By Rostislav Ishchenko
Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard
cross posted with http://www.stalkerzone.org/rostislav-ishchenko-america-hits-china-in-order-to-frighten-russia/
source: https://ukraina.ru/exclusive/20180925/1021237227.html
The Americans introduced a new package of anti-Chinese sanctions. It is interesting that this time the actions of Washington aren’t connected to the economy in any way, but bear an exclusively military-political charge…
The Central Military Commission of China was hit because of its purchase of 10 Russian Su-35 and equipment for surface-to-air S-400 missiles. Or more precisely, China was allegedly hit — a number of its average importance employees are now forbidden from granting American export licenses, performing currency transactions in American jurisdiction, and the US can also arrest their property and freeze their accounts in its territory.
It’s possible to call these sanctions ridiculous. It is clear that all of this is already forbidden for the corresponding officials within the framework of Chinese legislation. In comparison with the introduction of prohibitive duties on Chinese goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars exported to the US, this isn’t even a mosquito bite. It’s simply nothing. But there is a nuance. Washington stressed that the final addressee of the sanctions is Russia, which allegedly interferes with the American elections, behaves badly in the East of Ukraine, and in general prevents America from living worldwide.
I think that the US thus reacted not to the specific purchase by China of Russian military equipment, but to the general strengthening of military-political cooperation between Russia and China.
Two years ago, when Xi Jinping suggested to Russia to seal a military-political union between the countries in the form of a binding contract, I already happened to write that in the present conditions it is unprofitable to Russia to sign documents of this sort. This would not just make Russian foreign policy dependent on the decisions made in Beijing, but would also allow China to behave much more rigidly towards the US thanks to the coercive reorientation of Russian activity in the Far East. But in the European theater the level of China’s support for Russia wouldn’t grow. Unlike Russia, China isn’t present there territorially, i.e., a direct threat doesn’t come to it from Europe, but in the Pacific theater of military operations Beijing needs to concentrate practically all its resources against the US, and preferably also the maximum amount of Russian resources too.
But I wrote that the non-formalisation of relations in the form of a binding contract doesn’t mean the absence of a Russian-Chinese military-political union in practice. It exists. It acts. It is directed against the US, like against a general threat. But at the same time, at every separate moment Moscow and Beijing make a decision about the level of support for each other in a specific region, proceeding from the general geopolitical situation.
Obviously, for some time Washington amused itself with the same illusions found among Russian SOS-patriots [members of Russian society who have a habit of reacting over-emotionally to news concerning foreign policy matters – ed], who for some reason consider that if a specific paper isn’t signed, then it is impossible to establish cooperation in any way. The statements and actions of both the administration of Obama (in the latter years of his reign) and Trump testifies that the US hopes to divide Russia and China and fight against them separately — against Russia on the European battlefield, and against China in the Pacific battlefield. It would give America the chance to manoeuvre with resources, throwing them against the main, at the current moment, opponent.
These hopes were surprising even earlier. Perhaps the Americans overestimated the efficiency of the anti-Chinese propaganda organised by them in the Russian media and expert community, intimidating Russians by talking about the “Chinese occupation” of Siberia and the Far East. By the way, the Americans tried to unleash similar anti-Russian propaganda in China with the help of local expert circles. But, anyway, they definitively vanished when Russia once again asymmetrically responded to the American intrigues that lead towards an increase in tensions in Syria and in Ukraine, and also to attempts to block Russian-German (and more widely – Russian-European) energy cooperation.
Moscow staged large-scale drills in the Far East (“Vostok-2018”), having involved in total over 300,000 people (a third of the combat structure of the army). Russia earlier showed its possibilities for operative manoeuvres via forces and means and for the creation, in the shortest possible time, of shock groups in any strategic directions. But such a number of troops have never been involved in exercises of this sort before. Russia extremely transparently showed to Washington that it is capable in only a few days of gathering in the Far East a group of troops of any number and structure, and also to provide military operations during an unlimited period of time.
The participation of a Chinese contingent in the exercises unambiguously showed who this military activity was aimed at. At the same time, it is necessary to understand that for the creation and provision of a two-three times smaller group (on the territories of ally states, with developed in advance infrastructure) Washington usually needs from two months to half a year. I.e., in the event of a joint Russian-Chinese military action in the region, the US will be able to react (without the use of the strategic nuclear weapons) only when it will have already ended.
Meanwhile, in the 90’s and in the beginning of the 2000’s the US ensured their military-political domination in the world precisely thanks to the ability to quickly create in any region of the planet a grouping capable, by means of conventional arms, of suppressing any opponent in the zone of responsibility. Back then Russia was able to defend its territory only because an attack on Russia meant the beginning of nuclear war, but it couldn’t effectively resist the US outside its own borders, which the Americans actively exploited.
During the “Vostok-2018” exercises it was convincingly shown to America that in this region its former advantage had disappeared. It can’t effectively resist joint Russian-Chinese military activity. At the same time, the US has no reason to opt for a nuclear confrontation, because their territory is reliably protected from non-nuclear military action by the ocean, where (for now) the American fleet dominates.
