Washington's Latest Moves Against Beijing

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/21/quad-leaders-meet-in-bidens-hometown-amid-growing-china-competition

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-testing-us-all-joe-biden-caught-on-mic-telling-quad-leaders-101726970216499.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/biden-proposes-banning-chinese-vehicles-us-roads-with-software-crackdown-2024-09-23/

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/09/economist-calls-trumps-threat-to-tariff-countries-that-shun-the-dollar-a-lose-lose.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-keeps-missile-system-philippines-china-tensions-rise-tests-wartime-deployment-2024-09-19/

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3279516/us-typhon-missile-system-philippines-has-china-facing-more-tense-security-situation

At the end of September, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or QUAD met in Delaware. This is the most comprehensive of the new network of alliances created by Washington to combat China. The Quad is comprised of India, Japan, Australia, and the United States. This is in addition to AUKUS which has a more robust security element. What's important about the Quad is that it incorporates India and as such is critical to the US 'Indo-Pacific' framing of geo-politics and strategy vis-à-vis Beijing. AUKUS has more teeth but the Quad has the potential to be more important.

More Signals from Armenia

https://eurasianet.org/armenia-sending-signals-that-it-wants-to-back-out-of-a-nuclear-energy-deal-with-russia

https://theworld.org/stories/2024/09/06/the-rise-of-an-armenian-church-opposition-leader

Yerevan continues to signal its shift to the West. There's little doubt that Moscow is alarmed as now Armenia seeks to re-orient its nuclear energy programme to the West and to cut out the Russians.

Orban's Habsburg Dreams in Hungary and Europe

https://www.politico.eu/article/habsburg-empire-viktor-orban-patriots-for-europe-hard-right-european-parliament-hungary-austria-czech-republic/

https://apnews.com/article/viktor-orban-hungary-romania-eu-3ea649669de75d13b0ba3585c0e83239

The lead article alludes to the Habsburg Empire but then proves less than accurate in some of its historical statements. Orban does indeed have Habsburg allies but the article isn't really about the Habsburgs. The article touches on his grand vision, the supposed reconstitution of the Habsburg realm, but the story is really in the numbers. These reveal the rightward shift that's taking place in Europe and (I think) sheds light on Orban's more immediate machinations. It's clear he's thinking a couple of steps ahead, preparing for the next European Parliamentary election in 2029.

Cold War II in Asia: The Trade Wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Comprehensive_Economic_Partnership

With the turn of the calendar the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) went into effect on 1 January 2022. Initially meant to counter the US attempt to re-shape Asian diplomacy and trade by means of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the RCEP represents a geopolitical and diplomatic victory for Beijing – another sore blow to US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific.

Trump Administration Threatens ICC

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53012783

On the one hand the US championed the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which was finally activated in 2002 but Washington never had any intention of joining it or being accountable to it. This would violate the American claim to Exceptionalism and the reality that it places itself above the other nations of the world.

And so in this capacity the ICC could function as a tool, yet another instrument in the Atlanticist arsenal – used to bolster the largely phoney but often convenient narrative of democratisation and liberalism.

Trump and the Asian Pivot

The US Navy has been doing something unusual, carrier swapping. Usually when one enters the Navy you more or less spend your career either plugged into the Atlantic or Pacific fleets. But due to personnel problems, the need to re-fuel existing craft (that would be nuclear refueling) and in order to keep the active or cutting edge on the Pacific side, the Navy has been in the process of swapping ships and crews between locations like San Diego and Norfolk.

The Polish Judiciary, the EU and the Threat of Polexit

https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/poland-could-end-up-leaving-the-eu-supreme-court-warns/

https://www.dw.com/en/poland-thousands-protest-government-proposal-to-punish-judges/a-51728646

https://www.euractiv.com/section/all/short_news/warsaw-polexit/

(Both outlets (DW and Euractiv) can safely be described as pro-EU)

Free courts are the issue that has Poland in a state of turmoil. Free in the sense of free from political influence and the potential control of the Law and Justice Party (PiS)? Or free in the sense of Polish jurisdiction, precedent and custom being respected and not subjected to the international judicial dictates of the European Union?

