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By Peter Koenig

The British-flagged tanker “Steno Impero”, heading for Saudi Arabia, was seized on Friday, 19 July 2019, by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in the Strait of Hormuz, after it rammed an Iranian fishing boat, whose distress call it ignored.

The tanker was taken to an Iranian port, because it was not complying with “international maritime laws and regulations,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said. Most importantly, the ship did not respond to several warnings from helicopters and Iranian boats, as apparently it turned off its transponder. How could that happen under control of professional sailors, other than as an open provocation.

Shipping safety in the Strait of Hormuz is crucial. Between 20% and 30% of the world’s hydrocarbons are shipped through this narrow passage of international water way before entering the Gulf of Oman. The strait is closely watched by Iran, as it is of utmost security concern for Iran.If this passage were to be closed due to conflict, it could bring down the world economy.

Do those that play these provocations, the UK as a handler dancing to the strings pulled by of Washington, realize what’s at stake? – Do they want to bring the Middle East to the brink of war? A regional war that could easily convert into a world war? – That may well be the longer-term intention. In the short-run, though it looks like pushing the escalation to a point where US ‘Client Europe’ may be discouraged from insisting on maintaining their part of the Iran Nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and to blackmail Iran into a bilateral negotiation with the US on Iran’s nuclear program.

The first objective may be achieved; the second – no way. Iran is not falling for such fraud, especially with the country that pulled unilaterally out of the deal that was negotiated for two years (since November 2013) before it was signed in Vienna, Austria on 14 July 2015, by the 5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, UK and US – plus Germany – and the European Union, and of course Iran).

Not only did President Trump, guided by his buddy, Israel’s Netanyahu, tear up the agreement unilaterally, but he also reinstated one of the most severe economic sanctions programs on Iran, plus all the western lies and smear propaganda launched against Iran. It is sheer insanity to believe that Iran would under these circumstances go to the negotiating table with her hangman. That will not happen. But war tensions are being further raised which is fully in the direction of the war criminal-in-chief, John Bolton’s dream, ever since the invasion in 2003 of Iraq which he also helped to engineer. It is like this sick man’s raison d’être. Mass killing by war and conflict is in his genes. The world can only hope that Trump, or those who pull the strings behind Trump, will eventually dismiss Bolton.

Iran has already said that they will launch a full investigation into the British tanker’s, Steno Impero’s, sailing off course and ramming a fishing boat – and that the UK is invited to participate in the investigation.

Backtracking to 4 July, when the British Royal Marines seizedthe Iranian tanker Grace 1 in Spanish waters, off the coast of Gibraltar, under the pretext that the super tanker was carrying oil destined for Syria which was under the EU’s sanction program. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, denied that the oil was destined for Syria; did however not elaborate further.

Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr. Josep Borrell, said that Washington informed Spain about the impending capture by the UK of the Iranian tanker in Spanish territorial waters. Spain could have said ‘no’ – but didn’t. Why not? Afraid of sanctions?

The UK did the bidding of Washington against her own interests, because the UK was one of three EU countries – Germany, France and UK – who at least made appear as if they wanted to preserve their part of the Iran Nuclear Deal. Mind you, this is not for love of Iran, but pure business interest. Iran should be aware of that – meaning, Iran could be shot in the back at any time by the EU, by the very countries that try – or make appear they try – to circumvent the US sanctions.

What happened on 4 July was an act of sheer piracy, nothing less. A crime on high seas which the west just tolerated. The vessel is still under British control, while the arrested crew has since been liberated. Aside from the fact that Iran’s capture of the British oil tanker may look like tit for tat – Iran acted fully legitimate, as it’s Revolutionary Guard is policing the Strait of Hormus for security of other ships sailing through the narrow passage.

In one of his typical outbreaks of a madman, President Trump warned in a televised ‘fire and fury’ speech at the white House on Friday 19 July, “We have the greatest ships – the most deadly ships, we don’t want to have to use them. We hope for [Iran’s] sake they don’t do anything foolish. If they do, they will pay a price like nobody’s ever paid.”

Why would Trump not use the same language to warn the Brits for their pirating an Iranian vessel in Spanish waters? – well, we know this is the crazy, unbalanced and off-kilter world we live in. Its so normal, people in the west take this imbalance and injustice, this double-talk and hypocrisy as the gospel.

All indications are however, while building up a war scene, the US are seeking justification for what they had already called out – an alliance of the willing to send war ships to the Straight of Hormus to assure safe passage for ‘everybody’. Well, this would certainly not fly with Iran. But important to know is what’s behind this idea. Imagine the US navy and her puppet allies controlling the sea passage through which almost a third of all the world’s hydrocarbon sails every day – Washington would have one more tool to sanction, strangle countries they feel do not bend enough to Washington’s dictate. Their oil shipment would be withheld, to bring their economy down – this might be the most effective weapon yet.

