# entry

guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544443
title: The Geopolitics of Peace — Jeffrey Sachs in the European Parliament, by Jeffrey D. Sachs
author: ;Jeffrey D. Sachs
link: https://www.unz.com/article/the-geopolitics-of-peace-jeffrey-sachs-in-the-european-parliament/
hash: ��] �\�+{N�g7��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/themes/unzSite/IMAGES/unz_large_logo.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VjcMoDFU1xg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" title="The Geopolitics of Peace - Jeffrey Sachs in the European Parliament" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin">[embedded content]</iframe></p>
<p wcount="2" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a title="https://youtu.be/VjcMoDFU1xg'" href="https://youtu.be/VjcMoDFU1xg" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a></span></p>
<p wcount="2" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Edited Transcript:</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="1" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Introduction</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="326" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Michael, thank you so much, and thanks to all of you for the chance to be together and to think together. This is indeed a complicated and fast-changing time and a very dangerous one. So, we really need clarity of thought. I’m especially interested in our conversation, so I’ll try to be as succinct and clear as I can be. I’ve watched the events very close-up in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine, very closely for the last 36 years. I was an adviser to the Polish government in 1989, to President Gorbachev’s economic team in 1990 and 1991, to President Yeltsin’s economic team in 1991 to 1993, and to President Kuchma’s economic team in Ukraine in 1993 to 1994. I helped introduce the Estonian currency. I helped several countries in former Yugoslavia, especially Slovenia. After the Maidan, I was asked by the new government to come to Kyiv, and I was taken around the Maidan, and I learned a lot of things firsthand. I’ve been in touch with Russian leaders for more than 30 years. I also know the American political leadership close-up. Our previous Secretary of Treasury, Janet Yellen, was my wonderful macroeconomics teacher 52 years ago. We have been friends for a half century. I know these people. I say this because what I want to explain in my point of view is not second-hand. It’s not ideology. It’s what I’ve seen with my own eyes and experienced during this period. I want to share with you my understanding of the events that have befallen Europe in many contexts, and I’ll include not only the Ukraine crisis, but also Serbia 1999, the wars in the Middle East, including Iraq, Syria, the wars in Africa, including Sudan, Somalia, Libya. These are to a very significant extent the result of deeply misguided US policies. What I will say may well surprise you, but I speak from experience and knowledge of these events.</span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*1)</sup> Edited transcript of Professor Jeffrey Sachs’ speech in the European Parliament at an event titled “The Geopolitics of Peace”, hosted by former UN Assistant Secretary General and current BSW MEP Michael von der Schulenburg, on February 19, 2025. The transcript has been edited for clarity and annotated in footnotes and hyperlinks.</em></span></p>
<p wcount="9" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>The Geopolitics of Peace<br>i. U.S. Foreign Policy</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="84" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">These are wars that the United States has led and caused. And this has been true for more than 30 years now. The United States came to the view, especially during 1990-91, and then with the end of the Soviet Union, that the US now runs the world, and that the US does not have to heed anybody’s views, red-lines, concerns, security viewpoints, international obligations, or any UN framework. I’m sorry to put it so plainly, but I do want you to understand.</span></p>
<p wcount="112" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I tried very hard in 1991 to get financial help for Gorbachev,<em><sup>(*2)</sup></em> who I think was the greatest statesman of our modern time. I recently read the archived memo of the National Security Council discussion of my proposal on June 3, 1991, reading for the first time how the White House completely dismissed it, and essentially laughed off the table my plea for the US to help the Soviet Union with financial stabilization and with financial aid to make its reforms. The memo documents that the US Government decided to do the very minimum to prevent disaster, but just the minimum.<em><sup>(*3)</sup></em> They decided that it’s not the US job to help. Quite the contrary.<em><sup>(*4)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="131" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">When the Soviet Union ended in 1991, the view became even more exaggerated. And I can name chapter and verse, but the view was we [the US] run the show. Cheney, Wolfowitz, and many other names that you will have come to know literally believed this is now a US world, and we will do as we want. We will clean up from the former Soviet Union. We will take out any remaining Soviet-era allies. Countries like Iraq, Syria, and so forth will go. And we’ve been experiencing this foreign policy for now essentially 33 years. Europe has paid a heavy price for this because Europe has not had any foreign policy during this period that I can figure out. No voice, no unity, no clarity, no European interests, only American loyalty.</span></p>
<p wcount="169" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There were moments where there were disagreements and, I think, very wonderful disagreements. The last time of significance was 2003 in the lead-up to the Iraq war when France and Germany said we don’t support the United States going around the UN Security Council for this war. That war was directly concocted by Netanyahu and his colleagues in the US Pentagon.<em><sup>(*5)</sup></em> I’m not saying that it was a link or mutuality. I’m saying it was a war carried out for Israel. It was a war that Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith coordinated with Netanyahu. And that was the last time that Europe had a voice. I spoke with European leaders then, and they were very clear, and it was quite wonderful to hear their opposition an unacceptable war. Europe lost its voice entirely after that, but especially in 2008. What happened after 1991, and to bring us to 2008, is that the United States decided that unipolarity meant that NATO would enlarge somewhere from Brussels to Vladivostok, step by step.</span></p>
<p wcount="43" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*2) Which became part of a project led by Prof. Graham Allison at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with Gorbachev economic advisor Grigory Yavlinsky and published in the book Window of Opportunity: The Grand Bargain for Democracy in the Soviet Union, Pantheon Books, 1991.</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="104" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*3) Richard Darman, at the OMB, put it this way. “In defining the U.S. interest, we need to be somewhat Machiavellian. What is the minimum amount necessary to mollify a regime with which we wish to work on other ma]ers? In other words, what is the bare minimum to keep things moving. I don’t believe we need to worry about the USSR’s decomposi^on. If this is our internal understanding, then we can go ahead publicly.” Later, Darman adds, “I want to</sup></em> <strong><em><sup>seem</sup></em></strong> <em><sup>serious while not fooling ourselves. We have enough ingredients already for a good PR package.” (Emphasis in original)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="34" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*4) See also my paper “How the Neocons Chose Hegemony Over Peace in the Early 1990s,” available here: h]</sup></em><em><sup><u>ps://<a title="http://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-ar" href="http://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-ar" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-ar</a>^cles/bfsmbpe4plx7cc6lgxhf37lx249r22?rq=how%20the%20neocons</u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="24" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*5) See Dennis Fritz, Deadly Betrayal: The Truth about why the United States Invaded Iraq, OR Books, 2024. Link here: h]</sup></em><em><sup><u>ps://<a title="http://orbooks.com/catalog/deadly-betrayal/" href="http://orbooks.com/catalog/deadly-betrayal/" rel="noreferrer noopener">orbooks.com/catalog/deadly-betrayal/</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="3" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>ii. NATO Expansion</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There would be no end to eastward enlargement of NATO. This would be the US unipolar world. If you play the game of Risk as a child like I did, this is the US idea: to have the piece on every part of the board. Any place without a US military base is an enemy, basically. Neutrality is a dirty word in the US political lexicon.</span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Neutrality is perhaps the dirtiest word according to the US mindset. If you’re an enemy, we know you’re an enemy. If you are neutral, you are a subversive, because you’re really against us, but just not telling us. You’re only pretending to be neutral. So, this was indeed the mindset, and the decision was taken formally in 1994 when President Clinton signed off on NATO enlargement to the east.</span></p>
<p wcount="80" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">You will recall that on February 7, 1990, Hans-Dietrich Genscher and James Baker III spoke with Gorbachev. Genscher gave a press conference afterwards where he explained that NATO will not move eastward.<em><sup>(*6)</sup></em> Germany and the US would not take advantage of the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. Understand, please, that this commitment was made in a juridical and diplomatic context, not a casual context. These commitments were core to the negotiations to end World War II that made way for German reunification.</span></p>
<p wcount="74" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">An understanding was reached that NATO will not move one inch eastward.<em><sup>(*7)</sup></em> And it was explicit, and it is in countless documents. And just look up National Security Archive of George Washington University, and you can get dozens of documents.<em><sup>(*8)</sup></em> It’s a website called “What Gorbachev Heard About NATO.” Take a look, please, because everything you’re told by the US about this promise is a lie, but the archives are perfectly clear.</span></p>
<p wcount="55" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So, the decision was taken by Clinton in 1994 to expand NATO all the way to Ukraine. This is a long-term US project. This is not due to one administration or another. This is a US government project that started more than 30 years ago. In 1997, Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote <em>The Grand Chessboard</em>, describing the NATO enlargement eastward.</span></p>
<p wcount="71" data-sanitized-id="p_1_21" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">That book is not just the musings of Mr. Brzezinski. That is his presentation to the public of decisions <em>already made</em> by the United States government, which is how a book like this works. The book describes the eastward enlargement of Europe and of NATO as simultaneous and conjoined events. And there’s a good chapter in that book that asks, what will Russia do as Europe and NATO expand eastward?</span></p>
<p wcount="93" data-sanitized-id="p_1_22" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I knew Zbig Brzezinski personally. He was very nice to me. I was advising Poland, and he was a big help. He was also a smart man, and yet he got everything wrong in 1997. In 1997, he wrote in detail why Russia could do nothing but accede to the eastward expansion of NATO and Europe.<em><sup>(*9)</sup></em> In fact, he says the eastward expansion of Europe and not just Europe, but NATO. This was a US plan, a project. And Brzezinski explains how Russia will never align with China. Unthinkable. Russia will never align with Iran.</span></p>
<p wcount="119" data-sanitized-id="p_1_23" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">According to Brzezinski, Russia has no vocation other than the European vocation. So, as Europe moves east, there’s nothing Russia can do about it. So, says yet another American strategist. Is it any question why we’re in war all the time? Because one thing about America is we always “know” what our counterparts are going to do, and we always get it wrong! And one reason we always get it wrong is that in the non-cooperative game theory that the American strategists play, you don’t actually talk to the other side. You just know what the other side’s strategy is. That’s wonderful. It saves so much time. You simply don’t need any diplomacy.</span></p>
<p wcount="8" data-sanitized-id="p_1_24" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*6)</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=677cc347ff&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=677cc347ff&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogM0EjYbPRk</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="26" data-sanitized-id="p_1_25" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*7) It was an agreement, albeit verbal, as Gorbachev emphasized to the US and Germany the importance of the US- German pledge not to expand NATO eastward.</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="27" data-sanitized-id="p_1_26" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*8) Many of the key documents are here</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=03e0385ea5&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=03e0385ea5&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early</a></u></sup></em> <em><sup>and here</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=71f510902b&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=71f510902b&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2018-03-16/nato-expansion-what-yeltsin-heard</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="112" data-sanitized-id="p_1_27" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*9) Here is what Brzezinski writes: “Russia’s only real geostrategic op^on—the op^on that could give Russia a realis^c interna^onal role and also maximize the opportunity of transforming and socially modernizing itself—is Europe. And not just any Europe, but the transatlan^c Europe of the enlarging EU and NATO. Such a Europe is taking shape, as we have seen in chapter 3, and it is also likely to remain linked closely to America. That is the Europe to which Russia will have to relate, if it is to avoid dangerous geopoli^cal isola^on.” Brzezinski, Zbigniew. The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic ImperaEves (p. 118). Basic Books. 1997.</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_28" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>iii. The Black Sea Strategy</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="44" data-sanitized-id="p_1_29" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So, this project began in earnest in 1994, and we have had a continuity of government policy for 30 years until maybe yesterday, perhaps.<em><sup>(*10)</sup></em> A thirty-year project. Ukraine and Georgia were the keys to the project. Why? Because America learned everything it knows from the British.</span></p>
<p wcount="106" data-sanitized-id="p_1_30" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">We are the wannabe British Empire. And what the British Empire understood in 1853, with Mr. Palmerston, excuse me, Lord Palmerston [together with Napoleon III], is that you surround Russia in the Black Sea, and you deny Russia access to the Eastern Mediterranean. What you’re watching is an American project to do the same in the 21st century. The US idea was that there would be Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia all in NATO, that would deprive Russia of any international status by blocking the Black Sea and essentially by neutralizing Russia as little more than a local power. Brzezinski is clear about this geography.</span></p>
<p wcount="34" data-sanitized-id="p_1_31" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">After Palmerston and before Brzezinski, there was of course Halford Mackinder in 1904: “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World- Island; Who rules the World-Island commands the world.”<em><sup>(*11)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="190" data-sanitized-id="p_1_32" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I’ve known the presidents and/or their teams. Nothing changed much from Clinton to Bush Jr. to Obama to Trump to Biden. Maybe they got worse step by step. Biden was the worst in my view. Maybe this is also because he was not <em>compos mentis</em> for the last couple of years. I say that seriously, not as a snarky remark. The American political system is a system of image. It’s a system of media manipulation every day. It is a PR system. You could have a president that basically doesn’t function and have that person in power for two years and run for reelection. The one thing is he had to stand on a stage for 90 minutes by himself, and that was the end of it. Had it not been that glitch, he would have gone on to have his candidacy, whether he was sleeping after 4 PM in the afternoon or not. So, this is the reality. Everybody goes along with it. It’s impolite to say what I’m saying because we don’t speak the truth about almost anything in this world right now.</span></p>
<p wcount="71" data-sanitized-id="p_1_33" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So, this project went on since the 1990s. Bombing Belgrade 78 straight days in 1999 was part of this project. Splitting apart that country when borders are “sacrosanct,” aren’t they? Except for Kosovo, that is. Borders are sacrosanct except when America changes them. Breaking apart Sudan was another related US project. Consider the South Sudan rebellion. Did that just happen because South Sudanese rebelled? Or shall I give you the CIA playbook?</span></p>
<p wcount="85" data-sanitized-id="p_1_34" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Let us please understand as grown-ups what this is about. Military campaigns are costly. They require equipment, training, base camps, intelligence, finance. That support comes from big powers. It doesn’t come from local insurrections. South Sudan did not defeat Sudan in a tribal battle. Breaking Sudan was a US project. I would go often to Nairobi and come across US military or Senators or others with a “deep interest” in Sudan’s internal politics. That war was part of the game of US unipolarity.</span></p>
<p wcount="18" data-sanitized-id="p_1_35" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*10) I refer to the Trump-Pu^n phone call of February 12, 2025 and the statements that followed in quick succession.</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="20" data-sanitized-id="p_1_36" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*11) Mackinder wrote in 1919 the book DemocraEc Ideals and Reality, building upon his earlier work The Geographical Pivot of History from 1904.</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="8" data-sanitized-id="p_1_37" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>iv. U.S. Foreign Policy and NATO Expansion</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="73" data-sanitized-id="p_1_38" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">And so, NATO enlargement, as you know, started in 1999 with Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Russia was extremely unhappy about it, but these were countries still far from Russia’s border. Russia protested, but, of course, to no avail. Then George Bush Jr. came into office. When 9/11 occurred, President Putin pledged all support to the US. And then the US decided around September 20, 2001, that it would launch seven wars in five years!</span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_39" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">You can listen to General Wesley Clark on video speak about that.<em><sup>(*12)</sup></em> He was NATO’s Supreme Commander in 1999. He went to the Pentagon around September 20, 2001. He was handed a piece of paper explaining the prospect of seven US wars of choice. These were, in fact, Netanyahu’s wars.</span></p>
<p wcount="120" data-sanitized-id="p_1_40" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The US Government plan was partly to clean up [remove] old Soviet allies and partly to take out supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah. Netanyahu’s idea was and is that there will be one state, thank you, in all pre-1948 Palestine. Yes, only one state. It will be Israel. Israel will control all the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. And if anyone objects, we will overthrow them. Well, not Israel, exactly, but more specifically our friend, the United States. That’s been US policy until this morning. We don’t know whether it will change. Now the only wrinkle is that maybe the US will “own Gaza” [according to President Trump] instead of Israel owning Gaza.</span></p>
<p wcount="44" data-sanitized-id="p_1_41" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Netanyahu’s idea has been around at least for 25 years. It goes back to a document called “Clean Break” that Netanyahu and his American political team put together in 1996 to end the idea of the two-state solution. You can also find that document online.<em><sup>(*13)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="44" data-sanitized-id="p_1_42" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So, these are long-term US projects. It’s wrong to ask, “Is it Clinton? Is it Bush? Is it Obama?” That’s the boring way to look at American politics, as a day-to-day or year-to-year game. Yet that’s not what American politics is.</span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_43" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">After 1999, the next round of NATO enlargement came in 2004 with seven more countries: the three Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Slovakia. At this point, Russia was pretty upset. This second-wave of NATO enlargement was a complete violation of the post-war order agreed at the time of German reunification. Essentially, it was a fundamental trick, or defection, of the US from a cooperative arrangement with Russia.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_44" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">As everybody recalls, because we just had the Munich Security Conference last week, President Putin went to the MSC in 2007 to say, “Stop, enough is enough.” Of course, the US did not listen.<em><sup>(*14)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="133" data-sanitized-id="p_1_45" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In 2008, the United States jammed down Europe’s throat it’s long-standing project to enlarge NATO to Ukraine and to Georgia. This is a long-term project. I listened to Mr. Saakashvili in New York City in the Spring of 2008, when he spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations. He told us that Georgia is in the heart of Europe and as such would join NATO. I walked out and called my wife, and said, “This man’s crazy; he’s going to blow up his country.” A month later, a war broke out between Russia and Georgia, in which Georgia was defeated. The most recent events in Tbilisi are again not helpful for Georgia, with your MEPs going there to prod protests. That doesn’t save Georgia; that gets Georgia destroyed, completely destroyed.</span></p>
<p wcount="57" data-sanitized-id="p_1_46" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In 2008, as everybody knows, our former CIA director William Burns, who at the time was the US Ambassador to Russia, sent a long diplomatic cable back to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which was famously entitled “Nyet means Nyet.”<em><sup>(*15)</sup></em> Burns’ message was that NATO enlargement was opposed by the entire Russian political class, not just President Putin.</span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_47" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">We know about the cable only from Julian Assange. Believe me, not one word is told to the American people about anything of this by our government or our leading newspapers these days. So, we have Julian Assange to thank for the memo, which we can read in detail.</span></p>
<p wcount="88" data-sanitized-id="p_1_48" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">As you know, Viktor Yanukovych was elected as President of Ukraine in 2010 on the platform of Ukraine’s neutrality. Russia had no territorial interests or designs in Ukraine at all. I know. I was there off and on during these years. What Russia was negotiating during 2010 was a 25-year lease to 2042 for Sevastopol naval base. That’s it. There were no Russian demands for Crimea, or for the Donbas. Nothing like that at all. The idea that Putin is reconstructing the Russian empire is childish propaganda. Excuse me.</span></p>
<p wcount="58" data-sanitized-id="p_1_49" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">If anyone knows the day-to-day and year-to-year history, this is childish stuff. Yet childish stuff seems to work better than adult stuff. So, there were no territorial demands at all before the 2014 coup. Yet the United States decided that Yanukovych must be overthrown because he favored neutrality and opposed NATO enlargement. It’s called a regime change operation.</span></p>
<p wcount="99" data-sanitized-id="p_1_50" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There have been around one hundred regime-change operations by the US since 1947, many in your countries [speaking to the MEPs] and many all over the world.<em><sup>(*16)</sup></em> That’s what the CIA does for a living. Please know it. It’s a very unusual kind of foreign policy. In the American Government, if you don’t like the other side, you don’t negotiate with them, you try to overthrow them, preferably, covertly. If it doesn’t work covertly, you do it overtly. You always say it’s not our fault. They’re the aggressor. They’re the other side.</span></p>
<p wcount="92" data-sanitized-id="p_1_51" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">They’re “Hitler.” That comes up every two or three years. Whether it’s Saddam Hussein, whether it’s Assad, whether it’s Putin, that’s very convenient. That’s the only foreign policy explanation the American people are ever given. Well, we’re facing Munich 1938. We can’t talk to the other side. They’re evil and implacable foes. That’s the only model of foreign policy we ever hear from our government and mass media. The mass media repeats it entirely because it’s completely suborned by the US government.</span></p>
<p wcount="58" data-sanitized-id="p_1_52" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*12) See the interview of Former NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, in 2011 with Democracy, where he was told by Pentagon official “we’re going to a]ack and destroy the governments in 7 countries in five years— we’re going to start with Iraq, and then we’re going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.”</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="118" data-sanitized-id="p_1_53" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*13) In 1996, Netanyahu and his American advisors issued the document “Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm” with the Ins^tute for Advanced Strategic and Poli^cal Studies. This new “clean break” strategy called upon Israel to reject the framework of “land for peace”. This effec^vely advocated that Israel would not withdraw from the Pales^nian occupied lands of 1967 in exchange for regional peace. Instead, Israel would con^nue with its policy of occupa^on un^l securing “peace for peace”, by reshaping the Middle East to its liking. Redrawing the map of the region consisted of toppling governments that were opposed to Israel’s dominance. Link here:</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=eca6ae2773&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=eca6ae2773&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.dougfeith.com/docs/Clean_Break.pdf</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="29" data-sanitized-id="p_1_54" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*14) On February 10, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Pu^n delivered a speech at the 43rd Munich Security Conference. The speech can be found here</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=dc11195b68&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=dc11195b68&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/24034</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="26" data-sanitized-id="p_1_55" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*15) Ambassador William Burns’ memo Nyet Means Nyet: Russia’s NATO Enlargement Redlines. The memo can be found here</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=d5e88e883f&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=d5e88e883f&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW265_a.html</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_56" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*16) Political scientist Lindsey O’Rourke documented 64 U.S. covert regime-change operations between 1947 and 1989, and concluded that “Regime change operations, especially those conducted covertly, have osen led to prolonged instability, civil wars, and humanitarian crises in the affected regions.” O’Rourke, Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War, 2018. Aser 1989, there is ample evidence of the CIA involved in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Venezuela, and many other countries.</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="7" data-sanitized-id="p_1_57" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>v. The Maidan Revolution and Its Aftermath</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_58" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Now in 2014, the US worked actively to overthrow Yanukovych. Everybody knows the phone call intercepted by my Columbia University colleague, Victoria Nuland, and the US ambassador, Peter Pyatt. You don’t get better evidence. The Russians intercepted her call, and they put it on the Internet. Listen to it.<em><sup>(*17)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="79" data-sanitized-id="p_1_59" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It’s fascinating. By doing that, they all got promoted in the Biden administration. That’s the job. When the Maidan occurred, I was called soon after. “Professor Sachs, the new Ukrainian prime minister would like to see you to talk about the economic crisis.” So, I flew to Kyiv, and I was walked around the Maidan. And I was told how the US paid the money for all the people around the Maidan, the “spontaneous” revolution of dignity.</span></p>
<p wcount="184" data-sanitized-id="p_1_60" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Ladies and gentlemen, please, how did all those Ukrainian media outlets suddenly appear at the time of the Maidan? Where did all this organization come from? Where did all these buses come from? Where did all those people come from? Are you kidding? This is an organized effort. And it’s not a secret, except perhaps to citizens of Europe and the United States. Everyone else understands it quite clearly. Then after the coup came the Minsk agreements, especially Minsk II, which, incidentally, was modeled on South Tyrolean autonomy for the ethnic Germans in Italy. The Belgians too can relate to Minsk II very well, as it called for autonomy and language rights of the Russian speakers of Eastern Ukraine. Minsk II was supported unanimously by the UN Security Council.<em><sup>(*18)</sup></em> Yet the United States and Ukraine decided it would not be enforced. Germany and France, the guarantors of the Normandy process, also let it be ignored. This dismissal of Minsk II was another direct American unipolar action with Europe as usual playing a completely useless subsidiary role though it was guarantor of the agreement.</span></p>
<p wcount="103" data-sanitized-id="p_1_61" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump won the 2016 election and then expanded arms shipments to Ukraine. There were many thousands of deaths in the shelling by Ukraine in the Donbas. There was no implementation of the Minsk II agreement. Then Biden came into office in 2021. I hoped for better but was profoundly disappointed once again. I used to be a member of the Democratic Party. I now am a member of no party because both are the same anyway. The Democrats became complete warmongers over time, and there was not one voice in the party calling for peace. Just as with most of your parliamentarians, the same way.</span></p>
<p wcount="45" data-sanitized-id="p_1_62" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">At the end of 2021, Putin put on the table a last effort to reach a modus operandi with the US, in two security agreement drafts, one with Europe and one with the United States. He put the Russia-US draft agreement on the table on December 15, 2021.</span></p>
<p wcount="60" data-sanitized-id="p_1_63" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Following that, I had an hour-long call with [National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan in the White House, begging, “Jake, avoid the war. You can avoid the war. All the US has to do is say, ‘NATO will not enlarge to Ukraine.’” And he said to me, “Oh, NATO’s not going to enlarge to Ukraine. Don’t worry about it.”</span></p>
<p wcount="130" data-sanitized-id="p_1_64" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I said, “Jake, say it publicly.” “No. No. No. We can’t say it publicly.” I said, “Jake, you’re going to have a war over something that isn’t even going to happen?” He said, “Don’t worry, Jeff. There will be no war.” These are not very bright people. I’m telling you, if I can give you my honest view, they’re not very bright people. They talk to themselves. They don’t talk to anybody else. They play game theory. In noncooperative game theory, you don’t talk to the other side. You just make your strategy. This is the essence of non-cooperative game theory. It’s not negotiation theory. It’s not peacemaking theory. It is unilateral, noncooperative theory, if you know formal game theory.</span></p>
<p wcount="80" data-sanitized-id="p_1_65" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">That’s what they play. That kind of game theory started [in application] at the RAND Corporation. That’s what they still play. In 2019, there’s a paper by RAND, “Extending Russia: Competing from Advantageous Ground.”<em><sup>(*19)</sup></em> Incredibly, the paper, in the public domain, asks how the US should annoy, antagonize, and weaken Russia. That’s literally the strategy. We’re trying to provoke Russia, trying to make Russia break apart, perhaps have regime change, maybe unrest, maybe an economic crisis.</span></p>
<p wcount="101" data-sanitized-id="p_1_66" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">That’s what you in Europe call your ally. So, there I was with my frustrating phone call with Sullivan, standing out in the freezing cold. I happened to be trying to have a ski day. “Oh, there’ll be no war, Jeff.” We know what happened next: the Biden Administration refused to negotiate over NATO enlargement. The stupidest idea of NATO is the so-called open-door policy, based on Article Ten of the NATO Treaty (1949). NATO reserves the right to go where it wants, as long as the host government agrees, without any neighbor – such as Russia — having any say whatsoever.</span></p>
<p wcount="70" data-sanitized-id="p_1_67" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Well, I tell the Mexicans and the Canadians, “Don’t try it.” You know, Trump may want to take over Canada. So, the Canadian Government could say to China, “Why don’t you build a military base in Ontario?” I wouldn’t advise it. The US would not say, “Well, it’s an open door. That’s Canada’s and China’s business, not ours.” The US would invade Canada.</span></p>
<p wcount="58" data-sanitized-id="p_1_68" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Yet grownups, including in Europe, in this Parliament, in NATO, in the European Commission, repeat the absurd mantra that Russia has no say in NATO enlargement. This is nonsense stuff. This is not even baby geopolitics. This is just not thinking at all. So, the Ukraine War escalated in February 2022 when the Biden Administration refused any serious negotiations.</span></p>
<p wcount="30" data-sanitized-id="p_1_69" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*17) Link to the transcript of the leaked phone call between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=8d4a6a5859&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=8d4a6a5859&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="28" data-sanitized-id="p_1_70" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*18) The Minsk II agreement was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council through Resolution 2202, which was adopted unanimously on February 17, 2015.</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=31073e033d&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=31073e033d&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://press.un.org/en/2015/sc11785.doc.htm</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="13" data-sanitized-id="p_1_71" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*19) Link to RAND paper:</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=3feb1b34bd&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=3feb1b34bd&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="8" data-sanitized-id="p_1_72" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>vi. The Ukraine War and Nuclear Arms Control</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_73" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">What was Putin’s intention in the war? I can tell you what his intention was. It was to force Zelensky to negotiate neutrality. This happened within days of the start of the invasion. You should understand this basic point, not the propaganda that’s written about the invasion claiming that Russia’s aim was to conquer Ukraine with a few tens of thousands of troops.</span></p>
<p wcount="113" data-sanitized-id="p_1_74" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Come on, ladies and gentlemen. Please understand something basic. The idea of Russia’s invasion was to keep NATO out of Ukraine. And what is NATO, really? It is the US military, with its missiles, its CIA deployments, and all the rest. Russia’s goal was to keep the US away from its border. Why is Russia so interested in this? Consider if China or Russia decided to have a military base on the Rio Grande or in the Canadian border, not only would the United States freak out; we’d have war within about ten minutes. When the Soviet Union tried this in Cuba in 1962, the world nearly ended in nuclear Armageddon.</span></p>
<p wcount="125" data-sanitized-id="p_1_75" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">All of this is gravely amplified because the United States unilaterally abandoned the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and ended the relative stability nuclear arms control framework by doing so. This is extremely important to understand. The nuclear arms control framework is based, in large part, on trying to deter a first [decapitation] strike. The ABM Treaty was a critical component of that stability. The US unilaterally walked out of the ABM Treaty in 2002. This blew a Russian gasket. So, everything I’ve been describing about NATO enlargement has occurred in the context of the US destruction of the nuclear framework. Starting in 2010, the US began to put in Aegis anti-ballistic missile systems in Poland and then later in Romania. Russia doesn’t like that.</span></p>
<p wcount="52" data-sanitized-id="p_1_76" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">One of the issues on the table in December and January, December 2021, January 2022, was whether the United States claimed the right to put missile systems in Ukraine. According to former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, Blinken told Lavrov in January 2022 that the United States reserves the right to put missile systems in Ukraine.</span></p>
<p wcount="43" data-sanitized-id="p_1_77" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">That’s, my dear friends, is your putative ally. And now the US wants to put intermediate missile systems in Germany. Remember that the United States walked out of the INF treaty in 2019. There is no nuclear arms framework right now.<em><sup>(*20)</sup></em> Essentially, none.</span></p>
<p wcount="111" data-sanitized-id="p_1_78" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">When Zelensky said a few days after Russia’s invasion that Ukraine was ready for neutrality, a peace agreement was in reach. I know the details of this because I talked to key negotiators and mediators in detail and have learned much from public pronouncements of others. Shortly after the start of negotiations in March 2022, a document was exchanged between the parties that President Putin had approved, and that Lavrov had presented. This was being managed by the Turkish mediators. I flew to Ankara in the spring of 2022 to hear first-hand and in detail what happened in the mediation. The bottom-line is this: Ukraine walked away, unilaterally, from a near agreement.</span></p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_79" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*20) The United States formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty on August 2, 2019, following a six-month suspension period that began on February 2, 2019</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="7" data-sanitized-id="p_1_80" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>vii. The End of the Ukraine War</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="153" data-sanitized-id="p_1_81" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Why did Ukraine walk away from the negotiations? Because the United States told them to and because the UK added icing to the cake by having BoJo [Boris Johnson] go to Kyiv in early April to Ukraine to make the same point. Keir Starmer turns out to be even worse, even more of a warmonger. It’s unimaginable, but it is true. Boris Johnson explained, and you can find it on the web, that what’s at stake here is nothing less than Western hegemony! Not Ukraine but Western hegemony. Michael von der Schulenberg and I met at the Vatican with a group of experts in Spring 2022, and we wrote a document explaining that nothing good can come out of continued war.<em><sup>(*21)</sup></em> Our group argued strenuously, but to no avail, that Ukraine should negotiate immediately, because delays will mean massive deaths, risk of nuclear escalation, and possibly an outright loss of the war.</span></p>
<p wcount="106" data-sanitized-id="p_1_82" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I wouldn’t want to change one word from what we wrote then. Nothing was wrong in that document. Since the US talked Ukraine out of the negotiations, perhaps one million Ukrainians have died or been severely wounded. And American senators who are as nasty and cynical as imaginable say this is a wonderful expenditure of US money because no Americans are dying. It’s the pure proxy war. One of our senators nearby New York State, Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal, said this out loud. Mitt Romney said this out loud. It’s the best money America can spend. No Americans are dying. It’s unreal.</span></p>
<p wcount="55" data-sanitized-id="p_1_83" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Now, just to bring us up to yesterday, the US Ukraine Project has failed. The core idea of the project all along was that Russia would fold its hand. The core idea all along was Russia can’t resist, just as Zbigniew Brzezinski argued in 1997. The Americans thought the US surely has the upper hand.</span></p>
<p wcount="89" data-sanitized-id="p_1_84" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The US will win because we’re going to bluff them. The Russians are not really going to fight. The Russians are really going to mobilize. We’ll deploy the economic “nuclear option” of cutting Russia out of SWIFT. That will destroy the economy. Our sanctions will bring Russia to their knees. The HIMARS will do them in. The ATACMS, the F-16s, will do them in. Honestly, I’ve listened to this kind of talk for more than 50 years. Our national security leaders have spoken nonsense for decades.</span></p>
<p wcount="63" data-sanitized-id="p_1_85" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I begged the Ukrainians: stay neutral. Don’t listen to the Americans. I repeated to them the famous adage of Henry Kissinger, that to be an enemy of the United States is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal. Let me repeat that for Europe: To be an enemy of the United States is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.</span></p>
<p wcount="34" data-sanitized-id="p_1_86" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*21) The meeting at the Vatican was the Fraternal Economy Session on Jubilee 2025: Hope in the Signs of the Times. Link here:</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=e605c606ac&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=e605c606ac&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.pass.va/content/dam/casinapioiv/pass/pdf-booklet/2024_booklet_fraternal_economy.pdf</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_87" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>viii. The Trump Administration</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="97" data-sanitized-id="p_1_88" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Let me end with a few words about President Donald Trump. Trump does not want Biden’s losing hand. This is why Trump and President Putin are likely to agree to end the war. Even if Europe continues with its warmongering, it won’t matter. The war is ending. So, please, get it out of your system. Please tell your colleagues. “It’s over.” It’s over because Trump doesn’t want to hold on to a loser. The one that will be saved by the negotiations taking place right now is Ukraine. The second is Europe.</span></p>
<p wcount="88" data-sanitized-id="p_1_89" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Your stock market is rising in recent days because of the “horrible news” of negotiations and potential peace. I know this prospect of a negotiated peace has been met with sheer horror in these chambers, but this is the best news that you could get. I’ve tried to reach out to some of the European leaders. I’ve said, don’t go to Kyiv, go to Moscow. Negotiate with your counterparts. You’re the European Union. You’re 450 million people and a $20 trillion economy. Act like it.</span></p>
<p wcount="104" data-sanitized-id="p_1_90" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The European Union should be the main trading partner of Russia. Europe and Russia have complementary economies. The fit for mutually beneficial trade is very strong. By the way, if anyone would like to discuss how the US blew up Nord Stream, I’d be happy to talk about that too. The Trump administration is imperialist at heart. Trump obviously believes that the great powers dominate the world. The US will be ruthless and cynical, and yes, also vis-à-vis Europe. Don’t go begging to Washington. That won’t help. It would probably spur the ruthlessness. Instead, have a true European foreign policy.</span></p>
<p wcount="146" data-sanitized-id="p_1_91" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So, I’m not saying that we’re at the new age of peace, but we are in a very different kind of politics right now, a return to great power politics. Europe needs its own foreign policy, and not just a foreign policy of Russophobia. Europe needs a foreign policy that is realistic, understands Russia’s situation, understands Europe’s situation, understands what America is and what it stands for, and that tries to avoid Europe being invaded by the United States. It’s certainly not impossible that Trump’s America will land troops in Greenland. I’m not joking, and I don’t think Trump is joking. Europe needs a foreign policy, a real one. Europe needs something different from, “Yes, we’ll bargain with Mr. Trump and meet him halfway.” Do you know what that will be like? Give me a call afterwards.</span></p>
<p wcount="82" data-sanitized-id="p_1_92" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Please have a European foreign policy. You’re going to be living with Russia for a long time, so please negotiate with Russia. There are real security issues on the table both for Europe and Russia, but the bombast and the Russophobia is not serving your security at all. It’s not serving Ukraine’s security at all. This American adventure that you signed on to and for which you are now the lead cheerleader has contributed to around 1 million Ukrainian casualties.</span></p>
