How The China Hawks Try To Counter Biden's 'Dovish' Policies
During his 2016 campaign Donald Trump seemed to argue for better relations with Russia. After he was elected as president a slew of negative stories about Russia and its alleged relation with Trump came about. The onslaught continued throughout Trump's presidency. The desired effect was to prevent Trump from realizing his campaign promise. Under constant pressure to prove that he was not 'Putin's puppet' he ended up worsening the already bad relations with Russia.
During his 2020 campaign Joe Biden argued for less hostile relations with China than implemented under the Trump administration. He will likely follow the relatively dovish policy recommendations of the Brookings Institution. The tariffs Trump imposed will now come under review. Allies will be asked to form a common strategy. But the main China focus will not be on hostilities in Asia but on domestic policies:
Biden has said he will focus on ending China’s coercive economic tactics, including intellectual property theft and aggressive government subsidies for Chinese corporations. He also has called for an ambitious industrial policy in the United States that would invest in American infrastructure, energy, biotech and other sectors to compete with China from a position of strength at home.“The most decisive factor in the economic competition with China is U.S. domestic policy,” Kurt Campbell, a top State Department official during the Obama administration, and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s incoming national security adviser, wrote in a 2019 article in Foreign Affairs magazine. They said that the notion of a new “Sputnik moment” may be overstating the point, but that the United States must compete with China by investing in American economic and technological leadership at home.
Biden's nomination of retired general Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense points to less friction with China. That is why the China hawks immediately attacked it.
Ashley Townshend @ashleytownshend - 21:37 UTC · Dec 8, 2020With all due respect for the critical issues raised in this letter, Biden’s failure to mention China or the Indo-Pacific strategic landscape in his justification of SECDEF pick Austin will be viewed with great concern by allies and partners in the region.
His selection of Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative also ensures that relations with China will be more level:
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to select Katherine Tai, the chief trade lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee, as the United States trade representative, a key post that will bear responsibility for enforcing America’s trade rules and negotiating new trading terms with China and other countries, according to people familiar with the plans.Ms. Tai has garnered strong support from colleagues in Congress, who credit her with helping to wrangle an unruly collection of politicians and interest groups in negotiations to pass the revised North American Free Trade Agreement.
...
Supporters say Ms. Tai is also uniquely positioned to address economic challenges from China, regarded as America’s biggest source of competition in the trade sphere.In addition to litigating trade disputes against China at the World Trade Organization over issues including subsidies and export restraints, Ms. Tai worked on China-related issues during her time in the House, including strategies to reshore American supply chains and legislation to bar imports made with forced labor from Uighurs and other minorities in China.
Ms. Tai has a background in China, having served as a teaching fellow there in the late 1990s and speaking fluent Mandarin Chinese.
But just like Trump was boxed in on Russia there seem to be efforts underway to limit the extend to which Biden can work with China.
In early November Peter Lee reported of a clumsy attempt to attack Biden for his previous China policies:
Joe Biden, the presumptive President elect of the United States, is an object of suspicion, disdain, and anxiety for China hawks. We’ll get into the whys and wherefores later in the show but first let’s take a look at the anti-Biden hit piece that appeared in Asia recently.It was officially called “Project Time” authored by “Typhoon Investigations”. It is an exhaustive rundown of the China related dealings of America’s favorite son, Hunter Biden, with some undocumented allegations that Joe Biden is thereby in a “compromising partnership” with the PRC.
Let’s call it the Balding report, after Christopher Balding, the China-hawking academic who participated in the preparation of the document and presided over its disastrous launch into the journosphere.
Unfortunately for Balding, the mainstream US press was distinctly uninterested in retailing anti-Biden tittle tattle at this particular juncture, since it has prioritized removing Donald Trump from office and protecting Joe Biden from unfounded slanders and embarrassing disclosures.
The "Project Time" report was created with the help of the Hong Kong 'protester' scene which was thankful for Trump's support for it. But the initiative to write such a report seems to have come from elsewhere. Peter Lee's learned guess is that the Pentagon was behind it:
The third possibility is more ornate and more tantalizing: that someone in the China hawk establishment in Washington put out a tasking to its friendlies in Taiwan or Hong Kong to make things difficult for Joe Biden. And this tasking ended up—disastrously—in Christopher Balding’s hands.America’s China hawks, especially at the Pentagon, would be especially happy to kneecap the Joe Biden campaign.
Biden has a moderate track record on China, which fuels the fear of China hawks that he will be, depending on your flavor, either moderate and conciliatory or craven and appeasing in his dealings with the Chinese.
But there’s more than that—and a lot of backstory--relating to the fraught relations between Biden and the China hawks.
I do not believe American observers fully appreciate the contempt with which Barack Obama and Joe Biden are held by China hawks in the military.
...
Now, as the media is no longer fixated on kicking out Trump, the China hawks are renewing their efforts. A number of recently published issues point to that.
Joe Biden's son Hunter has long profited from his fathers China relations. But the FBI, which had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018 and has had his laptop for nearly a year, is only now pressing a criminal investigation against him:
Now that the election is over, the investigation is entering a new phase. Federal prosecutors in Delaware, working with the IRS Criminal Investigation agency and the FBI, are taking overt steps such as issuing subpoenas and seeking interviews, the person with knowledge said.
...
Investigators have been examining multiple financial issues, including whether Hunter Biden and his associates violated tax and money laundering laws in business dealings in foreign countries, principally China, according to two people briefed on the probe.Some of those transactions involved people who the FBI believe sparked counterintelligence concerns, a common issue when dealing with Chinese business, according to another source.
In a probably concerted move the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance released its final Majority Staff Report on Hunter Biden's lucrative adventures in the Ukraine and China on the same day:
The transactions discussed below are designed to illustrate the depth and extent of some questionable financial transactions. Moreover, the financial transactions illustrate serious counterintelligence and extortion concerns relating to Hunter Biden and his family.
Glenn Greenwald relates the Hunter Biden story to a speech by a Chinese scholar who pointed out that U.S. China relation were often handled through Wall Street because of its influence over the Democratic Party:
The allegations at the heart of this [Hunter Biden] investigation compel an examination of a fascinating and at-times disturbing speech at a major financial event held last week in Shanghai. In that speech, a Chinese scholar of political science and international finance, Di Donghseng, insisted that Beijing will have far more influence in Washington under a Biden administration than it did with the Trump administration.The reason, Di said, is that China’s ability to get its way in Washington has long depended upon its numerous powerful Wall Street allies. But those allies, he said, had difficulty controlling Trump, but will exert virtually unfettered power over Biden. That China cultivated extensive financial ties to Hunter Biden, Di explained, will be crucial for bolstering Beijing’s influence even further.
Di, who in addition to his teaching positions is also Vice Dean of Beijing’s Renmin University’s School of International Relations, delivered his remarks alongside three other Chinese banking and development experts. Di’s speech at the event, entitled “Will China's Opening up of its Financial Sector Attract Wall Street?,” was translated and posted by Jennifer Zeng, a Chinese Communist Party critic who left China years ago, citing religious persecution, and now lives in the U.S. A source fluent in Mandarin confirmed the accuracy of the translation.
This comes on top of an Axios story which reveals a Chinese honeypot operation against Democratic politicians in California:
A suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including a U.S. congressman, in what U.S. officials believe was a political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015, Axios found in a yearlong investigation.
...
While this suspected operative’s activities appear to have ended during the Obama administration, concerns about Beijing's influence operations have spanned President Trump’s time in office and will continue to be a core focus for U.S. counterintelligence during the Biden administration.
Why, one might ask, is this old story coming out now? Who told Axios to reveal it?
There is clearly some anxiety in the rows of the China hawks that Biden might end the lucrative anti-China campaign which Trump so eagerly supported. Thousand of people are invested in keeping the anti-China moves alive. The Pentagon will fear that tens of billions of dollars it had planned to waste on encircling China will no longer be available.
We can therefore expect more stories designed to put Biden's China relations and policies into a bad light.
But will such stories box Biden in on China like the Russiagate stories did with Trump?
I doubt it. Trump was an outsider, inexperienced in fighting the deep state in Washington DC. He never found an effective way to counter the Russiagate stories.
Biden in contrast has been in politics for nearly 50 years. He presumably knows every trick there is to circumvent his political enemies and to push the policies into the direction he prefers. The media will also largely stay on his side.
So even while more stories about "Beijing Joe" Biden are likely to come, U.S. relations with China will also be revived.
Posted by b on December 10, 2020 at 18:36 UTC | Permalink
next page »"... including strategies to reshore American supply chains and legislation to bar imports made with forced labor from Uighurs and other minorities in China."
I have a hard time understanding how someone who pushes this canard, is going to "ensures that relations with China will be more level".
Spouting lies against the entity that you are trying to have 'relations' with is hardly going to make things 'level'.
I would certainly not have any incentive to have good relations with a person who was telling lies about me.
I dont really expect any significant policy changes, they are just trying to put a better face on it.
Posted by: visak | Dec 10 2020 19:02 utc | 2
Chinese have been teaching Africans how to farm for at least 20 years. More than geopolitical poles are changing.
Posted by: cadaver | Dec 10 2020 19:02 utc | 3
MoA barflies might also consider the level of influence which the Maidanaut Ukrainians, exemplified by Alexandra Chalupa, her sisters and their supporters among Crowdstrike, the Atlantic Council and the Ukrainian diaspora community in the US, might exert within the Democratic Party and over Joe Biden and his family to prop up the failing post-Maidan Ukraine.
