BOOM !!!!! France signing a non-USD denominated deal on LNG trade. RIP US dollar. https://t.co/DScw1h6Byc
— Angelo Giuliano đźđč đšđ/ living in đšđł (@Angelo4justice3) March 29, 2023
Mind boggling scenes from #France Where #Police is charging at #FireFighters both groups with opposite agendas and loyalty. In this round the đ§âđ seem to score against the đźââïž pic.twitter.com/fqiK0NrpZ6
When 100 people protest against the Russian, Iranian, or Chinese govts, it's front page news for months, with Hollywood celebrities babbling all sorts of nonsense about "freedom" & "democracy". But when millions protest in France… crickets. Hypocrites.pic.twitter.com/Tdgb22vEqd
France Member of EU Parliament @NathalieLoiseau CONFRONTED: "What interest do you serve? Do you serve the interests of France and peace or do you serve the interests of another nation, another power?"pic.twitter.com/5dfRIBFBil
The meeting of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Moscow last week was met with predictable accusations in Western circles that Moscow was becoming âsubservientâ or even a âvassalâ of Beijing.
MEP Guy Verhofstadt, a Euro-fantasist and former prime minister of Belgium, jeered on Twitter, âPutin’s appalling legacy now includes turning Russia more and more into a Chinese vassal state,â oblivious to the irony of his own words. As the United States took the lead in denouncing Chinaâs peace plan for the Ukraine conflict, publicly setting out the conditions on which it should end, the European Union was nowhere to be seen, or at least had nothing original to say.
This makes Verhofstadtâs comments a damning display of lacking self-awareness. Russia and China are setting out their vision for a new multipolar world, while the US struggles against them in seeking to maintain its hegemonic position. Meanwhile, the European Union has been reduced to the status of a mere bench player in it all and has become effectively irrelevant. The failure of EU countries to stake out their own will and position amidst the larger powers, as well as their total subservience to the US, has made a mockery of the âstrategic autonomyâ concept once championed by Emmanuel Macron.
âStrategic autonomyâ is a principle of European integration where the EU should be an actor in a multipolar world, which advocates for its own interests and pursues its own agenda. Supporters of this principle insist that the EU should not blindly follow the will of the US when it comes to every foreign policy issue, but should be proactive and enhance its role on the world stage. Therefore, they should not, as is commonly demanded by Washington, take sides on matters such as a new Cold War with China. The term gained growing traction during the years of the Trump administration when Europeâs relations with the US hit a low due to his particular interpretation of the âAmerica firstâ doctrine.
However, the practical reality of âstrategic autonomyâ is that the EU is not a unitary state, but a loose intergovernmental organization of states which, while seeking to establish common positions on a principle of unity, do not truly have a unified foreign-policy-making mechanism. The intra-institutional politics of the EU are often a messy compromise and battle of wills between different levels of actors, including the states themselves, the European Commission, and the European Parliament. This combines with the reality that âEuropean integrationâ has been a broken process since 2008. Challenges such as the Eurozone financial crisis, Brexit, Covid-19, and internal conflicts with various states such as Poland have all weakened and fractured the EU.
As a result, the EU has been ill-suited to deal with what is, despite media misdirection, the single most explicit source of foreign influence and interference against it, the US. Washington has multiple channels whereby it exerts control over the EUâs many foreign policy actors. Firstly, it uses a web of government-funded think tanks and associated journalists to control public opinion and steer EU countries toward supporting its objectives. Secondly, the US has an extraordinary political hold over the former Soviet bloc states to the east of the EU (with the exception of Hungary), which it uses to foment increased antagonism against Russia and China, and therefore undermines the attempts of the blocâs most âautonomousâ and powerful states â Germany and France â to pursue more reconciliatory foreign policies.
Thirdly, the US uses the United Kingdom as its primary cheerleader in Europe (be it from within or without the EU) to project its political will onto the continent and override the will of any defiant member states. An example of this is the BBC World Service acting as a massive propaganda machine to push narratives in line with Washingtonâs foreign policies. Additionally, the US has shown an ability to work with and weaponize the intelligence services of member states against their own countries, such as using Danish intelligence to spy on other European leaders.
Through all these factors, both past and present, the US has been able to keep Europe divided, conflicted, and seemingly unable to pursue any foreign policy which actually meets European interests, as opposed to those of the US. This has culminated even to the extent of literally destroying the Nord Stream pipelines and then propagating a false narrative that Ukraine was responsible. The Ukraine war has ultimately only accelerated the isolation and irrelevance of Europe, which has strengthened the hold of the military-industrial complex over the continent, undermined its energy industries, and thus converted the term âstrategic autonomyâ into a laughing stock.
One might ask, who is truly the vassal? If a new multipolar world is emerging, itâs fair to say, Europe simply isnât part of it. Russia, China, and America are the drivers of current events, and the EU is but a passenger.
According to him, such countries as China and India, many states of the Eurasian continent, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America “understand perfectly well what this is all about.” “And they do not want to compromise their legitimate national interests for the sake of helping the Anglo-Saxons and their associates maintain their hegemony or, to be more precise, try to retain their hegemony in the global arena,” Lavrov stressed.
According to the top diplomat, such countries as China and India, many states of the Eurasian continent, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America “understand perfectly well what this is all about”
MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. China and India, as well as a number of other states on the Eurasian continent, in the Asia-Pacific region, in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, do not intend to help the West maintain hegemony in the global arena, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a meeting of the board of guardians of the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund on Monday.
Today’s world is multipolar and “few want to pull chestnuts out of the fire for former parent states in the current conditions,” to the detriment of their national interests, the top diplomat noted. “It is therefore quite natural that about three-quarters of the world’s states have not joined the anti-Russian sanctions. All of them have taken a balanced position on the situation in and around Ukraine,” Lavrov said.
According to him, such countries as China and India, many states of the Eurasian continent, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America “understand perfectly well what this is all about.” “And they do not want to compromise their legitimate national interests for the sake of helping the Anglo-Saxons and their associates maintain their hegemony or, to be more precise, try to retain their hegemony in the global arena,” Lavrov stressed.
With this in mind, Lavrov focused on President Xi Jinpingâs visit to Moscow, which “demonstrated to the entire international community that attempts âto divide and conquerâ are doomed to fail.” “Despite the dirty campaign to cancel everything connected with Russia, we still have many friends in every country in the world, including in the West. We know that they like our multinational country, love Russian culture, and share the traditional moral and family values we promote,” the top diplomat summed up.
A month ago the media didnât talk about the US losing its reserve currency status and how devastating that would be for Americans. I was laughed at for saying this a year ago. Itâs happening⊠fast. pic.twitter.com/a79WtOmN3O
In response to questions he received during a press conference on Monday about Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin cementing a ânew eraâ in the strategic partnership between China and Russia, the White House National Security Councilâs John Kirby made no fewer than seven assertions that the US is the âleaderâ of the world.
