Bilateral relations are dismal, the worst in decades.

They were deplorable before Trump entered office, greatly deteriorated since his inauguration – an unacceptably dangerous situation, showing no signs of changing.

Surrounding Russia with US military bases, inventing a nonexistent Russian threat, falsely accusing its government of “aggression” and interference in America’s 2016 presidential election, imposing illegal sanctions, seizing its properties, expelling its diplomats, harming RT and Sputnik, along with conducting provocative military exercises near its borders head things toward direct confrontation – risking unthinkable nuclear war.

Connected to the Pentagon, Stars and Stripes publishes stories related to its operations. An earlier article discussed its Russian “deterrence” mission in Lithuania, bordering Russia’s Kaliningrad, close to its heartland.

It focused on US forces training for possible confrontation with Moscow. Their mission is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, involving America and other NATO countries, initiated over false accusations of “Russian aggression” in Ukraine.

Provocative air, sea and ground operations, along with US-led NATO’s permanent presence in Eastern Europe, threaten Russia’s security, the Kremlin forced to respond defensively.

Sergey Lavrov earlier said Washington and its NATO partners “grossly violated (their) political commitments” on European security, creating unacceptable bilateral friction.

US military exercises near Russia’s borders are rehearsals for war – unthinkable between the world’s dominant nuclear powers, yet possible, perhaps inevitable given Washington’s rage for dominance, Russia considered it main enemy despite no threat to America or any other countries.

According to Stars and Stripes, deployment and training are part of “Operation Atlantic Resolve, the United States’ commitment to deter aggression in Europe in response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.”

No “Russian aggression” exists now or earlier, no Crimean “annexation,” no Kremlin threat to America, NATO, the European continent or anywhere else.

US hostility toward Russia is all about its sovereign independence, its opposition to US naked aggression, its peace agenda, its policies polar opposite Washington’s imperial lawlessness.

Trump and earlier US administrations want Russian sovereignty replaced by pro-Western puppet governance, its resources looted, its people exploited, its territory partitioned for easier control.

US-led NATO forces permanently near Russia’s border is all about wanting regime change by color revolution or war, virtually certain to be nuclear if launched.

Washington’s imperial madness threatens world peace. Its permanent war agenda and rage for dominance may doom us all.

stephenlendman.org

The neocon Washington Post is a CIA house organ, serving its pure evil agenda, its targeted assassinations, its orchestrated color revolution attempts to topple foreign governments.

William Blum once explained why they’ll never be a coup in Washington – because “there’s no American embassy there.”

In its latest assault on Russia, the Washington Post disgracefully claimed its government “fooled the US in Syria.”

Along with Iran, it’s been combating US-supported terrorists since September 2015 – at the same time, going all-out for conflict resolution, its best efforts sabotaged by Washington and its rogue allies.

WaPo never explains these and other vital issues, featuring disinformation instead.

Throughout seven years of Obama-launched aggression, using ISIS and likeminded terrorists as imperial foot soldiers, WaPo and other media scoundrels pretended the war is “civil.”

There’s nothing “civil” about naked aggression. Nor are anti-government forces “rebels.” They’re imported cutthroat killers, recruited from scores of countries.

Major media reporting on war in Syria is some of the most abysmal in memory – seven years of disinformation and Big Lies, truth-telling suppressed, victimized Syria misportrayed as an aggressor, aiding its people, not combatting them.

WaPo: “The (Trump) administration should now be discovering, as the Obama administration did before it, just what Russia’s word in Syria is worth.”

“With heavy Russian air support, Syrian government forces have been conducting new offensives against two of the de-escalation zones, the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta and the northern province of Idlib.”

“As in the past, the tactics include war crimes, including the deliberate bombing of hospitals.”

“In Idlib, where hundreds of thousands of Syrians took refuge during previous stages of the war, another mass exodus is underway, with more than 100,000 people fleeing north toward the Turkish border.”

Fact: All of the above is a deplorable perversion of truth.

Fact: Syrian and allied forces, aided by reduced Russian airpower, continue combatting US-supported terrorists in de-escalation zones and elsewhere in the country.

Fact: Bombing hospitals, residential areas, schools, mosques and marketplaces is a US specialty, not Syria’s or Russia’s. WaPo disgracefully lied.

Fact: Grievous war crimes were committed by US forces in Iraq and Syria – terror-bombing Mosul, Raqqa and other locations, massacring civilians, causing vast destruction.