Already the poorest nation in Europe, Ukraine increasingly relies on IMF advice and World Bank loans to stay afloat. Its main source of income (from transporting Russian gas through its territory to EU nations) will dry up once Nordstream II is completed and becomes operational. The gas network infrastructure in Ukraine has not been maintained for a long time and is probably now past the point where maintaining it costs more than building a new network from scratch. The Russian company Gazprom is likely to divert nearly all its supplies to the EU thru Nordstream I and II and send only enough gas to Ukraine for domestic use.
As Russia continues to cut its ties to Ukraine, and the EU continues to forestall Ukrainian entry into the union, Kiev may see Chinese investment as an escape hatch from poverty and instability leading to the country's break-up, and possibly alao an opportunity to drive a wedge between Russia and China. The pro-Ukrainian faction in the Democratic Party, if it is intelligent, may lean on Biden to be more conciliatory towards China.
Posted by: Jen | Dec 10 2020 19:09 utc | 4
Biden has more important issues on his hand than relations with China.
One Third Of US States Have Now Joined Texas SCOTUS Bid To Overturn Election
Posted by: Down South | Dec 10 2020 19:19 utc | 5
Consider your sources man, zero hedge, breitbart, and project veritas are on par with the national enquirer and the star.
I would be embarrassed to pass on such links.
Posted by: visak | Dec 10 2020 19:36 utc | 7
“The most decisive factor in the economic competition with China is U.S. domestic policy,” Kurt Campbell, a top State Department official during the Obama administration, and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s incoming national security adviser, wrote in a 2019 article in Foreign Affairs magazine. They said that the notion of a new “Sputnik moment” may be overstating the point, but that the United States must compete with China by investing in American economic and technological leadership at home.
That's the sanest assessment of policy priorities I've read in years. Thanks very much for this excellent article, b! We'll see where relations stand on 20 January since China's currently busy sanctioning the USA and debating decoupling from its end. IMO, the biggest move Biden could make in trying to close the Time Gap is to completely revamp education within the Empire, although it won't make an immediate impact. What this might also signal is a better thought campaign to compete with the BRI/EAEU initiatives, which currently isn't going anywhere but down by relying on India and Australia. Recent Neoliberal moves by the EU as noted by Lavrov over the past week are surely a signal but what sort of weight the EU will be able to muster versus China and the BRI/EAEU Bloc awaits to be seen.
Joe Biden, during the elections campaign (in a televised interview): "Russia is our main enemy, but China is our main competitor".
The strategy of the Democrats, therefore, is clear: military against Russia, economic reforms against China.
Hunter Biden is clearly a white collar criminal, but the evidence available shows his shadowy businesses in China are just marginal deals with the non-CPC affiliated private sector. Those are Hong Kong/Macau/SEZ grifters trying to establish connections in the USA for a quick profit.
The Global Times has already pronounced about Di Dongsheng's seminar. It is a nothing-burger. Universities in China are the nest of the liberals in the Mainland, it's not that difficult to find a full-fledged West-lover professor in them (specially in the Economics area). This Di guy must be one of those exotic birds, maybe even a West specialist. In the search engine, I found Di Dongsheng was interviewed twice by the GT in the past.
visak @ 7
You should be more embarrassed by your comment.
18 states are challenging the constitutionality of the election. This is the things civil wars are made of and instead you’d rather whine about the messenger and not the message.
Posted by: Down South | Dec 10 2020 19:50 utc | 10
I read it, did a minimal amount of research and dismissed it for the political nonsense that it is. Here was the main thing I found when looking.
Did you know the attorney general of texas, the guy whose job it is to represent the state in court, did not sign the petition?
That paxton does not have the authority to petition the court on behalf of texas?
And since the guy who filed the petition has no standing, it really doesnt matter that the others signed on, this is political theater.
The gullibility of zerohedgers is on par with the gullibility of the people who give money to televangelist.
Spend 30 seconds in their comment section, they make some of the ignorant boobs here look like certified geniuses.
I dont wish to further dispute this with you.
We'll know for sure pretty soon wont we?
Posted by: visak | Dec 10 2020 20:22 utc | 11
Posted by: visak | Dec 10 2020 19:36 utc | 7
Yes ZH has gone bananas and the comments section is not even worth glancing anymore. I'm sure it has changed hands behind the scenes. It's pro Russia and anti China stance makes me think its now run by Modi out of bombay.
That said, fact is fact irrespective of source. Be it ZH or BBC(!)
Perhaps your mental echo chamber may need some calibrations.
Posted by: A.L. | Dec 10 2020 20:24 utc | 12
Biden is not a dove on China (or on any country, for that matter). He's never met a potential war he didn't like. He doesn't need to be pushed by anyone to follow the normal US aggression toward China. But don't take my word on it--just look at his record over the past 40 years.
Posted by: worldblee | Dec 10 2020 20:54 utc | 13
Down south @ 5 & 10
Although your comment’s appear off topic,
In the interest of ‘balance’ I feel you and others should view this ——-
@. Steve viadeck
Click on the court link. (It would disrupt the page if I did)
I hope it helps you correct your regular bias.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 10 2020 20:58 utc | 14
vitas @7: "Consider your sources man...
I would be embarrassed to pass on such links."
I am embarrassed by the mainstream media. Our journalists lie, usually by omission.
Posted by: passerby | Dec 10 2020 21:06 utc | 15
I have read somewhere that the case brought by Texas has been given a docket by the Supreme Court. That means it will be heard.
True?
If true, the election is heading for the Supreme Court. This was always Trump's goal, and it means that all is not quite done and dusted yet.
Posted by: Hal Duell | Dec 10 2020 21:09 utc | 16
Yes, of course the US must "fix" its domestic economy or the empire will be rendered irrelevant by China's economic growth. Unfortunately for America it must do that with capitalist "free markets" or it defeats the whole purpose. If the power brokers running the empire were willing to seriously develop "Socialism with American Characteristics" then America's economic health would no longer depend upon being global hegemon, there would no longer be any reason to "compete" with China economically, and thus both the US and China could simply step out of the Thucydides trap without drama.
Sadly, that cannot happen not only because America is capitalist, but it is the principal bastion of capitalism in the world. It absolutely must defeat China with capitalism or the game is lost. This is probably something that the "China hawks" see more clearly than do the neoliberal financial elites and their groupies in the establishment who forced Harris/Biden though the elections and who seem convinced that they can just conjure wealth out of vacuum.
Time is on China's side and time is something the empire is running out of. Perhaps the "China doves" think they can finesse their way out of the current crisis, but if so they are in for terrible disappointment. This means that even if Harris/Biden administration does "go soft on China" it can only be temporary. No soft measures can succeed in changing the current economic trajectory of the global economy back into the empire's favor. They will run out of ridiculous ideas and end up right back with having to go hard line to save America's global hegemony.
Ultimately they will fail, but not trying to save the empire is not an option for them.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 10 2020 21:17 utc | 17
Here is a useful background link on the South China Sea by a retired Australian diplomat:
So China has a genuine 2000 year old claim to the South China Sea, unlike the bunch of nomadic Turkic nomads claiming Palestine as their 'ancestral' home.
Posted by: Paul | Dec 10 2020 21:45 utc | 18
IMO it make sense that pentagon might be behind preventing a less hostile and reshaping the US policy on China. For sure strategically US is totally against BRI meaning connecting pacific and Atlantic by avoiding US controlled sea routes. Even if BRI would or could be used as a more expensive backup option US don’t want that to become A option. IMO trade routes and energy are what saves USD as fiat currency and for saving and not compromising this status regardless of who and which party is in power US will fight that. Don’t forget pivot to Asia states under Obama Biden with an eye to prevent Russia China relation by claiming a reset with Russia. Chinese will talk trade all US wants but at the end of the day they will not US hold control of those trade routes and energy with whatever undercurrent way the can. They don’t want to antagonize US but that doesn’t mean they will let US have control on their growth. At the end of they I see some tactical change on both sides but I can’t see anybody’s strategic necessities to be changed anytime soon.
Very much the same thing west expects of iran and Russia which is to swallow their strategic requirements to the benefit of west, is just wishful thinking.
Posted by: Kooshy | Dec 10 2020 21:46 utc | 19
Biden owes China for the Chinese Communist Party members who filled out the voting forms, trucked them to the polling stations and counted the votes.
Posted by: mijj | Dec 10 2020 21:57 utc | 20
Just like didn’t take the bait of reset and a ceremonial seat on G8 and NATO and didn’t get fooled and back out of Ukrainian and Crimea, China a non European mentality is even more difficult to fool.
Where money is made is where technology goes and where technology goes is where power is formed, IMO this trend, like what started in 1700 with riches and money coming for née world is not going to change direction with whatever policy US makes.
Posted by: Kooshy | Dec 10 2020 21:58 utc | 21
mijj @20 says: "Biden owes China for the Chinese Communist Party members who filled out the voting forms, trucked them to the polling stations and counted the votes."
It is always good to have a break to read some fiction once in a while like this one, and have a good laugh at the same time.
Posted by: d dan | Dec 10 2020 22:12 utc | 22
There are now several alternatives to SWIFT either already rolled out or under testing, Russia's SPFS, China's CIPS and one in testing for the "Brics".
