China’s rise to global power began in 1949 with the removal of the entire parasitic financial, comprador and speculative classes who had served as the intermediaries for European, Japanese and US imperialists draining China of its great wealth.
China’s Transition to Capitalism
Beginning in 1980 the Chinese government initiated a dramatic shift in its economic strategy: Over the next three decades, it opened the country to large-scale foreign investment; it privatized thousands of industries and it set in motion a process of income growth. China’s ruling political class embraced the idea of “borrowing” technical know-how and accessing overseas markets from foreign firms in exchange for providing cheap, plentiful labor at the lowest cost.
By 2010 China displaced the US and Europe as the main trading partner in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Modern China’s rise to world economic power, like its predecessor in the period between 1100 and 1800, is based on its gigantic productive capacity. Given the current historical trends it is clear that China will replace the US as the leading world economic power, over the next decade, if the US Empire does not strike back and if China’s profound class inequalities do not lead to a major social upheaval.
Modern China’s rise to global power faces serious foreign challenges. The most striking example is Libya where US and NATO intervened to overthrow an independent government led by President Gadhafi, with whom China had signed multi-billion dollar trade and investments agreements. The NATO bombardment of Libyan cities, ports and oil installation forced the Chinese to withdraw 35,000 Chinese oil engineers and construction workers in a matter of days. The same thing happened in Sudan where China had invested billions to develop its oil industry. The US, Israel and Europe armed the South Sudanese rebels to disrupt the flow of oil and attack Chinese oil workers. In both cases China passively allowed the US and European military imperialists to attack its trade partners and undermine its investments.
The Comprador Class
China’s political elite is deeply influenced by a new class of billionaires with strong ties to Western equity funds and who have uncritically absorbed Western cultural values. These “Westernized intellectuals” are like their 19th century comprador counterparts who underestimated and dismissed the long-term consequences of Western imperial penetration. They fail to understand how financial deregulation in the US precipitated the current crisis and how deregulation would lead to a Western takeover of China’s financial system- the consequences of which would re-allocate China’s domestic savings to non-productive activities (real estate, speculation), precipitate financial crisis and ultimately undermine China’s leading global position .There is an economic basis for the pro-Western sentiments of China’s neo-compradors. They have transferred billions of dollars to foreign bank accounts, purchased luxury homes and apartments in London, Toronto, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore. They have one foot in China (the source of their wealth) and the other in the West (where they consume and hide their wealth). Just as Moscow has many senior figures within its government that forms a “pro-West” faction, so does Beijing. Many of China’s top technocrats, civil servants, bankers and economists studied at prestigious universities in America, as well as most of their children. This group constituted the “pro-West” faction within the top-tier of Chinese politics and finance. Westernized compradors are deeply embedded in China’s economic system having family ties with the political leadership in the party apparatus and the state. To the extent that the compradors gain influence, they weaken the strong economic state institutions which have directed China’s ascent to global power, just as they did in the 19th century by acting as intermediaries for the British Empire.
China, torn by deepening class and political conflict, cannot sustain its drive toward global economic leadership. China’s elite cannot confront the rising global imperial military threat from the US with its comprador allies among , acting as a 5th columnist, while the country is a deeply divided society with an increasingly hostile working class. Modern China has plenty of resources and opportunities, unavailable to China in the 19th century when it was subjugated by the British Empire. China has powerful trading, financial and investment networks covering the globe as well as powerful economic partners. These links have become essential for the continued growth of many of countries throughout the developing world. In taking on China, the US will have to face the opposition of many powerful market-based elites throughout the world. Few countries or elites see any future in tying their fortunes to an economically unstable empire-based on militarism and destructive colonial occupations.
In other words, modern China, as a world power, is incomparably stronger than it was in early 18th century.
China’s BRI
In 2012, the Obama White House changed tack, and announced a “pivot to China” policy. It began to militarize the South China Sea, and linked military deals with many of China’s neighbors. The aim was to build up a powerful naval force that could blockade China’s flow of goods on the seas. The bulk of China’s trade with the world was by sea. There are two key maritime choke points that the US Navy could close, and deny access to ships carrying goods to or from China. These two choke points are the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf carrying oil and gas to China; the other is the Straits of Malacca, outside Singapore, carrying raw materials to China, and shipping finished goods to the rest of the world.
