Lew Rockwell Institute

Thanks,  John Frahm.

Wray Lied About Extent Of FBI’s Anti-Catholic Surveillance.

See here.

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On Tim McGraw wrote:

AI… I’m always reminded of the great Sci-Fi short story by Ray Bradbury. “There Will Come Soft Rains” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Will_Come_Soft_Rains_(short_story)

A nuclear war has killed mankind, but a house run by AI stays alive as if the humans in it were still alive.

Eventually, a windstorm drops a tree branch onto the house. This causes a fire and all kinds of mayhem that the AI can’t control.

The house burns to the ground to join humanity.

That’s the future of humans and AI. Eventually, all those nukes will be used unless they are disassembled. I don’t see that happening.

Make the most of each day.

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Mark Seiler wrote:

Dear Lew,

Charles Burris’ piece on The State replacing The Church can best be seen when watching a National Football League game.

At the beginning all are told to rise, men to remove their head coverings, place their hand on their heart and sing the National Hymn, aka, The Star Spangled Banner. Said banner is held over the entire field by dozens of people shaking it to simulate waving in the breeze. At this point a military flyover is done while trailing red, white and blue smoke much as incense is burned to sanctify the field and the event itself.

ALL HAIL THE EMPIRE!

The post State Replaces Church appeared first on LewRockwell.

David Martin wrote:

Reminds me of Zionism founder Theodor Herzl’s family life.  His son Hans shot himself to death.  His daughter Paulina died of a drug overdose.  His youngest offspring, Trude, gave him his one grandchild, who after having a somewhat successful career, jumped to his death off the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge over Rock Creek in DC. 

Theodor Herzl – Wikipedia

The post Karl Marx’s Father Warned the World—And He Was Right appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, John Smith. 

Antiwar.com Blog

The post Tory Leader Blurts Out the Truth: Britain Is at the Heart of Gaza ‘Proxy War’ appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, John Smith. 

Middle East Eye

The post Exclusive: US warns UK and France not to recognise Palestinian state appeared first on LewRockwell.

Peter Bohn wrote:

“Europe Is Awesome”

Wasn’t Belgium the country in which the Germans of 1914 needed to cross,  used in their Schlieffen Plan, against the French who declared war on Germany. 
And so upset London, that they had to enter the war, because German soldiers were Bayoneting Belgium babies, proven false after the First World War. 

100+ years later, Belgium, is populated by non Belgium ethnicities and the gross beaches.  See this.

Was this worth men dying for? 

“O Fortuna”! 

The post 100+ years After WWI, this is the state of Belgium appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, Bruce McLane.

See here.

The post Interesting take on Orwell appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, Gail Appel.

Snopes

The post Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Say ‘Jewish Space Lasers’ Caused California Wildfires? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Gail Appel wrote:

Lara Loomer did her homework!

The post Was Moody’s U.S. Credit Downgrade Influenced By Their Anti-Trump CEO and Moody’s Commitments to DEI & ESG? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, Chris Condon.

World Net Daily

The post The raw truth about Biden dying of cancer appeared first on LewRockwell.

The post Elon-quake! Musk Shocks Washington With Anti-BBB X Post! appeared first on LewRockwell.

This is a wonderful, highly entertaining presentation on the pathetic degeneration of fake history, of how American nationalism is based on a lie, the Lincoln Pork Chop.

The post Lincoln Pork Chop appeared first on LewRockwell.

August 9 (the day after my birthday) in Lake Jackson, Texas.  Proceeds go to Ron’s nonprofit organizations.  Only 350 tickets available.

The post Join Me in Celebrating Ron Paul’s 90th Birthday! appeared first on LewRockwell.

