You are waging economic warfare on Texas!
Sen. Ted Cruz
To the Saudi Ambassador
🕸
KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, who successfully predicted all the stages of the long-range communist bloc strategy in 1984, warned us about “the economic weapons of the bloc,” grain and oil. We can readily see that precious metals are also part of this game. As events unfold, it is increasingly obvious that America is under intensive economic attack.
China, Russia, Iran and associated countries are applying pressure across the board to flip America’s allies to their camp; most recently, Saudi Arabia is believed by some observers to have turned against Washington. In response to collapsing oil demand the Saudis did not reduce their oil production. Instead, they increased it — devastating America’s oil industry.
Of course, the Saudis resent America’s energy independence. They resented our past abandonment of their friend, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. They also resent our support for Shiite majority rule in neighboring Iraq. From their point of view, we are not the reliable ally of decades past. We are bungling, erratic, and exasperating.
Resentment is the mother of all treachery. And as we have — for so many years — believed the lies of Russia and China, why wouldn’t we believe Saudi lies? So the Saudis raise their oil production in the midst of a glut, crash the price of oil to less than zero, and pretend they are doing it to hurt Russia when the whole thing is almost certainly Russia’s idea. Who is the big winner in this game? The People’s Republic of China gets to amass millions of barrels of cheap oil. Russia and Saudi Arabia drive American oil producers out of business. The U.S. economy takes a massive hit when it can least afford it.
Here is a strategic victory of incalculable significance. It appears that Moscow and Beijing have persuaded Saudi Arabia to align itself with them; for how can the relationship between Riyadh and Washington be restored after the U.S. energy market has been so devastated? An inevitable break — though officially denied — must come. And there will be a financial hit, as well, when the dollar comes under attack in the next round of battle. Here is Riyadh’s Rubicon. There is no going back. And we must not forget an old rule of Bedouin politics: Treachery leads the betrayer to become more paranoid than his victim; for the betrayer must expect payback, and must thereafter distance himself from his victim.
If this is so, we are at the beginning of a very desperate sequence of events in which economic warfare becomes the heart and soul of the Great Game. It is easy to predict that the economic war against America will intensify. China and Russia will use all their economic weapons — and it is clear that they have been preparing for a long time.
The idea here is to cripple the U.S. economy, prevent effective U.S. war preparations, distract the political authorities with internal unrest, force currency devaluation, collapse tax revenues and incite domestic violence between various political camps, and divide America from its allies.
If Saudi Arabia has flipped to the Moscow-Beijing bloc, pressure will build for other countries to change sides. The unfolding economic reality will be grim, indeed, for any nation that stands with America; for America — as the defender of the West — is the primary target. Any nation that turns against the United States will be given a pass. Any nation that opposes the Moscow-Beijing bloc, will suffer accordingly.
Serious economic and financial pressure will be applied against Japan, the EU, Australia, India, Brazil, etc. If these powers give way to Russia and China, America’s economic isolation will be assured. America would then suffer slow strangulation, economic collapse and domestic political turmoil. Even if the West holds firm, the economic weapons of the bloc will be deployed, one by one. The softening of allied resistance will be encouraged every step of the way. We will read and hear that China is the economic leader of the world. Who dares break their economic ties to China? Small countries and backward countries will tremble.
The threat against Japan and Europe will involve the denial of strategic resources coming from the Middle East and Africa. Moscow and Beijing are sure to make a series of devastating moves — long in preparation. The attack on America’s oil industry, by collapsing oil prices, is only the beginning. China and Russia have been stockpiling gold and strategic resources for decades. They are laying siege to us, having already set aside the necessary supplies for a prolonged struggle. Their military units have been modernized, their nuclear arsenals upgraded — all in readiness prior to economic disruptions calculated to prevent America from ever catching up.
