Professor Di Dongsheng says China's close ties to Wall Street and its dealings with Hunter both enable it to exert more power now than it could under Trump.
Yes, "failed" is definitely not a strong enough verb. They are in league with--if not completely controlled by--the intel agencies. The good news is tens of millions of Americans are now fully aware they are propagandists not news reporters.
No dont blame them, look in the mirror-- even I as a non- American is responsible-- we all let this happen-voting for tax cuts, the easy lying politician etc.
The real point of this article is the question whether or not Joe Biden is corrupt, in his being part of a "pay-to-play" scheme, using Hunter Biden as the front man to funnel cash and precious gems into laundered accounts hidden from the IRS. Additionally, the MSM is accused of covering up the allegations before the November 3 election as part of the corruption scheme.
I agree that this is a significant issue, and given the public trust being invested in Biden, should be investigated.
But it should not escape our notice how similar these allegations are to the MSNBC claims about Trump being corrupted or beholden to Russia. Probably credit card company Joe is corrupt (insofar as he, like Trump, used his public service to make business deals) but the corruption doesn't extend to some kind of cartoonish deal with the Chinese government.
"But it should not escape our notice how similar these allegations are to the MSNBC claims about Trump being corrupted or beholden to Russia."
Please be specific in citing 3 ways in which the content of the above article is similar to MSNBC's commentary about Trump being beholden to or corrupted by Russia. Please include the fact-base for both the claims in the article and the MSNBC claims.
(I have multiple links to articles about MSNBC Russiagate rants, and can offer some for you to show me the purported parallels.)
The only similarity is that Republicans will continue to follow Democrats down the rabbit hole of the escalating criminalization of politics and partisan mutual destruction.
The back and forth has been getting bad for decades, but has escalated from sleaze mongering (Clinton impeachment sex scandal) to the dangerous use of govt levers of power, such as the police state, by one party against the other, and vice versa.
Yeah this has nothing to do with that. For one thing, Biden's family has been implicated in corrupt dealings with foreign nations for years - it's not some last ditch scheme to paint him as corrupt. And when you have half of the california democrats connected to the chinese communist party in some way, you've gotta wonder what else are they hiding. Additionally, these stories aren't some hyper-partisan BS scheme from some GOP higher up (ahem Hillary Clinton -straight out of the Dem playbook. what clowns), aiming to smear Biden's name, like Russiagate was, is, and always has been. No one is claiming Biden is a Chinese pawn. He might be! based on his deals with them in the past. But no serious person aka someone who isn't me - is claiming that. They - people from both sides of political ideology - are carefully cultivating stories and facts, not throwing them together into some chinese collusion narrative like russiagate was - what they're doing is far more powerful. They're saying - we're onto you Joe. Be very careful from here on out with how you treat China, our number one adversary. It's far more restrained and honest reporting, and far more effective. And, importantly, it's true.
They're not sending a message to Joe Biden, they're sending a message to America: Get ready for President Harris. Joe Biden was never more than a placeholder. He has served his purpose, and now comes the task to dispose of him.
A "Democrat party is "democratic" in name only -- it is a dictatorship of oligarch donors (WS megabanks and arms and hi-tech industries). Instead of M4A, UBI, etc. -- it is a walking dead - unable to change. In four years it will face a new and far more dangerous (i.e., competent) "Trump". Dark days are likely ahead of us all
Now that the nightmare called Trump has been voted out – how many Dem congressman and senators will publicly state that
- The entire anti-Russian narrative and “Ukraine impeachment” were deliberate fabrications
- And request resolution of Biden-Hunter corruption (Ukraine, laptop)
None -- unless they are retiring or changing party affiliation. The fraud and corruption will continue. Bernie has been a huge disappointment to millions of his supporters. By now he is a distant and hopeless apparition.
A suggestion to Tulsi Gabbard, an exact opposite of Bernie's incompetence and cowardliness.
Tulsi was a rising star at DNC in 2015 until she declared her support of democratic-socialist Bernie and was instantly “excommunicated”; soon Hillary brazenly proclaimed that Tulsi is a “Russian asset.”
Now that Trump has defeated himself -- Tulsi could do an invaluable service to our country - to have a conference (or three sequential) declaring:
1. The entire (stupid and so dangerous) anti-Russian narrative and Ukraine impeachment “entertainment” were deliberate fabrications – the entire Democratic structure knew it from the start
2. Requesting a major investigation of chronic and deep corruption within DNC – starting with Biden-Hunter corruption
3. Announce that she will join a third party and hopefully become presidential candidate in 2024
I agree with everything, but why the hate for the Orange Drumpf Very Very Bad Orange Flumph Orange Bad Man? The dude has put a light on the shit nobody wanted to look at.
Wow somehow the regime that started the virus and has complete control and mass surveillance over EVERYTHING in their country managed to get a handle on it, while a liberal country like US did it imperfectly out of deference to human rights and individual liberties. When will people realize that if you want absolute safety, and no risk of danger at all, you will be relinquishing your freedoms forever? real life is messy, and means taking risks, and believing in the innate goodness of people - not just locking everyone up and throwing away the key because it's so much neater this way. So go to China if you don't mind them being your second daddy because you can't square the idea of being responsible for yourself and your own actions. The lockdown Nazis - aka fauci, other government officials - were wrong about how to control the virus every step of the way, but they got their way and gutted millions of businesses while transferring tremendous wealth to largest corporations, flattened an entire generation of children FOR NO SCIENTIFIC REASON and with the evidence staring them in the face that the adverse effects of keeping children home would far outweigh any benefit - btw it was Trump who said they should go back to school - who's incompetent? He was right all along. It was a huge power grab.
Somehow all the people calling Trump fascist for 4 years found no problem in calling on him to take control of the country and force everyone to lockdown (something that as a president he has no choice but to leave up to the states -and it would be literally fascist of him to do otherwise)
but sure trump is incompetent. He killed 300k. Right. Utter shallow drivel. Get some perspective on how real life works.
about the other claims - SURE he did. SURE THING. Like cutting out the extremely racist and religiously fanatic CRT from government training?
CCP conniving = 1 million dead worldwide and counting. Read the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, then get back to me. The China Plague kills fat people and old people. The USA is a target-rich environment for that, but Orange Drumph Horriblis RUSSIA HOOKERS PISS!!!11!! has little to do with the sad state of health in that benighted shithole.
Wow ,if only we’d known about this before the election... Oh wait, we did! This has been circulating since last spring. The unholy combination of Big Tech and the MSM have actively suppressed and censored any mention of this. They did not want the bulk of “normal, work-a-day” Americans to be aware of the vast corruption of the Biden crime family. Their obsessive and only concern was to get rid of Trump by any means necessary. So they covered up anything that may have politically hurt Hiden Biden. Even Glenn, who is suffering from TDS, avoided this huge “red flag” before the election. Perhaps this article is a sign that his TDS is fading...
I think it is a sign that they (CNN and other mainstream media) are laying the foundation for Joe to resign so Kamala can take over. I would not say that Glenn suffers from TDS. As someone who leans right, but appreciates logic, he does a good job of finding a middle and rational ground.
You are probably correct that they are building a foundation to remove Biden. His usefulness to them is about used up and his baggage (Hunter) is finally being widely exposed. As for Glenn, I’m a huge fan, but he definitely has a case of TDS. Hopefully it’s easing and Glenn will make a full recovery.
You are a right wing cargo cultist. Trump is a giant fuck up that only got elected (2016) because the "left" and the D party establishment are even bigger fuck ups.
GG has something that a lot of people don't seem to understand anymore:
A lack of tribalistic, partisan and ideological double standards.
GG criticizes the bullshit of both D and R, left and right, particularly the media sellouts.
It is too bad that you are such a brainwashed asshole that you can't see that basic fact and that you are incapable of transcending your ideological bullshit in service of the common good.
Soon, I hope! Our spies need to investigate everybody - just to be safe. Prisons must be filled during a pandemic. Sorry but, our safety is provided by our secret police👮, spies🕵️♂️, and other good people.🙂 I like the authorities. (sarcasm)
Thank you Glenn for writing about this. The frustration/anger stemming from the “legacy media”s complete blackout of the well verified Hunter Biden scandal is almost paralyzing.
Lucky for me I guess that we have some outstanding microbrews out here in the Gorge, and these days it’s all about supporting local business, right?
And let's hope that if the OBESE! Orange Drumph Very Bad Man of Orange Tint BAD! MAN! RUSSIA BED PISS! does not prevail, the all-inclusive tent that is the Orange Man Rad Revolution of common sense and graciousness lives on. :-)
If it is actually true that China would have more influence under a Biden Administration, then honestly, phew, World War III averted. It's REALLY, REALLY hard for me to look at the current high stakes situation of US foreign policy and see even the slightest glimmer of deference to China, not under Trump, nor under the new Biden team, not from the Pentagon, or the CIA. All these entities are fully devoted to Cold War II, hybrid war, information war, and military buildup encircling China. Read their papers, their public statements, the recent NDAA bill, all of it is full of hyper-aggressive rhetoric that seems to outline a course for war.
It doesn't surprise me that there is corruption in Washington, the Biden family, or foreign influence. But you'd have to me smoking a TON of crack to think that since the Pivot to Asia under Obama and Trump's cultivated sinophobia, trade wars and further military buildup, and our virulent anti-China coalition of Australia, Canada, India, Taiwan etc, don't massively overshadow any influence China might have. Honestly, it's like somebody like saying that Saddam Hussein is pulling the strings in Washington circa 2002-2003. Like, what?
In a situation of imperialism, jingoism and cultivated racism, it's ludicrous to be concerned that the target of aggression is somehow running things in America.
IMO there are WAY better sources about US-China relations than Matt Stoller, Glenn.
There are two common strains of left-wing thought colliding here: 1) a belief that Wall Street controls the government for its financial gain, and 2) a belief that the military-industrial complex seeks escalating tensions with declared US enemies and adversaries in order to justify endless wars, arms purchases and consolidated power. But when it comes to China, these two indisputably important Washington dynamics are in conflict. The more tensions there are with China, the worse it is for the profits and bottom line not only of Wall St but pretty much every other significant industry. Nobody in the establishment Dem Party wants conflict or war with China. They do see China as a competitor, but an economic one, not a military one. There are plenty of other ways for them to remain on a footing of Endless War without pursing heightened military tensions with China. Just look at who is in the Biden Admin. The absolute last thing they want is tensions with China. They are in bed with China. They want it to remain that way. That’s what this Chinese professor is saying. He — and the obvious serious reliance on China by Wall St - are far more my source for this than Stoller. Did you listen to Di’s speech? You should.
True. It's relevant to note that, if there was a major war with China that led to Wall Street losing all its shares in Chinese joint ventures, Wall Street would expect a bailout from the US government . So Wall Street can focus on making profits from collaboration with the CCP's oppression of workers without having to worry much about the downside scenario that China would just confiscate it all in a war and walk away with the intellectual property. I think most on Wall Street suffer enough from hubris (including US chauvinism) that they are unwilling to think much about the chance that an empowered China will inflict a damaging defeat on the US, so Wall Streeters have fewer backup plans than usual for that scenario. In a different way, much of the left hastily assumes that a future with China as the major power is either unlikely or benign.
Obviously you can't read what I was saying, which makes it nearly pointless to respond to you. You read "the Communist Party of China oppresses workers" and act as if that's somehow with odds with recognizing the worker oppression that happens right here. Seeing the problems with an ostensibly or actually socialist society doesn't mean claiming that capitalism is in any way okay, just like seeing the problems with "capitalist" society doesn't entail being a fan of socialism. Capitalism and socialism are both pretty flawed systems; they're the best two economic systems that our specific (Western) culture has come up with, but they've shown themselves to be flawed enough that we should look for something better instead of remaining stuck with capitalism or socialism or a hybrid between them.
I watched the speech, but I wouldn't rely too heavily on Di's anecdotes, or him as the sole policy voice for a country of 1.4 billion people.
What he is doing is personalizing the current policy to Donald Trump and trying to puff up the prowess of China's influencers, but there is another parallel explanation for the current state of affairs: The happy relationship between China and Wall St and by proxy, the US, was contingent on a relationship where China was low supply chain creator of cheap goods for the global market, and their was an expectation that bringing foreign capital into China would bend it into the neoliberal orbit and give up socialism altogether. Now that China is rising up the supply chain, has companies and technology that directly compete with the West, and has resisted political integration into the US led-order, the US establishment sees it as a threat. Wall St will always love China because it provides big returns, but Silicon Valley, among other major industries, and the Pentagon certainly do not. It looks to me that the calculation has shifted, and the consensus is that playing nice with China is no longer in the interest of the US. And there are now myriad examples of how this new antagonism is playing out.
Perhaps Fluornoy and her plan to sink the entire Chinese military and commercial fleet in the South China Sea not getting picked can be seen as evidence of these Wall St influencers, but she seems like a typical character in the circle of Democrat appointees. The recent bipartisan NDAA mentions China 191 times. Perhaps it's just to fill defense contractors coffers and empty rhetoric. But I just can't help but see so much saber rattling and propaganda as inert. The issue seems to be about hegemony rather than personality, and these moves including the military buildup in the Pacific and South China Sea, predate Trump.
President Trump is the first President to be educated about Communist China. He has emphasized the extreme abuses of human rights in that country and has implemented ways to hold them accountable. Communist China has a million people in concentration camps, as many as Hitler did at any one time. They haven't killed as many, yet, but they abuse them severely. Every country in east and south Asia is worried about the huge military capacity of Communist China, and President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo have successfully forged alliances to prevent aggression by Communist China.
A million people in concentration camps? pfft..amateurs. The U.S boasts more than a million and a half people in our jails and prisons, and kamala has a great record for putting the black ones to work for slave wages.
Communist China has so far killed about 65 million people, way beyond anything the U.S. has done, and certainly far more Uighers. By the way, the Soviet Union killed a huge number in Afghanistan, far more than any number the U.S. has. Vladimir Bukovsky's book, Judgement in Moscow, is must reading on this, as he provides extensive documentation of the decision papers and memorandums of the Central Committee and leadership that show what a mess they made.
And President Trump is removing our troops from Afghanistan, which must please you greatly!
President Trump is not removing troops from Afghanistan. 65 million people killed by PRC is fantasy and is not supported by facts. Even so, if you add up Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, Laos, Cambodia, the various coups, dictatorships, or supported genocides like in Indonesia, you will also come out with a very big number. Except it isn't made up.
The USA does not (allegedly) have a million people in prison cities, China does. China doesn't need to kill people (except in relatively small numbers) because there is no war and all of the Uighers have known for 50 years that the Chinese govt is more than capable of mass exterminations (and are thus a credible threat that it is pointless to fight).
You dingbats are incapable of making a point without cherry picking facts to fit your narrative. Pathetic
I've known "Uigher" people (Turkmens) for 50 years, they think you are full of shit.
Actually Pompeo is one of the most intelligent Secretaries of State we have had. First in his class at West Point and Editor of the Harvard Law Review! Comparable to Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright and George P. Schultz.
" ...where China was low supply chain creator of cheap goods for the global market, and their was an expectation that bringing foreign capital into China would bend it into the neoliberal orbit and give up socialism altogether. "
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comment: what Kissinger and that crowd has been stating openly for DECADES to justify neoliberal-globalism is that by encouraging China to adopt "capitalism" and the "international system" that China was evolve toward western, democratic liberal ("rule of law"), politics.
The western academic and business people I know that were in China from the 1970s-80s got out 15 years ago because it was obvious to them that things were going to horribly wrong, Chinese politics had already begun to slide back toward totalitarianism and authoritarianism. (consistent with 5,000 years of Chinese history)
Obama and the left were MONUMENTALLY STUPID (or maybe just corrupt) for not seeing what was obvious to people on the ground, and changing course.
Obama also fucked up on Iran, Syria and Libya (which Putin exploited). Not sure about Ukraine, that might have been an impossible mess regardless of who was US President.
Where they really going horribly wrong? Horribly wrong would mean that China would be like India or any one of many African or Latin American nations that have been perpetual victims of western capital and exploitation. Modern day China has had a drastic improvement in standard of living, elicited absolute poverty, is leading in many 21st century technologies, and is soon to be the world's largest economy, they managed to dodge COVID19, and between 85 and 95% of the Chinese public approve of their government. Can American citizens say they have had any of these improvements in the last 30-40 years? And either way, we get surveillance and authoritarianism, except the American way is behind a wall of absolute secrecy to benefit a small oligarchy.
Obama and his CENTER RIGHT administration started the Pivot to Asia and Trans Pacific Partnership which were both about containing China. I think by most measures they were quire sinophobic.
