It took a while and came under time pressure - but passed swiftly and smoothly: Last week, congress pushed a new set of sanctions against Russia down Donald Trump's throat. The pitiable president not only had to denounce his good understanding with his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of the successful Helsinki summit under huge cartel (media) pressure - but later obviously had little or no say in this new effrontery, according to aides. The latter called the decision-taking and deadline-driven process: "administration business as usual". Maybe - but this increasingly crazy business is right now deepening already painful fissures in US-Russian relations - and continuously raises risks of serious confrontations, military consequences not excluded. Well-informed Europeans watch with very mixed feelings, ranging from astonishment to worries to outright fear of what may happen next. And, as if this was normal business in its own right, EU foreign policy, let alone Germany, has no remedy ready to help heal the damage done. As if they were unable to conduct multi-pronged policies, resisting Washington's sanctions against Iran, Turkey and Russia in one strategically coherent go. Because these sanctions contradict true European interests, most of all: German core interests. But who conducts pro-German policies these days, when Berlin seems to explore the most adverse decisions at hand with ridiculously clear preference?

Who Presses For Sanctions

On August 2nd, New York Times (henceforth called: NYT), long owned by the Sulzberger family, reported: "Both the Banking and Foreign Relations Committees have since scheduled hearings relating to Russia." NYT quotes as positively concerned the following Senate members: Lindsey Graham (R), Mitch McConnell (R), and Bob Menendez (D).

• - Lindsey Graham (63, Baptist), retired U.S. Air Force colonel, influential through his seats in three important senate committees: Armed Services, Budget and Appropriations; warns Israel just four weeks ago: against cutting a deal with Russia over Iranian and Hezbollah presence in Syria. In 2015 openly and publicly ponders the idea of putting together an "all- Jewish cabinet" in his potential bid for the US presidency, openly and publicly seeking support from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. To reporters, he has recently promised "sanctions bill from hell" to punish Russia. Militant anti-Iranian hardliner, too.

• - Mitch McConnell (76, Baptist), Republican majority leader, influential through his seats in three important senate committees: Select Committee on Intelligence, Appropriations, Committee on Rules and Administration; in the annual AIPAC conference on March 6 this year, McConnell complained, that President Barack Obama's administration "failed to lead as an ally" (of Israel) in the Middle East. In fact, the US have lost their ability to even try to lead at all in the ME arena, due to exaggerated pro-Zionist one-sidedness under Trump. But McConnell already threw his political weight behind Trump's radical Zionist foreign policy agenda last year. Anti-Iranian and anti-Russian hardliner.

• Bob Menendez (64, Catholic), re-took the top Democrat spot on the Foreign Relations Committee, after his corruption trial ended in a mistrial - and publicly thanked AIPAC for its support in the "fight against Goliath" - during the above-mentioned March 6 conference. Anti-Iranian and anti- Russian hardliner: Menendez urged president Trump in the same conference, "to confront Russia about Iran's activities in Syria if he wants to protect Israel". This Menendez quote may serve as the best and shortest way to explain the motivation behind this recent sanction push.

He described the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions) movement as: "Thinly-veiled anti-Semitic, politically-motivated, discriminatory, and reminiscent of a history we’ve spent over half a century working to ensure is never again repeated." Mind you, “anti-Semitic” is highly sensitive epithet. Yet, I want to make an important point: 30+ Jewish groups worldwide stand up against defining criticism of Israel, its policies or self-appointed non-Jewish zealot supporters as antisemitism. But it looks like that’s just how Menendez is using it…

In Germany, efforts to legally denounce BDS as such have failed, after prominent Jewish organisations and personalities have defended the human rights movement, which derives its name from the historic fight vehicle against the white apartheid regime of South Africa.

August 9, NYT filed an AP agency report quoting the US State Department, that it had determined on August 6 new sanctions against Russia, to "take effect on or around Aug. 22". The article continues: "... sanctions will include the presumed denial of export licenses for Russia to purchase many items with national security implications." - and states with a certain satisfaction, that "the Russian ruble sank to the lowest levels since April on the news of the new sanctions before recovering slightly later in the day. The shares of Russian state controlled banks, the national carrier Aeroflot and other companies also tanked."

This article quotes as special supporters of the sanctions: Ed Royce (R) and adds: "Royce had previously accused Trump of ignoring the Russian nerve agent attack." Which is nothing but a terribly flawed, cartel-driven and secret-service propagated, henceforth utterly misfired anti-Russian attack, carried out on British soil, under carefully government-directed disinformation of the distrustful British public.

• - Ed Royce (nearing 67, Catholic), Chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. In Israel, Royce is regarded as a "pro-Israel stalwart".