Are the people in Russia and China economically suffering? Yes. They suffer as subjects of autocratic regimes are destined to suffer — in every age, for all time. In China the ranks of the People’s Armed Police have swollen. Revolution against the regime is impossible. Its organization is geared entirely toward security and the smashing of dissent. Disobedience is punishable by death. Who dares stand against the Chinese Communist Party? Its might is measured in millions of armed troops, missiles, nuclear weapons, and a blue water navy with its sights set on control of the Pacific Ocean.
The Russian and Chinese preparation for the present phase of economic warfare has been long and arduous. All American presidents, from Reagan to Obama, wittingly or unwittingly helped the Russians and Chinese achieve the advantages they now wield against us. Washington made a conscious decision to build up China. The United States is presently vulnerable to Moscow and Beijing’s economic warfare. This is also due to years of fiscal irresponsibility and bad national habits. During decades of prosperity we encouraged indebtedness — at all levels of government, and in the private sector. Congress gave money to various interest groups. Welfare payments ballooned. Pensions ballooned. Obama Care was instituted and nobody had the courage to overturn it. Politicians have even suggested the concept of “guaranteed income.” It was all madness. We could afford none of it, neither could we afford the military adventures that followed the 9/11 provocation. Meanwhile, our enemies watched from afar, encouraged by our lack of foresight,
An unprecedented economic crisis is now underway. This crisis will have political effects unlike anything we have seen. It is not an exaggeration to say that the shocks already administered will require great patience and discipline from the American people, and great statesmanship. Imagine millions of desperate Americans without work, facing food shortages. Imagine a bankrupt federal government — and bankrupt states, counties, municipalities. All bankrupt together.
The divide between right and left will be exacerbated. The left will say that capitalism has failed. A downward spiral will begin, propelled by the voting public. We will be driven by the left to destroy our economic wherewithal because of a flaw in our ruling political ideology.
The Great British historian, Lord Macaulay, predicted the future unraveling of America’s economy in a letter written in May 1857. Macaulay’s prediction was based on his analysis of American institutions. Discussing the life of Thomas Jefferson with an American author, Macaulay wrote, “You are surprised to learn that I have not a high opinion of Mr. Jefferson, and I am surprised at your surprise. I am certain that I never wrote a line, and … uttered a word indicating an opinion that the supreme authority in a state ought to be entrusted to the majority of citizens [counted] by the head; in other words, to the poorest and most ignorant part of society.”
According to Macaulay the United States was becoming increasingly democratic throughout the nineteenth century. And this tendency, he argued, was dangerous to liberty and to the country’s economic well-being. As Macaulay explained, “I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or civilization, or both.”
Macaulay pointed to the French Revolution and to the tendency of democratic movements to despoil the rich. “You may think that your country enjoys an exemption from these evils,” Macaulay wrote to his American correspondent. “I will frankly own to you that I am of a very different opinion. Your fate I believe to be certain, though it is deferred by a physical cause. As long as you have a boundless extent of fertile and unoccupied land, your laboring population will be far more at ease than the laboring population of the Old World, and, while that is the case, the Jefferson politics may continue to exist without causing any fatal calamity.”
Eventually, of course, the United States must fill up with people. It must lose its economic advantages. “[T]he time will come, noted Macaulay, “when New England will be as thickly peopled as old England. Wages will be as low, and will fluctuate as much with you as with us.” America will then be urbanized, with a large population of “artisans.” Then it will happen that large numbers of these artisans will sometimes find themselves out of work. “Then your institutions will be fairly brought to the test,” wrote Macaulay. “Distress everywhere makes the laborer mutinous and discontented, and inclines him to listen with eagerness to agitators who tell him that it is a monstrous iniquity that one man should have a million, while another cannot get a full meal.”
With the supreme power in the hands of a discontented multitude, what kind of government are they likely to elect? Would it be a government committed to “the security of property and the maintenance of order”? Or would it be a government that gets through hard times by robbing the rich “to relieve the indigent”? Eventually, wrote Macaulay, the Jeffersonian bent of the United States will result in the destruction of property, the plundering of the wealthy. “It is quite plain that your government will never be able to restrain a distressed and discontented majority. For with you the majority is the government, and the rich, who are always a minority, absolutely at its mercy.”
