On a more pessimistic note, the 19th Century was a multipolar world, insofar as the imperisl powers went. But it is debatable whether colonized people at that time were any better off than their equivalent numbers today. There were at least half a dozen nations involved in the scramble for Africa.
How many times do I need to repeat the claim about the danger of global conflagration and the annihilation of human and other life on the Planet. Did you "forget" this point? HTFG.
Jack Matlock, former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union: US FOREIGN POLICY IS AUTISTIC.
We've heard a lot recently about autism, and whether there's any connection with vaccination and so on. And suddenly, I said, you know, we have an autistic foreign policy! Let me read you—I went back and looked at the actual definition of autism:"Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior."
Jack Matlock at the National Press Club
Matlock: "The State Department, now for decades, has to report on human rights in every country in the world, but one—want to guess which one that is?"
On a more pessimistic note, the 19th Century was a multipolar world, insofar as the imperisl powers went. But it is debatable whether colonized people at that time were any better off than their equivalent numbers today. There were at least half a dozen nations involved in the scramble for Africa.How many times do I need to repeat the claim about the danger of global conflagration and the annihilation of human and other life on the Planet. Did you "forget" this point? HTFG.
So, the issue is nuclear war? I thought the point was more general than that(though possibly including nuclear issues), related to the various depredations of Empire. In any case, I would be interested in hearing how the end of the unipolar world and the rise of China, Russia, and the BRICS would make the world safer from nuclear war.
[b]We have far too many babblers who seem to operate from the opposite premise, i.e., "if the USA is for it, then it's probably good."
[/b]
Can you provide some names of and quotes from babblers who have actually argued that if the USA is for something, it's automatically good?
Some people deem it important to balance out our already existing universal subjectivity to capitalist market forces, with capitalist market forces headquartered somewhere else. What we're really said to be in need of are more oligarchs playing the game, which will presumably make everyting alright.
War in Ukraine is a struggle for the new multipolar world order
The world should not hold its breath for a simple resolution to the confrontation that has arisen between Russia and the West over Ukraine – beyond the struggle for influence over Ukraine’s destiny lies a deeper ideological conflict. Moscow has issued a challenge to the U.S.-led unipolar model that has dominated global geopolitics for the last 25 years, and there is too much at stake for either side to back down.
Not the way that I'd put it - I think the Russians are doing a far, far better job of representing the general global good than the US Empire is, but this is somewhat implicit in the initial statement.
Moscow has challenged the system of international relations that was established after the Cold War.Unlike with the Yalta treaty at the end of World War II, there were no agreements signed to record the outcomes of that war.
This last point is absolutely critical. The general view by Western authorities is that they "won" the Cold War and, therefore, Russia and all other countries should just obey the Empire. Forever. That the Russians do not "obey the Empire" has evoked apoplectic paroxysms from the entire cabal of neo-conservative zealots and their useful idiots in the West.
The reunification of Germany, the breakup of the Warsaw Pact and of the USSR were greeted with smiles by former opponents and soothing talk of an approaching glorious era of universal human values. At the time, there were even those who (like, for example, the German foreign minister of the early 1990s, Hans-Dietrich Genscher) said that in a couple of years NATO would also be no more.
How quickly such things are conveniently forgotten in the West.
Finally, becomes clear that the so-called “unipolar world” has turned out to be not as solid as it appeared in the early 1990s. Moreover, it has turned out to be less stable and reliable than the cold-war world, which was based on a balance of power and on certain rules of the game – which, overall, were adhered to. Unlike now, when the allegedly “universal rules” have only one arbiter, who sets them, monitors compliance and who can break them when it really wants to.
"All enemies of the Emperor die!" (from the film, Gladiator)
The link below is from an Australian writer regarding "why the West hates Putin" etc. However, there is reference to the war that didn't happen in Syria and, in the author's opinion, how this indicates a turning point has already been reached from the uni-polar world dominated by the US hegemon to a multipolar or "de-Americanized" world. The details around events 2 years ago - when the attack on Syria by the US and its poodles in Europe, etc., did not materialize - is worth reading. There are solid footnotes for further research and to substantiate the writer's claims.
Supplemental: a key claim made here ...
... a planned NATO surprise attack on Syria was stopped by Russia (in 2013). This was probably the first time since WWII that a military attack planned by the West was confronted by sufficient force to require its cancellation.
Follow up. The OpEd piece from Xinhua (October 2013) is really significant, as the reviewer points out.
Baba Beijing’s Belly Laugh Felt Round the World
In his opinion, this is China laughing at the USA. I mean guffawing.
This new approach is presented in a Xinhua editorial. The last straw for them was the US shutdown coming on top of the financial crisis provoked by Wall Street banks. He quotes perhaps the most important paragraph:"Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies."
As he points out in his piece, there is no way that the editorial did not have approval at the highest level (in order to be published by Xinhua).
The October 2013 Editorial ignored in the West. Commentary: U.S. fiscal failure warrants a de-Americanized world
A de-Americanized world. It is already being spoken of in Chinese editorials from over a year ago.
Buh-Bye Uncle Sam!
Well, not quite. But there is a strong tone of "this rogue state needs to be restrained from doing harm to others". And, frankly, it's quite wonderful to see such editorials, even if they are in major Chinese media that are, naturally, mostly ignored in the citadels of Western imperialism.
