7 mins read
BRICS Summit Should End Neocon Delusions
The majority of the world does not want or accept U.S. hegemony and is prepared to face it down rather than submit to its dictates, writes Jeffrey D. Sachs.
5 mins read
Eduard Lozansky
During his first election campaign in 2016, Trump promised to defeat the “deep state” once and for all, in other words, “drain the Washington swamp”, i.e., direct the country’s human and material resources to the welfare of all its citizens, and not just to the powerful financial, oligarchic and bureaucratic structures and the media and think tanks that serve them. However, many residents of the Washington swamp, who adhere to the principles of America’s world leadership, exclusivity and indispensability, were also horrified by Trump’s intentions to focus on the country’s internal problems, and not on its global hegemony. It is clear that after such statements by Trump, they, regardless of party affiliation, made a bet on Hillary Clinton.
However, a miracle happened, and Trump won, because ordinary voters liked his slogans and promises. However, the losers quickly recovered from the shock. On January 5, 2017, then-president Obama held a meeting at the White House with Vice President Biden, National Security Adviser Rice, CIA Director Brennan, Director of National Intelligence Clapper, FBI Director Comey and Deputy Attorney General Yates. At this meeting, a strategy was developed for the operation to overthrow Trump on the basis of fictitious accusations of his collusion with Russia. Despite the fact that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, who was appointed to investigate these allegations, was unable to find any evidence of such collusion, the ability of the new Trump administration to govern the country, especially in the field of foreign policy, was significantly undermined. In particular, the president’s national security adviser, General Michael Flynn, whom Trump had counted on to coordinate the process of improving relations with Russia, was quickly compromised, and this process ended before it could begin. Obedient media published various unverified materials, including the so – called dossier of the British spy Christopher Steele about Trump’s sexual adventures at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Moscow, which became famous. It should be noted that the work on this dossier was funded by the election campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. Mueller’s failure did not stop efforts to remove the president from the establishment, which included members of the White House administration itself. Their next step in this direction was the impeachment process, which also failed. At the same time, the success of Trump’s economic policies significantly increased the likelihood of his re-election to a second term, which caused a nervous reaction of his opponents.
And then suddenly they came to the aid of Covid-19, which was used to change the voting rules, and often in violation of existing laws. The main change was to increase the delivery time of ballots by mail, when the possibility of fraud increases significantly. As a result, Trump lost. But according to polls, not only 87 percent of Republicans, but 30% of independents and even 17% of Democrats believe that he actually won. The dramatic moment came on January 6, when, according to the Constitution, Congress was supposed to finally approve the results of the electoral college vote count and award Biden the victory accordingly. It is clear that in such a situation, nothing could be changed, and Trump had two choices. The first is to declare his defeat unfair, but to recognize the results of the elections in the name of calm in the country and announce his intention to run again in 2024. Such a noble gesture would earn him the respect and sympathy of not only the 75 million Americans who voted for him, but also many others, plus a place of honor in the country’s history. Instead, he decided to continue the senseless struggle, and gathered hundreds of thousands of supporters in Washington, gave a rousing speech about not recognizing Biden’s victory. Heated by this speech, people moved towards Congress, although Trump did not call them to do so. However, they broke in and committed a pogrom, during which several were killed, including a police officer.
Now Democrats are planning to re-launch the impeachment process against the president, accusing him of inciting the storming of the Capitol. According to them this behavior of Trump is a real danger to American democracy and therefore simply waiting is lethal. If the House of Representatives votes in favor of such a measure, the final decision on impeachment will be made in the Senate. There, all Democrats and many Republicans criticized Trump’s actions, but to support a decision on impeachment, you need to get two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 votes. The probability of such an outcome is small, but it is also impossible to exclude it. Another option to remove Trump before the end of the term is the adoption of the 25th amendment to the Constitution, recognizing him as incapacitated. However, this can only be done on the initiative of Vice President Pence and the support of more than half of the cabinet members. A source in the vice president’s entourage also did not rule out such a development, but only if the head of state becomes “more unstable”. Taking into account all that is happening, in the days remaining until January 20, you can expect the most incredible events. In conclusion, we note that Trump swept over America like a bright meteor, but he did not manage to drain the Washington swamp