Iran is eager to get one in place as soon as possible, given the likelihood of attention from the Biden junta. "Russia and Iran Preparing for SWIFT Banking Network Cut-off"
Posted by: Petra | Dec 10 2020 22:26 utc | 23
Is b's eggnog spiked with Kool-Aid?
- During his 2020 campaign Joe Biden argued for less hostile relations with China ...
So? Trump argued for respecting Russia and ending wars. Obama argued for "Change You Can Believe In."
What US Deep State-approved Presidential candidates argue for on the campaign trail should never be relied on.
- Biden's nomination of retired general Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense points to less friction with China.
Does it?
Austin needs a Congressional waiver that does not look like it will be easy. Austin's nomination seems more like a craven political ploy after the turmoil of last summer's BLM protesting.
- But just like Trump was boxed in on Russia ...
IMO this is a misreading that relies (naturally) on MSM propaganda. Trump wasn't "boxed in". He had his super-secret Summit with Putin in Helsinki.
Isn't a much more realistic view that Trump was positioned to make an appeal to Russia? An appeal that ultimately failed.
- ... there seem to be efforts underway to limit the extend to which Biden can work with China.
This completely ignores the Hunter Biden episode. That scandal has already crippled Biden wrt China (and burnished Trump's credentials as populist hero).
- Joe Biden's son Hunter has long profited from his fathers China relations...
Does anything think that this is unusual?
Shouldn't we be asking why Joe Biden went forward with his Presidential run when he must've known that this dirty laundry would be aired? Shouldn't we be wary of the strange story of Hunter's laptops?
- FBI ... U.S. Senate Committee on Finance ... Greg Greenwald ... Axios story ...
Why does Biden need to pressured like this when he knows that USA military and intel agencies are prosecuting a Cold War against China?
- ... will such stories box Biden in on China like the Russiagate stories did with Trump? I doubt it. Trump was an outsider ...
Trump is not a "populist outsider"! He is an insider that pretends to be a "populist outsider". The Republican version of Obama.
moa commenters have been making this point for years.
<> <> <> <> <>
Biden will do whatever the Deep State wants him to. . . if he actually becomes President. Which is not the certainty that MSM pretends it to be. Using the "President Elect" designation while the election is still contested (and now before the Supreme Court) is farcical.
Republicans are much more closely associated with patriotism than Democrats. That's why Republican Administrations are more likely to engage in big wars while Democratic Administrations engage in small or covert wars for humanitarian reasons.
Time is not on the Empire's side. They need a MAGA! Republican to negotiate from strength or lead the country to war.
"I'm the guy!" Biden is not the malarkey that the Deep State needs right now.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 10 2020 22:26 utc | 24
Jack Rabbit @ 25
Those last two sentence !
So your telling us ——- trump strong Biden weak !!
Snigger..... are you sure ya on the right post of b’s
We just drove a coach and horses through that tactic.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 10 2020 22:42 utc | 25
Jackrabbit #25
Biden 'I'm the guy' malarkey may be helpful to the Empire Doges right now as he portrays that friendly, calm nice guy front. For sure, that is entirely contrived and unbelievable by those exercising critical thought but it calms the patient as the blood pressure plummets. Keeps the pitchforks in the shed so to speak.
Trump tried and it was a bumpy ride but got the empire well positioned perhaps. It certainly unloaded $trillions into the Doges pockets. Perhaps the switch to calm, dandruff snorting Joe will give them time to dredge up a good Republican or even maneuver Karma Harris into their hand picked administration once it has settled in. Then she can replace Austin with Flournoy and away they go.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 10 2020 22:59 utc | 26
b thank you for this post and the detail.
This comes on top of an Axios story which reveals a Chinese honeypot operation against Democratic politicians in California:A suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including a U.S. congressman, in what U.S. officials believe was a political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015, Axios found in a yearlong investigation.
...
While this suspected operative’s activities appear to have ended during the Obama administration, concerns about Beijing's influence operations have spanned President Trump’s time in office and will continue to be a core focus for U.S. counterintelligence during the Biden administration.Why, one might ask, is this old story coming out now? Who told Axios to reveal it?
One might also ask why the entire Awan family spy and blackmail ring installed in the Congress by Debbie Wasserman Shultz was NEVER prosecuted. They just busted the Awans for some minor bank fraud issue. Recall that the Awan IT ring had installed and managed all the computer systems in approximately twelve Democrat Congressional reps and had the entire network run off site to their own server. Those Reps sat on some very significant security committees. This network was initiated at Debbie Wasserman Shultz office who inveigled other Congress critters to avail themselves of this 'good deal'.
No inquiry into the national security implications, no investigation, totally hushed up.
And yet the UKUSAi persecute Julian Assange !!
What 'comes out' and when is relative to what is suppressed and why. The Congress is utterly compromised and likely also the Senate. The empire has been colonised and perhaps for the past century +.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 10 2020 23:23 utc | 27
For obveous reasons I’d be very interested to know what the zionest plan is regarding USA / China geopolitics.
I expect they won’t want a hot war. (To much of a distraction)
I’d prefer tangible facts and links, rather than all this endless biased partisan trump fan club,
It’s really lost it’s credabilty at this stage.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 10 2020 23:50 utc | 28
Looks like DiFiChiSpy is/has joined 'Prez' Old-Joe in Alzheimer's City:
and this:
One of Feinstein’s former aides came to her defense and said rumors of her cognitive decline are exaggerated.Another aide however said Feinstein is “an incredibly effective human being, but there’s definitely been deterioration in the last year. She’s in a very different mode now.”
Feinstein was elected to the Senate in 1992 and within one year a Chinese spy was put on her payroll.
Shortly after a Chinese spy was planted into Feinstein’s office, her husband, Richard Blum, raked in the cash and made hundreds of millions of dollars off of his Chinese investments.
Posted by: gm | Dec 11 2020 0:02 utc | 29
Uncle Tungsten @ 28:
A more direct comparison could be made between the Chinese "honeypot spy" Christine Fang and supposed Russian "honeypot spy" Maria Butina who, on the basis of flimsy claims alleging she was selling sex for access to prominent individuals and information, was arrested and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the Russian Federation to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and other conservative organisations to promote Russian interests and influence the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. Butina was convicted and imprisoned about this time two years ago, and was deported back to Russia in October 2019. During her imprisonment Butina was subjected to solitary confinement and sexual abuse in the form of coercive cavity searches.
Posted by: Jen | Dec 11 2020 0:03 utc | 30
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 10 2020 19:39 utc | 8 -- ".... the United States must compete with China by investing in American economic and technological leadership at home."
So typical of the Western world view. The fellas in the next town does something better, and the West must "compete".... "contain".... "fight".... "stop".... "put all options on the table".... Why? Why so much strive and strain? Why not go share, benefit in the neighbours' better ways? Why not give value for value? Why not trade? Why murder and mayhem? BS "compete". That is just code for, "Let's invent an enemy so we sell more missiles for more commissions, renumeration, pensions."
"IMO, the biggest move Biden could make in trying to close the Time Gap is to completely revamp education within the Empire, although it won't make an immediate impact."
Correct. But first, let this generation of boobus americanus die away, and the next. Then, provided you revamp your education system reasonably correctly, then, in 4 or 5 decades' time, you will Make America Great Again. But, where do you find the teachers and the professors to do that? Oh, I know.... employ those brilliant Russians, Iranians, Chinese.... and please do make sure there are no Chosen Races.
I am not dissing you, karlof1, for I respect your scholarship; your heartfelt love for your people; and your obvious optimism. I am just laying out strategic truth as I see it for those readers on the margins, lurking here.... those not decided whether to believe the mainstream liar press or the alternative thinkers in the alternative press.
In a time of pervasive lying, telling the truth is not only "alternative", but downright rebellion.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 11 2020 0:08 utc | 31
One might also ask why the entire Awan family spy and blackmail ring installed in the Congress by Debbie Wasserman Shultz was NEVER prosecuted. They just busted the Awans for some minor bank fraud issue. Recall that the Awan IT ring had installed and managed all the computer systems in approximately twelve Democrat Congressional reps and had the entire network run off site to their own server. Those Reps sat on some very significant security committees. This network was initiated at Debbie Wasserman Shultz office who inveigled other Congress critters to avail themselves of this 'good deal'.
No inquiry into the national security implications, no investigation, totally hushed up.
And yet the UKUSAi persecute Julian Assange !!