<p wcount="7" data-sanitized-id="p_1_93" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>ix. On the Middle East and China</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="74" data-sanitized-id="p_1_94" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">On the Middle East, incidentally, the US completely handed over foreign policy to Netanyahu 30 years ago. The Israel lobby dominates American politics. Please, have no doubt about it. I could explain for hours how it works. It’s very dangerous. I’m hoping that Trump will not destroy his administration, and far worse, the Palestinian people, because of Netanyahu, whom I regard as a war criminal who has been properly indicted by the ICC.<em><sup>(*22)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="103" data-sanitized-id="p_1_95" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The only way for Europe to have peace on your borders with the Middle East is the two-state solution. There is only one obstacle to it, and that is the veto of the United States in the UN Security Council, at the behest of the Israel Lobby. So, if you want the EU to have some influence, tell the United States to drop the veto. In this the European Union would be together with around 160 other countries in the world. The only ones that oppose a Palestinian state are basically the United States, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Argentina, and Paraguay.<em><sup>(*23)</sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="45" data-sanitized-id="p_1_96" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The Middle East is a place where the European Union could have a big geopolitical influence. Yet, Europe has gone silent about the JCPOA and Iran and around half of Europe has gone silent over Israel’s war crimes and blockage of the two-state solution.</span></p>
<p wcount="77" data-sanitized-id="p_1_97" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Netanyahu’s greatest dream in life is the war between the United States and Iran. And he’s not given up. It’s not impossible that a US-Iran War will also come. Yet Europe could stop it – if Europe has its own foreign policy. I’m hoping that Trump will end Netanyahu’s grip on American politics. Even if not, the EU can work with the rest of the world to bring peace to the Middle East.</span></p>
<p wcount="82" data-sanitized-id="p_1_98" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Finally, let me just say with respect to China, China is not an enemy. China is merely a great success story. That’s why it is viewed by the United States as an enemy, because China has a bigger economy than the United States (measured in international prices). The US resists reality. Europe should not do so. Let me repeat, China is no enemy and no threat. It is a natural partner with Europe in trade and in saving the global environment.</span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_99" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">That’s all. Many thanks.</span></p>
<p wcount="46" data-sanitized-id="p_1_100" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*22) “Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine.” Link to ICC:</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=8dabc88c63&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=8dabc88c63&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-applications-arrest-warrants-situation-state</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="26" data-sanitized-id="p_1_101" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><sup>(*23) The United Nations can end the Middle East conflict by welcoming Palestine as a member. Link to my article here:</sup></em> <em><sup><u><a title="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=ed2b13c328&amp;e=16a1c11c93" href="https://twitter.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50ec04f7fdd8f247aecfa0ddf&amp;id=ed2b13c328&amp;e=16a1c11c93" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/1/10/the-un-can-end-the-middle-east-conflict-by-welcoming-palestine-as-a-member</a></u></sup></em></span></p>
<p wcount="12" data-sanitized-id="p_1_102" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Q&amp;A Section<br>Audience Question: Should Europe increase its military spending?</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_103" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Professor Jeffrey Sachs Answer:</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="85" data-sanitized-id="p_1_104" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I would not be against an approach of Europe spending two to three percent of GDP for a unified European security structure and invested in Europe and in European technology, and not having the United States dictate the use of European technology. The Netherlands produces the only machines of advanced semiconductors using extreme ultraviolet lithography. That company, of course, is ASML. Yet America determines every policy of ASML. If I were you, I wouldn’t hand over all security and technology to the United States.</span></p>
<p wcount="117" data-sanitized-id="p_1_105" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I would suggest having your own security framework so you can have your own foreign policy framework as well. Europe stands for lots of things that the United States does not stand for. Europe stands for climate action. Our president is completely bonkers on this. And Europe stands for decency, for social democracy, as an ethos. Europe stands for multilateralism. Europe stands for the UN Charter. The US stands for none of those things. Our Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently canceled his trip to South Africa because equality and sustainability were on the agenda. That is a vivid, if grim, reflection of Anglo-Saxon libertarianism. Egalitarianism is not a word of the American lexicon. Nor is Sustainability.</span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_106" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">You may know that of the 193 UN member states, 191 have presented SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) plans to the UN in the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). Just three countries have not done so: Haiti, Myanmar and the United States of America. Biden’s Treasury was not even permitted to use the phrase Sustainable Development Goals. I mention all of this because you need your own foreign policy.</span></p>
<p wcount="108" data-sanitized-id="p_1_107" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I issue two reports each year. One is the <em>World Happiness Report</em>. In the 2024 report, 8 of the top 10 countries are European. Europe has the highest quality of life in the whole world. The US ranked 23rd. The other annual report is the <em>Sustainable Development Report</em>. In the 2024 report, 19 of the top 20 countries in sustainable development are in Europe. The US ranked 46th. You need your own foreign policy to protect that quality of life! I was and remain a great fan of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and continue to believe that OSCE is the proper framework for European security. It could really work.</span></p>
<p wcount="13" data-sanitized-id="p_1_108" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Audience Question: How should Europe engage diplomatically with Russia? Professor Jeffrey Sachs Answer:</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="235" data-sanitized-id="p_1_109" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I think that there are tremendously important issues for Europe to negotiate directly with Russia. And so, I would urge, President Costa and the leadership of Europe to open direct discussions with President Putin because European security is on the table. I know the Russian leaders, many of them, quite well. They are good negotiators, and you should negotiate with them, and you should negotiate well with them. I would ask the Russian counterparts some questions. I would ask them, what are the security guarantees that can work so that this war ends permanently? What are the security guarantees for the Baltic states? Part of the process of negotiation is to ask the other side about your concerns. I know Foreign Minister Lavrov for 30 years. I regard him as a brilliant foreign minister. Talk with him. Negotiate with him. Get his ideas. Put your ideas on the table. The most important thing is to stop the yelling, stop the warmongering, and discuss with the Russian counterparts. And don’t beg to be at the table with the United States. You don’t need to be in the room with the United States. You’re Europe. You should be in the room with Europe and Russia. Don’t hand over your foreign policy to anybody, not to the United States, not to Ukraine, not to Israel. Keep a European foreign policy. This is the basic idea.</span></p>
<p wcount="25" data-sanitized-id="p_1_110" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Audience Question</strong>: <strong>Countries including Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic wanted to join NATO. So does Ukraine. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to do so?</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_111" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Professor Jeffrey Sachs Answer:</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="172" data-sanitized-id="p_1_112" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">NATO is not a choice of Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, or Ukraine. NATO is a US-led military alliance. The question facing Europe back in 1991 and today is how to ensure peace. If I were making decisions back in 1991, I would have ended NATO altogether when the Warsaw Pact was dissolved, and certainly when the Soviet Union itself ended. When countries requested NATO membership, I would have explained to them what our defense secretary William Perry, leading statesman George Kennan, last US ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, all said in the 1990s. They all said, in effect, “We understand your feelings, but enlarging NATO is not a good idea because it could easily provoke a new Cold War with Russia.” There’s a very good new book by Jonathan Haslam, published by Harvard University Press, called <em>Hubris</em>. It offers a detailed historical documentation of NATO enlargement. It explains how the US was too arrogant to discuss, negotiate, and honor the redlines of Russia, even after promising that NATO would not enlarge.</span></p>
<p wcount="15" data-sanitized-id="p_1_113" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Audience Question: What are the long-term consequences of this lost war? Professor Jeffrey Sachs Answer:</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="299" data-sanitized-id="p_1_114" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">We’re in the biggest technological advance in human history. It’s truly amazing what can be done right now. You know, I marvel at the fact that somebody who knows little chemistry won the Nobel Peace Prize for chemistry because he’s superb at AI and deep neural networks, indeed a genius, Demis Hassabis. He and his team at DeepMind figured out how to use AI to crack the problem of protein folding, a problem that had occupied generations of biochemists. So, if we put our minds, our resources and our energies towards it, we can transform the world energy system for climate safety. We can protect biodiversity. We can ensure every child gets a quality education. We can do so many wonderful things right now. What do we need for success? In my view, most importantly, we need peace. And my basic point is there are no deep reasons for conflict anywhere because every conflict I study is just a mistake. We are not struggling for Lebensraum. That idea, which essentially came from Malthus and later became a Nazi idea, was always wrong, a fundamental intellectual mistake. We have had race wars, national wars of survival, out of the fear that we don’t have enough for everybody on this planet, so that we are in a struggle for survival. As an economist, I can tell you, we have plenty on the planet for everybody’s sustainable development. Plenty. We’re not in a conflict with China. We’re not in a conflict with Russia. If we calm down, if we ask about the long term, the long term is very good, that is, if we don’t blow ourselves up beforehand. So, this is my point. The prospects are very positive if we construct the peace.</span></p>
<p wcount="20" data-sanitized-id="p_1_115" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Audience Question: Do you think the way out of this conflict is a Finlandization of Ukraine? Professor Jeffrey Sachs Answer:</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="105" data-sanitized-id="p_1_116" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Excellent question. Let me just report one aspect about Finlandization. Finlandization landed Finland number one in the World Happiness Report year after year. Finland is rich, successful, happy, and secure. That’s pre-NATO Finland I’m discussing. So “Finlandization” was a wonderful thing for Finland. When Sweden and Finland and Austria were neutral, bravo. Smart. When Ukraine was neutral, smart. If you have two superpowers, keep them apart a little bit. If the United States had any sense at all, it would have left these countries as the neutral space in between the US military and Russia, but the US has far too little sense.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544453
title: Short Shrift for Prime Minister Starmer’s Crimean-War Hatred of Russia, by John Helmer
author: ;John Helmer
link: https://www.unz.com/article/short-shrift-for-prime-minister-starmers-crimean-war-hatred-of-russia/
hash: �?��g�XS�����
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-id="i_1" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/3144.png"><img src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/3144.png" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<p wcount="30" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In public, in front of the press, the plan of President Donald Trump on Thursday was to give British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer short shrift. Starmer made it shorter.</span></p>
<p wcount="27" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">TRUMP: “You’ve been terrific in our discussions. You are a very tough negotiator, however, and I’m not sure I like that, but that’s okay.”</span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">STARMER: “Heh, heh, heh.”</span></p>
<p wcount="28" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump’s “attitude toward the Russian leader could hardly be more different from the British leader sitting inches away in the Oval Office,” reported the <em><a title="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/27/us/trump-news#starmer-ukraine-trump" href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/27/us/trump-news#starmer-ukraine-trump">New York Times</a>.</em></span></p>
<p wcount="42" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXetnKiBKn0bVQ4metCOOtNx-zScPEXT5wC3AFnmm8ajIiOWZs1bkes8ZEKUg5oC59ORbeKXnpRV0dzltMmsHInZdxAeh3sAjje5ABotrR5ABHgEglZWFuQhFHq0xxjOGsWjaCSOjpRT5tvQJDACgQ?key=blB_BTkJS8ibsROZghut64e0"><br>12:20 at the White House, West Wing portico entrance – Prime Minister Starmer was running late: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk</a><br><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk"><br></a><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeyri8K2m2RuIfsy-ngSt46-OYnqmhHeUmz6077O2kE0Wi6AQOsguFgzdDa-YQQSs8Hftp5TSG_eQSozT1VUi9PE7ql2A1mAEchF5WZd4lvSMCgx8Qyv_LVaZfwCSfxeqQ23oAIuCPavSZTCR68ZN0?key=blB_BTkJS8ibsROZghut64e0"><br>President Trump arrives at the front door at 12:33. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk</a><br><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a></span></p>
<p wcount="10" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXePuMdmNtqA7_pmssKHFnrEBAbIgCctNy4YyUkAki688KEE9UmB98nQOWak9ZISeb5B6TnBN8tPmNELJzW5Eb7KDh1Uen7lZn5W3v9-e2LZiwZPJ5_shE3C7KqbpbEvs2WUBnBIbGziEautwTUhnPg?key=blB_BTkJS8ibsROZghut64e0"><br>12:34: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk</a><br><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22aD1erDlFk" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a></span></p>
<p wcount="69" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump was at the White House door to receive Starmer at 12:34. That was nineteen minutes later than the time <a title="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/" href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/">announced</a> on the President’s schedule for the day. Fifteen minutes were then assigned at the Oval Office before the two men and their officials went to lunch a few steps away in the Cabinet Room. At 2 pm, ninety minutes later, a press conference was scheduled in the East Room.</span></p>
<p wcount="60" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The published schedule of Trump’s time for talks with Starmer was a fraction of the time which Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron spent together on <a title="https://johnhelmer.net/trumps-incomprehension-thank-you-dear-donald/" href="https://johnhelmer.net/trumps-incomprehension-thank-you-dear-donald/">Monday</a>. At the Oval Office Macron and Trump had answered press questions for <a title="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-bilat-emmanuel-macron-france-white-house-february-24-2025/" href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-bilat-emmanuel-macron-france-white-house-february-24-2025/">28 minutes</a>. They then went into their luncheon meeting, and returned for a press conference in the East Room lasting <a title="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-emmanuel-macron-france-february-24-2025/" href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-emmanuel-macron-france-february-24-2025/">43 minutes</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="51" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">By contrast, Trump and Starmer gave the press a 20-minute opportunity in the Oval Office to ask questions. This had not been scheduled in advance. The US television networks and the BBC were all taken <a title="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-live-trump-holds-press-conference-with-u-k-prime-minister-starmer-233064005920" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-live-trump-holds-press-conference-with-u-k-prime-minister-starmer-233064005920">unawares</a>. It was the German state organ Deutsche Welle which broadcast the impromptu <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA">Oval Office session</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="40" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump took almost all the press questions, and invited Vice President J.D. Vance to respond also. Trump <a title="https://johnhelmer.net/no-ifs-no-buts-boots-on-the-ground-lies-on-the-ground-prime-minister-starmer-tells-president-trump-to-fight-russia-the-british-way/" href="https://johnhelmer.net/no-ifs-no-buts-boots-on-the-ground-lies-on-the-ground-prime-minister-starmer-tells-president-trump-to-fight-russia-the-british-way/">repeated</a> the same slogans on the Ukraine war and the minerals agreement to be signed with Ukraine which he has announced before.</span></p>
<p wcount="25" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">He allowed Starmer a few seconds to express himself.* Starmer called the special relationship with the US “the greatest alliance the world has ever seen.”</span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Asked to clarify what that meant, Trump <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA">said</a>: “He [Starmer] loves his country and so do I, and that’s our common, ahhh, our common theme. He loves his country, and I love our country…we’ve had a longtime relationship, a long time, hundreds of years, and we like each other, and frankly, we like each other’s country, and we love our country. I think that’s our common thread.”</span></p>
<p wcount="18" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump added the US has three friends who are equal in his estimation – the UK, France, and Australia.</span></p>
<p wcount="125" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Asked what he anticipates for an end-of-war agreement with Russia, Trump said: “I have confidence if we make a deal, it’s going to hold.” Starmer added a compliment for Trump: “The deal if we get it is going to be hugely important. I don’t think it would have happened if the space hadn’t been created for it by yourself. But if there is a deal in, we’ve got to make sure it’s a deal that lasts… We need to make sure it’s secure and we’ve leant in and said we’ll play our part, and we’ve talked, and we’ll talk about how we will work with yourself Mr President to ensure this deal is not violated.”</span></p>
<p wcount="8" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“That will be the easy part”, Trump added.</span></p>
<p wcount="68" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">On the terms to be negotiated for that “deal”, Trump repeated his past vagueness, including the notion that the Kiev regime may recover the territories it has lost since 2014. “They fought long and hard on the land, and you [Starmer] and I will be discussing that and we’re certainly going to try to get as much [land] as we can back… We’ll be seeing about that.”</span></p>
<p wcount="128" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump also repeated his vagueness on what forces — American, French, British or others — might be engaged to secure an end-of-war agreement in the Ukraine. “We’re doing the deal, and we’re going to be in there, actually in there, digging, digging our hearts out,” Trump said, referring to the minerals agreement with Ukraine which Vladimir Zelensky is expected to sign with Trump on Friday. “”He’s coming,” Trump added. “Perhaps he’s already on the way. And we are going to be signing the deal together, probably in front of the media… We want to work with him, President Zelesnky, and we will work with him.” Asked to remember his calling Zelensky a dictator, Trump replied: “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that.”</span></p>
<p wcount="104" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Pressed by a reporter to say whether he means US forces would participate in a peacekeeping force as a “backstop” to an agreement, Trump <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA">said</a> “Well, there is a backstop. First you are going to have European countries because they are right there. We are far away. We have an ocean between us. But we want to make sure it works, so when you say backstop, do you mean backstop psychologically or militarily or what? But we are a backstop because we are over there. We’ll be working in the country… I just don’t think you are going to have a problem.”</span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe2UeCOO4dNTZFVh34wegh8S-x2P0pj4stag2LlmA1ByotmgR00-66ayRCW0n5Z3ABaaN95kjicITcmJc4eR28c4YHOCmfZyQTAS_syLgNeRksswa_gJUUwHo4WGzx81MdVHe7Gz2QLENlFgNBx6bA?key=blB_BTkJS8ibsROZghut64e0"><br>On Prime Minister Starmer’s right, David Lammy, Foreign Secretary. On President Trump’s left, Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA</a><br><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a> A verbatim transcript of the session was published later <a title="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-bilat-keir-starmer-united-kingdom-february-27-2025/" href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-bilat-keir-starmer-united-kingdom-february-27-2025/">here</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“If British troops are in Ukraine keeping the peace and get attacked by Russia,” asked a reporter, “will you come to their aid?</span></p>
<p wcount="59" data-sanitized-id="p_1_21" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“The British don’t need much help”, Trump replied. “They can take care of themselves very well… You know, the British have been incredible soldiers, incredible military, and they can take care of themselves. If they need help, I’ll always be with the British. Okay? Okay, I’ll always be with them. But they don’t need help.”</span></p>
<p wcount="21" data-sanitized-id="p_1_22" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump then offered to hold hands with Starmer. <img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfUhoYaTtSu2LQ7Md7bZltb2TCFIssIb17cQyvXHTudvaAPeSzEZT5j2ESm8ktUfz5qIVsV3_SV9ZtNNL0g2JOzZR8y_ad5YvNRHYgLdRy2P9GeVCbdn9Ym3vW837mnEVZMopxD5zuQhIe5P8SgCq0?key=blB_BTkJS8ibsROZghut64e0"><br>Source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA</a><br><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8D0t7_9IA" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a></span></p>
<p wcount="96" data-sanitized-id="p_1_23" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It is unreported by the US and British media why the scheduled press conference in the East Room was delayed for almost an hour and a half. Part of the time was spent by the American and British staff in the delegations trying to minimize the differences which had emerged during the lunch talks and then between Trump’s and Starmer’s scripts for their public remarks. The British needed time also to get the Americans to agree to his promoting the superiority of the UK over France and other US allies in the present war.</span></p>
<p wcount="62" data-sanitized-id="p_1_24" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“We remain each other’s first partner in defence, ready to come to each other’s aid, to counter threats, wherever and whenever they may arise,” Starmer read out of pages curling from the hand-written corrections which had been made and re-made. Earlier in the Oval Office, Trump had said the UK was no more of a “friend” than France and Australia.</span></p>
<p wcount="107" data-sanitized-id="p_1_25" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The <em>Financial Times</em> and BBC tried to strike the positive note that Starmer had sought and possibly succeeded in getting bilateral trade relief from Trump’s threatened tariffs than against the Europeans. According to the <a title="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c625ex282zzt" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c625ex282zzt"><em>FT</em> lead,</a> “Trump says US is working on trade deal with the UK.US President suggested that Britain could escape tariffs if agreement struck.” “’He was working hard,’ the BBC quoted Trump as saying.’ He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.’ The president says he is receptive to Starmer’s arguments, and says that he thinks we can arrive at a trade deal where tariffs won’t be necessary.”</span></p>
<p wcount="46" data-sanitized-id="p_1_26" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In fact, Trump was <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c">non-committal</a>. “I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great, friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary. We’ll see.”</span></p>
<p wcount="25" data-sanitized-id="p_1_27" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfqgwEWp_RxA2ZvEcJn8pzGRix4K4_lyVnIUP_sQZifNSTmjGRPQ8kOyclj00l1Sy3jICSkdhZYim8bLgP3UAFb2u7yWVcyBW4xgKFBQNoDCmXn_himFDkwUpe5rRR63YmphrFwP45vwI3t0N-ajQ?key=blB_BTkJS8ibsROZghut64e0"><br>Trump allowed Starmer a 32-minute presser; this was a quarter fraction less than Macron had enjoyed. Source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c</a></span></p>
<p wcount="11" data-sanitized-id="p_1_28" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a><br>Click on the verbatim transcript reported by RollCall <a title="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-keir-starmer-united-kingdom-february-27-2025/" href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-keir-starmer-united-kingdom-february-27-2025/">here</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="59" data-sanitized-id="p_1_29" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">On the particulars of an end-of-war settlement, Trump <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c">claimed</a> his priority at the moment is a ceasefire. “As I discussed with Prime Minister Starmer, the next step we’re making is toward a very achievable ceasefire. We hope that can happen quickly.” “This will lay the groundwork for a longterm peace agreement that will return stability to Eastern Europe.”</span></p>
<p wcount="12" data-sanitized-id="p_1_30" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Starmer’s priority was different – he wants to keep warfighting with Russia.</span></p>
<p wcount="59" data-sanitized-id="p_1_31" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Starmer was emphatic that the peace agreement “can’t be terms that reward the aggressor or that gives encouragement to regimes like Iran.” According to the Prime Minister, “we discussed a plan today to reach a peace that is tough and fair; that Ukraine will help shape; that is backed by strength to stop Putin coming back for more.”</span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_32" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Explicitly, Starmer went on, this means “the UK is ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air to support a deal.” After reciting claims the UK will be boosting its military aid to the Ukraine, and increasing its own defence spending – “the biggest since the Cold War” – Starmer announced: “What counts is winning. If you don’t win, you don’t deliver.”</span></p>
<p wcount="71" data-sanitized-id="p_1_33" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Neither Trump nor Starmer claimed they have agreed on any end-of-war terms. “Our teams will be talking about that,” Starmer said. A British television reporter pressed him to say “whether you can do that without a firm assurance that America will have our back in the form of some kind of security guarantee, were Putin to breach that agreement?” Starmer repeated himself without details. “Our teams will be talking about that.”</span></p>
<p wcount="63" data-sanitized-id="p_1_34" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Starmer insisted on striking a final threatening tone which was not in the script on his lectern. “It’s really important that Putin knows that this historic deal – which I very much hope comes about – is there, is there, and it’s a lasting deal, and that we are able to deal with any inclination he has to go again, or go further.”</span></p>
<p wcount="12" data-sanitized-id="p_1_35" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Starmer meant he is hoping to continue the British war against Russia.</span></p>
<p wcount="76" data-sanitized-id="p_1_36" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The London newspapers <a title="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/26/the-guardian-view-on-starmer-in-washington-dont-compromise-on-the-truth" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/26/the-guardian-view-on-starmer-in-washington-dont-compromise-on-the-truth">editorialized</a> in favour of that, and against Trump. “Conventional platitudes about a ‘special relationship’ and common values are of little use to Sir Keir Starmer in handling Donald Trump,” declared the <em>Guardian.</em> “History is not irrelevant, but on matters of substance – most urgently, a settlement to end the war in Ukraine – Mr Trump is behaving more like a mafia boss than a statesman. His method is to demand tribute in exchange for protection.”</span></p>
<p wcount="59" data-sanitized-id="p_1_37" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“Sir Keir Starmer will enter the Oval Office on Thursday walking a delicate tightrope,” the <em>Telegraph</em> <a title="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/02/27/what-starmer-wants-from-trump-and-what-uk-can-offer-return/" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/02/27/what-starmer-wants-from-trump-and-what-uk-can-offer-return/">acknowledged</a>. “The Prime Minister cannot be seen to simply bend the knee to Donald Trump, but nor can he afford to anger the leader of the world’s largest economy at a time when Britain’s economy is on the brink of recession.”</span></p>
<p wcount="41" data-sanitized-id="p_1_38" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Starmer also revealed that in exchange for warfighting support and trade relief from Trump, he is prepared to betray Canada, constitutionally a dominion under the British monarch, King Charles III, by letting Trump take over Canada as the 51<sup>st</sup> US state.</span></p>
<p wcount="76" data-sanitized-id="p_1_39" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">When a Canadian reporter asked Starmer whether he had discussed with Trump his threat “to remove one of [King Charles III’s] realms from his control”, Starmer criticized the Canadian for asking the question. “You mentioned Canada. I think you are trying to find a divide between us that doesn’t, ummm, exist. We are the closest of nations, and we had very good discussions today. [<em>Lowering his voice</em>] but we didn’t discuss Canada.” <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaNSSj_4c">Minute 18:54</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="12" data-sanitized-id="p_1_40" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“That’s enough,” Trump cut off the reporter trying to follow up.</span></p>
<p wcount="61" data-sanitized-id="p_1_41" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">NOTE: Prime Minister Starmer’s <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGw5DKX6U6w" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGw5DKX6U6w">hatred</a> of Russia as British ideology was last on public display during the Crimean War of 1853-56. The lead images are from an animation of the British mentality in that conflict.<br>[*] The transcript of the Oval Office session records that Starmer spoke for a total of 220 seconds; this <a title="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-bilat-keir-starmer-united-kingdom-february-27-2025/" href="https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-bilat-keir-starmer-united-kingdom-february-27-2025/">amounted</a> to just 12% of the total time taken.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544462
title: The "Racism" Conspiracy, by Andrew Anglin
author: ;Andrew Anglin
link: https://www.unz.com/aanglin/the-racism-conspiracy/
hash: ��1Dܡ�T��<G��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p wcount="20" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The term “racism” along with accompanying terms such “white supremacy” have been thrown around wildly for over a decade now.</span></p>
<p wcount="90" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Shockingly, the term “racism” has not really been defined in any serious way, but the implication of the term is that there are people who hate people for no other reason than “the color of their skin.” It makes little sense that anyone would have this emotion, but the number of people who do have this emotion, and why they have this emotion, is not something that has been investigated. We are simply told that many people, in fact all white people, have this emotion, and they must be stopped.</span></p>
<p wcount="70" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Many people investigating this phenomenon of racial strife all of the sudden becoming the most important issue in the world have pointed out that the mainstream media began using these terms profusely after the 2008 financial crisis and the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when the banking elite had reason to attempt to divide the population, for fear that right and left could be united behind an anti-banker movement.</span></p>
<p wcount="40" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The media began constantly talking about the threat of racism, and then the population, easily swayed as it is by media hysteria, began to believe that racism was the core problem in society. The charts seem to speak for itself.</span></p>
<div data-sanitized-id="i_1" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/racism-chart.jpeg"><img src="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/racism-chart-618x353.jpeg" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<div data-sanitized-id="i_2" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/racism-theory.jpeg"><img src="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/racism-theory-618x353.jpeg" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<p wcount="83" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It’s a clever ruse, to be sure. Whereas the corruption of the banks and the government that works for them is a problem that could be solved, people having a secret emotional state is not something that can ever be solved. You can hunt for it for all of eternity. By redirecting public attention to this kind of spook, you’ve nullified the threat that they might join together in opposition to a real world problem which has a real world solution.</span></p>
<p wcount="39" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The fact that the media created a mass moral panic over this secret emotion of “racism” is fascinating, but despite what many on the right would claim, it does not tell the whole story of racial strife in America.</span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>A Secret White Supremacist Conspiracy?</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="99" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">One of the things that the media racism promoters did was point out that black people are imprisoned at a rate much higher than whites. They also pointed out that blacks have a much lower average income than whites. What they claimed was that the only possible explanation for these differences in social outcomes was “racism.” The basic premise, which usually went unstated, was that “everyone is the same.” If every person of every race has the same ability, then if the outcomes are different, there must be some diabolical secret plot by white people to hold back nonwhites.</span></p>
<p wcount="107" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Unfortunately, those on the right refused to respond with the obvious explanation for why blacks and other races have worse outcomes than whites, which is that they are biologically different from whites, and therefore cannot be expected to have the same outcomes. If you are unwilling to state this obvious reality because you are afraid of being called “racist,” then there is no way to respond to the claims being made by the racism promoters. If all people are exactly the same, then it is simply a plain fact that if they have different outcomes, the only explanation is that there is a secret conspiracy against them.</span></p>
<p wcount="123" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">However, it makes no sense that the different races would be exactly the same. They don’t look the same. They have drastically different histories. Why would they have the same intellectual abilities, or the same propensity for violence? No one has ever explained that, and instead, we are simply told that it would be very rude and hurtful to talk about it. It is anti-intellectual in the extreme to claim that because a truth is hurtful, it should be covered up, but even if you are extremely concerned about avoiding hurting someone’s feelings, could we not easily argue that the denial of the difference in races has led to much more hurt than whatever feelings would be hurt by acknowledging it?</span></p>
<p wcount="101" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Further, the claim that there is a secret racist conspiracy, that white people who are publicly so afraid of being called “racist” that they will hand over their entire society to a leftist mob are in secret plotting to hurt black people out of sheer nastiness, and moreover that it is impossible to discover evidence of this conspiracy, is a bit outrageous, is it not? Hinging your entire worldview on the theory of a massive conspiracy that cannot be traced is nonsensical, and yet this has been allowed because of the culture of silence enforced around the issue of racial differences.</span></p>
<p wcount="70" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In order to explain away the need for this massive conspiracy to hurt the feelings of nonwhites out or meanness, advanced racism theory came up with the idea that white people are racists without even knowing they are racists. They are programmed like Manchurian candidates by unspecific forces with an underlying desire to hate people for the color of their skin, for no specific reason. This seems even dumber, no?</span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Race is Very Obvious</strong></span></p>
<div data-sanitized-id="i_3" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/racist-copy.jpg"><img src="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/racist-copy-618x464.jpg" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<p wcount="121" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">People are aware that intelligent people tend to have intelligent children. They are aware that people who are tall tend to have tall children. They are aware that genetic traits are heritable. So, why then would entire genetic groups not share traits? Oh, but they do share traits. Africans have black skin, for example, a trait shared among their genetic cohort. They have larger, flatter noses, they have different shaped skulls, they are faster, they have more lean muscle mass, they have higher levels of free testosterone. If there is a white supremacist conspiracy to keep blacks out of the Ivy League, it seems there would also need to be a black supremacist conspiracy to keep whites out of the NBA.</span></p>
<p wcount="109" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In fact, the difference in skin color gives away the truth about the difference in intellectual ability. The biological pressures in Africa, where the sun is very hot, are different than the biological pressures in Europe, which was covered in ice for much of its history. Blacks developed dark skin because this is very useful for people who are out in the sun all day. The reason that blacks were brought over as slaves is that it was much easier for them to work in the sun all day on a Southern plantation, because they were genetically adapted to the sun in a way that white people are not.</span></p>
<p wcount="171" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In prehistoric times, before technology provided people with easy comfort, humans had to worry about meeting their basic needs for food and warmth, before anything else. In a place without winter, you do not have to worry about freezing to death. Furthermore, food is very abundant, all year. What this means is that black people did not require the intellect to make plans to prevent themselves from freezing, the skills to stockpile enough food for the winter, when there would be no food available. If a person in Europe failed to make these plans, they would die, and be removed from the gene pool, and therefore only those with the intelligence need to plan and implement a strategy to make it through the winter would live to see their genes passed on to the next generation. The European winter had a way of removing those with the lowest intelligence from the gene pool. Meanwhile, Africa had a way of removing those who couldn’t outrun a lion from the gene pool.</span></p>
<p wcount="48" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">This should all be very obvious, and it should be something that a clever child could work through logically without having it explained to them, if they were asked to analyze why it is that black people have such lower average performance in a developed society than whites.</span></p>
<p wcount="7" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>The Other Reason for Promoting “Racism” Theories</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">While the data about the media promoting the unsolvable issue of racial differences as a white supremacist conspiracy in order to prevent the solvable issue of elite corruption from being addressed is convincing, there is another reason why the media began promoting this artificial hysteria about racism when they did, and that is because during this period, there has been a massive push for whites to accept replacement immigration from nonwhite countries.</span></p>
<p wcount="202" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The amount of immigration we have witnessed in the last 20 years, virtually all of it from nonwhite countries, is totally astonishing. Under normal circumstances, no one would tolerate this, but the development of “racism” theory, of the theory that anyone who acknowledges racial differences is ontologically evil, has created a situation where whites are afraid to speak out. When they do speak out, they are left with flaccid arguments about how they are not “racist,” and they are not against being replaced with brown people, they simply are opposed to unfettered “illegal” immigration. This is obviously not true. The white people who are bothered by immigration are bothered for reasons relating to the racial differences of the people coming in. All of the Somalians, for example, which have flooded the US since the 1990s, were brought here “legally.” No one would prefer a “legal” Somalian to an “illegal” Mexican, and if there were such a thing as an “illegal” Norwegian, people would not be talking about an influx of Norwegians at all. Beating people over the head with images of “evil people” who “hate the color of the skin” has neutered the opposition to the agenda to racially replace whites with nonwhites.</span></p>
<p wcount="172" data-sanitized-id="p_1_21" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Interestingly, it is the same Wall Street bankers, corporate elites, and government officials who wanted people to stop talking about elite corruption by burying them in racial hysteria that wanted to flood America with nonwhites in the first place. They have several reasons for this. The most obvious reason is that flooding the market with cheap labor drives down wages. If real wages had remained static since the mid 1970s, McDonald’s workers in 2025 would be getting paid close to $50 an hour, and the biggest way that these wages have been artificially lowered is by bringing in nonwhite immigrants from poor countries. A bigger and perhaps more esoteric reason is the drive among the elites to homogenize the entire global population, to destroy differences between people, in order to create a kind of singular world system. After all, if there are no demographic differences between nations, then what is the purpose of nations? We might as well have a single world system in order to prevent wars and abuses by “rogue nations.”</span></p>
<p wcount="80" data-sanitized-id="p_1_22" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It is extremely unfortunate that such a massive and destructive social engineering program could hinge on something as stupid as the claim that “all races are the same and anyone who thinks differently is evil and wants to hurt innocent people out of sheer meanness.” But that’s what happened. And we’ve now entered into the final stages of this program, as whites are a minority in America and white children a minority in virtually every Western European capital.</span></p>
<p wcount="15" data-sanitized-id="p_1_23" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>People are Just Going to Have to Get Over the Fear of Being Called Names</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="51" data-sanitized-id="p_1_24" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In order to try to turn this around, people are going to have to become comfortable with being labeled a “racist” for acknowledging racial differences. There is no way we can fight back against this scheme to replace us without addressing the fact that no, all races are not the same.</span></p>
<p wcount="76" data-sanitized-id="p_1_25" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It was encouraging to see the pushback against the Elon Musk plan to replace white American workers with Indians. There was a time not long ago when Musk simply explaining that these immigrants would be brought in “legally” would be enough to silence any conservative criticism of his race replacement agenda, but this time, people were willing to say “I don’t care if it’s legal, I don’t want those people in my country.”</span></p>
<p wcount="134" data-sanitized-id="p_1_26" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">That said, most people are still afraid of actually saying that brown people are incompatible with Western society because of their genetics, and it still feels like we are a long way away from that. But these things can change quickly. And with Trump really going hard against many of the sacred cows of the left, it seems that now is the time to slip through with ideas relating to race. Although the conservatives did go along with the “I’m not racist, but” narrative, being guided by so-called “Jewish conservatives” like Ben Shapiro, many of the ideas from the left that were adopted by the right are now being questioned, and there seems to be less fear of hurting people’s feelings as the situation becomes more and more dire for white Americans.</span></p>
<p wcount="73" data-sanitized-id="p_1_27" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Most of human history has been defined by large scale physical violence, so it is truly harrowing to look at the last few decades in America when fear of some sort of “emotional violence” became enough for people to allow their children’s futures to be stolen from them. White people have become incredibly soft, and that will have to change if we are to reverse course as we spiral down the drain.</span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_28" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The hope is that the “anti-racism” that we’ve been inundated with for these past decades is mostly a hangover from the utopian ideology of the baby boomers, and that as younger people have more influence on society, this utopian thinking will start to fade away. In order for that to happen, however, people are going to need to be brave, and start injecting ideas about racial differences into the public discourse.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544479
title: Jonathan Revusky on Stephen Hawking Replacement &amp; No Planes Theories, by Kevin Barrett
author: ;Kevin Barrett
link: https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/jonathan-revusky-on-stephen-hawking-replacement-no-planes-theories/
hash: (�E�#���\(�� �
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/themes/unzSite/IMAGES/unz_large_logo.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a title="https://rumble.com/v6pwo06-jonathan-revusky-on-stephen-hawking-replacement-and-no-planes-theories.html" href="https://rumble.com/v6pwo06-jonathan-revusky-on-stephen-hawking-replacement-and-no-planes-theories.html" rel>Rumble link</a> <a title="https://old.bitchute.com/video/BvCdhmbhAIRn/" href="https://old.bitchute.com/video/BvCdhmbhAIRn/" rel>Bitchute link</a></span></p>

