Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Mar 7, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

World peace is created by economic opportunity. That is how the Roman Empire flourished for 1,000 years. They conquered much of North Africa during the Punic Wars. They conquered Greece and the East during the days of the Republic. Yes, they conquered all of Europe under Julius Caesar. They captured Egypt under Octavian who defeated Cleopatra VII. They took Britain under Claudius, they conquered the Balkans under Trajan. Constantine even moved the capital from Rome to what today is Istanbul – old Constantinople. What held it together? It was free trade!

There have been enduring phases from the Roman Empire like – All roads lead to Rome. What had created the greatest empire ever known to human history was the fact that it not only merged so many cultures and languages, but everyone benefited from free trade. The conquered lands benefited by becoming emerging markets and private Roman entrepreneurs became investors bringing the unique products from all the provinces to Rome.

The phase, taking the purple, meant becoming emperor for you see purple dye was imported from India and the emperor loved that color so much, nobody was allowed to wear purple other than the emperor. This is why today you will see priests with purple vestments symbolizing that Christ is king.

In the Roman Forum, there is the Via Sacra. This was the ancient Wall Street of Rome.  Ancient commentators recorded that when there was the earthquake in Turkey, panic struck the Via Sacra because of all the investments in that region from the Roman bankers. Roman Emperor Tiberius had to create a bail-out fund and even issued coins declaring this was a relief for Asia.

Our world leaders are ignorant of history and have now set us on a course for what our computer has been projecting – inevitable outcome – World War III. This hate and demonization of Putin is not only a cover for failing to understand history and what it shows us as the war to world peace by free international trade for once everyone benefits, nobody bites the hand that feeds them. Indeed, Henry Kissinger said back in the Washington Post on March 14, 2014, when Russia took back Crimea – “The demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy. It is an alibi for not having one.”

During World War I, the United States swore it would remain neutral. But it was secretly sending arms on passenger ships to aid Britain. The Germans knew this and even took out an advertisement warning Americans not to sail on that ship for they would sink it. Once more, history is repeating itself. I believe the backdrop to this is the Great Reset which could NOT be accomplished without removing Trump, Putin, and then China. This cannot be simply such stupidity for what Lindsey Graham has stated in this video is showing that he and the rest of Congress will unite to create World War III cutting off all Russians now from credit cards and telling them to overthrow Putin. They may replace Putin with someone who is much more ruthless like Stalin who just killed tens of millions.

Here is a chart of the Euro daily marking the point where Harris tells Ukraine they should join NATO which is a breach of the Budapest Agreement. Putin’s invasion begins 4 days later. There was NO EFFORT by the Biden Administration to tell Putin that Harris is an idiot and what she said was not the policy of the United States. Even Blinken openly encourages Ukraine saying that they can beat Russia. Nobody seems to care about how many Ukrainians must die for this agenda. There has been no effort to negotiate to tell Zelensky to do what he promised when he won the position in 2019 as the President of Ukraine.

Zelensky became President of Ukraine in a landslide victory by promising he would ease tensions with Russia and resolve the crisis in the breakaway republics in east Ukraine that had been taking place since 2014. The former government was seen even by Russia as one instigating war. Putin expressed hope that Zelensky would change that policy of confrontation. In truth, Zelensky not merely made no such attempt to keep his promises, but instead, he has done exactly the opposite by shelling Donbas escalating the civil war and relentlessly provoking Russia by constantly asking NATO to violate the Budapest Agreement. There is reasonable concern that he is indeed a puppet and has been promised great personal wealth to steer Ukrain into a position to justify World War III.

So here we are once more. The Biden Administration has done nothing to create world peace. All they have done is fan the flames of war and this is INTENTIONAL. These sanctions now cutting off all the Russian people from credit cards is an act of war. It certainly appears that they are simply trying to overthrow Putin as they did with Trump to further this Great Reset. Germany is even appointing Jeniffer Morgan, the head of Green Peace, as secretary of state for Climate Change is the only issue these seem to be concerned about. Overthrowing Putin is the next objective and then they hope they will be able to take over Russia for the Great Reset.

Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Mar 7, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Thanks Marty – would you agree that the west does not understand the Russian mind? For them it’s not all about economic considerations, therefore “sanctions” take a back seat to security and strategy which we can’t comprehend. Americans playing checkers, Russians playing chess.

CR

REPLY: Our greatest problem is that people have characterized Putin as a madman and then they paint all of Russia with the same brush. But that is a distraction from trying to understand what is the real confrontation with Russia all about and replacing Putin will by no means be the solution. You may find someone far worse, but historically Russia will never TRUST the West for many reasons. We must understand how Russia looks at this and that transcends Putin. His views of Russian security are not unique and all leaders have taken the same ideas. So a Putin successor is not likely to change the Russian mindset.

What is the backdrop to ALL Russian leaders historically? There are no mountains in eastern Ukraine, which has made this region the gateway through the great expanse of flatland that is the European Plain which throughout history has been the curse of the Russians. It allowed the Mongols to destroy the Russ in their capital which was Kyiv in 1240. This great expanse has been such inviting territory for the invaders who have attacked Russia from there repeatedly through history. In truth, Russia has never invaded Europe, but Europe has repeatedly invaded Russia as has been the case from Asia.

Putin, like Russian leaders before him, has always been deeply concerned and has at least tried to control the flatlands to protect Russia’s western front. This geography deeply impresses history upon the Russian mind. Russia sees this region as hard to defend, and where for centuries leaders have far too often tried to extend power into Russia.

