Jon Hellevig: Succumbing to US Bullying Made Ukraine Poorest Country in Europe

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A Finnish political economist and author highlighted predicaments of nations that refused to adopt strategies of resistance against US unilateralism, saying Ukraine, for instance, became “the poorest” country in Europe after succumbing to Washington’s bullying.    

“Look at Ukraine; they succumbed to USA bullying and propaganda and now their country has become the poorest in Europe although it used to be the industrial powerhouse of the Soviet Union,” Jon Hellevig said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

“And look at Germany, France, and the whole European Union. Subjugated to the USA, they are being ruined with a stagnant economy for more than a decade and deep social and cultural crises,” he added.

Jon Krister Hellevig is a Finnish lawyer and businessman who has worked in Russia since the early 1990s. Hellevig was a candidate in the European parliament election in 2014. He is the managing partner of the Moscow-based law company Hellevig, Klein & Usov. Hellevig has written several books, including Avenir Guide to Russian Taxes (2002, 2003, 2006 English and Russian editions); Avenir Guide to Labor Laws (2002, 2003, 2006 English and Russian editions). Expressions and Interpretations, a book on the philosophy of law and the development of Russian legal practices; Hellevig takes actively part in public discussion of current affairs and social structure contributing with articles and commentary in the media. He regularly lectures at international seminars on various topics.

Following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: International developments are full of examples of how regional and trans-regional countries have successfully adopted strategies of resistance against oppression and unilateralism that have borne good results. As you know, countries like Iran, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, and Palestine have protected their national sovereignty against foreign threats and achieved many gains through this strategy. In contrast, some countries have adopted a strategy of appeasement or reconciliation when being hectored and bullied by world powers. Given the experiences of these resistance countries, what do you think about their approach and the concept of resistance?

Hellevig: Naturally, resistance is the only choice, come what comes. At the same time, the resistance strategy must be smart and strive to build bridges to other countries outside the enemy.
Tasnim: Do you think countries that currently toe the line of major powers like the US ought to emulate these experiences of resistance countries to protect their independence and stand against unilateralism?

Hellevig: Obviously they should. It’s a question of both the material and moral well-being of the people and their very existence in the long-term. Look at Ukraine; they succumbed to USA bullying and propaganda and now their country has become the poorest in Europe although it used to be the industrial powerhouse of the Soviet Union. And look at Germany, France, and the whole European Union. Subjugated to the USA, they are being ruined with a stagnant economy for more than a decade and deep social and cultural crises. The traditional way of life of those European countries is rapidly being destroyed with their social structures torn apart. In fact, the very existence of those nations is now at risk.

Tasnim: In an op-ed article written for Tasnim, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, warned the European countries of the risks of inaction regarding the US administration’s unilateral policies, saying the current EU leaders will be held accountable for Europe’s future challenges. Shamkhani criticized Europe for becoming an unimportant and passive actor that accepts humiliation at the hands of the US and has to live with the destructive effects of Washington’s unilateralism that have affected several international treaties. What is your take on that? Isn’t it better for the EU to stand up to US bullying and unilateralism?

Hellevig: The European Union and its main constituent countries are not independent nations as they have been taken over by US-led globalists. Their armies belong to the US umbrella organization NATO, their intelligence services are CIA branches, their media is owned by the globalists, their capitalists are totally at the mercy of the US market and its bullying terms, etc. Given these circumstances, independent-minded politicians do not have a chance to come to power, not in the individual states nor the totally undemocratic European Union.

The problems are fortunately building up in the European Union and with President Trump’s erratic policies the relationship is becoming increasingly fraught. But things must get much worse before the European people will mature to free themselves from the globalist yoke. I am afraid, it will take an enormous financial and economic crisis to bring that about. But this crisis will come for sure, sooner or later. Paradoxically, an attack on Iran might be the final trigger for that. And this is what holds the Americans at bay from Iran, at least for the time being. On the other hand, the US economy is so bad with enormous asset bubbles in every field of the economy, stock markets, housing etc., massive budget and trade deficits and skyrocketing debt. Therefore, there might be some people in the USA who could possibly consider war and ensuing financial crisis as a means to extract the country from those problems, to let everything crash and start the global economy anew from ground zero.

Source: https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/07/10/2050611/succumbing-to-us-bullying-made-ukraine-poorest-country-in-europe-finnish-analyst

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Top judges concluded that UK weapons sales to Saudi Arabia “irrational and unlawful”

In a legal challenge brought by anti-arms trade campaigners, three of the UK’s top judges concluded that it was “irrational and unlawful” of the government to allow arms sales to Saudi Arabia without making proper checks

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWzugv-6RDs

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[Video] CrossTalk: Yemen on the brink

Yemen and the politics of denial and deceit. The Trump administration’s continued support of the Saudi-led war is morally indefensible and strategically counter-productive. Blaming Iran for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen only ensures more suffering. It is time to end this senseless conflict.
CrossTalking with Joshua Landis and Giorgio Cafiero.



