Author: Thomas Luongo

Italian President Sergio Mattarella just blew up the European Union.  His refusal of the coalition agreement between The League and Five Star Movement threw the best chance for the EU to face its burgeoning political crisis before it became a full-blown sovereign debt crisis. With U.S. and U.K. markets closed today the full force of the damage done by the EU’s Hail Mary to prevent the Italians forming a government to their specification is actually muted.  Things like this always happen on a weekend where the powers that be have enough time to figure out a messaging game plan and … Continue reading →

The post The EU Strikes Back appeared first on LewRockwell.

At least it is confirmed for us.  Donald Trump wants regime change in Iran.  His cancellation of the JCPOA was a decision born his myopia.  He has surrounded himself with people who reinforce his view and manipulate him via his vanity. And the price of implementing his current plan will be a global debt crisis which no one will escape.  The problem will be very few will see the links. He wants to remake America and the world in his image while undoing anything President Obama touched.  Most of this I’m wholly on board with.  Obama was a vandal.  So, … Continue reading →

The post The Bonfire of His Vanity appeared first on LewRockwell.

Here comes the flood.  My worst fears of The League’s leader Matteo Salvini’s ego getting in the way of seizing the political moment by the horns were overblown. It feels good to be wrong every once in a while. It looks like coalition talks between The League and Five Star Movement (MS5) have been productive.  A new post from Mike “Mish” Shedlock reveals the likely structure of a new parliamentary deal which has neither Salvini nor M5S’s Luigi Di Maio taking the role of Prime Minister. From Mish the Platform contains: The end of the pension reforms under Mario Monti; Five Star … Continue reading →

The post Italy, a Parallel Currency, and Immigration appeared first on LewRockwell.

“We will pay the price, but we will not count the cost.” – Rush, “Bravado” Donald Trump is set to kill the JCPOA or Iran Nuclear Deal and spark a major reset of foreign relations.  Is this a mistake or the right course of action? That depends on your perspective.  It depends on whether you believe, as the Israelis do, that Iran is ready to build a nuclear weapon to point at them. But the bigger question to me is whether Trump is willing to put on the table what he needs to get what he wants, a secure Israel … Continue reading →

The post What Can Trump Gain by Tearing Up the Iran Deal? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Armenia is an important part Russia’s long-term plans.  A member of the Eurasian Economic Union Armenia is key to protecting Russia’s southern flank. So, I was not shocked back in 2016 when the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh was activated by the U.S. after a brief visit by then Secretary of State John Kerry as punishment for Russia’s intervention into Syria. Nagorno-Karabakh had been peaceful for more than twenty years before Kerry’s visit.  And within days, fighting broke out on the Azeri side of the region which lies between the two countries. So, color me not shocked that as the Neoconservatives take control … Continue reading →

The post Armenia Heats Up appeared first on LewRockwell.

I told you over the weekend that Trump’s presidency was over.  As a practical matter it is.  His yielding to his ‘advisors’ on every foreign policy issue makes it clear that he can’t or won’t stand up to the relentless pressure to do what his instincts tell him. This morning’s article at the Deep State Washington Post paints a very clear picture of what the situation is.  The advisors whose loyalties are dubious run the show.  Their thinking has not evolved one whit from previous administrations. Remember what Russian President Vladimir Putin always says, “Presidents change. Policies do not.” Case in point they manipulated … Continue reading →

The post The Real Neocon Plan for Syria appeared first on LewRockwell.

Last night’s strikes on Damascus could have been orders of magnitude worse than they were.  But, don’t let the MAGA crowd delude you into thinking that President Trump still has much, if any, control over the situation.  Most of those mouth-breathing morons have no clue as to how foreign policy is actually conducted and believe the lies about American hyper-supremacy in all things righteous and military. They are wrong and so is Trump.  Thankfully, Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis stepped up to the plate and put a stop to the stupidity emanating from the White House and convinced Trump … Continue reading →

The post Trump Gave His Resignation Speech Last Friday appeared first on LewRockwell.