This is what I said, you deflected and completely failed to respond to my point:
"The western academic and business people I know that were in China from the 1970s-80s got out 15 years ago because it was obvious to them that things were going to horribly wrong, Chinese politics had already begun to slide back toward totalitarianism and authoritarianism."
You are locked into victim narratives and illogical post-colonialist rhetoric, incapable of objective, evidence based thought.
If China is such a hellhole, why doesn't anybody who lives there think that? How is it that in a typical year 100 million Chinese tourists leave there country and happily return?
Do you know anybody who lives there or has visited there? It's a real, functioning society. I get that you don't like how it is organized, but is it actually bad to not have cops shooting people all over the place, to have people able to get healthcare and not go bankrupt, to not have 2% of the population living in prison, to get rid of homelessness, to actually do something about poverty, and to generally improve the standard of living of ordinary people? They don't even have to worry about catching coronavirus because after the first two weeks they had a competent policy for containing it. These are concrete and material improvements in people's lives. Do you think those people would trade that for liberties that are functionally meaningless? ?
I find Vijay Prashad does a pretty good analysis putting China into the same historic basket of targets of imperialism and colonialism as other nations like Venezuela.
He can't make any other point, he is obsessed with victim narratives (anti-colonialism, multiculturalism) to the point that any other way of seeing reality is impossible.
The fact that premodern, non-western cultures see those very leftist values as retarded and idiotic (Baizuo) will never phase leftist goofs like him.
Kind of hilarious when Americans that have invaded half of the world and come from a tradition of actual colonization and genocide, living on land stolen from indigenous people, think that China is the same thing. Tibet and Xinjaing were solidly part of China before the US was West of the Rockies.
If you're living on "stolen" land, set a good example and move to Réunion. Would that not be the least hypocritical thing for you to do? Prove your wokeness and do it! lol
But I think the way that Ian B frames it (below) is more on point. Of course, there is ambivalence, but it is tactical. The US will not tolerate a challenge to its position of global dominance (even as it argues over whether there is still more profit to be made from exploiting Chinese labour). The reality is that China simply is not a threat at this time and to the extent that it is (which would be through leveraging its foreign currency reserves to usurp the US dollar dominance) it seems to be contained for now (and btw, I hope I am wrong, the world needs an alternative to the dollar).
Making this kind of absurd claim without citing evidence shows that you can't be taken seriously. The PLA may have more troops than the US military, but that has never been enough to show that one country's military is "far larger and more aggressive" than another, nor that it's "far more dominating around the world". Those claims would require much more to be backed up. I'm reminded of Herodotus's line about how the army of ancient Persia had a lot of guys in it, but few men.
I wouldn't know how to quantify the size of China's military compared to America's, but it's hard to make the case that China's military is more aggressive than ours. The U.S. has hundreds of military installations in dozens and dozens of countries spread around the world, staffed by tens of thousands of personnel. It is presently involved openly in direct military conflicts in at least seven countries, the jewel in the crown conflict being the 20 year war in Afghanistan. This isn't even counting secret CIA activity. China needs to get on the stick if it wants to match the U.S. in military aggression.
The Chinese empire is of the classic kind: they control vast lands whose natives are NOT Han Chinese - Sinkiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and other, smaller areas. They are very aggressive there.
It is true that they haven't been militarily expansionist; they would rather buy influence, which is sensible of them - a sign of competence the US does not exhibit.
Not true, the US stands supreme military wise, recently surpassing Russia, which is now second thanks to DonaldJTrump. Recently China pushed territorial claims with Japan in the South China Sea, US responded by reinforcing the already very large presence in Japan, and China very quietly backed off. End of story.
You also just need to look at the common reaction to your article "China scary. China taking over the world. China. China. China." to question whether this specific article will end up serving power interests in Washington... And sure, 100% the Bidens are corrupt, China can be used to leverage Neo-Liberal interests and the expense of the working class.
Do you feel that the view of the Chinese, as exemplified by this well-connected and highly placed professor — that the return of Wall St dominance under Biden means Beijing will be able to operate well in Washington again — is wrong, or that it shouldn’t be highlighted? Like I said, I think China is very different than most other official US enemies (Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea) because of how closely tied they are to the economic ruling elite of the US, which is always predominant (even the military-industrial complex thrives primarily to serve economic interests).
Phrases like "the return of Wall St dominance under Biden" are the source of your good-faith, cynics, Glenn.
Of course credit card errand boy Biden is a shill. But "return" implies that somehow Wall Street was reined in by Trump.
There is simply no evidence for this view, other than wish-fulfillment about muh Right Wing populism; Trump consistently supported de-regulation and tax cuts for Wal Streeters, whereas Biden (though a shill) supports relatively more restrictions on Wal Street's power and wealth (Dodd-Frank, higher taxes).
The points you made do not negate anything I wrote since they are ones I explicitly made in the article. This is what I wrote:
"None of this means that Trump was some sort of stalwart enemy of Wall Street. From massive corporate tax cuts to rollbacks of regulations in numerous industries and many of their own in key positions, the financial sector benefited in all sorts of ways from the Trump presidency."
So nobody is saying that Wall Street was somehow defeated or shut out of a Trump presidency. The point of Di's speech is that Wall Street couldn't control Trump the way it had prior presidents and will be able to with Biden. One of the leading examples he cited was China (and Wall Street's) inability to get Trump to stop the trade war.
The Trump administration has not supported Wall Streeters. The tax reform bill of 2017 did not support them. In fact the reason why so many Democrats want the bill repealed is the limit on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, which has meant that the wealthy (say $1 million/year income and a house valued at more than $500,000) are actually now paying more in taxes. The decrease in the tax on corporate profits made it equal to the tax rate in other developed countries, and the biggest beneficiaries have been employees with pensions (such as public employees, including especially teachers), which were badly underfunded but now are getting larger dividends and much increased stock value.
I used the example below of "Israeli Influence" which I think is a good analogy. It's not false to claim that Israel exercises an undue influence on US domestic and foreign policy, but when it turns into the tail wagging the dog it becomes problematic for two reasons: (1) it masks where the actual power levers actually are and (2) creates a bedrock for "blaming the other"
My point is that China can only exert influence if it is within the confines of the overarching goals of the empire so in that sense it is necessarily limited so focusing on it is a distraction.
I am also an Australian and I can see how much the myopic view of China as the ultimate villain is used here to mask Australian/US aggression. So my point is more that this needs to be defused.
Israel and U.S. are partners because Israel is the only country in the Middle East that shares our value of human rights and individual freedom. The peace agreements and recognition of Israel by Muslim countries is spreading women's rights and gay rights into countries that are the worst oppressors in the world of women and gays. That has been the focus of President Trump since he took office. His emphasis on opposing the huge violations of human rights in China is for the same reason. President Obama's actions in supporting Iran are the worst attacks on women's rights and gay rights of any modern President (say since Wilson).
China is a threat to America and everyone in the world. Look at the way they treat their own citizens to figure out what they'd do when they achieve global power. America is far from perfect but China is Perfect TM and everything that's not needs to be "reeducated" - that's what makes them terrifying, and why we definitely need to speak up against them and fight them at all costs. Why the ambivalence...
Growing up being scared to death about Russia, as my teachers and the media informed me I should be, I realized both sides would have to work together to bring those bad feelings to a nuclear war, not just Russia, it would be a dual commitment. Didn't happen, saner minds prevailed. As far as the way China treats their people, well a lot of people here are full of complaints. Not to mention the way we treat many citizens of the world. We kill them, and sometimes we kill them in the millions. It wasn't China all over the Middle East doing that. I want to state publicly I'm not afraid of China, and at this point in my life I'm more afraid of US.
well, tell that to the muslim detainees in china, the religiously persecuted, and political enemies. Stop clowning about and get real. You clearly live a charmed life.
So much jingosim there it's hard to know where to start. I'll begin and end with a simple reminder: China's corrupt capitalism for the ruling class while starving a billion people in the countryside poses an historic problem they will need to deal with. Their history is replete with the reckoning of this harsh imbalance, and we're already witnessing a dangerous groundswell in Hong Kong where even the privileged capitalists are beginning to revolt against oppression. It's hard to fight the U.S. empire while fighting a billion of your own.
After seeing Kissinger appear about a month ago I can’t help thinking that the “two common strains of left-wing thought colliding here” are going to be united by an unspoken agreement that results in the controlled (continued) destabilization of Central and South America.
A public show of military tension is great for the capitalist “defense” industry in both countries, plus the southern Americas are shaping up to be the last vestige of any sort of a counter-left to unfettered Capitalism as a global ideology/religion. Looking at the recent Middle East countries’ agreements with Israel, the United Arab Emirates‘ continued rise as a “western” country/playground, I think the destabilization that is intrinsically necessary to Kissingerian “diplomacy” may shift away from the Middle East (minus Afghanistan) and south of Mexico.
Read Helen Raleigh's "Confucius Never Said" for a factual analysis of why that is incorrect. Communist China has nothing to do with Chinese civilization. Communism was imported from Germany and Russia.
Communism is not at all what they presently practice.
For a small example, the famous "7-dash Line" on which they base their claim to the South China Sea is literally an artifact of the previous Empire - and in general, their boundaries correspond as exactly as possible to the claims of that Empire. In fact, it's very much like the Soviet Union, which was just a new version of the Russian Empire: empire lightly disguised. A 3,000 year tradition doesn't just go away.
Of course, this is in no way to defend the present US empire.
In some ways but their system was premised for 100s of years on allowing mass starvation, which as the following article points out, ironically had the effect of raising the IQ of the Chinese gene pool to the highest level on the planet.
The middle east provides the richest battle ground on the planet. The U.S and China (or Russia, N Korea, Pakistan, et.al) can go to war with each other by proxy, blowing up all those brown people while continuing to build gleaming monuments to capitalism on their own unscathed shores.
"a situation of imperialism, jingoism and cultivated racism". Been to China, or India, or Pakistan, or Russia, or Nigeria, or anywhere that is not eating multiculti salad? You don't avoid war by paying Danegeld and taking some of it back in bribes. You avoid war by being strong and showing that you will go to war with a determination to win. NB - America has not won a war in years, which is why we are always at war.
It's simpler than that, you avoid war by not constantly creating them. America is a unipolar hegemon, and our doctrine is Full Spectrum Dominance, meaning complete world domination in every possible sense. We cover the Earth with almost a thousand military bases, have enough nuclear weapons to wipe out everything many times over, and spend 60% of our tax dollars on weapons and war.
The reason we continue to fight wars is because a ruined and destabilized world is easier to dominate, because it makes lots of money for war profiteers, because it gives us an excuse to put bases everywhere, and because politicians are psychopaths. Here we are surrounded by two oceans, and nobody is even threatening us in the slightest in terms of military, but we can't stop killing people on the other side of the planet? It's because we don't need wars, we choose them.
That's childish. Russia and China boast of hypersonic missiles and both have stated their willingness to initiate war with the USA. The Chinese are bent of the subjugation of all other polities. Take a look at HK. Africa. Their own people. The Russians believe in "lose-lose", the Chinese in Win at all costs.
The Iranians are in a permanent state of proxy war. It's a dangerous world - having two oceans means having three coasts (including the Gulf Coast) to defend - three coasts to attack. Spending on strong defense and offense capabilities reduces the chance of us being returned to the Stone Age.
Dude, you don't understand anything about the countries you are talking about. This is pure hallucination and fantasy.
Have you ever wondered WHY other countries might want things like hypersonic missiles? Surely to attack the US for no reason while it's just innocently minding it's own business, right? Just because Russians are evil, right? Surely not because the US is ringing the Russian border with anti-missile systems AND medium range nuclear weapons.
Perhaps consider the elephant in the room, the world's most powerful and violent country threatens everybody else who doesn't lay down and become a vassal state and they feel it in their interest to protect themselves.
The point that the US exercises an unjust hegemony is no evidence against the point that a rival power like China would like to establish its own global hegemony to replace the current US one.
Correct. There are no examples of an advanced civilization in all of human history that avoided the pattern you describe. (there are a few minor examples due to geographic isolation)
China's propaganda and brainwashing campaigns have clearly been successful in penetrating the "baizou" (stupid left) population in the USA based on a lot of the comments here.
Well, you seem to be a strong supporter of President Trump, who really wants us to mind our own business and not get involved in foreign wars, unlike his predecessor.
And I agree with your assessment of Communist China as the "world's most powerful and violent country". Their aggressive involvement in Africa, the Middle East and even Europe (think Italy, where they have a big Belt and Road presence) certainly fits your description of them. They have made vassal states of Tibet and Xinyang and half a dozen countries in Africa.
I hate to bother you again, but I love what you're writing. What is amazing to me, and shouldn't be, is the lack of any understanding of Chinese culture. The culture of a country entirely determines its goals and the way it behaves in the world. Even if you hadn't a clue about how the Chinese think, it seems the evidence historically of their lack of desire to colonize the world or spread their ideology would fill in the gaps for you.
historical evidence= relevant. current evidence = even more relevant. You can defend china on historical basis, but in a similar vein, would you defend North Korea if they wanted to take precedence in the global economy even if historically they've been ethnocentric and isolationist? China has been historically isolationist - that's now changing.
Here is an honest question I would appreciate an answer to:
Why did the US want to normalize trading/economic/diplomatic relations with Communist China but not with our tiny island neighbor just 90 miles from Miami, Communist Cuba??
Not it is not. Russia and China DO have hypersonic missiles amongst other significant weapons. And China might even have level 3 lab biohazards-- hmmm can you say virus? WHY do people look at the war machines and not the means of the next ww-- information
>> the US for no reason while it's just innocently minding it's own business, right? Just because Russians are evil, right? Surely not because the US is ringing the Russian border with anti-missile systems AND medium range nuclear weapons.<<
The U.S. has a very long history of bellicosity. That is obviously going to contribute to other nations wanting weapons that match our military capabilities, or at least deter their threat or use.
You seem to be a supporter of President Trump! He has negotiated peace in several parts of the world and has ended our military presence in other countries.
Four Muslim-majority countries have recognized Israel under his leadership, while only 2 did so in the previous 70 years. That is a big win for women's rights, as Israel was the only country in the Middle East to give women full rights. Sudan, for example, has agreed to make illegal several extreme types of attacks on women.
However there is a slight mistake in your second paragraph. I am sure you meant to say "Communist China has a very long history of bellicosity."
China has a 5,000 year old history of "statist" wars, mostly internal, but that is mainly because they didn't have a lot of neighbors that could easily be invaded and plundered:
1. north, mostly tundra or similar (mongolian nomads were a problem, but not one that an ancient army was able to defeat over the vast region involved, thus the Great Wall)
2. east: pacific ocean
China did attempt a few invasions of Japan, but they weren't very successful, except may as glorified raiding parties (?)
3. south: almost impassible tropical jungle and Himalayas
To be fair, the US military has been into bioweapons research for decades. Recall the anthrax attacks after 9/11? That strain of anthrax was military grade I believe originating at Ft. Dettrick.
I have also read about US military biolabs in Ukraine etc. I would betcha the US has bioengineered some very evil viruses and other pathogens.
@Ian B: Your first sentence shows the limits of your thinking ("If it is actually true that China would have more influence under a Biden Administration, then honestly, phew, World War III averted").
Generally, when two major powers lack a strong common enemy, the only thing that averts a big war between them is two-sided deterrence. That is, each of the two countries has to have an adequate set of deterrents against the other country's aggressive moves. It is absurd when you say that a scenario where China would have more influence over a Biden administration would avert World War III. Such influence by China would do nothing to prevent China's moves towards becoming the dominant global power, and I doubt it would stop aggressive US moves against China either. You seem to think the only danger that matters is American aggression and hegemony. And also, you don't get Greenwald's point that it's not good to have US decisions influenced by an authoritarian outside government -- a point he's made not only about Chinese influence but also about influence by the UAE, for instance.
China isn't the US. It doesn't have the same cultural history, philosophy or goals. American hegemony has been playing the "bad guy" game since it has existed to justify its own aggressive actions on the narcissistic projection that other societies are exactly like them (but more evil).
You are incapable of escaping the postmodern-left's echo chamber of victim narratives (amplified in China sponsored USA leftist think tanks for years), and thus you can't see obvious facts and evidence that contradict you narrative.
Or maybe you aren't as brainwashed and propagandized as you seem and are on the Chinese payroll.
@Ian B: That's like saying in 1800 that the US wouldn't be like European empires just because the US lacks laws setting up a minority of families as hereditary rulers. Or like saying in the 19th century that drawing attention to the US's aggressive acts is merely a "bad guy" trick used to justify the acts of more traditionally aristocratic empires. On the contrary, I see the US as behaving more or less like other major powers historically do, and that goes for China as well. The differences between the US and China aren't enough to override the common tendency of any major power to try to gain power internationally in ways that grow more oppressive. You excessively limit yourself to seeing other countries in terms of their relation to Western imperialism; that's a view that's centered around just one part of the world, and it hinders you from taking the more reasonable approach of recognizing common tendencies that major powers tend to share throughout history.