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ru6bAX0Mrs

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The Events In Iran Vindicate North Korea 100%

The Events In Iran Vindicate North Korea 100%

 

A Russia Truth exclusive article by Adam Garrie

The recent events in Iran, among other things, fully vindicate the security and defence policies of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in every sense. 

Already, recent history has vindicated North Korea’s policy. Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and to an extent Syria were destroyed by western militaries and their terrorist proxies because they did not have the full means to defend themselves, yet North Korea has not been destroyed because it does have the means to defend itself and deter attacks with its nuclear weapons. 

Far from an exotic theory, this is a very obvious matter of fact, one articulated by few world leaders, with the interesting exception of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. 

To further understand why North Korea has been vindicated, one must examine what happens when sovereign minded countries do deals with the west? 

In 2003, Libya agreed to disarm in return for extended business and security ties to the west. The result was the total destruction of Libya less than ten years later and the barbaric murder of its Revolutionary leader Brother Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi had often spoken with disappointment, regarding the fact that western business deals never came through in the way he had expected when he agreed to disarm. Still, he remained cooperative and as a reward the US sent savages in to murder him. 

Syria too had softened its traditional policies of scepticism regarding the west in the years immediately preceding the western led proxy war on Syria. The result has been a seven year on Syria by those same western powers and their Takfiri terrorist proxies, most notably ISIS.

In 2015, Iran agreed to the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in which Iran forfeited its goal of developing a nuclear security deterrent in exchange for business deals with the west.

In 2018, western backed proxies and local traitors now set fire to the streets of Iran, all the while little significant progress has been made in terms Iranian business deals with the west. 

The US continues to sanction Iran, threaten Iran and lie about Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA, even though Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain, the EU as a whole and the United Nations, all agree that the JCPOA is being completely upheld by the Iranian government. 

Contrasting with Libya, Syria and Iran, North Korea has stated that no deals will be considered until its nuclear deterrent is fully functional in respect of being able to do to the US what the US can and often threatens to do to it.

 When Donald Trump stands before the UN threatening to “destroy” the DPRK, it is only natural that Pyongyang will want a stronger rather than a weaker means of defending itself. This is something a child in the schoolyard could understand with ease, yet many so-called intellectuals deceive themselves and in doing so, detach themselves from simple logic.

They are either stupid or cowards, not to publicly admit that the DPRK has been proved right and just about everyone else has been proved wrong.

Furthermore, North Korea has stated that even when it is willing to negotiate on other matters, that its nuclear deterrent is not up for negotiation. 

The precedent set by previous US “business” deals in exchange for disarmament totally vindicates the DPRK’s position. Far from good faith agreements, such deals are nothing more than a chance for the US to buy itself time while a stated enemy weakens itself and then, when sufficiently vulnerable, the US, its dependants and its proxies go to war and topple the state it had done a deal with.

The pattern has been repeated over and over again, but only North Korea seems to understand the nature of this clear pattern. 

Even in respect of a superpower like Russia, the US refuses to engage in arms reduction treaties—all the while amassing forces on Russia’s borders, before turning around and criticising Russia for maintaining the strength of its own armed forces. 

Sometimes one wonders if Washington really thinks the rest of the world is completely stupid? 

That being said, much of the world is matter-of-factly naive. The events in Iran speak for themselves. 

The following are the general developments that arise after a nation does a deal with the US and its partners:

--No tangible economic improvement 

--Continued sanctions and military threats 

--Some genuinely frustrated citizens who blame their own government for America’s broken promises 

--US armed forces and proxy militants/terrorist  trying to start a war in your borders 

North Korea is indeed a more closed society than Iran and this too has been vindicated by recent events. The US and its proxies do not reward countries for openness, but destroy them because of openness. The US sees an open door not as a sign of friendship but as a sign of vulnerability. 

If the US were to truly change (something that seems impossible until declining economic conditions wreak havoc upon the west in earnest), then perhaps North Korea would be more open to the rest of the world, but until then, it must protect itself as it continues to do.

North Korea, having suffered so greatly at the hands of the US and its partners in the 1950s, is more aware than most, of the full extent of barbarity that the US is happy to rain upon countries that it views unfavourably. 

But unlike others, the DPRK has never forgotten those important lessons of the relatively recent past, nor has the Supreme Leadership in Pyongyang neglected to study the pattern that begins with rapprochement with the US and is shortly followed by the total destruction of the smaller party to that initial rapprochement. 

One will never see proxy wars, “colour revolutions” and open sedition on the streets of the DPRK. This is because the DPRK knows how the US plays its game. If one thinks that North Korea is playing a hard game itself—one must remember that this game is only as hard as that which is necessary to hold off a US attack. 

North Korea stands vindicated—others are guilty of being naive and the US, as always, is guilty of being a dishonest broker and perennial aggressor.

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