Punish Your Friends, Help Your Enemies

It's not new that America is an unreliable ally; that's been true forever. America has elections, and sometimes that means that someone with a completely different view becomes head of our foreign policy. Obama viewed Iran as a potential ally, and turned our Middle East policy upside down trying to realize that goal. Trump doesn't think Iran is an ally, and thinks instead that we shouldn't be militarily engaged there on a long-term basis.

So, for at least the third time by my count, he's attempting to withdraw us from Syria.
The decision represents a dramatic reversal for U.S. policy, which in 2015 provided air support for Kurdish militias to retake the critical town of Kobani from Islamic State and has since used Kurdish fighters as ground troops in the campaign to clear Syria of the group.

The shift could cast further doubt on the reliability of the U.S. in the region, in the wake of policy about-faces including walking away from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that was painstakingly negotiated with allies who remain committed to the agreement.

Trump defended Monday his desire to end America’s so-called “endless wars,” saying his country would fight only in it’s [s.i.c.] own interest. That sentiment has been welcomed by some, while leaving allies who rely on the U.S. security umbrella feeling nervous and exposed. An increasingly detached U.S. has also allowed rivals including Iran and Russia to pursue more aggressive foreign policies and expand their influence across the Middle East.
The whole American establishment is against this move, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good one. The likelihood of a new, lingering war in the region is high. On the other hand, such a war will draw in and drain Turkish, Iranian, and probably Russian resources rather than American ones. If it drives up oil prices, well, that's good for us now that we're a net exporter of oil -- and very bad for China.

'Good for us,' at least, on the national level -- higher gas prices won't be much fun for the individual consumer. That sort of mercantalism seems to be part of the President's worldview. The US is done footing the bills for other people's peace and prosperity. Individual Americans may rise or fall, but "the US" is going to make more profits and pay fewer costs. Maybe it'll trickle down.

17 comments:

Dad29 said...

As you say, some will like this.

Frankly I'd rather have trickle-down wealth than trickle-down blood from our guys lost in combat over there.

ymarsakar said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlKuE7jm0WM

Several soul groups continuously choose a mortal experience of combat and combat related war deaths. THis is part of their soul progression, which has objectives above or beyond those of mortal objectives. It is like the difference between tactics and strategy.

America offers a "server" that provides a lot of war experiences, especially due to the medical standards. It is a nation that offers high quality medical care, so can provide for not just a battle but several decades of post veteran care or life. This allows a soul group to experience more than just battle comraderie. It also has bases and fronts in many places, allowing for a variety of engagement profiles.

Joel Leggett said...

I’m glad we’re getting out of Syria. We should never have gone in. We have no strategic interests in Syria that justify an additional, open ended, military commitment that puts American lives and treasure at risk. These never ending military adventures need to end.

Christopher B said...

I think your opinion regarding the mercantilism of this decision is a bit wrong.

The US gets a relatively small percentage of our crude input from the Gulf region, and that's been true for decades. After the 1970s oil shocks our refineries tooled up to process the absolutely cheapest grades of contaminated sludge available, using our tech prowess to reduce our dependence on the most volatile oil suppliers. This is the crude that comes out of Venezuela and West Africa, not the light sweet crude from Arabia that takes less tech to refine. Our gas prices are going to be affected only minimally, and as you noted this will be offset by our increased exports of shale crude, which we find hard to process because its quality is too good for our refineries, and refined products.

Look up Peter Zeihan's talks about energy and the coming world disorder on YouTube for a deeper explanation.

ymarsakar said...

For once in America's life time, high crude prices will actually benefit the economy. Why? because OPEC tried and failed to crash the shale market by reducing their prices. Probably a first time ever, iirc.

That was a bit of merchantilism and trade war that OPEC did that people may not have noticed. Saudi Arabia would eventually have to reduce their output, especially since their stuff isn't all that good to begin with in terms of production capacity. They still rely heavily on Western technology and advisers to fix problems.

