TOP TREND: MID-YEAR UPDATE
2016 forecast: With each passing day, the drums of war beat louder and the list of countries joining the march to war grows longer. If trend lines drawn since the War on Terror launched by US President George W. Bush following 9/11 are not reversed, World War III will not only be a Top Trend of 2016, it may be the last world war.
In 2011, under the guise of a humanitarian mission, US President Barack Obama and his allies launched a war that overthrew Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, leaving what was once the most prosperous nation in Africa in ruin, chaos and despair… a breeding ground for terrorists.
Following Libya, Obama and his coalition launched another “humanitarian” mission to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria. Although Assad remains in office, Syria has been destroyed by “moderate rebels” armed and funded by the US and its allies. Over 400,000 Syrians have been killed, half of Syria’s population displaced and nearly 5 million refugees have fled the bloodshed.
Now, after a 14-year War on Terror spree, with millions killed, entire nations destroyed — and conditions for radicalism and revenge generously fertilized with mass destruction, torture, rampant poverty, desperation and hopelessness — the seeds of hatred sown by foreign invaders are returning to their homelands.
TREND UPDATE
As the Trends Research Institute has repeatedly warned since the dot-com bubble burst in March 2000, “When all else fails, they take you to war.” Several months later, newly elected President Bush, whose popularity rating plunged as the nation sank deeper into recession, watched it instantly spike following 9/11. Public disgust for their bumbling leader and worsening economic hardships ravaging the nation quickly gave way to fear, hysteria, military bravado, the Afghan War and the War on Terror.
What held true then holds true today.
As the nation’s economy weakens, Washington expands its military reach while the military/industrial/intelligence complex grows larger and the nation sinks deeper in debt. With the Afghan War, by far the longest in American history — still being waged despite trillions spent, hundreds of thousands dead and no end in sight — Obama broke his 2013 State of the Union promise that “by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.”
“The end of next year” never came. Today, American soldiers are again in full combat, and 8,400 US troops will remain in Afghanistan when Obama leaves office in January. Obama justified spending billions more to keep the losing war going because “I strongly believe it is in our national security interest… that we give our Afghan partners the best opportunities to succeed.”
“Best opportunities to succeed?” After 15 years of the costly, murderous failure launched by America and its Coalition of the Killing that has destroyed a nation and sown the seeds of hatred and revenge… succeed at what?
ANOTHER WAR-TORN NATION, ANOTHER LIE
Despite promises by Obama on 7 August 2014 that, “As commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq” and there would be “no boots on the ground,” there are now over 6,000 US troops there, “fighting in another war in Iraq.”
In fact, in his Arlington National Cemetery speech this past Memorial Day, Obama said, “In Iraq, three Americans have given their lives in combat on our behalf, and today I ask you to remember their stories as well.”
Similarly, there’s Syria, about which Obama lied to the American people 16 times, vowing, “In no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground.” Today, both American boots and bombs continue to blow apart a nation that posed no threat to the national security of the US, or for that fact, any country.
IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Indeed, “when all else fails, they take you to war.”
In June, following a first quarter of weak job data, tepid economic growth and negative corporate profits, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen warned, “The latest readings on the labor market and the weak pace of investment illustrate one downside — that domestic demand might falter.”
Parroting Bush’s 2004 justification for launching the War on Terror because “Freedom is the Almighty’s gift” and “We have an obligation to help the spread of freedom,” Obama continued to play the old, familiar war-hawk refrain that “If we don’t kill them over there, they’ll kill us over here.”
Addressing graduating cadets at the Air Force Academy in June, he said, “Allowing problems to fester over there makes us less secure here. So, as Americans, we have to keep leading and working with others to build the security and prosperity and justice we want in the world.”
As for the arrogance of Obama, a former Chicago community organizer who organized nothing and lied his way into office professing to be the anti-war/pro-peace candidate, who in the heavens, which godly entity, anointed him or any of the political-bandit class as supreme world dictator? And in which commandment or holy order was it sanctified that “As Americans, we have to keep leading” to create a vision of the world “we want”?
MURDER, INC.