In fact, the military-political squeezing of the US out of Southeast Asia has started, like how earlier Russia started to squeeze Washington out of the Middle East during the Syrian campaign. The concept “Big Eurasia”, besides the earlier inherent in it economic outlines, obtained a concrete military-political form. The sharp breakthrough in inter-Korean dialogue, which took place practically on the terms of Pyongyang, is the best confirmation of this.
Already in the spring of this year the US, relying on its South Korean ally, threatened the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with military aggression. Back then China took a hard line, having notified Washington that if the Americans will strike the first blow, then Beijing will give Northern Korea military support. Russia expressed itself more flexibly, having called for the parties to hold dialogue and having put its troops in the region on full combat readiness. Nobody doubted whose side Moscow would be on in the event of a military conflict. By the way, the dialogue that took place soon after between Trump and Kim Jong-un was regarded in the world as a victory for Pyongyang, and thus its allies too.
And after less than half a year had passed since those events, the Republic of Korea, looking at its northern neighbor through the crosshairs and preparing for war, reaches unprecedented agreements on political and economic interaction with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; the exchange of visits starts, during which sincere friendliness and full mutual understanding is shown. But inter-Korean dialogue and peace between two Koreas means for the US the loss of the South Korean bridgehead. And after having lost military-political influence over Seoul, Washington will also lose economic influence. And this is seen in all Southeast Asia. This is a catastrophe.
For the Russians who got used to a Euro-centric policy, events in the Far East aren’t so obvious, but their geopolitical meaning is huge. The loss of control over Southeast Asia makes for the US any attempts to remain in Europe and in the Middle East senseless. They simply can’t be insured with resources (neither military-politically, nor economically).
That’s why Washington is nervous and sends signals of its discontent with the developing Russian-Chinese military cooperation, which unexpectedly for the US, without any written contracts, came to the level of close interaction that has destroyed the American military-political control over Southeast Asia that took decades to build.
Yes, these signals aren’t convincing. But the US already used everything serious that they could use in the sphere of the economy against Russia in 2014-2015, when Obama was sure that he had torn the Russian economy to pieces. And the Trump administration already involved all available sanctions mechanisms against China. Anyway, it is impossible to introduce duties that are greater than the volume of Chinese export, but the US has already come close to this threshold.
Of course, the Chinese economy is more vulnerable to American attacks than the Russian one. Beijing, unlike Moscow, wasn’t engaged during 15 years in the concealed reorganisation of its economy and the creation even not of import-substituting enterprises, but of whole spheres. Those several years that were lacking for full strategic self-sufficiency, due to the ahead of schedule eruption of the Ukrainian crisis, were made up in 2014-2016. Now Russia is capable not only of standing on its feet, but also of supporting China.
Without the severance of the Russian-Chinese union – unwritten, but no less strong and effective as a result – Washington isn’t able to reach any of its strategic objectives, neither in Trump’s concept, nor in Clinton/Obama’s concept. The only thing that the US is capable of doing, which they obviously lead affairs towards, is to set fire to some more regions and to try to additionally foment already existing conflicts in order to leave behind only ruins for the winners, like the retreating Germans did in 1943-1945.
But the concept of scorched earth didn’t save the Reich, and it won’t save the US either. It will simply cause additional damage to America’s allies, who are being scorched just to spite Russia. And this means that those from them who still can break free from the leash will flee from Washington en masse. After all, they have no place to hide except under the Russian-Chinese umbrella. There is no force in the world anymore that would throw down to the US a military-political and economic challenge and would force Washington to retreat on all fronts, including the internal one – where, as the Americans try to assure, Russia elects presidents for them.
Rostislav, you wrote:
‘The loss of control over Southeast Asia makes for the US any attempts to remain in Europe and in the Middle East senseless. They simply can’t be insured with resources (neither military-politically, nor economically).’
Doesn’t the opportunity to move military to Europe and concentrate on their empire there actually make it easier for the US to remain in Europe?
The main way to break China is to contain her export trade (container ships in the South China Sea) and to restrict Chinese import of crucial commodities of oil, copper, aluminum, and food.
Disruption in SE Asia is where China has deep commercial relationships with ASEAN nations and Australia, where fishing is a crucial food supply on the Mainland, and where oil and gas are taken and will be taken from the Chinese EEZs.
US Empire is heavily invested in financing the development of Asian production of goods. Emerging and developing nations and markets is where Wall Street invests for the growth potential of multiples (8-10x return on investment is minimal). China got wealthy but so did investors. Watch Foreign Direct Investment charts to know where the capitalists put their chips.
And, the US military strength is really based in its Navy. That is virtually useless in Europe. But it is hegemonic in SE Asia and East Asia and the Indian Ocean. All places where it can choke off Chinese maritime trade and where it dwarfs the Chinese PLAN (especially with Indo-Pacific QUAD partners, India, Japan, Australia).
Naval ships, especially carriers are obsolete. Subs and ASM rule the seas.
https://blog.usni.org/posts/2017/08/28/aircraft-carriers-drama
What benefits do the QUAD members get, besides being allowed to purchase US military junk and sell manufactured goods for intrinsically worthless dollars?
