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Unintended Consequences – the Double Edged Sword of Sanctions
Mike Gravel states the obvious – so why is American asleep at the wheel?
… by Jim W. Dean, VT Editor … with Press TV
Iran’s strength is in leveraging it’s petrochemical wealth not as a weapon but as a bridge to a new economic coalition
Veterans Today has editorialized on the huge industrialization effort going on in Iran to make itself as bulletproof as possible long range to Western financial warfare. And make no mistake about it, that is exactly what U.S. and EU policy has been.
Iran’s people are struggling, yes…but so is the West and much of the rest of the world. But there is a big difference. Iran is not drowning in debt. That gives them a strategic advantage that flies over the heads of most in the West. There is a serious denial element to it, also.
Western strategists are also missing that the sanctions have peaked interest in the need long term for a new Asian banking structure for clearing trade, and I see no way that it will not happen.
Those who could be targeted in the future understand that it is a life of death deal for them to never be vulnerable to western financial sanctions.
The geo-political shifts here will be irreversible, all which will have negative effects on our children and grand children. One of those will be a decrease in foreign investment in the U.S. as it can always be held hostage or ever seized over some arbitrary policy decision, one that could have been made via a totally corrupt back room ‘special interests’ deal that the American people are not aware of.
These foreign countries, many of them with well educated publics, are now aware of the depth of corruption in the American political system. The Israeli Lobby mess has just been the canary in the coal mine. If the little country of Israel could wield such power, just think what some really powerful entities could do.
Iranian pipelines to everywhere – exporting energy security, rather than the insecurity that others seem more interested
Iran’s strength is in leveraging it’s petrochemical wealth do its scientific and industrial wealth to compete with the big Western multi-nationals. Is this why they are really deemed a threat?
Is our military transforming into modern ‘John Company’ for the British India days? I refer here to the East India Company started by Sir John Banks. It had it’s own private British Army which was paid solely out of the operating funds of the company.
Because of our stupid policy, for their own national security interest these countries will also be looking to source anything that they need outside American and EU production.
What Iran has done, even under sanction pressure, others are asking themselves, why cannot we do something similar when we are not under sanctions?
The abject failure of our corporate media to even be asking questions like this of our American sanctions policy is unforgivable. It terms of their wearing the hallowed mantel of our 4th estate, they have been a disgrace. The same goes or the nuclear threat silliness.
Corporate media has also not been questioning the rationale behind the shift of American geo-politico power to Asia. Once again, no real justification was give for it as our elites view the American people as a kind of farm animal, and we carry some of the blame for that.
The smokescreen justification most often used is ‘American interests’, with a period at the end. The assumption, but one not stated, is the hint of defense security interests. But they don’t seem to really want to give us any security analysis of where such a threat is.
China, for example, is in a totally defensive posture just like Iran, putting their military expenditures into where they see the most benefit…defense. For the Americans, it is offensive. But knowing that no such threats actually exists they have a fall back position, that one ‘could emerge’ in the future.
This ‘could emerge’ two words is a cash cow to our military industrial complex, an economic war they themselves are conducting against the American people. Budget deficits or not, they want their money, and they plan to create and present their well crafted ‘pay us or die’ scenarios.
No one in Asia can really threaten American national security interests…unless those interests concern our offensive ones, like making sure no competitive trading system with a separate bank clearing process could emerge.
U.S. Navy – Expedition to Korea
I watched this policy being rolled out and waited for it to be attacked and torn to shreds for being totally bogus. Asia is not one of my background fortes so I hung back on writing anything about it. I also was waiting to hear the term ‘gunboat’ diplomacy to be used. It was not, so yours truly is putting it out there today.
I see one, and only one justification for any of this. There are forces out there, the real evil ones, that are thinking long term about where are we going to get our next big war from so they can make the only ‘big money’ that can be made throughout history, ‘tearing it down and then building it all up again.’