With a sufficiently high crude index, especially for sweeter crude, American shale oil industries will have more profit to expand operations. It's not like The UAE or Saudi Arabian royal family, can expand even if they wanted to. The original oil infrastructure was created by the Europeans and Brits. Then later nationalized.

And just imagine, the amount of resources in America pales in comparison to the land mass near Antarctica, that is the size of the United States, and has resources such as uranium, coal, iron, oil, maybe even gold, as reported by Admiral Byrd's carrier task force and reconnaissance operation Deep Freeze and so on.

If America fights wars for oil, then why don't they just land in Antarctica and take the oil from the penguins? Especially since the environmental activists weren't around at the time of Byrd's initial survey, before America agreed to lock down that place using the UN.

The Antarctica Treaty system is the ONLY foreign policy Left and anti Left in the USA have agreed upon. Why? When JFK was supposedly racing the RUssians to the moon and playing nuclear chicken with Cuba/USSR, they had agreed on Antarctica decades ago. And during the Cold War later, before the fall of the USSR, they had also agreed on the Antarctica treaty. And later after the Cold War was over, they still agreed on the Antarctica Treaty. Which UN treaty has had this long lasting an effect, with no media debate, no controversy, no violations even?

ymarsakar said...

The Leftist or OPEC propaganda about "peak oil" was pretty much a con. Oil regenerates from deep reservoirs. Earth is not a place created by the elohim such that you would run out of "energy sources" and be forced to feed on your children. You humans do that all on your own, for kicks and giggles.

It won't be because of energy shortages. They have this planned out longer than the time period of several of your current civilizations and also ancient civilizations combined.

Deep Reservoirs that were once depleted of oil, is now full again. That's because oil does not come from fossil fuels. The scientific consensus was wrong, again, on that.

Humanity will end, before the Earth runs out of resources.

ymarsakar said...

http://www.unz.com/article/mccain-and-the-pow-cover-up/

As I investigate the true background of various people and nations, the amount of interesting stuff I dig up gets more and more extensive.

The things that I have found that are buried truth, usually aren't controversial subjects, because the media "covers" them with a pillow. If they were easily debunked and belittled, they would pull a Tea Party on them.

It's the things that the citizens aren't allowed to talk, that nobody knows even exists to be talked about (moon landing and Antarctica issues), that are pivotal points.

It is not the consistency of the Matrix that should surprise people. It is the inconsistencies.

Texan99 said...

I hate the idea of hanging the Kurds out to dry, but I don't think we can keep troops in any region indefinitely on the theory that, if we leave, there may be a war there later. It's always likely there's going to be a war there. Must we stay forever, or is there some other test?

Grim said...

Instapundit linked to a piece yesterday that makes clear that there was never even an option of 'staying forever.' We didn't have the forces on the ground to hold against a Turkish incursion, not if they came seriously. The administration was warned 18 months ago that they couldn't hold this position without substantial reinforcement, and that Turkish aggression was a real potential. They didn't; they never did.

So when Turkey said they were finally coming, well, there never was a choice. There isn't one now. We had the time to move a division or two, but we didn't choose to do it; and now we can't do it. Time's up.

I think your opinion regarding the mercantilism of this decision is a bit wrong.

I mean only to say that I think the President thinks in terms of national interest at the national level, and not necessarily in terms of how that plays out at the individual level. He's not insensitive to individuals, but he disregards them in his economic warfare decisions. Like the Western farmers who have been brutalized by the trade war with China: he might have known it would be ruinous for them, but he did it anyway because it was good for America.

He's trying to make it up to them with subsidies after the fact, which isn't as good as having customers for your product. But ultimately what happened to them was their lookout; he was waging trade war for the US considered as a nation, not for the benefit of members of that nation.

ymarsakar said...

He's trying to make it up to them with subsidies after the fact, which isn't as good as having customers for your product.

There are plenty of people who will buy the soybeans... but the farmers can't just get rid of competition and hook into a whole other logistics pipeline, say Japan, so easily. They need time and the subsidies were supposed to cover that. Well, Trum also tried to get China to buy those soybeans but again, that was after the block China put on them.