Mainstream Media's Apologia for Empire

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/03/575288560/journalist-as-u-s-retreats-from-world-stage-china-moves-to-fill-the-void

This Fresh Air interview is related to a Chinese surveillance project I mentioned in a previous article:

http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2017/12/considering-panopticon-beast.html

For those that think that Left-wing thinkers and advocates like Terry Gross and NPR are anti-American, they need to reconsider. These people are thoroughly invested in the American project. I was left somewhat astounded listening to the New Yorker's Osnos paint China's aggressive expansion in terms that made them look somewhat sinister and conniving, even while ignoring US actions and the massive footprint it already possesses. This is never questioned, it's simply assumed and presumed to be a good thing.

Modi's Empire: ASEAN, OBOR and Washington

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/india-moves-deepen-engagement-asean-nations-180129170712326.html

Despite what the one contrary commentator says near the end of the article, this is indeed largely about China. And the reason it has been cranked up a few notches is because of the US withdrawal from the TPP. Some are trying to salvage the treaty but without the US it is but a shadow.

OBOR in Laos... and Thailand

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/china-rail-project-link-landlocked-laos-asia-180203125337792.html

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) or New Silk Road initiative has been in the news a lot as of late. This brief piece cites yet another instance of OBOR's expansion. The fact that Beijing would collaborate with Laos is hardly a surprise but Thailand's inclusion points once again to the weakened hand of the United States. The US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has reduced its standing in the region. While Thailand was not one of the original members of the TPP, the longtime US ally had aspirations to join the framework. Where the TPP stands now is still up in the air but without the US, it won't in any way represent what it once did.

Microsoft, Ireland and the EU

https://iapp.org/news/a/european-commission-weighs-in-on-microsoft-ireland-case/

Europe is socialist. Socialism means the government regulates and controls everything.

That's what I was taught growing up. These messages came not only from the public education system but from within my own Right-wing home.

Of course I later came to question this and understand that it's not that simple. Socialism can mean regulation and control and certainly does when it comes to certain aspects of business and society.

Catalonia, Kosovo and Crimea: Separatism, Hypocrisy and the Tenuous Status of the Nation State

https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2017&mm=10&dd=02&nav_id=102456

Aleksandar Vučić is of course absolutely right. There is a double standard and we also see it at work with regard to Crimea. It is simply unthinkable to the Western Establishment that the people of Crimea would voluntarily and democratically seek to ratify the Russian annexation. Of course the history of Crimea has been all but ignored by Western media. I'm referring to its Imperial history, its Soviet history and even the attitudes and political maneuvers taking place in the 1990s.

The Musings of Mutti Merkel

 http://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/back-home-after-icy-white-house-meeting-merkel-calls-for-open-markets/

The Trump Administration is making Europe nervous, even frantic but it is also opening doors. From a European military force to a new Brussels and Berlin defined IMF, to new autonomy in trade, the instability is laying great weight on Merkel... but at the same time she's more powerful than ever.

Albright's Hypocrisy on Display

http://time.com/4272021/karadzic-conviction/

She is a vile creature and I don't feel like she even deserves common courtesy.

International Courts: Rigged Justice

All forms of Nationalism are hideous, all ultimately lead to war and death on a massive scale. Nationalism creates its own ethic and justifies behaviours that otherwise would be viewed as immoral. Essentially as an '–ism', it represents a worldview, a philosophical system with its own metaphysic, epistemology and ethic. It's a religion and thus idolatrous.

TPP, the Internet and the Establishment Agenda

There's such a profound difference in the way the TPP has unfolded in the media vs. what happened when NAFTA was being put together in the early 1990s. There was a lot of resistance to NAFTA and the unions were a little stronger then and able to get the word out, but the educational campaign is paltry compared to what's happening with the TPP. The Internet has opened up a new world in dissent and challenge to the establishment narrative. Of course there's also a lot of false information out there. That's the risk isn't it?