While Obama continues to play the Nobel Peace Prize card — despite continuing Bush’s Afghan and Iraq wars, and waging his own wars in the name of regime change and humanitarian missions in Libya and Syria, while partnering with and arming Saudi Arabia in the Yemen and Syrian wars — the mainstream media and his loyal liberal support base still present him as a president striving for non-war solutions.
Thus, when el presidente of los Estados Unidos had again, through executive order, reaffirmed that he has the divine right to murder anyone anywhere in the world, American citizens included, it barely made the news and was off the political radar. Rather than acknowledge their hero in chief is a traitor to the country and its Constitution, a liar and betrayer of his stated principles, “lefties” refuse to face facts.
Spineless, gutless, tree-hugging, non-violent, quiche-eating, intellectually superior “liberals” — despite Obama’s proven track record of murder — remain blindly devoted to Obama and conjure up endless excuses as he out-Bushes their arch-villain, George W. Bush.
With the nation in a vacation state of mind as it celebrated July 4, the White House released its tally of civilians killed in drone strikes outside battle zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria from when Obama took office in 2009 until 2015. From the man who spends his “Terror Tuesdays&r
dquo; signing a “kill list” and was quoted in the book “Double Down” that “I’m really good at killing people,” Obama has launched over 10 times as many drone strikes as former murderer-in-chief Bush.
Although the administration put the number of civilians killed between 64 and 116, human-rights organization Reprieve said over 4,000 innocent men, women and children have been killed by Obama drones: “What little the Obama administration has previously said on the record about the drone program has been shown by the facts on the ground, and even the US government’s own internal documents, to be false,” Reprieve said regarding the White House report.
“It has to be asked what bare numbers will mean if they omit even basic details such as the names of those killed and the areas, even the countries, they live in,” the group wrote.
Considering all males between ages 18 and 80 blown to death by US Hellfire missiles automatically are deemed “combatants” and are not counted as civilians killed — and considering that Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were not included in the White House report — human-rights organizations have brought the death tally much higher.
TRENDPOST: Since Bush launched America’s drone-killing program, and as it accelerated under Obama, legal experts and scholars have accused both presidents and the CIA killing innocents beyond the battlefield a criminal act, violating the Geneva Conventions and international law. In fact, the very premise of American law, innocent before proven guilty, has been obliterated by Washington’s “We’ll kill whomever we want, wherever we want, when we want” murderous mentality.
“Drones are illegal beyond the battlefield,” The New York Times, http://nyti.ms/29Bxfn4
“American drone assassinations may violate international law, experts say,” The Intercept, http://bit.ly/1MXrrQl
“Are US drone strikes legal?,” American Progress, http://ampr.gs/29tXXlj
“Pakistan says US airstrike Saturday violated international law,” The Wall Street Journal, http://on.wsj.com/1UdfkF4
TREND-TRACKING TIP: “They Know When You Are Sleeping.” One aim of the Trends Journal is teaching our readers the skills to identify, analyze and forecast trends and to apply those skills to individual needs and situations.
As we have long noted, governments, from states to nations, have long histories of releasing unfavorable data late Friday afternoon when it’s too late to make that day’s news and is instead reported on Saturday… the least-followed news day of the week.
And when there is damaging news governments want to hide from the public — as again evidenced by Washington releasing Obama’s civilian-drone-death tally on the eve of the Fourth of July — the trend line follows that such controversial reports are kept out of public view by putting them out during the holidays, when people are in a vacation state of mind and not tuned to the news cycle.
For example, on New Year’s Eve 2011, with the nation in a party mood, Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law from his vacation outpost in Hawaii. The law that effectively strips Americans of their Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights guaranteeing them “due process of law” and a “speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury,” destroying the bedrock principle of habeas corpus – which requires the government to bring a detained individual before an independent court and show just cause for imprisonment. Unbeknownst to the vast majority of Americans and censored by the mainstream media, Obama’s law granted him authority to act as judge, jury and executioner. Anyone, anywhere, at any time could be arrested, tortured and executed if declared an enemy of the Banana Republic by the president. Obama rang in the new year with a stroke of his pen, reverting America back to pre-Magna Carta feudal law.
