No one ever lost money betting on the Pentagon refraining from exceptionalist rhetoric.
Once again the current Pentagon supremo, certified neocon Ash Carter, did not disappoint at the Shangri-La Dialogue – the annual, must-go regional security forum in Singapore attended by top defense ministers, scholars and business executives from across Asia.
Context is key. The Shangri-La Dialogue is organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which is essentially a pro-Anglo-American think tank. And it takes place in the privileged aircraft carrier of imperial geostrategic interests in South East Asia: Singapore.
As expressed by neocon Carter, Pentagon rhetoric – faithful to its own estimation of China as the second biggest “existential threat” to the US (Russia is first) – revolves around the same themes; US military might and superiority is bound to last forever; we are the “main underwriter of Asian security” for, well, forever; and China better behave in the South China Sea – or else.
This is all embedded in the much ballyhooed but so far anemic “pivoting to Asia” advanced by the lame duck Obama administration – but bound to go on overdrive in the event Hillary Clinton becomes the next tenant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Real threats are predictably embedded in the rhetoric. According to Carter, if Beijing reclaims land in the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, “it will result in actions being taken by the both United States and … by others in the region.”
What’s left for China, in Pentagonese, is just to be a member of a hazy “principled security network”for Asia – which will also help protect the East against “Russia’s worrying actions”. Carter mentioned“principled” no less than 37 times in his speech. “Principled” cheerleaders so far include Japan, India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Australia.
So here’s an instant translation: we do a NATO in Asia; we control it; you will answer to us; and then we encircle you – and Russia – for good. If China says no, that’s simple. Carter proclaimed Beijing will erect a “Great Wall of self-isolation” in the South China Sea.
If this is the best Pentagon planners have to counteract the Russia-China strategic partnership, they’d better go back to the classroom. In elementary school.
Navigate in freedom, dear vassals
Predictably, the South China Sea was quite big at Shangri-La. The South China Sea, the throughway of trillions of US dollars in annual trade, doubles as home to a wealth of unexplored oil and gas. Stagnated and increasingly irrelevant Japan, via its Defense Minister Gen. Nakatani, even advanced the Japanese would help Southeast Asian nations build their “security capabilities” to deal with what he called “unilateral” and “coercive” Chinese actions in the South China Sea. Cynics could not help to draw similarities with Imperial Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
The Beijing delegation kept its cool – to a point. Rear Admiral Guan Youfei stressed, “The US action to take sides is not agreed by many countries.” Youfei – the head of the Chinese office of international military cooperation – did not refrain though from condemning a “Cold War mentality” by the usual suspects.
As for Japan, China’s Foreign Ministry detailed that “countries outside the region should stick to their promises and not make thoughtless remarks about issues of territorial sovereignty.” Japan has absolutely nothing to do with the South China Sea.
Beijing’s reclamation work on reefs in the South China Sea naturally put it in direct conflict with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. So US meddling – under the convenient cover of“freedom of navigation” – had to be inevitable. “Freedom of navigation” operations are a silly intimidation game in which a US Navy ship or plane passes by a Chinese-claimed island in the South China Sea.
It was up to Admiral Sun Jianguo, Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission, to cut to the chase, stressing “the provocation of certain countries” and adding that “selfish interests” have led to the South China Sea issue becoming “overheated”. He slammed the Pentagon for double standards and “irresponsible behavior”. And he slammed the Philippines for taking the conflict to a dubious UN arbitration court after breaching a bilateral agreement with China;“We do not make trouble but we have no fear of trouble.”
U.S. Secretary of Defence Ash Carter meets with South Korea’s Minister of Defence Han Minkoo (R) and Japan’s Minister of Defence Gen Nakatani for a trilateral at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 4, 2016. © Reuters
The Chinese position prefers dialogue and cooperation – and Jianguo re-stressed it, calling for ASEAN to make a move. In fact China has already reached what is called a four-point consensus with Brunei, Cambodia and Laos on the South China Sea two months ago. The Philippines are a much harder nut to crack – as the Pentagon is taking no prisoners to lead Manila “from behind”.
Even Vietnam, via Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, made it clear – in the same plenary session as Admiral Jianguo – that Vietnam prefers solutions via the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as well as negotiation between China and ASEAN.
Bend over to our rules – or else
After Shangri-La’s rhetorical excesses, the action moved to Beijing, the site of the 8th China-US Strategic and Development Dialogue. That’s the annual talkfest launched in 2009 by Obama and then Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang painted a rosy picture, stressing the exchange of“candid, in-depth views on important and sensitive issues of shared concern.” Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai once again needed to point out that the relationship is just “too important” to be “hijacked” by the South China Sea. And yet this is exactly the Pentagon’s agenda.