The message theyâre putting out is, âThis is our world. Weâre in charge. Anyone who claims otherwise is freakish and abnormal, and must be opposed.â
âThe two countries have grown closer. But they are both countries that chafe and bristle at U.S. leadership around the world.â
âAnd in Chinaâs case in particular, they certainly would like to challenge U.S. leadership around the world.â
âBut these are not two countries that have, you know, decades-long experience working together and full trust and confidence. Itâs a burgeoning of late based on Americaâs increasing leadership around the world and trying to check that.â
âPeter, these are two countries that have long chafed, as I said to Jeff â long chafed at U.S. leadership around the world and the network of alliances and partnerships that we have.â
âAnd we work on those relationships one at a time because every country on the continent is different, has different needs and different expectations of American leadership.â
âThatâs the power of American convening leadership. And you donât see that power out of either Russia or China.â
âBut one of the reasons why youâre seeing that tightening relationship is because they recognize that they donât have that strong foundation of international support for what theyâre trying to do, which is basically challenging American leadership around the world.â
John Kirby really wants everyone to know that America is in charge of the world. This is from one single press conference. pic.twitter.com/HeE9uGEwrW
The illusory truth effect is a cognitive bias which causes people to mistake something they have heard many times for an established fact because the way the human brain receives and interprets information tends to draw little or no distinction between repetition and truth. Propagandists and empire managers often take advantage of this glitch in our wetware, which is whatâs happening when you see them repeating key phrases over and over again that they want people to believe.
We saw another repetition of this line recently at an online conference hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce, in which the US ambassador to China asserted that Beijing must accept the US as the âleaderâ of the region China happens to occupy.
US empire managers are of course getting very assertive about the narrative that they are the worldâs âleaderâ because that self-appointed âleadershipâ is being challenged by China and the nations which support it with increasing openness like Russia. Most of the major international news stories of our day are either directly or indirectly related to this dynamic, wherein the US is struggling to secure unipolar planetary domination by thwarting Chinaâs rise and undermining its partners.
The message theyâre putting out is, âThis is our world. Weâre in charge. Anyone who claims otherwise is freakish and abnormal, and must be opposed.â
US Ambassador To China: "We're The Leader" Of The Indo-Pacific
The way US empire managers talk about "leading" ostensibly sovereign states with ostensibly independent governments shows you they really do think they own the world.https://t.co/obSehF6xZ1
Why do they say the US is the âleaderâ of the world instead of its ârulerâ, anyway? Iâm unclear on the difference as practically applied. Is it meant to give us the impression that the US rules the world by democratic vote? That this is something the rest of the world consented to? Because I sure as hell donât remember voting for it, and weâve all seen what happens to governments which donât comply with US âleadershipâ.
Iâm not one of those who believe a multipolar world will be a wonderful thing, I just recognize that it beats the hell out of the alternative, that being increasingly reckless nuclear brinkmanship to maintain global control. The US has been in charge long enough to make it clear that the world order it dominates can only be maintained by nonstop violence and aggression, with more and more of that violence and aggression being directed toward major nuclear-armed powers. The facts are in and the case is closed: US unipolar hegemony is unsustainable.
The problem is that the US empire itself does not know this. This horrifying trajectory weâre on toward an Atomic Age world war is the result of the empireâs doctrine that it must maintain unipolar control at all costs crashing into the rise of a multipolar world order.
It doesnât need to be this way. Thereâs no valid reason why the US needs to remain in charge of the world and canât just let different people in different regions sort out their own affairs like they always did before. Thereâs no valid reason why governments need to be brandishing armageddon weapons at each other instead of collaborating peacefully in the interest of all humankind. Weâre being pushed toward disaster to preserve âAmerican leadership around the world,â and I for one do not consent to this.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the leader’s Moscow visit is a cause of grave concern for Washington
“Since the start of the Ukraine conflict more than a year ago, Western countries have supplied Kiev with large amounts of military equipment, with the US alone having committed more than $32.5 billion in security assistance. Moscow has repeatedly warned the West that such support will only prolong the conflict while making it a direct participant in the hostilities.”
Chinese President Xi Jinpingâs recent state visit to Russia should be regarded as a matter of grave concern for Washington, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told lawmakers on Thursday.
Speaking at the House of Representativesâ subcommittee on defense appropriations, Austin was asked to comment on Xiâs trip to Moscow, and its ramifications for Sino-US competition.
âXiâs visit to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and remaining there for a couple of days I think sends a very troubling message, a message of support,â the Pentagon chief replied.
He stated that while the Pentagon has not seen signs that China had been providing Russia with military equipment for use against Ukraine, it is watching the situation âvery closely,â cautioning that âif they were to go down that path, I think that would be very troubling for the international community.â
He went on to warn that if Xi decided to arm Moscow, âit would prolong the conflict and certainly broaden the conflict potentially â not only in the region, but globally.â
On Monday, the Chinese leader embarked on a three-day state visit to Moscow, holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the summit, the two sides signed more than a dozen documents on increased defense, industrial and economic cooperation.
Moscow and Beijing also pledged to âdeepen relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction entering a new era.â
The US has claimed that China has been considering sending arms to Russia while threatening âconsequencesâ should it make such a move. Beijing, however, has dismissed such plans, accusing Washington of âspreading false informationâ and âfanning the flamesâ of the Ukraine conflict.
âIt is the United States and not China that is endlessly shipping weapons to the battlefield,â Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said last month.
Since the start of the Ukraine conflict more than a year ago, Western countries have supplied Kiev with large amounts of military equipment, with the US alone having committed more than $32.5 billion in security assistance. Moscow has repeatedly warned the West that such support will only prolong the conflict while making it a direct participant in the hostilities.
In Moscow this week, the Chinese and Russian leaders revealed their joint commitment to redesign the global order, an undertaking that has ‘not been seen in 100 years.’
In Moscow this week, the Chinese and Russian leaders revealed their joint commitment to redesign the global order, an undertaking that has ‘not been seen in 100 years.’
What has just taken place in Moscow is nothing less than a new Yalta, which, incidentally, is in Crimea. But unlike the momentous meeting of US President Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in USSR-run Crimea in 1945, this is the first time in arguably five centuries that no political leader from the west is setting the global agenda.
It’s Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin that are now running the multilateral, multipolar show. Western exceptionalists may deploy their crybaby routines as much as they want: nothing will change the spectacular optics, and the underlying substance of this developing world order, especially for the Global South.
What Xi and Putin are setting out to do was explained in detail before their summit, in two Op-Eds penned by the presidents themselves. Like a highly-synchronized Russian ballet, Putin’s vision was laid out in the People’s Daily in China, focusing on a “future-bound partnership,” while Xi’s was published in the Russian Gazette and the RIA Novosti website, focusing on a new chapter in cooperation and common development.
Right from the start of the summit, the speeches by both Xi and Putin drove the NATO crowd into a hysterical frenzy of anger and envy: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova perfectly captured the mood when she remarked that the west was “foaming at the mouth.”
The front page of the Russian Gazette on Monday was iconic: Putin touring Nazi-free Mariupol, chatting with residents, side by side with Xi’s Op-Ed. That was, in a nutshell, Moscow’s terse response to Washington’s MQ-9 Reaper stunt and the International Criminal Court (ICC) kangaroo court shenanigans. “Foam at the mouth” as much as you like; NATO is in the process of being thoroughly humiliated in Ukraine.
During their first “informal” meeting, Xi and Putin talked for no less than four and a half hours. At the end, Putin personally escorted Xi to his limo. This conversation was the real deal: mapping out the lineaments of multipolarity – which starts with a solution for Ukraine.
