[Texgreen] How the World Can Stop Bush: DUMP THE DOLLAR

[margaret]

Counterpunch - Feb 12, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02122007.html

Dump the Dollar!
How the World Can Stop Bush

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

What would be the consequences of a US or Israeli attack on Iran's 
nuclear
energy sites?

At the 2006 Perdana Global Peace Forum, Australian medical scientist Dr.
Helen Caldicott provided an authoritative analysis of the devastating
impact on human life that would result from the radiation release from 
such
an attack.

Dr. Caldicott described the catastrophic deaths that would result from a
conventional attack on nuclear facilities and the long-term increase in
cancer deaths from the radiation release.

Should the attack be made with nuclear weapons--as some of Bush's
criminally insane neoconservative advisers advocate--the populations of
many countries would suffer for generations from radioactive particles 
in
air, water, and food chains. Deaths would number in the many millions.

Such an attack justified in the name of "American security" and 
"American
hegemony" would constitute the rawest form of evil the world has ever 
seen,
far surpassing in evil the atrocities of the Nazi and Communist regimes.

Dr. Caldicott detailed the horrible long-term consequences for the Iraqi
population from the US military's current use of depleted uranium in
explosive ammunition used in Iraq. Caldicott explained that "depleted" 
does
not mean depleted of radiation. She explained that each time such
ammunition is used, radioactive particles are released in the air and 
are
absorbed into people's lungs. We are yet to see the horrific civilian
casualty rate of the American invasion--or the true casualty rate among 
US
troops.

Dr. Caldicott expressed bewilderment why the rest of the world does not
stand up to the US and force a halt to its crimes against humanity.

One man heard her--Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.

On February 10 at the 43rd Munich Security Conference, President Putin 
told
the world's assembled political leaders that the US was trying to 
establish
a "uni-polar world," which he defined as "one single center of power, 
one
single center of force and one single master."

This goal, Putin said, was a "formula for disaster."

"The United States," Putin said, truthfully, "has overstepped its 
borders
in all spheres" and "has imposed itself on other states."

The Russian leader declared: "We see no kind of restraint--a 
hyper-inflated
use of force."

To avoid catastrophe, Putin said a reconsideration of the entire 
existing
architecture of global security was necessary.

Putin's words of truth fell on many deaf ears. US Senator John McCain,
America's most idiotic and dangerous "leader" after Bush and Cheney,
equated Putin's legitimate criticism of the US with "confrontation."

America's new puppets--the states of central and Eastern Europe and the
secretary general of NATO, no longer a treaty for the defense of Europe 
but
a military force enlisted in America's quest for empire--lined up with
McCain's argument that Russia was in fundamental conflict "with the core
values of Euro-Atlantic democracies."

Even the BBC's defense and security correspondent, Rob Watson, jumped on
the American propaganda bandwagon, tagging Putin's speech a revival of 
the
cold war.

No delegate at the security conference stood up to state the obvious 
fact
that it is not Russia that is invading countries under pretexts as 
false as
Hitler's and setting up weapons systems on foreign soil in order to 
achieve
military hegemony.

The reception given to Putin's words made it clear to Russia, China, and
every country not bribed, threatened or purchased into participation in
America's drive for world hegemony that the US has no interest 
whatsoever
in peace. Intelligent people realize that American claims to be a moral 
and
democratic force are mere pretense behind which hides a policy of 
military
aggression.

The US, Putin said, has gone "from one conflict to another without
achieving a fully-fledged solution to any of them."

Putin has repeatedly stressed Russia's peaceful intentions and desire to
focus on its economy and to avoid a new arms race. In his speech on the
60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, Putin said: "I am
convinced that there is no alternative to our friendship and our
fraternity. With our closest neighbors and all countries of the world,
Russia is prepared to build a kind of relationship which is not only 
based
on lessons of the past but is also directed into a shared future."

In his 2006 state of the nation speech, Putin noted that America's 
military
budget is 25 times larger than Russia's. He compared the Bush Regime to 
a
wolf who eats whom he wants without listening. Putin is being demonized 
by
US propagandists, because he insists upon Russia being a politically and
economically independent state.

The Bush Regime has taken the US outside the boundaries of international
law and is acting unilaterally, falsely declaring American military
aggression to be "defensive" and in the interests of peace. Much of the
world realizes the hypocrisy and danger in the Bush Regime's 
justification
of the unbridled use of US military power, but no countries except other
nuclear powers can challenge American aggression, and then only at the 
risk
of all life on earth.

The solution is nonmilitary challenge.

The Bush Regime's ability to wage war is dependent upon foreign 
financing.
The Regime's wars are financed with red ink, which means the hundreds of
billions of dollars must be borrowed. As American consumers are spending
more than they earn on consumption, the money cannot be borrowed from
Americans.

The US is totally dependent upon foreigners to finance its budget and 
trade
deficits. By financing these deficits, foreign governments are 
complicit in
the Bush Regime's military aggressions and war crimes. The Bush Regime's
two largest lenders are China and Japan. It is ironic that Japan, the 
only
nation to experience nuclear attack by the US, is banker to the Bush 
Regime
as it prepares a possible nuclear attack on Iran.

If the rest of the world would simply stop purchasing US Treasuries, and
instead dump their surplus dollars into the foreign exchange market, the
Bush Regime would be overwhelmed with economic crisis and unable to wage
war. The arrogant hubris associated with the "sole superpower" myth 
would
burst like the bubble it is.

The collapse of the dollar would also end the US government's ability to
subvert other countries by purchasing their leaders to do America's 
will.

The demise of the US dollar is only a question of time. It would save 
the
world from war and devastation if the dollar is brought to its demise
before the Bush Regime launches its planned attack on Iran.

[Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the 
Reagan
administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal
editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is 
coauthor
of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.]