PUTIN BLAMES US FOR THE WORLD ECONOMIC WOES

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:35:09 GMT

Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has blamed the 'irresponsibility' of the US financial system for the global economic crisis.

Putin told a government meeting on Wednesday that the US inability to deal with the financial crisis has affected the world.

"Everything happening now in the economic and financial sphere began in the United States. This is a real crisis that all of us are facing," Putin said.

The Russian official did not blame the crisis on specific individuals but on the whole system.

"And what is really sad is that we see an inability to take appropriate decisions. This is no longer irresponsibility on the part of some individuals, but irresponsibility of the whole system, which as you know had pretensions to (global) leadership", Putin said.

Putin's remarks came after the US House of Representatives on Monday rejected a 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout plan allegedly directed at preventing the economy from slumping into deep recession.

The US financial crisis, which began after the housing market slumped precipitously, has sent a shockwave across the EU zone, bringing down a number of investment banks and forcing unprecedented takeovers across the continent.

According to AFP, the benchmark index of Russia's RTS stock market has fallen by more than 50 percent since May, a drop analysts say has in part been caused by the global credit crunch.

CHINA AND RUSSIA FORGE TOGETHER AND CLAIM "NEW WORLD ORDER"

On August 9, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao met at Yingtai, Zhongnanhai with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is here to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Putin congratulated China on the Beijing Olympic Games' spectacular and successful opening. In response, Hu thanked Russia for its support to China's preparations for the Games.

"China and Russia are forging ahead with the partnership of strategic cooperation toward their established goals, and the development of both countries is faced with opportunities and challenges at the same time," Hu said. The two countries should further enhance strategic cooperation in three aspects, Hu proposed. First, the two countries should continue to jointly promote global multipolarization and democracy in international relations, and establish a fair and reasonable international political and economic new order. Second, China and Russia should enhance political cooperation and cement multilateral cooperation. Third, the two countries should seek mutual benefits and a win-win outcome, and work together for common development.

Putin reaffirmed Russia's friendly policy toward China. At present, the Russia-China relationship is on a smooth track of development, as border demarcation has come to a successful end and the inter-governmental cooperation is being improved. "We are looking forward to the 13th regular prime minister meeting of the two countries and we will elevate the practical cooperation in various fields with China to a new height," Putin said.

Hu once again thanked Russia for its valuable support and selfless assistance to the Chinese people in the relief efforts following the devastating earthquake that jolted Sichuan Province in May. "The Russian assistance embodies the profound friendship of the Russian people toward the Chinese people, and indicates a high level of the China-Russia partnership of strategic cooperation," the Chinese president said. Some students from China's quake-hit areas have just finished their rehabilitation in Russia, Hu said. "Such an activity is of great significance to promoting Sino-Russian friendship."

Putin said he believes the Chinese government and people are fully capable of recovering from the earthquake disaster. "Our assistance reflects friendship and good neighborhood. It is something a good neighbor should do."

Ling Jihua, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee (CPCCC) and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, Wang Huning, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee (CPCCC) and Director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, and State Councilor Dai Bingguo attended the meeting.

RUSSIA MAKES MOVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST & ISRAEL

PUTIN STIRS THE WATERS

A POWERFUL NAVAL CONTINGENT led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov left Murmansk on the Barents Sea on August 18 2008 to dock at the Syrian port of Tartus on August 23 2008. The contingent included the Russian Navy’s biggest missile cruiser Moskva and at least four nuclear missile submarines.

At the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Syrian President Bashar Assad told reporters on August 21 2008 that the Tartus port will be converted into a permanent Middle East base for Russia’s nuclear-armed warships. He also said that he is considering a Russian request to deploy missiles in his country in view of Russian-Western tensions over the Georgian conflict which he said had polarized East and West anew.

Senior US officials severely criticized Syria after Assad voiced his country’s support of Russia in its military conflict with Georgia, saying that Syria should keep out of issues that don’t pertain to them.

But many Israelis expressed frustration with what they said amounted to the US abandoning Israel’s allies in Georgia owing to its impotence to face down Russia. And now, Putin is attempting to get the Zionist West to rethink the geopolitical dynamics surrounding the Middle East conflict between Israel and its neighbors, or more accurately, between Israel and the entire world.

And with Putin establishing a presence in what the US likes to consider its own backyard in the Middle East, the Israelis are themselves rethinking with whom they need to make friends with: A Russian bear? Or a US lame duck?