Barad-dûr, which is Washington, has started to shake a little. And it's about time.
BRICS Development Bank: 100 billion for starters. That should be good.
Russian President Putin has signed legislation for the ratification of the $100 Billion BRICS Development Bank. The bank is aimed at
financing development projects in the emerging economies and
to free many countries from the brutal jackboot tyranny of the IMF and the World Bank
(two institutions dominated by the US regime and often used for the predatory and hegemonic political aims of that country).
.................................................................
BRICS countries alone ...
population 2.998 billion or 41.6% of global population
GDP 15.8 trillion or 19.8% of global
exports 3.19 trillion
imports 2.95 trillion
total trade 6.14 trillion or 16.9% of the world's total
...........................................................................
Those NATO sanctions. They're really hurting ... farmers in Spain, Poland, makers of Swiss cheese, etc., etc.
Despite the steady stream of pathological Russophobic propaganda, another future is asserting itself. Remarkable.
While George H.W. Bush's US-dominated New World Order is gradually falling apart at the seams, Russia is emerging as the avant garde of a New World Ordering, based on principles of equality and respect for national sovereignty, F. William Engdahl notes.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150625/1023853732.html#ixzz3eZYMJFxL
says Engdahl: ""What I witnessed not only in St. Petersburg but also in other recent visits to Russia is something I can only call extraordinary. Rather that cower in terror at the endless barrage of attacks and economic and financial sanctions thrown at her, Russia and her leadership are becoming more confident and, crucially, more self-reliant and aggressive in a positive way as never before," the historian stressed.
"By pursuing a strategy of making peaceful economic and trade deals with her allies in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, above all with China; deals within the BRICS states with India, Brazil, South Africa and China and within the Eurasian Economic Union, Russia is emerging as the avant garde of a New World Ordering, one where respect for national borders and national sovereignty again becomes the cornerstone," F. William Engdahl underscored, adding that at the same time Moscow demonstrates its willingness to maintain cooperation with the EU countries and business partners."
The world is changing and the Empire, at long last, froths like a wild beast, barks orders to the sea like King Canute, slaps the heads of its underlings and minions, calls on all the dark creatures of the nether world, all for naught. Will Canada, lashed like Ahab to this suicidal whale, sink along with the juggernaut? It's up to us.
Washington's and Brussels' accusations voiced against Moscow are ludicrous and groundless, the historian noted, adding that while George H.W. Bush's US-dominated New World Order "is crumbling," Russia is giving birth to the new, multi-polar world."It's fascinating and quite beautiful to watch," he concluded.
Related to the SPIEF was the recent developments in Saudi-Russian relations. Stunning.
These developments are inexpicable to to the propaganda bullhorns of the Empire. So what? The caravan moves on.
It's tempting to watch this fabulous unfolding drama as a subplot of the BRICS – mostly Russia and China – advancing in the Middle East, with Washington as the loser. It’s more like Putin playing Multipolar World, not Monopoly, and ensuring the Empire of Chaos will really have to sweat to keep its puppet/vassal blocs, such as the GCC, “on message.”....What is certain is that the top-level Saudi pilgrimage to St. Petersburg could not be more antithetical to (disgraced) Bandar Bush threatening Putin in August 2013 to unleash Chechen jihadis on Sochi if Moscow didn’t back off on Syria....
It remains to be seen, long-term, whether this is not a desperate Saudi play to extract “concessions” from its imperial protector. But assuming this is a real deal, Moscow retains the ability to match both Iran and Saudi Arabia’s interests, and ensure this concerted “pivoting to the Middle East” may turn out to be as spectacular as Russia’s “pivoting to Asia” and China’s New Silk Roads.
It'a nice to see the Empire just getting played so badly. Maybe.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20150622/1023689645.html#ixzz3eZfoNCb0
Ufa - The Summit That Is Re-Making the World
This week the Russian city of Ufa will witness what will be by far the most important summit of 2015.This summit is in theory a joint summit of two different organisations - the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the BRICS.
It will also be an informal summit of a third organisation - the Eurasian Union.
The reason for these curious arrangements is that certain states whose leaders will be attending the summit are members of one of these organisations but not of others.
So, what's happening there?
Only one country - Russia - is a member of all three organisations that are meeting in Ufa. That makes Russia the hinge of the whole grouping, though the most powerful state represented in Ufa and the one that is busy forging the new economic linkages via the BRICS and the Silk Road initiatives that will underpin the whole emerging system is China.What we are seeing in Ufa is the coalescing of the new power centre that is challenging the historic hegemony of the US and the European states.
Oh, by the way, Iran is invited. Oh yeah.
Meanwhile, back at the US ranch, Presidential candidates jockey for position by threatening to bomb Iran. Like Hilary Clinton.
I was just going to post this very piece. Yes, extremely significant developments, Canada looks like it will simply tag along with Pax Americana alas
Other significant points about the meetings in Ufa:
- Ufa is the MUSLIM capital of the autonomous republic of Bashkortostan in the Russian Federation. This is significantly different from the Western approach which is to BOMB Muslims every chance they get;
- there will be a summit meeting of the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan in the SCO together would be a HUGE coup, bringing together these rivals under an umbrella which is so very long overdue - since the time of the collapse of the British Empire and the Master's inciting of fratricidal slaughter among Hindus and Muslims in the Indian sub-continent almost 70 years ago;
- In addition, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif will meet in conjunction with the BRICS meeting.