I don’t have to tell you whose business that has been for a few hundred years. I will give you a hint. They never run for office and are not impeachable, and those who you think really run things are just their lieutenants. You want an example? OK…Israel is one of their lieutenants.
The Navy is fully onboard the new Asia forward deployment, but they are drinking their own Koolaid as nothing is going to become more of a strategic waste than the fleet navy. Why? Because missile development is neutralizing them as I type. The killing power of missile technology is etching doom on their tombstones.
An example of now antiquated power
Cruise missile speed has vastly increased. They are very affordable in mass production, which allows for them being fired in salvo after salvo, a 100 or 200 at time at a navy fleet, every 30 seconds for a few minutes if desired. Such missiles can be widely dispersed so as to make them invulnerable to a first strike.
And another thing that no one wants to discuss is they can be armed with lightweight mini-nukes, which are not only plenty to do the job, but do not have the big weapon nuclear after effects.
The total block out on mini-nukes is because they have not only been here for a while, but they have been used, and not by bad guys. They have been used by _______ (fill in the blank).
So the big secret they are keeping from all of you here is that these weapons they have already used against certain targets. Those who know this and wisely are trying to protect themselves by having some kind of defense are being casts as threats against America.
Think about where the evil really lies in that scenario.
You can pooh pooh on this all you want to, but I am signing my name to it. What we have in play here is the Israeli model of strategic foreign policy…anyone who can defend themselves from a pre-emptive strike is a threat which has to be neutralized.
How? All options are on the table. Folks, that is a mad dog neighbor, one who is a threat to everybody, and I see signs that more and more are catching on to it.
Everybody who buys into this offensive defence is signing up to a form of Neo-Slavery in that they are going to suck you and your future seed dry financially. ‘Pay up or die’ has always been at great closing tactic in that big game.
What we are missing is that the big threat is where it has always been at…here. But we have let them keep us on the merry-go-round to make sure our opposition efforts, no matter how motivated, continue to go in circles.
USS Panay – China – and Steve McQueen fame
Sure, we are running a growing guerrilla opposition to them now, but we have failed to actually take any of the real opposition out (other than Romney’s attempted knock out blow on us), so they always remain to fight another day. That is why they have been winning.
Take a look at the international financial fraud that happened, 9-11, the phony War-on-Terror, the Patriot Act being passed with no one reading it…who do you think set all that up? Nobody believes that Arabs living in caves watching porn did it, but has that put a dent really into those responsible?
What other country besides Iran is executing bankers for bank fraud because it is viewed as a kind of crime of treason against the country, an idea I find not only wonderful by highly civilized.
And of what benefit have our democratically elected representatives been in defending us from this? Humble me, I would suggest to you…zero. And if someone were to ask me bluntly, “then does that mean they are really in on it”, my answer would be ‘yes’, they have aided and abetted. I take no joy in having to say this.
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Sanctions best thing that ever happened to Iran: Ex-US Senator
Press TV – Iran - published Sunday, February 24th, 2013
Senator Mike Gravel
A former American Senator says the “illegal” US-led sanctions against Iran have proven counterproductive by making the Islamic Republic “totally independent.”
“I gotta tell you, there’s no question the sanctions are discomfiture, but in the long run it is the best thing that’s ever happened to Iran,” Mike Gravel, a former two-term Alaska Senator, said in an interview with Foreign Policy.
Gravel, who traveled to the Iranian capital Tehran earlier in February to participate in the Third International Conference on Hollywoodism and Cinema, explained that sanctions have made the Iranians “totally independent and forced them to internalize their economic activity, to build machines.”
“We rode for about 10 miles right through the heart of Iran where they’re building an elevated highway. Boy, I’ll tell you, that was an impressive work area. So the city is just like a normal thriving city. It has prosperity. You could tell by the traffic jams. The architecture’s extremely attractive and imposing, and so what’s happened to the country is it’s being forced into independence.”
