Exactly, KC Erasmus.US considers China's prosperity a threat. And if Global South and Russia forms mutual respect alliances with China they will become a force for good, and therefore a further threat to US hegemony.
As is the EU’s. GDP is greater than the US and now, hey presto there is now a US funded war right on the doorstep that threatens to expand. Thanks for that!
None of these Idiots making these moronic comments about China, have ever been to that country.
In fact most of them have never left the US state within which they live.
My first visit to China was in 2012, and was every the propaganda taught us that China wasn't.
Evertime I visit China, I am more awestruck than on my previous visits.
On every visit I do businees and squeeze in a little bit of personal travel.
I will never forget the experience I had one year travelling from Beijing to Shijiazhuang which I do everytime on the high speed train, and between my one visit and the next, a year later, they had built a massive new station in Shijiazhuang, whichade me think I'd gotten off at the wrong station.
Such is the rapid progress in China that these people don't understand, especially when one thinks that they have been trying to build the new TSMC microchip plant in Arizona for almost four years now, and the only thing happening is the strong possibility of the cancellation of the project due to exorbitant cost and time overrruns, while the US government has so far pumped $50 billion into a failing project.
I copied this comment to send to my friends, who are fighting one of the proposed hydrogen hubs slated for the Ohio Valley., in response to someone pointing out that even if the schemes of one of the projects, to produce hydrogen to blend with methane to burn for electricity, can be made to work, it's completely insane--you'd get more energy by just burning the gas, with less risk and no need for the expensive, dangerous, polluting infrastructure. In the unlikely event (here) that they used renewable energy to produce the hydrogen, they still lose a great deal of the energy--70% I heard--by converting it to hydrogen, to burn to convert it back to electricity.
This is how an empire goes down. Each generation of the ruling class is more entitled, less connected to any sense of responsibility, and once they get themselves completely exempted from the consequences of their decisions--or so they think--they become completely set on extracting everything of value from the whole world...until ecological collapse or invasion by armies of a new entity whose leaders still care about consequences.
I don't doubt you saw only a Chinese Potemkin village- a show-off part of China but your analysis of glee and happiness pervading Chinese surveillance smothered citizens is rich.
Let's be clear on something. Both the U.S. and China are class-ruled societies. As a result, the working class in neither nation will be allowed access to the full fruit of their labor in an era where technology makes that possible. The bulk of the wealth in any prosperous country will always be very disproportionately enjoyed by the ruling class.
Class rule in every nation needs to go. But fighting wars is not the way to achieve it. And the Chinese government has not displayed the insanity of the U.S.-U.K.-Israel coalition in recent decades of profiting by use of war. That doesn't mean the Chinese system is a model system the global working class should embrace. But it does suggest a better immediate way to start moving forward than following the war profiteers represented by the U.S. and NATO to nuclear brinkmanship.
right, china is a slave state, hardly an example of prosperity. But then again that is the model for the globalists, the perfect communist technocracy where people are things to be controlled.
I have been to china, I follow Chinese popular arts, and can tell you china is prospering. Huawei is only one example. China was first with 5g cell technology. First with quantum communication. This frightens the USA which hopes to suppress China via sanctions and violence.
social credit score doesn't sound like a good idea, neither does harvesting organs. Other people may like an all powerful state where the individual is nothing. I don't.
You're Both Ignorant Idiots who are Clueless about China and its people!!!
In 2023 the World Bank declared China to have the number 1 Global Economy based on purchasing power parity PPP, meaning that the average Chinese person has greater Purchasing Power than any other average citizen in any other country.
You don't achieve that on 50c you Morons.
51% of the Chinese population is considered to be middle class, which means that out of a population of 1.4 billion people, over 700 000 are middle class, while in the US only 49% of the population is considered middle class, and is declining, which means that less than 175 million people out of 350 million are middle class, which reflects just how Fucking Ignorant and Delusional you both are.
A visit to China will quickly reveal how much more advanced Chinese cities are than US cities, and the same applies to infrastructure in China, but you assholes, will never go on a fact finding mission to China, but rather wallow in your own delusion, whilst buying Chinese goods, upon which your Shit Hole Cuntry is totally dependent for survival, on a daily basis.
The Chinese ate out performing you Morons through Efficiency at every level, but you Cunts are too Thick to understand the concept of Efficiency.
Absolutely state of the art slave society. If we are reading you correctly, China will destroy itself with materialism we invented. Financial prosperity will do exactly what for Chinese society? More cars, more vacations, apartments, trivial pursuits, yes, we should mimic their society in so many ways, right? Hey, we've been there and done that and materialism ends up where we are going which is nowhere. And ya gotta love their social credit scores and total surveillance. What a great f-ckin place China is, wow!!
pretty rich to point to china as a country 'where people are things to be controlled' from anywhere in the world, but especially from the west that invented 'human resources', iirc?
That's the typical Bullshit propaganda that your government has brainwashed you with, you Fucking Dumbass, and you're too Thick to assess that it's propagandist Bullshit.
I must say that rich coming from the Shit Hole that thinks it can rule and control the world!!!
China is not a slave state. Western propaganda would like you to believe it is. The powers that be always want the perception of China, Russia, Iran etc., to be these countries that oppress everyone, but in reality the US is more of a slave state than most countries.
I don't think we can idolize China. Nor can we lump all those countries you mention together. All of them do not oppress, as Western propaganda wants us to believe. But depending on the part of China, factory workers are paid between about $1 and $6 per hour which is why so many US companies outsource their manufacturing. There is also a race between the U.S. and China to economically take over Africa, via putting them in perpetual debt for their handing over all rights to their own oil and resources. And also sending in a great influx of Chinese workers who are given preference for the jobs created.
I also remember well and with horror what the Chinese did to the Tibetans in l959 (similar to the Palestinians), killing 100,000 of them outright, driving the rest into diaspora and taking over and destroying their Country for land and resources, about 200 Tibetan monks and nuns setting themselves on fire thru 1963, and since, driving to extinction most of the mountain wildlife there. Great Powers act like Great Powers for their own interests. At some point the very growth and size of Empires seems to become a danger both to themselves, to benevolent Human values and weaker countries and to the Earth and the fruits of the Earth itself.
I just listened to Jeffrey Sachs insist that China is no threat to the U.S. And that there is absolutely nothing to be gained by confronting China, and much to be lost. The US has gone completely insane and suicidal! And Russia has no desire to "conquer Europe," but rather to protect itself after being encircled by the U.S./Nato military sites and this proxy war with Ukraine. Even the Pentagon is telling these madmen to stop!
You make a good point. A serious analysis of Sociopathic traits and Psychopathic traits may strongly suggest that the worst examples of these types of people are a dangerous combination of the worst traits of both groups. Perhaps this applies to many Western politicians?
People like the Rockefeller's and the Rothschilds have nice bomb shelters that can easily accommodate themselves and their hundreds of servants, so if a full scale worldwide nuclear Holocaust breaks out that's all the better for them, the way they see it, because it fulfills their depopulation agenda; my guess though is that most people don't really care about themselves or anyone else for that matter, or they would already know that as a primafacia fact of life.
Some people are starting to question if nuclear bombs actually exist. Powerful, murdering bombs? Yes. Mutilatong, killing chemicals? Yes. Not so sure about "nuclear" but either way t creates a whole lot of fear!
They may have, but Hitler had a nice one as well. That did not stop the inevitable. These people only think that they will survive. Sooner or later they will wish that first thermo-nuclear warhead hit them right on top of their head.
The US Government MUST have a "boogeyman". This has been the keystone of US Domestic and Foreign Policy since 1930 or before. It was the USSR for a time, then in 1930's, the NAZI's and the JAP's until 1945. When it reverted back to the USSR, and later "communism" in general. When the USSR fell, it became China and other "Communists", along with the Muslim Terrorists, Taliban, ISIS, HAMAS, Bin Laden, etc. Then, as Russia reinvented and rebuilt itself from the ruination caused by Marxist/Leninist Communism, they came back into play as a boogeyman. RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA don't you know?
All of this is pure US Government Political fiction. Russia wants to be treated as a legitimate sovereign nation and as such, demands that they are secure from US and NATO threats, just as the US and NATO wish to be "secure". China just wants to "Do Business", there is no logical reason for China to start a war with anyone, as this would interrupt all manner of international business.
