Newly announced China-Iran strategic partnership deal shatters US sanctions while paving the Belt and Road from East to West
By Pepe Escobar posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times
Capping an extraordinary two weeks that turned 21st century geopolitics upside down, Iran and China finally signed their 25-year strategic deal this past Saturday in Tehran.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi sign a historic partnership agreement between the two sides in Tehran on March 27, 2021. (Photo by Tasnim)
The timing could not have been more spectacular, following what we examined in three previous columns: the virtual Quad and the 2+2 US-China summit in Alaska; the Lavrov-Wang Yi strategic partnership meeting in Guilin; and the NATO summit of Foreign Ministers in Brussels – key steps unveiling the birth of a new paradigm in international relations.
The officially named Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was first announced over five years ago, when President Xi Jinping visited Tehran. The result of plenty of closed-door discussions since 2016, Tehran now describes the agreement as “a complete roadmap with strategic political and economic clauses covering trade, economic and transportation cooperation.”
Once again, this is “win-win” in action: Iran, in close partnership with China, shatters the glass of US sanctions and turbo-charges domestic investment in infrastructure, while China secures long-term, key energy imports that it treats as a matter of national security.
If a loser would have to be identified in the process, it’s certainly the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” drive against all things Iran.
As Prof. Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran described it to me, “It’s basically a road map. It’s especially important coming at a time when US hostility towards China altogether is increasing. The fact that this trip to Iran [by Foreign Minister Wang Yi] and the signing of the agreement took place literally days after the events in Alaska makes it even more significant, symbolically speaking.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed the deal was indeed a “roadmap” for trade, economic and transportation cooperation, with a “special focus on the private sectors of the two sides.”
Marandi also notes how this is a “comprehensive understanding of what can happen between Iran and China – Iran being rich in oil and gas and the only energy-producing country that can say ‘No’ to the Americans and can take an independent stance on its partnerships with others, especially China.”
China is Iran’s largest oil importer. And crucially, bill settlements bypass the US dollar.
Marandi hits the heart of the matter when he confirms how the strategic deal actually secures, for good, Iran’s very important role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI):
The Chinese are getting more wary about sea trade. Even the incident in the Suez Canal reinforces that, it increases Iran’s importance to China. Iran would like to use the same Belt and Road network the Chinese want to develop. For Iran, China’s economic progress is quite important, especially in high-tech fields and AI, which is something the Iranians are pursuing as well and leading the region, by far. When it comes to data technology, Iran is third in the world. This is a very appropriate time for West Asia and East Asia to move closer to one another – and since the Iranians have great influence among its allies in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Hindu Kush, Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, Iran is the ideal partner for China.
In a nutshell, from Beijing’s point of view, the astonishing Evergreen saga in the Suez Canal now more than ever reiterates the crucial importance of the overland, trade/connectivity BRI corridors across Eurasia.
JCPOA? What JCPOA?
It’s fascinating to watch how Wang Yi, as he met Ali Larijani, special adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, framed it all in a single sentence:
“Iran decides independently on its relations with other countries and is not like some countries that change their position with one phone call.”
It’s never enough to stress the sealing of the partnership was the culmination of a five-year-long process, including frequent diplomatic and presidential trips, which started even before the Trump “maximum pressure” interregnum.
Wang Yi, who has a very close relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, once again stressed, “relations between the two countries have now reached the level of strategic partnership” and “will not be affected by the current situation, but will be permanent”.
Zarif for his part stressed that Washington should get serious about its return to the Iran nuclear deal; lift all unilateral sanctions; and be back to the JCPOA as it was clinched in Vienna in 2015. In realpolitik terms, Zarif knows that’s not going to happen – considering the prevailing mood in the Beltway. So he was left to praise China as a “reliable partner” on the dossier – as much as Russia.
Beijing is articulating a quite subtle charm offensive in Southwest Asia. Before going to Tehran, Wang Yi went to Saudi Arabia and met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. The official spin is that China, as a “pragmatic partner”, supports Riyadh’s steps to diversify its economy and “find a path of development that fits its own conditions”.
What Wang Yi meant is that something called the China-Saudi Arabia High-Level Joint Committee should be working overtime. Yet there have been no leaks on the absolutely crucial issue: the role of oil in the Beijing-Riyadh relationship, and the fateful day when China will decide to buy Saudi oil priced exclusively in yuan.
On the (Silk) road again
It’s absolutely essential to place the importance of the Iran-China deal in a historical context.
The deal goes a long way to renew the spirit of Eurasia as a geo-historic entity, or as crack French geopolitician Christian Grataloup frames it, “a system of inter-relations from one Eurasian end to another” taking place across the hard node of world history.
Via the BRI concept, China is reconnecting with the vast intermediary region between Asia and Europe through which relations between continents were woven by more or less durable empires with diverse Eurasian dimensions: the Persians, the Greco-Romans, and the Arabs.