World beware! Even those who are in favors with the self-declared hegemon, you never know when the pendulum may swing the other way, simply because the Israel-driven US of A may be on a whim aggression course against an imaginary enemy, or corporate interests are shifting — in conclusion nobody would be safe – and, the world economy could come crashing down, like a house of cards, making 2008 look like a walk in the park.

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst.

25 July 2019

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Ramzy Baroud

Seven-year-old Tariq Zabania from Al-Khalil (Hebron) was killed on the spot when an Israeli Jewish settler ran his car over him on July 15. Little Tariq’s photograph, lying face down on the road, was circulated on social media. His untimely death is heartbreaking.

Tariq’s innocent blood must not go in vain. For this to happen, we are morally obliged to understand the nature of Jewish settler violence, which cannot be viewed in isolation from the inherent racism in Israeli society as a whole.

We are all often guilty of perpetuating the myth that militant Jewish settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories are a different and distinct category from other Israelis who live beyond the so-called “Green Line”.

Undoubtedly, the violent mentality that propels Israeli society, wherever it is located, is not governed by imaginary lines but by a racist ideology, of which disciples can be found everywhere in Israel, not just in the illegal Jewish colonies of the West Bank.

Israel is a sick society and its ailment is not confined to the 1967 Occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

While Palestinians are imprisoned behind walls, fences and enclosed regions, Israelis are a different kind of prisoners, too. “A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness,” wrote the late anti-Apartheid hero and long-time prisoner, Nelson Mandela.

It is this racism and bigotry that makes Tariq invisible to most Israelis. For most Israelis, Palestinian children do not exist as real human beings, deserving of a dignified life of freedom. This callousness is a defining quality, common among all sectors of Israeli society – right, left and center.

An example is the terrorist attack carried out by Jewish settlers against the Palestinian Dawabshe family in the village of Duma, in the northern West Bank in July 2015, resulting in the death of Riham and Sa’ed, along with their 18-months old son, Ali. The only member of the family spared that horrific death was Ahmad, 4, who was severely burned.

This cruelty was further accentuated in the episodes that followed this criminal incident. Later that year, Israeli wedding guests were caught on tape while dancing with knives, chanting in celebration of the death of the Palestinian baby.

Three years later, as the Dawabshe family members were leaving an Israeli court, accompanied by Arab parliamentarians, they were greeted by a crowd of Israelis chanting “Where is Ali? Ali’s dead” and “Ali’s on the grill”.

The passing of time only cemented Israelis’ hatred of a little child whose only crime was his Palestinian identity.

The only survivor, Ahmad, was punished thrice: when he lost his whole family; with his severe burns and when he was denied compensation. The then Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, simply resolved that the boy was not a “terror victim.” Case closed.

Although the Dawabshes were killed by Jewish settlers, the Israeli court, army and political system all conspired to ensure the protection of the killers from any accountability.

This was no different in the case of Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria, who, on March 24, 2016, killed an unconscious Palestinian man in Hebron. In his defense, Azaria insisted that he was following army manual instructions in dealing with alleged attackers, while top Israeli government officials came out in droves to support him.

When Azaria was triumphantly released following only nine months in jail, he was hailed by many Israelis as a hero. Possibly, he will have a successful career in politics should he decide to pursue that route. In fact, he was courted by Israeli politicians to help them garner more votes in April’s general elections.

Condemning solely Jewish settlers while sparing the rest of Israeli society is equivalent to political whitewashing, one that presents Israel as a healthy society prior to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. This view presents Jewish settlements as a cancerous disease that is eating up at the otherwise proud and noble achievements of early Zionists.

It is convenient to classify Jewish settlers as rightwing extremists and to link them with Israel’s ruling right-wing political parties. But history proves otherwise.

It was Israel’s Labor Party that created the settlement projects originally, soon after the colonization of the West Bank. Some of Israel’s largest, and most militant colonial enterprises, in occupied East Jerusalem – Ramat Eshkol, Gilo, Ramot and Armon Hanatziv – are all the creation of the Labor Party, not the Likud.

Neither is the ‘settler’ a new phenomenon. Historically, the early settlers who preceded the establishment of Israel in 1948 were idealized as true Zionists, celebrated as “cultural heroes” – the Jewish redeemers, who eventually ethnically cleansed historic Palestine from its native inhabitants.

“The original Labor movement,” wrote Amotz Asa-El in The Jerusalem Post, “never thought settling beyond the Green Line was illegal, much less immoral.” If there was any debate in Israel regarding settlements, it was never truly concerned with the issue of legitimacy or legality, but practicality: whether these colonial projects can be sustained or defended.

