I am completely at a loss as to why the UK should seek to join in with the US in considering China an enemy, and in looking to build up military forces in the Pacific to oppose China.
In what sense are Chinese interests opposed to British interests? I am not sure when I last bought something which wasn’t maufactured in China. To my astonishment that even applies to our second hand Volvo, and it also applies to this laptop.
I have stated this before but it is worth restating:
I cannot readily think of any example in history, of a state which achieved the level of economic dominance China has now achieved, that did not seek to use its economic muscle to finance military acquisition of territory to increase its economic resources.
In that respect China is vastly more pacific than the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain or any other formerly prominent power.
Ask yourself this simple question. How many overseas military bases does the USA have? And how many overseas military bases does China have?
Depending on what you count, the United States has between 750 and 1100 overseas military bases. China has between 6 and 9.
The last military aggression by China was its takeover of Tibet in 1951 and 1959. Since that date, we have seen the United States invade with massive destruction Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
The United States has also been involved in sponsoring numerous military coups, including military support to the overthrow of literally dozens of governments, many of them democratically elected. It has destroyed numerous countries by proxy, Libya being the most recent example.
China has simply no record, for over 60 years, of attacking and invading other countries.
The anti-Chinese military posture adopted by the leaders of US, UK and Australia as they pour astonishing amounts of public money into the corrupt military industrial complex to build pointless nuclear submarines, appears a deliberate attempt to create military tension with China.
Sunak recited the tired neoliberal roll call of enemies, condemning: “Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, China’s growing assertiveness, and destabilising behaviour of Iran and North Korea”.
What precisely are Iran and China doing, that makes them our enemy?
This article is not about Iran, but plainly western sanctions have held back the economic and societal development of that highly talented nation and have simply entrenched its theological regime.
Their purpose is not to improve Iran but to maintain a situation where Israel has nuclear weapons and Iran does not. If accompanied by an effort to disarm the rogue state of Israel, they might make more sense.
On China, in what does its “assertiveness” consist that makes it necessary to view it as a military enemy? China has constructed some military bases by artificially extending small islands. That is perfectly legal behaviour. The territory is Chinese.
As the United States has numerous bases in the region on other people’s territory, I truly struggle to see where the objection lies to Chinese bases on Chinese territory.
China has made claims which are controversial for maritime jurisdiction around these artificial islands – and I would argue wrong under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. But they are no more controversial than a great many other UNCLOS claims, for example the UK’s behaviour over Rockall.
China has made, for example, no attempt to militarily enforce a 200 mile exclusive economic zone arising from its artificial islands, whatever it has said. Its claim to a 12 mile territorial sea is I think valid.
Similarly, the United States has objected to pronouncements from China that appear contrary to UNCLOS on passage through straits, but again this is no different from a variety of such disputes worldwide. The United States and others have repeatedly asserted, and practised, their right of free passage, and met no military resistance from China.
So is that it? Is that what Chinese “aggression” amounts to, some UNCLOS disputes?
Aah, we are told, but what about Taiwan?
To which the only reply is, what about Taiwan? Taiwan is a part of China which separated off under the nationalist government after the Civil War. Taiwan does not claim not to be Chinese territory.
In fact – and this is far too little understood in the West because our media does not tell you – the government of Taiwan still claims to be the legitimate government of all of China.
The government of Taiwan supports reunification just as much as the government of China, the only difference being who would be in charge.
The dispute with Taiwan is therefore an unresolved Chinese civil war, not an independent state menaced by China. As a civil war the entire world away from us, it is very hard to understand why we have an interest in supporting one side rather than the other.
Peaceful resolution is of course preferable. But it is not our conflict.
There is no evidence whatsoever that China has any intention of invading anywhere else in the China Seas or the Pacific. Not Singapore, not Japan and least of all Australia. That is almost as fantastic as the ludicrous idea that the UK must be defended from Russian invasion.
If China wanted, it could simply buy 100% of every public listed company in Australia, without even noticing a dent in China’s dollar reserves.
Which of course brings us to the real dispute, which is economic and about soft power. China has massively increased its influence abroad, by trade, investment, loans and manufacture. China is now the dominant economic power, and it can only be a matter of time before the dollar ceases to be the world’s reserve currency.
China has chosen this method of economic expansion and prosperity over territorial acquisition or military control of resources.
That may be to do with Confucian versus Western thought. Or it may just be the government in Beijing is smarter than Western governments. But growing Chinese economic dominance does not appear to me a reversible process in the coming century.
To react to China’s growing economic power by increasing western military power is hopeless. It is harder to think of a more stupid example of lashing out in blind anger. It is a it like peeing on your carpet because the neighbours are too noisy.
Aah, but you ask. What about human rights? What about the Uighurs?
I have a large amount of sympathy. China was an Imperial power in the great age of formal imperialism, and the Uighurs were colonised by China. Unfortunately the Chinese have followed the West’s “War on Terror” playbook in exploiting Islamophobia to clamp down on Uighur culture and autonomy.
I very much hope that this reduces, and that freedom of speech improves in general across China.
But let nobody claim that human rights genuinely has any part to play in who the Western military industrial complex treats as an enemy and who it treats as an ally. I know it does not, because that is the precise issue on which I was sacked as an Ambassador.
The abominable suffering of the children of Yemen and Palestine also cries out against any pretence that Western policy, and above all choice of ally, is human rights based.
China is treated as an enemy because the United States has been forced to contemplate the mortality of its economic dominance.
China is treated as an enemy because that is a chance for the political and capitalist classes to make yet more super profits from the military industrial complex.
But China is not our enemy. Only atavism and xenophobia make it so.
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A bit of nitpicking here. US is also occupying the eastern 1/3 of Syria since 2015 and rumor has it that it trains ISIS fighters there so then can claim is there to fight ISIS…
re: China and EU/RU economic ties
source (but I c&p it from Moon of Alabama since RT is being blocked)
https://www.rt.com/russia/573628-putin-eu-growing-dependence-china/
Putin highlights EU’s growing dependence on China
Trade volumes between the two are growing much more rapidly than between Beijing and Moscow, the Russian president has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed claims of Russia’s growing economic dependence on China, saying in an interview with Russia 24 TV on Saturday that Brussels has much more to worry about in this regard than Moscow.
When asked by interviewer Pavel Zarubin about Moscow’s alleged overreliance on trade with Beijing, Putin replied by saying that those are the “words not of skeptics but of enviers.” According to the president, there have always been forces seeking to drive a wedge first between China and the USSR and later between China and Russia.
