Donald Trump wants to
fundamentally change U.S. foreign policy. The President-elect wants to abandon
the destabilizing wars and regime change operations that have characterized US
policy in the past and work collaboratively with countries like Russia that
have a mutual interest in fighting terrorism and establishing regional
security. Here’s an excerpt from the speech Trump delivered in Cincinnati on
December 1, that presents Trump’s views on the topic:
“We will pursue a new
foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of the past…We will stop
looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments…. Our goal is stability not
chaos, because we want to rebuild our country [the United States]… We will
partner with any nation that is willing to join us in the effort to defeat ISIS
and radical Islamic terrorism …In our dealings with other countries, we will
seek shared interests wherever possible and pursue a new era of peace,
understanding, and good will.”
Trump’s approach to foreign
policy may seem commendable given the disastrous results in Afghanistan, Libya,
Syria and Iraq, but it is also a dramatic departure from the last 70 years of
activity during which time the United States has either overthrown or attempted
to overthrow 57 foreign governments. (According to author William Blum) This is
why the political class and their wealthy constituents are so worried about
Trump, it’s because they don’t want the new president mucking-around in a
process he doesn’t understand, a process that has reshaped the world in a way
that clearly benefits US mega-corporations while reinforcing Washington’s iron
grip on global power. The bottom line is that “violence works” and any
deviation from the present policy represents a direct threat to the people
whose continued power and prosperity depend on that violence.
This is why none of the
major media published Trump’s comments. The corporate bosses who own the media
have nothing to gain by promoting the views of a populist executive who wants
to minimize the carnage by working cooperatively with foreign leaders the media
has already designated as ‘enemies of the state’, like Vladimir Putin. How does
that advance the media’s agenda?
It doesn’t, which is why
they’d rather the public remain in the dark about what Trump actually said.
But the Washington
power-elite know what Trump said, and they have acted accordingly. They have
put together a plan that is designed to undermine Trump’s credibility, back him
into a corner and remove him from office. That’s the plan, regime change in the
USA.
This is why CIA Director
John Brennan took the unprecedented step of appearing on FOX News Sunday.
Brennan and the other heads of the Intelligence Community have taken a leading
role in the desperate character assassination campaign that is intended to
obliterate public confidence in Trump in order to foil his attempts at
resetting relations with Russia. The CIA’s involvement in the coups in Ukraine
and Honduras, as well as the agency’s funding, arming and training of Sunni
militants in Libya and Syria, attest to the fact that Brennan does not see
peace and reconciliation as compatible with US foreign policy objectives. Like
his elitist paymasters, Brennan is committed to perpetual war, regime change,
and mass annihilation. Trump offers some relief from this 70 year-long
nightmare policy. Check out this quote from Vice President-elect, Mike Pence on
FOX News Sunday:
“I think the president elect has made it very
clear that we have a terrible relationship with Russia right now. And that’s
not all our own doing, but really is a failure of American diplomacy in
successive administrations. And what the president elect has determined to do
is to explore the possibility of better relations. We have a common enemy in
ISIS, and the ability to work with Russia to confront, hunt down and destroy
ISIS at its source represents an enormously important priority of this incoming
administration. But what the American people like about Donald Trump is that
he’s someone who can sit down, roll his sleeves up and make a deal. And what
you’re hearing in his reflections whether it be with Russia, or China or other
countries in the world, is that we’re going to reengage. We’re going to put
America first, we’re going to reengage in a way that advances America’s
interests in the world and that advances peace.”
Vice President-elect Mike
Pence, FOX News Sunday
“Better relations” with
Russia?
Not on your life. US elites
and their think tank lackeys would never allow it, not in a million years. Even
now, after six years of death and destruction in Syria, elites at the Council
on Foreign Relations are still resolved to topple Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. (Re: “Aleppo’s Sobering Lessons,” Project Syndicate, by Richard Haas,
President of the Council on Foreign Relations) The same is true at the
Brookings Institute where chief strategist Michael O’ Hanlon leads the charge
for splitting up the battered country so Washington can control vital pipeline
corridors, establish military bases in the east, and eliminate a potential
threat to Israeli expansion. Here’s a clip from a recent piece by O’ Hanlon
that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The author admits that the US goal is
to splinter to country into multiple parts transforming it into a failed state:
“To achieve peace, Syria will need
self-governance within a number of autonomous zones. One option is a confederal
system by which the whole country is divided into such zones. A less desirable
but minimally acceptable alternative could be several autonomous zones within
an otherwise still-centralized state—similar to how Iraqi Kurdistan has
functioned for a quarter-century….
Many Syrians will not like
the idea of a confederal nation, or even of a central government controlling
half the country with the other half divided into three or four autonomous
zones. … But the broad vision should be developed soon.” (Wall Street Journal)
“Autonomous zones” in a
“confederal system” is a sobriquet for a broken, Balkanized failed state run by
tribal elders, disparate warlords and bloodthirsty jihadists. O’ Hanlon’s
vision for Syria is a savage dysfunctional dystopia run by homicidal fanatics
who rule with an iron fist. Is it any wonder why the Syrian people have fought
tooth and nail to fend off the terrorist onslaught?
