(via JBS HQ)
Category: Foreign Policy
Video: On the line from Voice of America
Via Voice of America.
Patrick J. Buchanan points out why there are no jobs in America
This is something that I have said for a while now too.:
America is something new in the way of world powers. We not only provide the legions to protect “allies,” but provide the tribute in the form of foreign aid, IMF and World Bank loans, and bailout billions.
Moreover, America has thrown open her home market, largest in the world at $17 trillion, to Europe, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and even China, and invited them to come and capture it from our manufacturers.
In a quarter century, these trade partners have run up $10 trillion in trade surpluses at our expense, eviscerating our industrial base to where Detroit looks like Dresden in 1945.
But while we preach free trade our partners practice protectionism.
The Chinese undervalue their currency to keep imports low and exports high. We are too timid to confront them. The Europeans put value-added taxes on imports from the USA, and rebate the VAT on exports to the USA.
The Japanese, who look on trade as a form of warfare, killed our TV industry and now own huge slices of our auto market.
Last year, Tokyo ran a $60 billion trade surplus at our expense. After our trade deal with South Korea, Seoul’s trade surplus at our expense shot up 25 percent to a record $20 billion. China ran a $318 billion trade surplus with us in 2013, up from $313 billion in 2012.
Our trade deficits finance both the growth of our allies and our adversaries.
via The Philanthropic Superpower – Patrick J. Buchanan – Official Website.
All of the above is a really good reason there are no jobs here. Pat has a very good point about Detroit too. The problem is, that there are two political parties here in America; the stupid party on the left and the war party on the right. Neither of them are committed to preserving the American worker and protecting jobs here. If anything, both parties are committed to keep the élite rich and the crony capitalists protected.
As a result of this, everyday American workers like myself, cannot find jobs at all. As a result of this, everyday Americans workers like myself are forced to sign up for state-paid Medicaid; as so not to be a burden on their families with medical expenses, because of ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure and A.D.H.D. It is indeed a new America — people, like myself; are unemployed and are on state-paid medicaid and are hardly able to get by — robbing them of the American Dream — all the while the President of the United States of America racks up a $40 million dollar vacation tab on the taxpayers dime. In a sane world, that alone would be grounds for impeachment.
But we don’t live in a sane world anymore. We live in the Obama-World, flanked by the stupid party on the left and the war party on the right — and it’s not changing anytime soon. Pat ends his piece with this:
As China’s military power grows, and U.S. armed forces shrink, our allies had best prepare for the day, not too distant, when America decides she will no longer play the philanthropic superpower, and gives up the role and goes home.
As all world powers eventually do.
This time is coming sooner than many think; either that, or it will collapse on itself. God-willing, I will survive that collapse. The question is — will everyone?
Why should U.S. not meddle in the Ukraine Situation?
Because of this here, kudos to Lew Rockwell and his friends for bringing it up:
Ukraine is a dangerous situation because the U.S., at least verbally, is threatening Russia and because Putin and Obama, at least in public, analyze, understand and see the situation there in very different ways. We do not know what was said when Obama and Putin recently conversed at length by telephone. The U.S. and E.U. have embraced the revolution, while Russia does not see that riots are part of a democratic process.
A key problem in Ukraine is that there is a strong right-wing, ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi type party and other similar groups that have played a key role in generating the violence that brought down the government and breaking an agreement reached in late February. Putin’s rationale for a Russian presence in Ukraine includes reference to this destabilizing and violent element. On the other hand, the public statements of Kerry and Obama focus almost solely on Russia’s reactions and on generalities about democracy and the Ukrainian people. Putin has not, however, said anything against that democratic aspiration. He sees the Svoboda party as having undermined it.
Update: Now a major Memeorandum topic.
John Podhoretz gets exposed for the intolerant Trotskyite that he truly is
This is great; a Trotskyite Zionist goes for a debate; and the minute he sees that he is losing the debate — he storms off the stage, takes his marbles and goes home.
I am referring to the greatest Trotskyite, Zionist, Neoconservative of them all — John Podhoretz.
See here, here, here and here.
Money quote:
Bottom line: I’d had a long day and I didn’t see the point in spending more of it getting booed and shushed. So I left. So sue me.
