Trump Regime Escalates Sanctions War on Russia and China
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
There’s no good ending to an agenda demanding all nations bend to the will of another – hardline tactics used to enforce the policy, the way Republicans and undemocratic Dems operate globally.
They target all sovereign independent states for regime change, waging political, economic, propaganda, and hot war against them.
Russia and China are their key targets above all others, the only nations able challenge Washington’s imperial agenda effectively, especially when united for a common objective.
So far, they’re harshly targeted by policies short of military confrontation, perhaps what’s coming ahead. Hostile US toughness could lead to direct confrontation.
Unthinkable war between nuclear powers is ominously possible – the greatest threat to life on earth if launched.
On Thursday, the Trump regime imposed more illegal sanctions on China and Russia.
The Treasury Department targeted China’s Defense Ministry Military Commission Equipment Development Department (EDD) and its director for (lawfully) buying 10 Russian Sukhoi Su-35 warplanes and S-400 surface-to-air missile defense systems, the world’s state-of-the-art best.
An unnamed Trump regime official said the action was all about disregarding (illegal) US sanctions on Russia, imposed for its (nonexistent) “malign activities.”
Another unnamed US official said the “ultimate target of these sanctions is Russia.” The Trump regime invoked Section 231 of the hostile Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 (CAATSA).
It’s a shameful measure violating international law, enacted to impose tough (illegal) unilateral sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia, along with governments maintaining normal relations with these countries.
Separately on Thursday, the State Department said Trump’s new executive order, “Authorizing the Implementation of Certain Sanctions Set Forth in the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” through (illegal) CAATSA legislation was used to impose new (unlawful unilateral) sanctions on 33 additional Russian individuals and entities.
Any nations, individuals, companies, or other entities engaged in lawful business with them will be targeted by harsh (illegal) US sanctions under CAATSA.
On the same day, the Trump regime authorized the Treasury Department to impose (illegal) sanctions on Russia under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
It permits the regulation of commerce after declaring a national emergency in response to an alleged threat to America by a foreign state – despite none existing since WW II ended, notably none posed by Russia, China, Iran, and other nations victimized by US aggression.
A White House press release said Trump “authorized the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to take such actions, including promulgating rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA and certain sections of CAATSA…and UFSA (Ukraine Freedom Support Act) as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the Executive Order.”
Washington under Republicans and undemocratic Dems uses sanctions to wage war on targeted countries by other means.
In 1996, the Vienna-based International Progress Organization criticized sanctions as “an illegitimate form of collective punishment of the weakest and poorest members of society, the infants, the children, the chronically ill, and the elderly.”
They’re a hammer used in lieu of responsible diplomacy – weapons of war by other means the way Washington uses them against sovereign independent countries, organizations, entities and individuals it wants punished for failing to be subservient to US interests.
A Final Comment
In response to the Trump regime’s latest unlawful sanctions on China, its Foreign Ministry demanded their removal, a statement by spokesman Geng Shuang, saying:
“We strongly call on the US to remedy the mistake and cancel the sanctions. Otherwise, the US has to bear the consequences” of its action, adding:
Its anti-Beijing toughness will further strengthen Sino/Russian strategic cooperation.
Economic sanctions are imposed to serve US corporate interests.
That’s what the Trump regime’s escalating trade war with China and other countries is all about – “America first,” the rest of the world be damned.
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