<p wcount="21" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Jonathan Revusky refutes <a title="https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/sterling-harwood-on-was-stephen-hawking-replaced/" href="https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/sterling-harwood-on-was-stephen-hawking-replaced/" rel>Sterling Harwood on the Stephen Hawking replacement hypothesis</a> and <a title="https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/ryan-dawson-on-9-11-trump-vs-deep-state-slo-mo-collapse-of-anglozionist-empire/" href="https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/ryan-dawson-on-9-11-trump-vs-deep-state-slo-mo-collapse-of-anglozionist-empire/" rel>Ryan Dawson on the “Arabs hijacked planes on 9/11” hypothesis</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="1" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Excerpt:</span></p>
<p wcount="114" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Kevin Barrett: Let’s move on to the theories that you wanted to talk about. The first one being: Was Stephen Hawking replaced? We brought on <a title="https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/sterling-harwood-on-was-stephen-hawking-replaced/" href="https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/sterling-harwood-on-was-stephen-hawking-replaced/" rel>Sterling Harwood</a> and Sterling and I both said there’s a kind of a strong prima facie argument that there’s something really wrong with this conventional biography of Stephen Hawking, because he lived way too long after an ALS diagnosis. But then after admitting that, Sterling Harwood claimed that there’s not really anything else to support (the replacement theory), and ultimately the idea that he was replaced is equally or more unlikely than some other explanation. So go ahead and explain your take on that issue.</span></p>
<p wcount="118" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Jonathan Revusky: Well, of course he was replaced, Kevin. I mean, the whole thing is a pretty self-evident hoax. I never really thought that for anybody who read the article and actually made a point of looking at the photographic record—I sent you <a title="https://yandex.com/images/search?from=tabbar&amp;text=stephen%20hawking" href="https://yandex.com/images/search?from=tabbar&amp;text=stephen%20hawking" rel>a link, which is sort of the main Yandex image search for Hawking</a>, didn’t I? You just type Stephen Hawking into the Yandex search engine, yandex.com, and then hit the images tab. You can do that in Google. I trust Yandex more nowadays. Google is, I think, more curated. But you get a series of images. I think the first dozen images are the latter-day Hawking, who was fairly obviously an imposter.</span></p>
<p wcount="156" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">But, you know, finally, what is interesting about this Hawking case? I mean, we have all these hoaxes, right? The Boston bombing and some crazy Arab ran over some people at the whatever Christmas market in Germany and some other crazed kid in France cut off his teacher’s head and all these kinds of things that are hoaxes. But the funny thing about all of those is they’re sort of one-shot deals: They occur on a specific day and then it’s over. Even 9/11 left much more of a mess than these other hoaxes, that’s for sure. You have all this dust and all the remains of these buildings lying around. But still, but of course, they made a point of clearing off all the junk as fast as possible. So the hoax lasted a certain number of days and was over though the aftermath of the hoax we’re still living with.</span></p>
<p wcount="61" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">But the Hawking hoax, assuming it is a hoax, I’ve investigated enough to say it is, is just…this is a multi-decade hoax, a fairly major production, really, sort of multi-layered with a lot of different weird subplots in it. Hawking, the real Stephen Hawking, almost certainly passed away in the year 1985. You can, I think, pretty much pinpoint it.</span></p>
<p wcount="94" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Supposedly he got pneumonia in Switzerland, in Geneva someplace and was hospitalized. And they had him on life support, these tubes coming out of him. This is the official story, by the way. What you get on Wikipedia is the official story, in essence. And what’s interesting is you can read the official story and there are enough truthful elements in it that you can largely deduce the truth. Like, the claim is that Hawking is in Switzerland in order to visit CERN, the particle accelerator thing they have there somewhere near Geneva…</span></p>
<p wcount="16" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em>(Read the full transcript by clicking the “transcript” button above the video image at <a title="https://kevinbarrett.substack.com/" href="https://kevinbarrett.substack.com/" rel>my Substack</a>.)</em></span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544472
title: The Monsters Aren’t Just in History Books. They Live Among Us. They’re Everywhere, by Jonathan Cook
author: ;Jonathan Cook
hash: l�v�䄒hn"L��_
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/themes/unzSite/IMAGES/unz_large_logo.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="30" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em><strong>Walter Salles’ new film on the disappearances of regime critics in 1970s Brazil is a powerful reminder that the ghouls who defend the slaughter in Gaza are biding their time</strong></em></span></p>
<p wcount="47" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Walter Salles’ new film <em>I’m Still Here,</em> is a moving, true-story, Oscar-nominated portrait of a middle-class, leftwing family in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1970s struggling to come to terms with the father’s disappearance – 25 years later confirmed as murder – by the Brazilian military dictatorship.</span></p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oLJEojFPvIA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" title="I'M STILL HERE | OFFICIAL TRAILER | IN CINEMAS NOW | Altitude Films" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin">[embedded content]</iframe></p>
<p wcount="2" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLJEojFPvIA'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLJEojFPvIA" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a></span></p>
<p wcount="17" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The mother and a teenage daughter spend time inside a regime torture camp too, before being released.</span></p>
<p wcount="27" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">What struck me powerfully in the film was the endless supply of compliant regime officials who impassively, conscientiously carried out the abuse of men, women and children.</span></p>
<p wcount="29" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It was a reminder that plenty of these people live among us – and that they have been doing very little to hide who they are over the past 16 months.</span></p>
<p wcount="29" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">They are the politicians mangling language and international law by terming as “self-defence” the collective punishment of the people of Gaza through carpet bombing and starvation – crimes against humanity.</span></p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5HQYfsUAf3s?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" title="Israel ‘has the right’ to withhold water from Gaza, Keir Starmer tells LBC" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin">[embedded content]</iframe></p>
<p wcount="2" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HQYfsUAf3s'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HQYfsUAf3s" target="_blank" data-sanitized-class="caption">Video Link</a></span></p>
<p wcount="28" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">They are the police officers <a title="https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/police-escalate-the-british-states" href="https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/police-escalate-the-british-states" rel>raiding people’s homes</a>, and detaining and arresting independent journalists and human rights activists, including Jewish ones, for protesting the slaughter in Gaza.</span></p>
<p wcount="38" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">They are the establishment journalists pretending the carnage inflicted on the people of Gaza is just another routine news story, less important than the death of an elderly actor, or the latest outburst from serial misogynist Andrew Tate.</span></p>
<p wcount="14" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">And, more than anything, they are the army of ordinary people on social media:</span></p>
<ul><li>Mocking the families of children shredded by US-supplied bombs;</li>
<li>Reciting endless claims of “Gazawood” (Gaza-Hollywood), as if the levelling of the tiny territory, visible from outer space, is a fiction and that the only victims are Hamas fighters;</li>
<li>Defending as a legitimate legal procedure the <a title="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/feb/25/israel-gaza-doctors-surgeons-healthcare-detention-international-law" href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/feb/25/israel-gaza-doctors-surgeons-healthcare-detention-international-law" rel>abduction of hundreds of doctors</a> and nurses from Gaza’s hospitals into “detention camps” where torture, sexual abuse and rape are routine;</li>
<li>Justifying the destruction of Gaza’s hospitals – leaving premature babies, pregnant women, the sick and the elderly to die – on the basis of entirely unsubstantiated, and self-serving, Israeli government claims that each is a Hamas “command and control centre”;</li>
<li>Cheering the erasure of the only documentary on Gaza humanising its children because the father of the 13-year-old narrator is a scientist appointed by the Hamas government to oversee what was the agricultural sector before Israel destroyed all the enclave’s vegetation.</li>
</ul><p wcount="12" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">These people live among us. They grow more confident by the day.</span></p>
<p wcount="26" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">And one day, if we don’t fight them now, they will be putting a hood over our head to take us to a secret location.</span></p>
<p wcount="31" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">They will be across the desk, asking us the same questions over and over again, making us pore over photo albums to find faces we recognise, people we can inform on.</span></p>
<p wcount="43" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">They will lead us to dirty cells, where there is a hard shelf for a bed, no blanket to keep us warm, no chance to shower, a hole in the ground for a toilet, and one meal to sustain us through the day.</span></p>
<p wcount="19" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">They will escort us silently through long dark corridors to a room where they will be waiting for us.</span></p>
<p wcount="25" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There will be a chair in the centre of an empty room. They will nod for us to sit down. And then it will begin.</span></p>

link:
https://www.unz.com/jcook/the-monsters-arent-just-in-history-books-they-live-among-us-theyre-everywhere/


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544458
title: A Trump-Putin Accord?, by Paul Craig Roberts
author: ;Paul Craig Roberts
link: https://www.unz.com/proberts/a-trump-putin-accord/
hash: ���xw�EJ�;6�1�m
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p wcount="92" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Why is it that American liberal Democrats and Europeans are so disturbed that Trump is moving the United States toward normal relations with Russia instead of maintaining a hostile approach to Russia based on proxy wars, sanctions, and endless propaganda? We know why the think tanks and university faculties supported by the military/security complex are upset–their incomes are at stake. But why the Democrats and Europeans? The answer will have to wait until another occasion. This column addresses readers’ questions about the many varied conflicting reports about a Trump-Putin deal.</span></p>
<p wcount="36" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">What are my expectations, readers ask, for the Trump-Putin meeting about the conflict in Ukraine? I am pleased that readers think I have been sufficiently correct over the years for my analysis to be of interest.</span></p>
<p wcount="34" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The outlook for the resolution of the conflict and for a final end of the Cold War is good, but never forget the adage that “there’s many a slip between cup and lip.”</span></p>
<p wcount="83" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">First of all, neither leader wants the war. Putin did everything he could to avoid war. He devised the Minsk Agreement which kept the breakaway Donbas republics in Ukraine. He begged for a mutual security agreement and was cold-shouldered. He was forced to intervene in Donbas by Washington, a conflict for which Russia was unprepared. Putin has fought the conflict in the least effective way possible in order to counter the Western propaganda that he had “invaded Ukraine” and Europe would be next.</span></p>
<p wcount="54" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump regards the orchestrated conflict the American Zionist neoconservatives created with Russia as a stupidity that is in the way of profitable business between the US and Russia and as a stupidity that is leading to the rise of BRICS and the denial of American business relationships with a large part of the world.</span></p>
<p wcount="30" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">A war leader is the last thing Putin is, a job for which he has no talent. Trump favors business uber alles. So a deal is the most likely outcome.</span></p>
<p wcount="32" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Moreover, statements from Trump, Putin, Lavrov and other officials have created such expectations of an end to the conflict that it is now almost impossible not to deliver a mutually acceptable outcome.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Even proxy wars are expensive, and Trump and Musk are committed to reducing the US budget by $1 trillion. That can’t happen with the US shipping hundreds of billions of dollars into Ukraine.</span></p>
<p wcount="104" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Putin and Lavrov remain open for Russia being a part of the Western world. Although Putin was forced by Washington’s aggression to revive Russian nationalism, his heart, like many of his generation, is for Russia to be a part of the Western world. Perhaps Putin is lost in the past and does not recognize the spiritual and moral corruption into which the Western world degenerated under liberal leadership. If Trump had not won the election, pedophilia would have been legalized in the Kamala regime. Indeed, it is likely that Democrat judges would have legalized marriage between women and dogs as “freedom of choice.”</span></p>
<div data-sanitized-class="book-unit alignright premblock book-author"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986076996/"><img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TyPsr3%2ByL.jpg"></a>
<p>ORDER IT NOW</p>
</div>
<p wcount="53" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The question before us is: Can Trump and his government, a capable collection of talent, restore American principles or have our principles been so destroyed by decades of university, media, and entertainment propaganda, and by judicial rulings and unconstitutional regulatory rules that have left the American system too far gone to be resurrected?</span></p>
<p wcount="48" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">If Putin secures a reasonable end to the conflict in Ukraine, will he revert to his trust in negotiations with the West as he did with the Minsk Agreement, thus setting himself up for a future US government that equates Making America Great Again with Washington’s Hegemony?</span></p>
<p wcount="51" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The problem with the US government is that it no longer honors the agreements of previous governments. The neoconservative Clinton Regime did not honor the agreement between Gorbachev and the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations that the Cold War was supposed to end, not move to Russia’s borders.</span></p>
<p wcount="38" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Unless Trump succeeds in cleaning out of the US government all anti-American forces, a vast ensemble, a subsequent government can walk away from an agreement that ends the conflict and renew the conflict or start a new one.</span></p>
<p wcount="17" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The problem with the West is that governments have lost character and integrity. Can they be trusted?</span></p>
<p wcount="58" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Just as American propaganda destroyed the confidence of the German people and turned them into self-accusing anti-semites, the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe used the dissatisfaction of life under the Soviet Union to place Russian hopes in the West, and there they remain among many of the Russian intellectual class, few of whom are Russian nationalists.</span></p>
<p wcount="28" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">With all of these considerations, I still think that the expectations created by statements of Trump and Putin are too high for them to renege on a deal.</span></p>
<p wcount="71" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">If we can say goodbye to conflict with Russia, the remaining question is whether Trump in truth is really Israel’s puppet and can be led into a war for Israel’s behalf with Iran. At this point I think not. Has Trump been playing along with Israel to avoid attacks by the Israel Lobby on top of attacks by the whore media, Democrats, corrupt judiciary, EU morons, and RINO Republicans?</span></p>
<p wcount="26" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">AI generated propaganda videos of Trump turning Gaza into a Gold Coast Resort not withstanding, Israel might yet find itself ordered to stand down or else.</span></p>
<p wcount="21" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I don’t think it is a good bet that a person of Trump’s ego would subordinate himself to Israel.</span></p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">If Trump stops the wars and throttles the criminal regime in Israel, will a successor regime in Washington undo Trump’s good work?</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544469
title: Joy Reid Is Gone, by Gregory Hood
author: ;Gregory Hood
link: https://www.unz.com/ghood/joy-reid-is-gone/
hash: E.K5�q��� P\"�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="7" data-sanitized-id="i_1" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://www.amren.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Joy_Reid.jpg"><img src="https://www.amren.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Joy_Reid.jpg" alt="Credit Image: © Michael Nigro/Pacific Press via ZUMA Wire"></a></span></div>
<p><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Credit Image: © Michael Nigro/Pacific Press via ZUMA Wire</span></p>
</div>
<p wcount="97" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">If “journalism” lived up to the lofty image journalists have of themselves, Joy Reid would have been unemployed long ago. On her old blog, the Reid Report, she mocked homosexuals, called for Ann Coulter to kill herself, and compared John McCain to the Virginia Tech shooter. None of this is sending me to the fainting couch, but much of it, especially the “homophobia,” is grounds for termination in the chattering classes. In 2018, when these posts came to light, Joy Reid <a title="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/27/17286392/joy-reid-msnbc-lgbtq-gay-hack" href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/27/17286392/joy-reid-msnbc-lgbtq-gay-hack">claimed</a> her blog was hacked and somehow, she never noticed. She even said the FBI was <a title="https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/joy-reid-homophobic-blog-posts-hacking-claim/" href="https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/joy-reid-homophobic-blog-posts-hacking-claim/">investigating</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="52" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It would be a strange hacker who posts comments not dissimilar to some of her others, but none of this matters. She kept her job and lectured America nightly on racism, Russia, and fascism. Her implausible claims were forgotten, aside from the <a title="https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/whatever-ever-happened-to-joy-reids-alleged-hackers-and-that-fbi-investigation/" href="https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/whatever-ever-happened-to-joy-reids-alleged-hackers-and-that-fbi-investigation/">occasional opinion column</a>, and ignored by her superiors at MSNBC.</span></p>
<p wcount="77" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">This might be justified if Joy Reid had something to say, but you already know everything she believes. She is a non-white who demands (and gets) <a title="https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2024/07/24/joy-reid-people-of-color-who-do-not-vote-for-kamala-harris-are-real-weird/" href="https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2024/07/24/joy-reid-people-of-color-who-do-not-vote-for-kamala-harris-are-real-weird/">tribal political loyalty</a> from her fellow blacks. She is a regular on Verified Hate/The X Files and in American Renaissance news headlines. She routinely accuses President Donald Trump and his supporters of racism and claims he is in league with Russia. She is a “<a title="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/10/style/joy-reid-msnbc.html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/10/style/joy-reid-msnbc.html">daughter of immigrants</a>,” barely American herself.</span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Among her greatest hits:</span></p>
<ul><li><a title="https://www.amren.com/features/2024/04/race-and-the-decline-of-american-justice/" href="https://www.amren.com/features/2024/04/race-and-the-decline-of-american-justice/">It was</a> “wonderfully poetic” that the first person to criminally prosecute Donald Trump was black and that a black woman was doing the same in Georgia. Donald Trump, she <a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/04/msnbcs-joy-reid-declares-dei-prosecutors-are-targeting-trump-and-she-loves-it/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/04/msnbcs-joy-reid-declares-dei-prosecutors-are-targeting-trump-and-she-loves-it/">claimed</a>, was being held to account by the “very multicultural, multiracial democracy that he’s trying to dismantle.”</li>
<li><a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/02/joy-reid-black-people-literally-physically-built-this-country/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/02/joy-reid-black-people-literally-physically-built-this-country/">Blacks</a> “literally, physically, built this country.”</li>
<li><a title="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/6/joy-reid-claims-nra-desires-american-warlords-priv/" href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/6/joy-reid-claims-nra-desires-american-warlords-priv/">The NRA</a> wants bands of “warlords” who “kill at will” dominating America. rural voters are the main threat to American democracy, so the Electoral College <a title="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/27/joy-reid-of-msnbc-calls-rural-voters-core-threat-t/" href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/27/joy-reid-of-msnbc-calls-rural-voters-core-threat-t/">must go</a>.</li>
<li><a title="https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-joy-reid-kyle-rittenhouse-acquittal-slave-catchers?msockid=3f158e27a6b6694907349ba0a7ea6823" href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-joy-reid-kyle-rittenhouse-acquittal-slave-catchers?msockid=3f158e27a6b6694907349ba0a7ea6823">Kyle Rittenhouse’s</a> acquittal came from the criminal justice system’s links to the “slave catchers” that were part of the “foundational creation of the United States.” The people who tried to kill Mr. Rittenhouse were “defending black lives.”</li>
<li><a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2022/01/msnbcs-reid-selfish-white-christian-conservatives-think-america-was-built-for-them/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2022/01/msnbcs-reid-selfish-white-christian-conservatives-think-america-was-built-for-them/">”Selfish”</a> “white so-called Christian conservatives” mistakenly think the country “was built by them for them.” (If they think that, they’re right.)</li>
<li><a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/01/joy-reid-blames-nikki-haleys-third-place-iowa-finish-on-racism/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/01/joy-reid-blames-nikki-haleys-third-place-iowa-finish-on-racism/">Nikki Haley</a> finished third in the Iowa caucuses because “she’s still a brown lady that’s got to try to win in a party that is deeply anti-immigrant.”</li>
<li>“The majority of white people are <a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2019/08/msnbc-panelist-on-most-white-people-destroy-them/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2019/08/msnbc-panelist-on-most-white-people-destroy-them/">not the majority of this country</a>. You do not negotiate with these people, you destroy them.”</li>
<li>“If Wayne LaPierre <a title="https://portside.org/2018-02-23/remember-week-its-beginning-end-nras-reign-terror" href="https://portside.org/2018-02-23/remember-week-its-beginning-end-nras-reign-terror">doesn’t understand</a> that the next generation and the next will be unavailable to him and his vile philosophy, he needs a quick lesson in demographic math. . . .One way or another, the NRA and its extremist ideology are on a path to extinction.”</li>
<li>“[I]t <a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2023/08/joy-reid-says-trump-faces-demographic-reality-in-dc-court-with-jamaican-born-woman-of-color-judge/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2023/08/joy-reid-says-trump-faces-demographic-reality-in-dc-court-with-jamaican-born-woman-of-color-judge/">has to be a humbling day</a> for Donald Trump to finally face justice, particularly there in Washington DC. . . . The magistrate judge is Moxila Upadhaya. A woman of color. The judge he will be facing in the trial, a Jamaican-born woman of color. He seems to be facing sort of demographic reality.”</li>
<li><a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2021/09/msnbcs-joy-reid-dismisses-focus-on-gabby-petito-case-as-missing-white-woman-syndrome/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2021/09/msnbcs-joy-reid-dismisses-focus-on-gabby-petito-case-as-missing-white-woman-syndrome/">Media reports on missing 22-year-old Gabby Petito</a> were just “missing white woman syndrome.”</li>
<li><a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2021/03/msnbcs-joy-reid-conservatives-would-trade-tax-cuts-to-openly-say-the-n-word/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2021/03/msnbcs-joy-reid-conservatives-would-trade-tax-cuts-to-openly-say-the-n-word/">Republican voters would trade tax cuts for the right openly to call blacks ni**ers</a>.</li>
</ul><p wcount="42" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">This made Joy Reid a “heroine of the Resistance,” allowing her to don the mantle of American patriotism and call MAGA the party of traitors. She is a lightweight, but she had the legitimacy and credibility that came with a prestigious post.</span></p>
<p wcount="119" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Now that’s gone, a casualty of President Trump’s victory, which has “normalized” MAGA. Joy Reid’s declarations now look unhinged and politically obtuse. Her confident predictions of a Kamala victory or the legal doom awaiting Donald Trump were fanciful, and MSNBC’s audience may feel betrayed. In the critical 25-54 age bloc, MSNBC has lost about half its viewers <a title="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/msnbc-anchor-joy-reid-s-show-canceled-as-network-experiences-historic-low-ratings/ar-AA1zCwxd?ocid=BingNewsSerp" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/msnbc-anchor-joy-reid-s-show-canceled-as-network-experiences-historic-low-ratings/ar-AA1zCwxd?ocid=BingNewsSerp">since</a> last year. For daytime shows, the network drew just 45,000 viewers; internet streamers easily beat that. Last month was the worst January in the network’s history, a sign that leftists are demoralized, not rallying to “The Resistance.” Meanwhile, Fox News has seen a strong ratings increase, with “Fox &amp; Friends” <a title="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/fox-friends-extends-ratings-lead-as-msnbc-s-morning-joe-loses-nearly-half-its-audience-since-election/ar-AA1zRajv?ocid=BingNewsSerp" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/fox-friends-extends-ratings-lead-as-msnbc-s-morning-joe-loses-nearly-half-its-audience-since-election/ar-AA1zRajv?ocid=BingNewsSerp">increasing</a> viewership by 29 percent since last year.</span></p>
<p wcount="76" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In February, the black woman who was president of MSNBC, Rashida Jones, <a title="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/rashida-jones-exits-president-msnbc-rebecca-kutler-1236108456/" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/rashida-jones-exits-president-msnbc-rebecca-kutler-1236108456/">announced</a> she was leaving—voluntarily, we are told. She was the first black woman to head a cable news network. Rebecca Kutler, who mostly worked at CNN during her career, <a title="https://www.soapcentral.com/human-interest/news-who-rebecca-kutler-all-veteran-news-executive-set-replace-msnbc-chief-rashida-jones" href="https://www.soapcentral.com/human-interest/news-who-rebecca-kutler-all-veteran-news-executive-set-replace-msnbc-chief-rashida-jones">is</a> her replacement. The documentaries and television programs she has <a title="https://starsunfolded.com/rebecca-kutler/" href="https://starsunfolded.com/rebecca-kutler/">produced</a> (including on the U.S. Holocaust Museum and homosexuals in the military) reflect her views, but she is not obsessed with black issues.</span></p>
<p wcount="91" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">One reason for the shakeup is that Comcast is trying to spin off MSNBC into a separate company and needs a short-term ratings increase to make such a company attractive. President Trump has <a title="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/trump-targets-comcast-ceo-brian-roberts-as-msnbc-plans-new-lineup/ar-AA1zGtUm?ocid=BingNewsSerp" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/trump-targets-comcast-ceo-brian-roberts-as-msnbc-plans-new-lineup/ar-AA1zGtUm?ocid=BingNewsSerp">attacked</a> Comcast as “an illegal arm of the Democrat Party” that should be “forced to pay vast sums of money.” Joy Reid was an obvious candidate for a pink slip because of her low ratings and crazed views. Her show <a title="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/low-ratings-likely-cost-joy-reid-her-show-at-msnbc/ar-AA1zHPyR?ocid=BingNewsSerp" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/low-ratings-likely-cost-joy-reid-her-show-at-msnbc/ar-AA1zHPyR?ocid=BingNewsSerp">has lost</a> almost 30 percent of its audience in the last year. People are tuning out takes such as:</span></p>
<ul><li>Black women <a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/11/joy-reid-says-black-women-no-longer-interested-in-saving-america-after-betrayal-by-white-female-voters/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/11/joy-reid-says-black-women-no-longer-interested-in-saving-america-after-betrayal-by-white-female-voters/">are no longer interested</a> in “saving America” after President Trump’s election victory and will focus on “black spaces.”</li>
<li>Florida <a title="https://www.express.co.uk/news/us/1972245/donald-trump-victory-MSNBC-anchor-meltdown-florida" href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/us/1972245/donald-trump-victory-MSNBC-anchor-meltdown-florida">has</a> a “right-wing, fascist type government.”</li>
<li>“<a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/11/msnbc-star-blames-white-women-after-kamala-harris-loses-north-carolina-to-trump/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/11/msnbc-star-blames-white-women-after-kamala-harris-loses-north-carolina-to-trump/">Black voters came through for</a> [Kamala] Harris, white women voters did not. This will be the second opportunity that white women in this country have to change the way they interact with the patriarchy.”</li>
</ul><p wcount="34" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Joy Reid has been there since the beginning, on the panel when Ann Coulter famously predicted that Donald Trump could win the 2016 election, to the laughter and incredulity of Bill Maher’s studio audience.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="12.864238410596" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Now that Joy Reid is looking for a new job, I should hire her to follow me around every moment, night and day, to react with open-mouthed, saucer-eyed astonishment at every prediction I make,which of course will then come true. <a href="https://t.co/JY60KJIpAh">pic.twitter.com/JY60KJIpAh</a></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/1894220371571744991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="88" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Since the election, progressives have been looking for a message. Many seem to be settling on the idea that the second Trump Administration is a government of “oligarchs.” Elon Musk is a convenient foil. If the President cannot bring down prices on staples quickly, the Democrats may retake Congress in the midterms with a message of economic populism. Tax increases on the wealthy, an increase in the minimum wage, and more government regulations might win over some working-class people of all races who broke for Mr. Trump in 2024.</span></p>
<p wcount="61" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Republicans in Congress are already <a title="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/us/politics/house-republican-budget-bill.html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/us/politics/house-republican-budget-bill.html">pushing</a> the same tax cuts that disproportionately help the rich, as they did in 2017 — the one major legislative accomplishment of President Trump’s first term. Speaker Mike Johnson says it would violate conservatives’ “core principles” to give taxpayers a rebate with the money saved by Elon Musk’s DOGE, thus robbing spending cuts of popular appeal.</span></p>
<p wcount="51" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Still, progressives will have to show restraint: not yell about every Republican voter being a racist or President Donald Trump being a fascist. Joy Reid is the perfect example of what <em>not</em> to do. On her final broadcast, she even said that fascism is not just coming; <a title="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/joy-reid-opens-final-msnbc-show-with-message-of-resistance-fascism-isnt-just-coming-its-already-here/ar-AA1zIuON?ocid=BingNewsSerp" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/joy-reid-opens-final-msnbc-show-with-message-of-resistance-fascism-isnt-just-coming-its-already-here/ar-AA1zIuON?ocid=BingNewsSerp">it’s <em>already here</em></a><em>.</em></span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Therefore, for conservatives who do <em>not</em> want progressives to learn anything, it is good that many of them see Joy Reid as a martyr. There are signs of rebellion within MSNBC. Nicole Wallace <a title="https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/tv/joy-reid-bids-farewell-as-msnbc-hosts-compare-her-show-s-sudden-cancellation-to-losing-a-limb-during-emotional-segment/ar-AA1zItZJ?ocid=BingNewsVerp" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/tv/joy-reid-bids-farewell-as-msnbc-hosts-compare-her-show-s-sudden-cancellation-to-losing-a-limb-during-emotional-segment/ar-AA1zItZJ?ocid=BingNewsVerp">compared</a> her departure to “losing a limb.” Lawrence O’ Donnell said working with her had been an “honor.” Rachel Maddow <a title="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rachel-maddow-joy-reid-bad-mistake-indefensible_n_67bd957fe4b088756003cdf4" href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rachel-maddow-joy-reid-bad-mistake-indefensible_n_67bd957fe4b088756003cdf4">said</a> that it was a “bad mistake” to fire her and went further:</span></p>
<blockquote readability="11">
<p wcount="60" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It is also unnerving to see that on a network where we’ve got two — count them — two non-white hosts in primetime, both of our non-white hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend. And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible. And I do not defend it.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p wcount="19" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">How many non-white hosts does it take to be “defensible”? Perhaps Miss Maddow can give up her own slot.</span></p>
<p wcount="6" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Others on social media saw “racism.”</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="11.76357827476" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Cancelling Joy Reid means the door she held open for the next generation of Black voices will slam shut. Without her, the next her, won't get platformed by white media. That, of course, is why white media pushed her out.<br>My latest in <a href="https://twitter.com/thenation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thenation</a> <a href="https://t.co/oUpnUSJwLP">https://t.co/oUpnUSJwLP</a></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1894420991394066843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="11.037735849057" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">They didn't even try to hide the racism by firing an unnecessary white anchor like Tur or Ruhle as cover</p>
<p wcount="20" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I discussed what this is, in today's podcast. For half an hour at about 27:00 in <a href="https://t.co/wSJAEviyPx">https://t.co/wSJAEviyPx</a></span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1894077057102950455?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="5.2788461538462" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">We've got your back, Joy. <a href="https://t.co/U4WO4Sez9e">pic.twitter.com/U4WO4Sez9e</a></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_21" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) <a href="https://twitter.com/staceyabrams/status/1894106305981280494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="104" data-sanitized-id="p_1_22" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In fact, MSBNC is starting a new show with a panel of three. Two are black: <a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/11/msnbcs-symone-sanders-points-finger-at-white-women-for-harris-losing-to-trump/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2024/11/msnbcs-symone-sanders-points-finger-at-white-women-for-harris-losing-to-trump/">Symone Sanders</a> and former RNC chair <a title="https://www.amren.com/news/2009/11/whos_afraid_of/" href="https://www.amren.com/news/2009/11/whos_afraid_of/">Michael Steele</a>. The former has politics not much different from Joy Reid’s, while Michael Steele has followed the traditional black Republican route of moving on from his unjustified high positions in the party to bashing it for being racist. The third host is reportedly Alicia Menendez, daughter of convicted Hispanic Democratic ex-senator Bob Menendez. Black journalist Eugene Daniels is also reportedly getting a show. MSNBC is not backing away from wokeness. It’s changing the faces in hope of better ratings.</span></p>
<p wcount="116" data-sanitized-id="p_1_23" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It’s best if MSNBC stays the course. Unfortunately, white identity tends to be reactive. Most of us don’t become aware of our “whiteness” until it is attacked by non-whites pushing their own racial interests. And it’s easy to appease whites with even a symbolic retreat from “identity politics.” Joy Reid may be gone — for now — but the firestorm around that mediocrity and MSNBC’s continued diversity show that wokeness is far from dead. If ratings continue to fall, it will be interesting to see if MSNBC can trim its sails or if it is captive to extremists. We need people like Joy Reid. Let’s hope she gets a huge megaphone somewhere else.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="8.6926829268293" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Joy Reid, who ridiculed white people for their tears, breaks down in tears over her show getting canceled. Karmic perfection here: <a href="https://t.co/yEdjpt4nOJ">pic.twitter.com/yEdjpt4nOJ</a></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_24" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1894129209066356852?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544455
title: Pro-Israel Think Tank WINEP Outed as ‘Dark Money’ Operation Driving US Wars, by Robert Inlakesh
author: ;Robert Inlakesh
hash: ��}2�0��쟧� �
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2048px-The_Washington_Institute_president_Martin_Gross_introduces_Secretary_of_Defense_Chuck_Hagel.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="76" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The AIPAC-aligned Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), which often refers to itself simply as The Washington Institute, was recently outed as a “dark money” think tank for its lack of transparency on donors and is continuing to push the United States to engage in conflicts overseas to Israel’s benefit. Its case raises questions about how the Israel Lobby functions through think tanks across the board, shaping U.S. foreign policy behind closed doors.</span></p>
<p wcount="52" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">WINEP has a long history of shaping U.S. foreign policy. It was deeply involved in the neoconservative push for regime change in Iraq, joining calls for the Clinton administration to topple Saddam Hussein as early as 1998. They also pushed for U.S. military intervention and helped justify the eventual invasion in 2003.</span></p>
<p wcount="64" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">At the beginning of the year, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft <a title="https://quincyinst.org/research/big-ideas-and-big-money-think-tank-funding-in-america/#executive-summary'" href="https://quincyinst.org/research/big-ideas-and-big-money-think-tank-funding-in-america/#executive-summary'" rel="noreferrer noopener">unveiled</a> the “Think Tank Funding Tracker,” a one-of-a-kind project that examined the funding sources of the top 50 U.S. think tanks since 2019 and rated their transparency from 0 to 5. WINEP and 16 others—including the neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)—received a zero transparency rating, exposing its reliance on “dark money” contributions.</span></p>
<p wcount="126" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">While WINEP <a title="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/about/our-mission-history" href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/about/our-mission-history" rel="noreferrer noopener">claims</a> “to be funded exclusively by U.S. citizens” on its website, it does not publicly disclose its donor list. Its AIPAC roots were first exposed in 2006 by Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer in “The London Review of Books,” where they described WINEP as an AIPAC cutout advancing Israel’s agenda under the guise of independent research. The pair <a title="https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/getFile.aspx?Id=209" href="https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/getFile.aspx?Id=209" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> at the time that “The Lobby created its own think tank in 1985, when Martin Indyk helped found WINEP. Although WINEP plays down its links to Israel and claims instead that it provides a “balanced and realistic” perspective on Middle East issues, this is not the case. In fact, WINEP is funded and run by individuals who are deeply committed to advancing Israel’s agenda.”</span></p>
<p wcount="58" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">This claim that AIPAC created WINEP was later <a title="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/does-pbs-know-that-washin_b_533808" href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/does-pbs-know-that-washin_b_533808" rel="noreferrer noopener">corroborated</a> by former AIPAC official MJ Rosenberg, who wrote in HuffPost: “How do I know? I was in the room when AIPAC decided to establish WINEP.” The now-deceased WINEP co-founder, Martin Indyk, was also the head of the Saban Center for Middle East Studies, funded by Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban.</span></p>
<p wcount="76" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Recent U.S. foreign policy developments have only strengthened WINEP’s influence. The Biden administration’s unwavering support for Israel’s war on Gaza, including a $14 billion emergency military aid package, aligns with WINEP’s long-standing push to ensure that U.S. military assistance to Israel remains untouchable. WINEP actively shaped public discourse as the war progressed, with Executive Director Robert Satloff praising Biden’s refusal to support an early ceasefire, calling it “correct and courageous.”</span></p>
<p wcount="85" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">When House lawmakers convened hearings in late 2023 to attack the administration’s Iran policy, their rhetoric mirrored WINEP’s narratives, particularly opposition to any sanctions relief. Witnesses from WINEP-adjacent institutions like FDD and JINSA were brought in to reinforce the case for a more aggressive posture toward Iran. Meanwhile, WINEP continues to push for U.S. military leverage in post-Assad Syria, another key policy area where the Biden administration has quietly followed its recommendations by maintaining a military foothold and targeting Iranian assets with airstrikes.</span></p>
<p wcount="74" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">WINEP’s revolving-door relationship with the U.S. government does little to shed its reputation for shaping policy. In May 2023, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan delivered a keynote address at WINEP’s annual Soref Symposium, praising Satloff’s “extraordinary work.” Sullivan’s participation wasn’t just symbolic—it reinforced WINEP’s position as an informal but essential policy hub. This is evident from the administration’s embrace of the Abraham Accords, another WINEP priority.</span></p>
<p wcount="98" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Former WINEP fellow Dan Shapiro was appointed the State Department’s senior advisor for regional integration, carrying out the think tank’s long-standing vision for Arab normalization with Israel. WINEP is currently led by Michael Singh, Robert Satloff, Dennis Ross, and Dana Stroul. Stroul, who <a title="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/dana-stroul" href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/dana-stroul" rel="noreferrer noopener">serves</a> as WINEP’s Research Director, returned to the position after serving as the Biden administration’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East from 2021 to 2024. During her tenure, she played a central role in Washington’s anti-Iran initiatives, the response to the Gaza war, and shaping U.S. Syria policy.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="10.60773480663" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">THROWBACK: Ex-Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Middle East Dana Stroul gloats that the US 'owns' the most hydrocarbon &amp; grain-rich one-third of Syria🇸🇾 and that the US will use it as leverage to pursue regime change</p>
<p wcount="13" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The architect of Syria’s tragedy is the USA <a href="https://t.co/wjdqWQXkPB">pic.twitter.com/wjdqWQXkPB</a></span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) <a href="https://twitter.com/afshinrattansi/status/1863641871802658889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2024</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="98" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Beyond WINEP, the broader issue of think tank influence is now facing increasing scrutiny. In 2023, lawmakers introduced the Think Tank Transparency Act, which requires policy organizations to disclose foreign government funding and contractual agreements. While WINEP does not receive direct funding from Israel, watchdogs have highlighted that its pro-Israel agenda is sustained through wealthy American donors closely linked to AIPAC. Using domestic contributions to advance a foreign policy agenda has enabled WINEP to operate without falling under the scrutiny of foreign lobbying laws, even as its “scholars” shape U.S. positions on Iran, Syria, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.</span></p>
<p wcount="75" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Currently, the two primary issues on WINEP’s agenda are how to best leverage American influence to shape outcomes in post-Assad Syria and how to assure regime change in Iran. Indicative of the think tank’s influence is that not only was its hardline Syria strategy the exact model used by the U.S. to aid regime change in Damascus, but its chief researcher was taken on as a senior official by the previous administration.</span></p>
<p wcount="40" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">As demonstrated by the Quincy Institute’s new report, the lack of transparency over who exactly finances the AIPAC lobby’s “cutout” think tank presents serious questions about who is actually shaping U.S. foreign policy and to whose benefit.</span></p>