Persians, crucially, were the first to develop a creative role in Eurasia.
Northern Iranians, during the first millennium B.C., experts on horseback nomadism, were the prime power in the steppe core of Central Eurasia.
Historically, it’s well established that the Scythians constituted the first pastoral nomadic nation. They took over the Western steppe – as a major power – while other steppe Iranians moved East as far away as China. Scythians were not only fabulous warriors – as the myth goes, but most of all very savvy traders connecting Greece, Persia and the east of Asia: something described, among others, by Herodotus.
So an ultra-dynamic, overland international trade network across Central Eurasia developed as a direct consequence of the drive, among others, by Scythians, Sogdians and the Hsiung-Nu (who were always harassing the Chinese in their northern frontier). Different powers across Central Eurasia, in different epochs, always traded with everyone on their borders – wherever they were, from Europe to East Asia.
Essentially Iranian domination of Central Eurasia may have started as early as 1,600 B.C. – when Indo-Europeans showed up in upper Mesopotamia and the Aegean Sea in Greece while others journeyed as far as India and China.
It’s fully established, among others by an unimpeachable scholarly source, Nicola di Cosmo, in his Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (Cambridge University Press): pastoral nomadic lifestyle on horseback was developed by Iranians of the steppe early in the first millennium B.C.
Jump cut to the end of the first century B.C., when Rome was starting to collect its precious silk from East Asia via multiple intermediaries, in what is described by historians as the first Silk Road.
A fascinating story features a Macedonian, Maes Titianos, who lived in Antioch in Roman Syria, and organized a caravan for his agents to reach beyond Central Asia, all the way to Seres (China) and its imperial capital Chang’an. The trip lasted over a year and was the precursor to Marco Polo’s travels in the 13th century. Marco Polo actually followed roads and tracks that were very well known for centuries, plied by numerous caravans of Eurasian merchants.
Up to the caravan organized by Titianos, Bactria – in today’s Afghanistan– was the limes of the known world for imperial Rome, and the revolving door, in connectivity terms, between China, India and Persia under the Parthians.
And to illustrate the “people to people contacts” very dear to the concept of 21st century BRI, after the 3rd century Manicheism – persecuted by the Roman empire – fully developed in Persia along the Silk Road thanks to Sogdian merchants. From the 8th to the 9th century it even became the official religion among the Uighurs and even reached China. Marco Polo met Manicheans in the Yuan court in the 13th century.
Ruling the Heartland
The Silk Roads were a fabulous vortex of peoples, religions and cultures – something attested by the exceptional collection of Manichean, Zoroastrian, Buddhist and Christian manuscripts, written in Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Syriac, Sogdian, Persian and Uighur, discovered in the beginning of the 20th century in the Buddhist grottoes of Dunhuang by European orientalists Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot, following the steps of Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang. In the Chinese unconscious, this is still very much alive.
By now it’s firmly established that the Silk Roads may have started to slowly disappear from history with the Western maritime push to the East since the late 15th century. But the death blow came in the late 17th century, when the Russians and the Manchu in China divided Central Asia. The Qing dynasty destroyed the last nomadic pastoral empire, the Junghars, while the Russians colonized most of Central Eurasia. The Silk Road economy – actually the trade-based economy of the Eurasian heartland – collapsed.
Now, the vastly ambitious Chinese BRI project is inverting the expansion and construction of a Eurasian space to East to West. Since the 15th century – with the end of the Mongol Empire of the Steppes – the process was always from West to East, and maritime, driven by Western colonialism.
The China-Iran partnership may have the capacity to become the emblem of a global phenomenon as far-reaching as the Western colonial enterprises from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Geoeconomically, China is consolidating a first step to solidify its role as builder and renovator of infrastructure. The next step is to build its role in management.
Mackinder, Mahan, Spykman – the whole conceptual “rule the waves” apparatus is being surpassed. China may have been an – exhausted – Rimland power up to the mid-20th century. Now it’s clearly positioned as a Heartland power. Side by side with “strategic partner” Russia. And side by side with another “strategic partner” that happened to be the first historical Eurasian power: Iran.
Bravo, just bravo Pepe!
After that, it is perhaps a good idea to quickly look at the Iranian press .. PressTV here:
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/29/648301/Biden-rightly-concerned-about-Iran-China-partnership-accord
Also, these with this current report, make up Pepe’s four reports on this stunning geo-political shift that we’ve been witnessing.
/for-leviathan-its-so-cold-in-alaska/
/welcome-to-shocked-and-awed-21st-century-geopolitics/
/us-nato-vs-russia-china-in-a-hybrid-war-to-the-finish/
Pepe’s output is like a college course in History, Culture, Civilizations and the Now.
Unlike most all academics, he is a happy soul (as we see in his videos) and messages us with levity, warm sarcasm and powerful doses of realism.
He’s got his finger on the pulses and his sharp eye on the subtle signals of the powerful and tectonic that are reshaping global relations.
