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| Europe |
| Michael Hudson: America's Real Adversaries Are Its European and Other Allies. Instead of a real military threat from Russia and China, the problem for American strategists is the *absence* of such a threat. |
| 2022-09-28 |
| [NakedCapitalism] The Iron Curtain of the 1940s and ’50s was ostensibly designed to isolate the Soviet Union from Western Europe — to keep out Communist ideology and military penetration. Today’s sanctions regime is aimed inward, to prevent America’s NATO and other Western allies from opening up more trade and investment with Russia and China. The aim is not so much to isolate Russia and China as to hold these allies firmly within America’s own economic orbit. Allies are to forego the benefits of importing Russian gas and Chinese products, buying much higher-priced U.S. LNG and other exports, capped by more U.S. arms. The sanctions that U.S. diplomats are insisting that their allies impose against trade with Russia and China are aimed ostensibly at deterring a military buildup. But such a buildup cannot really be the main Russian and Chinese concern. They have much more to gain by offering mutual economic benefits to the West. So the underlying question is whether Europe will find its advantage in replacing U.S. exports with Russian and Chinese supplies and the associated mutual economic linkages. What worries American diplomats is that Germany, other NATO nations and countries along the Belt and Road route understand the gains that can be made by opening up peaceful trade and investment. If there is no Russian or Chinese plan to invade or bomb them, what is the need for NATO? And if there is no inherently adversarial relationship, why do foreign countries need to sacrifice their own trade and financial interests by relying exclusively on U.S. exporters and investors? |
| Posted by:Goober Wittlesbach1280 |
| #68 Trotskyite Deviationist Wreckers blew the pipeline, naive comrades! A simple Stalinist answer... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2022-09-28 21:26 |
| #67 Why would the Russians blow up their own pipeline? Remember Chernobyl and how the Russians caused that all on their own? Hanlon’s Razor: Never Attribute to Malice That Which is Adequately Explained by Stupidity. Not that I discount the theory that somebody's 'dirty tricks' group could have done it. |
| Posted by: magpie 2022-09-28 21:19 |
| #66 An old story: In January 1982, President Ronald Reagan approved a CIA plan to sabotage the economy of the Soviet Union through covert transfers of technology that contained hidden malfunctions, including software that later triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian natural gas pipeline, according to a new memoir by a Reagan White House official. Thomas C. Reed, a former Air Force secretary who was serving in the National Security Council at the time, describes the episode in "At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War," to be published next month [2004] by Ballantine Books. Reed writes that the pipeline explosion was just one example of "cold-eyed economic warfare" against the Soviet Union that the CIA carried out under Director William J. Casey during the final years of the Cold War. At the time, the United States was attempting to block Western Europe from importing Soviet natural gas. There were also signs that the Soviets were trying to steal a wide variety of Western technology. Then, a KGB insider revealed the specific shopping list and the CIA slipped the flawed software to the Soviets in a way they would not detect it. "In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines, and valves was programmed to go haywire, after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds," Reed writes. "The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space," he recalls, adding that U.S. satellites picked up the explosion. Reed said in an interview that the blast occurred in the summer of 1982. |
| Posted by: Marilyn Ulainter6399 2022-09-28 20:16 |
| #65 Gleter’s lost his touch. Sad! |
| Posted by: Marilyn Ulainter6399 2022-09-28 19:51 |
| #64 A Sings out... [cut to slow motion bellow] And Kolokol ring! Fifty kopeks! Cha-ching! [A produkti in Tsarskoye Selo] |
| Posted by: Gleter Cheans8359 2022-09-28 19:43 |
| #63 Russian info ops are as subtle and effective as their battlefield tactics. |
| Posted by: Nero 2022-09-28 19:43 |
| #62 |
| Posted by: Pliny Platypus5420 2022-09-28 19:31 |
| #61 Every anon troll should have to put a $1 in the Rantburg fund. Wanna see this sputum put down quick? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-09-28 19:28 |
| #60 Cui bono? Biden and the Democrats. They get to boost the dollar and create new export markets for US natural gas without permitting new drilling in the US; push down the uppity Germans and even make them totally dependent on the US; tell fairy tales to gullible US voters that Russia blew up its own pipeline — about as credible as saying Hunter Crackhead’s laptop was all a Russky Plot; and prolong the pointless war and funnel more $$$$ to their pet military contractors. Watch as they try to blame the coming nuclear war on… you guessed it: T R U M P ! |
| Posted by: Blackbeard Cloluling4329 2022-09-28 19:20 |
| #59 #22 “Personally I think Langley directing the sabotage, with Poles in a Bay of Pigs, Cuban-exiles wetworks role makes the most sense here.” DING! We have a winner! Spot on. |