- the central banks of BRICS signed an agreement on mutual assistance and have established a [U$ for the time being] pool of hard currency reserves. We're talking $100 Billion here;
- the NDB will eventually switch from the US $ to a basket of currencies and be fully operational by 2016;
- the point of the peaceful rise of Russia and China is being noted by many countries who are not at Ufa but who are undoubtedly going to benefit from this rise;
- above point. For example:
"Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said it would be enough for the indebted and embattled Greece to buy a few NDB shares to be eligible for funding.
However, Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov explained that BRICS’ financial institutions were not yet prepared to help non-members resolve their budget problems."
- Vadim Lukov, Russian Ambassador-at-Large:
"There are four strategic goals, which make BRICS a team.
“First, each BRICS member wants to pursue an independent policy line on the world stage; second, we all want a reform of the global financial system, reforming IMF in the first place. Third, we want to strengthen the role of the UN and the primacy of law in international relations. Fourth, we want to use the factor of complementarity of our economies to speed up these economies’ development,” Lukov said."
This is just [u]so much in marked contrast to the Western imperialist regimes it isn't even funny. [/u]
- None of the BRICS’ members joined the anti-Russia sanctions designed by the US, the EU and their Anglosphere allies in Canada and Australia.
- BRICS is getting political – in the good sense. The world can view it as a new sensible force – complementing the formerly great Eurocentric “teachers of humanity” with some cautious Asian/Latin American wisdom.
And the world is watching even if the Western regimes and their bought and paid for MSM is treating these events with silence. The tower of Barad-dûr in Washington isn't falling, but it's sure as shit trembling. That's always a good thing.
The Western MSM is, by and large, treating the Ufa meetings with silence. The Anglosphere countries, including the boot-licking Harper regime, the Yanqui Empire itself, its vassals in the EU and its Asian cronies of Japan and South Korea, as wall as the Gulf Emirate dictatorships and the criminal Israeli Apartheid regime, are all not invited as history passes they by. Hence the noisy ...silence.
These events are in marked contrast to the photo-op rich but policy poor meetings such as the G-7, etc. so loudly belched as important by the over-fed, flatulent leaders of the Western plutocracies.
Key points: Iran is invited and the scuttlebut is that their membership application to the SCO will be endorsed, which will help the Islamic Republic rebuff the endless sabre-rattling and threats of war from the US and its mid-east bulldog Israel; the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) comes into force; the Contingent Reserve Agreement (CRA) will provide "the foundation of an alternate, parallel, and supplemental global financial architecture", which is to say that when the Empire, and its bootlickers like Canada, try to undermine the stability of an "unfriendly" (ie, un-boot-licker) country, there will be a kind of monetary insurance pool to assist BRICS members; the BRICS members promise to increase trade in each other's currencies, which will be a modest shot to the head of the Yanqui Empire and its heretofore undisputed currency juggernaut.
The Chinese led AIIB or Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is, of course, on track already in addition to the above noted developments. All in all some good left and right hooks to the Empire and its quislings. i suppose the boxing metaphor isn't quite apt as this is more like an end-run around the greedy Western institutional and financial architecture into the broad, sunlit uplands of more balanced, and obviously fair, new world order. It's just fun to think of the US on the mat, bleeding to death, like a wicked witch flattened by a sweet, pony-tailed girl from Kansas.
Western governments and media this week are doing their very best to ignore what is happening in Ufa out of spite, as the party they aren’t invited to.More fools them. Don’t make the same mistake. Pay attention.
This convergence of summits of non-Western independent powers and its concrete results are planting the seeds of a multipolar world and new institutions of global governance.
Just for this week – this has made Ufa the very center of that new world.
Some reports are breaking through the Western MSM virtual blackout of the Ufa meetings and summits. And it doesn't look good for the Empire and its vassals.
There’s been a virtual blackout of news from this year’s seventh annual BRICS summit in Ufa, Russia. None of the mainstream media organizations are covering the meetings or making any attempt to explain what’s going on. As a result, the American people remain largely in the dark about a powerful coalition of nations that are putting in place an alternate system that will greatly reduce US influence in the world and end the current era of superpower rule....Can you see what’s going on? Putin has figured out the empire’s vulnerabilities and he’s going straight for the jugular. He’s saying: ‘We’re going to issue our own debt, we’re going to run our own system, we’re going to fund our own projects, and we’re going to do it all in our own currency. Kaboom. The only thing you’re going to be doing, is managing your own accelerating economic decline. Have a good day.’...
The Ufa conference is a watershed moment. While the Pentagon is rapidly moving troops and military hardware to Russia’s borders, and one bigwig after another is bloviating about the “Russian threat”; the BRICS have moved out of Washington’s orbit altogether...
What do America’s leaders dream about: Drone warfare? Balancing the budget? Banning the Confederate flag? It’s a joke. No one in Washington has a plan for the future...
In conclusion ...