Predictably, there were very few leaks from the sherpas, but there was quite a significant one on their “in-depth exchange” on Ukraine. Putin politely stressed he respects China’s position – expressed in Beijing’s 12-point conflict resolution plan, which has been completely rejected by Washington. But the Russian position remains ironclad: demilitarization, Ukrainian neutrality, and enshrining the new facts on the ground.
In parallel, the Russian Foreign Ministry completely ruled out a role for the US, UK, France, and Germany in future Ukraine negotiations: they are not considered neutral mediators.
A multipolar patchwork quilt
The next day was all about business: everything from energy and “military-technical” cooperation to improving the efficacy of trade and economic corridors running through Eurasia.
Russia already ranks first as a natural gas supplier to China – surpassing Turkmenistan and Qatar – most of it via the 3,000 km Power of Siberia pipeline that runs from Siberia to China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province, launched in December 2019. Negotiations on the Power of Siberia II pipeline via Mongolia are advancing fast.
Sino-Russian cooperation in high-tech will go through the roof: 79 projects at over $165 billion. Everything from liquified natural gas (LNG) to aircraft construction, machine tool construction, space research, agro-industry, and upgraded economic corridors.
The Chinese president explicitly said he wants to link the New Silk Road projects to the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). This BRI-EAEU interpolation is a natural evolution. China has already signed an economic cooperation deal with the EAEU. Russian macroeconomic uber-strategist Sergey Glazyev’s ideas are finally bearing fruit.
And last but not least, there will be a new drive towards mutual settlements in national currencies – and between Asia and Africa, and Latin America. For all practical purposes, Putin endorsed the role of the Chinese yuan as the new trade currency of choice while the complex discussions on a new reserve currency backed by gold and/or commodities proceed.
This joint economic/business offensive ties in with the concerted Russia-China diplomatic offensive to remake vast swathes of West Asia and Africa.
Chinese diplomacy works like the matryoshka (Russian stacking dolls) in terms of delivering subtle messages. It’s far from coincidental that Xi’s trip to Moscow exactly coincides with the 20th anniversary of American ‘Shock and Awe’ and the illegal invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq.
In parallel, over 40 delegations from Africa arrived in Moscow a day before Xi to take part in a “Russia-Africa in the Multipolar World” parliamentary conference – a run-up to the second Russia-Africa summit next July.
The area surrounding the Duma looked just like the old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) days when most of Africa kept very close anti-imperialist relations with the USSR.
Putin chose this exact moment to write off more than $20 billion in African debt.
In West Asia, Russia-China are acting totally in synch. West Asia. The Saudi-Iran rapprochement was actually jump-started by Russia in Baghdad and Oman: it was these negotiations that led to the signing of the deal in Beijing. Moscow is also coordinating the Syria-Turkiye rapprochement discussions. Russian diplomacy with Iran – now under strategic partnership status – is kept on a separate track.
Diplomatic sources confirm that Chinese intelligence, via its own investigations, is now fully assured of Putin’s vast popularity across Russia, and even within the country’s political elites. That means conspiracies of the regime-change variety are out of the question. This was fundamental for Xi and the Zhongnanhai’s (China’s central HQ for party and state officials) decision to “bet” on Putin as a trusted partner in the coming years, considering he may run and win the next presidential elections. China is always about continuity.
So the Xi-Putin summit definitively sealed China-Russia as comprehensive strategic partners for the long haul, committed to developing serious geopolitical and geoeconomic competition with declining western hegemons.
This is the new world born in Moscow this week. Putin previously defined it as a new anti-colonial policy. It’s now laid out as a multipolar patchwork quilt. There’s no turning back on the demolition of the remnants of Pax Americana.
‘Changes that haven’t happened in 100 years’
In Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, Janet Abu-Lughod built a carefully constructed narrative showing the prevailing multipolar order when the West “lagged behind the ‘Orient.'” Later, the West only “pulled ahead because the ‘Orient’ was temporarily in disarray.”
We may be witnessing a similarly historic shift in the making, trespassed by a revival of Confucianism (respect for authority, emphasis on social harmony), the equilibrium inherent to the Tao, and the spiritual power of Eastern Orthodoxy. This is, indeed, a civilizational fight.
Moscow, finally welcoming the first sunny days of Spring, provided this week a larger-than-life illustration of “weeks where decades happen” compared to “decades where nothing happens.”
The two presidents bid farewell in a poignant manner.
Xi: “Now, there are changes that haven’t happened in 100 years. When we are together, we drive these changes.”
Putin: “I agree.”
Xi: “Take care, dear friend.”
Putin: “Have a safe trip.”
Here’s to a new day dawning, from the lands of the Rising Sun to the Eurasian steppes.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, China has supplied more than $12 million worth of drones to Moscow, demonstrating the two nationsâ deepening cooperation despite threats from the US to take action against Chinese firms, reported The New York Times.Â
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, China has supplied more than $12 million worth of drones to Moscow, demonstrating the two nationsâ deepening cooperation despite threats from the US to take action against Chinese firms, reported The New York Times.
The report noted that the shipments included DJI productsâa well-known drone manufacturer worldwideâand products from various smaller businessesâoften flowed through small-time middlemen and exporters.
The report cites official Russian customs data from a third-party data provider, noting that US measures established in the aftermath of Russiaâs invasion have failed to block shipments of unmanned aerial vehicles.
It is also hard to establish whether there are US components in the Chinese products, which might represent a breach of the US export rules. This is primarily due to the complicated sales channels and ambiguous product descriptions within export data.
Furthermore, the official sales may be only a tiny portion of a larger flow of technologies through unofficial routes and other countries close to Russia, such as Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Belarus.
File Image: Chinese Mugin Drone
As a result, Russia continues to receive new drones, which are then sent to the front lines of its conflict with Ukraine. Beijing has become a more crucial military, political, and economic partner for Russia in its war campaign.
The world continues to be largely dependent on Chinaâs factories and clusters of specialist component makers despite recent attempts by the United States to undermine some Chinese enterprises through export prohibitions.
Thus, Chinaâs stranglehold over the worldâs electronics supply chain has made it more difficult for the United States to cut Russia from crucial technology and funding.
The corporation is already under export control from the US. In 2020, the Commerce Department added DJI to a list of companies prohibited from selling technology without specific approval in the United States.
According to the customs data, the measure did not impact DJIâs domination in the drone business. The companyâs products accounted for almost half of all Chinese drone shipments to Russia.
Since the invasion, roughly 70 Chinese exporters have sold 26 different kinds of Chinese drones to Russia, The New York Times added. Autel, a Chinese drone manufacturer, was the second-largest brand sold; exporters sold about $2 million of its drones, with the most recent batch being delivered in February 2023.
Autel has subsidiaries in the US, Germany, and Italy. Meanwhile, DJI earlier asserted that it had ceased all operations and shipments to Russia and Ukraine since the start of the conflict and has âthorough protocolsâ to ensure that it does not breach American sanctions.
DJI Drones â Twitter
Since both sides are taking down drones with increasing efficiency, these consumer UAVs require regular replenishment. Due to Ukraineâs reliance on drone donations from third-party organizations and individuals, their soldiers also use DJI drones in combat.