A new type of superstition has got hold of peoples minds, the worship of the state. People demand the exercise of the methods of coercion and compulsion, of violence and threat. Woe to anybody who does not bend his knee to the fashionable idols! — Ludwig von Mises, Omnipotent Government, p. 11

Not every apparatus of compulsion and coercion is called a state. Only one which is powerful enough to maintain its existence, for some time at least, by its own force is commonly called a state. A gang of robbers, which because of the comparative weakness of its forces has no prospect of successfully resisting for any length of time the forces of another organization, is not entitled to be called a state. The state will either smash or tolerate a gang. In the first case the gang is not a state because its independence lasts for a short time only; in the second case it is not a state because it does not stand on its own might. — Ludwig von Mises, Omnipotent Government, p. 46

The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. — Ludwig von Mises, Omnipotent Government, p. 47

The state is a human institution, not a superhuman being. He who says state means coercion and compulsion. He who says: There should be a law concerning this matter, means: The armed men of the government should force people to do what they do not want to do, or not to do what they like. He who says: This law should be better enforced, means: the police should force people to obey this law. He who says: The state is God, deifies arms and prisons. — Ludwig von Mises, Omnipotent Government, p. 47

He who proclaims the godliness of the State and the infallibility of its priests, the bureaucrats, is considered as an impartial student of the social sciences. — Ludwig von Mises, Planned Chaos, p. 16

Statolatry has become the principal form of worship in contemporary America. People erroneously talk about “separation of Church and State” when “the State” has replaced “the Church” as the idolatrous venue for worship. As the Church had its calendar of Holy Days of Obligation and sacraments, so too the State has its own sacred holidays, icons, protocols and rituals.

Take a look at America’s most venerated monuments in the Nation’s Capital erected to this statolatry. You have a massive statue of the martyred Abraham Lincoln sitting in a temple of Zeus upon a throne replete with fasces (the symbols of imperium);

the Jefferson Memorial consciously built as a modern Pantheon by the same eminent architect commissioned to design this other temple of worship in Washington, DC; or most telling, the apotheosis of George Washington in the dome of the rotunda of the US Capitol building, ascending into Heaven.

Each day in rote, millions of captive children in government schools recite the Pledge of Allegiance, their solemn oath to this sacred creed, without giving it cursory reflection or thought.

Thus is born a new generation of blind worshipers at the Golden Calf of Statism.

The post American Statolatry appeared first on LewRockwell.

Given Marco Rubio’s long history of subservience to the State of Israel — which has earned him a mountain of campaign cash from the country’s US-based collaborators — many Americans were understandably wary that his ascension from senator to secretary of State portended disturbing moves to advance Israel’s interests. However, few foresaw Rubio orchestrating the abduction, imprisonment and deportation of foreign students for using their universal human right of free speech to criticize the Israeli government and advocate for Palestinians.

With President Trump’s blessing, Rubio has targeted many foreign students in this fashion — students who’ve been charged with no crimes. However, no case better illustrates the campaign’s casual cruelty than that of 30-year-old Tufts University PhD candidate Rumeysa Ozturk. Ozturk, who’s been studying child development, was arrested in March and whisked away to a far-off prison merely because — an entire year earlier — she co-authored a Tufts Daily op-ed urging the university to formally characterize Israel’s conduct in Gaza as genocide, and to sell the school’s Israel-associated investments.

Rubio would like you to assume her essay must have been an unhinged, antisemitic, violence-inciting screed. To the contrary, harkening back to Tufts’ 1989 decision to divest from apartheid South Africa, its tone is decidedly calm and measured. Read this excerpt of the essay’s most pointed language about Israel and judge for yourself:

These [student senate] resolutions were the product of meaningful debate…and represent a sincere effort to hold Israel accountable for clear violations of international law. Credible accusations against Israel include accounts of deliberate starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians and plausible genocide.

…the student body is calling for … the University to end its complicity with Israel insofar as it is oppressing the Palestinian people and denying their right to self-determination — a right that is guaranteed by international law. These strong lobbying tools are all the more urgent now given the order by the International Court of Justice confirming that the Palestinian people of Gaza’s rights under the Genocide Convention are under a “plausible” risk of being breached.

Ozturk’s persecution represents a major escalation of an aggravating dynamic in which people in the United States are vilified as dangerous, volatile antisemites for saying things about Israel that are frequently said by respected people and institutions in Israel. For example, in an op-ed of his own, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week wrote, “What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians … Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.”

In March of this year, the State Department revoked Ozturk’s student visa without notifying her — she had no idea that her presence in the country was now illegal. Four days later, in an incident captured on video, she was grabbed off a Somerville, Massachusetts street by masked, plain-clothed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, taken to New Hampshire and then Vermont, before being shackled in chains and airlifted 1,400 miles to a federal detention center in Louisiana.