Protecting the settlements is now the overriding task of the Israeli occupation army. The Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, which monitors the conduct of the Israeli army and Jewish settlers in the West Bank, explained the nature of this relationship in a report published in November 2017.

“Israeli security forces not only allow settlers to harm Palestinians and their property as a matter of course – they often provide the perpetrators escort and back-up. In some cases, they even join in on the attack,” B’Tselem wrote.

Another Israeli organization, Yesh Din, concluded in a report published earlier that 85% of cases involving settler violence against Palestinians are never pursued by law. Of the remaining cases, only 1.9% led to conviction, which is likely to be inconsequential.

Jewish settler violence should not be analyzed separately from the violence meted out by the Israeli army, but seen within the larger context of the violent Zionist ideology that governs Israeli society entirely.

This violence can only end with the end of the racist ideology that rationalizes murder, like that of little Tariq Zabania.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle.

25 July 2019

Source: countercurrents.org

By Jafar M Ramini

This is the morning after the night before. This is the reality check. This is the most ominous thing that could happen to us Palestinians at this stage of our struggle against occupation and persecution. Britain has its new Prime Minister.

Who is Boris Johnson? The shambolic, disheveled, stuttering Boris Johnson we all know is but an act. it is a put up job to hide the real ambitious, narcissist and vain man who will not stop at anything, no matter what it is, to achieve his goal. Witness what Martin Hammond, his house-master at Eton wrote to Boris’s father in 1982 while the boy Johnson was under his care.

“Boris really has adopted a disgracefully cavalier attitude to his classical studies . . . Boris sometimes seems affronted when criticised for what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility (and surprised at the same time that he was not appointed Captain of the School for next half): I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.”

So this is our new Prime Minister. He has a mixed heritage. He had a Turkish Muslim great grandfather on his father’s side and a Lithuanian Jewish Rabbi great grandfather on his mother’s side. He was born in New York, brought up in England, educated at Eton and finished off at Oxford via a must-do for aspiring Zionists, a spell at a Kibbutz. He was in Occupied Palestine in 1984 where he acquired his Zionist education and credentials.

“I am a passionate Zionist. I am a supporter of Israel. I believe in its existence. I’ve been on a kibbutz for heaven’s sake.” speaking on LBC radio, July 23 2019.

He is known for his strong views about the right of Israel to exist. Speaking in the House of Commons on the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, Johnson said in 2017: “A century after those words were written, I believe that the Balfour Declaration paved the way for the birth of a great nation. The State of Israel has prevailed over every obstacle, from the harshness of nature to the visceral hostility of its enemies, to become a free society with a thriving and innovative economy and the same essential values that we in Britain hold dear.

He never stopped to demonstrate his passion for Zionism and Israel. He does not shy away from ridiculing any supporters of Palestinian rights, specially the BDS movement. He has continuously criticised calls for a boycott of Israeli goods, describing the campaign as “completely crazy” and promoted by a “few lefty academics in corduroy jackets pursuing a cause”.

Welcome to the new Britain. Let’s hope we survive it.

Jafar M Ramini is a Palestinian writer and political analyst, based in London, presently in Perth, Western Australia.

25 July 2019

Source: countercurrents.org

By Countercurrents Collective

The Afghanistan government requested Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump explain his boast of terminating the Afghan war in 10 days by wiping out Afghanistan and its 10 million residents.

“The Afghan nation has not and will never allow any foreign power to determine its fate,” Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesperson for the President of Afghanistan, said in a statement.

The statement said: “Given the multifaceted relationship between Afghanistan and the United States, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan calls for clarification on the US President’s statements.”

The statement said: “The government underscores that foreign heads of state cannot determine Afghanistan’s fate in absence of the Afghan leadership.”

The strong Afghan response comes after Trump, following a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House on Monday, said that Pakistan could help broker a political settlement to end the nearly 18-year-old war in Afghanistan.

“If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don’t want to kill 10 million people,” Trump said, seated beside Imran Khan at the White House. “I have plans on Afghanistan, that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It would be gone. It would be over in – literally, in 10 days, and I don’t want to do – I don’t want to go that route.”

Fallout from the U.S. President’s remarks rippled through a tense and confrontational meeting in Kabul between the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

During the meeting, Afghan officials said Trump’s comments were “unacceptable”, given the relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan.

Afghan officials also told Khalilzad that Trump should show more respect for Ghani’s leadership. The State Department declined to comment.

The U.S. has been pursuing a diplomatic strategy to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan, holding on-again, off-again talks with the Taliban in Qatar to reach a peace deal. Earlier this month, a group of prominent Afghans – including some Afghan government officials acting in a personal capacity — held two days of joint talks with the Taliban, unofficially agreeing on a roadmap on how they might reach a peace deal.

