The New Russian Sanctions Bill Is Washington’s Monument To Its Criminality

[Loki]

The New Russian Sanctions Bill Is Washington’s Monument To Its Criminality

Paul Craig Roberts

The Congress of the United States by almost unanimous votes in both House and Senate has made it clear that Congress had rather destroy the President of the United States and to increase the risk of nuclear war than to avoid conflict with Russia by normalizing relations. The vote on the new sanctions makes it pointless for President Trump to veto the bill, because it passed both houses by far more than the two-thirds vote required to over-ride the president’s veto. The only thing Trump can achieve with a veto is to prove the false charge that he is in league with Vladimir Putin

The new sanctions bill forecloses the possibility of reducing the rising tensions between the two major nuclear powers. It also shows that whatever interest Congress has, if any, in reducing the threat of war and in avoiding a break with Europe over the sanctions, Congress has a much greater interest in continuing to collect campaign contributions from the powerful and rich military/security complex and in playing to the growing hatred of Russia that is encouraged by the US media.

This reckless and irresponsible action by the US Congress makes completely clear that Washington has intentionally chosen conflict with Russia as the main element of US foreign policy. Perhaps now the Russian government will abandon its cherished illusion that an accommodition with Washington can be reached. As I have written on many occasions, the only way Russia can achieve accommodation with Washington is to surrender and accept American hegemony. Any further resistance of the Russian government to this obvious fact would indicate dangerous delusion on the part of the Russian leadership.

The fig leaf Congress chose for its violation of diplomatic protocols and international law is the disproven allegation of Russian interference in behalf of Trump in the US presidential election. An organization of former US intelligence officers recently announced that forensic investigation has been made of the alleged Russian computer hacking, and the conclusion is that there was no hack; there was an internal leak, and the leak was copied onto a device and Russian “fingerprints” were added. There is no forensic evidence whatsoever that shows any indication of Russian hacking. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017...craig-roberts/

It is all made up, and everyone alleging Russian hacking knows it. There is no difference between the allegation of Russian hacking and Hitler’s allegation in 1939 that “last night Polish forces crossed our frontier,” Hitler’s fig leaf for his invasion of Poland.

That Congress uses a blatantly transparent lie to justify its violation of international law and intentionally worsens US relations with both Russia and the EU proves how determined Washington is to intensify conflict with Russia. Expect more false allegations, more demonization, more threats.

War is in the cards.

[Kamal900]

Are you fucking kidding me? Where is "Russia is our ally" narrative during Trump's political presidential campaign in 2016? Oh wait, Jared Kushnar is the brains to the whole game.

[N1019]

Economic sanctions are a rational means for opponents to keep each other down. It just so happens that the US has unparallelled ability to harm other nations with them, so they are using them, although the impact still varies. It is a form of warfare in itself. Does that mean a more conventional form of warfare is also on the cards? Maybe, at some point down the track.

[Loki]

Here is an RT interview with Paul Craig Roberts about his article above. It makes for sobering reading..

US committed to path of conflict with Russia, tensions higher than in Cold War – Paul Craig Roberts

The new round of sanctions on Russia benefits the US energy industry and military-security complex, and indicates that conflict with Moscow the principal goal of US foreign policy, former Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts says.

The Senate, in a nearly unanimous vote on Thursday, slapped new sanctions on Russia over alleged election interference by Russian hackers. The bill, which will prevent US President Donald Trump from easing existing sanctions on Russia and also imposes sanctions on Iran and North Korea, is sent to President Trump in a veto-proof fashion.

Trump reviewed the final version of the bill and plans to sign it, the White House announced on Friday.

RT America’s Manila Chan discussed this with Paul Craig Roberts, the former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and chairman of the Institute for Political Economy.

RT: In your new article, ‘The New Russian Sanctions Bill Is Washington’s Monument To Its Criminality,’ can you explain why you wrote “Congress would rather destroy the President of the United States and increase the risk of nuclear war than avoid conflict with Russia by normalizing relations”?