link:
https://www.unz.com/article/pro-israel-think-tank-winep-outed-as-dark-money-operation-driving-us-wars/


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544471
author: ;John Helmer
hash: �o�# �庖�ǻDs
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
title:
Nothing’s Over Bar the Shouting — This Podcast Explains the Warfighting Limits of Trump, Starmer, Zelensky, by John Helmer

content:
<div data-sanitized-id="i_1" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/3145.png"><img src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/3145.png" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<p wcount="42" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Several hours before Vladimir Zelensky arrived at the Oval Office, Nima Alkhorshid led the discussion of each of this week’s negotiations on the Ukraine war by President Donald Trump, and by the only brain in the room, Vice President JD Vance.</span></p>
<p wcount="6" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Click for the hour-long podcast <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCGtyGgi7Ig" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCGtyGgi7Ig">here</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="29" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Follow the entire Oval Office <a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYtQ72mE8oU" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYtQ72mE8oU">press conference</a> between Trump and Zelensky. This is as revealing of Trump’s limitations in negotiations as it is in exposing Zelensky’s vulnerabilities.</span></p>
<p wcount="55" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Note the pat which Vice President JD Vance reached out to give Trump in the last seconds of the session. That was the reassurance Vance knows Trump needs. As explained in the podcast, and also in this <a title="https://johnhelmer.net/trumps-incomprehension-thank-you-dear-donald/" href="https://johnhelmer.net/trumps-incomprehension-thank-you-dear-donald/">analysis</a>, French President Emmanuel Macron also understands and displayed during his visit to the White House on Monday.</span></p>
<p wcount="15" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Quite another reassurance, without the hand pats, is understood in Moscow, as the podcast explains.</span></p>

link:
https://www.unz.com/article/nothings-over-bar-the-shouting-this-podcast-explains-the-warfighting-limits-of-trump-starmer-zelensky/


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544473
title: The Incredible Vanishing Liberals, by Ted Rall
author: ;Ted Rall
link: https://www.unz.com/trall/the-incredible-vanishing-liberals/
hash: wY������a?c�E5K
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/themes/unzSite/IMAGES/unz_large_logo.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="71" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">For this essay, let’s not debate the pros and cons of our new old president. Detailing specific reasons that many Americans are upset with/scared of/annoyed by President Donald Trump and the Republican Party would be a distraction from a point that desperately needs to be made. Suffice it to say, millions of people are angry, disappointed and would prefer entirely different political policies and priorities out of Washington.</span></p>
<p wcount="25" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The fact that we should linger upon is this: Many, many liberals feel very, very impotent. And this should be a major cause of concern.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">When Republicans celebrate their win by mocking their opponents, they’re whistling past the small-d democratic graveyard of history. Winning an election is good. Crushing your opponents’ political will to live is dangerous.</span></p>
<p wcount="93" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">For liberals, there is a lot not to like about politics since Jan. 20. Trump has signed a blizzard of sweeping executive orders on myriad controversial issues. His administration is attempting a radical revamp of the relationship between the American people and their government, much of it carried out by a brash “break things, move fast” tech-bro billionaire. Given the high stakes and the polarizing nature of the issues involved, and that Trump’s approach is so radical, resistance should be expected from both Democratic politicians on high and street demonstrations from the grassroots.</span></p>
<p wcount="64" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Instead, Democrats at all levels have been compliant and largely silent. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a centrist Democrat, complains: “(Congressional Democrats) are failing to do what is their fundamental responsibility constitutionally — to be a check.” Republicans barely control the Senate, yet all of Trump’s nominees have been approved. Democrats even voted unanimously to support a far-right neocon, Marco Rubio, as secretary of state.</span></p>
<p wcount="92" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Activists have been passive. There have only been sporadic protest marches. Trump’s proposal to annex and ethnically cleanse Gaza, a would-be war crime, elicited little measurable reaction from the anti-imperialist Left, certainly no protests analogous in size to last year’s pro-Palestinian campus protests. Compared to the antiwar movement of the 1960s and similar demonstrations opposing Ronald Reagan, attendance at marches has been anemic. Seven out of 10 Democrats are tuning out political news. Liberal-leaning cable news networks CNN and MSNBC have seen their ratings plummet and are shaking up their lineups.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Democratic donors, taking note of the disarray, are closing their checkbooks. “(Democrats) want us to spend money, and for what? For no message, no organization, no forward thinking,” a donor told The Hill.</span></p>
<p wcount="25" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">When a substantial portion of a republic’s population believes there is nothing it can do to influence political leaders, the system is in trouble.</span></p>
<p wcount="89" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">With Trump barely a month into his second term, history may record Democrats’ current beaten-down-dog mien as a momentary blip preceding a spurt of determined reenergization and a journey to recovery, reinvention and future victory. A devastating 1964 defeat left the GOP crestfallen and depressed. “Barry Goldwater not only lost the presidential election yesterday but the conservative cause as well. He has wrecked his party for a long time to come and is not even likely to control the wreckage,” James Reston wrote in The New York Times on Nov. 4, 1964.</span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">He was wrong. Ray Bliss, chair of the Republican National Committee from 1965 to 1969, led the GOP out of the wilderness by patching up ideological divides and organizing at the local level. Nixon won in 1968 — barely — and in a landslide in 1972. Reagan shaped much of the way government looks today.</span></p>
<p wcount="122" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">But Democrats don’t seem likely to pull off such a trick. As they say in 12-step programs, the first step is admitting you have a problem. The party is addicted to campaign contributions from corporations like Big Pharma and Big Tech who influence it against doing much to appeal to the working-class voters they need to win elections and who are migrating to Trump and the Republicans. But there’s no evidence they see that as a problem. Some top Democrats want to wean themselves off big corporate money by adopting Sen. Bernie Sanders’ proven small-contributor model, but the only suggestion we’ve heard from new Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin is that the party needs more and better messaging.</span></p>
<p wcount="79" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“We also need to give people a sense of who we are as Democrats, what we believe in and what we’re fighting for,” Martin said on Feb. 17. While Democrats say they oppose Trump, they don’t seem to believe in much at all. They’re not fighting, whether for or against anything. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to them: “The courts,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says, “are the first line of defense” against Trump.</span></p>
<p wcount="28" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">What of the Senate, where Democrats hold seven more seats than needed to jam up legislation with filibusters? They’re abdicating their checks and balances to the judiciary.</span></p>
<p wcount="44" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">If you’re a liberal voter, the ideological battlefield currently looks like the Ukrainians’ situation. You keep losing. You’re deploying the same old failed strategies and tactics. No new miracle weapons are coming. There’s no reason to think that anything will improve.</span></p>
<p wcount="14" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Liberals see that there’s no hope. So they’re alienated and checked out.</span></p>
<p wcount="9" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So Trump runs wild and the streets remain empty.</span></p>
<p wcount="105" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">If you’re conservative, the prospect of a Great Liberal Vanishing should spook you. In late-stage Rome, citizens got tired of politics and allowed themselves to be distracted by bread and circuses. The Republic slid into autocracy. German liberals disengaged from Weimar Republican politics as the Social Democratic Party, the dominant left-leaning party at the time, governed in a coalition with bourgeois parties who blocked attempts to address popular priorities like unemployment relief after the depression began in 1929. In our time, low voter turnout correlates with stagnant governance and populist takeovers — and U.S. elections begin with a lower turnout rate than many other countries.</span></p>
<p wcount="43" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">A democratic republic can limp along, hollowed out, for a while. But the less people care about the system, the easier it is for a demagogue to step in and claim, “I alone can fix it.” By then, no one’s paying attention.</span></p>
<p wcount="22" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Ted Rall (Twitter: @tedrall), the political cartoonist, columnist and graphic novelist, co-hosts the left-vs-right DMZ America podcast with fellow cartoonist Scott Stantis.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544465
title: Liberate Germany, by Ron Unz
author: ;Ron Unz
link: https://www.unz.com/article/liberate-germany/
hash: ۲aɬtN�@oi/�y
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/themes/unzSite/IMAGES/unz_large_logo.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="16" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">‘Germans are either at your throat or at your feet,’ quipped old war lover Winston Churchill.</span></p>
<p wcount="42" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Today, Germans are at our feet – an astounding 80 years after the end of World War II. Though mostly reunited, Germany remains an occupied nation reduced to second class status and afflicted with war guilt. Japan – also occupied – remains in a similar status,</span></p>
<p wcount="100" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The recent German federal elections brought the moderate, polite Christian Democratic Union to power, ousting the feeble, namby pamby Socialists whose primary goal was not to offend anyone. Many younger Germans, fed up with Germany’s subservient behavior, voted for the new AfD, a moderately conservative party. But AfD was blocked from the coalition leadership after a chorus of howls from the press and rivals that it was a neo-Nazi party. AfD’s leader is a big-boned woman whom German media claims is a lesbian who lives with a south Asian younger lady. Hardly a reincarnation of the Third Reich.</span></p>
<p wcount="83" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The liberal German and US media kept running reports on Auschwitz and other wartime atrocities. No one took time to mention the Soviet concentration camps or the 27 million killed by Stalin in the USSR. No one mentions that ‘Nazi’ stands for ‘National Socialist.’ The feeble US-dominated German press never mentions that World War II was begun by France and Germany, or how many times Chancellor Hitler tried to make peace with London and Paris. Or how much German territory was detached in 1945-1948.</span></p>
<p wcount="81" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The most significant point is that Germany remains under US military occupation. This happened as result of what we believe was the Soviet threat in 1945 and after. General George S. Patton understood this well and said that the US should have attacked the Soviet Union, instead of Germany. He was killed soon after in a mysterious vehicle crash. Pavel Sudoplatov, a former KGB general, claimed in his very interesting book, ‘Special Tasks,’ that the Roosevelt administration had many high-level Soviet agents.</span></p>
<p wcount="41" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Today, of the 84,000 US troops in Europe, 39,000 are permanently based in Germany, 10,000 in Britain, 14,000 in Poland and 13,000 in sunny Italy, more in Turkey and the Baltic states. Many are air force personnel maintaining America’s control of the skies over Europe.</span></p>
<p wcount="65" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Of course, one must ask why 80 years after the end of WWII the US still maintains such large forces in Europe – not to mention Japan. The US says it is defending against a possible Russian invasion. But three years of war have shown that Russia is no longer the military juggernaut it was in the post-war years when its military forces numbered in the millions.</span></p>
<p wcount="63" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Russia’s Vlad Putin is a convenient bogeyman. Claims he intends to invade Western Europe are nonsense. He might try to reclaim the Baltic states. US claim’s that Putin wants to annex parts of the world are pretty rich considering the US invasions of Panama, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Iraq, Somalia and, most lately, Trump’s territorial claims on Canada and Greenland.</span></p>
<p wcount="50" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The point is – how can a nation that has been occupied by a foreign army since 1945 be truly independent? When it was revealed the US National Security Agency was tapping the cellphone of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, all the red-faced Germans dared do was huff and puff a little.</span></p>
<p wcount="40" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Germans should resume acting like a strong and proud people instead of beaten dogs. Germany is the locomotive of Europe. For Europe to reassume its key world role, Germany must lead the way instead of awaiting email instructions from Washington.</span></p>
<p wcount="9" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">And it’s high time to forget about WWII.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544476
title: You Don’t Have the Cards, by Andrew Anglin
author: ;Andrew Anglin
link: https://www.unz.com/aanglin/you-dont-have-the-cards/
hash: �� ��_Gc̪ O��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="5.1923076923077" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">WATCH FULL: The RAW HISTORIC back and forth between Trump and Zelensky <a href="https://t.co/5KTW939Z0Y">https://t.co/5KTW939Z0Y</a> <a href="https://t.co/aEtElUyJez">pic.twitter.com/aEtElUyJez</a></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— RT (@RT_com) <a href="https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1895549946268672426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="11" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Well, the best thing ever finally happened. As you probably know.</span></p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Volonodonomodor Zeeleniniskiyey came to the White House to meet Donald Trump and it turned into the most public diplomatic breakdown in known history.</span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">First, James Bowman, who was at the meeting for some reason, began lecturing Zelensky with all of the talking points that everyone who knows anything is already aware of, talking about how the Ukraine is losing and force conscripting people and they need a deal to end the war.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Then, Zelensky began acting like a petulant child, calling Bowman a “fucking bitch” under his breath but loud enough to be picked up by the mic, and then began lashing out at Trump.</span></p>
<p wcount="49" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump would not tolerate this, and started scolding Zelensky in the way that grown-ups scold misbehaving children. As an out of control child will do, Zelensky kept interrupting the adult and Trump went so far as to push him, physically, with his hand, to get him to shut up.</span></p>
<p wcount="44" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">At one point he told Zelensky: “you don’t have the cards” and Zelensky claimed he was no playing cards, to which Trump replied, “you are playing cards and you’re gambling with the lives of millions of people and gambling with nuclear war.”</span></p>
<p wcount="40" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump then explained that there would be no deal, Zelensky is not ready for a deal, and kicked him out of the White House. They skipped lunch and the planned joint press conference, with Zelensky forced to leave in shame.</span></p>
<p wcount="16" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There are a lot of funny screengrabs from the meeting, but my favorite was my own:</span></p>
<div data-sanitized-id="i_1" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/zelensky-trump.jpg"><img src="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/zelensky-trump-618x452.jpg" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<p wcount="25" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Crossing his arms like that was such a stupid move that anyone should have been able to tell him to never do in a meeting.</span></p>
<p wcount="32" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump has done something hilarious replacing the press corps with bloggers, because while he was getting in his Secret Service truck, someone was yelling “why did you disrespect the president, Mr. Zelensky?”</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="4.4166666666667" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Trump kicked Zelensky out 💀<br><a href="https://t.co/aXpJdHdg6X">pic.twitter.com/aXpJdHdg6X</a></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Gabe (@GabeZZOZZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/GabeZZOZZ/status/1895555487355322835?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="19" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Also, during the Oval Office meeting, one of the bloggers asked him why he wasn’t wearing a suit.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="12.171717171717" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">🚨 Reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/brianglenntv?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@brianglenntv</a> just CALLED OUT Zelensky in the Oval Office</p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“Why don’t you wear a suit?! You’re in the HIGHEST OFFICE in our country and you refuse to wear a suit…</span></p>
<p wcount="6" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">“Do you even own a suit?!”</span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">🔥🔥<br><a href="https://t.co/aftKfBQmxM">pic.twitter.com/aftKfBQmxM</a></span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1895539152328020156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="9" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump rubbed it in in the funniest way possible.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="9.0344827586207" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">“Take the deal or we are out”</p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">PS: I like your clothes.</span></p>
<p wcount="0" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">😂</span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_21" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">This is great reality television.</span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_22" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://t.co/JlyOtmM7jZ">pic.twitter.com/JlyOtmM7jZ</a></span></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_23" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraLoomer/status/1895541792000348341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="15" data-sanitized-id="p_1_24" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">That came after Trump mocked him when he arrived, saying he was “all dressed up.”</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="5.6912751677852" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">President Trump greets President Zelenskyy at the White House 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/tkksSdlcjz">pic.twitter.com/tkksSdlcjz</a></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_25" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) <a href="https://twitter.com/MargoMartin47/status/1895511105352663282?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="14" data-sanitized-id="p_1_26" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Candace Owens is claiming she deserves credit for making fun of his costume first.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="9.7912087912088" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">No one will give me credit for calling out his obvious “war attire styling” for a full 3 YEARS now— back when we were called “Putin puppets”<br>I am so glad the world now sees this clown for exactly what he is. He is just not a serious person and deserves to be publicly ridiculed. <a href="https://t.co/rw1QLtZ7N8">https://t.co/rw1QLtZ7N8</a></p>
<p wcount="5" data-sanitized-id="p_1_27" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1895558513000399200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>

<p wcount="68" data-sanitized-id="p_1_28" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I hate that tweet. Firstly, I was the first one to make fun of his costume, and everyone knows that, including Candace. Secondly, no one can claim they invented making fun of his costume, because it is very obvious that he is going around in a costume, and it’s obvious that this was focus-group tested with Western white women, who are the prime demographic supporting the war.</span></p>
<p wcount="93" data-sanitized-id="p_1_29" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">He was doomed as soon as he made the decision to wear that stupid army costume to the White House. It demonstrates he looks at the whole thing like a big game and has no desire to pretend he’s serious about anything. He agreed to completely destroy the Ukraine as part of a US plan to weaken Russia in exchange for a lot of money. He already has the money, so you’d think he’d be ready to just wrap it up with some dignity, but apparently he wants more money.</span></p>
<p wcount="57" data-sanitized-id="p_1_30" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">People are saying Zelensky was on drugs and screwed this whole thing up. Although he was probably on drugs, I saw a video of him doing standard “cocaine sniffing” behavior which we’ve all seen many videos of him doing before. But I have a much hotter take than that this was just a drug-fueled emotional meltdown.</span></p>
<p wcount="111" data-sanitized-id="p_1_31" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I think this was pre-planned. He went in there with the plan to do the “resistance” bit, to “stand up against Trump’s fascism,” to make a big show of how outraged he is that Trump will not stand with democracy. At one point, after Zelensky claimed that Ukraine was “all alone,” Trump said that they weren’t alone, they had $350 billion from the US, and if they wouldn’t have had that, they would have lost in two weeks, and Zelensky said “three days, according to Putin.” Trump replied: “maybe less.” This was part of the plan, to compare Trump to Putin, to claim that Trump is working with Putin.</span></p>
<p wcount="104" data-sanitized-id="p_1_32" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It is obvious that Trump is intent on ending the war, so there was no real purpose in going along with Trump’s plan. Well, the purpose would have been to try to convince Trump that the Ukraine doesn’t need an election, so that Zelensky can leave with some dignity, and that probably would have been the better option for Zelensky personally. But what he did in creating this scene was appeal to the Jewish media and the European establishment to further the narrative of Trump working for Putin, which they are currently stirring up again, because they don’t have other options.</span></p>
<p wcount="128" data-sanitized-id="p_1_33" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Zelensky meant for a breakdown of the discussion in public and he meant for Trump to get angry and scold him. I do think he overestimated his own improv abilities, and had imagined that he would be able to have a “moment of defiance against fascism in the name of democracy.” I don’t think it went how he planned, because he just looks like a whining little bitch, entitled and demanding. This will still result in Europeans and white women saying “oh, look at the poor little child, being so meanly abused by the very bad orange father,” but most people are going to look at this scene and say “how is that brat running a country? why did we give $350 billion to this ungrateful little imp?”</span></p>
<p wcount="52" data-sanitized-id="p_1_34" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So, it went very badly for Zelensky, but not really in the way most people are saying. He meant to create the scene, but he thought he would be able to stage a “moment of defiance,” and Trump clearly got what he was doing and made a point to completely humiliate him.</span></p>

<div data-sanitized-id="i_2" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/vance.jpg"><img src="https://dailystormer.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/vance-618x348.jpg" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<p wcount="36" data-sanitized-id="p_1_35" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The biggest winner here, aside from America and Russia, was James Bowman, who is being celebrated for his performance and scolding of Zelensky. I was not totally impressed with it, personally, especially in contrast to Trump.</span></p>
<p wcount="29" data-sanitized-id="p_1_36" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I don’t like Bowman as the successor to Trump at all, and I’m sure this is going to be the narrative after his performance at this meeting.</span></p>
<p wcount="9" data-sanitized-id="p_1_37" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I would prefer Tucker Carlson, or really anyone who:</span></p>
<ul><li>Doesn’t have an Indian wife, and</li>
<li>Doesn’t say “Israel is our greatest ally”</li>
</ul><p wcount="20" data-sanitized-id="p_1_38" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">But whatever, I don’t really care that much US politics, honestly, I just want to see my enemies punished.</span></p>
<p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_39" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>It’s So Over</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="15" data-sanitized-id="p_1_40" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">This was the end of the Ukraine Age. There is no going back from this.</span></p>
<p wcount="133" data-sanitized-id="p_1_41" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Some people were saying that Trump was maybe going to continue the war and just claim that the Ukraine is paying the US for it through mineral rights, but that was never the plan and if it had been the plan, it isn’t after this debacle. Again, if there was any chance of Trump getting on board with the war, Zelensky wouldn’t have done this. He’s not that stupid. He had intelligence people, presumably from the UK, telling him there was no chance Trump was going to support the war so the best thing he could do at this meeting is create the “standing against fascism” inspirational moment in the hopes that it would help convince the Europeans to continue funding him (as if the Europeans even have that ability).</span></p>
<p wcount="51" data-sanitized-id="p_1_42" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">After this, it is going to end quickly. Trump is going to start demanding elections in the Ukraine, he is going to cut all funding completely, he’s going to press home the fact that if Zelensky thinks he has the support of his people, he needs to do an election.</span></p>
<p wcount="104" data-sanitized-id="p_1_43" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Zelensky is of course planning to escape with his billions. It might be too much to hope for, but I do hope that he can be brought up on war crimes charges on the basis that he knew the war was unwinnable and still sent hundreds of thousand or millions to die in vain. His army has also committed a lot of individual war crimes against Ukrainian, many of which are on video, as well as war crimes in purposefully targeting civilians in the Donbass and inside 2022 Russian borders, and it could easily be shown that he was aware of and ordered these actions.</span></p>
<p wcount="36" data-sanitized-id="p_1_44" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I was convinced before the election that Trump was going to end the Ukraine war, but after this seen on Friday, I’m now wondering if I might get more than I’d ever hoped for.</span></p>
<p wcount="95" data-sanitized-id="p_1_45" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There are a lot of things about the Trump agenda I do not appreciate, particularly with relation to these Jews and their global agenda, but those things are a separate issue and no one should let that impinge on their joyfulness over the fact that the Ukraine mess is finally ending and that all of these people, the media and the government people and all of those women, who were going on and on about the gloriousness of the Ukraine, are facing the greatest of all humiliations as everything the anti-Ukraine people said comes true.</span></p>
<blockquote data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="10.594005449591" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if… <a href="https://t.co/CtnqXBNcW3">pic.twitter.com/CtnqXBNcW3</a></p>
<p wcount="7" data-sanitized-id="p_1_46" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">— President Donald J. Trump (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1895544632651424102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></span></p>
</blockquote>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544480
title: Jim Kavanagh on Trump’s Gaza Plan, Geopolitical Earthquakes, by Kevin Barrett
author: ;Kevin Barrett
link: https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/jim-kavanagh-on-trumps-gaza-plan-geopolitical-earthquakes/
hash: �H�i��Hd�>� ��V
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/themes/unzSite/IMAGES/unz_large_logo.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="4" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a title="https://rumble.com/v6pxz5g-jim-kavanagh-on-trumps-gaza-plan-geopolitical-earthquakes.html" href="https://rumble.com/v6pxz5g-jim-kavanagh-on-trumps-gaza-plan-geopolitical-earthquakes.html" rel>Rumble link</a> <a title="https://old.bitchute.com/video/fpX8GLReWoSB/" href="https://old.bitchute.com/video/fpX8GLReWoSB/" rel>Bitchute link</a></span></p>

