United States – Empire and domestic

Illustration by Craig Stephens, South China Morning Post By Christopher Black July 26th 2019 On June 4th the Chinese government issued a travel alert for Chinese tourists thinking of visiting the United States, a day after it issued a similar advisory to Chinese students thinking of studying in the US over concerns for their safety and security. Chinese in the US are reporting harassment and interrogations by US immigration authorities and many now have the impression they are not welcome in the US. Originally posted on Global Research on June 10, 2019 here The Global Times, speaking on behalf of the government stated, “The Chinese people find it difficult to accept the fact that they are being taken as thieves. The US boasts too much superiority and has been indulged by the world. Due to its short history, it lacks understanding of and respect for the rules of countries and laws...

By Gregory Shupak Media outlets are creating a climate for a US military attack on Iran by hyping the idea that Iran is an imminent threat to peace, by failing to offer evidence that calls the US’s accusations against Iran into question, by amplifying warmongers’ voices and by naturalizing America’s supposed right to spy on every country on earth. Headlines are breathlessly suggesting to readers that Iranians are going to kill Americans if Americans don’t kill Iranians first. Originally published by FAIR on July 2, 2019 here A Hill article (6/7/19) told readers “Why Congress Needs Accurate Intelligence on the Iran Threat”; Fox (6/14/19) explained “The Trump Administration’s Strategy to Meet Threat from Iran.” A New York Times article (6/17/19) by David E. Sanger called Iran one of the “nuclear crises” facing the US, even though the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that Iran does not have a nuclear...

In 1980 in his State of the Union address President Jimmy Carter said: “Any attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” Dear President Donald Trump: We’ve been here before and it’s as ludicrous this time as it was nearly 40 years ago. Why on earth are you sending in a flotilla of ships and 2,500 troops? Why are you so convinced that the mines that exploded on two oil tankers, neither of which were American, in the Persian Gulf are the work of the Iranians? The Persian Gulf, and in particular the infamous Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway (21 miles wide, the same as the English Channel) that is its entrance, is no longer the “jugular”...

When I was in Moscow three weeks ago, I was briefing myself for an interview with the Soviet Union’s last president, Mikhail Gorbachev. As it happened he had to cancel it as he went into hospital for tests. One of the American academics I always read is Gordon Hahn, an ex fellow of the highly regarded Centre for Strategic and International  Studies. He wrote that American policy towards Russia is a runaway train without rails, driven by a troubling confluence of hubristic ideological influences and bureaucratized sectorial interests. I would add to that Republican members of the Senate who have allowed President Donald Trump small room to manoeuvre on Russian issues, even though there are some indications that he’d like to make peace with Russia.  I also re-read what President Bill Clinton’s secretary of defence, William Perry, has said on a number of occasions: “The US is as much to...

June 10, 2019 Mr. Amano, IAEA, indeed has good reasons to be worried – also today when the Germain foreign minister, Heiko Maas, visits Tehran and seems to have nothing new to convey to Iran’s foregin minister and president. Iran’s PressTV asked TFF’s director and co-founder, Jan Oberg, to comment on Amano’s statement, together with E. Michael Jones.

Photo: Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Credit: rferl.org Why Barr’s investigation is important and should be encouraged. By Stephen F. Cohen June 7, 2019 It cannot be emphasized too often: Russiagate – allegations that the American president has been compromised by the Kremlin, which may even have helped to put him in the White House – is the worst and (considering the lack of actual evidence) most fraudulent political scandal in American history. We have yet to calculate the damage Russiagate has inflicted on America’s democratic institutions, including the presidency and the electoral process, and on domestic and foreign perceptions of American democracy, or on US-Russian relations at a critical moment when both sides, having “modernized” their nuclear weapons, are embarking on a new, more dangerous, and largely unreported arms race. Originally published by The Nation Rational (if politically innocent) observers may have thought that when the Mueller report found no...

Some time ago, I wrote about the flood catastrophe in Iran which a) affects up to 10 million people and b) has gone virtually unmentioned in Western mainstream media: Stop the ongoing US humanitarian terrorism against Iran and help its people! Just in passing, not one of the more than 3000 media recipients of TFF PressInfo did, as far as I have been able to search, mention this issue in general, let alone refer to my analysis. The conspicuous uniformity in perspective of what hits the mainstream media headlines and the uniformity of what does not – omitted news – is today such, that it is hard to believe that it is not orchestrated and that self-censorship isn’t a normal, everyday practice among editors and reporters. So, on April 17, after having written the article, I did what I suggested at the end of it – I sent US$ 5...

Efforts to blame Iran for acts of sabotage went nowhere — but this feels way too much like 2003 all over again Last week a senior Pentagon official accused Iran of having sabotaged four oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on May 12 and of firing a rocket into Baghdad’s Green Zone on May 19. Iran executed these events, he said, either directly or through regional “proxies.”   But instead of creating sensational headlines, the briefing by Vice Adm. Michael Gilday, the director of the Joint Staff, was a flop, because it was clear to reporters covering it that he could not cite a single fact to back it up. The story got only the most cursory coverage in major news outlets, all of which buried Gilday’s accusation deep in stories about the announced deployment of 1,500 more U.S. troops to the Middle East. Relatively few readers would even...

William R. Polk June 5, 2019 Despite appearances of random, off-the-cuff decisions, rendered on tweets and without, or even in opposition to, the advice of foreign policy specialists, I am going to posit a rationale behind the warlike actions and pronouncements of Messrs. Trump, Bolton and Pompeo. To do so, I will try to put all the scattered and sometimes conflicting pieces together. I begin by acknowledging the issue that has attracted most attention. That is the nuclear danger. While it figures in all the media accounts, I put it aside for two reasons: First, Iran has no nuclear weapons as every reasonably well-informed person in government and among the general population knows. To acquire them in the foreseeable future, Iran would have to buy them from an existing nuclear power. Nuclear-capable powers have not been known to put their weapons on the market. But, as threats of invasion grow,...

HE Secretary-General of the United NationsAntónio GuterresUnited NationsNew York NY REGARDING: Request for action in accordance with the UN Charter Article 99 to seek to prevent war between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The relation between the USA and Iran has been tense for many years. After the abrogation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the stifling sanctions imposed by the USA on Iran, the hostility has increased to a dangerous level. The President of the USA has repeatedly threatened Iran with military action, even talking about the total destruction of the country. These threats must be taken seriously. Even if a war is not started intentionally, a misunderstanding could lead to an escalation and finally to war. The situation in the Middle East is very complicated and other parties than Iran and the USA might contribute a sparkle to start the...

Trump’s statement amounts to a de facto declaration of war on Iran. Objectively speaking, it is a lie that Iran threatens the US. It is a lie that the US sends aircraft carriers to the region in self-defence. It’s lies as blatant as the one about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. You may think that this is just psychological warfare and positioning. It is not. Because: Over time, this type of statements develop its own dynamics and the US will not be able to back down from what it threatens to do without loosing face. President Trump’s statement is a blatant violation of international law, the UN Charter’s Article 2.4 which states:“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” In...

Former president says peaceful China ‘ahead of us in almost every way’. By Brett Wilkins May 13, 2019 The only US president to complete his term without war, military attack or occupation has called the United States “the most warlike nation in the history of the world.” During his regular Sunday school lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter revealed that he had recently spoken with President Donald Trump about China. Carter, 94, said Trump was worried about China’s growing economy and expressed concern that “China is getting ahead of us.” Originally published at commondreams.org Carter, who normalized diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing in 1979, said he told Trump that much of China’s success was due to its peaceful foreign policy. Carter then referred to the US as “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” a result, he said, of...