Paul Craig Roberts: That bill is extremely dangerous for two main reasons. One, it prevents President Trump from ever normalizing relations with Russia and as we all know, the tensions now are very high, in my opinion, they are higher than they ever were during the Cold War. The other reason the bill is extremely dangerous is the economic pressure it puts on Russia – because it is designed to replace Russian sales of natural gas to Europe with American sales. So, it harms the ruble, harms the Russian economy, and further isolates Russia from Europe. This is the kind of economic pressure that leads to war.

RT: You also argue that these sanctions will alienate Europe and especially Germany, where the pipeline is supposed to end up. What does Congress have to gain then by passing these sanctions? Is it strictly to force their dependency on American natural gas?

PCR: That’s part of it. Congress gains political contributions from the American energy industry and it gains political contributions from the military-security complex because this bill is constructed to serve both interests. They’re both extremely powerful interest groups. And so, the military-security complex wins by preventing the normalization of relations, which is a threat to the budget and the power of the military-security complex. And the energy companies win by having a new market for their natural gas, the liquefied natural gas that they’re getting from the fracking operations that are doing so much environmental damage in the United States. This benefits both groups. And therefore Congress – as you saw, the votes are almost unanimous, only two senators out of a hundred voted against it, and only three US representatives out of [more than] four hundred [419-3] voted against it. You can see the power of these interest groups and they put their interests ahead of normalizing relations between nuclear powers. When you have bad relations between nuclear powers like Russia and the United States, the chance of something going wrong is extremely high.

RT: Russia took retaliatory measures by cutting the US Embassy staff there in the Federation. In your view, how should Russian leadership interpret these new sanctions?

PCR: I think the Russian leadership now has to finally abandon its cherished illusion that it can reach accommodation with Washington. I have made clear for a long time now, the only way Russia can reach accommodation with Washington is to surrender and to accept American hegemony. Now, if the Russian government continues with this illusion that it can reach an accommodation, I think it is guilty of a very dangerous delusion. I think this should be a wake-up call for Russia that the United States Congress has now made the principal goal of American foreign policy conflict with Russia.

RT: This is just the beginning of measures taken by Russia. How do you see this playing out moving forward, especially when we have President Trump who’s looking – against the wishes of Congress, apparently – to normalize these relations? How do you foresee Russia playing this out?

PCR: Trump no longer can normalize relations. The bill prohibits that. And he has no real alternative to signing it because it’s veto-proof. If Trump doesn’t sign it, the media will use that as proof that he is working in favor of Russia and that would probably lead to his impeachment. So what Russia does, I don’t know, it depends on how much they wake up, how much they give up this illusion, this delusion actually, of reaching an accommodation. It is a serious situation for Russia to have the United States committed to a path of conflict with Russia. And that is precisely where the United States is. That is the precise effect of this bill and that is the intention of one of the two main sponsors of the bill – to further the conflict, to raise tensions, because this is essential to the power and budget of the military-security complex.

[Loki]

Economic sanctions are a rational means for opponents to keep each other down. It just so happens that the US has unparallelled ability to harm other nations with them, so they are using them, although the impact still various. It is a form of warfare in itself. Does that mean a more conventional form of warfare is also on the cards? Maybe, at some point down the track.

Exactly, it is actually a form of warfare.

[Loki]

Are you fucking kidding me? Where is "Russia is our ally" narrative during Trump's political presidential campaign in 2016? Oh wait, Jared Kushnar is the brains to the whole game.

It's not Trump's fault... Trump is also a victim of this move by Congress, a.k.a. the Political Establishment.

[Kamal900]

It's not Trump's fault... Trump is also a victim of this move by Congress, a.k.a. the Political Establishment.

Maybe, but yeah, things aren't looking good right now. I don't want to experience a world war like my paternal grand father did(he was born in February 1900).

[JMack]

The Empire will burn, Mother Russia will rise again.

The Axis of God will win! Fuck anglos and their degenerate culture.

[Loki]

Maybe, but yeah, things aren't looking good right now. I don't want to experience a world war like my paternal grand father did(he was born in February 1900).

My friend, I have rallied against this madness for a long time, but could see this coming. You and I may just live to see another global conflict -- this time it will be nuclear. I cannot see any hope on the horizon.

[Sekarotuinen]

Honestly, I dont really care about a despotic country with an economy smaller than my state. Russia is given much more importance than it merits.