Foreign drones, primarily DJIs, are believed to make up nearly half of the Ukrainian stockpiles. According to some experts, the proliferation of Chinese drones should be viewed in the same light as more lethal weapons.
Chinese enterprises that sell UAVs to Russia may use chains of proxy firms that include up to a dozen different firms for commercial or political reasons. In other instances, shipmentsâ descriptions may be purposefully ambiguous or underplay the overall amount of goods being sent.
Meanwhile, on March 21, Chinese President Xi Jinping posed as a mediator during a diplomatic visit to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, promoting a peace plan to halt Russiaâs ongoing war in Ukraine. The United States has denounced the plan as a biased effort to provide the Kremlin leader cover as he continues his invasion.
Putin supported Xi Jinpingâs call for a âpeaceful settlement in Ukraineâ in a display of support for one another at the Kremlin that suggested the possibility of a strengthened anti-Western bulwark at the global level.
Nevertheless, western lawmakers argued that Chinaâs offer, which calls for a truce and talks but makes no mention of Moscow withdrawing its soldiers from Ukrainian territory, was drafted without the assistance of Kyiv.
President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were filmed saying warm goodbyes as their two-day meeting ended with Chinaâs leader saying they were driving geopolitical change around the world.
The two leaders called for âresponsible dialogueâ to resolve the Ukraine crisis, with Xi acknowledging Beijing and Moscow had signed an agreement bringing their ties into a ânew eraâ of cooperation.
A video of Xiâs departure on Wednesday was filmed with translators speaking for both men.
âRight now there are changes â the likes of which we havenât seen for 100 years â and we are the ones driving these changes together,â Xi told Putin as he stood at the door of the Kremlin to bid him farewell.
The Russian president responded: âI agree.â
Xi then put out his hand to shake Putinâs and said: âTake care please, dear friend.â Putin responded by holding Xiâs hand with both of his and saying, âHave a safe trip.â
The Chinese leaderâs visit to Moscow comes days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes allegedly committed in Ukraine, where Russian forces have made little progress in recent months despite suffering heavy losses.
The talks were intended to cement the âno limitsâ partnership the two leaders announced last February, less than three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The United States has been dismissive of Chinaâs peace plan and said a ceasefire would lock in Russian territorial gains and give Putinâs army more time to regroup.
âSince becoming the worldâs most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and willfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community.It has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export controls and forced unilateral sanctions upon others. It has taken a selective approach to international law and rules, utilizing or discarding them as it sees fit, and has sought to impose rules that serve its own interests in the name of upholding a ârules-based international orderâ.
The Chinese document âUS Hegemony and its Perilsâ just came out on 20 February 2023.
It is very important â and says:
âSince becoming the worldâs most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and willfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community.
It has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export controls and forced unilateral sanctions upon others. It has taken a selective approach to international law and rules, utilizing or discarding them as it sees fit, and has sought to impose rules that serve its own interests in the name of upholding a ârules-based international orderâ.
The United States has been overriding truth with its power and trampling justice to serve self-interest. These unilateral, egoistic and regressive hegemonic practices have drawn growing, intense criticism and opposition from the international community.â
In five precise paragraphs, China analyses how the US exerts hegemony and abuse of global power in the fields of politics, military, economics, technology, and culture, media, social media as well as censorship.
The Chinese analysis is harsh but accurate â and China must be expected to act upon it.
Beware the timing. The Chinese paper comes exactly the day before Putinâs Federal Council speech and two days before Chinese top-diplomat Wang Yiâs visit to Moscow.
Below is the complete text of this important document entitled US Hegemony and Its Perilsreleased by Chinaâs Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
US Hegemony and Its Perils
February 2023
Contents
Introduction
I. Political HegemonyâThrowing Its Weight Around
II. Military HegemonyâWanton Use of Forceâ
III. Economic HegemonyâLooting and Exploitation
IV. Technological HegemonyâMonopoly and Suppression
V. Cultural HegemonyâSpreading False Narratives
Conclusion
Introduction
Since becoming the worldâs most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and willfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community.
The United States has developed a hegemonic playbook to stage âcolor revolutions,â instigate regional disputes, and even directly launch wars under the guise of promoting democracy, freedom and human rights. Clinging to the Cold War mentality, the United States has ramped up bloc politics and stoked conflict and confrontation. It has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export controls and forced unilateral sanctions upon others. It has taken a selective approach to international law and rules, utilizing or discarding them as it sees fit, and has sought to impose rules that serve its own interests in the name of upholding a ârules-based international order.â
This report, by presenting the relevant facts, seeks to expose the U.S. abuse of hegemony in the political, military, economic, financial, technological and cultural fields, and to draw greater international attention to the perils of the U.S. practices to world peace and stability and the well-being of all peoples.
I. Political Hegemony â Throwing Its Weight Around
The United States has long been attempting to mold other countries and the world order with its own values and political system in the name of promoting democracy and human rights.
â Instances of U.S. interference in other countriesâ internal affairs abound. In the name of âpromoting democracy,â the United States practiced a âNeo-Monroe Doctrineâ in Latin America, instigated âcolor revolutionsâ in Eurasia, and orchestrated the âArab Springâ in West Asia and North Africa, bringing chaos and disaster to many countries.
In 1823, the United States announced the Monroe Doctrine. While touting an âAmerica for the Americans,â what it truly wanted was an âAmerica for the United States.â
Since then, the policies of successive U.S. governments toward Latin America and the Caribbean Region have been riddled with political interference, military intervention and regime subversion. From its 61-year hostility toward and blockade of Cuba to its overthrow of the Allende government of Chile, U.S. policy on this region has been built on one maxim-those who submit will prosper; those who resist shall perish.
The year 2003 marked the beginning of a succession of âcolor revolutionsâ â the âRose Revolutionâ in Georgia, the âOrange Revolutionâ in Ukraine and the âTulip Revolutionâ in Kyrgyzstan. The U.S. Department of State openly admitted playing a âcentral roleâ in these âregime changes.â The United States also interfered in the internal affairs of the Philippines, ousting President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 through the so-called âPeople Power Revolutions.â
In January 2023, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released his new book Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love. He revealed in it that the United States had plotted to intervene in Venezuela. The plan was to force the Maduro government to reach an agreement with the opposition, deprive Venezuela of its ability to sell oil and gold for foreign exchange, exert high pressure on its economy, and influence the 2018 presidential election.
â The U.S. exercises double standards on international rules. Placing its self-interest first, the United States has walked away from international treaties and organizations, and put its domestic law above international law. In April 2017, the Trump administration announced that it would cut off all U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with the excuse that the organization âsupports, or participates in the management of a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.â The United States quit UNESCO twice in 1984 and 2017. In 2017, it announced leaving the Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2018, it announced its exit from the UN Human Rights Council, citing the organizationâs âbiasâ against Israel and failure to protect human rights effectively. In 2019, the United States announced its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to seek unfettered development of advanced weapons. In 2020, it announced pulling out of the Treaty on Open Skies.