Afghanistan government has been excluded from talks between the U.S. and the Taliban.

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of supporting the insurgency.

After the September 11 attacks in New York City, the U.S. government invaded Afghanistan as part of the so-called “war on terror”, with the objective to dismantle Al-Qaeda by removing the Taliban from power.

The U.S. is hoping Pakistan can help push the Taliban to directly meet with the Afghan government.

Khalilzad’s visit began just hours after Trump’s comments. He announced his arrival on Twitter Tuesday and said that he was there to focus on “achieving an enduring peace that ends the war, ensures terrorists do not use Afghanistan to threaten the US, honors the sacrifices that US, our allies & Afghans made, and cements an enduring relationship w/ Afghanistan.”

Afghan officials have also been concerned about the role that Pakistan has played in the peace negotiations with the Taliban.

While Trump described Pakistan as a helpful force in pushing ahead the peace process with the Taliban during his press appearance with Khan, that is not how Afghanis view Pakistan’s influence.

The Afghan government sees Pakistan as harboring and supporting terrorism in Afghanistan, including its support for the Taliban.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that the U.S. is prepared to remove American troops from Afghanistan, but has not agreed on a timeline.

Pompeo said he “hopes” a deal will be reached by September 1, ahead of the Afghan presidential elections later that month.

The Afghan government was the second country since Monday to push back against Trump’s remarks made during that Oval Office meeting with Khan.

Trump had claimed that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally asked him if he would like to be a mediator in the decades-long conflict between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region.

A spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, denied Trump’s claim, saying on Twitter that “no such request has been made” by Modi.

24 July 2019

Source: countercurrents.org

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky

On the night of June 19-20, Iran shot down a US Global Hawk reconnaissance UAV over the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump responded by calling for retaliatory air strikes against Iran.

In response to the President and Commander in Chief’s instructions, US Central Command (CENTCOM), confirmed the deployment of US Air Force F-22 stealth fighters at CENTCOM’s Middle East forward headquarters at the al-Udeid airbase in Qatar, with a mandate to “defend American forces and interests” in the region against Iran. (See Michael Welch, Persian Peril, Global Research, June 30, 2019).

And then Commander in Chief Donald Trump decided spontaneously to retract his decision to bomb Iran, while intimating in his tweet that:

“any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas overwhelming will mean obliteration”

According to the Washington Post

Early in the day, the president said he called off the attack at the last minute because it would have killed 150 people in retaliation for the downing of the drone. “We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die,” he tweeted.

But administration officials said Trump was told earlier Thursday how many casualties could occur if a strike on Iran were carried out and that he had given the green light that morning to prepare the operation.

The confusion reinforced concerns about the Trump administration’s credibility at a time of military crisis.

Trump’s concern for casualties was a smokescreen. What the Pentagon was concerned with was not only Iran’s ability to defend itself in the case of a US attack, but also its potential to strike back, targeting US military facilities in the Middle East.

In a bitter irony, the “high tech” Global Hawk AUV (“with state-of-the-art electronic protection”) was shot down by the “low tech” Raad anti-aircraft missile system, “which bears a striking resemblance to the outdated Soviet Kub (Cube) system”.

“That does not look good”. Visibly there was also an issue of self-esteem, face saving on the part of Donald Trump and failure of US advanced weapons systems.

While Iran possesses Russia’s S-300 air defense system (and will soon be acquiring Russia’s state of the art S-400), Tehran chose not to deploy its most advanced air defense system in the Strait of Hormuz:

The Raad has a modified homing head, and Iran may have received the homing head technology from Russia.This may explain why the US drone outfitted with state-of-the-art electronic protection failed to escape the attack of the Iranian missile.” (Dmitriy Sudakov, Pravda Report, July 15, 2019)

Sudakov’s analysis published by Pravda provides important details regarding the June 19-20 incident, focussing on Iran’s air defense capabilities as well as the vulnerability of the US in the case of an air attack.

It just so happens that the 15-ton giant drone worth $220 million with a wingspan of 40 meters failed to escape from an Iranian missile. Iran has ceased to reckon with the United States. Amir-Ali Hajizade, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, said that there was a P-8 Poseidon military aircraft flying next to the US UAV. The P-8 Poseidon was carrying 35 people on board. The military aircraft, the official said, invaded Iranian air space too, but Iran chose not to shoot the airplane down. Instead, Iran shot down the drone.

While the drone was brought down with an upgraded version of an outdated Soviet era technology, Iran is in possession (since 2015) of the S-300 Air defense system, which is considered to be more advanced than the US Patriot system:

In 2016, Iran bought four divisions of S-300 Favorit anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia. Each division includes 12 launchers. The Favorit (“Favorite”) range reaches 200 km; the system can easily eliminate all aircraft, including medium-range missiles.