The Russian leader also warned that the EU should be worried not about Russia’s trade policies but about its own relations with Beijing. “Dependence of the European economy on China … is growing much faster than that of Russia,” he said, adding that “trade volume between China and the ‘united Europe’ is increasing at a very high rate.” “They [the EU] should rather look after themselves,” the president added.
According to the EU statistics agency, Eurostat, trade volumes between the bloc and China have been steadily growing since at least 2015, with a particularly high growth rate over the past two years.
Between 2012 and 2022, EU imports from China nearly tripled, with chemicals, machinery and what are classified as “other manufactured goods” accounting for the lion’s share of Beijing’s exports to the bloc. The EU’s own exports to China almost doubled over the same period.
In 2022, China was the EU’s largest source of imports with a share above 20% of the bloc’s total imports. The second-largest share belonged to the US, but the figure was far behind at 11.9%. The trade balance between China and the EU has also been shifting heavily in Beijing’s favor. In 2022, Eurostat reported a trade deficit to China of €395.7 billion ($426.6 billion).
Russia’s trade turnover with China has also been rapidly growing in recent years. In 2021, it increased by 35.8% to reach $146.8 billion, TASS reported. In 2022, it grew further by 29.3% to $190.3 billion, reaching an all-time high. The growth was mostly a result of Russia’s increased exports to China, the Chinese customs service reported in January 2023.
According to Chinese officials, Russia’s exports to China grew by 43.4% to $114 billion in 2022, while Moscow’s imports from China increased by 12.8% to $76.12 billion over the same period. Last year, Russia had a positive trade balance with China of $38 billion, according to TASS.
Jackie Robinson, 1972 biography: “I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world…I know that I never had it made.”
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, 1933: “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
US-NAYOYO doesn’t consider China, Russia, Iran, or Venezuela as enemies. These creeps consider them convenient cash cows necessary for the survival of US corrupt political apparatus. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Russia’s Defence budget of roughly $50 billion has produced a vastly more capable military compared to the Pentagon’s budget of more than $850 billion. The US has the most expensive military, health care, and educational bureaucracies, but that doesn’t make them the best at anything except self-serving propaganda.
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, “…nobody now gives the United States any respect, apart from a handful of fascist Brits and that simpering little whore Tony Blair.”
John Kenneth Galbraith, “The modern Conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
Tacitus: “They give the lying name of Empire to robbery and slaughter; they make a desert and call it peace.”
But Hunter still loved the US.
Huhm. This does not contradict your main point but it seems that you, along with everyone else, have forgotten about the Chinese punitive attack on Vietnam.
Beat me to it. I would suggest that experience convinced the Chinese not to get too militarily adventurous and concentrate on maintaining power at home.
Something else to remember is China – like Russia – is one of the two empires left. Historically it has had great problems retaining all of its territory and the borders have been in flux. The almost century-long effort to have a common language and culture has been a major focus of the CCP.
you forgot about the US empire.
The US is an empire which makes the RF and China look like provincial nobodies.
“The dispute with Taiwan is therefore an unresolved Chinese civil war, not an independent state menaced by China.”
That’s really weak. Face reality as it is, not how some legal wrangling allows you to pretend to yourself. Taiwan is quite clearly, in *actual* reality, an independent state.
How ?
Your position appears to be based on the outpourings of pro independence Taiwanese parties and the western hegemon and its poodles. Within Taiwan there exists opposing views from the people and from the opposition parties. The position is therefore clearly not unanimous, and in ‘actual reality’ something for Taiwan and China to sort amongst themselves.
You’ll note that this week the ex president of Taiwan is in actual reality visiting the mainland to Foster cross straits relations. In actual reality all is not what we are told in the MSM !
https://sputniknews.com/20230327/private-trip-steeped-in-political-overtones-ex-taiwan-leader-to-make-landmark-mainland-china-visit-1108799203.html
My position is based on reality. There literally are two separate governments. Two completely separate land masses. Two separate militaries. Two separate sets of laws. Two separate populations. Two separate on and on and on. The reality is that they are two separate nations. So clear. That’s reality. You saying they’re the same country doesn’t change reality. THEM saying they’re the same country also doesn’t change reality. I could tell people I’m a banana; wouldn’t make it true.
‘Two Chinas’ is a term denoting two currently existing states that have the word ‘China’ in their official name:
The People’s Republic of China, a state known as China, controls mainland China and two special administrative regions – Hong Kong and Macau.
The Republic of China was founded in 1911. Until 1949, it controlled the entire mainland China. After the defeat of the Kuomintang in the Civil War, the government retreated to Taiwan and other neighboring islands and actually established a state with its capital in the city of Taipei. Currently, the Republic of China is better known as Taiwan.
The two don’t recognize each other’s sovereignty. The official position of both states remains that there is only one legitimate sovereign state entity that governs both mainland China and Taiwan.
Relations between the two states remain at a tense level. This is due not only to disagreements over sovereignty, but also to the fact that Taiwan relies on the US. The People’s Republic of China, in turn, regards this as a fact of interference in internal state affairs.
(c) Wiki
Sophistry
No, fact. The very opposite of sophistry.
The thing is “reality” is always a bit more complicated than it seems when you only have one eye. Taiwan has never in its entire history been an independent state, and it has been a province of China for literally hundreds of years. The only reason it exists as an “independent” state today is because after Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island in 1949 Uncle Sam championed, financed and armed his forty-year military dictatorship under martial law, heedless of the appalling acts of slaughter the KMT had carried out and were carrying out, including the 228 incident, in which somewhere between 18,000 and 20,000 Taiwanese civilians were summarily executed.
I honestly don’t see any reason why China should simply kneel down and accept all this as a fait accompli, just because people like you tell then they have to. They got fed up being pushed around by the “civilised” countries in the period between 1840 and 1950, and they don’t intend to put up with it any more, which is something that people like you had better understand.
The issue between Taiwan and the rest of China is something for them to sort out. It is absolutely none of your fucking business.
I don’t tell them to accept. It’s reality. They can claim alternative facts all they like, but it doesn’t change reality. There literally are two separate governments. Two completely separate land masses. Two separate militaries. Two separate sets of laws. Two separate populations. Two separate on and on and on. The reality is that they are two separate nations. So clear. That’s reality. Those are the actual, real facts of actual reality.
“It is absolutely none of your fucking business.”
Just like France and Venezuela being two separate countries is none of my business. So fucking what? It being my business or not doesn’t change the actual facts of actual reality. Even THEM saying they’re the same country also doesn’t change reality. I could tell people I’m a banana; wouldn’t make it true.