For the next month and a half, she was stuffed with 23 others in a cell meant for 14. Ozturk says constant exposure to dust and inadequate ventilation sparked more than a dozen asthma attacks — after having previously had only about 13 in her entire life. Sleep was hard to come by, as motion-detecting fluorescent lights repeatedly triggered throughout the night.

Trying to justify the unjustifiable, the Trump administration has gone to slanderous extremes to vilify Ozturk. In a since-deleted social media post following her arrest, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said “DHS + ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” (As an aside, note that, while some 43 Americans — including dual nationals — died in the Oct 7 attacks, there’s no history of Hamas ever setting out to target Americans.)

When protests of Israel’s tactics in Gaza erupted in 2022, Israel supporters across government, major media and social media branded all pro-Palestine protesters as Hamas supporters and antisemites. With the ascendency of the second Trump administration, that tactic has evolved from a malicious PR smear to a government-weaponized allegation that’s putting nonviolent foreign students in prisons and derailing their lives — all in service to a foreign country.

In a partial reversal of her appalling treatment, Ozturk was released from confinement on May 9 on the orders of a federal judge, who also denied the government’s wish to make her wear an ankle monitor. However, her troubles are far from over: In addition to the enduring harm of a six-week interruption of her academic pursuits, she is still targeted for deportation.

When DHS initially leveled the “activities in support of Hamas” accusation against Ozturk, many people assumed the government must have something on her other than an essay in a student newspaper. However, as the weeks ground on, the government never pointed to anything else, something US District Judge William Sessions noted when he ordered her to be released from her cage in Louisiana :

“I suggested to the government that they produce any additional information which would suggest that she posed a substantial risk. And that was three weeks ago, and there has been no evidence introduced by the government other than the op-ed. That literally is the case. There is no evidence here...The court finds that Ms. Öztürk has raised a substantial claim of a constitutional violation.”

Judge Sessions called Ozturk’s seizure “a traumatic incident” and said “her continued detention potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of individuals in this country who are not citizens.” That is most certainly the Trump administration’s goal.

Read the Whole Article

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When I saw the white smoke rising and heard the joyful cry of Habemus Papam! echoing from St. Peter’s Basilica, my heart swelled with gratitude and hope. The announcement that Cardinal Robert Prevost had been elected as Pope Leo XIV filled many of us with renewed optimism—especially American Catholics. As the first American to ascend the Chair of St. Peter, his election marks not only a historic milestone but also a providential moment, one filled with potential for moral clarity amid great ideological challenges.

One of the first encouraging signs was his choice of a papal name: Leo XIV. This is no arbitrary selection. As the Vatican press office reported, the name honors Pope Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social crises brought about by the Industrial Revolution. In that landmark document, Leo XIII championed the dignity of workers, the right to private property, and the need for safe and humane working conditions. He also warned against both the excesses of unbridled capitalism and the false promises of socialism.

This teaching has enduring relevance. Just 15 years after Rerum Novarum, American author Upton Sinclair published The Jungle, exposing the dehumanizing conditions of Chicago’s meatpacking industry. While both works decry the degradation of human dignity in the face of unchecked industrial power, their solutions are very different—Sinclair advocated socialism, whereas Rerum Novarum rejected socialism and offered an alternative rooted in truth, natural law, and the common good.

Today, we find ourselves on the cusp of another seismic transformation—one not of steam and steel but of data and algorithms. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) promises sweeping changes to labor, economics, and even human identity. In his inaugural address to the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025, Pope Leo XIV addressed this directly, warning that AI poses new challenges for human dignity, justice, and labor. His remarks signal that under the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, the Church is prepared to stand in the breech and offer much-needed moral clarity in a brave new world driven by AI.

Pope Leo XIV’s address is timely and providential. Just months earlier, on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump stood at his second inauguration flanked by some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures: Tim Cook, Sergey Brin, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai. These titans of tech command immense influence, and their companies often promote ideologies at odds with Catholic social teaching and traditional values—especially around issues of life, family, and religious liberty. Remember that during the Covid pandemic, many of these platforms engaged in censorship, suppressed dissenting voices, and enforced policies that infringed upon religious and medical freedoms.