It is worthy of note that Russia readies to launch a new generation of air defense systems known as S-500 Prometei (Prometheus), while the United States has not been able to design anything that could be superior to Russia’s S-300 missile complex. The THAAD system has a different purpose – to strike trans-atmospheric ballistic missiles. The Patriot system clearly lags behind the S-300. (Dmitriy Sudakov, Pravda Report, July 15, 2019)

According to Sudakov, “Iran can launch a total of about 400 S-300 missiles to distances up to 200 kilometres and 1,500 missiles – up to 40 kilometers.” What this suggests is that Iran has the ability to trigger extensive damage to US military installations in The Persian Gulf (including US military bases located in Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia).

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Featured image is from Mil.ru

16 July 2019

Source: www.globalresearch.ca

By Baraah Darazi

Palestinians recently marked 52 years since Israel started occupying the eastern part of Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque. However, celebrating Naksa Day this year has come with a new challenge, namely the so-called peace plan being tailored by the Donald Trump administration to allegedly resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the economic workshop in Bahrain declared as the first part of this plan. An old challenge, however, remains intact and can be traced to the Arab official stance, which is showing further deterioration away from the Palestinian issue and more inclination toward warm relations with Israel.

Between 1948 and 2019, Jerusalem endured much under Israeli occupation. Its western part has been completely cleansed of its Arab presence and rendered a Jewish area, while its eastern part is being subjugated to an unrelenting process of Judaization led by Israel to change its face and identity on the demographic, religious and cultural levels. To this end, Israel has employed different tools to turn Jerusalem into a city of Jewish majority and sought to use it as the “eternal capital of the Jewish people.” On the demographic level, the occupation has embraced a policy aimed at diminishing the Arab presence in Jerusalem, estimated in 2016 at 38 percent, to the lowest possible point. Different means have been incorporated to achieve this goal, including settlement construction and expansion, restricting building permits and demolishing Jerusalemite houses to serve the settlement enterprise.

The occupation in numbers
Numbers say much here: A report published by Haaretz in 2015 mentioned that only 7 percent of the building permits issued in Jerusalem between 2011 and 2015 went to Palestinian neighborhoods. While Jerusalemites need around 2,000 new housing units annually, half of them today live in unlicensed homes. Since 1967, Israel has destroyed more than 5,000 houses and just recently, its high court granted municipal authorities the right to demolish all 60 buildings in the Silwan neighborhood of Wadi Yasoul in addition to approving the demolition of 16 apartment buildings comprising around 100 apartments in the Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood of Sur Baher. Other means include stripping Jerusalemites of their permanent residency status and expelling them from their city. Noticeably, Israel has stripped more than 15,600 Jerusalemites of their residency status since 1967; whereas the number of those affected by this measure is far beyond this figure.

The separation wall surrounding the eastern side of Jerusalem is yet another tool to pursue demographic changes as its route is planned to put entire Arab neighborhoods, home to around 100,000 Jerusalemites, on the side of the West Bank. Key lawmakers in the Israeli Knesset have proposed that these neighborhoods be subject to regional authority and removed from the municipal borders of the occupation.

In addition to the above, Israel has crowned its Judaization policy with a total neglect of Jerusalemites’ rights as stipulated in international law. The dire situation in the eastern part of Jerusalem was recently criticized by Israel’s State Comptroller, regardless that his stance is based on the idea that Jerusalem is unified under Israeli sovereignty and its eastern part should not be receiving fewer services than those received in the western part.

Thus, the report released on June 2, 2019 denounced the lack of social services and educational opportunities as well as neglected sanitation and high poverty rates. It also talked about suspicions that the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority has not made sufficient effort to provide efficient and realistic services to the residents of the eastern side of Jerusalem.

In addition to the demographic mutation in Jerusalem, Israeli attempts are underway to change the city’s Arab and Muslim aspects through imposing religious and cultural changes. This is well demonstrated in threats imposed on Christian holy sites and in the targeting of Muslim holy sites, particularly Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has been subjected to a dangerous Judaization policy to serve the claims of temple movements.

Israel’s policy targeting Al-Aqsa can be summarized in its relentless attempts to change the historic status quo predating the Israeli occupation of the mosque in 1967, through the attempts to impose spatial and temporal division and place it under Israeli sovereignty while terminating Jordanian custodianship.

Cultural Judaization is also evident in the so-called national parks seeking to serve settlers and biblical narratives, and in changing the Arab names of villages, sites and streets in Jerusalem into Hebrew names. In this context, the occupation has Judaized more than 22,000 names in Jerusalem since 1948, and only lately the Israeli Municipality decided to name five streets in the Silwan neighborhood after Jewish rabbis.