<p wcount="27" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Jim Kavanagh of <a title="https://thepolemicist.substack.com/" href="https://thepolemicist.substack.com/" rel>The Polemicist</a> discusses “<a title="https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/11/trumps-exemplary-gaza-plan/" href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/11/trumps-exemplary-gaza-plan/" rel>Trump’s Exemplary Gaza Plan</a>,” as well as ongoing geopolitical upheavals, led by the Trump-instigated US break with Europe and Ukraine.</span></p>
<p wcount="1" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Excerpt:</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="95" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Kevin Barrett: So, hey, I want to run an idea by you here, Jim. I just came up with this. So what if every Ramadan, starting with this Ramadan, all of us Muslims decided, instead of looking to our local national authorities to decide when to start the month of Ramadan—which day is the day you start fasting? This is something we do every year. And then sometimes there’s controversy. In the United States, different groups of Muslims follow different authorities and they don’t always agree which day Ramadan starts and ends.</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="74" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>So how are we going to solve this problem? (How do we get the whole Muslim world to agree, or better yet, to start fasting on the same day?) It’s been suggested do whatever the Saudis do. But those of us who aren’t very impressed by the Saudis don’t like that idea. Another approach is just follow tradition, which is, of course, you go with your local emir or political leader.</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="90" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>But…how could we unite the Muslim world? Here’s how you do it. I say we all go by the Palestine moon sighting. In other words,you always go by whoever has the authority in Islam: whenever they say that somebody has sighted the moon in your jurisdiction, that’s when you start fasting. Well, let’s go by the Palestinians! And specifically, let’s have somebody at the Al-Aqsa Mosque look for the moon. And the whole Muslim world will fast the day that they see the moon.</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="52" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>And if we do that, Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular becomes the de facto capital of the Islamic Ummah. And suddenly a lot of things would change. So that’s my idea. I’m throwing it out here. And if it happens, you can say you were there when it started.</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="55" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Jim Kavanagh: OK, I’ll give you credit for it. I’ll write you down as the source of that idea. It’s a good idea. It’s a… kind of metonymy for the idea that if the Arab and the Muslim world would unite around Palestine, the Palestine issue could be solved with justice.</span></p>
<p wcount="132" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>It’s a way to get some grassroots pressure in that direction. I hope the King of Morocco doesn’t get mad at me for saying this, because he’s the one who decides when Ramadan starts here, or his people do. But anyway, moving on from there…not that far, though, over to Gaza. You wrote a piece on Trump’s exemplary Gaza plan, and it’s kind of…painful. Everybody, including me, is saying, this is ridiculous. I mean, this plan is not only evil beyond belief, but it’s also unrealistic beyond belief. What is this guy smoking? Is he on a bad PCP trip? But you pointed out that all the other possibilities are highly unlikely, too. So…that’s kind of a frightening conundrum, isn’t it?</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="70" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It’s the plan. It is the plan from the beginning. It’s Netanyahu’s plan. It is happening. “We’re going to kill or expel, exterminate or expel most of the Palestinians, if not all of them, just like we did in 1948. We did it before. The world accepted it. We’re going to do it again and the world will accept it and the world is accepting it.”</span></p>
<p wcount="28" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So they’re going to do it over a year or over six months or over 20 or 48 years, or 70 years. But that’s what they want to do.</span></p>
<p wcount="24" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump’s plan is a kind of gross, grotesque, blatant version of the plan that’s actually in motion. And who has the alternative?</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544500
title: From Donbass to South Lebanon, and All Across BRICS, It’s All About Resistance, by Pepe Escobar
author: ;Pepe Escobar
hash: ː�Yƻ��P�kQ�h�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div data-sanitized-id="i_1" data-sanitized-class="image imagecenter container">
<div data-sanitized-class="image-holder"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><a href="https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/0b/0c/1120863809_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_ca6e59cc494a409c77f8ef5e98c32f38.jpg.webp"><img src="https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/0b/0c/1120863809_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_ca6e59cc494a409c77f8ef5e98c32f38.jpg.webp" alt></a></span></div>
</div>
<p wcount="55" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">For those who keep track of the slings and arrows crossing the broader geopolitical chessboard non-stop, it’s an immensely powerful – and humbling – experience to one day be contemplating the devastated Avdeyevka, in the heart of the war in Donbass, and a week later struggling to understand the devastation inflicted on villages in southern Lebanon.</span></p>
<p wcount="26" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It’s all about the transcending power of Resistance – uniting Orthodox Christianity in the black soil of Novorossiya to political Shi’ism in the Eastern Mediterranean.</span></p>
<p wcount="44" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It’s this close-up, in microcosm, of the tortuous, bloody, pitiless ways of the Angel of History – to remember Walter Benjamin’s searing metaphor – that really illuminate the always shape-shifting Big Picture, and help us to better frame complex historical processes on the move.</span></p>
<p wcount="40" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">We are now, geopolitically, under the volcano. And one of the key questions ahead that may allow us to better find a way out is how the top BRICS nations will be reacting to the seemingly immovable Forever Wars ethos.</span></p>
<p wcount="52" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So let’s keep our feet on the ground. <a title="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250226/europes-desire-to-deploy-peacekeepers-in-ukraine-aimed-to-weaponize-it-again---lavrov-1121601586.html" href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250226/europes-desire-to-deploy-peacekeepers-in-ukraine-aimed-to-weaponize-it-again---lavrov-1121601586.html" rel="noopener">Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov</a> has just gone through an intriguing Astana process loop. First he was in Turkiye – the new hegemon in Syria, at least in thesis. He met Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan – the former head of Turkish intel – and President Erdogan.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em>Even though Turkiye will hardly dare to become a BRICS partner – after it was officially invited at the Kazan summit last year – Ankara simply cannot afford to antagonize Russia, mostly for geoeconomic reasons.</em></span></p>
<p wcount="19" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Then Lavrov went to Iran – following up on the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation signed on January 17 in Moscow.</span></p>
<p wcount="60" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Lavrov and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discussed not only the proverbial mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation agenda – especially on energy and transportation – but also the wider geopolitical chessboard, including ultra-sensitive nodes such as Syria, Yemen, the Persian Gulf, the Caspian, the South Caucasus and Afghanistan, as well as what could happen next for the <a title="https://sputnikglobe.com/20240117/irans-top-diplomat-reiterates-tehrans-readiness-for-all-parties-to-return-to-jcpoa-1116212566.html" href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20240117/irans-top-diplomat-reiterates-tehrans-readiness-for-all-parties-to-return-to-jcpoa-1116212566.html" rel="noopener">JCPOA</a>, the Iran nuclear deal.</span></p>
<p wcount="26" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Yet the absolutely key imperative remains the Forever Wars chapter in Ukraine – whose resolution (or not) will deeply affect geopolitics for the rest of the century.</span></p>
<p wcount="24" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em>Three years ago, at the start of the SMO, President Putin qualified a series of objectives. NATO responded by seeking to up the ante.</em></span></p>
<p wcount="50" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Examples. Let’s start with a security treaty imposing a demilitarized space on <a title="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250219/pepe-escobar-in-the-heart-of-donbass-before-us-russia-meet-in-riyadh--1121584757.html" href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250219/pepe-escobar-in-the-heart-of-donbass-before-us-russia-meet-in-riyadh--1121584757.html" rel="noopener">Russia’s western borders</a>, and the return of NATO to its limits circa 1997. NATO responded by expanding in Scandinavia – and now the Baltic chihuahuas, supported by Finland, dream of turning the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">While the Lugansk National Republic has been 100% liberated, Donetsk stands at best at 75%. Kherson was 100% liberated in the summer of 2022, but then there was a retreat; it now stands at 75%. Same with Zaporizhia.</span></p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Ukraine has not been fully demilitarized yet – although the prospects are somewhat encouraging – or denazified (that will be a decade-long process, at least).</span></p>
<p wcount="55" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Ukraine as a non-NATO neutral nation remains a real red line to Moscow ahead of upcoming negotiations with Trump 2.0. Same with the acceptance by Kiev of Crimea and the four regions as Russian and the removal of all sanctions against Russia: Washington may remove quite a few, but the vassal EU will keep them all.</span></p>
<p wcount="61" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Not to mention it’s still a long and winding road – to put it mildly – for Moscow to eventually de-enclave Transnistria, which would require to establish a transport corridor through the Kharkov-Transnistria axis as well as Odessa – a Russian city – and securitizing the whole Black Sea littoral. Control of the Black Sea was the prime NATO obsession since before Maidan in 2014.</span></p>
<p wcount="6" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Walk on the Wild – Kafkaesque – Side</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="42" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">When we follow the money regarding the upcoming US-Russia negotiations on Ukraine, it’s clear that what matters for <a title="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250128/pepe-escobar-dancing-to-trumps-disco-inferno-1121513139.html" href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250128/pepe-escobar-dancing-to-trumps-disco-inferno-1121513139.html" rel="noopener">Trump 2.0</a> is to reestablish the position of American companies in Russia, all the way to buying Russian commodities – as suggested by Putin himself.</span></p>
<p wcount="20" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">So geoconomics rule – again, bringing us all back to 2013 and the fateful free market agreement between the EU and Kiev.</span></p>
<p wcount="41" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump 2.0 is building the narrative that European troops – not directly NATO-linked – will be deployed in Kiev after the end of the war. That would fit into a soft power operation of convincing public opinion about <a title="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250217/trumps-us-may-exit-nato-if-europe-derails-us-russia-talks--ex-pentagon-officer-1121577021.html" href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250217/trumps-us-may-exit-nato-if-europe-derails-us-russia-talks--ex-pentagon-officer-1121577021.html" rel="noopener">NATO’s annexation</a> of rump Ukraine.</span></p>
<p wcount="40" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump 2.0, meanwhile, is actively transferring to the collapsing EU the role of 100% globalist supporter of Kiev. Follow the money: this means the EU has to pay up. For everything – while the US gleefully exploits what remains of Ukraine’s resources.</span></p>
<p wcount="35" data-sanitized-id="p_1_21" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In parallel, in this Kafkaesque universe, Brussels keeps piling up sanctions on Russia while removing sanctions on Syria on the energy and transportation fronts because Damascus, after all, is now ruled by jihadists: “our” jihadists.</span></p>
<p wcount="56" data-sanitized-id="p_1_22" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Compounding the circus, clueless EU mutts such as the next BlackRock German chancellor now openly admit, regretfully, that Maidan, from the start, was in fact aimed against Brussels. The American goal – way before the toxic distribution of Nuland’s cookies – was to sever the EU from Russia and destroy it as a technological competitor. Mission accomplished.</span></p>
<p wcount="50" data-sanitized-id="p_1_23" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Of course, in such a Kafkaesque domain, none of the above is enough to change the EU narrative. Brussels wants to allocate yet another 20 to 40 billion euros (which they don’t have) and an “unimaginable” amount of (American) weapons to Kiev, as stated by Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.</span></p>
<p wcount="7" data-sanitized-id="p_1_24" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><strong>Follow the Money – and the Shadow Play</strong></span></p>
<p wcount="35" data-sanitized-id="p_1_25" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Back on the Ukraine front, Putin has actually suggested that Zaluzhny might replace the current cracked actor in a sweaty sweatshirt. The MI6 is undoubtedly currently preparing Zaluzhny in London exactly for such a role.</span></p>
<p wcount="61" data-sanitized-id="p_1_26" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">As for military budget cuts, Putin also accepts Trump’s idea of dividing them by half (China politely disagrees). Were that to happen, Russia’s budget would roughly be back to what it was before the SMO, while the Americans would have to cut off $400 billion. Elon Musk’s DOGE will be thrilled; the Deep State will fight it to death.</span></p>
<div data-sanitized-class="book-unit alignright premblock book-author"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978813820/"><img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514BiChCuYL.jpg"></a>
<p>ORDER IT NOW</p>
</div>
<p wcount="75" data-sanitized-id="p_1_27" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">For all the intertwined shadow play that is taking place on all fronts, invisible to public opinion, there is an undercurrent of skeptical dissent in Moscow according to which after three years of a narrative insisting the Ukraine war was a US war on Russia (certainly by the globalist Democrat axis), plus the Ukrainian biolabs, the tsunami of sanctions, the Nord Stream bombings, Moscow is now willing to re-start economic cooperation with Washington from scratch.</span></p>
<p wcount="29" data-sanitized-id="p_1_28" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Of course it’s not so simple. But there are indeed fears that a possible “peace” deal may turn out to be yet another American “follow the money” win.</span></p>
<p wcount="45" data-sanitized-id="p_1_29" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Whatever happens next – and no one knows what that will be – the fact remains that it’s Putin who’s now in charge of this new chapter of the Art of the Deal, swiftly dodging veiled threats and non-stop bullying and reverting them Sun Tzu-style.</span></p>
<p wcount="17" data-sanitized-id="p_1_30" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Putin cannot possibly accept European “peace keepers” in Ukraine because Russian public opinion will never accept it.</span></p>
<p wcount="35" data-sanitized-id="p_1_31" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em>Without making a single move, just playing Sun Tzu, Putin has already made Trump humiliate the Kiev actor in front of the whole planet and de facto relegate the EU to the dustbin of History.</em></span></p>
<p wcount="45" data-sanitized-id="p_1_32" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">And yet, once again, this nagging feeling persists across well-informed circles in Moscow that a few Ukraine-related deals on the end of the war have already been clinched in the background. That explains why certain Russian and American outbursts seem to be too well synchronized.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_33" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Once again, shadow play. And follow the money. When Putin talks about possible joint US-Russian investments on aluminum production in Siberia, he’s thinking about sanctions being erased on Russia’s aluminum industry.</span></p>
<p wcount="42" data-sanitized-id="p_1_34" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Same with American investments in Donbass: that will imply the regions are Russian. From all that, there will be a cascade of suppressed sanctions on the sectors of the Russian banking system involved in foreign trade. That’s hardcore geopolitics in action.</span></p>
<p wcount="47" data-sanitized-id="p_1_35" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The <a title="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250216/how-russia-and-china-dominate-global-quantum-computer-race--1121573293.html" href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20250216/how-russia-and-china-dominate-global-quantum-computer-race--1121573293.html" rel="noopener">China-Russia</a> front – involving a deeply complex comprehensive strategic partnership – is way more complex. Much more than BRICS, Beijing’s priority is BRI, the Belt and Road Initiative, or New Silk Roads, the overarching geoeconomics framework of Chinese foreign policy: opening new markets for Chinese products, globally.</span></p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_36" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The EU was supposed to be the top final destination of the BRI network. So now there is a serious dichotomy in play.</span></p>
<p wcount="32" data-sanitized-id="p_1_37" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Beijing was thrown seriously off balance by the de facto Russian demolition of the EU’s cash flow via the SMO: that reduced the actual value of the EU market for BRI.</span></p>
<p wcount="48" data-sanitized-id="p_1_38" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Yet in parallel, Russia’s fast as lightning resurgence as a great military power, strategically defeating the whole collective West, has unveiled a few new tricks to Beijing ahead of its epic confrontation with Trump 2.0 – which does see China as the eminent threat to the Empire of Chaos.</span></p>
<p wcount="35" data-sanitized-id="p_1_39" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In the end, it’s all about Resistance. From Donbass to the Eastern Mediterranean, from BRICS Iran to BRICS Russia. China, meanwhile, is watching the – geopolitical – river flow, and learning everything there is to learn.</span></p>

link:
https://www.unz.com/pescobar/from-donbass-to-south-lebanon-and-all-across-brics-its-all-about-resistance/


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544485
title: The Shaman of the Radical Right: Jonathan Bowden, by Edward Dutton
author: ;Edward Dutton
link: https://www.unz.com/article/the-shaman-of-the-radical-right-jonathan-bowden/
hash: (w#r���(�n���k
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pic1-667x1030Bowden.jpg" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="115" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In 2009, at a secret and un-filmed <em>Occidental Quarterly</em> meeting in Atlanta, a portly, middle-aged Englishman with a slightly whining rural accent delivered what, according to multiple witnesses, was the best speech ever made. Certainly, they all agreed, it was the best <em>nationalist</em> speech ever made. It was all the more impressive if you consider that when this man ascended the stage he apparently had no idea what he was going to say. A so-called mediumistic speaker, he told friends that, prior to an oration, he would effectively enter a trance in which he would dissociate — almost split in two — and then hear the words from the ether before saying them. This man was Jonathan Bowden.</span></p>
<p wcount="173" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Since his untimely death in March 2012 aged just 49, a process which had already commenced towards the end of his life has accelerated and continues to accelerate. Bowden has become a cult figure on the internet, especially among the increasingly rebellious and anti-Woke zoomers who have known nothing other than Clown World throughout their young lives. Bowden, despite or possibly because of his multiple flaws as well as obvious talents, is a nationalist folk hero; a kind of “based shaman” who inspires young people, and increasingly (though they won’t mention it in public) some rather prominent and influential older people, to at worst “Ride the Tiger” of <em>Kali Yuga</em> and to, at best, find the courage to fight against it, personal consequences be damned. Such is the clamour to understand more about this incredible man that I have just published his official biography: <a title="https://www.amazon.com/Shaman-Radical-Right-Jonathan-Bowden/dp/1923104667/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XPlcST8q46plWt6daVFbBQ.EbhO_UmoFEQXEJfRbA7V6mNpBGSs34t7wBcYdHzkLI8&amp;qid=1740568889&amp;sr=8-1" href="https://www.amazon.com/Shaman-Radical-Right-Jonathan-Bowden/dp/1923104667/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XPlcST8q46plWt6daVFbBQ.EbhO_UmoFEQXEJfRbA7V6mNpBGSs34t7wBcYdHzkLI8&amp;qid=1740568889&amp;sr=8-1"><em>Shaman of the Radical Right: The Life and Mind of Jonathan Bowden.</em></a> I have been flabbergasted, to be frank, by the level of interest in it, especially among Generation Z.</span></p>
<p wcount="181" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">It was a book that almost never got written. Various people asked me to write it in 2019 but it turned out that a friend of Bowden’s had been doing-so since 2012. In 2021, he was still blocking others from writing it, clearly unable to produce it but also unable to admit that he couldn’t do so. In September 2024, I was a meeting of what I would call a “purple-pilled” magazine in London; one of those magazines that is slightly too frightened to fully go where the empirical evidence leads. I got chatting to a female philosopher who suddenly produced a book of Bowden’s speeches from her handbag (purse in American) and gleamed at me with undisguised pride. If I had been a cartoon, a light bulb would’ve appeared above my head: “Bowden is a lot more popular and influential than I thought,” I said to myself. Bowden’s heir (to whom he bequeathed all his property) and I gave his “official biographer” a week to write back, he didn’t, so off I went; determined to do Bowden justice.</span></p>
<p wcount="44" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">A key question remained, though: Why has Bowden become such a phenomenon? What was it about him? Can we pick apart the assorted intertwined factors that led to my semi-respectable philosopher carrying around a book of speeches by this open “Fascist” in her handbag?</span></p>
<p wcount="189" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There was something inherently fascinating about Bowden’s breadth of knowledge, delivered without notes; the way in which he could reveal unusual connections or elucidate the previously obscure; from Julius Evola to Judge Dredd. Bowden was, to some extent, the Weberian charismatic; the man gifted with certain skills that, for a people feeling a sense of crisis or meaninglessness, is able to make a cold world seem warm again. When there is no crisis, such a person is perceived as a crank, or is a charismatic only for a small group of troubled followers (as he was in his lifetime), but as a sense of crisis spreads so does his role as the charismatic. As German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) put it, “The term ‘charisma’ will be applied to a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary . . .” The Charismatic comes to lead, inspire and embody the community.</span></p>
<p wcount="80" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Bowden’s extraordinarily engaging talks were, in some ways, a kind of performance art. His lectures are not meant simply to be read, and the internet has allowed them to be preserved and widely disseminated in a way that could not have been true of people like Bowden from an earlier generation. Recorded, often in an amateur way, in rooms above pubs, an aura of the genuine, of the English struggle against tyranny, of the mysterious is added to them.</span></p>
<p wcount="80" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Bowden used his real name despite the obvious financial and social dangers of being a dissident against the Woke regime. This indicated bravery and self-sacrifice. Bowden espoused a kind of Nietzsche-inspired philosophy: We must reject weakness, resentment and being part of the grievance hierarchy. We are in an evolutionary and spiritual battle in which, ultimately, the powerful will triumph. We must embrace power openly and fight, eternally, against weakness, such that we can bring about the triumph of our people.</span></p>
<p wcount="122" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Another attractive dimension to Bowden is that he took chances, particularly in terms of his nightmarish faux-Kandinsky abstract art; his unreadable and opaque stream-of-consciousness novels, but also in his unscripted speeches. One of Bowden’s friends referred to his prose thus: “His novellas and short stories are almost unreadable, but all the same the prose is incredible, uniquely pyrotechnic . . . in its use of metaphor, vocabulary, and striking juxtapositions.” This risk-taking in pursuit of what he feels and believes has the potential not to pay off, but he was fervent enough to take the risk and it paid off not in terms of his novellas but in terms of his speeches. This risk-taking can be inspiring and certainly signals a kind of genuineness.</span></p>
<p wcount="79" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Bowden was an artist as well as a thinker, so he understood, explicitly from his reading, how to successfully transmit his ideas; the brilliant teacher, he could make the world make sense for his audience. Bowden had a way with words; he would leave other speakers thinking, “I wish I’d said that!” He was acerbically witty. Some of the radical right’s favourite phrases—such as “Clear them out!” (with reference to the Labour Party) —originate from him.</span></p>
<p wcount="79" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Most importantly, Bowden, in a sense made the ultimate sacrifice by dying and dying prematurely. This would have imbued him with a prophet-like status; an aura of the other-worldly. In this regard, studies have found that when a charismatic leader dies, and especially if he dies suddenly, then he is suffused with greater charisma. He is perceived as being “one with the group” and representing the group to a greater extent. Death renders him, somehow, fused with the collective.</span></p>
<p wcount="119" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In addition, there is an extent to which Bowden seemed, in some respects, slightly childlike and helpless. Studies have found that people who sometimes make mistakes are regarded as more relatable, that childlike traits, including slight helplessness, make people more engaging, and that charismatic leaders often have a childlike enthusiasm and naivety. In comparing her husband, the leader of the British Union of Fascists Sir Oswald Mosley (1896–1980), to Hitler, Diana, Lady Mosley (1910–2003) observed that Hitler possessed this attractive quality of slight helplessness: “When people met Hitler they thought: here is this wonderful but unfortunate man who seems to have all of the cares of the world on this shoulders, so we must do all we can to help him.”</span></p>
<p wcount="99" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Bowden also had an “identifiable flaw:” He was short and overweight. It has been argued that, counter-intuitively, this is an aspect of charisma; of gaining a following. It allows ordinary people to identify better with you and so bond more strongly with you. Bowden also suffered from serious mental health problems and was, essentially, penniless. A childless bachelor, Bowden lived alone in a decrepit caravan in a caravan park in Reading, never really worked, had an old mobile phone and didn’t have the internet where he lived, so he used to research his essays at the local library.</span></p>
<p wcount="149" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">For some this might add to his charisma: he sacrificed the worldly so that he could dedicate himself to his research, his art and to promulgating his ideas. Diogenes the Cynic (412–323 BC) lived in a barrel in Sinope in what is now northern Turkey; Bowden lived in a mobile home in dreary Reading. As Bowden put it in his 2009 interview “Why I Am Not a Liberal,” “I’m probably a Bohemian. There’s an artistic element in me. I don’t care for bourgeois respectability. It doesn’t bother me. That’s where the leaders of the extreme right often come from. They actually come from the arts as much as from the academy or from the intelligentsia, and the arts are a psychologically very radical part of the society, and therefore you don’t care as much for, you know, being regarded as a bit of a demon.”</span></p>
<p wcount="89" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">But, certainly, these are identifiable flaws. They all contribute to his charisma. Posthumously, though the process had already commenced during his lifetime, Bowden has become an “influencer,” with YouTube channels and Twitter accounts dedicated to him. He has become a meme, with inspiring videos of his speeches produced all the time. Were he alive today, I imagine he’d have a huge channel, but he is a dead, and, naturally, this has made him even more influential; for so many younger people he is a kind of based prophet.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544493
title: Speak, Claudia!, by Patrick Lawrence
author: ;Patrick Lawrence
link: https://www.unz.com/plawrence/speak-claudia/
hash: *� /+s� ��x(։
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p wcount="69" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">LAGO de CHAPALA, Mexico—Watching that procession of hapless European supplicants passing through the Oval Office this week, my mind wandered briefly and came back with an imaginary scene I found pleasurable and instructive all at once: What if Claudia Sheinbaum went to see President Trump right after Andrzej Duda, the ineffectual Polish president, Emmanuel Macron, the ineffectual French president, and Keir Starmer, the hopelessly ineffectual British prime minister?</span></p>
<p wcount="63" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">What a kick. The spirited, self-possessed Mexican president, who took office but five months ago, would have put on full display—I am sure of this—the dynamism of an emergent generation of non–Western leaders right next to three exemplars of:the wilting, wandering West. The effect would have been high relief of the kind the Greeks and Romans invented and perfected.</span></p>
<p wcount="46" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Sheinbaum, a 62–year-old intellectual with a doctorate in environmental sciences, proved her mettle as mayor of Mexico City before she won the presidency in last year’s elections. And she has proved it all over again by way of her first encounters with the just-elected Trump.</span></p>
<p wcount="56" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">You had to love her riposte when Trump, in that first spurt of assertions just after his inauguration, proposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Remember? Sheinbaum stood before a map older than the U.S. and said with evident amusement, “Why don’t we call it America Mexicana. It sounds pretty, no?”</span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">O.K., fun with nomenclature. More substantive matters soon arose between Mexico City and Washington. Within days of resuming residence in the White House, Trump threatened Mexico and Canada with a tariff regime of 25% on most U.S. imports from both. Then came Trump’s new plan—a revived plan, actually—to repatriate Mexican, Central American, and other Latin American immigrants, dispensing, even, with many standing distinctions between legal and undocumented migrants.</span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">To complete the list of Trumpian offensives — for now, at least — Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20, among his first, declaring Mexico’s criminal cartels a national security threat. The State Department subsequently designated two of the most violent cartels FTOs, Foreign Terrorist Organizations. By affixing this label, the U.S. gives itself the right — as it so often awards itself legal rights — to attack the Sinaloa and New Generation cartels.</span></p>
<p wcount="69" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">How will this happen was instantly the question among Mexicans. Elon Musk made it clear on “X” that the FTO designation “means they [the cartels] are eligible for drone strikes.” The concern among Mexican officials now is there is another shoe yet to drop, and when it does, Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, will plan on-the-ground military operations that will amount to something close to an invasion.</span></p>
<p wcount="85" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Heavy going for Claudia, as Mexicans commonly refer to their president. But I have detected no hint of a flinch as Sheinbaum fields these unilateral, borderline-abusive initiatives. Trump suspended his threatened tariff regime two days after announcing it — this in response to Sheinbaum’s promise, along with the Canadians, of retaliation. There are more talks and probably more threats to come, but for the moment the Mexican leader, having made common cause with Ottawa, has forced Washington to back down — or at least back off.</span></p>
<p wcount="77" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Sheinbaum managed something of the same on the immigrants question. She committed to stationing 10,000 Mexican troops at the Mexican–U.S. border, but as various commentators have noted, Mexico already has roughly that number along the Rio Grande. It looks to me like a concession that isn’t much of one in practice, but Sheinbaum appears to have parried Trump once again — for now, that qualifier one must always add when considering America’s erratic new president.</span></p>
<p wcount="99" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Interim solutions to the tariffs and immigrant problems: This looks like good statecraft to me. It is in the cartels-as-terrorists matter that Sheinbaum came on strong. “Both countries want to combat organized crime,” she said after State declared the two cartels terrorists, “but we must ensure that it is done through collaboration and coordination.” On Thursday Mexico offered a dramatic demonstration of what Sheinbaum means: It turned over to the U.S. 29 ranking cartel members already in Mexican prisons, including a cofounder of the Sinaloa cartel U.S. authorities have sought for four decades. Collaboration and coordination at work.</span></p>
<p wcount="63" data-sanitized-id="p_1_11" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">But note what else Sheinbaum had to say about the FTO designation: “This cannot be used as an opportunity for the United States to invade our sovereignty.” Read that carefully. “Cannot” is a strong word in the parlance of statecraft as it has no suggestion of flexibility in it, and casting the question as one of sovereignty is unmistakably a kind of escalation.</span></p>
<p wcount="66" data-sanitized-id="p_1_12" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The Guadalajara Reporter, the English-language weekly in Mexico’s second-largest city, called Sheinbaum’s remarks “a red line.” With her other displays of determination in view, that seems to me exactly how the Mexican leader meant it. To be noted: Sheinbaum simultaneously announced that her Foreign Ministry would fortify its pending lawsuit against north-of-the-border weapons makers, accusing them now of knowingly selling arms to Mexican cartels.</span></p>
<p wcount="3" data-sanitized-id="p_1_13" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Take that, <em>gringos</em>.</span></p>
<p wcount="110" data-sanitized-id="p_1_14" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Mexico landed another big one this past Tuesday, when the lower house of the federal legislature, wherein Sheinbaum enjoys a comfortable proportion of support, voted to ban the use of genetically modified corn. The Mexicans and Americans have been arguing about GM corn imports for years, and in December a dispute panel ruled that such a ban was illegal under the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which replaced the Clinton-era NAFTA during Trump’s first term. The vote Tuesday reversed that judgment in full-frontal fashion. I count it one of the Sheinbaum government’s loudest “No’s” to date and a big blow to Big Ag north of the border.</span></p>
<div data-sanitized-class="book-unit alignright premblock book-author"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949762785/"><img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71xGRE8EThL.jpg"></a>
<p>ORDER IT NOW</p>
</div>
<p wcount="76" data-sanitized-id="p_1_15" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Big Ag deserves it. I grow heartily sick of corporate America’s neoliberal insensitivities and coercions on these kinds of questions. Trying to force Mexico to accept GM corn from the U.S. is akin to Washington’s disgraceful efforts to make the Japanese accept imports of California rice back in the 1990s—tactlessly dismissive of who knows how many centuries of farming culture, rural culture, village culture, however it is best to think of it.</span></p>
<p wcount="83" data-sanitized-id="p_1_16" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Sheinbaum is active on many fronts as she faces northward, then, and it is impossible to say at this early moment how these sorts of questions will shape up during her six–year term. But she brings a consciousness of larger matters to her presidency, as she makes repeatedly plain. Her fundamental cause is Mexican sovereignty, Mexican equality among nations, and the dignity of the Mexican people. Whatever red lines she may draw, one way or another, they will mark out these priorities.</span></p>
<p wcount="127" data-sanitized-id="p_1_17" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Sheinbaum’s economic and social policies read straight out of her predecessor’s. Andrés Manuel López Obrador was noted for his commitments to poverty eradication, rural development and other such programs. They made AMLO hugely popular here: Mexico’s business class and The New York Times were among his only detractors. And so it already is for Sheinbaum. Mexico for Mexicans was the anthem AMLO may as well have sung—audible in everything he did on the ground. It is Sheinbaum’s, too. There are verses in it all about prosperity and economic development, but the refrain is all about identity and self-respect. Development, as I discovered after many years abroad, is a psychological project as much as it is a matter of material advance.</span></p>
<p wcount="107" data-sanitized-id="p_1_18" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I greatly appreciated, in this connection, how the Sheinbaum government managed the first wave of immigrants to the north as they returned south on airplanes. Mexico City reported that, as of Feb. 20, there were roughly 13,000 returning migrants, including 3,000 Venezuelans and Cubans that Mexico has agreed to accept. And how is it as they arrive? No shackles, no zip-ties, no armed soldiers with black automatic rifles. They receive an official greeting from the Mexican government and then are given whatever help they need to resettle. As many as possible are returned to the towns and villages from whence they set out for the north however many years ago.</span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_19" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Read the Sheinbaum government’s message with me. Isn’t it, “Come home. You are Mexicans and you are welcome and you are respected. Be Mexican. This is your country as much as ours”? Isn’t she showing Mexicans by example that it is time to recenter the national consciousness — that the nation and its people are no longer to act as the appendage of anyone else but simply to be themselves?</span></p>
<p wcount="110" data-sanitized-id="p_1_20" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I dwell briefly on this because of things one comes upon frequently in the Global South. During my years as a correspondent in Asia, among the saddest of sites I recall now was in Hong Kong’s Central District on Sunday mornings. There, one saw thousands of Filipinos gathered for their half-day off a week. And when you got to know them, you found they were trained as nurses, doctors, professors, accountants, engineers, pharmacists, what have you, and they were in Hong Kong working as <em>amahs</em> (housekeepers), waiters, cleaners and barbacks because their own country, an hour and some away by air, was too underdeveloped to give them dignified work.</span></p>
<p wcount="79" data-sanitized-id="p_1_21" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">In my read, Sheinbaum’s aspiration, stated most broadly, is finally to break Mexico out of the cycle of underdevelopment identified back in the 1960s and 1970s by Andre Gunder Frank and other such adherents to dependency theory. Dependency theorists held that developing nations were forever to be “developing” — a permanent periphery whose place in the global order was to provide cheap labor and resources to the wealthy of the world — the metropoles, in the language of the time.</span></p>
<p wcount="72" data-sanitized-id="p_1_22" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I doubt — could be wrong — Sheinbaum’s intellectual references include Gunder Frank and his kind: Dependency theory fell out of fashion long ago. (And I have always wondered why, now I mention it.) But her project seems to me to derive across the years from it. And could such an undertaking be any more dramatic than in Mexico’s case, given the long, unequal history of its ties to its northern neighbor?</span></p>
<p wcount="112" data-sanitized-id="p_1_23" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Mexico for Mexicans: Stay with this thought and pose a question along with me. Does this not suggest the commander-in-chief of the MAGA movement ought to be in full, exuberant sympathy with Claudia Sheinbaum and the Mexico she proposes to work toward? It is fair to ask this, but the thought seems ridiculous given the tenor of U.S.–Mexican relations so far in Trump’s second term. We will see over time whether Trump’s grand project means in practice that Mexico and the rest of the world must dedicate to making only America great. One can always count on hypocrisy to explain the doings of any American president, after all.</span></p>
<p wcount="69" data-sanitized-id="p_1_24" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Dignity, equality, sovereignty, identity — the drawing of red lines Trump will not be permitted to cross but at cost. Think of these words and think of Claudia Sheinbaum. Then think of these words again and think of Keir Starmer, or Emmanuel Macron, or Andrzej Duda, or for that matter Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor-to-be. And then think about where lies humanity’s dynamism, its promise, in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544481
title: Trump Is SO Full of Sh*t, by Kevin Barrett
author: ;Kevin Barrett
link: https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/trump-is-so-full-of-sht/
hash: ���`�������'�W
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div><img src="https://www.unz.com/wp-content/themes/unzSite/IMAGES/unz_large_logo.png" data-sanitized-class="ff-og-image-inserted"></div><p wcount="19" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents"><em>Ramadan karim! Cat McGuire and I will discuss Trump-Zelensky and more on <a title="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/2025/02/ffwn-maga-morphs-into-bearded-belly-dancers-for-genocide/" href="https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/2025/02/ffwn-maga-morphs-into-bearded-belly-dancers-for-genocide/" rel>False Flag Weekly News</a> later today. -KB</em></span></p>
<p wcount="31" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The good news is that an American president finally stood up to a Jew who came to pick America’s pockets. The bad news is that it wasn’t Bibi Netanyahu.</span></p>
<p wcount="68" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump fawns all over Netanyahu, whose genocidal “Jewish state,” the whole raison d’etre of which is to murder millions of non-Jews and expel the survivors, <a title="https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html" href="https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html" rel>had already pilfered $1.6 trillion by 2002</a>. That was a year after Israel murdered almost 3,000 Americans in New York, attacked the Pentagon, blamed it on Arabs with boxcutters, and pushed clueless Uncle Sam down the road toward spending <a title="https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/costs-war/#:~:text=Including%20estimated%20future%20costs%20for,%248%20trillion%20in%20current%20dollars.&amp;text=To%20learn%20more%2C%20read%20the,published%20on%20September%201%2C%202021.&amp;text=Concept%20by%20Kenneth%20Benson%20and%20Daniel%20Um." href="https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/costs-war/#:~:text=Including%20estimated%20future%20costs%20for,%248%20trillion%20in%20current%20dollars.&amp;text=To%20learn%20more%2C%20read%20the,published%20on%20September%201%2C%202021.&amp;text=Concept%20by%20Kenneth%20Benson%20and%20Daniel%20Um." rel>another $8 trillion on wars for Israel</a>.</span></p>
<p wcount="63" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Compared to the innumerable pounds of flesh that Israel gouges out of the American body politic, Zelensky’s depredations are chump change. But Trump and Vance, like almost all US politicians except Thomas Massie, are pussies owned by rich, treasonous, genocidal Jewish billionaires. So they’ll pick on a pathetic cokehead penile-piano-playing midget like Zelensky, while kissing the nether regions of ghoulish Netanyahu.</span></p>
<p wcount="84" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Worse, Trump’s charges that the Ukraine war is Zelensky’s fault, and America has been generously doling out money to Ukraine (so Zelensky should show some gratitude) are rank, nauseating bullshit. The US took over Ukraine in a coup in 2014 and remote-controlled it into a war designed to bleed Russia to the last Ukrainian. It isn’t Ukraine that owes the US money. It’s the US that owes Ukraine (and Russia and much of the Middle East) double-digit trillions in war reparations.</span></p>
<p wcount="113" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The US war on Russia through Ukraine was primarily aimed at looting and subjugating Europe. By cutting off Germany and the rest of Europe from cheap Russian gas, the US delivered a terrible wound to its second-biggest competitor. The EU has a much better educated population than the US—450 million of them compared to 340 million fatAmericans. It should have double the GDP of the US. But the US conquered Europe in World War II and has been squeezing them dry ever since. The US-instigated war on Europe and Russia through Ukraine was just the latest highway robbery by Uncle Scam. Today Europe is a pallid mess, because the US is sucking European blood.</span></p>
<p wcount="108" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump’s putrid claims that the US has been generously throwing its money around, and needs to stop being taken for a ride, are beyond delusional. The Jew-run US empire is running the biggest larceny op in history. It prints toilet paper dollars and exchanges them for real goods and services—at gunpoint. “Globalist” institutions like NATO, IMF, World Bank, ICC, ICJ, the WHO, and various free trade treaties are and have always been barely-disguised instruments of US global domination. Likewise for the soft power propaganda industry tasked with putting a smiley face on the American serial killer. Alhamdullilah, drooling idiot Trump is blowing all of that up!</span></p>
<p wcount="101" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Trump is right about one thing: The EU needs to terminate NATO and build a military to defend itself. But it needn’t worry about Russia. With a small and shrinking population and gargantuan territory, why would Russia want to expand? Europe needs to deter the US, the world’s leading warmonger, which has all but declared war on Canada and Greenland. Quickly building a few hundred suitcase nukes and smuggling them into US cities would probably be the cheapest deterrent. (And don’t forget to donate a couple of suitcases to each of the leading anti-genocide Resistance nations and groups.)</span></p>
<p wcount="68" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The somnolent Europeans, minus a handful of die-hard Gaullists, have been too stupid to realize that the Zionist-occupied US is not only the primary threat today under Trump, but has been their worst enemy since World War II, when America conquered and subjugated Europe (and <a title="https://kevinbarrett.substack.com/p/hellstorm-thomas-goodrich-on-wwii" href="https://kevinbarrett.substack.com/p/hellstorm-thomas-goodrich-on-wwii" rel>genocided parts of Central Europe and Germany</a>) leaving the continent under humiliating US occupation. But now Trump is giving them a rude awakening.</span></p>
<p wcount="24" data-sanitized-id="p_1_10" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">The Ugly American has always been a paragon of <a title="https://linhdinh.substack.com/p/shameless-crassness-now-kosher" href="https://linhdinh.substack.com/p/shameless-crassness-now-kosher" rel>shameless kosher crassness</a>. Trump has ripped off the mask for all the world to see.</span></p>