The USA has held to these insane positions of "Going to War" and "Winning a War" against anyone in the world, at the drop of the hat, simply because "we have the bomb and our leaders are delusional enough to use it and they contend that 'We can WIN!' ". US and NATO "strategy" against the USSR and "winning" in Europe hinged on using nuclear weapons against a numerically and materially superior USSR. The adversary has changed, but the strategy and mindset has not changed.
It needs to be mentioned that, since 1945, the USA HAS NOT fought or "won" a war against a serious military adversary. Not to even broach the question of "why are we fighting this war"? This is not because our military is incompetent, it is because the Civilian Leaders who form our foreign policy are still resting on the laurels of our participation in the "Victory" in WW2. I mean really, We have the bomb, We used the Bomb, We can always fall back on the bomb . . . right?
Korea, The best that DC could muster is the Korean War ending in a stalemate, one which remains a festering wound to this day.
Vietnam, What did we accomplish in Vietnam? NOTHING, We took over from the defeated French, We backed a series of corrupt puppets in the South and We LOST 50,000+ soldiers; with absolutely ZERO benefit to the USA or the WORLD.
Kosovo? We again bombed the hell out of a mostly defenseless civilian population, for what? NATO and the USA have blood on their hands . . . Again!
Afghanistan? Ah yes, the Soviets just did not know how to fight and win. Uncle Sam will show them "Ruskies" how it's done, 20 years later 2400+ dead and 20k+ wounded . . . Fighting against the same group of untrained, irregular civilian soldiers, we Lost Again and suffered a humiliating "withdrawal", all at the same time. Simply because of political hubris and Incompetent Civilian "leadership".
Somalia? WE came, WE saw, WE solved nothing. Somalia is still hell on earth to this moment. Another putrid sore on the buttocks of humanity.
Iraq? We sent in the finest, best equipped and supplied military on earth, and naturally kicked the living shit out of an ill trained, poorly led army, an army fielding mostly poor conscripts. We beat them senseless on two separate occasions and yet still managed to "lose" the war along with the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi People. Iraq has never recovered, neither has the USA.
Ukraine? Quickly turning into another "Vietnam", only this time without large numbers of US soldiers returning to the States in metal boxes or body bags, at least for the time being. As Lindsey Graham is so fond of saying. "best money we have ever spent, we are killing Russians". Too bad we are also facilitating the destruction of Ukraine as a nation and as a people, by killing more Ukrainians than Russians. But we are, after all, "killing Russians". It is becoming very clear, perhaps we should have encouraged peace, instead of blocking the peace negotiations in early 2022? This one is predictably falling into the "Loss" column.
Of course, there is always "The Bomb" if our "Plan A" fails. I wonder if Dr. Jill is thinking about using the bomb at this very moment?
The thing about capitalism is that it is inseparable from colonialism which means that it is inseparable from war by reason of land theft . But since the American Empire managers have stopped using the description capitalist and now substitute democratic maybe it has overcome that phase in its development ? Or more likely not and just become better language managers. No one has ever attacked North America since the British did and exterminated the native people. They did pretend that the Japanese had by bombings its ships in one of its colonies. But the Americans like the British before them have attacked and seized countries and stolen their native assets. Now the American Empire has decided that it feels threatened by the peaceful growth of China and has instructed its European colonies to prepare o wage war on Russia.Capitalism is long word for economic injustice and is in short ready again to wage war on its economic enemies.
I can clearly see that you're top Moronically Stupid to make a rational, substantiated comment, and are the typical Low IQ Cognitively Dissonant American Idiot.
Not communism - authoritarianism and totalitarianism (especially under Stalin). Communism has NEVER been put into practice in any country on the planet so far. What the West (and Capitalists) call Communism is NOT communism. Before communism, there needs to be Socialism. Even achieving socialism (especially internationally) is a challenge. Communism DOES NOT change states from feudalism, mercantileism, or capitalism (or aristocracy/monarchy as in Tsarist Russia) directly.
If you buy the "propaganda" that Russia or China or Cuba or Venezuela or whatever is Communist, then you have been gaslighted.
'100 million' comes from 'the black book of communism' of which several authors have confessed it is merely anti-communist propaganda. what is killing in 'communist' countries is illegal sanctions (e.g. 40000 in venezuela), blockades, us imperial subversion and color revolutions.
And this is how you attempt to console yourself with this Fucking Bullshit???
You're just pissed at Madura because you can't overthrow his government, but he stabilised and has brought down inflation and his country in on a slow mend.
North Korea, so how many people have supposedly, or are dying there, please provide a credible source for your information.
Yes, in the past, communism did kille millions of people, but that isn't the case today, as there are No Longer and pure examples of Communism, but rather Hybrid states which have learned a lot from their failures, unlike you Delusional Idiots in the US who are on the Exoress train to Hell, and haven't learned a damn thing!!!
Communism is an abstraction that has never killed anything except itself. You know the proverb: when the commies want to form a firing squad, they stand in a circle. As E.O. Wilson said, "Great idea. Wrong species."
What a waste of time. But people do love thuggery.
Your theory in regard to "Capitalism" is fatally flawed, and China has proven that.
Whilst China might be run by a Communist Political System, it's economy is based 100% on Capitalism, and you don't see China colonising the world, or starting wars, but rather organising access to everything they need through commerical and capitalist means, and ensuring its efficient operation of supply chains.
I find your comments about Western China extremely odd, as I have visited China almost annually since 2012, and travelled almost the length and breadth of the country, and if anything the people have Hope across the country as they see their countrymen being lifted out of poverty, and the advances taking place in that country, without a single corner not enjoying improved infrastructure, be it dams, roads, railways, electricity, and government is turning the desert region in Western China into an oasis.
Then we went to Turpan and Kashgar. Every shop had a riot shield on display to show their preparedness to help control Uigher riots. We got a massage. Afterwards a party member showed up to give the masseuses riot control training. There were metal detector portals everywhere, though the rumor was that these were not functional.
I went to urimqui to visit my niece, who speaks Mandarin and Uigher and had lived there for about five years. There were army tanks at major intersections and police boxes everywhere. Uighers who did not own their residences were required to leave the city. People disappeared suddenly. Outdoor grills were banned, which I thought pure harassment. The same propaganda song was heard everywhere, even from the trees in the park. One of its lines was "engrave this song on your brain.". We stopped a man in the street to ask the way to the theater. A policeman saw that and demanded his papers. After that he led us to the theater but made sure to stay about a hundred feet ahead of us. Then one day the propaganda song stopped everywhere.
Nope, the government has a share in many industries including banks, but that is continually reducing as the economy grows and the government invests in new industries which it identifies as a necessary development, but the overriding principle upon which the Chinese economy operates, even with government shareholding is without doubt Capitalist.
Obviously, for Individualism you need a collective economy (probably capitalist) with sufficient surplus so that various people can parade around as unique "individuals" who gave birth to themselves, educated themselves, and gave themself posh jobs in their daddies' businesses. I don't know why we put up with this. Maybe it's more "cultural Marxism".
"No one is more dangerous than warmongers who believe they can win an unwinnable war."
Correct. That's why it's imperative for us to rid ourselves of these warmongers. Revolution isn't an option--it's absolutely necessary for the survival of humanity.
Meanwhile, China warned at the UN Security Council earlier today that Israel may be planning another escalation and “major military operations against Lebanon,” urging “countries with influence over Israel” to take steps to stop their “adventurism that risks dragging the region into yet another devastating catastrophe.”
They (China) also condemned the pager and walkie-talkie attacks as “outrageously brutal and atrocious,” “distressing beyond imagination,” and “a blatant breach of international law.”
What they haven't figure out yet, is that if China ever really considered attacking Taiwan, they would bomb the microchip factories first, leaving the West crippled immediately, while China is developing their own microchip industry at lightning speed, and they are now the world's largest producer of legacy chips.
some 40% of taiwan's trade is still with mainland china. tmsc has quite some factories on the mainland. taiwanese nationalism is very imperially astroturfed.