Beijing though won’t be derailed. As State Councilor Yang Jiechi put it, ASEAN-China dialogue is progressing via what Beijing calls the “dual-track” approach, according to which disputes are negotiated between the parties directly involved. That implies no Washington interference.
Beyond what is discussed either at Shangri-La or at the China-US dialogue, the Big Picture is clear. ‘Exceptionalistan’ planners have molded a narrative where China is being forced to make a choice; either you bend over to “our” rules – as in the current unipolar geostrategic game – or else.
Well, Beijing has already made its own choice; and that entails a multipolar world of sovereign nations with no primus inter pares. The Beijing leadership under Xi Jinping clearly sees how the so-called international“order”, actually disorder, is a rigged system set up at the end of WWII.
Wily Chinese diplomacy – and trade – knows how to use the system to advance Chinese national interests. That’s how modern China became the “savior” of global turbo-capitalism. But that does not mean a resurgent China will forever comply with these extraneous “rules” – not to mention the morality lessons. Beijing knows ‘Exceptionalistan’ would not agree even to divide the spoils in a geopolitical spheres-of-influence arrangement. Plan A in Washington is containment – with possibly dangerous ramifications. There is no Plan B.
The bottom line – thinly disguised by the somewhat polite responses to Pentagon threats – is that Beijing simply won’t accept anymore a geopolitical disorder that it did not create. The Chinese could not give a damn to the New World Order (NWO) dreamed up by selected ‘Masters of the Universe’. Beijing is engaged in building a new, multipolar order. No wonder – alongside with strategic partner Russia – they are and will continue to be the Pentagon’s top twin threat.
The arrogance, narcissism, injustice, hubris, corruption and evil of the US-NATO-Zionist alliance almost makes me sick to my stomach to such an extent that I am having troubles reading these articles.
I am getting the feeling that the only way to make me feel better is if I start openly talking out and writing my thoughts and analysis.
The percentage of people who do not realize the injustice that is being conducted by the Western alliance is very mind boggling especially for those who seek the truth. Most of mankind are seriously brainwashed and their sense of justice and right and wrong has been completely corrupted.
I feel there is a loud clock ticking in my head regarding the upcoming nuclear war…..tik tok, tik tok, tik tok…
Harry_Red
Totally agree, tik tok tik tok…………..indeed!
I had a lengthy conversation with a woman i work beside on tuesday, she’s Azeri and grew up and was educated in the Soviet Union. We both agreed that the level of intelligence,education,awareness and having a questioning mind is basically horrendous in the western world and people are oblivious to the hell that is on all our horizons if people don’t wake up, start asking questions and demanding answers, the MSM journalists in the west who do us all a disservice beyond compare, should have it pointed out to them that they will face jail and more if they are proved to be acquiescent with the powers that be in treating us like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed sh**e! They’ll have the equivalent of the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal to answer to, that a big boy did it then ran away, will be no defence. Personally i’ve been analysing the pinstriped,home counties set since the late seventies due to the conflict in Ireland, in turn my quest for truth has spread across continents subsequently, although i was gladdened by the end of the old cold war and MAD etc, i was saddened by the demise of the Soviet Union. I’ve watched this unfold from Raygun in Grenada to the coup in Kiev, i’ve watched Putin be elected, in was it 1998 , then the start of the SCO which gave me hope, the cat is well out of the bag now though and as i write this from a sunny Scotland, i think that since the polls for the upcoming UK referendum on staying or leaving the EU show leave in the lead, whilst in Scotland remain are well in the lead, the break up/realignment of the UK could be a reality very soon. Whether it’s soon enough for Scotland to achieve independence and be rid of the big Trident target to the west of Glasgow before all hell breaks loose militarily remains to be seen.
Regards Espina
The US Government , during the past sixty five years , has acted exactly like the Hapsburg kings of several European countries ,more than three centuries ago .Some intelligent historian said of them : ” they never learned anything ,and they forgot nothing “.
