It's not that the US regime has pushed Russia and China together by playing the game badly - it's that the rest of the world has evolved to see international relations and geopolitics beyond such crude terms.
Has the US regime ever thought about just equitably trading with other countries? Has it even considered the possibility that it's crude and vulgar game theoretic approach to foreign policy has inclined the world to move away from it?
It's not that the US regime has misplayed it's hand and forced these countries together - it's that the very existence of the unipolar Western imperialist hegemonic model led by the rogue US regime has necessitated it's rejection, and the formation of an alternative, an alternative which has become an existential imperative for the global majority.
I would have to disagree. Russia worked mightily to remain in the western orbit. Had someone like Mearsheimer been in charge of foreign policy, the US could have slowed the process of Russias unification with China and at the very least averted the war in Ukraine. China too works tirelessly to stay in the western orbit. Even a minor gesture, say not talking constantly about making war on China, would have greatly eased tensions.
The reality here is that US imperialism has delusional leadership. Foreign policy is dictated by a 5th column according to it's interests, emotions and historical grievances. This 5th column is of course supported by the billionaire oligarchs that run this capitalist whorehouse. This little group of userpers have driven the world to the brink of WW3 while leading a brutal genocide in just 4 short years.
Imperialism, were it not mad, could have read the runes on its own decline relative to Russia/China and drastically reduced tensions. It's failure to do so is not unique and seems to be a historical law for declining empires. They "sleep walked" into WW1, they are literally running headlong into nuclear WW3. First time tragedy...
Russia is not in "unification" with China. They simply have a clear understanding that they are BOTH targeted by the US and have everything to gain in terms of survival, by cooperating.
Nobody wants war except the imperial west, which only knows war and exploitation as a way of life. The rest of the planet is busy trying to improve the qualty of life for their own people, and without cheating others.
Unfortunately I don't see it like that. While I agree Russia spent many years trying to foster a good relationship with the West, at this point they realise the pointlessness of trying to do so. The same goes for China.
What you speak of is more of the same game playing that IMHO has lead us to where we are now. The US regime would have slowed the process - how? By promising Russia things and not delivering upon those promises? Examples of US regime, and Western, broken promises abound.
And the only difference between Mearsheimer (or any of the realist school) and your typical neocon is their preferred target - Russia in the case of the neocons, and China in the case of the realists. If the realists had control of US foreign policy we would be talking about Taiwan now instead of Ukraine.
It's not about slowing the process of unification - the very presence of the rogue US regime necessitates a unification of interests in opposition to the US regime's interests. No amount of sleight of hand is going to arrest the process.
Good comments. I think the USA has indeed pushed Russia and China into a stategic partnership.
The USA sees every other country as something to dominate and exploit. The RAND report of 2019 about Destabilizing Russia is proof.
Back in 2007, Putin's speech in München, then Libya (2011), Ghaddafi's murder, Syria and the appearance of 'ISIS' - and the subsequent intervention by Russia in the Levant gives a very good idea of the trajectory the West was taking.
They wanted to create a wasteland full of 'moderate head chopping mercenaries' to attack Iran from their newly stolen oil rich lands which Israel would have curated for them. From there the Stans would have fallen, and terrorism would have reached Russia full force.
They were quite intent on doing to Putin what they did to his friend Ghaddafi.
This didn't work out so Ukraine was roped in to do the destabilizing. Now Ukraine is slightly destabilized itself, and a bit depopulated and not really a functioning country.
Interestingly enough, it is around 2014/2016 that the Chinese started investing heavily in Russian infrastructure since both knew what the West had in stall for them if they didn't prepare, chaos and terrorism.
A huge reason the sanctions failed against Russia was because of intense Chinese investment over the last decade.
The last couple of announcements from Xi and Putin are just lip service to a very deep, long established cooperation.
They are neighbours after all.
They are openly seen and treated as adversaries by the large 3rd world country, with loads of debt, an immigrant problem and an orange monkey at the helm.
G'day aheno, even Kissinger as evil as he was could have negotiated a better outcome instead of dictated as is the neo con way diplomacy is for suckers according to them but Lavrov has the last laugh and Putin carries the RF onwards.
Incorrect, the US misplayed it’s hand and pushed Russia and China together.
The Russians have tried everything to become part of the Western bloc, with Putin even requesting NATO membership at one stage. Unfortunately the managerial class has a persistent element that insist on attempting ethnic ancestral revenge and hence the bellicosity towards Russia.
This deluded underbelly pushed the Russians into the arms of the Chinese, the evidence is irrefutable.
"This deluded underbelly pushed the Russians into the arms of the Chinese"
The world of geopolitics is not a romantic novel. You view the world through the prism of Western / US regime foreign relations - as if all acts around the world are orchestrated by the US regime. The world outside of the West does not participate in a US regime narrative.
Perhaps Russia and China came together more rapidly as a natural consequence of US regime mendacity, because it became an more of an imperative, but there is no doubt that they would have come together irrespective, because they are evolved societies, with real diplomats at their respective helms.
It’s a turn of phrase you silly man. The reality is that the Russians have more in common culturally with Europe and the West than they do with the Chinese (who have primarily been historical adversaries).