If the future of AI is left solely in the hands of such elites—without the grounding wisdom of faith, reason, and Church teaching—we risk repeating the mistakes of the Industrial Revolution on a scale yet unseen. AI, without moral guardrails, could deepen economic disparities, erode human relationships, and degrade work into mere utility.

Yet, there is cause for hope. The convergence of Pope Leo XIV’s moral leadership and the renewed influence of faithful Catholics in American public life, especially following the election of President Trump and Catholic Vice President J.D. Vance, offers a providential opportunity. With leaders like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other conservative Catholics in key policy roles in the Trump administration, we are positioned to shape AI development in a manner that aligns with the Church’s vision for the human person and the common good.

But to do so, policymakers must draw from both the rich deposit of Catholic social teaching and other compatible voices that affirm human dignity over mere economic output. One such voice is E.F. Schumacher, whose landmark work Small Is Beautiful critiques economic models that favor scale over humanity. Schumacher argues that true progress lies not in industrial might but in promoting human-centered values which advance the common good. His call for a human-scale economy rooted in family and faith is more urgent than ever as AI threatens to displace millions of workers and centralize power in the hands of the elites.

Similarly, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum’s Blue Collar Conservatives speaks to the economic dislocation felt by working families—many of whom form the backbone of our parishes and communities. Santorum’s critique of elite-driven policy resonates in the heartland, where the effects of globalization and automation are felt most acutely. He reminds us that any true conservatism must protect the worker, the family, and the community. As AI reshapes labor markets, Santorum’s insights offer a practical roadmap for ensuring that technological progress does not come at the cost of human dignity and the common good.

In light of these converging themes—Catholic social teaching, populist economics, and moral clarity—we must ask: What kind of future do we want AI to create? Will it serve the human person, or will it reduce us to mere tools to be used by a utilitarian, profit-driven economy?

President Trump has rightly emphasized the need for America to “win” the AI race. But winning must not be defined solely by economic or military advantage. We must measure success by whether AI strengthens human dignity, protects the vulnerable, and promotes the common good. This will require regulatory frameworks that are deeply informed by Catholic principles—especially subsidiarity and solidarity, along with traditional values like faith, family, and freedom.

Read the Whole Article

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From the Tom Woods Letter:

Senator Lindsey Graham has been the target of criticism on the former Twitter for his recent trip to Ukraine.

The gist of it is that Graham seems to find more time for other countries than he does for his own people.

One user wrote:

Dear @LindseyGrahamSC,

Can you to explain why you still have NEVER visited western North Carolina since Hurricane Helene devastated our area…when you LIVE LESS THAN 1.5 hours from the worst disaster since Katrina…yet have found time to fly to Ukraine 9 times??!!

You do not need me to tell you, dear reader, that this is an entirely reasonable question.

There will always be tragedy and sorrow somewhere on earth. Your responsibility is still with those in your immediate circle of care: your family, your friends, your neighbors, and so on from there.

You may care for the indigent in Albania if you wish, but only after you have seen after those under your charge. This is the consensus not simply of Christian social thought, but is also the clear dictate of common sense.

In 2008, during the week that the execrable John McCain was to be officially nominated for president at that year’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ron Paul held his Rally for the Republic at the Target Center in Minneapolis, the other of the Twin Cities. Speaking to those many thousands of people was one of the great moments of my life.

In preparation for that event Dr. Paul called and said: I want a good antiwar speaker. Do you have any suggestions?

I replied: Bill Kauffman, without a doubt.

Bill, one of the few writers whose prose I genuinely envy, wound up giving the best speech of the day.

I thought of it today as I contemplated Senator Graham’s priorities.

Bill went for the jugular in his attack on the military-industrial complex and the fake conservatives who betray every one of their stated principles — fiscal conservatism, small government, family values — in order to support it.

“The only foreign policy compatible with healthy family life,” said Bill, “is one of peace and nonintervention.”

Bill then spoke words that resonate with all normal people everywhere, describing his “love for my own place, the little postage stamp of ground on which I and my neighbors and family live, a piece of the world which means nothing to the empire, but means everything to me.”

“You can’t have a healthy home and a worldwide empire,” continued Bill. “They can’t coexist. You can’t care about Baghdad and your own backyard.