Still, this is not the whole story and while this is the current trend embraced by Israel, the future does not seem to be brighter. A report published recently by the International Crisis Group has portended that, in 2045, Jews would be a minority in Jerusalem, which would push Israel to embrace more measures to prevent such a situation from crystallizing. Namely, it would excise Palestinian neighborhoods located east of the Separation Wall, entrenching its de facto annexation of most of eastern Jerusalem.

A bombshell plan
As the scene in Jerusalem is overwhelmed with Judaization, U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have adopted an approach completely biased in favor of the Israeli narrative and interests.

This was revealed, for example, in the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the U.S. Embassy to the occupied city, and the ongoing efforts to cancel the right of return. The economic workshop in Bahrain, held in June 2019, is yet another demonstration of American keenness on Israeli interests as it is meant to have Palestinians trade their rights for economic investments that would eventually serve the interests of the occupation. Even worse is the Arab official stance toward unfolding developments, accepting American plans in the region and embracing normalization with Israel while it continues to infringe on Palestinian rights.

This environment has made Israel more comfortable about proceeding with further Judaizing Jerusalem, thus ratcheting up its efforts to impose more facts on the ground. Expectations for Jews to become a minority in the city make it more likely for Israel to work exhaustively to prevent the development of such a change in the demographic balance, especially after Knesset elections in September 2019 and before Trump is completely engaged in the presidential race scheduled for 2020. In light of this, one sentence says it all about Judaization in the eastern side of Jerusalem: Tougher days are yet to come.

23 July 2019

Source: palestineupdates.com

By teleSUR

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) presented a statement condemning U.S. hostile policies against Venezuela.

21 Jul 2019 – Non-Aligned Countries demanded today that the United States Government immediately lift the economic and financial sanctions imposed on Venezuela.

In a statement signed by the members of the international organization, which met for two days in Caracas, the delegations of 120 NAM countries indicated that only Venezuela can decide its fate, no other State can intervene in accordance with the United Nations Charter.

NAM countries reject foreign intervention in the South American country and reiterated their commitment to redouble efforts aimed at channeling the Government and the Venezuelan opposition to find a peaceful solution to the problems of the country.

The group of countries supports the Montevideo mechanism, the mediation of Norway and other mechanisms that seek stability in Venezuela.

Prior to reading the statement in support of Venezuela, several representatives of the entity participated in a session held on Sunday morning, in the framework of the Ministerial Meeting.

Russian Deputy Minister Sergei Riabkov said that US measures are suffocating Venezuela.

For his part, the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javad Zarif, said that the sanctions of the United States against sovereign countries are part of pure terrorism.

22 July 2019

Source: www.transcend.org

By Dunja Mijatović

This happened with the complicity of a passive international community which knew what was happening but chose to look away.

Nermin Subašić was only 19 years old when paramilitary groups butchered him and scattered his bones in and around Srebrenica. Nermin was not the only one. More than 8,300 men, women and children were brutally slaughtered during the Srebrenica genocide, one of the darkest most heinous pages of Europe’s recent history. Their stories might have been forgotten if it were not for the Mothers of Srebrenica and Žepa.

These mothers, wives, and sisters have wiped away their tears and given their suffering a purpose. Not seeking revenge, for 24 years they have been relentlessly calling for justice. And they have a message for us: stop dehumanising the Other.

Many do not know and do not want to know about the Srebrenica genocide. Others think that it was a local issue, an accident of history that does not bear relevance for the rest of the world. This mindset is not only one of disinterest or relativism: it also reveals the underlying anti-Muslim feeling so common in Europe. The Srebrenica genocide undeniably had a religious matrix. Those human beings were killed only because they were Muslims. And this happened with the complicity of a passive international community which knew what was happening but chose to look away.

Those human beings were killed only because they were Muslims.

In this sense, the Srebrenica genocide is a mirror in which all of us Europeans should take a long, hard look at ourselves. Europe is certainly not on the verge of seeing another Srebrenica occurring any time soon. However, the resurgence of nationalist movements stomping across our continent and proclaiming themselves the defenders of a “Christian Europe of traditional values” does not bode well for the peaceful future of our society.

The defence of a “Christian Europe” does not bode well

In this context Muslims are, once again, among the preferred targets not only of extremist groups, but also of mainstream politicians. For centuries Europeans have looked at Muslims with wary eyes. However, since the string of terrorist acts which began with the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11, all Muslims have been tarred with the same brush and have been living in increasingly hostile societies.

Over the past two decades, reports have consistently warned against raising anti-Muslim feelings and practices in Europe. However, despite the compelling evidence, the situation has not improved. A report of the experts of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance published a few weeks ago has confirmed this and warned against the persistence of anti-Muslim feelings in most Council of Europe member states.