Trum is trying to make the world shift their logistics away from China, which is a lot more permanent than just a tariff or sanction.

ONce logistics shift, they usually will stay. People with preferred suppliers, won't change unless the price kills their bottom line. Trusted suppliers are trusted because they provide the "demand with the supply" on time, every time.

Moving an entire business let alone a nation's supply chains away from Chinese products is not because of the quality of the Chinese products. It is to shake up the market share of the "world" itself. This gets US economic companies out of China, if only because of the fear and backlash. So Chinese back tariffs and attacks against Tesla and other companies, is actually good news. It forces American suppliers and American businesses to not deal with volatile China.

This is more real politek than mercantilism. Mercantilism attempts to generate greater market penetration and profit shares for domestic companies. Trum is doing the opposite. This is an international strategy comparable to OPEC trying to crush fracking.

ymarsakar said...

There is a severe security risk with Tesla building their giga factory and other stuff in China. Why?

Because backdoors can be installed in those robotic cars and if they end up in the US (though they won't due to shipping logistics), all kinds of shenanigans can happen. Installing backdoors in hardware and shipping them to your competition is a good way to conduct corporate espionage. And the Chinese are very good at corporate espionage. Right now, they are more materialistic than Americans are. They won't let rules stop them from profiting.

With multi national companies like Facebook and Alphabet having a cozy relationship with the Maoist Chinese communists, this creates a security threat to America's infrastructure on a psychological and information basis, as well as digital infrastructure via cyber warfare. That's because the CIA/FBI has backdoors courtesy of FB and alphabet. But the CIA/FBI doesn't control the backdoor codes. A foreign national, with sufficient leverage and bribes in FB/Alphabet, can easily get them to install new backdoors or new algorithms like China's social credit score.

Grim said...

You have a sober and interesting insight there, Ymar. I won't quibble over the right name for it being 'mercantalism' or something else; but that's quite right, what you just said. It's national interest at a high level, aimed at defanging China by forcing a shift in global logistics.

The Iran fight is similar. In fact, China's part of it; he's managed to get them to pull back from major Iranian oil investments by fear of sanctions. All criticisms aside, he does seem to know how to play the economic warfare game.

ymarsakar said...

Trum has high celestial upgrades in his Mars/war energy. But this was obviously not centered in the military. That was not the fate his pre mortal self chose or his higher spirit/oversoul chose.

It's why people like him. They say he "fights".

The reason why I bring up the mercantalism bit is because people do not necessarily understand all the weirdness it contains, due to American public education and the main sewer media. The fact that China has a brand of Western imperial materialistic mercantalism on top of their communism and Hong Kong secession/independence issues plus Taiwanese (treason) issues, makes it confusing when juxtaposed against America's economic diversity and leverage (what some may call imperialism or mercantalism, which is probably neither at this point).

Trum doesn't fight in the way I would fashion a covert war against the DS. He hasn't killed anyone, that I know of, even indirectly using drones which Hussein loved to use. Hard to fight a war with the DS when nobody in the DS dies. Comey? Mueller? Some other dip start lawyer part of the cannonfodder crew? Those die by the dozens, hundreds, or thousands in a covert war. That's why they are cannonfodder. They aren't important intel or strategic assets. The only covert thing Trum seems to be doing is covering for his pedo ring prosecutors. The reason why that is part of the covert war is because the Cabal, Trum's notable arch nemesis, has for some odd reason, melded at the hip with pedo child traffickers. And by that I don't mean Epstein teenagers. I mean 4-8 year olds being trafficked by Child Protective Services (That's kind of like Planned Parenthood, plan on how to black market sell off your fetus' genetic viability to black/gray/white research and development companies in bio genetics). Epstein is small fry compared to the other pedos. Epstein is almost running a political blackmail escort service, which is seen as semi legit in DC. The more out of bounds stuff is seen in Hollywood. And Hollywood funds a lot of Demoncrats. These connections mean little to nothing to normal people. To strange intel analysts that love connecting the dots, it means something a lot more.

