A New Cold War

Silverfiddle Rant!

 The withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Biden administration’s apparent determination to end America’s open-ended wars constitute the final acknowledgment that the post-Cold War era is over. 

We are yet again in a world where for the foreseeable future great power competition and power-balancing will determine winners and losers.

(Andrew Michta - A Bitter Lesson)

Tom McTague, in The Atlantic, states the obvious:

The decision to invite Beijing into the world economic system in 2001 has not led to anything like the more liberal or democratic China that world leaders had envisaged, only a more powerful and more draconian adversary that has grown and grown while the U.S. and its allies (including Britain and Australia) were distracted in the Middle East and Afghanistan. (Atlantic - Joe Biden’s New World Order)

Can we not call it a 'War' this time?

In effect, the U.S. is having to adapt to the new world of Chinese power in order to protect the old “free and open” world of global trade and American supremacy that Washington built after the Second World War.  (Atlantic - Joe Biden’s New World Order)

Economic alliances and quiet, non-bellicose military strength is what this new era calls for. Small-bore military and humanitarian assistance where feasible, while avoiding grand projects.

I support President Biden strengthening our strategic alliances with partners old and new, including the new US-UK-AUS Alliance, which is really just an upgrade of an enduring partnership.  I also think "The Quad" is a good idea:  An informal alliance of the US, Japan, India and Australia. If we can leverage these renewed friendships to build manufacturing and supply chains among friendly nations, to include smaller, poorer nations like Mexico and Central American countries, Vietnam, Indonesian, the Philippines, etc, we will have gone a long way towards limiting China's influence, and doing it in a non-belligerent way that does not risk World War III. 

We Won the Cold War...

...and smashed up alot of the third-world in the process, alienating billions of people who otherwise yearn for the freedoms and economic prosperity we were supposed to be championing.

Can We Learn?

Can we learn from our strategic successes of that era, and update and apply those lessons for this new era?  More importantly, can we learn from our many abuses, failures, human rights violations and destruction of human life?

Can we conduct a quieter fight against terrorists?  

Our special operators know how to do that with a light footprint.  They also know how to partner with friendly governments and help them help themselves.  Can we understand that a 'War on Terror' is folly and can never be won?  It's eternal whack-a-mole, but doing it quietly and smartly can keep the bad guys on their heels, erode their support among the people, and gain us friendship and respect around the world.

Can we be a friend to people everywhere?  

Can we beef up our Peace Corps?  Can we open more consulates and culture centers to put on a friendly and respectful face to nations around the world?  This sounds like hippie-dippie stuff, but it works, especially when good-hearted, culturally-curious and sincere Americans are out in front.

What say you?

See Also:

The Realignment Podcast - Welcome to the Era of Great Power Conflict

COVID-19 Vaccines: Not A Panacea

[Caveat: this post is not an argument for refusing to take COVID-19 vaccines. For such an argument, see Tammy Swofford's Why this Registered Nurse will Opt out for the Covid 19 Vaccine]

China has ruined the world!  

Hyperbole?  Maybe, maybe not.  But China surely has changed the world for the foreseeable future.

Please be informed as to what these COVID-19 vaccines actually provide.  What they provide is not in line with what we have been led to believe — that is, that these vaccines will return us to normal.

Try not to get lost in the weeds here (emphases mine)....

From Time Magazine:

[E]ven after more people get the shots, we’ll still have to wear masks and stay a respectful six feet apart from each other. [...] 

First, there’s the question of efficacy. Yes, Moderna and Pfizer reported that their shots are 94.5% and 95% effective, respectively. But that efficacy refers to the vaccines’ ability to protect against COVID-19 disease—and not necessarily against infection with the virus. Both of the rigorous trials to test the vaccines were designed to measure COVID-19 illness—trial volunteers were randomly given either the vaccine or a placebo, and then asked to report any symptoms of COVID-19 they experienced, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath or muscle aches. The study researchers then determined whether or not to test them. If people tested positive, they were logged as a confirmed COVID-19 case, and the researchers then looked at the group of COVID-19 cases and compared how many people had been vaccinated versus how many had gotten placebo. The effectiveness measured whether these people went on to develop more symptoms of COVID-19. 

That means that people who are vaccinated are not necessarily immune to getting infected; but they are more likely to experience fewer symptoms and not get as sick as those who aren’t vaccinated. 

[...]

[B]ecause the vaccines do not necessarily protect against infection, that means that public health measures such as wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding indoor gatherings are still critical to containing the virus. 