I recommend you learn about Chinese history and culture, particularly their history of foreign policy, commerce and naval expeditions during the same period Europe began colonizing the planet. No crusades, no forced conversions to Confuscianism, no slave colonies, no genocides of natives. In fact much or Chinese history is textbook isolationism.
I can make the point based on actual history, or on what the political ideologies of China have been over the millenia, and what they are now. But the real challenge is the lack of imagination necessary to envision or comprehend these differences, that they could even exist.
Nobody is saying that Chinese history is happiness and smiles, but it IS different from European history and it has taught different lessons.
I've said it before, but cultural projection is a real thing, and it always serves those in power by normalizing and legitimizing their behavior and banishing ideas that things could be any different.
This is simple. China had nowhere to expand. it has a vast ocean on one side, tundra and deserts to another two sides, and impassable tropical jungles to the other.
China did not make the same technological, scientific and social advances that medieval Europe did. It did not have the maritime forces or any significant experience with large nation naval war.
Your inability to do anything other than make silly excuses for a totalitarian regime and fall back on idiotic leftist victim narratives is appalling and ridiculous.
@Ian B: You think that some major powers simply are, over a period of many centuries, consistently less aggressive than their rivals and that we can rely on them to continue this pattern in the future. That's a nice romanticized view, but when it comes to major powers, there are no such long-lasting guarantees. You could just as easily point out that at the time of the Meiji Restoration, Japan had no history of imperialism or large-scale conquests -- to quote your words about China, "much of [Japan's] history was textbook isolationism" until then. But Japan quickly changed course and became a major imperialist power, taking over first Korea and then many other lands. Anyone in 1870 who used your line of reasoning to say that Japan wouldn't turn imperialist would be proven wrong by later facts.
Because I doubt you'll grasp what I just said, I'll spell it out more. You make too much of the not-very-permanent differences between Chinese history and Western history. It's easy to demonstrate there have been differences in the past: Zheng He was no Columbus, nor was pre-20th-century China interested in pursuing trading voyages and marine expeditions to the most distant parts of the world on the scale of the modern West. And since China has never been dominated by monotheistic religions, it hasn't shown typically monotheistic traits like forced conversions or crusades/jihads. On the other hand, the fact that we find lots of forced conversions and crusades in the West's history doesn't mean this is a permanent trait of Western powers. Someone who would argue that the West of the last two generations is still carrying out forced conversions, or crusades, or setting up slave colonies, would be making a dubious interpretation at best; it would smack of artificially twisting the present into a framework that's stuck in the past just to make moral condemnation easier. The West is doing awful things now and did awful things in the past, but they're different awful things. Specifically, the present-day West doesn't have monotheism integrated into its power structure in the way that's required to generate things like forced conversions. The US still has the level of aggression you'd expect from a power of its size, but its aggression takes a different form.
On the other hand, if you want to look at the record of the historical Chinese state, it doesn't have the peaceful implications you suggest. The Chinese state became an empire quite early on, and it didn't acquire that empire peacefully or with any respect for human rights. It continued for millennia to retain, in a more or less stable form, pretty close to the maximum size that any empire could be in the pre-1500 world. But that was about the maximum amount of empire they could get, and their remaining more or less at the maximum does NOT show any lack of aggression. Similarly, when the stifling traditions of the authoritarian Chinese state prevented them for centuries from following in the footsteps of the European global empires, it doesn't show any lack of aggression either. It's just that the possibilities for a more modernized aggression failed to penetrate the thinking of Chinese leaders because it was too wrenching for them to abandon the specifics of their more traditional forms of domination. In the year 2020, it can no longer be said that the current government of China fails to understand how aggression works in the contemporary world or how to modernize its military and governmental operations. So the near-stasis of China's empire in the past doesn't prove anything about the future.
You say Chinese history includes no genocides of natives. That's false: just look up the Qing dynasty's Dzungar genocide, or their Yangzhou massacre in 1645, or what Ran Min did. Or, if you are interested in future prospects for imperalist policies by China, look at what happened after first Sun Yat-sen and then Mao Zedong decided to make a sharp departure from China's old governmental traditions. Maoism was an ideology that sought to be a transformative global influence, and to achieve a level of international power for China to match that influence. As part of Maoist ideology, China not only inspired but supported the Khmer Rouge, who were genocidal, and China maintained them as part of its sphere of influence. China currently is engaged in semi-genocidal killing and repression of the native Uighurs.
It seems you think that China in future will be a top economic power without being hegemonic in more aggressive ways. Well, that was exactly what Japan worked to do in the 1980s, making the unusual attempt to pursue economic power without military dominance. Japan was briefly seen as perhaps the top economic power in the world then, but its status quickly collapsed. Certainly China's leaders are thoroughly cognizant of how that approach failed and will therefore refuse to follow it. Since at least Stalin's death China has wanted to exercise a global leadership that is more than just economic or cultural, and in recent decades China has been energetically copying every feature of Western powers that they think might be effective in gaining global leadership. So I won't place excessive weight on the fact that China has no history of global imperialism. England, which later became an imperialist nation on the most global scale, had been consistently the victim of aggression and not the aggressor until around the time of the First Crusade. The Jewish people had been largely victims of aggression for millennia, and then the Zionist movement decided to change course and build a country which would be aggressive on a scale that had been unknown in Jewish history. There just aren't any major powers that steadily remain unaggressive over long periods of time and can be relied on to do so in future.
To those who romanticize China, all this will be explained away as the result of anti-Chinese propaganda and as assuming that China is just like the West. But to support my points, one need only recognize that almost all major powers tend to be aggressive and to seek hegemony on pretty much whatever scale they're capable of, and that no society is inherently unimperialist because any major power can change into imperialist form even if it had never done so before. If a Chinese global hegemony comes to pass, it would differ in some details from Western hegemony; it might be better in not having old-fashioned slave colonies for instance, and it might be worse in introducing its own novel and staggering violations of human rights. But in the end, instead of trusting any one society to be nicer, it makes more sense to support human rights and independence regardless of who the aggressor is.
I found this to be an intelligent and refreshingly informed response. Speaking of Qing Dynasty, the Manchus did some really horrifying things in Xinjiang and western China.
But to attempt be concise this is where I take issue:
1. The Uigher situation is not what the US media and Western governments portray it to be, and it is not a genocide. Whether it is a benign approach, or the best approach, to dealing with Islamic radicalization and people living in nomadic lifestyles is a different question.
2. Histories teach lessons. The way nations evolve is surely based on circumstance, but they learn certain values and truisms from those circumstances. To be a victim of colonialism and imperialism over hundreds of years gives you a different way of looking at the world as does being the aggressor and exploiter. The US can't get over the notion that it "won" WWII and therefor it's role as a winner, or dominator is inherently good for the planet. I think China and countries in the global south understand this kind of use of power differently, not just from the perspective of morality, but also long term sustainability. Their number one goal is simply to establish and protect their sovereignty. If you understand Western framing from media and politicians, defensive actions of "adversary" states are always viewed as aggressive actions, and the thing they are defending against (US imperialism) is made invisible.
3. I don't see modern China's behavior or rhetoric indicative of aggression, expansionism, or really anything other than protecting their sovereignty, defending their right to materially develop their society on their own terms, with their own government, rather than that chosen by the USA or IMF, and to promote alternatives to neoliberal imperialism to the global south establishing a more equitable and multipolar win-win global environment which to a large degree, their long term survival depends upon.
I am sympathetic to the above view because frankly we are headed for major planetary challenges that the US-led capitalist world, neoliberalism, militarism will do exactly nothing to address. If continue to play this "Last Man Standing" game of absolute dominance on behalf of greedy psychopaths, while the planet burns, we aren't going to make it. The only path to survival is one that is cooperative and inclusive of China, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America, and that isn't constrained by the insatiable needs of out of control markets and the imperial states they control.
WW III is an information war-- we are in the midst of it. Interesting that the extreme nature of the information war (words but no proof)was Wuhan province. Coincidence? maybe
"IMO there are WAY better sources about US-China relations than Matt Stoller, Glenn."
I agree that Stoller makes a very poor, unsupported case for his loud lamentations about China. (I think it was an interview by Glenn where I saw him fail miserably to support his case.)
But Greenwald doesn't cite or allude to Stoller in the above piece, does he? (Haven't clicked all the links.)
I guess I'm thinking of him having Stoller on System Update in the past. Glenn did a counter-interview with Kishore Mahbubani, but it really sounds like Matt's thinking influenced him more because he uses similar logic/language in this piece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsVEiL4hsrU
You're "pro" Wall Street colluding with the CCP to enable/accelerate our economic decline because you're "anti" World War III with China. Why not just be "anti" both?
The CPC is doing right by it's own people by improving their living standards and developing their economy and infrastructure. They are objectively better off than 30-40 years ago. That is their business.
Our business is what our own capitalist elites and politicians do. If we took a page from China, exercised some control over our finance sector, and invested in our own country, then we wouldn't have a problem. But it's a bit ludicrous to blame the country working to move away from mud huts and bicycles in equal measure as your own corporations and politicians who hollowed out America for their personal profit.
I don't "blame" China. What it's doing is in its interest, of course, but it's not in our interest. I blame our corrupt, cowardly, and just plain incompetent leaders for not, as you say, exercising more control over our financial sector and investing in our own country. I don't blame China for taking what our leaders have been freely offering.
You have a very cowardly attitude to evil. China, or rather the Chinese Communist Party have no problem locking up their opponents, putting people in concentration camps, persecuting their enemies, lying about everything, exploiting anyone who isn't them. And you think standing up to them is bad? You also seem to think the Taiwanese, who are Chinese and like the Hong Kongers suggest the Chinese could prosper in a free democratic country, are "virulently" anti China for no reason? It's the Chinese Communist Party who are imperialistic, jingo-istic. Jesus you're an idiot, or evil yourself. And no Saddam Hussein was running a poor backward country - China is neither.
If you don't understand the formula...every country the US wants to bomb or subjugate is LITERALLY HITLER and the most evil of all time. Meanwhile we are just innocently minding out own business, never messing with anybody or giving them reason to fear or resist us. I don't know why people even trust the mainstream media, it's a predictable targeting mechanism on behalf of the US empire to demonize whoever they want to attack. It ALWAYS works like this. Why do you trust them?
And yeah, I understand the history of Taiwan, the ROC and PRC. I get that they want to be an independent country now, but legally they belong to China, were ceded back to China from Japan, for decades represented "China" at the UN, and for 70 years they have claimed sovereignty over the entire mainland.
From the side of China they have already endured colonial partition in the past with Hong Kong, Macua, the Embassy Districts, Japanese occupation, etc even Tibet briefly being a British protectorate. Now another part of their territory has its own sovereignty and is allied with a larger enemy, the US, and receives weapons that could easily be used to attack the mainland on behalf of the US. You don't think they would be a little sensitive about it?
Taiwan needs to work it out peacefully with China. The whole military conflict thing is a consequence of getting the US involved which is hugely provocative.
I'm no fan of American foreign policy or imperialism, but just because America - or at least the Trump administration opposed China -, but that has nothing to do with how China is under the Chinese Communist Party. Sure it's much better to be a Chinese in China than a Korean in North Korea, but it's still pretty bad. No freedom, terrible pressure to conform, knowing dissent that is noticed will be punished. How the Chinese people suffer under the Chinese Communist Party is now and real. Your points about Hong Kong - and Hong Kong would dearly love not to be a part of China -, and Japanese Imperialism doesn't make the Chinese Communist Party any less evil. Just because "America bad", does not make China good - or more precisely the current rulers of China good. Also you cannot accurately describe the leasing of a malarial rock with a small fishing village as Hong Kong was with dividing a huge country. Also Tibet is not Chinese, it is an occupied colony.
TBH, I was a bit shocked to read this article from GG. If China can exert influence, great! But it is unlikely. Sure any sufficiently complex society will have distinct interests but the geopolitical analysis should focus on the unchanging institutional parameters.
For example, when Israel was formed, much of the US was opposed because its interests were vested in the Gulf. Then in 1967, Israel's potential as the ME Sparta allowed "supporters" to dominate. But whether the administration was pro or anti-Israel: domination of the Middle Easy oil and the currency in which it is trading was the overriding concern. So similarly here, just because there are different agendas about how to geostrategically dominate China, doesn't mean that isn't exactly the goal the US will pursue. If the means are less overtly Hawkish, that probably will help avert WWIII for a couple more years.
Where is the world is China NOT influencing? Heard of the tiff with Australia? Even we in Canada have had a dust up , then there is the showering of riches to any country who wants new infrastructure-- the Old Silk Road now Belt and Road. And what part of Biden Jr's and others "work" in China not about influence-- geez open your eyes
I really hope Glenn reads these comments and understands what is so problematic about this article. Yes, Chinese global influence is the problem, not Western. Aha.
Nothing says "I know I am right" like an ad-hominem attack. The play is always to tell you the enemy is "out there". The only thing that changes is who the enemy is.
Sure. But it is a question of degrees and what the majority of the readers here can influence. There is no doubt that "CHINA!!!" will be used as the next leaver of control against Western populations, so this needs to be pushed back against. China doesn't have to be the second coming for that to be a higher priority than feeding into these fear tactics.
The next level of control (already here since Obama if not before) is corporate supported "woke" cancel culture terrorism, which GG and other journalists and scholars have been explaining for months and years.
You seem to have missed that, or just ignored it because you are brainwashed by postmodern deconstructive nihilism (SJW victim narratives) that are behind "woke" cancel culture.
As far as fear narratives go, all you are doing is pushing a fear narrative about the USA! lol
Try dual containment - of Western hegemony and of moves toward hegemony by a rival power like China. We no longer have the luxury of thinking that rights can be best protected by opposing only US hegemony. Just put rights first, without letting that be a tool for anyone's hegemony, and make sure that any country's attempt at hegemony is faced with resilient and indomitable pushback. At a time when US power is falling and China's is rising, that's the only thing that will work.
I can't really get on board with your very tactical model of news and human activity generally, and I largely feel the same way about this article. If there's specific allegations of fraud that might impact the president's decision making then sure, but I'm not interested in this model of language as warfare.
Unless you are a communist why is it “great” that communist China will exert influence?
You seem to be making the argument that unless China gets to control the world, as they clearly claim is their goal, then it is war. So we are supposed to all become communists so we don’t have war?
There is nothing incompatible between the D party neoliberal corporate-state complicity with totalitarian neomarxist postmodern deconstruction ideology (SJW "struggle sessions") and Chinese totalitarian communist-capitalism.
Your comment is less than clear. If by "capitalist-communism" you mean state capitalism, most of the neoliberal globalists practice that.
But in any event, I'm still waiting for someone to explain how contemporary China is **economically Communist** (as opposed to authoritarian, which it is).
As usual (for a leftist), you focus on irrelevant rhetorical minutia and not the relevant geopolitics.
Communism is simply state control of economic production. China is a hybrid model, literally the government is one party, with the name "Communist" that has allowed some limited economic capitalism, but no democracy.
The corporate-neolib D party is clearly becoming more totalitarian and at the wacky fringes, it is partnering with SJWs and similar extremists that have already adopted "struggle session" tactics (Bret Weinstein, Evergreen) similar to those used in recent years by Maoists in Nepal to wreck democratic institutions.
Chinese are high IQ because of 1,000s of years of mass death?
We are not trying to dominate Communist China. We are opposing THAT country's worldwide dominance efforts (see how many countries in Africa and even Iran are indebted to China because of huge loans) and huge abuses of human rights.
And our alliance with Israel is for one and only one reason: they are the only supporters of human rights in the Middle East. We care about women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and religious freedom. Israel is the only country in that region that also does this. If, say, Yemen, gave women full rights and allowed gays to live, then we would be aligned with that country.
who is the "we" that is opposed to China's belt road thingy??? apparently not Biden and Wall street. The USA loaded a long list of 3rd world countries with staggering financial (and other) obligations for decades.
China offered Africa better deals, at least in terms of short term profit, and is probably making significant inroads into "eastern" europe.
Israel claims to be "western" and "democratic" but is actually a corrupt, far right totalitarian mess that is engaged in something very close to ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Israel always was, and presumably always will be, a colonialist outpost founded by terrorists/Zionists, that is needed for endless, mostly stupid regime change wars and oil game geopolitics.
Once again your abject ignorance and wonderful skill at regurgitating garbage into the sunlight at any mention of Israel.