Close to seventy years ago there was great hysteria in the US Congress about “who lost China ? ” , and Taiwan was given a seat in the UN Security Council to represent “China”. Those were the days of continual harassment of Continental China with daily shelling from the islands of Amoy and Quemoy ,under Taiwanese control . Later ,with the Korean war , Mac Arthur wanted to drop nuclear bombs on China . It took until the Nixon administration to bring some normality in relations between the two countries , and it was done only because there were great tensions between the Soviet Union and China. The US movers and shakers of that time thought they would be able to neocolonize China and create a war between China and the USSR .Now ,in the past ten years , with the ziocon incredibly stupid policies toward Russia and China , they made them into Allies again . Thanks ! !.
@ Gustavo
“”MacArthur wanted to drop nuclear bombs on China.”
And Truman was not shy to oblige, after all he had done so to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just to send a message to Moscow.
And it was not out of kindness: the reason for not going ahead with nuking China was the fact that there were no heavy concentrations of people to incinerate as most large Chinese cities were severely depopulated due to the war.
Besides, the USSR was by then a nuclear power and it is quite certain that Uncle Joe was likely to reciprocate.
Kim
Merkel is about to sign a law formally incorporating the BND within the CIA. This will give the CIA and other US spy agencies total control over German intelligence. It will make warrantless searches by the NSA totally legal within Germany. The NSA is renowned for enabling corporate espionage. Germany will no longer be a national state. TheCIA?BND first task will be to suppress all evidence contradicting the false claim the RUssia wants to invade Europe.
https://off-guardian.org/2016/06/09/german-intelligence-service-to-become-branch-of-u-s-cia/
What on earth do the Americans have on her to make her sell out her country
Her Stasi folder? As well for president Gauck?
My personal speculation is that both flipped sides easily because they just needed the contacts to their new handlers.
The US set up the BND from the Nazi Gehlen Network in the first place.
Gustavo
The correct quote is, “They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing”. It was not made by “some intelligent historian” but by a French politician and diplomat of the at the time, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. By the way, he was also a Catholic Bishop.
Talleyrand was not commenting on the Hapsburg Emperors. His quote has nothing to do with them at all. He was excoriating the restored Bourbon dynasty in France (after Napoleon). His saying was also popularly applied to French socialists.
In regards to Korea, Truman and MacArthur, the situation was not as simple as you present. When Truman claimed that MacArthur had suggested employment of nuclear weapons against the Chinese, MacArthur objected strenuously and Truman retracted his claim. MacArthur also testified to Congress that he did not propose the idea of a nuclear strike on China. Subsequent to MacArthur’s death an interview was published in which he allegedly admitted he had considered a nuclear strike on military bases in China. The trouble was that there was the risk that this potentially could have bought the USSR into a nuclear exchange with the USA. An additional issue was that the military action in Korea was under United Nations mandate and not that of the USA. There was no stomach for nuclear weapons deployment at the UN.
It is important to understand that at no time did MacArthur have authority or decision making responsibility over any nuclear weapons whatsoever, making the entire argument of whether he did or didn’t propose a nuclear strike on China moot. It is possible he was against it and that he later changed his mind. In summary it is likely that the idea was suggested and that he was not the originator of it, nor a strong and consistent supporter of it. Recall also that he had considered the use of nuclear weapons against Japan to have been without military justification.
Nixon seeking reproachment with China was largely to do with the morass of Vietnam and the economic dire straits the US was heading into. Don’t forget the public opinion in the USA at that time was becoming further and further opposed to that war as well. That USSR, a socialist state, and China, another socialist state, had “fallen out”, as good brother socialists tend to, was helpful to Nixon but the reproachment was not “done only” because of socialists falling out with one another. He may have been aware of it but it wasn’t his primary motivation.
Siotu
Walls Close In On Obama’s Terrorism: Syrian Defense Minister Meets Russia’s And Iran’s In Game-Changing Conference To Seal Fate Of Zionist-Saudi-Nato Policy Flops
http://syrianperspective.com/2016/06/walls-close-in-on-obamas-terrorism-syrian-defense-minister-meets-russias-and-irans-in-game-changing-conference-to-seal-fate-of-zionist-saudi-nato-policy-flops.html
@ Veronica
Thanks for the link, if for no other reason, to get a taste of the flamboyant language of Mr. Fadel.
Kim
Yes – Ziad is quite the ‘Wordsmith’ – very entertaining in these dark times.
Hopefully his sources are spot on. A meeting certainly took place.
French Senate juts validated the vote of french parliament on the end of Anti-Russian sanctions.
Curious to see how GVT, President adn EU will react though….
Ukies in Paris are mad :)
@ Fabien
Merci bien pour les bonnes nouvelles. The Saker still hopes the French people will fight back.
Kim
Hybrid war in action.