Russia had deep trade ties with Europe and projects like Nordstream demonstrate the level of economic interdependence between the two blocs.
Now the US have destroyed (literally) that relationship.
The whole debacle is entirely the fault of the US with their lack of strategic foresight and diplomacy.
Western Russia may have more in common with Europe, but what about Central Russia (Central Asia), or Eastern Russia (Eastern Asia)?
To say that Russia has more in common with Europe than Asia is to ignore the geography of Russia. And Russia's deep ties with Europe is essentially a history of failed Western conquest.
Currently I would say that Russia has stronger ties with Central Asia and Eastern Asia than Europe, and for sure the relationship has been made much worse by US regime interference.
Without a doubt Europe has been captured, but until the people of Europe rise up and take back their sovereignty - by finally cutting ties with the rogue US regime, and by expelling and / or neutralising the Atlanticist fifth columnists that have brought Europe to this point of collapse, it will have no future in the world.
They are neighbours, and very evolved, old societies. I'm sure they've always had contact, if not cooperation. I very much believe the West wants you to believe that they had/have nothing to do with one another. Same as their shit stories about the Persians and the Syrians.
America has no culture, so they're not really in a position to understand it, in ancient societies.
you are of course correct - the historical ties between the two countries are clear. The narrative that the West pushed the two countries together serves the West, and only works in a culture with a diminished historical sense.
An industrial society cannot be rebuilt by fiat. No amount of spending can create a society capable of building an industrial base.
When did the People’s Republic ditch Mao and decide to become a modern country? Because it will take us at least twice that long. If we started today, we’d be attempting the project with a thoroughly demoralized and thoroughly ignorant workforce that has never seen any work done, much less participated.
It isn’t just that we don’t have factories anymore. It isn’t just that generations of the kinds of hands-on knowledge only an apprenticeship can teach were tossed aside when the traitor parasite class sold those factories.
No, the fundamental problem is that we have no moral basis for asking our people to tuck in and do the work. That takes buy-in, attitude, a will and a determination to do the right thing, not because it is expedient, but because it is right. On the rare occasions when we have seen a stand-up integrity these past forty years, we have immediately hammered it down; Colin Kaepernick comes to mind.
Do not kid yourselves. The USA as a culture absolutely despises anyone who knows what they’re doing, anyone who has a good reason for doing what they’re doing, anyone who knows why they’re doing what they’re doing. As a country, we hate those people.
That’s why the children we train to kill foreigners kill themselves when they come back to the foreign country that used to be home. That’s why the smart people who get things going in the startup phase of a company either move on or get laid off after startup’s over. That’s why fools in cubicles get paid more to do a job that wouldn’t hold an 8th grader’s interest than the engineers who make the country go. We aren’t going to turn that around in a generation; it will take a generation for our people to find a reason why they might want to rebuild the country.
I want to believe that there will someday be a nation on this continent that deserves to be called America. That was my dream when I was a boy, watching the likes of Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King speak the truths we needed to hear to a nation still yearning towards its promise. My heart still longs for it, but this is not that country. There is no path toward that dream of a free country does not lead through horrific strife, struggle, and heartbreak.
We think the end of empire will come like the dawn. Dawn will surely break, my friends, but only after a night of unspeakable loss. Pity the young, and their parents.
Even if the US could reindustrialise it would make no difference to its fate, nor to those of China or Russia. The globe is united by it collectively hurtling towards a climate crisis caused by industrialisation, energy consumption and economic growth.
The only solution, multilateral degrowth is not on anyone's cards.
You may long for the American dream but its dependence on the environment for its fulfilment is absolute. Reality is heading for a nightmare.
For me, the American Dream was never about a standard of consumption, but a standard of respect and the freedom to choose one’s path. My grandfather plowed his land with a mule until his retirement in the 1970s, and by any standard, his life was more free and more respectable than that of anyone I’ve known of heard of since his passing.
I appreciate and value your comments, if that didn’t come across. Hybrid neo-anarchist freedom loving gun toters need to hear contrasting views as much as anyone else. While I am skeptical of the corporate-driven CO2 panic, I am at least as skeptical of the perpetual growth machine on which contemporary monopolist pseudo-market theorizing is predicated. I’ve been effectively on a one-man strike and de-growth track since 1976. Thanks again.
How can you be here and write the nonsense you do?
The same west based globalists that have brought about every major problem facing the west & the world- created the fiction of global cooling, then global warming and now rebranded as climate change.
Show us 1 place on earth where an ocean or sea has risen due to melting ice caps.
You can't because it is not happening.
Take your climate change and shove it where the sun don't shine.
If you want to de anything- degrade your life & lifestyle.
Not cool to insult someone else's opinion and them. Ok, so you don't believe in climate change. Good. I have my doubts too - feels like a new religion.
Why tell people to shove stuff? Would you do it in person, or do you have the bravery due to being out of range?
Old saying: if you don't have anything good to say, don't say it.
Another truth: if you won't say something to someone's face because they are stronger and bigger than you, then don't say it to people who are smaller and weaker.
I want to get you to rethink what actually occurred at WTC 7....which I argue was the suicide of the hegemon, which we now see falling as you describe.