“...... something very close to ethnic cleansing......” is a great example of your stupidity. Funny how ever since Israel liberated Judea and Samaria from Jordan’s illegal occupation of that land the Arabs living there and who relatively recently have become known as Palestinians have seen their infant mortality numbers plummet, their life expectancy figures skyrocket, and in general their population grow exponentially. If we are practicing anything close to ethnic cleansing than we are very very bad at it.
Actually it is you who is brainwashed, adhering to a one-sided narrative that has been repeated often enough to a world full of Jew haters such as yourself (oh, just an anti-Zionist? Just keep telling yourself that you fucking ignoramus) as to become “truth”
To teach you the truth would entail first opening your head and scooping out the years of leftist “poor palestinian” shit that has taken hold of what’s left of your brain. “ 100s of Palestinian villages have been bulldozed......” what a fucking crock. Are you talking of the aftermath of the Arab-initiated war of ‘48? Nothing happens in a vacuum you historically ignorant idiot. Why don’t you write of the multiple Arab massacres of the Jews living in that land, having never left, well before Israel was a State. You know nothing of the true history of the region, other than that you’ve imbibed from the likes of that pseudo-historian Ilan Pappe, and Jew-hater Khalid Rashid. Your ignorance is surpassed only by your absolute inability to see it. You and your ilk make me want to puke.
Israel is a democratic country. They have elections that mean something. And they are the main supporters of human rights in the Middle East. If you think women and LGBTQ people should have full freedom, then Israel is the country you support.
And by the way, the lead headline in the news today is that Morocco and Israel have agreed to full recognition. That is FIVE majority-Muslim countries that have negotiated such agreements under President Trump's leadership.
yes, I have been studying middle east history since the early 1970s, with dozens of scholars, many of whom lived in Israel and other parts of the middle east, including Iran before the revolution (late 1970s)
What is now "Palestine" and Israel was a conquered territory of the Ottoman Empire for 100s of years, then it was taken by the British/French after WW1 and Mandates (Protectorates) were formed.
A lot of sleazy geopolitics resulted, consistent with other colonialist schemes.
A good example of middle eastern politics are Wallace Stegner's notes on his ARAMCO writing project, in which he records how CIA black helicopters were offloaded at the Port of Jordan and used by the Saudi govt to machine gun down striking oil field workers.
There were many such incidents, and Israeli security and military was involved with a number of them.
So called "Palestinians" are seen as dogs by the Arab elites, and are used as pawns in the ongoing games of geopolitical sleaze.
If you want to discuss religious bullshit, please find a lunatic asylum.
The middle east is a vast shithole of backward cultures and has been for 1,000s of years. The Jews that immigrated to Israel after the 1940s have been turned into human trash, reactionary excrement, by the relentless geography, climate and geopolitics of a region that will probably never be fully integrated into the modern world.
Everything that goes to the middle east gets sucked into a time machine that spits them out 3,000 years ago, into a vast horror of tribal crap.
like it says in song of songs: "if you don't know, go in the footsteps of those who came before you". Humility is always important, sorry to be a self righteous a**
Good to hear, I am Jewish myself, find it very heartening to hear that take. Super.
I don't know where you come from, but take a good long look at your own culture before you start making comparisons with other cultures. Nobody has the moral high ground here - least of all those in the west.
That's true. It seems like China policy is divided between economic containment (TPP) and neoliberalism, or straight up military threats and protectionism, but in each case the goal is to put China back into the role of providing cheap low-tech goods for Western companies and general subservience to Western capital and political power.
I've been watching the political influence in Australia. It's coming from the US and is rabidly racist, war mongering and self-destructive, turning it's main trading partner into an all out enemy just because Washington says so.
The so called "left"in Australia is the same as the D/R party neolib establishment in the USA, no?
They have been throwing the working classes under the globalization bus for decades, and there is a populist working class backlash against neolib multiculturalist idiocy.
Yes. Australia puts its warships in the South China Sea and China puts up tariffs on Australian wine. Chinese aggression must be stopped!
There are some incredible initiatives that China is doing and it should be *commended* for using soft power.
But, it has virtually no offensive capabilities: one aircraft carrier (I think). One offshore military base.
It has nowhere near the high-tech capabilities it is made to have: Chinese stealth fighters; engines made in Russia because they don't have the tech.
iPhones; assembled in China, sure, from high tech components made in Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
China might one day be a threat, but it is far far far from that.
Meanwhile, they are responsible for the most successful anti-poverty program in all of human history, saving many holocausts every year but you know, let's not let them build a train to Europe, because that would be bad.
Your estimate of China's military capabilities is pretty out of date. Seriously, "one aircraft carrier"? Compared to the US's military capabilities, China has the great advantage of lacking America's hubris.
I see you understand the situation with clarity. China is doing everything the U.S. should have been doing, including attempting to lift its people out of poverty and reaching out to help the underdeveloped word instead of droning and sanctioning it to death. China, like any educated, thoughtful entity understands the effectiveness of "soft power" and somehow this is interpreted as militancy. China doesn't smash and destroy everything around it like we ineffectively do, and somehow they are the devil. I see a lot of projecting going on here.
Israel was aligned with France's military establishment in the 1950s through the mid 1960s, period of significant tension between the USA and France (arrogant, disloyal).
The French had threatened to side with the USSR right after WW2 if the USA didn't support France's doomed attempt to take power again in Vietnam.
Like every other corrupt and phony FBI (and DOJ) investigation, watch the Hunter investigation end up nowhere and disappear in mainstream media, or nobody will give a damn.
Biden walks into his presidency with all of this surrounding Hunter eating at him. Horrendous how Joe used his son. Horrendous how Obama orchestrated everything to get Joe in office. Biden said he was "consulting" with Obama on his VP choice, and for certain Obama is behind his cabinet picks. It's revolting on every level. And they're grooming Kamala in the process.
Might I add how Obama orchestrated everything to get "corrupt and dementia" Joe in office, knowing full well how unfit Joe is mentally to handle the Oval Office on a daily basis. Obama himself said it took ALL the energy he had every day to run the White House as president - in his forties!!! But Obama used Joe anyway, like everyone in Washington uses each other. Like Bernie was used and abused.
You would think with the dirty deals of Hunter alone, Joe wouldn't have even run for president knowing what would come out!!! And he didn't run in 2016, likely because all of this crap was still smelling fresh!! But 4 years later with dementia and bad judgement, Biden returns to the establishment's calling. He could have retired a wealthy man with all of this ugly corruption buried behind him!!! Swept under the rug and his reputation and legacy somewhat in tact. So why did he give all of that up at age 78? His career included 8 years in the White House already. But at 78 with dementia and with all the wealth he and his family needs in retirement....what and who made him return to the White House? He ran on "no change"...no vision and dream he had to fulfill, just to maintain the status quo and further enrich the oligarchs and himself. And Jill is by his side to nurse him along in another round of greed and power, with his dementia. Greed never ends.
The MSM only reports on it when the pedophile Hunter puts out his spin press release along w/ his dimwitted old man's statement of love for his misunderstood son. Most people don't follow news. But I would bet 10 large if this was reported on before the election, even the fraud would not have been enough to elect Joe. And, does anyone think this is only a "misunderstanding tax issue." Listen to Tony Bobuliski interview w/ Tucker Carlson.
I don’t recall the exact numbers, but I believe it was close to 25% of Biden voters said had they know of it beforehand they would have changed their vote. The media did its’ job.
No shit. The hippies now worship the billionaire class "Establishment". As an aging punk, "Orange Awful AWFUL Drumpf! TAXES!!! Orange Man Awful BAD! Hooker PISS! PUTIN HOOKER PISS!!!11!!" is my guy. Nobody encapsulates the punk ethos more than the Orange Man Rad. :-)
Nothing encapsulates the punk ethos like huge, Reaganite tax-cuts for the wealthy and corporate friendly deregulations, multi-billion dollar arms sales to Saudi Arabia, staffing an administration with Wall Street goons, etc.
I get your point about the over-the-top, visceral "Orange Man Bad" reactions, but saying Trump encapsulates "punk ethos??" Nah. He's "punk" the same way kids that listen to Sum 41 and spike their hair are.
Johnny Rotten begs to differ. Meanwhile, War Pig Biden is bringing back the old guard whilst Orange Man Terribilis is the only President since Carter to not start a new war. That’s pretty punk in my book.
-Drone strikes increased by about 4x while the transparency of that process decreased
-Trump further escalated tensions with Iran by pulling out of the JCPOA, then further escalated via petty military squabbles, assassinated their general, imposed severe economic hardships on them via sanctions
-Ripped up two treaties (one of them nuclear) with Russia, and has been trying to sink another nuclear treaty with them (New Start Treaty)
-Has increased support for the genocide ("war") in Yemen
-Has ramped up support for all things Israel, including the oppression of the Palestinian people. (That bullshit "peace deal" didn't even include Palestinians. It was between Israel and the UAE instead.)
-Has imposed more crushing sanctions-the harshest in at least modern history-on Syria and bombed them twice on what now appears to be false pretenses
-Tried to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela in a comically shitty coup attempt
-Sold weapons to Neonazis in Ukraine. (Congress tried to push Obama to do this, and he refused to avoid escalating tensions with Russia.)
-Has successfully pushed for increases in military expenditures
-Hired former CIA Director Mike "we lie, we cheat, we steal" Pompeo to be Secretary of State
-Hired *the* premier war-hawk John Bolton as his National Security Advisor
-Considered bombing Iran's nuclear facilities just recently for violating a deal that the US pulled out of two and a half years ago
The list goes on. The idea that he's somehow the anti-war or anti-interventionist President just because he continued and escalated multiple conflicts rather than starting new ones is nonsense.
You're borderline retarded if you think MSNBC criticizes Trump for serving the MIC's interests like every other President did.
You got duped into the same hacky, partisan bullshit Dems did. You're "Trump is punk" is as ridiculous as MSNBC's "Biden's going to restore the soul of America."
Fact-check anything I listed above. Again, not starting a new "war" is the lowest of low bars, and it means fuck all compared to all the escalations he's done.
Keep telling yourself Trump is the Chosen One, though. This is just sad lol.
A great example of President Trump's utter incompetence is that he has as of today (when Morocco joined the group) negotiated FIVE majority-Muslim countries fully recognizing the country of Israel.
The 12 previous Presidents from 1948 on only got TWO to recognize Israel. That obviously is a sign of competence compared to President Trump's horrible incompetence.
Don't be fool by the tax investigation. If we go back to Ukraine, you know how Joe Biden play dirty game. Joe Biden put his son in Board of Burisma when Burisma was under investigation by UK. Even Hunter Biden was an alcoholic at that time, Bursima still paid him a fortune. The presence of Hunter Biden in Burisma Board was to warn people not to investigate Burisma. Shokin was too naive to freeze the property of Burisma owner. Then Joe Biden sacked Shokin and got a replacement who acquitted Burisma corruption accusation within months. At the end, Burisma was only fined for tax evasion. With Di Dong Sheng video went viral, Joe Biden knew he had to do something to switch the attention. So he just make people believe Hunter Biden connection with China is just normal business transaction. Indeed Joe Biden connection with China is a treason act as the company his son involved is a spy company. It was proved with Dr Patrick Ho conviction. I don't know why American are so stupid to elect a treason to be the coming present. By the way, after watching all the hearings in different states, I don't believe Joe Biden is the winner of the election. The winner of the election should be Donald Trump.
Glenn, Thank you for another insightful article. It is fascinating and scary how many ties there are between China, Wall Street, and Washington, DC. As a U.S. Army Special Forces officer who has spent two decades studying the art of unconventional warfare, I appreciate the Chinese long game. Their ability to span administrations and cultivate influence over time to invest in future leaders and influencers is very dangerous for the world. If they can buy this level of influence int he USA, I can only imagine the levels they have in other states.
But this was entirely predictable. See Yanis Varoufakis on the end of the Bretton Woods system and the rise of financialization. Ordinary Americans are nothing to Wall Street, whereas they need China to keep the game going. This is how dollars circulate in the world.
The best way to take advantage of any foreign country is to throw some money at their corrupt ruling elites, who will then cheerfully sell out their national interest for pennies on the dollar. The British Empire pioneered this model and it was improved by the United States. It appears that China is paying attention to the lessons of history.
Today YouTube announced they intend to remove all content mentioning anything to do with “ rigged elections” “ stolen election 2020” “ Dominion Machines fraud”
Yep, about as in-your-face as is possible. And why not....they fear no repercussions.
Media, judges, politicians, all or most on the take.....any wonder half the country has zero trust in the country’s institutions. Doesn't bode well for the immediate future I’d say. The only question left is how will it start.
Terrible hu? I imagine it will begin with the alternative channels, all the independent journalists and citizen journalists, and “conspiracy” channels, commentators etc.
They couldn’t buy Trump—They’ve got their Bitch Biden bought and paid for long ago.
Comparing Biden to a female dog is a deep insult to female dogs.
I'd like to like this comment but the language won't let me.
I apologize to the ladies here.
Thx. sometimes a really good comment can't be liked because well, you know. Other wise I liked your comment.
You can just call him Beijing Biden, it's not as offensive I guess.
Corporate media has failed the American people. It really is that simple.
I used the word failed. After reading Glenn’s piece this morning, I probably should have said “knowingly withheld” or better yet “lied”.
Yes, "failed" is definitely not a strong enough verb. They are in league with--if not completely controlled by--the intel agencies. The good news is tens of millions of Americans are now fully aware they are propagandists not news reporters.
No dont blame them, look in the mirror-- even I as a non- American is responsible-- we all let this happen-voting for tax cuts, the easy lying politician etc.
huh
And what is wrong with not over-feeding a parasitical entity? Please explain.
how do you know how he voted? bizarre assumptions
Bullshit
ah someone who cant believe they have any responsibility for the current situation-- nice
So I'm deducing that you think giving more cash to the virtue-pimping class is the way forward? Please explain.
What?
The Cowardly Coup Plotters have infiltrated many facets of American Life.
I will never accept Sino Joe as president even if the traitors, cowards and sheep do.
The real point of this article is the question whether or not Joe Biden is corrupt, in his being part of a "pay-to-play" scheme, using Hunter Biden as the front man to funnel cash and precious gems into laundered accounts hidden from the IRS. Additionally, the MSM is accused of covering up the allegations before the November 3 election as part of the corruption scheme.
I agree that this is a significant issue, and given the public trust being invested in Biden, should be investigated.
But it should not escape our notice how similar these allegations are to the MSNBC claims about Trump being corrupted or beholden to Russia. Probably credit card company Joe is corrupt (insofar as he, like Trump, used his public service to make business deals) but the corruption doesn't extend to some kind of cartoonish deal with the Chinese government.
"But it should not escape our notice how similar these allegations are to the MSNBC claims about Trump being corrupted or beholden to Russia."
Please be specific in citing 3 ways in which the content of the above article is similar to MSNBC's commentary about Trump being beholden to or corrupted by Russia. Please include the fact-base for both the claims in the article and the MSNBC claims.
(I have multiple links to articles about MSNBC Russiagate rants, and can offer some for you to show me the purported parallels.)
re: endless tit for tat
The only similarity is that Republicans will continue to follow Democrats down the rabbit hole of the escalating criminalization of politics and partisan mutual destruction.
The back and forth has been getting bad for decades, but has escalated from sleaze mongering (Clinton impeachment sex scandal) to the dangerous use of govt levers of power, such as the police state, by one party against the other, and vice versa.
Yeah this has nothing to do with that. For one thing, Biden's family has been implicated in corrupt dealings with foreign nations for years - it's not some last ditch scheme to paint him as corrupt. And when you have half of the california democrats connected to the chinese communist party in some way, you've gotta wonder what else are they hiding. Additionally, these stories aren't some hyper-partisan BS scheme from some GOP higher up (ahem Hillary Clinton -straight out of the Dem playbook. what clowns), aiming to smear Biden's name, like Russiagate was, is, and always has been. No one is claiming Biden is a Chinese pawn. He might be! based on his deals with them in the past. But no serious person aka someone who isn't me - is claiming that. They - people from both sides of political ideology - are carefully cultivating stories and facts, not throwing them together into some chinese collusion narrative like russiagate was - what they're doing is far more powerful. They're saying - we're onto you Joe. Be very careful from here on out with how you treat China, our number one adversary. It's far more restrained and honest reporting, and far more effective. And, importantly, it's true.
They're not sending a message to Joe Biden, they're sending a message to America: Get ready for President Harris. Joe Biden was never more than a placeholder. He has served his purpose, and now comes the task to dispose of him.