To avoid these maritime choke points, China developed two economic corridors that would bypass these choke points. Beginning in the late 2000s, China began to develop the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), from Gwadar in Pakistan to China’s western region; and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), from a port on Burma’s coast to China’s western regions. In addition, China was making remarkable progress in building transportation corridors linking the Central Asian nations to China, through pipelines carrying oil and gas. But, this was not enough.
And so, in 2013,responding to Washington’s “pivot to China” policy, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a new policy called the New Silk Road – later changed to the Belt and Road Initiative, or the BRI. This policy was, in turn, taken from the ideas and blue prints developed by Lyndon LaRouche who had announced the new paradigm of re-industrializing the world, by creating transportation corridors linking China to Europe, via the Middle East. LaRouche’s concept was called the “Eurasian Landbridge”. This concept was first announced by LaRouche in October 1989, in Berlin, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Were this concept to be fully implemented, it would deal a devastating blow to the US, and as well as the major maritime powers of the world, such as Britain and Japan. It would reduce their grip on the global flow of goods, and power would shift to the “rim-land” countries, as against the “maritime powers”.
As Britain dominated global trade through its control of the maritime routes via its navy, so too did the US, especially from 1945 onward. And this shift to trading overland via the BRI was not in America’s interest, and thus, it set about sabotaging the BRI, through various means. Although some progress was made in building various roads, rail and pipeline connectivity between the period between 1992 and 2012 in Eurasia, what was lacking was a coordinated approach, including financing. Not long after the Chinese President announced the launch of the BRI, New York began to put a plan in motion that would cripple China’s financial strength.
In March 2015, China announced the formation of the Asian Investment Bank-the AIB- a Chinese version of the World Bank. Many nations joined as founding members, including Britain- defying American pressure not to join. In retaliation, the Rockefeller Empire put into motion an act of financial warfare against China. And it used many US-educated, pro-Wall Street people who were in high positions in government agencies to facilitate a stock market crash that caused losses of $4 trillion, and from which China-its people and companies – have not recovered from.
China’s Stock Market Crash in 2015
Before reaching the ceiling on June 12, 2015, China’s stock market had ballooned about 150 percent in a year. The Chinese stock market crash began with the popping of the stock market bubble starting on June 15, 2015 and ending on August 25. The total loss amounted to some $3.6 trillion. Add to that an additional $500 billion pumped in by the government, the total losses came to more than $4 trillion, most of it lost by the public and business entities. New York had won a great battle – which was to cause China such a severe financial loss that it would hamper the funding of the BRI, especially through the AIB.
Now we move onto the next phase of the financial war, conducted by New York, against China. Trump was selected by the Rockefeller family to be the next US President. While President, Trump began tariff wars with China, to no avail. The US also launched a biological warfare, first on China, then the rest of the world, in March 2020.
What’s Special about China?
China’s admission into the World Trade Organization in 2001, under rules that granted it concessions as a developing country, greatly accelerated its integration with global markets and supply chains. Studies have shown that Chinese exports led to lower prices for U.S. consumers — and helped lift many millions of Chinese out of poverty. The country’s ascent also resulted in the loss of millions of U.S. factory jobs. China’s power — especially its technological prowess — is now at a point where it risks eroding American military and economic advantages. China insists it plays by global trade rules, and it sees the U.S. as seeking to contain its rise. It is accelerating the development of its own high-technology industry to be less dependent on the U.S.
America has de-industrialized as a deliberate policy of slashing production costs as its manufacturing companies have sought low-wage labor abroad, most notably in China. This shift was not a rivalry with China, but was viewed as mutual gain. American banks and investors were expected to secure control and the profits of Chinese industry as it was drawn into Wall Street’s web. The rivalry was between U.S. employers and U.S. labor, in the process, cutting back government social spending.
Similar to the Russian pursuit of oil, arms and agricultural trade independent of U.S. control, China’s offense is that it follows a state-directed economy, not an economy directed by Wall Street, i.e. a goods-producing economy, as against a financialised economy. The most impressive example of such an integral world economic structure today is China, which for more than 30 years has outpaced the growth rate of the American economy by three times. At the moment, China is already surpassing the United States in terms of output, exports of high-tech goods, and growth rates. If we look at growth rates after 1995, we see that the Chinese economy has grown 10 times, while the US economy has grown by only 15 percent. Thus, it is already obvious to everyone that at present the pace of world economic development is shifting to Asia: China, India and the countries of Southeast Asia already produce more products than the US and the EU. Of course, the American ruling elite cannot agree with this. China has the highest savings rate of any country, with about 45 percent of GDP invested, compared with 20 percent in the United States or Russia. This, in fact, ensures the ultra-high growth rates of the Chinese economy.
