“Sanctions are not diplomacy, they are a precursor to war and an embarrassment to a country that pays lip service to free trade”

Ron Paul

“Worse yet, when the public realizes that it is being deceived, a feedback loop is created in which trust is broken and even the truth, if it can be found, is no longer believed.”

James Rickards, Currency Wars

Wars are not only fought with bullets, bombs, and soldiers. there are also economic wars which are every bit as destabilizing and destructive to the targeted country. Last week was a prime example. Turkey which is nominally a NATO ally of the US was assaulted most viciously. President Trump announced a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Turkey. This was brought on by the continued detainment of pastor Brunson. Its kind of strange that they don’t use his first name. I would bet that he is a CIA operative. Turkey’s president Erdogan blames the US for the failed 2016 coup against him. The coup was initiated by those affiliated with another cleric, Fathullah Gulen, who interestingly resides in a fortress in Pennsylvania and owns over 25 billion in financial assets.

The announcement of the tariffs and a continued deterioration of affairs in Turkey led to a stunning 17% decline in the value of the Lira, Turkey’s currency, and the Lira has now declined 44% this year. Imagine if your savings and your earnings suddenly became much less valuable. Iran has experienced a similar decline in its Rial. Both economies are nearing collapse. The citizens of both countries are earnestly trying to change their rapidly declining currency for dollars, gold or cryptocurrency. Iran is being targeted by the neocons who are pining for another invasion of a middle eastern country. I’m sure it will go swimmingly this time despite the utter disaster that has been caused by our previous invasions (Libya, Iraq, etc).

The 3rd front of the economic wars was targeted at Russia with even more sanctions for allegedly, despite the assurances of the intelligence agencies (they wouldn’t lie would they?) there has been no actual evidence shown to the American people) hacking John Podesta’s emails and for hacking into the DNC’s server. It is somewhat comical the language the media and the left use to describe all of this. I have heard the following variations lately (1) Russia meddled in our elections, (2) Russia tampered with our democracy (3) Russia committed an act of war, etc. etc. Don’t forget that Russia has as enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world 5 times over. I think everyone should just take a breath and drop all the bellicose language.

The lesson of all this is that no country is immune from economic warfare. If the federal government keeps spending at ever increasing levels, one day it may be Americans who are faced with a collapsing currency. Its a good idea to keep a portion of your wealth in tangible assets like silver, gold and land.