Escobar is a Saker’s Vineyard treasure.
I second that!
It’s exciting to read Pepe Escobar in these incredible times.
As for traditional academia, the biggest problem is that they have been subverted and simply cannot provide an honest assessment/analysis of current events. In some cases, they even provide intellectual cover for war crimes. (E.g Harvard prof Samantha Power and there are many others)
Well spoken. My sentiments exactly.
Larchmonter445
The worst fears of Anglo-American bankers are being materialized. In 1904 Halford Mackinder, the well known English geographer, warned the British Government of the dangers of Euro-Asia, namely of a German – Russian-Chinese economic and political alliance. He stated that those who control Euro-Asia will have the prime political and economic voice in the world. And it’s happening, even though two world wars were fought to prevent this. The reason Euro-Asia will succeed is because the Russians and Chinese are advocating a multipolar world, which will see full support for the sovereign status of sovereign countries. Now compare that to the imperial policies of Anglo-American bankers and their support for color revolutions, coup d’etats, military interventions and patenting of new political “fashions”, like the introduction of “interim presidents” led by puppets of the Guaido type.
Predatory liberal capitalism, backed by imperial policies, is looking at total defeat. How the Western elites will react to this, remains to be seen. This especially pertains to Wall Street. Will it accept geopolitical changes calmly ? I think not. We shall see what it is going to do.
The historic record of financial capitalists is to pursue the best opportunity for maximal growth of their wealth. Greed is overwhelming any corollary pursuit of Power. Ideologues pursue Power. Wall Street pursues wealth (from which it derives Power, the secondary Power of Influence.)
So, look at the world as a whole. Where will be the most growth?
Eurasia.
Capital will go to Eurasia once the Hegemon is weakened more.
Russia, China, Iran, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Korean Peninsula, all are going to get surges of capital for growth.
It will be up to these governments to control the claws and teeth and blood sucking that comes with banking, FDI, insurance, hedge funds, wealth management and all the forms of finance capitalism.
The Greedy will buy their way into Eurasia. They never miss the next big thing.
Larchmonter445
Well spoken. Yes, the greedy will buy their way into Euro-Asia. Some years back analysts have predicted that a rift will occur between the US and European elites. The European elites will be the first to join Euro-Asia, specifically the Euro-Asian Economic Alliance.
This was the point of putting the Jewish state in Palestine and not Uganda. To protect Rothschild interests which were also British imperial interests. Oil in ME and the Suez Canal. They thought it was the central node in the region.
It has now been outflanked. PG Jewish canal interests will wake.
ahh the new abnormal
God gave humans a mouth to breath in and out freely
and I truly believe God will punish humanity for this
absurd theatrics with masks
as for the agreement, one has to wonder why didn’t they sign it
years ago… ah yea, China was busy trading with the West and couldn’t
care less for Eurasian partnership and development
only when the Western consumer was saturated with goods and tapped out
China remembered their Eurasian “brothers” – new markets for
Chinese goods
Of course, my words are plain and simple, and aren’t trying to romanticize reality
Then by your logic god also gave people brains to figure out that barriers to aerosol droplet spread of contagious diseases that happen to let in the very much smaller molecules of CO2 and O2 my be useful. The masks are annoying but not nearly as annoying as the mouth breathers who want others to inhale their collection of microbes. I have a right to not have your spit in my mouth and nose. Get over it already….
Also, the virus wasn’t punishment enough? The lack of logic here is stunning.
“The masks are annoying but not nearly as annoying as the mouth breathers who want others to inhale their collection of microbes.”
As it happens, various among the Asian cultures consider it quite normal during the Winter months to wear face masks in public settings when one has a respiratory bug, just as a social courtesy to other people.
However, whatever objective scientific peer-reviewed studies on the utility of surgical face masks to block nanometre-sized particles such as bacteria and viruses are pretty much unanimous in concluding that they are ineffective, and that even N95 masks do an incomplete job.
On the other hand, surgical face masks are effective at redirecting the globular aerosol blasts from coughs, etc, out the sides of the mask, so there is that. There is also the argument that bacteria and viruses aren’t expelled as individual particles but travel in those very same globs of spit and snot that people emit when they cough, sneeze and breathe.
But aerosols can get mighty small, small enough to pass unimpeded through the massive apertures in the weave of a surgical mask, and sometimes even through an N95 mask.
“… the mouth breathers …”
What a peculiarly offensive label to assign to the natural function of breathing. Funny how this has arisen at the same time as the semantically indefensible label “Covid Deniers” – all within the last 12 months, irrespective of the past millennia of general human acceptance of Winter respiratory bugs, and now all this fuss over a winter bug that has no worse fatality than a bad influenza season (now confirmed at 99.8% survivial rate).
A palpably trivial respiratory bug for which the many cheap, safe, proven effective and readily available medicinal and nutritional remedies have been rubbished by medical officialdom and literally banned by Western governments around the world.