[...] 

[T]he ultimate goal in controlling the pandemic, herd immunity, likely won’t happen until well into next year, when enough people are vaccinated and can ward off serious illness. “Not until a substantial proportion of the population is vaccinated, and the caseload has dropped to very low levels, will we be able to breathe (without a mask) a sigh of relief,” says Emanuel Goldman, professor of microbiology at Rutgers University. And even then, he points out, researchers will have to remain vigilant about tracking any changes in the virus as it finds fewer and fewer welcoming hosts. “The virus might have other ideas and try to change in a way that makes the vaccine less effective.” 

Only by vaccinating millions of people, and monitoring how their immune systems react, will experts get a better handle on what it takes to extinguish COVID-19 or at least make it much more difficult for it to spread....

Whether or not these first-generation vaccines prevent transmission of the virus remains unknown.  Therefore, masking and social distancing will likely remain the order of the day for a long time.  **sigh**

The best news is that, so far, a very small percentage of our population has caught this damn virus.  We shall see what we shall see when the Thanksgiving and Christmas surges have weighed in.

Additional reading...Moderna, Pfizer vaccines may prevent disease, but not infection: The two vaccines are supposed to either stop or lessen disease. But, they may not stop the virus from getting into your body.

If you're inclined to read a medically-technical article in The Lancet, please see: What can we expect from first-generation COVID-19 vaccines?   This article also makes it brutally clear that these first-generation vaccines are not a panacea!

The Chinese Virus

Silverfiddle Rant!

Proof there is a God:

Despite our criminally stupid government, the nation yet endures.

China produces around 90% of our pharmaceuticals, holds near-monopoly on rare earth elements, and our dependence on them for food and everyday household items is disconcerting.

Why would supposedly responsible people in government, Democrats and Republicans, think its a good idea to hand so much power over us to a brutal communist dictatorship that has publicly stated its goal is to overtake us economically, militarily, and replace us as the dominant force on the globe?

From Project Syndicate:

The COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for a world that has accepted China’s lengthening shadow over global supply chains for far too long. Only by reducing China’s global economic influence – beginning in the pharmaceutical sector – can the world be kept safe from the country's political pathologies.

It is also clear the communist dictatorship plays by its own rules, and gets by with it:

If any other country had triggered such a far-reaching, deadly, and above all preventable crisis, it would now be a global pariah. But China, with its tremendous economic clout, has largely escaped censure. Nonetheless, it will take considerable effort for Xi’s regime to restore its standing at home and abroad.

Can you imagine Germany, Japan or other responsible nations performing such a dark passive aggressive threat disguised as hurt feelings?

China’s leaders are publicly congratulating themselves for not limiting exports of medical supplies and APIs used to make medicines, vitamins, and vaccines. If China decided to ban such exports to the United States, the state-run news agency Xinhua recently noted, the US would be “plunged into a mighty sea of coronavirus.” China, the article implies, would be justified in taking such a step. It would simply be retaliating against “unkind” US measures taken after COVID-19’s emergence, such as restricting entry to the US by Chinese and foreigners who had visited China.

Isn’t the world lucky that China is not that petty?

What say you?

Emerging China: the Dragon Awakens

by Sam Huntington

Even a shrew will attack when it feels as if there is no other way out.  China today offers the United States a daunting strategic challenge.  We haven’t actually cornered China, but our artless foreign policy may certainly give China that impression.

There are two aspects of our relationship with China that I’d like to discuss: military posturing, and economic strength.  Before I get to that, we need an appreciation of the history of Sino-US relations.

Older Chinese still recall the “bad old days” of China’s evolution from feudal state to a modern power.  Foreign subjugation began with the Opium Wars in 1848.  Western powers, including the United States, more or less helped themselves to Chinese resources.  At the beginning of the twentieth century, China suffered increasing frequency of internal upheavals; these were mostly the result of the central government’s inability to do anything about the presence of foreign powers that sought to enrich themselves at China’s expense.  On more than one occasion, the United States sent military and naval forces to China to protect its diplomatic legation and to demonstrate American power.

China achieved a republic in the early 1920s, but one that was politically unstable.  A civil war lasted from 1927 to 1937.  The civil conflict was interrupted by a Japanese invasion and World War II.  Civil war resumed in 1945, lasting until 1949.  Thus, from the mid-1800s to 1949, China experienced warlordism, internal upheaval, starvation, and national degradation.  The Chinese call this their century of humiliation. Twenty-four million people suffered and died.