The United States has also been a stumbling block to biological arms control by opposing negotiations on a verification protocol for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and impeding international verification of countriesâ activities relating to biological weapons. As the only country in possession of a chemical weapons stockpile, the United States has repeatedly delayed the destruction of chemical weapons and remained reluctant in fulfilling its obligations. It has become the biggest obstacle to realizing âa world free of chemical weapons.â
â The United States is piecing together small blocs through its alliance system. It has been forcing an âIndo-Pacific Strategyâ onto the Asia-Pacific region, assembling exclusive clubs like the Five Eyes, the Quad and AUKUS, and forcing regional countries to take sides. Such practices are essentially meant to create division in the region, stoke confrontation and undermine peace.
â The U.S. arbitrarily passes judgment on democracy in other countries, and fabricates a false narrative of âdemocracy versus authoritarianismâ to incite estrangement, division, rivalry and confrontation. In December 2021, the United States hosted the first âSummit for Democracy,â which drew criticism and opposition from many countries for making a mockery of the spirit of democracy and dividing the world. In March 2023, the United States will host another âSummit for Democracy,â which remains unwelcome and will again find no support.
II. Military Hegemony â Wanton Use of Force
The history of the United States is characterized by violence and expansion. Since it gained independence in 1776, the United States has constantly sought expansion by force: it slaughtered Indians, invaded Canada, waged a war against Mexico, instigated the American-Spanish War, and annexed Hawaii. After World War II, the wars either provoked or launched by the United States included the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the Libyan War and the Syrian War, abusing its military hegemony to pave the way for expansionist objectives. In recent years, the U.S. average annual military budget has exceeded 700 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 40 percent of the worldâs total, more than the 15 countries behind it combined. The United States has about 800 overseas military bases, with 173,000 troops deployed in 159 countries.
According to the book America Invades: How Weâve Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth, the United States has fought or been militarily involved with almost all the 190-odd countries recognized by the United Nations with only three exceptions. The three countries were âsparedâ because the United States did not find them on the map.
â As former U.S. President Jimmy Carter put it, the United States is undoubtedly the most warlike nation in the history of the world. According to a Tufts University report, âIntroducing the Military Intervention Project: A new Dataset on U.S. Military Interventions, 1776-2019,â the United States undertook nearly 400 military interventions globally between those years, 34 percent of which were in Latin America and the Caribbean, 23 percent in East Asia and the Pacific, 14 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, and 13 percent in Europe. Currently, its military intervention in the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise.
Alex Lo, a South China Morning Post columnist, pointed out that the United States has rarely distinguished between diplomacy and war since its founding. It overthrew democratically elected governments in many developing countries in the 20th century and immediately replaced them with pro-American puppet regimes. Today, in Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Pakistan and Yemen, the United States is repeating its old tactics of waging proxy, low-intensity, and drone wars.
â U.S. military hegemony has caused humanitarian tragedies. Since 2001, the wars and military operations launched by the United States in the name of fighting terrorism have claimed over 900,000 lives with some 335,000 of them civilians, injured millions and displaced tens of millions. The 2003 Iraq War resulted in some 200,000 to 250,000 civilian deaths, including over 16,000 directly killed by the U.S. military, and left more than a million homeless.
The United States has created 37 million refugees around the world. Since 2012, the number of Syrian refugees alone has increased tenfold. Between 2016 and 2019, 33,584 civilian deaths were documented in the Syrian fightings, including 3,833 killed by U.S.-led coalition bombings, half of them women and children. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) reported on 9 November 2018 that the air strikes launched by U.S. forces on Raqqa alone killed 1,600 Syrian civilians.
The two-decades-long war in Afghanistan devastated the country. A total of 47,000 Afghan civilians and 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers unrelated to the September 11 attacks were killed in U.S. military operations, and more than 10 million people were displaced. The war in Afghanistan destroyed the foundation of economic development there and plunged the Afghan people into destitution. After the âKabul debacleâ in 2021, the United States announced that it would freeze some 9.5 billion dollars in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank, a move considered as âpure looting.â
In September 2022, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu commented at a rally that the United States has waged a proxy war in Syria, turned Afghanistan into an opium field and heroin factory, thrown Pakistan into turmoil, and left Libya in incessant civil unrest. The United States does whatever it takes to rob and enslave the people of any country with underground resources.
The United States has also adopted appalling methods in war. During the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, the United States used massive quantities of chemical and biological weapons as well as cluster bombs, fuel-air bombs, graphite bombs and depleted uranium bombs, causing enormous damage on civilian facilities, countless civilian casualties and lasting environmental pollution.
III. Economic Hegemony â Looting and Exploitation
After World War II, the United States led efforts to set up the Bretton Woods System, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which, together with the Marshall Plan, formed the international monetary system centered around the U.S. dollar. In addition, the United States has also established institutional hegemony in the international economic and financial sector by manipulating the weighted voting systems, rules and arrangements of international organizations including âapproval by 85 percent majority,â and its domestic trade laws and regulations. By taking advantage of the dollarâs status as the major international reserve currency, the United States is basically collecting âseigniorageâ from around the world; and using its control over international organizations, it coerces other countries into serving Americaâs political and economic strategy.
â The United States exploits the worldâs wealth with the help of âseigniorage.â It costs only about 17 cents to produce a 100 dollar bill, but other countries had to pony up 100 dollar of actual goods in order to obtain one. It was pointed out more than half a century ago, that the United States enjoyed exorbitant privilege and deficit without tears created by its dollar, and used the worthless paper note to plunder the resources and factories of other nations.
â The hegemony of U.S. dollar is the main source of instability and uncertainty in the world economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States abused its global financial hegemony and injected trillions of dollars into the global market, leaving other countries, especially emerging economies, to pay the price. In 2022, the Fed ended its ultra-easy monetary policy and turned to aggressive interest rate hike, causing turmoil in the international financial market and substantial depreciation of other currencies such as the Euro, many of which dropped to a 20-year low. As a result, a large number of developing countries were challenged by high inflation, currency depreciation and capital outflows. This was exactly what Nixonâs secretary of the treasury John Connally once remarked, with self-satisfaction yet sharp precision, that âthe dollar is our currency, but it is your problem.â
â With its control over international economic and financial organizations, the United States imposes additional conditions to their assistance to other countries. In order to reduce obstacles to U.S. capital inflow and speculation, the recipient countries are required to advance financial liberalization and open up financial markets so that their economic policies would fall in line with Americaâs strategy. According to the Review of International Political Economy, along with the 1,550 debt relief programs extended by the IMF to its 131 member countries from 1985 to 2014, as many as 55,465 additional political conditions had been attached.
â The United States willfully suppresses its opponents with economic coercion. In the 1980s, to eliminate the economic threat posed by Japan, and to control and use the latter in service of Americaâs strategic goal of confronting the Soviet Union and dominating the world, the United States leveraged its hegemonic financial power against Japan, and concluded the Plaza Accord. As a result, Yen was pushed up, and Japan was pressed to open up its financial market and reform its financial system. The Plaza Accord dealt a heavy blow to the growth momentum of the Japanese economy, leaving Japan to what was later called âthree lost decades.â
â Americaâs economic and financial hegemony has become a geopolitical weapon. Doubling down on unilateral sanctions and âlong-arm jurisdiction,â the United States has enacted such domestic laws as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and the Countering Americaâs Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, and introduced a series of executive orders to sanction specific countries, organizations or individuals. Statistics show that U.S. sanctions against foreign entities increased by 933 percent from 2000 to 2021. The Trump administration alone has imposed more than 3,900 sanctions, which means three sanctions per day. So far, the United States had or has imposed economic sanctions on nearly 40 countries across the world, including Cuba, China, Russia, the DPRK, Iran and Venezuela, affecting nearly half of the worldâs population. âThe United States of Americaâ has turned itself into âthe United States of Sanctions.â And âlong-arm jurisdictionâ has been reduced to nothing but a tool for the United States to use its means of state power to suppress economic competitors and interfere in normal international business. This is a serious departure from the principles of liberal market economy that the United States has long boasted.