I’d guess Russia also has a military front also known a an Army Group composed of an Air Army, 2 Combined Armies and a Tank Army in Siberia and also a Naval fleet at Vladistok.
Larchmonter445:
1. If needed, China is capable to support its population with its own grain production, which has always been the “red line” issue for Chinese government for a long time.
89% of Chinese food import is actually soybeans, which is mainly used to make oil and the leftovers are used to feed the pigs and other animals, since the consumption of meat is increasing. Thanks to the tariff war initiated by Trump, China is importing more from Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Europe, – even UK is eager to export to China its agriculture produce -, while stop importing from US and its lackey Australia.
2. Fish is not the “crucial food” for Chinese in general. People from the South China eat more fish, people from the North prefer meat (pork/chicken/beef) over fish. However, all in all the diet of Chinese is still plant-based (lots of vegetables, tofu, etc.) due to historical and cultural factors/influence, though meat consumption is increasing.
You are right South China Sea holds the vital trade connection point for Chinese trade, that’s why China is developing OBOR projects to try to connect with its trading partners via land transportation (rail and road) and other sea routes such as via Myanmar. (Now you know why US & Co and MSM are “suddenly” focusing on Rohinyga sufferings…… )
Btw, the investors in China has made profits more than 8-10 times of their original investment.
Such a huge amount of materials used and needed in the US comes from China (and from other countries such as Canada). Cutting off the import of goods from China will only hurt American consumers and American corporations, at a time when there is not a lot of options (any?) for substituting those items with something made in the US or imported from another country. The US industrial base has grown much smaller due to the very process that has made China much stronger industrially. Any ongoing blockade of items from China to America cannot be sustained.
I recall that Rome called her legions from the British Isles as the pandemic collapse of the empire in the West began in the 5th century. That move did not help the empire. By 476 AD, the empire had all but ceased to exist in the West. I also note that the empire in the West was at the apex of its technological innovations as the 5th century began, an illusion of power which by mid-century was swept away. History does not repeat itself; fallen man simply remains fallen man, very predictable in his hubris from age to age.
Rob,
I beg to differ, as the history does repeat itself, simply because the “humans are idiots” and never learn from the past. Thus make the same mistakes which were made by others in the World’s history. For example, English Empire made some changes to the exploitation of the colonies, which in the end did not stop the collapse. Okay, they “GB” made one more change and created “The Commonwealth” as to suggest that everyone in the commonwealth benefits. U$ on the other hand, fell into the fictional thinking “We are the World, everything here is the greatest” simply because they thought: That Nuclear weapons and control of the money give them power to stay on “for ever”. So, it seems that the “U$ as an “Empire which exists only in their mind” may last only half a century, which is nothing in the history of the Empires. So, if you want to “evaluate possible future”, look at the World’s History and carefully analyze it. I could continue, but I’ll let the “history deficient” people stumble and fall with every step they take.
History is not a consciousness; it cannot repeat itself. Man – individually, in communion or collectively – has consciousness. He is the common denominator – fallen and full of hubris – who ensures that there is similitude in events from generation to generation.
Don’t you mean Northwest Asia?
Was thinking here about King Solomon, and his judgement of the infant with two separate women claiming motherhood: he ordered the child was to be split in half, one half to each mother; the solution was acceptable to the false mother, but the birth mother chose to drop her claim rather than see her baby die. Korea, an infant in terms of modern nations at that time, was wrenched in-half by false mothers, or false protectors if you will. Now that there is a suggestion of fruitful dialogue, the immediate question — at what cost can the Korean nation be made whole? surely the false-mothers will wish to extract their just compensation; but, what is the fair price for the US empire to give up its Eurasian “bridgehead”, as Mr. Ishchenko terms it? That it may be an unacceptable price for a true mother to pay, is possibly the long term wager here.
— I think Mr Ishchenko deserves his own falconesque moniker?
China in the Spotlight
In response to Australia’s anti-China policy, (which follows Trump’s) the Chinese government has adopted a ‘come see for yourself’ policy. Thus, sponsored travel agents offer holidays to China (flying Qantas and four-star accommodation) at prices ‘too good to refuse’.
Hubby and I have just returned and report as follows:
1. Chinese efficiency had the Visa application processed in 3 days.
2. On entering China (Shanghai), we encountered maximum security. In addition to Passport and Visa, photos and fingerprints were taken.
3. Clear signage in multiple languages saw the crowds exit the terminal smoothly.
4. Shanghai, population 24 million, is a modern mega city. It is mind boggling to think that the population (25 million) of Australia is housed in just one city. Most of what you see in Shanghai has been built in the last 24 years. From the impressive Bund waterfront commercial centre with spectacular architecture to five tiered ring road infrastructure. Shanghai viewed from the water at night is magical as the buildings all sparkle with light shows.
5. Towering apartment blocks stretch for dozens of km. The peasant farmers and fishers have all been swept into these soulless towers and no longer have contact with their beloved soil and water and sense of community. Supermarkets have replaced the local street stall.