“McCain chooses Baghdad. We take our stand in our backyards, on our front porches, in neighborhood diners and sandlot baseball diamonds, and country churches, and rock and roll clubs, and volunteer fire departments, and all those preciously little voluntary institutions that are the lifeblood of this beautiful country….

“John Edwards liked to talk about the two Americas. Well, there are two Americas: the televised America, known and hated by the world, and the rest of us. Their America has shock and awe, but it has no heart, no soul, no connection to the thousand and one little Americas that produced Mother Jones and Laura Ingalls Wilder, Dizzy Dean and Booker T. Washington.

“I am of this other America. This unseen America. It is a smaller, homelier, peaceful country. And this alternative America is reasserting itself.”

Never pay for a book again: TomsFreeBooks.com

The post Lindsey Graham Is Getting Walloped appeared first on LewRockwell.

This was the mood in informed Moscow – only a few hours before the renewed Istanbul kabuki on Russia-Ukraine “negotiations”. Three key points.

1. The attack on Russian strategic bombers – part of the nuclear triad – was a US-UK joint operation. Especially MI6. The overall tech investment and strategy was provided by this intel combo.
2. It’s patently unclear whether Trump is really in charge – or not. This was confirmed to me at night by a top intel source; he added that the Kremlin and the security services were actively investigating all possibilities, especially who issued the final green light.
3. Near universal popular consensus: Release the Oreshniks. Plus waves of ballistic missiles.

Predictably, the Instabul kabuki came and went like a tawdry spectacle, complete with the Ukrainian delegation in military fatigues and Defense Minister Umarov incapable of speaking even mediocre English at a messy press conference after the brief 1h15 meeting. The Turkish Foreign Ministry epically described the kabuki as concluding “not negatively”.

Nothing strategic or politically substantial was discussed: only prisoner exchanges. The mood in Moscow, additionally, was that top Russian negotiator Medinsky should have presented an ultimatum, not a memorandum. It was, predictably, interpreted as an ultimatum by the Beggar of Banderastan; but what Medinsky actually handed out to the Ukrainians was a de facto road map memorandum, in 3 sections, with 2 options for the conditions for a ceasefire, and 31 points, a great deal of them expressed in detail by Moscow for months.

Examples: first option for a ceasefire should be a complete UAF withdrawal from DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia, within 30 days; international recognition of Crimea, Donbass and Novorossiya as part of Russia; Ukraine neutrality; Ukraine holding elections and then signing a peace treaty – approved by a legally binding UN Security Council resolution (italics mine); and a ban on the receipt and deployment of nuclear weapons.

None of that, of course, will ever be accepted by the terror-infused set up in Kiev, the neo-nazi outfits that control it, and assorted, fragmented collective West warmongering backers. So the SMO will go on. Possibly all the way to 2026. Along with extra versions of the Istanbul kabuki: the next one should be held by late June.

The current kabuki, incidentally, composes the Last Chance Saloon for Kiev to retain some measure of – fractious – “sovereignty”. As Foreign Minister Lavrov has been reiterating, everything will be really decided in the battlefield.

How to destroy the New START Treaty

Now to the attack on a branch of Russia’s strategic triad – which mired Western propaganda media in layers and layers of stratospheric hysteria.

The point has been made over and over again on why Russia left its strategic bombers unprotected in the tarmac. Because that’s a New START Treaty requirement – signed in 2010 and extended until February next year (when it may go six feet under, considering what just happened).

The New START Treaty stipulates that strategic bombers should be visible to “national technical means (NTM) of verification, such as satellite imagery, to allow monitoring by the other party.” So their status – nuclear-armed or converted to conventional use – should be always verifiable. No chance of a “surprise” first strike.

This operation single-handedly blew up what was, up to now, a decent Cold War relic preventing the start of WWIII via a simple mechanism. The recklesness involved is off the charts. So there’s no surprise that the highest echelons of power in Russia – from the Kremlin to the security apparatus – are feverishly working to ascertain whether Trump was in the loop or not. And if he was not, who gave the final green light?

No wonder the highest echelon, so far, is mum.

A security source told me that it was US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that called Lavrov – and not the other way around, to offer condolences for the bridge-on-train terror attack in Bryansk. No word whatsoever about the strategic bombers. In parallel, the former platoon commander in Iraq then Fox News talking head turned head of the Pentagon followed the drone attacks on the Russian bases in real-time.