IV. Technological Hegemony â Monopoly and Suppression
The United States seeks to deter other countriesâ scientific, technological and economic development by wielding monopoly power, suppression measures and technology restrictions in high-tech fields.
â The United States monopolizes intellectual property in the name of protection. Taking advantage of the weak position of other countries, especially developing ones, on intellectual property rights and the institutional vacancy in relevant fields, the United States reaps excessive profits through monopoly. In 1994, the United States pushed forward the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), forcing the Americanized process and standards in intellectual property protection in an attempt to solidify its monopoly on technology.
In the 1980s, to contain the development of Japanâs semiconductor industry, the United States launched the â301â investigation, built bargaining power in bilateral negotiations through multilateral agreements, threatened to label Japan as conducting unfair trade, and imposed retaliatory tariffs, forcing Japan to sign the U.S.-Japan Semiconductor Agreement. As a result, Japanese semiconductor enterprises were almost completely driven out of global competition, and their market share dropped from 50 percent to 10 percent. Meanwhile, with the support of the U.S. government, a large number of U.S. semiconductor enterprises took the opportunity and grabbed larger market share.
â The United States politicizes, weaponizes technological issues and uses them as ideological tools. Overstretching the concept of national security, the United States mobilized state power to suppress and sanction Chinese company Huawei, restricted the entry of Huawei products into the U.S. market, cut off its supply of chips and operating systems, and coerced other countries to ban Huawei from undertaking local 5G network construction. It even talked Canada into unwarrantedly detaining Huaweiâs CFO Meng Wanzhou for nearly three years.
The United States has fabricated a slew of excuses to clamp down on Chinaâs high-tech enterprises with global competitiveness, and has put more than 1,000 Chinese enterprises on sanction lists. In addition, the United States has also imposed controls on biotechnology, artificial intelligence and other high-end technologies, reinforced export restrictions, tightened investment screening, suppressed Chinese social media apps such as TikTok and WeChat, and lobbied the Netherlands and Japan to restrict exports of chips and related equipment or technology to China.
The United States has also practiced double standards in its policy on China-related technological professionals. To sideline and suppress Chinese researchers, since June 2018, visa validity has been shortened for Chinese students majoring in certain high-tech-related disciplines, repeated cases have occurred where Chinese scholars and students going to the United States for exchange programs and study were unjustifiably denied and harassed, and large-scale investigation on Chinese scholars working in the United States was carried out.
â The United States solidifies its technological monopoly in the name of protecting democracy. By building small blocs on technology such as the âchips allianceâ and âclean network,â the United States has put âdemocracyâ and âhuman rightsâ labels on high-technology, and turned technological issues into political and ideological issues, so as to fabricate excuses for its technological blockade against other countries. In May 2019, the United States enlisted 32 countries to the Prague 5G Security Conference in the Czech Republic and issued the Prague Proposal in an attempt to exclude Chinaâs 5G products. In April 2020, then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the â5G clean path,â a plan designed to build technological alliance in the 5G field with partners bonded by their shared ideology on democracy and the need to protect âcyber security.â The measures, in essence, are the U.S. attempts to maintain its technological hegemony through technological alliances.
â The United States abuses its technological hegemony by carrying out cyber attacks and eavesdropping. The United States has long been notorious as an âempire of hackers,â blamed for its rampant acts of cyber theft around the world. It has all kinds of means to enforce pervasive cyber attacks and surveillance, including using analog base station signals to access mobile phones for data theft, manipulating mobile apps, infiltrating cloud servers, and stealing through undersea cables. The list goes on.
U.S. surveillance is indiscriminate. All can be targets of its surveillance, be they rivals or allies, even leaders of allied countries such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several French Presidents. Cyber surveillance and attacks launched by the United States such as âPrism,â âDirtbox,â âIrritant Hornâ and âTelescreen Operationâ are all proof that the United States is closely monitoring its allies and partners. Such eavesdropping on allies and partners has already caused worldwide outrage. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, a website that has exposed U.S. surveillance programs, said that âdo not expect a global surveillance superpower to act with honor or respect. There is only one rule: there are no rules.â
V. Cultural Hegemony â Spreading False Narratives
The global expansion of American culture is an important part of its external strategy. The United States has often used cultural tools to strengthen and maintain its hegemony in the world.
â The United States embeds American values in its products such as movies. American values and lifestyle are a tied product to its movies and TV shows, publications, media content, and programs by the government-funded non-profit cultural institutions. It thus shapes a cultural and public opinion space in which American culture reigns and maintains cultural hegemony. In his article The Americanization of the World, John Yemma, an American scholar, exposed the real weapons in U.S. cultural expansion: the Hollywood, the image design factories on Madison Avenue and the production lines of Mattel Company and Coca-Cola.
There are various vehicles the United States uses to keep its cultural hegemony. American movies are the most used; they now occupy more than 70 percent of the worldâs market share. The United States skilfully exploits its cultural diversity to appeal to various ethnicities. When Hollywood movies descend on the world, they scream the American values tied to them.
â American cultural hegemony not only shows itself in âdirect intervention,â but also in âmedia infiltrationâ and as âa trumpet for the world.â U.S.-dominated Western media has a particularly important role in shaping global public opinion in favor of U.S. meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.
The U.S. government strictly censors all social media companies and demands their obedience. Twitter CEO Elon Musk admitted on 27 December 2022 that all social media platforms work with the U.S. government to censor content, reported Fox Business Network. Public opinion in the United States is subject to government intervention to restrict all unfavorable remarks. Google often makes pages disappear.
U.S. Department of Defense manipulates social media. In December 2022, The Intercept, an independent U.S. investigative website, revealed that in July 2017, U.S. Central Command official Nathaniel Kahler instructed Twitterâs public policy team to augment the presence of 52 Arabic-language accounts on a list he sent, six of which were to be given priority. One of the six was dedicated to justifying U.S. drone attacks in Yemen, such as by claiming that the attacks were precise and killed only terrorists, not civilians. Following Kahlerâs directive, Twitter put those Arabic-language accounts on a âwhite listâ to amplify certain messages.
âThe United States practices double standards on the freedom of the press. It brutally suppresses and silences media of other countries by various means. The United States and Europe bar mainstream Russian media such as Russia Today and the Sputnik from their countries. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube openly restrict official accounts of Russia. Netflix, Apple and Google have removed Russian channels and applications from their services and app stores. Unprecedented draconian censorship is imposed on Russia-related contents.