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 10 2020 23:23 utc | 28
Awan brothers were investigated, and only "victimless crimes" were discovered, like the fact that one of the brothers could have a maintanance contract while another performed the work and that billing detail was not properly itemized. No data leaks were found. Mind you, native born IT help is at least as risky, as (probably) experienced by DNC.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 11 2020 0:20 utc | 32
...I’d be very interested to know what the zionest plan is regarding USA / China
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 10 2020 23:50 utc | 29
The latest revelations suggests that Israel, ever forward looking, plans to influence Galactic Federation. Importance of Washington is receding -- there are already cartoons on the topic.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 11 2020 0:27 utc | 33
William Gruff @17--
We agree the Empire must deal with its huge domestic problems. But few realize their immensity because the can's been kicked down the street since 2008-9 and Obama's Depression. For enlightenment in that arena, I give to all barflies this link to a transcript of a recent podcast featuring economists Steven Keen and Michael Hudson on the issue of Debt that took me 90 minutes to read. I'll just excerpt a part of Hudson's conclusion:
"And what Steve just said that the first depression was out of a boom. He’s absolutely right and people should realize that we’re still in the Obama depression that began in 2009, when Obama said. ‘I’m going to pay my campaign backers., the banks, and I’m going to kick 10, million families out. I’m going to cause a depression because I’m working for the 1%, and he invited them to the White House and he said, ‘I’m the only guy standing between you and the mob with pitchforks’, namely the people who voted for him. And we’re still in the depression from Obama’s refusal to write down the real estate debts to the realistic value of real estate and Sheila Bair of the FDIC said crooked banks like Citibank, that were mismanaged, hopelessly corrupt, should have gone under but it was all about the bondholders. And the Obama chose to bail out the bondholders instead of the people. This was the start of fascism in the United States and we’re still in it, and we cannot get out of it until we undo the damage that Obama did."
To comprehend this discussion, you'll want a caffeinated beverage so you can remain alert since much of it's about accounting, which can be very boring to some people, but is where all the important adjusting must occur. And I'll add that for the Neoliberal nations, there's no way to avoid pain. Michael puts it very plainly:
"It is drastic. We’re in a drastic situation today; look at the polarization, look at the people who are going to be put out in the street, look at the unemployment, look at the austerity that you’re having as a result of debt deflation. From America to Europe we are in a drastic situation and any solution cannot be marginal, it has to be structural and any structural solution is drastic." [My Emphasis]
And that's what the politicos and media heads are all dancing around--the drastic degree of the pickle that decades of Neoliberalism has created that must now be dealt with IF the Outlaw US Empire ever wishes to be able to compete with China and the Bloc forming around it and Russia. Note how there's absolutely zero discussion about the massively drastic economic mess or any basic suggestions as to how to make the economy whole again. IMO, the Neoliberals are terrified at the Abyss or Tsunami and really just want to again pull an Obama and kick the can down the road for another ten years--Except China and the Eurasian Challenge just doesn't allow that as an option.
Again, I've read this sort of material many times over the years, so it's not so dense anymore. Please take the time to wade through it all, which for many will be very difficult, but it's very important to have a grasp on this as that's what's going to be discussed as solutions. Finally, this last hint. Pay particular attention to what Hudson describes as propaganda when risks are being discussed:
"So you don’t want to pick up their Orwellian rhetoric. You have to pierce the rhetorical shell and talk about reality."
And for those that haven't, get a copy of Hudson's Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy; and if you can't find one or are too poor to purchase a copy, The Archive now has it available at this link.
kiwiklown @32--
Oh, I'm under no illusions of the severity of the crisis. You must have missed my commentary that called for the Outlaw US Empire to become a partner in BRI rather then try to compete with it. Read my @35 to see how it integrates with @8--there's no simple nodding of head or twitching of nose to reinvigorate the USA's industrial economy. What exists as the "Braintrust" at this time within the Empire are all the marginalized socialists, Marxists, and likeminded economists and planners, of which I'm one. But at the moment, not one of us is within the federal government. FDR in 1932 knew he was entering office at a moment of Deep Crisis. Biden and company don't have an inkling that they share the same fate as FDR. And it's hard to see a problem when you're blind to it, nevermind finding a solution.
Hal Duell @Dec10 21:09 #16, Pete Richards @Dec10 22:21 #23
AFAICT Trump has two bites at the apple: 1) the Supreme Court, and 2) the Senate's meeting on Jan 6 to accept the votes of the States. States can vote not to accept the electoral votes from States where they deem the election to have been conducted improperly.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 11 2020 0:49 utc | 36
I dunno James.
You sure about matriarchal ascendancy?
The high level women and women in general as picks in this "administration" Now another on Trade in b's article.
I see also Susan Rice on Domestic policy.
wowzerz
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 11 2020 0:53 utc | 37
how do you like the new president in a straight jacket?? do they look better then the last president they put in a straight jacket? there will be no taking down of the empire according to the empire.. the guy or gal who is shoved to the front will always wear a straight jacket and conform to the dictates of the empire! but, i am sure hollywood or the msm would like to let you pick the colour of the straight jacket when they're not picking it for you of course! dumbocracy on display for the grateful masses... at about this point in the grand scheme of things, things aren't looking so grand for a lot of ordinary, and i use that work gingerly - ordinary americans..
Posted by: james | Dec 11 2020 0:54 utc | 38
Piotr Berman @ 34
That must be a very good cartoon !
Sadly I looked at the link and got ‘not available in my country ‘ !
I’m in the U.K.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 11 2020 0:55 utc | 39
"The latest revelations suggests that Israel, ever forward looking, plans to influence Galactic Federation. Importance of Washington is receding -- there are already cartoons on the topic".
-Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 11 2020 0:27 utc | 34
...in coincidence with the 'mysterious' metallic obelisks popping up (like crop circles[?]) everywhere...just like of something out of a Hollywood movie (remember the silent evil clown reports popping up every where around the time of the 1st "IT" movie?) or new smartphone PR advert campaign...
https://globalnews.ca/news/7499020/california-monolith-metal-utah-romania/
I guess we are supposed to be afraid...or distracted from what is really going on..
Posted by: gm | Dec 11 2020 1:05 utc | 41
@ 38 tannenhouser... was on the phone... i wasn't the one pushing the matriarchal ascendancy concept astrologically... it was in that article that you shared though! i do believe though that there is a general politically correct movement about to put women in positions of power for the politically correct optics... canada under trudeau is a good example of this.. it was part of his mandate... i have nothing against anything done to put the best person in the position of power, but i just don't think this is the same thing as doing the politically correct thing if you know what i mean..
as for the usa - first it was 'first black president' and next you know they want it to be 'first women president'.. as if any this matters.. it doesn't as i see it... just more b.s.
Posted by: james | Dec 11 2020 1:11 utc | 42
Piotr
That link didn’t work in the U.K.
James ——- yep ! I here that.
———————
So if China’s going to be the ‘minor’ distraction’ what’s the zionest plan for the Middle East and Iran.
Don’t lets ‘be’ distracted by China or US politics.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 11 2020 1:20 utc | 43
@ 44 mark... the whole thing is a distraction as i see it... all this talk in the msm about china is like worrying about the horse that the corporations let out of the barn 40 or 50 years ago... it was for profit that they relocated the cheap labour over to china... it is why everything is made in china now.. i don't understand why some want to blame china for any of this... i blame the large corporations that wanted to break the unions and get a free ride of cheap labour.. so they had their free lunch and more and now want to make china out to be the bad guy? i ain't buying that... they do this same b.s with iran or for that matter venezuala, russia, syria and on and on... it is so predictable too... it is all a lousy attempt at distracting from the craziness that is already happening on such a broad scale that never ever gets addressed.. no, its --. look over here, while they are pulling some crazy shit off somewhere else.. i think the usa learned from the british playbook, lol... these two insane countries have nothing on each other.. 2 loons on the way to the dustbin of history as i see it..
Posted by: james | Dec 11 2020 1:46 utc | 44
Better: How The Chinese Hawks Try To Counter Biden's 'Dovish' Policies
Posted by: Antonym | Dec 11 2020 1:56 utc | 45
...
Biden will do whatever the Deep State wants him to. . . if he actually becomes President. Which is not the certainty that MSM pretends it to be. Using the "President Elect" designation while the election is still contested (and now before the Supreme Court) is farcical.
...
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 10 2020 22:26 utc | 25
b thought it was clumsy. Dumbfuckery is always farcical...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 11 2020 1:59 utc | 46
James @ 45
We could put your comment in a frame and hang it on all our walls, word for word. !!
Their ‘weakness’ is they don’t like to be in the spot light.
Way forward
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 11 2020 2:22 utc | 47
Jen #31
Thank you and yes both of those people suffered IMO totally unjustified accusations and in Maria Butina's case false imprisonment. But that's the USAi for you. They will smash anyone they want just for the propaganda value. I always figured Butina was an innocent that became enthused by the nationalism and right wing bravado/charisma and was just simply grist for 'hate russia' fanatics.
They never seem to smash any of the honeypots, spies and manipulators in this team though. Sure Ghislane Maxwell is in the slammer and I await with baited breath to see if the USAi dares to prosecute.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 11 2020 3:05 utc | 48
Piotr Berman #34
The latest revelations suggests that Israel, ever forward looking, plans to influence Galactic Federation.
Nah Israel's last launch attempt did a burning bush without the revelation.
Meanwhile China has a solid OBOR channel right to its Trade Mission at the Galactic Federation. Here it is bringing back exotic alien cargo.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 11 2020 3:23 utc | 49
gm #42
...in coincidence with the 'mysterious' metallic obelisks popping up (like crop circles[?]) everywhere...
Product launch primer IMO. My guess it is a new banking concept that is NOT market linked, has every Post Office as an agency, will provide interest free loans to individuals NOT businesses, NOT corporations.
In fact it will be supported by a Tobin Tax on Wall Street and every bank in the USA.
Could be a good idea. iBank is here.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 11 2020 3:33 utc | 50
I am more than curious about the concept of "competition" and welcome anyone's thoughts on who coined that word, what it originally meant and what it means in present time.