China and The US: More alike than we think

By Silverfiddle

"Lijia Zhang says the Communist Party’s violent discarding of traditional values, suppression of religion and later embrace of cutthroat capitalism has severely damaged social trust."

Link:  Rabies vaccine scandal reveals China’s tattered moral fabric

North Korea: Charles Krauthammer's 1994 Predictions

These are the cities Kim Jong-un CAN destroy with nuclear weapons

From O’ say can you see, North Korea’s highest, longest ICBM test yet? (dated July 5, 2017):

While Americans shot off Roman candles for July 4th, North Korea launched an ICBM higher and farther than any of its other 10 missile tests this year.

[...]

...North Korea is also developing a submarine-launched missile, which would not need the range to cross the Pacific.

FLASHBACK TO 1994...

Quotation Of The Day: The Global Economy

Comment by Bocopro, who typed in the following to this post at Western Hero and particularly appropriate now that Greece has defaulted on a 1.6 billion euros debt payment to the IMF and has rejected the European Union's bailout offer:

Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Puerto Rico . . . these are the rumblings of what before long will be a great global Vesuviusing, with nationally fatal pyroclastic flows, intercontinental ashfall, planetary climate disruption, mass migrations, riots, starvation, hysteria, disease, and unending strife.

China, Russia, Europe, South America, and the US will flounder and drown in the morass of debt in the gazillions while their GDPs barely make it to the brazilians. Hurricanes of speeches and tons of promises won’t prevent a single balloon payment or cancel an ounce of debt.

Debts are like bastard children, begot in pleasure of the flesh, then brought forth in great pain and handicap. To promise fabulous socialist entitlements based on flawed arithmetic is to enslave the next generation who will inherit the budget shortfalls. And interest on debts grows without nourishment or watering.

The US central government seems to believe that a day will come when all debts are forgiven and everyone will live in some kind of utopia where self-replicating, self-repairing machines provide us with all our needs sans cost, where exactly-the-right-size Levis suddenly appear on shrubberies and meatball sandwiches flow from giant cornucopias in converted supermarkets.

At seven-point-five decades, I may already be safely under ground when the debt tsunami hits, but my grandkritters and their lot will be forced to pay for the mismanagement of thousands of politicians who tried to run cities on splenda, states on saccharine, and nations on nutrasweet.

Our entitlement systems, whether the leftistas choose to believe it or not, are not sustainable unless we discover the trick to turning hot air into gold. As Hamlet tells us: “I eat the air, promise-crammed. You cannot feed capons so.”

Meanwhile in China: BROKERAGES ANNOUNCE PLAN TO PROP UP SHARES.

Also see this (Click directly on the graphic to enlarge it):

Please discuss in the comments section. Got a crystal ball to check so as to see what's coming next?

Cyber Insecurity

Excerpt from Want To Know How China Was Able To Massively Hack Us? Because Obama Regime OUTSOURCED The IT Work To China!:

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post. For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

IRAN DISSES OBAMA: Gov’t TV Broadcasts ‘Down With America’ to Mark Nuclear Deal

Exclusive [ABC News]: US May Have Let 'Dozens' of Terrorists Into Country As Refugees

The horrific and savage details of the slaughter of Drummer Lee Rigby on the streets of London [Reuters]

Paramedic sent to treat horrifically injured soldier Lee Rigby 'saw killer sharpening his meat cleaver' in aftermath of attack

China Investment Monitor

With a hat tip to Bunkerville:



CLICK HERE for the interactive map. You might find a few surprises. Then read Bunkerville's post. More HERE. Your thoughts?

OBA-MAO

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

Blogger Z! has this anecdotal story of interest today. Excerpt:

...In a shop in Beijing (a city in which guides tell you NOT to talk politics), [my cousins who recently visited China] saw row upon row of T shirts and coin purses that have a picture of Obama on them and the words OBA-MAO! My cousins asked how they heck they could do that and WHY? They said people in CHINA say that Obama's "MAO'S MOST FAMOUS STUDENT".......My cousins were stunned. The shop owner said "We here in Beijing think America's more Communist than we are now...we get to keep some of our money now."...

Be sure to read Z's entire post by clicking on the above link!

More information via this Google search of Obamao.

And remember THIS about the Obamas' first Christmas in the White House?

The China Bubble

Ghost towns in China? Apparently so. Note this photo of Zhengzhou New District. The photo shows huge and numerous public buildings that have never been used (Click directly on the image to enlarge it):


From Dinocrat.com, via THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS: