Tom Paine 1949
Diamond Member
- Mar 15, 2020
- 5,407
- 4,507
USMB member shockedcanadian is famous (or infamous) on USMB for his repeated calls for an intensified Cold War against China. He sees China as an existential threat to the West. But he doesn’t even seem to consider if his call, for example, for the U.S. to “be strong” on Taiwan crosses China’s long expressed “red line” regarding the island. He never asks if U.S. provocations could lead to “hot war.” He has recently said that the whole D.C. “security state” and Foreign Policy “Establishment” and especially the Democrats under Biden are ... “China First” !!!
The “China First” charge is just demagogic lame duck Trumpster hysteria, but it does reflect bipartisan illusions. shockedcanadian doesn’t at all understand that elite security state advisors of the American empire were opposed to Trump because they believe his “America First” policies were ultimately inadequate to defending, protecting, and extending the U.S.-dominant world capitalist empire — which has in fact further unraveled under Trump, as has our country itself.
Trump represented laughable incompetence and scapegoating, political decline and chaos domestically. He was for go-it-alone posturing internationally, imposing unilateral tariffs on allies. His many unnecessary unilaterally imposed tariffs, secondary and high-handed SWIFT boycotts of bank transfers, sanctioning of German firms that with German government support worked on NordStream2 — these all angered the EU.
Anger over such treatment led the Europeans to agree to a new trade agreement with China. President-Elect Biden’s request they delay signing onto this trade agreement was rejected. The Chinese actually increased their concessions to Europe on trade to get this agreement before Biden became President, because it feared Biden might win Europe over to jointly confront China on trade issues under Biden. They wanted to take advantage of the Trump Administration’s chaotic policies while they still could.
After the pathetic Trump pseudo-coup attempt, Europe now suspects any American capacity to lead. Taiwan too must wonder how the U.S. can possibly defend it ... when it cannot even defend its own Congress building from a mob of rightwing nuts.
Trump was happy with XiJinping and sought his help in getting re-elected — until Covid-19 hit and he decided a scapegoating campaign against China was necessary to rally his base. In fact, foreign policy elites were already moving toward a fundamental hardening in attitudes toward China before Trump’s 2016 election.
The Establishment had earlier taken a hard “new Cold War” line against Russia, since Putin showed resistance to U.S. unipolar world dominance & hostility to Russia’s fundamental interests.
The idea that the Biden Administration will be “pro-China” is as ridiculous as that it is pro-Russia. The problem now is there is a deep historic bipartisan consensus that the U.S. can somehow hold back the rise of a growing China. China may very well never adopt Western-style governing institutions, especially now that they see what chaos our institutions have produced under Trump.
China is authoritarian and must be strategically dealt with, but it does not represent an existential threat to the world or the U.S. It does not act as, nor can it be dealt with as, was Nazi Germany or Japan. Nor can it be expected to collapse as did the USSR.
U.S. ideological obsessions, our unwillingness to radically reform our own corporate-dominant society, our belief that our present democratic governing system and manner of selecting leadership are “exceptional” and superior — here are the real domestic problems that need to be addressed. Trump’s clownish misleadership and narcissism were only symptomatic of the West’s growing inability to deal with larger reality.
p.s.
These two articles show how narrow are the perspectives of those who believe the U.S. “being strong” on Taiwan or against China is the answer to U.S. decline in the world or at home:
America's Defining Problem in 2021 Isn't China: It's America | The American Conservative
China’s Real Threat Is to America’s Ruling Ideology
The “China First” charge is just demagogic lame duck Trumpster hysteria, but it does reflect bipartisan illusions. shockedcanadian doesn’t at all understand that elite security state advisors of the American empire were opposed to Trump because they believe his “America First” policies were ultimately inadequate to defending, protecting, and extending the U.S.-dominant world capitalist empire — which has in fact further unraveled under Trump, as has our country itself.
Trump represented laughable incompetence and scapegoating, political decline and chaos domestically. He was for go-it-alone posturing internationally, imposing unilateral tariffs on allies. His many unnecessary unilaterally imposed tariffs, secondary and high-handed SWIFT boycotts of bank transfers, sanctioning of German firms that with German government support worked on NordStream2 — these all angered the EU.
Anger over such treatment led the Europeans to agree to a new trade agreement with China. President-Elect Biden’s request they delay signing onto this trade agreement was rejected. The Chinese actually increased their concessions to Europe on trade to get this agreement before Biden became President, because it feared Biden might win Europe over to jointly confront China on trade issues under Biden. They wanted to take advantage of the Trump Administration’s chaotic policies while they still could.
After the pathetic Trump pseudo-coup attempt, Europe now suspects any American capacity to lead. Taiwan too must wonder how the U.S. can possibly defend it ... when it cannot even defend its own Congress building from a mob of rightwing nuts.
Trump was happy with XiJinping and sought his help in getting re-elected — until Covid-19 hit and he decided a scapegoating campaign against China was necessary to rally his base. In fact, foreign policy elites were already moving toward a fundamental hardening in attitudes toward China before Trump’s 2016 election.
The Establishment had earlier taken a hard “new Cold War” line against Russia, since Putin showed resistance to U.S. unipolar world dominance & hostility to Russia’s fundamental interests.
The idea that the Biden Administration will be “pro-China” is as ridiculous as that it is pro-Russia. The problem now is there is a deep historic bipartisan consensus that the U.S. can somehow hold back the rise of a growing China. China may very well never adopt Western-style governing institutions, especially now that they see what chaos our institutions have produced under Trump.
China is authoritarian and must be strategically dealt with, but it does not represent an existential threat to the world or the U.S. It does not act as, nor can it be dealt with as, was Nazi Germany or Japan. Nor can it be expected to collapse as did the USSR.
U.S. ideological obsessions, our unwillingness to radically reform our own corporate-dominant society, our belief that our present democratic governing system and manner of selecting leadership are “exceptional” and superior — here are the real domestic problems that need to be addressed. Trump’s clownish misleadership and narcissism were only symptomatic of the West’s growing inability to deal with larger reality.
p.s.
These two articles show how narrow are the perspectives of those who believe the U.S. “being strong” on Taiwan or against China is the answer to U.S. decline in the world or at home:
America's Defining Problem in 2021 Isn't China: It's America | The American Conservative
China’s Real Threat Is to America’s Ruling Ideology
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