As Prof. Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran described it to me, “It’s basically a road map. It’s especially important coming at a time when US hostility towards China altogether is increasing. The fact that this trip to Iran [by Foreign Minister Wang Yi] and the signing of the agreement took place literally days after the events in Alaska makes it even more significant, symbolically speaking.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed the deal was indeed a “roadmap” for trade, economic and transportation cooperation, with a “special focus on the private sectors of the two sides.”
Marandi also notes how this is a “comprehensive understanding of what can happen between Iran and China – Iran being rich in oil and gas and the only energy-producing country that can say ‘No’ to the Americans and can take an independent stance on its partnerships with others, especially China.”
China is Iran’s largest oil importer. And crucially, bill settlements bypass the US dollar.
Marandi hits the heart of the matter when he confirms how the strategic deal actually secures, for good, Iran’s very important role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI):
Plus a lot of historical background. Pepe Escobar, a Brazilian freelance journalist and writer, is solidifying his position of an influential public intellectual.
Mackinder, Mahan, Spykman – the whole conceptual “rule the waves” apparatus is being surpassed. China may have been an – exhausted – Rimland power up to the mid-20th century. Now it’s clearly positioned as a Heartland power. Side by side with “strategic partner” Russia. And side by side with another “strategic partner” that happened to be the first historical Eurasian power: Iran....
China, Russia and Iran are the land-powers that potentially control the heartland — Eurasia. The US and UK are sea-powers that oppose them. Germany is the lynchpin for control of Europe, which is why the US regards it so crucial to stop Nordstream 2.
The foremost criterion driving national policy is economics, power and its exercise being for the purpose of acquiring resources. Future growth of the global economy lies predominantly with the Global South/East. The question how being decided is whether globalization will be the perpetuation of the Western neo-imperial "rules-based" model ("we make the rules") or the equal partners model rules-based model (international law, UN Charter).
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2 comments:
Pepe Escobar, a Brazilian freelance journalist and writer, is solidifying his position of an influential public intellectual.
Being a public intellectual is a dubious designation. They tend to be distractions not worth listening to. Influential radicals are more of a threat to business as usual.
The foremost criterion driving national policy is economics, power and its exercise being for the purpose of acquiring resources. Future growth of the global economy lies predominantly with the Global South/East. The question how being decided is whether globalization will be the perpetuation of the Western neo-imperial "rules-based" model ("we make the rules") or the equal partners model rules-based model (international law, UN Charter).
Yes, but the bigger question is whether the paradigm of growth is sustainable. Does it matter who is at the globalization wheel when we go over the cliff?
Brats fighting over toys in a sandbox - this is the eternal state of geopolitics.
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