Stephen Lendman

Meddling where he doesn’t belong is one of his many disreputable ways of operating as state and US senator, president and private citizen.

His 2011 Asia pivot prioritized advancing America’s Pacific region military footprint aggressively - challenging China’s growing economic, political and military strength, along with checking Russia, pressuring regional allies to ally with its scheme or face its wrath.

Installing illegitimate putschist governance in Ukraine, along with deploying large numbers of US-led NATO combat troops near Russia’s borders were major provocations on his watch.

Putin earlier said “(i)f someone threatens our territories, it means that we will have to aim our armed forces accordingly at the territories from where the threat is coming. How else could it be? It is NATO that approaches our borders. It’s not like we are moving anywhere.”

During Obama’s tenure, Washington acted more aggressively than any time since the end of the Cold War - in the Asia Pacific and Europe. He continued Bush/Cheney wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, waged his own on Libya, Syria and Yemen.

In 2016, he argued against Brexit - turning truth on its head, saying EU membership “makes Britain even greater,” absurdly claiming the alliance “promote(s) global growth, so that our young people can achieve greater opportunity and prosperity.”

He promoted anti-consumer, jobs-destroying, eco-unfriendly TPP and TTIP, claiming they advance “high-standard, pro-worker rules for trade and commerce” when they do precisely the opposite - benefitting corporate and investor interests at the expense of consumer and worker rights.

On Thursday, again meddling where he doesn’t belong, he endorsed dirty business as usual, globalist French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, claiming what’s polar opposite reality, saying:

“I have admired the campaign that Emmanuel Macron has run. He has stood up for liberal values. He put forward a vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world. And he is committed to a better future for the French people. He appeals to people’s hopes and not their fears.”

Brussels, Berlin, and Washington, along with French oligarchs and aristocracy, support him. The former Rothschild banker/Hollande economy minister favors imperial and monied interests, continuing a nightmarish agenda for ordinary French citizens.

Le Pen is polar opposite, wanting French sovereignty restored, power returned to the Elysee Palace, France freed from the euro straightjacket, the nation out of US-dominated NATO, improved relations with Russia, and rights for workers, women and France’s most disadvantaged supported and respected.

She opposes dirty business as usual Macron represents. She wants France’s hugely debauched system changed - what US and European establishment politicians support, along with private citizen Obama.

Polls show she’s way behind two days ahead of Sunday’s runoff - French voters likely to continue what demands rejection, barring an unlikely colossal upset.

A Final Comment

In January 2016, NYT editors deplorably called Hillary Clinton “one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history.” Cold, hard facts proved otherwise.

Its editors are at it again, on the wrong side of France’s Sunday runoff, endorsing Macron, a despicable character, outrageously claiming “he offer(s) a more detailed and pragmatic set of policy proposals for France’s economic ills, and a more coherent vision of France’s place in Europe, than” Le Pen.

Truth is polar opposite. Macron as president is nightmarish for ordinary French citizens. With Le Pen, there’s a chance for vitally needed change.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at http://www.sjlendman.blogspot.com.