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. Here is part of a chilling article he recently wrote. “… China’s power over the value of the dollar and US interest rates also gives China power over US foreign policy. The US was able to attack Afghanistan and Iraq only because China provided the largest part of the financing for Bush’s wars.

If China ceased to buy US Treasuries, Bush’s wars would end … [with] several million afflicted with mortgages that they cannot afford. With Bush’s budget in deficit and with no room in the US consumer’s budget for a tax increase, Bush’s wars can only be financed by foreigners.

No country on earth, except for Israel, supports the Bush regimes’ desire to attack Iran. It is China’s decision whether it calls in the US ambassador, and delivers the message that there will be no attack on Iran or further war unless the US is prepared to buy back $900 billion in US Treasury bonds and other dollar assets …

The US, of course, has no foreign reserves with which to make the purchase. The impact of such a large sale on US interest rates would wreck the US economy and effectively end Bush’s war-making capability …”

Mair’s Axiom #1 is that “you make a very serious mistake assuming that people in charge know what the hell they’re doing.”  President Bush is a simple man meaning that he can only grasp simple ideas. He is surrounded by men who are not simple but evil, a group led by Vice President Dick Cheney. They believe in the modern version of “gunboat diplomacy”, a tactic that went out of fashion 100 years ago.

Bush sees Iran as threatening American hegemony in parts of the Middle East and threatens to bomb her. Here is the United States despised by the Muslim world save a couple of dictators and he’s going to fix things with missiles raining down on Tehran.

The really bad news in all of this is that we’re stuck with this most unsatisfactory simpleton for another 16 months.

May God help us!