On the efficacy of such attacks – beyond the gleefully spun to death fog of war. Several conflicting estimates point to possibly three Tu-95MS strategic bombers – known as “The Bears” – hit at the Belaya base in Irkutsk, plus one of them partially damaged, and three other T-22M3s hit, with two of them irreparably. Of the three Tu-95MS, fires seem to have been localized, so they may be repaired.

At the Olenya base in Murmansk, other four Tu-95MS may have been hit, plus one An-12.

As it stands, Russia had 58 Tu-95MS up to this weekend. Even if five of them have been lost for good, that’s less than 10% of their fleet. And that does not count 19 Tu-160 and 55 Tu-22M3M. Of the five bases that were supposed to be attacked, success happened in only two.

These losses, as painful as they may be, simply will not affect further strikes by Russian aero-spatial forces.

Example: the standard weapon carried by a T-95MSM is the X-101 cruise missile. A maximum of 8 for each mission. In recent strikes, not more than 40 missiles have been launched simultaneously. That implies only 6 Tu-95s in action. So Russia in fact only needs 6 Tu-95MSM ready to fly to conduct strikes as intense as in the previous days and weeks. Tu-160s, moreover, are not even being used for the latest strikes.

Evaluating Maximum Strategy

At the time of writing, Russia’s inevitably devastating response has still not been green-lighted. This is as serious as it gets. Even if it’s true that POTUS was not informed – and that’s what the Kremlin and the security services want to be absolutely sure of before unleashing Hell from Above on Kiev – still the contours will be clear of a NATO op – US/UK – directly conducted by the CIA/MI6 intel combo, with Trump being offered plausible deniability and Ukraine breaking the START protocol big time.

Were Trump to have authorized these strikes, this would constitute no less than a declaration of war by the United States on Russia. So the most probable scenario remains Trump blindsided by the neo-cons embedded in privileged silos scattered across the Beltway.

As much as the attack on the Voronezh-M early warning radar system last May, an attack on Russia’s strategic bombers fits the scenario of increasingly prodding the Russian system to enable disabling it ahead of a nuclear first strike. Aspiring Dr. Strangeloves do entertain this scenario in their wildest dreams for decades.

As sources carefully confirmed, the prevailing interpretation among the high echelons of power in Russia is that of a P.R. operation forcing a harsh – possibly nuclear – Russian response, coupled with Moscow’s withdrawal from the Istanbul kabuki.

So far, the Russian reaction is quite methodical: total silence, a wide-ranging investigation, plus going through the motions in Istanbul.

Yet there’s no question the – inevitable – response will require Maximum Strategy. If the response is in tune with Russia’s own updated nuclear doctrine, Moscow risks losing the Global South’s nearly unanimous support.

If the response is lukewarm, domestic blowback will be massive. There’s a near universal consensus on “Release the Oreshniks”. Russian public opinion is becoming seriously fed up with being the target of serial terror attacks. The hour of fateful decision is getting late.

Which bring us to the ultimate dilemma. Russian power is mulling how to defeat the collective warmongering West without launching WWIII. Inspired by China, a solution may be found via an alliance of remixed Sun Tzu coupled with Lao Tzu. There’s got to be a way – or layered ways – to destroy a strategy-deprived nihilistic enemy’s ability and will to wage endless war.

The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

The post Waiting for the Oreshniks, While the Istanbul Kabuki Proceeds ‘Not Negatively’ appeared first on LewRockwell.

On Friday, President Donald Trump delivered a blistering attack on China accusing Beijing of breaking the terms of an agreement that was consummated just weeks earlier in Switzerland. Here’s what Trump posted on his Truth Social site on May 30, 2025:

Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, “civil unrest.” I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY! Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

Ignoring the fact that China is in no economic trouble at all (Note: China’s GDP grew by 5.4% in the first quarter of 2025 while Chinese exports soared by more than 12% in March 2025), there are a number of things wrong with Trump’s statement, the most obvious of which is that there is no formal treaty or binding contract between the Trump administration and China on the Tariffs issue. None. Trump even admitted as much on Truth Social on May 10 and 11, when he said, “much agreed to,” though he highlighted the need to “paper it” or formalize it in writing.