Thank you, once again Glenn
A "Democrat party is "democratic" in name only -- it is a dictatorship of oligarch donors (WS megabanks and arms and hi-tech industries). Instead of M4A, UBI, etc. -- it is a walking dead - unable to change. In four years it will face a new and far more dangerous (i.e., competent) "Trump". Dark days are likely ahead of us all
Now that the nightmare called Trump has been voted out – how many Dem congressman and senators will publicly state that
- The entire anti-Russian narrative and “Ukraine impeachment” were deliberate fabrications
- And request resolution of Biden-Hunter corruption (Ukraine, laptop)
None -- unless they are retiring or changing party affiliation. The fraud and corruption will continue. Bernie has been a huge disappointment to millions of his supporters. By now he is a distant and hopeless apparition.
A suggestion to Tulsi Gabbard, an exact opposite of Bernie's incompetence and cowardliness.
Tulsi was a rising star at DNC in 2015 until she declared her support of democratic-socialist Bernie and was instantly “excommunicated”; soon Hillary brazenly proclaimed that Tulsi is a “Russian asset.”
Now that Trump has defeated himself -- Tulsi could do an invaluable service to our country - to have a conference (or three sequential) declaring:
1. The entire (stupid and so dangerous) anti-Russian narrative and Ukraine impeachment “entertainment” were deliberate fabrications – the entire Democratic structure knew it from the start
2. Requesting a major investigation of chronic and deep corruption within DNC – starting with Biden-Hunter corruption
3. Announce that she will join a third party and hopefully become presidential candidate in 2024
I agree with everything, but why the hate for the Orange Drumpf Very Very Bad Orange Flumph Orange Bad Man? The dude has put a light on the shit nobody wanted to look at.
Trump’s utter incompetence in handling Covid-19 created the human and economic catastrophe that will be called - Trump-virus.
He also brought into government religious extremism and racism.
China - less than 5K dead -- US soon 300K++
Wow somehow the regime that started the virus and has complete control and mass surveillance over EVERYTHING in their country managed to get a handle on it, while a liberal country like US did it imperfectly out of deference to human rights and individual liberties. When will people realize that if you want absolute safety, and no risk of danger at all, you will be relinquishing your freedoms forever? real life is messy, and means taking risks, and believing in the innate goodness of people - not just locking everyone up and throwing away the key because it's so much neater this way. So go to China if you don't mind them being your second daddy because you can't square the idea of being responsible for yourself and your own actions. The lockdown Nazis - aka fauci, other government officials - were wrong about how to control the virus every step of the way, but they got their way and gutted millions of businesses while transferring tremendous wealth to largest corporations, flattened an entire generation of children FOR NO SCIENTIFIC REASON and with the evidence staring them in the face that the adverse effects of keeping children home would far outweigh any benefit - btw it was Trump who said they should go back to school - who's incompetent? He was right all along. It was a huge power grab.
Somehow all the people calling Trump fascist for 4 years found no problem in calling on him to take control of the country and force everyone to lockdown (something that as a president he has no choice but to leave up to the states -and it would be literally fascist of him to do otherwise)
but sure trump is incompetent. He killed 300k. Right. Utter shallow drivel. Get some perspective on how real life works.
about the other claims - SURE he did. SURE THING. Like cutting out the extremely racist and religiously fanatic CRT from government training?
If you believe the CCP, I have martian super sperm to sell you. Cheap.
CCP conniving = 1 million dead worldwide and counting. Read the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, then get back to me. The China Plague kills fat people and old people. The USA is a target-rich environment for that, but Orange Drumph Horriblis RUSSIA HOOKERS PISS!!!11!! has little to do with the sad state of health in that benighted shithole.
Wow ,if only we’d known about this before the election... Oh wait, we did! This has been circulating since last spring. The unholy combination of Big Tech and the MSM have actively suppressed and censored any mention of this. They did not want the bulk of “normal, work-a-day” Americans to be aware of the vast corruption of the Biden crime family. Their obsessive and only concern was to get rid of Trump by any means necessary. So they covered up anything that may have politically hurt Hiden Biden. Even Glenn, who is suffering from TDS, avoided this huge “red flag” before the election. Perhaps this article is a sign that his TDS is fading...
I think it is a sign that they (CNN and other mainstream media) are laying the foundation for Joe to resign so Kamala can take over. I would not say that Glenn suffers from TDS. As someone who leans right, but appreciates logic, he does a good job of finding a middle and rational ground.
You are probably correct that they are building a foundation to remove Biden. His usefulness to them is about used up and his baggage (Hunter) is finally being widely exposed. As for Glenn, I’m a huge fan, but he definitely has a case of TDS. Hopefully it’s easing and Glenn will make a full recovery.
GG isn't going to adopt your right wing cargo cult tribalistic ideology.
You are a right wing cargo cultist. Trump is a giant fuck up that only got elected (2016) because the "left" and the D party establishment are even bigger fuck ups.
GG has something that a lot of people don't seem to understand anymore:
A lack of tribalistic, partisan and ideological double standards.
GG criticizes the bullshit of both D and R, left and right, particularly the media sellouts.
It is too bad that you are such a brainwashed asshole that you can't see that basic fact and that you are incapable of transcending your ideological bullshit in service of the common good.
You must really enjoy typing “right wing cargo cultist”.
you must really enjoying being a dumb fuck
When will Hunter be investigated for banging his niece?
Just the new normal for our betters. Ask not the powerful to answer to common morality.
Soon, I hope! Our spies need to investigate everybody - just to be safe. Prisons must be filled during a pandemic. Sorry but, our safety is provided by our secret police👮, spies🕵️♂️, and other good people.🙂 I like the authorities. (sarcasm)
Thank you Glenn for writing about this. The frustration/anger stemming from the “legacy media”s complete blackout of the well verified Hunter Biden scandal is almost paralyzing.
Lucky for me I guess that we have some outstanding microbrews out here in the Gorge, and these days it’s all about supporting local business, right?
The fat lady has not yet sung.
And let's hope that if the OBESE! Orange Drumph Very Bad Man of Orange Tint BAD! MAN! RUSSIA BED PISS! does not prevail, the all-inclusive tent that is the Orange Man Rad Revolution of common sense and graciousness lives on. :-)
If it is actually true that China would have more influence under a Biden Administration, then honestly, phew, World War III averted. It's REALLY, REALLY hard for me to look at the current high stakes situation of US foreign policy and see even the slightest glimmer of deference to China, not under Trump, nor under the new Biden team, not from the Pentagon, or the CIA. All these entities are fully devoted to Cold War II, hybrid war, information war, and military buildup encircling China. Read their papers, their public statements, the recent NDAA bill, all of it is full of hyper-aggressive rhetoric that seems to outline a course for war.
It doesn't surprise me that there is corruption in Washington, the Biden family, or foreign influence. But you'd have to me smoking a TON of crack to think that since the Pivot to Asia under Obama and Trump's cultivated sinophobia, trade wars and further military buildup, and our virulent anti-China coalition of Australia, Canada, India, Taiwan etc, don't massively overshadow any influence China might have. Honestly, it's like somebody like saying that Saddam Hussein is pulling the strings in Washington circa 2002-2003. Like, what?
In a situation of imperialism, jingoism and cultivated racism, it's ludicrous to be concerned that the target of aggression is somehow running things in America.
IMO there are WAY better sources about US-China relations than Matt Stoller, Glenn.
There are two common strains of left-wing thought colliding here: 1) a belief that Wall Street controls the government for its financial gain, and 2) a belief that the military-industrial complex seeks escalating tensions with declared US enemies and adversaries in order to justify endless wars, arms purchases and consolidated power. But when it comes to China, these two indisputably important Washington dynamics are in conflict. The more tensions there are with China, the worse it is for the profits and bottom line not only of Wall St but pretty much every other significant industry. Nobody in the establishment Dem Party wants conflict or war with China. They do see China as a competitor, but an economic one, not a military one. There are plenty of other ways for them to remain on a footing of Endless War without pursing heightened military tensions with China. Just look at who is in the Biden Admin. The absolute last thing they want is tensions with China. They are in bed with China. They want it to remain that way. That’s what this Chinese professor is saying. He — and the obvious serious reliance on China by Wall St - are far more my source for this than Stoller. Did you listen to Di’s speech? You should.
True. It's relevant to note that, if there was a major war with China that led to Wall Street losing all its shares in Chinese joint ventures, Wall Street would expect a bailout from the US government . So Wall Street can focus on making profits from collaboration with the CCP's oppression of workers without having to worry much about the downside scenario that China would just confiscate it all in a war and walk away with the intellectual property. I think most on Wall Street suffer enough from hubris (including US chauvinism) that they are unwilling to think much about the chance that an empowered China will inflict a damaging defeat on the US, so Wall Streeters have fewer backup plans than usual for that scenario. In a different way, much of the left hastily assumes that a future with China as the major power is either unlikely or benign.
I worked for General Motors. Worker oppression happens here. Ask any worker in America about this. You ever work for a living?
Obviously you can't read what I was saying, which makes it nearly pointless to respond to you. You read "the Communist Party of China oppresses workers" and act as if that's somehow with odds with recognizing the worker oppression that happens right here. Seeing the problems with an ostensibly or actually socialist society doesn't mean claiming that capitalism is in any way okay, just like seeing the problems with "capitalist" society doesn't entail being a fan of socialism. Capitalism and socialism are both pretty flawed systems; they're the best two economic systems that our specific (Western) culture has come up with, but they've shown themselves to be flawed enough that we should look for something better instead of remaining stuck with capitalism or socialism or a hybrid between them.
Capitalism is perfect, when you are a billionaire.
I guess that’s why GM makes Buicks there instead of Michigan.
I watched the speech, but I wouldn't rely too heavily on Di's anecdotes, or him as the sole policy voice for a country of 1.4 billion people.
What he is doing is personalizing the current policy to Donald Trump and trying to puff up the prowess of China's influencers, but there is another parallel explanation for the current state of affairs: The happy relationship between China and Wall St and by proxy, the US, was contingent on a relationship where China was low supply chain creator of cheap goods for the global market, and their was an expectation that bringing foreign capital into China would bend it into the neoliberal orbit and give up socialism altogether. Now that China is rising up the supply chain, has companies and technology that directly compete with the West, and has resisted political integration into the US led-order, the US establishment sees it as a threat. Wall St will always love China because it provides big returns, but Silicon Valley, among other major industries, and the Pentagon certainly do not. It looks to me that the calculation has shifted, and the consensus is that playing nice with China is no longer in the interest of the US. And there are now myriad examples of how this new antagonism is playing out.
Perhaps Fluornoy and her plan to sink the entire Chinese military and commercial fleet in the South China Sea not getting picked can be seen as evidence of these Wall St influencers, but she seems like a typical character in the circle of Democrat appointees. The recent bipartisan NDAA mentions China 191 times. Perhaps it's just to fill defense contractors coffers and empty rhetoric. But I just can't help but see so much saber rattling and propaganda as inert. The issue seems to be about hegemony rather than personality, and these moves including the military buildup in the Pacific and South China Sea, predate Trump.
President Trump is the first President to be educated about Communist China. He has emphasized the extreme abuses of human rights in that country and has implemented ways to hold them accountable. Communist China has a million people in concentration camps, as many as Hitler did at any one time. They haven't killed as many, yet, but they abuse them severely. Every country in east and south Asia is worried about the huge military capacity of Communist China, and President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo have successfully forged alliances to prevent aggression by Communist China.
A million people in concentration camps? pfft..amateurs. The U.S boasts more than a million and a half people in our jails and prisons, and kamala has a great record for putting the black ones to work for slave wages.
What crime have those kids in ICE detention been convicted of?
If trump is “educated” about anything, I’m the Virgin Mary!
Question: Which country has killed more Uighers: China, or the United States (In Afghanistan, Syria, etc)?
Communist China has so far killed about 65 million people, way beyond anything the U.S. has done, and certainly far more Uighers. By the way, the Soviet Union killed a huge number in Afghanistan, far more than any number the U.S. has. Vladimir Bukovsky's book, Judgement in Moscow, is must reading on this, as he provides extensive documentation of the decision papers and memorandums of the Central Committee and leadership that show what a mess they made.
And President Trump is removing our troops from Afghanistan, which must please you greatly!
President Trump is not removing troops from Afghanistan. 65 million people killed by PRC is fantasy and is not supported by facts. Even so, if you add up Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, Laos, Cambodia, the various coups, dictatorships, or supported genocides like in Indonesia, you will also come out with a very big number. Except it isn't made up.
Good question. The great satan, sadly.
The USA does not (allegedly) have a million people in prison cities, China does. China doesn't need to kill people (except in relatively small numbers) because there is no war and all of the Uighers have known for 50 years that the Chinese govt is more than capable of mass exterminations (and are thus a credible threat that it is pointless to fight).
You dingbats are incapable of making a point without cherry picking facts to fit your narrative. Pathetic
I've known "Uigher" people (Turkmens) for 50 years, they think you are full of shit.
Will we see a Pompeo 2024 run for President ?
er, excuse me. maybe Mr Pompeo, like Mr trump, is not too bright! maybe “alliances” can be fickle - not dependable. these guys are morons.
Actually Pompeo is one of the most intelligent Secretaries of State we have had. First in his class at West Point and Editor of the Harvard Law Review! Comparable to Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright and George P. Schultz.
" ...where China was low supply chain creator of cheap goods for the global market, and their was an expectation that bringing foreign capital into China would bend it into the neoliberal orbit and give up socialism altogether. "
-----
comment: what Kissinger and that crowd has been stating openly for DECADES to justify neoliberal-globalism is that by encouraging China to adopt "capitalism" and the "international system" that China was evolve toward western, democratic liberal ("rule of law"), politics.
The western academic and business people I know that were in China from the 1970s-80s got out 15 years ago because it was obvious to them that things were going to horribly wrong, Chinese politics had already begun to slide back toward totalitarianism and authoritarianism. (consistent with 5,000 years of Chinese history)
Obama and the left were MONUMENTALLY STUPID (or maybe just corrupt) for not seeing what was obvious to people on the ground, and changing course.
Obama also fucked up on Iran, Syria and Libya (which Putin exploited). Not sure about Ukraine, that might have been an impossible mess regardless of who was US President.
Where they really going horribly wrong? Horribly wrong would mean that China would be like India or any one of many African or Latin American nations that have been perpetual victims of western capital and exploitation. Modern day China has had a drastic improvement in standard of living, elicited absolute poverty, is leading in many 21st century technologies, and is soon to be the world's largest economy, they managed to dodge COVID19, and between 85 and 95% of the Chinese public approve of their government. Can American citizens say they have had any of these improvements in the last 30-40 years? And either way, we get surveillance and authoritarianism, except the American way is behind a wall of absolute secrecy to benefit a small oligarchy.
Obama and his CENTER RIGHT administration started the Pivot to Asia and Trans Pacific Partnership which were both about containing China. I think by most measures they were quire sinophobic.
You are so full of shit it is astonishing.
This is what I said, you deflected and completely failed to respond to my point:
"The western academic and business people I know that were in China from the 1970s-80s got out 15 years ago because it was obvious to them that things were going to horribly wrong, Chinese politics had already begun to slide back toward totalitarianism and authoritarianism."
You are locked into victim narratives and illogical post-colonialist rhetoric, incapable of objective, evidence based thought.
If China is such a hellhole, why doesn't anybody who lives there think that? How is it that in a typical year 100 million Chinese tourists leave there country and happily return?
Do you know anybody who lives there or has visited there? It's a real, functioning society. I get that you don't like how it is organized, but is it actually bad to not have cops shooting people all over the place, to have people able to get healthcare and not go bankrupt, to not have 2% of the population living in prison, to get rid of homelessness, to actually do something about poverty, and to generally improve the standard of living of ordinary people? They don't even have to worry about catching coronavirus because after the first two weeks they had a competent policy for containing it. These are concrete and material improvements in people's lives. Do you think those people would trade that for liberties that are functionally meaningless? ?
Kissinger claimed that China would liberalize after adopting "captialism".
It didn't. It reverted to totalitarianism.
You are completely full of shit and can't address basic points of fact without putting an endlessly retarded spin on everything.
I find Vijay Prashad does a pretty good analysis putting China into the same historic basket of targets of imperialism and colonialism as other nations like Venezuela.
But the Chi-Com overlords are clearly representative creatures of "imperialism" and "colonialism", so what point are you trying to make?
He can't make any other point, he is obsessed with victim narratives (anti-colonialism, multiculturalism) to the point that any other way of seeing reality is impossible.
The fact that premodern, non-western cultures see those very leftist values as retarded and idiotic (Baizuo) will never phase leftist goofs like him.
Kind of hilarious when Americans that have invaded half of the world and come from a tradition of actual colonization and genocide, living on land stolen from indigenous people, think that China is the same thing. Tibet and Xinjaing were solidly part of China before the US was West of the Rockies.
If you're living on "stolen" land, set a good example and move to Réunion. Would that not be the least hypocritical thing for you to do? Prove your wokeness and do it! lol
YAWN.
Ahem...Tibet et al....
Yes, China seems to have recovered from its former colonial status.
