BLOG

Western sanctions against Russia backfire

First the US set aside $5 billion to overthrow the government in Ukraine in February 2014. Russia objected, and the Western media accused Russia of being the aggressor. Soon economic sanctions were imposed, and the US browbeat Europe into agreeing to those sanctions.

One result was that last September France refused to honor its contract with Russia for a French-built Mistral battleship.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/09/03/france-backs-off-sending-mistral-warship-to-russia-in-1-7-billion-deal/

So in December the PM of India paid a visit to Vladimir Putin, wanting to strengthen military ties. India was concerned that the French, caving in to US pressures, would cancel its contracts to India, too. Earlier, India had contracted France to purchase 126 Rafale military jets, but now India has canceled most of that large order and will purchase only 36 of them.

Instead, India will now purchase 127 Russian fighter jets. Ah, the price of obedience to the US government’s demands! France is now counting the cost of its US alliance.

http://russia-insider.com/en/washingtons-mistral-fiat-flattens-french-arms-industry-sukhoi-flies-high/5690

It is part of the direct fall-out from the socialist French governments anti-Russian policy, aligned with Washington. Obedient to the US, the Le Drian/Hollande tandem chose not to turn over the Mistral ships to Russia. This about-face on the part of India constitutes a major triumph for Vladimir Putin. Moscow’s revenge against France will cost Paris 20 billion euros….

[France’s] Le Drian, future candidate in the regional elections of 2015 and current Defense Minister, will do anything to avoid addressing the Mistral question, which has struck a decisive blow to the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire.

Has France’s decision (to stop delivery of the Mistral to Russia) solidified India’s position under US hegemony? Did India turn away from Russia and China? Not at all. In fact, the French decision has had the opposite effect, according to the article above:

The socialist government is paying for its alignment with American diplomacy on the delivery of the Mistral. India, now governed by Hindu Nationalists, has, in effect engaged in a movement of conciliation with China, leaning toward Russia, and disappointing American expectations about any anti-Russian, anti-China axis….

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Vladimir Putin in December when the hot issue was the non-delivery of the Mistral on grounds of the conflict in Ukraine. The head of the government of India, determined to enter the Shanghai Cooperation Organization alongside China, Russia, and Iran, and to free Eurasia from US tutelage, told the Russian president he wished to “keep Russia as primary partner in defense materiel.”

In other words, Western sanctions did not put the fear of God into the government of India. Instead, it turned India away from the US and Europe in its long-term military planning. Such long-term planning is like an aircraft carrier; it takes a long time to turn it around. India is now firmly in the China-Russian camp, thanks to the short-sightedness of France. Long-standing conflict between India and China is now being replaced by economic cooperation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), as they kiss and make up after years of ill will between the countries.

It’s amazing how a common enemy can create new friends.

In the early 1990’s the US government adopted the Brzezinski Doctrine, which called for the containment of Russia (and China). US Military bases began to surround Russia and China. Promises about NATO not expanding “one inch closer to Russia” were scrapped in favor of bringing Eastern European nations into NATO. The word of the US government was thus seen to be worthless.

Did the US government really think they could threaten both Russia and China with no consequences? If so, they were truly brainless or blinded by their own ambition.

Russia wanted to turn West and become a Western country. Putin wanted to be friends with the West and with the US. After decades of being enemies under the old Soviet Union, the new Russia wanted to turn over a new leaf. But the Brzezinski Doctrine did not allow such friendship. So now the US has pushed Russia East and into the welcome arms of China—which, by the way, had been a low-grade enemy for decades, due to an ongoing territorial dispute. But now they are best friends, thanks to Mr. Brzezinski. The economic union of China, Russia, and India will shift civilization to Asia and put the West into third-world status, given enough time.

The US government’s way of dealing with other nations has made it clear to China that they must develop their military force in order to escape the hegemony of the US government. The US worked hard to open up trade with China, but once they succeeded, they realized that China would soon overtake the US and challenge US hegemony in Asia. So they developed a policy to “contain” (i.e., obstruct) China’s rise.

This did not create any warm, fuzzy feelings between the two nations. Instead of befriending China, the US tried to maintain its hegemony through fear and military threats. So China reacted by seeking to defend itself against US aggressive policy. If the US had not threatened, both China and Russia could have been our friends and would not have felt the need to defend themselves against the US military bases that surround them. Instead, China feels it is necessary to build an airstrip in the Spratly Islands:

http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150417/1021029518.html

New satellite imagery shows the extent of China’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea. Fiery Cross Reef could soon serve as a military-grade runway in the middle of the ocean. And despite its own military presence in the region, US officials are in panic.

Dredging sand from the seafloor, the Chinese government has been steadily building artificial landmasses atop sunken reefs in the Spratly Islands archipelago. In part, the islands will be used to bolster emergency response in the region. But Beijing also says the islands will be used as military defense posts, which worries officials in Washington, already concerned about a growing Chinese influence.

The US is concerned that China might become strong enough militarily so that US threats will no longer make them cower in fear. As China establishes its defenses against US aggression, the US policy-makers go into a panic. Given the inevitability of China’s rise as an economic powerhouse—brought about by past US policies, by the way—it should have been clear from the start that the US ought to abandon its insistence upon maintaining world hegemony, at least in Asia.

The US could have been friendlier and avoided this showdown. China was much wiser in this, for they have sent emissaries around the world to make trade deals with other nations. They did not try to meddle in their affairs or demand “human rights” concessions from them. They did not seek advantage, but sought to make fair deals that benefited both nations. That is how it ought to be done, and their agreements were often a welcome change from those made with the US government.

Unfortunately, the US government was more interested in maintaining power than in using its power to make the world a better place. But the debt-money system, which at first seemed to enrich America, later turned America into the greatest debtor-nation in world history. (We reached that point in the late 1970’s.) We are now drowning in debt, as is all of Western Europe, and few ask who the creditors are who control the debtors.

The American Century is now past, and we have entered into a new century, which is definitely not an American Century. Our oligarchs are not interested in making friends, but in maintaining slave nations. This is why their policies have been so short-sighted. It is not that they failed to see this coming. It is rather that they saw that using the US military was the only way to keep the nations in fear, and therefore under their control.

But this is too big even for them. Thus, prophecy will be fulfilled. The kings of the east will indeed overthrow Mystery Babylon, as prophesied in Revelation 16:12 and according to the pattern of the original overthrow of Babylon in Daniel 5. God has raised them up today, even as He raised up King Cyrus and Darius to overthrow Babylon, set God’s people free, and fund the building of the temple and of Jerusalem. The difference is that today it is no longer Cyrus and Darius but China and Russia, and God will use them to fund the New Jerusalem and its temple—i.e., the Kingdom of God.

Does that sound far-fetched? It is no more far-fetched than it was in Daniel’s time. Who would have thought then that the Persians would fund the rebuilding project back then?

But we do not walk by sight, but by faith, according to the word of God.