The drums of war are beaten upon enormous sums of public money, that is the real goal. The proles will asked to give more and more, more taxes, more appropriations, less rights, less freedom. The serfs must pay their dues! Society militarised, not necessarily to fight the war, but to crush all the oppostionists, the dissenters. Putin's fifth column! Local proxies will be doing the dying backed here and there by western conscripts. And the money shall flow.....
In my humble opinion it would be best for everyone, including our top leaders, to carefully study the work of John Mearsheimer. For those who aren’t familiar with him, he has a theory called “offensive realism” which accurately describes how the international power system tends to work.
In a recent lecture he stated that “the threat of war will not be taken off the table any time soon”. Unfortunately this is probably true. It would be nice if it weren’t true, but unfortunately it is.
Given this fact, it’s important to realize that it isn’t the threat of war that’s the problem, it’s the actual engagement in war that’s the problem.
Our top leaders should do everything within their power to avoid war.
In my opinion there is a basic universal principal which is that “nastiness tends to beget more nastiness and niceness tends to beget more niceness”. Therefore if we were smart we would continuously work towards trying to be “nice”.
In another lecture John Mearsheimer said that individuals cannot agree on first principals. This is true.
As a follow up to this I would say that “despite the fact that individuals cannot agree upon first principals doesn’t mean that there isn’t a best way forward”.
And this is where our leaders have failed. They have failed to keep out of nasty wars and they don’t have the courage nor the vision to lead us toward a future where the emphasis is on being “nice”.
This might sound overly simplistic and naive, but it’s not.
I generally agree with most of what you said. In reference to "niceness tends to beget more niceness", Russia tried that. They were rebuffed and ignored. Other smaller nations have also tried that with the US, but it doesn't seem to have worked.
So how does one deal with the EVIL MONSTROSITY that is the US? There seem to be few options when one party behaves the way the US Empire does...
I think that question can be answered largely within the framework of John Mearsheimer’s theory of offensive realism coupled with some other simple observations and concepts. But I think the best answer to that question can can be answered by the ”course” I’ve developed.
John Mearsheimer’s would answer that question by saying that the international system is basically fixed. It’s an anarchic system where states want to become as powerful as they can so that their prospects of survival are optimized. The ultimate goal of states is to become a regional hegemon in their hemisphere. If a state is able to become a regional hegemon in their hemisphere it enables that state to have enough power and resources to roam around the world and mettle in the “backyards” of other states. Therefore if a state is a regional hegemon it will go to great lengths to try to prevent a competing state from becoming a regional hegemon. (I’m basically parroting what John Mearsheimer has said)…
Having said that, since the US was the only superpower from about 1990 until about 2017, we should have taken George Kennan’s advice and largely minded our own business. Instead we foolishly tried to remake the world in our image at the end of a gunpoint in paces like Iraq and Afghanistan. This didn’t work because, as John says, “nationalism trumps liberalism every time”.
In the meantime, as John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have pointed out, the US allowed the Israeli lobby in the US to influence US politicians so that the US blindly follows whatever Israel has wanted to do whether it was in the US’s interest or not. And as they predicted, this policy would prove not to be in the US’s long term interest and it would actually prove to not be in Israel’s interest either. This is playing out as we speak.
John Mearsheimer has concluded that the war in Ukraine is largely if not totally the US’s fault.
But basically, without going for too long, what my “course” lays out is a comprehensive, logical set of concrete steps that should be taken in order to resolve all of these conflicts so that we might be able to better try to cooperatively work together in solving the existential problems we’re facing as a species.
- It’s all fairly simple but it’s complex enough that it has to be presented in a “course” so all of the aspects of what needs to be done can be adequately covered.
I could elaborate more on the topic but in my humble opinion what we need to do is to follow the basic dictates outlined in my “course”.
I understand Maersheimer's "offensive realism" IR Theory (but thank you for summarizing none-the-less). I have a few issues regarding it:
(1) It is just one (of many) IR Theories, and Maersheimer himself says that he has observed his theories to be right at least 70% of the time. What if the China situation falls in that 30%? Does anyone know for sure?
(2) I think most people misunderstand Maersheimer's reasoning about the influence of Israel (and the Israel lobbies) on the US (and maybe in a certain way even Maersheimer himself). Israel is NOT in the interest of the American people (99%), but it IS in the interest of the 1% (which includes the Oligarchy, Empire Managers, Power Elite, etc.). THAT is the DIFFERENCE. One needs to look at (and compare and contrast) the needs of the American people (99%) with the 1%. Israel serves the US interests of the Empire Managers, etc. while simultaneously being diametrically opposed to the US interests of the 99%. The Israel Lobbies (AIPAC, etc.) serve THOSE needs of the US Interests that pertain to the 1%.
The 1% doesn't care about what happens to the 99% of the US or Israel. As long as the 1% is able to maintain global hegemony over the region (and the world) they could care less if Israel is destroyed in the process (as we are now observing). This is what most people have a difficult time understanding and accepting. The 1% DO NOT care about the US, Israel, or any other nation on earth. They care ONLY about their 1% group (and even within this group there are many conflicts and fights over status and power).
The 1% does care about consumers, and their being enough confidence in the manufacturing, supply chain, dis, and retail, to continue buying their products, whether the purchasers are individuals or governments. This latest attack should provide a way to split some of the most important industries away from continued support for the Messianic maniacs. Or one can hope.
Since I just re-read your question, let me answer it this way…
During the unipolar moment, when the US was the only superpower, we totally blew it. Instead of taking the peace activist’s advice in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and taking George Kennan’s advice starting at about that time, and then taking John Mearsheimer’s advice which was to basically lead by example and take the high road, we foolishly tried to remake the world in our image at the end of a gunpoint. We were lead by foolish leaders like George W. Bush. This poor leadership ignored what John Mearsheimer has pointed out which is that “nationalism trumps liberalism every time”.
So in answer to your question, we blew it.
Is it too late to turn things around?
No, it’s possible to turn things around.
Are we being lead by leaders who could turn it around?
No, our leaders are all fools.
What’s the best way to remedy that situation?
The best way to remedy that situation is to enlist the services of a group of leaders who follow the dictates in my “course” and have the backbone to make those dictates the reality of the situation.
You’re correct, but as I’m sure you’d agree, in the long run allowing this kind of short sighted foolishness to occur is self defeating for everyone - including the billionaires.
And this is why we need to change the way we conduct ourselves.
(And, in my humble opinion, the best way as to how we might go about changing how we conduct ourselves is outlined in my “course”).
I think by and large the “offensive realism” theory is exactly correct.
Having said that I think there are some almost “mind over matter” type of things that could be done to overcome the inevitability of the “Tragedy of Great Power Politics” that it would predict.
In addition to that, if you’re interested, I can tell you what my opinion is as to the best course of action for each of the problems you’ve enumerated.
Yes, Kevin - I would be interested in your opinion.
Also, here's a suggestion: So that more people (other than just the readers of Caitlin's substack) can benefit from your explanation, you might want to consider also writing an article about it and posting it on your Substack.
Just who the fuck do these people think they are to tell the rest of us that we must prepare to sacrifice our children and grandchildren? If they think they're gods then they're seriously mistaken - far from being gods, they are pure Evil!
Europe endured thousands of years of internecine wars between between rival kings emperors and other unelected despots, why the fuck would they want to return to that sort of barbarity? And not to serve their own interests, but those of the Amerikan Empire. Brainwashing by propaganda might explain some of it but not all of it. They must be brain dead fucking retards. Or psychopathic fascists, which is possibly the same thing
Some of those people perhaps deserve to die, but under no circumstances do they have the right to sacrifice my children or grandchildren.
George Carlin quote -> "War is rich old men protecting their property by sending middle class and lower class young men off to die. It always has been."
This is the shtick - it always has been. People continue to fall for it (for different reasons). Only when people realize this and REFUSE to sign up for WAR, will there be a change.
A good, short book on the subject is "War is a Racket" by General Major Smedley Butler written in 1935 that sheds more light on this.
Yeah CC, but that quote sums up Mearsheimers' Realism - it explains the way it is and how it works. But it doesn't ask 'Why is it this way and is there some other way?'
Jeffrey Sachs argues strongly for another way. Talk, trade and co-operate. That way you have no enemies.