In the early days of this year, Royce is being quoted: "This final year of my Foreign Affairs Committee chairmanship, I want to focus fully on the urgent threats facing our nation, including: the brutal, corrupt and dangerous regimes in Pyongyang and Tehran, Vladimir Putin’s continued efforts to weaponize information to fracture western democracies ..."

Times of Israel writes about Royce: "Royce stood out for his pro-Israel steadfastness..." and adds: "In 2017 alone, Royce ... successfully advanced legislation that added sanctions targeting Iran’s missile development, that made aid to the Palestinians conditional on not rewarding families of Palestinians who killed Israelis, that enhanced reporting on European anti-Semitism and that slammed the Obama administration for allowing through a UN Security Council resolution attacking Israel’s settlement policies." Developing missiles is daily business for the US, at a thousand times higher volume than Iran's; sanctioning family members of anybody is forbidden as collective punishment by western and international legal standards; and the illegal Israeli settlement policy contradicts numerous UN-resolutions as well as international law, recent research coining the phrase: "settler colonization".

The very same August 9, NYT also carried a Reuters agency report, explaining, that sanctions "target exports of national security-related goods including sectors such as specialised oil and gas technology and some electronics and sensors ...".

But the agency has an unnamed US State department official explain to journalists, that technical goods for Russian carrier Aeroflot may also be hit by the sanction regime. Agency articles often quote a "senior State Department" official, Daniel Fried:

• - Daniel Fried (66), former Assistant Secretary of State, is being described by NYT as a "foreign policy hawk on the issue of whether the U.S. should give military aid to the nation of Georgia in its territorial dispute with Russia" - according to Wikipedia. He is the only person highlighted here pertaining to the Jewish faith. Fried is deeply convinced of preservation of US world dominance, as he has reconfirmed indirectly in his retirement speech.

Joined by Zionist and violently anti-Iranian minded secretaries for economy, Wilbur Ross, a former ranking Rothschild employee, and treasury, Steven Mnuchin, leading Goldman Sachs banker of 17 years, this set of actors is interlinked by a set of commune convictions against two countries constantly under Israeli attack: Iran and Syria - in that priority order. Turkey comes into the radar third place by opposing Israel-backed pro-Kurdish US strategies in the region and Israel's policies against Palestinians plus efforts to withstand domination of the Turkish market by global finance magnates. Russia backs all three mentioned countries, making Moscow a natural top target in this unwise chess-type game, backed now by a timely poll.

Four important facts should be considered, when analyzing anti-Russian moves in the US:

• - The so-called "Clinton camp" is the most important driver behind anti- Russian US policies

• - So-called "Evangelicals" are major forces in the US public arena in favor of Israel.

• - Many Jews are clearly opposed to anti-Russian policies in general and the latest round of sanctions specifically, including prominent members of the anti-Zionist jewish organization "Neturei Karta", who refuse to be named, because their organization keeps out of daily global politics.

• - Russia's foreign policy wisely and very diligently fosters intensive and good relations with Israel, lending support to selected aspects of Israel's policies, to avoid unnecessary deepening of rifts, which might otherwise occur due to Russian support to three Muslim countries ranging high on Israel's priority list: Iran, Syria and Turkey.

In the background of US belligerent tariff trouble-making looms the fact, that the dollar-based global financial system is massively overstretched. Thus the recent turmoil is being suspected to intentionally push global economy and trade to the brink of existential crisis, in order to exonerate the financial sector from being the culprit, once the inevitable crash unfolds. Alongside with this strategy of finger pointing, political propaganda against "the usual suspects": Putin, Erdogan and the whole Iranian "mullah regime", may well serve as "enabler" for any military adventure needed to divert public attention in NATO and other western countries from the disastrous deficiencies of their political and financial systems.

Accordingly, US announcements of new sanction rounds against the three major disobedient countries: Russia, Turkey and Iran, increasingly sound like war cries.

Analysts see themselves forced to point out, that these three countries, hit hardest by US belligerent sanction policies, are the very same who successfully co-operate in the Middle East - and especially so in addressing the Syrian crisis.

In the case of Iran, both other two partners, Russia and Turkey, have already issued strong statements, that they are not feeling any obligation to heed Washington's wishes concerning anti-Iran sanctions. Russia has even opted to increase trade relations.

Even worse in the eyes of global players in international finance is a very recent single issue: Turkey's president Erdogan has refused an IMF loan, arguing, that it undermines his country's sovereignty, which is correct and thus points to the

main rationale for setting up this institution at all. Nearly a declaration of war in the eyes of western finance magnates: Erdogan has gladly accepted a 3,8 bln.

dollar loan from China.

In this set of US-based political opinion, peace and stability are being denied to all those, who refuse to obey Washington's and the financial sector's wishes.

Highly unfortunate: This mindset has a single and inevitable potential outcome;crash and war.