In short, the US was doomed to lose this trade war because China could produce more efficiently and finance development cheaper. The entire banking system in China is state-owned; it works as a single development institution, directing cash flows to expand production and master new technologies. In the United States, the emission of money goes to finance the budget deficit and is redistributed into financial bubbles. As a result, the efficiency of the US financial and economic system is 20 percent – there only every fifth dollar reaches the real sector, and in China almost 90 percent (that is, almost all the yuan that is created by the Central Bank of the PRC) feeds the contours of the expansion of production and ensures ultra-high economic growth.
Trump’s attempts to limit China’s development through trade war methods have failed. At the same time, they boomeranged at the United States itself. Then the Americans opened a biological war front by launching the coronavirus in China, hoping that the Chinese leadership would not cope with this epidemic and chaos would arise in China. However, the epidemic has demonstrated the low efficiency of healthcare and has created chaos in the United States itself. The Chinese system of government has shown much greater efficiency here as well. In the Celestial Empire, the mortality rate is significantly lower, and the pandemic was dealt with much faster there. Already in 2021, they even reached economic growth of 7 percent; while in the United States there was a decline of 10 percent of GDP (analysts noted the largest drop since the Second World War – ed. note). Now the Chinese have restored the growth rate of about 9 percent per year, and there is no doubt that the PRC will continue to develop confidently, expanding the production of a new technological order.
The Russia – China Connection
Both of these nations are facing the same enemies – London and New York. Both are nationalists. Both have powerful “pro-west” factions at high levels in their governments and amongst their top business elites. Russia has the military muscle, a powerful resources-based economy, while China has the money, advanced technology, a huge production base. It’s a perfect match.
After his 2007 Munich speech, Putin began building more pipelines east, mainly towards China, thus, reducing his reliance on the West. Central Asia is where Russia and China are working closely to evict US presence and influence, and are succeeding. The only thing America can offer is violence, loans with “conditions”, and a heavy interference in the internal affairs of their nations. Most nations are getting beyond fed-up with America’s tyrannical road. And have welcomed China’s BRI program. And in quite a few instances, Russian military and intelligence assets back stop these nations from American and European interference.
The last ten to twenty years could be characterized as a rivalry between China’s desire to re-balance the world’s economy and the US’s effort to maintain the Dollar’s supremacy. China rose on the back of Western consumerism. There is only so much the Western economy can absorb of China’s growing production, and that limit has clearly been exceeded. If China is to pursue its economic development, it needs additional “advanced” export markets to sustain its growing middle class. This is the Chinese necessity underlying the BRI, it cannot grow without the world growing with it.
Until recently it was content with a simple strategy: Enter several disparate countries at a time and start economic projects. Soon enough the US intervened to discipline the offenders; but they cannot strike all at once, choices must be made. Meanwhile, China approaches another bunch with still more economic projects. The US gets slowly overwhelmed, while the projects advance two steps forward, one step backward. On paper, it looks like an expensive proposition, but that is the beauty of it, it’s all paid for with US paper, while gold is accumulated. There is a point however when all these mini economic hubs must consolidate into a unified stream of connections to realize their full potential. That means no more US military interference and economic/financial disruptions. It seems we are now entering the late stage when “eyes” must be locked and linked.
There is little question the latest Russian move was long prepared and discussed with China. We may assume a common goal, and that none of the recent events are coincidences. China and Russia favor and promote inter-currency settlement of trades. The Digital Yuan (E-CNY, electronic China Yuan) is designed for this purpose and has just completed successfully its live trials. It is reasonable to expect its official announcement in the near future. There are rumors this will be done during Putin’s visit to the Olympics. Regardless of the exact launch date, preparation must be made against the predictably harshest US resistance to its international deployment. There’s little doubt in my mind that many, if not most of East Asia will readily incorporate the new crypto iteration of the Yuan. However the Kazakhstan events, which were clearly foreseen with great precision, essentially opened up the entire Central Asian economies to its eventual use. With the recent $400bn commitment to Iran and the ongoing Pakistani projects, one may merrily add them to the bunch. India is free to join whenever they deem it in their best interest. This brings us right to the doorsteps of the Middle East.
