The West’s Self-Assisted Suicide Michael Galak
https://quadrant.org.au/features/qed/wests-self-assisted-suicide/
EXCERPT
Instead of the leaders with iron resolve we got terribly Democratic and profoundly weak Joe Biden, a succession of the UK PMs whose names nobody can remember, former GDR Young Communist League member Angela ‘Mutti’ Merkel, ex-Secretary-General of the Portuguese Socialist Party Antonio Guterres and the ever-elegant Emmanuel Macron, addicted to long chats with Vladimir Putin. In keeping with the trend, Australia has granted itself the honour of being governed by Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong.
It seems the proudest achievement of the human species, Western Civilization, is quietly expiring under the assault of resentful and determined enemies. Sensing weakness, they are gathering for the kill. In too many instances the West facilitates its own demise, aiding and abetting those who would destroy it.
Those who are as old as I might remember big buttons proclaiming “Nuclear? No thanks”. Ubiquitous, they were a visible aspect of the unilateral disarmament campaign orchestrated by Moscow and conducted by the front organisations such as People for Nuclear Disarmament, the World Council of Churches and the like. Motivating this campaign was the Soviet fear that the Western nuclear deterrent might succeed in defeating Moscow’s conventional arms assault on Western Europe should push ever come to shove.
Now, the “protest” movement is more sophisticated – it fights for the clean environment, nothing political, you see. The neo-Marxist movement has weaponized ecology and, under the guise of saving the planet, undermines the West. They do it by posturing as “green” movements, fighting to stop fossil fuels production in the West. The result has been spectacular. We are forced to buy the necessary fuel from OPEC and Russia, countries have no homegrown protest movements which can pump oil to their hearts’ and treasuries’ content. According to the July issue of the Foreign Policy, before its assault on Ukraine, Russia was getting around $US1 billion US dollars every day in oil revenues. After the Western sanctions that figure declined to $720 million dollars per day — a decrease certainly, but still more than enough to wage war on Ukraine, finance anti-Western activities while keeping things on the homefront relatively content.
And those are only the official figures. The whys and wherefores of sanctions avoidance are not the subject of this essay, but rest assured that it is done in full view and with the active participation of the Western countries. The nature of these sanctions is bizarre, to say the least. What to make of “punitive sanctions” which allow exports but forbid imports. The result? The Russian Federation does not have to waste money on the non-essential imports and can focus spending on the war effort. If they need something from abroad there’s always China and well-developed clandestine networks.
A similar picture emerges from even the most superficial analysis of Iran’s oil revenues. In 2023 the country’s exports reached $US42.6 billion – up from $25.5 billion in 2021 and just $US7.9billion in 2020, the last year of the Trump presidency and US sanctions intended to bankrupt Tehran and choke the flow of cash to its its proxy terror network. For the first quarter alone of the Iranian calendar year (March -July 2024) Iran reported oil exports worth $US 15.7 billion, according to Iranian news agency Mehr, meaning the country is on track to see yearly revenue of more than $60 billion. Iranian oil revenues since the Biden administration reversed Trump’s sanctions have ranged from $US 81 billion to $US 90.7 billion.
Iran uses its profits to support anti-Israel and anti-US proxies throughout the Middle East and to enhance its military industries. Iranian cash translates directly into instability in the West Bank, Gaza, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon by supplying cash, training and arms. Actually, I am not sure why people call Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis Iranian ‘proxies’ when there is a more precise definition: mercenaries. They get paid, they fight. They don’t get paid, they don’t fight. In the countries where poverty is rife, mercenary work is always an available livelihood. Poverty in authoritarian countries is an integral part of the power structure.
Now let’s talk about Palestinians. The aid to Palestinian “refugees”, now in their fifth generation, came from various sources.
♦ The OECD provided over $US 40 billion between 1994 and 2020.
♦ UN agencies provided, specifically for Gaza, $US 4.5 billion between 2014 and 2020, with $US600 million going to Iran in 2020 alone
♦ Qatar provided $US 1.49billion between 2012 and 2021
♦ The USA has provided $US 5.2 billion for Palestinians through the USAID since 1994. This was not specific to Gaza.
♦ In recent years the US aid totaled $US 600 million annually to Palestinians overall.
That “aid” money was spent on tunnels, arms, rockets, hate propaganda and preparations for genocide. The money the West spent buying oil and gas from Russia and Iran facilitated the undermining of the its owns security — indeed, the future of our civilisation.
All of the above is obvious, out there in plain sight if we and Western leaders care to look. So the real question, the only one that matters at this moment, is a simple one: How stupid are we to be paying for the means of our own destruction?
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