Happy U.S. Independence Day... But, independence from whom?

Britain's colonial ambitions are still a thing!

Today is the 4th of July and to all Americans, I wish a happy Independence Day! However, many people in the US seem to be unsure what it is that they’re celebrating. Fourth of July has got something to do with freedom and people organize barbecue parties and set off fireworks. But many no longer remember what the “independence” part is referring to. Independence from whom, exactly?

Independence from whom?

A few years ago, podcaster Mark Dice posed this question to about two dozen passers-by and all but one of them had no idea. The fact that so many don’t know relevant facts about the most important date in US history and that the Nation declared independence from Great Britain is truly odd.

Somehow, these facts have become obscure, replaced by hollow talk about freedom without historical context or understanding what that freedom meant: that the United States was born as a rejection of European colonialism and an act of defiance against the British Empire.

Today, that still undead Empire has been anxious to cultivate the “special relationship” with the United States and in that context, it’s best to forget some of history’s inconvenient lessons, since the very survival of the empire depends on the United States acting as its main source of economic support and military enforcement. The relationship works through back channel communications and is carefully hidden from view. Even when relevant facts leak out, the media do not provide any rigorous coverage to them. But facts do occasionally leak out. One case was the 2019 effort by the British to maneuver Donald Trump into attacking Iran.

Pushing Trump to war against Iran

On June 20, 2019, Iran's Air Defense Forces shot down a US Global Hawk surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz. War hawks in the US government exerted pressure on President Trump to launch a retaliatory strike against Iran, but to their frustration, he declined to do so. As it later turned out, the side that was frustrated the most were the British. Britain’s Ambassador to Washington, Sir (now lord) Kim Darroch wrote a series of memos to his superiors at the Foreign Office criticizing Trump and calling him “incoherent and chaotic.” These memos were leaked out on 7 July 2019 by “Anonymous” to great embrassement of the British.

Darroch wrote that “we have spent years building the relationships [with certain individuals]; they are the gatekeepers… the individuals we rely upon to ensure the U.K. voice is heard in the West Wing.” Some of these voices included Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton who was a frequent visitor to the British embassy along with the former Chief of Staff John Kelly. A Washington Post assessment of July 8th exposed Darroch’s “coterie- including Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller, Mick Mulvaney, Sarah Sanders and Trump ally Chris Ruddy” who have met at the embassy and “share about the President and his decision-making.”

Flooding the zone around Trump

The leaked memos also revealed that Sir Kim was calling for “flooding the zone” with Trump whisperers who can influence the President and nudge him toward opening hostilities against Iran. However, when Trump decided to cancel an attack on Iran on June 21, Darroch fired off a memo venting hist frustration and criticizing Trump in crude language. For example, Sir Kim said:

"We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction-riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept."

However, the good Ambassador did think that Trump could still be influenced to launch the war against Iran if he could be “surrounded by a more hawkish group of advisers… Just one more Iranian attack somewhere in the region could trigger yet another Trump U-turn.”

To bring about that U-turn, the British continued to antagonize Iran. On July 5, only two weeks after Sir Kim sent that last memo, the Brits seized an Iranian ship. The Iranians retaliated by seizing a British tanker and a military confrontation between the UK and Iran looked increasingly likely.

Two days later, on 7 July, perhaps in a bid to reject and expose British influence, the “Anonymous” leaked Darroch’s communications with the Foreign Office in London to show who is maneuvering the US into yet another Middle Eastern war.

There’s no doubt that Donald Trump was fully aware of what went on and who was the main force behind the Iran war drive. His government immediately disinvited Darroch from certain planned state functions. Trade talks between Trade Secretary Liam Fox and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were abruptly cancelled. Trump himself dropped a Tweet venting his displeasure with the British ambassador:

The next day, on July 10, Sir Kim Darroch had to resign from his position in disgrace and London had to nominate a new Ambassador.

Reasserting independence and ridding the world of empire

I very much doubt that Trump has forgotten these events or the Russiagate affair, which was the greatest witch hunt on a sitting President in US history. That witch hunt too, was orchestrated by the agents of the British foreign policy establishment, including Sir Kim Darroch who had a role in selecting Cristopher Steele as Russiagate’s key protagonist. Others included former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove, Stefan Halper, Joseph Mifsud and Fiona Hill - all of them British intelligence assets.

Today Trump is in the White House again, and the “Special Relationship” might not survive his Presidency. This could fatally weaken the zombified Empire and rid the world of its toxic, pathogenic influence. Hopefully, the American people will remember once more the important lessons of their history. It is hard to defend one’s independence if you don’t know who is secretly scheming to usurp it.

Dragging the US to war, ‘kicking and screaming.’

Incidentally, another highly revealing moment in history came two years after the failed attempt to push the US into a war against Iran. In August of 2021, when the US withdrew from Afghanistan, the British political class went utterly hysterical, piling contempt on the US as though American action directly wronged Britain.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair accused the United States of withdrawing from Afghanistan “in obedience to an imbecillic slogan about ending the ‘forever wars.’” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was literally in tears while giving an interview about Afghanistan withdrawal while MP Tom Tugendthat fulminated about his “grief, anger and rage” in the parliament.

Defence Secretary Dominic Raab accused the United States of signalling “to the world that they are not that keen on playing a global role.” For good measure, he added the insult that “The US had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the First World War. They turned up late for the Second World War and now they are cutting and running in Afghanistan.”

In all, it seems that Britain regards the United States chiefly as the enforcement department for their ambition to restore their former imperial glory. This is why the American independence continues to irritate them as they’ve never given up on the objective of dominating their former colony, by hook or by crook. Well, on this 4th of July, the American People should remind themselves of the hard choices and the bravery of their Founding Fathers to reject Britain’s dominance and claim freedom for their nation.

U.S. independence and the Founding Fathers’ spines of steel

The signatories the Declaration of Independence from the British Empire were not just a bunch of belligerent rebels with nothing to lose. They were all educated men of means and privileged members of society. Of the 56 signatories, twenty four were lawyers and jurists; eleven were wealthy merchants; nine were farmers and large plantation owners. They could have hedged their bets and played ball with the Empire for personal gain.

In signing the Declaration they provoked the Empire’s wrath, knowing that if they were captured their penalty most likely would be death. Five of them were in fact captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons and another two had their sons captured and imprisoned.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships in the revolutionary war. Carter Braxton, a wealthy planter and trader saw all his ships sunk by the British Navy. To pay his debts he was forced to sell his home and his properties. He died a poor man. To avoid capture, Thomas McKeam had to move his family around the country almost constantly. He served in Congress without pay and his family was kept in hiding. Ultimately, his possessions were taken from him and he too, died in poverty. The home and properties of Francis Lewis were destroyed and his wife was jailed. She died within a few months.

The properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton were vandalized and destroyed by British troops or their proxy terror squads. British General Cornwallis took over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. It was destroyed during the battle of Yorktown and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart had to flee his homestead after his fields and gristmill were destroyed. For over a year he hid, living in forests and caves. When he returned home, his wife was dead and their 13 children all vanished. The grief and distress killed him within a few weeks. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

It is high time that their sacrifice be recognized and their names and heritage honored in the way it merits. That, far more than barbecues and fireworks should be the stuff of the 4th of July.

Alex Krainer – @NakedHedgie is the creator of I-System Trend Following and publisher of daily TrendCompass reports which cover over 200 financial and commodities markets. One-month test drive is always free of charge. To learn more about TrendCompass reports please check our main TrendCompass web page. To start your trial subscription, drop us an email at TrendCompass@ISystem-TF.com, or:

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