Let’s now briefly revisit the US’ choices taken during the middle stage game. Since East Asia was growing to displace the US and EU as China’s main trading partner, Washington initiated their “pivot east” strategy to disrupt their momentum. Because of the sorry state of both their economy and military, they had to “delegate” the task of containing Russia on its western border to the EU. The Ukraine, in this context, can be seen as the “pretext” for the EU to activate NATO in Eastern Europe. However, as “pivot east” was floundering, they further needed to draw on their Middle East assets (it’s becoming increasingly difficult not to laugh at what I must write). To this effect, they devised the Abraham Accords to similarly delegate the task of containing the “Shiite Axis” to Israel and the Golf States. The first “casualty” of these infamous Accords was probably Pakistan’s definite defection to the BRI, which further precipitated the Afghani debacle. To correct that mistake they then tried another formation with India, Japan, and a few others, followed by AUKUS, which both turned into flops, guided by the same imperative to relieve the strain on their military in an attempt to remain relevant on all fronts. To control the Middle East, the US needs control of Europe, if only to secure their supply line. And to influence Central Asia they must control the Middle East. Until now Washington was essentially calling the shots, while Russia and China adapted their plans to whatever was thrown their way.
By submitting their security demands to Washington, in November last year, Russia is signaling unequivocally it is now taking the initiative. While the reinforcement of the Ukrainian Army was first designed to provoke some Russian reaction so as to increase the EUs’ commitment to toe the anti-Russia line, the resulting Russian built-up of forces and large scale exercises have effectively reversed the pressure. The bulk of NATO forces are now bogged down on the eastern European front in a self-induced paranoia, severely restricting their possible redeployment elsewhere. With the Russian ultimatum the US is now basically faced with the following choices. Sign the documents, which by extension will mean the Minsk agreement and opening of NS2, but would free NATO reinforcement to the Middle East, no matter how futile this would ultimately prove. If this happens Europe will quickly “organically” link to the Asian network and recover most of its sovereignty from the US. At that moment, the Middle East is lost -to both the EU and America. By not signing, the choice becomes either losing the Middle East or release the pressure in East Asia, in both cases China wins. If they don’t reinforce the Middle East, then the Pakistani model is soon to be followed by the entire region. Though there could be some fireworks in the process, once the dust settles the BRI will be staring straight at Africa, throwing its full weight at European and American interests on that continent. If that happens, Europe falls.
Finally if they do “save” the Middle East to the detriment of East Asia, the Asian power house will become such that no one will escape its gravitational pull for long.
It is not very difficult to see, in this context, that whichever region the US decides to forsake, it’s only a matter of time before they lose the rest. Of course, this all assumes they don’t first crumble under the weight of their debts. Will they turn nuts and try to blow it all up? I can only attest that the one thing greater than their evil idiocy, is their cowardice. IN short, contrary to the MSM reports, Putin and XI have “check-mated” America in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia.
When back-channel messages were sent to Putin, about the Pentagon placing nuclear missiles on Polish or Ukrainian territory, he sent them a very public message. It is no doubt one of the greatest messages humanity could send to the leaders of tyranny and evil.
“Russia plans to engage its nuclear weapons not against those countries where it was launched against Russia, but against the mastermind cities where the decisions were made. To be exact, it is Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other American cities. Please fully understand, in case American nuclear weapons are launched from, e.g. Taiwan, or Poland, the response will hit New York or Washington.” This message from Moscow has given the 2 families a severe case of running stomach.
We will now discuss something very interesting, regarding – – –
The China – Iran – Russia Connection
The official visit to Russia by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, at the invitation of Vladimir Putin, generated one of the most stunning geopolitical pics of the 21st century: Raisi performing his afternoon prayers at the Kremlin. Arguably, more than the hours of solid discussions on geopolitical, geoeconomic, energy, trade, agriculture, transportation and aerospace dossiers, this visual will be imprinted all across the Global South as a fitting symbol of the ongoing, inexorable process of Eurasian integration.
Raisi went to Sochi and Moscow ready to offer Putin essential synergy in confronting a decaying, unipolar Empire increasingly prone to irrationalism. He made it clear at the start of his three hours of discussions with Putin: our renewed relationship should not be “short-term or positional – it will be permanent and strategic.” Putin must have relished the torrents of meaning inbuilt in one of Raisi’s statements of fact: “We have been resisting the Americans for more than 40 years.” A key item of the new 20-year strategic partnership between the two neighbors is bound to be a Eurasian-based clearing network designed to compete with SWIFT, the global messaging system between banks.
