Archive for the ‘Multipolar world’ Category
The New World Order is not turning out as planned. Instead of all power emanating from London and Washington, new power centres are emerging to the South and East: a new global equilibrium raises the possibility of a new post-imperial age of peace and equality between nations.
Posted by seumasach on January 22, 2017
Kevin Lim
Asia Times
21st January, 2017
When China’s President Xi Jinping articulated his idea of the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) in Astana in September 2013 and again a month later in Jakarta, what emerged was a vision to parlay large-scale economic dynamism into a foreign policy projecting Chinese influence overseas in the name of development. Inclusive and expansive at once, this is an ambitious vision and one which could seal ours as the Chinese century if it succeeds in weaving the loose ends of China’s overseas interests into a coherent whole. Three years into SREB, now better known as the “Belt& Road Initiative” (BRI), a part of the vision is slowly taking on flesh. The volume of media reports attests to this. What remains less clear is the strategic implications and opportunities of BRI on China’s partners. Occupying a slight sliver at the intersection of West Asia and the Middle East, Europe and Africa — regions of intimate relevance to BRI — Israel too has joined the new Silk Road caravan. Where does it fit in, and what difference does BRI make?
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Posted in Global peace process, Multipolar world | Tagged: “Belt& Road Initiative” (BRI), Chinese soft power, One Belt One Road, Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 22, 2017
New Eastern Outlook
22nd January, 2017
Nowhere has the Obama administration done more damage to the US position than in the Middle East, leaving a big void to be filled largely by China, the silent player, and Russia, the military stalwart holding the US at bay. Could this be the end of US’ unchallenged hegemony it has been enjoying since the end of the Second World War? While Russia has quite effectively sidelined the US in military terms, China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) which is to stretch deep inside the Middle East and extend into Europe, is emerging as a factor that will transform the Middle East’s current geo-political landscape. Nowhere is this impact more apparent than in the emergence of Israel as China’s most important partner. With Israel acquiring a pivotal position in China’s mid-eastern calculus, other countries’ relations, particularly those trying to tap into China’s economic projects, with Israel are also likely to undergo a very meaningful transformation.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Chinese soft power, One Belt One Road | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2017
Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
17th Janaury, 2017
He did it, his way; Chinese President Xi Jinping descended on the Swiss Alps; profited from a geopolitical vacuum only three days before Donald Trump’s inauguration with the Atlanticist West mired in stagnation and/or protectionism; unleashed a charm offensive; and deftly positioned China in the lead of “inclusive” globalization.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China-led globalization, Chinese soft power, One Belt One Road | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2017
It is precisely the fact that China is now leading globalization which has led to growing anti-globalization sentiment and rhetoric amongst Western elites. Up till now they have never been concerned about people being”left behind by globalization”. Brexit Britain and Trump’s America now seem to think they can “contain” China. This is a delusion: China has already forged deep ties globally with its win/win approach a welcome contrast to the West’s “winner takes all” approach
FT
18th January, 2017
China’s president launched a robust defence of globalisation and free trade on Tuesday, drawing a line between himself and Donald Trump just three days before the US president-elect’s inaugural address in Washington.
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Posted in Containing China, Multipolar world | Tagged: Chinese soft power | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 17, 2017
Whereas all is seen through the prism of ideology, the reality behind the Trump phenomena is the failure of the unipolar project. Facts have hard heads and must ultimately impose themselves. The conveyor belt for this realism is ,logically, the armed forces who, on the hand, suffered directly from the futile wars and, on the other, survived the attempts of the neoconservative chickenhawks to isolate and diminish them. In this sense it is a patriotic movement. But, far from making America great again, the real challenge is to make of the USA a functioning nation state.
Federico Pieraccini
Stategic Culture
15th January, 2017
The failed foreign-policy strategy of the neoconservatives and neoliberals has served to dramatically reduce Washington’s role and influence in the world. Important alliances are being forged without seeking the assent of the United States, and the world model envisioned in the early 1990s – from Bush to Kagan and all the signatories of the PNAC founding statement of principles – is increasingly coming undone. Donald Trump’s victory represents, in all likelihood, the last decisive blow to a series of foreign-policy strategies that in the end undermined the much-prized leadership of the United States. The ceasefire in Syria, reached thanks to an agreement between Turkey and Russia, notably excluded the United States.
