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Vince Dhimos
We are at a crossroads with an ironic twist. Merkel is being scourged in Germany and the EU for her insane immigration policy and may lose her job as Europe’s strongwoman. That could spell a big relief for Europeans sick of unlimited immigration for hordes of Middle East “refugees” unwilling to assimilate, but it could also mean that Germany would get a new chancellor who, while being an immigration hawk, is also a US puppet willing to go along with Trump’s demands for a European economic suicide. Ironically, the far-right anti-immigration parties in Europe generally like Trump. The question is: would they be foolish enough to let the US write economic policy for them or would they be perspicacious enough to see that Trump is sensible on immigration but disastrously predatory on economics. So far it appears that Trump wants his legacy to be a deal that would smash Europe and inflict serious harm on Russia but somehow make America rich by trading with partners who can scarcely afford its products any longer. Trump is adamant that Europe must stop buying Russian gas because, as he says, Russia is a threat and buying its gas leaves Europe open to extortion. Yet in fact, the extortion attempts are all coming from the US. Oddly, this is the same Trump who said in his campaign that he could “get along with Putin.” Even then, anyone who carefully studied Trump’s behaviour had to know that for him, “getting along” meant dictating terms to Putin, but anyone familiar with Putin’s behaviour knew that Putin would never be cowed by any Western politician. Russia had seen that movie many times before and knew how it invariably ends. (Here is our reminder of how the US interfered in Russian politics in a way that ruined Russia in the 90s). Buying extravagantly expensive US LNG would quickly impoverish Europe, especially Germany, which has maintained its position as the world’s 2nd biggest exporter thanks largely to cheap Russian gas. There is no way LNG (liquefied Natural Gas) can be sold at anywhere near the low price of gas straight from the pipeline. LNG requires expensive compression, storage and decompression equipment, and in the case of US gas, it is now mostly extracted by the expensive (and environmentally harmful) “fracking” process. If Trump can actually accomplish this evil deed, it will ruin Europe. But the question is: is there any profit in wrecking your customers’ economy and reducing him to poverty? Poor customers can’t afford nearly as much of anything as rich ones. Trump, however, has a peculiar character trait that makes him decidedly a salesman and politician, and not a problem solver, as we described here. (According to an investigative report in USA Today, he stiffed hundreds of contractors in his construction business.) The outcome of all this deal-making will depend on whether his America first policy seems reasonable or extortionary to the European partners, and that in turn depends on whether they see Trump as an honest broker or a shyster. What Europeans, whether pro-Trump or not, need to remember is that it was the US’s wars on Middle East leaders and its “war on terror,” that brought the waves of immigration to Europe in the first place. And it was America’s chumminess with Israel and Saudi that makes the West stubbornly support takfiri Wahhabists, the most violent of the Muslims, while opposing the Muslim leaders (like Assad) who encourage citizens of all religions – Shiites, Sunnis, Christians, Yazidis, etc. – to get along that perpetuates these disastrous immigration policies and their disastrous side effects. This absurd attitude of government, supported unquestioningly by most Westerners, is why the “immigrants” in Europe have a high rate of anti-Western attitudes among them, which manifest in violent crimes like rape, and occasional terrorist acts. Trump is at the forefront of this encouragement of bad Muslims (eg, Saudis) and opposition to the non-violent Muslims. His “Muslim travel ban” is a perfect illustration of this hypocrisy, as described here. Relevant Merkel on way out fast. https://russia-insider.com/en/politics/merkels-star-fades-what-really-happening-behind-scenes/ri24039 Trump adamant that Germany stop buying Russian gas https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-17/trump-gives-merkel-ultimatum-drop-russian-gas-pipeline-or-trade-war-begins Trump’s sales job in rabidly Russophobic Warsaw http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/news--analysis/trump-sells-vacuum-cleaners-to-warsaw USA Today: Trump stiffed hundreds of contractors https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/ Trump tariffs killing the dollar http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/economics-and-finance/youre-killing-the-dollar-rothschild-newspaper-begs-trump-to-stop
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