Slouching toward World War III

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 1^st day of July in the year of our Lord 2022. I will be talking about how the world, prodded along by the most powerful, seems to be moving inevitably toward a superpower war. This war, when it begins in earnest will be fought between the most powerful nuclear armed countries that have existed in all of history.

A cold war – thus far

I have talked in the past about how the world is dividing into armed camps of nations as both sides scramble last minute to find allies to bolster their teams. The war is mostly cold right now as it is being waged economically. But ominous clouds have appeared over the cold war that tell me it could go hot at any moment. Not much appears to be happening from either side to reverse this road to World War lll. What makes any of the world’s leaders think this coming war will not go nuclear, I don’t know.

Do they really think that a nation with thousands of nuclear missiles will lose a war or allow itself to suffer defeat with those missiles still in their silos? Apparently, they do think so, or at least I hope they think so, because the alternative is even more terrifying. How do world wars begin? We know for certain because we have two examples to choose from. They begin one step at a time, one provocation at a time, one insult at a time, until finally the camel’s back is broken and it’s too late.

Economic sanctions don’t work

The economic sanctions against Russia have not worked as well as had been hoped. So new kinds of sanctions have to be found to ratchet up the pressure. When sanctions fail to accomplish the desired result then escalation is the natural response. Recently the small, but NATO and EU member state, Lithuania blocked all the items sanctioned by the EU from being transported from Russia, through the safe passage zone in Lithuania, to the Russian conclave of Kaliningrad. That was a provocation the Russians say they are not willing to live with. Russian language was strong enough to cause the EU, but mostly France and Germany, to tell Lithuania to back off. Apparently though, the Lithuanians have given them all the middle finger on that order for now.

The world waits for a country of 2.5 million people to plunge it into nuclear war. It is understandable on the part of the Lithuanians because they suffered for decades under Soviet Communism with its concrete building blocks and its lines to get potatoes etc. They don’t want to go back and who could blame them. But now they have Article 5 of the NATO charter which would permit or even require NATO to respond to a Russian attack. So perhaps they are confident enough to be reckless.

Escalation toward war – Russia and the West

The Russians responded first with strong diplomatic language, but recently they announced that they would put nuclear weapons into Belarus on the border of Lithuania and Poland. That was a pretty clear indication of the intent to use those weapons if Russian survival was at issue. Russia has also begun cyber-attacks against Lithuania. Putin, in his speech at the Russian Economic Summit in St. Petersburg, spoke as if Russia and Belarus were the same country and in fact, they are. Russian speakers, diplomats, etc. have started referring to Russia as “The Union.” These are all ominous signs, and no one seems interested in turning down the rhetoric.

This past week there were two meetings on the Western side of the world and one on the Eastern side. The G-7 nations consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—plus the European Union. They met in Germany for discussions on Ukraine, but much of the talk centered on inflation and energy prices. The decision was made not to sanction Russian energy any further as the Europeans are probably worried about winter and empty gas lines.

Energy problems remain

President Biden revealed his plan to bring fuel prices down by persuading the Middle East producers to simply produce more and our problems would be solved. Emanuel Macron, President of France, was caught on camera and on a hot mike thought to be cold schooling him on the situation in the Middle East. Macron said I talked with MBZ this morning (he is the ruler of the UAE) and he said he is pumping at maximum so no more. The Saudis tell me they might be able to pump another 150 thousand barrels per day, an insignificant amount, but no more. That comment was heard around the world and the implication was clear. Joe you will have to solve your own energy problems. National Security Director, Jake Sullivan pulled him away from the Mic.

Blame it on Putin?

The president wants to blame his energy problems on Putin. But even his own energy secretary said no, it was a problem before the invasion of Ukraine. He wants to force Americans into green energy. But it is not available, and he can see the nation’s economy crumbling around him. So he needs someone else to blame. This one is on you mister President, you did it and you are doing it. I wonder how this president thinks we can fight a war against Russia and China, at the same time, without energy. He has already drawn down the strategic reserves in an effort to reduce prices. Now he wants congress to put a three month hold on the gas tax. These are all just pennies and won’t do anything but fuel more inflation.

NATO met this week as well, in Madrid, Spain. The talk there was about their coming hot war with Russia and how to keep the provocations coming until Putin won’t take any more. Seriously though folks, the Europeans seem willing to tone down the rhetoric and they refused any more energy sanctions. Why would they sanction energy any further since they are all cheating anyway? The big news is that Turkey has lifted its objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO thus clearing the way for two new NATO members.

Turkey and Finland – making war more likely

The Kurds have historic ethnic lands without borders, they say, along Syria’s northern border and Turkey’s southern border extending all the way into Iraq. The Kurds say these are our generational homelands and the Turks say no you are terrorists. The Turks are tired of these cross-border skirmishes and would not agree to NATO expansion until they had assurances. Finland and Sweden lifted their arms embargos against Turkey and pledged not to support the Kurds anymore and to cooperate with Turkey on counterterrorism so poor Kurds. This was a diplomatic win for President Biden who pushed hard to get the agreement. In my opinion it brings us closer to World War lll, not further from it for these reasons.

Finland shares an 810mile border with Russia so rather than avoid NATO in Ukraine it has another NATO country on its border. During the long 40-year cold war Sweden and Finland remained neutral respecting an agreement made with Russia during World War ll, but now I suppose it is time to forget the lessons of history and just plunge ahead. Guess who pays for most of this, that’s right you do because all those weapons going to Turkey including advanced fighters and upgrades for their F-16’s come to US. Arms firms paid for with your tax dollars or at least your future debt.

Remember who the Turks are

Keep in mind that this is the same Turkey that bought S-400 air defense systems from Russia specifically designed to shoot down the airplanes the U.S. was selling them. So maybe the technology of those jets made its way back to Russia. Mr. Erdogan, the Turkish leader:

• Imprisons his political opponents,
• Helps Iran evade sanctions, and
• Consolidates his own power by undermining election law so how can we tell friend from foe in this. I know that the Soviets used to have a barrier that Churchill referred to as the Iron Curtain. The U.S. spent countless billions to keep it from expanding until one day it collapsed. Now, the U.S. expends countless billions to be the one expanding. Russia screams that this was not the deal, but no one seems to be listening.

China holds a summit – and participants talk reserve currency

On the other side of the world another summit was held in Beijing, China. The normal BRICS nations were there consisting of Brazil. Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Those nations have ambitions of expanding the alliance to a G-8 including three other nations. Only India is not completely decided and seems to want trade with both sides. India has never condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has never stopped trading with Russia despite the sanctions.

In the Beijing Summit Vladimir Putin announced plans for an international reserve currency. It will be called the Russian Financial Messaging System and it is open for connection to banks of all BRICS nations. Currently that consists of about 40% of the world’s population, and 25% of the world’s economy. Washington imposed de-dollarization on Moscow, so Putin had to find some way around the dollar system. The Russians have been doing a brisk business paying in gold. So of course the West has imposed sanctions on gold transfers out of Russia affecting Russia’s ability to pay bills.

Building up toward war

The North Koreans accused the U.S. of trying to expand NATO into the Pacific or form a Pacific version consisting of U.S., Japan, South Korea, initially, and there may be something to that containment accusation. Jordan’s King Abdullah proposed a NATO like treaty of Middle East nations formed to fight off Iranian expansion and terrorism. It’s hard to see the divided Middle East with its 1000-year ethnic wars agreeing to anything so binding. At the same time the talks between Iran and the U.S. on Iranian nuclear expansion resumed this week in Doha, Qatar. So time will tell, however, Iran and Argentina have chosen sides by applying to the BRICS.

The U.S. and the E.U. combined have poured about $110 billion into Ukraine. That is more than the entire defense budget of Russia. What else would you call that but escalation. In addition, at the NATO summit the U.S. announced that troop strength in Eastern Europe would be increased to about 300,000 which is an incredible effort. Europe will have to go on general mobilization to meet even a small part of it. So the U.S. will see its army once again deployed this time against a nuclear power. The deployment is to include the 101 Airborne Division. This is the same U.S. military that is growing critically short because of recruiting shortfalls, especially of pilots.

Building up in the Far East

While this commitment was being made in Europe the U.S. began construction on an advanced air base on the Pacific Island of Tinian. You might recall from history that Tinian was paid for with the blood of U.S. Marines in World War ll, and from it a lone B-29 named Enola Gay delivered the atomic Bomb over Hiroshima. This base is apparently intended as an insurance policy against the loss of Guam, I suppose to Chinese missile attack. Estimated completion in about 12 months.

China has been undergoing a massive military buildup for many years. The North Koreans just completed their 7^th nuclear test, and South Korea is reaching out for closer ties to NATO countries. China is expanding worldwide especially in Africa and the Middle East. China is now the largest trading partner in Latin and South America. When they work a deal to colonize some country, they import from China everything except a little local labor. The deal seems great to whatever warlord runs that country. Then after a while it is obvious, they are being robbed. It is hard for the U.S. to counter these deals because the main thing we have to sell is weapons. And our new ideology which doesn’t work well in Africa or the Middle East, or Latin America. Such an opportunity for America if we had competent people in charge.

Who makes the rules?

In Conclusion a NATO strategy document lists China as a strategic threat and says it is contesting the Rules Based International Order. Who makes those rules, but the U.S.? And China has announced very clearly that it is seeking a new international order outside the U.S. dollar denominated system. So not surprising! The U.S. continues to threaten, provoke, and bluster as does China. Sooner or later some small spark will set it off and missiles will fly. I pray to God that I am wrong.

Finally, Folks, it is clear to me that Joe Biden is not in charge of much of anything. The administrative and corporate state appears to be running things. For example, the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken appointed the head of Blackrock Financial which does a huge business in China as its pivot to Asia point man responsible for containing China. He doesn’t want China contained. Neither do the other revolving door corporate heads that run U.S. foreign and diplomatic policy. The people who run U.S. China policy do not want China contained because they make billions from China. My view is that we do not have a functional central government at all. Instead we are just an arm of the corporate administrative unelected and unaccountable state and they have us headed toward a catastrophic war.

At least that’s the way I see it.

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle.

From castlereport.us, appears by permission.