Read some history. Tibet and China go back a lot longer than 1952.
Typical woke CCP apologist response, but how exactly?
But I think the way that Ian B frames it (below) is more on point. Of course, there is ambivalence, but it is tactical. The US will not tolerate a challenge to its position of global dominance (even as it argues over whether there is still more profit to be made from exploiting Chinese labour). The reality is that China simply is not a threat at this time and to the extent that it is (which would be through leveraging its foreign currency reserves to usurp the US dollar dominance) it seems to be contained for now (and btw, I hope I am wrong, the world needs an alternative to the dollar).
I would say the covid outbreak is a declaration of war. nOT A tHreAt
Hong Kong Flu of 1968 killed over 1m. This one (and more to come out of the CCP cesspool) completely annihilate the atomic bombings of Imperial Japan.
Communist China has a far larger and aggressive military than the U.S. does, and it is far more dominating around the world than the U.S.
Making this kind of absurd claim without citing evidence shows that you can't be taken seriously. The PLA may have more troops than the US military, but that has never been enough to show that one country's military is "far larger and more aggressive" than another, nor that it's "far more dominating around the world". Those claims would require much more to be backed up. I'm reminded of Herodotus's line about how the army of ancient Persia had a lot of guys in it, but few men.
it is called 'trolling'.
laughable
I wouldn't know how to quantify the size of China's military compared to America's, but it's hard to make the case that China's military is more aggressive than ours. The U.S. has hundreds of military installations in dozens and dozens of countries spread around the world, staffed by tens of thousands of personnel. It is presently involved openly in direct military conflicts in at least seven countries, the jewel in the crown conflict being the 20 year war in Afghanistan. This isn't even counting secret CIA activity. China needs to get on the stick if it wants to match the U.S. in military aggression.
How many military bases in how many countries does China have around the world?
Far more aggressive? What wars of aggression or of imperial occupation in foreign lands have China engaged in over the last, say, 50 years?
The Chinese empire is of the classic kind: they control vast lands whose natives are NOT Han Chinese - Sinkiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and other, smaller areas. They are very aggressive there.
It is true that they haven't been militarily expansionist; they would rather buy influence, which is sensible of them - a sign of competence the US does not exhibit.
Not true, the US stands supreme military wise, recently surpassing Russia, which is now second thanks to DonaldJTrump. Recently China pushed territorial claims with Japan in the South China Sea, US responded by reinforcing the already very large presence in Japan, and China very quietly backed off. End of story.
You also just need to look at the common reaction to your article "China scary. China taking over the world. China. China. China." to question whether this specific article will end up serving power interests in Washington... And sure, 100% the Bidens are corrupt, China can be used to leverage Neo-Liberal interests and the expense of the working class.
Do you feel that the view of the Chinese, as exemplified by this well-connected and highly placed professor — that the return of Wall St dominance under Biden means Beijing will be able to operate well in Washington again — is wrong, or that it shouldn’t be highlighted? Like I said, I think China is very different than most other official US enemies (Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea) because of how closely tied they are to the economic ruling elite of the US, which is always predominant (even the military-industrial complex thrives primarily to serve economic interests).
Phrases like "the return of Wall St dominance under Biden" are the source of your good-faith, cynics, Glenn.
Of course credit card errand boy Biden is a shill. But "return" implies that somehow Wall Street was reined in by Trump.
There is simply no evidence for this view, other than wish-fulfillment about muh Right Wing populism; Trump consistently supported de-regulation and tax cuts for Wal Streeters, whereas Biden (though a shill) supports relatively more restrictions on Wal Street's power and wealth (Dodd-Frank, higher taxes).
The points you made do not negate anything I wrote since they are ones I explicitly made in the article. This is what I wrote:
"None of this means that Trump was some sort of stalwart enemy of Wall Street. From massive corporate tax cuts to rollbacks of regulations in numerous industries and many of their own in key positions, the financial sector benefited in all sorts of ways from the Trump presidency."
So nobody is saying that Wall Street was somehow defeated or shut out of a Trump presidency. The point of Di's speech is that Wall Street couldn't control Trump the way it had prior presidents and will be able to with Biden. One of the leading examples he cited was China (and Wall Street's) inability to get Trump to stop the trade war.
The Trump administration has not supported Wall Streeters. The tax reform bill of 2017 did not support them. In fact the reason why so many Democrats want the bill repealed is the limit on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, which has meant that the wealthy (say $1 million/year income and a house valued at more than $500,000) are actually now paying more in taxes. The decrease in the tax on corporate profits made it equal to the tax rate in other developed countries, and the biggest beneficiaries have been employees with pensions (such as public employees, including especially teachers), which were badly underfunded but now are getting larger dividends and much increased stock value.
I used the example below of "Israeli Influence" which I think is a good analogy. It's not false to claim that Israel exercises an undue influence on US domestic and foreign policy, but when it turns into the tail wagging the dog it becomes problematic for two reasons: (1) it masks where the actual power levers actually are and (2) creates a bedrock for "blaming the other"
My point is that China can only exert influence if it is within the confines of the overarching goals of the empire so in that sense it is necessarily limited so focusing on it is a distraction.
I am also an Australian and I can see how much the myopic view of China as the ultimate villain is used here to mask Australian/US aggression. So my point is more that this needs to be defused.
Israel and U.S. are partners because Israel is the only country in the Middle East that shares our value of human rights and individual freedom. The peace agreements and recognition of Israel by Muslim countries is spreading women's rights and gay rights into countries that are the worst oppressors in the world of women and gays. That has been the focus of President Trump since he took office. His emphasis on opposing the huge violations of human rights in China is for the same reason. President Obama's actions in supporting Iran are the worst attacks on women's rights and gay rights of any modern President (say since Wilson).
China is a threat to America and everyone in the world. Look at the way they treat their own citizens to figure out what they'd do when they achieve global power. America is far from perfect but China is Perfect TM and everything that's not needs to be "reeducated" - that's what makes them terrifying, and why we definitely need to speak up against them and fight them at all costs. Why the ambivalence...
Growing up being scared to death about Russia, as my teachers and the media informed me I should be, I realized both sides would have to work together to bring those bad feelings to a nuclear war, not just Russia, it would be a dual commitment. Didn't happen, saner minds prevailed. As far as the way China treats their people, well a lot of people here are full of complaints. Not to mention the way we treat many citizens of the world. We kill them, and sometimes we kill them in the millions. It wasn't China all over the Middle East doing that. I want to state publicly I'm not afraid of China, and at this point in my life I'm more afraid of US.
well, tell that to the muslim detainees in china, the religiously persecuted, and political enemies. Stop clowning about and get real. You clearly live a charmed life.
The USD or the Petrodollar? Or is it a distinction w/o difference at this point? Is that why cow farts and windmills are all the rage? ;-)
It's what Covid's all about (or rather, the reaction to Covid)
So much jingosim there it's hard to know where to start. I'll begin and end with a simple reminder: China's corrupt capitalism for the ruling class while starving a billion people in the countryside poses an historic problem they will need to deal with. Their history is replete with the reckoning of this harsh imbalance, and we're already witnessing a dangerous groundswell in Hong Kong where even the privileged capitalists are beginning to revolt against oppression. It's hard to fight the U.S. empire while fighting a billion of your own.
The speech is not available on YouTube now, at least not in the UK :(
After seeing Kissinger appear about a month ago I can’t help thinking that the “two common strains of left-wing thought colliding here” are going to be united by an unspoken agreement that results in the controlled (continued) destabilization of Central and South America.
A public show of military tension is great for the capitalist “defense” industry in both countries, plus the southern Americas are shaping up to be the last vestige of any sort of a counter-left to unfettered Capitalism as a global ideology/religion. Looking at the recent Middle East countries’ agreements with Israel, the United Arab Emirates‘ continued rise as a “western” country/playground, I think the destabilization that is intrinsically necessary to Kissingerian “diplomacy” may shift away from the Middle East (minus Afghanistan) and south of Mexico.
Chinese civilization is ancient and mature. They are wiser than us.
Read Helen Raleigh's "Confucius Never Said" for a factual analysis of why that is incorrect. Communist China has nothing to do with Chinese civilization. Communism was imported from Germany and Russia.
Communism is not at all what they presently practice.
For a small example, the famous "7-dash Line" on which they base their claim to the South China Sea is literally an artifact of the previous Empire - and in general, their boundaries correspond as exactly as possible to the claims of that Empire. In fact, it's very much like the Soviet Union, which was just a new version of the Russian Empire: empire lightly disguised. A 3,000 year tradition doesn't just go away.
Of course, this is in no way to defend the present US empire.
In some ways but their system was premised for 100s of years on allowing mass starvation, which as the following article points out, ironically had the effect of raising the IQ of the Chinese gene pool to the highest level on the planet.
http://www.ronunz.org/2013/03/20/unz-on-china-chinese-eugenics/
The middle east provides the richest battle ground on the planet. The U.S and China (or Russia, N Korea, Pakistan, et.al) can go to war with each other by proxy, blowing up all those brown people while continuing to build gleaming monuments to capitalism on their own unscathed shores.
"a situation of imperialism, jingoism and cultivated racism". Been to China, or India, or Pakistan, or Russia, or Nigeria, or anywhere that is not eating multiculti salad? You don't avoid war by paying Danegeld and taking some of it back in bribes. You avoid war by being strong and showing that you will go to war with a determination to win. NB - America has not won a war in years, which is why we are always at war.
It's simpler than that, you avoid war by not constantly creating them. America is a unipolar hegemon, and our doctrine is Full Spectrum Dominance, meaning complete world domination in every possible sense. We cover the Earth with almost a thousand military bases, have enough nuclear weapons to wipe out everything many times over, and spend 60% of our tax dollars on weapons and war.
The reason we continue to fight wars is because a ruined and destabilized world is easier to dominate, because it makes lots of money for war profiteers, because it gives us an excuse to put bases everywhere, and because politicians are psychopaths. Here we are surrounded by two oceans, and nobody is even threatening us in the slightest in terms of military, but we can't stop killing people on the other side of the planet? It's because we don't need wars, we choose them.
That's childish. Russia and China boast of hypersonic missiles and both have stated their willingness to initiate war with the USA. The Chinese are bent of the subjugation of all other polities. Take a look at HK. Africa. Their own people. The Russians believe in "lose-lose", the Chinese in Win at all costs.
The Iranians are in a permanent state of proxy war. It's a dangerous world - having two oceans means having three coasts (including the Gulf Coast) to defend - three coasts to attack. Spending on strong defense and offense capabilities reduces the chance of us being returned to the Stone Age.
Dude, you don't understand anything about the countries you are talking about. This is pure hallucination and fantasy.
Have you ever wondered WHY other countries might want things like hypersonic missiles? Surely to attack the US for no reason while it's just innocently minding it's own business, right? Just because Russians are evil, right? Surely not because the US is ringing the Russian border with anti-missile systems AND medium range nuclear weapons.
Perhaps consider the elephant in the room, the world's most powerful and violent country threatens everybody else who doesn't lay down and become a vassal state and they feel it in their interest to protect themselves.
The point that the US exercises an unjust hegemony is no evidence against the point that a rival power like China would like to establish its own global hegemony to replace the current US one.
Correct. There are no examples of an advanced civilization in all of human history that avoided the pattern you describe. (there are a few minor examples due to geographic isolation)
China's propaganda and brainwashing campaigns have clearly been successful in penetrating the "baizou" (stupid left) population in the USA based on a lot of the comments here.
Well, you seem to be a strong supporter of President Trump, who really wants us to mind our own business and not get involved in foreign wars, unlike his predecessor.
And I agree with your assessment of Communist China as the "world's most powerful and violent country". Their aggressive involvement in Africa, the Middle East and even Europe (think Italy, where they have a big Belt and Road presence) certainly fits your description of them. They have made vassal states of Tibet and Xinyang and half a dozen countries in Africa.
I hate to bother you again, but I love what you're writing. What is amazing to me, and shouldn't be, is the lack of any understanding of Chinese culture. The culture of a country entirely determines its goals and the way it behaves in the world. Even if you hadn't a clue about how the Chinese think, it seems the evidence historically of their lack of desire to colonize the world or spread their ideology would fill in the gaps for you.
historical evidence= relevant. current evidence = even more relevant. You can defend china on historical basis, but in a similar vein, would you defend North Korea if they wanted to take precedence in the global economy even if historically they've been ethnocentric and isolationist? China has been historically isolationist - that's now changing.
Why did Nixon go to China? Why has the US been supporting Chinese economic development for 50 years?
Your narrative is so scrambled and out of kilter with obvious reality that it is astonishing.
Here is an honest question I would appreciate an answer to:
Why did the US want to normalize trading/economic/diplomatic relations with Communist China but not with our tiny island neighbor just 90 miles from Miami, Communist Cuba??
K.
Arabs, Mongolians and the Ottoman empire tried, with limited but not great success, to invade Europe for 1,000 years.
Europeans developed better social systems, technology and weapons.
Payback is a b1tch (female dog).
Not it is not. Russia and China DO have hypersonic missiles amongst other significant weapons. And China might even have level 3 lab biohazards-- hmmm can you say virus? WHY do people look at the war machines and not the means of the next ww-- information
Ms. Jones, Ian B. is right about this:
>> the US for no reason while it's just innocently minding it's own business, right? Just because Russians are evil, right? Surely not because the US is ringing the Russian border with anti-missile systems AND medium range nuclear weapons.<<
The U.S. has a very long history of bellicosity. That is obviously going to contribute to other nations wanting weapons that match our military capabilities, or at least deter their threat or use.
You seem to be a supporter of President Trump! He has negotiated peace in several parts of the world and has ended our military presence in other countries.
Four Muslim-majority countries have recognized Israel under his leadership, while only 2 did so in the previous 70 years. That is a big win for women's rights, as Israel was the only country in the Middle East to give women full rights. Sudan, for example, has agreed to make illegal several extreme types of attacks on women.
However there is a slight mistake in your second paragraph. I am sure you meant to say "Communist China has a very long history of bellicosity."
China has a 5,000 year old history of "statist" wars, mostly internal, but that is mainly because they didn't have a lot of neighbors that could easily be invaded and plundered:
1. north, mostly tundra or similar (mongolian nomads were a problem, but not one that an ancient army was able to defeat over the vast region involved, thus the Great Wall)
2. east: pacific ocean
China did attempt a few invasions of Japan, but they weren't very successful, except may as glorified raiding parties (?)
3. south: almost impassible tropical jungle and Himalayas
4. west: Gobi desert or similar
To be fair, the US military has been into bioweapons research for decades. Recall the anthrax attacks after 9/11? That strain of anthrax was military grade I believe originating at Ft. Dettrick.
I have also read about US military biolabs in Ukraine etc. I would betcha the US has bioengineered some very evil viruses and other pathogens.
The Orange Drumpf Man Bad destroyed that notion, so the establishment tried to destroy the Orange Flumph Bad Man.
....and Gen. Flynn knew where the bodies are buried so to speak, hence he had to go too.
You wrote an entire book in a few sentences. Amen, brother.
Indeed.....
Si vis pacem, para bellum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_vis_pacem,_para_bellum
re: "America has not won a war in years"
The USA demolished the Serbs in three days (ran them out of Croatia). 1990s
In the era of 4GW, what "winning" a war means is hard to tell in most cases.
From Russia Russia Russia to China China China. The Borg’s mighty Wurlitzer shifts gears silently, at least for those that prefer not to listen.
The Borg (neolib establishment) was throwing the working class in the USA under the bus of globalism long before "russia russia russia"
Italy has a higher GDP than RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA. So no.
@Ian B: Your first sentence shows the limits of your thinking ("If it is actually true that China would have more influence under a Biden Administration, then honestly, phew, World War III averted").
Generally, when two major powers lack a strong common enemy, the only thing that averts a big war between them is two-sided deterrence. That is, each of the two countries has to have an adequate set of deterrents against the other country's aggressive moves. It is absurd when you say that a scenario where China would have more influence over a Biden administration would avert World War III. Such influence by China would do nothing to prevent China's moves towards becoming the dominant global power, and I doubt it would stop aggressive US moves against China either. You seem to think the only danger that matters is American aggression and hegemony. And also, you don't get Greenwald's point that it's not good to have US decisions influenced by an authoritarian outside government -- a point he's made not only about Chinese influence but also about influence by the UAE, for instance.
China isn't the US. It doesn't have the same cultural history, philosophy or goals. American hegemony has been playing the "bad guy" game since it has existed to justify its own aggressive actions on the narcissistic projection that other societies are exactly like them (but more evil).
You are incapable of escaping the postmodern-left's echo chamber of victim narratives (amplified in China sponsored USA leftist think tanks for years), and thus you can't see obvious facts and evidence that contradict you narrative.