Starting with Russia, Iran and China (RIC), this mechanism has the potential to unite member-nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), ASEAN, BRICS and other regional trading/security organizations. The combined geoeconomic weight of all these actors will inevitably attract many others across the Global South and even Europe. The basis already exists. China launched its Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) in 2015, using the yuan. Russia developed its System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS). To build an independent Russian-Chinese financial system by linking the two should not be a problem. The main question is to choose the standard currency – possibly the yuan. Once the system is up and running, that’s perfect for Iran, which badly wants to increase trade with Russia but remains handicapped by US sanctions. Iran has already signed trade agreements and is involved in long-term strategic development with both Russia and China.
Raisi was unforgiving on the Empire: “The strategy of domination has now failed, the United States is in its weakest position, and the power of independent nations is experiencing historic growth.” And that places Iran in a very good position as a Russian partner, with its “extensive economic potential, especially in the fields of energy, trade, agriculture, industry and technology.” On its geoeconomical position, Raisi noted how “the privileged geographical location of Iran, especially in the north-south corridor, can make trade from India to Russia and Europe less expensive and more prosperous.”
Way back in 2002, Russia, Iran and India signed an agreement to establish the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), a 7,200 km multi-modal ship/rail/road cargo network linking India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia and Central Asia all the way to Europe as an alternative transportation corridor to the Suez Canal. Now Putin and Raisi want maximum impetus for the INSTC. Raisi’s visit happened just before a crucial joint drill, codenamed ‘2022 Marine Security Belt,’ started in the Sea of Oman, actually the north of the Indian Ocean, with marine and airborne units of the Iranian, Chinese and Russian navies. The Sea of Oman connects to the ultra-strategic Strait of Hormuz, which connects to the Persian Gulf. Pentagon denizens of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ strategy will be hardly amused. All of the above spells out deeper interconnection. The Putin-Raisi meeting precedes by two weeks the Putin-Xi meeting at the start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing – when they are expected to take the Russia-China strategic partnership to the next level.
A new Eurasia-led order encompassing the vast majority of the world’s population is a work in fast progress. China using Eurasia as the larger stage to upgrade its global role, in parallel to the fast-evolving Sino-Russian-Iranian interaction, carries larger than life implications for the Western gatekeepers of the imperial ‘rules-based order.’ The de-Westernization of globalization, from a Chinese point of view, does involve a completely new terminology (‘community of shared destiny’). And there are hardly more glaring examples of ‘shared destiny’ than its deeper interconnection with both Russia and Iran.
Iran is one of the leaders of the Global South. Russia, deeply implicated in de-Westernizing global governance, holds a unique position – diplomatically, militarily, as an energy provider – as the special conduit between East and West: the irreplaceable Eurasian bridge, and the guarantor of Global South stability.
All of that is at play now. It is no wonder that the leaders of the three main Eurasian powers are meeting and holding discussions in person, within just a matter of days. As the West drowns in hubris, arrogance, and incompetence, welcome to the lineaments of the Eurasian, post-Western world.
Iran in the Middle East
The dominant role of America in the Middle East region came to an abrupt end on January 20th 2020. That is when Iran fired ballistic missiles at an American base in Iraq. It was a precision strike, fast, and shocking to the Pentagon. It was the first time that a US base has been hit in such a manner. The Global South rejoiced. Iran’s Tehran Times English language newspaper put out a map graphic, showing tens or scores of target roundels in red color all over Israel. The main newspaper headline simply read “Just One Wrong Move!” The graphic image message conveys much more than what words can say. The image appeared on Twitter. Tehran Times with its small English circulation has been used to pass a simple message to the collective west. Not long after, Iran posted a map of the region showing all US bases. The words “Just One Wrong Move!” and the attendant map can be read as an ultimatum, or a declaration of war, to Israel, framed in simple graphic terms with four blunt words.
Back to China and Eastern Eurasia
The last few months of 2021 saw an increase in military drills between Russia, China and a few other nations. Simultaneously, efforts were made to restrict, isolate n push US naval forces out of East Eurasia. India, in turn, was being carefully put in a corner.