The United States is entirely
responsible for the bloody decimation of Syria. It is absurd to think that
either the Saudis, the Qataris or the Turks would have launched a war on a
strategically-critical nation like Syria without a green light from Washington.
The conflict is just the latest hotspot in Washington’s 15 year-long war of
terror. The ultimate goal is to remove all secular Arab leaders who may pose a
threat to US imperial ambitions, open up the region to US-dominated extractive
industries, and foment enough extremism to legitimize a permanent military
presence.
Russia’s intervention into
the Syrian conflict in September 2015, has cast doubt on Washington’s ability
to prevail in the six year-long war. The election of Donald Trump has further
complicated matters by affecting a seismic shift in policy that could end the
fighting and lead to improved relations between the US and Russia. Naturally,
that is not in the interests of the vicious neocons or their liberal
interventionist counterparts who see the proxy war in Syria as a pivotal part
of their plan to clip Russia’s wings, discredit Putin in the eyes of the
international community, and lay the groundwork for regime change in Moscow.
Washington’s ultimate plan for Russia hews closely to that of Zbigniew
Brzezinski who– in an titled “A Geostrategy for Eurasia”– had this to say:
“Given (Russia’s) size and
diversity, a decentralized political system and free-market economics would be
most likely to unleash the creative potential of the Russian people and
Russia’s vast natural resources. A loosely confederated Russia — composed of a
European Russia, a Siberian Republic, and a Far Eastern Republic — would also
find it easier to cultivate closer economic relations with its neighbors. Each
of the confederated entitles would be able to tap its local creative potential,
stifled for centuries by Moscow’s heavy bureaucratic hand. In turn, a
decentralized Russia would be less susceptible to imperial mobilization.”
(Zbigniew Brzezinski, A Geostrategy for Eurasia, Foreign Affairs, 76:5,
September/October 1997)
Nice, eh? In other words,
Washington’s plan for Russia is no different than its plan for Syria. Both
countries will be chopped up into smaller bite-size chunks eliminating the
possibility of a strong nationalist government rising up and resisting
Washington’s relentless exploitation and repression. It’s divide and conquer
writ large.
“A loosely confederated
Russia” also fits perfectly with Washington’s top priority to spread military
bases across Asia, control crucial energy supplies, open up financial markets,
impose Washington’s neoliberal economic policies, and maintain a stranglehold
on China’s explosive growth. It’s the Great Game all over again, and Washington
is “In it to win it.”
Here’s an excerpt from a
speech Hillary Clinton gave in 2011 titled “America’s Pacific Century”. The
speech underscores the importance that elites attach to the “rebalancing” plan
contained in the term “pivot to Asia”. The strategy relies on the opening up of
new markets to US corporations and Wall Street, controlling critical resources,
and “forging a broad-based military presence” across the continent. Washington
intends to be the main player in the world’s most prosperous region. Here’s
Clinton:
“The future of politics will be decided in
Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq, and the United States will be right at the
center of the action…. One of the most important tasks of American statecraft
over the next decade will therefore be to lock in a substantially increased
investment — diplomatic, economic, strategic, and otherwise — in the
Asia-Pacific region…
Harnessing Asia’s growth
and dynamism is central to American economic and strategic interests and a key
priority for President Obama. Open markets in Asia provide the United States
with unprecedented opportunities for investment, trade, and access to
cutting-edge technology…..American firms (need) to tap into the vast and
growing consumer base of Asia…The region already generates more than half of
global output and nearly half of global trade. As we strive to meet President
Obama’s goal of doubling exports by 2015, we are looking for opportunities to
do even more business in Asia.”
(“America’s Pacific
Century”, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton”, Foreign Policy Magazine, 2011)
Onward, to Asia, the next
great US battlefield! The killing never ends.
As we noted earlier, the
pivot to Asia is Washington’s top priority. Clinton merely confirms what
geopolitical strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski laid out in his 1997 magnum opus
The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. Here’s
a short excerpt from the book:
“For America, the chief
geopolitical prize is Eurasia… (p.30)….. Eurasia is the globe’s largest
continent and is geopolitically axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would
control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive
regions. ….About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of
the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and
underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s GNP and
about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources.” (p.31)
For Washington to achieve
its foreign policy objectives, it must eliminate or defeat all emerging threats
to its dominance. In practical terms, that means the Russo-Sino plan to
transform Europe and Asia into a giant free trade zone that extends from Lisbon
to Vladivostok– must be sabotaged by any means possible. The State Department’s
coup in Kiev as well as aggressive efforts to restrict the flow of Russian gas
to the EU via Nord Stream and South Stream, have temporarily succeeded in
undermining Moscow’s plan for accelerated economic integration. Had Hillary won
the election, the US would have stepped up its provocations, its sanctions, its
military buildup on Russia’s borders, its gas war, its attacks on Russia’s
markets and currency, and its proxy wars in Syria and Ukraine. But now that
Trump has been thrown into the mix, anything is possible. Even a fundamental
change in the policy.
The question is whether the deep state powerbrokers –who
have already launched a number of attacks on Trump in the media — will throw in
the towel and allow Trump to develop his own independent foreign policy or take
steps to have him removed from office.
Early indications suggest that a coup is already
underway.
MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state.
He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion
(AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com.