{"id":132366,"date":"2014-07-22T15:31:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T15:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=132366"},"modified":"2014-07-22T15:43:11","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T15:43:11","slug":"obama-leads-republicans-war-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/obama-leads-republicans-war-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Leads Republicans\u2019 War Against Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senate’s Republicans Want U.S. War Against Russia Over Ukraine,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Propose U.S. Weapons-Makers\u2019 Tax-Relief and Subsidy Act of 2014.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They\u2019ll Probably Get Their Way. They Carry Obama\u2019s Real Agenda.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eric Zuesse\u00a0<\/em>
\nRINF Alternative News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

S. 2277 in the U.S. Senate is a bill with\u00a026 sponsors, all of whom are Republicans<\/a>. No Democrats in the Senate support it. But the bill would be a dream for Obama,\u00a0who quietly does:<\/a>\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0his actual policy<\/a>. It aims to give him unlimited power to do to Russia what he wants to do to Russia: surround it with enemies and arm those enemies to the teeth. This Obama-Republican policy<\/a> is now before the currently Democratic<\/em>-majority Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and it proposes that the United States surround Russia with our nuclear missiles and Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABMs), and with American corporate investments (tax-favored and partly financed by the U.S. public) in Russia’s adjoining countries of Ukraine and Georgia, plus in Moldova and in the Baltic nations near Russia, so as to make that strangulation even more provocative of a Russian military response, and thus of even more business to be generated for America\u2019s arms-dealers. This incredibly aggressive U.S. bill has the Orwellianly self-righteous, if not downright hypocritical, title of “Russian Aggression Prevention Act of 2014,” and it might actually be more honestly titled the “U.S. Weapons-Makers and Oil Company Tax-Relief and Subsidy Act of 2014,” because it\u00a0proposes<\/a>, among other goodies for Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, UT, KBR, Exxon, Chevron, etc. (quoting now the bill):<\/p>\n

the President is authorized\u00a0to provide to the Government of Ukraine upon that Government’s request, as\u00a0appropriate and in a manner consistent with the capabilities and needs of the\u00a0armed forces of Ukraine\u00a0identified in such assessment, the following defense articles,\u00a0services, and training: [a virtual laundry list of weapons and training, partly at U.S. taxpayer expense, for Ukraine to be supplied with U.S.-made weapons, follows, including:] …<\/em><\/p>\n

provision of PATRIOT,\u00a0Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or other missile defense systems [so that we can nuke Russia while their missiles in response will be blocked by our ABM shield] …<\/em><\/p>\n

Prioritization of Energy\u00a0Projects in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova by the World Bank Group and the\u00a0European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.–The President shall direct\u00a0the United States Executive\u00a0Directors of the World Bank Group and the European Bank\u00a0for Reconstruction and Development to use the voice, vote, and influence of the\u00a0United States to encourage the World Bank Group and the European\u00a0Bank for\u00a0Reconstruction and Development to invest in, and increase their efforts to\u00a0promote investment in, efforts to help exploit existing natural gas reserves,\u00a0to conduct additional exploration for oil and gas, to\u00a0develop alternative\u00a0sources of energy, including oil and gas, and to encourage energy efficiency,\u00a0for Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, including the development of associated\u00a0transportation, storage, and refinement\u00a0facilities, and to stimulate private\u00a0investment in such projects. …<\/em><\/p>\n

expedited review of and,\u00a0where appropriate, approval of, applications by eligible investors (as defined\u00a0in section 238 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2198)) for\u00a0loans, loan guarantees, and\u00a0insurance for such investments. …<\/em><\/p>\n

loan, lease, and bond\u00a0guarantees [by U.S. taxpayers] to appropriate financial institutions and other eligible borrowers\u00a0through the Development Credit Authority to facilitate the involvement of such\u00a0institutions and borrowers in\u00a0financing efforts in Ukraine to help exploit\u00a0existing natural gas reserves, to conduct additional exploration for oil and\u00a0gas, to develop alternative sources of energy, including oil and gas, and to\u00a0encourage energy\u00a0efficiency, for Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, including the\u00a0development of associated transportation …<\/em><\/p>\n

So, not only would the U.S. public be subsidizing U.S. armaments-makers and oil companies, but we would be guaranteeing or otherwise taking on some of the investment-risks, while the stockholders and executives of those American firms would reap all of the investment benefits, assuming that our ABM systems function perfectly and that we don’t all get nuked to death ourselves, by this corrupt business deal that those 26 Republican Senators are seeking to turn into a new U.S. law signed by this \u201cDemocratic\u201d President.<\/p>\n

Right now, there are 51 Senate Democrats, 47 Republicans, and 2 Independents. So, Republicans are already close to controlling the Senate, and almost all of the Senate seats being contested now are held by Democrats. The latest odds are that there\u2019s an 86% chance that the 2014 elections will produce a Republican majority in the Senate<\/a> as well as in the House, and only a 14% chance that the Senate will remain having a Democratic majority. Therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that approximately an 86% likelihood exists that this bill will become law in 2015 (when Republicans are expected to be in the majority, and Obama is expected to sign it).<\/p>\n