REINVENTING THE EVIL EMPIRE

8-25-8

For the West, everything changed but stayed the same, hard-wired and in place. Things just lay dormant in the shadows during the Yeltsin years, certain to reemerge once a more resolute Russian leader took over. If not Vladimir Putin, someone else little different. Russia is back, proud and reassertive, and not about to roll over for America. Especially in Eurasia. For Washington, it's back to the future, the new Cold War, and reinventing the Evil Empire, but this time for greater stakes and with much larger threats to world peace. Conservatives lost their influence. Neocons are weakened but still dominant. The Israeli Lobby and Christian Right drive them. Conflict is preferred over diplomacy, and most Democrats go along to look tough on "terrorism." Notably their standard-bearer, vying with McCain to be toughest. Ten former Warsaw Pact and Soviet Republics are part of NATO: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In addition, Georgia and Ukraine seek membership. Russia is strongly opposed. And now for greater reason after Poland (on August 20) formally agreed to allow offensive US "interceptor missiles" on its soil. A reported 96 short-range Patriot ones also plus a permanent garrison of US troops - 110 transfered from Germany, according to some accounts. Likely more to follow. In addition, Washington agreed to defend Poland whether or not it joins NATO, so that heightens tensions further. The Warsaw signing followed the Czech Republic's April willingness to install "advanced tracking missile defense radar" by 2012. In both instances, Russia strongly objected, and on August 20 said it will "react (and) not only through diplomatic protests." Both former Warsaw Pact countries are now targets. The threat of nuclear war is heightened. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock heads closer to midnight - meaning "catastrophic destruction." It's no joking matter. The US media downplays the threat and hails a pact Zbigniew Brzezinski (a Polish national, former Carter National Security Advisor, and key Obama foreign policy strategist) calls a watershed in the two countries' relationship - "This changes the strategic relationship between the US and Poland. There is a clear and explicit understanding that if there are negative consequences of stationing the missile shield, the US will come to Poland's defense." On the one hand, a surprising statement from a man critical of Bush administration policies, its failure in Iraq, and the dangers of a widened Middle East war. He fully understands the heightened potential for world conflict but sounds dismissive of the threat. On the other hand, he has bigger fish to fry and apparently willing to wage big stakes on winning. The Iraq war and Iran are distractions by his calculus. The real Great Game embraces all Eurasia and assuring America comes out dominant - not Russia, not China, nor any rival US alliance. The major media also downplay the dangers and explain nothing about the high stakes. Instead they beat up on Russia and highlight comments from Secretary Rice that missiles aren't "aimed in any way at Russia," or White House spokesperson Dana Perino saying: "In no way is the president's plan for missile defense aimed at Russia. (It's to) protect our European allies from any rogue threats" that suggests Iran, but, clearly means Russia, according to Hauke Ritz's recent analysis in Germany's influential Leaves for German and International Politics journal. He explained that Iran's missiles can't reach Europe, and that Washington rejected Russia's proposed Azerbaijan-based joint US-Russian anti-missile system - to intercept and destroy Iranian missiles on launch. He thus concluded that Washington's scheme is for offense, not defense. That it targets Russia, not Iran, with Alaskan and other installations close to Russia as further proof. He wrote: "The strategic significance of the system consists of intercepting those few dozen missiles Moscow (can launch) following a first strike. (It's) a crucial element....to develop a nuclear first strike capacity against Russia. The original plan is for....ten interceptor missiles in Poland. But once....established, their number could be easily increased." According to Ritz, Washington wants a missile system that "guarantee(s a) US (edge) to carry out nuclear war without (risking a) counter-strike." It can then be used for geopolitical advantage "to implement national interests," but it highlights the dangers of possible nuclear confrontation and the catastrophic fallout if it happens. In an August 20 Veterans of Foreign Wars convention address, Bush was essentially on this theme in focusing on "terrorism" and saying: "We're at war against determined enemies, and we must not rest until that war is won." Georgia "stands for freedom around the world, now the world must stand for freedom in Georgia" - clearly linking Russia's response with "terrorism" and suggesting from his September 2001 address to a joint session of Congress and the America people that: "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Any that are "will be regarded....as a hostile state." Clearly, Russia is on his mind just as Moscow is carefully evaluating his threat. The BBC echoed the US media, covers all the bases, mentioned the Iranian threat, singles out Russia, obfuscates facts about the conflict, sides with Washington and Poland on the new missile deal, and quoted Polish President Lech Kaczynski saying: "no one (with) good intentions towards us and (the West) should" fear the missiles. It also cited a miraculous turnaround in sentiment saying two-thirds of Poles now favor them. Astonishing since overwhelming opposition was recently evident, so it's hard imagining it shifted so fast. High-Octane Russia Bashing - The Dominant US Media The Wall Street Journal asserted that Poles "see the US as their strongest ally" given "two centuries of invasions and partitioning by Russia" and other European powers. It also highlighted Russia's "nuclear threat" (not Iran's) in a Gabriel Schoenfeld article painting Russia as an aggressor and America aiding its European allies. Schoenfeld (a senior editor of the hawkish, pro-Israeli Commentary magazine) cites "Moscow's willingness to crush Georgia with overwhelming force (and claims) the Kremlin has 10 times as many tactical (short-range) warheads as the US." The "shift in the nuclear imbalance....helped embolden the bear." He ignores America's overall nuclear superiority, but it hardly matters as both countries combined have around 97% of these weapons (an estimated 27,000 world total) according to experts like Helen Caldicott - more than enough to destroy the planet many times over. Nonetheless, Schoenfeld supports the Polish agreement in the face of a "pugnacious Russia (determined to acquire) economic and military power (and) not afraid to use threats and force to get (its) way (with) nuclear weapons central to the Russian geopolitical calculus." It's reminiscent of "the dark days of communist yore (and captures the threat of what) we and Russia's neighbors are up against." For the moment, anti-Iranian rhetoric has subsided with Russia the new dominant villian. En route to the NATO Brussels August 18 meeting, Secretary Rice called Russia's action against Georgia a "very dangerous game and perhaps one the Russians want to reconsider." Russian "aggression" is the buzzword, and the media dutifully trumpet it. So do the presidential candidates. John McCain was especially belligerent in denouncing "Russian aggression" and calling on Moscow to "immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory." He called for emergency Security Council and NATO meetings in hopes condemnation would follow and "NATO (can act) to stabiliz(e) this very dangerous situation." He also wants Russia expelled from the G-8 nations and an end to 10 years of partnership and cooperation. Barak Obama first said that Russia's "aggression" must not stand and denounced "Russian atrocities." He then softened his tone somewhat with: "Now is the time for action - not just words....Russia must halt its violation of Georgian airspace and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia, with international monitors to verify that these obligations are met." But expect those comments to harden as Democrats meet in Denver, and the party's nominee will likely match his opponent's tough stance. Or at least try under a slogan of "Securing America's Future" to advance the nation's interests in the world. Beating up on Russia is now fair game and made easier with lockstep media support. The Wall Street Journal is more hostile than most, and practically frothed in its August 16 - 17 weekend edition. It called for "Making Putin Pay (and) Turning Russia's Georgian rout into a political defeat." It cited Russian aggression "to remove President Saakasvili from the office to which he was elected in 2004 (and to) overthrow a democratic government." It called on "western authorities (to) explore the vulnerability of Russian assets abroad (or) at least make life difficult for the holders of those assets." The Journal might remember the billions of US fixed income and other investments Russia holds - although the country's Central Bank reported late July that it pared its $100 billion in US "mortgage bonds" to $50 billion early in the year. The US Treasury reports that Russia holds around $36 billion of Treasury securities with considerably more in private hands. The Journal then compared Russia to China and managed a slap at both. It said: "In the world of global commerce....China calculated that....staging an Olympic extravaganza (could enhance its) ambivalent reputation....By contrast, the Putin government....seems to believe its power grows in sync with its reputation as an international pariah, an outsider state," and George Bush added that "Russia has damaged its credibility and its relations with the nations of the free world" - with the Journal writer hardly blinking at such brazen hypocrisy. Nor did Journal editorial board member Matthew Kaminski in his headlined piece: "Russia Is Still a Hungry Empire" without a hint about the Soviet Union's bloodless 1991 dissolution now down the memory hole in light of today's inflammatory headlines. Kaminski highlights "Russian tanks rolling through Georgia (with) images of Chechnya in 1994 and '99, Vilnius '91, Afghanistan '79, Prague '68, Hungary '56" and before that Poland, the Baltics and other Eastern European states. "The war in Georgia marks an easy return to territorial expansion and attempted regional dominance." Boris Yeltsin "tried to give Russians an alternative narrative. (He) put forward democracy as a unifying and legitimizing idea for the new Russian state." But that was swept away when "Putin took over." He's unresponsive to the idea of "partnership with the West and freedom at home." He aims to force "young democracies around Russia....back into Moscow's sphere of influence....The worldview of a Russian nationalist is hard for outsiders to comprehend," and for Kaminski one that mustn't be allowed to stand. Nor for other Journal contributors daily (in op-eds and editorials) with some of the most outlandish attack journalism heard since before Gorbachev. Claims that "Kremlin capitalism is a threat to the West....by using its market strength in oil and gas resources to strong-arm its neighbors and outmaneuver the US and EU." And that Russia's real aim "is to replace a pro-western government with a new Russian satellite....reminiscent of the Brezhnev doctrine. (It's) part of a broader campaign (to annex new territory, expand the Russian empire, conduct) cyber attacks against the Baltic states, (assassinate enemies, and use) economic intimidation (through) cutoffs of Russian oil and gas shipments to Ukraine and the Czech Republic....It is important that Moscow pays a concrete and tangible price for its latest aggression, at least comparable to (what) it paid for the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan." The New York Times is more measured but, on August 19, highlighted "Survivors in Georgia Tell of Ethnic Killings" with suggestions of "ethnic cleansing" - a practice that "haunted the borderlands of the old Soviet bloc." Villages were "burned and houses broken; unburied bodies lay rotting; fresh graves were dug in gardens and basements....most victims interviewed (were) ethnic Georgians....