FERTILIZING THE KILLING FIELDS
With just several months left in office, Obama in early July hit the campaign trail with Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, to whom he is “ready to pass the baton.” Besides demoting all US presidents — beginning with George Washington — to has-beens-that-never-were by declaring, “There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary, ever, and that’s the truth,” Obama pumped her war credentials and hegemony lust. Clinton, he said, “understands that we can’t retreat from a world that needs American leadership. That’s why she offers a smarter approach that uses every element of America power,” and that “she will never hesitate to use force when it is necessary.”
Indeed, throughout the world, Obama has not hesitated to flex his “use force” muscle that has brought the US closer to war with Russia and China.
The commander in chief deploys US troops at Russia’s borders to protect its allies; he punishes President Vladimir Putin with more economic sanctions; he’s built America’s nuclear arsenal bigger than any previous administration since the Cold War’s conclusion; he’s deployed anti-ballistic missile-defense systems in Eastern Europe; and he sends naval fleets to the South China Sea to assure “freedom of navigation.”
In response to the incursions and threats, Russia and China have joined forces in anticipation of greater military conflict between America and its allies:
China, Russia vow to
boost military ties
SINGAPORE — Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission, met with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov here Friday and the two sides pledged to step up military cooperation.
Sun, who met Antonov on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, said that the two countries have seen a sound development trend in military cooperation, as the overall relations between the two sides are running well.
He said the two sides are both facing with a more complicated international security situation and closer mutual cooperation is in need. (Global Times, 3 June 2016.)
Yet, despite the building of an alliance and the choosing of sides, not only does the rhetoric heat up, so do the military threats:
US urged not to rock the boat by flexing its muscles
China has urged the United States not to flex its muscles in the Asia-Pacific, saying it is not conducive to regional p
eace and stability.
The remarks, made by the ministry of national defense on Tuesday, were in response to the US Navy’s deployment of two aircraft carriers and their accompanying ships in the Philippine Sea on Saturday.
The message was unmistakable, and the timing was deliberate, a US official familiar with the planning of the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was quoted by The New York Times as saying.
“It could have been conducted later,” the official said.
Admiral John Richardson, the chief of US Naval Operations, was quoted by Reuters as saying: “It’s a signal to everyone in the region that we’re committed, we are going to be there for our allies.”
The Chinese Defense Ministry said that the United States’ military alliances are “a reflection of a Cold War mentality.”
“Drawing in a country outside to interfere in regional affairs will only further destroy regional peace and stability,” the ministry said. (China Daily, 22 June 2016.)
Then, just two weeks later at the NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland, the political and cold war campaign launched against Russia following the US-backed Ukraine coup in 2014 was escalated and expanded. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, another suck-off-the-public-tit career politician, declared NATO would send thousands of troops to Poland and the Baltic nations bordering Russia, increase military action in Iraq and Syria and expand deployment across NATO’s entire “neighborhood.”
“Our presence will be multinational and a clear message that an attack on one ally is an attack on the whole alliance,” Stoltenberg warned. With discussions at the summit to include military actions in Libya, Georgia, Ukraine, Afghanistan and nations bordering China, the ready-for-war warning shot was heard around the world.
After attacking America for its increased military presence in the South China Sea and expanding military maneuvers and alliances with neighboring nations, the Chinese government, in its mouthpiece newspaper, also made note of the NATO warnings from Warsaw:
US cold-war mentality not solution
to South China Sea issue
The South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines and without China’s consent is a political farce.
The reason is simple: The United States is using the administration of former Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III to raise tensions in the region.
The United States is using the Philippines as a tool and applying an outdated Cold War mentality to contain China in a bid to maintain its own dominance in the region.
As an outsider country and a non-claimant in the maritime and territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the superpower’s Cold War thinking is perfectly embodied in its Rebalance to Asia strategy and military maneuvers.
First, the country is calling white black and fabricating something from nothing. The United States calls China’s lawful construction activities on its own sovereign territory a threat to the region, and even the entire globe. It does so by using the press to portray China as a threat to “navigational freedom” in a bid to smear China, which has never threatened freedom of navigation and depends on the safe passage of goods in the South China Sea for its own development.
Second, the United States is calling on China to abide by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but refuses to join the convention itself.