A trivial respiratory bug for which governments are now progressively coercing the entirety of their populations to accept injection of experimental formulations, which by their manufacturers own admission neither stop the recipients from catching or spreading the bug.
“Also, the virus wasn’t punishment enough? The lack of logic here is stunning.”
That sounds like something creepy billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates or his Mini-Me, Dr. Anthony Fauci, might say just before they declare another lockdown and “vaccination” roll-out. You might already be aware that the very same creepy Bill Gates is actually on the record, on film, stating “the next pandemic will make them all sit up and take notice”. That’s Bill Gates, who owns GAVI and effectively calls the shots at the WHO.
There’s a logic to all of this, that’s for sure. It comes with a rigid narrative that will tolerate no scrutiny.
Whatever logic is driving the Corona Chan “pandemic” is likely the same logic behind Klaus Schwab’s WEF sponsored “Great Reset”. And we all know it’s good logic, because “science” – Dr. Fauci’s “science”, that is.
You are correct, sir! Your analysis is perfect, right down to the “trivial respiratory bug” description. A monstrous scam of the first order, orchestrated by madmen, con artists and greedy corporations. How this all plays out will be most interesting. Who can resist the attraction of Tragedy and Farce locked in deadly Dance Macabre?
The problem is how to get oil from Iran to China and how to get manufactured goods from China to Iran.
The United States will do everything in their power to thwart such commerce.
Going through Pakistan and Kashmir is problematic due to dispute between the Pakistanis and India over that area. It is also problematic due to difficulties engendered in traversing the Himalayas.
The US will not voluntarily leave Afghanistan in order to throw a monkey wrench into the BRI. I think that they will be forced out eventually, but that might take time. Another problem is that Afghanistan is now unstable and not really a good candidate for such an important trade route.
A possible route is across (and/or under) the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan and on to China. The advantage to that is that it could hook up with other BRI nodes already planned through Kazakhstan.
But if a reliable route for commerce is developed, the deal is a game changer.
I suspect you will see a China – Myanmar/Burma – Sri Lanka – Iran link. Sri Lanka (Ceylon) has been a trading link with Persia since the year dot. Prety much a post civil war basket case, they have aspirational visions of being another Singapore. Recent civil eruptions in Myanmar/Burma would suggest the usual 3LA suspects are already onto it.
I just found that one of the various BRI routes takes this course.
From China, through Kazakhstan, then through Kyrgyzstan, then back through Kazakhstan, then through Uzbekistan, then finally through Turkmenistan and into Iran.
@The United States will do everything in their power to thwart such commerce.
Which is a shame considering they are only alive b/c they’ve been put on life support. Only takes a second to pull the plug over there.
I have a feeling that the Empire is in “end stage.”
From staggering debts, to oligarchic control, to “wokeness tyranny,” to manufacturing decline, to media sycophancy to power and so on – it is not going to last much longer.
How long this will last, I don’t know. But I see collapse all around me.
How to get Iranian oil to China? By sea of course. Ay interdiction will mean war. Period.
Simon, Unfortunately the empire is crazy enough to try naval blockades.
That type of craziness is what you are seeing right now in Ukraine. The empire is baiting Russia into war over Donbass. This is crazy but the military build up is in progress as we speak.
This is just reckless brinkmanship. The empire may very well try to invade Donbass with the expectation that at the brink of nuclear war Russia will back down.
Is that crazy?
Of course it is.
But it looks to be happening as we speak.
The idea for China is to make it difficult for the empire to be that reckless.
The empire has naval superiority. But flying over Central Asia to bomb trains is something that (I believe) even the empire would not try.
The empire is mad alright. Putin put it subtly by wishing Joe “Putin is a killer” Biden good health. The empire is sick. But in Asia, we know how to deal with mad people running amok.
Does the empire have naval supremacy? They forgot the sea lanes from Iran to South East Asia are covered by China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles!
Simon, those missiles along with the Russian hypersonic missiles made the empire’s carrier task force obsolete.
But my feeling is that China will avoid conflict if at all possible.
I live in the United States and I have been to China four times.
It is obvious to me that China will pass the United States in just about every way imaginable. And I think that will occur with surprising speed. The leadership in China is very sound. The leadership the US is a bad joke. In fact, the US is basically rudderless at this point.
Accordingly, my gut feel is that China will try to avoid any conflict and play the long game – which they can only win.
I may be wrong but that is my gut feel.
If the US interdict China’s oil tankers carrying Iranian oil because of its unilateral sanctions after unilaterally pulling out of the JCPOA, I think China will react or else surrender to the US in ‘Opium’ War 3.0. This won’t happen. Not under President Xi. Not with the present generation of Chinese.
Too many provocations. The days of China ‘avoiding’ conflict are over.
Watch Taiwan. That’s where I think the hegemon is likely to test China.