If military provocation of China were so self-evidently noble and good it would have widespread support across the global South. In the conspicuous absence of that we are being told to believe, once again, that Britain’s Tory/Tory-Lite politicians and media are the moral conscience of the world. Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, Telegraph, Guardian, Sun.
our friends from the European Council on Foreign Relations with a major study on public opinion and bipolar vs. multipolar (that sounds about as clinical a terminology as would be realistic)
“United West, divided from the rest: Global public opinion one year into Russia’s war on Ukraine
byTimothy Garton Ash, Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard”, date: 22/2/23
https://ecfr.eu/publication/united-west-divided-from-the-rest-global-public-opinion-one-year-into-russias-war-on-ukraine/
p.s. I do not understand how historians like Krastev and Ash can sell themselves to such political entities as the ECFR, get involved into geopolitics, and so on, all of which is quite the opposite of what historians do if they were true to the specifics of their profession and still call themselves historians. As bad as former NATO fellows who end up with tenure in historic scholarhip on Eastern European and Russia studies. And nobody seems to care about the insanty of that. Not least of all undermining research and the nature of the discipline itself.
p.p.s: note the many hyperlinks in the study. Among others the three authors discuss the findings in a 30 min. podcast:
https://ecfr.eu/podcasts/episode/united-west-divided-from-the-rest-global-public-opinion-one-year-into-russias-war-on-ukraine/
btw. T.G. Ash former MI-6?
“Study Summary
A new poll suggests that Russia’s war on Ukraine has consolidated ‘the West;’ European and American citizens hold many views in common about major global questions.
Europeans and Americans agree they should help Ukraine to win, that Russia is their avowed adversary, and that the coming global order will most likely be defined by two blocs led respectively by the US and China.
In contrast, citizens in China, India, and Turkiye prefer a quick end to the war even if Ukraine has to concede territory.
People in these non-Western countries, and in Russia, also consider the emergence of a multipolar world order to be more probable than a bipolar arrangement.
Western decision-makers should take into account that the consolidation of the West is taking place in an increasingly divided post-Western world; and that emerging powers such as India and Turkiye will act on their own terms and resist being caught in a battle between America and China.”
We now live in an age when if China sneezes, we all catch the cold.
GB becomes involved because its the bitch of the USA. Kind of pathetic when people talk about sovereignty yet become absolute lapdogs to American foreign policy
sure GB is just being a consistent lapdog, it’s also been one in supporting US aggression in Iraq and Ukraine. it knows who doles out the doggy biscuits.
pretzelattack, may I please ask a question?
I’ve always wondered what it’s like to live in a society with such…how can I put it? caste system? I mean the titles for people in UK. On the issue of Ukraine, our Russian news referred to this source
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-03-06/hl6144
here I see someone described as baroness Goldie, Conservative, a life peer, member of the House of Lords and someone lord Hylton, crossbench, another member of the House of Lords, excepted heriditary (what the f*** does this mean???) having conversation on their decision to supply shells with depleted uranium to Kiev (also mentioning ‘His Majesty’s Government’ whatever the f*** this means).
So actually my question is probably not about the political structure in the country, but about the relationship between different strata in society: (I think that most citizens are not peers or baronesses) what does an ordinary citizen feel when reading these titles? How do you combine monarchical government and democracy in your head? Are you okay with living with it?
There are two types of peer, the aristocracy, the hereditary peers, of which presumably you still have some in Russia from the old days, and the life peers, where the title is equivalent to “senator”, it just denotes a member of the upper chamber of the legislature. So very few people are impressed by the titles of such as Baroness Goldie. Lord Hylton is one of the few peers who is both types of peer rolled into one, which is a hangover from when the entire upper chamber was peopled by aristocrats. Most of the aristos were kicked out by Tony Blair, with a few exceptions, who tend not to be in any particular political party, hence Lord Hylton being an “excepted hereditary” and a “crossbencher”.
Tatyana, I live in the US, which pretends not to have a caste system, and also pretends to be a democracy. I’m not ok with living here, but at my age it would be hard to move, even as the society continues to deteriorate. I’m not sure where I could move if I wanted to be relatively free of US influence. I hope that in a future I won’t live to see much of, that Russia and China can forge another way, and that the US will fade away like the UK has rather than pushing the world into another world war to prevent that from happening.
Oh, I see. Sorry, pretzelattack, I supposed you’re from the UK, as we’re at a Scotland site. Still I’ve written a comment, so I leave it here anyway, for the sake of other people here.
I’ll describe my thoughts about myself, to make it clear.
As far as I can trace back, my ancestors occupied this land in accordance with the rules then in force between human beings, and this was seldom disputed by anyone. My more recent ancestors defended this land from foreign invaders, their right to live here was recognized internationally (again according to the rules then in force). Since the birth of my direct ancestors a couple of generations ago, no one has challenged this territory ownership.
The people around me are organized into a community and I am part of it. The system that promotes community members to positions of power is open to everyone, including me. No one can take a ruling position simply by birthright / belonging to a family. If I don’t agree with the policy of the ruling elite, I can join other dissatisfied member of the community and change the actions of this ruling elite, or, its very composition. I feel like a host in my land, and I feel like a citizen in my state.
Anyone who claims the right to set the politics for my community due to their genetic background – is likely to end up in a mental institution.
What is wrong with me?
In the UK we have two state run mental institutions: the house of Lords and the house of commons. The Lords tend to be inbreds and/or rich, they obtain their positions through birth or bribery. The commons tend to be incompetents who could never hold down a real job and again obtain their positions through bribery or birth. They are all figuratively or actual bastards who are only concerned with sharing up the assets of the UK between themselves. They have no interest or loyalty to the country or its peoples.
A majority of the people of the UK think this situation is great and an example to foreigners of great British democracy. Some of us despair and dream of violent revolution.
We have liquidated the monarchy, but these who consider themselves descendants of monarchs cannot calm down. Some people somewhere abroad declare themselves heirs to the throne, which no longer exists 🙂
Somewhere in Spain, the granddaughter of Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg Gotha declares that she is a Russian empress, no less. This claim is disputed by a parallel genetic lineage from the same ancestors, living somewhere in England and Switzerland.
All this surprises me to no end. Who are all these people? Do they seriously think that they can come to my country and rule here? Some kind of circus with horses, as we say. Carnival of mummers divorced from reality.
Tatyana
be careful. most of the commentators here are fanatical royalists.
“Who are all these people? Do they seriously think that they can come to my country and rule here?”