Some controlled demolitions take
longer than others.
Like blowing up Nordstream, a long fuse, as A Mercouris says
WTC was an excuse to WOT which in turn was an excuse to start ISIS which in turn would have given them oil oil oil for free. It didn't though, the War On Terror cost $9trillion, and all they got to steal was Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian oil.
Bad maths, it would have been better to invest it in education.
The only problem with that is: who is going to trust the US regime ever again?
Unfortunately I feel that the US regime will need to be defeated - and it's Western vassals will need to be contained - for the safety and security of the world.
I welcome the de-industrialisation of the United States. It's continuing wars of choice since WW2, allowed by a strong industrial base, have been to the detriment of humanity.
However where I have concern is the current level of ignorance that we all seem to have in the West. It is clear that many of our leaders are in blissful ignorance of the state of armaments in the USA. They still believe that the dominance that previously existed is the same today. Accordingly countries get threatened with little concern for the outcome.
So, just as we are prepared to turn a blind eye to the massacres currently taking place, we also close our eyes to the realities of our collective economic and political weaknesses.
So with Rand's typical(?) perspicacity and sensitivity to international relations (and reflecting the wisdom of its funders?), all you need to know from the executive summary is the single mention of 'diplomacy' as a minor component of "US deterrence and power" and the single instance of 'peace' in References, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Seems Americans may have to work harder to help save humanity (including themselves) from their government's multi-trillion dollar hammer..
The entire problem is the US oligarchy's mentality of perceiving all human development outside the US borders as a "threat" to itself. Even inside the US itselg, the wellbeing of American masses is also of no interest to the US oligarchy. And the RAND Corp is simply a mouthpiece for this sick worldview.
When you have that kind of mindset, diplomacy, aka win-win and working to find common ground for mutual benefit, is of zero interest. And the idea of spending less on war abroad and more on people at home, that's a non-starter.
The Empire of Lies, has been found out. It's expensive hi tech weapons aren't fit for purpose. The US strategy of believing it could defeat anyone with overwhelming air power. Using its mega expensive high maintenance aircraft. This arrogance has lead to the US neglecting it's hardware for a ground war. Russia has developed the world's best air defence systems. While maintaining a massive ground war capability. How can 1 country face off to a huge proxy army, armed & supplied by 50 countries including the mighty US? Not only standing up to that enemy but totally decimating it. Proving beyond any doubt, talk is cheap. I'm pretty certain the vast majority of Americans have no idea whatsoever, what Russia has achieved in the Ukrainian conflict up to now. I've no doubt they'd be shocked to the core of they were aware of what has happened.
So, the Gerald R Ford super duper carrier with Magnetic launchers wasn't the game changer it was meant to be?
How the combined west can't even produce one decent hypersonic missile is beyond pathetic and a sure sign that the west has reached its nadir with military technology.
That RAND have finally woken up to the glaring reality any observant citizen has been very well aware of for years gives me some hope that the US gets with the program and climbs down off its high horse.
one iconic example is the cost involved in producing a pen that worked in space. the russians simply used a pencil. i often wondered if someone in the usa military suggested using a pencil and got told 2 zip it by those riding on the defence/ aerospace gravy train ...
Unfortunately the Rand Recommendation seems to be to double down. And Regardless of getting it wRong, the establishment (profiting nicely) loves to take the Rand advice they pay it to give them - KK THX for that chart that shows it so well.
Another issue is that even if whomever needed to approve such funds did so, there wouldn’t even be the industrial capacity and capability to spend them to achieve the desired results. I explain myself: to build weapons, not something I underwrite but to follow the thread here, you need capable industries with capable engineers and capable workforce. You see the issue now? The largest share of US university engineering graduates are from abroad, and our workforce has now moved on from real factories to services such a Uber, with real manufacturing in mostly China. Intelligent and capable US kids/gals study for MBAs, finance and other managerial positions looking for riches in Wall Street and Banks. Math and Physics graduates end up as “quants” in investment banks. Why would they dedicate their life to produce real stuff if ethereal stuff pays many times over, and is risk less? It would take at least a generation to turn the tide, just ask Boeing.
Exactly. It's not that the Empire doesn't want to cooperate on more equitable terms, the reality is that without the hegemony they are akin Emperor with no clothes. Tough times ahead. Perhaps Elon as the new Wizard of Oz persuades Trump that pumping money in space exploration makes more sense to boost stock market than perpetual wars.
Yes, when we know how much damage burning fossil fuels is doing, why not blow up tonnes of them to propel us to Mars- even if a rocket could take off using electricity (?) its still an insane use of resources- which, just like a military economy gives no reinvestment back into society.
The Empire is going down for sure- but it's also gonna take a lot down with it.
And even if they had the brains- building real stuff will accelerate the climate crisis-turning the tide with the best brains restructuring the economy to be based on service and care not growth might also take a generation- which we haven't got.
Thanks Kit a revelatory article submitting that " the Empire has no clothes " ratified you suggest by the stasis of 'omerta' in the chain linked ranks of the MSM who are under instructions to quarantine the Rand Report at least from the eyes and ears of the propagandised proles! These feats of deception must have their limits?
Now I don't know whether this is good news or bad news, given how dying empires lash out with a final flurry of ultraviolence. If we're going down, we'll take you all down with us.
It really was shocking to see the "no limits" declaration of Russia/China ignored by the west. It took almost a year from that unequivocal statement of partnership before western MSM ceased to hope for China to oppose Russia in Ukraine. That was the point I cancelled all subscriptions and began getting news almost completely from substack.
This current report might be a sign of sanity if it weren't meant to justify doubling down on the same ridiculous strategy: more war everywhere, all the time against an array of better prepared opponents and really, the vast majority of the world's population.
This was an excellent article, Kit. Working people need your coverage of events today. Keep working, brother!
The system created after 9/11 is monstrous and is now eating itself. The corporate media, the greedy corporations and every war profiteers (politicians included), are all to blame for the demise of our country. They have all allowed the shredding of The Constitution in the guise of protecting us from ‘terrorists’. Little did the people know that it’s the same people who’ve infiltrated our institutions who are the terrorists and have proceeded to destroy other nations and now, ours as well. It will take the US about the same time to gain the trust from around the globe as the rebuilding of Gaza, perhaps even longer. RIP USA.
No trust for the USA! Ever. I do like Americans, but what the USA stands for and what it has done to the world is inexcusable. Ideally all the bombs they have dropped on Korea, Vietnam etc etc etc etc. should be dropped on the USA. Then it can be rebuilt from the rubble into something acceptable that minds it's own business, and quits consuming 25% of the world's oil for 5% of the world's population.
Excellent piece, which accurately describes why the US is incapable of entering a WWIII-like situtaion, though our political leaders and talking-heads, even in the alternative press appear to believe that this will happen. It could happen but not likely. And if it does happen, it will be over before the US defense establishment realizes it.
My only question is why does the piece state that American re-industrialization cannot happen? Is the author referring to the current set of mitigating circumstances that would prevent it, such as a lack of local manufacturing talent or the lack of commitment by our brain-dead business leadership who have no understanding any longer of manufacturing processes as well as the need for them?
Thank you for your kind words, and interest Steve!
Yes, a lack of local expertise/experience/basic comprehension of manufacturing and industry is a critical factor here. So too - as you rightly point out - political and corporate leadership that is completely business-minded and divorced from the realities of the multipolar world.
However, there's a wider issue here, which my dear reader Alan Hodge highlighted. It won't just take money to reindustrialise the US - it would take a major individual and collective commitment to America and its future at every level for reindustrialisation to occur.
On the new policy site put up by RFK Jr., where many people are already posting their suggestions, I also posted a comment that described the need to completely reform our public education system so it can produce qualified scientists, engineers, and technologists.
I have also suggested that we return our public school systems teaching techniques back to the way we had them back in the 1950s and 1960s, where students have to work hard to learn their subject matter and not slough it all off to technologies and the Internet.
I have a good friend who is a tutor for the public schools as well as does private tutoring and he is constantly telling me how stupid most of the White children are when it comes to mathematics (which is his subject matter) compared to his Asian students.
In part, he blames the way students are being taught mathematics so that they lose confidence in themselves instead of gaining the necessary skills to do math properly.
In this regard I promoted the idea that students should not be allowed any supporting technologies until their first year of high school where they are taught to use them properly so as not to interfere with their capabilities in learning their subjects properly...
Some claim the USA is losing its grip on the world, but the truth is that other growing military powers pose a real threat to US world hegemony because super powers like China and Russia are no more allied with them. Lesbian Hillary Clinton rejoiced at Muammar al Ghaddafi’s murder and the destruction of Libya by the USA-Israel and Sarkosy’s France saying laughingly: “We came, we saw and he died!”
The US will destroy all countries whose economy, military, and politics threaten their interests, and as long as we allow them to have operating, unaccountable and countless military bases all around the world, with the biggest, most active, most ferocious and genocidal one, Apartheid Israel, in Occupied Palestine, celebrated by the entire West and others as the only democracy in the Arab-speaking and Muslim world, funded and armed by International Zionism and Jewry, including hundreds of millions of Christians. The USA is not a democracy and never was and neither are the UK and France.
When the doctor asked me recently why I was so upset, I did not mention this obviously!
honestly i dont think the entire west celebrates this apartheid state, just the people who run the world. despite massive and increasing censorship most people are horrified at extent of
terror and deprivation inflicted on civilian populations. or largely unaware due to msm suppression of news and extent of propaganda.
It's not that the US regime has pushed Russia and China together by playing the game badly - it's that the rest of the world has evolved to see international relations and geopolitics beyond such crude terms.
Has the US regime ever thought about just equitably trading with other countries? Has it even considered the possibility that it's crude and vulgar game theoretic approach to foreign policy has inclined the world to move away from it?
It's not that the US regime has misplayed it's hand and forced these countries together - it's that the very existence of the unipolar Western imperialist hegemonic model led by the rogue US regime has necessitated it's rejection, and the formation of an alternative, an alternative which has become an existential imperative for the global majority.
I would have to disagree. Russia worked mightily to remain in the western orbit. Had someone like Mearsheimer been in charge of foreign policy, the US could have slowed the process of Russias unification with China and at the very least averted the war in Ukraine. China too works tirelessly to stay in the western orbit. Even a minor gesture, say not talking constantly about making war on China, would have greatly eased tensions.
