Lebanon’s 2006 war, the US invested $500 million to demonize Hezbollah’s image using the media and to drive people away from the party.
Feltman’s testimony, one of many, reveals that the US wanted to assist and support Lebanon after the war by “reducing” Hezbollah’s appeal to Lebanon’s youth. To this end, the US rushed to invest millions of dollars through USAID and the Middle East Partnership Initiative.
“Hizballah’s persistence as a well-armed terrorist group within Lebanon, as well as its robust relationships with Iran and Syria, and the transfer of increasingly sophisticated missiles and rockets to Hizballah, threaten the interests of the United States, Lebanon, and our partners in the region, especially Israel,” Feltman stated.
US policy in stalemate
There are two moves to play here, either to impose sanctions on Hezbollah or to intervene militarily directly or by proxy. Sanctions were already pushed to their limits, while war looks costly under the current balance of power, with an intrinsic possibility of insurmountable losses.
Following its policy of maximum pressure, the United States imposed sanctions on Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. The three parties were the main players in the current oil transportation route, but sanctions were already there years back. Starting from when the ship set sail from Iran, reaching Syria’s Baniyas port, and then ending on Lebanese territories, America’s siege was considered broken and the US reached stalemate.
Sayyed Nasrallah clearly and purposely emphasized that the oil ships will indeed reach Lebanese territories. In other words, he was stressing that any attack on the ships would be considered a violation of Lebanese national sovereignty, which will rationally lead to retaliation. Since the other party does understand this simple algorithm, the question is: Is the US ready for escalation?
For a closer look, take a few steps back to August 6. On that day, in response to Israeli raids on Lebanese territories, the Resistance responded.
Hezbollah fired rockets in response to the raids on open areas in Al-Jarmaq and Al-Shawakir, noting that the bombing was carried out with about twenty 122mm rockets.
Checkmate; a win-win for Hezbollah
In light of talks that Hezbollah would import Iranian oil to Lebanon, a delegation of four US senators announced that the US is looking to help Lebanon overcome its crisis, but warned against importing Iranian oil.
Senator Richard Blumenthal added that there should be no reason for Lebanon to depend on Iran because there are plenty of “other sources” that could be relied on.
Following Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech, in which he announced that Iran would be sending oil ships to Lebanon, the US ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, revealed that the Biden administration is ready to facilitate Jordanian surplus electricity and the export of Egyptian natural gas to Lebanon via Syria.
It is worth mentioning that the announcement about exporting Egyptian gas was made over a month ago, but the facilitation of the process was hastened right after Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech that without a doubt created a rush of speculations and catalyzed the reactions in the political arena.
This announcement by the Biden administration seems to unintentionally benefit Hezbollah’s plans to aid Lebanon. Needless to mention that the gas they said they will help to export will pass through Syria, a country that is already under a US siege imposed by the Caesar act. It looks like the Americans will have to seek Syria’s help in this regard.
Zugzwang; the compulsion to move
The US created a corridor that defies the point behind the siege, which it has imposed on Lebanon, thus forcing it to waiver sanctions on Damascus. As such, the US is forced to either rehabilitate the infrastructure in war-torn Syria or to give it funds to do so in order to use the electric transmission line and gas pipelines, which both need repairs.
Moreover, Hezbollah welcomed the plan that offers aid to Lebanon, whether from Iran, Jordan, or Egypt, as long as it serves the country. Stability after all appears to serve the interests of the Lebanese party more than its foes’.
The US policy for Lebanon could be easily marketed as a fierce competition with Iran,but the US plancould nevertheless assist Lebanon out of its crisis, regardless of its real intentions, thus, a win-win situation for Hezbollah that is after stability in its home country. The US, on the other hand, seems to only judge Lebanon primarily through the lens of Israeli interests.
In sum, just as the Foreign Policy wrote, “The United States has no active plan to rescue the country—nor is there any indication that one is in the works,” adding that, “the United States has only offered ad hoc support, doing the minimum to keep the country from utter collapse.”
في العام 1967 أحجم لبنان عن دخول الحرب التي شنّتها «إسرائيل» على دول الطوق يومها بذريعة الضعف وعدم القدرة الدفاعية التي تحمي أرضه، ولما انتهت الحرب بعد أيامها الستة المعدودة ارتدّت «إسرائيل» على لبنان فألغت اتفاقية الهدنة معه من جانب واحد وشرعت في قضم أرض لبنانيّة في مزارع شبعا، القضم الذي استمرّ حتى العام 1973، حيث سيطرت «إسرائيل» على كامل المزارع ولم يحرك لبنان ساكناً خشية أن يُضمّ إلى القرار 242 ويضطر للتفاوض على الأرض ويسقط الحدود الثابتة باتفاقية «بوليه نيوكمب» 1923 والمؤكد عليها باتفاقية الهدنة 1949. ومن جهة أخرى نذكر أيضاً بأنّ لبنان الذي لم يشارك في حرب 1967 والتزم سياسة الحياد فيها من أجل حماية اقتصاده على أبواب فصل الصيف يومها وجد اقتصاده بعد الحرب ينهار ويظهر بأنه ضحية لتلك الحرب التي وضعت حداً للطفرة والنمو الاقتصادي اللبناني وتسبّبت بزعزعة أركانه أو لنقل هزة كبرى غيّرت مسارات النمو ووضعت حداً للبحبوحة.
بدأت بذكر هذه الواقعة اليوم ليس من أجل السرد التاريخيّ طبعاً، ولكن من أجل الإشارة إلى حقيقة ثابتة في تاريخ لبنان مفادها القول إنّ تجنّب المواجهة أو الاتجاه إلى الحياد أو كما يُقال ابتداعاً وخرافة لبنانية «النأي بالنفس»، أنّ كلّ ذلك لا يضمن دائماً الحقوق ولا يؤدّي إلى حمايتها ولا يمكن من استرجاعها إنْ اغتصبت، خاصة إذا كان العدو الذي يهدّد تلك الحقوق من نسخة وطبيعة العدو «الإسرائيلي» وكان المُعتدى عليه دولة كلبنان واهنة هشة في نظامها وسلطتها وماليتها. اليوم تكاد الصورة ذاتها تستعاد، إذ إنّ لبنان الرسمي وفي مواجهة الحرب الكونية التي شنّت على سورية وعلى محور المقاومة زعم انه التزم سياسة «النأي بالنفس»! وهي أغرب بدعة يمكن أن يتسامع بها في العلاقات الدولية، خاصة اذا كانت الدولة متشابكة مع محيطها اللصيق في الجغرافية والتاريخ والديمغرافية والاقتصاد، ولو لم تبادر المقاومة لامتشاق السلاح والدفاع عن لبنان على الأرض السورية ابتداء ثم على الأرض اللبنانية هي والجيش اللبناني بعد وصول العماد ميشال عون إلى رئاسة الجمهورية، لكان الإرهابيون فعلوا في لبنان ما سبق لهم وارتكبوه من جرائم القتل والتشريد والتخريب والتدمير التي ارتكبوها في سورية والعراق.
لقد استطاعت المقاومة بقرارها الأوّلي الذي لم يتوقف عند «سياسة النأي بالنفس» الغبية، أن تحمي لبنان من الإرهاب، لكن الحرب الكونيّة التي قادتها أميركا ومعها «إسرائيل» ضدّ سورية لم تكن عسكرية فقط، بل تعدّدت صنوفها وسقوفها وأشكالها وشملت في ما شملت الحرب الاقتصادية والإرهاب الاقتصادي، وهنا بدل أن يساهم لبنان في تخفيف آثار العدوان على سورية ويدافع عن نفسه عبرها خاصة بعد أن وضع قانون قيصر الأميركي موضع التنفيذ وهو القانون الذي ادّعت أميركا كذباً انه لا يمسّ لبنان، فقد كان العكس تماماً حيث ساهم الممسكون بالقرار الاقتصادي والمالي في لبنان في الحرب على سورية بشكل إجرامي وحرموا السوريين من أموالهم المودعة في لبنان كما حرموا المودعين اللبنانيين أيضاً من مالهم وطبّقوا «قانون قيصر» بشكل أسوأ مما كان يطلب واضعوه الأميركيون، وظنّ هؤلاء جهلاً او ارتهاناً بأنّ في ذلك كسباً للرضا الأميركي وصيانة للاقتصاد اللبناني، وأغفل هؤلاء أيضاً ما حاكته أميركا للبنان من خطة عدوان هي خطة بومبيو التي تتضمّن الانهيار الاقتصادي والمالي.
وهكذا تأكد على أرض الواقع بأنّ الحرب الاقتصادية على سورية شملت لبنان وكشفت عوراته الاقتصادية والمالية دفعة واحدة وأظهرت على الطبيعة الكارثة الاقتصادية الحقيقية التي يعيشها لبنان بسبب نهب الأموال العامة من قبل المسؤولين وبسبب الفساد المستشري في الإدارة العامة وعلى كلّ الصعد، وبسبب سياسة الامتيازات والاحتكارات والوكالات الحصرية، وبسب السرقات المبرمجة بما أُسمي الهندسات المالية التي وضعها حاكم مصرف لبنان ما أدّى إلى إثراء المصارف وإغنائها من مال المودعين من لبنانيين وغير لبنانيين ومنهم سوريين قيل إن رصيد ودائعهم في لبنان تخطى الـ 25 مليار دولار. هكذا وبلمح البصر انكشف الاقتصاد اللبناني وظهر وهنه وخواؤه وظهرت الطبقة السياسية والاقتصادية والمالية على حقيقتها بأنها زمر من اللصوص منهم الكثير من العملاء للخارج، والفاسدون المفسدون الذين قادوا لبنان إلى الانهيار والجوع والبطالة والويلات.
لم تكن الحرب الاقتصادية على سورية وخطة بومبيو الإجراميّة هي السبب الوحيد للانهيار الاقتصادي اللبناني، بل كانت تلك الحرب أحد الأسباب التي فاقمت الأزمة والسبب الرئيسي الذي كشف عن الحقيقة. وشكلت رداً مباشراً وعملياً على أولئك الذين فاخروا بسياسة النأي بالنفس وقاطعوا سورية وامتنعوا حتى عن الحديث معها لا بل إنّ مسؤولين كباراً يعلم القاصي والداني أنّ الرعاية السورية هي التي بنت لهم مواقعهم وأنتجت لهم أمجاداً يتغنون بها الآن، قاطعوا سورية وعملوا مع أميركا ضدها بشكل بشع.
إنّ مأساة لبنان باتت حقيقية كارثية قائمة، والكارثة الأفظع هي عدم الاعتراف بالمسؤولية عنها والإصرار على التمسك بالأشخاص والأساليب ذاتها التي أدت إلى الكارثة، متناسين الحكمة القائلة بانّ «المقدمات ذاتها تؤدي إلى النتائج ذاتها» أو أن تطابق المقدّمات يحكم بتطابق النتائج، وبالتالي فإنّ تماثل الأشخاص والأدوات والأساليب يؤدّي إلى نتائج متماثلة. وفي حالنا يعني أنّ لبنان سيكون أمام مأساة تتفاقم وليس أمام إشكالية يتبعها حلّ.
والغريب في الأمر أنّ من يتفحّص مسارات وآلية البحث عن حلّ لمأساة لبنان يصاب بالذهول، حيث إنه يجد أولاً أن المتسبّبين بالكارثة هم أنفسهم يستأثرون بالبحث عن حل بعد أن أوكل إليهم أمر الإخراج منها، وأنّ أدوات إنتاج الكارثة هي نفسها الأدوات التي يتمّ التمسك بها والأفظع من ذلك هي الدعوة أو الإصرار على سياسة العزلة والنأي بالنفس أو ما ابتدع بتسميته «الحياد الناشط» الذي ليس له مكان في القانون إلا في أوهام وخيال مَن يطلقه.
أما الحلّ الذي نراه فإنه يجب أن يُرسى على قوائم ثلاث تتمثل بإصلاح سياسي واقتصادي ومالي. ففي السياسة لا بدّ من تغيّر أو إصلاح جذري يضع حداً للطبقة السياسية الفاسدة التي ترفع شعار حقوق الطائفة وتنهب أموال الطائفة والوطن والمجيء بمن يعمل للوطن والدولة والشعب ولا يكون مطواعاً للخارج. وفي الاقتصاد يجب أن يقوم الإصلاح على شقين أو فرعين فرع في الماهية وعبره نتحوّل إلى الاقتصاد الإنتاجي الذي قضت عليه سياسات ما بعد 1992، وفرع استراتيجي يقوم على الاندماج الاقتصادي التكاملي مع المحيط وبشكل خاص الدول العربية الثلاث التي توجّه اليها الرئيس ميشال عون بمبادرته طارحاً السوق الاقتصادية المشرقية، (بدأت مصر مع الأردن والعراق بهذا التعاون الفاعل وندعو إلى انضمام لبنان وسورية لهما) كما والانفتاح على الشرق بشكل عام وعلى الصين وإيران وروسيا بشكل خاص مع وضع حدّ لسياسة الاحتكارات والتبعية للغرب. وأخيراً الإصلاح النقديّ الذي يجب أن تقوم به لجنة من الخبراء يضع حداً للدولرة ويعيد إلى القطاع المصرفي الثقة ويحرر أموال المودعين أو على الأقل يضع جدولاً زمنياً لإعادتها حتى ولو طال الوقت بضع سنين، فالمهمّ ألا تضيع.
هذه برأينا الخطوط الكبرى للحلّ، لكن للأسف لا نرى مَن يسعى اليه بشكل يدعو إلى طمأنينة ما بل نرى استشراء في النهب والسيطرة واستباحة الدولة الأمر الذي يطرح السؤال: متى يتحرّر اللبناني من زعيمه الجلاد، ومن مرجعيته الخارجية الظالمة المستبدة ويعمل باستقلالية القرار وليس بالحياد التافه، يعمل بإرادة وقرار مستقلّ من أجل نفسه ووطنه؟ وهل ستبقى الحلول غائبة حتى تلك اللحظة؟
لا تثقوا بالحكام الأميركيين، سواء كانوا من الجمهوريين أو من الديمقراطيين. فالضمانة لإحقاق الحقوق واستعادة المنقوص منها، وإحباط المشاريع والخطط الاستعَمارية للولايات المتحدة، وردع عدوانيتها وتمكين العرب من تحرير فلسطين، إنما هي مواصلة حلف دول وقوى المقاومة، طريق المقاومة المسلحة، والعمل في ذات الوقت على تحقيق التنمية الاقتصادية والعدالة الاجتماعية، بما يحقق الاكتفاء الذاتي من احتياجات الشعب وتوزيع الموارد بعدالة.
لقد بات واضحاً انّ حلف المقاومة نجح في تحقيق جملة من الأمور الهامة من خلال تصدّيه ومقاومته للمشاريع والمخططات الاستعمارية التي استهدفت إعادة رسم خريطة المنطقة وإخضاعها بالكامل للسيطرة الأميركية وأدواتها.. وتجلى نجاح حلف المقاومة بالأمور التالية:
الأمر الأول، إفشال الحروب العسكرية المباشرة، الأميركية الصهيونية، وإلحاق الهزيمة العسكرية والمعنوية بقوات الاحتلال الأميركي الغربي والصهيوني، في العراق، ولبنان، وغزة.
الأمر الثاني، إحباط أهداف الحروب الإرهابية بالوكالة التي قامت بها أميركا في سورية والعراق واليمن، بعد فشل حروبها العسكرية المباشرة..
الأمر الثالث، إحباط مخططات الفتنة الطائفية والمذهبية التي استهدفت دول وقوى المقاومة في سياق ما سُمّي الحرب الناعمة التي استهدفت شيطنة المقاومة والدول الداعمة لها، ومحاصرتها وإضعاف شعبيتها وتقويض عوامل صمودها وصولاً إلى محاولة فرض الاستسلام عليها ونزع أسلحة قوتها إلخ…
اما اليوم فقد بات الحفاظ على هذه الإنجازات وتعزيزها، لاستكمال معركة التحرر الشامل من الاحتلال والهيمنة الاستعمارية بكلّ أشكالها، العسكرية والأمنية والسياسية والاقتصادية والثقافية، يتطلب أيضاً إحباط أهداف الحرب الاقتصادية المميتة ببطء لجمهور دول وقوى المقاومة، فهذه الحرب تقتل الناس بالحصار والتجويع، من دون أن تتكبّد، الحكومات الأميركية والغربية والصهيونية، أي خسائر مادية أو بشرية..