guid: https://www.unz.com/?post_type=item&amp;p=544497
title: The Chance for a New World, by Paul Craig Roberts
author: ;Paul Craig Roberts
link: https://www.unz.com/proberts/the-chance-for-a-new-world/
hash: �����.q(ۤ�М4��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<p wcount="80" data-sanitized-id="p_1_1" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">For the first time in many years there is hope. The DEI/Woke/Democrat assault on white Americans has been stopped at least for four years. For awhile I won’t have to worry that the FBI will break down my door because some creep doesn’t like what I wrote or said in an interview. As my assumption is that the War on Free Speech has been called off, I can relax a bit. And I would like to.</span></p>
<p wcount="60" data-sanitized-id="p_1_2" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Also, the war on Russia has been stopped and hopefully Trump won’t start one with China and Iran. The main worry is the extent to which Israel will determine Trump’s Middle East policy. Netanyahu is determined to set America at war with Iran for Israel. An America that serves as Israel’s puppet is certainly not great again.</span></p>
<p wcount="33" data-sanitized-id="p_1_3" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">I could have retired 20 years ago. I tried to retire 15 years ago, but readers complained. We made an agreement that I would continue as long as readers supported the website, and readers have.</span></p>
<p wcount="31" data-sanitized-id="p_1_4" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">March has arrived, bringing with it my quarterly request for readers’ support. Monthly donors carry the website, but they need some quarterly support to keep the site’s public foundation status.</span></p>
<p wcount="81" data-sanitized-id="p_1_5" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Opposing 12 years of the Obama/Biden Democrat assault on white Americans, on American citizenship with open borders, on Russia and the Middle East, on sexual normality, on children with drag queens and early sexualization “education,” with the advancement of evil in every possible direction, with the 8-year assault on Donald Trump, has left me ready for some time of my own. Fighting for truth has been an every day affair, and it has left me no time for my own life.</span></p>
<p wcount="23" data-sanitized-id="p_1_6" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">With Trump, Bondi, Tulsi, Elon, Kash, and RFK, Jr, in place, I am considering posting three times a week, perhaps M-W-F or T-Th-Sunday.</span></p>
<p wcount="120" data-sanitized-id="p_1_7" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">There remains much about which to be concerned. The replacement of cash and cheques with digital currency would deliver us into tyranny. AI is another act of suicide in which humans make themselves irrelevant and unemployable. AI diminishes humanity, so why is it being developed and employed? What good does it do to produce goods and services by machines which deprives people of incomes with which to purchase the goods and services? As Elon Musk has admitted, AI means communism, a uniform income, the end to merit-based rewards. Why the decades of resisting communism only to submit to it in the end in the form of AI? What will people do? Live a meaningless life on drugs and hologram entertainment?</span></p>
<div data-sanitized-class="book-unit alignright premblock book-author"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986076996/"><img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TyPsr3%2ByL.jpg"></a>
<p>ORDER IT NOW</p>
</div>
<p wcount="83" data-sanitized-id="p_1_8" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">Assuming the replacement of people by AI can be halted, can manufacturing jobs be brought back to the US from Asia and Mexico? Can the US return to self-sufficiency in food? Can tariffs replace the income tax which has established a form of slavery in which the government owns a substantial percentage of your labor just as a slave owner owned the slave’s labor? Can Good repress the Evil that has been released? Can the character of the American people be rebuilt?</span></p>
<p wcount="38" data-sanitized-id="p_1_9" data-sanitized-class="container"><span data-sanitized-class="contents">And, of course, Trump and his team will have to be held accountable and kept on task, so there will be much to write about. I will continue, although perhaps with fewer postings, if support and readership continue.</span></p>


guid: 1007515 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Yosemite Employees Hang US Flag Upside Down In Budget Cut Backlash
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/yosemite-employees-hang-us-flag-upside-down-budget-cut-backlash
hash: ��m`y��z����O7
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="125.75765241589">
<p><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/yosemite-employees-hang-us-flag-upside-down-in-budget-cut-backlash-5818098?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"><em>Authored by Jennifer Torres via The Epoch Times,</em></a></p>
<p>On Feb. 22, a large group of outdoor enthusiasts gathered at El Capitan, one of the world’s most iconic rock formations, in California’s Yosemite National Park to witness the “Firefall”—a natural phenomenon that occurs when the setting sun hits the park’s Horsetail Fall at just the right angle, causing it to resemble a flow of lava. </p>
<p><strong>However, the moment was marked by the presence of an upside-down American flag draped over the side of the granite monolith near the fall.</strong></p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T072449.245.jpg?itok=6ekZas8P" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T072449.245.jpg?itok=6ekZas8P"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1e3f3342-50ee-43fe-9edf-06f65b9fbb9c" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T072449.245.jpg?itok=6ekZas8P" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p><strong>According to the U.S. <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1892936/dos-and-donts-for-displaying-old-glory/">Department of Defense</a>, the U.S. Flag Code determines that when the U.S. national flag is displayed, the union should be uppermost and to the observer’s left. Furthermore, “it should never be displayed upside down unless trying to convey a sign of distress or great danger.” However, the code does not specify any legal penalties for violations.</strong></p>
<p>Yosemite employees reportedly positioned the upside-down flag to protest recent budget cuts, hiring freezes, and federal layoffs, all components of President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/house-passes-budget-blueprint-to-fund-trumps-agenda-5816308">budgetary package</a>, which was narrowly approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday—authorizing at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.</p>
<p><strong>A spokesperson for the National Park Service told NTD that the agency “is aware of the unauthorized and inappropriate display that occurred at Yosemite National Park over the weekend.”</strong></p>
<p><em>“The NPS does not condone such actions, and the flag was removed as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said. “We take the protection of our national parks seriously and will not tolerate behavior that undermines their integrity. At this time, we have nothing further to add.”</em></p>
<p><strong>The flag appeared on the same day that an <a href="https://www.ntd.com/musk-says-federal-workers-must-report-weekly-accomplishments-or-face-termination_1049478.html">email</a> was sent to thousands of federal employees by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), requiring them to submit a report within 48 hours detailing five specific achievements they had made at work in the previous week.</strong></p>
<p>Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk warned in a social media post that failure to meet the deadline would result in termination.</p>

<p><strong>On Monday, <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-backs-mass-accomplishment-email-says-its-designed-to-figure-out-whos-working-5815462?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=digitalsub&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawIsZARleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHX-l2VFP3nED-vJzcHiVGD8iauW_UYr_XrLZCzoI96daw5SlQuyJYBb62A_aem_p6p-WQz3rBt-QzbTiElHPg">Trump told reporters</a> that Musk’s agency has already found “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud.”</strong></p>
<p><em>“A  lot of people are not answering because they don’t even exist. That’s how badly various parts of our government were run,” Trump said, “So, by asking the question, ‘Tell us what you did this week,’ what he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’”</em></p>
<p>A new poll by Harvard CAPS-Harris reveals that 76 percent of those surveyed support a “full-scale effort to find and eliminate fraud and waste in government” and that 77 percent support a “full examination of all government expenditures.”</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.npca.org/articles/6978-parks-group-responds-to-deepening-national-park-staffing-crisis-as-hundreds">statement</a> from the National Parks Conservation Association, more than 700 National Park Service staff across the country have submitted resignations as part of the Trump administration’s buyout offer, while another 1,000 employees are at risk of termination—and more than 2,000 seasonal and permanent parks positions across the country have been eliminated.</p>
<p>Responding to the upside-down flag incident, Connecticut State Sen. Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) shared a quote in an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DGcHO8IOaPu/">Instagram</a> post this week, purportedly from Gavin Carpenter, a Yosemite maintenance mechanic Duff identified as a “disabled military veteran.” Carpenter allegedly admitted he had supplied the flag and helped position it.</p>
<p><em><strong>“We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties,”</strong></em> the quote read.</p>
<p>In his post, Duff asked his followers, “Are we listening to one of our veterans?”</p>

<p>The photo Duff used in the Instagram post was from the San Francisco Chronicle with the caption indicating that <strong>the flag was intended to “protest the thousands of federal job cuts made by President Donald Trump’s administration.”</strong></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007522 at https://www.zerohedge.com
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: �ڿE]^�X�W��x�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
title:
Rubio Demands Apology From Zelensky, Who Attempts Belated &amp;#039;Gratefulness&amp;#039; For All The Billions

content:
<div readability="114.83360484059">
<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio is demanding an apology from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after Friday's Oval Office <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-meets-zelensky-says-minerals-deal-be-signed-today-will-use-ukraine-rare-earths">fireworks and heated exchange</a>. Trump had sarcastically quipped the whole scene will make for "great television" before he shut it down and kicked Zelensky out of the White House, prior to a planned lunch.</p>
<p>Rubio told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the Ukrainian leader should "<strong>apologize for turning this thing into the fiasco</strong> for him that it became. <strong>There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic. Look, this thing went off the rails</strong>."</p>
<p>"When you start talking about that aggressively, and the President’s a deal maker. He’s made deals his entire life, you’re not going to get people to the table," the US top diplomat <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5170548-rubio-zelensky-apology-trump-ukraine-russia/amp/">added</a>.</p>
<a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/rubiouncomfortable.jpg?itok=Vjn4Q-Jw" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/rubiouncomfortable.jpg?itok=Vjn4Q-Jw">
<figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><picture><img alt data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="90005893-b8a1-4ffa-b82c-b7704f04aa70" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="373" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/rubiouncomfortable.jpg?itok=Vjn4Q-Jw" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"></picture><figcaption><picture><em>Rubio looking uncomfortable at Zelensky's outbursts. via Getty Images</em></picture></figcaption></figure></a>

<p>Many sources say that before the blow-up which started when Zelensky specifically called out Vance to 'answer' a question (after which the vice president appropriately unleashed on Zelensky), a final minerals deal was all but assured and ready to be signed.</p>
<p>But Rubio in his Saturday comments said he's <strong>unsure whether Zelensky actually wants to see any kind of peace agreement at all</strong>.</p>
<p>"And so you start to perceive <strong>that maybe Zelensky doesn’t want a peace deal</strong>. He says he does, but maybe he doesn’t, and that active, open undermining of efforts to bring about peace is deeply frustrating for everyone who’s been involved in communications with them leading up to today," Rubio explained.</p>
<p>Zelensky just prior to these fresh remarks of Rubio's expressed what perhaps came close to regret, but <strong>something far short of an apology</strong>...</p>
<blockquote readability="19">
<p><em><strong>"No, I respect the president, and I respect the American people and if, I don’t know, I think that we have to be very open and very honest and I’m not sure that we did something bad,"</strong> Zelensky responded when asked by Fox News’s Bret Baier if he would apologize for the meeting. </em></p>
<p><em>"This is not good for both sides, anyway, and I was very open, but I can’t change our Ukrainian attitude toward Russia," he said. </em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Still, on the same day Zelensky issued a very lengthy thread on X, at over a dozen full posts, which many will see as reeking of desperation.</p>

<p>He wrote that he knows that the US is on 'our' side and that "America’s help has been vital in helping us survive, and I want to acknowledge that." This appears a response to Vance the day prior noting that he had not once said "thank you" during Friday's meetings. "Peace can only come when we know we have security guarantees, when our army is strong, and our partners are with us," Zelensky also said.</p>
<p>"It will be difficult without the U.S. support. But we can’t lose our will, our freedom, or our people. We’ve seen how Russians came to our homes and killed many people," he continued in the long message.</p>
<p>At one point he further expressed: "<strong>I want the U.S. to stand more firmly on our side</strong>. This is not just a war between our two countries; Russia brought this war onto our territory and into our homes."</p>
<blockquote readability="8.7887323943662" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Zelensky had two explicit verbal commitments from Trump that he was going to continue arming Ukraine, which is the most acute policy issue from Ukraine's perspective. But then later he decided to stupidly interject with Vance, and everything went haywire. Epic diplomatic meltdown <a href="https://t.co/J4t5HVtNia">pic.twitter.com/J4t5HVtNia</a></p>
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1895612257918468259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>And again, more after-the-fact efforts to salvage that disaster of an Oval Office meeting: "Our relationship with the American President is more than just two leaders; it’s a historic and solid bond between our peoples. <strong>That’s why I always begin with words of gratitude from our nation to the American nation</strong>."</p>
<p>...though that's not what President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance are saying. All of this from Zelensky is likely <em>too little, too late</em>.</p>
<p>Below is Zelensky's full thread on X...</p>

<blockquote readability="8.9948453608247" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">We are very grateful to the United States for all the support. I’m thankful to President Trump, Congress for their bipartisan support, and American people. Ukrainians have always appreciated this support, especially during these three years of full-scale invasion. <a href="https://t.co/Z9FlWjF101">pic.twitter.com/Z9FlWjF101</a></p>
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895793386990551336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
</div><p>Loading...</p>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/rubio-demands-apology-zelensky-who-attempts-belated-gratefulness-all-billions


guid: 1007524 at https://www.zerohedge.com
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: �t�����=(��Y��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
title:
"Why Is Everything Locked Up At CVS?": Rahm Emanuel, Fareed Zakaria Admit Democrat Cities Are "Terribly Run"

content:
<div readability="77.658953722334">
<p>As Democrats struggle with reality - namely, that they've allowed crime, illegal immigration, and inflation to run rampant due to disastrous, anti-American policies - <strong>at least a few seem to be willing to acknowledge what's going on.</strong></p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/rahm%20and%20fareed.png?itok=NZeV4qvN" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/rahm%20and%20fareed.png?itok=NZeV4qvN"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="06099c0b-597b-4713-9e45-51ef761fe59f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="288" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/rahm%20and%20fareed.png?itok=NZeV4qvN" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>During a Friday appearance on 'Realtime With Bill Maher,' <strong>former Chicago Mayor and US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, an <em>CNN</em>'s Fareed Sakaria slammed progressive policies that have resulted in a populist backlash. </strong></p>
<p><strong>"I read that the current mayor of Chicago has an approval rating of 6.6%. What's going on in Chicago?"</strong> asked Maher.</p>

<p>Rahm Emanuel: "<strong>We've gone through 5 years where people became way too permissive as a culture</strong>. Which is why everything is locked up at CVS and Walgreens, that's a disaster.</p>
<p>"<strong>I don't want to hear another word about the locker room, I don't want to hear another word about the bathroom</strong>. You better start focusing on the classroom. In 7th grade if I had known I could have said 'they' and got in the girls bathroom, I would have done it."</p>
<p><strong>Zakaria then chimed in</strong>, "This is a huge Democrat party problem. <strong>Democrat cities are terribly run. Cost of housing is crazy.</strong></p>
<p>"The budget of New York state is twice that of Florida. <strong>Lots of taxes, lots of regulation, but nothing gets done</strong>. Democrats have to own this: The answer to everything is not more taxes, more regulations. People are fed up with it, and feel that it isn't working.</p>
<p>Watch (via <em><a href="https://x.com/EricAbbenante/status/1895711070976618742">@EricAbbenante</a></em>);</p>
<blockquote data-media-max-width="560" readability="8.0222841225627" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Bill Maher asks Rahm Emanuel why Chicago's mayor has such a low approval rating, and the panel agrees that Democrat policies have ruined large American cities:<br>Bill Maher: "I read that the current mayor of Chicago has an approval rating of 6.6%. What's going on in Chicago?"<br>Rahm… <a href="https://t.co/Wn3rj5kQ9v">pic.twitter.com/Wn3rj5kQ9v</a></p>
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricAbbenante/status/1895711070976618742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>

<p>*  *  *</p>
<p><strong><em><a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/anza-knives-1/">Anza Knives</a> are back In Stock!</em></strong> <em>We just got a huge delivery.</em></p>
<p><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/anza-knives-1/" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/anza-knives-1/" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/anza-knives-1/"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="13305bd8-f402-4c21-bbff-faea0a378440" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="285" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/big%20bowie1.png?itok=kBILhB_M" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p><em>Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back, lifetime guarantee. If you're looking for a great daily carry, <a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/swat-micarta-blued"><strong>check this one out</strong></a>.</em></p>
<p><em>*  *  *</em></p>

</div><p>Loading...</p>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/why-everything-locked-cvs-rahm-emanuel-fareed-zakaria-admit-democrat-cities-are-terribly


guid: 1007528 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Vance Responds To Pope&amp;#039;s Criticism Of Trump Administration
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/vance-responds-popes-criticism-trump-administration
hash: <�[٦�v�ȶ�x�>
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="139.20145778498">
<p><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/vance-responds-to-popes-criticism-of-trump-administration-5818054?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"><em>Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times,</em></a></p>
<p>Vice President JD Vance said he was surprised to hear of Pope Francis’s criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policy while speaking at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Feb. 28.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T115706.337.jpg?itok=LM4KLFYR" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T115706.337.jpg?itok=LM4KLFYR"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b758f3ce-c44e-47a5-8e13-7233188f7656" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T115706.337.jpg?itok=LM4KLFYR" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>Despite that disagreement, Vance prayed for Pope Francis at the event, as the pope remained in critical condition on Feb. 28 after suffering a bronchospasm that caused vomiting and the need for non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/comunicazioni/2025/02/28/250228b.html">Holy See announced</a>.</p>

<p>Vance also said he believes that the pontiff is a man who deeply cares about the spiritual direction of the faith and the world’s Christians.</p>
<blockquote readability="10">
<p><em>“I will always remember the Holy Father as a great pastor, as a man who can speak the truth, the faith, in a very profound way at a moment of great crisis,” Vance said. </em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>He recalled a sermon of hope that the pope delivered in March 2020 at the height of the pandemic in an empty St. Peter’s Square, likening it to the gospel in which Jesus calmed the sea after his terrified disciples awakened him during a storm.</p>
<p>Vance, the first Catholic convert to serve as vice president, asked fellow Catholics to say a prayer that he and his family had been praying daily for the pope ever since he was admitted to the hospital.</p>
<p><strong>Pope Francis has criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and condemned mass deportations.</strong></p>
<blockquote readability="15">
<p><em>“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he said in a Feb. 10 letter.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Vance had argued that his administration’s immigration policy was aligned with his Catholic faith, <strong>citing “Ordo Amoris,” a centuries-old teaching that suggests a hierarchy of how one is supposed to love, justifying the needs and concerns of the immediate family before those of strangers.</strong></p>
<p>Pope Francis appeared to correct Vance’s understanding of the concept in his letter.</p>
<blockquote readability="14">
<p><em><strong>“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,”</strong></em> he wrote. </p>
<p><em><strong>“The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”</strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Vance’s address also came as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken the Trump administration to court over the cut-off of millions of dollars in funding for refugee programs in the United States.</p>
<p>The vice president also discussed using social media to respond to messages and criticism from the pope, bishops, and other religious leaders.</p>
<blockquote readability="13">
<p><em><strong>“Sometimes the bishops don’t like what I say,”</strong></em> Vance said. </p>
<p><em>“I’m sure, by the way, sometimes they’re right, and sometimes they’re wrong. My goal is not to litigate when I’m right and when they’re wrong or vice versa. My goal is to maybe articulate the way that I think about being a Christian in public life.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Vance said that he believes Christians are not called to obsess over social media controversies involving the Catholic Church, clergy, “or the Holy Father himself,” he said.</p>

<blockquote readability="9">
<p><em><strong>“I think that we should frankly take a page out of the books of our grandparents who respected our clergy, who looked to them for guidance, but didn’t obsess and fight over every single word that came out of their mouth.”</strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Vance said that the clergy are important spiritual leaders with a 2,000-year-old duty to speak on the issues of the day, but that they are now faced with the challenges of social media, and it is just as important for the Church’s clergy to recognize that as it is for lay people.</p>
<blockquote readability="11">
<p><em><strong>“I think it’s incumbent upon our religious leaders to recognize that in the era of social media, people will hang on every single word that they utter, even if that wasn’t their intention, and even if a given declaration wasn’t meant for consumption in the social media age,”</strong></em> he said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The vice president’s speech touched upon his conversion to the faith and the emotional declaration that his 7-year-old son’s baptism was far more significant than winning the election in November 2024.</p>
<p>He stated that the administration’s door was open to feedback from the nation’s faithful.</p>
<p><em>“I'll make this commitment to you in front of God, and in front of all those television cameras back there, that we will always listen to people of faith and people of conscience in the United States of America,” Vance said. <strong>“You have an open door to the Trump administration, even and especially, maybe, when you disagree with us.</strong></em></p>
<p><em>“So, please use that opportunity to communicate with us when we get things right, but also when we get things wrong.”</em></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007531 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Deranged Leftists Storm Manhattan Tesla Showroom, Chant "Zelenskyy Is Hero"
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ��C�h+��Lg �b>�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="63.777412731006">
<p>Deranged leftists, suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, stormed the Tesla showroom at 860 Washington St. in Manhattan's Meatpacking District early afternoon, chatting "Zelenskyy is a hero," along with anti-DOGE and anti-Trump slogans. Protest turnout was notably weak, as DOGE-era swamp draining in Washington, DC, has curbed USAID's ability to funnel taxpayer funds to corrupt NGOs that bankroll leftist protests. </p>
<p>Footage shows unhinged liberals taking over the Tesla showroom. </p>
<blockquote readability="4.9736842105263" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">BREAKING: Protesters are currently occupying the Tesla Dealership in lower Manhattan. Security is trying to keep more people from entering. <a href="https://t.co/p0EFeOk0x0">pic.twitter.com/p0EFeOk0x0</a></p>
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1895900457186533571?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote readability="9.0116618075802" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">🚨🇺🇸 BREAKING: TESLA DEALERSHIP OCCUPIED IN MANHATTAN</p><p>One agreeable participant even asked why anyone thinks they have a right to stop him from forcefully entering the building, with some reference to the 'United States of America.'</p><p>Source: <a href="https://t.co/VH9KOxReAM">https://t.co/VH9KOxReAM</a> <a href="https://t.co/5nY4fw2B6i">pic.twitter.com/5nY4fw2B6i</a></p>
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1895903531082694939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>

<p>Dozens gathered outside, holding anti-Elon Musk, anti-Trump, and anti-DOGE signs. The radicals, seemingly oblivious to basic statecraft, chanted, "Zelenskyy is a hero."</p>
<blockquote readability="4.8962264150943" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">NOW: Crowd chants "Zelenskyy is a hero" outside of Tesla Dealership in Manhattan as Anti-Elon protesters occupy the inside. <a href="https://t.co/fOoixHhJWE">pic.twitter.com/fOoixHhJWE</a></p>
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1895903191528849460?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote readability="4.9266055045872" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">NOW: Ukrainians chant "Thank you America!" as american responds "Thank you Ukraine!" During emergency protest in Times Square NYC <a href="https://t.co/w6TrFmPF8n">pic.twitter.com/w6TrFmPF8n</a></p>
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1895932003444539831?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>This is the left's hero. </p>
<blockquote data-conversation="none" readability="3.4274193548387" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">The left and their heroes..🤣🤣🤣<a href="https://t.co/7G9U6WzF5P">pic.twitter.com/7G9U6WzF5P</a></p>
— Ava- I Love My USA! 🇺🇸 (@WEdwarda) <a href="https://twitter.com/WEdwarda/status/1895915400023748642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>NYPD has arrived. </p>

<blockquote readability="9.7404580152672" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="pt" xml:lang="pt">🇺🇲🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AGORA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AGORA</a>: NYPD está fazendo prisões em massa depois que "manifestantes" anti-Elon Musk ocupam um showroom da Tesla em Manhattan. Os protestos estão massivos, alguns pedem a morte de Elon Musk, enquanto outros pedem a deportação alegando que ele nasceu na África do Sul, não nos… <a href="https://t.co/8zTyWI2ooN">pic.twitter.com/8zTyWI2ooN</a></p>
— Conservatism And Elegance 🇺🇲 (@ThayzzySmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThayzzySmith/status/1895928098329104847?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p><strong>Perhaps the era of Soros and other leftist billionaires using taxpayer funds through their NGOs to unleash color revolutions 'rent a riot' is over. The turnout at today's Tesla showroom was pathetic.</strong></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/deranged-leftists-storm-manhattan-tesla-showroom-chant-zelenskyy-hero


guid: 1007529 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: FBI Returns 33 Boxes Of Trump Property Seized During Mar-a-Lago Raid
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-returns-33-boxes-trump-property-seized-during-mar-lago-raid
hash: ��z�3~"�$9�_��
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="120.31709108717">
<p><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/fbi-returns-to-trump-boxes-of-documents-seized-from-mar-a-lago-raid-5818317?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"><em>Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,</em></a></p>
<p>President Donald Trump said on Friday that the Justice Department (DOJ) has returned to him boxes of documents seized by the FBI from his Mar-a-Lago home during an investigation in 2022.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T120225.738.jpg?itok=CYrgWnhF" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T120225.738.jpg?itok=CYrgWnhF"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="33172efe-ff67-46f9-9082-3358c2900a4c" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T120225.738.jpg?itok=CYrgWnhF" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>Trump stated that the DOJ has “just returned the boxes that Deranged Jack Smith made such a big deal about,” referring to the former special counsel who led the investigations into Trump’s alleged retention of classified documents from his first presidential term and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.</p>

<p><em><strong>“They are being brought down to Florida and will someday be part of the Trump Presidential Library. Justice finally won out,”</strong></em> Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114084241095787137">stated</a> on his Truth Social platform.</p>
<p>Trump reiterated his stance that the FBI investigation against him was politically motivated.</p>
<p><em><strong>“I did absolutely nothing wrong. This was merely an attack on a political opponent that, obviously, did not work well. Justice in our Country will now be restored,”</strong></em> the president stated.</p>
<p>Alina Habba, the president’s counselor, said that she personally loaded some of the “infamous boxes” onto Air Force One before Trump’s flight back to Florida on Friday.</p>
<p><em><strong>“Justice has been and will continue to be restored in this country under President Trump. Truth and justice always win in the end. God Bless America,”</strong></em> Habba <a href="https://x.com/AlinaHabba/status/1895605275153088815?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1895605275153088815%7Ctwgr%5Efd386ff96e80049f574679ae13df01ca727db330%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3334201%2Ffbi-gives-trump-back-property-seized-mar-a-lago-raid%2F">stated</a> on the social media platform X.</p>
<p>In August 2022, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of an investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office during his first term in 2021.</p>

<p>During the raid, FBI agents <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/us-government-seized-over-11000-non-classified-documents-from-trumps-home-4706797">seized over 11,000</a> documents and photographs without classified markings, along with more than 100 documents marked classified. Some of these documents were labeled “top secret.” The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) also <a href="https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2022/nr22-001">retrieved</a> 15 boxes of government documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in January 2022.</p>
<p><strong>The raid followed a warrant issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, which <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/judge-unseals-mar-a-lago-raid-warrant-reveals-why-fbi-is-investigating-trump_4661031.html">enabled agents</a> to seize any documents with classification markings, as well as containers in which the documents were located and any containers stored or found together with the documents.</strong></p>
<p>In 2023, Smith indicted Trump with felony charges over his alleged unlawful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and concealing a document in a federal investigation.</p>
<p>Trump had denied any wrongdoing in the cases and called the investigation politically motivated. In a June 2023 interview with Fox News, Trump <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-defends-handling-of-boxes-in-first-interview-since-arraignment-5343369">defended his handling of the documents</a> and said he believes that he had rights to the retained documents.</p>
<p><em><strong>“Everything was declassified because I have the right to declassify,“</strong></em> he told the news host. “This is purely a Presidential Records Act [thing]. This is not a criminal thing.”</p>
<p>Smith dropped both cases after Trump won a second presidential term in the 2024 election, citing the DOJ’s policy against prosecuting a sitting president. The special counsel <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/doj-confirms-special-counsel-jack-smith-has-resigned-5790326">resigned</a> from the DOJ ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.</p>
<p>Prior to his resignation, Smith completed a final report on his investigations into Trump’s criminal cases. Former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed Smith in the investigation, <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/garland-says-he-is-ready-to-release-special-counsel-report-on-trump-5789080">told</a> congressional leaders in January that the report would be made public after gaining approval by the courts.</p>

<p><strong>Trump’s lawyers <a href="https://legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/25479681-trump-letter-to-garland/">told</a> Garland in a Jan. 6 letter that they had reviewed a draft of the report and identified some issues. They argued that releasing the report would be “imprudent and unlawful.”</strong></p>
<p><em>“The Draft Report violates fundamental norms regarding the presumption of innocence, including with respect to third parties unnecessarily impugned by Smith’s false claims,” the lawyers said.</em></p>
<p>They stated that releasing the report would violate the Presidential Transition Act and the doctrine of presidential immunity. Trump’s lawyers also argued that Smith lacked authority to issue the report due to his alleged invalid appointment.</p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007532 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: The Press Falls To Another Record Low In Public Trust
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/press-falls-another-record-low-public-trust
hash: �ө��1�H?���UN�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="152.37692307692">
<p><a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2025/03/01/the-press-falls-to-another-record-low-in-public-trust/"><em>Authored by Jonathan Turley,</em></a></p>
<p><strong>We have previously discussed polling showing the media at record lows in public trust. Well, the latest <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/657239/five-key-insights-americans-views-news-media.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=syndication">survey from Gallup</a> shows that the media hit another all-time low.</strong> What is most impressive is that plummeting readers, revenues, and layoffs have done little to convince the mainstream media that the problem is not the public but themselves. The only institution with a  lower level of public trust is Congress, and that says a lot. It is like beating Ebola as the preferred communicable disease. Some 69 percent of Americans now say that they have no or little trust in the media. </p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/8f9013af-bd96-4d66-803e-fba253dd.jpg?itok=E1pt2PDR" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/8f9013af-bd96-4d66-803e-fba253dd.jpg?itok=E1pt2PDR"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="53c5c1f5-4fda-4c05-a60d-204bd7ea5f30" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="262" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/8f9013af-bd96-4d66-803e-fba253dd.jpg?itok=E1pt2PDR" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p><strong>Only 31 percent say that they have a great deal or fair amount of trust.</strong> The trending line looks like the sales of buggy whips after the introduction of the Model T Ford. Gallop put it into sharp terms:</p>

<blockquote readability="15.994623655914">
<p><em>“About two-thirds of Americans in the 1970s trusted the “mass media — such as newspapers, TV and radio” either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to “[report] the news fully, accurately and fairly.” By the next measurement in 1997, confidence had fallen to 53%, and it has gradually trended downward since 2003. Americans <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/651977/americans-trust-media-remains-trend-low.aspx">are now divided into rough thirds</a>, with 31% trusting the media a great deal or a fair amount, 33% saying they do “not [trust it] very much,” and <strong>36%, up from 6% in 1972, saying they have no trust at all in it.”</strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>In my book, <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668047047?tag=simonsayscom__;!!F0Stn7g!AKqJpCN15OF2RfspZrfipd5oSJU0qHcdLBVbtxO8JWX7nIpNliEY7j-Dp-MUgD_coRFSAy_CV_jp3I2cYVM%24"><em>The Indispensable Right</em></a>, I discuss how journalists and journalism schools have destroyed their own profession by rejecting objectivity and engaging in open advocacy journalism. The mainstream media has long echoed the talking points of the left and the Democratic Party, particularly in its one-sided coverage of the last three elections.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/bob-woodward-condemns-medias-russiagate-coverage-reveals-reporters-ignored-his-warnings-about-steele-dossier">Bob Woodward and others have finally admitted</a> that the Russian collusion coverage lacked objectivity and resulted in false reporting, media figures are pushing even harder against objectivity as a core value in journalism.</p>
<p><strong>We have been discussing <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/20/hannah-jones-all-journalism-is-activism/">the rise of advocacy journalism</a> and the rejection of objectivity in journalism schools. </strong><a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2020/12/09/free-speech-is-being-weaponized-columbia-dean-and-new-yorker-writer-calls-for-more-censorship/">Writers</a>, <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/05/mea-culpa-new-york-times-caves-to-protests-and-apologizes-for-posting-conservative-opinion/">editors</a>, <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2020/11/30/and-why-stop-there-cnn-analyst-calls-for-sweeping-regulation-of-free-speech-on-the-internet/">commentators</a>, and <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2020/05/04/china-was-right-academics-and-democratic-leaders-call-for-censorship-of-social-media-and-the-internet/">academics</a> have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls, including <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/01/little-brother-or-big-brother-the-public-applauds-as-free-speech-dies-on-the-internet/">President-elect Joe Biden</a> and his <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2020/11/17/all-speech-is-not-equal-biden-taps-anti-free-speech-figure-for-transition-lead-on-media-agency/">key advisers</a>. This movement includes <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2020/09/14/stanford-journalism-professor-rejects-objectivity-in-journalism/">academics rejecting the very concept of objectivity in journalism</a> in favor of open advocacy.</p>
<p><a href="https://journalism.columbia.edu/faculty/steve-coll">Columbia Journalism Dean and New Yorker writer Steve Coll</a> decried how the First Amendment right to freedom of speech was being “weaponized” to protect disinformation. In an <a href="https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/08/20/should-journalists-rethink-objectivity-stanford-professors-weigh-in/">interview</a> with <em>The Stanford Daily</em>, Stanford journalism professor Ted Glasser insisted that journalism needed to “free itself from this notion of objectivity to develop a sense of social justice.” He rejected the notion that journalism is based on objectivity and said that he views “journalists as activists because journalism at its best — and indeed history at its best — is all about morality.”  Thus, “Journalists need to be overt and candid advocates for social justice, and it’s hard to do that under the constraints of objectivity.”</p>
<p>The Washington Post’s former executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward released the results of their <a href="https://cronkitenewslab.com/digital/2023/01/26/beyond-objectivity/">interviews</a> with over 75 media leaders and concluded that objectivity is now considered reactionary and even harmful. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”</p>

<p>Lauren Wolfe, the fired freelance editor for the New York Times, has not only gone public to defend her pro-Biden tweet but published a piece titled <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/10/former-new-york-times-editor-im-a-biased-journalist-and-im-okay-with-that/">“<em>I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That</em>.” </a></p>
<p>Former New York Times writer (and now <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/06/nikole-hannah-jones-turns-down-tenure-at-unc-and-accepts-chair-at-howard-university/">Howard University Journalism Professor</a>) Nikole Hannah-Jones is a leading voice for <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/08/01/why-have-advocacy-journalism-when-you-can-have-just-advocacy/">advocacy journalism. </a>Indeed, Hannah-Jones has declared “<a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/20/hannah-jones-all-journalism-is-activism/">all journalism is activism</a>.”</p>
<p>This is why the whole “<a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2021/11/05/yankee-doodling-the-media-how-lets-go-brandon-became-a-rallying-cry-against-news-bias/">Let’s Go Brandon” chant was as much a criticism of the media as President Biden</a>.</p>
<p><strong>There is clearly an effort by owners like Jeff Bezos to <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2025/02/27/bravo-mr-bezos-washington-post-owner-calls-for-newspaper-to-champion-individual-freedom-and-free-market-principles/">change this culture</a> rather than bankroll newspapers like the Washington Post vanity projects for the left.</strong></p>
<p>Robert Lewis, a British <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media">media executive</a> who joined the Post earlier this year, reportedly got into a “heated exchange” with a staffer. Lewis explained that, while reporters were protesting measures to expand readership, the very survival of the paper was now at stake:</p>
<blockquote readability="11">
<p><em>“We are going to turn this thing around, but let’s not sugarcoat it. It needs turning around,” Lewis said. </em></p>
<p><em><strong>“We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”</strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The response from staffers was to call for the new editors to be fired.  One staffer complained, “We now have four White men running three newsrooms.” The Post has been buying out staff to avoid mass layoffs, but reporters are up in arms over the effort to turn the newspaper around.</p>