| Posted by: Blackbeard Cloluling4329 2022-09-28 19:12 |
| #58 And might I just add, "rancid c---" Trumps all that bad news from the front! I squirmed, even winced, But am firmly convinced Putin's hit a-- "Home run?" Trickling bunt. |
| Posted by: Gleter Cheans8359 2022-09-28 19:11 |
| #57 Talk to Radoslaw Sikorski, former Polish Foreign Minister. Sikorski’s wetting his pants with joy, blowing kisses to America / the CIA all over Twitter . Example: “Mala rzecz, a cieszy. As we say in Polish, a small thing, but so much joy.” Is Sikorski trolling? Really? Are you really so stupid as to believe Russia would blow up its own pipeline? Seriously: tell us what you think (DO you think?) |
| Posted by: Blackbeard Cloluling4329 2022-09-28 19:09 |
| #56 Lawrence of Manchuria, or, Beneath the Greasy Palms, an Oriental |
| Posted by: Gleter Cheans8359 2022-09-28 19:06 |
| #55 "Blame the usual suspects unseen And unclean for that bubble machine!" While down in the vaults, To a comradely waltz, Dance green yuan, marks, and rubles. "Ameen!" |
| Posted by: Gleter Cheans8359 2022-09-28 19:04 |
| #54 The trolls are starting to convince me that it was Russia, to create a wedge issue between the US and Germany. At any rate, we now know the latter is the Kremlin line for today. |
| Posted by: Nero 2022-09-28 17:48 |
| #53 CIA stirring up shit, fucking over the Germans, trying to set off World War III. The former Polish Minister Sikorski just admitted it: “Thank you, America!” per the Polack. I mean, I know his compatriots are famous for being stupid but really, why be so obvious? Are they retarded? Or just being paid off? By whom? |
| Posted by: Glusoter Bluetooth7374 2022-09-28 17:32 |
| #52 The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had weeks ago warned Germany about possible attacks on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea Did the CIA happen to mention any likely suspects? I think the Fart Rule applies here: He who smelt it, dealt it. Like watching break huddle, but there are 8 teams on the field and everyone thinks they have the ball. Everyone thinks they have the ball. Yeah, that's a good one! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2022-09-28 16:59 |
| #51 I prefer to the Poles to the Russians or Ukrainians any day. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2022-09-28 16:46 |
#50  |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-09-28 16:09 |
| #49 Trolls back! Worried about getting that mobilization notice, eh? Soon, you too will experience the Ukrainian winter with nothing but a rusty AK between you and the snow and the incoming. Enjoy! |
| Posted by: Nero 2022-09-28 15:46 |
| #48 Helluva thread! Trolls really trolllin! |
| Posted by: borgboy 2022-09-28 15:18 |
| #47 I think that's Argentina. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-09-28 14:31 |
| #46 ^ “hoisting the Blue and Gold” Blue & Gold is for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The Ukro flag pairs Robin’s Egg Blue with Piss Yellow |
| Posted by: Pliny Oppressor of the Lichtensteiners5554 2022-09-28 13:58 |
| #45 I don't know about the rest of us but I believe the Biden crime family has some interest there. Remember when every Applicant for the Current Thing was hoisting the Blue and Gold, Meghan McCain used the fact there there is a street named after her dad in Kyeeeev as a moral justification for intervention? Why would there be a John McCain street? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-09-28 13:53 |
| #44 Just a typo, iow. That’s why I asked. Given the number of languages our regulars speak, plus the current-events trigger visitors, I don’t make assumptions in either direction. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-09-28 13:36 |
| #43 Over a shithole country where we don’t even have any vital interest at stake. I don't know about the rest of us but I believe the Biden crime family has some interest there. Gotta look at the big picture, though. When Biden said "For the love of God that man cannot remain in power", it might have been one of those moments when his particular brand of dementia caused him to utter the truth, at least as he sees it. Biden wants regime change in Moscow so he can spread his family's tentacles all the way to Kamchatka. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-09-28 12:49 |
| #42 Snark of the day from the russky spokesman: the Biden clowns’ blaming Russia for Wyle E Coyote-Noodleman’s latest fuckup in his/her/xis’ NordStream caper is “predictably stupid and absurd” So predictable. So fucking stupid. Them’s our leaders |
| Posted by: Glaimble Dingle1342 2022-09-28 11:59 |
| #41 Nope. Sounds like Siri auto-corrected “shit” to “shot” and then the mid-typed word “hole” came out as typo “b” (instead of adjacent letter “h”) + “i” (instead of adjacent letter “o”) + “k” (instead of adjacent letter “l”) + “e” for bike. Just a typo, iow. Don’t git yer panties in a wad, folks |
| Posted by: Glaimble Dingle1342 2022-09-28 11:52 |
| #40 ^ Sounds like Calvinball. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2022-09-28 11:25 |
| #39 nice catch TW, looks like a pile of Trolls around here, they seem to be getting a little better at it though... |
| Posted by: 746 2022-09-28 11:22 |