Of course, perhaps the Alliance backing Trum is doing the killing and the wet work, but whether he knows about that or not is hard to tell. Psychologically, it would take a psychic or body language reader or intel analyst with years of data, to be able to tell whether people "knew" anything given the mind control capabilities of unclassified Monarch and MK Ultra.

And by psychic, I would bring up the good old military reference to Remote Viewing, which was a classified program that had some limited success. This is not your Hollywood sci fi channel stuff.

You have a sober and interesting insight there, Ymar.

I don't even read military strategy page any more. Most of this stuff comes from stock market analysis articles and data points. It is quite obvious what is going on.

ymarsakar said...

Also Tesla's technology is the RnD for Musk's Space X Rockets, which are launched where exactly? Even if we assume it is real (hahahaha), the Pentagon and American nationals/patriots may wish to be a little bit more concerned that Tesla Giga factory technology used for their cars is being done in China, with technology transfers being stolen or re applied to Space X (Space Force) type shenanigans.

This goes back to what I analyzed about the moon being a strategic location. The moon is a place where you can drop kinetic strikes equivalent to tactical nukes, on every part of the "world". If so, why are Americans, including Space Force, allowing China to land probes on the moon? Do they know what China is doing on the moon? They don't care. They don't need to care.

The moon is not a strategic location. They can't build a Sword of Damocles over America or anyone else, because the moon is not a strategic location.

This is difficult to comprehend, as Americans landed on the moon yes? No, something else happened.

ymarsakar said...

http://www.remoteviewed.com/remote_viewing_history_military.htm

The reason why I bring up these points is not to point out Ymar's capabilities. The reason is very simple. After I got out of my hermit cave and came down to the mountain after a few year or a decade of independent cultivation, I looked around online and saw an America that had gone insane over Civil War and main sewer deceptions.

Well, that's not good.

People need the real information. Stuff they did not get from the "loyal opposition".

This rabbit hole goes down a lot deeper than the turtles ever can. I find it kind of fun actually. Other people may get depressed though. This is why I don't volunteer to be the first hostage in a bank to run at the armed terrorists, hoping to human wave submit them. Information is a lot more powerful a weapon than WMDs are. It's a lot more deniable too.

Without sufficient information, tactics and strategy cannot be created to win a war. That applies to a covert war, a trade war, or any other type of human conflict. Accurate, timely, intel and information is critical.

ymarsakar said...

To explain the economic impact a bit more. Trum is increasing the "premium" on goods offered by China. China offers fair quality goods that are priced cheaper, and this lets them dominate certain sectors and shares of market commerce. Trum sees this as unfair or just strategically dangerous, which it can be.

Red Guards in your neighborhood? Those won't be Republican guards.

Shareholders get antsy over trade wars, and the Leftist media just helps fuel the fire of fear. Trum is utilizing this fear to put pressure on Apple and other companies that are doing business as multinationals in China. And also getting fleeced due to copyright violations and corporate espionage.

Trum cannot order these companies to buy elsewhere and shift their logistics. Even he knows that wouldn't work. It wouldn't work on his businesses either. He has to change the prices and to do that, he has to make unstable the market, putting a "premium" on Chinese goods. This premium is called "fear".

This goes back to what Marianne Williamson said that Trum is utilizing fear and the dark shadows of the human consciousness. Which is correct. This can be dangerous on a spiritual level even if it works on a real politek level. That's because there are other greater and more powerful Deep Entities that are drawn to this type of energy that America does not exactly have the Firepower to fend off... but that's another story from Ymar.

Some may wonder if anything I write is real. Oh it is all real, but it depends on what the Matrix defines as real.

ymarsakar said...

The tariffs are not his strategic option of changing the prices. No, it is the Chinese return hit, their tariffs, that will kill people interested in buying or doing business in China.

Trum knows this, because the Chinese persona is very close to Trum's own persona and ego. The Chinese HAVE TO HIT BACK to save face. Just like Trum does on twitter. He knows this. He uses this.

It's quite... interesting, to those of us that use tactics similar to Trum's. Oh well, this ends the War Game keyboard analysis for now.