‘US in panic because of its waning power’

Political and economic power is draining away from the US, while other states make bilateral agreements like the investment deal between Bahrain and Russia, which makes the US extremely worried, Professor of Binary Economics Rodney Shakespeare told RT.

The US has sent a message of discontent to its ally Bahrain, which signed an investment deal with Russia. Washington has said that it is concerned with the Gulf state cozying up to Russia, which is currently under sanctions due to the Ukrainian crisis.

RT:Washington and Bahrain have long been close on political and economic terms. Why would the Gulf state cross its Western ally in the first place?

Rodney Shakespeare: Because economic power is going away from the West and it is going away from the US. Political power is moving away and the US has lost the vestiges, if it ever had it at all, of moral authority. So you have a situation at the moment where the US is still in the Cold War mindset, and thinking it has got political, economic power, moral authority... It thinks that it can tell Russia what to do, but the times are changing. And is hubristically thinking that it could sanction Russia, particularly when everybody knows that it’s really about NATO wanting to put missiles into Ukraine and that’s what really is going on; the US is making a big mistake. All it is going to do is to increase the desire of others to make agreements.

Bahrain is the most insalubrious and vicious regime, but even Bahrain can see that American power is waning. Of course, Russia would take this opportunity very reasonably to link up with Bahrain and effectively give a ‘V’ sign to the Americans. This event between two investment institutions in Russia and Bahrain is highly significant; it is something that shows you that Western and American power is declining, others are making new agreements. And frankly, the Americans are going to lose in this situation and eventually the dollar will collapse as these agreements increase.

RT:All this comes just a day after President Putin said Russia could reconsider Western investment in its energy sector. This threat now looks more serious, doesn't it?

RS: Russia has huge natural resources, it’s a vast country, and has a highly advanced population. The bottom line in all this: it’s not Standard & Poor’s saying they are going to downgrade bonds for Russia. The physical realities are that Russia will survive and will be making more agreements and behind all this is the ultimate weakness of the dollar. It really doesn’t matter what happens now but the thing goes on and will end up more and more to the advantage of Russia and other countries, which refuse to be bullied by the US.

RT:While it's worth 10 billion dollars, that's not exactly a record breaker when it comes to investment. So why is Washington getting so worried about it?

RS: This is symbolic. Bahrain is in the Persian Gulf and it is where the American fleet by which America supports Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates. Those countries, of course, ultimately support the expansion of Zionist Israel which is what it is about. But as soon as Bahrain, the center of naval power of the US, makes an agreement with Russia, America is panicking, they are realizing that this is a sign of the times and after all the bluster of the Americans, people are just going to go and make their own way, and the more Americans try to sanction, the more they are going to make agreements like this. So America is panicking because they recognize that their power is on the wane and this symbolizes that waning power.

RT:With the West constantly stepping up the sanctions rhetoric and new players now apparently emerging in the game, could we see a re-drawing of the geo-political map here?

RS: Yes. American power still amounts to some military power, its spying power and others haven’t quite organized themselves. The BRIC countries, for example, haven’t quite established a new internet repayment system and they haven’t quite established their equivalent to the IMF. To some extent the whole situation is premature, and then of course other countries have to find agreements among themselves, not economic, but political. In a very fundamental way, the bullying of the West is going to come to an end at some stage; that is going to be a very dangerous period because the Americans have got military power. But you are starting to see re-alignments… they have been going on for quite a time, and the effects of sanctioning Russia means that they are not going to have it, they are going to go off and make agreements. I tell you, we want sanctions on Israel and at one stage we are going to have sanctions on the US because that’s what is going to happen if America continues as it is, because everybody has got fed up with them.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.