على أنّ تحقيق النجاح في إحباط أهداف الحرب الاقتصادية، يستدعي بالضرورة، الى جانب خوض المقاومة المسلحة ضدّ قوات الاحتلال الأجنبي، اعتماد سياسات اقتصادية واجتماعية ترتكز الى بناء الاقتصاد الذي يحقق التنمية والعدالة الاجتماعية في توزيع الموارد…
انّ سلوك هذا النهج من قبل دول وقوى حلف المقاومة هو السبيل إلى تحقيق ما يلي:
أولاً، إسقاط أهداف حرب الحصار الاقتصادية، والعقوبات الأميركية، وإجبار إدارة العدوان في واشنطن على التسليم بحقّ شعوب ودول المنطقة في تقرير مصيرها واسترداد حقوقها، واحترام سيادتها واستقلالها بعيداً عن أيّ تدخلات أجنبية…
ثانيا، منع إدارة الرئيس الأميركي جو بايدن، المقبلة، من الاستمرار في الحرب الناعمة التي دشنتها الادارة الديمقراطية في عهد الرئيس باراك أوباما، واستمرت فيها إدارة الرئيس الحالي دونالد ترامب، وبالتالي إجبارها على سلوك طريق:
1
ـ العودة إلى الالتزام بالاتفاق النووي نصاً وروحاً من دون أيّ تذاك لمحاولة إدخال تعديلات عليه لن تلقى اي صدى أو اهتمام لدى القيادة الإيرانية، وبالتالي إلغاء كل القرارات والإجراءات الاقتصادية التي اتخذتها إدارة الرئيس دونالد ترامب اثر انسحابها من الاتفاق النووي وتعويض إيران عن الأضرار التي أصابتها نتيجة لذلك.
2
ـ سحب القوات الأميركية المحتلة من سورية والعراق والكفّ عن مواصلة التدخل في شؤونهما الداخلية ودعم وتغذية الجماعات الإرهابية من داعش والنصرة وغيرهما من التنظيمات التي صنعتها الاستخبارات الأميركية ودفعت الأنظمة التابعة لواشنطن إلى دعمها بالمال والسلاح لتنفيذ حروبها الإرهابية التي فشلت في تحقيق أهدافها في إخضاع سورية والعراق لنظام الهيمنة الاستعمارية الأميركي..
انّ اعتماد هذه الاستراتيجية المتكاملة، التي بدأت بها كل من سورية وإيران، يجب أن يقترن كذلك بشن حرب بلا هوادة ضد الفاسدين، والمستغلين من التجار.. فعبر تنفيذ هذه الاستراتيجية يتمّ تحقيق هدفين مهمين:
الهدف الأول، تعزيز التفاف الناس حول خيار الصمود والمقاومة في مواجهة قوات الاحتلال الأجنبي وأدواتها الإرهابية والرجعية، وتحصين الجبهة الداخلية…
الهدف الثاني، سدّ المنافذ أمام قوى الاستعمار، التي تحاول الاستفادة من الثغرات الداخلية، وإنهاك الناس بالحرب الاقتصادية لإعادة فرض مخططاتها، التي فشلت في تحقيقها بواسطة قوتها العسكرية وأدواتها الداخلية والإرهابية.
إنّ إنجاز هذين الهدفين، الى جانب مواصلة استنزاف قوات الاحتلال بالمقاومة المسلحة، هو الذي يؤدي إلى إجبار قوى الاستعمار على التراجع والانكفاء والتسليم بالهزيمة وسحب قواتها المحتلة بلا قيد أو شرط على غرار ما حصل في لبنان عام 2000، وفي غزة عام 2005، وفي العراق عام 2011 .. وبالتالي اختصار عمر المعاناة وتحقيق التحرر الشامل والناجز من الهيمنة الاستعمارية بكلّ أشكالها..
Beirut- Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered on Tuesday a televised speech on the latest developments, particularly the Lebanese internal situation.
At the beginning of his speech, Sayyed Nasrallah recalled the anniversary of the Divine victory scored July war “the resistance’s victories and the defeat of the American scheme in the region from the Lebanese Gate. He further announced that he is to tackle this victory as well as the triumph over the takfiri terrorism in the coming speeches.
Meanwhile, His Eminence remembered the ‘late dear and noble Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlullah, who stood firm in support of the resistance. We feel him living with us despite a decade on his departure.”
On the internal Lebanese situation, Sayyed Nasrallah viewed that “What the Lebanese are suffering on the economic level requires the cooperation, solidarity and sincerity of all sides. The current situation at the economic, financial and social levels requires everyone’s efforts and intelligence.”
“He who deals with the economic crisis must think about all Lebanon and not a certain village or district because the repercussions of the crisis are affecting everyone,” he said, pointing out that “The starting point of the solution is to deal with this crisis in humanitarian, patriotic, moral and religious manner.”
Calling for following “a national approach” to solve the crisis, the Resistance Leader underscored that “One should think of all those living on Lebanese soil, including refugees.”
In parallel, he clarified that “Moving towards the east does not mean cutting ties with the West and we are open to any country that is willing to help Lebanon by setting deposits and providing loans. We are open to get help from any country in the world except from the “Israeli” entity.”
“Unfortunately, some people have begun to claim that we are seeking to make Lebanon as part of certain axes,” His Eminence added, saying “We are not seeking to cut off the ‘Western oxygen’ from anyone in Lebanon. Let them breathe it.”
In addition, Sayyed Nasrallah declared that “Hezbollah will put all its considerations aside to make Lebanon pass this difficult stage.”
“I heard some people saying, ‘They want to turn Lebanon into the Iranian model.’ We did not say that. We asked the Iranians to help us, otherwise they need dollar,” he added.
Assuring everyone that “No one wants to implement the Iranian model nor change the face of Lebanon” Sayyed Nasrallah underscored that “We must be open to any country in the world willing to help Lebanon, We must knock its door and search for opportunities.”
“Hezbollah won’t be an obstacle if America wants to help Lebanon,” he said, pointing out that “We must set the way to prevent the state’s collapse and hunger as a goal.”
Regarding claims that Hezbollah seeks to turn Lebanon into an Iranian model, His Eminence confirmed that “Iran is making sacrifices when it agrees to sell oil products to Lebanon in Lebanese Pound. Iran’s economic example is a good example because it has dealt with the siege and sanctions and has reached self-sufficiency.”
Praising Iran’s resistance to US sanctions over the decades and compared Iran to Lebanon and said: “Be assured that Lebanon does not have the elements of the Iranian model; a model that has made Iran stand up to US sanctions.”
According to His Eminence, “It is not permissible for the public performance to be covered by negative wait for the results of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund or the regional developments without searching for other options.”
“What Lebanon is experiencing today is a threat of hunger and collapse,” Sayyed Nasrallah cautioned, noting that “Lebanon is able to turn the threat into an opportunity and to emerge from the accumulation of wrong policies.”
He also explained that “If we said that China should come invest in Lebanon, this does not mean turning the country into a communist system,” noting that “The effectiveness of openness to China was demonstrated through the American madness and the campaign against this choice.”
In addition, His Eminence stated that “The Americans have launched an aggressive campaign against the Chinese option to intimidate the Lebanese and prevent them from moving towards China.
Regarding openness to Iraq, he viewed that “it was a good thing. Iraq is an economically capable country, and there is religious and medical tourism between the two countries.” However, Sayyed Nasrallah mentioned that “There are people who started to doubt that Iraq will be open to Lebanon due to the American pressure.”
“It is required to send a delegation to Iraq as Baghdad did, and not to surrender to the talk about American pressure on the Iraqi government,” Hezbollah Secretary General said.
Sayyed Nasrallah added that “The central bank is obliged to pay billions of dollars to cover Lebanon’s need for oil derivatives, so if we ask the Iranian brothers to sell us oil derivatives in Lebanese pounds, how much this will save the central bank?”
“What we are going through today is the most dangerous threat that can face a people and a state, but we are capable as Lebanese state and people to turn the threat into a chance,” His Eminence predicted, pointing out that “We have an opportunity to carry out very important steps towards economic stability.”
On the Iranian readiness to sell Lebanon oil derivatives in the Lebanese pound, he declared “I do not want to precede the brothers in Iran, but I guarantee you this. This is a blessed matter.”
“This methodology gives hope to the Lebanese and sends a strong message to the American that whoever wants to besiege Lebanon and suffocate it, Lebanon has options, paths, and other gates, and you will not be able to starve and topple us,” His Eminence predicted.
According to His Eminence, “During decades of economic policies in the country, Lebanon was being prepared for the perception of peace in the region, and Lebanon was established as a country of services. As a result of this policy, two sectors, the agricultural and industrial sectors, were struck.”
Sayyed Nasrallah added that “We are a consuming country and today there is a chance to become a productive country and the State has a responsibility to revive the agricultural and industrial sectors.”
“Turning Lebanon into a productive country is a responsibility of the state and the people,” he stressed, urging the Lebanese to fight to revive the industrial and agricultural sectors as a prerequisite for survival in dignity.
Calling Lebanese community to wage ‘agricultural and industrial jihad and resistance.” Sayyed Nasrallah announced: “We in Hezbollah took a decision to confront collapse and hunger, and all Hezbollah, with all its capabilities, friendships and alliances, will be at the heart of this confrontation.”
To the people of the resistance, he sent the following message: “Over the past decades, we have raised on the slogan ‘We are to be present where we should be’ and we have achieved all our victories by this slogan. Today we are in the battle of industry and agriculture. This is our new battlefield. Let the date of 7-7-2020 be to declare jihad, resistance and renaissance at the agricultural and industrial levels.”
Warning the US that its state Department is playing an exposed role in Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah addressed the latest blatant US ambassador by saying: “The US ambassador is acting like a military ruler and what business does she have in intervening in the financial appointments?
“The US ambassador has no right to say if the current government should leave. She is also blatantly interfering in the nature of the next government, he added, noting that “The Lebanese people and the Lebanese parliament determine whether the government remains or leaves. The US ambassador is inciting the Lebanese against each other.”
Once again, His Eminence reminded he who’s concerned that “Hezbollah is a Lebanese party that has great popularity and participates in political life, and every day the US ambassador attacks it with the most horrific description while the Lebanese state remains silent.”
Expressing Hezbollah’s pride in Judge Moahmmed Mazeh’s ruling, Sayyed Nasrallah unveield that the “ Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc MPs will present a petition to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry to ask the American Ambassador to abide by diplomatic relations and international law.”
“The US is exploiting the accumulations of 40 years in Lebanon,” he went on to say, hoping that “the American ambassador does not talk to us about sovereignty and human rights.”
To the US Ambassador, Hezbollah SG sent a sounding message: “You are the ones who brought the takfiri terrorism and enabled the “Israeli” terrorism against the Palestinians. You represent a country that waged wars and plundered goods, and with what is happening in the US from racial discrimination, you are never entitled to speak, “Do not act as a teacher, professor, or counselor.”
“The US is trying to weaken and isolate Hezbollah through starving the people and turning them against the resistance,” he added, assuring that “the US schemes to Lebanon will not work and Hezbollah and the Resistance will not surrender.”
Sayyed Nasrallah further addressed the Americans by saying: “Hezbollah will not surrender, the resistance will not surrender, and your policies will lead to no result. Stop this game and end the waste of time. The policy of siege and sanctions you are following against Lebanon won’t weaken Hezbollah but rather your allies and influence.”
On the regional level, he emphasized that “Hezbollah’s preoccupation with our economic situation should not make us forget supporting the Palestinians.”
US federal prosecutors are seeking to seize four tankers sailing towards Venezuela with gasoline supplied by Iran.
It is the latest attempt to disrupt ever-closer trade ties between the two heavily-sanctioned anti-US allies.
The Trump administration has been stepping up pressure on ship owners to abide by sanctions against US adversaries like Iran, Venezuela and North Korea, Al-Jazeera reported.
In May, Maduro celebrated the arrival of five Iranian tankers delivering much-needed fuel supplies to alleviate shortages that have led to days-long gas lines even in the capital, Caracas, which is normally spared such hardships.
The flotilla’s arrival angered the Trump administration, which struck back by sanctioning the five Iranian captains of the vessels.
The four tankers named in the complaint filed on Wednesday – the Bella, Bering, Pandi and Luna – are currently transporting 1.1 million barrels of gasoline to Venezuela, the report added.
لا تقاس الضربات بحجمها بل بمدى تأثيرها، من هنا أصبح واضحاً لدى السوريين أن ما تواجهه سورية اليوم شديد القسوة، قسوة الإرهاب طيلة السنوات التسع الماضية، فلا قذائف الهاون ولا الصواريخ ولا الإجرام، ولا اصطفاف نحو مئة دولة في الحرب الإرهابية ضدّ سورية، كل ذلك لم ينل من إرادة السوريين ولم يفتت من عزيمتهم، واليوم، يواجه السوريون إرهاباً اقتصادياً يشي بفصل جديد من الحرب على سورية، وهذه المرة من بوابة «قانون قيصر».
الضغط الاقتصادي يأتي دائماً مرادفاً للحرب النفسية، ولذلك نرى أن الإجراءات القسرية الأميركية ضد سورية تتخذ منحى الحرب النفسية على قاعدة أن ما يعانيه السوريون سينتهي عند خضوع دمشق لشروط الولايات المتحدة، في وقت لا تريد الولايات المتحدة أن تمرّ أيّ عملية سياسية أو إعادة للإعمار إلا عن طريقها، وتشدّد الخناق على السوريين بالعقوبات مدعية حماية المدنيين.
الإرهاب الاقتصادي الذي تمارسه الولايات المتحدة بحق السوريين، لا بدّ أنه سيواجه بالإرادة ذاتها التي واجه السوريون بها الإرهاب التدميري، كما أنّ حلفاء دمشق لن يتوانوا عن دعمها، وهناك طرق كثيرة لكسر الحصار الأميركي، وما يميّز علاقة سورية بحلفائها، وقوفهم الدائم في مواجهة سياسة القطب الواحد الذي تمارسه أميركا لتمرير مشاريعها الاستعمارية في المنطقة، هذه العلاقة القوية بين الحلفاء ظهرت بشكل خاص عندما لم تلتفت إيران للتحذيرات الأميركية، وأرسلت رغماً عنها ناقلاتها النفطية المحملة بالنفط لفنزويلا والقطع اللازمة لمساعدتها على ترميم منشآتها النفطية. فالناقلات الإيرانية لم تتراجع أمام التهديدات التي أطلقها الأسطول الأميركي، بل أصرّت على إيصال الدعم لحليفتها مهما كلفها الأمر، لتوجه رسالة بأنه من غير المسموح وقوع أي دولة حليفة تحت الهيمنة الأميركية.
لقد سبق أن وقفت سورية إلى جانب إيران، وإيران اليوم قوة إقليمية كبرى وقفت مع سورية في مواجهة الإرهاب ورعاته، كما أنّ روسيا الاتحادية تقف ذات الموقف، والذين وقفوا الى جانب دمشق وآزروها في الحرب على الإرهاب العسكري، مستمرون في الوقوف إلى جانبها لإفشال الإرهاب الاقتصادي.
دمشق تأخذ بعين الاعتبار قسوة العقوبات الاقتصادية التي تفرض عليها، وهي تتقدّم بخطى واثقة لتحويل العقوبات إلى فرصة للنهوض بالصناعة والزراعة وعلى كل المستويات. وتتخذ كلّ التدابير والإجراءات لتمويل ودعم عملية النمو الاقتصادي، وزيادة الناتج المحلي الزراعي والصناعي، من أجل تتويج انتصارها على الإرهاب العسكري بانتصار آخر يسقط مفاعيل الإجراءات الأميركية القسرية.
وصل وفدٌ وزاريٌّ عراقيٌّ، أمس، إلى العاصمة بيروت، ضمّ كلاً من وزير النفط إحسان عبد الجبّار والزراعة محمد كريم الخفاجي اللذين التقيا مساءً على العشاء وزراء: الزراعة عباس مرتضى، والطاقة ريمون غجر، والصناعة عماد حب لله. الزيارة، وفق ما تردّد في أكثر من وسيلةٍ إعلاميّةٍ عراقيّة، تهدف إلى «دعم الحكومة اللبنانية»، و«سيلتقي الوفد رئيس الوزراء اللبناني حسّان دياب، على أن يبحث معه ملف استيراد النفط من العراق».