As we see today, all levels of government in America are involved in relieving the distress of the poor and unemployed, and we also see that this is presently accomplished by taxing the rich as well as by taking on debt. Presently the United States has the most progressive income tax system in the industrialized world. The problem here, in respect of the future, is the role played by the rich in investment and general economic progress. Without the rich, there is no future economic opportunity for the poor.
The process Macaulay wrote about, as anyone with eyes can see, is now on the point of playing out. The COVID-19 crisis has brought things to a head. Macaulay explained to his American correspondent, “I seriously apprehend that you will, in some such season of adversity as I have described, do things which will prevent prosperity from returning, that you will act like people who should in a year of scarcity devour all the seed-corn, and thus make the next a year not of scarcity, but of absolute famine. There will be, I fear, spoliation. The spoliation will increase the distress. The distress will produce fresh spoliation. There is nothing to stop you. Your Constitution is all sail and no anchor.” As the process of unraveling continues, he added, “Either some Caesar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, or your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians … as the Roman Empire….”
The “barbarians” who lay in wait are the Russians and Chinese. The communist demagoguery they have supported in Africa and Latin America, especially in their control of Venezuela and South Africa, is predicated on the dynamic Macaulay outlined in 1857. When people are struggling in poverty, why not encourage them to despoil the rich and thereby empower the militant left (which works closely with Beijing and Moscow)? Here is the dynamic of a popular socialist revolution. The way things are playing out now, this destructive process falls directly in line with the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy of asymmetric warfare.
Economic warfare is imbedded in Moscow’s long-range strategy. This strategy was described in detail by Czech defector Jan Sejna, in a 1982 book titled We Will Bury You. Starting on page 100, he described a plan to hobble the U.S. economy and foster domestic unrest. There is no question that the communists have long intended to bring down the U.S. economy through a series of strategic moves. We can now see these moves taking place. It is a process that will continue as military pressures intensify.
Notes and Links
Russia Is Losing the Oil War—and the Middle East
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/04/09/the_case_for_getting_back_to_work_142896.html
I imagine that Japan is preparing to rearm themselves as they’re the only country in the region willing to stand up to China, and they are a very strong Maritime power. They may also be looking to build nukes as they are sitting on tons of plutonium. They know China’s intentions.
Yes. They are arming.
The way I see it, the only way that the Japanese can arm and be prepared to ward off a Chinese invasion is if they expect that the U.S. has their back. Japan is a small island country, completely dependent on imports to survive. Take away the imports through a military / economic blockade, then Japan’s ships will be stuck in port, their planes will be grounded, their trucks delivering food will be parked, they will have no choice but surrender.
If I were a Chinese general, I would bypass Japan after giving the Japanese something to think about from a missile barrage, while making my attack against the U.S. The U.S. must be taken out first, we must not be given a chance to prepare a retaliation. The attack must be sudden and overwhelming. Every ship, plane, soldier that can be deployed must be thrown into battle to assure victory. The Chicoms and Soviets must put boots on the ground, anything less will give us room to build up retaliation against their attack. Only by putting boots on the ground, i.e. invasion, can they assure victory against the U.S. The only question is, will the invasion be met with surrender, or armed resistance? I expect the latter.
After pacifying the U.S., the Chicoms can take Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia as part of mopping up. The U.S. must be taken out first.
Jeff, to what extent do you think that the American infastructure, (suburbia, lack of sufficient rail transport, massive cities built in regions without sufficient nearby food and water, highly centralized agriculture dependent on complex machinery and immense quantities of fertilizer), renders us especially vulnerable to attack on our oil supply? I have always though that our relations with the oil producing middle eastern states are similar to those between Rome and the grain producing province of Egypt, where the emperor had to maintain personal control in order to prevent the city of Rome, dependent on the grain dole, from falling into anarchy. It is my understanding that shale oil, which reversed the trend of oil depletion we were seeing in the last decade, has been something of an economic stunt, essentially unprofitable. If this were true, it would make our vaunted, “oil independence”, something of a falsehood, even in the absence of economic attack. Are we more vulnerable in this way than our enemies? Has our allowing of our society to become massively complex and brittle, dependent entirely on a magic black liquid from foreign lands, and our destruction of economic redundancy in the name of blind profit, made us epically vulnerable?