6. Traditionally the groom gives the bride three precious gifts. In the 1970’s those gifts were – a bicycle, a watch and money. In the 1980’s – a washing machine, a TV and money; but now in 2018 – an apartment, a car and money. And future mother in law is very strict about this.
7. Transport: Cars have replaced bikes. Even with super highways, the traffic is slow and it takes hours to get across the city. Cars are cheap but the highly sought after Shanghai registration doubles the cost. Tourists want to experience two modes of transport – traditional and modern. Yes, a pedal power rickshaw ride and a super-fast Maglev ride. The Magnetic Levitation train reaches 413 km per hour. As yet it is only covers a short 30 km ride from the airport.
8. Security: There are police and security stationed discretely or marching in small formations everywhere, but they carry no guns or weapons, not even a baton or taser. CCTV cameras are on most streets, resulting in a very low crime rate. And zero littering means clean streets.
9. Show case: Pretty much whenever a world event has been hosted in China, they build a new city. Hangzhou hosted the G20, build a new city centre. Beijing, hosted the Olympic Games, build a new airport and railway.
10. Zhengzhou in central China is the manufacturing hub. The Vivo factory employs 500,000 people assembling IPhones. The government does not allow Apple to sell direct from the factory – the product is exported (tax) then imported (tax) to then be sold to Chinese customers at a price comparable to their home brand, Huawei. The source of Trump’s angst – ‘China has taken advantage of us’. Volvo cars are now Chinese owned, as is a chunk of Volkswagen. There are probably more brands gobbled up, as huge factories stretch for kms.
11. Beijing another mega city of 26 million has a different vibe than Shanghai. Beautiful architecture and more spread out but it’s extremely traffic congested. Beijing uses an alternate number plate system to reduce traffic, but people just buy two cars with odd and even numberplates. The resident population is swelled because of the classic tourist destinations – the Giant Pandas, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and a short drive to the Great Wall. They are all wonders to see and tick off your bucket list. The crowds were mostly Chinese tourists visiting their own treasures (I think a million were lined up to see Mao’s tomb), heaps of Aussies, scores of Russians, and a handful of obese Americans complaining about having to eat rice and drink tea, when they wanted Starbucks and McDonalds.
12. Technology: China is almost a cash less society with payment made by Alipay from your mobile phone. Even the tiny hut selling roti near the subway used the online platform developed by Alibaba founder, Jack Ma. His story is interesting. As a 14 year old, Jack Ma struck up a conversation to practise his English, with a visiting Australian lad from Newcastle. The lads remained pals and the Aussie parents even sponsored Jack’s education. Jack has repaid that initial help and makes hefty annual donations to Newcastle University.
13. Overall, China is a fascinating mixture of ancient empire and modern metropolis. Loved every minute. Go see for yourself. And be kind to the children, he or she might be the next Chinese billionaire.
Well, Babushka from Oz, looks like you had quite the journey in the very near past, and sounds to me like you muchly enjoyed the trek.
Your description of Katai is exactly what we hear in this AO, we do get a fair number of tourists, polite tourists, from there. The wealth being spread around in China is massive, and like any country, one can go from incredible prosperity and in ten minutes be in areas of poverty. Such is life.
Those we have talked to who have been in Katai mirror what you reported. Security is strong, and there are many areas that foreign, and sometimes domestic, tourists can not visit.
I think the biggest change is the cleanliness and organization of the cities and towns. China, like Russia, picked herself up by the collar, worked day and night and dragged itself from basically (foreign imposed) third world status to a modern and prosperous first world power in two generations. Quite the feat in my opinion.
I agree with Larchmonter’s synopsis on Katai and Mother joining forces. There seems to be an almost unwritten agreement in that the two will cooperate and if needs be come to the other’s aid when needed, both economically and militarily. Between the two of them, they will wear down the hegemon and it’s possible we might actually see peace on this rock we inhabit. Since there has been not one moment of peace on this planet since I was born, an outbreak of no shooting would be novel, and heartening.
Auslander
Author
Never The Last One https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK A deep look in to Russia, her culture and her Armed Forces, in essence a look at the emergence of Russian Federation.
An Incident On Simonka https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERKH3IU March 2014. NATO Is Invited To Leave Sevastopol, One Way Or The Other.
Thanks for your kind words Auslander.
China is doing a mighty task of lifting her people out of poverty. How Trump’s tariffs play out, only time will tell.
I will add, that platforms such as Google, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp etc were blocked, but we could use Bing and WeChat.
Over 50 TV channels were available to watch, including CNN and CGTV. Plus we could access RT and Sputnik.
Forgive the intrusion; am not inclined to disagree with the ephemera of Sino-Russian partnership, the author states that the West has worked to sow discord, propaganda which has fallen short thanks in large part to the courageous Russian counter-maneuvering of late. How, though, the Chinese have swayed their counterparts into this friendship is less clear; except the obvious: Russians are known for their trusting nature, the Chinese, by no means. Hate to play the propagandist’s fiddle here, or show any support for it, since the stakes are set so high; my point is this — for what reason has the US chosen this suggested angle? if it were not so convincing! China smells of ambition, an ambition I think foreign to the Russian soul, at least for some time to come; one would hope never.
