For Leviathan, It’s So Cold in Alaska — Pepe Escobar

The real problem is that the hegemon seems congenitally incapable of trying to understand the Other. It always harks back to that notorious formulation by Zbigniew Brzezinski, with trademark imperial arrogance, in his 1997 magnum opus The Grand Chessboard:

“To put it in a terminology that harkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected and to keep the barbarians from coming together.”

Dr Zbig was referring, of course, to Eurasia. “Security dependence among vassals” applied mostly to Germany and Japan, key hubs in the Rimland. “Tributaries pliant and protected” applied mostly to the Middle East.

And crucially, “keep the barbarians from coming together” applied to Russia, China and Iran. That was Pax Americana in a nutshell. And that’s what’s totally unraveling now.…

The Unz Review
For Leviathan, It’s So Cold in Alaska

Pepe Escobar

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In a move likely to sabotage any potential (however unlikely) diplomatic breakthrough with China, on the eve of the much anticipated Alaska talks which kick off Thursday between delegations headed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's two top diplomats, the Biden administration slapped sanctions on 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials.…

The Biden administration is showing itself to the most undiplomatic administration since the Trump administration.

Why bother talking? Oh right, the US wants badger China on "human rights" for political purposes and propaganda, while doing nothing substantial about human rights domestically and among its allies.

Zero Hedge
US Sanctions 24 China & Hong Kong Officials Hours Before "Frosty" Alaska Summit
Tyler Durden

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Even allies are getting second thoughts.

Last week the French "Armed Forces Joint Reflection Circle" CRI, an independent think tank of former generals and high officers of the French forces, issued an open letter to NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg in which it accused him of having acting solely in the interest of the U.S. during the development of his NATO 2030 plan.

The letter details how Stoltenberg, NATO and the U.S. have caused the bad relations with Russia. It says that the U.S. is trying use a fictional 'Russian threat' to pressure NATO countries into morphing into a global force, under U.S. command and independent of the United Nations, to then use it against China. This while the real threat to Europe is Islamic terrorism caused by the U.S. interferences in the Middle East and north Africa. The U.S. led NATO is thereby becoming a danger for Europe.

The accusations the French generals are launching against the U.S. go beyond anything one might hear from Moscow or Beijing....

Moon of Alabama

U.S. Aggressiveness Will Accelerate Its Demise