Fact: Russia and Syria respect human lives and welfare. Washington and its rogue allies hold them in contempt – post-9/11, responsible for millions of casualties, unreported by WaPo and other media scoundrels, supporting imperial high crimes, not denouncing them.

Fact: Syria’s refugee crisis is the world’s largest – millions displaced by US naked aggression and atrocities committed by terrorists it supports.

WaPo: Assad “seek(s) to restore its control over the entire country by force, and Moscow is actively abetting it.”

“By declining to challenge or even protest this brutal strategy, the Trump administration reveals its weakness.”

It’s hard finding words strong enough to challenge these disgraceful remarks.

Nations are responsible for protecting their people. Aided by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, Syrian forces are combatting US-supported terrorist invaders.

Their main enemies are Washington, other NATO countries, Israel and Saudi Arabia – disgracefully supported by media scoundrels like WaPo.

stephenlendman.org

How can there be joy with Washington and its imperial allies waging war on humanity, raping and destroying countries, responsible for millions of casualties post-9/11 alone!

America is a gangster state, a democracy in name only, a plutocracy in fact, carving up whole continents for power and profit, terrorizing humanity, demanding all nations bend to its will, seeking unchallenged global dominance by brute force, featuring endless wars in multiple theaters.

Destructive imperialism and predatory capitalism are America’s most defining features, powerful interests exploiting resources and populations for enrichment and control.

They’re expansionist by nature, wanting indigenous societies replaced by consumer ones.

Monopolies and oligopolies overwhelm small business, notably family-owned ones. Agribusiness displaced family farms.

Today’s America and other predatory capitalist societies are increasingly defined by rotten jobs, low wages, poor or no benefits, weak unions, and workers exploited for maximum profits.

They matter more than human health and welfare. The American way is diabolical, run by dark forces. Exploitation of its most vulnerable people transformed the nation from chattel to wage slavery.

Police state laws and mass incarceration replaced freedom. Resisting the imperial state is met with brute force. Minority communities in America resemble Occupied Palestine.

Killer cops operate like brutal Israeli security forces, killing thousands in America annually. Official numbers undercount reality. It’s too grim to report accurately.

It pales in comparison to imperial slaughter by US forces in declared and undeclared combat theaters, the horrendous human toll mounting daily.

How can there be joy at Christmas or any other time of year with endless wars raging, with millions suffering its ravaging, with growing human misery, with the worst of all possible worlds for most people worldwide.

America wages endless wars of aggression in the name of peace it deplores. Plunder is considered economic development.

The nation is defined by obscene wealth for the privileged few at the expense of most others. Dining with his Mar-a-Lago Florida friends on Friday, Trump reportedly told them “you all just got a lot richer” – referring to the great GOP tax cut heist he falsely called a “middle class miracle.”

The deplorable state of the America includes growing poverty, unemployment, underemployment, hunger, homelessness and despair.

Festiveness is meaningless in a nation and world plagued by pain, torment, heartache, misery and human suffering, things worsening, not improving.

Anti-war activist/revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg once said “(w)e stand today…before the awful proposition: either the triumph of imperialism and the destruction of all culture, and, as in ancient Rome, depopulation, desolation, degeneration, a vast cemetery; or, the victory of socialism.”

Sadly, the forces of darkness are triumphing over the general welfare – the holiday season a time to mourn, not celebrate.

stephenlendman.org

Trump has lots of proving to do. I intend cutting him some slack, withholding criticism like media scoundrels and many others until he starts governing – then holding his feet to the fire if he fails to deliver, commending him for what’s praiseworthy.

That’s what fair and unbiased journalism should be all about – available through alternative media sources only, mainstream ones entirely lacking credibility.

They disgracefully denigrated Trump throughout his campaign (while one-sidedly exalting war goddess, racketeer, perjurer Hillary), likely continuing to bash him in office no matter what he does or doesn’t do.

Given America’s sordid political history, I doubt I’ll look back on his years with admiration. Yearning for real change like millions of others, I hope he’ll prove critics wrong. If so, his tenure will be historic.

I remember Jack Kennedy fondly. In June 1956, as a junior Massachusetts senator, he concluded his commencement address to my class, saying «if more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a better place in which to live…»

If they knew Shakespeare, Tennyson, Neruda, Yeats, Keats, Emerson, Thoreau, Twain, Sandburg, Pushkin, others like them and internalized their thinking, perhaps we’d have a much better world.