No question that the two cultures are as different as humans could construct. These differences, in other circumstances would be almost insurmountable. However, the state of global geopolitical institutions and the unipolar hegemony has created the existential threat to both China and Russia which overcomes all the differences of culture, language, competing initiatives, insecurities, histories and fears.
The two nations of the Double Helix each have needs that the other perfectly fulfills.
So, existential threat, global hegemony and vital needs are the pressures, like water on rocks, that smooths the binding of China and Russia. The more “water” the US pours, the faster the rocks smooth and the great Eurasian Integration forms almost naturally.
More so, the Double Helix has the stunningly gifted leadership of President Putin and President Xi. Compared to the Hegemon’s desperately ideological leaders in Washington and Brussels (EU and NATO are necessary adjuncts, without which the US would be destabilized as a hegemon), the Double Helix has stayed well ahead of the Hegemon’s reactionary strikes.
What is unfolding is a Hybrid World War. The Developed Nations (the West) led by the Hegemon is desperate to stop the Developing Nations and the Emerging Nations in Eurasia, Africa, ME and Latin America. Thus, the Double Helix finds willing friends and partners on all continents regardless of threats, chaos and local conflicts engineered by the Hegemon.
Empire versus Liberty and Sovereignty.
I agree, China and Russia offer a palpable savor of self-determined peacefulness, in contrast to the ersatz and cloying sickly-sweetness of big brother; yet, this is only in contrast to, and opposition against, the stifling mandate of hegemony. I hold that holy Russia is a great mystery for mankind, and that China offers a reflection of this mystery in her ancient-inspired and subtlety-imbued wisdom. The yearning for truth is a uniting force, especially for those of us sickened to death by lies. Does China have the divine-mandate to overcome her own dragons?
Chris k,
Don’t get yourself fooled by iFUKUS MSM. Please read Larchmonter445’s reply and mines to your doubt.
The Empire psycho warfare teams are spreading the rumors/disinformation to Russian people by claiming China wants to re-claim a piece of Far East, while at the same time actively trying to goad the young hotheads in China by reminding them how Russia Empire once upon a time took quite a junk of land off China. Any Chinese who show their support to Russia and Putin against terrorists in Syria are often get smeared as “Yellow Russkie”.
But, no rational Chinese, and Russians I believe as well, would want any war for a piece of Siberia. We just want to carry on with our life and work and have good neighbours around us. We have seen enough in our long history what wars have done to us. We wish the US Empire could leave us alone.
Btw, Sino-Russia has already officially settled down. iFUKUS can do whatever propaganda they want, Chinese and Russian should keep a clear mind about their common destiny and not fall into the perfidous trickery.
Larchmonter445,
I am in total agreement with you regarding why China and Russia should and would stay together to cover each from being attacked by the increasing manic Empire.
Beside these real and geopolitical reasoning, another a(n) (important) factor for both countries is the communist connection in the past, though it was not smooth and there was break-up after Mao and CPC though Khrushchev betrayed Stalin. This may sounds unpalatable to some readers/commentators here, but both Putin and Xi have understood that undoubtedly.
In the 1950s, USSR and Chinese were “communist “brothers”, Russian were taught in Chinese schools, Russian films and music were very popular with Chinese. For exmaple, Катюша（喀秋莎）is still immense popular in China.
2015 despite FUKUS boycotting Russia due to Crimea, China sent the Guard of Houour with 112 soldiers to commemorate the 70th anniversary of end of WWII. The Chinese Guard of Houour sung Катюша when going through Red Square during the dress rehearsal with lots applauds from Russians. Here is the video
I know some Russian ‘Aussies’ who had to spend a few years in Europe on business and were desperate that they could not find enough Chinese food. They were Harbintsy, of course.
Anonymous:
How interesting that Russians who stayed in Harbin are called Harbintsy!
You must know that even now Russian bread and sausages in Harbin are very popular among locals and the must-have souvenirs for tourists all over China.
Once I saw a documentary on Chinese TV showing how a bakery has been making Russian bread since early last century. Very informative for me.
“he or she might be the next Chinese billionaire”
HA HA :D
In the coming super duper hyperinflation we all will be billionaire!
Nice and honest account of your travel log!
From the east, I must also add with the “maximum security”, (which I still feel somewhat dissent)
the chinese still trerat you as human, with dignity, and under law,
as oppose to the west – they treat you as suspected criminals or worse, ‘feel-whats-inside-you-toy’
Anyhow, in the age of terror the west has launched on the world stage, which is anti human,
Until this is uprooted, none of us can have peace. at home or aborad.
That sickness and disease is inside the heads.
We need a paradigm shift + mind shift + spiritual awakening
We need to learn the truth – We a sovereigns before we are citizens of a country.
The prior is natural and everlasting, the latter is aritficial – as country can come and go and wipe of the face of earth. All countries are founded on ideology btw.