"The dollar is toast. The IMF is toast. The US debt market (US Treasuries) is toast. The institutions that support US power are crumbling before our very eyes. The BRICS have had enough; enough war, enough Wall Street, enough meddling and hypocrisy and austerity and lecturing. This is farewell. Sure, it will take time, but Ufa marks a fundamental change in thinking, a fundamental change in approach, and a fundamental change in strategic orientation."
And none of this is being reported on by the MSM.
Russian President Putin Leads BRICS Uprising
BUH-BYE!
And none of this is being reported on by the MSM.
When the United States declares bankruptcy because they were outwitted by Putin, THEN they'll have no choice but to report it.
Meanwhile, this got trumped by Greece voting "OXI" a mere seven days ago and bringing the EU, crying and begging, to its knees.
The MSM can only report on one devastating-but-brilliant political strategy at a time.
If the Russians manage to buy up some of the Greek assets, of more interest now that TurkStream is a going concern, in the course of the pillage of that country by the sharks smelling blood in the water, will that get reported truthfully, I wonder? Or another media blackout?
Is it really a cognitive limit of Western MSM not to be able to cover more than one "important" issue at a time, or the obstinate and tendentious stupidity of the well paid shills?
There's stupid and there's well paid stupid. [See Robert Proctor, for example, with his book Agnotology on the cultural, and deliberate, production of ignorance. It's Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent taken to the next logical step and has already been addressed, to some degree, by those who write about the dumbing down of North American culture. ]
I guess I can picture the MSM saying "Oh, OK, another total game-changer. Nothing will ever be the same again. STOP THE PRESSES! LOLZ!"
Also, I don't think the provision of a detailed, blow by blow account of what imperialism has been up to next will generally matter all that much to North American voters. As a example, the NDP supported the bombing of Libya and implementing harsher measures against the Syrian regime, and its supporters are still willing to flock beneath the NDP banners. So in the wider context it doesn't seem to matter what information is on hand or what the MSM excludes. So long as people can be convinced that whatever is being done is in their best interests, they're more than willing to go along with whatever it takes, and to make up their own excuses or make do with such excuses that are given them. I mean, we only have to read what the pro-imperialist contributors on Babble say to get an idea of how the psychology of it all plays out. Day in and day out. That seems to be one of the mistakes that alternate political approaches to the circumstances of our times continues to run aground on. If only the people knew, or, if only we had better information on hand, if only we had the means to articulate a better vision to the masses, then the powers that be will really be in for it.
Good point. Especially with the Canucklhead 'hockey-puck' brain. Reality makes no difference, 'team' cheerleading is all.
My take on Americans is this: They pretend to sleep. Every time the truth tries to show its ugly head, they close their eyes and begin snoring and drooling. They can even fake rapid eye movement. They have no interest in the truth, for they’re perfectly comfortable living their lies. The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus have been replaced with adult lies. They live in Fantasyland, The Matrix, The Twilight Zone, and woe be unto him who points out the man behind the curtain. Their reality is reality television shows, corporate news broadcasts, professional sports. They believe in capitalism with all their hearts, even when they lose their jobs, their kids are in prison, and the banks foreclose on their houses.
Canadians and Europeans too. In our experience there is no question that desire produces reality. And so if a person is told in so many words that the concept of an 'exceptional nation' is integral to everyone's way of life, many people will support whatever exception comes down the pipe, including torturing information out of people in order to better bomb the enemy where they live, or supporting political parties despite all the shitty things they've had a hand in.
Yes, lackyism comes easily - especially for those persuaded that's the side their bread is buttered on. Fuck the victims. Avert the eyes. Pretend voting social democrat will take care of it.
BRICS Challenges 'Double Standard' of the West (and vid)
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&I...
"Newsclick talks to Vijay Prashad about the Declaration of the 7th Summit of the BRICS countries held in Ufa, Russia
'The BRICS declaration from Ufa, as with previous declarations have all called for the sanctity or the importance of the UN institutions and for international law.'
Also, I don't think the provision of a detailed, blow by blow account of what imperialism has been up to next will generally matter all that much to North American voters. As a example, the NDP supported the bombing of Libya and implementing harsher measures against the Syrian regime, and its supporters are still willing to flock beneath the NDP banners. So in the wider context it doesn't seem to matter what information is on hand or what the MSM excludes. So long as people can be convinced that whatever is being done is in their best interests, they're more than willing to go along with whatever it takes, and to make up their own excuses or make do with such excuses that are given them.
The overseas victims of Canadian imperialism don't vote in Canadian elections. The very idea of solidarity [or internationalism in the old lexicon] requires a higher degree of class consciousness which many NDPers have only a modest helping of. Not enough. Long ago Karl Marx wrote in block letters, for all to see, "Workers of all lands unite. " It's really quite a simple message but it requires a bit more than many are willing to put into things. The vision is there already, it just needs more development.
I agree with the sentiment you have expressed somewhat; those who elaborate, at length, the horrific and endless an ongoing crimes of imperialism forget that people aren't automatons. We don't just process data; we form opinions, we have values, and so on. Choosing right over wrong, the light over the darkness, still matters. There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.