What happened is this: China generously offered to sign a joint statement following the confab in Geneva where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent barged-in on a pre-scheduled meeting between Chinese and Swiss officials (that had nothing to do with US trade policy) and offered to slash Trump’s gigantic tariffs (to 30%) in exchange for nothing. (Bessent was obviously panicking over extreme market volatility on Wall Street and capitulated on the spot.) China made no concessions. Bessent basically put on sackcloth and ashes and publicly debased himself in front of the world for nothing. The only thing that was mutually agreed upon was “to establish a US-China trade consultation mechanism”. In other words, they agree to talk to each other in the future. Big deal.

And now Trump is saying China “has totally violated its agreement with us”?

What agreement, and what ‘violation’ is Trump talking about? No one even knows what he means??

In fact, his comments were so opaque, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had to clarify what he meant later in the day. On Friday, in an appearance on CNBC, Greer said that while China had reduced some tariff rates as agreed, it had not fully removed certain non-tariff countermeasures implemented during the trade war.

“They removed the tariff like we did but some of the countermeasures they’ve slowed on,” he said.

WTF? “Non-tariff countermeasures”? So, this isn’t even about the tariffs??

Nope. In fact, non-tariff barriers could refer to any number of things from sovereign regulations limiting foreign investment to subsidies to state-owned businesses. Here’s one explanation from analyst Arnaud Bertrand:

“This is why Trump is angry, as per the WSJ… after the talks in Geneva the U.S. decided to adopt new rules banning the use of Huawei’s new AI chips “anywhere in the world” (which, insanely, includes China), which China said “seriously undermined consensus reached at the high-level bilateral talks in Geneva.”

In response China is slow-walking approvals for export licenses of rare earths, and US automakers are warning the White House that “auto plants may have to idle in pandemic-style stoppages” as a result.

The WSJ report should help readers to see what is really going on below the surface. On the one hand, we have Trump and Co. trying to convince their MAGA supporters that the ‘tariffs war’ is all about “bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US” and “re-industrializing America”, while on the other, we have Trump using the talks in Geneva as a way to thwart China’s technological development while extracting concessions on the export of rare earths.

Naturally, China has responded to Trump’s claim that they “totally violated their agreement with us.”(although you wouldn’t know it by reading the western media.) On Saturday, China’s embassy spokesperson, Liu Pengyu, said that China has maintained communications on trade matters with the US, but expressed concerns about U.S. policies, saying, “China once again urges the U.S. to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva.” This response highlights China’s position that the U.S. is engaging in “erroneous actions” and abusing export control measures, particularly in the semiconductor industry.

This is a very polite way of saying that China is not going to play Trump’s silly game. If the administration chooses to break WTO rules and unilaterally ban Huawei’s new AI chips “anywhere in the world”, then they can expect that China will retaliate. The US is not used to someone its own size, calling its bluff, but that is simply the new reality.

But we think there is more to these “non-tariff barriers” than meets the eye. We think Trump’s real target is something much more ambitious and lucrative. Check it out:

“They’ve agreed to open up China. … The biggest thing to me is the opening up. I think it would be fantastic for our businesses if we could go in and compete.” President Donald Trump, White House Press Conference, (on trade negotiations following talks in Geneva, May 12, 2025)

“Free up China and sell our product. Open China. But I’m not even sure I’m going to ask for it because they don’t want it open. But because of tariffs, I can possibly get that.” President Donald Trump, April 25, 2025

Does this sound like a man whose primary objective is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States or to reindustrialize the country?

No. This sounds like a man who wants to win the praise of his billionaire friends by providing access to the most behemoth mountain of surplus capital in the world today. China, the golden goose.

Keep in mind, Scott Bessent is a former hedge fund manager who was a partner at Soros Fund Management (SFM) and ….a leading member of the group that profited by $1 billion on Black Wednesday, the British Pound sterling crisis…..Bessent has advocated pushing for concessions from U.S. trading partners to restrict their economic relationships with China in order to isolate China and gain leverage over it in potential trade talks. (Wikipedia)

Trump and Bessent are a tag-team; they’re cut from the same cloth. They’re not interested in making America great again. They’re interested in accessing and liberalizing China’s financial markets, so the Wall Street banks can do to China what they have done to the United States, transform it into a poverty-stricken basket-case that is $35 trillion in debt and headed for Davey Jones locker. That is the overriding ambition of every financial parasite on Wall Street.