Perhaps a good investment opportunity now would thus be a construction company that builds bomb-shelters, especially nuclear-hardened ones (which don\u2019t exist, but never mind that, it\u2019ll be an \u201cextra feature\u201d). Republicans in Congress are probably already heavily invested in such firms, especially considering those 86% to 14% odds. On the other hand, any big and well-connected oil-or-gas firms would also be good, and so would any big \u201cdefense\u201d (to use the Orwellian term) contractor (i.e.: the weapons-makers, and other aggression-merchants). Best might be a firm that’s diversified in all of these war-marketing fields.<\/p>\n

After all, the “U.S. Weapons-Makers Tax-Relief and Subsidy Act of 2015” seems like a good bet for our \u201cfree market,\u201d doesn’t it? American voters are apparently all set to embrace it, even if they have no idea that it’s in the works. They\u2019ll invest in it, once they know about it. But, by that time, it\u2019ll already be too late — those stocks will already have hit their highs. Of course, that\u2019s the point of a \u201cfree market\u201d: the few insider winners taking from the many outsider losers.<\/p>\n

Democracy is so terrific for investors, especially for ones that have millions of dollars and reliable inside information, like almost all Senators (and Wall Street\u2019s elite) do. “Democracy” is great, for those people and other aristocrats.<\/p>\n

But everybody else needs to be building a bomb-shelter, and that’s not really a good investment, at all. The benefits are only for the very rich people. That\u2019s why those people are constantly propagandizing for what they euphemistically call \u201cfree markets.\u201d The freebies actually go to themselves. Everybody else gets mainly debts to pay, and bomb-shelters to buy. Maybe we can load our bomb-shelter with toys, and have fun in it, sort of like Ukrainian refugees in tents now in Russia do, in some people\u2019s fantasies. Except that those refugees are \u201cthe enemy.\u201d They\u2019re not supposed<\/em> to have fun. After all, it\u2019s \u201cour\u201d side that has bombed their<\/em> homes. They\u2019re the \u201cbad guys.\u201d (In Orwell\u2019s \u201cNewspeak,\u201d at least.) They are \u201cterrorists.\u201d Our \u201cnews\u201d media tell<\/em> us so, even though we are bombing their<\/em> neighborhoods, and driving them<\/em> out. We aren\u2019t \u201cterrorists\u201d; we are, instead, \u201cchampions of peace and democracy,\u201d like in Iraq, Palestine, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina … and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But, look at S. 2277. In next year\u2019s Senate, it\u2019ll probably make some Republican Senators even richer than they already are.<\/p>\n

And yet, the latest Gallup poll is headlined\u00a0“Americans Say Business Background Is Best for Governing.”<\/a>\u00a0Americans overwhelmingly want more people like Mitt Romney in our government. After all, he was part of \u201cthe free market.\u201d We need more of that, don\u2019t we? If government is just big business writ larger, of course we do. The biggest smartest psychopath is also then the best person to serve as the President in our Government. In other words: Obama\u2019s fascism isn\u2019t enough for such Americans. They want More. More of the same. The same, but just more of it — like Romney would be.<\/p>\n

Imagine: Hillary versus Mitt. What a \u201cchoice\u201d that would be. Another \u201cchoice\u201d between two fascists. We\u2019ve come to call that<\/em> type of choice \u201cdemocracy.\u201d Romney is merely a less skillful liar than Obama. Whereas Romney told Wolf Blitzer, on 26 March 2012, that Russia \u201cis, without question, our number one geopolitical foe,\u201d Obama denied that, while he adheres to it in his actions<\/em> as our President. And so do almost all other<\/em> Republicans adhere to it — the ones who, un<\/em>like Obama and Hillary Clinton, call themselves<\/em> \u201cRepublicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anybody who voluntarily has children now has to be either very rich, very misinformed, or else very callous. America\u2019s decent days are gone. That seems to be a rational bet, but nobody can make money selling it; so, only few people believe that it\u2019s true, though it is.<\/p>\n

In politics, like in religion, there\u2019s not much of a market for truth. It\u2019s a product for which there are few, if any, buyers. Tragic. But true.<\/p>\n

American democracy is now just an act, no longer the real thing. And, so, unless the 14% chance of Democrats retaining control of the U.S. Senate turns out to be the result of the 2014 elections, we\u2019ll get Romney\u2019s policy, after all, signed into law by Obama, in 2015.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> and of \u00a0CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Senate’s Republicans Want U.S. War Against Russia Over Ukraine, Propose U.S. Weapons-Makers\u2019 Tax-Relief and Subsidy Act of 2014. They\u2019ll Probably Get Their Way. They Carry Obama\u2019s Real Agenda. Eric Zuesse\u00a0 RINF Alternative News S. 2277 in the U.S. Senate is a bill with\u00a026 sponsors, all of whom are Republicans. No Democrats in the Senate support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":130346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,461],"tags":[30,32,535,522,540,524,523,49,76],"class_list":{"0":"post-132366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-editorials","9":"tag-big-brother","10":"tag-cia","11":"tag-global-news","12":"tag-obama","13":"tag-republicans","14":"tag-russia","15":"tag-ukraine","16":"tag-usa-news","17":"tag-warfare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}