(In central Georgian) villages, some killings were carried out for revenge....some (involved) theft (and still others) seemed to be that the power balance was shifting, away from ethnic Georgians to the Ossetian separatists and their Russian backers." Independent reporters on the ground contradicted The Times and similar US media accounts. One wrote: "Georgians living in several of the villages said the Russians occupying their land had treated them well, done nothing to encourage them to leave and offered the only protection available from the South Ossestian militias they feared most" and perhaps their own army in an effort to inflict harm and blame it on Russia. On August 21, The Times headlined: "US Sees Much to Fear in a Hostile Russia (by) usher(ing) in a sustained period of renewed animosity with the West....problems extend(ing) far beyond (arms deals with) Syria and the mountains of Georgia." Others with "anti-American states like Iran and Venezuela." Pressuring US "military bases in Central Asia....counterterrorism, Hamas" and numerous other issues. Obama's chief Russia advisor, Stanford University professor Michael McFaul, was quoted saying Russia appears intent on "disrupt(ing) the international order" and can do it. They're "the hegemon in that region and we are not and that's a fact." "Russia has all the leverage," according to Carnegie Moscow Center's Masha Lipman (with) potential for causing headaches" if it chooses - in the region, the UN, on Iran, Zimbabwe, and to halt "any kind of coercive actions, like economic sanctions or anything else," according to former National Security Council advisor Peter Feaver. An old post-Cold War concern is now arisen. Russia is now "a spoiler." An August 21 AP report cites an example in its headlined piece" "Russia blocks Georgia's main (oil) port city" of Poti and continues to hold positions around Gori and Igoeti....30 miles west of....Tbilisi." Reports from Other Sources On August 21, Russia Today reported that "Abkhazia rallie(d) for independence (and) the Abkhazian Parliament has approved an official appeal to Russia to recognize its independence." Tens of thousands rallied in support, and on August 23, Reuters reported that South Ossetia did as well and its president, Eduard Kokoity, plans to ask Russia and the international community for recognition. Russia's Deputy Federation Council Speaker, Svetlana Orlova, told the rally that "Russia is always with you and will never leave you in the lurch." On August 23, The New York Times reported that "the Kremlin is nearing formal recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, possibly as early as next week." Apparently likely according to Russian Regional Development Minister, Dmitry Kozak, who told Itar-Tass "support is likely (and) that after all the events that have occurred, one should not expect otherwise." On August 21, Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh "appealed to Russia and to governments of other countries to recognize Abkhazia's independence," for both his province and South Ossetia. On August 20, Interfax reported that the Russian Federation Council (Russia's upper House of parliament) is prepared to recognize both provinces' independence if their people "express such a will....and if the Russian president makes a relevant decision on this score," according to Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov. On August 25, Russia Today reported that (in emergency session) the Federation Council unanimously voted to ask President Medvedev to recognize Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence. Both province presidents addressed the chamber and "again said they will never agree to remain within Georgia" and are more entitled to independence than Kosovo. Konstantin Zatulin, deputy head of the Duma Committee for International Affairs in Russia's State Duma, its lower chamber, stated that his body "most probably" will go along. At the same time, tensions remain high. Both sides continue hostile accusations. Russia maintains it's conducting an orderly withdrawal "in accordance with the international agreements (to their) previous (places) of deployment," according to Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia's General Staff. US military officials at first said they saw no significant pullback. On August 22 with a clear withdrawal underway, the International Herald Tribune reported that the "US and France say Russia is not complying" with the cease fire. Russia is observing a 1999 joint Russian-S. Ossetian-N. Ossetian-Georgian agreement prepared by the Joint Control Commission, an international South Ossetian monitoring body. It lets Russian troops secure a corridor five miles beyond either side of South Ossetia's border that extends into Georgia. It also allows Russian peacekeepers to operate under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On August 23, RIA Novosti reported that Nogovitsyn said Russian forces will patrol Georgia's Black Sea Poti port as "envisaged in the international agreement. Poti is outside of the security zone," he said, "but that does not mean we will sit behind a fence watching them riding around in Hummers." Nor allow Georgia to rearm for more aggression as Russia suspects, and that Georgia's deputy defense minister, Batu Kutelia, admitted doing initially. On August 22, he told the Financial Times that his government attacked the S. Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, and attempted to seize it. On August 22, Nogovitsyn heightened tensions by claiming Georgia is now preparing for new military action against Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "We have registered an increase in (Georgian) reconnaissance activities and preparations for armed actions in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone." As a result, he said that Russia reserves the right to maintain peacekeepers in both provinces. For its part, RIA Novosti reports that America now refuses to participate with Russia in "NATO's Operation Active Endeavour naval antiterrorism exercise," according to a Russian Black Sea Fleet source. The announcement came after Russia's NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, said his country was "temporarily suspending military cooperation with NATO until a political decision on relations" between the two nations had been resolved. Also on August 22, the Israeli Ynetnews.com published a Russian daily Kommersant interview with Washington's new Moscow ambassador, John Beyrle, sure to embarrass his superiors. He called Russia's response justified after its troops came under attack. "Now we see Russian forces which responded to attacks on Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, legitimately...." He went on to criticize Russia's over-reaction and warned about its impact on US - Russia relations as well as investor confidence. Nonetheless, his first comment is telling and quite contrary to everything from Washington and biting anti-Russian media responses. Finally on August 23, Russia Today reported that the "local (S. Ossetian and Abkhazian) population (said) they fear Georgia might repeat its regional aggression. They also (want) Russian troops to stay in the area to shield them from any possible attacks." Russia has set up 18 S. Ossetia peacekeeping posts and plans a similar number in Abkhazia "to deter looters and the transportation of arms and ammunition." All the News Not Fit to Print Not a major media hint that Georgia is a US vassal state. That its military is an extension of the Pentagon. That its aggression was manufactured in Washington. That it's well-supplied and trained by America and Israel. That pipeline geopolitics is central. Beating up on Russia as well. Diverting Moscow from any planned intervention against Iran. Even enlisting Russia's cooperation - not to sell Iran sophisticated S-300 air defense missile systems and agreeing to tougher sanctions in return for perhaps Washington deferring on Georgian and Ukrainian NATO admission and recognizing S. Ossetian and Abkhazian independence. Perhaps more as well to put off greater confrontation for later under a new administration. Clearly, however, the fuse is lit. It has been for some time. It relates to everything strategic about this vital area with its immense energy and other resources as well neutralizing Russia's power as America's top rival and key Eurasian competitor. Controlling the region's oil and gas is crucial and what Michel Chossudovsky explains in his August 22 article titled: "The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline Geopolitics and the New Cold War." He calls the Caucasus crisis "intimately related to the control over energy pipeline and transportation corridors (and cites) evidence that the Georgian (August 7) attack....was carefully planned (in) High level consultations (between) US and NATO officials" months in advance. On August 23, RIA Novosti said a Russian security source accused Georgia of involvement a year ago in "coordinat(ion) with NATO's plans to strengthen its (Black Sea) naval presence." Chossudovsky discusses America's (1999) "Silk Road Strategy: The Trans-Eurasian Security System (as) an essential building block of (post-Cold War) US foreign policy." Proposed in House legislation but never enacted, it was for "an energy and transport corridor network linking Western Europe to Central Asia and eventually to the Far East." It aims to integrate South Caucasus and Central Asian nations "into the US sphere of influence." It involves "militariz(ing) the Eurasian corridor," much like Security and Prosperity Partnership plans are for North America. Efforts are largely directed against Russia, China and Iran as well as other Eastern-allied states. It's to turn all Eurasia into a "free market" paradise, secure it for capital, assure US dominance, control its resources, exploit its people, transform all its nations into American vassals, and likely aim to dismantle Russia's huge landmass if that idea ever comes to fruition. Russia, however, isn't standing idle and is partnered in two strategic alliances: -- the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) since June 2001 along with China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan with Iran in observer status. It defines its goals as: "good neighborly relations;" promoting "effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, science and technology" and more as well as "ensur(ing) peace, security and stability in the region." Given NATO's potential threat, its main purpose is military; and -- the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) since 2003 "in close liaison with the SCO" with a heavy emphasis on security against NATO Eurasian expansionism; its members include: Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The stakes are huge as both sides prepare to confront them. All part of the new Cold War and Great Game. Reinventing the Evil Empire and beating up on Russia as part of it. Risking a potential nuclear confrontation as well and what a new US president will inherit with no assurance a Democrat will be any more able than a Republican. And with a global economic crisis unresolved, either one may resort to the age old strategy of stoking fear, going to war, hoping it will stimulate the economy, and be able to divert public concerns away from lost jobs, home foreclosures, and a whole array of other unaddressed issues. In early 2003, it worked. Will 2009 be a repeat? Will it deepen what author Kevin Phillips calls "the global crisis of American capitalism?" Will the Doomsday Clock strike midnight? It moved two minutes closer on January 17, 2007 to five minutes to the hour. It cited 27,000 nuclear weapons, 2000 ready to launch in minutes. It said: "We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since....Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices." It said the situation is "dire." It called for immediate preventive action. Its message went unheeded, and conditions today have worsened. The high Eurasian stakes up things further, and neither side so far is blinking. Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

