Trump Prepares for War (BRICS Challenges US Hegemony)

By Wayne Allensworth

For background, see my articles “Who Are We Bombing This Week?” Parts I and II.

Donald Trump should be removed from office. Joe Biden, suffering from dementia, should have been removed. So also with Barack Obama, the assassination specialist, and George W. Bush, war criminal. I could go on. Presidents have been ignoring the Constitution for my entire lifetime, launching undeclared wars, killing lots of people, and spying on Americans. The difference between Trump and the others is that there is not even any pretense of lawfulness or constitutionality in what he is doing abroad. Biden was the debilitated cynic who had shifted positions many times according to which way the wind was blowing. Obama was a slick, arrogant, condescending technocrat, and “W,” a prickly warmonger. All of them lied, obfuscated, and acted cynically. But Trump has the manner of a school-yard bully threatening other kids and taking their lunch money. The only thing predictable about him is his unpredictability, and his mercurial, impulsive temper. Those are not good qualities for encouraging other countries to deal with the U.S. Stability based on a balance of power requires compromise, and at least the consideration of win-win scenarios. But Trump favors zero sum games. He wants “wins” that play well in sound bites. He demands “owning” territory, not cooperating in development projects.

The Trump administration appears to be preparing for the possibility of a big war. The war would be against the block of BRICS countries and associated states. BRICS is threatening globalist U.S. hegemony based on the dominance of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency and the tender used in oil transactions. Other countries’ need for petro dollars propped up the U.S. economy for decades while the government was spending like a drunken sailor on Saturday night. It helped create a false prosperity based on massive consumer debt as the country was deindustrialized. The U.S. is drowning in debt, and the rest of the world is determined to slip the American leash by dodging the Western-based SWIFT system of transactional payments, creating alternate channels for transactions in their own currencies, including for oil, and foregoing buying U.S. Treasury notes that have financed the budget deficit. A falling dollar means the expense of financing the deficit shoots way up. Venezuela was supplying China with oil, and has used the “petro yuan” in those transactions, demonstrating that alternate transactional systems could work. Thus, the military strike in Caracas, Venezuela, and removal of Nicolas Maduro. The attack was not simply about seizing control of its vast oil reserves, though that was a consideration as the U.S. Strategic Reserve has been depleted to keep oil prices down. The Venezuelan regime was reportedly prepared to negotiate on U.S. demands, including access to oil, but that was not enough if one considers that the game is global, not regional.

The unipolar moment following the collapse of the Soviet Union is over. The conditions for U.S. dominance based on a financialized, debt-driven economy are evaporating. The globalist Utopian dream of imposing “democratic capitalism” on the rest of the world is just that — a dream. Resistance to Washington-based globalism is precisely why U.S. elites have, for instance, targeted Russia for regime change. They created a monster in China by deindustrializing the nation, outsourcing our industrial base to the Chinese, who are now no longer an asset. China is a rising power exploiting its country’s vast industrial strength to counterbalance American economic and political hegemony around the world. Iran is a BRICS member who is also Zionism’s main target. Venezuela was doing oil business with BRICS. Trump is now recklessly threatening Cuba and Colombia as well as Iran, and of all places, Greenland. Much of it within the Arctic Circle, Greenland is viewed by Trump not only as a platform to exploit Arctic resources, including oil and rare earth metals, but also as a vast military base for countering Russian and Chinese efforts to develop the Arctic.

Trump and his neocon and Zionist enablers have viewed diplomacy as weakness. Strength is demonstrated by brute force. A deal could have been made with the Maduro regime, but that was not enough. Russian President Vladimir Putin not so long ago offered cooperation with the U.S. in developing natural resources, and in talks with the U.S., Russian representatives proposed joint economic projects, including in the Arctic. The Middle East is not an area of vital interest for the U.S.  — vital, as in an existential problem. Neither is Ukraine. Greenland would no doubt cooperate with the U.S. if Washington avoided bullying and threats. Trump doesn’t operate that way because his goals are not limited to securing the wellbeing of his own country. Instead, he wants to restore global, hegemonic “greatness.” Trump is an old-fashioned imperialist still living in a past world of dreadnoughts and colonial power struggles. But his abstract view of American identity and Robber Baron mentality, as well as his personal Jewish loyalties, make him an easy mark for manipulation by globalists of the neocon variety and the Ziocons. Trump might be called a “Kleptocon” in that he simply takes what he wants — and his friends are benefitting. Longtime donor Paul Singer has bought Venezuelan assets for a song.

