Lawlessness Is The New NormalPaul Craig Roberts Flying back to Bolivia from Moscow, Morales plane was denied overflight and refueling permission by Washingtons French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese puppets and had to land in Austria, where the presidential plane was searched for Edward Snowden. It was a power play by Washington to kidnap Snowden from Bolivias presidential airliner in defiance of international law and to teach upstart reformers like Morales that independence from Washingtons orders is not permitted. The European puppet states went along with this extraordinary breach of diplomacy and international law despite the fact that each of the countries is incensed that Washington is spying on their governments, diplomats, and citizens. Their thanks to Snowden, whose revelations made them aware that Washington was recording their every communication, was to help Washington capture Snowden. This tells us how much morality, honor, integrity there is left in Western civilization: Zero. In short, the governments of the countries on earth want Washingtons money and good graces more than they want truth and integrity or even their independence. Washingtons sordid interventions against Snowden and Morales give the world another chance to hold Washington accountable before Washingtons hubris and arrogance force the world into a choice between accepting Washingtons hegemony and World War III. The countries, split among themselves and grasping for money and favor, are, instead, permitting Washington to establish that whatever it does is legitimate. Washingtons lawlessness is being established as the new normal. The South American governments are unlikely to stand together against Washingtons affront. A few of the countries are led by reformers who represent the people instead of the rich elites allied with Washington, but most prefer calm relations with Washington and domestic elites. South Americans assume that Washington will succeed in overthrowing the reformers as it has in the past. In Europe headlines are that NSA surveillance threatens the EU free trade deal and Merkel demands explanations. The protests are the necessary public posturing of puppets and will be regarded as such by Washington. The French government says the trade talks should be temporarily suspended for a couple of weeks to avoid any controversy. However, the German government says, We want this free trade agreement and we want to start the talks now. In other words, what Merkel describes as unacceptable Cold War-style behavior is acceptable as long as Germany gets the free trade agreement. The lust for Washingtons money blinds Europe to the real consequences of the free trade deal. What the deal will do is to fold Europes economies into Washingtons economic hegemony. The deal is designed to draw Europe away from trade with Russia, just as the Trans-Pacific Partnership is designed to draw Asian countries away from China and fold them into US-structured relationships. These deals have little to do with free trade and everything to do with US hegemony. These free trade deals will commit the European and Asian partners to support the dollar. Indeed, it is possible that the dollar will supplant the euro and Asian currencies and become the monetary unit of the partners. In this way Washington can institutionalize the dollar and protect it from the consequences of the printing press that is being used to boost the solvency of banks too big to fail and to finance never-ending federal budget deficits. This article first appeared at Paul Craig Roberts new website Institute For Political Economy. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His Internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. 