Fact-Finding Mission to Donbass Part 3
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Tag: Adam Smith
US considers deploying carriers to support House speaker’s Taiwan trip – Washington Post
Biden officials worry their Russia sanctions were so powerful they also brought economic suffering to the US, report says
Corporate ‘Self-Sanctioning’ of Russia Has US Fearing Economic Blowback
But some Biden administration officials are now privately expressing concern that rather than dissuading the Kremlin as intended, the penalties are instead exacerbating inflation, worsening food insecurity and punishing ordinary Russians [they don’t care about the people, the true purpose of sanctions is to encourage people to overthrow their leader] more than Putin or his allies.
…
When the
invasion[special military operation] began, the Biden administration believed that if penalties exempted food and energy [what exemptions?!], the impact on inflation at home would be minimal. Since then, energy and food have become key drivers of the highest US inflation rates in 40 years, a huge political liability for President Joe Biden and the Democratic party heading into November’s mid-term elections [they only care about winning the midterms].…
There’s no sign that administration officials feel their sanctions policy was a mistake or that they want to dial back the pressure. If anything, officials have said a key US goal is to ensure Russia can’t do to other nations what it has done in Ukraine [then tell Puppet Zelensky to negotiate instead of flooding Ukraine with weapons!!].
…
The Biden administration
rejects[denies] any suggestion that sanctions are part of the problem, emphasizing that the US isn’t penalizing humanitarian goods or food, andputting[shifting] the blame on Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine, including by targeting shipping on the Black Sea [which is blocked with mines].…
About 1,000 companies have so far announced that they are curtailing operations in Russia, according to data collected by the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute. That underscores one reason sanctions are so popular with policy makers: They essentially outsource US policy to the private sector [intentional and/or just being lazy?!], which makes it less surgical, less calibrated and less responsive to policy changes, said Smith, the former OFAC adviser.
This becomes important as all sides seek an end to the war [no, they don’t]. The lifting of sanctions can be dangled as an incentive to help bring about a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. But right now it’s hard even to offer that as a potential benefit of entering into negotiations because much of the pullout by American businesses has been self-inflicted [they screwed themselves]. Companies could face public blowback if they are seen as rushing back into the Russian market.
Headline stolen from:
Defense firms push Congress for Pentagon budget increase over inflation
Nice excuse! 🙄
U.S. defense and aerospace firms are asking Congress for a defense budget for 2023 that exceeds inflation by 3 to 5 percent and challenged lawmakers to pass their annual defense bills by Sept 30.
Defense firms push Congress for Pentagon budget increase over inflation
Related:
Expanded NATO will “shoot billions” to U.S. arms merchants
Lockheed Martin Gave Over $250k to Politicians as They Discussed Ukraine Bills
Lockheed Martin Gave Over $250k to Politicians as They Discussed Ukraine Bills
As lawmakers in Congress debated billions of dollars’ worth of aid to Ukraine, including military aid, major defense contractor Lockheed Martin was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaign donations, new disclosures show.
Lockheed Martin Gave Over $250k to Politicians as They Discussed Ukraine Bills
Biden’s Reckless Words Underscore the Dangers of the U.S.’s Use of Ukraine As a Proxy War
By Glenn Greenwald | March 27, 2022
As grave of a threat as deliberate war is, unintended escalation from miscommunication and misperception can be as bad. Biden is the perfect vessel for such risks.
Biden’s Reckless Words Underscore the Dangers of the U.S.’s Use of Ukraine As a Proxy War (Archived for external links)
Related:
‘Inconsistent With US Goals’: Western Analysts Criticise Biden’s Call for Regime Change in Russia
What Kind of Threat Is China?
Book review of “America and the China Threat: From the End of History to the End of Empire” by Prof. Paolo Urio
The “brutalist philosophy” of the US was made public (曝光) by Robert Daly, a former US diplomat stationed in Beijing, in 2015. Currently, he is the director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. No diplomatic niceties here, Daly frankly states the policy of the US: China must never reach the level of the US.
What Kind of Threat Is China?
China’s Fortune Cookie Crumbles : Michael Hudson and Renegade Inc.
YouTube: China’s Fortune Cookie Crumbles : Michael Hudson and Renegade Inc.
America doesn’t build infrastructure these days unless it’s monopolised. This is the political fight going on in the United States now. President Biden has a infrastructure plan that he’s scaled down from six and a half trillion to three and a half trillion. And essentially the bulk of the Democratic and Republican Party said if we can’t privatise infrastructure and make it a rent-extracting monopoly, we’re not going to do it, and we’re going to block the government from doing it. So in the United States, they’re going to have high priced infrastructure, high-priced health care and high-priced education while China is going to have low-priced transportation, low-cost infrastructure, free education, public health care. And you’re going to have a very high-cost United States unable to compete with the rest of the world. All it can do is make military threats or financial threats. If it tries to impose sanctions as it’s imposed on Russia, China and other countries, these are going to serve as protective tariffs for foreign countries.
Neoliberalism is the Bipartisan Consensus, Not the Lesser of Two Evils
Neoliberalism is the Bipartisan Consensus, Not the Lesser of Two Evils
West’s incorrect partisan conceptualization of neoliberalism is not only wrong, but it is misleading. While the word “neoliberal” is etymologically related to the word “liberal,” it has no relationship with the current political usage of the term “liberal” and its modern association with the Democratic Party. Rather, it harkens back to the 18th century Scottish economic philosopher Adam Smith who advocated the removal of all tariffs and restrictions on free capital so that the “invisible hand” of the market could bring prosperity to all. In the post-WWII years of the 20th century, Smith’s ideas about the liberalization of capital were brought back into the spotlight by economist Friedrich Hayek and, later, Milton Friedman whose goal was to completely dismantle the social safety nets of FDR’s New Deal, which, it was argued, hampered free capital. Thus, neoliberalism is a “neo” form of 18th century economic liberalism and has no connection to the political “liberalism” of today’s Democratic Party.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 