Jeff, just wanting to follow up in regards to the call on the John Moore radio show in regards to the Hong Kong Democracy Movement/Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Camp, it’s majority ideology is Anti Communism but a relative of mine who lives in Hong Kong told me that the Hong Kong Democracy Movement/Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Camp has a faction which is considered to be Socialism/Marxist faction within the Hong Kong Democracy Movement/Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Camp and they are in fact considered as allies by the Hong Kong Democracy Movement/Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Camp. Jeff, may I have your opinion on this as what I have heard from my relatives in Hong Kong about the Socialism/Marxist faction being allies in the Hong Kong Democracy Movement/Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Camp is very concerning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-democracy_camp_(Hong_Kong)
https://imgur.com/a/D2DG7vv
Muito interessante a descrição da dinâmica Macaulay, que complementa perfeitamente as observações de Tocqueville, pelo visto as potências orientais estudaram a grande estratégia que preconiza a destruição das linhas de abastecimento do adversário e a derrota moral do povo para assim garantir a vitória pela autodestruição do adversário, uma pena que na geração atual não haja outros Patton e Liddell Hart, sob o orientação política e visionária de um político ao estilo de Churchill, atualmente nossos grandes líderes, na América e no Brasil, surgem como homens idealistas com o apoio do povo contra as elites, as mesmas elites que em sua luta pelo poder traem a pátria, como diria o Olavo de Carvalho, a revolução do povo contra o estamento burocrático ´globalista é o momento crucial de nosso tempo.
Nosso declínio intelectual coincide com um declínio de coragem – nas elites. Trump e Bolsonaro são exceções à regra. Leões estão começando a aparecer. A providência nos dá um sinal.
Jeff, your essay confirms what few people in this country recognize, Russia and China formed an alliance to destroy the America. The Edward Snowden incident was the ultimate confirmation of their cooperation. I grew up behind the Iron Curtain and had first hand experience with the evil of communism. These communist pigs are ruthless murderers and they have already corrupted much of the world. China just attacked us with a bio weapon and at least 45% of the U.S. refuses to recognize this fact. The likes of Bill Gates defending China is despicable and confirms the ignorance of many. Unless the West can unite once more against this communist threat, China will succeed in their quest to defeat America and the free world. China’s use of this bio weapon was not accidental, this is their most effective weapon to kill the U.S economy while denying its use. I also believe that they vaccinated people outside of Whuan/Hubei in advance. China’s stern warnings after the detention of Huawei CFO resulted in action a year later in December 2019, the unleashing of the virus. In terms of the bio attack, last year the NK dictator issued repeated warnings about a December surprise to the world. What are the chances that the Chinese planned to use NK to seed this virus?
Kim did issue a very bizarre hint about a Holiday present for America. Did he know about the virus in advance? Possibly.
Just a thought.
What if here in the not too distant future, Trump announces that because of the economic hardships and damage created by the CCP’s refusal to be forthright about the Wuhan virus, that the just punishment should be that 850 billion of the 1.09 trillion of US debt that China holds will be written off, leaving China holding only 159 billion of US Debt.