People judge others by themselves. Americans have never had tanks rolling down the streets destroying everything. We do not understand the memories of others for we are human and that means we judge others by ourselves. The fool is robbed because he does not think of robbing others. Those who are criminally minded, see everyone else must have the same intent.

Western leaders clearly have difficulty understanding Putin and prefer to cast him as a madman for they do not understand the history of Russia that always remains in the back of their mind just as Americans fear the return of a Great Depression and Germans instinctively fear inflation because if the hyperinflation of 1923. We always judge the future by our past experiences. Even in relationships, if a previous partner cheated on them, they then look for signs that their current partner will do the same.

Putin responded to Syria in defense of the attempt to run a pipeline through Syria by the US to undermine its hold of energy to Europe. From Russia’s view, the West is constantly trying to undermine their economy in some grudge match against Putin personally. The events in Ukraine are again trying to undermine Russia’s flow of energy to Europe even if this is for Climate Change which they see as an excuse for the same old hostility. Winston Churchill in 1939 made an observation that Russia “is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside of an enigma.” Britain is an island and that too is not easily invaded. Unfortunately, Britain and America do not fully understand the Russian mind and their history of being vulnerable to invasion from Europe and Asia.

My father was with General Patton from North Africa to Berlin. He told me that Patton, aside from believing he was reincarnated to fight the war, was a student of history and read Rommel’s book on tactical warfare. Hence, Patton defeated Rommel only by understanding his strategy and how he thought. Putin is not a madman. He is a brilliant strategist. He thinks of Russia in its historical context and the main objective of the Soviet Union was to control territory to prevent future invasions. Putin’s military interventions abroad in the context of Russian leaders’ longstanding attempts to deal with geography for Russia has also the greatest landmass which is not easy to defend. Putin’s motives are not so mysterious after all if we also spend some time trying to understand the mindset of Russia they have learned the hard way.

Russia with its largest landmass among nations confronts both Europe and Asia. In the past 500 years, Russia has been invaded several times from the west. The Poles came across the European Plain in 1605. They were followed by the Swedes under Charles XII in 1707 who sought to conquer Russia. That was again followed by the famous invasion of Napoleon in 1812. Then the Germans tried to conquer Russia, not once, but twice during world wars, in 1914 and 1941. Yet the demonization of Putin clearly overlooks history. Then in 1999, the US bankers, with a nod from the Clinton Administration, sought to blackmail Yeltsin and install a puppet which is when Yeltsin realized the plot and turned to Putin. NEVER once has Russia invaded Europe. The bankers wanted the richest – oil, gold, diamonds, and rare piles of earth. This seems to be always the reason – their rich resources. Obama even wanted to invade Syria to stop the pipeline they hoped would kill the Russian economy and end the dependency of Europe on Russia for fuel. Yet the West always paints Russia as evil.

In Poland, the flat plain is only 300 miles wide stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Carpathian Mountains in the south. After that narrow pass, it opens up to a geographic opening with a width of about 2,000 miles near the Russian border. That provides an open and flat route straight to Moscow. This is why Russia has repeatedly sought to occupy Poland throughout history.

We MUST understand the Russian thinking just as General Patton was able to defeat Rommel by reading his books. As long as we just demonize Putin, all we will do is propel the world into a catastrophic war, and Western Civilization as we have known it will fall. To Russia, this is NOT the ego of just Putin. This is the historical mindset of Russia and if the West killed Putin, they will get someone far worse and there will be no solution but inhalation of the world we have known.

All we have done is raise the Iron Curtain ourselves. Everyone is now blocking Russia isolating it as if this will do anything but confirm that there is no resolution but war. We lack a statement like Nixon. In his historic move to divide China and Russia, he explained that the Soviet Union had more forces deployed along the border with China than it did on the border with Europe. “Since you do not know me, you shouldn’t trust me,” Nixon said in a declassified transcript of his first historic meeting with China’s leaders in Beijing. “You will find I never say something I cannot do. And I always will do more than I can say.” There is no leader today with that understanding.

The Kissinger Transcripts _ Feb 21, 1972

The United States has sought nothing but confrontation. This tape shows the US was covertly supporting the Civil War in Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia even back in 2016. You will recall Lindsey Graham smashed his Phone because Trump did not support this agenda. McCain refused to allow Trump to even speak at his funeral and handed the fake Russian documents to the FBI Comey to try to prevent Trump from being elected.

They hated Trump because he was not interested in starting a war with Russia. They used the same psychological warfare tactic to get people to hate Trump as they are doing once again against Putin. So Lindsey is back with his hatred of Putin he expects countless people to die because of his personal hatred.

However, history is about to repeat. The hatred of Russia in the US is systemic. Back in 1980 when Russia invaded Afghanistan, the US was there to provide advisers, training, and funding to the Mujahideen. The problem was when Russia withdrew from Afghanistan, those forces became the Taliban which then turned on the United States that had backed them., They used the training and weapons to kill Americans.

Now the US has been funding extreme-right Ukraine’s Azov Battalion which prides itself on being Natzis. I have verified that the head of this, Dmytro Kotsyubaylo, did indeed tell the press that he feeds the bones of Russian-speaking children in the Donbas to his pet wolf. The hatred of Russians goes back to Stalin who killed 7 million Ukrainians by starvation. So while the press only raises Zelensky as some sort of hero of freedom, the treatment of the civilians in the Donbas has been anything but humane. There is dissent in Ukraine against Zelensky which the Western press will not report. Will the forces we are funding be the start of the rise of another Natzi era?