POSTGAME SHOW -RUSSIA VS GEORGIA

By Karl Schwarz

8-19-8

Have you ever heard this one? "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." If this Georgia fiasco were an Olympic hockey game, Russia went through Georgia like crap through a goose. The Russians are putting their tanks and armored vehicles anywhere the Bear wants to drive or park them. Scenes in Georgia from BBC are showing the Georgian police establishing roadblocks only to see Russian armor rolling right through them and going where they want to. Whoever covers the insurance for the Georgian police force vehicles has a major insurance claim forthcoming. Cause of claim: collision with Russian tank. 'The Mick' Saakashvili was so nervous watching the game he was actually chewing on his tie. Unfortunately for the City Of London Bankers NWO, the US and Zionist Israel both just got their clocks cleaned, 50-0. That Gold looks great on the Bear's brown chest. Team Russia is now just gliding around on the ice waiting to see if anyone else wants to get slammed to death into the rink wall. As I predicted, the Bear has its paw squarely on the chest of Georgia and will only move on when he is damned well ready to. Which may be a long, long time. Seems the Russians also just found a US arms cache in Georgia - or intercepted an attempt by the US to smuggle arms into Georgia wrapped up as 'humanitarian aid.' The Post Game Show and analysis of the game is getting uglier by the day. I never cared much for Lyndon Johnson as a president, but he did come up with many colorful quotes that described our nation and its leaders well. His comment about Jerry Ford can well be applied to Bush and his entire team of nitwits: "Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time." Here is a Democratic president commenting on someone who turned out to be a Republican president - and was exactly what Lyndon said he was. The Bush Administration has that same problem. They devised a scheme in Georgia and DC to 'resolve the territorial disputes' so NATO could say 'YES' to membership for Georgia. What happened? Well, Georgia took the opening puck but a bone-crushing body block delivered by the Russian defense shook the LED scoreboard into a blur. The hockey game was so one-sided, Saakashvili was reduced to babbling and literally chewing on his tie while the BushCo Poodle's 2 cell brain got stuck and kept arfing the same recorded message over and over again. Maybe the little yapper was stunned almost speechless watching Russian Shock & Awe for the first time in her Affirmative Action life. The UN Security Council, NATO and EU leaders are groping and trying to find a way to call a 'personal foul' on Russia but the evidence grows by the hour that the guilty players were from Georgia, Ukraine, Israel and the US. The OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) voted yesterday in Vienna. The answer was NO to providing security forces or monitors to resolve this dispute. Said another way, the OSCE does not view Georgia as an EU member or NATO member, and it is on its own for inflicting war crimes on Russian Orthodox Christians in South Ossetia. That vote definitely did not go as Bush, Rice and the Zionist New World Order wanted it to go. You can depend that yesterday's OSCE vote was a major blow to EU and NATO membership for poor little Muslim and Zionist-controlled Georgia. Arf-Arf says: "We will rebuild Georgia!" Great, the US Treasury will borrow tens or hundreds of billions more non-existent money from the Fed, and Bush Buddies will get all sorts of no-bid contracts and billions more will disappear just like Iraq. You can bet that neither Russia nor China will be buying any of that US debt to 'rebuild' Georgia. Have you noticed Arf-Arf has not said a word since last Friday about "Russia must remove its troops from Georgia now!" Well, Arf-Arf is sort of distracted right now because Russia has responded to the bogus Bush Missile Shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and she is having to dart and dash to hand-wringing conferences so fast her little Black Poodle heels are smoking. Russia: "Poland is now a target for nuclear strike." Of course, that will include the Czech Republic if anyone wishes to test Russian resolve. Over in Germany Angela Merkel-Ferkel is jumping up and down screaming and her hair is on fire. Meanwhile, Little Nicky Sarko, like Arf-Arf, also became very quiet after he 'brokered the cease-fire.' It's become more than apparent to all of these clowns that the Bear is aiming to knock the Zionist New World Order flat on its ass. Have you noticed that there has not been a single word from Gordon Brown? Most likely, this is because the UK and US economies are both going into the trash can, thanks to BushCo, and the Brits decided they didn't want to go wreck Georgia with Junior...and then get to foot the bill for 'nation building.' Russia: "Russia has the same right to pre-emptive strikes as the US claims for itself." I bet BushCo didn't see that one coming...since they actually think they are the world's only Superpower. Oops! You can bet Gordon Brown and Queen Elizabeth are having a tête-à-tête on that recent revelation. Bush just crapped another diaper and if there is to be any 'pre-emptive strike' it will include Buckingham Palace and the Zionist Banksters in the City of London. Russia: "Long-range strategic nuclear bombers will now be refueling in Cuba." Hmm, Poland is the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse. And just like in 1962, the US started it. Do your research and you'll find that the US put nuclear-tipped Jupiter C missiles in Turkey and the Russians responded by shipping missiles to Cuba. Action...reaction. Venezuela: "Russian navy is welcome in our country." Pakistan: "Musharraf resigns to avoid impeachment." Afghanistan: "Taliban now control most of Afghanistan." Russia: "Russia will put nuclear missiles in the Mediterranean and Syria." Oops, the Little Black Poodle has to scramble faster still because the bogus Bush Missile Shield is not in position to do anything about Russian nukes in the Mediterranean. Trust me; Italy and Spain are livid at BushCo for this stupidity. Zionist Israel is about to shit Kosher bricks because any Russian nuclear missiles in Syria will mean for the first time that Israel will not be able to exert nuclear terrorism on its neighbors - or on the US - to get its way in the Middle East. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU, RUSSIA! I knew it, Zionist Israel does not have to worry at all about Iranian nukes. Now they will have to worry about Russian nukes in Syria. Seems the US has been playing on the wrong Grand Chessboard. That move by Russia is called CHECKMATE on Zionist Israel. Russia: "Russian passports for Ukrainians in the Crimea are now available." Most Ukrainians want out of Ukraine. They are not enamored with their Zionist-controlled government, crappy economy and living under incredible financial stresses. They have noticed that things are much better in Russia now and I hear passports are going fast, long lines. The Ukrainians have had it with the George Soros-George Bush Zionist Show in Ukraine. It did not take the Ukrainians long to figure out that their Orange Revolution was really more like A Clockwork Orange. Of course, Yuchenko did not help matters when he told Russia where it could and could not park its Black Sea fleet, or that Ukraine Zionists participated in the Georgia fiasco and have been stirring up trouble along the Ukraine-Russia border as well. Since Russia has been paying the Ukraine pensions ever since the USSR disbanded in 1991, many Ukrainians are now wondering if their pensions would be safer holding a Russian passport rather than Ukraine passport. The correct answer is, definitely, yes. I bet the US and EU did not see that one coming either. Maybe this loss for George Soros will prompt him to 'kick off' and we won't have to worry about his sleaze any more. Russia has had enough of Russia-hating Soros, and so have I. Has Russia pulled back in Georgia? Well, sort of. The Russians know they can't trust the Georgian Muslim­Zionist Jew puppet government in Tbilisi. That's a given. Russia also knows it cannot trust the US or the Zionist zhids. What the Bear is doing is creating a DMZ a right and proper buffer zone on all three sides of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to better insulate and protect the borders of those two breakaway regions. And to be sure, the zhids get the picture clearly... Medvedev: "Cross us and we will crush you." Translation to Georgia: NEVER AGAIN! Folks, the blowback to BushCo stupidity is obvious to anyone still above room temperature. Russia has made it clear that the bullshit stops or things will get hotter than Americans can imagine... Karl