This the chinese, in their leadership knows very well. There is essentially no seperation under the sky/heaven.
All seperation are man-made. All borders are man-made. All systems are man-made.
If any have a chance, go to the east, china and russia and SEA and feel the energy there. Its at a different vibration.
The world, with its tens of thousands years of recorded history, is more than the blip of western ideology/madness.
See and learn something different from you. Expand your mind! Reclaim your sovereignty.
And it would be a plus plus to be a billionaire anyhow… just for the ego/title/bodily plasure sake :)
Babushka in Oz,
Lovely to see someone who goes to China and post here. Seeing is believing.
May I just add a few words to your observations:
– 2. Being asked to have fingerprints taken at airport is new and also a common practice in Europe, where tourists are asked to do the same at passport control at airport.
– 5. It’s the sad part of urbanisation and industralisation, though the peasants/farms get very rich due to the huge compensation for their land to be sold to developers.
The farm markets still exist in every corner of the big cities around China, and is still part of people’s daily life. I love to visit them. Next time ask your tour guider to show you some of these markets.
– 8. You are right Chinese police in general do NOT carry guns or weapons, not even a baton or taser, for they are called “People’s Police”. We often call them “ Uncle Police ” because almost all Chinese kids are taught they could go to “Uncle Police” if they have any problems.
(A few weeks ago, one post from a local police station went viral on Chinese social media: one kid felt she was neglected by her parents after they got a new baby, she gathered her belongs in a little travel case and went to police station telling the policemen that she wanted to run away. :)
This is also main reason why during Urumqi Uyghur Terror Attacks in 2009 there were 197 killed, (of the 154 identified dead ones: 134 Han Chinese, 11 Hui muslims, 10 Uyghurs, 1 Manchu), more than 1700 injured (absolute majority were Han Chinese), 331 shops burnt down, 627 buses/cars/jeeps/trucks/police cars burnt.
After Kunming Railway Station Terror Attack in 2014 (Eight Uyghurs who wanted to join jihad in Syria but failed to cross the border to reach Thailand went to railway station wielding knives killing 29 and injuring 143), there were loud cry from the whole society demanding police to be armed with weapons to protect the citizens.
Since then the police started to be allowed to carry some light weapons in some dangerous areas under strict rules, but still most of them don’t carry guns at all.
Lulu
Lovely to have hear your thoughts.
Did Turkey outmaneuver Russia with Idlib Agreement?
https://youtu.be/SaC_1YMGqQ4
Short answer, no.
Long answer — Patrick Cockburn’s article:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/25/how-putin-came-out-on-top-in-syria/
Basil
No, Russia outmaneuvered USA/NATO with Idlib agreement.
I don’t think we’re hitting China.
Our uniquely non-belligerent approach in Korea is suiting China’s purposes. (It’s also helping the rest of the world by avoiding a war, but China gets the most benefit.)
Our tariffs appear to be hurting China, but in fact they’re not doing much. China has been trying to get away from the debt-for-manufacturing arrangement, trying to turn its own economy more toward consumers. These tariffs help China to turn in this new direction while saving face with its own people.
Both of these policies are helpful to China.
Happen to think you are right. Similar to the sanctions on Russian are really working as tariffs which has increased the industrial capacity inside Russia. The loss of the Ukraine has the same effect as Russia has replicated engineering capabilities that were supplied by the Ukraine. They are not that bright in Washington.
I would think things rather the opposite. Sure, there are some Americans still obsessed with Russia. But for anyone with more than two brain cells it is clear that China is America’s geopolitical competitor that one day may take over to become the most powerful country in the world.
As the ties between the US and China are tight hitting Russia was an easy way of impressing China without being afraid of retaliation.
I was really astonished by the sanctions on China’s weapon acquisition. It is unprecedented that one country tries to dictate another where it is allowed to buy its arms. No wonder China is upset. There is no way they can give in on this. This is huge.
It is possible that DJT and the forces behind him (other than the hopeful masses that have just about zero appetite left for foreign wars) reserve some options for serious coercion and violence against other states as Money (the dollar) and Colossal Debt implode.
Survival instinct is the strongest instinct and despite signs and assurances to the contrary, a wounded beast of a Sinking Empire with a President disavowing globalism and championing the right of every nation to “be great” in its own way (UN speech a day or two ago) desperate to “survive” may place it’s interests totally higher than anyone else’s standing in the way of its “survival” in the short term and violate the rights of others in a dangerous, violent spasm….to attempt to avoid drowning.
The trouble is that oppression of the Other in the modern world, where things happen far, far faster than in ancient, Roman or European colonial times is in reality a short-term, low consciousness expediency NOT conducive to long-term durable survival as a system…..in the age of nuclear weapons “Patriots” who consented to their nation(s) being taken over by the globalists (as long as that was more comfortable than saying “No!”) now seem to finally “get” this point.
And more and more are saying “No!”. Enough of them? Fast enough?? That remains to be seen.