In the first week of October 2021, a surprisingly emphatic news report in the Pakistan media announced, that a US submarine had been seriously damaged, not sunk, in the near abroad of the South China Sea, and had been sent packing. But nothing appeared in the MSM news for days. Then a Russian fleet left Vladivostok port and fired a missile from the Sea of Japan. Then some photos appeared of the damaged submarine on the Sub Brief YouTube channel.…. Military tensions rising east of Eurasia, reflects a mirror image of rising military tensions, recently west of Eurasia. But to what end? “Then sudden news about a hypersonic missile gauntlet, thrown by China into the sea, in front of the accumulated western armada. The missile was reported to have landed “inaccurately” 40 miles from the nearest military ship. But here is the technical rub. It took less than 20 minutes from launch into space, to hypersonic glide splashdown from directly above the armada. Astoundingly fast. A new Chinese weapon was demonstrated for which no western defense existed. The armada could just watch and do nothing. The most intense, interesting and numerous developments have been along the India-China-Pakistan border, where slowly and surely, in many small ways, India is being methodically tied down, as if into a small straitjacket.
In mid-October, China and Bhutan agreed on a three-step roadmap, to settle their 400km common border issues. There had been 24 rounds of talks since 1984. Pakistan media reported that the deal permits China to station troops legally on its own territory, in a balcony position overlooking India’s Siliguri Corridor (The Chicken’s Neck area). In exchange, Bhutan gets a larger land area from China, attached to itself facing the relatively peaceful north, bordering China. India is now the only state left, not to have finalized a border agreement with China. A Chinese BRI infrastructure and military buildup continue all along the northern border in Ladakh, Utarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh, which keeps India subdued. India is peculiar. Too large that it cannot be ignored, nor can it be permitted to get away from Asia, to cause trouble further on, or make unreasonable demands, and, a careful watch must be kept over India as much as possible.
Dancing in the Siberian Night
One of the top takeaways of the strategic Putin-Xi video conference last week was the immediate future of Power of Siberia 2 – which will snake in across Mongolia to deliver up to 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to China. The key parameters of the pipeline have already been set, a feasibility study will be completed in early 2022, and the deal – minus last-minute pricing tune-ups – is practically clinched.
Power of Siberia 2 follows the 2,200 km long Power of Siberia 1, launched in 2019 from Eastern Siberia to northern China and the focus of a $400 billion deal struck between Gazprom and China’s CNPC. Power of Siberia 1’s full capacity will be reached in 2025, when it will be supplying 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Power of Siberia 2, a much bigger operation, was planned years ago, but it was hard to find consensus on the final route. This is a massive geoeconomic game-changer, totally in line with the increasingly sophisticated Russia-China strategic partnership. But it’s also supremely important geopolitically (Remember Xi: China supports Russia’s “core interests”).
The gas for Power of Siberia 2 will come from the same fields currently supplying the EU market. It doesn’t matter for Gazprom that China as a customer in the near future will not fully replace the whole EU market. What matters is the steady business flow and the absence of infantile politicking. For China what matters is an extra, guaranteed overland supply rote boosting its strategy of “escaping from Malacca”, the possibility, in case Cold War 2.0 turns hot, that the U.S. Navy would eventually block maritime shipping of energy sources via Southeast Asia to China. Beijing of course is all over the place when it comes to buying Russian natural gas. The Chinese have a 30% stake in Novatek’s $27 billion Yamal project and a 20% stake in the $21 billion Arctic project.
So welcome to 2022 and the new, high stakes realpolitik Great Game.
U.S. elites had been terrified of playing Russia against China because they fear this would lead Germany to ally with Russia and China – leaving the Empire of Chaos out in the cold. And that leads to the “mystery” inside the enigma of the whole Ukrainian face: use it to force the EU away from Russian natural resources.
A final few words on the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire established its suzerainty over Kievan Rus – that is, over the Christian orthodox principalities that correspond today to northern Ukraine, Belarus and part of contemporary Russia.The Tartar yoke over Russia – from 1240 to 1552, when Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan – is deeply imprinted in Russian historical consciousness and in the debate about national identity. Once again, we quote Brzezinski, from his book, “The Grand Chessboard “: –
“Potentially, the most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an “anti-hegemonic” coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances. It would be reminiscent in scale and scope of the challenge once posed by the Sino-Soviet bloc, though this time China would likely be the leader and Russia the follower. Averting this contingency, however remote it may be, will require a display of U.S. geostrategic skill on the western, eastern, and southern perimeters of Eurasia simultaneously “. The Mongols separately conquered vast swathes of China, Russia and Iran. Centuries after Pax Mongolica, it is an irony that the new pact of steel between these top three Eurasian actors is now an insurmountable geopolitical obstacle, smashing all elaborate plans by a bunch of trans-Atlantic historic upstarts. Now, read the above quote, again.
In the next article, we will focus on an unusual topic. Wait till you read it. It’s going to be an eye-opener.