The reality here is that US imperialism has delusional leadership. Foreign policy is dictated by a 5th column according to it's interests, emotions and historical grievances. This 5th column is of course supported by the billionaire oligarchs that run this capitalist whorehouse. This little group of userpers have driven the world to the brink of WW3 while leading a brutal genocide in just 4 short years.
Imperialism, were it not mad, could have read the runes on its own decline relative to Russia/China and drastically reduced tensions. It's failure to do so is not unique and seems to be a historical law for declining empires. They "sleep walked" into WW1, they are literally running headlong into nuclear WW3. First time tragedy...
Russia is not in "unification" with China. They simply have a clear understanding that they are BOTH targeted by the US and have everything to gain in terms of survival, by cooperating.
Nobody wants war except the imperial west, which only knows war and exploitation as a way of life. The rest of the planet is busy trying to improve the qualty of life for their own people, and without cheating others.
Well said.
Perfectly put.
Unfortunately I don't see it like that. While I agree Russia spent many years trying to foster a good relationship with the West, at this point they realise the pointlessness of trying to do so. The same goes for China.
What you speak of is more of the same game playing that IMHO has lead us to where we are now. The US regime would have slowed the process - how? By promising Russia things and not delivering upon those promises? Examples of US regime, and Western, broken promises abound.
And the only difference between Mearsheimer (or any of the realist school) and your typical neocon is their preferred target - Russia in the case of the neocons, and China in the case of the realists. If the realists had control of US foreign policy we would be talking about Taiwan now instead of Ukraine.
It's not about slowing the process of unification - the very presence of the rogue US regime necessitates a unification of interests in opposition to the US regime's interests. No amount of sleight of hand is going to arrest the process.
Good comments. I think the USA has indeed pushed Russia and China into a stategic partnership.
The USA sees every other country as something to dominate and exploit. The RAND report of 2019 about Destabilizing Russia is proof.
Back in 2007, Putin's speech in München, then Libya (2011), Ghaddafi's murder, Syria and the appearance of 'ISIS' - and the subsequent intervention by Russia in the Levant gives a very good idea of the trajectory the West was taking.
They wanted to create a wasteland full of 'moderate head chopping mercenaries' to attack Iran from their newly stolen oil rich lands which Israel would have curated for them. From there the Stans would have fallen, and terrorism would have reached Russia full force.
They were quite intent on doing to Putin what they did to his friend Ghaddafi.
This didn't work out so Ukraine was roped in to do the destabilizing. Now Ukraine is slightly destabilized itself, and a bit depopulated and not really a functioning country.
Interestingly enough, it is around 2014/2016 that the Chinese started investing heavily in Russian infrastructure since both knew what the West had in stall for them if they didn't prepare, chaos and terrorism.
A huge reason the sanctions failed against Russia was because of intense Chinese investment over the last decade.
The last couple of announcements from Xi and Putin are just lip service to a very deep, long established cooperation.
They are neighbours after all.
They are openly seen and treated as adversaries by the large 3rd world country, with loads of debt, an immigrant problem and an orange monkey at the helm.
G'day aheno, even Kissinger as evil as he was could have negotiated a better outcome instead of dictated as is the neo con way diplomacy is for suckers according to them but Lavrov has the last laugh and Putin carries the RF onwards.
Not mad, arrogant.
Incorrect, the US misplayed it’s hand and pushed Russia and China together.
The Russians have tried everything to become part of the Western bloc, with Putin even requesting NATO membership at one stage. Unfortunately the managerial class has a persistent element that insist on attempting ethnic ancestral revenge and hence the bellicosity towards Russia.
This deluded underbelly pushed the Russians into the arms of the Chinese, the evidence is irrefutable.
"This deluded underbelly pushed the Russians into the arms of the Chinese"
The world of geopolitics is not a romantic novel. You view the world through the prism of Western / US regime foreign relations - as if all acts around the world are orchestrated by the US regime. The world outside of the West does not participate in a US regime narrative.
Perhaps Russia and China came together more rapidly as a natural consequence of US regime mendacity, because it became an more of an imperative, but there is no doubt that they would have come together irrespective, because they are evolved societies, with real diplomats at their respective helms.
It’s a turn of phrase you silly man. The reality is that the Russians have more in common culturally with Europe and the West than they do with the Chinese (who have primarily been historical adversaries).
Russia had deep trade ties with Europe and projects like Nordstream demonstrate the level of economic interdependence between the two blocs.
Now the US have destroyed (literally) that relationship.
The whole debacle is entirely the fault of the US with their lack of strategic foresight and diplomacy.
Western Russia may have more in common with Europe, but what about Central Russia (Central Asia), or Eastern Russia (Eastern Asia)?
To say that Russia has more in common with Europe than Asia is to ignore the geography of Russia. And Russia's deep ties with Europe is essentially a history of failed Western conquest.
Currently I would say that Russia has stronger ties with Central Asia and Eastern Asia than Europe, and for sure the relationship has been made much worse by US regime interference.
