My friends and loved ones grow weary of my focus on foreign policy. They’re much more concerned with the pressing domestic issues facing our country.

But what happens over there affects us over here. And what happens over there is largely the result of the US empire. Indeed, the US is the dominant hegemon with a worldwide empire of bases and client states.

This state of affairs seems to elude most Americans due to their ignorance of foreign affairs coupled with a sophisticated domestic propaganda narrative where the US is depicted ceaselessly as a selfless, indispensable nation upholding democracy and freedom.

Meanwhile, that whole empire thing will not stop intruding.

Yesterday Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi announced that impeachment proceedings against President Trump are underway due to a country–Ukraine –that most Americans couldn’t find on a map if their life depended on it.

With the Russia-gate hoax proving to be the “most fraudulent political scandal in American history,” as Princeton Professor Stephen Cohen puts it, now we have its twin–Ukraine-gate.

Both Russia-gate and Ukraine-gate concern the US empire and the national security state or deep state that’s metastasized under it’s malign influence. I firmly believe that both are the result of Donald Trump’s desire to deviate from the script of empire. If you’ll recall, Trump promised to end America’s regime-change-happy foreign policies and reset relations with Russia which had deteriorated drastically under his predecessor Barak Obama, who’d green-lighted the Ukrainian coup in 2014.

Going further, both of these manufactured scandals are attempted coups against a sitting president by the intelligence agencies that make up a key node of the national security state. And, of course, our vaunted “free press” is aiding and abetting this effort. It’s clear that the corporate media does not care about truth and they don’t care about justice. They do not care about holding power to account, because they exist only to serve power.

What’s humorous is that Ukraine-gate promises to imperil the DNC’s favorite candidate–former Vice-President Joe Biden. In fact it was Joe’s Biden big mouth that brought the issues back into light. In January 2018 he gave a talk at the Council of Foreign Relations and explained how he directly threatened (video) to withhold money to blackmail the Ukraine into firing a prosecutor general who was seen as corrupt:

“And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to Kiev. And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn’t.So they said they had—they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”

Biden did that at a time when his son lobbied for the Ukrainian company Burisma who the prosecutor he wanted fired investigated:

“U.S. banking records show Hunter Biden’s American-based firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, received regular transfers into one of its accounts — usually more than $166,000 a month — from Burisma from spring 2014 through fall 2015, during a period when Vice President Biden was the main U.S. official dealing with Ukraine and its tense relations with Russia.The general prosecutor’s official file for the Burisma probe — shared with me by senior Ukrainian officials — shows prosecutors identified Hunter Biden, business partner Devon Archer and their firm, Rosemont Seneca, as potential recipients of money.”

There is no direct evidence that Joe Biden told the Ukrainians to stop the investigation into Burisma. But it was not difficult for the Ukrainians to figure out that ending the investigation into the company that Joe Biden’s son worked for would help them with further requests to him.

How will the Democrats and corporate media explain that what Trump did was wrong or even criminal while insisting that what Joe Biden did was above board?

Instead of attacking Trump’s for the horrid things he’s actually doing the Democrats are conspiring with the intelligence agencies to defend the deep state while engaging in the worst kind of political theater knowing full well that the American public doesn’t have a clue.

Personally, I think the Democrats need a big distraction because former CIA chief John Brennan is becoming the focus of the investigation into how Russia-gate began and proceeded. And if Brennan is indicted then the whole corrupt Russia-gate fabrication would come to light, including the treasonous Democratic role.

This is a clear cut case where knowledge of foreign policy would help make sense of an important topic and to see the impeachment proceedings for what they truly are–kayfabe.

The impeachment proceedings may not involve fellatio and a blue dress this time but they promise to be every bit as stupid.