It Is A
Time Of Crisis And U.S. Foreign Policy Is Becoming
Unhinged
By Moon
Of Alabama
March 28,
2020 "Information
Clearing House"
- The Trump administration is reacting to
the pandemic stress by lashing out at perceived
internal and external enemies. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo is leading the external onslaught.
UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres has
called for an
"immediate global ceasefire" to focus on fighting
Covid-19. He has appealed for the "waiving of
sanctions that can undermine countries' capacity to
respond to the pandemic."
But
Washington is not listening.
Requests
from Venezuela and Iran for emergency IMF loans to
buy medical supplies were blocked by U.S.
interventions.
Just
a month ago Pompeo announced an
increase of sanctions
against Iran. The sanctions block money transfers.
They make it impossible for Iran to import the
medical equipment it urgently needs to counter the
epidemic.
While
the U.S. renewed the sanction waiver which allows
Iraq to import electricity and gas from Iran the
waiver
is now limited to only 30 days.
One third of Iraq's electricity depends on those
imports from Iran and, if the waiver is not renewed,
its hospitals will go dark just when the epidemic
will reach its zenith.
Parts
of the Trump administration are even
pressing for a wider war
against alleged Iranian proxy forces in Iraq:
The
Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan
for an escalation of American combat in Iraq,
issuing a directive last week to prepare a
campaign to destroy an Iranian-backed militia
group that has threatened more attacks against
American troops.
But the
United States’ top commander in Iraq has warned
that such a campaign could be bloody and
counterproductive and risks war with Iran.
...
Some top officials, including Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and Robert C. O’Brien, the national
security adviser, have been pushing for
aggressive new action against Iran and its proxy
forces — and see an opportunity to try to
destroy Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq as
leaders in Iran are distracted by the pandemic
crisis in their country.
Military leaders, including Defense Secretary
Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been
wary of a sharp military escalation, warning it
could further destabilize the Middle East at a
time when President Trump has said he hopes to
reduce the number of American troops in the
region.
The plan is
lunatic. One can not "destroy" Kataib Hezbollah and
other Iraqi Shia groups which Iran helped to build
during the war against ISIS. These groups are part
of political parties with deep roots in the Iraqi
society.
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France,
Italy and the Czech Republic have started to
withdraw from Iraq. Denmark is also leaving and
the UK is removing 50% of its force. There are
less then 5,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and a war
on Kataib Hezbollah could mobilized hundreds of
thousands Iraqis to fight against the U.S.
occupation. Such a war would also involve Iran
and the U.S. would certainly lose it.
The
U.S. has currently
two aircraft carrier groups
in the Arab sea to threaten Iran. But those ships
are of no use right now. They are 'cruise ships with
guns'. Nuclear powered five billion dollar petri
dishes for novel coronavirus outbreaks. Two U.S.
carrier groups in the Pacific are already
out of action
because they have larger outbreaks on board. It is
only a question of time until the other carriers
follow.
It is
not only Iraq and Iran the U.S. is aiming at. The
U.S. State Department
cut its contributions
to health care in Yemen just in time of the highest
need:
Officials
with the United States Agency for International
Development said the decision to halt funding,
reported earlier by The Washington Post,
included exceptions for “critical, lifesaving
activities, including treatment of malnutrition
as well as water, sanitation and hygiene
programs aimed at keeping people healthy and
staving off disease.”
But
humanitarian officials said the agency’s
exceptions did not provide for continued funding
of basic health care programs, which are heavily
reliant on foreign aid, and did not seem to take
into account what might occur when the
coronavirus begins to spread.
Not
happy with only messing up the Middle East the State
Department also renewed its assault on Venezuela. On
Thursday the Justice Department announced
charges of
'Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and
Other Crimes' against President Nicolas Maduro and
14 former or current officials. It put up a $15
million reward for Maduro's arrest.
It alleges
that Maduro worked with Columbian cartels to smuggle
cocaine through Venezuela.
But
here is a map of smuggling routes from U.S. ally
Columbia where most of the cocaine is produced. It
was
shown during a
Congress hearing. Whatever is smuggled through
Venezuela is a tiny share compared to the huge
stream that comes through the Pacific.
bigger
Whoever
wrote and signed of the indictment also made a huge
mistake. The charges included Clíver Antonio Alcalá
Cordones, a former General in the Venezuelan armed
forces, and put a $10 million reward on his head.
Alcalá
Cordones is no friend of Maduro. He retired in 2013
when Maduro was elected after Hugo Chávez had died.
Alcalá Cordones fled to Colombia from where he
supported the U.S. chosen clown Juan Guaidó as self
proclaimed president of Venezuela.
After
the Justice Department indictment against him he
came out and
revealed that he
was involved in coup plans in support of Juan Guaidó:
Alcalá is
implicated in a recent plot to attack the Maduro
government. On March 24, Colombian authorities
seized a truck full of weapons and military
equipment, including 26 assault rifles,
worth $500,000. Venezuelan intelligence services
linked the weapons to three camps in Colombia
where paramilitary groups of
Venezuelan deserters and U.S. mercenaries
are training to carry out attacks against
Venezuela. According to Venezuela’s
Communication Minister Jorge Rodríguez, these
groups were planning to take advantage of the
COVID-19 pandemic to attack military units and
plant bombs. He also linked the groups to Alcalá.
These allegations
proved to be correct, as Alcalá, in a video he
posted online hours after the indictments,
admitted that the weapons were under his
command. He further admitted that the
weapons were purchased with funds given to him
by Juan Guaidó,
with whom he allegedly signed a contract.
Additionally, Alcala claimed that the operation
was planned by U.S. advisors, with whom he
supposedly met
at least seven times.
Aclalá also alleged that Leopoldo López, the
founder of Guaidó’s party Voluntad Popular who
was sprung from house arrest during Guaidó’s
April 30 attempted insurrection,
had full knowledge of the terror plot.
As a result of
these videos, Venezuela’s Attorney General has
opened an investigation into Juan Guaidó for an
attempted coup.
The U.S.
blew it by accusing the one man that was willing to
help its chosen clown and by not informing him
before the indictment came out. That man then
freaked out and blew the whistle. This is now
threatening the whole opposition plan the U.S.
concocted with Guaidó and the men behind him.
On
Friday Alcalá Cordones decided it was unsafe for him
to stay in Colombia. He 'called
up' the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration and gave himself up. He
was extradited to New York and will now become a
'witness' against Maduro who he has publicly opposed
in the first place.
This chaos
was certainly created by
Elliott Abrams,
the neoconservative U.S.
Special
Representative for Venezuela. Abrams has a
talent for messing things up.
U.S.
foreign policy during the crisis has been abysmal.
The U.S. angered China, the biggest producer of
urgently needed masks and drugs, by calling the
virus "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus", a practice
that stopped only after a phone call between Trump
and Xi Jinping. It angered Germany when it tried to
buy exclusive rights for a potential vaccine that is
being developed there. Requests for support by
multiple European allies were left unanswered while
China and Russia mobilized to help over 80
countries. Meanwhile Pompeo chastised Italy for
accepting Cuban drugs and doctors.
There will
be a large cost to pay for this when the pandemic is
over. The U.S. has exposed itself as unreliable
ally, as war mongering moron even at the worst time
and as incapable of helping its own citizens.
China on
the other hand defeated the epidemic at home and now
helps defeating it wherever it can. This is going to
be its century.
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