Without a doubt Europe has been captured, but until the people of Europe rise up and take back their sovereignty - by finally cutting ties with the rogue US regime, and by expelling and / or neutralising the Atlanticist fifth columnists that have brought Europe to this point of collapse, it will have no future in the world.
They are neighbours, and very evolved, old societies. I'm sure they've always had contact, if not cooperation. I very much believe the West wants you to believe that they had/have nothing to do with one another. Same as their shit stories about the Persians and the Syrians.
America has no culture, so they're not really in a position to understand it, in ancient societies.
you are of course correct - the historical ties between the two countries are clear. The narrative that the West pushed the two countries together serves the West, and only works in a culture with a diminished historical sense.
An industrial society cannot be rebuilt by fiat. No amount of spending can create a society capable of building an industrial base.
When did the People’s Republic ditch Mao and decide to become a modern country? Because it will take us at least twice that long. If we started today, we’d be attempting the project with a thoroughly demoralized and thoroughly ignorant workforce that has never seen any work done, much less participated.
It isn’t just that we don’t have factories anymore. It isn’t just that generations of the kinds of hands-on knowledge only an apprenticeship can teach were tossed aside when the traitor parasite class sold those factories.
No, the fundamental problem is that we have no moral basis for asking our people to tuck in and do the work. That takes buy-in, attitude, a will and a determination to do the right thing, not because it is expedient, but because it is right. On the rare occasions when we have seen a stand-up integrity these past forty years, we have immediately hammered it down; Colin Kaepernick comes to mind.
Do not kid yourselves. The USA as a culture absolutely despises anyone who knows what they’re doing, anyone who has a good reason for doing what they’re doing, anyone who knows why they’re doing what they’re doing. As a country, we hate those people.
That’s why the children we train to kill foreigners kill themselves when they come back to the foreign country that used to be home. That’s why the smart people who get things going in the startup phase of a company either move on or get laid off after startup’s over. That’s why fools in cubicles get paid more to do a job that wouldn’t hold an 8th grader’s interest than the engineers who make the country go. We aren’t going to turn that around in a generation; it will take a generation for our people to find a reason why they might want to rebuild the country.
I want to believe that there will someday be a nation on this continent that deserves to be called America. That was my dream when I was a boy, watching the likes of Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King speak the truths we needed to hear to a nation still yearning towards its promise. My heart still longs for it, but this is not that country. There is no path toward that dream of a free country does not lead through horrific strife, struggle, and heartbreak.
We think the end of empire will come like the dawn. Dawn will surely break, my friends, but only after a night of unspeakable loss. Pity the young, and their parents.
Stupendous!
Sobering.
And not surprising.
This is EXACTLY what I was going to comment! Very sobering but not surprising at all.
Even if the US could reindustrialise it would make no difference to its fate, nor to those of China or Russia. The globe is united by it collectively hurtling towards a climate crisis caused by industrialisation, energy consumption and economic growth.
The only solution, multilateral degrowth is not on anyone's cards.
You may long for the American dream but its dependence on the environment for its fulfilment is absolute. Reality is heading for a nightmare.
For me, the American Dream was never about a standard of consumption, but a standard of respect and the freedom to choose one’s path. My grandfather plowed his land with a mule until his retirement in the 1970s, and by any standard, his life was more free and more respectable than that of anyone I’ve known of heard of since his passing.
I appreciate and value your comments, if that didn’t come across. Hybrid neo-anarchist freedom loving gun toters need to hear contrasting views as much as anyone else. While I am skeptical of the corporate-driven CO2 panic, I am at least as skeptical of the perpetual growth machine on which contemporary monopolist pseudo-market theorizing is predicated. I’ve been effectively on a one-man strike and de-growth track since 1976. Thanks again.
What are you doing here?
How can you be here and write the nonsense you do?
The same west based globalists that have brought about every major problem facing the west & the world- created the fiction of global cooling, then global warming and now rebranded as climate change.
Show us 1 place on earth where an ocean or sea has risen due to melting ice caps.
You can't because it is not happening.
Take your climate change and shove it where the sun don't shine.
If you want to de anything- degrade your life & lifestyle.
Leave the rest of us alone.
Are up to date on your boosters?
I sincerely hope so.
Not cool to insult someone else's opinion and them. Ok, so you don't believe in climate change. Good. I have my doubts too - feels like a new religion.
Why tell people to shove stuff? Would you do it in person, or do you have the bravery due to being out of range?
Old saying: if you don't have anything good to say, don't say it.
Another truth: if you won't say something to someone's face because they are stronger and bigger than you, then don't say it to people who are smaller and weaker.
I'm just tired of internet insults.
I want to get you to rethink what actually occurred at WTC 7....which I argue was the suicide of the hegemon, which we now see falling as you describe.
Some controlled demolitions take
longer than others.
Like blowing up Nordstream, a long fuse, as A Mercouris says
WTC was an excuse to WOT which in turn was an excuse to start ISIS which in turn would have given them oil oil oil for free. It didn't though, the War On Terror cost $9trillion, and all they got to steal was Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian oil.
Bad maths, it would have been better to invest it in education.
'The Empire can't keep up...!'
Well, here's a crazy idea: why don't they accept the reality of a changing world and make peace ?