Simon,
I am afraid that the Empire will push on the Taiwan issue. I know that this is a “hot button” issue with China.
For the Empire to push on Taiwan is reckless and irresponsible. It could result in a “hot war.” I am well aware of this and well aware of the danger for the entire planet.
Mike, the changeover had already occurred but unnoticed because it occurred with blinding speed in 2014 in the wake of the 2008-9 Great Recession. The present Yuan-USD exchange rate is only a ‘fig leaf’ that covered up the fact that China’s economy is now 50% larger than the US economy in terms of real output.
Like Britain which lost primacy status after WW2 in 1945 and carried on pretending otherwise until its bluff was called by the US during the Suez crisis in 1956, i.e. 11 years later, the US is still trying to pretend to be the hegemon.
The US already has its first ‘Suez’ moment recently in Anchorage, Alaska. Its second and decisive ‘Suez’ moment will be when its currency collapsed at least 30% – predicted to happen by the end of this year i.e. 2021.
In which case China will emerge unquestionably as the world’s largest economy based on the Yuan-USD exchange rate – USD 21.08 trillion versus the US (post currency collapse) of USD 14.46 trillion. And in terms of PPP, China’s economy will be over twice the size of the US economy.
So get ready for the shock when it comes!
Simon,
I think that you are right.
I think that the dollar – as an an international currency – collapses this year.
I am absolutely amazed by what is happening in my own country.
Trillion dollar deficits, money printing by the Federal Reserve!
I keep saying to myself, “they are destroying the currency, why isn’t this being talked about on the news? Why isn’t a single politician raising the alarm?”
Of course, they are not talking about it since they are completely out of touch with reality.
And that is why the American Empire is going down.
My calculations were out. Post currency collapse, the US economy would be USD 20.65 trillion. But China’s economy would be USD 23.44 trillion. My calculations based on PPP still stand.
But all bets are off if the international market dumps US dollars resulting in hyperinflation in the USA.
Simon,
The most amazing thing is that no one here in the US sees this coming.
The financial system is like a runaway train and the bridge is out.
It could not be more obvious.
And virtually no one sees it.
Mike, why don’t you move to China now and return to the US to help rebuild after the actual collapse?
The catalyst of the US collapse is likely to be a Japanese financial collapse with domino effects all throughout the dollarised world.
The US may not even be the last domino. The last domino is likely to be the UK and non-German EU.
Germany will likely pull out of the Euro and return to the Deutschmark. The rest of the EU, with the exception of Belgium, the Netherlands and the Baltic states, will financially collapse. France will go under. So will Italy, Spain and Portugal.
But China will hold steady Greece, Serbia and some Central European states. Africa and South America will stay afloat with China’s help. So will India and South East Asia i.e. with China’s help.
Mike, catastrophism means cataclysmic forces are at work against opposing forces. They move forward and backward with the forward momentum seemingly slow. So a looming disaster is barely noticeable until the forces of catastrophy reach a “tipping” point.
And what is this tipping point for the US financial system and the US economy? That tipping point will be when international forex markets have had enough and start to dump the US dollar.
The worst message that China can (mistakenly) give to the US under the present circumstances, would be that China will try to avoid conflict i.e. afraid to fight. That will just encourage the empire to fight.
ref. “The problem is how to get oil from Iran to China and how to get manufactured goods from China to Iran.”
The route for goods is already being “paved ” – TURKMENISTAN – UZBEKISTAN – KAZAKHSTAN . The later being a central hyb of the BRI land routes.
There’s a map within the pdf document.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/637891/EPRS_BRI(2019)637891_EN.pdf
Yes, thanks. I found that.
I still think that Iran and China might still pass oil under/across the Caspian. I am sure that the empire will attempt regime change in countries which are parts of the BRI. And the route you noted goes through a bunch of countries.
But then again, BRI is benefitting all those nations and the empire might not be that easy to pry them away.
Mike, how about looking at a map and seeing where countries are no? Why in the hell would Iran ship oil to China via the Caspian? You must be kidding no?
No, I am not kidding.
If any one country in the route through Central Asia is “bought out” or overthrown in a color revolution or convinced by the United States to stop oil flows then the pipeline would be shut down.
Those nations are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
That is four separate nations.
On the other hand, if they ship oil under the Caspian to Kazakhistan then there is only one country to worry about.
Mike, I agree. Iranian oil to China via the Caspian Sea and Kazakhstan.
No kids, if you were to check out a topographical map you’ll see that going that direction avoids all the mountains and delivers oil to a starved region of China at pennies -vs- the current mountain dollar route.
Yeah, the truth is stranger than fiction.
Iran is vital to China for trade but also to the BRI: Iran is a large & important piece in the land corridor from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea. From the Black Sea, access to Europe is very easy via the Danube. Just look at a map.
