Populism and paralysis in the West

By spring 2019, ‘our politics will be even more poisonous than now’

Is it coincidence or contagion, this malady that seems to have suddenly induced paralysis in the leading nations of the West?

With lawyer-fixer Michael Cohen’s confession that he colluded with Donald Trump in making hush money payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, America’s stage is set for a play that will run two years.

U.S. Navy checks China, establishes new norm for Taiwan Strait

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale. / U.S. Navy photo

 

There is no more volatile and sensitive an issue for Beijing than the U.S. military presence in the Taiwan Strait which China considers its own dominance area.

Yet the U.S. Navy for the first time since 1969 has re-established its routine presence in the 100-mile wide strategic choke-point, much to China’s frustration.

Leftists Predict ‘Violent Revolution’ If Republicans Win Midterm Elections

iStock.com/chokchaipoomichaiya

 

One third of Americans think a civil war is coming, but almost no one understands why it is coming.

There are a matter of hours until midterm elections conclude and millions of Americans finish casting their ballots for 33 seats in the Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives. But not all Americans are prepared to peacefully accept the results of the election. Actor James Cromwell told Variety magazine last Sunday that if the Republicans maintain their congressional majority, there will be “blood in the streets.”

A New Era for the China-Russia-U.S. Triangle

 

Nearly a half-century ago, President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, established a successful U.S. strategy for dealing with America’s two most dangerous rivals. He sought closer ties to both the Soviet Union, with its more than 7,000 nuclear weapons, and Communist China, with the world’s largest population.

Kissinger’s approach was sometimes called “triangulation.” But distilled down to its essence, the phrase meant ensuring that China and Russia were not friendlier to each other than each was to the United States

Given that the Soviet Union was much stronger than China at the time, Kissinger especially courted Beijing.

Will Impeachment Make the Market Decline?

 

Trump has said that if he left office, the stock market would decline. Those who are against Trump have actually made comments like: “It’s a ridiculous remark — the kind of thing a Latin American dictator or a Middle Eastern strongman would say to keep supporters in line.” This was carried by CNBC and all this is, is opinion and they then market that as fact. We cannot address such issues from a personal opinion perspective. Why have I said it would create volatility and disrupt the world economy? Simply said, history repeats.

Meyssan: What Donald Trump Is Preparing

When the backwash from the blades of the Presidential helicopter blew a Marine guard’s cap off, Donald Trump picked it up and put it back on his head.

 

After having observed Donald Trump’s historical references (the constitutional compromise of 1789, the examples of Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon) and the way in which his partisans perceive his politics, Thierry Meyssan here analyses his anti-imperialist actions. The US President is not interested in taking a step back, but on the contrary, abandoning the interests of the transnational ruling class in order to develop the US national economy.

The problem

On same day as summit U.S. rattled China, dedicated massive new Taipei compound

 

The largest U.S. diplomatic compound in all of Asia opened this month in a country with whom Washington does not even have an official diplomatic relationship.

On June 12, when the world was transfixed on the Trump-Kim Nuclear Summit in Singapore, a major ceremony was taking place in Taiwan’s capital Taipei with great fanfare to mark the opening of a huge new diplomatic complex of great geopolitical significance.

Why A Dollar Collapse Is Inevitable

 

“Naturally, the smooth termination of the gold-exchange standard, the restoration of the gold standard, and supplemental and interim measures that might be called for, in particular with a view to organizing international credit on this new basis, will have to be deliberately agreed upon between countries, in particular those on which there devolves special responsibility by virtue of their economic and financial capabilities.” 

General Charles de Gaulle, February 1965

We have been here before – twice. The first time was in the late 1920s, which led to the dollar’s devaluation in 1934. And the second was 1966-68, which led to the collapse of the Bretton Woods System. Even though gold is now officially excluded from the monetary system, it does not save the dollar from a third collapse and will still be its yardstick.

This article explains why another collapse is due for the dollar. It describes the errors that led to the two previous episodes, and the lessons from them relevant to understanding the position today. And just because gold is no longer officially money, it will not stop the collapse of the dollar, measured in gold, again.

The Rise of China as a Superpower

Shanghai, China (ISTOCK.COM/LIUFUYU)

 

 

It is one of the most impressive economic and political miracles in modern times. And it isn’t over yet.

China is a sovereign state with a population of over 1.3 billion people. The nation possesses the world’s largest economy by some measurements, the world’s largest population and the fourth-largest territory.

These are the building blocks of a superpower. While the world anticipates China gaining superpower status, analysts debate over when and whether its rise will be peaceful.

The Trumpet forecasts that China will continue to grow as a formidable power, combining its strength with Russia. Further, we forecast that it will play a major role in waging economic war that will devastate America.