I think Maersheimer's argument was something along the lines of "realistically speaking, great powers are unable to do that the peaceful way". There is too much fear, insecurity, constant vigilance, paranoia, etc. when you are number #1. You start distrusting anybody and everybody. This lack of "basic trust" leads to all kinds of problems in communication and strategy.
According to Maersheimer (if I understand his reasoning correctly), a similar situation could have developed if it was CHINA or RUSSIA as the world hegemon (similar to past hegemons in history like the British Empire, Roman Empire, and so many others).
Maersheimer's "offensive realism" IR theory seeks to explain the behavior of all nations that attain "global hegemon" status, not just the US.
Yes and Mearsheimer assumes / presumes, choose your verb, that all other nation states, just like Amerika, seek hegemony.
In the 1400s Admiral Zheng sailed a fleet of ships around much of the world, but they never sought to invade or subjugate those countries they visited and never sought hegemony.
What often mystifies me is how so many people are willing to give up their own mortality for these wars. I mean, death is a mystery. And yet, so many are willing to give up everything for some Nationalistic fervor usually egged on by the millionaire politicians - who never fight the war themselves, in places like Washington or London. Maybe life is just cheap to the people willing to go to war? Or maybe they think war is a movie or a video game which they alone might survive? It's just hard to understand - take for example the 700+ military personnel that were just wiped out recently with a Russian missile strike at a Ukrainian military school - in Kiev? Just happened a few weeks ago. They all were training for war - and before they even got onto the battlefield, they're gone - you know gone gone. Do people understand that? 700 of them with one hyper-sonic missile. Shouldn't that be of concern to anyone who wants to fight in a war? Isn't death something to be afraid of? Why are people so willing to give up their possibly one and only life? Or do they all believe life will go on afterward?
Historically, the lowest ranks are often pressed into service, one way or another. Even without conscription, poverty plays a role. My grandfather and my uncle both fled households overtaken by violence and addiction, were on the streets with no education or qualifications - as soon as they came of age, the army was waiting for them.
Young men are being kidnapped off the streets in Ukraine, the citizens are actively fighting the commissars to try and prevent it. There are plenty of videos on Telegram showing this. Even the men and women who sign up voluntarily are being lied to - if they wanted to protect their homeland, it was NATO they needed to defend against. They're being thrown haphazardly into a meat grinder without training.
Hi Jamenta, I dunno about death, it's Life that's the mystery. I think it was Mark Twain who said "I was dead for billions of years before I was born and it didn't inconvenience me in the least".
I take from that, that we have a short window into existence and I have to ask: is this seriously, the best use of our short time here?
And..yes! the lives of others are cheap to those who start wars. They even put a $ value on a human being via the insurance industries.
I take exception to “even” which implies they are lesser forms of life than we are. Objectively, it’s hard to make an argument for that. I recommend “The Mind of a Bee,” by Lars Chittka.
I'd forgotten about the “land corridors” to rush troops EU override of member states' right to chose their own defense policies. Thanks for the reminder. [sticks head in bucket to scream]
War is stupid and illegal and I’m tired of hearing about China being a threat. Don’t many US corporations move their operations there for cheap labor? And workers’ conditions are not good!
Also China has high speed rail and we don’t so they’re doing right for their people, the US does what the airline lobbyists want so we have Amtrak.
Get off the road to Nuclear Armageddon and vote JillStein2024.com, Green Party, on 40 electoral college states with the likelihood of 45, currently able to contest 550 electoral college votes toward a goal of 270!
We have a certified lunatic heading for nuclear annihilating with a racist cop agenda who has added tariffs on green Chinese products that reduce fossil fuel consumption and a crackpot realist rapist with a penchant for authoritarianism who thinks green causes cancer and wants a billion for fossil fuels. From a peace perspective, Stein is not an option, she is the real deal in the electoral college contest.
She isn’t and her positions on everything from the disabled to Medicare for all and a double minimum wage and social housing is politics at its best, the peace dividend we should have got before the new world disorder heralded a future of bounced rubble. Check out the components in people planet and peace https://www.jillstein2024.com/platform
She’s great, but not on enough states to contest 270. She’s on only 15 states with 196 electoral college votes assuming she gets all. With write in possibility on another eight. West is much less, as RFK found out, without a party, it’s impossible to make 270.
Assuming NATO & US are DUMB enough to start a war with Russia and China respectively, both NATO and US will be GONE, permanently, in ONLY 30 minutes or less, after war is initiated because Russia WILL use SARMAT and China WILL use DF51. NATO & US are militarily OBSOLETE, and their IGNORANCE will get themselves annihilated.
Yeah - but likely the rest of the world will be gone as well. And it's not the nuclear bombs going off themselves that will be the coup-de-grace, it will be the aftermath.
Let me guess… Kurt Campbell never joined the military and put his life at risk nor did any of his kids. Chicken hawks are those who were afraid of putting their lives at risk, but have no problem sending other people’s kids to war.
Should be a rule that if you vote for war then your family is on the front line.
You go to war when your country is threatened…you don’t plan for one years in advance.
To me, western leaders seem to be insane.
How is China a threat? They're prosperous? Isn't that what nations are supposed to strive to be?
In fact you've hit the nail squarely on the head, it's China's prosperity that is the threat to the US.
Exactly, KC Erasmus.US considers China's prosperity a threat. And if Global South and Russia forms mutual respect alliances with China they will become a force for good, and therefore a further threat to US hegemony.
As is the EU’s. GDP is greater than the US and now, hey presto there is now a US funded war right on the doorstep that threatens to expand. Thanks for that!
Western leaders are neither insane nor are they stupid.
They are sociopaths.
Spot on assessment of the reality!!!
and not just the men in uniform. These days 90% of war deaths are civilians
You can add WW2, WW1, the Spanish American war, the Civil War, and the Revolutionary war to that list as well.
What rubbish.....ever been to China?
None of these Idiots making these moronic comments about China, have ever been to that country.
In fact most of them have never left the US state within which they live.
My first visit to China was in 2012, and was every the propaganda taught us that China wasn't.
Evertime I visit China, I am more awestruck than on my previous visits.
On every visit I do businees and squeeze in a little bit of personal travel.
I will never forget the experience I had one year travelling from Beijing to Shijiazhuang which I do everytime on the high speed train, and between my one visit and the next, a year later, they had built a massive new station in Shijiazhuang, whichade me think I'd gotten off at the wrong station.
Such is the rapid progress in China that these people don't understand, especially when one thinks that they have been trying to build the new TSMC microchip plant in Arizona for almost four years now, and the only thing happening is the strong possibility of the cancellation of the project due to exorbitant cost and time overrruns, while the US government has so far pumped $50 billion into a failing project.
I copied this comment to send to my friends, who are fighting one of the proposed hydrogen hubs slated for the Ohio Valley., in response to someone pointing out that even if the schemes of one of the projects, to produce hydrogen to blend with methane to burn for electricity, can be made to work, it's completely insane--you'd get more energy by just burning the gas, with less risk and no need for the expensive, dangerous, polluting infrastructure. In the unlikely event (here) that they used renewable energy to produce the hydrogen, they still lose a great deal of the energy--70% I heard--by converting it to hydrogen, to burn to convert it back to electricity.
This is how an empire goes down. Each generation of the ruling class is more entitled, less connected to any sense of responsibility, and once they get themselves completely exempted from the consequences of their decisions--or so they think--they become completely set on extracting everything of value from the whole world...until ecological collapse or invasion by armies of a new entity whose leaders still care about consequences.
Agreed. I haven't been for a while BUT the other thing that one can say about China is it was safe.
I don't doubt you saw only a Chinese Potemkin village- a show-off part of China but your analysis of glee and happiness pervading Chinese surveillance smothered citizens is rich.
Let's be clear on something. Both the U.S. and China are class-ruled societies. As a result, the working class in neither nation will be allowed access to the full fruit of their labor in an era where technology makes that possible. The bulk of the wealth in any prosperous country will always be very disproportionately enjoyed by the ruling class.
Class rule in every nation needs to go. But fighting wars is not the way to achieve it. And the Chinese government has not displayed the insanity of the U.S.-U.K.-Israel coalition in recent decades of profiting by use of war. That doesn't mean the Chinese system is a model system the global working class should embrace. But it does suggest a better immediate way to start moving forward than following the war profiteers represented by the U.S. and NATO to nuclear brinkmanship.