Trump would be calling China’s bluff, as he knows that even with all the military ramping up that China has done, that they are not ready for a war, and that going to war at this point in time would cause China great hardships, and cause them to possibly lose their potential investments in Africa, and in the Paracel and Spratly Islands. They desperately need those investments they are trying to make in Africa, and in the Paracel and Spratly Islands, which is potentially bringing them into possible war with Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
The CCP may do a lot of saber rattling, much like they have North Korea to do for them when they need to pressure the West and the US, but that would only cause them to lose support around the world. North Korea’s saber rattling hasn’t produce much since Trump took office. The Trump meetings with Jong-un were good “Busby Berkeley movies” with no ending, which is what Trump intended them to be. Make a good show, lnowing that Jog-un will not follow through, and if you have to take serious military actions, you have the “show meetings” to fall back on and say, that you tried to work with him, but he left us no other choice.
Trump making such a bold move might make Putin re-think a lot of things too.
It would be a bluff that Trump could win, because China and Russia do not know exactly what “hand Trump holds”.
“The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.” Sun Tzu
Trump is too shrewd to not do something of this nature, knowing he can pull it off, and throw both China and Russia off enough, that it will upset their time-tables of action for a few years.
I do not think bluffing is the right strategy to use on China or Russia.
Not sure if my reply went through, so posting again.
Perhaps, I should have phrased that as Trump calling their bluff, because to a great extent, neither of them is really ready to fight a war as much as they try to make everyone think they are ready to do so.
China does not have all of its elements together right now to pull off a large scale invasion or war. Much like Japan in 1941, their supply lines were/are too long, and the much needed resources needed to fuel a war effort were not within easy reach for them. They had very few natural resources to fuel the war effort, and the one major resource China lacks is oil. The supply lines for that oil to get to China are extremely long and extremely vulnerable. They cannot, and do not have the military resources to maintain that supply, even with the cooperation of the OPEC countries. Far too easy to annihilate those supply lines and cripple their war effort. If Hellary had won, then China had an enormous open door to walk through with little to no resistance. That did not happen. China is a paper dragon right now. It could make some advances against Vietnam and the Philippines with out much effort, and that goes for the Paracel and Spratly islands. Other than military actions of that nature, they are not really ready, and even with the help of Iran and Russia to sell them oil, they only have tanker trucks, and possibly railroad tanker cars to get it to China, all of which is extremely vulnerable.
Russia is hoping not to have to fight a war, but rather lull Europe into buying natural gas from them, creating a dependency that would in essence make Europe just a group of satellite countries under Moscow’s thumb. Just as Moscow has done to all, or most all of it’s so-called former East Bloc countries, and to their internal so-called independent countries like Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia. Don’t toe the line, turn off the flow of natural gas. Might not be too bad in the summer, but come those long cold winters, those countries would be doing whatever Moscow wanted them to do.
Those long range goals are close to happening, but the Trump road block is holding them off. If re-elected, then they are off for another 4 years.
What happens after that will depend on who becomes President in 2024.
The economic phase of flipping US allies has only now begun. The phase of thunderous war can begin at any time (a) if the U.S. reacts violently by lashing out at Cuba or Venezuela, or (b) by an attack from the bloc at a propitious moment of U.S. weakness. It is not about bluffing or calling bluffs. Decisive steps, when taken, must be followed through. The enemy is committed to a sequence of steps. They cannot undo COVID-19. The can only pull over their next card.
Space Force officials are also moving forward with preparations for launch of the military’s X-37B spaceplane aboard the next flight of ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket next month, according to Col. Robert Bongiovi, SMC’s launch enterprise director.
That mission is codenamed USSF-7, and was formerly known as AFSPC-7.
“We have decided to continue with the USSF-7 launch,” Bongiovi said in a statement in response to questions from Spaceflight Now.
Space Force officials last week said the USSF-7 mission was scheduled for launch May 20.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/07/next-gps-launch-delayed-by-coronavirus-concerns/
Jeff, what you are describing sounds like an international version of the Cloward-Piven strategy.
We are witnessing Stalin’s cryptic saying come true in real time, namely that, for socialism to be able to win, the encirclement of socialism by capitalism would have to give way to an encirclement of capitalism by communism. In other words, isolate the hated “imperialist class enemy” of America, finish it off, and subject the rest of the world, ideally, at the conference table…