The only problem with that is: who is going to trust the US regime ever again?
Unfortunately I feel that the US regime will need to be defeated - and it's Western vassals will need to be contained - for the safety and security of the world.
can't see the oligarchs running the western world agreeing 2 that. where's the profit?
A View from New Zealand.
I welcome the de-industrialisation of the United States. It's continuing wars of choice since WW2, allowed by a strong industrial base, have been to the detriment of humanity.
However where I have concern is the current level of ignorance that we all seem to have in the West. It is clear that many of our leaders are in blissful ignorance of the state of armaments in the USA. They still believe that the dominance that previously existed is the same today. Accordingly countries get threatened with little concern for the outcome.
So, just as we are prepared to turn a blind eye to the massacres currently taking place, we also close our eyes to the realities of our collective economic and political weaknesses.
John Rothery 😎 (Tauranga)
It's ok, I will turn a blind eye if the West is massacred :)
So with Rand's typical(?) perspicacity and sensitivity to international relations (and reflecting the wisdom of its funders?), all you need to know from the executive summary is the single mention of 'diplomacy' as a minor component of "US deterrence and power" and the single instance of 'peace' in References, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Seems Americans may have to work harder to help save humanity (including themselves) from their government's multi-trillion dollar hammer..
https://www.rand.org/nsrd/projects/NDS-commission.html
Exactly.
The entire problem is the US oligarchy's mentality of perceiving all human development outside the US borders as a "threat" to itself. Even inside the US itselg, the wellbeing of American masses is also of no interest to the US oligarchy. And the RAND Corp is simply a mouthpiece for this sick worldview.
When you have that kind of mindset, diplomacy, aka win-win and working to find common ground for mutual benefit, is of zero interest. And the idea of spending less on war abroad and more on people at home, that's a non-starter.
That is the US mis-leadership in a nutshell.
The Empire of Lies, has been found out. It's expensive hi tech weapons aren't fit for purpose. The US strategy of believing it could defeat anyone with overwhelming air power. Using its mega expensive high maintenance aircraft. This arrogance has lead to the US neglecting it's hardware for a ground war. Russia has developed the world's best air defence systems. While maintaining a massive ground war capability. How can 1 country face off to a huge proxy army, armed & supplied by 50 countries including the mighty US? Not only standing up to that enemy but totally decimating it. Proving beyond any doubt, talk is cheap. I'm pretty certain the vast majority of Americans have no idea whatsoever, what Russia has achieved in the Ukrainian conflict up to now. I've no doubt they'd be shocked to the core of they were aware of what has happened.
Yes indeed. This battered and abused US veteran is happy to see it to.
Great article, thanks!
So, the Gerald R Ford super duper carrier with Magnetic launchers wasn't the game changer it was meant to be?
How the combined west can't even produce one decent hypersonic missile is beyond pathetic and a sure sign that the west has reached its nadir with military technology.
That RAND have finally woken up to the glaring reality any observant citizen has been very well aware of for years gives me some hope that the US gets with the program and climbs down off its high horse.
one iconic example is the cost involved in producing a pen that worked in space. the russians simply used a pencil. i often wondered if someone in the usa military suggested using a pencil and got told 2 zip it by those riding on the defence/ aerospace gravy train ...
Is that the pen like so much else developed with public funds for ultimate commercial profit?
Unfortunately the Rand Recommendation seems to be to double down. And Regardless of getting it wRong, the establishment (profiting nicely) loves to take the Rand advice they pay it to give them - KK THX for that chart that shows it so well.
Another issue is that even if whomever needed to approve such funds did so, there wouldn’t even be the industrial capacity and capability to spend them to achieve the desired results. I explain myself: to build weapons, not something I underwrite but to follow the thread here, you need capable industries with capable engineers and capable workforce. You see the issue now? The largest share of US university engineering graduates are from abroad, and our workforce has now moved on from real factories to services such a Uber, with real manufacturing in mostly China. Intelligent and capable US kids/gals study for MBAs, finance and other managerial positions looking for riches in Wall Street and Banks. Math and Physics graduates end up as “quants” in investment banks. Why would they dedicate their life to produce real stuff if ethereal stuff pays many times over, and is risk less? It would take at least a generation to turn the tide, just ask Boeing.
Exactly. It's not that the Empire doesn't want to cooperate on more equitable terms, the reality is that without the hegemony they are akin Emperor with no clothes. Tough times ahead. Perhaps Elon as the new Wizard of Oz persuades Trump that pumping money in space exploration makes more sense to boost stock market than perpetual wars.
Yes, when we know how much damage burning fossil fuels is doing, why not blow up tonnes of them to propel us to Mars- even if a rocket could take off using electricity (?) its still an insane use of resources- which, just like a military economy gives no reinvestment back into society.
The Empire is going down for sure- but it's also gonna take a lot down with it.
And even if they had the brains- building real stuff will accelerate the climate crisis-turning the tide with the best brains restructuring the economy to be based on service and care not growth might also take a generation- which we haven't got.
Thanks Kit a revelatory article submitting that " the Empire has no clothes " ratified you suggest by the stasis of 'omerta' in the chain linked ranks of the MSM who are under instructions to quarantine the Rand Report at least from the eyes and ears of the propagandised proles! These feats of deception must have their limits?