Instead, we have to play the hand dealt us, striving hard for beneficial change, never losing hope, never yielding to Machiavellian evil.

Trump campaigned against deep-seated corruption, dishonesty, hypocrisy and «liars», promising he’d do better.

Beginning January 20, it’s put up or shut up time. On the stump and via Twitter, he said he’ll make government honest again, close all loopholes and «drain the swamp». Here are some promises:

• he’ll ban all executive branch officials from lobbying government for five years after they leave office;


• he’ll «ask Congress to institute its own 5-year ban on lobbying by former members…and their staffs;»


• he’ll expand the definition of lobbying so former government officials can’t circumvent rules by calling themselves consultants, advisors or other designation concealing their lobbying intentions;


• he’ll «issue a lifetime ban against senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;»


• he’ll «ask Congress to pass campaign finance reform that prevents registered foreign lobbyist from raising money in American elections;


It takes a giant leap of faith to believe he’ll «end our government corruption». Let’s see what steps he takes and judge him accordingly.

• he’ll «end economic stagnation» – helicopter money for Main Street, not Wall Street, would be a good way to start;


• he’ll «push for a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress» – no easy task; Article V of the Constitution explains:


It requires two-thirds supermajority approval by House and Senate member or a (never before used) two-thirds supermajority national convention vote – called by Congress at the request of at least 34 state legislatures.

If one of the above two options is achieved, a three-fourths supermajority of state legislatures or state ratifying conventions is required for adoption.

The process was successfully completed 27 times before, including for the Bill of Rights, the Constitution’s first 10 amendments – so a 28th amendment is possible, but only after a lengthy, arduous process.

Trump said he’ll «enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law».

He failed to explain over-classification abuses, maintaining secrecy on things everyone has a right to know, including serious government wrongdoing – why courageous whistleblowers exist. They should be honored, not prosecuted and imprisoned.

Incarcerated heroes like Chelsea Manning and all other political prisoners should be freed straightaway once Trump is inaugurated. Indictments of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange on phony espionage charges should be dropped.

Trump: «I am going to forbid senior officials from trading favors for cash by preventing them from collecting lavish speaking fees through their spouses when they serve».

«I am going to ask my senior officials to sign an agreement not to accept speaking fees from corporations with a registered lobbyist for five years after leaving office, or from any entity tied to a foreign government».

«I am going to restore honor to our government. We’ve seen the corruption of Hillary Clinton, the mass email deletions, the pay-for-play at the State Department, the profiteering, the favors given to foreign corporations and governments at your expense».

«We’ve seen a former Secretary of State lie to Congress about her illegal email scheme, risk innocent American lives, and bring dishonor onto our government».

Will he hold her accountable or go back on his word to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her wrongdoing? He told CBS’ 60 Minutes he’s «going to think about it», adding he wants to focus on jobs, healthcare, border control and immigration – then saying:

«I don’t want to hurt them (meaning Bill and Hillary). They’re good people», suggesting accountability won’t be forthcoming on his watch.

Trump: «I know the system better than anybody else and I’m the only one up here that’s going to be able to fix that system because that system is wrong».

«Our campaign is about breaking-up the special interest monopoly in Washington, DC. We’re trying to disrupt the collusion between the wealthy donors, the large corporations, and the media executives».

«They’re all part of the same rigged political establishment. They go to the same restaurants, they attend the same conferences, they have the same friends and connections. And they are all in for a big day of reckoning on November 8th».

«The Big Banks and Wall Street donors who want nothing to change are throwing millions and millions at my opponent. These are the same people who paid Bill and Hillary Clinton $150 million for speeches».

«Hillary Clinton’s campaign is all about protecting the powerful. Our campaign is about protecting those who have no power».

«Together, we are going to give working people a voice for the first time in a very, very long time».

«On every issue, our campaign is about making life better for working people. But we can’t accomplish that goal unless we break-up the special interest monopoly and give power back to the citizens».

«(G)lobalization wiped out our middle class. It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn it all around – and we can turn it around fast».

«If I am elected President, I will end the special interest monopoly in Washington, DC».

Bold pledges! Will he deliver? What about ending America’s permanent war agenda, its imperial ambitions for unchallenged world dominance, wanting US-controlled puppet regimes replacing sovereign independent ones?

Will he normalize relations with Russia, ending illegal sanctions and the threat of possible nuclear war? Will he «make America great again» for all its people, not just its privileged few like it’s always been from inception?