{"id":152589,"date":"2017-06-03T13:04:25","date_gmt":"2017-06-03T13:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=152589"},"modified":"2017-06-07T06:23:53","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T06:23:53","slug":"is-america-on-the-path-to-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=152589","title":{"rendered":"Is America on The Path to Suicide?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0GAR SMITH<\/a> — Darkmoon June 3, 2017<\/em><\/h1>\n

Abridged by Lasha Darkmoon<\/em>
\nwith added pictures, captions and commentary<\/em><\/em><\/h3>\n

\"Putin<\/a><\/p>\n

VLADIMIR \u00a0PUTIN:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI issue warnings and no one hears.<\/strong>
\nHow do I get through to you?\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n
Top Russian officials are concerned that a bill passed by the US Congress will do more than increase sanctions on North Korea. Moscow claims H.R. 1644 violates its sovereignty and constitutes an \u201cact of war.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n
On May 4, 2017, House Resolution 1644, the innocently named \u201cKorean Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act<\/strong><\/a><\/span>,\u201d was quickly passed by the US House of Representatives by a vote of 419-1 and it was just as quickly labeled an \u201cact of war\u201d by a top Russian official.<\/h5>\n
What caught the eye of Russian critics was\u00a0Section 104<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the part of the bill that presumed to grant the US \u201cinspection authorities\u201d over shipping ports (and major airports) far beyond the Korean Peninsula \u2013 specifically, ports in China, Russia, Syria, and Iran.<\/h5>\n
The bill identifies more than 20 foreign targets\u00a0for intrusive American inspection, including two ports in China, \u00a0ten ports in Iran, three ports in Syria as well as Damascus International Airport, and three ports in Russia. <\/strong><\/h5>\n
Under the\u00a0proposed law<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the US Secretary of Homeland Security could use the National Targeting Center\u2019s Automated Targeting System to search ANY ship, plane, or conveyance that has \u201centered the territory, waters, or airspace of North Korea, or landed in any of the sea ports or airports of North Korea.\u201d Any vessel, aircraft, or vehicle found in violation of this US law \u2014 [including Russian and Chinese ships]<\/strong> \u2014 would be subject to \u201cseizure and forfeiture.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u201cI hope this bill will never be implemented,\u201d \u00a0Konstantin Kosachev, chair of the Russian Senate\u2019s Foreign Affairs Committee, told\u00a0<\/strong>Sputnik News<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span>, \u201cbecause its implementation envisions a scenario of power with forced inspections of all vessels by US warships. Such a power scenario is beyond comprehension, because it means a declaration of war.\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u201cNo country in the world, no international organization, has authorized the US to monitor implementation of any resolutions of the UN Security Council,\u201d Kosachev observed.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Kosachev\u2019s Upper House colleague,\u00a0Alexey Pushkov<\/a><\/span>, underscored this concern. \u201cIt is absolutely unclear how the bill will be implemented,\u201d Pushkov stated. \u201cTo control Russian ports, the US will have to introduce a blockade and inspect all ships, which amounts to an act of war.\u201d <\/strong><\/h5>\n
Pushkov argued that the lopsided 419-1 vote \u201cindicates the nature of the legal and political culture of the US Congress.\u201d<\/h5>\n
Andrey Krasov, the First Deputy Head of the Defense Committee in Russia\u2019s Lower House, greeted news of the US move with a mixture of disbelief and indignation:<\/h5>\n
\u201cWhy on Earth did America assume these responsibilities? Who gave it such powers to control the seaports of our country? Neither Russia nor international organizations asked Washington to do so. One can only answer that any unfriendly step by the US administration against Russia and our allies will receive a symmetrical adequate response.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n
IN ANY CASE, NO AMERICAN SHIP WILL ENTER OUR WATERS. OUR ARMED FORCES AND OUR FLEET HAVE EVERY MEANS TO SEVERELY PUNISH THOSE WHO WILL DARE TO ENTER OUR TERRITORIAL WATERS. <\/strong>(Emphasis added)<\/em><\/h5>\n
\"northkoreamapnsrinset\"<\/a>

Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

America claims it has the right to invade Russian territorial waters and forcibly inspect ships in Vladistock and two other Russian ports. <\/strong>(See map above).<\/em> There is no doubt whatever that this amounts to an act of war. Surely Russia would then have the right to bomb US air carriers in retaliation? (LD)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n
Krasov suggested that Washington\u2019s \u201csaber-rattling\u201d was another sign that the US has no interest in accommodating other members of the world community \u2013 especially rivals like China and Russia. \u201cThese are heavyweights which, in principle, do not fit into the US\u2019s overall concept on governing and ruling the whole world.\u201d<\/h5>\n
Vladimir Baranov, a Russian ferry line operator whose vessels ply the waters between Vladivostok and the North Korean port city of Rajin, told\u00a0<\/strong>Sputnik News<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0that \u201cthe US physically cannot control Russian ports \u2013 you have to visit the Port Authority, demand documents, that sort of thing. This is essentially a bluff by the US, an attempt to show that it controls the world.\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Alexander Latkin, a professor from the Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service, was similarly skeptical: \u201cHow could the US control our ports operations? It might have been possible if the US possessed a percentage of the port\u2019s equity but, as far as I know, all of the shareholders are Russian. It is essentially a political move by the US. The Americans don\u2019t have any legal or economic basis for controlling our ports.\u201d<\/h5>\n
Adding to the growing uncertainty over rising US\/Russia tensions, top Russian military officials have expressed alarm over signs that the Pentagon is making preparations for a preemptive nuclear strike on Russia.<\/h5>\n
\u2014 \u00a0\u00a7 \u00a0\u2014<\/strong><\/h5>\n
On March 28, 2017,\u00a0Lt. Gen. Victor Poznihir<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, warned that the placement of US anti-ballistic missiles near Russia\u2019s borders \u201ccreates a powerful clandestine potential for delivering a surprise nuclear missile strike against Russia.\u201d He repeated this concern again on April 26, when he alerted the Moscow International Security Conference that the Russian General Staff\u2019s Operations Command is convinced Washington is preparing to exercise the \u201cnuclear option.\u201d<\/h5>\n
This terrifying news went virtually unnoted by the US media. On May 11, columnist Paul Craig Roberts (a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Ronald Reagan and former associate editor of\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/em>) cited Poznihir\u2019s comments in a clearly agitated blog post.<\/h5>\n
According to Roberts, a Google search revealed that this \u201cmost alarming of all announcements\u201d had only been reported in a single US publication \u2013 the\u00a0Times-Gazette\u00a0<\/em>of Ashland, Ohio.\u00a0Roberts was alarmed to discover that no \u201cUS senator or representative or any European, Canadian, or Australian politician has raised a voice of concern that the West was now preparing for a first strike on Russia\u201d nor had anyone reached out to \u201cask Putin how this serious situation could be defused.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u201cNever in my life have I experienced the situation where two nuclear powers [Russia and China] were convinced that the third was going to surprise them with a nuclear attack,\u201d Roberts wrote. Despite this existential threat, Roberts notes, there has been \u201czero awareness and no discussion\u201d of the growing risks.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u201cPutin has been issuing warnings for years,\u201d Roberts writes. \u201cPutin has said over and over, \u2018I issue warnings and no one hears. How do I get through to you?\u2019<\/strong>\u201d<\/h5>\n

THIS PICTURE SAYS IT ALL<\/h3>\n

\"russia_wants_war_look_how_closely_they_put_country_to_our_military_bases\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

IS AMERICA ON THE PATH TO SUICIDE?<\/h3>\n

The US Senate now has a critical role to play.<\/h5>\n
The bill is currently before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The committee has an opportunity to acknowledge the grave risks created by H.R. 1644 and make sure that no companion bill ever makes it to the Senate floor.<\/h5>\n
If this ill-conceived legislation is allowed to survive, our survival \u2014 and the survival of millions of others \u2013 cannot be guaranteed.<\/h5>\n
LD: \u00a0A new word is now being used to describe America by millions of people in China: the word \u201cbaizuo<\/a><\/span>\u201c, a derogatory term expressing contempt for \u201cignorant and arrogant westerners who pity the rest of the world and think they are saviors.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n
The word is frequently applied to America\u2019s ruling class: its liberal elites who look down on their own people and treat them as cannon fodder for endless wars on behalf of a foreign country in the Middle East whose chief\u00a0<\/strong>raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/strong><\/em> appears to be land grabbing and world domination.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
That the US House of Representatives should vote 419 to 1 for invading Russian territorial waters, in what clearly amounts to an act of war, is all the proof we need that 419 out of 420 American politicians are not altogether sane.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n
It looks like the patients have taken over the asylum. <\/strong><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people think America a great country. Others see it as a loony bin whose rulers belong in padded cells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152589"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152597,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152589\/revisions\/152597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}