This is also a more balanced account than some of Pepe Escobar's posts that suffer from confirmation bias. This is more critical than "creative," that is, hyped. It doesn't mention anything new that has yet to appear in the alternative news on social media, but it brings it all together into a coherent picture of the present state of affairs in the global dynamic.
Sputnik International (Russian state-sponsored media)
Pepe Escobar: Geopolitical Chessboard Shifts Against US Empire
This view is based on a particular viewpoint that favors multpolarism and decolonization, which have been to the forefront in recent developments. The Russian leadership is now talking about this specifically as the defining moment in the historical dialectic pitting the Global North against the Global South in the West's effort to maintain and extend the Western hegemony that has dominated global history over the past several hundred years. While this post remains one-sided, it is a good summary of this perspective.
Often the US, UD, Europe, and West in general are depicted as declining. There are reasons that favor this view, but it can also be argued that it is not so much a matter of the Global North declining as it is the Global South and East rising owing to the proliferation of knowledge and technology. While involves a clash among competing interests between the blocs, neither the Global North/West nor the Global South/East are homogenous in this regard. Nor are their components of equal power.
The defining factor, however, is that the US is no longer the sole superpower. Russia has regained that distinction and China has arguably arrived at it. The US as leader of the West is trying to contain them and if possible colonize them, or at least vassalize them. They are determined to resist this. The Great Game continues to unfold. Pepe Escobar's posts are useful in getting a handle on this.
Sputnik International (Russian state-sponsored media)
Pepe Escobar: Geopolitical Chessboard Shifts Against US Empire
See also
NATO Moves to Bait China
Michael Hudson, Radhika Desai, and Pepe Escobar
Related
Gilbert Doctorow — International relations, Russian affairs
Gilbert Doctorow
8 comments:
China's involvement in Congo's export of cobalt is a continuation of the 'rules-based order'. What has international law done about it?
"Russia has regained that distinction.." This so delusional. Russia is dying faster than ever. Escobar is full of shit.
Even when the US was the sole superpower, the doctrine of MAD held true. War between nuclear armed countries is off the table. So the notion that Washington is going to contain, or colonize those countries is, and always has been, a fantasy.
The system is intact. Washington will continue its interference around the world. China, who have no regard for human rights, will do business with everyone - just as their American and Canadian counterparts do. Larger economies will reap most of the benefits of trade with smaller economies. Mutually beneficial trade will be the exception, instead of the rule.
Regardless of location, your standard of living is determined by local factors - biophysical and political. Congress, not China, is responsible for America's problems. Domestic economic policy determines the kind of life citizens will enjoy, or endure. If you doubt this, just erase all borders and allow everyone to migrate wherever they want.
“Often the US, UD, Europe, and West in general are depicted as declining. There are reasons that favor this view, but it can also be argued that it is not so much a matter of the Global North declining as it is the Global South and East rising owing to the proliferation of knowledge and technology.”
I am often amazed at the extent of denialism in the USA. The reality...
> Democrat-run urban areas are crime-ridden dystopias.
> All important elections are now rigged in favor of Democrats and establishment Republicans.
> The US military is so obese, woke, vaxxed, corrupt, feminized, “diverse” (non-white) and anti-American that it couldn’t fight its way out of a paper bag.
> Hollywood produces nothing but trash
> LGBTQ supremacy is out of control.
> The USA remains de-industrialized, and U.S. society remains crippled by private debt.
> In academia, militant anti-whitism is an all-consuming obsession.
> The percentage of global reserves in US dollars has fallen from 72% in 1999 to 59% now, and the plunge is accelerating.
Meanwhile Russia and China continue to rise. The USA bombs, while China builds. China is constructing 8,000 new schools in Iraq, plus 1,000 new healthcare facilities, plus an upgrade of Baghdad’s sewage system, plus the Nasiriyah International Airport and Tallil military airport in Iraq.
In Saudi Arabia China will invest half a trillion dollars in the futuristic new city called “Neom.”
