Does Putin Think That He Is An American President? How Dare He!
These are the “inside voice” words bouncing around the minds of a US elite that has matured in the post-Soviet world and has reached the pinnacle of hubris and arrogance. Unfortunately for them, the unipolar moment was not be a fixture and many of their own actions helped speed the process of decline. The gutting of US industry and the middle class to feed on the cheap wages of China (and greatly aiding what is now the greatest geopolitical competitor) and other poorer nations, the inability to provide even basic diplomatic respect and aid to Russia (driving it into the arms of the Chinese), the same with Iran (with the same outcome), the utter waste of so many $trillion and $trillions in lost wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the utter corruption of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) that cares more about profits than usable weapons, and the general destruction of the vitality of the US economy through rampant monopolization, financialization, rentier profiteering, and a lack of investment in basic infrastructural and state services. Reality has now punched them in the face. They cannot win a war in the Ukraine, their own war games show that they cannot win a war in the South China Sea, and their chosen method of torture – sanctions – will end up doing greater harm to Europe (and the faltering US economy) than a Russia backed by China, given the tight nature of the global oil and gas markets and the pre-emptive measures taken by Russia.
The hypocrisy is astounding. An illegal war on Iraq based on lies that destroyed its economy and lead to the deaths of at least a million, the twenty year occupation of Afghanistan that mainly benefitted corrupt Afghan officials and MIC profits, the intentional destruction of Libya, the illegal occupation of Syria and the stealing of its oil while protecting the terrorists, the support given to the religious-fundamentalist monarchy of Saudi Arabia in its war against the people of Yemen. And of course, the direct involvement in the Ukrainian 2014 coup that brought neo-Nazis to power. The full list could fill this whole page and more. But only the US elite and their Western hangers-on are allowed to do such things, because it’s for everyone’s “good” (well, that’s what they keep telling us). How dare a Slav, or God forbid a Chinese person, think that they can do such things! Only Western elites, Europeans, their settler colonies and the “Europeanized” Japan possess the civilizing mission – the Western person’s burden.
Outside the Western mainstream media and think tank bubble a new world is taking shape in Eurasia, Africa and even perhaps South America. Russia has cemented its position by asserting its right as a regional power to not have enemies on its borders, in the same way that the US does not tolerate enemies in “its” whole hemisphere. Belarus has been made safe from Western destabilization, as has Kazakhstan, and now Ukraine. Afghanistan no longer acts as a Western camp adjoining Central Asia and China. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) have already made it plain that they are interested in being part of a growing regional pie rather than fighting the US elite’s wars for them. The Gulf Cooperation Council nations (GCC: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE) are busy cozying up to their most important customer. Iran’s influence spreads through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Even nations in the hemisphere that the US elite considers its own have started to take advantage of the China option to escape the neo-colonialism of the US, IMF, World Bank combination.
As this new world gains momentum, Western elites will have a lot more opportunities to be exasperated and appalled at the sight of people other than them asserting themselves on the global stage. As the ineffectiveness of their sanctions in bringing other nations to heel, and the rot at the core of the gilt-edged Western militaries, becomes more and more apparent the danger of Western elites doing something really stupid will rise. Their actions with respect to Russia’s legitimate security concerns for decades now have become increasingly stupid; with the long-coming resultant punch in the face. Hopefully the Western elites, especially US elites, will not need a nuclear punch in the face before they adjust their worldview and attitudes to the new reality. In a strange way we seem to be living through a reverse of the late 1980s, with everyone hoping that a declining power does not take the world down with it. The Soviet Union left the stage in peace, here’s wishing the US a peaceful future. I worry that it will be a close-run thing, declining elites can certainly lash out on the way down.
And in the background atmospheric greenhouse gas levels continue to rise, Antarctic ice shelves decay ever faster than predicted and another part of the Amazon rain forest gets cut down for soybean cultivation.