Very unlikely, but one of the characteristics of royalty and aristocracy is that they do not need a patch of land to be ruler over. If you are the eldest surviving descendant of the Czars of Russia in the most direct line of descent, you are still entitled to call yourself the Czar or Czarina, regardless of whether you have any connection with the modern-day state that is Russia. Ditto Lord Hylton, who you mentioned earlier. Like the Earl of Stradbroke, he could be penniless and living in a foreign country and not have owned any part of Hylton for many centuries, but he can still call himself Lord Hylton. Some people are impressed by these titles, even when they are completely empty. Were your ancestors not ruled over by aristocrats in the days of the Czars? By all accounts, Russia had no shortage of them in those days.
Zoot, funny warning 🙂 what do you think they’ll do? Will they catch me and make me worship the king’s portrait?
Bayard, as I understand it, Hylton is a name, like Petrov. And the word ‘lord’ means a title, like ‘a position held in a social structure’. Thus, if he doesn’t own part of the Hylton now, then the title is nonsense. As if I declared myself the empress of the Milky Way galaxy because we are all made of stardust 🙂 If I demanded that other people title me like that, then most likely haloperidol would become my sure remedy for many weeks.
Looks like it only works when others are ready to play along. btw, do you know popular meme “I identify as an attack helicopter”? 🙂
“The people around me are organized into a community and I am part of it. The system that promotes community members to positions of power is open to everyone, including me. No one can take a ruling position simply by birthright / belonging to a family. If I don’t agree with the policy of the ruling elite, I can join other dissatisfied member of the community and change the actions of this ruling elite, or, its very composition. I feel like a host in my land, and I feel like a citizen in my state.”
I don’t have that feeling, and I used to. I don’t think the policies of the ruling elite(s) in the US can be changed by voting, because the whole system is rigged by the 2 parties, which are united on economic policies and, broadly, foreign policy.
I think people in the US are experiencing a (so far) more benign version of what many (most?) Russians went through in the 1990’s (with the “help” of the US) — blatant corruption, deterioration of common values, economic distress. In your opinion, how did most Russians feel about their country in those times?
It’s hard for me to give an answer because I was a teenager at the time. From my point of view, I entered a world that was not friendly to me. People were angry, unhappy, hostile, busy with basic surviving. State? What’s that? My parents, having two daughters during the Soviet period, counted on free education and decent employment for my sister and me, and these social guarantees collapsed in the 90s, so it was especially hard for families with children. People survived, the state was only nominal and did not function. Everything fell apart and degraded. Corruption, banditry, wild capitalism. I think that many people from the West who visited Russia in those days are still affected by that impression of my country.
—
I translated some posts from Russian social media about 90s
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/russia-people-from-the-90s-tell-us-what-it-was-like-really/
“Bayard, as I understand it, Hylton is a name, like Petrov.”
Hylton is the name of a place, so not like Petrov, Lord Hylton’s name is Raymond Jolliffe. Anyone can change their name to anything they like in the UK. There was a man who used to stand at every by-election, who called himself Screaming Lord Sutch. That didn’t make him an aristocrat any more than styling herself Lady Gaga makes her one. Nor, for that matter does getting your political cronies to make you a life peer. If you wanted to style yourself Empress of the Milky Way in the UK, most people would be happy to greet you with “Hi, Empress!” If you styled yourself something like Princess, they’d probably even think you were a genuine Russian aristocrat.
there used to be Her Majesty´s prisons.
First, this is about independence, not sovereignty. These two are often confused. Second, I believe, that having lost the British Empire, GB sublimates her feelings of global power through the power of USA. Thus, what you’ve called being “the bitch of the USA” is an ersatz of being a global power through “togetherness” with the USA.
No, the British boss class competes with the zionist antisemite colonists in Palestine for the title of chief jackal.
It gets too complicated…a Pakistani Scotsman struggling for independence from Indian Englishman? These people can only make comedies or tearjerkers. So what this is going to be, Seeta Aur Geeta or Love in Kashmir?
MIA again at the epochal moments. Either by design or by haste.
Let’s fire a missile at a meteorological balloon blown off course to display our mettle, our power. Here Indiscriminate use of military force has been cast to the event horizon and serves as an indicator, a sign for life, where knowledge is life and the spirit leads us to another path, another pact, another friendship that secures our existence, unity and love.
“China has simply no record, for over 60 years, of attacking and invading other countries.”
If you close your eyes to Tibet, the border wars with India, Russia or Vietnam or taking of land from Bhutan or Nepal. Most of that was without the enormous amount of money collected the last two decades by the CCP, the actual boss of the PLA.
It is easy talking far away from physical China’s borders.
I know Uncle Sam became a despicable $camster but lifting the CCP to angelic heights is just going from frying pan into the fire in the future. Normal Chinese are fine (like normal Americans) but their elites have gone for pure egoistic goals.
‘their elites have gone for pure egoistic goals’
as a China expert how are you not aware that 800 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty by the Communist party in the last generation? compare that to the effects upon working-class Americans over the same period of policies inflicted by the corporate Republican & Democratic parties.
“If you close your eyes to Tibet, the border wars with India, Russia or Vietnam or taking of land from Bhutan or Nepal.”
Your mental arithmetic has taken a holiday, as well as your understanding of conceptual definitions. Craig is quite right. Tibet, as well as being more than sixty years ago, was a post-annexation revolt, and Tibet had already been under the Qing dynasty in a rather vague way. The other wars you mention were not invasions and conquests, a nothingburger, as the Americans say, compared with US post-2WW wars.
The difference between China, Russia and the West in my simplistic opinion is that the government’s of China and Russia appear to have the interests of their peoples and their country as their priority. Whereas, the governments of the West appear to be only interested in self aggrandisment and opposing anyone who threatens their agenda. The wellbeing of their countries and peoples are of no interest – hence the poverty, food banks and disparity of wealth. No need to raise China and Russia to angelic heights, just look at the differences with the West and tell me we are not living in a cess pool of corruption, greed and selfishness. There are better ways, but not for us !
I think that the difference is subtle. Let me explain.
If there was a 100% reliable way to elect only honest, non-corrupt people to power, then I assure you, this secret would be passed down as the greatest treasure from generation to generation and would have been adopted by all human communities on this planet millennia ago.
So far, no one owns such a secret, so we have to choose power relying on their promises and find out the result “in the process of exploitation”, so to speak.
The difference in Western and Eastern societies is not based on political systems, not in the structure of society, but on those “values” that are generally accepted and considered true. And what is curious, the set of such “values” must inevitably be different, because the purpose of this is to best model the relationship between members of society.
If societies differ – and this is a fact, they differ – then the sets of “values” differ.
In my opinion, the difference lies not in the values, they are essentially universal, but in the ranking. That is, society A values value1 higher, then comes value2, etc. And, in society B, due to their different history, culture, tradition, the value2 may be higher in the eyes of members of the community.