If only we could sue you and your family for all the trillions of dollars — and the 4000+ lives that were wasted in the Iraq War —- which you and your satanic Father were cheerleaders for, after 9/11. Actually, I would very much like to see criminal charges filed against you and few of your Trotskyite friends as well. However, as we realists know; that will never happened to a protected class as yourself.
You want to know what got wrong with Conservatism? You want to know why the GOP is in the shape that it is in? Look no further than this man here and his idiotic Trotskyite magazine that he runs. They are the true enemies of America; they are the ones who put us in the war that almost broke this Nation and ruined its standing in the world.
It is a pity that there is not true justice in this Nation of ours; otherwise, this man and his friends would be sitting in jail cells.
If I were the US, I would tell Afghanistan’s Karzai, “Sign the agreement or we leave in 48 hours!”
Next year?!?! How about in 48 hours?
The Story:
KABUL, Afghanistan –The White House threatened to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan next year, after President Hamid Karzai refused to sign a new bilateral security agreement.
Over the weekend, officials in Afghanistan endorsed a security deal that would keep United Stations troops in the nation beyond next year, but President Hamid Karzai denied the request. He wants the U.S. to bring more security to the country first. NBC’s Richard Engel reports.
The two countries remain deadlocked over future military involvement after an unsuccessful working dinner between Ambassador Susan Rice and Karzai at his palace in Kabul on Monday night.
In a statement, the White House said Karzai had outlined new conditions for a deal “and indicated he is not prepared to sign the BSA promptly.”
“Ambassador Rice reiterated that, without a prompt signature, the U.S. would have no choice but to initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no U.S. or NATO troop presence in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
via US to Afghanistan’s Karzai: Sign security deal or we’ll pull out all troops next year – World News.
If I were the President and Susan Rice, I would simply tell Karzai that either he signs the agreement or our forces would be out of Afghanistan in 48 hours. However, before that, I would quite forcefully remind Karzai that the only reason he and his predecessor were even elected to power; was because the United States of America overran the Taliban by Military force and forced them to allow a democratically elected Government.
I would also tell him this; If we leave in 48 hours and your Government gets overran by the Taliban again and you happen to find yourselves under the Islāmic extremists again — do not call us, because the United States will NOT be coming back here at all. The United States came to Afghanistan to get Osama Bin Laden after 9/11 and in the process of that, defeated the Taliban. We got our man and our being here is now moot. Now, this idiot is playing hardball; well, I would play it right back; and tell him that either he signs or we leave — and he can deal with the fallout, we did our job as far as this writer is concerned. We really do not need to be there; but for the sake of a few kids, who we don’t want to see living under extreme Islāmic rule.
Next year… 🙄 What is that going to do? Buy Karzai some time? I think it is time that we got tough with Karzai and tell him, “Either get with the program or we’re done with you and this Nation.”
Just my opinion.
My feelings on this Iranian deal
As you all know, there is a new agreement between the rest of the world and Iran now.
There is also a good deal of partisan and racial hand wringing on the right. Especially among the neoconservative Jewish right. 🙄 Not to mention Israel’s leadership, who are almost quite literally bouncing off the walls. To be fair about it; so are the Saudis. To get a good feel for just how bad the wall bouncing is; go have a look at the round-up of neoconservative and otherwise bloggers at Memeorandum.
A good place for a non-biased and non-partisan look at the details is found at Business Insider.
Here is my official take on the Iranian deal:
Some are calling this a huge blunder. I am not so sure about how much of a “blunder” it might be. But, rather an interesting move by the Obama Administration. They have actually been able to do something that no other presidential Administration has been able to do. They actually have gotten Iran to agree to a formal written agreement on nukes and nuke enrichment.
The upside to this: The Iranians will be able to pursue nuclear energy and will be able to power their Country; that is provided they stick to the terms of the agreement. Which is great, provided they actually do this. I would like to think that they would do such a thing.
However, I am a realist; and I also happen to know Iran’s track record on telling the truth, since the time that the Shah was deposed.