One only has to read reliable news sources to find evidence for this. In many European countries, Muslim women are frequently assaulted for wearing face veils or headscarves; mosques are being attacked and cemeteries desecrated; discriminatory practices make it harder for Muslims to get a job, a house or citizenship. Law enforcement officers still engage in the illegal practice of stopping and searching Muslims based only on their appearance. Since most new immigrants are from countries of Muslim faith, they are met with the same distrust and suspicion that European Muslims have endured for decades now.

Is this clear to Europe’s political leaders and decision makers?

Muslims are not alone. Hate incidents continue to scar the lives of Jews and Roma, who are also among the preferred scapegoats of those who still separate humankind into “races”, classes and hierarchies. This is compounded by a toxic, nationalistic, irresponsible and cynical discourse spread by many prominent political leaders in Europe. Where all this can lead is very clear to me and to many of my compatriots, but the question is if this is clear to the political leaders and decision makers in Europe and beyond?

I grew up in a country that no longer exists because of those who fanned the flames of ethnic hatred and division. I saw the brutality and bloodshed of rampant nationalism, the division it sows and the subtle ways in which it seduces with false promises.

It took its final form in deliberate acts intended to destroy a group of people – before the unseeing eyes of those who did not feel concerned.

By now, history should have taught us that such a situation only brings destruction. However, it seems that we have not listened carefully enough.

If we want to reverse this dangerous trend, we had better draw the right lessons from the Srebrenica genocide. It did not happen by accident and began well before its full horror became visible. It started when human beings were singled out because of their identity. It took shape with public discourse that dehumanised the Other and marginalised critical voices. It took its final form in deliberate acts intended to destroy a group of people – before the unseeing eyes of those who did not feel concerned by the situation.

Stand up now

As with any other genocide, what happened in Srebrenica has a meaning that goes well beyond the borders of where it took place. It tells us a cautionary tale. One that warns us that if we accept, condone or ignore attacks against specific groups of people, our societies will provide fertile ground for the seeds of hate to grow.

The message of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Žepais that we must not fall prey to this mistake again. They tell us that if we want to live as equals in diversity, if we want to live free from indoctrination, hate and violence, if we want future generations to have the same hopes and expectations as us, then we must stand up now.

We must defend the values and principles of equality, respect, diversity and inclusiveness on which Europe is based. The time has come to take sides and work together to replace the seeds of hate with those of respect.

Dunja Mijatović is the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and former Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe representative on freedom of the media.

22 July 2019

Source: www.transcend.org

By Jordan Shilton

The danger of a catastrophic military conflict in the Middle East involving the major powers grew Friday, as Iran seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. This came a day after US President Trump claimed that an American warship had downed an Iranian drone and prompted the US Air Force to announce that it was sending an armed air escort through the Strait to accompany an American commercial ship.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards reported Friday that it seized the Stena Impero for violating international maritime rules and regulations. The Swedish-owned ship, sailing under a British flag, turned off its transponder and failed to respond to Iranian warnings as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian media reports. The ship’s owner alleged that the Stena Impero was surrounded by small boats and a helicopter as it sailed in international waters.

The British government initially claimed that a second ship, the Mesdar, operated by British company Norbulk Shipping, was also seized. However, Iranian state media confirmed that it was allowed to continue its passage after being warned of “safety” violations.

The detention of the British ship comes after top Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, vowed to retaliate for Britain’s seizure earlier this month of an Iranian super tanker, Grace 1, in the overseas territory of Gibraltar. On Friday, the Gibraltar Supreme Court announced that it was extending the detention of Grace 1 until August 31, based on unproven British allegations that it was transporting oil to Syria in violation of European Union (EU) sanctions.

The extension of the ship’s seizure was finalized after Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, met in London for talks with UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, making clear that the source of the decision was not Gibraltar, but the British government.

Chief responsibility for the growing war danger in the Persian Gulf rests squarely with US imperialism, which has relentlessly escalated its provocations against Iran. In May 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord, then re-imposed devastating economic sanctions and initiated a military build-up across the region. This has included the deployment of an aircraft carrier and the drafting of plans to send 120,000 troops to the Middle East in the event of war. On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced the deployment of 500 troops to a Saudi air base, where the US plans to establish a Patriot missile battery.

Washington aims to bully the Iranian regime into accepting its complete subordination to US imperialism’s predatory economic and geopolitical interests in the energy-rich and strategically vital region. At the same time, the American ruling class is determined to consolidate its regional and global dominance vis-à-vis its geostrategic rivals, above all Russia and China.

Last month, the region teetered on the brink of war as Trump came within 10 minutes of launching devastating air strikes on Iranian radar and air defence facilities in retaliation for Iran’s downing of a US spy drone that entered Iranian air space. According to sources close to Trump who spoke anonymously to CNN Friday, the President has hardened his stance towards Tehran since the abortive attack and now speaks less often of reaching a negotiated settlement. The sources added that Trump told aides that if the conflict escalates, he would adopt “appropriate measures.”