That’s the whole difference, but it is very skillfully parasitized by those who know how to benefit from it.
I suspect it comes down to the fact that most of our leaders probably have different value sets to that of the people. I suspect most ordinary people are basically the same with the same underlying value sets, the problem is the mismatch between the top and the bottom.
Maybe eastern leaders are more in touch with the common people whereas western leaders appear to despise the common man ?
I believe that our “values” is a manifestation of the adaptability of our biological species to current realities.
If you rely on science, then in the North Atlantic there are climate fluctuations with a period of about 1200 years, and in the Northern hemisphere there are climate oscillations with a special schedule. This is due to the rotation of our planet in the solar system, the tilt of its axis, and similar things that the average man doesn’t think about in everyday life (and with the decision of our Russian authorities to remove astronomy from the high school course, I think that the next generations will have no idea at all about how it all works!).
So, if we are facing a period of warming, then we can expect that large areas in my country (Siberia, the Arctic) will become suitable for habitation and agriculture. The fact that my country is underpopulated is recognized by absolutely everyone. The territory of Russia is only slightly smaller than the continent of South America, and the population is only twice that of Britain.
From this I conclude that the authorities will promote the growth of our population (breed like rabbits (c) Pigeon English), because people are needed to master this all. Naturally, they should be brought up in the traditions and values of the mother culture.
The state needs new citizens.
The countries of Western Europe are overpopulated, you don’t have enough living space. Thus, you will be propagated ideas that hold back the growth of your own population, like LGBT, childfree, introversion. In addition, your population is older on average, so, young workers are needed. So your governments should promote ideas that help build an influx of migrant workers (migrants without citizenship and limited access to social infrastructure). Propaganda will rest on tolerance for foreign culture, religion, etc.
The state needs migrants (preferably illegal), not new citizens.
And so, yes, people are the same everywhere and want the same things everywhere within their life cycle – peace, security, food, shelter, prospects for offspring. Governments are the same everywhere – trying to rule the country. Reality is different.
Your views on how global warming will improve life in Russia are at odds with science and demographics. Global warming will have devastating impacts on the arctic – starting with massive fires that burn for decades. Northern trees are highly flammable and grow close together – you need different trees that are more separated to survive warmer weather. Of course, new tree species will eventually move in, but this takes decades. Even once all the trees have burned, the land underneath is probably not suited to agriculture.
The demographics of Russia are written in stone and demographic denial is no better than climate change denial. The population of Russia is set to continue to decline. All scholars agree on this. The numbers are uncertain – some say the population will be no more than 100 million by 2050 and others predict 80 million. That’s reality. So Russia could open its doors to Chinese/Asian immigration, but immigration is not Russia’s solution to population decline – and I’m not convinced 50 million Chinese/Asians would want to move to Russia (China is also heading into population decline, as is much of the planet). The ‘make more babies’ suggestion is mostly a fantasy of the older generation who are beyond child-bearing age.
It is much more likely that large parts of Russia will just be set aside as true wilderness for the wildlife.
Tatanya: “Thus, you will be propagated ideas that hold back the growth of your own population, like LGBT, childfree, introversion.”
No, the state doesn’t promote LGBT. In fact, you will find Russians and those in the USA are not so different in their thinking. Most of the ‘bible belt’ states politicians (and a fair proportion of the population) are very much anti-gay, anti-transgender, and even into denying women access to abortions. Even when I was growing up in the UK, it was normal to harass other kids by calling them homos and to make rude jokes about Elton John – even popular tv shows often made fun of homosexuality. Equally, it is easy to find videos of young Russians on 1420, saying that it’s just fine to be a homosexual. So if anything there is a generational divide.
It is in my lifetime that the whole same-sex marriage debate happened. At first, like a lot of people, I didn’t really see a need for same-sex couples to get married at all. I have slowly come around to accepting (through intelligent discussion), that same-sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexuals – including the right to a marriage ceremony (as pointless as it is). Today, the debate has moved on to transgender. I’m inclined to think we should allow people to be whoever they want. (But again my wife is not too keen on the idea of transgender men->women competing in sports, or using female bathrooms – so there is no western unified opinion on this, and there is no shortage of reactionaries.)
None of this has anything to do with population decline or ‘degeneracy’. I know far more heterosexual couples who have decided not to have children than I know same-sex couples who are not having children. Even my own children are not exactly breeding – so yes I can be slightly disappointed that my lineage is coming to an end. However, on the whole I am not against a smaller human population (that will certainly also be less white since it is mostly white people leading population decline).
On the whole I think young people are better than my generation – they are more tolerant and less embarrassed to be who they want, whilst having a greater appreciation that consent is the primary factor in determining whether a relationship is valid. If a guy or a boy wants to put on a dress, that’s fine – we should not mock, but rather try to move society to where this is accepted and normal. (Nobody laughs at a girl wandering around in jeans).
Tatanya adds: “In addition, your population is older on average”.
Quick fact check: Average age in Russia – 40.5; UK – 40.7 (so about the same). USA – 38.1.
“Global warming will have devastating impacts on the arctic – starting with massive fires that burn for decades. ”
Given that it is only a few hundred years since the planet was a lot warmer than it is now, and none of that sort of thing happened then, I think that is extremely unlikely.
“I suspect it comes down to the fact that most of our leaders probably have different value sets to that of the people.”
Russia and China both had revolutions where the ruling elites were either killed or driven out of the country. No Western nation has done this, except, perhaps, France, but that was much longer ago and the monarchy was subsequently restored for a bit. Politically and morally, the UK is very little different now to how it was 200 years ago. The effects of two world wars and their aftermaths of having a very large proportion of the male population as ex-soldiers who had been trained to kill and, for the most part had killed other humans, have now worn off. The warriors are dead or dying and the UK has returned to its default state, with a ruling elite who think themselves a superior breed of human.
Andrew H.
Minor fact check: “All scholars agree on this”. Evidently false.
Science is based upon critical analysis, it can never said to be settled or agreed.
Maybe if China, (Xi Jinping) were to offer Biden (USA) chocolate chip ice-cream, their relationship might not deteriorate so much.
https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1640519415723888640
In today’s news, Ukrainian patriots are using tear gas to drive Russian clergymen out of churches. European values Zelensky style – the most popular world leader, by the way, according to the US Congress
https://ria.ru/20230328/khram-1861294357.html
It made me think that instead of ice cream, I would offer tear gas so that Biden could adequately honor the killed. Although I’m not sure that even gas can squeeze even one tear out of this botox face.
