Interesting Articles: 2023, late June
A Geoeconomic train, Strategic dependence, Two stooges and the Fourth amendment
[Image: Napolitano and Johnson discuss the US 4th Amendment and military intelligence “sharing”.]
Published: 2023-06-23
“De-dollarization is not a voluntary choice by countries anymore; it is an inevitable response to the weaponization of the dollar.”
Iran’s first Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber
A SWIFT Train Leaves the Station
In the article linked below, Escobar details recent advances in economic cooperation through the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a project lead by Russia. It forms a core economic role in collaboration with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) political and security roles. Within two weeks, on July 4th, Iran will become a full member of the SCO, as many other nations move up the membership tiers.
Iran is very likely to form a core component of the SCO and EAEU due to is geography, size, regional influence and economic wealth and potential. Escobar mentions a new discovery of Lithium in Iran, approximately 10% of known global reserves.
This commodity may well form a part of the new international trade currency which China and Russia, and SCO and BRICS partners have been working on for years. The details are still being worked on. Escobar names a list of likely commodities to back the work-in-progress currency to include "gold, oil, gas and -- eventually -- Lithium".
Iran, on top of Russia and China, has been working on an inter-bank messaging system to replace SWIFT. The Asian Clearing Union (ACU) met recently to discuss launching this system. The ACU is composed of the central banks of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Iran. Russia was an observer at the meeting.
In summary, the nations of the world which are not aligned with "the west" are not dawdling along and pontificating. The vehicles for a multi-lateral counterpoint to western hegemony have been constructed and are meeting, cooperating and moving. As Escobar phrases it "this high-speed rail geoeconomic train has already left the station".
The Greater Eurasia project: Building bridges and breaking barriers, Pepe Escobar, The Cradle, 2023-06-22
European Strategic Dependence
Tricontinental have published their 25th newsletter. It comments on the changing state of strategic and political independence for the nations of Europe under the EU and NATO organisations.
French President Macron recently called for greater strategic autonomy for Europe, perhaps harking back to efforts by de Galle. The newsletter cites a collection of policies extending back to the second decade of this century to highlight how much Europe is controlled by the US. Following the economic and political sanctions and cultural rejection of Russia, Europe diminished its independence further.
A simple example is the rejection of Russia's very affordable and stable supply of natural gas. The EU is now paying even more for already more expensive US liquid natural gas. This is excellent for the US shale oil gas industry. Extracting shale oil gas is an environmental nightmare for many US states with methane (natural gas) leaking into aquifers and leading to people being able to light their water taps. For Europe, a previous partial reliance on Russian energy supply has shifted to an increased reliance on US supply which gives the US even further political/stategic influence over Europe. Additionally, as mentioned in previous essays, European industry cannot profit with the increased energy costs and is being lured to relocate to the US or Canada where energy subsidies enable a return of profits. The US is, essentially, slowly deindustrializing Europe, with German industry being early in relocating their manufacturing investments (building factories) across the Atlantic.
The situation for military spending is equally dire, with many nations increasing military expenditure on largely US produced expensive and not fully enabled weapons systems while at the same time people are suffering rises in costs of living due to inflation, which it turn was cause partly by the energy policy shift.
As also mentioned previously, Europe being drawn into a conflict with China would be economically devastating, breaking supply chains and denying a key market.
The newsletter calmly describes the actions and agreements which have lead to the current state of increased European strategic inflexibility. It advocates for policy changes to embrace the multi-polar world which will provide Europe with a diversity of trade relations which can then lead to increased "strategic independence" rather than the current path of hitching the whole wagon up to the US.
Can the European Leg of the Triad Break Free from the Atlantic Alliance?: The Twenty-Fifth Newsletter (2023), Vijay Prashad and Marc Botenga, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, 2023-06-22
The Two Stooges
Both Lawrence and Johnson examine the recent US diplomatic face palm with China.
US Secretary of State Blinkenlights visited China recently and sat down with Chinese President Xi Jinping to receive a 15 minute dressing down on diplomacy. Blinkenlights then gave a press conference in which he essentially restated the US' commitment to the 1971 Nixon era doctrine of the "One China" policy.