The MSM drenches the citizenry with de-contextualized streams of consciousness in which "if it bleeds it leads", titilation and the sexualization of all culture, including that of children, distracts the masses with spectacles, and bribes them with their own money. Many enlightened people no longer watch television or the MSM generally. Things ARE changing. But the other side will never, right up to the day when we arrest the government, admit of our progress.
The current neo-liberal juggernaut imposes horrors on everyone, including Canadians, and people aren't blind to their own distress. However, it's necessary for them to have alternatives, like rabble.ca, and independent media generally. But they still have to get off their ass and make a little effort.
So yes, information isn't enough. Information with a purpose. To empower. To motivate. To give hope. To bring together.
"The arc of freedom is long but it bends towards justice. " MLK.
Russia and China are, in relation to the rotting flesh of Western plans (of war, of "containment", of the autistic imagination of Western leaders, etc., etc.) vaulting ahead with the SCO, BRICS, and the EEU. Pepe Escobar outlines some of the results of the Ufa meetings..
Here’s just a sample of what has been decided in Ufa: Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping actively discussed, face-to-face, interlinks in the New Silk Road(s); India will become a full member of the SCO next year; Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was appointed chairman of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), which will finance infrastructure projects not only in the five BRICS countries, but in other developing nations as well. And all that based in their own currencies, bypassing the US dollar.The NDB has the potential to accumulate as much as $400 billion in capital, according to bank head KV Kamath. The parent capital is $100 billion.
Currency swaps are the way to go. It already applies to Russia and China on trade in futures, and Putin has dubbed its expansion to other nations as “interesting.”
A strategy for BRICS economic partnership has been devised that “touches upon the responsibility of different ministers and requires high-level coordination,” according to Russia’s Economic Development Minister Aleksey Ulyukaev, which means in essence easier trade between BRICS nations.
Both the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the NDB are headquartered in China. However, they won’t compete with each other; they will add to and complement one another.
Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) signed a memorandum of understanding with the other BRICS. Significantly, China’s Silk Road Fund and India’s IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Company) are key partners.
Russia will lift restrictions on Chinese banks working in Russia, accelerating Beijing’s drive to invest in all sectors of the Russian economy.
Russia proposed a roadmap for investment cooperation. Crucially, that includes the possibility of an energy association, according to Putin, as well as an international energy research center.
The subject of energy brings us to Greece. Russia’s Turkish Stream pipeline – yet another diplomatic/energy counterpunch after the EU scored a proverbial own goal by scotching the South Stream – will be linked to Greece.
No wonder that elicited panic in Exceptionalistan. What if Syriza’s “flirting with Moscow” becomes a strategic shift, thus causing NATO’s eastern flank to fall to pieces?
It doesn’t matter that Russia wants a strong EU – and the EU won’t be strong without Greece, as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized in Ufa.
So what does NATO propose to seduce anyone across Eurasia away from all the frantic BRICS, SCO and EEU politico/economic activity? Nothing less than an obsession with a “strategy rethink.” In other words, detailed “secret” scenarios for a war on European soil.
That’s all one needs to know about who wants what in the new, emerging geopolitical order.
Can you say thrashing? Can you say pounding? Can you say BUH-BYE!
from a government-funded Swiss think tank comes an interesting perspective ...
A different view of the decline of the West.
The Decline of the West? Been There, Done That
Summary: "Those who believe the West is experiencing a form of imperial decline cite familiar reasons – eroding military budgets, the growing assertiveness of China and Russia, etc. John Rapley, however, points to another cause. He attributes the West’s decline to capital flows making their way to emerging markets."
This outward radiation from the core to the periphery may be the same logic that is operating against the West today. In its constant search for cheaper supplies and labour, the centre of the global economy is moving towards the erstwhile periphery.... This tendency began in the late twentieth century, but cyclical features muted its effects until around the turn of the millennium. Then, after two centuries in which the net flow of capital had moved from core to periphery, the direction of global flows reversed. Today, net global investment flows have shifted towards emerging markets. China leads the way, but it is not the only country benefiting from the mobility of global capital. According to World Bank figures, the continental which grew fastest in 2014 was Africa.The simple fact is that returns on capital are now much higher in the periphery than in the core, which means that the center of the global economy is in the process of relocating. Compared to the Roman case, this time it is capital rather than labour that has overwhelmed imperial defenses. As it did in antiquity, this shift will manifest itself in the slowly eroding fiscal position of core states. The US may remain the world’s dominant economy for the foreseeable future, but, together with its allies, it will be forced to negotiate a world very different from that of the last two centuries.
The BRICS/SCO/EEU Summits in Ufa: The US Dollar and Bretton Woods are Finished
Gone are the days of unchallenged US domination. The architecture of the post-Second World War or post-1945 global order is now in its death bed and finished. With or without Washington, a Silk World is emerging and its coming is being trumpeted from Ufa as the SCO strengthens and the BRICS institutionalizes itself as the cornerstone of a new multi-polar world order.
The following is also interesting.
"Countries and international groups that have switched from the US dollar to national currencies in trade."
John Rapley wrote:
This outward radiation from the core to the periphery may be the same logic that is operating against the West today. In its constant search for cheaper supplies and labour, the centre of the global economy is moving towards the erstwhile periphery.....