Well said Christofer Nigro!
right, china is a slave state, hardly an example of prosperity. But then again that is the model for the globalists, the perfect communist technocracy where people are things to be controlled.
I have been to china, I follow Chinese popular arts, and can tell you china is prospering. Huawei is only one example. China was first with 5g cell technology. First with quantum communication. This frightens the USA which hopes to suppress China via sanctions and violence.
Corrrect and BRICS will be working by then...some very stupid people in the West.
social credit score doesn't sound like a good idea, neither does harvesting organs. Other people may like an all powerful state where the individual is nothing. I don't.
You're Both Ignorant Idiots who are Clueless about China and its people!!!
In 2023 the World Bank declared China to have the number 1 Global Economy based on purchasing power parity PPP, meaning that the average Chinese person has greater Purchasing Power than any other average citizen in any other country.
You don't achieve that on 50c you Morons.
51% of the Chinese population is considered to be middle class, which means that out of a population of 1.4 billion people, over 700 000 are middle class, while in the US only 49% of the population is considered middle class, and is declining, which means that less than 175 million people out of 350 million are middle class, which reflects just how Fucking Ignorant and Delusional you both are.
A visit to China will quickly reveal how much more advanced Chinese cities are than US cities, and the same applies to infrastructure in China, but you assholes, will never go on a fact finding mission to China, but rather wallow in your own delusion, whilst buying Chinese goods, upon which your Shit Hole Cuntry is totally dependent for survival, on a daily basis.
The Chinese ate out performing you Morons through Efficiency at every level, but you Cunts are too Thick to understand the concept of Efficiency.
Absolutely state of the art slave society. If we are reading you correctly, China will destroy itself with materialism we invented. Financial prosperity will do exactly what for Chinese society? More cars, more vacations, apartments, trivial pursuits, yes, we should mimic their society in so many ways, right? Hey, we've been there and done that and materialism ends up where we are going which is nowhere. And ya gotta love their social credit scores and total surveillance. What a great f-ckin place China is, wow!!
pretty rich to point to china as a country 'where people are things to be controlled' from anywhere in the world, but especially from the west that invented 'human resources', iirc?
That's the typical Bullshit propaganda that your government has brainwashed you with, you Fucking Dumbass, and you're too Thick to assess that it's propagandist Bullshit.
I must say that rich coming from the Shit Hole that thinks it can rule and control the world!!!
China is not a slave state. Western propaganda would like you to believe it is. The powers that be always want the perception of China, Russia, Iran etc., to be these countries that oppress everyone, but in reality the US is more of a slave state than most countries.
I don't think we can idolize China. Nor can we lump all those countries you mention together. All of them do not oppress, as Western propaganda wants us to believe. But depending on the part of China, factory workers are paid between about $1 and $6 per hour which is why so many US companies outsource their manufacturing. There is also a race between the U.S. and China to economically take over Africa, via putting them in perpetual debt for their handing over all rights to their own oil and resources. And also sending in a great influx of Chinese workers who are given preference for the jobs created.
I also remember well and with horror what the Chinese did to the Tibetans in l959 (similar to the Palestinians), killing 100,000 of them outright, driving the rest into diaspora and taking over and destroying their Country for land and resources, about 200 Tibetan monks and nuns setting themselves on fire thru 1963, and since, driving to extinction most of the mountain wildlife there. Great Powers act like Great Powers for their own interests. At some point the very growth and size of Empires seems to become a danger both to themselves, to benevolent Human values and weaker countries and to the Earth and the fruits of the Earth itself.
Sounds very familiar. Our own (usa) capital class has taken note.
Here are some resources that lay questions about such claims:
(1) https://asiatimes.com/2024/01/recalculating-chinas-poverty-reduction-miracle/
(2) Poverty Reduction in A Transforming China: A Critical Review [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11366-022-09822-2]
(3) https://thechinaproject.com/2021/07/29/what-lifting-people-out-of-poverty-actually-means-in-china/
(4) https://www.thinkchina.sg/society/it-debatable-whether-china-has-truly-alleviated-poverty
(5) China’s boast of eradicating poverty challenged by new study [https://www.ft.com/content/883f60d5-7085-4db6-a4e0-d277f43923b8]
Except for Muslims who seemingly walk with God on a daily basis; those other two major religions of the West are apparently Luciferians.
I just listened to Jeffrey Sachs insist that China is no threat to the U.S. And that there is absolutely nothing to be gained by confronting China, and much to be lost. The US has gone completely insane and suicidal! And Russia has no desire to "conquer Europe," but rather to protect itself after being encircled by the U.S./Nato military sites and this proxy war with Ukraine. Even the Pentagon is telling these madmen to stop!
The sociopaths who rule the West will gladly annihilate us all before they lose their perches.
Ever see "Don't Look Up!"?
They are psychopaths. Sociopaths are not as dangerous.
If they were in fact psychopaths, we already would be in a direct and ope hot war with Russia right now.
You make a good point. A serious analysis of Sociopathic traits and Psychopathic traits may strongly suggest that the worst examples of these types of people are a dangerous combination of the worst traits of both groups. Perhaps this applies to many Western politicians?
Sociopathic Traits:
Breaking the law
Physical aggression
Manipulation of others for personal gain
Anger and hostility
Unpredictable mood swings
Impulsive behaviors
Chaotic and dramatic
Exploitation of other people
Irresponsibility
Unreliable in relationships
Psychopathic Traits:
Feeling few, if any, emotions
Sadism (pleasure from causing pain to others)
Lack of care for others
Pathological lying
Charming personality
Lack of fear
Risk-taking behavior
Inability to love
No remorse for wrongdoing
Poor judgment
Lack of life goals
Using relationships purely for gain
China will probably put us on the tab if we ask nicely.
People like the Rockefeller's and the Rothschilds have nice bomb shelters that can easily accommodate themselves and their hundreds of servants, so if a full scale worldwide nuclear Holocaust breaks out that's all the better for them, the way they see it, because it fulfills their depopulation agenda; my guess though is that most people don't really care about themselves or anyone else for that matter, or they would already know that as a primafacia fact of life.
Some people are starting to question if nuclear bombs actually exist. Powerful, murdering bombs? Yes. Mutilatong, killing chemicals? Yes. Not so sure about "nuclear" but either way t creates a whole lot of fear!
They may have, but Hitler had a nice one as well. That did not stop the inevitable. These people only think that they will survive. Sooner or later they will wish that first thermo-nuclear warhead hit them right on top of their head.
The US Government MUST have a "boogeyman". This has been the keystone of US Domestic and Foreign Policy since 1930 or before. It was the USSR for a time, then in 1930's, the NAZI's and the JAP's until 1945. When it reverted back to the USSR, and later "communism" in general. When the USSR fell, it became China and other "Communists", along with the Muslim Terrorists, Taliban, ISIS, HAMAS, Bin Laden, etc. Then, as Russia reinvented and rebuilt itself from the ruination caused by Marxist/Leninist Communism, they came back into play as a boogeyman. RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA don't you know?
All of this is pure US Government Political fiction. Russia wants to be treated as a legitimate sovereign nation and as such, demands that they are secure from US and NATO threats, just as the US and NATO wish to be "secure". China just wants to "Do Business", there is no logical reason for China to start a war with anyone, as this would interrupt all manner of international business.
The USA has held to these insane positions of "Going to War" and "Winning a War" against anyone in the world, at the drop of the hat, simply because "we have the bomb and our leaders are delusional enough to use it and they contend that 'We can WIN!' ". US and NATO "strategy" against the USSR and "winning" in Europe hinged on using nuclear weapons against a numerically and materially superior USSR. The adversary has changed, but the strategy and mindset has not changed.
It needs to be mentioned that, since 1945, the USA HAS NOT fought or "won" a war against a serious military adversary. Not to even broach the question of "why are we fighting this war"? This is not because our military is incompetent, it is because the Civilian Leaders who form our foreign policy are still resting on the laurels of our participation in the "Victory" in WW2. I mean really, We have the bomb, We used the Bomb, We can always fall back on the bomb . . . right?