| #38 Like watching break huddle, but there are 8 teams on the field and everyone thinks they have the ball. A nomination for Snark of the Day |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-09-28 11:22 |
| #37 ^^ 🤣 |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-09-28 11:20 |
| #36 Like watching break huddle, but there are 8 teams on the field and everyone thinks they have the ball. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-09-28 10:36 |
| #35 #29 “The eurines love to jam a thumb in the USA's eye while simultaneously holding a hand out for military aid. We should cut them loose.” Start with the fucking Poles. We owe them nothing. As with Ukraine, we have no vital interest in that country. |
| Posted by: Jash Phanter2534 2022-09-28 09:44 |
| #34 Is that a golf clap I'm hearing from the Green environmental crowd and Chinese solar oligarchs ? Oil and gas are evil. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-09-28 09:37 |
| #33 * a rancid cunt that smells as rank by any other |
| Posted by: Bertie Grolumble2640 2022-09-28 09:33 |
#32 — David Wolfe (@DavidWolfe) September 28, 2022 |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-09-28 09:28 |
| #31 #1 “That rancid cunt Nuland née Needleman is the bitch who kicked over the hornet’s nest in 2014. Now she and fellow idiots Sullivan and Blinken are playing more games, with NordStream.” Heh. Before she married into the Kagan neocon clan, Vicky Noodles’ family were Noodlemen. A rancid cunt that smells as tank by any name. |
| Posted by: Bertie Grolumble2640 2022-09-28 09:27 |
| #30 Ref #26: Never discount a 'false flag, but it's not on my A list at the moment. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-09-28 08:30 |
| #29 The eurines love to jam a thumb in the USA's eye while simultaneously holding a hand out for military aid. We should cut them loose. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-09-28 07:50 |
| #28 The trolls are back. Heh. The greatest adversaries to America are the District and the six counties surrounding it with their unquenchable lust for power. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-09-28 07:25 |
| #27 I see check's musta cleared |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-09-28 07:15 |
| #26 #25 duh, the CIA were going to attack. Why would the Russians blow up their own pipeline? If they wanted to mess with Europe they'd just turn off the gas, not destroy billions of dollars of infrastructure. Everyone I know looked at me funny when I said that the US was going to treat Europe like the Middle East and aim to completely destabilize all of it then reap whatever it can gain from opportunities that the chaos provides. It is the only way that they know how to operate. Europe is now a major theater for them and they are operating in it exactly as they operate everywhere else in the world. |
| Posted by: Goober Wittlesbach1280 2022-09-28 06:59 |
| #25 CIA Warned Berlin About Possible Attacks on Gas Pipelines in Summer - Spiegel BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had weeks ago warned Germany about possible attacks on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, German magazine Spiegel said on Tuesday, after gas leaks in Russia pipelines to Germany were reported. The German government received the CIA tip in summer, Spiegel reported, citing unnamed sources, adding that Berlin assumes a targeted attack on Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. A German government spokesperson declined to comment, Spiegel added. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-09-28 06:32 |
| #24 'Twas the farm boys and DC fags, you knew it when you saw bubbles. Sun Tzus, who get no sun, thinkers up of troubles. |
| Posted by: Dron66046 2022-09-28 04:02 |
| #23 ^ This. CIA’s fingerprints are all over this one. Poles know the territory and give deniability |
| Posted by: Caesar Wheagum9855 2022-09-28 03:45 |
| #22 Don’t count out the Poles. They’ve been fucking around the pipeline and making hysterical threats against Germany and Russia for years. Personally I think Langley directing the sabotage, with Poles in a Bay of Pigs, Cuban-exiles wetworks role makes the most sense here. |
| Posted by: Pearl Splat2507 2022-09-28 03:37 |
| #21 that wretched shot bike called Ukraine. What is a shot bike? It looks like an insult in another language translated literally into English instead of idiomatically, which is why it makes no sense to me. Or possibly I’m just missing the American cultural referent — my upbringing was eccentric enough that that happens from time to time. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-09-28 03:25 |
| #20 ^ Exactly. “We” normals don’t like Ukrainians any more than we like Afghans or Somalis or Iraqis or any of the miserable hopelessly corrupt 4th-worlders whose internal quarrels our foolish leaders keep dragging us into. With their lies and retarded theories about how every crisis is 1938 all over again. With their ludicrous bullshit about defending “democracy” in these corrupt, festering bandit-ridden shitholes — as if they hadn’t trashed our own democracy. Now they are literally talking about nuclear war. They’re insane. |
| Posted by: Jeremiah Slusoger5655 2022-09-28 03:22 |
| #19 Whaddya you mean 'we', white boy? lol |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2022-09-28 03:11 |
