By Erik Wallbank - March 19, 2025
The Sand Pebbles, a 1966, Steve McQueen, war movie, had to do with a US gunboat deployed to China. In 1926, when the US could send in the Navy . . . and it was all over. Donald Trump is living in 1926, when America ruled the waves. Now, he is moving his sand pebbles close to Yemen to dispatch Houthis, but in a way it's never been done before, although we bombed them relentlessly with Saudi Arabia for the last decade. Cutting to the chase, what's causing this clash of ideologies? There are only 2 factors. There is a megalomaniac Empire, that's the US with a small dash of Britain, and opposing them is the resistance. Resistance to what? Resistance to a colonizing empire that never seems to learn a damn thing. And the resistors are branded as "terrorists". Is the resistance terrorists, or are the war criminals responsible for murdering 400 Palestinians (yesterday - women and children living in tents/starving) the real terrorists? What are the Houthis doing? Blockading ships bound for Israel - they've already closed down the Port of Eilat. Blocking international waterways is illegal, but pales next to the US sending a million Ukrainians and 200,000 Palestinians to their deaths. Yemen is applying sanctions on Israel for genocide in Palestine. Israel has broken the cease fire.
I was at a party, for a deceased musician friend, where I was talking with the brother of a close friend. It was all good fun until he informed me, unsolicited, that he was for Israel in the Middle East and that the problem was "an Islamic mission to subject the world". I didn't go there with him, but I do think that whoever informs Trump informed that guy. Here's the problem. As various pundits, including Scott Ritter and Larry Johnson, were expressing support for Trump's agenda, I was warning readers about taking that path. With a great deal of luck I can see Trump getting us out of Ukraine but the possibility of Trump shaking off Netanyahu's shackles, or his perceived hatred for China, there I see no chink. This morning western Asia analysts (at least those capable of fogging a glass) are withdrawing support, concluding Trump didn't learned a damn thing in his 1st term. Think on this: The US sees itself as a better judge based on power amassed through her successes and Israel sees itself as the decider based on religion. Neither bother with persuasion or diplomacy. They prefer brute force. This tactic wins no hearts and minds.
As we ruthlessly bombard and threaten the Resistance, what makes it worse for Trump is having surrounded himself with a pack of idiots, subjecting himself to the Elvis Syndrome, in which he's the big D - where he knows best. Even Tulsi Gabbard is compromised, focusing on Islamic extremism and not the persistent and ongoing murder/genocide being committed by Israel. What changes with Trump overreacting so much? My assessment of Trump shifts to that of an ill informed bully, with a host of Zionist bullies around him, all reading from the same page. Rubio is in full warmonger, and my fear that Hegseth, instead of being a moderating force on Trump, is acting out as the junior high crusading warmonger that he is. When it comes to Western Asia (ME), Trump will likely do exactly what Netanyahu and Trump's donors tell him to do. That leads to war with Iran . . . bringing in China/Russia? Even left to itself Iran's weapons are capable of sinking US carrier battle groups. Back home in the States students are arrested/taken to hellholes for deportation. Not students with visas, but permanent residents - one is married to a pregnant American citizen. With a Shroud of Zionism blocking the vision of Marco Rubio he babbles answers to questions about how, with no charges brought against student protesters of Israeli murder, are his actions other than a religious based attack on free speech?
Shifting to another poignant subject, a barometer for the horror show coming our way, what's going on with gold? The other night, I woke up in the wee hours, with the gold market just a fews bucks off 3000. I watched until it fell back and back to sleep. But no fear, that was three nights ago and gold has settled well above the $3000 mark. Why is gold rapidly moving to America, while Trump threatens huge swaths of the world? I don't see the rationale, but that's my world (Why My Articles Don't go anywhere? Next article). But, Luke Groman's gold commentary is deserving of a look. Much of what Luke says about gold is right on, but the not supportable is what I want to touch on. He gives reasons why the gold is at Fort Knox, but each has to do with a rational government, calculating what is best for itself. That's not the way of the world. Luke says gold is not a competitor to the dollar. It's true. Gold is the basis for the dollar. What's really going on with gold? Post WW2, Bretton Woods made the dollar the reserve currency, pegged to gold. Then, after losing the gold peg, we made a deal with Saudi Arabia, tying oil sales to the dollar. Whereas the US Constitution/Bill of Rights express/guarantee fundamental human rights, B/Woods/Petrodollar are antithetical to our heritage. Instead we assume a Constitutional mandate to threaten and control the world. Why does the US denominate gold at 42 bucks? National gold holdings are transparent, except for nations in which they are not. In the case of the US, after closing the gold window, we probably wanted the least amount of light shined on gold, as possible, while keeping down value of the dollar - maintaining a semblance of currency prestige. China has by far, the greatest gold holdings and gold is the direction in which we are heading. The end game will have little to do with last ditch efforts of the US to acquire gold. Were we to attempt to replace more than 8000 tons of gold (that's not there) imagine what might happen to the purchasing power of already counterfeit US dollars on the world market. We bet on Trump: his actions will slow/accelerate the move to gold.
I'm sure most do not understand some bizarre geopolitical shifts taking place. Yesterday, Trump and Putin shared a 2-1/2 hour phone conversation, but Putin must be wondering whether Trump has any more power to make decisions for NATO than does Zelensky for Ukraine? The break between US/NATO is becoming fact with the EU proposing near a $T funding they don't have to provide for EU defense. Long-term madness. With no jet fighter industry how long will it take to catch up with the Russians and the Chinese? Might it turn out that Trump talks with Putin while ignoring Macron and Ursula?
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