He added that Iran is on the road to development and progress, saying, “You force domestic wares to be produced and then you turn around and you can export your product very competitively … and so that’s what’s going on in Iran.
The US, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Iran, over 7000 hours of inspections – Israeli inspections…Zero
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that the Iranian nuclear program has been diverted toward military objectives.
The former American Senator slammed the US-led sanctions on Iran as Washington has no inkling that “what it’s doing is counterproductive to arriving at a solution.”
He emphasized that Iran has not violated the IAEA regulations, noting that the UN nuclear agency has had investigators all over the place who are going to continue to do that.
Pointing to a fatwa (religious decree) issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the prohibition of the production and use of nuclear weapons, Gravel added, “I think there’s a great insincerity on part of the [US President Barack] Obama administration unfortunately.
Probably the best approach to this, the Imam has stated very clearly they are not going to pursue the acquisition of the bomb because the Koran dictates that they cannot do that.”
Addressing the opening ceremony of the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran on August 30, 2012, Ayatollah Khamenei said Tehran considers the use of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, to be an “unforgivable sin.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear, chemical, and similar weapons to be a great and unforgivable sin,” the Leader stated.
“There’s no intelligence estimates that indicate they’re pursuing a bomb. None at all,” Gravel added.
Despite allegations by the US and the Israeli regime, a report last year by 16 American intelligence agencies confirmed that Tehran is not seeking to build nuclear weapons. The Israeli intelligence community also agreed with the assessment.
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=240625
Posted by Jim W. Dean on Feb 24 2013, With 0 Reads, Filed under Editor, Foreign Relations, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Thanks Mr. Dean for this wonderful documentary.
Iranians’ adviser against their criminal Banksters was our very own George Carlin yet we continue to ignore his golden Advice.
Taking up Carlin’s advice against Banksters named in the “They Want Your Soul” film would quickly eliminate most of this country’s problems, especially its vets.
**************http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoT_5Txwp5w
A terrific expose by VT Managing Editor Jim Dean that has shows deep understanding of the true problem with the way America’s govt has been hijacked is misrepresenting the people’s foreign interests in Iran. Brings a certain clarity to the Iran sanctions issue that explains what the game plan is behind the scenes in secret which is never not shared with the poeple for mass consumption through the media. The game is to run offensive wars to extract more of the taxpayers money and to steal other countries resources to pad the bottom line of int’l offshore corporations that are parasites on America but pay little or no taxes.
What a great article,while the west sinks in debt, Iran swims above the waves, what fools we are to alow our politicians to act this way in our name.
I also thank Iran for helping the Palestinians, and I don’t know how many times I tell people that the west tells lies re Irans nukes and wanting to wipe Israel of the map.
Why would Iran nuke Israel?,and kill all the Palestinians unless they have built a jew only nuke.(not a bad idea)
Go Iran
Well I hope Gravel is right but there are those who claim the Iranian currency the Rial has lost more than 80 percent of its exchange value during the first 10 months of 2012 and they blame the sanctions as the major contributing factor.
Excerpts from a February 2013 article:
The sanctions are, however, sapping Iranians’ living standards as the weak rial pushes up inflation through higher import costs. Chicken prices, for example, nearly tripled in a year as the cost of buying feed from abroad jumped.
The official inflation rate hit 27.4 percent at the end of 2012. Including imported goods, actual inflation is believed to be roughly twice as high. A small jar of Nescafe now costs about 230,000 rials ($6.30 at the free market rate) in a Tehran store, up from 120,000 rials a few months ago.
The rial’s depreciation has halved the savings of the middle class and destroyed some of their businesses, but ‘those at the top and bottom of the pyramid haven’t seen a dramatic amount of change’, said Emad Mostaque, a strategist who follows Iran at London-based NOAH Capital Markets.
Excerpt from another article:
Impact on working people
Working-class “families now go months without eating meat or poultry, which have seen some of the biggest price hikes,” the Journal said.
