POMPEO THINKS HE CAN LURE RUSSIA AWAY FROM CHINA WITH A CHEAP PROPAGANDA STUNT

                Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools...
                                     Romans 1:22
 
Below is our translation of an article from rueconomics.ru with a foreword and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos.
 
The inability of most grassroots Americans to see the whole picture of the US Establishment’s actions and intentions will be the downfall of the US.

Many Trump supporters blindly believe that Trump is pro-Russia but anti-China.
 
I get many messages from Trump supporters indoctrinated by MAGA propaganda, who say they admire Putin but that they don’t trust China. Some acquaintances of mine who lead “peace” organizations say essentially the same thing, praising Putin but smearing Xi. These people are hopelessly naive to think that Putin would ever betray Xi Jinping because of some foolish suggestion of theirs or their government’s. Look, if you want to be friendly toward Russia, then you have to be aware that Russia’s main hope in the world is China, nothing else. Only China and Russia have the clout and the economic and military power to oppose the war-mongering US-led West, and they both know it. To think that some puny little peace activist or some oversized US official could possibly sway one of them to turn against the other is utter brainlessness.
 
Of course many MAGA enthusiasts remember that Trump had said in his campaign that he thought he could “get along with Putin,” and they foolishly figured that Trump is a friend of Russia and that the whole “Deep State” wants the poor man to be punished for his supposed friendliness toward Putin. They are partly right because certain prominent Democrats have tried to have Trump impeached on silly charges, but these hyperliberals are not deeply enough embedded in the Establishment to understand the nuances of US foreign policy. Further, these hyperpatriots on the far right have apparently slept through all the anti-Russian sanctions that Trump promoted, and all the flashing lights spelling out that, despite the show of friendliness toward Putin, he is fully engaged in the Establishment’s game of trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China. Of course, Trump and his cronies in Big Government miss the clear signals that this policy of theirs is a non-starter and that Russia and China will not only always be close partners – de facto allies – in their opposition to the US and its sleazy tricks, and the more virulent the anti-China campaign becomes, the tighter their bond will become. This is because Russia and China are a whole lot smarter than the Washington misfits give them credit for.
 
Since Congress first opened up trade with China in the 80s, the ulterior motive of the biggest Neocons and Neoliberals was to use China as a tool to keep these two countries from forming an alliance that might throw a spanner into Washington's plans for world domination. It never worked out, especially after Putin stepped into the picture. Yet they keep hatching their childish plots to propagandize Russia into abandoning its partnership with China. The very existence of these obvious ploys to weaken their friendship is a major factor that drives them together, but that never occurs to the Washington game players, who never bother to follow Sun-Tzu’s advice to know the enemy.
 
Just last week, a rumour surfaced in both Israeli and US media that supposedly Putin was ready to turn his back on Assad. It was a brainless attempt to sow chaos by making Assad think Putin was about to ditch him, and was the umpteenth time this kind of fake news had been tried, to no avail, of course. Just a few days ago, Russian officials pointed out that the Russian who started this rumour was not a Russian official and that the rumour was not true.
 
Now comes Mike Pompeo offering an olive branch to Russia, obviously in an attempt to ensnare Russia into a plot to weaken China. Nobody is falling for it in Russia or China, but that won’t prevent Pompeo from thinking he is a genius for dreaming up this cute little plot.
 
BEGIN TRANSLATION
 
US friendly gesture is no doubt Trump's trick to drag Russia into the anti-China game
 
21:25 May 17, 2020
 
The friendship of Russia and the United States, according to Mike Pompeo, will end in unpleasant surprises for Moscow from Washington, said FBA Economika Segodnya (rueconomics.ru) Doctor of Economics and chief researcher at the US and Canada Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Vasiliev.
 
US will try to lure Russia into forming a coalition against China
 
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in an interview with Washington Examiner said the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and terrorism is an area in which successful collaboration between Moscow and Washington is possible.
 
“I adhere to a rather pessimistic view of the prospects for Russian-American relations. As soon as the United States of America makes some kind of conciliatory gestures, later negative actions take place that sharply worsen bilateral relations.
 
Therefore, such statements can be called a harbinger of the unfriendly steps that Washington is preparing for us. It’s difficult to say which specific area it may affect,” comments Vasiliev.
 
The expert believes that the mention of the successful cooperation between Russia and the United States in preventing terrorist attacks was made by Mike Pompeo as a standard statement.
 
The US Secretary of State emphasized during the interview that he had been working with Russia since the time he was director of the CIA. He recalled that Moscow helped Washington save American lives by providing information, and the United States, in turn, helped Russia prevent the terrorist attack planned in St. Petersburg.
America gathers a coalition
 
The expert suggested that Mike Pompeo's statement is primarily related to American policy regarding the Chinese side.
 
“Turning to the topic of coronavirus under conditions when Pompeo is considered Washington’s main mouthpiece in the anti-Chinese course seems very suspicious. The United States of America is interested in using the Russian factor to pressure China,” the expert assures.
 
It is noteworthy that in his interview, Mike Pompeo openly declared Washington’s intention to force the world to unite in order to impose on China the costs incurred by states due to the pandemic. Pompeo also expressed hope that a union of countries would emerge that understands that the only way to get the world out of the coronavirus crisis is to rid it of the risks allegedly emanating from China.
 
Pompeo gave the interview after a trip to Israel, where he put pressure on the US ally to weaken its relationship with China. Among other states that Washington would like to bring around to its idea of ​​confronting the PRC, the US Secretary of State named India, Japan, Australia, and Brazil.
 