In this article Prof Marandi mentions Iran’s importance in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea but he forgot the Black Sea…
Is it a coincidence that the Hegemon’s actions are happening along this trade route? Sanctions and covert war on Iran, Armenia- Azerbaijan war, colour revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine (both with direct access to the Black Sea shore), NATO war and permanent military presence in Balkan Danube region..
And now Russia-Iran to make it Δ Delta
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/171491/After-China-Iran-seeks-signing-accord-with-Russia-MP
China offers a better development model for countries compared to enslavement through monetary imperialism by the Dollar Empire. Michael Hudson defines monetary imperialism well.
This partnership is a win-win opportunity for China and Iran. China is diversifying its markets to generate new demand and showcase its capabilities. It will build Iran’s infrastructure (5G, ports, transportation…) and provide technological products! In return, it gets to buy oil and other resources in renminbi, eliminating US dollar dependence. China is standing up to the Dollar Empire, in many areas! Hopefully, Syria is next for development.
The Empire seems to be getting ready to challenge Russia on multiple fronts, Ukraine, Belarus, Syria and Nord Stream 2.
The silicon valley capitalists will tell you that you need to do something 10x better to disrupt a mature market. In comparison to the West’s genocide and slavery model; the quality of China’s diplomacy far exceeds this 10x requirement.
At present the air is slowly being released from the US meme economy. Wars and other chaotic nonsense will become ever more expensive as the world says no to the US funny money.
Even a cursory knowledge of archaeology would show that Sino-European relations are much, much older than 1600 BC, namely fourth millenium BC! The Chalcolithic cultures of Cucuteni-Tripolie and Chinese cultures of Yang Shao exhibit such common traits that independent developments are excluded.
On the other hand, Russian colonization of Central Eurasia was the first step in reviving the Silk Roads. It was a conscious policy of the Russian Empire and very much of the much maligned Czar Nicholas II.
Absolutely Amarynth!
I will briefly break my own self-imposed rule of no longer commenting…partly because the developments happening right under our noses in regard to a new geopolitical world are fast becoming one of the most important events in the history of humanity.
Also, not least, because the narrative on this issue is constructive and respectful and has not been loudly monopolized by any one personality that insists that they are right on all accounts the whole time.
The recent discussion involving Pepe and Hudson with the economic aspects molded into the geopolitical framework was far and away the best I have seen on this subject to date. What an unbelievable treat to see these two icons brainstorming on this subject. I found it uplifting as well as daunting and I personally underwrite their assessment of Putin’s handling of the ongoing situation as spot-on…equally, I find PCR’s assessment so far from the mark that I rarely bother to read his work on this subject these days.
The daunting part of the deal is that the Hegemon is self-destructing at such a great rate of knots and there is not a damn thing Joe-blow voter can do now to avoid inevitable social and financial carnage of an incredibly destructive degree. At a Presidential level, the only three ‘choices’ presented in the last two terms look more like something out of a macabre black comedy show than any sort of attempt to halt Uncle Sam’s impending crash and burn train wreck.
In the two last elections, it comes down to varying degrees of personal outrage if you wanted to pick the worst candidate. For me, the most astonishing thing was that 70+ million voters thought that a barely literate compulsive liar [Captain Chaos] was their ticket to a more tolerable reality.
This would be closely followed by a similar number that thought that semi brain dead JB would solve anything…especially given the ‘brilliant’ running slogan that “nothing will fundamentally change”…well three months in and none of us could possibly accuse him of not being true to his word on that one! All in all the legacy of both of these imbeciles combined will be that they removed any doubt for much of the globe of what a truly sad place the empire has come to.
If we cared to reflect on the quality of the likes of Eisenhower and JFK from 60-70 years ago it is appalling to see the quality of creatures that are dragged up to present as candidates and is ample evidence of the moral decay of Uncle Sam’s political system. It is plain enough for all the world to see now that it no longer has any semblance of a democracy and has degenerated into an outrageous neo-feudal kleptocracy that not only victimizes 99% of its own population but indeed much of the globe as well.
The likes of Russia and China and many other countries have shown such an extraordinary degree of patience but finally have regretfully come to the conclusion that the delusional hegemon is totally agreement incapable to such a degree now that any meeting or discussion is little more than a farcical waste of time and energy.
Any thought of bothering with any sort of treaty involving Uncle Sam would be little more than a sad joke.
Their new direction is to further cement their many new economic initiatives and to leave the US on its own headlong course of self-inflicted destruction. At long last, they will now as a cooperative mercantile trading group have the good sense to de-dollarize so that they will no longer be in effect financing the very entity that has kept the noose around their necks financially as well as militarily for decades.
How appallingly ignorant and greedy of Uncle Sam to choose to weaponize the extraordinary privilege that comes with the territory of global reserve currency status. Also a timely reminder, because of the Triffin effect, that a new single reserve currency is not the way forward for humanity ever again because it is so inherently dangerous both militarily and financially.
All in all the next few years looks set to be a rollercoaster ride…a mixture of exhilaration and terror as we contemplate a new multipolar cooperative financial and geopolitical reality.