Here is the downside and yes, there is always one of those:
The downside to this agreement is this; if the Iranians renege on this agreement and the US and other Country tear up this agreement, then we are going to have another problem. Iran will be considered an unstable rogue nation and then, the war drums towards Iran will be begin beating in earnest on both sides of the aisle. As it is now, the neoconservative hawks in the Republican Party want to go war with the Iranians so bad that they can taste it. If Iran welches on the agreement; then both sides are going to have the argument that Iran’s leadership must be toppled and the war must happen.
I am not so sure that such a thing would even happen under Obama’s watch, as he does want to be seen as the President that tried to reach out to the Iranians with a fig leaf. However the next President would have to come in and deal with a situation as such. If the deal is reneged on; the war hawks would have their piece of leverage that they would really need to make the case for war.
To be fair, I have seen skepticism in both parties; and that is a good thing. I think that blindly trusting Iran is a futile mistake. However, I believe that Iran has just been given their own fair shot. If Iranians play their cards right, we might be seeing a new era. However, the skeptic in me thinks that the US and the major Nations have just baited a trap of war for the Iranians and they were actually foolish enough to walk right into it. For the sake of the future of this Nation and the World, I hope like the devil that I am wrong. However, knowing things like I do; I sadly believe that I am not.
A very good point
I suggest you read the whole thing; but the quote below sums up my feelings about United States Wilsonian foreign policy.
Quote:
Why should anyone trust a U.S. friendship? Henry Kissinger even said himself, “To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal”. Military Empires are very fickle. One day you’re a hero and a provider of “stability”, and the next there’s a bomb falling from the sky with your name on it.
So much for a stable and safe Iraq!
Here’s more of that mess left in Iraq by the Neoconservatives and Bush:
BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and another detonated his explosives inside a cafe north of the capital, the deadliest of several attacks across Iraq on Saturday that killed at least 66 people.
The killings, which also included attacks on journalists and anti-extremist Sunni fighters, are part of the deadliest surge in violence to hit Iraq in five years. The accelerating bloodshed is raising fears that the country is falling back into the spiral of violence that brought it to the edge of civil war in the years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The extent of the carnage from the evening attack on the pilgrims became clearer as midnight approached, when officials sharply revised the death toll upward to at least 42. Another 80 were reported injured.
The bomber detonated his explosives at a checkpoint as the pilgrims passed through the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah en route to a prominent Shiite shrine in the nearby neighborhood of Kazimiyah, according to police officials. At least four policemen manning the checkpoint were among the dead, the officials said.
Around the same time, another suicide bomber blew himself up in a cafe in the town of Balad, a largely Shiite town surrounded by Sunni communities about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Balad Mayor Malik Lefta said at least 13 people were killed and 22 were wounded in that attack.
He said the cafe was the same one hit by a deadly suicide bombing in August.
via Associated Press.
This is what happens when you start wars based upon bad intelligence from Germany; and then do not bother to “trust, buy verify.” You get an unstable middle east and a country racked by violence. This is what happens when you allow a group of people, who make up 2% of the population of the United States and even less of the rest of the World; direct your foreign policy. When they are not doing this, they are persecuting Christians.
They, like the Muslims; are truly a menace and should be treated as such.
Awesome quote about Wilsonian Foreign Policy
To this, I simply say — Well put!
“Promoting democracy” is nothing more than cover, with the goal being U.S. control. Even when a democratic election takes place in a land that the U.S. has conquered, the elected leader must toe the line. If he doesn’t, he is removed. The most recent example being in Egypt, but there have been many others over the years like Algeria, Gaza, and Iran (where the CIA overthrew the elected Mohammad Mossadegh and installed the Shah in 1953).
The democracy cover is also used at home in the US as well. As long as there is no resistance from the American public to the empire building overseas, neocons are on board. But what happens when resistance appears?
via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity : The ‘Promoting Democracy’ Trick.
This quote above sums up my issues with Wilsonian foreign policy. Not to mention that America is not a Democracy, but rather is a Constitutional Republic. The sad part is that anytime anyone speaks out against Wilsonian foreign policy, those people find themselves labelled by its promoters as Anti-Semites by the likes of those who write at Commentary Magazine.