Is there really agreement that it means to do battle against others' efforts to survive? To overwhelm and dominate others' productive efforts toward solving problems of survival and improving living conditions?
e.g., there is that prefix "com-" that stubbornly denotes "togetherness", which only in a twisted/tortured sense works to eradicate others' survival, as in
the Roman Forum's entertainment via gladiators, -or between lions and gladiators...later diagnosed as mere survival-of the-fittest exhibitions.
Is this what we all signed-up for? Or was it imposed on us from some senior level? Methinks we be snookered by some state-of-the-art hypnosis that is so beyond science fiction that our faculties automatically dismiss it as fantasy. Thus we are not even allowed to look in that direction.
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 11 2020 3:47 utc | 51
@ chu teh | Dec 11 2020 3:47 utc | 52 who wrote
"
Is this what we all signed-up for? Or was it imposed on us from some senior level? Methinks we be snookered by some state-of-the-art hypnosis that is so beyond science fiction that our faculties automatically dismiss it as fantasy. Thus we are not even allowed to look in that direction.
"
An obsolete definition of competitor is "a friendly associate in the same cause".
Looking online at the Latin derivation there are 4 words/concepts associated with competitio (agreement, judicial demand, rivalry, competition).
In a fair and just world, in the competition for resources, humanity would be motivated to come to some social agreement about how the resources were used.
In the world of the West where fair and just are crapped on by those that own global private finance, humanity below the top level are forced into rivalry and competition for resources manipulated into scarcity.
To me the direction humanity of the West is inculcated not to look in concerns the global private finance lock on the social contract on the West......its that misplaced faith and morally bankrupt religion thing that has worked on enough of the public to keep the elite in power now for centuries....and very few even look in the finance/money direction and are called fools for doing such.......TINA, TINA, TINA.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 11 2020 4:41 utc | 52
psychohistorian | Dec 11 2020 4:41 utc | 53
Thanks for adding that "In a fair and just world, in the competition for resources, humanity would be motivated to come to some social agreement about how the resources were used.
In the world of the West where fair and just are crapped on..."
You've made a striking observation there in connecting "fair and just" with the all-inclusive "resources", as animal-veg-mineral-spiritual.
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 11 2020 6:07 utc | 53
Posted by: james | Dec 11 2020 1:46 utc | 45
"i don't understand why some want to blame china for any of this..."
Better to blame China than admitting to their own mistake, nevertheless realistically is mayth to believe they could have stop China's rise or they don't need china. Income disparity gap was and still is widening ever since the 70s. Keep in mind for longevity of capitalistic system, continuation and increase of consumption quarter over quarter is a must, even when real wages and disposable income ar constantly widening and decreasing. The only way to continue consumption was and will continue to be utilizing lowe labor to produce goods and services. This is the catch 22 of capitalism . Americans thought only with financial instrument and a fiat currency they can have a free lunch without falling to be hungry that is the mistake they can't admit and now blame china for stealing their jobs.
Posted by: kooshy | Dec 11 2020 6:10 utc | 54
Hudson's Kill the Host: Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy Global Economy;
Biden and company don't have an inkling nevermind finding a solution. by: karlof1 35 and 36
The dictators in charge of the USA hate domestic (Deplorable) America. Americans are not about financial wealth.. they seek life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and right to self determination.. every post at tonights Bar has been about Biden's involvement in the foreign corrupt practices of the USA.
Abe Biden Lincoln, is going to have a revolution on his hands.. Get Russia, stop China, choose the vaccine that will kill you <= has tuned Americans off..if its from TV, a magazine, content distributed by the MSM or the mouth of a politician, posted on a naked people tattoo, whatever, Americans now perceive it[anything they say] to be a lie, or a new corrupt schema .. no matter .. .
James @45 says blame China is nothing but the same old deception, in a brand new package. <= I think the deplorable understand the powers that be intend to impose death by vaccine.
Posted by: snake | Dec 11 2020 7:20 utc | 55
Its all very well to consider the fanaticism of the China hawks and their pushing Biden around.
But what are the private finance vultures going to do with Biden about these words by Michael Hudson come January 1, 2021?
MICHAEL: But the reality is there’s been an enormous increase in debt because of the Covid crisis. So many people, 20,000,000 people, have lost their jobs, they are unable to pay their rents, the restaurants are not able to do business so they haven’t paid their commercial rents. Whole swathes of the economy have not only not paid their rents, but they haven’t paid their taxes and they haven’t paid their credit cards and their bank accounts. Now on January 1st, all of a sudden, the moratorium on evictions is going to be over and they’ve estimated 5,000,000 Americans will be thrown onto the street. The landlords have already been filling out the eviction notices for 5,000,000 Americans. So the Biden administration is going to begin right where the Obama administration left off. Obama threw 10,000,000 families – mainly Blacks and Hispanics – out of their homes by enforcing the junk mortgages of the banks, bailing out the banks, [and] not writing down the debts and the junk mortgages [of] the victimized, low-income borrowers. Well just as Obama kicked 10,000,000 families out, Biden’s going to begin, in the first week, [kicking] 5,000,000 more families out. This is going to put the class war back in business in an even more vicious way than Obama was able to do.
And more to the point, what will Biden and his Janet Yellen masseur of the filthy rich, the 1%, the private finance capitalism-at-any-price do for the 99%. Sweet Fanny Adams I would guess.
So while there is a dazzling light show going on about this or that chickenhawk, take a moment to consider the hard times come again to the poor and the devastated people across the USAi who have once again been deserted by their government. Not to mention the rest of the world where people have been sacrificed on the altar of private finance capitalism.
I say Biden and his Congress of scabs will desert them. Time will tell.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 11 2020 8:03 utc | 56
I notice you can get maga hats in blue now ! Ha ha it’s like dangling a shiny bauble in front of a baby, means nothing.
Their both glove puppets,
Just like the U.K. Farage + Cameron May Johnson,
Trump is the US Farage. Gone in the blink of an eye, job done, devide and rule completed, weaponised hatred installed / programend. Gone.
Don’t obsess about the puppets, follow the strings.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 11 2020 9:13 utc | 57
psychohistorian | Dec 11 2020 4:41 utc | 53
Yes,, indeed the original meaning of "competition" does seem to align with "to strive /seek together" [Late Latin ca.200-400 AD] that was apparently altered later to involve rivalry.
From theOnlineEtymology Dictionary:
1610s, " to enter or be put in rivalry with," from French compéter "be in rivalry with" (14c.), or directly from Late Latin competere "strive in common, strive after something in company with or together," in classical Latin "to meet or come together; agree or coincide; to be qualified," from com "with, together" (see com-) + petere "to strive, seek, fall upon, rush at, attack
Then from Oxford English Dictionary [OED]"
According to OED, rare 17c., revived from late 18c. in sense "to strive (alongside another) for the attainment of something" and regarded early 19c. in Britain as a Scottish or American word. Market sense is from 1840s (perhaps a back-formation from competition); athletics sense attested by 1857. Intransitive use is by 1974.
Appears a vulgar twist, as in historical revisionism, may be afoot. The field of Economics is not known to encourage forensic* studies.
* application of scientific methods and techniques to the investigation of [economic] crime.
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 11 2020 9:18 utc | 58
karlof1 @ 36 -- "You must have missed my commentary that called for the Outlaw US Empire to become a partner in BRI."
Yuppp, I missed that one. Although you are one of the writers I try to read first, I couldn't keep up with the high volume of comments on this site.
I agree with your call for the US to join the BRI because it will be good for Americans. But US "leaders", both current and prospective, do not.
I agree with your optimism, hope, intentions for your country. But US "leaders", both current and prospective, do not.
Why do I use that phrasing, "both current and prospective"?
Just look at the lean and hungry look on the face of Susan Rice (she is only the latest to hit the front pages this week). Look at all those vain, angry, nameless, faceless useful idiots that Bidet Biden has allegedly "appointed" for his alleged "presidency". And look at ButtGig (sp?), the alleged ambassador to China (a most vital US strategic interest next 40 years). Look at little marco rubio, face swollen in anger as he excoriates buttgig for some deficiency or other, but more so, face exploding in ferocious violence when he excoriates China, as US Enemy Numero Uno. When will they stop shouting "We must compete against China"? And to be sure, they use the word "compete" in the sense of stopping, slowing down, fighting, containing China. The way Pompous uses that word is but one example of US leadership's siege warfare mentality.
Could it be that there is money to be made keeping that "competition" thing going on and on?
And when will US leadership begin to serve American citizens' interests first, and then themselves second?
Could it be that there is no money in doing things that way?
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 11 2020 10:07 utc | 59
It's the old status quo (Oil\MIC\Anglo-Zionist) being let go after all these years by their bosses (Globalist\Finance\Tech\CIA).
Lots of talk about global finance parting ways with big oil and military parting ways with CIA. Do we really need to mobilize the military to administer the vaccine or is that just cover for something else? Is that how it's being done in other countries?
From NY Times:
"A broad review of the military’s support for the agency is underway, including pulling back personnel and rethinking support for C.I.A. operations around the world."
"U.S. and European Oil Giants Go Different Ways on Climate Change"
"One of FTI’s largest shareholders, the investment firm BlackRock, won kudos this year for saying it would put environmental sustainability at the center of its investment approach."
Eurasian Economic Union Council summit, a couple of surprises, Cuba and Uzbekistan participate as observers, Nazarbayev participates too as honorary president.