The rock barring the way through the narrowing straits of Sea Empire was, is the survival of Russia and the symbiotic awareness in Russian and Chinese leadership….of their mutual existential need for close co-operation. WIth the internal artificial infrastructure of OBOR (natural infrastructural advantage is water transport based……oceans….very large lakes….navigable rivers) the possibility of continuing the Empire Model of violation and exploitation of the many for the few through maritime supremacy is reaching the threshold of unviability…impracticality.
For one, violence, war can go nuclear, making its deployment a lot riskier.
Secondly railroads from Shanghai to Lisbon are like the longest artificial rivers ever conceived of, and put the old British (and Dutch and Portuguese and Spanish attempts to do the same) Sea Empire model at least partially….into obsolescence…..Impending Conceptual and Logistical Bankruptcy…to go along with the moral bankruptcy it always had.
Despite the Kabuki theater of continuing the bluffing and threatening and huffing and puffing that neocons and Empire clowns like Carl “We Are An Empire Now” Rove expect and need, I think it is possible that saner, cooler heads in the US military finally saw the writing on the wall that they were heading into, full speed and decided to pick bankruptcy expert Donald Trump to manage a very dangerous and tricky transition…..and survival of the Republic…..while cutting loose the Empire ….in bankruptcy RESET, re-industrialization “MAGA” or whatever you want to call it.
As exciting and engrossing as the kinetic aspects of this struggle are involving IDF and Russian aircraft, etc I think the real action may be going on inside the USA…in the intense battle to free American minds of the MSM and Empire paradigms that crept in 100+ years ago in a really hegemonic way and that it is unwise to be naive about that happening smoothly but equally unwise and cynical to preclude the possibility of it EVER happening.
It’s murky, it’s frustrating , it’s contradictory, it’s annoying but while it is extremely tempting to write the whole thing (USA) off as any possible contributor to anything positive for the world…I think it is dangerous and short-sighted to completely preclude that possibility.
Especially over the next 6-7 weeks. Let the Red Tsunami take its course….and then see what the new global strategic topography is really like.
Those two oceans are a now a true blessing….though they were a curse leading to our takeover by Empire….as a “safe” logistical base to launch global enslavement (New World Order) from.
Our survival is not militarily threatened by foreign invasion. Our population is less vulnerable to fear porn and manipulation. It is threatened by being dragged into nuclear conflict by a bunch of globalist parasites and perverts who are getting outed as never before. So shedding the neocons and the Thucydides Trap, while no easy matter, is entirely possible…and that is the Real Name of the Game in the “imperial” (sic) homeland.
There has been, additionally an anti-imperial identity and consciousness here, as conflicted as it may have always been. THERE is the key to our survival and a lot less stress on the other inhabitants of this planet.
“the US hopes to divide Russia and China and fight against them separately — against Russia on the European battlefield, and against China in the Pacific battlefield.”
I’m not really sure America really had such hopes. If they did, they did remarkably little to make them happen.
Henry Kissinger suggested this. I don’t like Kissinger, and consider him a war-criminal. But, Henry was definitely smart. Also, he probably lists among what he considers to be his great achievements that he did the same with Nixon opening to China. But beyond ego, it doesn’t take a great genius to see that fighting one major power at a time is better than fighting both at the same time.
But strangely, Kissinger is the only one to see this. I suspect America’s prime goal was to great enemies to justify the stealing of a trillion dollars or so in tax money to fund a war machine. The deep state freaked out when there was talk of a “peace dividend” after the fall of the Soviets, and they embarked on a crusade to find a new enemy. OBL and Terrorism sufficed for a while. But that can’t justify massive aircraft carriers and super expensive jets, so the naval builders and the aircraft builders wouldn’t be happy with that for the long term. Bush had toyed with making China the enemy before OBL took the job. Obama took on the task of a pivot away from counter-insurgency wars to a massive air-naval campaign in Asia. At the same time, Obama and Hillary developed the Poke the Bear With A Stick strategy to push relations with Russia to the low extreme they are now.
America has simultaneous made China and Russia into enemies. There is a chance that they would have made common cause on their own. But instead America appears determined to drive each of the two into this whether they wanted to or not. The simultaneous campaigns in Ukraine and S. China Sea would make it appear as if this was America’s goal. Trump’s trade war with China while pushing Russia to the brink of a shooting war in Syria is more along this path. It appears designed to make both into enemies.
I don’t know how smart Henry is compared to the crowd running the Obama and now Trump foreign policy, but apparently adding 1+1 =2 and realizing that 2 is bigger than 1 are advanced skills that can not be found in modern leadership. Maybe the pranksters that like to call people should call John Bolton some day and see if he can answer those two maths challenges.
Can we demystify, at least here at the Saker, how smart Kissinger “opened up” China, once for all?! It is Mao who paved the way for normalisation the relations between China-US.
Mao deemed Khrushchev had betrayed Stalin after he took power. In mid/late 1950s to early 1960s , there were a series of huge ideological debates between CPC and Communist Party of the Soviets, followed by a breakup of the relations between the USSR and the PRC in 1969.