SEE ALSO: RUSSIA PLAYS CHESS,AMERICA PLAYS MONOPOLY

THE EMPIRE HAS FALLEN-THE RISE OF THE EAST(CHINA & RUSSIA)

As the bad news unfolds in the Caspian Basin that the US is being 'shut out' of its delusional Grand Chessboard scheme, there are other forest fires, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes erupting in the US and UK that may well spell the doom of BushCo and the Imbecile Great Decider at the helm. He is now expendable and vulnerable to both impeachment and possible war crimes charges. Pay attention to how expendable 'Gorgon' Brown suddenly has become. Bush is next as should be most of those in DC.

The Russians are often brilliant strategists, and never, even for a moment underestimate, them.

Some time around 2000, there was an "investment club" created. It was somewhere around $20 to $22 billion dollars and was promoted by a lot of high profile names mentioned often in this 9-11 / Caspian Basin fiasco, and some not mentioned at all. Names like George H W Bush, Tricky Dick Cheney, Nicholas Brady, John Sununu and others. All of their names surfaced in our investigation of what was going on in the Caspian Basin. They had all purchased front row seats to get at those trillions, and trillions and trillions of dollars in Caspian oil and gas.


Of course, that is the same John Sununu that had to resign from the Reagan Administration. Not sure what the connection was but the day he resigned Pan Am filed for bankruptcy. They must have seen trouble coming in losing their 'best customer.' Then there is the same Nicholas Brady of the GHWB Administration, the Brady Bonds fiasco and board member of Amerada Hess. The 9-11 Commission Chairman, Thomas Keane, is chairman of Amerada Hess and major shareholder, so, yes, he probably would have ignored the 'truth' for a board member involved in this Caspian Basin Investment Club.

There is a very real possibility that this 'investment club' was involved in getting 9-11 done, and it is also a possibility that they are about take a major hit due to Junior losing the Caspian Basin. I frankly hope they take a mega-billion dollar red ink shower and lose it all.

I hope they enjoy their front row seat for the aria, as the Fat Lady begins to sing, and that they lose those billions of still more stupidity of what they thought they could pull off and rip-off via the Caspian Basin.

The days of oil are numbered except for petrochemicals, the days of natural gas run as long as the Earth produces natural gas as a natural process of our planet. It is very apparent that Russia has now emerged as the dominant global giant in natural gas. What they control and how they will use that if pushed the wrong way could cause a meltdown in many parts of the world. The EU is paying attention and it is past time the US did, too.

The day is coming fast that automobiles will be powered by hydrogen and water, not oil and gasoline. I cannot foresee a time in the future that natural gas will NOT be the KEY energy issue, and Russia has already won that war, hands down. If this were a hockey game it would be Russia 50, US 0. If it were a basketball game it would be Russia 100, US 0. If it were a tennis match it would be Russia 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

We lost, that's the proverbial bottom line. Game, set and match. It is over. Finis.

The next generation of and for mankind is nanotechnology, and it will be powered by natural gas, not oil. My company scientists are experts in that matter. Russia has just taken the lead on the NOW and the FUTURE, and has left the US behind, wallowing in its Oil-on-the-Brain mindset.

My sources in Houston inform that Big Oil is realizing fast that the BushCo brain-damaged fraud of its 'Global War on Terror' has blown up in its face like a nuclear bomb. To that extent, Big Oil is no longer heeding Daddy Bush's calls to go help Junior with his dirty diapers.

Why it took them so long to recognize 'catastrophe' is incredible. Maybe it is due to their blinding, delusional blizzard of '$$$' they were dreaming of making from the Caspian Basin, like sugar plums dancing in their heads. Maybe it is because the wealthy can afford to not pay attention to the realities right in front of their noses. I have suspected for a long time that many of the Wealthy Elite in the US are running on either 'lobotomy mode' or autopilot in 'stuck-on-stupid' gear.

There is indeed a 'core group' of Big Oil tycoons in Texas who have been called upon over the years to provide 'opportunities' for Junior, so the moron will have something to do other than be 'unemployed.' They have always received '911 emergency' phone calls from Daddy that dirty diaper duty is a must. One of those major Houston 'players' and I have spoken often. My friend is astounded at the lack of perception of the Houston andWashington power players and how it took them so long to figure out what 'stupid' looks like.

As he said to me once, "Hey, I know stupid shit when I see it." He does, indeed, and his comment was about Junior's cabal's likelihood of success stealing the Caspian Basin. That comment was made in 2002.

Such a call to duty is even a requirement of not being put on the 'Bush Shit List.' Frankly, I think it's about the Best list in the world to be on these days. I have been thrown out of better clubs than BushCo and damned proud that 'smudge' is not on my resume.

This diaper is so dirty, so putrid, people have decided they have better things to do with their time and money. They invested heavily in this Grand Chessboard scheme and now it is every man for himself to see how much they can limit the damage and control their losses. My bet is there are not enough lifejackets on the USS Bush Titanic for all to survive and some have reached that pregnant "moment of truth' stage. Cut the losses with BushCo or sink with them.

The Great Decider Bush and Daddy Bush are probably already making plans to push more than a few overboard from the USS Bush Titanic just to save their pathetic Presidential 'legacies.' They have already made a 'Bush Shit List' and it grows daily due to people turning and walking away in disgust.

There are three American Presidential legacies that should be stricken from every book, every building and aircraft carrier and every other place of 'honor'...and they are those of George H W Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. We could not combine the best from these three deceitful, traitorous, treasonous, genocidal morons and come up with a single decent American President.

America, face up to this simple reality: The Bush Family has raped, ravaged and thrown you into the trash heap. They screw up everything they touch with their lie-based schemes, and their treasonous sales of our best technology to our enemies and 'friends' has tossed away decades of the best R&D any nation ever achieved. Get over the reality of the matter and figure out how you are going to survive the Sinking of America. If you do not have a lifejacket, you had better find one...and fast.

There is a very real possibility that major oil companies and major billionaire Bush Buddies are about to take a bath to the point that even the money and power landscape of America will change significantly. Yeah, some of the Wealthy Elite are way, way past angry and fed-up with the Bush Show. They are going to get hosed by this stupid strategic plan and so is the rest of America. We may soon see some down on their luck billionaires due to collective Bush Stupidity.