Hold on to your hats… one and all
Col
Wont be long before most all the landscape becomes just a ghetto unless you prevent it from becoming so.
The kids don’t know anything, cant do anything, and don’t have anything, so it wont be long before they make sure you have it the same as they had it.
“Rollercoaster ride of exhiliration and terror” is pretty accurate… haha!
Btw why have you given up commenting Col? Or is that just for Lent?
Beautifully put Col.
‘that it no longer has any semblance of a democracy and has degenerated into an outrageous neo-feudal kleptocracy that not only victimizes 99% of its own population but indeed much of the globe as well.’
I constructed arguments that the US empire would self-destruct due to the inconsistencies and anomilies of its internal policies. (I made a short video on that yet I will not post it here). The recent events have made me reconsider that external forces may accellerate that process which is a nice surpirise.
That you, Col are a NZ’er and I am originally an Aussie (old rugby hooker) and we both are in the US alliances it is particularly disconcerting our respective ‘leaders’ still bow and kneel to the US.
That such times may soon come to and end is uplifiting.
PS. I now live in Asia where continunity and family are prime with the only threat was from the US.
Thank you, John
You said…”we both are in the US alliances it is particularly disconcerting our respective ‘leaders’ still bow and kneel to the US.”
…too true…
In Aus and NZ we are barely sovereign in our narratives or Government as we blindly follow the Five Eyes memes. As individuals, we need to take a good hard look at ourselves because we have not had anywhere near the same saturation of propaganda imposed on us from birth that the likes of the UK and the US citizens have been subjected to. What a thoroughly gullible bunch we are collectively!
We have always been in a much better position to see the immensity of the geopolitical, military, and financial mistruths that define so much of western culture, and yet we miss 90% of the truth.
If we continue to back the wrong horse [the AAZ alliance] we will find out the hard way soon enough. Aus is already on a very steep learning curve as they witness what their blatant and foolish institutionalized Sino/Russiaphobia is having on their export trade.
Talk about bight the hand that feeds us!
Cheers and warm regards
Col
Bravo Pepe Your articles are always Excellent,Informative,Well Researched,with History,a true Lessons.
It’s very encouraging to see this Sino Iranian accord go ahead. Both countries gain considerably while American leverage in the entire region is proportionately reduced. Pepe thus proceeds to speculate on the prospects of Sino Arabian relations and the dramatic prospects of oil deals in yuan. That would ring the very loudest bells. While effectively rescuing Iran from the crushing influence of the West, Chinese diplomacy, in concert with Russia, has been very careful to refrain from any anti Saudi, or Israeli tendencies. I take this not as a weakness, as some would, but rather an indication of ambition. They have plans for the entire West Asian neighbourhood, Israel and Turkey included. Already SCO groups have established forums for the resolution of hostilities in Afghanistan. We have seen Russia in cooperation with Kazakistan draw the Turks into a negotiating process which is largely free from Nato manipulations. The Turks have learned that the Atlantic powers do not have their best interests at heart. The Saudis and partners along with the Israelis have learned that the Americans just don’t have what it takes to either manage their wars or even defend them if push came to shove. They are coming around to the predicament long envisioned (engineered ?) by Lavrov and Co. They’re going to have to negotiate. China will provide an avenue for continued economic well being while Russia is the reliable vendor of security goods. Sino/Russian diplomacy plays the long game. It may be two steps forwards and one back but the clearly envisioned anticipations of the political and diplomatic leadership is very much in sync with their respective material capacities. It’s working.
Tantalising. ‘China is consolidating a first step as builder and renovator of infrastructure. The next step is to build it’s role in management.’ Impressive. Pepe’s got a real head on those shoulders of his. Here I’m minded to speculate on how these things could work out. The oligarchic West maintains it’s grip on the rest by means of the post war ensemble of financial institutions created to kill the pound and spread the dollar globally. Along with this came policies to prevent food security or, really, any real independence on the part of newly recognised states in the post war order. The prime technique of the World Bank and the IMF is debt dependency. Read Michael Hudson. Client states are actively prevented from any economic development unless it benefits Western investors. Typically, all infrastructure concerns the economics of Western mining and agribusiness operations, roads to and from extraction sites and transportation terminals. Client states are kept barefoot and pregnant. Enter China’s Belt and Road program. China has made an international business exporting the phenomenal infrastructure building capacity developed by the government. Just as in China, infrastructure is a gift that keeps on giving. African client states that borrow from Chinese banks to finance infrastructure build-outs are buying independence from Western financial control. Infrastructure yields rents, profits, and taxes to whoever owns them. Governments in the global south now have a way to generate revenue. It is to be expected that Western financial powers will do whatever they can to convince Global South governments to privatise everything and provide their freedom loving Western ‘partners’ new investment opportunities to suck the lifeblood from the former colonies as they’ve been doing all along. One wonders how Chinese management will respond to this. Economic infrastructure has superstructural significance, political significance. This will surely become the new battleground between, perhaps we could call it the Sino/Hudson school of economic management, vs the Malthusian Sickly Green school of freedom for the few. Be that as it may, and despite formal refusals to interfere in the affairs of neighbouring states, Chinese political management methods are bound to be a major educational attraction for Global South students preparing for public service careers. The political character of all this is clear. As OxBridge goes woke and the West goes broke, the upward and onwards path opens up with this revival of the old Silk Roads.