Third, the US directly gains from muddying waters in South China Sea. Since the Obama administration proposed its Rebalance to Asia strategy in 2009, the situation in the South China Sea has become unnecessarily tense. This tension is being used to form alliances with countries in the region against China.
The US Army continues to send warships into waters adjacent to China’s Nansha Islands and B-52 bombers flying into China’s territorial space under the guise of freedom of navigation. Meanwhile, US defense and Army leaders continue to deliver hawkish speeches.
Washington also carried the Cold-War mentality beyond the South China Sea and Asia-Pacific region.
In Europe, US-led NATO has been seeking an eastward expansion to squeeze Russia. Its actions have altered established geopolitical structures and triggered the Ukraine crisis.
In essence, the United States wants to remain the sole superpower in the world by railroading through the Cold-War mentality, even at the price of sacrificing other states’ national security, which explained why Washington was behind the chaos and violence in quite a few countries.
However, at a time of globalization of high interdependence, no country can achieve absolute security single-handedly, especially when intentionally raising tensions and holding up to the mindset of confrontation and containment, no matter how super it is. Washington should reflect on its practice to avoid being penny-wise, pound-foolish. (Global Times, 9 July 2016.)
As for Russia, in addition to the US’ overt role in overthrowing the democratically elected president of Ukraine — which divided the nation, throwing it into civil war (Trends Journal, Winter 2014) — Washington continues to escalate tensions with Moscow. The more America threatens Russian security by sending US ships closer to Russian naval bases, the more troops stationed and the more military maneuvers the US/NATO conducts with nations bordering Russia, the more missile systems the US deploys throughout Eastern Europe… the higher the threat levels increase.
Russia must be ready to respond to NATO’s ‘aggressive actions,’ says Putin
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia must boost its combat readiness in response to NATO’s “aggressive actions” near its borders.
Addressing the Russian parliament, Putin also criticized the West for its reluctance to build a collective security system with Russia.
‘‘NATO is strengthening its aggressive rhetoric and its aggressive actions near our borders. In these conditions, we are duty-bound to pay special attention to solving the task of strengthening the combat defences of our country,” he declared.
Last month, Moscow announced plans to create three new divisions to meet what it described as a dangerous military build-up on its borders. (Euronews, 22 June 2016.)
American Allied Military Policy: Gross ignorance or pure stupidity?
Suppose you work for a living. No, not a career polit
ician or bureaucrat, or member of the political establishment who has never had a real job and have been sucking off the public tit your entire adult life.
You have a real job. You have a family to raise, obligations to meet, bills to pay. You get up every morning, commute for hours, and rarely have spare time or barely an extra dime. If your performance is below standards, you get fired.
Suppose you work a cash register, drive a truck, pack boxes, deliver them, work on an assembly line, mow lawns, are a doctor, nurse, accountant, carpenter, electrician, waiter, waitress, bartender, butcher, baker, banker, tailor, motel manager, restaurateur, stock broker, or run a hedge fund or your own business.
Suppose you have been in your profession for over 50 years and the records incontrovertibly prove that since the day you started — year after year and with each passing day — everything you’ve done has been a total failure… an unmitigated disaster.
Yet, despite your disgusting track record, instead of getting chastised and fired for carrying out tasks, devising plans and taking action that has led to extremely costly and quantifiable disasters, you are instead saluted, honored and triumphantly promoted for your unbroken track record of failure.
And, not only are you loudly praised and beloved by the vast majority you deceived and let down, each time you come up with a new and bolder plan to double-down on the previous unmitigated disasters you created, you sell another bill of goods that politicians and the general public gleefully buy, put their hand on their hearts, pledge allegiance to the flag, God and country… and pay for it with their money and their lives.
That, ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, is the track record of braggadocio presidents, the Pentagon and the international Coalition of the Killing who lead their nations to never-ending wars. Countless trillions of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars wasted, entire nations destroyed beyond repair, tens of millions of innocent civilians murdered, and tens of millions of refugees fleeing death and destruction — all in the name of the big lies of humanitarian missions and spreading freedom and democracy across the globe… with nothing to show for it but documented failures. TJ