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Posted in Global peace process, Multipolar world | Tagged: China-Iran-Russia Triangle, End of empire, Russian diplomacy, trump agenda | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 7, 2017
The Anti-Media
6th January, 2016
Notable American foreign policy critic and linguist, Professor Noam Chomsky, has stated numerous times that the United States’ power has steadily been declining since the end of World War II. As Chomsky notes, in 1945, the United States had “literally half the world’s wealth, incredible security, controlled the entire Western Hemisphere, both oceans, [and[ the opposite sides of both oceans.”
In that context – and in the context of the United States waging war in multiple countries across the globe with the most advanced military technology in the world – it is hard to understand how this has happened. But Chomsky is not wrong.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: End of empire, Russian diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 17, 2016
Foreign Central Banks Liquidate A Record $403 Billion In US Paper
Zero Hedge
16th December, 2016
One month ago, when we last looked at the Fed’s update of Treasuries held in custody, we noted something troubling: the number had continued to drop sharply, declining by another $14 billion in one week, and pushing the total amount of custodial paper to $2.788 trillion, the lowest since 2012. One month later, we refresh this chart and find that in last week’s update, there is finally some good news: foreign central banks finally bought some US paper held in the Fed’s custody account, which following months of liquidation, rose over the past two weeks by $23 billion, the biggest two-week advance since November of 2016, pushing the total amount of custodial paper to $2.816 trillion, the highest since early October.
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Posted in Currency Wars, Financial crisis | Tagged: US treasuries bubble | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 23, 2016
F.William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
21st November, 2016
On November 14-15 in Teheran, during a high-level visit of the Chinese Defense Minister, General Chang Wanquan, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, the two major Eurasian nations signed a deal to enhance military cooperation. The agreement calls for intensification of bilateral military training and closer cooperation on what the Iran sees as regional security issues, with terrorism and Syria at the top of the list. Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, said Iran is ready to share with China its experiences in fighting against the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Dehghan added that the agreement represents an “upgrade in long-term military and defense cooperation with China.”
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Chinese soft power, End of empire, Mackinder, One Belt One Road, Russia- Iran -China strategic partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 23, 2016
The world has already undergone a historic shift: China is now leading globalization. This explains the sudden “feeling left behind by globalization” trend in the West. It is also behind the utopian nationalist programs of the Trump and Brexit ilk: a desire to choose past greatness in “splendid isolation” in preference to becoming a mere partner in a multipolar world. In as far as the Anglosphere still talks of globalization it is done under the old “free-trade” label ignoring the fact that it is the international movement of capital which is the key element of globalization. The irony is that it is the US-UK in particular which most needs incoming capital investment and is therefore most likely to benefit from China-led globalization. Hence, the central issue of the moment: will Trump’s economic nationalist rhetoric give way to a more pragmatic approach and, in particular, a partnership with China?
China Daily
22nd November, 2016
Leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific economies ended their annual meeting with a joint pledge to resist protectionism amid signs of increased free-trade skepticism.
The meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation organization, which accounts for 57 percent of the world economy, led to a joint statement on Sunday that asked to work toward adoption of the broader Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, a 21-economy pact that is favored by China.
“We reaffirm our commitment to keep our markets open and to fight against all forms of protectionism,” the leaders of the APEC economies said in the joint statement.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China-led globalisation, Chinese soft power, economic nationalism, trump agenda | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 23, 2016
Strategic Culture
22nd November, 2016
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on November 20 that Turkey did not need to join the European Union «at all costs». Instead, it could become part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), or Shanghai Pact. The Turkish leader said he had already discussed the idea with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev.
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Posted in Disband NATO!, Multipolar world | Tagged: Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (CCTS), russia -Turkey strategic alliance, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 21, 2016
So much for Oceania! The dominoes are falling in Asia, firstly, with the Philippines and several other countries moving into China’s orbit but now with Australia seemingly poised to exit the Anglosphere. This comes as a blow to the idea of an orderly retreat from empire. The facts on the ground point in a different direction. Hopefully the new US presidency will take an equally pragmatic approach and embrace the rising powers rather than continuing to go against the flow of history.
Straits Times
18th November, 2016
SYDNEY • For Australia, the election of President-elect Donald Trump has raised fears about the previously unthinkable: the fracturing of the more than 65-year-old alliance between Canberra and Washington.
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Posted in Multipolar world, Oceania | Tagged: China-led globalization, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 