If there is one thing the last 48 hours have proved to me, it’s this.  Donald Trump is no longer acting President.  The coup against Trump has been completed. I’m going to keep this simple.  Follow the dots and try to keep up. The Deep State’s lies are being unraveled in real time thanks to the collective intelligence of the ‘internet’ and our ability to synthesize data in real time. The Skripal poisoning and the latest Syrian “chemical weapons” attack share the same thing — both set government officials off rushing to judgment and action before any official investigation could … Continue reading →

The post The Coup Is Complete appeared first on LewRockwell.

In Vietnam, the wind doesn’t blow… it sucks. — Tag Line for Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” When I wrote a few weeks ago that I thought the Neocons were making the full-court press for war I thought President Trump was a reluctant player in the game. Part of me still believes that. Part of me also believes that Trump, like everyone else, is a slave to his passions and is easily manipulated into terrible decisions.  Case in point was last year’s bombing of the Al Shairat airbase in Syria after a similar false flag chemical weapons attack at Khan Sheikoun. Will … Continue reading →

The post The Faustian Bargain appeared first on LewRockwell.

How do you know when a politician is lying? Their lips move and words come out. How do you know when the United States is at a disadvantage in a geopolitical quagmire? Our diplomats and Presidents want to ‘open up talks.’ Multiple times in the past four years the U.S. has used negotiating ceasefires in Syria and Ukraine to rearm and regroup those we’re backing or get our opposition (the Syrian Arab Army, the Russians) to let their guard down and then attack within 24 hours. We’ve used the U.N. Security Council as a bludgeon to brazenly lie about on … Continue reading →

The post You Know the US Is Losing appeared first on LewRockwell.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had a moment of clarity once.  He famously said, “When things get serious, you have to lie.” Given the state of affairs in his beloved European Union right now Mr. Juncker and company are doing a lot of lying. It is rare in politics to get that kind of honesty from a politician, especially one currently in office.  But, Juncker’s statement shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who is even a semi-serious political observer. It’s why I find it funny that the Democrats and Antifa-Left get so bent out of shape when Donald Trump exaggerates or … Continue reading →

The post Everybody’s Lying appeared first on LewRockwell.

Don’t tell the Iran hawks in D.C., isolating Iran won’t work.  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi this week and the two signed a multitude of agreements. The most important of which is India’s leasing of part of the Iranian port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman.  This deal further strengthens India’s ability to access central Asian markets while bypassing the Pakistani port at Gwadar, now under renovation by China as part of CPEC – China Pakistan Economic Corridor. CPEC is part of China’s far bigger One Belt, One Road Initiative (OBOR), its ambitious plan … Continue reading →

The post US Threats Won’t Stop Them appeared first on LewRockwell.

With all the column inches spilled over Robert Mueller’s thirteen indictments issued on Friday very few of them have touched on the real revelation. It’s not the obvious case of prosecutorial over-reach.  It isn’t the further subversion of the grand jury process by Federal Prosecutors unmoored from personal bias. It isn’t the admission that no one on the Trump team knowingly colluded with Russian agents to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. It isn’t even that Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe doctored interview documents to secure a guilty plea from General Michael Flynn. It’s not obvious collusion between his … Continue reading →

The post It’s All About Scoring Cheap Political Points appeared first on LewRockwell.

“Round up the usual suspects,” will be as far as the Democrats will be willing to go in the wake of the FISA memo’s release. There is nothing in that memo that anyone following the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation doesn’t already know. All the memo does is corroborate the bread crumbs left behind by a drip feed of leaks, counter-leaks and good ol’ fashioned investigative journalism.  Since the memo is based on actual evidence that the FBI admits is real but will not allow us to see, the memo itself can be taken as fact. The FBI has the … Continue reading →

The post The FISA Memo, Obama, and the Election appeared first on LewRockwell.

As she fights for her political life Soon-to-be-ex-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel will go down swinging against her stiffest political opponents in the European Union, the Poles.  Merkel and French President Emmanual Macron publicly agreed to back Article 7 proceedings against Poland for refusing to comply with EU immigration quotas and changes to its judicial system. Immigration quotas, I might add, that are becoming harder to defend as the war in Syria is mostly over and the flow of refugees from there has slowed to a trickle.   But, those brought in and stranded in camps in Italy and Greece apparently need to … Continue reading →

The post Monster Merkel on a Collision Course appeared first on LewRockwell.