Or maybe you aren't as brainwashed and propagandized as you seem and are on the Chinese payroll.
@Ian B: That's like saying in 1800 that the US wouldn't be like European empires just because the US lacks laws setting up a minority of families as hereditary rulers. Or like saying in the 19th century that drawing attention to the US's aggressive acts is merely a "bad guy" trick used to justify the acts of more traditionally aristocratic empires. On the contrary, I see the US as behaving more or less like other major powers historically do, and that goes for China as well. The differences between the US and China aren't enough to override the common tendency of any major power to try to gain power internationally in ways that grow more oppressive. You excessively limit yourself to seeing other countries in terms of their relation to Western imperialism; that's a view that's centered around just one part of the world, and it hinders you from taking the more reasonable approach of recognizing common tendencies that major powers tend to share throughout history.
I recommend you learn about Chinese history and culture, particularly their history of foreign policy, commerce and naval expeditions during the same period Europe began colonizing the planet. No crusades, no forced conversions to Confuscianism, no slave colonies, no genocides of natives. In fact much or Chinese history is textbook isolationism.
I can make the point based on actual history, or on what the political ideologies of China have been over the millenia, and what they are now. But the real challenge is the lack of imagination necessary to envision or comprehend these differences, that they could even exist.
Nobody is saying that Chinese history is happiness and smiles, but it IS different from European history and it has taught different lessons.
I've said it before, but cultural projection is a real thing, and it always serves those in power by normalizing and legitimizing their behavior and banishing ideas that things could be any different.
This is simple. China had nowhere to expand. it has a vast ocean on one side, tundra and deserts to another two sides, and impassable tropical jungles to the other.
China did not make the same technological, scientific and social advances that medieval Europe did. It did not have the maritime forces or any significant experience with large nation naval war.
Your inability to do anything other than make silly excuses for a totalitarian regime and fall back on idiotic leftist victim narratives is appalling and ridiculous.
@Ian B: You think that some major powers simply are, over a period of many centuries, consistently less aggressive than their rivals and that we can rely on them to continue this pattern in the future. That's a nice romanticized view, but when it comes to major powers, there are no such long-lasting guarantees. You could just as easily point out that at the time of the Meiji Restoration, Japan had no history of imperialism or large-scale conquests -- to quote your words about China, "much of [Japan's] history was textbook isolationism" until then. But Japan quickly changed course and became a major imperialist power, taking over first Korea and then many other lands. Anyone in 1870 who used your line of reasoning to say that Japan wouldn't turn imperialist would be proven wrong by later facts.
Because I doubt you'll grasp what I just said, I'll spell it out more. You make too much of the not-very-permanent differences between Chinese history and Western history. It's easy to demonstrate there have been differences in the past: Zheng He was no Columbus, nor was pre-20th-century China interested in pursuing trading voyages and marine expeditions to the most distant parts of the world on the scale of the modern West. And since China has never been dominated by monotheistic religions, it hasn't shown typically monotheistic traits like forced conversions or crusades/jihads. On the other hand, the fact that we find lots of forced conversions and crusades in the West's history doesn't mean this is a permanent trait of Western powers. Someone who would argue that the West of the last two generations is still carrying out forced conversions, or crusades, or setting up slave colonies, would be making a dubious interpretation at best; it would smack of artificially twisting the present into a framework that's stuck in the past just to make moral condemnation easier. The West is doing awful things now and did awful things in the past, but they're different awful things. Specifically, the present-day West doesn't have monotheism integrated into its power structure in the way that's required to generate things like forced conversions. The US still has the level of aggression you'd expect from a power of its size, but its aggression takes a different form.
On the other hand, if you want to look at the record of the historical Chinese state, it doesn't have the peaceful implications you suggest. The Chinese state became an empire quite early on, and it didn't acquire that empire peacefully or with any respect for human rights. It continued for millennia to retain, in a more or less stable form, pretty close to the maximum size that any empire could be in the pre-1500 world. But that was about the maximum amount of empire they could get, and their remaining more or less at the maximum does NOT show any lack of aggression. Similarly, when the stifling traditions of the authoritarian Chinese state prevented them for centuries from following in the footsteps of the European global empires, it doesn't show any lack of aggression either. It's just that the possibilities for a more modernized aggression failed to penetrate the thinking of Chinese leaders because it was too wrenching for them to abandon the specifics of their more traditional forms of domination. In the year 2020, it can no longer be said that the current government of China fails to understand how aggression works in the contemporary world or how to modernize its military and governmental operations. So the near-stasis of China's empire in the past doesn't prove anything about the future.
You say Chinese history includes no genocides of natives. That's false: just look up the Qing dynasty's Dzungar genocide, or their Yangzhou massacre in 1645, or what Ran Min did. Or, if you are interested in future prospects for imperalist policies by China, look at what happened after first Sun Yat-sen and then Mao Zedong decided to make a sharp departure from China's old governmental traditions. Maoism was an ideology that sought to be a transformative global influence, and to achieve a level of international power for China to match that influence. As part of Maoist ideology, China not only inspired but supported the Khmer Rouge, who were genocidal, and China maintained them as part of its sphere of influence. China currently is engaged in semi-genocidal killing and repression of the native Uighurs.
It seems you think that China in future will be a top economic power without being hegemonic in more aggressive ways. Well, that was exactly what Japan worked to do in the 1980s, making the unusual attempt to pursue economic power without military dominance. Japan was briefly seen as perhaps the top economic power in the world then, but its status quickly collapsed. Certainly China's leaders are thoroughly cognizant of how that approach failed and will therefore refuse to follow it. Since at least Stalin's death China has wanted to exercise a global leadership that is more than just economic or cultural, and in recent decades China has been energetically copying every feature of Western powers that they think might be effective in gaining global leadership. So I won't place excessive weight on the fact that China has no history of global imperialism. England, which later became an imperialist nation on the most global scale, had been consistently the victim of aggression and not the aggressor until around the time of the First Crusade. The Jewish people had been largely victims of aggression for millennia, and then the Zionist movement decided to change course and build a country which would be aggressive on a scale that had been unknown in Jewish history. There just aren't any major powers that steadily remain unaggressive over long periods of time and can be relied on to do so in future.
To those who romanticize China, all this will be explained away as the result of anti-Chinese propaganda and as assuming that China is just like the West. But to support my points, one need only recognize that almost all major powers tend to be aggressive and to seek hegemony on pretty much whatever scale they're capable of, and that no society is inherently unimperialist because any major power can change into imperialist form even if it had never done so before. If a Chinese global hegemony comes to pass, it would differ in some details from Western hegemony; it might be better in not having old-fashioned slave colonies for instance, and it might be worse in introducing its own novel and staggering violations of human rights. But in the end, instead of trusting any one society to be nicer, it makes more sense to support human rights and independence regardless of who the aggressor is.
I found this to be an intelligent and refreshingly informed response. Speaking of Qing Dynasty, the Manchus did some really horrifying things in Xinjiang and western China.
But to attempt be concise this is where I take issue:
1. The Uigher situation is not what the US media and Western governments portray it to be, and it is not a genocide. Whether it is a benign approach, or the best approach, to dealing with Islamic radicalization and people living in nomadic lifestyles is a different question.
2. Histories teach lessons. The way nations evolve is surely based on circumstance, but they learn certain values and truisms from those circumstances. To be a victim of colonialism and imperialism over hundreds of years gives you a different way of looking at the world as does being the aggressor and exploiter. The US can't get over the notion that it "won" WWII and therefor it's role as a winner, or dominator is inherently good for the planet. I think China and countries in the global south understand this kind of use of power differently, not just from the perspective of morality, but also long term sustainability. Their number one goal is simply to establish and protect their sovereignty. If you understand Western framing from media and politicians, defensive actions of "adversary" states are always viewed as aggressive actions, and the thing they are defending against (US imperialism) is made invisible.
3. I don't see modern China's behavior or rhetoric indicative of aggression, expansionism, or really anything other than protecting their sovereignty, defending their right to materially develop their society on their own terms, with their own government, rather than that chosen by the USA or IMF, and to promote alternatives to neoliberal imperialism to the global south establishing a more equitable and multipolar win-win global environment which to a large degree, their long term survival depends upon.
I am sympathetic to the above view because frankly we are headed for major planetary challenges that the US-led capitalist world, neoliberalism, militarism will do exactly nothing to address. If continue to play this "Last Man Standing" game of absolute dominance on behalf of greedy psychopaths, while the planet burns, we aren't going to make it. The only path to survival is one that is cooperative and inclusive of China, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America, and that isn't constrained by the insatiable needs of out of control markets and the imperial states they control.
the chinese term for retarded western leftists:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=baizuo
I ain't no baizuo! lol
Watch John Pilger's documentary "The Coming War On China"
Exactly-- geez I knew that US MSM controls what the US public sees, but frankly I expected more from those reading alternative media.
WW III is an information war-- we are in the midst of it. Interesting that the extreme nature of the information war (words but no proof)was Wuhan province. Coincidence? maybe
"IMO there are WAY better sources about US-China relations than Matt Stoller, Glenn."
I agree that Stoller makes a very poor, unsupported case for his loud lamentations about China. (I think it was an interview by Glenn where I saw him fail miserably to support his case.)
But Greenwald doesn't cite or allude to Stoller in the above piece, does he? (Haven't clicked all the links.)
I guess I'm thinking of him having Stoller on System Update in the past. Glenn did a counter-interview with Kishore Mahbubani, but it really sounds like Matt's thinking influenced him more because he uses similar logic/language in this piece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsVEiL4hsrU
You're "pro" Wall Street colluding with the CCP to enable/accelerate our economic decline because you're "anti" World War III with China. Why not just be "anti" both?
The CPC is doing right by it's own people by improving their living standards and developing their economy and infrastructure. They are objectively better off than 30-40 years ago. That is their business.
Our business is what our own capitalist elites and politicians do. If we took a page from China, exercised some control over our finance sector, and invested in our own country, then we wouldn't have a problem. But it's a bit ludicrous to blame the country working to move away from mud huts and bicycles in equal measure as your own corporations and politicians who hollowed out America for their personal profit.
I don't "blame" China. What it's doing is in its interest, of course, but it's not in our interest. I blame our corrupt, cowardly, and just plain incompetent leaders for not, as you say, exercising more control over our financial sector and investing in our own country. I don't blame China for taking what our leaders have been freely offering.
Good. We can agree on that.
You have a very cowardly attitude to evil. China, or rather the Chinese Communist Party have no problem locking up their opponents, putting people in concentration camps, persecuting their enemies, lying about everything, exploiting anyone who isn't them. And you think standing up to them is bad? You also seem to think the Taiwanese, who are Chinese and like the Hong Kongers suggest the Chinese could prosper in a free democratic country, are "virulently" anti China for no reason? It's the Chinese Communist Party who are imperialistic, jingo-istic. Jesus you're an idiot, or evil yourself. And no Saddam Hussein was running a poor backward country - China is neither.
If you don't understand the formula...every country the US wants to bomb or subjugate is LITERALLY HITLER and the most evil of all time. Meanwhile we are just innocently minding out own business, never messing with anybody or giving them reason to fear or resist us. I don't know why people even trust the mainstream media, it's a predictable targeting mechanism on behalf of the US empire to demonize whoever they want to attack. It ALWAYS works like this. Why do you trust them?
And yeah, I understand the history of Taiwan, the ROC and PRC. I get that they want to be an independent country now, but legally they belong to China, were ceded back to China from Japan, for decades represented "China" at the UN, and for 70 years they have claimed sovereignty over the entire mainland.
From the side of China they have already endured colonial partition in the past with Hong Kong, Macua, the Embassy Districts, Japanese occupation, etc even Tibet briefly being a British protectorate. Now another part of their territory has its own sovereignty and is allied with a larger enemy, the US, and receives weapons that could easily be used to attack the mainland on behalf of the US. You don't think they would be a little sensitive about it?
Taiwan needs to work it out peacefully with China. The whole military conflict thing is a consequence of getting the US involved which is hugely provocative.
I'm no fan of American foreign policy or imperialism, but just because America - or at least the Trump administration opposed China -, but that has nothing to do with how China is under the Chinese Communist Party. Sure it's much better to be a Chinese in China than a Korean in North Korea, but it's still pretty bad. No freedom, terrible pressure to conform, knowing dissent that is noticed will be punished. How the Chinese people suffer under the Chinese Communist Party is now and real. Your points about Hong Kong - and Hong Kong would dearly love not to be a part of China -, and Japanese Imperialism doesn't make the Chinese Communist Party any less evil. Just because "America bad", does not make China good - or more precisely the current rulers of China good. Also you cannot accurately describe the leasing of a malarial rock with a small fishing village as Hong Kong was with dividing a huge country. Also Tibet is not Chinese, it is an occupied colony.
TBH, I was a bit shocked to read this article from GG. If China can exert influence, great! But it is unlikely. Sure any sufficiently complex society will have distinct interests but the geopolitical analysis should focus on the unchanging institutional parameters.
For example, when Israel was formed, much of the US was opposed because its interests were vested in the Gulf. Then in 1967, Israel's potential as the ME Sparta allowed "supporters" to dominate. But whether the administration was pro or anti-Israel: domination of the Middle Easy oil and the currency in which it is trading was the overriding concern. So similarly here, just because there are different agendas about how to geostrategically dominate China, doesn't mean that isn't exactly the goal the US will pursue. If the means are less overtly Hawkish, that probably will help avert WWIII for a couple more years.
Where is the world is China NOT influencing? Heard of the tiff with Australia? Even we in Canada have had a dust up , then there is the showering of riches to any country who wants new infrastructure-- the Old Silk Road now Belt and Road. And what part of Biden Jr's and others "work" in China not about influence-- geez open your eyes
I really hope Glenn reads these comments and understands what is so problematic about this article. Yes, Chinese global influence is the problem, not Western. Aha.
He will presumably see problematic, snide, glib comments by brainwashed leftist goofs that verge on being a form of toxic "woke" cancel culture.
Nothing says "I know I am right" like an ad-hominem attack. The play is always to tell you the enemy is "out there". The only thing that changes is who the enemy is.
Nothing says "I'm a brainwashed leftist goof" like meaningless rhetorical deflections about "ad hominems"
-----
From another discussion:
Cultural Marxist, PC left, SJW rhetoric*, explained:
0. gaslight
1. Deflect from what was actually said/done
2. Distort or lie about facts and evidence (such as straw manning)
3. Cherry pick evidence to fit the (victim/diversity) narrative
4. Engage in emotive, feel good bs (special pleading) rather than use rational, objective thought
5. Use guilt by association ("you are a K-K-K/n-a-z-i") to smear people that dare to criticize PC/SJW leftist ideology.
[->] Use groupthink and scapegoating to marginalize critics of the PC left.
6. Demonize the personalities of opponents/critics.
7. Destroy the reputation, character and career of critics of the PC left
8. Use psychological violence, which could include doxxing, and threats of actual violence, against critics of the PC left.
-----
*Note: the above can be generalized to fit any ideology.
R U ok there Hunter
Yawn.
Shitty behaviour isn’t mutually exclusive
Sure. But it is a question of degrees and what the majority of the readers here can influence. There is no doubt that "CHINA!!!" will be used as the next leaver of control against Western populations, so this needs to be pushed back against. China doesn't have to be the second coming for that to be a higher priority than feeding into these fear tactics.
"what the majority of readers can influence"
W.T.F. does that mean?
The next level of control (already here since Obama if not before) is corporate supported "woke" cancel culture terrorism, which GG and other journalists and scholars have been explaining for months and years.
You seem to have missed that, or just ignored it because you are brainwashed by postmodern deconstructive nihilism (SJW victim narratives) that are behind "woke" cancel culture.
As far as fear narratives go, all you are doing is pushing a fear narrative about the USA! lol
Try dual containment - of Western hegemony and of moves toward hegemony by a rival power like China. We no longer have the luxury of thinking that rights can be best protected by opposing only US hegemony. Just put rights first, without letting that be a tool for anyone's hegemony, and make sure that any country's attempt at hegemony is faced with resilient and indomitable pushback. At a time when US power is falling and China's is rising, that's the only thing that will work.
I can't really get on board with your very tactical model of news and human activity generally, and I largely feel the same way about this article. If there's specific allegations of fraud that might impact the president's decision making then sure, but I'm not interested in this model of language as warfare.
Unless you are a communist why is it “great” that communist China will exert influence?
You seem to be making the argument that unless China gets to control the world, as they clearly claim is their goal, then it is war. So we are supposed to all become communists so we don’t have war?
"So we are supposed to all become communists "
China is now about as "Communist" as the floor of the NY stock exchange. (Authoritarian yes, but not Communist.)