وفيما أكّدت مصادر في رئاسة الحكومة اللبنانية أن الزيارة هي تفعيل للتعاون بين البلدين بناءً على مشاورات بدأت مع تكليف دياب، ومن ثمّ عبر أكثر من قناة، آخرها كانت زيارة المدير العام للأمن العام اللواء عباس إبراهيم لبغداد، قالت مصادر في رئاسة الوزراء العراقيّة لـ«الأخبار»، إن «هدف الزيارة هو تأكيد أهمية العلاقات الثنائيّة، وتأتي في إطار توسيع التعاون بينهما». وأضافت إنّها «تلبيةٌ لدعوةٍ قديمةٍ من الجانب اللبناني»، في حين تشير معلومات «الأخبار»، إلى أن الزيارة أقرب إلى أن تكون «زيارة استطلاعٍ للساحة اللبنانيّة، وبحث سبل مساندة لبنان في أزمته الاقتصاديّة الراهنة».
ووفق المعلومات، فإن الجانب اللبناني، ومنذ أن تسلّم مصطفى الكاظمي منصبه رئيساً للوزراء، طلب منه – غير مرّة – وضع «وديعةٍ ضخمة» في مصرف لبنان، إلا أنّ الأخير اعتذر لعدم قدرة بلاده على ذلك، في ظل الظروف الماليّة الصعبة التي تمرّ بها جرّاء انهيار أسعار النفط عالميّاً، وانعكاس ذلك بشكلٍ مباشرٍ وقاسٍ على التدفقات الماليّة. ويُنقل عن الكاظمي «أسفه» لمآلات الأزمة الاقتصاديّة في لبنان، وهو وجّه أكثر من رسالةٍ لبعض القوى اللبنانيّة، أبدى فيها رغبة بغداد بالوقوف إلى جانب بيروت في هذه الأزمة، واستثمار الموارد المتاحة. وترجمة هذا الدعم هي الوصول إلى «تفاهمٍ» بين الطرفين، يتيح للبنان بأن يُصدّر منتجاته الزراعيّة إلى العراق، مقابل تلبية الحاجات النفطيّة اللبنانيّة.
أبدى الكاظمي رغبة بغداد بالوقوف إلى جانب بيروت في هذه الأزمة
طبعاً، الوصول إلى «تفاهمٍ» – راهناً – دونه عقباتٌ عدّة. المرحلة الأولى، تقضي بـ«إطلاع الطرفين على الحاجيات المشتركة»، وفي المرحلة الثانية «إطلاق عجلة المباحثات، والوصول إلى تفاهمات»، أما المرحلة الثالثة فتوقيع المذكرة بغية البدء في تنفيذها. الكاظمي، سبق أن عبّر أمام زوّاره عن رغبته بضرورة انفتاح العراق والسوق العراقية على جيرانه، والاستفادة من الإمكانات والموارد المتوفّرة لبلورة رؤية «الطرح المشرقي» الذي ينادي به منذ أن كان رئيساً لجهاز المخابرات العراقي.
الحديث – حتى الآن – ما زال في إطاره النظري. توقيع التفاهم مقرونٌ بالتنفيذ، وهذا مقرونٌ أيضاً بقدرة كُلّ من بغداد وبيروت على تخطّي «العقبة الأميركيّة»، والتي يمكن أن تكون حجر عثرةً أمام هذا المشروع. بغداد تنظر إلى الإنتاج اللبناني عموماً والزراعي خصوصاً باهتمامٍ بالغٍ، وفي الوقت عينه تسعى إلى مساعدة بيروت بـ«المتوفّر» حاليّاً، كما تعبّر المصادر. اللافت، أن أكثر من مصدرٍ عراقيٍّ حكوميٍّ يتكتّم عن أهداف الزيارة، لأبعادها «الكبرى»، ما فُهم أنّ الكاظمي «جدّيٌّ في ذلك، ويسعى إلى تحقيق إنجازٍ ما بصمت».
ويبقى غائباً عن المشهد، التنسيق اللبناني – السوري – العراقي المشترك. حيث إن أي اتفاقات بين العراق ولبنان، وتحديداً تلك التي تتطلب نقلاً بريّاً، ستواجه عقبة رسوم الترانزيت المرتفعة التي فرضتها سوريا على الشاحنات، مع حاجتها إلى القطع الأجنبي وانقطاع الحكومات المتعاقبة عن التواصل معها لحلّ هذا الأمر بالأطر الرسمية بين الحكومتين، بما يؤمّن المصلحة المشتركة، ويعيد لخطّ الترانزيت عبر لبنان وسوريا قيمته الجغرافية، من المتوسط إلى العراق والخليج.
Rania “if death will come in 5 years or 7 or 10 I would urge it to come now because they have ripped us up of all hopes for any foreseen future… they have killed us while we are still breathing, they have taken any shred of dignity pushing us to strive for our daily bread … I wonder what else they may ask for if we keep compromising ….”
[the full identity of the testimonies is not available]
1. Ayham I wonder what does the American Government have against the Syrian people and for what reason we are being punished?!
We’ve never been a threat to anyone, never hated anyone and certainly never been against Americans.
Now about the petrol crisis, we had a harsh winter, but we managed to overcome the cold. Now we face lack of Gasoline and most cars stay in queues for about two days on Gas stations to get about 20 liters a week.
2. I do not understand this American intransigence … Why do they want to kill us? We love our country and we do not want to leave it. My young son lost this 20 year old damned war Why does America support terrorism to earn money at the expense of people? The killing of my son I accused him is the one who helped the terrorists and killed our children and today we are counting on the top of our lives Yes, gasoline is the main source of movement Mechanisms, factories and cars … Also heating Thousands of children have been hurt because of the cold and the children of their sons … The livelihoods of people working on cars and engines Small and electricity …. why not talk The American people as long as they sleep in democracy … Hands for living in dignity in our country We have not attacked you … Let us live in peace … …
Thank you janice…
3. Aiham The US government imposed economic sanctions on our government to force it to accept the entry of Muslim Brotherhood extremists into our government.
We, as a Syrian people, have’t found fuel for heating for two days during the snowfall on Easter night.. not enough fuel for cars …
Is not it enough that the US government create ISIS terrorist in our country as Hillary Clinton said?
Aiham , Damascus
4. Soumaya: yes it is a real torture, in Aleppo everybody want to get out of the country.. it s a humanitarian shame.. and everything is more expensive.. they want Syria to die.. pray for the people.. I stay strong like you and we will do our best to help..
5. Adnan : Economic sanctions are enforced by US, WHY NOW ? The prohibition of oil supplies to enter Syria indicates an economic war after 8 years of fierce and bloody war waged by US and its allies by deploying hundreds of thousands of terrorists and mercenaries. It is a punishment to the Syrian people especially the poor, who are cleary are badly affected and suffer the rarity and high prices of most necessities to their lives. I think it’s for imposing agendas, opposition names and constitution change. Take it from a Syrian from Aleppo, THOSE WHO WITHSTOOD THE MOST VICIOUS AND BLOODY WAR WILL NEVER GIVE UP TO SANCTIONS
6. Mohammad : US government claiming that America it’s the country of freedom and it’s the greatest country… Etc What are you doing for God sake???
You have created ISIS and pretending that you’re fighting them? But in fact you are training and arming and supporting them by all ways possible, for what? For power or oil or helping your child so-called Israel?? Israel are fake country that’s why they named it (is real ) the real country is Palestine…
I lost my young brother in this horrible war that you started in my country, he was fighting YOUR ISIS and me as a soldier i spent 8 years of my life fighting them ,my best 8 years of youth, i can’t get married or making a family because i scarified of my whole life for my country, for my people, and I WILL KEEP FIGHTING.
Leave us alone we can handle our business, i have a lot of Americans friends, they are good people, but you as a government ARE SHIT.
I have a lot to say, i don’t know where can i start, We lost a lot because they faking the truth about my country especially in media… I’m not done but i think this enough because they know the truth, they know what exactly happened to my country because they did it.
P.S : I’ve learned English during this war to send this kind of messages to the world, we as Syrians we don’t know what give up means, country who loves all kind of education.. Just take a look of the difference between us and Saudi Arabia, your beloved friend that has a bloody hands in Yemen with your blessings.
I’m not done……
7. Salma : I already have financial difficulties so imagine now with even higher food prices.. Every end of every month I stay without food for days because I have enough money to either feed myself or my dogs and I choose to feed my dog.. Who is a vegan dog most days of the month BTW.. I am vegan everyday of the year.. And I still can’t make it..
8. Nourhanne : Well, I will be clear … I am 25 years old. I live in Damascus, the old neighborhoods of Bab Touma. Sanctions significantly affected the car’s long queues on gas stations for long hours Public conductors were weak for staff and students go to work It took a lot of time Export to other areas was also difficult.
These sanctions are certainly a mistake to be decided by the United States which considers itself with human rights
9. I live in tartus and i have an advice to these sick minds in washington D.C
By punishing us the people of syria , You are not turning us against our government ..despite the hell we live in everyday we know who is doing this and this made us more united . The only hate is happening here is against you . Why you hate us why….
10. I spent 4 hours to fill my car with only 20 litters and these are my share for 5 days
My father 85 years old in drykish near safita 35 km away from tartus i must go there every day to stay with him because he is sick .
My work in tartus i have no oil to visit him daily i dont know what to do.
11. Ali I remember watching western movies when i was a kid with my siblings… “Once upon a time in the west” exactly… I remember the fly scene at the beginning… At that moment i fell in love with the American lifestyle and mentality. Later i watched more movies and read as many books as i could after learning English just to know more about America… I have always admired and trusted the American people… But i never saw a wider gap between poeple and their politicians. The sanctions you impose are not harming anyone but people like me, people who can never teach their kids to love America as we did… What am i supposed to tell my 4 years old kid?! America is good but you are not!!! He wouldn’t understand…
Sometimes i really wonder.. Is there really an “American people”?! can they change things like we see on tv?! Or is the “American people” as real as the “Avengers”..?!
I know these words wont change a thing… I wish you arrange a trip for us to meet Americans there and hold meetings to tell them what is really happening here… What has been happening since WW2…
But again… That’s rather impossible… Aliens like me cannot enter the heavens of America… A green card is needed!!! Right?!! Yet your soldiers can come oceans away.. No questions asked…
Democracy might not be at it’s best here in my country… But the world you created can only produce such an ugly truth
12. Hanan : It’s Unbearable , I’m a college student and I need to get out early because of the difficulty of transportation ، I need to stand an hour under the sun after finishing classes to find a means of transport or bus to go home . Most of the time I go and back home on foot. I can’t wait.. Whether it is America’s or others this sanctions are absolute evil. We were talking today about they cut off everything, leaving only oxygen and Pepsi because it made in Damascus
13. Youssef The economic siege on Syria increases my love for the Syrian national leadership. On the other hand there is great hatred of the United States of America.
14. Labib Syrian people in USA and elsewhere pose no threat to anyone and specially American. Syria has provided the best doctors, engineers etc to the world and it is not fair to treat Syria and Syrians with such barbaric sanctions
15. Heba
I don’t care what exact reason is behind the economic sanctions, I care about my siblings’ future and mine.
Our parents used to narrate stories of them studying on the lights of candles, back to the days when there was no electricity.
Nowadays, we’re doing exactly the same! Studying on low-lit LEDs until our eyes start to hurt and get foggy. We had to save some money to get my sister a pair of glasses.
My previous job, as an online freelancer, was ALWAYS delayed because my laptop’s battery would die and there’s no way to charge it. I got fired because of this!
My brother has asthma and last week he had an attack by night, yet we had no gas nor did our neighbors, so we couldn’t go search for a pharmacy to bring him an inhaler.
Not to mention that our fridge is empty, like literally empty, most of the days. Only thing we can afford is pasta, rice, and bread, which is affecting our diet and now my sister and I are anemic. Vegetables and meats are things we should save some money for, in order to buy them like once or twice a month. Despite the fact that 3 out of 6 members of my family are working. So you may imagine how expensive everything is.
These may sound like silly things to a basic human being, but to us, these are things we live with and struggle with daily. No one deserves to live such a stressful life that affects their lifestyle, health, future, oh and their cortisol levels! Sounds like unimportant ‘third-world’ issues? Well, you can make it better with just a single statement of yours.
– G, Tartous
16. Lilly: I live in Syria: my family’s business stopped 8 years ago when the war started. We have been living on savings since then, and a few sales we made to survive. He used to buy machines made abroad and import them for sale in Syria. Because of sanctions imposed by US and EU he can not wire transfer money to buy machines from Syria to the company abroad. Additionally, because of US and EU sanctions he can not buy machines from Europe, which is so close to Syria, or from any other country, because any country found selling to anyone in Syria will face fines and sanctions. You might think that he could just buy from China, for example, since it is a friendly country, but they will not accept any wire transfer on money from any person or bank in Syria either, due to the same problem: EU and US sanctions. The goal is to prevent anyone living in Syria from ordering any materials needed for reconstruction of homes in Syria. The US and EU goal is to prevent Syria from recovery, or peace
17. Ammar : Before the war, we used to dream how to develop and be better persons. How to get more degrees and move to a higher level.
Now the best achievement is to make enough money to mantain a decent life.
And the hero of his time who has his car full of gaz.
It’s not only about gaz or money, it’s about settlement and this has been lost long ago.
18. The economic blockade imposed by the United States on Syria is primarily aimed at the Syrian people, which is mainly suffering because of terrorism and the siege to exhaust the remaining elements of his life.
Damn the US government
Damn the Western Alliance
I do not mean the American people. The people have nothing to do with what the government does. I respect and love the American people.
The American people need to understand that Syria has provided the world cultures many positive things, and Syria as an original Christian country doesn’t pose any threats to the world, the sanctions are effecting many innocent people specially children and it will not work because the purpose of it to turn the Syrian people against the government that will not work ,they love their president Bashar Assad.as Syrian born American citizen I can tell you that we come to America and we achieve the American dream, we don’t use or abuse the system ,some of us pay more income taxes than many politicians, we respect the American constitution, we love you Mr trump but please get out of Syria and let them rebuild their lives and have peace, I live in the commonwealth of Kentucky near Lexington, originally from California, love this country coast to coast.Targeted Sanctions: Break the “Economic Siege” on Syria. “Decades of Progress Wiped out”
20. Adadshams : انقلي هذا الكلام الى السناتور الامريكي والممثلين لايوجد اختلاف عندنا اذا كان حصارن وعقوبات لقد قتلنا ودمرت منازلنا وهجرنا وفقدنا الاخوه والاحبه باسم الحريه فلن نتراجع عن التضحيه للوطن والحب السيد الرئيس بشار الاسد…قولي لهم هم الامريكان وال سعود .هذه خيبة املكم واحلامكم …امه قائدها اسد لن تركع
Translation of statement # 20 by YK:
Please send the following to the American senators and congress: In the name of freedom we suffered death of family and love ones, destruction of our homes, forced to immigrate. Sanctions and blockades on top all that will not discourage us from sacrificing for our homeland, our love for president Bashar Assad…tell them, the Americans, the Saudis that their hopes (schemes) and dreams will fail… A nation led by Assad will not kneel.
21. Faihaa : We Syrians have experienced awful things no one could imagine.. we faced the threat of death and killing thousand times throughout these 8 years. We face the difficulties of everyday lives and needs with hopeful hearts that tomorrow we are going to have our peace back. All neighboring countries have sancted us Syrians of entering their lands with no specific reason. Oils, water, electricity, wheat flour has been limited and we are and everyone knows that we are one of the leading countries to export these materials.
And what do you expect when the war ends? A better future right? For you and your family and friends and all your fellow citizens but what happened was the exact opposite! US have imposed sanctions and embargo on us and guess what who is the most affected one? It is the humble Syrian citizen. Don’t you have any humanity in your blood?
Don’t you see that we are the ones who suffer..
By doing this you put us in a new war; the war of survival…
22. Ghenwa : As a Syrian, it’s so hard to adapt to life here, it’s like accepting to live in hell for the rest of your life and the sad part is that you can’t do anything about it. I wake up everyday feeling impressed that i survived another day in this place, and i try my hardest to make a difference or to do something that would make me feel good about this place. We’re living under a massive threat.
We face killers, kidnappers, thieves and all kinds of devils.