Now I don't know whether this is good news or bad news, given how dying empires lash out with a final flurry of ultraviolence. If we're going down, we'll take you all down with us.
I suggest prepping.
Nah, I'm relying on Russian technology to burn the USA to ashes, long before they start the 'you're going down with us' rubbish.
Couple of subs parked off the US coast, some megaton yield nukes on supersonic missiles and bye bye sunshine. Within minutes. Cooked.
It really was shocking to see the "no limits" declaration of Russia/China ignored by the west. It took almost a year from that unequivocal statement of partnership before western MSM ceased to hope for China to oppose Russia in Ukraine. That was the point I cancelled all subscriptions and began getting news almost completely from substack.
This current report might be a sign of sanity if it weren't meant to justify doubling down on the same ridiculous strategy: more war everywhere, all the time against an array of better prepared opponents and really, the vast majority of the world's population.
This was an excellent article, Kit. Working people need your coverage of events today. Keep working, brother!
The system created after 9/11 is monstrous and is now eating itself. The corporate media, the greedy corporations and every war profiteers (politicians included), are all to blame for the demise of our country. They have all allowed the shredding of The Constitution in the guise of protecting us from ‘terrorists’. Little did the people know that it’s the same people who’ve infiltrated our institutions who are the terrorists and have proceeded to destroy other nations and now, ours as well. It will take the US about the same time to gain the trust from around the globe as the rebuilding of Gaza, perhaps even longer. RIP USA.
No trust for the USA! Ever. I do like Americans, but what the USA stands for and what it has done to the world is inexcusable. Ideally all the bombs they have dropped on Korea, Vietnam etc etc etc etc. should be dropped on the USA. Then it can be rebuilt from the rubble into something acceptable that minds it's own business, and quits consuming 25% of the world's oil for 5% of the world's population.
It's wrong.
Excellent piece, which accurately describes why the US is incapable of entering a WWIII-like situtaion, though our political leaders and talking-heads, even in the alternative press appear to believe that this will happen. It could happen but not likely. And if it does happen, it will be over before the US defense establishment realizes it.
My only question is why does the piece state that American re-industrialization cannot happen? Is the author referring to the current set of mitigating circumstances that would prevent it, such as a lack of local manufacturing talent or the lack of commitment by our brain-dead business leadership who have no understanding any longer of manufacturing processes as well as the need for them?
Thank you for your kind words, and interest Steve!
Yes, a lack of local expertise/experience/basic comprehension of manufacturing and industry is a critical factor here. So too - as you rightly point out - political and corporate leadership that is completely business-minded and divorced from the realities of the multipolar world.
However, there's a wider issue here, which my dear reader Alan Hodge highlighted. It won't just take money to reindustrialise the US - it would take a major individual and collective commitment to America and its future at every level for reindustrialisation to occur.
https://open.substack.com/pub/kitklarenberg/p/collapsing-empire-china-and-russia?r=hmeu9&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=74599166
On the new policy site put up by RFK Jr., where many people are already posting their suggestions, I also posted a comment that described the need to completely reform our public education system so it can produce qualified scientists, engineers, and technologists.
I have also suggested that we return our public school systems teaching techniques back to the way we had them back in the 1950s and 1960s, where students have to work hard to learn their subject matter and not slough it all off to technologies and the Internet.
I have a good friend who is a tutor for the public schools as well as does private tutoring and he is constantly telling me how stupid most of the White children are when it comes to mathematics (which is his subject matter) compared to his Asian students.
In part, he blames the way students are being taught mathematics so that they lose confidence in themselves instead of gaining the necessary skills to do math properly.
In this regard I promoted the idea that students should not be allowed any supporting technologies until their first year of high school where they are taught to use them properly so as not to interfere with their capabilities in learning their subjects properly...
Some claim the USA is losing its grip on the world, but the truth is that other growing military powers pose a real threat to US world hegemony because super powers like China and Russia are no more allied with them. Lesbian Hillary Clinton rejoiced at Muammar al Ghaddafi’s murder and the destruction of Libya by the USA-Israel and Sarkosy’s France saying laughingly: “We came, we saw and he died!”
The US will destroy all countries whose economy, military, and politics threaten their interests, and as long as we allow them to have operating, unaccountable and countless military bases all around the world, with the biggest, most active, most ferocious and genocidal one, Apartheid Israel, in Occupied Palestine, celebrated by the entire West and others as the only democracy in the Arab-speaking and Muslim world, funded and armed by International Zionism and Jewry, including hundreds of millions of Christians. The USA is not a democracy and never was and neither are the UK and France.
When the doctor asked me recently why I was so upset, I did not mention this obviously!
MABM 😨
honestly i dont think the entire west celebrates this apartheid state, just the people who run the world. despite massive and increasing censorship most people are horrified at extent of
terror and deprivation inflicted on civilian populations. or largely unaware due to msm suppression of news and extent of propaganda.
Canada led the NATO mission that destroyed Libya.....there was a victory flypast over Ottawa, the nation's capital.
..and neither is the UK, or France.
Bloody brilliant