The Brits have found the perfect way to totally disarm Russia.
https://z5h64q92x9.net/proxy_u/ru-en.en/https/russian.rt.com/article/306846-daily-mail-sovremennye-britanskie-esmincy-ne-prisposobleny
(Spoiler – British Type 45 destroyer engine can’t cope with Persian Gulf temperatures – Russians fall over laughing)
“I think that only an insane person and only in a dream, can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO”- said Putin.
That’s a great one. Sounds like Chamberlain’s promise to Hitler. He ” z uma zashol”.
He won’t need to attack NAT(errorist) O. They will attack him, guaranteed. It’s only matter of time..
The longer he waits, the worst for him. He’s a dreamer not a politishon. So help him God.
quote “The Shangri-La Dialogue is organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which is ess”
that tells you a lot who the main enemy of china and russia is-not usa but england which runs usa for her own benefit.
2008
Mr. Putin -there is not much time left. Anglosaxon pirate race like English and Americans are spreading their evil design like wild fire on this world, 2020 is too late. Russia has to prepare for coming world war 3 imposed on it by England and run by USA. Russia must ally with China and Germany to destroy England the primary seat of evil and satan.
sadly the oppurtunistic and without any morality india has also jumped to make alliance with usa agasint china -,india msut not be allowed in sco and should nto be given any armamnet by russia because it willf all into american ands and their spies.
India is in big trouble. Under the Hindutva fascist Modi it has tied itself to the dying US Empire, where no-one, no matter how big or ancient, is anything but a stooge. The monsoon is failing for the third year in a row, and rapid climate destabilisation could soon make much of the country uninhabitable. By turning its back on working with China, India has made a fateful error.
China will join the TPP. It has already in everything but name. Major US corporations have moved to China and Chinese investment in the US is growing by the day. All the hoopla in the South China Sea is just for jazz. There is very little difference between communism and corporate fascism. They are two sides of the same coin. The west is not capitalist. It is a conglomerate of multinational monopolistic corporations. The Middle class in the USA is being destroyed, but with a different play book to the one used by Mao. Private US prisons are in fact gulag slave prisons and the prisoners used as slave labour. I have no hope for the future. It will be feudalism wearing another mask. The “nobility” are now the shareholders and the CEOs of these corporations both in the east and the west. For the time being Russia is playng the alternate card, but within ten to 20 years maybe even less they will also join the TPP and the TTIP. Governed by the AIIB and the BRICS banking system. Between then and now they are going to have war in order to draticaly reduce the world’s population.
@Gail:
You never grew up in communist Eastern-Europe, otherwise you wouldn’t unintentionally(?) repeat such neocon lies. I swear you that it was not like this. This setting Communism equal to Hitler is one of the many Zionist tricks to make people hate communism.
What you said about Multipolar world being a myth is true, but for different reasons:
_There_ _is_ _No_ communism in China anymore, it was sold out to the US Neocons after Mao’s death by traitors to who he had been to mild in the purges before: 0:01 / 21:04
Deal With the Devil: How the Global Elite Re-colonized China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFQhVAwbB6o
China will never join TTP TTAp or any washington consensus trade deals . China is no vassal and China as well as Russia and Iran and Syria and Venezuela and Brazil and Libya, and Bolivia and Argentina and Ecuador and Cuba and all of Africa minus the western so called civilisation know full well what the washington consensus is about. Only the western countries r duped to this fascistic way of life.
O, really?
Deal With the Devil: How the Global Elite Re-colonized China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFQhVAwbB6o
Today’s Paul Craig Roberts and it is sad, mad and we have been had:
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/06/09/where-do-matters-stand-paul-craig-roberts/
Pentagon getting lots of help from UN!:
JUNE 10
Just a few days after blacklisting the Saudi-led military coalition for killing children in Yemen, the United Nations removed the group from its tally of armed states that violate children’s rights during conflict. Needless to say, this will help raise the stakes for children in Yemen, where regime changers, murderers and destroyers have been empowered and emboldened by the international paralysis.
As is, the removal of the Saudi-led coalition from the “list of shame” is also a new low for the UN. It reflects its slow demise and the fact that the world body is unable to stand up for human rights and its own principles. By capitulating to the pressure from Riyadh, Tel Aviv, and Washington, it is obvious that the UN is fine with giving way to political manipulation, losing its credibility, and tainting its legacy on human rights and International Humanitarian Law.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950321000682
I love reading anything Pepe writes, it is not only informative, but gives the reader insight into the American psyche. The insane are truly in charge of the asylum.