I’m a 23 year old college girl that needs to work 24/7 while studying to provide food and rent and to pay her duties, my family had to travel to Germany as refugees but i was stuck here because I’m older than 18 so the german refugee law can’t except me there.
You can’t imagine how awful it is living in Syria, and the worst part is that we’re not even allowed or welcomed in other countries
23. Malak : The economic siege on Syria increases my love for the Syrian national leadership. On the other hand there is great hatred of the United States of America
24.
أنت يا صديقي تتحدث هنا عن متطلبات حياة و بقاء ، إن تناسينا التعليم و الجامعات و الذهاب إلى الوظائف أيضاً. نتحدث عن شعب يضيّق عليه الخناق عسكرياً بحرب شعواء منذ ثمانية أعوام لا تزال مواكب الشهداء بالآلاف ، آلاف المفقودين و المختطفين ، آلاف المشردين و المهجرين ، الحصار يعني إيقاف لقمة عيش المزارع و العامل و المدني و العسكري ، وإيقاف أي تقدم لأي حلول يمكن لها أن تساهم في معالجة مفرزات الحرب على الأقل . لا يمكن لنا إلقاء اللوم على الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وحدها ، كل الأطراف الغربية و العربية مشاركة بكل الوسائل لتضييق الخناق على الشعب السوري .. الشعب هنا ، لا يمكن لنا أن نخبركم عن قوته ، إنه جبار صامد . يمتلك القدرة على الصمود من حيث لا يدري أحد . إنها حرب قذرة حطمت حياة الكثيرين و الحصار اليوم يقضي على ما تبقى من النور… حتى لدى هؤلاء الذين تظنهم كالأطفال بابتساماتهم ، إنهم يتألمون حقاً يا صديقي. عاشت سوريا و عاش الشعب السوري الصامد .
Translation of statement # 24 by YK:
(Janice, this is a long statement, allow me to simply re-order the sentences in it so that it has more clarity and impact. All I am doing is to start with the last paragraph which has most of the punch. If you like to put it in the original order, just move the first sentence and put it at the end).
This is a dirty war that destroyed the lives of many, the blockade today is extinguishing whatever light is left…even those smiling children are really suffering my friend. You my friend speak of survival and livelihood, you forget education, universities, and going to work. We speak about strangling a nation with a war now in its eighth year, still killing martyrs by the thousands, thousands of missing and kidnapped, thousands of displaced and exiled, the blockade means starving the peasants, the workers, the civilian and the soldier, it stops any progress towards any solution to the root cause of the war. We cannot only blame the USA, western and arab forces are complicit in many ways in tightening the noose on the Syrian people. The people here, you cannot imagine their strength, their resilience, their resistance will be beyond anyone’s imagination.
25.
ان الولايات المتحدة الامريكية والدول الغربية، ومعها بعض الدول العربية والكيان الصهيوني، هم من اسسوا جميع الحركات الراديكالية الارهابية، وهم من دربوهم ومولوهم ودعموهم على كافة الاصعدة، وجميعنا نعرف أن كل ما مر به الشعب السوري منذ عام 2011 ولا زال، هم من يتحملون مسؤليته، وعندما فشلت تلك الدول باسقاط الدولة السورية عسكريا-وذلك طبعا بفضل صمود الشعب السوري وتضحياته ووقوفه مع قيادته – لجؤوا الى الحرب الاقتصادية التي يدفع ثمنها الشعب السوري بكل أطيافه، لانها تؤثر سلبا على مختلف سبل الحياة، وهي تستهدف لقمة عيش المواطنين الأبرياء، حيث انها تمنع وصول المحروقات التي تعد عصب حياة المواطنين، حيث لايقدر الموظفين الوصول الى اماكن عملهم، ولا الطلاب الوصول الى جامعاتهم ومدارسهم، حتى أن المرضى يجدون صعوبة بالغة بالوصول الى المستشفيات لتلقي علاجهم، وهناك بعض الحالات فمثلا، يعاني الكثير من المرضى خصوصا المصابين بالسرطان،،، يعانون مشقة الوصول الى العاصمة ومراكز المدن لأهذ جرعاتهم العلاجية، فهل ياسيد ترامب تيتطيع ان تشرح لنا ماهو الخطر الاستراتيجي الذي يشكله مريض السرطان على السلم العالمي؟! وماهو التهديد الذي يشكله الطالب الذي يريد الوصول الى جامعته؟! وليس ذلك فحسب بل ان منع وصول الوقود يشل الحركة الاقتصاديةة ويؤدي الى غلاء الاسعار وانعدام سلع رئيسة وبالتالي فأن تلك العقوبات تستهدف المواطن البريئ الفقير وليس اي جهة اخرى، وليت الامر يتوقف عند الوقود فحسب، بل ان السيد ترامب ينوي اتهاذ المزيد من الاجراءات العقابية ضمن قانون قيصر، لكن من صمد امام كل تلك الدول وارهابها وظلمها وعدوانها كل تلك السنين، لن يهزم الآن ابدا، ويبدو ان اعداءنا نسوا اننا طائر الفينيق السوري الذي سيبعث من تحت رماد حقدهم ليعود اقوى مما كان….
Translation of statement # 25 by YK: (this can be a headline from this message: “Mr Trump would you please explain to us how a cancer patient can be a threat to world peace?! What is the threat caused by a student who wants to reach is university?)
The USA, western nations, some Arab nations, Israel, are the ones who created all radical terrorist groups, provided funding, training and supported them in all aspects, we know that these countries are responsible for all the suffering of the Syrian people since 2011. After their failure with the military regime change war, they resorted to economic warfare where all segments of the syrian population are victims are paying the price in every aspect of their lives, it targets the livelihood of innocent people, with oil sanctions, it limits employees ability to go to work, students to go to schools and universities, patients from getting to get to hospitals to receive care, for example and especially cancer patients who need to be treated in specialised centres in the cities, so Mr Trump would you explain to us how a cancer patient can be a threat to world peace?! What is the threat caused by a student who wants to reach is university? Economic sanctions only impact innocent citizens, causes huge inflation and deprivation. Those (Syrian people) who resisted the injustice, aggression and terror from all these countries over all these years, will never be defeated, it seems that our enemies have forgotten that we are the syrian phoenix that will rise from the ashes of their plot to become stronger than it was.
26. Mark : Personally, I’m happy with the less pollution in Aleppo. It’s hard for students to teach the university as they live far away from it. But I go there walking. It takes me 30 minutes to reach it walking, and less than 15 minutes in a microbus. I dont use microbuses unless it’s urgent or tired. I’m an athlete so I’m not affected. On the other side, there are thousands of cars waiting on the line in oil stations. I can take a picture of you want. So people are wasting their time (lives) waiting. Someone in my area died from a clot because of the long hours waiting on the line.
In Aleppo there are many many cars and lot of pollution caused by cars and the huge generators that generate electricity for homes instead of government electricity. Thanks that in these last 2 weeks, the government electricity has been very very good.
Janice it has no effects to me personally. But it will affect us as people after few months .. there will be no food and the dollar price will raise up to 1700 s.p . That’s a crime.
I’m a mentally tough young person who can handle all kinds ofbad situations. That’s why it doesn’t affect me Personally, because I find solutions and don’t give up in front of small or huge problems. I hope this oil situation wont last too long because it will beat us all sooner or later
27.
سوسن سليمان حويجي بالرغم من الحرب الجائره على..صمدنا 8 سنوات..ذقنا بها الويلات..لم يبق منزل الا وقدم شهيد. او اثنان.دمرو حياتنا فقدنا مؤساساتنا.الحكوميه شردونا سرقو سكينتا…قتلو احلامنا ولكن صمدنا واعتلينا المجد.بانتصارات جيشنا وقائدنا ولكن لكي..نبقى في الظلام والتخلف وبعد ان حققنا انتصارات كبيره على الارض حولو حربهم الى..الى حرب اقتصاديه حاربونا بلقمة عيشنا..ضيقو علينا الخناق..انهارت عملتنا .منعو عنا كل مقومات الحياة..منعو استيراد الادويه والاجهزه الطبيه. منعو استيراد المحروقات.. سيطرو على ابار النفط والغاز..سيطرو على حقول القمح والقطن. والزيتون..ولكن ما زلنا نقاوم والى اخر رمق فينا سنحارب ارهابهم وندحرهم هم المارقون ونحنا الباقون متمسكين بحب الوطن.ومتمسكين بثوابتنا الوطنيه..ووحدة الشعب السوري ووحدة ارضنا. ونقول لهم برا جئتم بحرا جئتم..جوا جئتم ستهزمون ستهزمون.. انت ومشغليكم الامريكان ودول الخليج. سندحركم الى غير رجعه.. اننا مازلنا نعيش على الكفاف ولكن ما زلنا صامدين.. صامدين…. سنعلم اولادنا في مناهجهم بانكم انتم من قتل البراءه انتم من قتل علمائنا وقاماتنا…. وحرمونا الحياة الكريمه انتم من ارسلكم الصهاينه لتحقيق حلمهم ولكن هيهات منا الذله..
Translation of statement # 27 by YK
(it seems to be a reply to sawsan sliman) Despite an 8 year war that didn’t leave a household without a martyr, a war that destroyed our lives, our government institutions, displaced us, stole our peace killed our dreams, despite all that we resisted and were glorioulsy victorious thanks to our army and our leader (Assad), so in order to keep us in the dark and backwardness they transformed their war into an economic war targeting our daily bread, strangling us, destroying our currency forbidding us from importing all life necessities, medicines and medical equipment, fuel, they took control of (Syrian) oil and gas fields, they occupied our wheat, cotton and olive fields. We are still resisting and we will fight to our last breath against their terror, with our love of our homeland, our patriotic principles, we will fight for the unity of our land and our people, we will win against the Americans and their gulf allies, we are surviving, resisting and we will teach pour children that you killed innocents, killed our best and brightest minds, deprived us of an honourable life, all in the service of zionist dreams.
28. Hade
إن ماتمارسة الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية من حصار أقتصادي جائر يستهدف الشعب العربي السوري بكل اطيافة لا يستثني منهم أحد . ويهدف إلى أضعافه وتقوية المجموعات الأرهابية التي تعمل تحت سيطرتها . فبما نفسر أحتلالها لشرقي الفرات ودخولها الأراضي السورية بدون إذن من القيادة السورية الممثل الوحيد للشعب السوري . ولما تسمح ببيع النفط والقمح الواقع تحت سيطرتها لتركيا . وكيف لها أن تدمر الصهاريج المحملة بالنفط وقوافل الشاحنات المحملة بالمواد الغذائية المتجهة للشعب السوري بالطيران الامريكي المسمى طيران التحالف … بينما صهاريج النفط السوري والغاز السوري المسروق من قبل قسد والمجموعات الارهابية الاخرى لاتراها وتغط الطرف عنها لا بل تساندها وتدعمها . فالإدارة الامريكية تدعم الأرهاب بكل انواعه في سورية وهي التي تمده بالعتاد وتؤمن له الحماية الغطاء .
Translation of statement # 28 by YK
The economic blockade imposed by the USA is targeting every Syrian citizen without exception. Its aim is to strengthen terrorist groups that operate under its (USA) control. How do you explain the occupation of the eastern Euphrates region without permission from the Syrian government, the sole representative of the Syrian people. It is selling oil and wheat under its control to Turkey. The (US and its allies) are bombing Syrian government convoys transporting fuel and food stuffs, while supporting terrorist groups continued theft of Syrian oil and gas. The American administration supports, protects and provides cover for terrorism in Syria.
29.
نحن لا نريد الموت لاحد بل ندفع الموت عن أنفسنا و ندافع عن حقوقنا و ثرواتنا كما كرامتنا إن كان لدى الدول المتسلطة و المنظمات الأممية أدنى شك بالرضوخ للعقوبات المفروضة على الشعب السوري و قيادته فإنكم واهمون نحن كشعب سوري مؤمن بقضيته صامدون و سائرون على خطى قائدنا بشار حافظ الأسد و الجيش السوري الاسطوري . نحن أبناء هذه الأرض و نحن الباقون
Translation of statement # 29 by YK
We don’t wish death to anyone, but we are fighting for our lives, our rights, our treasures. If the (regime change cabal) are deluded believing that the sanctions will drive the Syrian people and its leadership into submission. We the syrian people are steadfast in our resistance and our trust in our leader Bashar Hafez alAssad and in our legendary Syrian army, we the children of this land, we are the remainers.
30. Samuel : I’m American, with Syrian heritage living in Syria since the illegal invasion of Syria, and can tell you that the US government has done nothing but lie against Syria.
31. Qusay
أنا طبيب أسنانوأتابع حاليا دراستي للحصول على شهادة الدكتوراه، لقد تأثرت شخصيا بشكل كبير بالعقوبات الأمريكية أحادية الجانب، فمثلا عندما كنت أقوم بدراسة الماجستير كانت المعاناة كبير في العثور على سبل لنشر بحثي العلمي في المجاَلات العلمية بشكل أساسي بسبب حظر كافة وسائط الدفع الالكتروني مثل باي بال وماستر كارد، كما أنه من شبه المستحيل أن أستطيع الارتقاء ببحثي العلمي الذي أجريه حاليا للحصول على شهادة الدكتور حيث يتعذر علي التعامل مع المختبرات العلمية و الاستفادة من التقنيات الحديثة المتوفرة لديها للوصول الى نتائج طبية أفضل تنعكس بشكل أساسي على الارتقاء بالقطاع الطبي السوري وانوه إلى عزمنا وتصميمنا كسوريين على المضي قدما وتأدية دورنا الحضاري فقد قمت بإجراد قسم من بحثي في دولة لبنان لتوفر جهاز أمكنني الإستفادة منه… أما بالنسبة لعملي كطبيب أسنان فهو لم ينج أيضا من هذه العقوبات الظالمة، حيث أصبح من الصعب الحصول على المواد الطبية اللازمة لاتمام عملي وإن توفرت تكون بأسعار عالية ولا تتناسب مع مقدرة مرضاي على تحمل تكلفتها… وقد اضررت مرارا في الفترة السابقة إلى تأجيل مواعيد المرضى بسبب عدم تمكني من العودة من دمشق إلى العيادة بسبب انقطاع مادة البانزين التي فرضت عليها مؤخرا الولايات المتحدة عقوبات اقتصادية.. في ظل هذه العقوبات الجائرة سوف نصمد كما صمدنا ضد داعش و سننتصر و كلما ازداد صغط الولايات المتحدة علينا كلما ازداد تضامننا والتفافنا حول السيد الرئيس لننتصر معا… شكرا لك صديقي وسام ولصديقتك لنشركم الصورة الحقيقية لمعاناتنا
Translation of statement # 31 by YK
I am a dentist currently pursuing a ph.d. The sanctions are severely impacting me and my patients. For example the inability to make simple credit card transactions, impacts my ability to do my research and to collaborate with the global scientific medical community. I was forced to do some of my work in Lebanon. The sanctions are making it very difficult and extremely expensive for me to obtain the medical supplies needed for me to do my job as a dentist in Damascus. The combination of this and fuel sanctions have forced me to cancel and delay many patients’ appointments. In the shadow of these sanctions we will resist, as we resisted against Daesh (Islamic State) and we will be victorious. The more the USA increases its pressure on us the more we will be united around our president. Thanks to my friend Wissam and your (lady) friend (probably you Janice) for publishing the real picture of our struggle.
41. Kamal: My name is Kamal, I have seen another side of the sanctions which have been going on for more than 30 years.
I used to work for a European Airline in Damascus airport, was shocked by the amount of defective Syrian aircrafts sitting in the airport while the Syrian airline was operating with only two aircrafts at that time, they were using those grounded aircrafts for spare parts for the remaining two. when I asked the technicians why can’t we repair and use those aircrafts, they told me that America is not giving us spare parts as part of the sanctions!
USA also doesn’t allow Europe to give parts to Syria.
The sad part is that on one occasion, our aircraft (the European airline I was working for) was grounded in Syria and needed a part, the Syrians gave them that without hesitation, I saw that with my own eyes.
What America is doing is actually putting innocent civilian lives in danger.
Sorry for the long draft
42. Ali
امريكا تتركنا بحالنا ونحنا بالف خير من الله امريكا هي الشيطان الاكبر والسعوديه بلد الكفر والعهر (اطهر ارض وانجس شعب)
43. From a Syrian American. Samira : I’m a pharmacist who saw many people suffering from gland disease because of sanction on Syrians there was no any possibility to diagnose it it was not allowed for Syrians to buy the radioactive tablets used for diagnosis .