<p>The question is whether viewers and readers can still be brought back into the fold. New media is expanding as citizens have looked elsewhere for news. In the meantime, some media outlets and organizations seem to have doubled down on the bias. <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/14/an-america-issue-washington-post-reporter-calls-on-white-house-to-censor-trump-for-america/">Just last year</a>, Washington Post reporter Cleve Wootson Jr. appeared to call upon the White House to censor the interview of Elon Musk with former President Donald Trump. The newspaper did not say a thing about the incongruity of one of its leading reporters calling for censorship.</p>
<p>After Trump was elected, NBC selected Yamiche Alcindor to return to the White House despite a history of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/nbc-taps-left-wing-journalist-yamiche-alcindor-cover-trump-return-white-house-press-corps">alleged bias. </a> Alcindor, who also worked for PBS, was criticized for often preceding questions with attacks on conservatives or over-the-top praise for Joe Biden or Democrats. While others saw raw political bias, Alcindor explained that it was her job to use journalism to bend the “moral arc toward justice.”</p>
<p><strong>Recently, the White House Correspondent’s Association picked an anti-Trump comedian who promptly <a href="https://x.com/JonathanTurley/status/1887523808728220033">encouraged Trump not to come</a> to the dinner, saying that no one wants to be in the same room with him.</strong></p>
<p>In the meantime, “J schools” continue to dismiss objectivity and crank out journalists who are told to embrace activism as <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2024/10/21/la-gordiloca-goes-to-washington-a-citizen-journalist-wins-key-reversal-for-new-media/">the public flees legacy media for new media</a>.</p>
<p>For the moment, it seems like journalists are content to write for each other and about 30 percent of the public. The echo chamber is getting smaller and smaller. So are the staffs on the outlets. Without public trust, the media is just talking to itself as the public turns to citizen journalists and new media on blogs and social media.</p>
<p>As someone who has worked for three networks and written as a columnist for three decades, the decline of American media has been painful to watch. The industry has operated like a ship of fools with no regard for their viewers or readers. However, we need the media. The press plays a central role in our democracy as reflected in the press protections afforded under the First Amendment.</p>
<p><strong>The effort to break this culture at outlets like the Post and L.A. Times is encouraging, but these polls indicate that time is of the essence.</strong></p>

<p>*  *  *</p>
<p><em>Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “</em><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1668047047?tag=simonsayscom__;!!F0Stn7g!AKqJpCN15OF2RfspZrfipd5oSJU0qHcdLBVbtxO8JWX7nIpNliEY7j-Dp-MUgD_coRFSAy_CV_jp3I2cYVM%24"><em>The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage</em></a><em>.”</em></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007536 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: House Republicans Plan To Scrub Anti-American BLM Plaza In DC
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-republicans-plan-scrub-anti-american-blm-plaza-dc
hash: ��0M�A�O�z���Qg
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="78.466698610446">
<p>Washington, DC, painted "BLACK LIVES MATTER" across two blocks of 16th Street, near the White House, during the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/01/us-news/house-republicans-looking-to-nix-washingtons-black-lives-matter-plaza/">2020 color revolution riots</a>, fueled by radical leftist, taxpayer-funded NGOs. Each of the 16 bold yellow letters spans the width of the two-lane Street, creating a massive display of toxic wokeness—one that House Republicans may soon move to scrub.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-45-36.png?itok=Cb2jLCxW" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-45-36.png?itok=Cb2jLCxW"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fa9ae6a0-4c7d-422b-bfd5-bd2ce19b19a9" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="313" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-45-36.png?itok=Cb2jLCxW" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>"<strong>The House Oversight Committee and the Trump Administration are working on delivering a number of reforms to make our nation's capital safe and end left-wing pet projects. This includes addressing partisan abuses by the District government such as Black Lives Matter Plaza</strong>," House Oversight Committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky) stated, quoted by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/01/us-news/house-republicans-looking-to-nix-washingtons-black-lives-matter-plaza/">New York Post</a>. </p>
<p>In 2020, painters were contacted by far-left Mayor Muriel Bowser ... </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/IMG_0198.jpg?itok=OKkvZN4V" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/IMG_0198.jpg?itok=OKkvZN4V"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ba67cfb8-a62b-4932-8191-73c2005317f2" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="208" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/IMG_0198.jpg?itok=OKkvZN4V" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>... a few months after BLM riots unleashed color revolution chaos nationwide.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-43-35.png?itok=OGCjpqki" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-43-35.png?itok=OGCjpqki"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5863ac1e-c896-424d-900c-9e97c09c2fbb" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="400" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-43-35.png?itok=OGCjpqki" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>"<strong>President Trump has made rooting out woke ideology from the federal government a top priority. The committee declined to say which other projects could be on the chopping block</strong>," NYPost said. </p>
<p>Let's not forget that the <strong>Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation once trumpeted its Marxist desire to dismantle America</strong> and war on the nuclear family by saying on its website: "<strong><u>We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure</u></strong> requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another." </p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-35-09.png?itok=8JjDwEYl" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-35-09.png?itok=8JjDwEYl"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fdd37a9a-e739-4f00-8370-58deba46bf05" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="346" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-03-01_15-35-09.png?itok=8JjDwEYl" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>"<strong>Mayor Bowser and Democrat-run Washington, D.C. are focused on virtue signaling and spending taxpayer money</strong> to paint Black Lives Matter instead of the <strong>record spike in homicides, carjackings, and other violent crimes</strong>," said Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, adding, "Washington DC's failures are a reminder why the city must never become a state." </p>
<p>How Congress plans to override decisions from the local government may fall under the <strong>Home Rule Act of 1973</strong>. This act was invoked in 2023 when Congress struck down a law passed by the far-left DC city council, which would have weakened maximum penalties for violent crime in the crime-ridden metro area.</p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007535 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: How Modern Monetary Theory Advocates View Money &amp; The State
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/how-modern-monetary-theory-advocates-view-money-state
hash: �P f �n4���%z�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="170.50970088925">
<p><em>Authored by Frank Shostack via <a href="https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-mmt-advocates-view-money-and-state">Mises.org</a>,</em></p>
<p><strong>According to the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), money is something decided by the state.</strong> The MMT regards money as a token. For instance, when an individual places a coat in the cloakroom of a theater, he receives a tin disc or a paper receipt. This receipt or a disc is a proof that the individual is entitled to demand the return of his coat.</p>
<p>According to the MMT, the material used to manufacture the tokens is irrelevant—it can be gold, silver, or any other metal or it can even be paper. Hence, the definition of money, according to the MMT, is what the <a href="https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_792.pdf">state decides</a> it is going to be. <strong>MMT posits that the value of money is the outcome of the state that forces people to pay taxes with the money tokens that the state has decided upon.</strong> The state taxes have to be paid with the money tokens issued by it. The state also has the ability to control the value of money through its declaration of how much it is willing to pay for a certain commodity produced by the private sector.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/AdobeStock_Modern%20Monetary%20Theor.jpg?itok=AN_bsc1F" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/AdobeStock_Modern%20Monetary%20Theor.jpg?itok=AN_bsc1F"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4af5d704-5c70-478b-b900-78cf5a200d0b" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/AdobeStock_Modern%20Monetary%20Theor.jpg?itok=AN_bsc1F" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p><strong>In the MMT framework, the token money is seen as a receipt on the economy’s resources.</strong> A token money held by an individual is regarded as his claim on a portion of resources. Individuals have exchanged goods and services for a receipt given to them by the government. Individuals who have generated goods and services are acknowledged for this by the tokens issued to them by the government.</p>
<p>However, could the sovereign state effectively require individuals to use tokens in the transactions <em>among themselves</em>? <strong>Why would anyone accept a fiat-token as a payment simply because the government accepts these tokens as tax payments?</strong> To answer these questions, we have to define money.</p>
<h2>Defining Money</h2>
<p>To establish the definition of money, we have to ascertain how a money-using economy evolved. Money emerged as a result of the fact that barter could not support a complex, modern market economy. The distinguishing characteristic of money is that it functions as the general medium of exchange. It has evolved from the most marketable commodity. On this Rothbard <a href="https://cdn.mises.org/files/2024-08/What%20Has%20Government%20Done%20to%20Our%20Money%202024.pdf#page=30">wrote</a>,</p>
<blockquote readability="17">
<p><em>“... just as in nature there is a great variety of skills and resources, so there is a variety in the marketability of goods. Some goods are more widely demanded than others, some are more divisible into smaller units without loss of value, some more durable over long periods of time, some more transportable over large distances. All of these advantages make for greater marketability. It is clear that in every society, the most marketable goods will be gradually selected as the media for exchange. As they are more and more selected as media, the demand for them increases because of this use, and so they become even more marketable. The result is a reinforcing spiral: more marketability causes wider use as a medium which causes more marketability, etc. Eventually, one or two commodities are used as general media—in almost all exchanges—and these are called money.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Money is the thing that all other goods and services are traded for.</strong> This fundamental characteristic of money must be contrasted with other goods. For instance, food’s characteristic is that it supplies the necessary sustenance to human beings and people may like the taste. Capital goods’ characteristics is that it permits the expansion of the infrastructure that, in turn, permits the production of a larger quantity of goods and services. Contrary to the MMT, the essence of money has nothing to do with tax payments to the government.</p>

<p>Money functions as a general means of exchange. People pay with goods and services for other goods and services with the help of money. Money facilitates the payments of one good for another good. Also, contrary to the MMT, money is not a claim on resources, but the general medium of the exchange. In his writings Carl Menger raised doubts about the soundness of the view that the origin of money is government proclamation. <a href="https://cdn.mises.org/On%20the%20Origins%20of%20Money_5.pdf#page=17">According</a> to Menger,</p>
<blockquote readability="13">
<p><em>“An event of such high and universal significance and of notoriety so inevitable, as the establishment by law or convention of a universal medium of exchange, would certainly have been retained in the memory of man, the more certainly inasmuch as it would have had to be performed in a great number of places. Yet no historical monument gives us trustworthy tidings of any transactions either conferring distinct recognition on media of exchange already in use, or referring to their adoption by peoples of comparatively recent culture, much less testifying to an initiation of the earliest ages of economic civilization in the use of money.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mises similarly explains the acceptance of money. In his writings, Mises had <a href="https://cdn.mises.org/Human%20Action_3.pdf#page=432">shown</a> how the value of money is established. Mises began his analysis by noting that today’s demand for money is determined by yesterday’s purchasing power of money. Consequently, for a given supply of money, today’s purchasing power is established. Yesterday’s demand for money was fixed by the prior day’s purchasing power of money. So, for a given supply of money, yesterday’s price of money was set. The same procedure applies to past periods.</p>
<p><strong>By regressing through time, we will eventually arrive at a point in time when money was just an ordinary commodity where demand and supply set its price.</strong> The commodity had an exchange value in terms of other commodities (i.e., its exchange value was established in barter). On the day a commodity becomes money, it already has an established purchasing power or price in terms of other goods. This purchasing power enables us to set the demand for this commodity as money. This process sets its purchasing power on the day the commodity starts to function as money. Once the price of money is established, it serves as input for the establishment of tomorrow’s price of money. It follows then that, without yesterday’s information about the price of money, today’s purchasing power of money cannot be established.</p>
<p>With regards to other goods and services, history is not required to ascertain present prices. A demand for these goods arises on account of the perceived benefits from consuming them. The benefit that money provides is that it can be exchanged for goods and services. Consequently, one needs to know the past purchasing power of money in order to establish today’s demand for it.</p>
<p>Applying the Mises’s framework—also known as the regression theorem—we can infer that it is not possible that money could have emerged as a result of a government decree, government endorsement, or social convention. The theorem shows that money must have emerged as a commodity. <a href="https://cdn.mises.org/files/2024-08/What%20Has%20Government%20Done%20to%20Our%20Money%202024.pdf#page=32">According</a> to Rothbard,</p>
<blockquote readability="8">
<p><em><strong>“Money is not an abstract unit of account, divorceable from a concrete good; it is not a useless token only good for exchanging; it is not a ‘claim on society’; it is not a guarantee of a fixed price level. It is simply a commodity.”</strong></em></p>
</blockquote>

<h2>MMT and Wealth Generation</h2>
<p>In the MMT world, where money is generated by the government and—given that the government is able to inflate freely as much money as it requires—then, by implication, the government has command over unlimited amounts of wealth. If the government determines what should be regarded as money and what its value is, this also means that the government dictates the rate of exchanges between money and goods and services. This means that prices are set by the government and bypasses the free market forces. Economic theory shows that such conduct leads to the inefficient use of resources and, in turn, to economic instability and impoverishment.</p>
<p><strong>MMT holds that the role of government policies should be to prevent the emergence of a situation where “idle resources” and unemployment emerge.</strong> According to MMT, the key here is to boost the overall demand for goods and services to lift economic growth, eliminate unemployment, and make the full use of resources. This can be achieved by running large budget deficits financed by printing plenty of money. <strong>In the MMT world, money printing is not a problem as long as there is unemployment and unutilized resources.</strong></p>
<h2>Conclusions</h2>
<p><strong>In MMT, money is what the government decides it is.</strong> MMT believes that because people are forced to pay taxes with the government’s token money, that the government establishes the value of money. This, in turn, makes it a medium of exchange in the private sector also. Without a freely-established money, it is impossible to form the free rate of exchanges between money and goods and services. Consequently, this makes it impossible to have an efficient allocation of scarce resources. <strong>This sets the foundation for economic misery.</strong></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007538 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Gun Owners Take DC Magazine Restrictions To Supreme Court
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gun-owners-take-dc-magazine-restrictions-supreme-court
hash: @� ������8�@�t
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="147.10824187648">
<p><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/gun-owners-take-dc-magazine-restrictions-to-supreme-court-5818122?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"><em>Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,</em></a></p>
<p>Gun owners in the nation’s capital are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the District of Columbia’s ban on magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T141934.062.jpg?itok=TD5Y9shw" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T141934.062.jpg?itok=TD5Y9shw"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="58fa4fa5-4684-4dc4-afed-198a448bd90d" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-03-01T141934.062.jpg?itok=TD5Y9shw" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>The petition in Hanson v. District of Columbia was docketed, or officially accepted for filing, by the court on Feb. 28. The respondent, the District of Columbia, was directed to file a response by March 31.</p>

<p><strong>The district enacted the Firearms Registration Amendment Act of 2008 after the Supreme Court invalidated the city’s sweeping restrictions on gun ownership in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008). In Heller, the nation’s highest court determined that individuals have a right to possess firearms for lawful purposes, including self-defense at home.</strong></p>
<p>The statute made it a felony-level offense to have a magazine that could hold more than 10 rounds. A violation can result in a prison term of three years and a fine of $12,500. District officials say the law is needed to protect the public.</p>
<p>Lead petitioner Andrew Hanson and co-petitioners Tyler Yzaguirre, Nathan Chaney, and Eric Klun, who all have concealed carry pistol licenses in the District of Columbia, possessed magazines holding more than 10 rounds outside D.C. and said they would use their magazines for lawful purposes in the district if the 10-round limit did not apply.</p>
<p>Hanson argues in the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-936/348728/20250226130158817_Final%20Hanson%20Petition.pdf">petition</a> that the district’s magazine cap is unconstitutional according to a test the Supreme Court articulated in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which recognized a right to bear arms in public for self-defense.</p>
<p>Weeks after Bruen was decided, the petitioners sued the District of Columbia, asking for a declaration from a federal district court that the magazine cap ran afoul of the Second and Fifth Amendments.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras issued an April 2023 decision that denied Hanson’s request to block the law on constitutional grounds. Contreras found that the local law adheres to the U.S. Constitution.</p>

<p>The judge found that the District’s ammo limitation, which was aimed at promoting public safety, was justified. <strong>The ban constituted “an attempt to mitigate the carnage of mass shootings in this country.”</strong></p>
<p>“Just as states and the District enacted sweeping laws restricting possession of high-capacity weapons in an attempt to reduce violence during the Prohibition era, so can the District now,” Contreras said.</p>
<p>Hanson appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which on Oct. 29, 2024, <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/federal-appeals-court-wont-block-dc-law-limiting-size-of-gun-ammo-magazines-5749805">voted</a> 2-1 to deny a request for a preliminary injunction against the statute.</p>
<p>“For 15 years, District law enforcement has operated and been resourced with the magazine cap in place,” and an “‘erroneously issued’ preliminary injunction suspending its law could drastically compromise the District’s ability to enforce its magazine cap far into the future” and allow the district to be inundated with large-capacity magazines during the life of the injunction, the court said.</p>
<p>Circuit Judge Justin Walker dissented.</p>
<p>In Heller, Walker said, the Supreme Court determined “that the government cannot categorically ban an arm in common use for lawful purposes.”</p>
<p><em><strong>“Magazines holding more than ten rounds of ammunition are arms in common use for lawful purposes. Therefore, the government cannot ban them,”</strong></em> Walker wrote.</p>

<p>The Supreme Court should take up the case because the D.C. Circuit Court’s ruling is inconsistent with Heller, which “protects the possession and use of weapons that are ‘in common use at the time,’” according to the petition.</p>
<p>Even though the panel acknowledged that magazines containing 10 or more rounds are “in common use,” it found they were “particularly dangerous” and compared them to fully automatic machine guns.</p>
<p>The petitioners asked the Supreme Court to consider if the Second Amendment “allows a categorical ban on arms that are indisputably common throughout the United States and overwhelmingly used for lawful purposes (generally) and self-defense (specifically).”</p>
<p>Petitioner Yzaguirre, who is president of the Second Amendment Institute, said he’s optimistic about the petition’s prospects.</p>
<p>“It’s time for the Supreme Court to take its next landmark Second Amendment case,” he told The Epoch Times.</p>
<p><em><strong>“The days of tyrannical elites restricting ‘We the People’ from exercising our God-given rights to self-defense must come to an end,”</strong></em> Yzaguirre said.</p>
<p>The Epoch Times reached out for comment to District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb. No reply was received by publication time.</p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007500 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Pentagon Purge Resumes: 3-Star Defense Health Commander Forced Into Retirement
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: 7��hᄓ��\��N
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="70.36550365785">
<p>A week after the Trump administration fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and five more senior Pentagon officers, <strong>another head rolled on Friday as the three-star commander of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) retired -- with sources telling <em>Reuters</em> that retirement was forced on her</strong>. </p>
<p>As DHA commander, <strong>US Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland oversaw a vast medical system</strong> <strong>serving more than 9.5 million</strong> <strong>service members, retirees and family members</strong> around the world via more than 700 hospitals and clinics with <a href="https://dha.mil/About-DHA/Organizational-Structure">a staff of more than 130,000</a> service members, civilian employees and contractors.  </p>
<a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/crosland-h.jpeg?itok=KHdFvYqf" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/crosland-h.jpeg?itok=KHdFvYqf">
<figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><picture><img alt data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f4c55233-b36e-4ef1-bfa8-e75fe49be6a8" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="319" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/crosland-h.jpeg?itok=KHdFvYqf" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"></picture><figcaption><picture><strong>Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland had commanded the Defense Health Agency since January 2023</strong> (Mike Morones/</picture></figcaption><picture><em>MOAA</em></picture></figure></a>) 
<p>News of her sudden retirement broke Friday morning, with acting Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Stephen Ferrara notifying DHA service members and civilian employees. In an email obtained by <em>ZeroHedge</em>, he wrote:  </p>

<blockquote readability="14.549098196393">
<p><em><strong>"This morning, Army Lieutenant General (LTG) Dr. Telita Crosland, the fourth Director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), is beginning her retirement. </strong>I want to thank LTG Crosland for her dedication to the nation, to the Military Health System, and to Army Medicine for the past 32 years. I have designated <a href="https://www.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/Article/3394225/david-j-smith/">Dr. David Smith</a>, the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, as the Acting Director of the DHA while the Department conducts the normal nomination process."</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>On Friday evening, <em><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-pushed-out-us-military-health-agency-head-officials-say-2025-03-01/">Reuters</a></em> was first to confirm universal suspicions that <strong>Crosland's sudden retirement wasn't her idea</strong>, with both a current and former official saying she was ordered to retire. The officials, spoke to the news agency on condition of anonymity, said <strong>she was not given a reason for being pushed out of the military</strong> after a career spanning more than 30 years. A West Point graduate who started her Army service as a Medical Corps officer in 1993, Crosland was given the DHA command <a href="https://www.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/Article/1962263/lieutenant-general-telita-crosland/">after serving as the Army's Deputy Surgeon General</a>. </p>
<a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/1000w_q95_0.jpeg?itok=7ccTDf_D" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/1000w_q95_0.jpeg?itok=7ccTDf_D">
<figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><picture><img alt data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1c89264a-3b47-4d35-aca8-78a3668e69a0" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="296" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/1000w_q95_0.jpeg?itok=7ccTDf_D" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"></picture><figcaption><picture><strong>The Defense Health Agency has more than 700 hospitals and clinics, including Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio </strong></picture></figcaption></figure></a>
<p>While specific reasons for Crosland's retirement have yet to surface, <strong>leftists were quick to race to their own predictable, knee-jerk conclusions</strong>. Here's a sampling from the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/">r/fednews</a> subreddit, which is the center of the universe for federal employees wailing about Trump's shrinking and restructuring of the US government workforce: </p>
<ul><li>"She had too much honor and integrity for this administration, so <strong>they shoved her aside for a nice, obedient white man."</strong></li>
<li> "She is far too not a white man."</li>
<li>"Anyone still pretending these aren't racist fascists are fools."</li>
<li>"One more racially-motivated dismissal."</li>
<li>She definitely was removed for being a POC and a female." </li>
</ul><p>Crosland's forced resignation capped <strong>a week of momentous moves by the Trump administration vis-a-vis the Pentagon</strong>.</p>

<p>*  *  *</p>
<p><em>You can support ZeroHedge with the purchase of a high-quality, sharp, kickass <strong><a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/zerohedge-multitool">ZeroHedge Multitool</a></strong>.</em></p>
<p><a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/zerohedge-multitool" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/zerohedge-multitool" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/zerohedge-multitool"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7b33dcac-2d92-4570-ac3a-e28d3100f3fd" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="318" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Img515.jpg?itok=WRvjqbS6" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p><em>Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.</em></p>
<p>*  *  *</p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/pentagon-purge-resumes-3-star-defense-health-commander-pushed-retirement


guid: 1007539 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: The Turnaround...
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/turnaround
hash: �a/�:�𝡂��$D�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="257.87752448643">
<p><a href="https://straightlinelogic.com/2025/03/01/the-turnaround-by-robert-gore/"><em>Authored by Robert Gore via StraightLineLogic.com,</em></a></p>
<p><strong>The best way to understand Trump is also the simplest: he’s a businessman.</strong> From that perspective, little of what he’s doing is as inexplicable or surprising as many make it out to be. The inexplicability arises from general ignorance of business. Most Americans have little knowledge or understanding of how private American businesses work, although they generates the majority of the U.S.’s $29 trillion GDP and employ many of them.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/General-Ledger-for-Business-Acco.jpg?itok=RTieFn91" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/General-Ledger-for-Business-Acco.jpg?itok=RTieFn91"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ae77f30e-b82e-4768-9c32-cd5074e71b87" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/General-Ledger-for-Business-Acco.jpg?itok=RTieFn91" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p><strong>Trump is now CEO of the federal government.</strong> That enterprise has over $36 trillion in direct liabilities and unfunded liabilities in the hundreds of trillions. Its cost of credit is rising and debt service is taking an ever-expanding share of its revenues. Self evidently, it cannot continue on its present course.</p>

<p>The common element of successful business turnarounds is that they don’t emerge from slow, incremental changes from within the system. Somebody comes in and administers shock therapy. Turnaround artists are never popular. Lots of people are fired, unprofitable operations discarded, finances tightened, business philosophies rethought, and the company’s direction radically reset. Because the company’s situation is dire, this all has to be done quickly, with shareholders howling and creditors pounding at the door.</p>
<p><strong>It begins with the numbers.</strong> In failing enterprises, they often reek of falsification, self-dealing, and corruption. You analyze the numbers and you keep asking questions until you uncover the real answers. What Musk and DOGE are doing would be standard operating procedure in a comparable business situation; indeed Musk did the same thing when he took over Twitter. Applied to government, it’s considered revolutionary, but how many politicians or bureaucrats have ever run a business?</p>
<p>That the Department of Defense has never passed an audit and the Federal Reserve tenaciously resists one tells you all you need to know about the government’s numbers. Finding the “anomalies” is like shooting fish in a barrel. Resolving them invariably uncovers sordid secrets. Secrecy is the decaying dreck that feeds swamp corruption. Publicly, swamp creatures are screaming about “democracy” and DOGE access to the government’s sacred information. Privately, they’re checking into overseas bank accounts, defense attorneys, and realtors while updating their LinkedIn profiles.</p>
<p>There are valid security, cybersecurity, and legal, even Constitutional, concerns about the way DOGE is operating that would not be present in a business situation. DOGE’s victims can be counted on to litigate these issues and courts may well impose restrictions. There will also be pushback from within the bureaucracy, even from Trump appointees. Kash Patel has already told FBI employees not to file Musk’s what-I-did-last-week emails. Courts and pushback could derail the project, in which case, revolution would be the only avenue left to defeat the Blob.</p>
<p><strong>At Twitter, Musk fired 80 percent of the workforce, reflecting business wisdom that 20 percent of any workforce does 80 percent of the work. For government, those figures should be revised to 10 and 90.</strong> However, is any of the work useful? It’s often counterproductive, producing results contrary to its stated purpose. Government-declared wars on poverty, drugs, and terror produced more impoverishment, drug-addiction, and terrorists, wasting billions. Those “war fighting” agencies and many others should be terminated.</p>
<p><strong>Trump has decided that Operation Ukraine must be terminated.</strong> The sunk cost fallacy—throwing good money after bad—has cost the U.S. government trillions, particularly in its military endeavors. The fallacy justifies future spending, and in the case of the military, more destruction and death, on a failing project (like Afghanistan) by citing money already spent and lives already lost—sunk costs. Those costs are irrelevant in deciding whether to continue a project; only the probability of future success matters.</p>

<p>Businesspeople who throw good money after bad go bankrupt. They don’t have fiat money or tax dollars to perpetuate their mistakes. Trump’s not going to throw more money down the Ukrainian rathole. He’s talking about cutting the military budget in half, and the only way to do that is to forego these forever fiascos. The money already spent on Ukraine cries out for an illuminating line-by-line audit. If it happens, watch the cockroaches scatter, including the Bidens and the Clintons.</p>
<p>It appears that Trump and team have decided that unipolarity—the foreign affairs equivalent of monopoly—must give way to multipolarity—the foreign affairs equivalent of oligopoly. As a businessman, Trump undoubtedly prefers monopoly, but reality requires recognition of competitors who are too big to eliminate.</p>
<p><strong>Trump now acknowledges Russia as a peer oligopolist, and obviously, so, too, is China</strong> (see “Russia and China Are Facts of Life,” SLL, 1/28/25). It’s always a risk trying to guess Trump’s thinking. However, he apparently wants to settle the ugly Ukraine business quickly and get on with the three-party oligopoly in which the oligopolists sometimes cooperate and sometimes compete—hopefully economically and diplomatically, not militarily. Blood, as businessman Virgil Sollozzo noted in The Godfather, is a big expense. Oligopoly may well have been Trump’s thinking back in his first term (see “The Eagle, the Dragon, and the Bear,” SLL, 6/21/18). However, the Russiagate hoax prevented him from even making overtures in that direction.</p>
<p>Everyone else, including Europe, will be second- or third-tier, although jockeying for markets and securing favorable arrangements for extracting resources will be important aspects of oligopolistic competition. Like many oligopolies, there will be a territorial dimension. Without admitting it, Trump will cede Eurasia to China and Russia while shoring up the U.S. base in North and South America. That may be the thinking behind Trump’s rhetoric concerning Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal. Africa and the poles will be open territory over which the oligopolists will compete.</p>
<p>The Middle East and Israel have bedeviled presidents since Truman. If it had no oil, the Middle East would be a desert backwater, an oxymoron. The U.S. has plenty of oil and natural gas. It could buy Middle East oil when prices were favorable and otherwise stay out of the region. However, there is the relationship with Israel, which gets far more from it than the U.S. That’s intolerable from a business perspective, but it’s a political necessity for Trump. The relationship could destroy Trump’s presidency if the two countries wage war on Iran. Given Iran’s ties with Russia and China, such a war could escalate to World War III.</p>
<p>While Trump’s business perspective brings fresh thinking and some honesty to government, there are times when it’s grossly inappropriate. Since 1948, Palestinians have been squeezed into ever-smaller areas in the land formerly known as Palestine, and it’s clear that Netanyahu and Trump want them completely evicted. Getting rid of them and turning Gaza into a luxury beach resort may have a cold-blooded business logic to it, but it’s a patently unjust solution for the Palestinian “problem.” The Trump Gaza video recently released on Truth Social is beyond grotesque.</p>
<p><strong>Back at home, Trump and many Americans understand that the U.S. government is a rathole.</strong> Indeed, it’s been common knowledge since Roosevelt’s New Deal, which turned a recession into a Great Depression on the moronic mantras that government bureaucrats are omniscient and government spending is the key to prosperity. Unfortunately, the average American has no power to force the government to disclose information or change its ways. Turnarounds are top-down affairs, which is why so much hope rests on Trump, Musk, and DOGE.</p>

<p>You can’t cut costs to prosperity; successful turnarounds require new revenues. In the case of a government turnaround that doesn’t mean government finds new ways to soak the productive private economy. It means government gets out of the way and lets entrepreneurs, capitalism, and markets do their revenue- and wealth-generating thing. Laws, regulations, and bureaucratic extortion are barnacles encrusting the U.S.S. Economy, stopping it dead in the water. Neither inflation-adjusted private-sector incomes nor the real economy have grown in years. (The public sector has made out nicely, though.)</p>
<p><strong>If Trump and Musk fire government employees, but thousands of laws and regulations aren’t blowtorched, their efforts will come to naught. Legislation drafted by the ignorant stifles industries they don’t understand. Many businesspeople have to “politely” explain to regulators the business they presume to regulate.</strong></p>
<p>That their taxes pay the salaries of these parasites, often with additional “taxes” levied under the table, compounds the absurd injustice. Large, connected, crony-socialistic enterprises can absorb the costs, gaming the system to subsidize themselves and stifle the competition. Ultimately, it’s the much-heralded but much-abused entrepreneurs and small businesses who are crushed. Europe has snuffed out its innovation and economic dynamism almost entirely. The U.S. is well down the same path.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Trump wants the government to “help” business instead of simply getting out of its way. Business will supposedly thrive behind tariff walls, but its going to be the large, crony-socialistic enterprises that benefit. Trump’s Stargate project will throw half a trillion dollars at well-heeled Silicon Valley outfits to develop AI. China’s DeepSeek and Musk’s latest iteration of Grok has made Stargate obsolete before it spends its first dollar. The one thing Trump and team can do that will help all business is slash spending, reducing the government’s drain on the economy and the national debt’s upward pressure on interest rates.</p>
<p>Honest, successful businesspeople—and the U.S. still has plenty—must deal with reality. They have to produce a good or service at a cost less than what the market will pay for it. The miracle of profit propels production and progress. Yet, it’s the villain in the unreal worlds of government, academia, and mainstream media and entertainment, none of which would survive a day if somebody out there wasn’t generating profit. America is built on profit, not politics. General recognition of that fact would restore some sanity in what’s loftily called the “national discourse.”</p>
<p>The business of America has been and must be business. Trump can’t elucidate an Ayn Rand-type defense for the morality of free enterprise, production, and profit. However, he realizes that the productive element of society is supporting its own parasitic destroyers. Nor can he elucidate a John Quincy Adams-type defense of a foreign policy in which America minds its own business. However, he apparently recognizes that the empire cannot be sustained.</p>
<p><strong>It remains to be seen if Trump and team can turn around America at home and abroad. They’re taking on a powerful Overclass that produces far less than it takes, destroys far more than it creates, and will fight tooth-and-nail to preserve its sinecures. One thing is clear. Without recognition of hard realities and a dramatic turnaround, America’s government will go the way of other failing enterprises that couldn’t change course, sooner rather than later.</strong></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007505 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Federal Employees Hate DOGE Because They Fear Meritocracy
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ����� kH�~{�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="113.31155015198">
<p>Not all people who are attracted to government employment are searching for a cushy job with limited work load and even less oversight, but most aren't working for agencies like the IRS, ATF or USAID because of patriotic duty.  In reality, federal bureaucrats act as if they've found a cheat code to life.  And until the arrival of Elon Musk's DOGE audits, that assumption was generally true.   </p>
<p>As Dan Aykroyd's character Ray Stantz notes in the movie Ghostbusters: </p>
<p><strong>"Personally, I liked working for the university. They gave us money and facilities. We didn't have to produce anything. You've never been out of college. You don't know what it's like out there! I've worked in the private sector ... they expect results!"</strong></p>
<p>For decades it's been a running joke that government employees do very little while collecting a generous paycheck.  For American taxpayers, however, the joke's not so funny.  DOGE audits have exposed considerable waste and fraud within the system.  Apologists in the media argue that most of this information was available to anyone willing to look, but this is a misrepresentation of the bigger problem. </p>