...this I'm afraid is now a bit dated! The flight to safety at the core is part the explanation for the collapsing commodity and emerging market economies...which is of course the precondition for the collapse at the core...all opf which, periphery and core are under mountains of debt, corporate, derivative, government and personal...which ultimately is the explanation of the collapsing world system........
What would be good to document is how the building Euroasian alliance is planning to counter the effects of this collapsing system, while of course our West's response is pure denial!
Ultimately there must somewhere be a focus on alternative strategy to a collapsing global system, maybe built from the grass roots in global alliance!
National Interest.org: Welcome to the World Without the West
"What is happening is a concerted effort by the emerging powers to construct parallel multilateral architectures that route around the liberal order, and will likely reshape international politics and economics in fundamental ways."
The latest and most vivid example of this dynamic is the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which aims to provide an alternative to the iconic Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and their regional sibling, the Asian Development Bank. The AIIB is Beijing’s brainchild and will likely remain firmly in China’s control. India and twenty other developing countries have already signed up as founding members.
But the AIIB is only one of many emerging international institutions that are routing around the Western-led order and, according to a recent comprehensive study of these trends, are “complementary or parallel to existing ones, rarely challenging them head-on.” Other examples include political organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO), the BRICS mechanism, development initiatives such as China’s New Silk Road and economic groupings such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The list goes on.
US Foreign Policy in Europe, Asia Disastrous: Analyst (and vid)
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/09/01/427318/Russia-China-alliance-th...
"US foreign policy goals in Europe have been 'disastrous and murderous,' drawing Russia and China closer together and threatening American hegemony, Daniel Patrick Welch, a writer and political analyst in Boston says."
Pepe Escobar has a great piece over at the crowdfunded media criticism site Russia Insider.
Weaponized Default: Russia's Ultimate Answer to Western Aggression?
Escobar notes the preparations for next year's budget in the Russian Federation includes some "alternative" plans. Like reneging on 700 Billion in foreign debt to the financial institutions of the hegemon and its vassals or accessories in NATO, etc.
Glazyev is arguably going no holds barred. He is in favor of barring Russian companies from using foreign currency (which makes sense); taxing the conversion of rubles to foreign currencies (same); banning foreign loans to Russian firms (depending if they are not in US dollars or euro); and – the smoking gun - requiring Russian companies that have Western loans to default....Imagine Russia defaulting on all its foreign debt - over $700 billion – on which Western sanctions have raised extra, punitive costs in terms of repayment.
Some amusing subtitles from Escobar's piece ...
"Neo-Tsarism, anyone?"
"It’s your fault we can’t loot."
"Round up those central bank suspects."
Payback time? Maybe. As they say in chess, the threat is sometimes more dangerous than the execution.
Whatever Putin and Obama discuss at their possible meeting at the end of the month in New York, exceptionalist pressure over the bear won’t abate. So it pays for the bear to keep a lethal financial weapon in storage.
Russia’s lawmakers just approved the use of the country’s armed forces abroad, (in Syria - ikosmos) in what makes for a jaw-dropping game-changer in the War on Terror. Up until this point, the US took for granted the assembling of international coalitions, be they against ‘terrorism’ or whatever else, feeling conceited enough that its unipolar hegemony would guarantee that it dictates, not directs, what comes next after it’s already made up its mind.However, the world has rapidly changed as of late, and the multipolar trend has proven itself to be unstoppable, with the case in point being how Russia has now usurped the US as the world’s most important multilateral rallying force. Unlike the US, Russia is showing that it’s entirely possible to gather an international alliance that both abides by international law and is genuinely dedicated to pursuing its stated objectives.
Let’s take a look at some of the triggers and tactics behind Russia’s recent move, and then briefly reflect on the main takeaways from this decision.
Hey, Uncle Sam! You've been creating dead zones and death long enough! Get out of the way if you can't lend a hand! For the times, they are a changing!
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Here’s How And Why Russia Is Fighting ISIL In Syria
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20150930/1027778315/how-and-why-russia-is-fighting-isil.html#ixzz3nElQzotu
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Contrast, if you please, the invitation from the legitimate and elected government of Syria to the Russian Federation, to the unilateral, and therefore illegal, Yanqui bombing (and funding!) of ISIL - the latter much more focussed on "regime change" in Syria and, somehow, "bumbling" when it came to defeating ISIL. For the truth was, and is, that the US and its client satellite states, like Canada, put more effort into overthrowing the Syrian government than in defeating terrorism.
The Russian presence will put an end to the Yanqui fraud. Tough shit, assholes. The bear is back. The Emperor has no clothes. It's the coalition of the righteous versus the rogue state.
Guess what side the Canadian puppet regime is on? Yeah, the rogue state. The spin-meisters will be furiously trying to twist this into another "Roooooooooooooooooosky aggression" but will fail miserably.
Look over there! Something else interesting! No, really! Syria isn't really that important! Honest! Would I lie to you?
The World Disorder - by Ghassan Kadi
http://thesaker.is/the-world-disorder/
"Russia is trying to restore the globally-accepted UN-based order, but America still has the power to create a whole new world disorder. Bullies do not accept to be seen defeated..."