Brian: Besides the bigger picture involving world domination by the Jewish bankers in The City London the sanctions are also about natural gas.
Excerpt from Washington’s Blog:
Another important country is Iran. Iran sits on the second largest gas reserves in the world and has over 93 billion barrels of proven oil reserves with a total of 4.17 million barrels per day in 2009.
Brian: Iran is trying to be a major player in the natural gas market, but unfortunately it competes with the TAPI pipeline which will provide billions of dollars to former and current Mossad agents every year. The TAPI pipeline is a major reason the Mossad blamed Osama bin Laden for 911 because they needed American troops in Afghanistan on behalf of Israel’s Turkmen gas enterprise. American soldiers are killing and dying for the TAPI pipeline. Yosef Maiman is having a good laugh.
The Israeli stooge Hilary Clinton forced Pakistan to stay away fro the Iranian pipeline plan.
Well it is true most of what you said, let me give you a full run down. Till Jan/2012 the price of one USD in Rial was around 12000 and since then which is 14 month the price has gone up to 40000 Rials for $1.
and it is difficult not only for the middle class but for the less fortunate as well, and many who are retired and had their savings in the banks and were collecting between 18 to 22% a year in interest like my mom.
These people are felling the shortage.It is difficult to have enough to live on for the rest of your life and the next day you see what you had is worth 30% what it was a year ago.
So it not only the social security money in U.S that the U.S government managed to f….k it up but they brought this to people 12000 miles away as well. i don’t know where to start from, there are so many thing the United States is responsible for.
Amen mn, The sanctions have hurt the currency as the exchange rate and banking control is where the US does have a lot of control. And that has hurt the Iranian people across the board and shot in the head any chance for regime change as everybody there knows who their number one threat is, and it is not their government, despite all the internal issues.
It is simply remarkable what Iran has done in terms of infrastructure and development internally under the sanctions. They played to their strengths. I still do not understand how they could not have bartered oil for say the medicines they needed. I sense a mix up there, but that is just a guess.
They are ten times in better shape now for resisting a pre-emptive attack, and being able to inflict substantially more loses. Yes they have paid a cost, but when the situation is resolve that cost will end. The costs for the West will continue, and it is Western people who will then swap places with what the Iranians have suffered. This will not be as drastic as the currency pummeling the Iranians have been under, but for example the jobs and trade are gone forever, from what it could have been.
If such were to happen for a threat that did not exists, the political and military brass would be decorating light polls in DC. It would be on of the biggest military blunders of all time, and that does not consider the economic devastation from running oil up over $200 a barrel.
If the US launched a major attack to destroyed Iran’s infrastructure, their only option would be to fire off eveyything they could to inflict as much damage as possible on their attackers, hoping that their respective publics would finish off the job for them. On the target list of course will be all the major oil oil facilities in the Gulf, making repairs a long range deal.
Suppliers like Russia, Nigeria, Chavez, would all be sitting in the cat bird seat, but all the economies destroyed by the after effects they would passionately hate whoever the pre-emptive strike folks were. Israel would be toast if this happened. It would be a hell of a price to pay to get rid of them when sanctions would be better.
mn thanks for the insight. The United States is responsible for a lot of death and destruction in the world, especially in the Middle East. The United States destroys the Middle East on behalf of its master the Israeli government which on occasion acts as the middle man for the banksters in the City of London.
I live in the United States of Israel and unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to change until the United States has collapsed and thus no use to Israel.
As an American I would like to apologize to the Iranian people for the horrible sanctions places on Iran by Obama from the Pink House.
Brian & Jim
Thanks Jim &Brian and believe my no ill felling against you or any Americans.
You see the way i look at us people or how i differentiate between the level of knowledge of us are as follow. i tried my best to explain it the best i can.