“Iran being rich in oil and gas and the only energy-producing country that can say ‘No’ to the Americans…”
Professor Marandi hasn’t heard of Russia… That could hardly be a mistake or a memory slip.
I lived in Xinjiang for nearly a year, and found nothing wrong. Zero oppression, in fact it was the happiest society I’d ever seen.
My latest video reveals untold information (backed up by facts) of how COVID-19 managed to spread throughout the entire world, WITHOUT spreading through China… (not what you’ve been told)
I hope Pepe watches it… Enjoy
https://youtu.be/5gVOXvVhwHQ
Do you call those “facts”? More like spin using various pieces of the jigsaw to create an entirely different and false picture. I think that the video brings viewers even further from the truth about the origins of covid-19.
Quote “Iran decides independently on its relations with other countries and is not like some countries that change their position with one phone call.” Unquote.
FM Wang Yi was likely referring to President Duterte of the Philippines. He tried a tricky game with China and the USA. Nobody could play such games with China.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/519602-united-states-international-order/
IMO, this is an important article by scott ritter and also a dangerous one; for blink (sic) to go on and on about rules based international order, allies standing fast, standing with allies, blah, blah really sets the stage for whatever these sick psychopaths have in store, to be sure sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, and very likely more.
I’ve seen countless articles about the the demise of the empire, etc as the death, e.g. of a free and prosperous country-when in the hell has this country been free, prosperous maybe for wall street, oligarchs, in their merry games of looting the us treasury and other countries.
But this fantasy of indispensable nation, exceptionalism, bulwark of the free world, is just that, fantasy, fed as pabulum to the sheeple to justify trillions spent on “defense” (sic), i. e. warmongering without end. One of the most vile propagandists peddling this garbage has been Madeleine Albright in her role in the destruction of libya, yugoslavia, and iraq.
————————
From article:
For decades, America styled itself the ‘indispensable nation’ that led the world & it’s now seeking to sustain that role by emphasizing a new Cold War-style battle against ‘authoritarianism’. But it’s a dangerous fantasy.
It seems a week cannot go by without US Secretary of State Antony Blinken bringing up the specter of the ‘rules-based international order’ as an excuse for meddling in the affairs of another state or region.
“The United States stands with our ally, the Philippines, in the face of the PRC’s maritime militia amassing at WhitsunReef,” Blinken tweeted. “We will always stand by our allies and stand up for the rules-based international order.”
Blinken’s message came a mere 18 hours after he tweeted about his meeting in Brussels with NATO. “Our alliances were created to defend shared values,” he wrote. “Renewing our commitment requires reaffirming those values and the foundation of international relations we vow to protect: a free and open rules-based order.”
Just a little question, please forgive me but I’m no expert about such things.
We are speaking about a land link across Eurasia instead of a maritime link.
A little problem I see is that a single containership like Ever Given can carry 20.000 containers.
Assuming a freight train is composed of 100 railcars, we need 200 trains just to carry the load of a single ship. And each day at least 50 such ships are sailing between east Asia and Europe.
It looks to me that a land link across Eurasia was a viable option when commerce was done by carts and camels, not today.
“We are speaking about a land link across Eurasia instead of a maritime link.”
Not everyone is included in we, or restricted to speaking about a land link instead of a maritime link.
Transcendence is a lateral process in which all variables change albeit at different trajectories and velocities.
Hence the perception and purposes of some are not/were not framed in holograms of a lateral paradigm of present social relations, purposes, participants, and methods, from the re-emphasis on such options from 1973 onwards with the participation of representatives acting for and on behalf of the zaibatsu, encouraged by the various activities of opponents contingent upon removing the US dollar from gold convertability.
The outcomes of this participation did not come to fruition in 1973 due to the politburo turning focus to BAM encouraged by perceived “strategic antagonisms” with the People’s Republic of China, allowing greater time for germination and preparation.
This agreement is a long-hoped development in many circles in the Islamic World. What could be even more interesting is a CHINA-INDIA silk road connection (“HIMALAYAN SILK ROAD”) whereby the tremendous power of melting Himalyan ice/water is funneled into a shared Hydropower Tunnel Scheme. The required technology work would strain the Chinese and Indian engineers and would require a third party to pitch in to get it Done.Ru.
http://www.businessworld.in/article/India-China-Hydropower-Battle-Who-Will-Win-/06-01-2021-362231/