Listening to Barack Hussein Obama’s speech at the United Nations was one of the most nauseating experiences I have ever had, and it ought to have been accompanied by a health warning. Rarely have I ever witnessed a more deluded individual manage to turn the world on its head, painting a picture of US foreign policy that is utterly divorced from the tragic reality.
Excuse me while I vomit listening to Obama's endless bullying lies.
In case some babblers think the description of vomiting over Obama's vile speech is an exaggeration, I just found another author who said the very same thing...
The two most anticipated speeches in the 70th annual United Nations General Assembly by U.S. president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin lived up to their expectations. There were no surprises. As the world was watching, Obama gave a “jingoistic” speech flexing his military muscle while Putin gave a speech that was truthful and relatively speaking, straight forward. But I was really surprised that no delegates in the assembly had vomited during Obama’s speech. If you know the history of U.S. Empire since its inception everything that Obama said was a complete lie.
Warning: The US Empire may cause you to puke in disgust.
Five Leaders Challenging Western Imperialism Through Diplomacy, Persuasion and Public Pressure - by James Petras
http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=2055
"Pope Francis, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Hassan Rouhani, and Jeremy Corbyn. These five protagonists of a new global agenda differ from past critics from the left both in the style and substance of their politics..."
Clash of Mideast Titans: Certain Geopolitical Shift in Uncertain Times - by Catherine Shakdam
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/317928-saudi-arabia-syria-russia/
"...Today, Washington finds itself at a difficult crossroad. America can either stand by its alliances in the Middle East and watch as Al Saud's billions swallow up Western influences or align itself with those powers which seek to introduce a new balance into the region.
Time is running out on Washington now that Moscow entered the military fray.
The gig is up neo-cons! Empires are going down and a new global narrative is being introduced, courtesy of President Putin - no more rigid model to abide by, welcome to pluralism."
No, it just means "to vomit" is a lazy and overused bit of wordsmithing.
You'll notice that some of us shy away from using it in here.
If you had pictures I might take you a bit more seriously, but you don't, because no one threw up.
Listening to Barack Hussein Obama’s speech
If you had pictures I might take you a bit more seriously, but you don't, because no one threw up.
Smith, you've lost it. Truly. Who takes pictures of themselves vomiting? Because that's what you're asking, as an "honest" member of the State Department "left".
All these Russian success stories must really chap your ass, huh? Just stay away from flouridated water and you should be fine. Save those vital bodily fluids.
A Decisive Shift in the Balance of Power - by Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/12/a-decisive-shift-in-the-balance-o...
"The world is beginning to realize that a seachange in world affairs occured on Sept 28 when President Putin of Rusia stated in his UN speech that Russia can no longer tolerate Washington's vicious, stupid and failed policies that have unleashed chaos, which is engulfing the Middle East and now Europe.
Two days later, Russia took over the military situation in Syria and began the destruction of the Islamic State forces...Putin, without issuing any verbal threat or engaging in any name-calling, has decisively shifted the power balace, and the world knows it."
(from NDPP above)
"The world is beginning to realize that a seachange in world affairs occured on Sept 28 when President Putin of Rusia stated in his UN speech that Russia can no longer tolerate Washington's vicious, stupid and failed policies that have unleashed chaos, which is engulfing the Middle East and now Europe.Two days later, Russia took over the military situation in Syria and began the destruction of the Islamic State forces...Putin, without issuing any verbal threat or engaging in any name-calling, has decisively shifted the power balace, and the world knows it."
The actual details are critical, of course, but I invite babblers to note something about the form of these recent events described as a sea change. In general, the US makes threats, draws "lines in the sand", creates "red lines", "keeps all options on the table", etc. , and carries out an overt, and covert, foreign policy regime of endless bullying threats of violence and horrors. That's how they do it, "successful" or not.
I draw your attention to how the Russians "do it". There's none of this sabre-rattling, discussion of forced regime change like changing soiled underwear, discussion of "replacement" of "unapproved" leaders (elected, like Assad, or not). No, they simple get 'er done. And legally, with the invitation of the duly-elected government of Syria, unlike Uncle Sam's haughty attitude of the self appointed hegemon in which "unapproved" leaders must step down (because the hegemon says so) or ... be bombed.
The substance is what's most important. But how things look, the form that these actions take, is also worth looking at. And it makes the US look even worse. It takes an enormous effort, perhaps an increasingly enormous effort, to delude the public about these things, and its seems very tenuous, fragile, and likely to collapse quickly when it does...
Sometimes these international discussions shed a surprising light on Canadian political life. Here, in my opinion, is one example.
"The problem is (not the US military but) the politics. It is the foreign policy elite and establishment of the United States that can't, ideologically, get past this "exceptionalist" moment. The military - no military - is a good tool for nation-building, for counter-insurgency. These things in the modern world, any other country would have problems with, as well as the United States. The problem is not the military. The problem is the politics."
"...no military is a good tool for nation-building." This is, just to remind babblers, the loathed Harper view, the conservative view of Canadian history, in which a gruesome blood-letting in war somehow "built" the Canadian identity. And it's nice to see others, in different contexts, note what a crock of shit this viewpoint is. We on the left stand for something completely different; all those workers who built the railroad, who grew the wheat, who worked the mines, who built the cities, and, we can add, the First Nations who cherished the land and preserved it for millenia, they too, and all the rest.