Posted by: Paco | Dec 11 2020 11:55 utc | 61
karlof1 @35: "Obama chose to bail out the bondholders instead of the people."
And therein lies the problem, which is deeper than it seems in that brief sentence. This is not to say that the analysis by karlof1 or Hudson is wrong (in both cases the analysis is quite thorough and precise), but that analysis is not what is guiding the elites now or back in the Obama regime.
Within the neoliberal delusion the bondholders are the people. The true titans of capital know this is nonsense, but the lieutenants and sycophants of those titans in the "professional/managerial class" depend upon this delusion to reassure themselves that service to capitalism is the morally correct and superior thing to do. This distinction between bondholders and people that karlof1 and Hudson take as a given (perhaps because they personally know plenty of people in the real world who don't possess nice fat portfolios of financial instruments?) is very deliberately rejected and purged from thought by the servants of the capitalist elites.
If anyone is interested in understanding why the elites do things that to us plebes seem obviously evil then this delusion needs to be understood first. The servants of capital do not see it as evil to bail out the banks (corporate "people") while real flesh and blood people are thrown out of their homes. For them saving the big businesses saves the bondholders who are the people, and throwing people onto the street is necessary to save the big businesses because those people's homes have become nonperforming assets belonging to the big businesses that must be returned to the market to keep those businesses viable; which in turn the sycophants of capital believe needs to be done in order to safeguard the welfare of those very people being thrown onto the street. A little bit of short-term pain to assure the long-term security of the little people, or so the morally upright PMCs doing the evil deeds believe.
For this very reason the servants of capital cannot write down debts unless that is paid off by the government and financed through taxes on the very people whose debts are being written down. It is not villainy among the PMC servants of capital that prevents debt jubilee, though doubtless many in that social class really are vile scum. They are prevented from contemplating real debt jubilee by their capitalist ideology; their worldview based in the notion that capitalism is a natural universal truth like gravity. Massive debt relief on a scale sufficient to reignite real capitalist growth is impossible to these people because it robs the bondholders whom they believe are the people.
In truth such massive debt relief mostly only robs oligarchs, and that's ultimately why it cannot happen without a revolutionary change in the social order that sweeps away those oligarchs' lieutenants and sycophants in the "professional/managerial class".
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 12:16 utc | 62
@ chu teh 52 re: competition
The apex predators in our capitalist society are not wired to stop...ever...pros and cons. Systems thinkers like Marx et al are both amazed and terrified at its veracity, but pretty much in agreement on the end result: Everyone and everything everywhere is a competitor now or later and must be dominated.
However, words\terms are often so inadequate in conveying the complexity of subjects because they come with so much baggage. For instance, most apex capitalists like Rockefeller, Peter Thiel, etc have disdain for the word competition. They scoff and say that competition is for losers. It's all about winning and dominating. Competition can be a noble term and they scoff at it.
So many of us would rather collaborate and have no problem with someone else winning. We see no need to terrorize the rest of the world. Unfortunately, we are all subjected to the domination of the apex predators. We apologize for the worst among us...for what it's worth.
@38 james
Who the fock cares how you spin it. LOSER TRUMP LOST. You doth protest too much for that specific reason.
Americans are suffering right now because Trump ass licker Mitch wants to be the Grinch with ordinary people at Christmas but generous with the MIC and Saudi Arabia instead.
But you keep on like the bird brain twat you are.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 13:00 utc | 64
Mark2
James is not your friend. When the echo chamber turns on you; the MOA weathervane will turn with them against you. I've seen it happen many times. Watch out, cause he's like the guy who pretends he's laughing with you when in fact he's laughing at you and then sneering behind your back.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 13:11 utc | 65
Time will tell.Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 11 2020 8:03 utc | 56
Exactly, right one time only koo-koo clock! Time will telllll. But you keep cooking up stinky hogtripe for what Biden will or won't do, so's I can smear it all over your face later. The pleasure will be all mine.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 13:30 utc | 66
james @38
You triggered the crazy misogynist feminist "Post Trump Stress Disorder" victim quite nicely there! That gave me a good chuckle.
I point out that the poor addle-headed little girl is misogynist as she used a term for female genitalia as a pejorative. Doubtless she hates that aspect of herself otherwise it would not make a suitable insult for her.
While I laugh about it, it really is tragic that these damage cases are filled with such harmful internal contradictions. I feel a bit guilty about laughing at their crippling disability.
Still, it is funny.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 13:31 utc | 67
uncle tungsten @56
Being called crazy by a crazy person is actually a sort of backhand compliment. Just remember that accusation is coming from the weird freak who pushed Russiagate for four years, kept predicting the Second Coming of Saint Mueller, and still to this day clings to the whole "The Russians did it!" hoax. The same damaged goods who thinks that voting for Biden can be excused as it was done for strategic purposes, but anyone who voted for Trump is evil and couldn't possibly have done so out of strategic considerations.
The poor little girl is quite severely damaged.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 13:42 utc | 68
Circe @ 65
Thanks for the input, don’t worry to much about me on that account. Trust me and my tactic, beyound doubt you and I are definitely on the same side. We have slightly different styles, I love your style don’t change.
Between you and me and don’t let anyone else know here—
My strategy is to distribute the truth. And yes preach good over evil. I’v been doing that since the mid 80s.
I wanna steal souls from the devil.
I tend to try and engage people who have been tricked by the bad guys.
I agree some here are ‘bad to the bone’ I’m a patient man, and I will be here plugging away long after there attempts to discredit you or I have been disproved and worn down.
The truth will always win, I know you know that.
No one on this site tricks me. They may think so.
But I won’t by distracted by them. My enemy is the people at the top. Basicly im here recruiting !
Keep up your good work.i learn from you.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 11 2020 13:45 utc | 69
So what does @67 William Gruff sound like revelling in that slop just delivered? Ahhhhhh yes...:
https://youtu.be/-e_Q3u3ovV4
Amazing resemblance.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 13:53 utc | 70
Bad news for Flournoy et caterva:
The U.S. Can’t Check China Alone
As the Chinese well stated a while ago: the only way to stop a capitalist superpower is by stopping it. Against its will (or wills). The rest of the world must create a reality where they are able to impose their will on the Americans. It will be only then that the Americans will give up their delusions enshrined by the American Dream - a doctrine that states the USA must always have the best quality and standard of life in the world, in every instance, all the time, even if at the cost of the rest of the world.
Biden tweeted yesterday:
We must prepare to meet the challenges of the future — not keep fighting the wars of the past.
And when he defended Lloyd Austin for DoD he stated this: We must build a foreign policy that leads with diplomacy...
My dad was named Joe, so with me, you're off to a good start, but it's personal. So for that reason, I'm gonna hold you doubly to it Joe, I mean President-elect Joe.
(And to quote from the speech Michelle delivered so passionately and Melania plagarized so pathetically with her robotic Russian-accentuated delivery.)
Your word is your bond.
And the day you take the last train back to Delaware let the legacy you leave behind rest on that sacred premise.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 15:12 utc | 72
Oh and FYI, I wasn't pushing Russian collusion for 4 years. That's a lie. I was akways pushing the Zionist collusion theory from the start, and Ziofascist Trump proved me right all the way to the end of his miserable 4-year ego trip.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 15:20 utc | 73
A so-so cartoon inspired by stories that can be found by searching "galactic eshed". The first link was from a daily "Observer" which is a local newspaper in Oregon, so English Observer could block it.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 11 2020 15:22 utc | 75
Posted by: vk | Dec 11 2020 14:48 utc | 71
Odd Arne Westad, who found pages to print his garbage in foreign affairs must be a total idiot and or a total asshole to make and pass this as analysis of China’s foreign policy. As Iranians say “ a fist full (of this BS bellow) is sample of the whole lot” basically not worth reading.
“China’s foreign policy today is driven by a toxic mix of nationalism and past grievances , but it is also infused with pragmatism and patience. Powered by its extraordinary economic growth, China continuously seeks to test the ability of any foreign country to stand up to its interests as defined by the CCP.”
if this was China's foreign, policy she wouldn't lasted for 5000 years
Posted by: kooshy | Dec 11 2020 15:28 utc | 76
the greenwald article says it all. for all the whining about china being "communist" or a "dictatorship" it's just another country where it's who you know and how many zeroes are on your bank statements. they've managed to keep their growth slow and lift a lot of people out of material poverty but the mental illness known as capitalism is firmly entrenched.
the good-ish news about that is they have an ally whereas neither wall street nor the pentagon can stand russia and their inability to savagely rape it as they did in the early 1990s. the pentagon can bitch and moan all they want but the ideal response will always be "i order you to shut the fuck up, bitch". "wall street" (being shorthand for the smoke and mirrors financial sector) on the other hand can throw money at opponents and tank the economy on a whim knowing they'll get a giant subsidy. just like the yearly $700+ billion subsidy the military and deep state pricks get to play with. or oil subsidies or corn subsidies or subsidies to people who rape and kill cows (for some reason called the "dairy industry").
i often wonder if these idiots know how inane they sound and are just cynically spewing preordained stupidity or if they actually buy their own lines about "the markets" or "meritocracy". not sure which is worse.
