Posts

Showing posts with the label Containment

The Russia-Ukraine War Benefits the World

Image
  Let’s call it what it is: The Russia-Ukraine conflict is a war between two imperialist powers, the US and Russia. The longer the war lasts, the better for the world, as the protracted war undermines their respective power. Is the conflict a clash between democracy and autocracy, as the US claims? Or is it self-defense against Western encroachment, as Russia contends? There is nothing righteous about the geopolitical tussle over which side will control Ukraine. Under the veneer of democratic freedom or pan-slavic nationalism lies the primacy of might by any means necessary. Any rational person with some knowledge of history and geopolitics should be able to cut through the smoke screens that each belligerent uses to justify its aggresion. When America brandishes its Democracy stick, it means that its empire itches for new boundaries. When the Russian Bear plays the victim, it merely pursues its centuries-old insatiable hunger for more land. Ten years on, the clash of titans has result

War Will Do China Good

Image
  The US Empire has spoken: China poses an existential threat to American global hegemony and must be subjugated at all costs.  The wrath of the world overlord, which has descended on China since 2017, continues unabated. With bipartisan congressional support, the White House under Trump and Biden has waged trade wars, wielded an avalanche of sanctions, rallied its allies in Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and conducted relentless smearing campaigns worldwide, with no end in sight. Taking it up a notch, Biden has been actively preparing for war against China. He crafted the AUKUS security pact with Australia, which will receive eight nuclear powered submarines, gained access to military bases in the Philippines, and promoted military cooperation between Japan and South Korea. Rather than cower in fear, China should embrace military confrontations with the US and its allies, under the right circumstances. Undoubtedly, the costs and risks associated with the use of force are high, but the pot

China Is a Geopolitical Dwarf

Image
Vector Vectors by Vecteezy China has the numbers on its side. The second largest economy in the world, it is poised to surpass the US economy in 2030. An industrial giant, it accounts for almost one-third of the world's manufacturing output, leading the US by over 10 percentage points. A global trade powerhouse, China is the largest partner of two-thirds of countries (128 out of 190), overtaking the long-standing US.  Yet, despite its phenomenal transformation from a peasant-based to an industrial society in merely 44 years, China has remained a geopolitical dwarf, unable to project its military power beyond its territory in East Asia, let alone in the Pacific or Southeast Asia. Its geopolitical situation looks dire especially in East Asia, where the US has put in place the containment policy with its Asian allies.  China's major geopolitical weakness is its inability to reclaim the island of Taiwan, a renegade province that lies 100 miles from the mainland. The island, now und

Sanctions and Bans Are Making China Stronger

Image
Imagine a world where the West and China live in harmony.  At its annual military parades, Beijing shows off its M1 Abrams tanks, M777 howitzers, and the world's most advanced fighter jets, F-35 --- all made in America. Soldiers march in lockstep, holding German HK416 assault rifles, while French H160M military helicopters sweep through the clear sky of the Chinese capital.  In low Earth orbit, the International Space Station welcomes Chinese astronauts, who conduct research with their US colleagues and maintain equipment provided by China, Japan, Canada, and other nations.  Knowing its place in the world supply chains, China, the world factory, churns out loads of consumer goods destined for Costco, Walmart, and the like while importing hi-tech products from the advanced industrialized countries.  This would be a China dreamed by Western liberals and neoconservatives: A Chinese client state subservient to the US, fully integrated into the so-called rules-based world order, entirel