As anyone who reads the international section of a newspaper knows, the US is running provocation after provocation in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, selling weapons to Taiwan, training its soldiers and inviting military planners to war games in nearby nations.
But, read the script Blinky did.
Meanwhile, back states-side fumble-mouth Sleepy Joe called Xi Jinping a dictator undoing all of the we-dont-believe-you-for-a-moment words that Blink had just uttered. Not even the Three Stooges would stoop to such a calamitous script.
Yawn.
Why Can't Blinken and Sullivan Get China Right?, Patrick Lawrence, ScheerPost, 2023-06-20
Biden Blows Up Blinken’s Diplomatic Mission to China, Larry Johnson, sonar21.com, 2023-06-21
What Warrant?
Lastly, we can return to a more interesting topic, and one which I have had the pleasure of researching for many years.
During recent Judging Freedom shows Judge Napolitano, or a guest has mentioned an article or two which Napolitano has published. Being the slacker that I sometimes am, I have not been looking at the section of Antiwar in which they publish opinion articles. Its as clear as it gets, as so many thing are at Antiwar: opinion.antiwar.com
And there was the article by Napolitano!
The topic is the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. Napolitano returns to his knowledge of US jurisprudence and refers to Justice Brandeis' summary of the 4th as a right to be "left alone". This newsletter has quoted US law many times and the 4th Amendment is quoted in an article in the Tor series where the core of it is emphasized: If you wanna search my stuff, get a warrant (which is particular to the place and things to be searched and based on a reasonable suspicion).
Napolitano’s article is prompted by a recent admission by Avril Haines to Congress that they've been doing stuff indirectly which is directly forbidden by the supreme law of the land.
Together with ex-CIA officer Johnson the two discuss one of the many ways in which US intelligence agencies skirt, or ignore, the law. There is a lovely "special relationship" with Britain, and a key part of that is cooperation in military intelligence, of the sharing thereof. The greater cooperation agreement is known as the 5-EYES, which refers to the military intelligence agencies of the dominant English speaking nations (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). For the curious, the top tier is USA/UK, then the 5-EYES, and then the 9-EYES which includes various European countries too, like Germany, France and Italy (I forget the fourth).
The upshot of this "sharing" is that it allows one nation to skirt its laws of not spying on its own people by accepting the products of that spying having been performed by another which is not bound by the restriction. So, if the UK wants to spy on Jeremy Corbyn, they ask the CIA. If the USA wants to spy on Donald Trump, they ask the GCHQ. Easy. And legal.
Then all you need to do is throw in entrapment operations, like Epstein, and voilà you can blackmail a politician, business leader or whoever you suck in. If you want to know more about this, the expert is Whitney Webb. See her two volume works "One Nation Under Blackmail" (or see this newsletter’s article on it). And, you get your foreign friends to do the spying too. Presto! Legalized surveillance so that the executive can control the legislative (or judicial) branches of government, and industry too.
This is part of what Senator Schumer meant when he warned Donald Trump and said that the intelligence "community" can get back at you "six ways 'til Sunday".
No Warrant, No Problem, Judge Napolitano, Antiwar, 2023-06-23
Sources
The Greater Eurasia project: Building bridges and breaking barriers, Pepe Escobar, The Cradle, 2023-06-22
Can the European Leg of the Triad Break Free from the Atlantic Alliance?: The Twenty-Fifth Newsletter (2023), Vijay Prasah and Marc Botenga, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, 2023-06-22
Why Can't Blinken and Sullivan Get China Right?, Patrick Lawrence, ScheerPost, 2023-06-20
Biden Blows Up Blinken’s Diplomatic Mission to China, Larry Johnson, sonar21.com, 2023-06-21
No Warrant, No Problem, Judge Napolitano, Antiwar, 2023-06-23
Spying that Occurs Round the World w/ LARRY JOHNSON fmr CIA, Napolitano interviews Johnson, Judging Freedom, 2023-06-23
Culture
Werewolf, Cat Power, uploaded by Fikret Ezra, on 2014-05-14
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