President Trump is out of options. So are his main vectors of information, the Israeli Firsters in his cabinet and family. Israel, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have lost the Syrian War and the ramifications of that are immense.
Because by losing this war the U.S. has been revealed as a paper tiger incapable of imposing its will on a world which is rapidly recoiling from its dominance.
Syria was the first time someone stood up and said, “No more.” Putin’s dramatic intervention in Syria was supported by all the same people in Trump’s crosshairs today: China, Iran and Hezbollah. Eventually, Turkey realized the U.S. could not be trusted, so they are targeted for economic destruction as well.
So, today’s impositions of new sanctions on Iran, the same playbook that Trump used against North Korea, is the only logical step on the path to the U.S. leaving the region.
Yes, you heard me, leaving the region.
Peak Stupidity
At a time when the optics are all about the U.S. acting in the most mad way imaginable, the reality is that intense bullying like this only comes from weakness. Trump has no other cards to play.
In October of 2015 I wrote in my then Newsletter for Newsmax:
Syria is the U.S.’ Waterloo. And this failure, along with the Fed’s indecision, creates
a clear moment of transition from one possible future to another. It marks the beginning of the Age of Russian Diplomacy and puts a period on post-Soviet Union
turmoil.
Since then I’ve described Putin’s intervention in Syria as the moment the peak of the U.S.’s ability to project power was revealed to the world.
Trump, this morning, thinks he’s going to make a liar out of me. The problem is that this move could be seen two years ago when he became the nominee of the Republican Party.
And, as such, preparations are in place to mitigate the worst of these sanctions. These sanctions, it cannot be over-stated enough, are the result of the Bill Browder Operationto give government the power to sanction individuals and companies not just countries via the Magnitsky Act and its sequel.
Putin didn’t have Magnitsky killed, Browder did. Because Magnitsky was the most likely person, as one of Browder’s accountants, who could out Browder for who he was and what he’d done.
The purpose of these sanctions is to ratchet up the level of financial control on global business by bypassing governments and go directly to the bottom line of the people who have the most to lose. To get them to do the bidding of those with power at the expense of those they perceive as having none.
But, as I pointed out on last night’s live stream, why does anyone think that Iran’s government is going to fall because the rial is in free fall when Venezuelans, who are literally starving to death, haven’t overthrown theirs?
The Response to Idiocracy
This morning Iran finally took off the controls on the rial. This is the right thing to do. The Iranian people have to stop using the dollar. It will be the moment of their true liberation from a corrupt system designed to keep them exactly where they are.
There is no way to fight this directly for Iran. They will have to de-dollarize and quickly. Because, if they sue for peace and are admitted back into the world of the dollar they will be its slave.
Because at any moment, Trump can just do this again whenever his whims suit him. The price for that will be losing control of their government, businesses and natural resources.
The same choice Browder et.al. put in front of Boris Yeltsin back in 1999.
And since Trump is operating under information mostly gleaned from Israeli sources or those with Israeli dual-citizenship (most of Trump’s cabinet), then what do you think his perception of reality is?
I’ve told you for months Trump has a blind spot about Iran. It will be his downfall as he loses another round of Big Stick Diplomacy. Yes, loses.
Back in April, Trump tried to disrupt the Aluminum market by instituting, over night with zero warning, crippling sanctions on Rusal, the Russian state aluminum company, which supplies 15% of the world’s aluminum.
The disruption to the markets was so severe the Treasury Department had to pull them back and give everyone six months to get in line. I’m sure Goldman made a few billion on the trade.
Now China is creating yuan-futures contracts for industrial metals to mitigate the effects of those sanctions when they go into effect later this year.
And this morning the Chinese petroyuan futures contract is limit up on the Shanghai exchange. It will be tomorrow as well. Iran will get paid for its oil. China will continue de-valuing the Yuan to protect emerging markets.
That was the dry-run for today, just like Trump bombing Al-Shairat in 2017 over a ‘beautiful piece of chocolate cake’ was. That bombing was a message to Iran and North Korea that Trump isn’t Obama.
Which is nonsense because Obama bombed millions, drone-struck U.S. citizens and put crippling sanctions on whoever his masters told him to.
As Putin says, “Presidents change, policy does not.”
The problem for Trump is that none of that worked. The Koreans pushed the U.S. to the bargaining table. Kim had a nuke. The U.S. only negotiates when it’s losing.
The peace process was led by Korea’s leadership and Trump had to go along for the signing ceremony.
Good for him.
Strength Through Peace
Trump’s tweet this morning is the essence of the authoritarian mindset and the height of hubris. And hubris is the downfall of every would-be-Emperor.
The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2018
Great Donald, why don’t you act like that’s what you truly want? North Korea was easy, the Koreans made it easy for you. But, Iran is a different animal. It’s too close to the powerful people who pull your strings and yank your chain.
I’ve said before, when you go nuclear there is no going back. So, now stating to the world that anyone doing business with Iran will be cut off completely from the U.S. will hurt everyone, especially Americans.
So, Trump is going to bar Americans from buying iPhones because Apple sold a single iPhone today in Tehran?
That’s what this statement implies.
So, who blinks here? China? The U.S. economy cannot substitute domestic goods for Chinese.
But, Trump thinks 4% GDP growth, an artifact of changes in tax policy and last year’s weak dollar, will win him the day going into the mid-terms while being tough on Iran, the bogeyman, for his base.
It won’t. He’ll win the mid-terms and that’s a good thing. But, Iran will survive this. If they were going to cave in they would have done so weeks ago.
Rouhani would have met with Trump.
Sanctions like this either work in the first 15 days or they never achieve their goal. Just ask the Saudis about Qatar, the most recent example.
Or let’s discuss Cuba, North Korea?
Sanctions are an act of war. Trump thinks he’s leading a holy crusade for World Peace via a policy of ‘Peace Through Strength.’ When the sad truth is that it is countries like Iran, North Korea and Russia that have embodied this principle.
North Korea built a nuclear missile capable of devastation with Iran’s help. No one is denying this. But, look what that weapon achieved? An end to an unnecessarily frozen conflict for nearly 70 years.
Now it’s Iran’s turn to go through the motions of surviving Trump’s bravado over the same ‘weapon.’
Putin has elevated Russian Diplomacy and military competence to a level unchallenged in the world today. It’s the reason Trump is not threatening Iran with invasion. Putin’s military superiority ensures a cost on the U.S. that is not tolerable to Americans.
Pride Goeth …
The bluff here is that Iran has to cave if Trump unites the world behind him; a man who has alienated nearly every other world leader.
So, the real question is why? What’s the end-game here? Trump knows he can’t win this financial war of attrition but he still has to wage it.
There are no good answers to this question because all of them are equally plausible:
- Trump is purposefully pushing countries away to let them exit NATO (Turkey, Germany)
- Trump is beholden to Zionist leadership embedded deep in the U.S. government and has little real negotiating room
- Trump is delusional and believes he won against North Korea
- Trump is working towards the multi-polar world counter-intuitively while being bound down by Deep State/Shadow Government forces he can’t control.
The only interpretation of Trump’s behavior I dismiss out of hand is the Left’s argument that he’s both incompetent and corrupt. He knows what he’s doing. Whether he will achieve his goals is a different story.
Lastly, never forget that Trump may be all of the things I’ve accused him of today and still wind up with World Peace, in spite of himself.
Don’t worry, he won’t miss the opportunity to take the credit. While we all breathe a huge sigh of relief if is does.
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