Korea, The best that DC could muster is the Korean War ending in a stalemate, one which remains a festering wound to this day.
Vietnam, What did we accomplish in Vietnam? NOTHING, We took over from the defeated French, We backed a series of corrupt puppets in the South and We LOST 50,000+ soldiers; with absolutely ZERO benefit to the USA or the WORLD.
Kosovo? We again bombed the hell out of a mostly defenseless civilian population, for what? NATO and the USA have blood on their hands . . . Again!
Afghanistan? Ah yes, the Soviets just did not know how to fight and win. Uncle Sam will show them "Ruskies" how it's done, 20 years later 2400+ dead and 20k+ wounded . . . Fighting against the same group of untrained, irregular civilian soldiers, we Lost Again and suffered a humiliating "withdrawal", all at the same time. Simply because of political hubris and Incompetent Civilian "leadership".
Somalia? WE came, WE saw, WE solved nothing. Somalia is still hell on earth to this moment. Another putrid sore on the buttocks of humanity.
Iraq? We sent in the finest, best equipped and supplied military on earth, and naturally kicked the living shit out of an ill trained, poorly led army, an army fielding mostly poor conscripts. We beat them senseless on two separate occasions and yet still managed to "lose" the war along with the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi People. Iraq has never recovered, neither has the USA.
Ukraine? Quickly turning into another "Vietnam", only this time without large numbers of US soldiers returning to the States in metal boxes or body bags, at least for the time being. As Lindsey Graham is so fond of saying. "best money we have ever spent, we are killing Russians". Too bad we are also facilitating the destruction of Ukraine as a nation and as a people, by killing more Ukrainians than Russians. But we are, after all, "killing Russians". It is becoming very clear, perhaps we should have encouraged peace, instead of blocking the peace negotiations in early 2022? This one is predictably falling into the "Loss" column.
Of course, there is always "The Bomb" if our "Plan A" fails. I wonder if Dr. Jill is thinking about using the bomb at this very moment?
Michael, start a Substack.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlynch
Very well expressed Michael Lynch! Thank you!
Thank you for reading and commenting.
U.S. is not up to a boogeyman.
Are you sure about that? We certainly are being led around by the nose because of a boogeyman.
Yes.
The thing about capitalism is that it is inseparable from colonialism which means that it is inseparable from war by reason of land theft . But since the American Empire managers have stopped using the description capitalist and now substitute democratic maybe it has overcome that phase in its development ? Or more likely not and just become better language managers. No one has ever attacked North America since the British did and exterminated the native people. They did pretend that the Japanese had by bombings its ships in one of its colonies. But the Americans like the British before them have attacked and seized countries and stolen their native assets. Now the American Empire has decided that it feels threatened by the peaceful growth of China and has instructed its European colonies to prepare o wage war on Russia.Capitalism is long word for economic injustice and is in short ready again to wage war on its economic enemies.
Capitalism kills. It's how it survives. It acts like an apex predator. We need to hunt it down and take it out before it takes us out.
You're hunting thw wrong enemy because you don't understand the root cause of the Western problem, which is politics and the greed of a few.
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I can clearly see that you're top Moronically Stupid to make a rational, substantiated comment, and are the typical Low IQ Cognitively Dissonant American Idiot.
communism killed 100-200 million in the 20th century and is still killing in the surviving communist countries. PRC, NK, Venezuela and Cuba.
Not communism - authoritarianism and totalitarianism (especially under Stalin). Communism has NEVER been put into practice in any country on the planet so far. What the West (and Capitalists) call Communism is NOT communism. Before communism, there needs to be Socialism. Even achieving socialism (especially internationally) is a challenge. Communism DOES NOT change states from feudalism, mercantileism, or capitalism (or aristocracy/monarchy as in Tsarist Russia) directly.
If you buy the "propaganda" that Russia or China or Cuba or Venezuela or whatever is Communist, then you have been gaslighted.
The one country on that list that is socialist is China.
'100 million' comes from 'the black book of communism' of which several authors have confessed it is merely anti-communist propaganda. what is killing in 'communist' countries is illegal sanctions (e.g. 40000 in venezuela), blockades, us imperial subversion and color revolutions.
Exactly right!
What communism? Where? Name these communist countries?
Really???
And this is how you attempt to console yourself with this Fucking Bullshit???
You're just pissed at Madura because you can't overthrow his government, but he stabilised and has brought down inflation and his country in on a slow mend.
North Korea, so how many people have supposedly, or are dying there, please provide a credible source for your information.
Yes, in the past, communism did kille millions of people, but that isn't the case today, as there are No Longer and pure examples of Communism, but rather Hybrid states which have learned a lot from their failures, unlike you Delusional Idiots in the US who are on the Exoress train to Hell, and haven't learned a damn thing!!!
an enraged communist was expected and sure enough, that's what happened.
This is not true at all.
What isn't???
Communism is an abstraction that has never killed anything except itself. You know the proverb: when the commies want to form a firing squad, they stand in a circle. As E.O. Wilson said, "Great idea. Wrong species."
What a waste of time. But people do love thuggery.
Please explain this incoherent ramble, from an uneducated bafoon.
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Your theory in regard to "Capitalism" is fatally flawed, and China has proven that.
Whilst China might be run by a Communist Political System, it's economy is based 100% on Capitalism, and you don't see China colonising the world, or starting wars, but rather organising access to everything they need through commerical and capitalist means, and ensuring its efficient operation of supply chains.
Not 100%. It's a mixed economy. The government owns all the land except some farms. I believe the gvt owns the big banks.
Western china is rebellious and has long wanted to be separate. The people are oppressed. I went there and saw for myself. It is similar to a colony.
IF you went there I have no idea what you saw because it's a lot different than what I saw.
I find your comments about Western China extremely odd, as I have visited China almost annually since 2012, and travelled almost the length and breadth of the country, and if anything the people have Hope across the country as they see their countrymen being lifted out of poverty, and the advances taking place in that country, without a single corner not enjoying improved infrastructure, be it dams, roads, railways, electricity, and government is turning the desert region in Western China into an oasis.
Then we went to Tashkargan, where I saw plenty of razor wire.
Then we went to Turpan and Kashgar. Every shop had a riot shield on display to show their preparedness to help control Uigher riots. We got a massage. Afterwards a party member showed up to give the masseuses riot control training. There were metal detector portals everywhere, though the rumor was that these were not functional.
I went to urimqui to visit my niece, who speaks Mandarin and Uigher and had lived there for about five years. There were army tanks at major intersections and police boxes everywhere. Uighers who did not own their residences were required to leave the city. People disappeared suddenly. Outdoor grills were banned, which I thought pure harassment. The same propaganda song was heard everywhere, even from the trees in the park. One of its lines was "engrave this song on your brain.". We stopped a man in the street to ask the way to the theater. A policeman saw that and demanded his papers. After that he led us to the theater but made sure to stay about a hundred feet ahead of us. Then one day the propaganda song stopped everywhere.
western china, you mean xinjiang? uyghurs? check out daniel dumbrill.
Nope, the government has a share in many industries including banks, but that is continually reducing as the economy grows and the government invests in new industries which it identifies as a necessary development, but the overriding principle upon which the Chinese economy operates, even with government shareholding is without doubt Capitalist.
The CCP acts only as a catalyst in the economy.
how does the cpc explain it themselves?
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Capitalism = fascism.
Cultural Marxism is for the comedy.
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Obviously, for Individualism you need a collective economy (probably capitalist) with sufficient surplus so that various people can parade around as unique "individuals" who gave birth to themselves, educated themselves, and gave themself posh jobs in their daddies' businesses. I don't know why we put up with this. Maybe it's more "cultural Marxism".
"No one is more dangerous than warmongers who believe they can win an unwinnable war."
Correct. That's why it's imperative for us to rid ourselves of these warmongers. Revolution isn't an option--it's absolutely necessary for the survival of humanity.
Have they lost their minds?
Right?
"Europe Prepares For Hot War With Russia, US Readies For Hot War With China" ... Gee, what could possibly go wrong?
Wasn't there a saying about Land Wars in Asia? Surely must have meant that they are always a good idea.
Don't worry Jamenta.......they won't have the money for big armies. BRICS
Everything!