There is nothing incompatible between the D party neoliberal corporate-state complicity with totalitarian neomarxist postmodern deconstruction ideology (SJW "struggle sessions") and Chinese totalitarian communist-capitalism.
or is it capitalist-communism? whatever
re: CCP tactics adopted by postmodern neomarxist deconstructionists (SJWs, 'woke" cancel culture) in the USA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struggle_session
Your comment is less than clear. If by "capitalist-communism" you mean state capitalism, most of the neoliberal globalists practice that.
But in any event, I'm still waiting for someone to explain how contemporary China is **economically Communist** (as opposed to authoritarian, which it is).
As usual (for a leftist), you focus on irrelevant rhetorical minutia and not the relevant geopolitics.
Communism is simply state control of economic production. China is a hybrid model, literally the government is one party, with the name "Communist" that has allowed some limited economic capitalism, but no democracy.
The corporate-neolib D party is clearly becoming more totalitarian and at the wacky fringes, it is partnering with SJWs and similar extremists that have already adopted "struggle session" tactics (Bret Weinstein, Evergreen) similar to those used in recent years by Maoists in Nepal to wreck democratic institutions.
Chinese are high IQ because of 1,000s of years of mass death?
http://www.ronunz.org/2013/03/20/unz-on-china-chinese-eugenics/
We are not trying to dominate Communist China. We are opposing THAT country's worldwide dominance efforts (see how many countries in Africa and even Iran are indebted to China because of huge loans) and huge abuses of human rights.
And our alliance with Israel is for one and only one reason: they are the only supporters of human rights in the Middle East. We care about women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and religious freedom. Israel is the only country in that region that also does this. If, say, Yemen, gave women full rights and allowed gays to live, then we would be aligned with that country.
this is very garbled.
who is the "we" that is opposed to China's belt road thingy??? apparently not Biden and Wall street. The USA loaded a long list of 3rd world countries with staggering financial (and other) obligations for decades.
China offered Africa better deals, at least in terms of short term profit, and is probably making significant inroads into "eastern" europe.
Israel claims to be "western" and "democratic" but is actually a corrupt, far right totalitarian mess that is engaged in something very close to ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Israel always was, and presumably always will be, a colonialist outpost founded by terrorists/Zionists, that is needed for endless, mostly stupid regime change wars and oil game geopolitics.
Once again your abject ignorance and wonderful skill at regurgitating garbage into the sunlight at any mention of Israel.
“...... something very close to ethnic cleansing......” is a great example of your stupidity. Funny how ever since Israel liberated Judea and Samaria from Jordan’s illegal occupation of that land the Arabs living there and who relatively recently have become known as Palestinians have seen their infant mortality numbers plummet, their life expectancy figures skyrocket, and in general their population grow exponentially. If we are practicing anything close to ethnic cleansing than we are very very bad at it.
What a fool.
you are a ripe pile of brainwashed dog shit
100s of Palestinian villages have been bulldozed, no? How is that not "something close to ethnic cleansing"
you narrative is incomprehensibly full of shit, so you have to go cherry picking selective facts to support it with DEFLECTIONS
Actually it is you who is brainwashed, adhering to a one-sided narrative that has been repeated often enough to a world full of Jew haters such as yourself (oh, just an anti-Zionist? Just keep telling yourself that you fucking ignoramus) as to become “truth”
To teach you the truth would entail first opening your head and scooping out the years of leftist “poor palestinian” shit that has taken hold of what’s left of your brain. “ 100s of Palestinian villages have been bulldozed......” what a fucking crock. Are you talking of the aftermath of the Arab-initiated war of ‘48? Nothing happens in a vacuum you historically ignorant idiot. Why don’t you write of the multiple Arab massacres of the Jews living in that land, having never left, well before Israel was a State. You know nothing of the true history of the region, other than that you’ve imbibed from the likes of that pseudo-historian Ilan Pappe, and Jew-hater Khalid Rashid. Your ignorance is surpassed only by your absolute inability to see it. You and your ilk make me want to puke.
Go fuck yourself.
Israel is a democratic country. They have elections that mean something. And they are the main supporters of human rights in the Middle East. If you think women and LGBTQ people should have full freedom, then Israel is the country you support.
And by the way, the lead headline in the news today is that Morocco and Israel have agreed to full recognition. That is FIVE majority-Muslim countries that have negotiated such agreements under President Trump's leadership.
you stupidity is as enormous as your cherry picking of facts to fit your narrative
Have u you been to Israel. Have you learned its history.
yes, I have been studying middle east history since the early 1970s, with dozens of scholars, many of whom lived in Israel and other parts of the middle east, including Iran before the revolution (late 1970s)
What is now "Palestine" and Israel was a conquered territory of the Ottoman Empire for 100s of years, then it was taken by the British/French after WW1 and Mandates (Protectorates) were formed.
A lot of sleazy geopolitics resulted, consistent with other colonialist schemes.
A good example of middle eastern politics are Wallace Stegner's notes on his ARAMCO writing project, in which he records how CIA black helicopters were offloaded at the Port of Jordan and used by the Saudi govt to machine gun down striking oil field workers.
There were many such incidents, and Israeli security and military was involved with a number of them.
So called "Palestinians" are seen as dogs by the Arab elites, and are used as pawns in the ongoing games of geopolitical sleaze.
If you want to discuss religious bullshit, please find a lunatic asylum.
The middle east is a vast shithole of backward cultures and has been for 1,000s of years. The Jews that immigrated to Israel after the 1940s have been turned into human trash, reactionary excrement, by the relentless geography, climate and geopolitics of a region that will probably never be fully integrated into the modern world.
Everything that goes to the middle east gets sucked into a time machine that spits them out 3,000 years ago, into a vast horror of tribal crap.
like it says in song of songs: "if you don't know, go in the footsteps of those who came before you". Humility is always important, sorry to be a self righteous a**
Good to hear, I am Jewish myself, find it very heartening to hear that take. Super.
I don't know where you come from, but take a good long look at your own culture before you start making comparisons with other cultures. Nobody has the moral high ground here - least of all those in the west.
That's true. It seems like China policy is divided between economic containment (TPP) and neoliberalism, or straight up military threats and protectionism, but in each case the goal is to put China back into the role of providing cheap low-tech goods for Western companies and general subservience to Western capital and political power.
Great comment for 1980-- hello! look at Belt and Road, look at the political influencing in NZ and Australia-- wake up
I like the “hidden hand” book By Clive Hamilton. They are just as hard at influence peddling as anyone
I've been watching the political influence in Australia. It's coming from the US and is rabidly racist, war mongering and self-destructive, turning it's main trading partner into an all out enemy just because Washington says so.
Australian leftists are by far the biggest imbeciles in the galaxy (generally speaking, there might be one or two exceptions).
LOL
The so called "left"in Australia is the same as the D/R party neolib establishment in the USA, no?
They have been throwing the working classes under the globalization bus for decades, and there is a populist working class backlash against neolib multiculturalist idiocy.
Yes. Australia puts its warships in the South China Sea and China puts up tariffs on Australian wine. Chinese aggression must be stopped!
There are some incredible initiatives that China is doing and it should be *commended* for using soft power.
But, it has virtually no offensive capabilities: one aircraft carrier (I think). One offshore military base.
It has nowhere near the high-tech capabilities it is made to have: Chinese stealth fighters; engines made in Russia because they don't have the tech.
iPhones; assembled in China, sure, from high tech components made in Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
China might one day be a threat, but it is far far far from that.
Meanwhile, they are responsible for the most successful anti-poverty program in all of human history, saving many holocausts every year but you know, let's not let them build a train to Europe, because that would be bad.
When your remedy for poverty is death it will always be successful, unless you are one of the dead.
Evidence?
Your estimate of China's military capabilities is pretty out of date. Seriously, "one aircraft carrier"? Compared to the US's military capabilities, China has the great advantage of lacking America's hubris.
Apologies. They have two. How many does the US have? 20?
I see you understand the situation with clarity. China is doing everything the U.S. should have been doing, including attempting to lift its people out of poverty and reaching out to help the underdeveloped word instead of droning and sanctioning it to death. China, like any educated, thoughtful entity understands the effectiveness of "soft power" and somehow this is interpreted as militancy. China doesn't smash and destroy everything around it like we ineffectively do, and somehow they are the devil. I see a lot of projecting going on here.
The Chinese have been brutally exploiting non-chinese people in asia for 1,000s of years, you are profoundly delusional and apparently a fetishist.
China is exploiting several African countries with debt peonage.
Israel was aligned with France's military establishment in the 1950s through the mid 1960s, period of significant tension between the USA and France (arrogant, disloyal).
The French had threatened to side with the USSR right after WW2 if the USA didn't support France's doomed attempt to take power again in Vietnam.
The only thing s/he seems to be able to do is make excuses for a totalitarian regime and endlessly fall back on leftist victim narratives.
Like every other corrupt and phony FBI (and DOJ) investigation, watch the Hunter investigation end up nowhere and disappear in mainstream media, or nobody will give a damn.
Biden walks into his presidency with all of this surrounding Hunter eating at him. Horrendous how Joe used his son. Horrendous how Obama orchestrated everything to get Joe in office. Biden said he was "consulting" with Obama on his VP choice, and for certain Obama is behind his cabinet picks. It's revolting on every level. And they're grooming Kamala in the process.
Might I add how Obama orchestrated everything to get "corrupt and dementia" Joe in office, knowing full well how unfit Joe is mentally to handle the Oval Office on a daily basis. Obama himself said it took ALL the energy he had every day to run the White House as president - in his forties!!! But Obama used Joe anyway, like everyone in Washington uses each other. Like Bernie was used and abused.
You would think with the dirty deals of Hunter alone, Joe wouldn't have even run for president knowing what would come out!!! And he didn't run in 2016, likely because all of this crap was still smelling fresh!! But 4 years later with dementia and bad judgement, Biden returns to the establishment's calling. He could have retired a wealthy man with all of this ugly corruption buried behind him!!! Swept under the rug and his reputation and legacy somewhat in tact. So why did he give all of that up at age 78? His career included 8 years in the White House already. But at 78 with dementia and with all the wealth he and his family needs in retirement....what and who made him return to the White House? He ran on "no change"...no vision and dream he had to fulfill, just to maintain the status quo and further enrich the oligarchs and himself. And Jill is by his side to nurse him along in another round of greed and power, with his dementia. Greed never ends.
The MSM only reports on it when the pedophile Hunter puts out his spin press release along w/ his dimwitted old man's statement of love for his misunderstood son. Most people don't follow news. But I would bet 10 large if this was reported on before the election, even the fraud would not have been enough to elect Joe. And, does anyone think this is only a "misunderstanding tax issue." Listen to Tony Bobuliski interview w/ Tucker Carlson.
I don’t recall the exact numbers, but I believe it was close to 25% of Biden voters said had they know of it beforehand they would have changed their vote. The media did its’ job.
No shit. The hippies now worship the billionaire class "Establishment". As an aging punk, "Orange Awful AWFUL Drumpf! TAXES!!! Orange Man Awful BAD! Hooker PISS! PUTIN HOOKER PISS!!!11!!" is my guy. Nobody encapsulates the punk ethos more than the Orange Man Rad. :-)
Nothing encapsulates the punk ethos like huge, Reaganite tax-cuts for the wealthy and corporate friendly deregulations, multi-billion dollar arms sales to Saudi Arabia, staffing an administration with Wall Street goons, etc.
I get your point about the over-the-top, visceral "Orange Man Bad" reactions, but saying Trump encapsulates "punk ethos??" Nah. He's "punk" the same way kids that listen to Sum 41 and spike their hair are.
Johnny Rotten begs to differ. Meanwhile, War Pig Biden is bringing back the old guard whilst Orange Man Terribilis is the only President since Carter to not start a new war. That’s pretty punk in my book.
That's such a low bar lol.
-Drone strikes increased by about 4x while the transparency of that process decreased
-Trump further escalated tensions with Iran by pulling out of the JCPOA, then further escalated via petty military squabbles, assassinated their general, imposed severe economic hardships on them via sanctions
-Ripped up two treaties (one of them nuclear) with Russia, and has been trying to sink another nuclear treaty with them (New Start Treaty)
-Has increased support for the genocide ("war") in Yemen
-Has ramped up support for all things Israel, including the oppression of the Palestinian people. (That bullshit "peace deal" didn't even include Palestinians. It was between Israel and the UAE instead.)
-Has imposed more crushing sanctions-the harshest in at least modern history-on Syria and bombed them twice on what now appears to be false pretenses
-Tried to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela in a comically shitty coup attempt
-Sold weapons to Neonazis in Ukraine. (Congress tried to push Obama to do this, and he refused to avoid escalating tensions with Russia.)
-Has successfully pushed for increases in military expenditures
-Hired former CIA Director Mike "we lie, we cheat, we steal" Pompeo to be Secretary of State
-Hired *the* premier war-hawk John Bolton as his National Security Advisor
-Considered bombing Iran's nuclear facilities just recently for violating a deal that the US pulled out of two and a half years ago
The list goes on. The idea that he's somehow the anti-war or anti-interventionist President just because he continued and escalated multiple conflicts rather than starting new ones is nonsense.
Thanks for spending 20 minutes detailing MSNBC spewing points. Lol Back to my assertion: did he start new wars?
You're borderline retarded if you think MSNBC criticizes Trump for serving the MIC's interests like every other President did.
You got duped into the same hacky, partisan bullshit Dems did. You're "Trump is punk" is as ridiculous as MSNBC's "Biden's going to restore the soul of America."
Fact-check anything I listed above. Again, not starting a new "war" is the lowest of low bars, and it means fuck all compared to all the escalations he's done.
Keep telling yourself Trump is the Chosen One, though. This is just sad lol.
the orange man is measurably incompetent, please look at any other nation
LOL....because all the “competent” politicians here and around the world have done such an exemplary job?
A great example of President Trump's utter incompetence is that he has as of today (when Morocco joined the group) negotiated FIVE majority-Muslim countries fully recognizing the country of Israel.
The 12 previous Presidents from 1948 on only got TWO to recognize Israel. That obviously is a sign of competence compared to President Trump's horrible incompetence.
Orange Man Drumph! Horrbilis!!!11!! isn't a politician.
Don't be fool by the tax investigation. If we go back to Ukraine, you know how Joe Biden play dirty game. Joe Biden put his son in Board of Burisma when Burisma was under investigation by UK. Even Hunter Biden was an alcoholic at that time, Bursima still paid him a fortune. The presence of Hunter Biden in Burisma Board was to warn people not to investigate Burisma. Shokin was too naive to freeze the property of Burisma owner. Then Joe Biden sacked Shokin and got a replacement who acquitted Burisma corruption accusation within months. At the end, Burisma was only fined for tax evasion. With Di Dong Sheng video went viral, Joe Biden knew he had to do something to switch the attention. So he just make people believe Hunter Biden connection with China is just normal business transaction. Indeed Joe Biden connection with China is a treason act as the company his son involved is a spy company. It was proved with Dr Patrick Ho conviction. I don't know why American are so stupid to elect a treason to be the coming present. By the way, after watching all the hearings in different states, I don't believe Joe Biden is the winner of the election. The winner of the election should be Donald Trump.
"is" ;-)
Glenn, Thank you for another insightful article. It is fascinating and scary how many ties there are between China, Wall Street, and Washington, DC. As a U.S. Army Special Forces officer who has spent two decades studying the art of unconventional warfare, I appreciate the Chinese long game. Their ability to span administrations and cultivate influence over time to invest in future leaders and influencers is very dangerous for the world. If they can buy this level of influence int he USA, I can only imagine the levels they have in other states.
But this was entirely predictable. See Yanis Varoufakis on the end of the Bretton Woods system and the rise of financialization. Ordinary Americans are nothing to Wall Street, whereas they need China to keep the game going. This is how dollars circulate in the world.
The best way to take advantage of any foreign country is to throw some money at their corrupt ruling elites, who will then cheerfully sell out their national interest for pennies on the dollar. The British Empire pioneered this model and it was improved by the United States. It appears that China is paying attention to the lessons of history.
That's what Mussolini said .. . and look what happened to him!
*Springtime for Hitler
Today YouTube announced they intend to remove all content mentioning anything to do with “ rigged elections” “ stolen election 2020” “ Dominion Machines fraud”
The cover up is blatant.
Yep, about as in-your-face as is possible. And why not....they fear no repercussions.
Media, judges, politicians, all or most on the take.....any wonder half the country has zero trust in the country’s institutions. Doesn't bode well for the immediate future I’d say. The only question left is how will it start.
Terrible hu? I imagine it will begin with the alternative channels, all the independent journalists and citizen journalists, and “conspiracy” channels, commentators etc.
I guess I was thinking of a different “it”.
Something else? Like what?
I’ll leave it to your imagination. 😎