Posted by: the pair | Dec 11 2020 16:51 utc | 77
kiwiklown @59--
To be fair, it was when Trump began his Trade War against China when I suggested it would be better to join than fight, did so a few additional times, then dropped the notion since it was clear such wasn't in the cards. I try to find solutions in hopes of aiding my daughter and other kin I gained via remarriage. There's actually good movement regarding the Climate Crisis as this item reveals since environmental improvement is one of China's Development Goals, which its very hawkish about:
"Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Friday that Xi may pledge accurate goals and figures, such as the proportion of the use of clean energy in China, at Saturday's summit.
"'Unlike the US, which led the world by demanding others to follow its own rules, China is leading by honoring its promises and becoming a role model in the climate change field,' Li said." [My Emphasis]
////
William Gruff @62--
Thanks for your reply! When Volker was made Fed Chair, cranked up interest rates that caused a massive recession and destroyed the housing and building markets nationally which bankrupted my Dad's business and drove him into alcoholism that eventually killed him, he later confessed it was done to save the bond holders. I learned that fact when reading Greider's revelatory work about the Fed, Secrets of the Temple. Our retirement portfolio took a huge hit with the financial fraud caused crisis in 2006-9 and other manipulation such that it's now almost empty. My wife has her professional position which allows her to work from the home we own while I collect my paltry social security. So I have my own personal reasons for getting even with the Parasites, and we do what we can to help our local homeless.
What the constant demonization of China, Russia, Cuba, and others illustrates is the Upper-Classes admittance of its gross immorality since the other offer a genuinely moral political-economy. Thus, they acknowledge their guilt in their of-handed manner. The attitude of those at the top toward the remainder of society hasn't really changed since Rome was founded. A close examination of how the British Elite treated their subjects tells one why it's mostly avoided in overview history classes. But it's precisely knowing that past behavior and seeing it as ongoing that must be absorbed by both Reds and Blues if they are to become Purple and overcome the current and future situations. As Hudson and Keen show, those with the knowledge can have platforms from which to disseminate their information to others--but the People Must Want to Learn as leading the horse to water and all that apply in spades.
@ kooshy | Dec 11 2020 6:10 utc | 54 // ... i agree with you kooshy - they can't admit their mistake and that it is the catch 22 of capitalism... it surprises me people who want to blame china acting like an echo chamber for the western msm... i can't see it working... but there is a lot of echo at present on this..
@ @ snake | Dec 11 2020 7:20 utc | 55... i don't know snake... maybe.. i hope not! cheers.
@ William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 13:31 utc | 67 - crippling disability is right! that description nails it... thanks..
Posted by: james | Dec 11 2020 17:19 utc | 79
Biden is moving away from hawks and here are some hints.
Not picking Flournoy with all the pressure to do so from Hillary's camp.
This quote and others of the ilk from Flournoy:
For example, if the US military had the capability to credibly threaten to sink all of China's military vessels, submarines, and merchant ships in the South China Sea within 72 hours, Chinese leaders might think twice before, say, launching a blockade or invasion of Taiwan; they would have to wonder whether it was worth putting their entire fleet at risk.
This from Slate:
Politico reported, on the basis of interviews with “six people close to the transition,” that Biden was “not entirely sold” on Flournoy.More than that, during the Obama administration’s internal debate over how to fight the war in Afghanistan, Flournoy supported Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s plan to deploy an additional 40,000 troops and to adopt a full-scale counterinsurgency (aka “nation-building”) strategy—which Biden opposed...
In other words, from Biden’s viewpoint, Flournoy might be too much a Pentagon insider, and the plaudits she’s received across a wide range of players in the defense community—from generals, admirals, think-tank intellectuals, and members of the congressional armed services committees—could strike him as a cause for caution, not a quick embrace. In his new memoir, Barack Obama recalls Biden warning him—in the context of the debate over Afghanistan—not to let the Pentagon roll him or box him in on budgets and troop levels.
Of course Slate was making the case for Flournoy, so I won't bother posting the link.
In the past, Biden got reluctantly boxed in, intead of making waves, but now he's calling the shots with nothing to lose. He's gambling on war fatigue and able to risk because he's pragmatic about his future. He could be an exceptional one-term Prez because of his age or he could make history twice, but you can bet he doesn't want WAR and foreign entanglements to stain either option and consume his entire agenda; and it's jam packed and daunting given the present reality.
Biden has been aspiring to the Presidency for a long time, and failing twice to achieve it, and I'm thinking he's going to make these four years count as if they were 8, just in case lightening doesn't strike twice.
Trump, racial conflict and the virus ushered Biden in and at the end of January 2021 we all get to kick two parasites out; Trump and the Pandemic, and that's for starters! Frankly, I'm cautiously optimistic. I want to give Biden a chance, and put the Trump nightmare and stupid negative assumptions in the rear view mirror and reserve judgment for what Biden does from this moment forward.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 17:28 utc | 80
The “trick” pulled on the US public was to propagandize them into subjugating everything else to expansionary predatory capitalism (culture\religion\integrity\stewardship, etc). China and Russia use capitalism, but subjugate it to other sovereign concerns.
The Empire pretends to be the manifestation of fair competition, which we have been propagandized to believe is the highest ideal and thus defer to its moral authority. What’s so evil about the Empire is that there is nothing fair about it. It has actively undermined anything and everything that tries to operate outside its control even when those entities were just trying to mind their own business. Anything outside that succeeds threatens the narrative and thus hegemony. Americans always gloat how much better off they are than fill-in-the-blank “shithole country” without realizing America has actively undermined said shithole country.
Circe @ 64 establishes that ‘twat’ is acceptable discourse. Let’s see. We have twat, pussy, whiny bitches all established as OK, at least if the right people use them. This is a female commenter? A left wing commenter?
Whatever. Controlled opposition. Information operations.
@James and whoever. Does anyone ever read for voice, for style, for idiom? Some posters here are so plainly entire committees. Or whoever is covering the shift today. If no one knows how to read they can get away with that forever.
Posted by: oldhippie | Dec 11 2020 18:06 utc | 82
What all you US citizens need is a good understanding of Marxist philosophy, or even Anarchism, as a disciplined movement to make you all pull together.
What I read above is a variety of different opinions, different analysis and petty squabbling, although everyone sees that there is a problem.
And the problem with all your problems is that you have no discipline, no clear analysis based on a shared, lucid understanding of what the Capitalist system actually is and how it works. You have all been infected by the 'frontier vision', the 'individualist virus', the Empire's elitism, the capitalist entrepreneur spirit. Or maybe the CIA's deliberate input to spread disaffection?
This is why the Portland riots (all decades), the 99% movement, BLM etc. etc. never did or will got anywhere - no discipline 'because we are free citizens'. There is no such thing as a free citizen. If you really want to 'put the world to rights' you have to have an overarching cause/philosophy/party unity.
Now the deluge! :-)
Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Dec 11 2020 18:25 utc | 83
Jams O'Donnell @84--
Well then, where's your Revolutionary Manifesto? Some of us have actually done such and thus provide a counterargument to your opinion. Perhaps you'll enlighten us by exposing the roots of the problem.
@ oldhippie | Dec 11 2020 18:06 utc | 83.. i try not to read too much into any of it myself... it is simpler that way! i can't engage with everyone... i pick my spots!
Posted by: james | Dec 11 2020 18:43 utc | 85
oldhippie @83
I enjoy how one such committee/bot poster that you have commented on several times has oddly attributed incoherent posts to the autocorrect in iOS; nevertheless, this poster has numerous very obvious spelling errors in all of its posts. Not only are these spelling errors fairly uniform, they are in words that typical six-year-olds would have no problem with. But it gets worse. There is no way these spelling errors would get past the autocorrect in iOS.
The poster tells us it is using an iOS device with autocorrect, yet its posts are littered with obviously contrived spelling errors?
Now, if I were to try and write a new bot as an update on my old REXX script that I used back in the early 1990s on Usenet newsgroups, I'd of course use some modern deep learning libraries and train it on discussions scraped from Internet fora. Then to help disguise my bot I would introduce some gratuitous flaws in its grammar and spelling. Naturally, though, instead of giving my bot a list of commonly used words and their misspelled replacements like this poster we're discussing has obviously been supplied with I would just randomly swap characters in the post for ones that are adjacent on a qwerty keyboard.
Now that this flaw in the poster's disguised has been exposed let's see if its spelling improves while its typing accuracy declines!
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 18:50 utc | 86
Jams O'Donnell @84: "What all you US citizens need is ...discipline..."
This shows how little you understand contemporary American psychology. Discipline, be it self- or otherwise, is the enemy of "Freedom©" in the USA today. American parents these days try hard to avoid "over-disciplining" (that is, providing any discipline at all to) their children so as to not hamper their little cherubini's "creativity". I suppose it doesn't matter to them that no quantity of creativity can amount to even a small heap of feces if our "creative" individual lacks the discipline to develop the skills to build their creative notions into something tangible. It takes discipline to learn to play a guitar or a piano; to score music; to transform an idle tune in your head into a work of art.
Creativity is absolutely worthless without discipline, but don't try to tell American parents that.
There will be no "disciplined movements" in America anytime soon.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 19:10 utc | 87
Jams O'Donnell @84
My mistake. It appears that you do understand the problem.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 19:13 utc | 88
Trump is preparing pardons for his criminal friends and fast tracking multiple Federal executions, four blacks and a 70-year old woman after executions have been stayed 17 years since 2003. He's actually worse than W.
I hope Trump is indicted the moment Marine One lands after he becomes Mr. Citizen subject to the Law again.