And, again, Trump appears to be readying for more strikes on Iran in the hope of leveraging street protests to carry out Benjamin Netanyahu’s long wished regime change operation in Tehran. 

But Trump had better step back and look around. Russia’s launch of a hypersonic Oreshnik missile to take down Ukraine’s power grid was meant as another step toward Russian victory. But I think it was also a warning from Putin to Trump that Russia has advanced weaponry the U.S. cannot counter. China has demanded that the U.S. back off from Venezuela. I am not confident that this administration has the sense to put the brakes on and avoid a head-on clash that could be catastrophic for ourselves and the world. This is not a game of Risk or a Manhattan real estate dispute. Like his predecessors, Trump is recklessly risking World War III.

At home, Trump and a number of governors have acted to restrict Americans’ First Amendment rights. Criticizing Israel is considered “antisemitism.” And one wonders about the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that have prompted street actions by leftists and defiance of U.S. law by Blue-State Democrats. A number of steps, coupled with targeted ICE actions against major employers of illegal aliens, might encourage illegals to leave. Pushing for employer sanctions, for one, and ending welfare benefits to illegals for another. But that approach would require planning, coordination, and patience, and those qualities, I believe, are also seen as weakness in Trump World. Some competence would help as well, but Trump wants to be surrounded by yes men and his usual assortment of attractive yes women. And I seriously doubt many GOP legislators want to take on those issues. That’s hard work.

In Minneapolis, the fatal shooting of Renee Good has caused a firestorm of protest from Trump opponents and, unfortunately, a wave of mockery and cynicism of her death among the MAGA denizens of the Internet sewer. Many of them were outraged at the left’s mockery of Charlie Kirk’s death and the lamentations of leftists that Trump’s would-be assassin missed his mark. Whether or not one thinks the Minneapolis shooting was justified, the callousness of some MAGA backers is sickening. And the Democrat officials who refused police cooperation with ICE to prevent protestors from harassing agents and blocking streets were just as cynical. I don’t doubt that some leftists are gleeful that the shooting took place. The provocation was successful. Trump may be acting cynically as well — the ICE raids and the left’s reaction rally the base and help provide cover for his preparations for a possible war or wars. The president could have invoked the Insurrection Act and arrested officials who urged resistance to ICE during the immigration riots in Los Angeles. He could have attempted to wind up the networks that financially support leftist militants. But maybe it’s better to let this go on for a while from his perspective. Trump is theatrical by nature and loves the drama.

This country desperately needs a leader to focus on domestic policy and the real needs of ordinary people. We are headed for an economic and social meltdown. But instead of doing the very difficult and painful work of cutting the federal budget and restructuring the U.S. economy, it’s always easier — and much more fun — to engage in foreign adventures, distract the plebes, and vainly try and bully the rest of the world into living as if it’s 1980 again. That train left the station some time ago.

I’m not sure when the impulsive, belligerent imperialist Trump won out over the Trump who pledged no new wars and wanted to pragmatically deal with the other great powers. But I think the disgraceful Epstein Files episode seemed like the waterfall that Trump and his puerile subordinates went over in a barrel. I think it has to do with protecting Israel, as well as global elites. When some of his supporters were outraged, Trump turned on them, declaring them traitors. So much for “populism.” Maybe the betrayal of his base was always in the cards. That so many of his supporters have jumped on the war bandwagon is itself indicative of a shallow sense of patriotism on the right. 

This isn’t going to end well.

Chronicles contributor Wayne Allensworth is the author of  The Russian Question: Nationalism, Modernization, and Post-Communist Russia, and a novel, Field of Blood. For thirty-two years, he worked as an analyst and Russia area expert in the US intelligence community.

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