For all the time, US and its elites were total oblivious to all these till much later. Kissinger visited China in 1971 to try to form a alliance to counter USSR. It’s pure geoplotical game, and has nothing to do with “open up” China, for China had been sanctioned by US since 1949 as US has been doing the same sanctions against N. Korean, Syria and Venezuela. It was/is NOT these countries that did/do not like to open to the outside world; it is US who did/does want to keep them isolated.
Let’s not get ourselves fooled with the semi-god status of Kissinger which is manufactured by AOZ controlled MSM.
Next year, for drills, they should practice moving Chinese units to Europe. Some sort of quick reaction force by plane, along with practicing for a larger scale movement by rail. Maybe in a different drill, practice moving smaller Chinese units to Syria, and possibly an air deployment to the Russian base there.
Just to put it into NATO minds that China can have an impact in Europe with modern transportation. Another step in the “Cool the Hotheads” pathway.
Its always a bad thing when a leadership fights a war while misunderstanding the very nature of the situation.
Trump’s trade war is conceived as a trade war between the American government and the Chinese government. The problem Trump will eventually find out is that his trade war is really the American government versus Corporations.
Those jobs left America not because the evil Chinese stole them, but because Corporations wanted bigger profits manufacturing with cheap labor at near slave labor costs. Trump sees cheap electronics made in China as Chinese goods. But in reality, the box says Apple. Trump might have to soon add Apple to the list of people or groups that is more powerful than him as President. Apple easily has the money to buy both Trump’s businesses and an American election if they decide they want either. Apple is bigger than Exxon, and Exxon’s been doing it for years.
I think the author of this article makes bunch of assumptions and conclusions based on false premises. There is no doubt that Russia and China are partners in trade and to a degree militarily, but that’s all. Russia and China are not allies.
First of all we shall not equate the two countries and take them as two complimenting parts of a whole. China is a real power house in economy almost equaling US as we speak. Russian economy is shaky to say the least, dependent mostly on Oil and Gas. I reality Russian economy is not bigger than New York state (3rd largest economy in US after California and Texas). Thus it is a dwarf compared to Chinese economy. Mc Cain once called Russia a huge Gas station and as much as I despised him, he has some truth into what he said. Just look at the impact on economy when the oil price went down. Russian GDP halved instantaneously. Russia can be regarded a super power only militarily thanks to what was left over from the USSR. Nuclear weapons salvaged from the communist empire makes Russia a military might. Yes Russia updated the conventional weaponary since then, but not to a degree of what modern warfare requires. We hear lots about formidable S400 but we have yet to see any demonstration. As Saker once said Russia is not capable to send its armies more than a thousand miles away from its border. Fighter jets that Russia owns were all developed during the Soviet era and only updated electronically since then. Russia can not even produce complex silicon chips and is completely dependent on the west. On contrary China has already chip producing companies (like Huwei) and pours billions of dollars into R&D and Artificial Intelligence development (for instance China has the speediest super computers, already produced chips with AI embedded with no equals in the west etc.).
Russia and China are economically not an equal. Russia needs China multiple times more than China needs Russia.
Politically, two countries follow totally different approaches. China can be considered a state capitalism based on socialist values. This system (if can be called a system, I would rather call it an experiment at the moment) seems to be working well for China so far and half a billion Chinese became middle class consumers in a mere 30 years. Russia on contrary did not make a similar progress economically since the collapse of the Soviets. Russia still has huge demographic problems. Birth rate is declining, population is shrinking and aging. Alcoholism is wide spread (highest in the world). [Note:A good reference is Rogozin’s book called “Hawks of Peace”]. China is working hard to tackle corruption and oligarcy which is a main issue and challenge for Xi Jinping (according to the last communist party meeting and declaration). Russia is one of the most corrupt countries on the planet with a liberal political agenda run by most notorious oligarchs on the planet. Kremlin is run basically by the Yeltsinist cabal (yes still in power. Read John Helmers convincing articles for that).
To summarize, there is no doubt in my mind that China is the next superpower of the world (besides the US). Russia is and will remain a significant military power and a regional power economically and influencially, in the league of nations like Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia etc. (although military far superior to many of those countries again thanks to the Soviet inheritence).
Nice :)
It may also appear that there is a gentleman agreement
The one who control money does not control armed forces
The one who control armed forces does not control money
You need money to feed the boys
and you need the boys to fortify and safguard the money
No one house will own it all
Thereby we may have peace by balancing the share ‘responsibility’
No one plays god and go full Nazism EVER AGAIN!
But there also maybe something else deeper going on… something like the unified earth council?!
and we goto space… (notice Rus and Chi are heavily into space)
and about time we do business with non-sapien species? maybe?!
But as long as we are in the Seperation Ideology of the west – we are trapped on earth wasting the body away
May we reclaim our everlasting peace, birthrights and sovereingty
god speed
In my opinion it is India to whom this threat is addressed. India almost finalised purchasing S-400. A full reference is here
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/author/bhadrakumaranrediffmailcom/
WATCH First Trucks Drive Over Crimea Bridge . — https://sputniknews.com/russia/201810011068490022-first-trucks-crimea-bridge/