Where do these forecasts come from?

Cracks in Dollar Are Getting Larger

 

Many Daily Reckoning readers are familiar with the original petrodollar deal the U.S made with Saudi Arabia.

It was set up by Henry Kissinger and Saudi princes in 1974 to prop up the U.S. dollar. At the time, confidence in the dollar was on shaky ground because President Nixon had ended gold convertibility of dollars in 1971.

Saudi Arabia was receiving dollars for their oil shipments, but they could no longer convert the dollars to gold at a guaranteed price directly with the U.S. Treasury. The Saudis were secretly dumping dollars and buying gold on the London market. This was putting pressure on the bullion banks receiving the dollar.

Who hacked the 2016 election? Turns out it was the Obama administration

The Watergate perpetrators sought to conceal their actions from the law, but the U.S. government’s blatant intrusion into the 2016 presidential campaign, before and after the election, was conducted by its own law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

“Richard Nixon’s henchmen wore surgical gloves to avoid leaving clues for law enforcement. Barack Obama’s henchmen were law enforcement,” columnist Daniel Flynn wrote for The American Spectator on Sept. 22.

“Valdimir Putin did not hack the election. Barack Obama did.”

Modernizing America’s Nuclear Capabilities Is a Must

A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile in its silo in Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, circa 1980. (Image source: U.S. Department of Defense)

 

 

• In 1989, America had 1,000 nuclear missile silos, and a small number of additional bomber and submarine bases and submarines at sea, facing 13,500 Soviet warheads. Today, the U.S. has 450 such silos facing 1,750 Russian warheads. That is a switch from a ratio of 13 Russian warheads to every U.S. missile silo, to a ratio of 4 Russian warheads to every U.S. missile silo. Getting rid of Minuteman ICBMs would reverse that progress and make the ratio even worse, with 175 Russian warheads to every U.S. missile silo. How is that an improvement?
• The U.S. “cannot afford to delay modernization initiatives” while the “American people and our allies are counting on congressional action to fund our nuclear enterprise modernization efforts.” — General Robin Rand, the commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command.
• America’s ability to defend itself is at stake.

In April 2017, the Pentagon launched the U.S. Defense Department’s legislatively mandated quadrennial Nuclear Posture Review to determine American policy, strategy and capabilities. The process now underway involves testimony from experts arguing over how the estimated $27 billion spent annually (growing over the next decade by an additional $10 billion a year) on America’s nuclear arsenal should be allocated.

Flynn’s Gone But They’re Still Gunning For You, Donald

 

General Flynn’s tenure in the White House was only slightly longer than that of President-elect William Henry Harrison in 1841.  Actually, with just 24 days in the White House, General Flynn’s tenure fell a tad short of old “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”.  General Harrison actually lasted 31 days before getting felled by pneumonia.

And the circumstances were considerably more benign. It seems that General Harrison had a fondness for the same “firewater” that agitated the native Americans he slaughtered at the famous battle memorialized in his campaign slogan. In fact, during the campaign a leading Democrat newspaper skewered the old general, who at 68 was the oldest US President prior to Ronald Reagan, saying:

Give him a barrel of hard [alcoholic] cider, and… a pension of two thousand [dollars] a year… and… he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin.

China Is Preparing for Conflict – and Why We Must Do the Same

Always remember, as explained by Mr. Chi Haotian, Minster of Defense and vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, extermination of America is the goal of China.

In February of 2010, hand-to-hand combat with America within 10 years was promised by Colonel Meng Xianging.

Anyone who doesn’t see the danger from these credible warnings straight from the Chinese regime itself is definitely not awake. Sadly, such is the current state of America where shopping until you drop is the number one priority.

Note: Due to the the article being highly recommended for anyone to read so that it raises awareness, it will remained archived here in full.

 

 

Ever since Richard Nixon opened relations with Communist China in 1972, Chinese intentions have been a matter of incessant and often fevered speculation in this country.

In particular, national security and regional experts, non-governmental organizations and office-holders alike, have endlessly debated whether the People’s Republic of China could be brought into a U.S.-dominated international order and world economy in a manner consistent with American interests and, better yet, as a partner in opposition to mutual adversaries (e.g., the Soviet Union, North Korea, and the global jihad movement).

World Currency Profit Game Plan – Phase 1

Recently, I told you I was working on a special world currency report, with profit recommendations for a large basket of currencies.

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The simplest way to do this is to start with the Big Five. These major currencies serve as the “drivers” for the minor ones. In my upcoming Part 2, I’ll tell you which of the minor currencies (like the Aussie dollar or the Swiss franc) are tied to which of the major ones, how that impacts their direction, and how you can profit.

Right now, we’ll start with profit recommendations for the five major currencies that drive all the rest.