The United States chose to target Vladimir Putin when he sought to take Russia off of the petro-dollar. It really seems like history is repeating itself. It was when Saddam Hussein abandoned the petro-dollar, that he became a target, when Muammar Gaddafi introduced the gold dinar, that he became a target, when Iran went off the petro-dollar and opened an oil bourse trading in many different currencies, that it became a target.

The primary reason for demonizing Vladimir Putin is his actions that are undermining the economic ambitions of the Western bankers. One major achievement in this respect was the recently signed 30-year gas deal with China, estimated to be worth over $400 billion.

Putin will be a target as long as he continues to pursue this policy, the expert predicts. However, Western countries are not unified in how they should respond. For instance the Bilderbergers are divided, where the Europeans are favoring Russia and the Americans are favoring the Western powers. Some seem to clearly understand that it is not going to play out to the benefit of the US; this is a lose\lose situation for the US and a win\win situation for Vladimir Putin and Russia.

Moreover, sanctions imposed against Russia have been a major disaster for the US, even if the American media are not reporting it as such. The foundation for the US sanctions initiated against Russia in response to the country’s reunification with Crimea, is built on lies. When Barack Obama is claiming that Russia is violating Ukrainian sovereignty, it is simply an absurd statement.

The expert also warns that some US sanctions fail to reach their primary objective of targeting selected individuals or businesses. Instead, large portions of the population of a particular nation suffer. That, he believes, can be viewed as “a form of collective punishment” which, according to the Nuremberg Tribunal, amounts to a war crime.

Iraq and Iran are two cases in point. When the US prohibited the fly-zone over Iraq it led to the deaths of some 500,000 Iraqi infants, which Madeline Albright declared have been worth the cost. But the death of half a million children can hardly be justified by anything.

The US imposed sanctions on Iran to prevent it acquiring nuclear weapons. American authorities firmly maintain that the Islamic republic is using its peaceful nuclear program as a disguise for military ambitions. Iran’s nuclear weapons program is nonexistent, and imposing sanctions on the country that in reality punish the Iranian people is another war crime.

One cannot but ask how a country that commits such egregious crimes on a regular basis can get away with it. Prof. Fetzer provides an intriguing explanation: he recalls a CIA operation, known as Operation Mockingbird, that aimed to influence the American media by recruiting reporters to promote the agency’s agenda. Apparently is has been quite successful since American news corporations deny us access to accurate information about world affairs.

Iraq yet again proves to be a fine example; The NY Times was egregious in promoting the war with Iraq, claiming that Saddam had been involved in 9\11, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq was in collusion with al-Qaeda, none of which were true.

Distracting the American public with sanctions and other foreign policy initiatives proves extremely valuable when the US government needs to divert attention from what is happening at home.

Predictions for the development of Russian-US relations are extremely grim. There is a very real possibility now of a war seen in some US circles as “the only way to salvage the American economy, which is falling apart.”

The Western powers are driven by greed and the profit motive. There is a long-standing chronic problem here and it is rooted in the nature of capitalism and the lust for even more profits, which are being exposed again and again with the American corporations.
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