by William Skink

There is a new escalation of belligerence and geopolitical desperation playing out on the world stage that I am not sure the Russia-obsessed media is capable of contextualizing. Like the run-up to the disastrous catastrophe in Iraq, the steps America is taking to make a military confrontation more possible is not getting the criticism it deserves.

While Rachael Maddow takes fearmongering to a whole new level by wondering what would happen if Russia cut the power during a polar vortex event like the Midwest suffered through, the US has formally left the INF treaty. I would love to know what kind of 4-D chess Trump the Putin puppet is playing here with a move that could restart a whole new arms race with Russia:

The Trump administration just announced it will officially withdraw from an aging nuclear missile treaty with Russia, a move that could kick-start an arms race and threaten the European continent — but also allow the US to better prepare for a war against China.

On Friday morning, President Donald Trump issued a statement that put the final nail in the coffin of the Cold War-era agreement, finalizing a decision that many experts — both happily and nervously — expected for months.

“Tomorrow, the United States will suspend its obligations under the INF Treaty and begin the process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty,” Trump said. “For arms control to effectively contribute to national security, all parties must faithfully implement their obligations.”

In a press conference around the same time, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “Russia has jeopardized United States security interests, and we can no longer be restricted by the treaty while Russia shamelessly violates it.”

Does this make anti-Russian, neoliberal xenophobes jump for joy? Isn’t this what you want your President to be doing, sticking it to Russia to show those fucking Ruskies who the boss is?

Another dangerous move by the Trump regime that requires context for those with national amnesia is the return of Elliott Abrams, a despicable creature who belongs in chains before the ICC. Why? Here’s Allan Nairn on Democracy Now with some relevant history on this sociopath:

ALLAN NAIRN: Abrams was the key man in Reagan administration policy toward Central America, when that administration was abetting what a court recently ruled was a genocide in Guatemala, when the U.S. was backing the army of El Salvador in a series of death squad assassinations and massacres, and when the U.S. was invading Nicaragua with a Contra force that went after what one U.S. general described as “soft targets,” meaning civilians, things like cooperatives.

Abrams later came back during the George W. Bush administration, joined the National Security Council and was a key man in implementing the U.S. policy of backing Israeli attacks against Gaza, when the U.S. refused to accept the results of the Gaza elections, where Hamas defeated Fatah in a vote, and instead Abrams and company backed a war operation to overturn the results of the election, backing the forces of Mohammed Dahlan.

If you want to hear/read more, go to the link, but I should warn you Nairn gets graphic with some specific atrocities Abrams helped downplay and cover-up.

Speaking of psychopathic Neocons, I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight the mustached one being given a long leash to fuck shit up, John Bolton. His threats last September against the ICC are extreme bordering on unhinged. Here is Bolton in all his mustached glory declaring the ICC already dead to the US:

The United States launched a blistering verbal attack on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and threatened sanctions against its judges if they proceed with a probe into alleged war crimes by Americans in Afghanistan.

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, made the announcement in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative group, in Washington, DC, on Monday.

“Today, on the eve of September 11th, I want to deliver a clear and unambiguous message on behalf of the president. The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,” Bolton said.

“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC … We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us.”

What a psycho. Is this how Trump is draining the swamp? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

The most recent news coming from the Hague is the resignation of a judge over threats to the court by the US and Turkey. I’m going to include a long quote because I think what former ICC judge Christoph Flügge has to say about threats against the court is incredibly important:

Flügge, who had been a permanent judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since 2008, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that he had concluded in the wake of the developments that the “diplomatic world” saw no value in an independent judiciary.

He warned that the UN’s blind eye to Turkey’s intervention had set an alarming precedent.

“Every incident in which judicial independence is breached is one too many,” he said. “Now there is this case, and everyone can invoke it in the future. Everyone can say: ‘But you let Turkey get its way.’ This is an original sin. It can’t be fixed.”

Flügge said the attitude of the US administration to the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague highlighted the danger.

“John Bolton, the national security adviser to the US president, held a speech last September in which he wished death on the international criminal court,” he said.

“If these judges ever interfere in the domestic concerns of the US or investigate an American citizen, he said the American government would do all it could to ensure that these judges would no longer be allowed to travel to the United States – and that they would perhaps even be criminally prosecuted.

“The American security adviser held his speech at a time when The Hague was planning preliminary investigations into American soldiers who had been accused of torturing people in Afghanistan. The American threats against international judges clearly show the new political climate. It is shocking. I had never heard such a threat.”

Flügge said the judges on the court had been “stunned” that “the US would roll out such heavy artillery”.

“It is consistent with the new American line: ‘We are No 1 and we stand above the law,’” he said.

As Neoliberals try to maintain their control over the DNC (more on that soon) and corporate media continues obsessing over Russiagate, this new belligerence is making a shooting world war more possible.