Both Trump and Hunt exploited the Stena Impero’s seizure to issue new threats against Iran. Speaking at the White House, Trump denounced Tehran as “nothing but trouble,” while Hunt remarked that the disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz was “unacceptable” and warned that Iran would face “serious consequences” if it did not free the ship.

The State Department hosted a meeting of 100 diplomats Friday on establishing a coalition to secure “freedom of navigation” for ships in the region. Brian Hook, Trump’s special representative on Iran, appealed to the gathering to establish a “coalition of navies” to guarantee “maritime security.”

The British government convened a meeting of its Cobra emergency security council. Sections of the military and big business openly endorsed the military build-up against Iran, advocating military action. Lord West, the former First Sea Lord and an ex-Labour government minister, stated: “They are the ones who escalated by attacking one of our merchant ships, so if they attack one of our merchant ships then they get their comeuppance.”

Bob Sanguinetti, chief executive of the UK Chamber of Shipping, declared, “This incident represents an escalation. While we call for measured response, it is also clear that further protection for merchant vessels must be forthcoming to ensure enhanced security to guarantee free flow of trade in the region.”

The highly unstable character of all the regimes involved makes the danger of a bloody military conflagration all the greater. The latest incidents in the Strait of Hormuz occur at the end of a week in which Trump has denounced his political opponents in fascist terms, warning against subversive socialists and attacking critics of his policies as disloyal to the United States. This aggressiveness reflects the deep crisis of Trump’s government, whose policies are reviled by the vast majority of working people.

The British ruling elite is no less despised by working people. It confronts its greatest strategic crisis in peacetime with the impending Brexit and presides over a country riven by unprecedented levels of social inequality after a decade of vicious austerity.

A conflict in the Middle East, moreover, would further destabilise the global capitalist system, shaken by ever-deepening crises in recent years with the rise of trade conflicts and inter-imperialist rivalries. Friday’s incidents in the Strait of Hormuz, through which fully one fifth of total world oil exports are transported, were enough to send oil prices up by over $0.50 to $62.47 per barrel.

Iran’s seizure of merchant vessels, while mounted as retaliation for constant provocations launched by Washington and London, also reflects the desperation of the bourgeois-clerical regime in Tehran. An Associated Press report this week revealed that food prices in Tehran have shot up by between 50 and 100 percent in recent months. Prices for beef trebled and flour doubled between September 2018 and May 2019.

The devastating economic impact of US sanctions, which have already resulted in Iranian oil exports collapsing from 2.5 million to just 500,000 barrels per day, has left the government with virtually no means of combatting this rampant inflation. This in turn fuels social opposition among Iranian workers and poor to the Rouhani regime.

Desperate for a deal with imperialism to obtain the lifting of economic sanctions and enable Iran to export oil to and import much-needed foodstuffs and other products from the world market, the Iranian regime is lashing out recklessly. While it seizes tankers, it is at the same time offering to initiate talks.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif offered a significant concession to Washington. During a trip to New York for a United Nations meeting, he suggested that Tehran would accept a drastic intensification of permanent international inspections of its nuclear facilities in exchange for a relaxation of US sanctions. Previously, Zarif and other top officials insisted that Iran’s nuclear programme would not be discussed until sanctions imposed by Trump were lifted.

Predictably, Trump and other US officials dismissed Zarif’s offer out of hand, before making clear that the pressure on Iran would be increased. The US Treasury Department announced the blacklisting of a number of companies Thursday it claimed had helped Iran procure materials for its nuclear program.

Following the seizure of the Stena Impero, Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown, a spokesman for US Central Command, confirmed that aerial patrols through the Strait of Hormuz are being stepped up. Brown added that the US Navy was in contact with American ships travelling through the region to ensure their safety.

Behind the backs of the working class, the imperialist ruling elites are in the advanced stages of preparation to launch a catastrophic military conflict with Iran, threatening the lives of countless millions across the region and beyond. Under the guise of defending “maritime security,” an armada of warships, aircraft and troops from the US and its European allies is to be placed on a hair trigger in a region already simmering with great-power conflicts.

The urgent task now posed is the construction of a global anti-war movement led by the working class to oppose the ruling class’s war conspiracy and the capitalist profit system that is its source. Only an international socialist perspective can unify working people in the United States and Europe with their counterparts in Iran and across the Middle East in a common global struggle against imperialist war.

Originally published by WSWS.org

20 July 2019

Source: countercurrents.org

By Peter Koenig

What if tomorrow nobody but the Unites 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. A derivative 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 3rd time 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.

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst.

18 July 2019

Source: countercurrents.org