Throw the damn book at him and expose his taxes and every ledger cooked and decimal point fixed. Make that yellow orange sucker squirm and hide under the bed with each knock at the door!
And if he's arrested, damnit, make it public and as humiliating as possible. Drag him out of bed with hair still a mess and bald spots and paunch on full display. I want to see that slob sob piss himself and shit his shorts with fear. Show no mercy and as much compassion as he's shown the nearly 300,000 Covid dead and all the people waiting in bread lines and out on the street while he milks the system, plays golf and holds super-spreader Christmas bashes!
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 19:15 utc | 89
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 11 2020 19:13 utc | 89
Thanks William. You and 'uncle tungsten' and 'vk' and others all make a lot of sense at varying times. But to get anywhere we need a consensus - a common ideology , as well as the common cause we already have
Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Dec 11 2020 19:34 utc | 90
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 11 2020 18:35 utc | 85
"Revolutionary Manifesto"s are ten a penny. Mr Marx has provided a perfectly credible one. The point is that we all have to cleave to a common manifesto, otherwise we all go in different directions. the time to do that is AFTER we win - if we can.
Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Dec 11 2020 19:37 utc | 91
Jams O'Donnell @92--
If such were "ten a penny," then when I challenged barflies about a year ago to provide their own why wasn't MoA deluged with all sorts of these cheap manifestos? Furthermore, people want to know just what they're supporting/being asked to die for, so naturally they'll want to read the manifesto prior to deciding if its worthy of support. The manifesto Marx constructed was easy to misrepresent because one needed to know how the hypothetical society came to be organized in that manner, and it still gets smeared in the same manner today.
Marx's Socialism resulted from the natural evolution of capitalism through the democratization of the workplace such that workers would eventually become the owners of all societal--public and private--capital and would control it via their one and only political party, to which the very unfortunate term dictatorship was applied. The fact that it was to be a democratic dictatorship was immediately overlooked and airbrushed from history. Of course, Marx wasn't infallible. He estimated the UK's population to be 86% proletarian and that all other industrializing nations would have a similar percentage; but the UK was the outlier as no other nation had a percentage over 50. The only successful semi-Marxian Revolutions were those made by mostly agrarian societies with perhaps the exception of North Korea, that is if the Korean War is to be termed a Revolution.
What's up with weirdo Glen Greenwald picking a fight with Ilhan Omar?
Greenwald stated that Brennan calling the assassination of Iranian Nuclear Scientist 'reckless and criminal' is a violation of the Logan Act because it undermines U.S. Policy. Say whuuut?
FFS! Israel did it! And who cares when U.S. Policy against Iran is criminal and illegal in 50 ways! And then he states she's defending Brennan who did blah and blah that we all know about; we weren't born yesterday, so quit condescending.
So, Ilhan can't point out when a broken clock is right once??!
What is this??! Selective fake purity truthiness?
And what's with his bullshit about Beijing's influence on Biden Admin.? He has a problem with Biden dialing down hostility with China, too?
Is he a Ziofascist dressed up as an Independent Journalist? Maybe not, but he sure has become Trump's Useful Idiot. Boy, Trump kult kool-aid sure does a number on people's heads!
So he's on Hunter's case like a rabid dog with a bone, but Trump trying to overturn election results in 5 or 6 states...not a peep. That gross attempted perversion by Trump of 81,000,000 votes for Biden doesn't register on his truth radar. Maybe the National Enquirer will hire him for having their priorities straight.
If I ever respected this guy, suddenly I have amnesia and regret ever taking him seriously in any way. It's like he's begging for relevancy with the Left after his continuing Trump advocacy by further pissing everyone off. Very schizo strategy.
He's done in my book.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 21:03 utc | 93
There must be more Zionists than I thought frequenting this site as I noticed since yesterday many bootlickers for Trump are MIA and coincidentally Hanukka just started. No wonder they're so rabid for Trump beyond logic--now I get it, but it's something I always suspected anyway. Good to know what their real agenda is while I attack their hypocrisy.
***************
I'm not a capitalist nor am I completely socialist either. I'm a humanist who despises exploitation of any kind, a rebel, a realist with a degree of cynicism borne of a thousand life cuts, and especially ferocious in seeking justice and demolishing duplicity and deception that I can smell a mile away and is so rampant in society today.
You know when I read some of the quixotic comments on this thread I'm reminded of Animal Farm, and how idealism always ends up getting exploited by the swine of society.
I know...who cares! There. I replied for you.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2020 22:37 utc | 94
@ james pushing is wron gword imo. I know it wasnt you. You however did say nah its not there they screwed up their positions. Hence my R U sure James?
I have no issue with it either, find it intresting is all. I really hope the women being put in power dont get NDPed like Ray did in Ontario.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 11 2020 22:41 utc | 95
karlof1 @ 34 Thank you for highlighting the Michael Hudson discussion, which I did comment on back in a previous thread (psychohistorian can verify as he answered my comment there. I believe it was last week's open thread post.) I made the comment that what interested me most was Prof. Hudson's clarification of the debt cancellation which included where the balance of finance would be coming from: that is, from the profits being so obviously obtained by the upper percentages as poorer folk tried desperately to keep up with their compound interest payments.
After reading your post, I will attempt to find my own original one, but again thank you - more folk will pay attention and that is good!
Posted by: juliania | Dec 11 2020 23:02 utc | 96
To karlof1: Here is my post on the linked podcast you discuss at #34:
"...Apologies if this has been posted and commented upon - I found it a very excellent interview, mainly because of Michael Hudson's participation in it. He gave the clearest analysis of what ought to be done to tamp down oligarchical tendencies in any government, was a force to be reckoned with as far as the other two participants in the discussion were concerned, in my view:https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/12/is-it-time-for-a-debt-jubilee.html
I tried two posts thanking him for the clarity he brought to the discussion. Neither had appeared when I left, though strangely I got shunted elsewhere after posting. (Maybe a gremlin in my system.) I do recommend the read to any who still don't quite understand the ramifications of a debt jubliee.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 9 2020 2:07 utc | 208..."
We have placed different emphases on the two participants, and for those who find Steve's explanations hard to follow (like me) I still want to support the examination of the Hudson responses. I will post the excerpt I posted earlier next.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 11 2020 23:14 utc | 97
So much winning here from our Trump doppelganger. Just for clarity lots of people here care, Just not about anything a disgustingly partisan mouth spews here.
Most are way beyond that kid stuff. Shilling for the (right) Villains seems to be an MO. Keep up the good fight. /sarc
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 11 2020 23:19 utc | 98
Here's the part of the Michael Hudson interview I linked @ 208 dealing with the oligarchy problem:
[MICHAEL]: Well, the virtue of cancelling the debts is that you also cancel somebody’s savings, and the Babylonian rulers and the Byzantine rulers 2000 years later said, ‘Look, we don’t want the financial class to gain the power because if they gain the wealth, they’re going to hire an army and they’re going to overthrow us and put in their own government instead of, you know, our government that’s looking out for the people.’ And the advantage of cancelling the debts on the liability side of the balance sheet, is, you cancel the debts on the asset side, and these were the debts of the 1%, or let’s say the 10%. All of the growth since 2008, for 12 years, all of the growth and wealth has accrued to this 10%. If you do not write down the savings that they have, you’re going to make them into an almost feudal type of landlord or finance-lord aristocracy that’s going to impose an oligarchy here, so if you don’t want it – oligarchy – you have to write down not only the debts, but you have to write down the enormous overgrowth of savings that is what’s holding the debtors in bondage.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 9 2020 2:15 utc | 211
Posted by: juliania | Dec 11 2020 23:21 utc | 99
For obveous reasons I’d be very interested to know what the zionest plan is regarding USA / China geopolitics.
I expect they won’t want a hot war. (To much of a distraction)
I’d prefer tangible facts and links, rather than all this endless biased partisan trump fan club,
It’s really lost it’s credabilty at this stage.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 10 2020 23:50 utc | 28
WOW dude just WOW. Mines better.
Where do you suppose the Zionists are hiding now that you and Circe have vanquished their anointed one. The Ziofascit LITERAL hitler Putin Bangin Virus defying anatomy grabin Fuck no mask wearing YER FIRED SOAB. Ya the POTUS no one likes cus he debunks the whole American Exceptionalism thing. You know. The ballad of the Circel Krej. Man that was a good one. I can't believe you don't remember. You traveled deep into the rightwing dungeon of DeEp WEb evaded many dangers. so much wins so much wins. Slayed many of the evil one eyed mostly unicornish canonlybeconsideredrightwingpartisanmonster. Finally facing down the orange man, defeating his mirror spell that almost had you fooled, but you stayed your majical BLM just in time to spare your partners life. Looking in his eyes you its head between your hands. Staring....Just staring...Proclaiming I AM NOT AN ANIMAL and vanquishing the monster with a peace spell.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 12 2020 2:47 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
I have my doubts about Biden admin being less aggressive vs China. Less bombastic than Trump/Bolton/Pompeo, not as egregiously myopic perhaps.
They're going to be all in on containment and intimidation, and the tools available to do that vs China are now fewer and less subtle.
We will see more numerous and more intense proxy actions in strategically located countries, be sure of that.
The attempts at intimidation will require a qualitative increase in intensity too.
Posted by: ptb | Dec 10 2020 19:02 utc | 1