Now as American from Syrian origin I’ll not vote for any official in the USA government .
Congress senate or president who will impose or support sanctions on Syrians .
Not only me many of my friends Syrians and Americans too
44. Vicken We have been effected by this embargo so badly and still we are ..
Every thing is running by oil and gas and when they desapere from your daily life , you have that feeling Life Stops ..
45. Maggy It is so unhuman act to deal with people of any country or city or area as you are dealing with the Syrian people …I am from Aleppo and I live this dishumility every day while you all, are sitting in your homes ,driving your vehicles, living your ordinary life….your brothets or sisters in humanity, the Syrian people the Aleppo’s people are not living, they are dying step by step because of your cruality because of your enmity, because of your selfishness because of your greediness….its enough how much you tried to ruin Syria to ruin Aleppo you can ruin whatever you want you who are sitting in the top ….but be sure you will never be able to ruin the strong will of the Syrian people …the will to live to survive to struggle to kill the will of the Satan
46. Robert Aleppo is dying…and Trump is happy.
Aleppo was the industrial capital of Syria, Turkey and allies tried to destroy it and stole all the heavy industry there…the western minded terrorists destroy many of the city’s buildings and the infrastructure, they destroy the old Aleppo’s civilization….All that couldn’t break the people’s will…and now the american sanctions try it again….I’m sure that no one can bend this people’s will who did endure an 8 years random war.
Sanctions on Syria means to make its people suffer…not more
47. From a Syrian American: Stepan: It is so unhuman act to deal with people of any country or city or area as you are dealing with the Syrian people …I am from Aleppo and I live this humility every day while you all ,are sitting in your homes ,driving your vehicles, living your ordinary life….your brothers or sisters in humanity ,the Syrian people the Aleppo’s people are not living ,they are dying step by step because of your cruelty because of your enmity, because of your selfishness because of your greediness….it’s enough how much you tried to ruin Syria to ruin Aleppo you can ruin whatever you want you who are sitting in the top ….but be sure you will never be able to ruin the strong will of the Syrian people …the will to live to survive to struggle to kill the will of the Satan
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The most insidious and pervasive form of modern warfare by Wall Street and the Pentagon, acting in coordination, is passing largely unnoticed and unchallenged. This calculated attack is rolling back decades of progress in health care, sanitation, housing, essential infrastructure and industrial development all around the world.
Almost every developing country attempting any level of social programs for its population is being targeted.
U.S. imperialism and its junior partners have refined economic strangulation into a devastating weapon. Sanctions in the hands of the dominant military and economic powers now cause more deaths than bombs or guns. This weapon is stunting the growth of millions of youth and driving desperate migrations, dislocating tens of millions.
‘A crime against humanity’
Sanctions and economic blockades against Venezuela, Cuba and Iran are well known. But the devastating impacts of U.S. sanctions on occupied Palestine — or on already impoverished countries such as Mali, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Fiji, Nicaragua and Laos — are not even on the radar screen of human rights groups.
Most sanctions are intentionally hidden; they don’t generate even a line of news. Some sanctions are quickly passed after a sudden news article about an alleged atrocity. The civilians who will suffer have nothing to do with whatever crime the corporate media use as an excuse. What are never mentioned are the economic or political concessions the U.S. government or corporations are seeking.
Sanctions cannot be posed as an alternative to war. They are in fact the most brutal form of warfare, deliberately targeting the most defenseless civilians — youth, the elderly, sick and disabled people. In a period of human history when hunger and disease are scientifically solvable, depriving hundreds of millions from getting basic necessities is a crime against humanity.
International law and conventions, including the Geneva and Nuremberg Conventions, United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, explicitly prohibit the targeting of defenseless civilians, especially in times of war.
Sanctions draw condemnation
Modern industrial society is built on a fragile web of essential technology. If pumps and sewage lines, elevators and generators can’t function due to lack of simple spare parts, entire cities can be overwhelmed by swamps. If farmers are denied seed, fertilizer, field equipment and storage facilities, and if food, medicine and essential equipment are deliberately denied, an entire country is at risk.
The Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, spoke to the XVIII Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 26. Addressing the 120 countries represented, he denounced the imposition of arbitrary measures, called “sanctions” by the U.S., as “economic terrorism which affects a third of humanity with more than 8,000 measures in 39 countries.”
This terrorism, he said, constitutes a “threat to the entire system of international relations and is the greatest violation of human rights in the world.” (tinyurl.com/uwlm99r)
The Group of 77 and China, an international body based at the U.N. and representing 134 developing countries, called upon “the international community to condemn and reject the imposition of the use of such measures as a means of political and economic coercion against developing countries.”
The Group explained:
“The criminal, anti-human policy of targeting defenseless populations, which is in clear violation of United Nations Charter and international law, has now become the new weapon of choice for these powerful states since they are faced with strong opposition from the majority of their own population to the endless wars of occupation that they are already involved in.”
The power of banks
The mechanism and the ability of one country or one vote to destroy a country on the other side of the world are not well understood.
International capital uses the dollar system. All international transactions go through U.S. banks. These banks are in a position to block money transfers for the smallest transaction and to confiscate billions of dollars held by targeted governments and individuals. They are also in a position to demand that every other bank accept sudden restrictions imposed from Washington or face sanctions themselves.
This is similar to how the U.S. Navy can claim the authority to intercept ships and interrupt trade anywhere, or the U.S. Army can target people with drones and invade countries without even asking for a declaration of war.
Sometimes a corporate media outlet, a U.S.-funded “human rights” group or a financial institution issues charges, often unsubstantiated, of human rights violations, or political repression, drug trafficking, terrorist funding, money laundering, cyber-security infractions, corruption or non-compliance with an international financial institution. These charges become the opening wedge for a demand for sanctions as punishment.
Sanctions can be imposed through a U.S. Congressional resolution or Presidential declaration or be authorized by a U.S. government agency, such as the departments of the Treasury, Commerce, State or Defense. The U.S. might apply pressure to get support from the European Union, the U.N. Security Council or one of countless U.S.-established regional security organizations, such as the Organization of American States.
A U.S. corporate body that wants a more favorable trade deal is able to influence numerous agencies or politicians to act on its behalf. Deep-state secret agencies, military contractors, nongovernmental organizations funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, and numerous corporate-funded foundations maneuver to create economic dislocation and pressure resource-rich countries.
Even sanctions that appear mild and limited can have a devastating impact. U.S. officials will claim that some sanctions are only military sanctions, needed to block weapons sales. But under the category of possible “dual use,” the bans include chlorine needed to purify water, pesticides, fertilizers, medical equipment, simple batteries and spare parts of any kind.
Another subterfuge is sanctions that supposedly apply only to government officials or specific agencies. But in fact any and every transaction they carry out can be blocked while endless inquiries are held. Anonymous bank officials can freeze all transactions in progress and scrutinize all accounts a country holds. Any form of sanctions, even against individuals, raises the cost and risk level for credit and loans.
There are more than 6,300 names on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List of individuals sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Treasury Department.
The OFAC describes its role this way:
“OFAC administers a number of different sanctions programs. The sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals.”
There is also a Financial Action Task Force list and an International Traffic in Arms Regulations list.
The sanctions weapon has become so extensive that there is now a whole body of law to guide U.S. corporations and banks in navigating sales, credit and loans. It is intended to be opaque, murky and open to interpretation, payoffs and subterfuge. There seems to be no single online site that lists all the different countries and individuals under U.S. sanctions.
Once a country is sanctioned, it must then “negotiate” with various U.S. agencies that demand austerity measures, elections that meet Western approval, cuts in social programs, and other political and economic concessions to get sanctions lifted.
Sanctions are an essential part of U.S. regime change operations, designed in the most cynical way to exact maximum human cost. Sudden hyperinflation, economic disruption and unexpected shortages are then hypocritically blamed on the government in office in the sanctioned country. Officials are labeled inept or corrupt.
Agencies carefully monitor the internal crisis they are creating to determine the optimum time to impose regime change or manufacture a color revolution. The State Department and U.S. covert agencies fund numerous NGOs and social organizations that instigate dissent. These tactics have been used in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Iran, Syria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Sudan and many other countries.
A weapon of imperialism in decline
Gone are the days of Marshall Plan-type promises of rebuilding, trade, loans and infrastructure development. They are not even offered in this period of capitalist decay. The sanctions weapon is now such a pervasive instrument that hardly a week goes by without new sanctions, even on past allies.
In October the U.S. threatened harsh sanctions on Turkey, a 70-year member of the U.S.-commanded NATO military alliance.
On Nov. 27, Trump suddenly announced, by presidential decree, harsher sanctions on Nicaragua, calling it a “National Security Threat.” He also declared Mexico a “terrorist” threat and refused to rule out military intervention. Both countries have democratically elected governments.
Other sanctions sail through the U.S. Congress without a roll call vote — just a cheer and a unanimous voice vote, such as the sanctions on Hong Kong in support of U.S.-funded protests.
Why Wall Street can’t be sanctioned
Is there any possibility that the U.S. could be sanctioned for its endless wars under the same provisions by which it has asserted the right to wreak havoc on other countries?
The Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, in November 2017 asked the Hague-based ICC to open formal investigations of war crimes committed by the Taliban, the Haqqani network, Afghan forces, and the U.S. military and the CIA.
The very idea of the U.S. being charged with war crimes led then White House National Security Advisor John Bolton to threaten judges and other ICC officials with arrest and sanction if they even considered any charge against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“If the court comes after us, Israel or other U.S. allies, we will not sit quietly,” Bolton said. He noted that the U.S. “is prepared to slap financial sanctions and criminal charges on officials of the court if they proceed against any U.S. personnel. … We will ban its judges and prosecutors from entering the United States. We will sanction their funds in the U.S. financial system, and we will prosecute them in the U.S. criminal system. … We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans.” (The Guardian, Sept. 10, 2018)
Bolton also cited a recent move by Palestinian leaders to have Israeli officials prosecuted at the ICC for human rights violations. The ICC judges got the message. They ruled that despite “a reasonable basis” to consider war crimes committed in Afghanistan, there was little chance of a successful prosecution. An investigation “would not serve the interests of justice.”
Chief Prosecutor Bensouda, for proposing an even-handed inquiry, had her U.S. visa revoked by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Sanctions are a weapon in the capitalist world order used by the most powerful countries against those that are weaker and developing. One hundred years ago, in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson advocated sanctions as a quiet but lethal weapon that exerts pressure no nation in the modernworld can withstand.
Sanctions demonstrate how capitalist laws protect the right of eight multibillionaires to own more than the population of half the world.
U.N. sanctions demanded by Washington
The U.S., with the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet and 800 military bases, claims — while engaged in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya — that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran are the greatest threats to world peace.
In the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. succeeded in winning harsh new sanctions against Iran and the DPRK by threatening, on the eve of “war games,” that the U.S. would escalate hostilities to an open military attack.
This threat proved sufficient to get other Security Council members to fall in line and either vote for sanctions or abstain.
These strong-arm tactics have succeeded again and again. During the Korean War, when the U.S. military was saturation-bombing Korea, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Warren Austin held up a submachine gun in the Security Council to demand expanded authority in the war from that body.
Throughout the 1990s the U.S. government used sanctions on Iraq as a horrendous social experiment to calculate how to drastically lower caloric intake, destroy crop output and ruin water purification. The impact of these sanctions were widely publicized — as a threat to other countries.
Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, when asked about the half a million children who died as a result of U.S. sanctions on Iraq, replied, “We think the price is worth it.”
The sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Iran are book-length, spanning 40 years since the Iranian Revolution. The blockade and sanctions on Cuba have continued for 60 years.
Sanctions Kill campaign
It is an enormous political challenge to break the media silence and expose this crime. We need to put a human face on the suffering.
Targeted countries cannot be left to struggle by themselves in isolation — there must be full solidarity with their efforts. The sheer number of countries being starved into compliance via U.S.-imposed sanctions must be dragged into the light of day. And one step in challenging the injustice of capitalist property relations is to attack the criminal role of the banks.
The effort to rally world opinion against sanctions as a war crime is beginning with a call for International Days of Action Against Sanctions & Economic War on March 13-15, 2020. Its slogans are “Sanctions Kill! Sanctions Are War! End Sanctions Now!”
These coordinated international demonstrations are a crucial first step. Research and testimony; resolutions by unions, student groups, cultural workers and community organizations; social media campaigns; and bringing medical supplies and international relief to sanctioned countries can all play a role. Every kind of political campaign to expose the international crime of sanctions is a crucial contribution.
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The original source of this article is Workers World
Forget an independent Kurdistan: They may have to do a deal with Damascus on sharing their area with Sunni Arab refugees
In the annals of bombastic Trump tweets, this one is simply astonishing: here we have a President of the United States, on the record, unmasking the whole $8-trillion intervention in the Middle East as an endless war based on a “false premise.” No wonder the Pentagon is not amused.
Trump’s tweet bisects the surreal geopolitical spectacle of Turkey attacking a 120-kilometer-long stretch of Syrian territory east of the Euphrates to essentially expel Syrian Kurds. Even after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cleared with Trump the terms of the Orwellian-named “Operation Peace Spring,” Ankara may now face the risk of US economic sanctions.
The predominant Western narrative credits the Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly Kurdish, for fighting and defeating Islamic State, also known as Daesh. The SDF is essentially a collection of mercenaries working for the Pentagon against Damascus. But many Syrian citizens argue that ISIS was in fact defeated by the Syrian Arab Army, Russian aerial and technical expertise plus advisers and special forces from Iran and Hezbollah.
As much as Ankara may regard the YPG Kurds – the “People’s protection units” – and the PKK as mere “terrorists” (in the PKK’s case aligned with Washington), Operation Peace Spring has in principle nothing to do with a massacre of Kurds.
Facts on the ground will reveal whether ethnic cleansing is inbuilt in the Turkish offensive. A century ago few Kurds lived in these parts, which were populated mostly by Arabs, Armenians and Assyrians. So this won’t qualify as ethnic cleansing on ancestral lands. But if the town of Afrin is anything to go by the consequences could be severe.
Into this heady mix, enter a possible, uneasy pacifier: Russia. Moscow previously encouraged the Syrian Kurds to talk to Damascus to prevent a Turkish campaign – to no avail. But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov never gives up. He has now said: “Moscow will ask for the start of talks between Damascus and Ankara.” Diplomatic ties between Syria and Turkey have been severed for seven years now.
With Peace Spring rolling virtually unopposed, Kurdish Gen. Mazloum Kobani Abdi did raise the stakes, telling the Americans he will have to make a deal with Moscow for a no-fly zone to protect Kurdish towns and villages against the Turkish Armed Forces. Russian diplomats, off the record, say this is not going to happen. For Moscow, Peace Spring is regarded as “Turkey’s right to ensure its security,” in the words of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. As long as it does not turn into a humanitarian disaster.
No independent Kurdistan
From Washington’s perspective, everything happening in the volatile Iran-Iraq-Syria-Turkey spectrum is subject to two imperatives: 1) geopolitically, breaking what is regionally regarded as the axis of resistance: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah; and 2) geostrategically, breaking the Chinese-led Belt and Road Initiative from being incorporated in both Iraq and Syria, not to mention Turkey.
When Erdogan remarked that the trilateral Ankara summit last month was “productive,” he was essentially saying that the Kurdish question was settled by an agreement among Russia, Turkey and Iran.
Diplomats confirmed that the Syrian Constitutional Committee will work hard towards implementing a federation – implying that the Kurds will have to go back to the Damascus fold. Tehran may even play a role to smooth things over, as Iranian Kurds have also become very active in the YPG command.
The bottom line: there will be no independent Kurdistan – as detailed in a map previously published by the Anadolu news agency.
From Ankara’s point of view, the objective of Operation Peace Spring follows what Erdogan had already announced to the Turkish Parliament – that is, organizing the repatriation of no fewer than two million Syrian refugees to a collection of villages and towns spread over a 30km-wide security zone supervised by the Turkish army.
Yet there has been no word about what happens to an extra, alleged 1.6 million refugees also in Turkey.
Kurdish threats to release control of 50 jails holding at least 11,000 ISIS/Daesh jihadis are just that. The same applies to the al-Hol detention camp, holding a staggering 80,000 ISIS family members. If let loose, these jihadis would go after the Kurds in a flash.
