Stephen Lendman

Churchill was wrong once saying “(y)ou can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they’ve tried everything else.”

In modern times especially, it’s consistently and recklessly on the wrong side of vital issues - notably on war and peace and responsible diplomatic relations with all countries. Its rage for unchallenged dominance is humanity’s greatest threat. Eventual nuclear war seems virtually certain if its recklessness isn’t halted - no simple task given neocon-infested Washington, trigger-happy for new conquests, permanently at war, peace and stability considered sissy and unpatriotic.

Hostility toward Russia shows no signs of ebbing, just the opposite. Phony accusations of US election meddling and witch-hunt investigations going nowhere persist.

At a news conference during his Washington visit last week, Sergey Lavrov was peppered with questions on nonexistent Russian US election hacking.

“There is not a single fact (or) compelling evidence” proving it, he stressed, adding:

It must be “humiliating for the American people to realize that the Russian Federation is controlling the situation in the United States.”

Explaining bilateral US/Russia relations “are not in the best condition” needs no elaboration, given their deplorable state.

Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Rex Tillerson lied, saying Russian “interference in (America’s) election is…well documented. It’s pretty well understood, the nature of that interference here and elsewhere.”

“(T)hese are not new tactics on the part of the Russian government directed not only at us but at others.”

“I have seen the intelligence reports…I don’t think there’s any question that the Russians were playing around in our electoral processes.”

Not a shred of evidence suggests Russian interference in America’s election or any others. Loads of indisputable evidence proves longstanding US interference in numerous foreign elections, along with dubious domestic practices, assuring one of its two duopoly right wings always remains in power, independents shut out.

Following North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test, US UN envoy Nikki Haley, Sunday on ABC’s This Week, said “(h)aving a missile test is not the way to sit down with (Trump) because he’s absolutely not going to do it.”

“Until (Kim Jong-un) meets our conditions, we’re not sitting down with him.” Washington will “continue to tighten the screws…And we’re going to continue, whether it’s sanctions…anything that we have to do.”

Russia disputed fabricated US claims about the missile splashdown occurring dangerously close to its border. It was 500 km away, moving in the opposite direction, posing no threat to any country.

Yet Washington and Tokyo called for an emergency Security Council meeting, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, no doubt to discuss imposing tough new sanctions.

Russia and China won’t tolerate any SC action risking war on the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang claimed it tested a more advanced type intermediate-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying “a large-size heavy nuclear warhead.”

According to rocket expert John Schilling, the weekend test showed a “level of performance never before seen from a North Korean missile.”

“It appears to have not only demonstrated an intermediate-range ballistic missile that might enable them to reliably strike the US base at Guam, but more importantly, may represent a substantial advance to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile.”

Instead of responsible outreach to North Korea and other independent countries, Washington’s approach is hardline and confrontational.

Deploying THAAD missiles in South Korea threatening Russia, China and Pyongyang, along with its so-called Asia-Pacific Stability Initiative (APSI), involving additional billions of dollars in regional military buildup, assures increased friction and less constructive cooperation.

China’s Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation seeks greater regional integration, an initiative intending over $1 trillion in investment longterm.

The chairman of China’s largest construction machinery manufacturer XCMG said “One Belt, One Road makes our internationalization strategy like a tiger with wings added.”

It’s unclear to what extent Washington will participate in the initiative, given Beijing in charge of running it, hopeful for new lucrative avenues of trade, stressing exports over imports.

According to former American Chamber of Commerce in China head James Zimmerman, “(i)t’s a nonstarter if” this is what “it’s all about…”

China, Russia and other regional countries seek increased industrialization. America pursues dominance, stressing militarism over cooperative relations with all nations, a prescription for confrontation over peace and stability.

Instead of responsibly getting along with other nations, it wants control over them, recklessness over sound policy.

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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..