It is one thing to 'crap' on the presidency and the Oval Office as Clinton did, but it is quite another matter to decimate/annihilate Iraq and Afghanistan (and slaughter a couple million human beings), and to dump on Russia and China, bungle the entire Caspian Basin scheme, stab America in the back and essentially blow the entire game in spades. Only George W Bush could pull of that hat trick. Even if we had Mr. MaGoo and Elmer Fudd as president and vice president, more accomplishments would have been realized since the 2000 'elections.'

These two morons, Bush & Cheney - and their Zionist NeoCon parasites and pathological killers - are a hideous, evil plague on the planet by ANY measure. Remember, I am a Conservative Republican and I know what of I speak.

In my opinion, Bush has blown more opportunities than any President in my lifetime due to his arrogance and self-inflicted ignorance.

I told one of my readers that what is happening right now is the equivalent of being hit in the head with a (Russian) Nolan Ryan fastball, and then the umpire takes the bat and hits the batter in the head again for being too stupid to see it coming and too stupid to duck. The analogy is simply that BushCo has been knocked out, lights out, and Americans are beyond stupid if they do not wake up and look at the realities of the situation.

I know many Americans who feel that way (hit in the head by a fastball) and are stunned at what they are witnessing. This is indeed a Major National Embarrassment and it is the folks in DC, the Fed, Wall Street and corporate America who are to blame. Stay focused on that. It is not your idiot next door neighbor who thinks Bush is "hot" or the one across the street who thinks the only 'truth' in America drivels from the mouths of O'Reilly and Limbaugh. The real problem is in Washington, DC and the lunatic policies these power-drunk morons keep pushing.

They all are lying to you, folks, so get it straight in your head. Those 'leaders' in Washington, DC are LIARS. When their lips are moving be very wary, be afraid of what they are *really* saying. Very afraid.

These events also raise serious questions about the sanity of the Barky Obama Black Bush strategery of 'refocusing' on Afghanistan (to try to get that pipeline deal finally done.) I can think of no reason whatsoever to spend even one second or $1 to save the reputation of Zbigniew Brzezinski and his lunatic vision for the world. The man is an idiot and Russia just proved it by pushing the US out of the Caspian Basin in one fell swoop with a contract and a pen. Seriously, his idea was dim and dumb in 1979 and it is still so in 2008. As we now know, it is dead meat lying at the bottom of the sea. Get over it and come up with a better plan.

And for the love of God, we must not allow the squander of the life of even one more American soldier on this Grand Lie.

I can bet there are plenty of 'CYA' handwringing strategy sessions going on over at Obamanation HQ and BushCo about how they are going to try to explain away this colossal failure to America. I still have yet to see that McCain has a clue as to what is unraveling right before his eyes.

Seriously, there is FUBAR, and then there is "W FUBAR" which makes the original military term mild in comparison.

Russia just made it clear to McCain: "We can afford to cut off relations with any of our partners if that's what they want. We're not interested in what [John] McCain has to say. Let him become president first, then we'll listen to him," a senior Russian diplomat told reporters on Tuesday, according to AFP.

That was in response to all of the John McGoo 'tough talk' about how he is going to reign in Russia, 'correct their attitude' and get the BushCo plan back on track.

Hint - cut a deal with IRAN or pack your bags in the entire Centcom area of the Middle East and Central Asia. You Bush sycophants are stinking up the world stage with your incompetence.

Another dynamic is the call for 'Gorgon' Brown to resign. Just like Tony Blair, his oratory, bullshit and pontificating is just making the hole deeper. Of concern there is that the Rothschild family is apparently pushing either Zionist Jack Straw or Zionist David Miliband to replace Brown so they can try to get their greed-lust game plan back on the track. Folks, it is not happening and it is not going to happen.

The Zionist Rothschild family is going to have to come to grips with the fact that they are not going to survive this completely intact. One of their heirs and author of "Global Warming Survival Handbook", David de Rothschild, was quoted saying that 'Jupiter and Saturn are closer to the Sun than Earth', so that is why his theory of Global Warming was valid. Yeah, well, money can't buy a brain.

I know, Forrest, stupid is as stupid does. Nothing is quite so revealing as inbreeding.

Well, the train wreck is total and getting it back on the rails might well take a generation. They just don't want Americans to figure that out yet and rise up and cast out their handpicked morons from power in the United States. That would be their worst nightmare come true...an awakened America that will not play along any more with these stupid schemes.

America, take a hint. Learn the joy of saying NO. We can stop this insanity so fast Washington, DC would need a chiropractor due to whiplash.

In a non-tearjerker moment, Ehud Olmert announced July 30 that he is stepping down...so there will be regime change in Israel, too. That one is more problematic because Olmert was pushing for peace with the Palestinians and the powers-that-be do not wish for that to happen. They want war, so the Musical 'War' Chairs game is now being played out in the US, UK and Tel Aviv to get the War Plan back on track.

Bush wants a 'peace deal' by the end of his term between Israel and the Palestinians. Well, as of Olmert's announcement that is not happening either.

This is yet another example of 'brain flatulence' that will backfire in their faces because Iran will not budge and neither China nor Russia are going to let anyone control their economies. Russia could cut the natural gas and oil off to EU and put the entire EU economy on its knees in a matter of hours...just turn off a few master valves, and the party's over. Talk about NUKE capability and there's not a damned thing the bogus Bush Missile Shield can do about that.

Russia is now more powerful than ever, and so is China. They (theUS, UK and Israel) seem to be forgetting that in the grand scheme they have created the perfect storm that can end their rule. They forgot that they are no longer in charge and in no position to dictate terms to any nation, especially to China or Russia.

Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev have proven to be chess masters of the first order and our Imbecile Great Decider can't even play a game of checkers without lying, cheating or screwing it up.

Hello, they cannot handle Afghanistan or Iraq. Any American who thinks they can handle China or Russia does not have enough brain cells firing at the same time to find a light switch. They also cannot handle America if we all stand up in unison and say 'NO!'

If you have been paying attention, the Russian-UK oil partnership of TNK-BP is imploding. The people at BP recently announced that they had recalled the remaining 60 employees from Russia and powerful forces inside of Russia are forcing out the British CEO of TNK-BP. This all coincided with the recent announcement that TNK-BP was one of the three Russian oil and gas giants that were granted full access to develop Venezuela's vast oil reserves...perhaps as much as 4 trillion barrels. My bet is BP has not been invited along for the party in Venezuela.

This was in part predictable since the UK is harboring wanted fugitive Boris Berezovsky. Mr. Berezovsky was the former Yeltsin man and liaison to those same Caspian Basin nations that BushCo and the UK allies so desperately wanted to take over and control. They lost, now they are scrambling to turn their loss into a victory without America figuring out that the official clock reads '00:00' left in the game.

Simple rule when a 'team' of schemers and liars cannot get a deal done after 30 years of lying and scheming, it is time for both a new plan and a new team. This has now turned out to be 'a swing and a miss' for three long, agonizing decades.

Of course, it did not help matters when Alexander Litvinenko was murdered on British soil and the UK pointed the finger of blame at Putin. That was a stupid move on the part of the Brits, but like Bush, they specialize in stupid moves over in London. That ranked right up there with our Black Poodle Condi Rice jetting all over the world to do 'arf-arf photo ops' and then scurrying around to piss on the feet of the Russian Bear.