Veteran war correspondent and risk analyst Elijah Magnier provides an excellent summary of the Kurds’ wishful thinking, compared with the priorities of Damascus, Tehran and Moscow:
The Kurds have asked Damascus, in the presence of Russian and Iranian negotiators, to allow them to retain control over the very rich oil and gas fields they occupy in a bit less than a quarter of Syrian territory. Furthermore, the Kurds have asked that they be given full control of the enclave on the borders with Turkey without any Syrian Army presence or activity. Damascus doesn’t want to act as border control guards and would like to regain control of all Syrian territory. The Syrian government wants to end the accommodations the Kurds are offering to the US and Israel, similar to what happened with the Kurds of Iraq.
The options for the YPG Kurds are stark. They are slowly realizing they were used by the Pentagon as mercenaries. Either they become a part of the Syrian federation, giving up some autonomy and their hyper-nationalist dreams, or they will have to share the region they live in with at least two million Sunni Arab refugees relocated under Turkish Army protection.
The end of the dream is nigh. On Sunday, Moscow brokered a deal according to which the key, Kurdish-dominated border towns of Manbij and Kobane go back under the control of Damascus. So Turkish forces will have to back off, otherwise, they will be directly facing the Syrian Arab Army. The game-changing deal should be interpreted as the first step towards the whole of northeast Syria eventually reverting to state control.
The geopolitical bottom line does expose a serious rift within the Ankara agreement. Tehran and Moscow – not to mention Damascus – will not accept Turkish occupation of nearly a quarter of sovereign, energy-rich Syrian territory, replacing what was a de facto American occupation. Diplomats confirm Putin has repeatedly emphasized to Erdogan the imperative of Syrian territorial integrity. SANA’s Syrian news agency slammed Peace Spring as “an act of aggression.”
Which brings us to Idlib. Idlib is a poor, rural province crammed with ultra-hardcore Salafi jihadis – most linked in myriad levels with successive incarnations of Jabhat al-Nusra, or al-Qaeda in Syria. Eventually, Damascus, backed by Russian airpower, will clear what is in effect the Idlib cauldron, generating an extra wave of refugees. As much as he’s investing in his Syrian Kurdistan safe zone, what Erdogan is trying to prevent is an extra exodus of potentially 3.5 million mostly hardcore Sunnis to Turkey.
Turkish historian Cam Erimtan told me, as he argues in this essay, that it’s all about the clash between the post-Marxist “libertarian municipalism” of the Turkish-Syrian PKK/PYD/YPG/YPJ axis and the brand of Islam defended by Erdogan’s AKP party: “The heady fusion of Islamism and Turkish nationalism that has become the AKP’s hallmark and common currency in the New Turkey, results in the fact that as a social group the Kurds in Syria have now been universally identified as the enemies of Islam.” Thus, Erimtan adds, “the ‘Kurds’ have now taken the place of ‘Assad’ as providing a godless enemy that needs to be defeated next door.”
Geopolitically, the crucial point remains that Erdogan cannot afford to alienate Moscow for a series of strategic and economic reasons, ranging from the Turk Stream gas pipeline to Ankara’s interest in being an active node of the Belt & Road as well as the Eurasia Economic Union and becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, all geared towards Eurasian integration.
‘Win-win’
And as Syria boils, Iraq simmers down.
Iraqi Kurdistan lives a world apart, and was not touched by the Iraqi protests, which were motivated by genuine grievances against the swamp of corrupt-to-the-core Baghdad politics. Subsequent hijacking for a specific geopolitical agenda was inevitable. The government says Iraqi security forces did not shoot at protesters. That was the work of snipers.
Gunmen in balaclavas did attack the offices of plenty of TV stations in Baghdad, destroying equipment and broadcast facilities. Additionally, Iraqi sources told me, armed groups targeted vital infrastructure, as in electricity grids and plants especially in Diwaniyah in the south. This would have plunged the whole of southern Iraq, all the way to Basra, into darkness, thus sparking more protests.
Pakistani analyst Hassan Abbas spent 12 days in Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala. He said heavily militarized police dealt with the protests, “opting for the use of force from the word go – a poor strategy.” He added: “There are 11 different law enforcement forces in Baghdad with various uniforms – coordination between them is extremely poor under normal circumstances.”
But most of all, Abbas stressed: “Many people I talked to in Karbala think this is the American response to the Iraqi tilt towards China.”
Iraq did not follow the – illegal – Trump administration sanctions on Iran. In fact it continues to buy electricity from Iran. Baghdad finally opened the crucial Iraq-Syria border post of al-Qaem. Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi wants to buy S-400 missile systems from Russia.
He also explicitly declared Israel responsible for the bombing of five warehouses belonging to the Hashd al-Shaabi, the people mobilization units. And he not only rejected the Trump administration’s “deal of the century” between Israel and Palestine but also has been trying to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
And then there’s – what else? – China. On a state visit to Beijing on September 23, Mahdi clinched a proverbial win-win deal: plenty of oil supplies traded with investment in rebuilding infrastructure. And Iraq will be a certified Belt & Road node, with President Xi Jinping extolling a new “China-Iraq strategic partnership”. China is also looking to do post-reconstruction work in Syria to make it a key node in the New Silk Roads.
It ain’t over till the fat (Chinese) lady sings while doing deals. Meanwhile, Erdogan can always sing about sending 3.6 million refugees to Europe.
What’s happening is a quadruple win. The US performs a face saving withdrawal, which Trump can sell as avoiding a conflict with NATO alley Turkey. Turkey has the guarantee – by the Russians – that the Syrian Army will be in control of the Turkish-Syrian border. Russia prevents a war escalation and keeps the Russia-Iran-Turkey peace process alive. And Syria will eventually regain control of its oilfields and the entire northeast.
The State Department—under the leadership of the Zionist fellow traveler, former CIA boss and tank commander Mike Pompeo—has tweeted out the following propaganda produced with your tax dollars (or debt spending that will be passed on to your children).
…
Department of State
✔@StateDept
The Iranian regime is the most destabilizing force in the Middle East and the world’s top sponsor of terrorism. That’s why the U.S. launched a campaign of maximum pressure. It’s producing maximum results.
This Big Lie production about Iran’s alleged malevolence toward its neighbors has dramatic music and graphics to support an obvious falsehood—Iran is the number one terror state in the world.
In fact, that designation is reserved for the United States government and its junior partner, Israel.
History is replete with examples—from both world wars to dozens of imperialist ignited brush fires including Vietnam and Iraq. As for Israel, it has been at war with its Arab neighbors for well over 70 years.
The State Department is the grand choreographer of conflict and murder in the name of a corporatist and bankster neoliberal order now crumbling. It is the largest and worst terrorist on the planet. Most recently, it installed Nazi throwbacks in Ukraine, reduced Libya to a failed state, and armed Wahhabi fanatics in Syria.
The above video is essentially an advertisement for the cruel torture of the Iranian people through economic warfare in addition to the US-Israel assassination of scientists, malware attacks on Iranian infrastructure, and various terror attacks, including the 2017 attack on the Iranian parliament.
This latter incident was blamed on the Islamic State, a Pentagon fabricated terror group. If you believe a genuine Islamic (Sunni-Wahhabi) terror group was responsible for this attack and a simultaneous one on the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, you may be interested in a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
According to a Reuters report today, the sanctions imposed on Iran are resulting in the country having problems buying rice, cooking oil and other staples to feed its 74 million people.
It is not simply oil the sanctions target, but all kinds of imports, according to commodities traders…
Before long they will engage in even more barbarous war crimes after Israel bombs Iran’s suspected nuclear sites and the United States follows up with a general bombardment of the country’s civilian infrastructure not dissimilar from the bombardment of Iraq and Yugoslavia, both Nuremberg level war crimes.
Since that time, the situation has grown far worse for ordinary Iranians.
In 2014, Israel and the US didn’t bomb “suspected nuclear sites” in Iran, mostly because Obama, while carrying out the globalist agenda in Democrat fashion, stepped back from annihilating the country at the pestering insistence of Bibi Netanyahu.
That wasn’t the case with Libya. It didn’t have the ability to fight back, not like Iran, which does.
John Bolton tried to get a bombing raid going but failed due to Trump’s fear an invasion—which would turn into a large regional conflict—will ruin his chance at re-election. Trump the Schizoid Man flits back forth between violent rhetoric aimed at Iran (and Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Syria) and saying we don’t need another expensive war in the Middle East.
Donald Trump is a miracle—on one hand, a proclaimed noninterventionist and MAGA poster boy, and on the other a neocon enraptured with the apartheid regime in Israel. His personality disorder is on display 24/7. After showing Bolton the door, he hired a more acceptable and less abrasive neocon to be his national security adviser.
The latest kerfuffle in Saudi Arabia has resulted in Trump pumping troops into that medieval nation, a message to Iran it will not be permitted to resist and respond to the economic destruction.
I initially figured the attack on Saudi oil facilities was a false flag to get a war going. I now believe Iran is responsible for the attack. It warned months ago that the embargo of its oil will result in the Wahhabi emirates suffering a likewise fate. Iran is living up to that threat and responding in kind.
For the indispensable ruling elite, self-defense is impermissible, lest you desire mountains of rotting dead bodies, typhus, cholera, cancer from depleted uranium and other military toxins, malnutrition, and endless sectarian conflict to keep the vassals from going after the real culprits. Syria, Libya, and Yemen are only the latest examples.
Iran has the ability to resist this neoliberal death-head onslaught. It was decided that war and its horrific consequence is far more honorable than the humiliation of starvation and disease, which is the ultimate message of the State Department’s absurd propaganda video.
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Kurt Nimmo writes on his blog, Another Day in the Empire, where this article was originally published. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
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The original source of this article is Global Research
The Group of Seven (G7) self-declared advanced nations meet this weekend in France for their 45th annual summit. US President Donald Trump caused a stir ahead of the gathering in Biarritz when he remarked that Russia should be included in the format, thereby making it a G8 summit.
“Russia should be at the negotiating table,” said Trump, in a rare moment of lucidity.
His view of including Moscow appears to be shared by France’s President Emmanuel Macron who hosted Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in southern France earlier this week, only days before the G7 summit.
Of course, Russia should be at the table to discuss resolving global economic problems. Not just Russia, but China, India and a few others as well.
Since the G7 club was created in 1975 during the Gerald Ford administration the world has undergone transformative changes from the days when the US, (West) Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Japan were deemed then to be the most powerful national economies.
Today, China is second to the US in terms of its economic size. The top 10 national economies have various ranking iterations, depending on which yardstick is used to compare.
In nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measurement, the top 10 nations, according to the International Monetary Fund, are: US, China, Japan, Germany, India, France, Britain, Italy, Brazil, Canada. In this ranking, Russia is 12th listed after South Korea.
But if national economies are rated by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which takes currency exchange factors into consideration, then the top 10 national economies are: China, US, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Britain, France.
In other words the present G7 line-up is an arbitrary listing. Indeed, its exclusivity is something of an anachronism in today’s world. It’s a throwback to a bygone era when Western nations were more dominant (save for Japan’s inclusion in the original club). The contours of the world have become more multilateral and multipolar. The exclusion of China from the G7 is perhaps the most glaring anomaly.
In a tacit admission of the changed global reality that’s why there is the larger format of the G20 (formed in 1999) which in addition to the G7 includes China, India, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and others.
The so-called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is another sign of changed times, as are numerous other economic fora such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Eurasian Economic Union (EEA), and the Latin American bloc Mercosur.
Given that the G7 is supposed to be a forum for coordinating macroeconomic policies to enhance global economic growth, one would think that the logical requirement would therefore be for inclusion of more nations in order to more effectively address the ostensible purpose.
As it stands, the limited G7 club is a rather clapped-out vehicle. It’s a bit like a broken down auto with flat tires, a blown gasket and crankshaft missing. Does anyone seriously think that Italy in its present political meltdown is in a position to boost the world economy?
It’s also incongruous that the biggest member of the club, the United States, has no interest in coordinating policy with anyone else. President Trump’s trade war with China, the Europeans and the rest of the world is more akin to the 1930s practice of go-it-alone mercantilism and predatory capitalism. We know how disastrous that turned out with global depression and world war.
Trump’s reckless gung-ho “America First” policy (and to hell with everyone else) is casting a dark cloud on the world economy from China’s output slumping and Germany’s exports plummeting. Ironically, “business genius” Trump seems to be dimly realizing that the inevitable repercussions are rebounding like a boomerang with harmful impact on the US economy. Yet he says he’s not letting up on his America First drive to the abyss.
So, sure, if there were a genuine commitment to improve global economic outlook and uplift the wellbeing of ordinary people around the world then the leading nations should be working together in a collegiate planned fashion, and with as much outreach to others as possible.
Thus, without doubt, the leaders of China, Russia, India and others should be in attendance at the summit in France this weekend. Then it would supposedly turn into a forum not unlike the G20. Which makes the point: why is the G7 even continuing to exist?
There is an analogy with the US-led NATO military alliance. That organization was formed in a very different geopolitical world compared with the present. Why does NATO continue to exist? It’s putative security function is redundant.
So too it could be argued is the United Nations Security Council redundant with its five permanent members of US, Russia, China, France and Britain. Surely that forum should be overhauled too reflect a contemporary multipolar world. In short, the world, like history changes, and so too should mechanisms of governance.
Arguably, however, the G7 is not an economic forum, despite its public image. It’s an arbitrary political clique aimed at reinforcing a presumed Western dominance. A sign of this caprice was when the Russian Federation was admitted to the G7 in 1997 which was then renamed the G8. The admission of former President Boris Yeltsin was permitted because he was feckless towards Western strategic demands. Russia remained a G8 member for 17 years until the Ukraine conflict erupted and President Vladimir Putin was accused of “invading” that country and “annexing” Crimea. Those Western allegations are easily countered with evidence of NATO subversion of the elected government in Kiev in order to prize the former Soviet republic away from Moscow’s orbit.
Russia’s exclusion from the G8, which then reverted back to the G7, has been a political punishment to bolster a propaganda narrative for undermining and isolating Russia internationally. This is again why the G7 is no longer a viable forum for its stated purpose of advancing the global economy. It’s a useless talking shop in an utterly changed world.
Former editor and writer for major news media organizations. He has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that a possible war against Iran is “a mother of all wars”, while peace with Tehran is “the mother of all peace”.
In a speech broadcast live on state-run TV on Tuesday, Rouhani also reiterated Tehran’s readiness to sit down with Washington if it scraps all the sanctions against Iran.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran favors talks and negotiations and, if the US really wants to talk, before anything else it should lift all sanctions”, he underscored.
The Iranian President further highlighted: “We are always ready for negotiation. I tell you this hour and this moment to abandon bullying and lift the sanctions and return to logic and wisdom. We are ready.”
He added that Iran had shifted its approach from “strategic patience” to “reciprocal action” and would respond in kind to any of Washington’s steps related to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
According to Rouhani: “Certain parties in the nuclear deal have violated commitments to deprive Iran of economic benefits.”
“Zionists, reactionary states, and US hardliners sought to destroy JCPOA from the beginning,” Rouhani stated, noting that “Only certain US cronies support [US President Donald] Trump’s decision to withdraw from The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA].”
In parallel, he underscored that Iran took calculated step to scale back certain commitments under JCPOA. “Our reduction to nuclear commitments is not a burden on us.”
“All US sanctions against Iran have proved to be its own detriment,” Rouhani stressed, pointing out that “The Americans have proved that their words are far from truth.”
In a clear message to the US and regional rivals, the Iranian President warned: “No one can target our security and seeks peace for himself.”
“Iran to emerge victorious from US restrictions sooner or later,” he concluded.
مَن يتابع وسائل الإعلام العبري يخرج بانطباع يراوح بين السخرية والشماتة مفاده انّ الله تعالى لا ينصر بني صهيون. لماذا؟ لأنّ حزب الله في لبنان وأنصار الله في اليمن وضعوا كيانها المأزوم في ضائقة أمنية واستراتيجية لا فكاك منها، أقلّه في المستقبل المنظور. كيف؟
صحيفة «هآرتس» 2019/7/17 قالت إنّ الأمين العام لحزب الله السيد حسن نصرالله أكّد في سياق مقابلة متلفزة لمناسبة ذكرى مرور 13 عاماً على حرب 2006 انّ «إسرائيل كلها باتت تحت مدى صواريخنا»، وانه كرّر تهديده بأنّ «حزب الله لا يحتاج الى سلاح نووي بل يكفي ان يطلق صاروخاً واحداً بإتجاه مخزن الأمونيا في حيفا كي يتسبّب بسقوط عشرات الآف القتلى والجرحى».