âThe United States abuses its cultural hegemony to instigate âpeaceful evolutionâ in socialist countries. It sets up news media and cultural outfits targeting socialist countries. It pours staggering amounts of public funds into radio and TV networks to support their ideological infiltration, and these mouthpieces bombard socialist countries in dozens of languages with inflammatory propaganda day and night.
The United States uses misinformation as a spear to attack other countries, and has built an industrial chain around it: there are groups and individuals making up stories, and peddling them worldwide to mislead public opinion with the support of nearly limitless financial resources.
Conclusion
While a just cause wins its champion wide support, an unjust one condemns its pursuer to be an outcast. The hegemonic, domineering, and bullying practices of using strength to intimidate the weak, taking from others by force and subterfuge, and playing zero-sum games are exerting grave harm. The historical trends of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit are unstoppable. The United States has been overriding truth with its power and trampling justice to serve self-interest. These unilateral, egoistic and regressive hegemonic practices have drawn growing, intense criticism and opposition from the international community.
Countries need to respect each other and treat each other as equals. Big countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and take the lead in pursuing a new model of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue and partnership, not confrontation or alliance. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and rejects interference in other countriesâ internal affairs. The United States must conduct serious soul-searching. It must critically examine what it has done, let go of its arrogance and prejudice, and quit its hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices.
Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Beijing has repeatedly called on the White House to end its illegal practices inside Syria; the nation was also among the first to send aid to Syria following last month’s earthquake
China has repeated calls for the US to end its illegal military occupation of Syria and stop looting the countryâs resources, stressing that its continued presence has worsened Syriaâs humanitarian crisis.
âWe call on the United States to sincerely respect the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of other countries and to immediately stop its illegal military presence and marauding in Syria,â Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a news conference on 11 March.
âThe United States has illegally intervened in military activities related to the Syrian crisis, which has led to the death of a large number of innocent civilians and a serious humanitarian disaster,â Mao added before calling on US officials to lift crushing economic sanctions on Syria.
Beijingâs call came just two days after US lawmakers voted against a War Powers Resolution that called for withdrawing troops from Syria.
Around 900 US troops are currently deployed in the Levantine nation, controlling nearly a third of the country and a large portion of its oil fields. Their deployment is illegal under international law as it was not approved by the government in Damascus.
This is not the first time Beijing has bashed Washingtonâs illegal presence in Syria. Back in January, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Syriaâs energy crisis and humanitarian disaster are a result of the US and its proxy militias plundering its resources.
âUS stationing troops in Syria is illegal. US smuggling oil and grain from Syria is illegal. US missile attacks against Syria are also illegal,â he said then.
A year ago, Chinese and Syrian officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) welcoming Damascus into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Launched nine years ago, the BRI is a mega-infrastructure project that seeks to bring capital and infrastructure to Global South countries while dramatically strengthening connectivity for commerce, finance, and culture.
China was among the first nations to send aid to Syria following last monthâs devastating earthquake when aid deliveries from the west were being held up due to US sanctions.
By Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and research director of the Valdai International Discussion Club.
China has stepped up its diplomatic activity considerably. This is not only because it has broken out of the long-standing pandemic isolation that previously hampered its outreach. The main motive is that Chinaâs role and weight in the international arena have grown to the point where contemplative detachment is no longer possible. This is an important shift in Chinese self-awareness; the question now is what changes in international practice it will lead to.
Non-action as the highest virtue and the non-contradictory interpenetration of opposites are principles of traditional philosophy, but they are also quite an applied way of conducting international activities. A detailed analysis of this phenomenon should be left to specialists, but it is worth noting that the shift from such a worldview to a more familiar ideological and geopolitical confrontation took place when China adopted the generally alien Western communist doctrine.
Mao Zedong attempted to change not only the social order but also the culture of the Chinese. But his reign ended with a bargain with the United States, which was a return to a strategic equilibrium that better suited the Chinese view of the world. Mutual recognition did not mean agreement and harmony, but it was in line with the objectives of the parties at the time. This period, which lasted until very recently, is only now showing signs of coming to an end.
There is much debate in America about the last few decades, and there is complaining that it is China that has gained the most from the interaction. Criteria may vary, but in general it is hard to disagree that Beijing has been the primary beneficiary â at least in terms of the transformation of the country and its place on the international stage. Deng Xiaopingâs strategy of quiet, gradual ascent was entirely in the Chinese spirit, and the result has undoubtedly been justified.
So much so that it was extremely difficult for Beijing to understand that this super favorable and advantageous situation would come to an end.
This proved inevitable for one simple reason: China has acquired a power that, whatever its wishes and intentions, makes it a potential rival to the US. And this has led to a natural evolution of the American approach to Beijing. After all, the US style is the direct opposite of the classic Chinese style described above. And the latterâs attempts in the late 2010s and early 2020s to slow down the growing American pressure have run up against Washingtonâs firm intention to move the relationship into the category of strategic competition. To be fair, Chinaâs assertiveness and self-confidence were also growing, but if everything had depended on Beijing alone, the period of beneficial cooperation would have lasted several more years.Â
Be that as it may, a new era has dawned. Chinaâs diplomatic revival is intended to demonstrate that Beijing is not afraid to play a role in world politics. The form of engagement so far bears the hallmarks of the previous period and of that very traditional approach â the sterile precision of the wording of Chinese peace proposals on the Ukraine issue is evidence of this. But this too is likely to change. Chinaâs desire to maintain an outwardly well intentioned neutrality suits Moscow; it is the West that is quick to allege insincerity, and to do so in a tone that is unbecoming of the Chinese. Beijing should not be expected to make a sharp U-turn, which is also contrary to its sense of propriety, but the direction is set.
And it is not a question of whether China shares Russiaâs assessment of what is happening in Ukraine. Beijing has carefully avoided expressing an opinion because it does not consider it to be its business. But the realignment of forces on the world stage is taking its course, with China and Russia, whether they like it or not, on one side and the United States and its allies on the other. And from now on this will become increasingly clear. In his ten years at the helm of his country, Xi Jinping has transformed its domestic and foreign policies.
On the one hand, he has emphasized the classical Chinese outlook more than his predecessors, while on the other, he has honored the slogans and ideas associated with socialism. The former implies a self-sufficient harmony, while the latter tends to be outward-looking as much as inward-looking. This symbiosis is likely to define Chinaâs positioning in the next five or ten years of Xiâs rule. The hostile international environment will increasingly test Beijingâs ability to maintain an acceptable equilibrium. Much will depend on how successful these attempts are, including for Russia.
The US forces in the region acknowledged the maneuver. âThe United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows including within the Taiwan Strait,â the 7th Fleet Command said in a statement.
A US warplaneâs recent flight through the Taiwan Strait is a threat to the stability of the region, a Chinese army spokesman stated, as cited by China Daily on Monday.
The P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine patrol and reconnaissance aircraft flew through the strait separating mainland China and the self-governed island of Taiwan on Monday. A Chinese Su-27 took off and monitored the American spy plane along its path. Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the PLA (Peopleâs Liberation Army) Eastern Theater Command, said this maneuver âdeliberately damaged the regional situation and jeopardized peace and stabilityâ in the region. He added that the Chinese military was âon high alert to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.â
The US forces in the region acknowledged the maneuver. âThe United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows including within the Taiwan Strait,â the 7th Fleet Command said in a statement.
