The numbers are from the World Bank Development Indicators up to 2016, and then I use the IMF estimates of growth (actually decline) from the World Economic Outlook database. So this is a brutal collapse, something the US government is doing, even at the price of some costs to local refineries, in order to promote regime change in Venezuela. Whatever your views on Maduro and the Chávez period, note that the US is fine with Saudi Arabia. Trump and Dems before too. And remember that Obama...
Read More »Zero Hedge — Stocks Tumble After Navarro Says “Agreement With China Difficult” Unless Beijing Does Full Trade Overhaul
No deal with China. China has already declared that it is not going to submit to US dominance, which is ultimately regime change and the demise of the Chinese Communist Party. Chimerica is effectively over.The question now is who can wait the other out? I would be betting on China.Zero HedgeStocks Tumble After Navarro Says "Agreement With China Difficult" Unless Beijing Does Full Trade Overhaul Tyler Durdenalso at ZHChinese Media Deny WSJ Report About Global Banks Cutting Ties With Huawei...
Read More »Zero Hedge — Maduro Scrambles To Repatriate Venezuela’s Gold After Trump Crackdown
Just four days after president Trump signed an executive order last Thursday enabling new sanctions on Venezuela’s gold sector, in a bid to disrupt trade with Turkey which U.S. officials believe is undermining efforts to cripple Venezuela's economy and force Maduro and members of his government out of office, Maduro is now seeking to repatriate about $550 million in gold bars from the Bank of England over fears it could be caught up in international sanctions on the country. US economic...
Read More »Tim Young — Blockading Venezuela: The Linchpin of the US Strategy of Aggression
Sanctions now form a key part of what is a strategic plan by the US to ruin the Venezuelan economy, says Tim Young.… It's not socialism that is sinking Venezuela but capitalism — neoliberalism, that is, whose corollaries are neo-imperialism and neocolonialism. Tim Young recounts now capitalist America is mounting an illegal hybrid war against socialist Venezuela, pure and simple, not only based on political ideology but mostly for, you guessed it, for capturing the oil.You see, Maduro is...
Read More »Media Roots — US Sanctions Shut Down ‘The Empire Files’ with Abby Martin
The Empire Files is temporarily appealing for donations on a one-time and monthly basis to continue production in the midst of US attacks on the TeleSUR Network. As a result of US sanctions against Venezuela, The Empire Files has been forced to completely shut down operations. The Empire Files, which airs on TeleSUR throughout Latin America and on Free Speech TV and The Real News Network in the United States, has been funded through a contract with the TeleSUR network. As Abby Martin’s...
Read More »Pepe Escobar links
The first is a should-read. The second is a backgrounder.Asia TimesSun Tzu and the Art of Fighting a Trade War From Baltic Sea to Black Sea, Russia aims for a win-win Pepe Escobar
Read More »Joaquin Flores — Trans-Atlantic Collapse: Berlin-Brussels May Create ‘Swift’ Replacement
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that the European Union needs to create an independent analogue of the American system for transferring information on SWIFT payments in order to protect its companies from US sanctions against Iran.... “In this situation it is of strategic importance that we clearly tell Washington: we want to cooperate. But we will not allow them to act over our heads, to our detriment. Therefore, it would be right to protect European companies from sanctions from...
Read More »Patrick Armstrong — LATEST AMERICAN SANCTIONS
The official justifications for this latest set of sanctions proves that they are not the real reasons because they are too ridiculous to be taken seriously by any thinking person. The ever-changing Skripalmania story, preposterous at the outset, has descended into incoherence as the crack Russian assassination team is now said to be using public toilets to remix “novichok” to put into perfume atomisers. The OPCW certified last October that Russia had eliminated its CW stocks; who is...
Read More »Zero Hedge — Senators Seek “Crushing” Sanctions For Russia In New Bill
Let's see now. US is sanctioning Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and threatening the Philippines, Turkey and India for purchasing non-US weapons, as well as threatening secondary sanctions on everyone, with possible exceptions for allies, for purchasing Iranian oil after sanctions become effective. Oh, and did I mention the trade disputes with Canada and Mexico. Exactly who is isolated here? Talk about painting yourself into a corner. And economic warfare is a form...
Read More »Reuters — U.S. targets four individuals, three companies in Venezuela sanctions move — Reuters U.S. targets four individuals, three companies in Venezuela sanctions move
Ratcheting up economic warfare. The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on four Venezuelans and three Florida-based companies under a program meant to pressure Caracas over what the United States sees as its heavy-handed tactics to suppress political opposition.... ReutersU.S. targets four individuals, three companies in Venezuela sanctions move
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