"What if the gave a war and nobody came?"
Did they have any minds to begin with? (Sigh.)
Did they ever have one to lose?
Meanwhile, China warned at the UN Security Council earlier today that Israel may be planning another escalation and “major military operations against Lebanon,” urging “countries with influence over Israel” to take steps to stop their “adventurism that risks dragging the region into yet another devastating catastrophe.”
They (China) also condemned the pager and walkie-talkie attacks as “outrageously brutal and atrocious,” “distressing beyond imagination,” and “a blatant breach of international law.”
Video here: https://decensorednews.substack.com/p/china-condemns-israel-pager-and-walkie-talkie-attacks-lebanon
They never provide an argument why people in the West should be upset and fight and die if China takes Taiwan.
I guess it’s because Taiwan is the MICs semiconductor factory and if China takes it, we’re out of the war biz for good.
What they haven't figure out yet, is that if China ever really considered attacking Taiwan, they would bomb the microchip factories first, leaving the West crippled immediately, while China is developing their own microchip industry at lightning speed, and they are now the world's largest producer of legacy chips.
CHIPS.....can't make them in the USA
Nope, in fact they can't even get the TSMC microchip factory in Arizona built.
They've been at it for almost four years, and all they've done is swallow up $50 billion in government funding, and secure project and time overruns.
We can't even make toasters anymore.
Ha! Only weapons and even these are falling apart!
some 40% of taiwan's trade is still with mainland china. tmsc has quite some factories on the mainland. taiwanese nationalism is very imperially astroturfed.
The drums of war are beaten upon enormous sums of public money, that is the real goal. The proles will asked to give more and more, more taxes, more appropriations, less rights, less freedom. The serfs must pay their dues! Society militarised, not necessarily to fight the war, but to crush all the oppostionists, the dissenters. Putin's fifth column! Local proxies will be doing the dying backed here and there by western conscripts. And the money shall flow.....
In my humble opinion it would be best for everyone, including our top leaders, to carefully study the work of John Mearsheimer. For those who aren’t familiar with him, he has a theory called “offensive realism” which accurately describes how the international power system tends to work.
In a recent lecture he stated that “the threat of war will not be taken off the table any time soon”. Unfortunately this is probably true. It would be nice if it weren’t true, but unfortunately it is.
Given this fact, it’s important to realize that it isn’t the threat of war that’s the problem, it’s the actual engagement in war that’s the problem.
Our top leaders should do everything within their power to avoid war.
In my opinion there is a basic universal principal which is that “nastiness tends to beget more nastiness and niceness tends to beget more niceness”. Therefore if we were smart we would continuously work towards trying to be “nice”.
In another lecture John Mearsheimer said that individuals cannot agree on first principals. This is true.
As a follow up to this I would say that “despite the fact that individuals cannot agree upon first principals doesn’t mean that there isn’t a best way forward”.
And this is where our leaders have failed. They have failed to keep out of nasty wars and they don’t have the courage nor the vision to lead us toward a future where the emphasis is on being “nice”.
This might sound overly simplistic and naive, but it’s not.
I generally agree with most of what you said. In reference to "niceness tends to beget more niceness", Russia tried that. They were rebuffed and ignored. Other smaller nations have also tried that with the US, but it doesn't seem to have worked.
So how does one deal with the EVIL MONSTROSITY that is the US? There seem to be few options when one party behaves the way the US Empire does...
I think that question can be answered largely within the framework of John Mearsheimer’s theory of offensive realism coupled with some other simple observations and concepts. But I think the best answer to that question can can be answered by the ”course” I’ve developed.
John Mearsheimer’s would answer that question by saying that the international system is basically fixed. It’s an anarchic system where states want to become as powerful as they can so that their prospects of survival are optimized. The ultimate goal of states is to become a regional hegemon in their hemisphere. If a state is able to become a regional hegemon in their hemisphere it enables that state to have enough power and resources to roam around the world and mettle in the “backyards” of other states. Therefore if a state is a regional hegemon it will go to great lengths to try to prevent a competing state from becoming a regional hegemon. (I’m basically parroting what John Mearsheimer has said)…
Having said that, since the US was the only superpower from about 1990 until about 2017, we should have taken George Kennan’s advice and largely minded our own business. Instead we foolishly tried to remake the world in our image at the end of a gunpoint in paces like Iraq and Afghanistan. This didn’t work because, as John says, “nationalism trumps liberalism every time”.
In the meantime, as John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have pointed out, the US allowed the Israeli lobby in the US to influence US politicians so that the US blindly follows whatever Israel has wanted to do whether it was in the US’s interest or not. And as they predicted, this policy would prove not to be in the US’s long term interest and it would actually prove to not be in Israel’s interest either. This is playing out as we speak.
John Mearsheimer has concluded that the war in Ukraine is largely if not totally the US’s fault.
But basically, without going for too long, what my “course” lays out is a comprehensive, logical set of concrete steps that should be taken in order to resolve all of these conflicts so that we might be able to better try to cooperatively work together in solving the existential problems we’re facing as a species.
- It’s all fairly simple but it’s complex enough that it has to be presented in a “course” so all of the aspects of what needs to be done can be adequately covered.
I could elaborate more on the topic but in my humble opinion what we need to do is to follow the basic dictates outlined in my “course”.
I understand Maersheimer's "offensive realism" IR Theory (but thank you for summarizing none-the-less). I have a few issues regarding it:
(1) It is just one (of many) IR Theories, and Maersheimer himself says that he has observed his theories to be right at least 70% of the time. What if the China situation falls in that 30%? Does anyone know for sure?
(2) I think most people misunderstand Maersheimer's reasoning about the influence of Israel (and the Israel lobbies) on the US (and maybe in a certain way even Maersheimer himself). Israel is NOT in the interest of the American people (99%), but it IS in the interest of the 1% (which includes the Oligarchy, Empire Managers, Power Elite, etc.). THAT is the DIFFERENCE. One needs to look at (and compare and contrast) the needs of the American people (99%) with the 1%. Israel serves the US interests of the Empire Managers, etc. while simultaneously being diametrically opposed to the US interests of the 99%. The Israel Lobbies (AIPAC, etc.) serve THOSE needs of the US Interests that pertain to the 1%.
The 1% doesn't care about what happens to the 99% of the US or Israel. As long as the 1% is able to maintain global hegemony over the region (and the world) they could care less if Israel is destroyed in the process (as we are now observing). This is what most people have a difficult time understanding and accepting. The 1% DO NOT care about the US, Israel, or any other nation on earth. They care ONLY about their 1% group (and even within this group there are many conflicts and fights over status and power).
The 1% does care about consumers, and their being enough confidence in the manufacturing, supply chain, dis, and retail, to continue buying their products, whether the purchasers are individuals or governments. This latest attack should provide a way to split some of the most important industries away from continued support for the Messianic maniacs. Or one can hope.
BRICS
Since I just re-read your question, let me answer it this way…
During the unipolar moment, when the US was the only superpower, we totally blew it. Instead of taking the peace activist’s advice in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and taking George Kennan’s advice starting at about that time, and then taking John Mearsheimer’s advice which was to basically lead by example and take the high road, we foolishly tried to remake the world in our image at the end of a gunpoint. We were lead by foolish leaders like George W. Bush. This poor leadership ignored what John Mearsheimer has pointed out which is that “nationalism trumps liberalism every time”.
So in answer to your question, we blew it.
Is it too late to turn things around?
No, it’s possible to turn things around.
Are we being lead by leaders who could turn it around?
No, our leaders are all fools.
What’s the best way to remedy that situation?
The best way to remedy that situation is to enlist the services of a group of leaders who follow the dictates in my “course” and have the backbone to make those dictates the reality of the situation.
It's war for profit.
This is a bit simplistic. There are plenty of ways to spend money that do bot generate a negative ROI.
This is a war for power.
We don't have leaders or representatives of the people. We have representatives of the billionaires who vie to be promoted to chief puppet.
You’re correct, but as I’m sure you’d agree, in the long run allowing this kind of short sighted foolishness to occur is self defeating for everyone - including the billionaires.
And this is why we need to change the way we conduct ourselves.