“The United States of America is forming an international position, and the statements of some states testify to this. I think that European countries will also join.
 
In other words, Washington has begun to form a coalition of states, which together with it will put pressure on the Chinese side in order to persuade the authorities to conduct an investigation into the emergence of coronavirus infection,” the expert believes. [Australia was one of the countries whose fawning leadership opted to fall into step with Washington. As soon as Australian sanctions on China were announced, China immediately banned Australian beef exports, causing an outcry among beef growers down under.]
 
Vladimir Vasiliev believes that America thinks only the Russian Federation can appeal to the Chinese leaders directly.
 
“Therefore, the White House will try to use Russia as a factor that could theoretically influence China’s position and persuade it to be more compliant with the West. Other states do not have such potentials.
 
Knowing the American approach, we can say that the principle of pressure permeates the actions of the United States to use Russia as a lever in relations with China. It is this motive that is embedded in the offer of friendship, voiced by Mike Pompeo,” the agency’s interlocutor is sure.
 
US is working on a strategy
 
Vladimir Vasiliev recalled that recently, the American side has been actively trying to pressure the World Health Organization to echo the White House’s opinion.
 
“The United States is gradually building its own tactics, as part of which they are also trying to probe the state of the Russian Federation, which is fighting the coronavirus epidemic. Thus, Washington intends to find out the state of our country’s economy, its epidemiological situation, and the extent to which the coronavirus has weakened Russia's position and made it compliant with the possible demands of America,” the expert explains. [At this point, Russian economists are saying that Russia’s position is strong thanks to its vast gold and foreign currency reserves, including yuan].
 
Marshall Billingsley, appointed by US President Donald Trump on April 10 as special representative for arms control, recalls Vasilyev, bluntly stated that the situation in the world has changed dramatically, and Russia's allegedly deteriorating economic situation opens up opportunities for the United States to strengthen the arms race.
 
“This logic is also observed in the statements of Mike Pompeo, who intends to launch a kind of mechanism and probe how much the pandemic has changed the Russian Federation’s posiiton.
 
The Americans do not share the views of Moscow, which supports China through its information activities. However, against the backdrop of United States actions, the question arises of how the Russian Federation will react and whether it decides to support the Western side to some extent instead of the Chinese side. The reaction of our country will show what role it will play in the information war that Washington has unleashed against Beijing.
 
However, I do not rule out that the friendly gesture by Mike Pompeo will be followed by a surprise or a gift in the form of a threat of new sanctions against Russia, ”the expert said.
 
by Alexandra Melnik
 
END TRANSLATION
 
WAR NEWS
 
Below is a report from Al-Masdar that Egypt is in the process of acquiring Russia’s fastest and best fighter jet, Moscow’s answer to the US much-ballyhooed F-35, which is supposedly invisible to radar but which Russian radar can see just fine from 200 km away. Remember that the US sent $1.2 trillion to Lockheed Martin to design this bird, which Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan has discreetly called “F—ed up.”  We explained at NSS why the US is willing to send so much money to arms makers for so little, and it has nothing to do with keeping America safe.
 
The wonder jet F-35 has a top speed of about 1,200, less than half the top speed of the Russian Su-35.
 
But the obvious advantages of the Su-35 and the pitiful performance of the F-35 does not stand in the way of the Trump administration threatening countries showing an interest in purchasing the obviously superior Russian fighter and strong-arming allies into buying the US flying tin can.
 
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/egypt-challenges-us-to-acquire-one-of-russias-most-powerful-weapons/?utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=push&utm_campaign=push%notificationss&utm_content=varies
 
Egypt defies US to acquire one of Russia’s most powerful weapons
 
By News Desk
 
2020-05-18
 
BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:20 P.M.) – Egypt is facing potential sanctions from the U.S. after reports began to surface this week about the start of its acquisition of the Russian-made Su-35 fighter jet, which has threatened U.S. aircraft in the past.
 
It has become known that the deal is on the way to being implemented despite the threats from the United States to Egypt, which were made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
 
According to experts, the appearance of the Russian Su-35 fighter in the Egyptian Army will lead to an imbalance in the region, as it is one of the most powerful combat aircraft in the world, and will ensure its superiority over the air forces in the region. [And let’s not forget, Israel is right there on the border and has purchased huge numbers of the overpriced F-35s, which can be easily defeated by the Su-35. Of course the US is concerned. If an Egyptian Su-35 were to shoot down an Israeli F-22 or F-35, both touted as “invisible,” just think what that would do to US arms sales! No wonder Pompeo is worried.]
 
The Russian newspaper “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” said that the analysis and hypothetical battles of the Su-35 against F-15 and F-22, showed that the Russian fighter was designed to defeat these two fighters, and in the near battle there are no opportunities for American fighters against the Russian fighter.
 
On Saturday, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted a military diplomatic source as saying that Russia had begun producing the latest generation of Su-35 fighters for Egypt, under a signed contract with Cairo.
 
A document published by the official website of the Russian government contracts and tenders revealed a tender related to the contract to supply some electrical connections and cables that will enter the manufacture of a new weapon for Egypt.
 
The document stated that the contract was concluded between Russia and the Egyptian side in 2018.
 
The Su-35 poses a threat to American fighters in an air battle. It belongs to the 4th generation and can compete with Western warplanes, including their 5th generation aircraft.
 
The Russian fighter weapons include air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles of all kinds, anti-ship missiles, and laser-guided bombs, as well as a 30-mm cannon equipped with 150 shells.