Taiwanâs Ministry of National Defense confirmed that they knew of the P-8Aâs flight in a short official statement on the same day, calling the situation ânormal.â
Back in June 2022, the US sent a P-8A into the Taiwan strait soon after Beijing deployed 29 aircraft into Taiwanâs self-declared air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Back then, Shi similarly accused the US and Taiwan of âhypingâ the maneuver up and testing Chinaâs determination by sending American warships through the straits. Taiwanese foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou argued that the waterway was part of international waters.
In response to the US spy plane flythrough, Beijing held their own military exercises in August.
China-US relations are experiencing increased levels of tension due to the âspy balloonâ scandal. A Chinese high-altitude balloon crossed over the continental US in late January and early February. Beijing assured it was a weather aircraft veering off course, while the Pentagon claimed it was part of a vast surveillance network of spy airships and shot it down. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his planned trip to China, while Beijing accused Washington of âhysteriaâ and an âoverreaction.â
The Energy Department has concluded that the Covid pandemic most likely arose from a lab leak, according to a classified intelligence report https://t.co/bGukTvL7MT via @WSJ
The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is just four hours, a former US Marine fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the Donbas told ABC News.âItâs been pretty bad on the ground. A lot of casualties. The life expectancy is around four hours on the front line,â American Troy Offenbecker said.
I knew exactly what would happen when China unveiled their peace plan for the conflict in Ukraine.  The night before, I told my wife that western leaders would immediately dismiss it. Sadly, that is precisely what happened. Of course, any peace plan proposed by China was not going to be perfect. But for the good of humanity, our leaders should be willing to at least sit down and talk with the Russians. Because if we stay on the path that we are currently on, eventually somebody will use nuclear weapons. And once things go nuclear, we could be facing a nightmare scenario in which hundreds of millions of people die.
This is not a game.
At some point, peace talks may become impossible. So if we have an opportunity to talk now, we should grab it.
But instead, our leaders made it abundantly clear that they arenât even interested in considering Chinaâs peace planâŠ
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, speaking on CNN, brushed off the Chinese proposal, saying it should have ended after the first bullet point, which calls for ârespecting the sovereignty of all countries.â
âThis war could end tomorrow, if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine and withdrew its forces,â he said.
Asked about the proposal, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, âChina doesnât have much credibilityâ in light of its failure to condemn Putinâs war.
The Ukrainian president has repeatedly rejected the idea of negotiating a peace deal that would see Ukraine lose any of its territory. Speaking on Friday, he said he would not negotiate with Putin â even though he was prepared to speak to him before the war started.
âIt is not the same man. There is nobody to talk to there,â he said.
I think that Zelensky would see things quite differently if he was one of the men that was being forced into the meat grinder in eastern Ukraine.
According to a former U.S. Marine that is fighting there, the âaverage life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is just four hoursââŠ
The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is just four hours, a former US Marine fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the Donbas told ABC News.
âItâs been pretty bad on the ground. A lot of casualties. The life expectancy is around four hours on the front line,â American Troy Offenbecker said.
It is a really, really horrible war.
But those that are far from the front lines can afford to talk about how glorious the war isâŠ
Just one day before the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, the official Twitter account for the NATO military alliance has come under criticism for a post that said Ukraine is âhosting one of the great epics of this centuryâ and compared the war to Hollywood movies.
The post, which quoted a Ukrainian soldier named Pavlo, said: âWe are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Naâvi and Han Solo. Weâre escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos.â
The idea of comparing the war, which has claimed thousands of lives, seen widespread destruction, and destabalised the worldâs food and energy supplies, to fictional characters was quickly deried by many on the social media platform.
I would like to see leaders from both sides being forced to serve on the front lines.
If that ever happened, this war would end really quick.
Sadly, a conflict with Russia is apparently not enough, and so the Biden administration is now relentlessly provoking the Chinese.
This week, a new round of sanctions that were announced by the Biden administration actually included entities located inside ChinaâŠ
The White House has announced yet another package of sweeping sanctions targeting Russia on the one-year anniversary of its brutal invasion of Ukraine â with new efforts to target third countries including China for sanctions evasion.
And it is being reported that the U.S. will soon âquadrupleâ the number of U.S. troops in TaiwanâŠ
The US is expected to quadruple the number of forces deployed to Taiwan in the coming months as tensions with Beijing continue to simmer.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the Pentagon plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the self-ruled island, up from around 30 a year ago.
Service members from the Marines and the special forces have been sent to Taiwan in the past and the number has fluctuated over the years.
The Chinese consider Taiwan to be their sovereign territory.
This is something that they believe with a passion.
And so the fact that the Biden administration will be sending more U.S. troops to the island has really pissed them offâŠ
A commentator for the Global Times, a media project of the Chinese Communist Party, issued a threat to the United States on Thursday night, intimating that China would not hesitate to engage U.S. forces stationed in Taiwan if the Chinese launched an invasion of the island nation.
Hu Xijin, formerly the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, reacted to a Wall Street Journal report about U.S. troops traveling to Taiwan by calling it âillegalâ and suggesting that the Chinese would treat them as enemy combatants.
âItâs illegal for these US soldiers to go to Taiwan and Chinese mainland wonât take any responsibility for their safety,â tweeted Hu. âIf we take military action when necessary, theyâll be wiped out together with the resisting Taiwan troops. They can also be eliminated first as the invading army.â
But most Americans donât understand any of this.
Most Americans have absolutely no idea that we are literally on the verge of a war with China.
Unfortunately, such a conflict is getting a little bit closer with each passing day. In fact, we just witnessed a very alarming incident over the South China SeaâŠ
A voice, saying itâs coming from a Peopleâs Liberation Army (PLA) airport, crackles over the radio of the US Navy P-8 Poseidon as a CNN crew, given rare access aboard the US flight, listens in.
âAmerican aircraft. Chinese airspace is 12 nautical miles. Not approaching any more or you bear all responsibility,â it says.
In a few minutes, a Chinese fighter jet armed with air-to-air missiles intercepts the US plane, nestling in just 500 feet off its port side.
The Chinese fighter jet was so close, the CNN crew could see the pilots turning their heads to look at them â and could make out the red star on the tail fins and the missiles it was armed with.
Why does the Biden administration see the need to endlessly provoke China at a moment like this?
It is madness.
We could easily find ourselves involved in conflicts with both Russia and China at the same time, and I have been precisely warning of such a scenario for a very long time.
Unfortunately, we have a hothead in the White House that is in an advanced stage of mental decline.
And he is surrounded by irrational warmongers such as Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken and Victoria Nuland.
They do not want peace.
So global war is coming, and I would strongly encourage you to get prepared for such an outcome.
Chinese Foreign Ministry: âThe United States has sought to overthrow more than 50 foreign governments, grossly interfered in the elections of at least 30 countries, and attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders." pic.twitter.com/RuaHBh6Xqw
âOur citizens should know the urgent facts…but they donât because our media serves imperial, not popular interests. They lie, deceive, connive and suppress what everyone needs to know, substituting managed news misinformation and rubbish for hard truths…”âOliver Stone
Tales from the Conspiratum 