(And, in my humble opinion, the best way as to how we might go about changing how we conduct ourselves is outlined in my “course”).
I think by and large the “offensive realism” theory is exactly correct.
Having said that I think there are some almost “mind over matter” type of things that could be done to overcome the inevitability of the “Tragedy of Great Power Politics” that it would predict.
In addition to that, if you’re interested, I can tell you what my opinion is as to the best course of action for each of the problems you’ve enumerated.
Yes, Kevin - I would be interested in your opinion.
Also, here's a suggestion: So that more people (other than just the readers of Caitlin's substack) can benefit from your explanation, you might want to consider also writing an article about it and posting it on your Substack.
The bottom line is that China should cool it and the US should cool it.
(I tried to post a more detailed response but I think it got blocked?).
Just who the fuck do these people think they are to tell the rest of us that we must prepare to sacrifice our children and grandchildren? If they think they're gods then they're seriously mistaken - far from being gods, they are pure Evil!
Europe endured thousands of years of internecine wars between between rival kings emperors and other unelected despots, why the fuck would they want to return to that sort of barbarity? And not to serve their own interests, but those of the Amerikan Empire. Brainwashing by propaganda might explain some of it but not all of it. They must be brain dead fucking retards. Or psychopathic fascists, which is possibly the same thing
Some of those people perhaps deserve to die, but under no circumstances do they have the right to sacrifice my children or grandchildren.
George Carlin quote -> "War is rich old men protecting their property by sending middle class and lower class young men off to die. It always has been."
This is the shtick - it always has been. People continue to fall for it (for different reasons). Only when people realize this and REFUSE to sign up for WAR, will there be a change.
A good, short book on the subject is "War is a Racket" by General Major Smedley Butler written in 1935 that sheds more light on this.
Yeah CC, but that quote sums up Mearsheimers' Realism - it explains the way it is and how it works. But it doesn't ask 'Why is it this way and is there some other way?'
Jeffrey Sachs argues strongly for another way. Talk, trade and co-operate. That way you have no enemies.
From watching the "John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs | All-In Summit 2024" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvFtyDy_Bt0), I got that message too.
I think Maersheimer's argument was something along the lines of "realistically speaking, great powers are unable to do that the peaceful way". There is too much fear, insecurity, constant vigilance, paranoia, etc. when you are number #1. You start distrusting anybody and everybody. This lack of "basic trust" leads to all kinds of problems in communication and strategy.
According to Maersheimer (if I understand his reasoning correctly), a similar situation could have developed if it was CHINA or RUSSIA as the world hegemon (similar to past hegemons in history like the British Empire, Roman Empire, and so many others).
Maersheimer's "offensive realism" IR theory seeks to explain the behavior of all nations that attain "global hegemon" status, not just the US.
Yes and Mearsheimer assumes / presumes, choose your verb, that all other nation states, just like Amerika, seek hegemony.
In the 1400s Admiral Zheng sailed a fleet of ships around much of the world, but they never sought to invade or subjugate those countries they visited and never sought hegemony.
What often mystifies me is how so many people are willing to give up their own mortality for these wars. I mean, death is a mystery. And yet, so many are willing to give up everything for some Nationalistic fervor usually egged on by the millionaire politicians - who never fight the war themselves, in places like Washington or London. Maybe life is just cheap to the people willing to go to war? Or maybe they think war is a movie or a video game which they alone might survive? It's just hard to understand - take for example the 700+ military personnel that were just wiped out recently with a Russian missile strike at a Ukrainian military school - in Kiev? Just happened a few weeks ago. They all were training for war - and before they even got onto the battlefield, they're gone - you know gone gone. Do people understand that? 700 of them with one hyper-sonic missile. Shouldn't that be of concern to anyone who wants to fight in a war? Isn't death something to be afraid of? Why are people so willing to give up their possibly one and only life? Or do they all believe life will go on afterward?
Historically, the lowest ranks are often pressed into service, one way or another. Even without conscription, poverty plays a role. My grandfather and my uncle both fled households overtaken by violence and addiction, were on the streets with no education or qualifications - as soon as they came of age, the army was waiting for them.
Young men are being kidnapped off the streets in Ukraine, the citizens are actively fighting the commissars to try and prevent it. There are plenty of videos on Telegram showing this. Even the men and women who sign up voluntarily are being lied to - if they wanted to protect their homeland, it was NATO they needed to defend against. They're being thrown haphazardly into a meat grinder without training.
Humans are easily manipulated.
Hi Jamenta, I dunno about death, it's Life that's the mystery. I think it was Mark Twain who said "I was dead for billions of years before I was born and it didn't inconvenience me in the least".
I take from that, that we have a short window into existence and I have to ask: is this seriously, the best use of our short time here?
And..yes! the lives of others are cheap to those who start wars. They even put a $ value on a human being via the insurance industries.
It's an instinct so basic that even ants and bees have it.
I take exception to “even” which implies they are lesser forms of life than we are. Objectively, it’s hard to make an argument for that. I recommend “The Mind of a Bee,” by Lars Chittka.
Who are they? Sociopaths.
I'd forgotten about the “land corridors” to rush troops EU override of member states' right to chose their own defense policies. Thanks for the reminder. [sticks head in bucket to scream]
Lol…and when NATO uses those land corridors to rush 500,000 troops to fight Russia they will find Russia waiting with their 2.4 million troops.
Plus NATO has to bring its military equipment thousands of miles while Russia only has to bring theirs a few hundred.
And more people will die in needless endless wars.
when you've got missiles, you don't have to wait. europe still has to quite some infrastructural adjustments (bridges,...) to prepare the corridors.
War is stupid and illegal and I’m tired of hearing about China being a threat. Don’t many US corporations move their operations there for cheap labor? And workers’ conditions are not good!
Also China has high speed rail and we don’t so they’re doing right for their people, the US does what the airline lobbyists want so we have Amtrak.
Law is meaningless. Enforcement is the only thing that matters.
Get off the road to Nuclear Armageddon and vote JillStein2024.com, Green Party, on 40 electoral college states with the likelihood of 45, currently able to contest 550 electoral college votes toward a goal of 270!
Yes, why not try a "Green" Lunatic this time, when all else has failed.
indeed, why not. tick off the box, so the argument is no longer 'mere' speculation the next time around (if there is a next time).
Yes, why not try a "Green" Lunatic this time, when all else has failed.
Yes, why not try a "Green" Lunatic this time, when all else has failed.
Yes, why not try a "Green" Lunatic this time, when all else has failed.
We have a certified lunatic heading for nuclear annihilating with a racist cop agenda who has added tariffs on green Chinese products that reduce fossil fuel consumption and a crackpot realist rapist with a penchant for authoritarianism who thinks green causes cancer and wants a billion for fossil fuels. From a peace perspective, Stein is not an option, she is the real deal in the electoral college contest.
She isn’t and her positions on everything from the disabled to Medicare for all and a double minimum wage and social housing is politics at its best, the peace dividend we should have got before the new world disorder heralded a future of bounced rubble. Check out the components in people planet and peace https://www.jillstein2024.com/platform
She’s great, but not on enough states to contest 270. She’s on only 15 states with 196 electoral college votes assuming she gets all. With write in possibility on another eight. West is much less, as RFK found out, without a party, it’s impossible to make 270.
Dr Strangelove was not supposed to be an instruction manual.
Neither was “1984,” but it seems it has been taken that way by TPTB.
Assuming NATO & US are DUMB enough to start a war with Russia and China respectively, both NATO and US will be GONE, permanently, in ONLY 30 minutes or less, after war is initiated because Russia WILL use SARMAT and China WILL use DF51. NATO & US are militarily OBSOLETE, and their IGNORANCE will get themselves annihilated.
Yeah - but likely the rest of the world will be gone as well. And it's not the nuclear bombs going off themselves that will be the coup-de-grace, it will be the aftermath.
Let me guess… Kurt Campbell never joined the military and put his life at risk nor did any of his kids. Chicken hawks are those who were afraid of putting their lives at risk, but have no problem sending other people’s kids to war.
Should be a rule that if you vote for war then your family is on the front line.
You go to war when your country is threatened…you don’t plan for one years in advance.
Teddy Roosevelt lost sons in war. He never got over it.