<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/DOGEdeath1.jpg?itok=ZkYv2tve" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/DOGEdeath1.jpg?itok=ZkYv2tve"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b9fdfe0c-75c6-4155-854c-c696330ce7dc" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="311" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/DOGEdeath1.jpg?itok=ZkYv2tve" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>Until recently no one had collated spending data in way that is easy for the average American to reference and track.  In fact, digging up this information is made as frustrating as possible, likely to dissuade people from investigating for themselves.  The Government Accountability Office doesn't do it; if anything they pretend to scrutinize various agencies while covering for their mismanagement.  When it comes to government waste the phrase that leaps to mind is "hidden in plain sight".  </p>
<p>"Waste" and "fraud" are the only words to describe the situation with federal employment - In 2024 there were over 3 million workers, the most since 1994, collecting around $270 billion annually (including benefits).  Federal supervisors are incentivized to give average to outstanding employee performance reviews in order to avoid employee and union backlash, as well as negative attention for their department.  It is often noted that government work has bred a culture of "conflict avoidance".  In other words, merit is not their top priority.</p>
<p>In the past various establishment media outlets have admitted to this trend.  The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/06/14/report-says-99-of-feds-fully-successful-or-better-at-work-is-that-credible/">Washington Post in 2016</a> noted that only 0.1% of federal employees ever get a negative performance review.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/WorkPer1.jpg?itok=QMiiRo-3" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/WorkPer1.jpg?itok=QMiiRo-3"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="52e338d0-3398-4150-a6f6-66972a64b38a" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/WorkPer1.jpg?itok=QMiiRo-3" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>
<p>In 2013 the Government Accountability Office was tasked to review federal performance management systems across the 24 CFO Act agencies. After reviewing OPM data for calendar year, the GAO reported that <a href="https://news.clearancejobs.com/2016/08/02/exceptional-government-employees-problem-ratings/">more than 99%</a> of non-Senior Executive Service employees received a rating of fully successful or higher.  This is simply not credible.</p>

<p>If anything, federal workers should be subject to more scrutiny and should have to present tangible results on a regular basis.  The GAO's data was ignored because that's how the GAO works, and the easy security of federal employment continued without disruption.  This is why the actions of DOGE are triggering government workers so hard - They have never faced true meritocracy before. </p>
<p>Many of them have never worked in the private sector and don't understand that they are in fact subject to review and to firing if they don't meet the standards of their employers (the American people).  They think they are untouchable.  They think performance reviews are tyranny.  They think they shouldn't have to answer to anyone.</p>
<blockquote readability="4.5978260869565" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Government employee compares replying to an email to “what I imagine living in North Korea to be like” <a href="https://t.co/XDbDw9YJe1">pic.twitter.com/XDbDw9YJe1</a></p>
— Ana Mostarac (@anammostarac) <a href="https://twitter.com/anammostarac/status/1894934435583439025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The level of panic and indignant behavior among fed workers over a simple email from DOGE asking "what they accomplished last week" tells us everything we need to know about the bureaucrat culture.  The email, which should take anyone 10 minutes to answer, is treated as "harassment" and a "distraction" from their work.</p>
<blockquote readability="4.9159663865546" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Federal worker says she got behind on all her work because she was “threatened and harassed” by the simple email asking for 5 tasks she completed that week.<br><a href="https://t.co/0hxmWcNO2v">pic.twitter.com/0hxmWcNO2v</a></p>
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1895463955176599628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Keep in mind, the email was not necessarily meant to act as a performance indicator; it was a test to see who responds and who does not.  The people who refused to respond simply outed themselves as a potential problem to be removed later.  For those that are being fired for poor performance the claim of "outstanding reviews" under the previous administration don't hold water.  As noted, it's proven that the government maintains a participation trophy culture - Everyone is a winner no matter how incompetent. </p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7us2lmOvR5Y" width="640" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin">[embedded content]</iframe></p>

<p>The concept of meritocracy is so alien to the federal system that basic job requirements common to almost every company in the country are seen as acts of abuse.  Add in the freak show of DEI hiring and you have a recipe for financial disaster. </p>
<p>It's not unfair to compare the waste within the government to the waste at the original Twitter.  Musk eliminated 80% of twitter staff after purchasing the platform and the company actually functioned better without them.  We will probably see the same results with the federal system over time. </p>

</div><p>Loading...</p>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/federal-employees-fear-doge-because-they-dont-understand-meritocracy


guid: 1007540 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Trump, Vance, &amp; The New New World Order
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-vance-new-new-world-order
hash: ?2�_�QI�Oc1T
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="191.30597107183">
<p><a href="https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/01/trump-vance-and-the-new-new-world-order/"><em>Authored by Stephen Soukup via American Greatness,</em></a></p>
<p>This past week, the venerable Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator for <em>The Financial Times</em>, used his column to declare the Trump administration and, by extension, the United States “<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b46e2e24-ca71-4269-a7ca-3344e6215ae3">the enemy of the West</a>.” “Today,” Wolf wrote, “autocracies [are] increasingly confident,” and “the United States is moving to their side.” According to the subhead on the column, <em><strong>“Washington has decided to abandon…its postwar role in the world.”</strong></em> Meanwhile, Wolf cites the (in his estimation) august Franklin Roosevelt, as he complains that the United States “has decided instead to become just another great power, indifferent to anything but its short-term interests.”</p>
<p><strong>The ironies here—as well as the historical ignorance—abound.</strong></p>
<p><strong><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_14-32-17.jpg?itok=wlHwfwPO" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-03-01_14-32-17.jpg?itok=wlHwfwPO"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b0f38a9b-f6dc-409d-84a3-7a80d4cd197a" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="286" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-03-01_14-32-17.jpg?itok=wlHwfwPO" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></strong></p>

<p>To start, one would imagine that Wolf, an educated man with two degrees from Oxford, might know that it was his countryman (and two-time Prime Minister), Henry John Temple (i.e. Lord Palmerston), who declared in a speech in the House of Commons that “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” Wolf might also be expected to know that this statement was repeated—more famously and more pithily—by Henry Kissinger, perhaps the quintessential American diplomat in the supposedly vaunted postwar order. Kissinger, like Palmerston and Trump (apparently) understood that a nation that pursues anything other than its interests is foolish, faithless, and, in time, doomed.</p>
<p>What bothers Wolf, it would seem, is that American interests are diverging from British and continental European interests. That is unfortunate, but it is also more than likely the case that this divergence is the result of Britain and Europe’s abandonment of the principles, values, and ambitions the allies once shared, rather than the other way around. For example, Wolf criticizes the speech given by J.D. Vance in which the vice president defended the traditional American dedication to free speech and attacked the British and European rejection of that principle. Yet again, Wolf might be expected to know that the American preoccupation with this and all other negative rights is something the nation’s Founders inherited from their British forefathers. If the two nations now differ on the importance of this fundamental right, then that’s hardly Vance’s, Trump’s, or any other American’s fault.</p>
<p>More ironies are found in Wolf’s praise of the now-dying postwar order and his citation of FDR as the architect of that order. While Wolf is correct that Roosevelt was one of two Americans most responsible for the creation of the postwar order, he is wrong in believing that the order was virtuous by design and that it played out precisely as Roosevelt intended. Indeed, he couldn’t be more wrong if he tried.</p>
<p>Almost from the moment the United States entered World War II, Roosevelt was planning how best to achieve the goal he inherited from his former boss and Progressive predecessor, Woodrow Wilson. Wilson’s goal, of course, was “global governance” under the League of Nations, a goal that the U.S. Senate, mercifully, denied him. Regrettably, Roosevelt shared Wilson’s dream. The political scientist and historian of the Cold War, Amos Perlmutter, wrote that Roosevelt’s “vision for a postwar world was neo-Wilsonian, totally at odds with reality. He would help create a new international order, presided over in an equal partnership by the two emerging superpowers, the United States and the USSR, and buttressed by the newly created world organization, the United Nations.” Like Wilson, Roosevelt sought to fix the world by bringing the whole of it under the control of a handful of its most benevolent and brilliant men—himself included, naturally.</p>
<p>The catch, of course, was that in order to believe that he could effectuate his plan for the postwar global order, Roosevelt also had to believe that it would be received positively by the man who turned out to be the most proficient mass murderer in the war, Josef Stalin. Remarkably, Roosevelt did, in fact, believe just that. He repeatedly told his staff and others that he was convinced that the man he affectionately called “Uncle Joe” would eagerly welcome his friendship and American entreaties to share governance of the world jointly. They would, he believed, be the closest of allies and the best of friends. In 1943, before ever even meeting Stalin, FDR told his first ambassador to the USSR, William Bullit, that “I have just a hunch that Stalin doesn’t want anything but security for his country, and I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won’t try to annex anything and will work for a world democracy and peace.”</p>
<p>Roosevelt approached the end of the war and Yalta in the same state of delusion. He went, hat in hand, to beg Stalin to join him in his plan to rule the world together as the benevolent co-victors and co-representatives of the triumphant political left. As history shows, Roosevelt gave Stalin everything he wanted at Yalta, in the vain hope that the two could be friends and work together. History also shows that FDR was never disabused of this fantasy and, as a result, set about trying to put it in place.</p>

<p>To this end, Roosevelt put his best men on the job of ensuring the creation—and the successful ratification by the Senate—of the United Nations. Among these best men were his Secretary of State Edward Stettinius, future Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and an aide on whom Roosevelt relied heavily while at Yalta, the director of the Office of Special Political Affairs, a man named Alger Hiss.</p>
<p>Many years of work went into creating the United Nations and planning its charter, and many prominent Americans—including Stettinius and Dulles—had tremendous input into the documents.  In the end, though, it was Hiss, the Soviet spy, who ensured that the United Nations was born. Hiss was the primary author of the United Nations Charter and attended the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco as part of the official American delegation headed by Senator Arthur Vandenberg. Among other things, Hiss was tasked with ensuring Vandenberg’s support and compliance—both in endorsing the U.N. Charter at the conference in San Francisco and then shepherding it successfully through the Senate ratification process.</p>
<p><strong>The United Nations was the most critical step in transforming the world at the end of the war. But it was only the first step. For the better part of a century, the leftist secular intellectuals and the Utopian pietists colluded to push the notion of “global governance” on an unwilling and uninterested globe.</strong> In 1945, however, with the Utopians victorious in the West and murderous but canny cynics victorious in the East, the Wilsonian-pietist dream at last became a reality. The entire postwar period—from Roosevelt’s attempts to court Stalin at Yalta and beyond to the establishment of the United Nations, the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund; from Truman’s speech on the Greek crisis to the formulation of the policy of containment; from the war in Korea to the Marshall Plan—is perhaps best understood as the story the American Left’s attempts to nurture and encourage world government, and to consolidate power under beneficent American leadership.</p>
<p><strong>This world order—which inarguably produced the wars in Korea and Vietnam and arguably contributed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—is the world order Trump and Vance are supposedly abandoning and which Martin Wolf wishes so desperately to preserve.</strong></p>
<p>I can’t say with any degree of certainty that any <em>new</em>, new world order will be particularly grand, but I can say that the old, new world order was, at best, a happy accident that only <em>nearly</em> resulted in the nuclear destruction of the entire planet - and which might not be so lucky next time.</p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007541 at https://www.zerohedge.com
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: ��h�$u������N
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
title:
America As Republic, Not As Empire – Europe&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Sound And Fury&amp;#039; After Jaw-Dropping Pivots In US Policy

content:
<div readability="222.88489281723">
<p><em>Authored by Alastair Crooke,</em></p>
<p><strong>The bits are falling into a distinct pattern – a pre-prepared pattern.</strong></p>
<p><strong><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2014-11-12-huge.8.43876.jpg?itok=bvYvPIjh" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2014-11-12-huge.8.43876.jpg?itok=bvYvPIjh"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2ed0d811-ba17-4cbf-93ec-67a6826a5a71" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="309" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2014-11-12-huge.8.43876.jpg?itok=bvYvPIjh" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></strong></p>
<p>Defence Secretary Hegseth at the Munich Security Conference gave us four ‘noes’: No to Ukraine in NATO; No to a return to pre-2014 borders; No to ‘Article 5’ peacekeeper backstops, and ‘No’ to U.S. troops in Ukraine. And in a final flourish, he added that U.S. troops in Europe are <em>not</em> ‘forever’ – and even placed a question mark over the continuity of NATO.</p>

<p>Pretty plain speaking! The U.S. clearly is cutting away from Ukraine. And they intend to normalise relations with Russia.</p>
<p>Then, Vice-President Vance threw his fire cracker amongst the gathered Euro-élites. He said that the élites had retreated from “shared” democratic values; they were overly reliant on repressing and censoring their peoples (prone to locking them up); and, above all, he excoriated the European <em>Cordon Sanitaire </em>(‘firewall’) by which European parties outside the Centre-Left are deemed <em>non-grata</em> politically: It’s a fake ‘threat’, he suggested. Of what are you really so frightened? Have you so little confidence in your ‘democracy’?</p>
<p>The U.S., he implied, will no longer support Europe if it continues to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/will-german-far-right-afd-party-be-banned/a-70531838">suppress</a> political constituencies, arrest citizens for speech offenses, and particularly cancel elections as was done recently <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-10-2025-000150_EN.html">in Romania</a>. <em><strong>“If you’re running in fear of your own voters”, Vance said, “there is nothing America can do for you”.</strong></em></p>
<p>Ouch! Vance had hit them where it hurts.</p>
<p>It is difficult to say what specifically most triggered the catatonic European breakdown: Was it the fear of the U.S. and Russia joining together as a major power nexus – thus stripping Europe from ever again being able glide along on the back of American power, through the specious notion that any European state must have exceptional access to the Washington ‘ear’?</p>
<p>Or was it the ending of the Ukraine/Zelensky cult which was so prized amongst the Euro-élite as the ‘glue’ around which a faux European unity and identity could be enforced? Both probably contributed to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ_K6RXfWC8">fury</a>.</p>

<p><strong>That the U.S. would in essence leave Europe to their own delusions would be a calamitous event for the Brussels technocracy.</strong></p>
<p>Many may lazily assume that the U.S. double act at Munich was just another example of the well-known Trumpian fondness for dropping ‘wacky’ initiatives intended to both shock and kickover frozen paradigms. The Munich speeches did exactly that all right! Yet that does not make them accidental; but rather parts that fit into a bigger picture.</p>
<p><strong>It is clear now that the Trump blitzkrieg across the American Administrative State could not have been mounted unless carefully pre-planned and prepared over the last four years.</strong></p>
<p>Trump’s flurry of Presidential Executive Orders at the outset of his Presidency were not whimsical. Leading U.S. constitutional lawyer, Johnathan Turley, and other lawyers <a href="https://www.conflictsforum.org/mailster/4143/cd55a8bc957e4746f3f008aa7da8526b/aHR0cHM6Ly9qb25hdGhhbnR1cmxleS5vcmcvMjAyNS8wMi8xNi90YWtpbmctYXdheS1ldmVyeXRoaW5nLXdlLWhhdmUtZGVtb2NyYXRzLWFuZC11bmlvbnMtbGF1bmNoLWFuLWV4aXN0ZW50aWFsLWZpZ2h0LW92ZXItYnV5b3V0cy8">say</a> that the Orders were well drafted legally and with the clear understanding that legal challenges would ensue. What’s more, that Trump Team welcome those challenges.</p>
<p><strong>What is going on?</strong> The newly confirmed head of the <em>Office of Budget Management</em> (OBM), Russ Vought, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vydAb4RR1iI">says</a> his Office will become the “on/off switch” for <em>all</em> Executive expenditure under the new Executive Orders. Vought calls the resulting whirlpool, the application of Constitutional radicalism. And Trump has now issued the Executive Order that reinstates the primacy of the Executive as the controlling mechanism of government.</p>
<p>Vaught, who was in OBM in Trump 01, is carefully selecting the ground for all-out financial war on the Deep State. It will be fought out firstly at the Supreme Court – which the Trump Team expect confidently to win (Trump has the 6-3 conservative majority). The new régime will then be applied across all agencies and departments of state. Expect shrieks of pain.</p>
<p><strong>The point here is that the Administrative State – aloof from executive control – has taken to itself prerogatives such as immunity to dismissal and the self-awarded authority to shape policy – creating a dual state system, run by unelected technocrats, which, when implanted in departments such as Justice and the Pentagon, have evolved into the American Deep State.</strong></p>

<p>Article Two of the Constitution however, says very bluntly: Executive power shall be vested in the U.S. President (with no ifs or buts at all.) Trump intends for his Administration to recover that lost Executive power. It was, in fact, lost long ago. Trump is re-claiming too, the Executive’s right to dismiss ‘servants of the State’, and to ‘switch off’ wasteful expenditure at his discretion, as part of a unitary executive prerequisite.</p>
<p>Of course, the Administrative State is fighting back. Turley’s <a href="https://jonathanturley.org/2025/02/16/taking-away-everything-we-have-democrats-and-unions-launch-an-existential-fight-over-buyouts/">article</a> is headlined: <em>They Are Taking Away Everything We Have: Democrats and Unions Launch Existential Fight.</em> Their aim has been to cripple the Trump initiative through using politicised judges to issue restraint orders. Many mainstream lawyers believe Trump’s Unitary Executive claim to be illegal. The question is whether Congress can stand up Agencies designed to act independently of the President; and how does that square with the separation of powers and Article Two that vests unqualified executive power with one sole elected official – the U.S. President.</p>
<p>How did the Democrats not see this coming? Lawyer Robert Barnes essentially <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVsmgopMPcg&amp;feature=youtu.be">says</a> that the ‘blitzkrieg’ was “exceptionally well-planned” and had been discussed in Trump circles since late 2020. The latter team had emerged from within a generational and cultural shift in the U.S.. This latter had given rise to a Libertarian/Populist wing with working class roots who often had served in the military, yet had come to despise the Neo-con lies (especially those of 9/11) that brought endless wars. They were animated more by the old John Adams adage that ‘America should not go abroad in search of monsters to slay’.</p>
<p>In short, they were not part of the WASP ‘Anglo’ world; they came from a different Culture that harked back to the theme of America as Republic, not as Empire. This is what you see with Vance and Hegseth – a reversion to the Republican precept that the U.S. should not become involved in European wars. Ukraine is not America’s war.</p>
<p><strong>The Deep State, it seems, were not paying attention to what a posse of ‘populist’ outliers, tucked away from the rarefied Beltway talking shop, were up to:</strong> They (the outliers) were planning a concerted attack on the Federal expenditure spigot – identified as the weak spot about which a Constitutional challenge could be mounted that would derail – in its entirety – the expenditures of the Deep State.</p>
<p>It seems that one aspect to the surprise has been the Trump Team’s discipline: ‘no leaks’. And secondly, that those involved in the planning are not drawn from the preeminent Anglo-sphere, but rather from a strand of society that was offended by the Iraq war and which blames the ‘Anglo-sphere’ for ‘ruining’ America.</p>
<p>So Vance’s speech at Munich was not disruptive – merely for the sake of being disruptive; he was, in fact, encouraging the audience to recall early <em>Republican Values. </em>This was what is meant by his complaint that Europe had turned away from “our shared values” – i.e. the values that animated Americans seeking escape from the tyranny, prejudices and corruption of the Old World. Vance was (quite politely) chiding the Euro-élites for backsliding to old European vices.</p>

<p>Vance implicitly was hinting too, that European conservative libertarians should emulate Trump and act to slough-off their ‘Administrative States’, and recover control over executive power. Tear down the firewalls, he advised.</p>
<p>Why? Because he likely views the ‘Brussels’ Technocratic State as nothing other than a pure offshoot to the American Deep State – and therefore very likely to try to torpedo and sink Trump’s initiative to normalise relations with Moscow.</p>
<p><strong>If these were Vance’s instincts, he was right. Macron almost immediately summoned an ‘emergency meeting’ of ‘the war party’ in Paris to consider how to frustrate the American initiative. It failed however, descending reportedly into quarrelling and acrimony.</strong></p>
<p>It transpired that Europe could not gather a ‘sharp-end’ military force greater than 20,-000-30,000 men. Scholtz objected in principle to their involvement; Poland demurred as a close neighbour of Ukraine; and Italy stayed silent. Starmer, however, after Munich, immediately rang Zelensky to say that Britain saw Ukraine to be on an irrevocable path to NATO membership – thus directly contradicting U.S. policy and with no support from other states. Trump will not forget this, nor will he forget Britain’s former role in supporting the Russiagate slur during his first term in office.</p>
<p>The meeting did however, underline Europe’s divisions and impotence. Europe has been sidelined and their self-esteem is badly bruised. The U.S. would in essence leave Europe to their own delusions, which would be calamitous for the Brussels autocracy.</p>
<p>Yet, far more consequential than most of the happenings of the past few days was when Trump, speaking with <em>Fox News,</em>after attending Daytona, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GhZ7UVF3AI&amp;feature=youtu.be">dismissed</a> Zelensky’s canard of Russia wanting to invade NATO countries. “I don’t agree with that; not even a little bit”, Trump retorted.</p>
<p><strong>Trump does not buy into the primary lie intended as the glue which holds this entire EU geo-political structure together. For, without the ‘Russia threat’; without the U.S. believing in the globalist linchpin lie, there can be no pretence of Europe needing to prepare for war with Russia. Europe ultimately will have to come to reconcile its future as a periphery in Eurasia.</strong></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/america-republic-not-empire-europes-sound-and-fury-after-jaw-dropping-pivots-us-policy


guid: 1007526 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: Armed Venezuelan Ship "Threatens" Exxon Mobile Vessel Off Guyana Coast
author: ;Tyler Durden
hash: 4_~�z����%�8�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="90.027173913043">
<p>A Venezuelan military ship entered a major offshore oil and gas field off the coast of Guyana early Saturday, approaching an ExxonMobil contracted vessel, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-01/venezuelan-navy-approaches-exxonmobil-vessel-off-guyana-coast">Bloomberg</a>. This incident comes days after President Trump <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/trump-revokes-venezuela-oil-license-after-failing-receive-enough-migrants-back">canceled</a> a key oil deal with Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela, citing its failure to repatriate an adequate number of illegal aliens from the US.</p>
<p>X user <em>News Source Guyana </em>posted a video showing the armed Venezuelan patrol boat probing the waters around the Exxon contracted ship in the Stabroek Block (Oil &amp; Gas Field). </p>
<blockquote readability="7.1211267605634" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">News Source: Authorities in Guyana at the Government level and at the level of Exxon Mobil are probing the presence of a Venezuelan Military vessel in Guyana’s waters sailing close to drill ships and other vessels in the Stabroek Block where oil production is taking place. <a href="https://t.co/9YsmfWft8X">pic.twitter.com/9YsmfWft8X</a></p>
— News Source Guyana (@newssourcegy) <a href="https://twitter.com/newssourcegy/status/1895842902879977702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The US State Department wrote on X the incident was unacceptable:</p>

<blockquote readability="9">
<p><em>"Venezuelan naval vessels threatening ExxonMobil's floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit is unacceptable and a clear violation of Guyana's internationally-recognized maritime territory. Further provocation will result in consequences for the Maduro regime. The United States reaffirms its support for Guyana's territorial integrity and the 1899 arbitral award."</em></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote readability="7.7070422535211" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Venezuelan naval vessels threatening ExxonMobil’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit is unacceptable and a clear violation of Guyana’s internationally-recognized maritime territory. Further provocation will result in consequences for the Maduro regime. The…</p>
— Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (@WHAAsstSecty) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHAAsstSecty/status/1895866770440724576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Another video of the incident.</p>
<blockquote readability="5.6223404255319" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="es" xml:lang="es">Video donde observamos al ABV "Guaiquerí" de la Armada Bolivariana de Venezuela frente a un Buque de perforación petrolera. Posiblemente sea en el Campo "Payara" del bloque "Stabroek" en aguas por delimitar entre Guyana y Venezuela <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/1Mar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#1Mar</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mimapa?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mimapa</a> <a href="https://t.co/8ymmJO0WX9">https://t.co/8ymmJO0WX9</a> <a href="https://t.co/MdkrOCNNGe">pic.twitter.com/MdkrOCNNGe</a></p>
— Mi Mapa de Venezuela incluye nuestro Esequibo (@AntroCanal) <a href="https://twitter.com/AntroCanal/status/1895899534460665866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Exxon discovered Stabroek in 2015. It produces 650,000 barrels daily and is situated in heavily disputed waters with Venezuela.  </p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/GQ6cBj2XMAAVT6E.jpg?itok=Z0JjiX3B" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GQ6cBj2XMAAVT6E.jpg?itok=Z0JjiX3B"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8c66bf63-6184-4b68-ab4e-c677c44908a7" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="357" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/GQ6cBj2XMAAVT6E.jpg?itok=Z0JjiX3B" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>Guyana's President, Irfaan Ali, stated that the Venezuelan military vessel radioed the Exxon-contracted ship, declaring that the area lies within disputed international waters.</p>
<p>"During this incursion, the Venezuelan vessel approached various assets in our exclusive waters, including FPSO Prosperity," Ali said, referring to one of the Exxon-contracted vessels.</p>
<p>The Organization of American States stated, "Such acts of intimidation constitute a clear violation of international law, undermine regional stability, and threaten the principles of peaceful coexistence between nations," adding it "unequivocally condemns the recent actions of Venezuelan naval vessels."</p>
<p>The incident follows Trump's decision to <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/trump-revokes-venezuela-oil-license-after-failing-receive-enough-migrants-back">reverse the concessions</a> of an oil transaction agreement dated Nov. 26, 2022, with Venezuela, citing Maduro's failure to repatriate enough migrants.</p>
<blockquote readability="12.386111111111" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime.…</p>
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1894828961798255096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>Not a smart move, Maduro. </p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>

link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/armed-venezuelan-ship-threatens-exxon-mobile-vessel-guyana-coast


guid: 1007542 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: US And UK To Forge New Trade Agreement
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-and-uk-forge-new-trade-agreement
hash: W7�/� �2F�.7 �
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="174.680193064">
<p><a href="https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/US-and-UK-to-Forge-New-Trade-Agreement.html"><em>Via OilPrice.com,</em></a></p>
<ul readability="2"><li readability="0">
<p><em>President Trump indicated a willingness to work on a new trade agreement with the UK and suggested that tariffs on British goods might not be necessary.</em></p>
</li>
<li readability="0">
<p><em>Prime Minister Starmer emphasized the balanced trade relationship between the UK and the US and expressed hope that tariffs would not be imposed.</em></p>
</li>
<li readability="1">
<p><em>The leaders discussed collaborating on a new technology-focused economic deal, with a particular emphasis on artificial intelligence.</em></p>
</li>
</ul><p>The UK could be set to dodge US tariffs with work to begin on a new US-UK trade deal, it was revealed during Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to US President Donald Trump.</p>
<p><a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-02-28_hfwiaijhvr.jpg?itok=7kSGPq5w" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-02-28_hfwiaijhvr.jpg?itok=7kSGPq5w"><picture><img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5d180b55-8131-457b-8494-d803faa7d6f1" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="209" width="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-02-28_hfwiaijhvr.jpg?itok=7kSGPq5w" alt typeof="foaf:Image" data-sanitized-class="inline-images image-style-inline-images"></picture></a></p>

<p>The Prime Minister flew to the States yesterday for a <a href="https://www.cityam.com/topic/people/donald-trump/">highly anticipated first meeting with President Trump since he reentered the White House in January</a>.</p>
<p>And the visit, which came amid uncertainty over peace in Ukraine and the impact on European security, saw Trump outline his hopes for a “great trade agreement” with the UK.</p>
<p>Following discussions with Sir Keir, the President told a press conference on Thursday: “We’re going to have a great trade agreement, one way or another.</p>
<p><em><strong>“We’re going to end up with a very good trade agreement for both countries and we are working on that as we speak.”</strong></em></p>
<p>He added: “I think we’ll have something, maybe in terms of possibilities, agreed very shortly.</p>
<p><em><strong>“We’ll see if we can do something pretty quickly. But we’re going to make some great trade agreements with the UK and with the Prime Minister, and it’ll happen very quickly.”</strong></em></p>

<p>Asked if Starmer, who he also described as a “tough negotiator” and “terrific in our discussions” had convinced him not to impose trade tariffs on the UK, Trump said: “He tried.”</p>
<p>US tariffs on British steel imports are looming and the US president had previously hinted he could target the UK further, as well as suggesting he could impose 25 per cent tariffs on goods from the European Union (EU).</p>
<p><strong>Trump said: “He was working hard, I’ll tell you that. He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there, but he tried.</strong></p>
<p>“I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great, friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary. We’ll see.”</p>
<p>The US President also told reporters that he uses tariffs to “even things up” on trade, adding: “We’ve been treated badly by a lot, we’re using tariffs and… it’s not about inflation, it’s about fairness, and the inflation for us has not existed. I don’t think it’s going to exist.”</p>
<p>But Starmer emphasised that the UK-US trade relationship is “fair”, as he signalled he hoped not to see tariffs imposed on Britain’s economy.</p>
<p><strong>The Prime Minister said: “We have $1.5 trillion invested in each other’s economies, creating over 2.5m jobs across both economies, our trading relationship is not just strong. It’s fair, balanced and reciprocal.”</strong></p>

<p>And Starmer earlier stressed: “Mr President, it’s no secret we’re from different political traditions, but there’s a lot that we have in common. We believe it’s not taking part that counts. What counts is winning.</p>
<p>“If you don’t win, you don’t deliver, and we’re determined to deliver for the working people of Britain and America who want and deserve to see their lives improve. </p>
<p>“So, we’re both in a hurry to get things done, and that’s what the UK and US do when we work together: we win and we get things done.”</p>
<p>Starmer also revealed the UK would work with the US on a new technology-focused economic deal. Speaking of the countries’ hopes for artificial intelligence (AI), he said: “Instead of over-regulating new technologies, we’re seizing the opportunities they offer.”</p>
<p><strong>He added: “We’ve decided today to go further to begin work on a new economic deal with advanced technology at its core.</strong></p>
<p>“Look, our two nations together shaped the great technological innovations of the last century. We have a chance now to do the same for the 21st century.</p>
<p><strong>“I mean, artificial intelligence could cure cancer. That could be a moonshot for our age, and that’s how we’ll keep delivering for our people.”</strong></p>

<p>Following his comments on the EU, Trump also said he will “have to take a look” at whether there will be any trade sanctions on the UK.</p>
<p>The President said: “I can say that … we’re here for a different reason – we’re talking about a very different place. I have investments there, I own Turnberry, I own Aberdeen, and I own a great place called Doonbeg in Ireland. So, I have a great warm spot for your country.”</p>
<p>Starmer then said: “And our trade, obviously, is fair and balanced and, in fact, you’ve got a bit of surplus. So, we’re in a different position there – and obviously we contributed hugely in relation to Ukraine.”</p>
<p><strong>Trump said: “It’s going to work out.” Asked if there will not be any sanctions on the UK, Mr Trump said: “Well, I have to take a look.”</strong></p>
<p>Elsewhere, the US President Donald said the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-mauritius-joint-statement-on-the-chagos-archipelago-20-december-2024">Chagos Islands deal</a> did not “sound bad” when he suggested the US may accept the deal.</p>
<p>Answering questions in the White House, the US President said: “We’re going to have some discussions about that very soon and I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well.</p>
<p>“They’re talking about a very long-term, powerful lease, a very strong lease, about 140 years, actually. It’s a long time. I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country.”</p>
<p>He added: <em><strong>“It’s a little bit early, we have to yet be given the details, but it doesn’t sound bad.”</strong></em></p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


guid: 1007513 at https://www.zerohedge.com
title: US Approves New Russian Ambassador As Major Reset Underway
author: ;Tyler Durden
link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-approves-new-russian-ambassador-major-reset-underway
hash: l�in��|sx% oTH�
attributes: {"enclosures":[]}
content:
<div readability="98.705668016194">
<p>The two rounds of high level US-Russia talks in Riyadh and Istanbul in the last two weeks appear to already be bearing fruit, as Russia's Foreign Ministry has announced it's r<strong>eceived approval from Washington to send Aleksandr Darchiev as Moscow’s new ambassador</strong> to the United States.</p>
<p>Current bilateral US-Russia dialogue has been focused on fully restoring relations and putting back in place all embassy staff in Washington and Moscow, respectively. There had been several rounds of hostile mutual booting of diplomats as relations deteriorated under Biden.</p>
<a data-image-external-href data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/maishev.jpg?itok=Mo0U4FMh" data-link-option="0" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/maishev.jpg?itok=Mo0U4FMh">
<figure role="group" data-sanitized-class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"><picture><img alt data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5463f550-0b3c-4b8d-80fb-a7649071d4ee" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/maishev.jpg?itok=Mo0U4FMh" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500"></picture><figcaption><picture><em>Aleksandr Darchiev, via Sputnik</em></picture></figcaption></figure></a>
<p>According to Russian media, "Darchiev, a senior diplomat with more than 30 years of experience, currently heads the Foreign Ministry’s North Atlantic Department. He previously served as Russia’s ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2021 and has held several high-ranking positions within the ministry, including deputy director of the North America Department and counselor at the Russian embassy in Washington."</p>

<p>This is no doubt part of the "concrete initial steps" being taken by both sides toward resuming regular contacts and diplomatic engagement, with a higher aim of finding a permanent peace solution to the Ukraine war.</p>
<p>Darchiev’s predecessor, Anatoly Antonov, served as Russia’s ambassador to the US throughout much of the Ukraine crisis and the entirety of the war until now. He ran the Russian embassy in D.C. for seven years, and just recently returned to Moscow.</p>
<p>Just as Moscow is poised for a reset with the US under the new Trump administration, <strong>Washington relations with Ukraine are at a low point after Friday's Zelensky fireworks in the Oval Office</strong>. Russian media has been busy hailing and welcoming these developments, which may soon result in <a href="https://tass.com/world/1920889">the following</a>:</p>
<blockquote readability="22.33078101072">
<p><em>US President Donald Trump’s administration is <strong>considering ending all ongoing shipments of military aid to Ukraine</strong>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> wrote citing sources.</em></p>
<p><em>Military supplies could be halted "in response to remarks" by Vladimir Zelensky at a meeting with Trump in the White House and "his perceived intransigence in the peace process," according to the publication.</em></p>
<p><em>The decision, if made, would apply "to billions of dollars of radars, vehicles, ammunition and missiles awaiting shipment to Ukraine through the presidential drawdown authority," an official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic, was quoted as saying.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ukraine frontlines have already been steadily collapsing, so without a future flow of American heavy weapons, this collapse will only accelerate, and the war would likely reach finality within a few months or less.</p>
<p>President Putin has meanwhile been touting the chance for "major" cooperative economic and diplomatic initiatives with the US under Trump, and as bilateral talks progress. Russia has even offered its own minerals access deal as a possibility of closer cooperation, and as Trump floats potentially dropping sanctions in the future. <strong>The next step may be the restoration of direct commercial flights</strong> between the two countries.</p>

<blockquote readability="8.8760806916427" data-sanitized-class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">After the fiery clash between Trump and Zelenskyy, Russia said the Ukrainian leader got what he deserved. In another sign of easing tensions, Russia has named career diplomat Alexander Darchiev as the new ambassador to the US, filling a role vacant since last year. <a href="https://t.co/lmzzWki1Gc">pic.twitter.com/lmzzWki1Gc</a></p>
— CGTN Global Watch (@GlobalWatchCGTN) <a href="https://twitter.com/GlobalWatchCGTN/status/1895745828243030259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>The Europeans have been cut out up to this point, and certainly the Ukrainians will continue to be sidelined, given what just took place with Zelensky at the White House. The Kremlin will no doubt jump at the opportunity to keep up this momentum of anti-Zelensky sentiment in Washington.</p>
</div><p>Loading...</p>