Biden is an Ai war machine whose input is either a teleprompter or bait laced with consequences that will expose corruption or sexual deviance. He is an ideal puppet with the keys to nuclear annihilation hung on his belt. Biden is thus implacable, perilous and deadly.
Trick question: How many years was Taiwan an actual part of a unified China (not one torn apart by civil war) that was governed by Chinese (not by foreigners)?
Answer: 0
Taiwan became part of Qing China, i.e. Manchurian* occupied China, in the 1600s. Japan seized it from China in 1895. After 1945, it was legally restored to China, but the Nationalist government never had full control of China or of Taiwan. When the Nationalist Army came to Taiwan, it killed tens of thousands of Taiwanese.
The Taiwanese government’s claim to be the sole legitimate government of all of China is a Cold War remnant. De facto, Taiwan renounced this claim after the transition from the mainlander military dictatorship into a democracy. De jure, Taiwan cannot renounce this claim because the PRC would consider tantamount to a declaration of independence. Whether Taiwan is or is not really a part of China, its leaders are not foolish enough to cross any of China’s red lines. Though it is possible that Taiwan’s backers and manipulators in the US might force them to do so.
I lived in Taiwan for a year. The people there overwhelmingly do not want to be part of the PRC. For over a century, they have been part of a quite different history and the paths of China and Taiwan have greatly diverged. I hope that they have the opportunity to choose their own fate. I wish the same for the people of Scotland.
Scotland has to deal with London. Taiwan has to deal with Beijing and with Washington. Of those three, the last is the most warlike.
Given the machinations of the US and the way that it is trying to use Taiwan as part of its attempt to cut down China and maintain US world domination, I understand how many will take China’s side.
*In fairness, whether the Qing dynasty was foreign is something that the Chinese themselves have gone back and forth about. During the Taipei Civil War of the 1850s and 1860s, the Qinq were considered foreigners. During the Boxer Rebellion, they were considered Chinese and the Western and Japanese intruders were considered foreigners.
But this is precisely the thing about Taiwan. If we ask “is Taiwan a part of China or is Taiwan not a part of China?”, the correct answer is “No”. It is not a part of China and it is not not a part of China.
Why? Because our Ancient and nouveaux rulers want us to hate them
Nothing in our so-called ‘Liberal Media Journalism‘ or from our make believe hero actors, comedians, singers and authors – all who are media creations – who happily churn out their scripted gaslighting with Russophobia are now directed to do same with Sinophobia as they did with Islamophobia against the fake Wars on Terror which destroyed an emerging MENA that was threatening the final freedom from the Old European Imperialists and the latest US version – there are many US bases in Africa… why the fuck? Obama oversaw much of that, he was picked for that so that Africa would accept Yankee Slave Owners taking over…because you know he is one of us, has our name, our father.
The coordinated strutting of ‘Hollywood’ into ‘elensky’s palace to play their role and share a line of coke with their fellow actor – every single one deserving a Will Smith bitch slap…whilst they impart the worst instincts and opinions to their fans and fellow peoples, using their celebrity to sell us fascism. I expect Will is being by pushed to do the same walk of shame and hug their Nazi boy…as the make believe elf Bloom just did. What a complete tit he made of himself clutching his breast at the growling wormtongue.
Simple dog-whistle racism in a fascist state in fascist Europe in a fascist Collective Waste with a genuine Nazi proxy army and actor leading a single party state in The Ukraine.
Look what they did to Salmond and Craig Murray, and the SNP under the deep stater Sturgeon…look at how they subverted voting through privatisation of Voting and introduction of Postal Votes which have exponentially jumped in a couple of decades , which has completely destroyed simple ballot box voting and has given perverse outcomes from every plebiscite the last few decades – Indy Ref, BrexShit , the last two general elections … all so that ‘All Their Plans’ would be delivered – this war against Russia. It doesn’t matter anymore if there is first past the post or proportional representation- the computerised ballot stuffing with narrative managing pollsters and media mouthpieces means there is only a pretence at democracy. They just dd it again in Scotland, as predicted, with Wee Lady Nicola’s (she’ll probably self identify as a Lord when taking her seat at Westminster) replacement Hamza – the final nail in the SNP psyche.
They are just extending that to China and will do so to African States as they have to Venezuela (watch out Mexico) , Middle East and South East Asia – lords above watch out what happens here with our subcontinental diaspora of generations when India finally flips and joins Turkey in turning their backs on the Collective Waste. Hence Hamza and Sunak and co being promoted here as a means of influencing the citizens of over there. I won’t be surprised if more Chinesey politicians suddenly get fast tracked to prominence as The Sinophobic gas lighting is turned upto 11 on the dial!
If Taiwan truly wanted independent, neutral peace, the Chinese would allow it, as long as there was not any US or Aukus or Quad or whatever buzzword grouping, weapons, bases in charge of that ancient pirate port!
Comedy Gold:
““We are all Chinese, …, People on both sides of the Taiwan strait are Chinese people and are both descendants of the Yan and Yellow emperors”. Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou.
https://www.rt.com/news/573758-taiwan-ex-president-visits-china/
Do the Chinese haters actually realise this simple fact ?
Sergey Lavrov, on the Americans deeming the Chinese peace plan “unacceptable “:
“At this point, we can expect anything on earth from the United States. In a bid to assert their hegemony, they have passed all bounds of diplomatic, ethical or any other kind of decency.”
British and EU leaders also know this to be true but they will still do whatever the U.S. commands them to.
USA/Western Democracy:
Peace in Ukraine is not acceptable.
Peace in Syria is not acceptable.
Peace in Yemen is not acceptable.
If peace breaks out, those poor executives at Lockheed Martin are going to starve.
On the anniversary of the Russia/Ukraine peace agreement in Istanbul now mangled by the United States and executed by PM Johnson who delivered an ultimatum that warned of no security for Ukraine unless war with Russia ensued.
Reflect on that enmity, that hatred of life by the US even after the bloodletting and shame in Afghanistan. A sinister, perverse act that has murdered thousands of folk in Ukraine and displaced millions of families.
How come this is considered just fine, legal, legitimate in the “rule based” west…
“Taiwanese leader Tsai arrives in New York — WSJ ”
https://tass.com/world/1596391
But if the Donbas or Crimean leadership would travel to Moscow, oh hell would break loose just like that and be framed to be the prelude to WW3 according to the same westerners that gladly invite the Taiwanese to the US.
why would China be an enemy?
one reason arms manufacturers, naturally.
A short text with a few numbers in the end, on the companies paying the very same think tanks which influence public opinion in various, well known ways to push for war.