There are those who know and they are aware that they know. ( Hopefully you and i )
Then there are those who know but they don’t know that they know. ( the truth seekers )
Then again there are those whom they don’t know but they think they do. (watching too much television lies)
And there are those who don’t know and they don’t know that they don’t know. ( most of people )
We all get conditioned in our life’s and we try not to see, since it is more comfortable and one does not get labeled and you get to keep your friends, power, money, loved ones and so on….
i understand there are no perfect pictures out there the U.S government is just as bad as Iran’s, they both are bulling people and love the power one internally one internationally that is the only big difference.but as an Iranian i still prefer to be bullied by the bullies in Iran at least it’s my bully and i can work my way around it and not to get my ass beaten off.
Out of the population in Iran there are 30% that support the government with their lives and i mean that. Then there are 40% of us me included who see the picture and have to be wise and choose what is in the best national interest and not fall for 7 country scenario. ( W. Clark ) i think
Which leaves the last 30% whom they were against the government from the start but because of being the rich portion of the society with the new millionaires and billionaires. These sanctions are working ok for them. After all once there are sanctions we have to produce internally and that takes capital which they have and since they mostly were sitting on the side lines since there was just too much cheaper imports, naturally they were pissed off even more than they already were. But with these new sanction’s which is not like the past 33 years suddenly there are opportunities, hence production and other thing that comes with it.Very much what Mr Dean was writing about. Unintended consequence of these polices.and i wish them the best at least they are walking in the shoes of national interest even if it is self interest first.
I am just wondering if the people are going to be back stabbed once more after the sanctions are over and the flood gates of imports are open.
You see Jim while it has been thirty four years past from the revolution in Iran, there never was any improvements till the past 14 years, specifically since the new president toke over even the fact that people in Iran don;t appreciate him and make fun of him but he is a patriot and that is a fact which history will tell.
He was of a humble up bringing so there were too many rough edges but you can’t have it all. At least he is not a thief which is better than the ones before him. I must say this was not his platform but evolved into this as the time past hence all the new projects and infrastructure which is being built is a direct result of all these sanctions, as they say blessing in d…….
As for the medicine we do make 97% of it locally and feed at least the 10 countries around us with most of their medication, simply because it is an alternative which is much cheaper. But the other 3% are specialized medicine or the more sophisticated ones which are not easy to duplicate and they are by Swiss or German or American companies which are large multinationals so one says no the rest will follow and obviously Iran is making it a lot bigger than it is also.
We are all caught in a web that is getting more complicated by the minute and the only way is to undo it not to try to find new answer for the same problem doing the same thing. Not too many wise men out there.
m.n
m.n.
I appreciate your comment.
What a fine article!
What a fine writer!
I am not an educated politition, only an outside observer who lost his country to the cabal.
Therefore I figure the following:
The American people do not see Iran as a security threat yet, your government sanctions this country (together with your best friend and ally).
This clearly shows, the American people have no say in this matter (done in the name of the American people)
This clearly shows that your entire government acts without your permission.
This clearly shows that your entire media acts without your permission.
This clearly shows that your entire military acts without your permission.
Americans, could it be that your entire country is not under your control ?
Gerry, You are right in that “representation by the people, for the people” is nothing more than an empty slogan…and there are mulitple components for it. I put that bit about Iran executing bankers and sending others to long prison sentences to show they considered what they did an attack on the country by an enemy. The money was way up there, north of a billion.
If you can’t execute people over a billion dollars, I would ask what is the point of having government.
I have long adocated capital punishment for financial crimes over a million dollars, an most people think I am kidding. But when I take over the country this is one of the first things I will do. And if I am in a bad mood I will make it half a million.
And oh yes, I would make the penalty retroactive
I agree, Ol’ Jim seems to be layin’ down a groove, lately. Nice writing, Jim and nice touch on both the opinions and supporting detail.
Songwriting is not that different from journalism….. ya’ gotta have something to say and a new way of saying it to be effective. I think you got a hit this week….. well done.