On 28 March 2023 China bought 65,000 tons of LNG from France, priced in yuan. (The LNG came from the United Arab Emirates.) Many more such Chinese purchases will accelerate, priced in yuan. China is also buying Saudi oil priced in yuan.
Africa is escaping from U.S. control, and is turning to Russia and China. Last Wednesday’s coup in Niger (26 July 2023) was a catastrophic loss for the West, and a spectacular gain for Russia and China. (Niger produces a lot of gold, plus the world’s highest quality uranium).
The West has already lost Mali, Burkina Faso, and many other African nations, along with their natural resources. China will build a massive oil pipeline from Niger down through Benin to the Atlantic coast, so that Niger can sell oil to the world.
I’m sorry folks, but Western civilization is collapsing, and has dementia, just like Biden.
All things pass. Civilizations are born, expand, thrive, and die. This is the way of the world.
The well-being of the American people don't matter to the ruling class - or the empire.
Claims of the collapse of Western Civilization (whatever that is) are exaggerated.
"Claims of the collapse of Western Civilization (whatever that is) are exaggerated."
As I wrote above, I am often amazed at the extent of denialism in the USA.
As for the ruling class, they too are on the Titanic, and they are only interested in holding on to their plush amenities as the ship sinks faster and faster.
The West has been de-industrialized, -- i.e. hollowed-out. The resulting despair among young peasants is what drives mass wokery, LGBTQ supremacy, anti-whitism, and other forms of rot. Collapse is imminent and unavoidable. The USA is its current form will cease to exist. I give it five years . . . tops.
The West has been de-industrialized, -- i.e. hollowed-out. The resulting despair among young peasants is what drives mass wokery, LGBTQ supremacy, anti-whitism, and other forms of rot.
I have lived in rural Canada my entire life. People here are socially conservative. They have the skills to make a living from the land. They aren't engaged in BS jobs. Their factory jobs are long gone, although local manufacturing still exists. It's merely a question of having to adapt, should the so-called global economy go belly up.
What goes on in urban areas may get a lot of press, may drive culture and politics, but it isn't sustainable. Cities cannot feed themselves, maintain their infrastructure, or keep the power on. They require external inputs from the hinterland. In some cases, they are tied in to the global economy. These are the modern day "liberals". They believe themselves to be living the bright future of humanity. They are as true believers in globalism as Pepe Escobar.
I could no more convince them they are on a path to destruction than I could convince Pepe that BRICS is not a cure for imperialism. They are true believers in an unsustainable system.
Collapse is imminent and unavoidable. The USA is its current form will cease to exist. I give it five years . . . tops.
Collapse of industrial civilization is inevitable, but it will take longer than five years. No one will be spared, although the poorest countries will be hit the hardest. The US is fortunate in that it can feed itself. Canada, Russia, Australia, and assorted smaller countries are fortunate they have plenty of natural resources relative to their population.
Oh, but that makes me a doomer, to believe such things. Yet you believe the US empire will be gone in just five years.
What is being touted as geopolitical change is a continuation of the status quo. There are enough fossil fuels to keep this charade running for decades to come.
Yes I believe the US Empire will be gone in five years. Or -- as I wrote above -- I believe the USA in its current form will be gone in five years, or at least fundamentally altered.
Today’s urban dystopias are parasitic and unsustainable. Their collapse is accelerating. As you said, they cannot feed themselves.
I see the USA breaking up into several smaller nations. I see conflicts as people fan out from urban nightmares like plagues of locusts. Hungry rats fleeing sinking ships.
“These are the modern day 'liberals.' They believe themselves to be living the bright future of humanity.”
I see today’s woke urban liberals as children throwing tantrums because Mommy hasn’t changed their diapers. Their tantrums consist of soiling their crib and tearing their sheets. Men can give birth. Math is sexist. Logic is racist. These absurdities are attacks on the world of reason. They are a tantrum; a form of screaming by entitled children.
The mass looting sprees in liberal cities are like monkeys who express their anxiety by flinging excrement at the bars of their cage.
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