“Six war mongering think tanks and the military contractors that fund them”, 7.3.23
https://www.liberationnews.org/six-war-mongering-think-tanks-and-the-military-contractors-that-fund-them/
* * *
Not sure if I already posted this info:
Hans Kristensen with a text on how US STRATCOM is exaggerating Chinese WMDs:
“STRATCOM Says China Has More ICBM Launchers Than The United States – We Have Questions”, 10.2.23
https://fas.org/blogs/security/2023/02/stratcom-says-china-has-more-icbm-launchers-than-the-united-states/
* * *
I usually refrain from posting populist video conversations, but the ones between “Judge Napolitano” and retired Col. Gen. Macgregor have some military insight. This one from yesterday is 30 min. and has Ukraine but also a lot on China vs. the US Navy.
Macgregor, of course, believes in the necessity of a strong USA. However he at last points out that the Chinese Navy is no danger, and especially weak on submarines. They include short excerpts from TV interviews with US officers on China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQw7ZXiZJTU
“I usually refrain from posting populist video conversations,”
populist(?).
Does that mean that lots of people agree with it.
Populist means outwith the bounds of centre-right/centre-left received wisdom, respectability & credibility. It’s also where AG locates the heterodox MEPs Mick Wallace & Clare Daly, a pair he deems to be “Russian shills”.
It is funny a former member of this forum, who unfortunately has not shown up any more, called people (not me) Russian shills or compared our views as to those who are called Russian shills.
Now, if I do not get your comment totally wrong, it’s the complete opposite.
I consider “populist” rather an asthetic dimension than a political one.
It’s more on the “how” than the “what”, thus regardless of the side taken.
p.s. I listened to Daly just a few hours ago on her 1:30 condemnation of the EU in Parliament.
If you haven´t watched yet I recommend it.
It is taken to mean “rabble rousing”. That a lot of people agree with something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good.
“That a lot of people agree with something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good.”
Which is the age old problem with democracies based on majority rule, you get what a lot of people agree with, whether it is good or not. That is why none of the so-called “democracies” are actually democracies, the people can’t be trusted to make the right decisions.
Particularly not when they are badly informed, misinformed, or just willfully ignorant, and have governments with a track record of deceit and duplicity. Not to mention politicians at the highest levels who are little more than professional liars.
Indeed, the more you look into it, the more attractive a system our version of “democracy” seems.
well may be I chose the wrong word, but what I mean is a more analytic, in-depth approach which I find much more often in scholarly written work than most videos.
People talking brings about many tropes that have only limited or no value for the subject matter being discussed itself.
(voice, make-up, facial expression – they all carry information that is heavily influential on the audience beyond arguments and facts.)
Video in itself is more likely to be populist/superficial/emotional than non-fiction writing on the same matter of discussion.
for instance I prefer a written text by Scott Ritter over a video-interview with Scott Ritter.
“why would China be an enemy?
one reason arms manufacturers, naturally.”
The main reasons, IMHO, are that the government of any state needs enemies on whom they can blame the results of their errors and their sins and use as an excuse for repression, secrecy and censorship as well as spending on arms. China makes an ideal enemy because it’s inhabited by a different race, it’s somewhere that few people have been, it has a different religion, philosophical heritage and political system and it’s on the other side of the world. It’s about as different from the UK as it is possible for a country to be, perfect material for the othering of its inhabitants.
I was just trying to create a connection between the purpose of this very blog entry by CM (it´s about China NOT Russia) and my own post.
And since the link I posted concerned arms manufacturers I pointd that out. In essence I am not even sure how important arms dealers in the case of China ARE in fact , compared for instance to economic and political interests.)
online archive.org offers the writings of Joseph Needham, whose scholarly work focused on China.
His “Science and Civilisation in China” has 7 volumes and are linked here (among others titles):
https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Joseph+Needham%22&sort=title
Great article. It reinforces the argument I have used myself very recently. Your status adds much weight to what I have claimed. I recall vividly the incident of your dismissal and feeling dismay on your behalf. Your assertions re torturing in Uzbekistan were most embarrassing to the Blair government
a nice new piece by Caitlin Johnstone on ConsortiumNews:
“The New York Times: The Empire’s Paper of Record – Among the latest pieces of unforgivable militarist smut is an article that frames Washington’s military encirclement of China as a defensive move by the U.S.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/03/30/the-new-york-times-the-empires-paper-of-record/
But one main reason I post it here is the very effective montage of NYT covers she has put together with revealing war-mongering headlines from the past 30 years.
The image is in the middle of her posted text.
It´s only a few but presented in such graphic density they make a convincing point.
And actually would be a really good art project if bigger in size. And fit for any Western country´s major press.
In one of his latest videos Trump uploaded he claimed that China nor Russia was our enemy but the enemy is within/deep state.
Now he is indicted.
We have seen the US/EU uproar when so called “rogue states” arrest the opposition.
Where is the old geezer Mr Borell now huh? Totally silent.
And this type of people are the same that try to frame China as undemocratic and a threat now to europeans?
They have no shame with their double standards.
Could you imagine if Trump, if he was the president, indicted Hillary Clinton or Biden? Jesus, the old fart Borell would be livid by now!
Trump is relatively lucky, they shot Kennedy for trying to drain the swamp !
Here in the UK they whinge on about human rights and freedoms, meanwhile they conveniently forget Julian Assange memory holed and tortured by the freedom loving government. IMO Hanging is too good for the lot of them.
You mean you’ve been conned by this “drain the swamp” BS too? “Drain it” by making an oil executive his vice president, or the billionaire Betsy DeVos, a billionaire (sister of the Blackwater/Xe mercenary head Eric Prince), in charge of the education system? By staffing key positions with family members, each more corrupt than the other?
Funny way of “draining the swamp”, particularly while Trump personally enriched himself all the while, and fleecing his idiotic followers for all they were worth. But I guess that’s all just “fake news” from the deep state.
It appears to be largely forgotten now, but Trump’s original campaign ran on the three-word-slogan “Lock Her Up!”, referring to his political opponent at the time. But I guess that’s ok.
They’re not just making up these charges against Trump, by the way. These are actual felonies he’s committed. Unlike the allegations of election fraud, all of which were fabricated, which is why every single allegation was thrown out of court (often by Trump-appointed judges).
Beats me why people like you are so in thrall to this cheesy old con-man.
glenn_nl
Yes Turmp said “lock her up” but the difference is: when he actually became a president he did not do that – it was political rhetoric and nor did the Republicans at large try to use the judiciary to hunt down the DNC during the Trump years: now compare that to the senseless – and without a doubt the biggest – witch hunt against a politician in a democracy since I do not know when.
You really believe the hysteria on Trump by the liberals in media, by the DNC, would go on if he were not the biggest contender against Biden in the next election?