We honour working people. Conservatives honour death.
CrossTalk: Declining Pax Americana
"The US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently made a speech that was as direct as it was blunt. Emerging global powers such as Russia and China are a threat to the Wasington-centric world and need to be challenged. Well now, who is upping the ante?
CrossTalking with Pepe Escobar, Patrick Henningsen and Daniel Wagner
The doyen of Russian Studies in the US for the last number of decades. Stephen Cohen, calls it like it is ....
We in the United States cannot lead the world alone any longer, if we ever could. Long before Paris, globalization and other developments have occurred that ended the mono-polar, US-dominated world. That world is over. A multi-polar world has emerged before our eyes, not just in Russia but in five or six capitals around the world. Washington’s stubborn refusal to embrace this new reality has become part of the problem and not part of the solution. This is where we are today …. even after Paris.
Even after all that has happened, those in power in the Yanqui Empire don't get it. They truly are the evil Empire. On the other hand, when has an empire submitted peacefully? Other than the "empire" that was the Soviet Union, I mean. And perhaps the answer is never.
2016 Trends Forecast, Mega Analysis By Andrew Korybko
http://thesaker.is/2016-trends-forecast-by-andrew-korybko/
"2015 has proven to be a monumental year full of geopolitical surprises, with Russia's anti-terrorist intervention in Syria being chief among them. The old world is changing at a rapid pace as rising multipolar forces push outwards against the resistant unipolar establishment..."
In a transitional period in history, as I would argue the end of the unipolar period is, there are all sorts of contradictory phenomena in which trends in opposite directions are confirmed at the same time. It's difficult to see the forest for the trees. One has to know which things to emphasize and which not - and why. And it's also true that there is a kind of resistance of despair, in which those who know their cause is doomed nevertheless fight with a kind of renewed energy and determination.
We on the left should be able to see our way forward better, at least in terms of philosophical orientation, than the right. Why? Optimism. But we don't seem to show it very much. Discourse is dominated by the utopianism of the right - the utopianism of market idolatry and all the rest of their gobble-dee-gook.
Cheers to babblers in the new year. Keep up the fight.
Five Months in Syria: Russia Has Made History
Perhaps historians will look back on these few months and note: The US and NATO threat to create a no-fly zone in Syria and give their thinly-veiled blessing to a jihadist victory in Syria has crashed and burned. Their monstrous plans and war crimes have been rebuffed.
The future of Syria is still uncertain, but one thing is absolutely clear: Russia has saved the Syrian people from western-backed slaughter. Moscow's ability to prevent a US-imposed "no fly zone" over Syria quite literally saved the entire country: As a Russian diplomat revealed, western powers predicted that a "no fly zone" would allow ISIS to take Damascus by October. And you can bet they weren't planning on doing anything about it.Now the Syrian army is less than 100 miles from the Islamic State's "capital". In five months, Russia has turned the tables in Syria.
The world has changed. And how appropriate that that cradle of human civilization (a cradle that the Western powers maintain a mostly stony silence on its heroic liberation by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies) in Palmyra be liberated? How appropriate is it that a young Russian soldier gives his own life in the liberation of sacred Palmyra by calling an airstrike on himself?
Meanwhile, the horrific blowback from the monstrous Western policies continue apace. In Paris. In Brussels. On and on and on. The breathtaking stupidity and barbarity of the foreign policy of Western countries continues to leave them bewildered and disoriented.
Lieutenant Prokhorenko actions were heroic and legendary, many of the veteran sites I belong to speak highly of his final deed.
Russian FM Sergei Lavrov has recently addressed the whole issue of a shift to a multi-polar world. I will try to summarize from the RT story. There may be further links, easily found, for those interested in a deeper study. Fill your boots. Lavrov is worth reading.
Supplemental: I found a link in English on the Foreign Policy concept of the Russian Federation from 2013. I think that is what the RT piece makes reference to. From this article, it seems that more is on the way. Should be interesting! ikosomos ..
Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation
Shift to multipolar world: Lavrov says Russia working to adjust foreign policy to new reality
Moscow is working out a new concept for Russian foreign policy that will reflect the current transition to a multipolar world, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that this global trend presents new challenges for all global powers.
His terminology is interesting. In contrast, the US regime uses World Policeman terminology, and other such hubris-filled blather, which often makes US foreign policy pronouncements have the quality of Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.
So, we have ...
“The international situation remains mosaic and controversial. Along with this, a common tendency could be observed,”
Lavrov said...
According to the minister, we are moving from a world with a single center of power to one having a “polycentric international architecture.”
“A transition to polycentric architecture should be ideally based on the interaction of leading centers of power in the interest of finding joint solutions to global problems,” Lavrov explained....
Even with universal international support, switching from a world with a single center to a multipolar one will be a task of “unprecedented difficulty,” requiring “a fundamentally new line of responsibility, wisdom and political will” from all players, he said.
“But under the conditions when the philosophy of equal partnership in the interests of ensuring effective global management is faced by resistance from our Western partners, the obstacles will likely multiply,” Lavrov concluded.
It ain't going to be easy. Good on the Russians for having the audacity to look forward in this way. Uncle Sam seems incapable of such analysis.
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