| #18 Biden and hus foolish zealots will not stop until we’re all staggering among the rubble. They’re literally destroying everything they touch. Everything. Our families, our wealth, our democracy, our military, our safety, our freedoms. So why not set off nuclear war? We’ll know soon whether Biden’s idiots did their own version of blowing up the Maine. They’re that stupid. |
| Posted by: Dino 2022-09-28 03:05 |
| #17 We like Ukrainians more than you. That's vital enough. |
| Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-09-28 02:56 |
| #16 There is no vital US interest at stake in that wretched shot bike called Ukraine. It’s a measure of how unbelievably corrupt and foolish our leaders are that they are not content to throw billions down this rathole every week — they are now actually risking World War III over this 4th world shithole. With a corrupt lapdog press cheering them on and pushing nonstop lies and fables 24/7 We need to throw these lunatics out of office before they destroy us all |
| Posted by: Count Galeazzo Gonque9129 2022-09-28 02:53 |
| #15 So cute. I can sense the desperation and flop sweat on your brow from 6000 miles away. Have you received your death notice, I mean mobilization notice? You will. |
| Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-09-28 02:48 |
#14  Nothing should be discounted at this point. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-09-28 02:47 |
| #13 The Ukrainians are too lame and the Poles are too stupid. That's one of the things I most disliked about Russians. Their casual racism and sense of unearned superiority. It makes needless enemies and leads to actions without considering the consequences. As the saying goes, Russians are either at your feet or at your throat. No middle ground. |
| Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-09-28 02:45 |
| #12 These stupid fucks are dragging us toward nuclear war. Over a shithole country where we don’t even have any vital interest at stake. https://www.defensepriorities.org/explainers/american-interests-in-the-ukraine-war Remove these perverted shitheads from power before they blow us all to kingdom come |
| Posted by: Ebberesing Cloting4784 2022-09-28 02:41 |
| #11 Yeah, Biden made Putin invade Ukraine. Who is really the demented one (excluding yourself)? |
| Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-09-28 02:37 |
| #10 Biden’s form of dementia causes him to inadvertently speak the truth, without filters. The US is almost certainly behind the sabotage. The Ukrainians are too lame and the Poles are too stupid. Only the US could pull this off. Means, motive, opportunity all point to Langley |
| Posted by: Shereling Glatle5770 2022-09-28 02:35 |
| #9 Dummy, the Germans shut it down. That you have a huge chip on your shoulder because Victoria Nuland spurned your clumsy drunken advances is not Biden's problem. |
| Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-09-28 02:34 |
| #8 #6 It’s childish jokers like you who deny reality. Biden vowed to shut down NordStream. The disbelieving German reporter pushed him on it, and Biden the moron-in-chief doubled down, saying “I promise you it’ll be shut down.” He said so and Vicky Cunt-Nuland said so. Deny it all you like but doing so only makes you look even more foolish. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Prince of the Veps5196 2022-09-28 02:29 |
| #7 Re #3, you're telling me! |
| Posted by: Bob Jenkins 2022-09-28 02:22 |
| #6 Russian Clown, the most pathetic, dishonest clown of all, the Germans suspended Nord Stream 2 two days before the invasion in reaction to Russia’s recognition of the self-proclaimed republics independence . |
| Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-09-28 02:20 |
| #5 Biden is not in charge. He regularly says things and is immediately overruled by the deep state. They put out a press release to declare what he "really" said. |
| Posted by: Goober Wittlesbach1280 2022-09-28 02:15 |
| #4 #2 Clown Biden says he'll shut down Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia further invades Ukraine https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FVbEoZXhCrM |
| Posted by: Fester Grumble6909 2022-09-28 02:07 |
| #3 I would not discount comment #1 entirely. Maritime events have played significant roles in kindling conflicts in the past. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-09-28 01:57 |
| #2 Biden approved Nord Stream 2 almost 1 year before Putin invaded Ukraine, in spite of near universal opposition. Try somewhere else with your perverted accounting of history. |
| Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-09-28 01:36 |
| #1 The only way left for U.S. diplomats to block European purchases is to goad Russia into a military response and then claim that avenging this response outweighs any purely national economic interest. As hawkish Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, explained in a State Department press briefing on January 27: "If Russia invades Ukraine one way or another NordStream 2 will not move forward." The problem is to create a suitably offensive incident and depict Russia as the aggressor. ^ Exactly so. That rancid cunt Nuland née Needleman is the bitch who kicked over the hornet’s nest in 2014. Now she and fellow idiots Sullivan and Blinken are playing more games, with NordStream. Someone needs to out these demented fuckers before they set off World War III. |
| Posted by: Chuse Sneaque4898 2022-09-28 01:13 |