صحيفة «يديعوت احرونوت» 2019/7/18 كشفت انّ اعتزام الإمارات العربية المتحدة سحب قواتها المشاركة في الحرب على أنصار الله الحوثيين وحلفائهم في اليمن يشكّل هزيمة للسعودية وتالياً لـِ «إسرائيل» لأنه يُجهض مسار التطبيع مع الكيان الصهيوني الذي تقوده الرياض ويعطل إمكانية قيام حلف دفاعي بين «إسرائيل» وبعض دول الخليج.
ليس أدلّ على الضائقة الأمنية بل التحدي الاستراتيجي البالغ الخطورة الذي تكشّفت عنه تهديدات نصرالله الأخيرة من انّ قيادة الجبهة الداخلية في الجيش الإسرائيلي قرّرت، بحسب «هآرتس» وبإجازة لنشرها من الرقابة العسكرية، «تحصين 20 موقعاً في «إسرائيل» من الهجمات الصاروخية تحسّباً من إقدام حزب الله على استهدافها بصواريخ دقيقة في أيّ مواجهة عسكرية بينه وبين «إسرائيل» في المستقبل». وكشفت «هآرتس» انّ قائد قيادة الجبهة الداخلية أكد خلال نقاش داخلي جرى في الكنيست أنّ مليونين ونصف المليون مستوطن في «إسرائيل» لا يتمتعون بحماية مناسبة نظراً الى كون أكثر من 700,000 منزل غير محصّنين من الهجمات الصاروخية.
هواجس «إسرائيل»، ألى أين من هنا؟
ليست التحديات المشعّة من حزب الله، والتداعيات الناجمة عن تقدّم أنصار الله في اليمن هي وحدها ما يؤرق بنيامين نتنياهو في هذه الآونة. ثمة تحدٍّ أكبر تمثله إيران بما لها من ثقل عسكري قد يقترن بامتلاكها سلاحاً نووياً ونفوذاً سياسياً متزايداً من شأنه ان يلفّ منطقة غرب آسيا برمتها. الى ذلك، ثمة تحدٍّ آخر شديد الأهمية هو ما يمكن ان يقوم به، او لا يقوم به، حليفه دونالد ترامب حيال كلّ هذه التحديات.
ظاهرُ الحال يؤشّر الى انّ نتنياهو قرّر مواجهة هذه التحديات بما يؤمّن، في ظنّه، حماية «إسرائيل» ودعم مصالحه السياسية الشخصية وذلك بالتعاون مع ترامب في ثلاثة ميادين: تصنيف حزب الله تنظيماً إرهابياً، تطويق إيران بإبعادها ميدانياً عن سورية، وإعلان «حلف دفاعي» بين الولايات المتحدة و»إسرائيل» كخطوة رمزية تساعده على الفوز في الانتخابات البرلمانية في شهر أيلول/ سبتمبر المقبل، وتساعد ترامب على الفوز بولاية رئاسية ثانية في العام القادم.
ففي مواجهة حزب الله الذي أضحى قوة إقليمية دعا نتنياهو، خلال لقاء عقده في القدس المحتلة مع نواب كبار في البرلمان الفرنسي، فرنسا والدول الأوروبية الأخرى إلى أنّ تقوم بما قامت به الأرجنتين وهو تصنيف حزب الله تنظيماً إرهابياً بدعوى
«أنه بات التنظيم الإرهابي الرئيس الذي يعمل في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وفي العالم، وهو يقوم بتوجيه الإرهابيين داخل الأراضي الأوروبية» صحيفة «يسرائيل هيوم» 2019/7/18 .
في مواجهة إيران، يتبنّى نتنياهو كلّ ما يقوم به حليفه ترامب ضدّ إيران من حصار وعقوبات اقتصادية، وضغوط دولية واستخباراتية لتعطيل قدرتها على إنتاج صواريخ بالستية بعيدة المدى بات مداها يصل الى «إسرائيل» وحتى الى أوروبا، وعمليات تخريبية بالتعاون مع جماعات إرهابية تستهدف مواقع ومرافق إيرانية على الحدود مع باكستان وأفغانستان. غير أنّ آخر وأخطر أنشطة نتنياهو على هذا الصعيد، لا سيما خلال اللقاء الأمني الثلاثي الذي عُقد في القدس المحتلة الشهر الماضي بين كلٍّ من مستشاري الأمن القومي الروسي نيكولاي بتروشيف، والأميركي جون بولتون، والإسرائيلي مئير بن شبات، قيامه بالتفاهم مع ترامب على مطالبة روسيا بضرورة ان يشمل ايّ اتفاق مستقبلي بشأن سورية انسحاباً عسكرياً إيرانياً منها كما من لبنان والعراق صحيفة «معاريف» 2019/7/18 .
في جهوده المحمومة للفوز في الانتخابات البرلمانية المقبلة، يتحادث نتنياهو وترامب بشأن إعلان «حلف دفاعي» هو عبارة عن تعهّد علني من جانب الولايات المتحدة بتقديم مساعدة محدّدة الى «إسرائيل» لمواجهة تهديدين أساسيين تتعرّض لهما: سلاح نووي وسلاح صاروخي، كما تنطوي على تبادل وثيق للمعلومات بصورة يومية، ومناورات مشتركة يقوم بها الجيشان، ومساعدة أميركية لاعتراض الصواريخ والقذائف، ودعم لوجستي عاجل في زمن الحرب. ويقول المحلل العسكري رون بن يشاي في موقع «Ynet» 2019/7/13 «إنّ التأثير الحقيقي لمثل هذا الإعلان سيكون تعزيز فرص إعادة انتخاب نتنياهو وتأكيد مواهبه كسياسي عالمي، كما تعزيز فرص ترامب في إعادة انتخابه رئيساً للولايات المتحدة بمساعدة من الإنجيليين من مؤيدي «إسرائيل» الذين يشكّلون مكوّناً مهماً في قاعدة الدعم السياسي له».
غير انّ جميع ما يسعى نتنياهو الى الحصول عليه من الولايات المتحدة لا يشكّل قفزة نوعية استراتيجية بالمقارنة مع ما حصلت وتحصل عليه «إسرائيل» من أمها الرؤوم. ذلك انّ أحدث وأفتك ما لدى أميركا من أسلحة برية وجوية وبحرية قد جرى تزويد «إسرائيل» به، هذا فضلاً عن مخزون أسلحة وعتاد وأجهزة تحتفظ به واشنطن في مستودعات خاصة في «إسرائيل» مع ترخيص دائم للقيادة الصهيونية العليا باستعماله اذا ما اقتضت الضرورة.
لا غلوّ في القول، والحالة هذه، إنّ «إسرائيل» عسكرياً هي أميركا الصغرى. ومع ذلك، يبقى ثمة سؤال: هل حمتها وتحميها هذه الأسلحة والترتيبات والتحالفات من المخاطر والتحديات التي واجهتها والأخرى التي تواجهها في قابل الأيام…؟
– لا نعلم إذا كان البريطانيون قد انتبهوا أم لم ينتبهوا إلى أهمية ما وفروه لإيران في معركتها التاريخية حول السيادة والقوة في مضيق هرمز، الذي يمثل مفصل الاستراتيجية الإيرانية في الإفادة من ميزات الجغرافيا الدولية الاقتصادية والعسكرية التي تعرف كيف تدير معادلاتها. فالخطوة الرعناء لبريطانيا في إيقاف الناقلة الإيرانية في مضيق جبل طارق، لا تستقيم إلا إذا تصرفت لندن على أساس أن الدولة التي تملك السيادة البرية على طرف المضيق تملك الحق بتفتيش السفن التي تتجاوزه وفقاً لمفهوم المرور العابر قانونياً، أي المرور باتجاه مقصد نهائي آخر، دون التوغل في المياه الداخلية للدولة المشاطئة، بينما المواجهة التي تخوضها واشنطن مع إيران حول المرور العابر في مضيق هرمز تنطلق من إنكار أي حقوق للدول المشاطئة للمضيق في التعامل مع «المرور العابر».
– الخطوة الإيرانية التي استهدفت الناقلة البريطانية أخذت وقتاً قبل أن تعتمد إيران تنفيذها رغم السهولة التكتيكية لعملية التنفيذ، لأن إيران كانت تحسب المداخل والمخارج للعملية. فالأصل بالنسبة للأميركي عندما ورط بريطانيا في عملية السيطرة على الناقلة الإيرانية، كان وضع إيران أمام موقف محرج، بين ردّ يتضمن المخاطرة بخسارة وقوف بريطانيا ضمن ثلاثي أوروبي مساند للاتفاق النووي، يضم بريطانيا وفرنسا وألمانيا، وهو ما لا تريده إيران رغم عدم رضاها عن حدود الاستجابة الأوروبية لموجبات الاتفاق النووي تجارياً ومالياً، ورغم إدراكها لكون بريطانيا تشكل أضعف الحلقات الأوروبية في التمسك بالاتفاق، لكن طهران تدرك الخطة الأميركية التي تنطلق من استشعار الفشل بعزل إيران، ومن الشعور بالضيق لكون واشنطن لا تزال وحدها خارج الاتفاق، من أصل الخمسة زائداً واحداً، وتسعى عبر إخراج بريطانيا، أن تخطو الخطوة الأولى قبل الانتقال للتركيز على شريك آخر، صولاً لإسقاط الشركاء الأوروبيين، ووضع إيران أمام معادلة تضعها طهران في حسابها كاحتمال وارد طالما قررت البدء بخطوات إجرائية للخروج من الاتفاق النووي، لكنها لا تسعى لتقديمها خدمة مجانية لواشنطن.
– بالمقابل تدرك طهران أن ترك التصرف البريطاني دون ردّ رادع سيعني فتح الباب للتمادي في التعامل مع إيران من موقع التطاول على حقوقها القانونية، في ميادين كثيرة من مجالات التجارة العالمية، لذلك رسمت طهران معادلة مبتكرة لتعاملها مع بريطانيا، فتركت لندن تخوض المعركة السياسية والقانونية والدبلوماسية لتأكيد أن عملية إيقاف الناقلة الإيرانية عمل قانوني، استناداً إلى بدء سيادة الدولة المشاطئة للمضيق، وبعدما اكتملت المرحلة قامت إيران بما يترجم هذا المبدأ من موقعها على مضيق هرمز، بحجز الناقلة البرطانية، وهو شأن مختلف عن تهديدات إيران السابقة بإقفال المضيق، وطورت إيران المفهوم القانوني بالإعلان عبر مجلس الشورى عزمها عن فرض رسوم مرور في مضيق هرمز، والأمر ليس بالعائد المالي للمرور، وهو في كل حال ليس بسيطاً، بل في كون تسديد الرسوم سيعني التوقف عند نقطة جمارك إيرانية بما يعنيه ذلك من حق التفتيش، والتحقيق وربما التوقيف، وما يعنيه عموماً من تثبيت حق الإمساك بالعبور من المضيق.
– لم تتأخر إيران بعد ذلك عن منح بريطانيا الجواب الإيجابي على قبول مساعٍ عمانية للوساطة من أجل حل النزاع، وما قد يتضمنه من صيغة لمقايضة الناقلتين الإيرانية والبريطانية، وضمان متبادل لحرية عبور الناقلات البريطانية في مضيق هرمز مقابل حرية عبور الناقلات الإيرانية في مضيق جبل طارق، ويكون على واشنطن بذلك البحث عن طرق أخرى لمواجهة إيران، طرق لا تمنح إيران فرص تحويل التحدي إلى فرصة، كما قالت أغلب الطرق الأميركية حتى الآن، فمعادلة هرمز مقابل جبل طارق ومثله، لم تكن ورادة في الحسابات الإيرانية الذكية لو لم تقدّمها لها الحسابات الأميركية الغبية.
July 17, 2019 (Tony Cartalucci – NEO) – Had Iran openly hijacked a vessel of any nation, for any reason, plying through waters anywhere on Earth, the US and its allies would immediately cite it as a provocation toward war.
In fact, even without evidence, suspiciously timed attacks carried out last month on tankers passing through the Persian Gulf were cited by Washington and London as a pretext for increased pressure on Tehran despite the attacks appearing staged by the West itself.
Now in a display once again illustrating just who the actual menace is to global peace and stability, the British have openly – even proudly – hijacked a ship carrying Iranian oil allegedly bound for Syria.
Royal Marines have helped seize an Iranian supertanker suspected of carrying oil to Syria off the coast of Gibraltar, escalating tensions between the UK and Tehran as the agreement aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear programme unravels.
A detachment of nearly 30 British troops working with the Gibraltarian police intercepted the vessel, believed to be carrying 2m barrels of oil, in a dramatic manoeuvre Spain said had been conducted at the request of the US.
The article would quote the British ambassador to Iran who claimed:
[The UK] welcomes this firm action by the Gibraltarian authorities.
As to why the UK believed it was justified to hijack the Iranian tanker – the article would cite “sanctions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad” the UK and EU placed on Syria – which are in themselves illegal and an act of war.
Stealing Ships from Stolen Land to Enforce Illegal Sanctions
The UK’s presence in Gibraltar itself is a point of contention between London and Madrid.
Spain does not recognize British claims over the tiny piece of land located at the furthest tip of the Iberian Peninsula. The British presence is one of its many holdovers from its imperialist past. The British presence gives the UK a choke point over the Strait of Gibraltar and all shipping passing through it.
The fact that the British are using the disputed territory of Gibraltar to hijack ships or that the London Guardian is trying to depict it as an operation undertaken while “working with the Gibraltarian police” – when the “Gibraltarian police” are nothing more than functionaries representing London itself – provide a clear illustration of how foreign policy, media, and crimes against international law are being coordinated, justified, and sold to the public by Washington and London.
While Iran has regularly threatened to impede shipping through the Stait of Hormuz in retaliation to Western military aggression – it has never acted upon these threats – reserving them as a means of last resort.
The British and Americans – on the other hand – have literally implicated themselves in disrupting “freedom of navigation.”
The US and UK both pose as international arbiters and underwriters of what they call “the freedom of navigation” of the world’s seas. They regularly accuse nations like China of impeding such “freedom” in the South China Sea – using these accusations as an excuse to build up a military presence off China’s shores – thousands of miles from their own shores.
They have also regularly cited Iran’s “threats” to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz as another reason Iran should be further pressured, sanctioned, and its government ultimately removed from power.
Yet by hijacking Iranian ships, or likewise intercepting North Korean vessels, or the ships of any nation based on sanctions unilaterally and illegally imposed by Washington, London, and Brussels implicates the West themselves as the primary threat to the very “freedom of navigation” of the world’s seas they claim to uphold.
Provoking War
From Western policy think tanks to policymakers and politicians themselves – the West has all but admitted it is trying to goad Iran into war.
Sanctions, Western-sponsored terrorism aimed at Iranian territory itself, and provocations – like the recent hijacking of an Iranian tanker – all aimed at Tehran – are moves seeking to trigger a response from Iran that will justify even wider Western economic sanctions and military aggression.
And if Iran fails to provide such a provocation, one might be staged and blamed on Iran anyway.
These are the actions of outlaw nations presiding over a fading international order – one fading specifically because it is so transparently unjust, lopsided, and disruptive toward global stability. It has persisted for so long solely through the maxim of “might makes right.”
The British stealing ships from stolen land to enforce illegal sanctions is a vulgar display of “might makes right,” but one that may possibility be reaching its expiration.
The countervailing multipolar order emerging across Eurasia has an opportunity to oppose this flagrant provocation – not merely on Iran’s behalf – but to erode the impunity that will allow the US and UK to target the ships of other nations in a similar fashion if afforded impunity to do so to Iran now.
For Tehran, it will need to continue exhibiting “maximum patience” while enduring Washington and London’s “maximum pressure” campaign – avoiding the traps both have laid out for Tehran as they attempt to bait the nation into war and change their failing fortunes in the Middle East and around the globe.
The British – still a thorn in the side of global peace and stability despite losing most of its empire – presents us with a preview of what to expect from America even long after it fades as sole global hegemon. Learning to put the UK’s recent provocations in check now will help develop the tools necessary to put in check its future provocations – and those the US will find itself also depending on more and more often in the future.
Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
In October 1950, as U.S. forces were reeling from hordes of Chinese troops who had intervened massively in the Korean War, a 5,000-man Turkish brigade arrived to halt an onslaught by six Chinese divisions.
Said supreme commander General Douglas MacArthur:
“The Turks are the hero of heroes. There is no impossibility for the Turkish Brigade.”
President Harry Truman awarded the brigade a Presidential Unit Citation.
In 1951, Turkey ended a neutrality dating back to the end of World War I and joined NATO. In the seven decades since, there has been no graver crisis in U.S.-Turkish relations than the one that erupted this week.
Turkey has just received the first components of a Russian S-400 air and missile defense system, despite U.S. warnings that this would require the cancelation of Turkey’s purchase of 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
“The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities,” said the White House.
The sale has been canceled. The Turkish pilots and instructors training in the U.S. are being sent home. Contracts with Turkish companies producing parts for the F-35 are being terminated. Under U.S. law, the administration is also required to impose sanctions on Turkey for buying Russian weaponry.
Wednesday, the Pentagon warned Turkey against military action in an area of Syria where U.S. troops are deployed. The Turks appear to be massing for an incursion against American-backed Syrian Kurdish forces that Ankara regards as terrorist allies of the Kurdish PKK inside Turkey.How America and Turkey avoid a collision that could wreck NATO, when the Turks field the second-largest army in the alliance, is not easy to see.
U.S. hawks are already calling for the expulsion of Turkey from NATO. And the withdrawal of American forces and nuclear weapons from the Incirlik air base in Turkey in retaliation is not out of the question.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sounds defiant:
“We have begun to receive our S-400s. …God willing, they will have been installed in their sites by April 2020. …The S-400s are the strongest defense system against those who want to attack our country. Now the aim is joint production with Russia. We will do that.”
While potentially the most crucial of recent developments in the Middle East, the U.S.-Turkish situation is not the only one.
The United Arab Emirates is pulling its forces out of Yemen as Congress seeks to restrict U.S. support for Saudi forces fighting Houthi rebels there and to sanction Riyadh for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
If the UAE pulls out, and the U.S. cuts its military aid, the Saudis cannot prevail in a war they have been unable to win with our help after four years of fighting. And if the Houthis win, the Saudis and Sunni Arabs lose, and Iran wins.
This week, to strengthen the U.S. presence for any confrontation with Iran, President Donald Trump is sending 500 additional American troops to Saudi Arabia.
While the U.S. and Iran have thus far avoided a military or naval clash that could ignite a major war, the “maximum pressure” sanctions Trump has imposed are choking Iran’s economy to death. How this ends in a negotiated resolution and not a shooting war remains difficult to see.
In Doha, Qatar, the U.S. is negotiating with the Taliban over the conditions for a withdrawal of the 14,000 American troops still in Afghanistan. And with the Taliban controlling more of the countryside than they have since being ousted from power in 2001, and conducting regular suicide bombings in Afghan cities and towns, it is hard to see how this Kabul regime and its army prevail in a civil war when we are gone, when they could not while we were there.
In this new century, leaders of both parties have plunged our country into at least five wars in the Middle and Near East.
In 2001, after ousting the Taliban and driving al-Qaeda out, we decided to use our power and ideas to build a new democratic Afghanistan. In 2003, we invaded and occupied Iraq to create a pro-Western bastion in the heart of the Middle East.
In 2011, Barack Obama ordered U.S. planes to attack Colonel Gaddafi’s forces in Libya. We brought him down. Obama then backed Syrian rebels to overthrow the dictator Bashar al-Assad. In 2015, U.S. forces supported a Saudi war to roll back the Houthi rebels’ victory in Yemen’s civil war.
None of these conflicts has produced a victory or success for us.
But taken together, they did produce a multitrillion-dollar strategic and human rights disaster. Meanwhile, China gained much from having its great rival, the world’s last superpower, thrashing about ineffectually in the forever wars of the Middle East.
“Great nations do not fight endless wars,” said Trump.
Yes, they do. As the British, French, Germans, Japanese, and Russians have shown during the last century, that is how they cease to be great nations.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever. To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at http://www.creators.com.
What if tomorrow nobody but the United States would use the US-dollar? Every country, or society would use their own currency for internal and international trade, their own economy-based, non-fiat currency. It could be traditional currencies or new government controlled crypto-currencies, but a country’s own sovereign money. No longer the US-dollar. No longer the dollar’s foster child, the Euro. No longer international monetary transactions controlled by US banks and – by the US-dollar controlled international transfer system, SWIFT, the system that allows and facilitates US financial and economic sanctions of all kinds – confiscation of foreign funds, stopping trades between countries, blackmailing ‘unwilling’ nations into submission. What would happen? – Well, the short answer is that we would certainly be a step close to world peace, away from US (financial) hegemony, towards nation states’ sovereignty, towards a world geopolitical structure of more equality.
We are not there yet. But graffities are all over the walls signaling that we are moving quite rapidly in that direction. And Trump knows it and his handlers know it – which is why the onslaught of financial crime – sanctions – trade wars – foreign assets and reserves confiscations, or outright theft – all in the name of “Make America Great Again”, is accelerating exponentially and with impunity. What is surprising is that the Anglo-Saxon hegemons do not seem to understand that all the threats, sanctions, trade barriers, are provoking the contrary to what should contribute to American Greatness. Economic sanctions, in whatever form, are effective only as long as the world uses the US dollar for trading and as reserve currency.
Once the world gets sick and tired of the grotesque dictate of Washington and the sanction schemes for those who do no longer want to go along with the oppressive rules of the US, they will be eager to jump on another boat, or boats – abandoning the dollar and valuing their own currencies. Meaning trading with each other in their own currencies – and that outside of the US banking system which so far even controls trading in local currencies, as long as funds have to be transferred from one nation to another via SWIFT.
Many countries have also realized that the dollar is increasingly serving to manipulate the value of their economy. The US-dollar, a fiat currency, by its sheer money mass, may bend national economies up or down, depending in which direction the country is favored by the hegemon. Let’s put the absurdity of this phenomenon in perspective.
Today, the dollar is based not even on hot air and is worth less than the paper it is printed on. The US GDP is US$ 21.1 trillion in 2019 (World Bank estimate), with current debt of 22.0 trillion, or about 105% of GDP. The world GDP is projected for 2019 at US$ 88.1 trillion (World Bank). According to Forbes, about US$ 210 trillion are “unfunded liabilities” (net present value of future projected but unfunded obligations (75 years), mainly social security, Medicaid and accumulated interest on debt), a figure about 10 times the US GDP, or two and a half times the world’s economic output.
This figure keeps growing, as interest on debt is compounded, forming part of what would be called in business terms ‘debt service’ (interest and debt amortization), but is never ‘paid back’. In addition, there are about one to two quadrillion dollars (nobody knows the exact amount) of so-called derivatives floating around the globe. Aderivative is a financial instrument which creates its value from the speculative difference of underlying assets, most commonly derived from such inter-banking and stock exchange oddities, like ‘futures’, ‘options’, ‘forwards’ and ‘swaps’.
This monstrous debt is partly owned in the form of treasury bonds as foreign exchange reserves by countries around the world. The bulk of it is owed by the US to itself – with no plans to ever “pay it back” – but rather create more money, more debt, with which to pay for the non-stop wars, weapon manufacturing and lie-propaganda to keep the populace quiet and in lockstep.
This amounts to a humongous worldwide dollar-based pyramid system. Imagine, this debt comes crashing down, for example because one or several big (Wall Street) banks are on the brink of bankruptcy, so, they claim their outstanding derivatives, paper gold (another banking absurdity) and other debt from smaller banks. It would generate a chain reaction that might bring down the whole dollar-dependent world economy. It would create an exponential “Lehman Brothers 2008” on global scale.
The world is increasingly aware of this real threat, an economy built on a house of cards – and countries want to get out of the trap, out of the fangs of the US-dollar. It’s not easy with all the dollar-denominated reserves and assets invested abroad, all over the globe. A solution may be gradually divesting them (US-dollar liquidity and investments) and moving into non-dollar dependent currencies, like the Chinese Yuan and the Russian Ruble, or a basket of eastern currencies that are delinked from the dollar and its international payment scheme, the SWIFT system. Beware of the Euro, it’s the foster child of the US-dollar!
There are increasingly blockchain technology alternatives available. China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela are already experimenting with government-controlled cryptocurrencies to build new payment and transfer systems outside the US-dollar domain to circumvent sanctions. India may or may not join this club – whenever the Modi Government decides which way to bend – east or west. The logic would suggest that India orients herself to the east, as India is a significant part of the huge Eurasian economic market and landmass.
India is already an active member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – an association of countries that are developing peaceful strategies for trade, monetary security and defense, comprising China, Russia, India, Pakistan, most Central Asian countries and with Iran waiting in the wings to become a full-fledged member. As such, SCO accounts for about half of the world population and a third of the world’s economic output. The east has no need for the west to survive. No wonder that western media hardly mention the SCO which means that the western average public at large has no clue what the SCO stands for, and who are its members.
Government-controlled and regulated blockchain technology may become key to counter US coercive financial power and to resist sanctions. Any country is welcome to join this new alliance of countries and new but fast-growing approach to alternative trading – and to finding back to national political and financial sovereignty.
In the same vein of dedollarization are Indian “barter banks”. They are, for example, trading Indian tea for Iranian oil. Such arrangements for goods to be exchanged against Iranian petrol are carried out through Indian “barter banks”, where currencies, i.e. Iranian rials and Indian rupees, are handled by the same bank. Exchange of goods is based on a list of highest monetary volume Indian trade items, against Iranian hydrocarbon products, for example, Iran’s large import of Indian tea. No monetary transaction takes place outside of India, therefore, US sanctions may be circumvented, since no US bank or US Treasury interference can stop the bilateral trade activities.
At this point, it might be appropriate to mention Facebook’s attempt to introduce a globe-spanning cryptocurrency, the Lira. Little is known on how exactly it will (or may) function, except that it would cater to billions of facebook members around the world. According to Facebook, there are 2.38 billion active members. Imagine, if only two thirds – about 1.6 billion – opened a Libra account with Facebook, the floodgate of libras around the world would be open. Libra is or would be a privately-owned cryptocurrency – and – coming from Facebook – could be destined to replace the dollar by the same people who are now abusing the world with the US-dollar. It may be projected as the antidote to government-controlled cryptocurrencies, thus, circumventing the impact of dedollarization. Beware of the Libra!
Despite US and EU sanctions, German investments in Russia are breaking a 10-year record in 2019, by German business pouring more than €1.7 billion into the Russian economy in the first three months of 2019. According to the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce, the volume of German companies’ investments in Russia is up by 33% – by € 400 million – since last year, when total investments reached € 3.2 billion, the largest since 2008. Despite sanctions which amounted to about € 1 billion combined for 140 German companies surveyed and registered with the Chamber of Commerce, and despite western anti-Russia pressure, Russia-German trade has increased by 8.4 percent and reached nearly € 62 billion in 2018.
In addition, notwithstanding US protests and threats with sanctions, Moscow and Berlin continue their Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project which is expected to be finished before the end of 2019. Not only is the proximity of Russian gas a natural and logical supply source for Germany and Europe, it will also bring Europe independence form the bullying sales methods of the United States. And payments will not be made in US dollars. In the long-run, the benefits of German-Russian business and economic relations will far outweigh the illegal US sanctions. Once this awareness has sunk in, there is nothing to stop Russian-German business associations to flourish, and to attract other EU-Russian business relations – all outside of the dollar-dominated banking and transfer system.
President Trump’s trade war with China will eventually also have a dedollarization effect, as China will seek – and already has acquired – other trading partners, mostly Asian, Asian-Pacific and European – with whom China will deal in other than dollar-denominated contracts and outside the SWIFT transfer system, for example using the Chinese International Payment System (CIPS) which, by the way, is open for international trade by any country across the globe.
This will not only circumvent punishing tariffs on China’s exports (and make US customers of Chinese goods furious, as their Chinese merchandise is no longer available at affordable prices, or no longer available at all), but this strategy will also enhance the Chinese Yuan on international markets and boost the Yuan even further as a reliable reserve currency – ever outranking the US-dollar. In fact, in the last 20 years, dollar-denominated assets in international reserve coffers have declined from more than 90% to below 60% and will rapidly decline further as Washington’s coercive financial policies prevail. Dollar reserves are rapidly replaced by reserves in Yuan and gold, and that even in such staunch supporters of the west as is Australia.
Washington also has launched a counter-productive financial war against Turkey, because Turkey is associating and creating friendly relations with Russia, Iran and China – and, foremost, because Turkey, a NATO stronghold, is purchasing the Russian S-400 cutting-edge air defense system – a new military alliance which the US cannot accept. As a result, the US is sabotaging the Turkish currency, the Lira which has lost 40% since January 2018.
Turkey will certainly do whatever it can to get out from under the boot of the US-dollar stranglehold and currency sanctions – and further ally itself with the East. This amounts to a double loss for the US. Turkey will most likely abandon all trading in US dollars and align her currency with, for example, the Chinese Yuan and the Russian ruble, and, to the detriment of the Atlantic alliance, Turkey may very likely exit NATO. Abandoning NATO will be a major disaster for the US, as Turkey is both strategically, as well as in terms of NATO military power one of the strongest – if not the strongest – nation of the 29 NATO members, outside of the US.
If Turkey exits NATO, the entire European NATO alliance will be shaken and questioned. Other countries, long wary of NATO and of storing NATO’s nuclear weapons on their soils, especially Italy and Germany, may also consider exiting NATO. In both Germany and Italy, a majority of the people is against NATO and especially against the Pentagon waging wars form their NATO bases in their territories in Germany in Italy.
To stem against this trend, the former German Defense Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, from the conservative German CDU party, is being groomed to become Jean-Claude Juncker’s successor as President of the European Commission. Mr. Juncker served since 2014. Ms. Von der Leyen was voted in tonight, 17 July, with a narrow margin of 9 votes. She is a staunch supporter of NATO. Her role is to keep NATO as an integral part of the EU. In fact, as it stands today, NATO is running the EU. This may change, once people stand up against NATO, against the US vassal, the EU Administration in Brussels, and claim their democratic rights as citizens of their nation states.
Europeans sense that these Pentagon initiated and ongoing wars and conflicts, supported by Washington’s European puppet allies, may escalate into a nuclear war, their countries’ NATO bases will be the first ones to be targeted, sinking Europe for the 3rdtime in 100 year into a world war. However, this one may be all-destructive nuclear – and nobody knows or is able to predict the damage and destruction of such a catastrophe, nor the time of recovery of Mother Earth from an atomic calamity.
So, let’s hope Turkey exits NATO. It would be giant step towards peace and a healthy answer to Washington’s blackmail and sabotage against Turkey’s currency. The US currency sanctions are, in the long run, a blessing. It gives Turkey a good argument to abandon the US dollar and gradually shift towards association with eastern moneys, mainly the Chinese Yuan, thereby putting another nail in the US-dollar’s coffin.
However, the hardest blow for Washington will be when Turkey exits NATO. Such a move will come sooner or later, notwithstanding Ms. Von der Leyen’s battle cries for NATO. The breaking up of NATO will annihilate the western power structure in Europe and throughout the world, where the US still maintains more than 800 military bases. On the other hand, the disbanding of NATO will increase the world’s security, especially in Europe – for all the consequences such an exit will bear. Exiting NATO and economically exiting the US-dollar orbit is a further step towards dedollarization, and a blow to US financial and military hegemony.
Finally, investments of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also called the New Silk Road, will be mostly made in Yuan and local currencies of the countries involved and incorporated in one or more of the several BRI land and maritime routes that eventually will span the globe. Some US-dollar investments may serve the People’s Bank of China, China’s Central Bank, as a dollar-divesting tool of China’s huge dollar reserves which currently stands at close to two trillion dollars.
The BRI promises to become the next economic revolution, a non-dollar economic development scheme, over the coming decades, maybe century, connecting peoples and countries – cultures, research and teaching without, however, forcing uniformity, but promoting cultural diversity and human equality – and all of it outside the dollar dynasty, breaking the nefarious dollar hegemony.
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This article was originally published on New Eastern Outlook.
Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; RT; Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century; TeleSUR; The Saker Blog, the New Eastern Outlook (NEO); and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
The original source of this article is Global Research