Matters inside of TNK-BP started coming unraveled when the UK continued its protection of their CIA-MI6 Zionist ex-oligarch Berezovsky and would not extradite him to Russia to face charges for crimes against Mother Russia. It was Berezovsky who tried to sell out the Caspian Basin to the US and UK and the entire Caspian Basin despises this Zionist Jew traitor.

One of the little known facts about how Big Oil is positioned in this global game is that Conoco owns 35% of LUKOil and there are no problems whatsoever between Russia and Conoco. They are getting along fine and kicking BushCo black and blue all over the world with LUKOil as their partner.

Evidently, the management of that American oil company figured out long ago that BushCo would crap the diaper, and they wisely chose to team up with who the winners would eventually be.

Just think, BushCo could have spent that $5 trillion Iraq war waste on alternative energy and domestic oil and gas production...and completely weaned the US from dependence on foreign oil. No, that was too logical and would mean that the Caspian Basin profits would be lost to them and their cronies.

But I digress, that would require that the goons in DC be able to grasp an idea that is was worthy for them to develop a real energy strategy, that to do something for America just might be the moral thing to do. No, alas, we cannot have realities contradict the delusional bullshit of the current regime in Washington, DC.

Well, those profits from global oil and gas control are being lost to 'others' anyway, so now it is time for America to demand a 'full accounting' regarding Use of Funds on that $5 trillion Bush blew through. It is way past time for a full accounting on what these idiots in DC did with $5 trillion that they heaped on the backs of the American taxpayers and have nothing to show for it but lies and failure, two destroyed nations and at least two million dead people.

Such is the tragedy of myopic, arrogant, greedy people chasing stupid strategic visions and plans that were, in reality, nothing but a stinky dirty diaper from the day they launched their grand scheme on September 11, 2001.

Folks, just prepare yourself for this: Not only is the Fat Lady about to sing the aria but it will be in an ear-shattering alto in B flat that will shatter 'Glass Towers" in DC, London and Wall Street. And, damn, is she one Ugly Fat Lady.

Ugly has come home to roost on the New World Order as defined by the Bush Family. Unfortunately, it has come home to roost on America, too. Maybe God will help us through this but, if so, it will not be because of these evil idiots in DC.

PORTRAIT OF AN OIL ADDICTED FORMER SUPERPOWER

Portrait of an Oil-Addicted Former Superpower
How Rising Oil Prices Are Obliterating America's Superpower Status
By Michael T. Klare

Nineteen years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall effectively eliminated the Soviet Union as the world's other superpower. Yes, the USSR as a political entity stumbled on for another two years, but it was clearly an ex-superpower from the moment it lost control over its satellites in Eastern Europe.

Less than a month ago, the United States similarly lost its claim to superpower status when a barrel crude oil roared past $110 on the international market, gasoline prices crossed the $3.50 threshold at American pumps, and diesel fuel topped $4.00. As was true of the USSR following the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the USA will no doubt continue to stumble on like the superpower it once was; but as the nation's economy continues to be eviscerated to pay for its daily oil fix, it, too, will be seen by increasing numbers of savvy observers as an ex-superpower-in-the-making.

That the fall of the Berlin Wall spelled the erasure of the Soviet Union's superpower status was obvious to international observers at the time. After all, the USSR visibly ceased to exercise dominion over an empire (and an associated military-industrial complex) encompassing nearly half of Europe and much of Central Asia. The relationship between rising oil prices and the obliteration of America's superpower status is, however, hardly as self-evident. So let's consider the connection.

Dry Hole Superpower

The fact is, America's wealth and power has long rested on the abundance of cheap petroleum. The United States was, for a long time, the world's leading producer of oil, supplying its own needs while generating a healthy surplus for export.




Oil was the basis for the rise of the first giant multinational corporations in the U.S., notably John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company (now reconstituted as Exxon Mobil, the world's wealthiest publicly-traded corporation). Abundant, exceedingly affordable petroleum was also responsible for the emergence of the American automotive and trucking industries, the flourishing of the domestic airline industry, the development of the petrochemical and plastics industries, the suburbanization of America, and the mechanization of its agriculture. Without cheap and abundant oil, the United States would never have experienced the historic economic expansion of the post-World War II era.

No less important was the role of abundant petroleum in fueling the global reach of U.S. military power. For all the talk of America's growing reliance on computers, advanced sensors, and stealth technology to prevail in warfare, it has been oil above all that gave the U.S. military its capacity to "project power" onto distant battlefields like Iraq and Afghanistan. Every Humvee, tank, helicopter, and jet fighter requires its daily ration of petroleum, without which America's technology-driven military would be forced to abandon the battlefield. No surprise, then, that the U.S. Department of Defense is the world's single biggest consumer of petroleum, using more of it every day than the entire nation of Sweden.

From the end of World War II through the height of the Cold War, the U.S. claim to superpower status rested on a vast sea of oil. As long as most of our oil came from domestic sources and the price remained reasonably low, the American economy thrived and the annual cost of deploying vast armies abroad was relatively manageable. But that sea has been shrinking since the 1950s. Domestic oil production reached a peak in 1970 and has been in decline ever since -- with a growing dependency on imported oil as the result. When it came to reliance on imports, the United States crossed the 50% threshold in 1998 and now has passed 65%.

Though few fully realized it, this represented a significant erosion of sovereign independence even before the price of a barrel of crude soared above $110. By now, we are transferring such staggering sums yearly to foreign oil producers, who are using it to gobble up valuable American assets, that, whether we know it or not, we have essentially abandoned our claim to superpowerdom.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States is importing 12-14 million barrels of oil per day. At a current price of about $115 per barrel, that's $1.5 billion per day, or $548 billion per year. This represents the single largest contribution to America's balance-of-payments deficit, and is a leading cause for the dollar's ongoing drop in value. If oil prices rise any higher -- in response, perhaps, to a new crisis in the Middle East (as might be occasioned by U.S. air strikes on Iran) -- our annual import bill could quickly approach three-quarters of a trillion dollars or more per year.

While our economy is being depleted of these funds, at a moment when credit is scarce and economic growth has screeched to a halt, the oil regimes on which we depend for our daily fix are depositing their mountains of accumulating petrodollars in "sovereign wealth funds" (SWFs) -- state-controlled investment accounts that buy up prized foreign assets in order to secure non-oil-dependent sources of wealth. At present, these funds are already believed to hold in excess of several trillion dollars; the richest, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), alone holds $875 billion.



The ADIA first made headlines in November 2007 when it acquired a $7.5 billion stake in Citigroup, America's largest bank holding company. The fund has also made substantial investments in Advanced Micro Systems, a major chip maker, and the Carlyle Group, the private equity giant. Another big SWF, the Kuwait Investment Authority, also acquired a multibillion-dollar stake in Citigroup, along with a $6.6 billion chunk of Merrill Lynch. And these are but the first of a series of major SWF moves that will be aimed at acquiring stakes in top American banks and corporations.

The managers of these funds naturally insist that they have no intention of using their ownership of prime American properties to influence U.S. policy. In time, however, a transfer of economic power of this magnitude cannot help but translate into a transfer of political power as well. Indeed, this prospect has already stirred deep misgivings in Congress. "In the short run, that they [the Middle Eastern SWFs] are investing here is good," Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) recently observed. "But in the long run it is unsustainable. Our power and authority is eroding because of the amounts we are sending abroad for energy…."