Bessent believes that China should remove restrictions on foreign financial institutions and allow U.S. banks to operate freely in its $18.6 trillion economy, particularly in banking, asset management, and securities. He thinks this would integrate China into global finance, reducing trade imbalances… (April 23, 2025, Institute of International Finance).

JPMorgan, StanChart Approved for Fully-Owned China Ventures. US financial firm can buy 49% stake in its joint venture; JPMorgan expands further

Bloomberg article summary: On January 19, 2023, Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan Chase & Co. gained full control of its China mutual fund joint venture, acquiring a 49% stake in China International Fund Management Co. from Shanghai International Trust Co., as approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). This move aligned JPMorgan with rival Manulife Financial Corp. in securing 100% ownership of a business in China’s 26 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) market. JPMorgan’s asset management arm, established in 2016, will be integrated under the JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) brand in China. Similarly, Standard Chartered received CSRC approval to set up a wholly-owned securities brokerage in China, with a registered capital of 1.05 billion yuan, offering services like underwriting and asset management. This follows China’s accelerated approvals for foreign firms, with Manulife and others gaining clearances in late 2022, boosting competition in the market (Grok)

Banks like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley seek greater market share in China’s $55 trillion financial sector (2024, including banking and securities). Currently, foreign banks hold only 1.3% of China’s banking assets ($59 trillion) and face caps on ownership….

Benefit: Opening markets would allow Wall Street to compete with Chinese banks, tapping into China’s $19-20 trillion household savings…

Wall Street banks—major U.S. financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup—play a significant but complex role in Bessent’s demands. They stand to benefit from China’s market opening, particularly in financial services and capital markets, but their involvement also raises concerns about financial extraction and geopolitical tensions…

(according to Bessent) China should relax capital controls, allowing freer flows of foreign investment and yuan convertibility, integrating its $3.1 trillion foreign exchange reserves and $12 trillion bond market into global finance. Bessent sees this as part of “restoring equilibrium” to global markets. (Note—China is being asked to trust its national savings with the crooks who blew up the financial system in 2008 costing the world over $50 trillion.)

Here’s the former Soro’s fund manager, Scott Bessent in his own words:

“Our goal is not to decouple from China, but to open markets and restore balance. We’ll continue trading with China, especially in non-strategic goods, and at lower tariff levels.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X, May 18, 2025

China’s market opening is a condition for de-escalating the trade war… Financial market access is a key U.S. demand in talks(Q3 2025 target, per Reuters). (Note—There it is in black and white; ‘Open up or the war continues.)

Check out these quotes from Trump’s statement delivered in the White House on May 12, and you’ll understand what’s going on:

On the Agreement and China’s Actions:

We achieved a total reset with China after productive talks in Geneva. China agreed to open itself up to American business. They’ve agreed to suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures they imposed on the United States since April 2, 2025. This is maybe the most important thing to come out of these high-level trade talks between the two superpowers in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend.

On the Importance of Opening Markets:

The best part of the deal was that we opened up China. China agreed to open itself up to American business. We have to get it papered, but they’ve agreed to open up China.

On the Process and Future Steps:

China deal ‘not the easiest thing to paper.’ We have to get it papered, but they’ve agreed to open up China. We achieved a total reset with China after productive talks in Geneva. I didn’t rule out raising tariffs on China again if a final agreement isn’t reached in 90 days

This is pure fiction. Yes, China has lifted some restrictions on foreign banks and liberalized parts of its financial system, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still exerts absolute control over China’s banking and finance sectors as well as the nation’s Central Bank which is led by the CCP. (“The PBOC sets monetary policy, interest rates, and reserve requirements, aligning financial policy with party goals like economic stability and growth.”)

There is no chance that China will follow the same path as the United States and put its future in the hands of the voracious miscreants who have taken everything of value and left the country drowning in red ink. Even so, there is reason for concern. As one Chinese analyst put it:

The most dangerous time for China is when the decline of the U.S. reaches terminal velocity & parasitic Western/Zionist billionaires look for a new host.

— 倪明达 (Ni Mingda) (@NiMingDa_888) November 15, 2023

Reprinted with permission from The Unz Review.

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