Lastest poll show Trump leads over Biden:
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/early-biden-vs-trump-polls-signal-competitive-election-rcna74163
Trump is no angel but it “beats me” why people like yourself do not understand that this is about principles. Rid yourself of your absurd tribal thinking! One can be against witch hunts against both Democrats and Republicans.
Have you ever heard of the classic Martin Niemoller poem?
When people will come for you and your political views, your party, your leaders, oh they will sooner or later, no one will stand up for you.
You know why he didn’t “lock her up”? No charges. They did try, if you remember all the Benghazi hearings. His failure to keep this campaign pledge wasn’t just because Trump is such a splendid chap.
You might think the charges are ‘senseless’, but only because you don’t know anything about them. It’s not my job to educate you. Likewise with what he attempted with the election process in Georgia, a much more serious issue.
Trump has no principles apart from personal enrichment.
If you really think Niemoller was thinking of the likes of Trump, things have gone beyond parody. That is such a risible suggestion, anyone making it is beyond being reasoned with.
I suggest you stop watching Fox ‘news’ and alt-right sources quite so much. And no, before you reach for the standard boring old accusation, I don’t get all my news from the MSM, believe everything they say, etc etc.
Trump is without doubt the most corrupt huckster and the most prolific liar ever to occupy the White House. That’s not to say that Biden isn’t actually worse on foreign policy, I would prefer to see Trump still there than this wretched situation persist in the Ukraine. Biden seems happy for war to continue and escalate indefinitely, even to a nuclear exchange, as long as the goal of destroying Putin (and Russia) is achieved.
why are we continuing to ape what the MSM has deemed the next backstabbing campaign? Trump fart trump…..
I bought a primary-drive gear and some other bits for my Triumph in the 1970, made in Taiwan; it was awful and did not last 3 months. Maybe these metal deficiencies have now been rectified, but I can’t be bothered to find out anymore: once bitten, twice shy.
I think the solution to the China Taiwan unpleasantness lies in talking and cooperative projects between the two.
Those chicken hawks who provoke adversity and then wait for a reaction worthy of mass media supported balking and further military prouncing about, are war mongers. They scream for Putin to be put in front of the ICC, despite the fact that they themselves are rejecting its jurisdiction and or being called before it.
To destroy everthing Taiwan has built up just because our dated and corrupt system doesn’t work anymore and we want to get at China due to its clever foreign investment policies is barmy and self defeating. China has more breviere currently than the combined west. We don’t want peace; we always have to go out with a bang, violence and sorrow all round.
The more everyone engages and negotiates with China, the better we will understand the mechanisms that underlie their system and change within their system. Change through adaption is far better than to put our children’s life on earth in jeopardy.
? The Benghazi hearings were in 2012/13; Trump was elected 2016 and it was during this year he chant “lock her up” during his rallies. Nontheless, as soon as he became president he quit this political ploy. Democrats however did not.
Election fraudlent/hoax/claims by Trump you say?
Have you forgotten that Clinton herself refused to accept the election result back in 2016 when she lost? Have you forgotten how the DNC, for every single day (every SINGLE day!), during the Trump era claimed that Trump was not elected legitimately through the Russiagate nonsense?
You say Trump only does this for enrichment?
“The President of the United States makes $400,000 annually, before taxes. During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump promised to donate his salary if elected President. It was a promise, even his critics acknowledge, that Trump was keeping.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/02/27/president-donald-trump-probably-donated-his-entire-16m-salary-back-to-the-us-government–here-are-the-details/?sh=1113adcc1a8d
Niemoller was thinking about principles – the principle in this case is that Republicans have as much rights as the Democrats have – that is the underlying grander point of the poem:
Again, rid yourself of this tribal thinking; see the world through principles and not ideology.
You still don’t understand why the establishment hated Trump.
If Trump would have been hawkish on Russia from the get-go, there would never be this onslaught by the deepstate/military industrial complex against him. I do not particulary watch Fox News. You still do not understand what this is about. Actually you should start watching Fox News instead of MSNBC, CNN, Theguardian or whatever source you use. Matter of fact, name 1 person that exposes, critiques western lies, propaganda etc on foreign policy as much as Tucker Carlson does? Name 1 on these liberal media outlets….You see? There is not one to name and you have been fooled that Fox is somehow the problem?
Recently Tucker Carlson spoke about this:
https://youtu.be/v5dRFj_6W5U
ok, I get it. You like Fox and Tucker Carlson.
Carlson is, without any doubt, a fascist. A far-right white supremacist. I don’t think we’re going to agree on much.
Yes I like Tucker Carlson on foreign policy topics.
He is no angel but he is of course no more fascist than the rabid-cancel-culture neo-con-warmongering big-money-globalist-elite clan at CNN or similar outlets. I pick Tucker Carlson, on foreign policy topics, any day over a Rachel Maddow or what-have-you.
Hear, Hear.
The BRICS, and specifically, the Chinese approach is ‘cooperation not competition’. If we want to advance as a species we need to work together, not trample over the weak just to get to the top of the pile.
The reality is that Chinese technology and ingenuity has enriched our western lives and Russian resources have ensured that western lives have been comfortable and affordable. Instead of recognising that this cooperation has improved our lives we are taking the unhinged, self destructive approach of harming our business relationships just to support a fascist hegemon that openly admits to world domination at the expense of everyone but themselves.
The western governments are the biggest enemies of the western peoples. We are all going to be a lot more uncomfortable and poorer thanks entirely to the unnecessary and corrupt political decisions of our governments.
I am no expert, however my belief is that the dollar is under threat of collapsing, the petrodollar is at risk of going replaced or very much reduced. With the Saudis and many other countries aligning with BRICS, it’s putting severe pressure on America and the Dollar being the World’s reserve currency. The City of London is very closely aligned with US economics through stocks and bonds. This therefore makes it extremely critical for the UK to align with America to try and bring China down a peg as the Yuan is the Reserve successor. If America falls so does the UK.
What about self-determination?
> To which the only reply is, what about Taiwan? Taiwan is a part of China which separated off under the nationalist government after the Civil War. Taiwan does not claim not to be Chinese territory.
>
> In fact – and this is far too little understood in the West because our media does not tell you – the government of Taiwan still claims to be the legitimate government of all of China.
This is simply not true.
– KMT: wants to be closer to China, but no reunification
– TPP: wants absolute neutrality
– DPP: wants to be closer to the West, but no “official” independence at the expense of peace
Somehow you’re claiming in your new articles that the current wars shouldn’t lead to an absolute victory of one side, but a civil war that has been frozen for 80 years should be.