No Summer Tax Holiday for the Pentagon

Foreign ownership of key nodes of our economy is only one sign of fading American superpower status. Oil's impact on the military is another.

Every day, the average G.I. in Iraq uses approximately 27 gallons of petroleum-based fuels. With some 160,000 American troops in Iraq, that amounts to 4.37 million gallons in daily oil usage, including gasoline for vans and light vehicles, diesel for trucks and armored vehicles, and aviation fuel for helicopters, drones, and fixed-wing aircraft. With U.S. forces paying, as of late April, an average of $3.23 per gallon for these fuels, the Pentagon is already spending approximately $14 million per day on oil ($98 million per week, $5.1 billion per year) to stay in Iraq. Meanwhile, our Iraqi allies, who are expected to receive a windfall of $70 billion this year from the rising price of their oil exports, charge their citizens $1.36 per gallon for gasoline.

When questioned about why Iraqis are paying almost a third less for oil than American forces in their country, senior Iraqi government officials scoff at any suggestion of impropriety. "America has hardly even begun to repay its debt to Iraq," said Abdul Basit, the head of Iraq's Supreme Board of Audit, an independent body that oversees Iraqi governmental expenditures. "This is an immoral request because we didn't ask them to come to Iraq, and before they came in 2003 we didn't have all these needs."

Needless to say, this is not exactly the way grateful clients are supposed to address superpower patrons. "It's totally unacceptable to me that we are spending tens of billions of dollars on rebuilding Iraq while they are putting tens of billions of dollars in banks around the world from oil revenues," said Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), chairman of the Armed Services Committee. "It doesn't compute as far as I'm concerned."

Certainly, however, our allies in the region, especially the Sunni kingdoms of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that presumably look to Washington to stabilize Iraq and curb the growing power of Shiite Iran, are willing to help the Pentagon out by supplying U.S. troops with free or deeply-discounted petroleum. No such luck. Except for some partially subsidized oil supplied by Kuwait, all oil-producing U.S. allies in the region charge us the market rate for petroleum. Take that as a striking reflection of how little credence even countries whose ruling elites have traditionally looked to the U.S. for protection now attach to our supposed superpower status.

Think of this as a strikingly clear-eyed assessment of American power. As far as they're concerned, we're now just another of those hopeless oil addicts driving a monster gas-guzzler up to the pump -- and they're perfectly happy to collect our cash which they can then use to cherry-pick our prime assets. So expect no summer tax holidays for the Pentagon, not in the Middle East, anyway.

Worse yet, the U.S. military will need even more oil for the future wars on which the Pentagon is now doing the planning. In this way, the U.S. experience in Iraq has especially worrisome implications. Under the military "transformation" initiated by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2001, the future U.S. war machine will rely less on "boots on the ground" and ever more on technology. But technology entails an ever-greater requirement for oil, as the newer weapons sought by Rumsfeld (and now Secretary of Defense Robert Gates) all consume many times more fuel than those they will replace. To put this in perspective: The average G.I in Iraq now uses about seven times as much oil per day as G.I.s did in the first Gulf War less than two decades ago. And every sign indicates that the same ratio of increase will apply to coming conflicts; that the daily cost of fighting will skyrocket; and that the Pentagon's capacity to shoulder multiple foreign military burdens will unravel. Thus are superpowers undone.

Russia's Gusher

If anything demonstrates the critical role of oil in determining the fate of superpowers in the current milieu, it is the spectacular reemergence of Russia as a Great Power on the basis of its superior energy balance. Once derided as the humiliated, enfeebled loser in the U.S.-Soviet rivalry, Russia is again a force to be reckoned with in world affairs. It possesses the fastest-growing economy among the G-8 group of major industrial powers, is the world's second leading producer of oil (after Saudi Arabia), and is its top producer of natural gas. Because it produces far more energy than it consumes, Russia exports a substantial portion of its oil and gas to neighboring countries, making it the only Great Power not dependent on other states for its energy needs.

As Russia has become an energy-exporting state, it has moved from the list of has-beens to the front rank of major players. When President Bush first occupied the White House, in February 2001, one of his highest priorities was to downgrade U.S. ties with Russia and annul the various arms-control agreements that had been forged between the two countries by his predecessors, agreements that explicitly conferred equal status on the USA and the USSR.

As an indication of how contemptuously the Bush team viewed Russia at that time, Condoleezza Rice, while still an adviser to the Bush presidential campaign, wrote, in the January/February 2000 issue of the influential Foreign Affairs, "U.S. policy… must recognize that American security is threatened less by Russia's strength than by its weakness and incoherence." Under such circumstances, she continued, there was no need to preserve obsolete relics of the dual superpower past like the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty; rather, the focus of U.S. efforts should be on preventing the further erosion of Russian nuclear safeguards and the potential escape of nuclear materials.

In line with this outlook, President Bush believed that he could convert an impoverished and compliant Russia into a major source of oil and natural gas for the United States -- with American energy companies running the show. This was the evident aim of the U.S.-Russian "energy dialogue" announced by Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2002. But if Bush thought Russia was prepared to turn into a northern version of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, or Venezuela prior to the arrival of Hugo Chávez, he was to be sorely disappointed. Putin never permitted American firms to acquire substantial energy assets in Russia. Instead, he presided over a major recentralization of state control when it came to the country's most valuable oil and gas reserves, putting most of them in the hands of Gazprom, the state-controlled natural gas behemoth.

Once in control of these assets, moreover, Putin has used his renascent energy power to exert influence over states that were once part of the former Soviet Union, as well as those in Western Europe that rely on Russian oil and gas for a substantial share of their energy needs. In the most extreme case, Moscow turned off the flow of natural gas to Ukraine on January 1, 2006, in the midst of an especially cold winter, in what was said to be a dispute over pricing but was widely viewed as punishment for Ukraine's political drift westwards. (The gas was turned back on four days later when Ukraine agreed to pay a higher price and offered other concessions.) Gazprom has threatened similar action in disputes with Armenia, Belarus, and Georgia -- in each case forcing those former Soviet SSRs to back down.

When it comes to the U.S.-Russian relationship, just how much the balance of power has shifted was evident at the NATO summit at Bucharest in early April. There, President Bush asked that Georgia and Ukraine both be approved for eventual membership in the alliance, only to find top U.S. allies (and Russian energy users) France and Germany blocking the measure out of concern for straining ties with Russia. "It was a remarkable rejection of American policy in an alliance normally dominated by Washington," Steven Erlanger and Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times reported, "and it sent a confusing signal to Russia, one that some countries considered close to appeasement of Moscow."

For Russian officials, however, the restoration of their country's great power status is not the product of deceit or bullying, but a natural consequence of being the world's leading energy provider. No one is more aware of this than Dmitri Medvedev, the former Chairman of Gazprom and new Russian president. "The attitude toward Russia in the world is different now," he declared on December 11, 2007. "We are not being lectured like schoolchildren; we are respected and we are deferred to. PORussia has reclaimed its proper place in the world community. Russia has become a different country, stronger and more prosperous."

The same, of course, can be said about the United States -- in reverse. As a result of our addiction to increasingly costly imported oil, we have become a different country, weaker and less prosperous. Whether we know it or not, the energy Berlin Wall has already fallen and the United States is an ex-superpower-in-the-making.

Michael Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and author of the just-released Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy (Metropolitan Books). A documentary film based on his previous book, Blood and Oil, is available from the Media Education Foundation and can be ordered at bloodandoilmovie.com. A brief video of Klare discussing key subjects in his new book can be viewed by clicking here.