Trump is a godsend for all of our foreign rivals who want to see an end to American hegemony.

When even our lapdog Japan speaks up, you know things are getting out of hand.



Japan, Russia and Turkey have warned the United States about potential retaliation for its tariffs on steel and aluminum, the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday, bringing the total U.S. tariff bill to around $3.5 billion annually.

At the center of this Resistance to Trump and America (not the phony Democrat one) is Russia, China, and Iran. Together they form a solid political and economic block, and our "sanction first, threaten with force second" foreign policy has pushed them together.



In one of the most concrete moves yet against renewed US efforts to choke off Iran economically, a Russian-led trade bloc signed an interim trade deal with Iran and signalled plans to negotiate a free trade zone.

Meanwhile, Iran's oil minister said that Chinese state-owned oil company CNPC was ready to replace Total on a major gas field project in Iran if the French energy giant pulls out.

...In the Kazakh capital Astana, the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union trade bloc signed an interim trade deal with Iran that lowers tariffs on hundreds of goods.

The bloc that also comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, also plans to begin three years of talks with Iran that aim to create a free trade zone.

That alone is enough of a threat to American power, but lately much of the rest of Asia is acting outside of American influence.

The most significant nation to defy our orders is India, which has the nerve to simply ignore our mandates.



In a blow to the West, Mr Modi is expected to reassure Putin that India will not join a US—backed, anti-Russia security partnership with Japan and Australia.

...One of the key issues that will be discussed by the two leaders in the informal talks is the fate of Russia’s previously agreed military exports to India, which is estimated to be worth $12billion (£8.9billion).

China has been mending fences with both India and Japan in direct response to U.S. threats.

India's rival, Pakistan, has also found a "new partnership" with Russia in trade and defense. In September 2016, Russia and Pakistan held their first ever joint military exercise.

Even more significant is Turkey's defiance.



U.S. officials said Pompeo warned Turkey that countries that purchase military hardware from Russia risk running afoul of new sanctions the United States imposed last year on Russia's military and defense industries.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shortly afterward told Turkish broadcasters that the $2.5 billion purchase of S-400s was signed in December and was "a done deal."

The split with Turkey is even more pronounced when it comes to Iran.



Airing Ankara’s worries, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin declared, “The unilateral US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement will lead to new conflicts and instability.” He added, “We do not wish the Iranian people to be negatively affected by these sanctions and we won’t hesitate to do our part if we’re to do something about them.”

China and India has set up barter deals to do business with Iran using local currencies, while Turkey conducts some gold for oil deals with Iran.

Indonesia and Vietnam also buy weapon systems from Russia, and thus risk U.S. sanctions.

Washington has already threatened Iraq with sanctions for considering buying Russian weapon systems. It didn't stop Iraq from purchasing Russian tanks.

While Europe's rebellion to our Iran sanctions have gotten alot of press, what has mostly slipped through the cracks is that it is pushing Europe and Russia together.



French President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Russia this week once threatened to split France from its European allies. Now it’s part of a wider European effort to tie President Vladimir Putin to the Iran nuclear accord.

Much of this has been building since 2009, and the fall-out of the 2008 Wall Street crash. China and Russia had already laid the groundwork for an alternative financial/trading system by 2014.

But things have accelerated under Trump because he acts likes a schoolyard bully, and the world isn't his schoolyard.



Daniel Chirot, Professor of International Studies at the University of Washington, said the Trump administration "believes it can bully other countries into acceding to its demands, even if those are often mistaken".

"The Trump administration is oblivious to the harm it is doing to relations with friendly allies," Chirot told Al Jazeera.

At this rate, all of Asia but the Gulf nations and a few Far East nations will be permanently outside of American hegemony by the end of Trump's first term.

This is where the decline of the American Empire starts.