Posted by seumasach on August 1, 2016
1st August, 2016
If Australia — “a unique country with an inglorious history — steps into the South China Sea waters”, the newspaper Global Times editorialised at the weekend, “it will be an ideal target for China to warn and strike … Australia’s power means nothing compared to the security of China.”
Posted in brexit crisis | Tagged: Australia-China relations, china-australia free trade agreement, oceania | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 1, 2016
A bio of O’Neill is interesting: he is both an Osborne man, Goldman Sachs and pro-BRICS- in fact, he coined the phrase. He is the classic representative of the pro-China, pro-EU faction which I assumed would win the referendum, but lost.
1st August, 2016
Treasury minister Jim O’Neill is said to be considering his future in the Government in light of Theresa May’s decision to review the new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point.
According to the Financial Times, Lord O’Neill believes the pause reflected a shift in the new administration’s attitude towards China, which is set to finance £6bn of the Hinkley Point deal.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 31, 2016
Will Australia join Britain in being drawn out of the Chinese sphere of influence under US pressure? That would be extremely damaging for Australia but then so it is for Britain. Turnbull, remember, is a sinophile ,Australia has a free trade agreement with China and its economy is deeply enmeshed with that of China: so, at first sight it is surprising that Australia has become involved in provocations against China. Is it just coincidental that Australia’s racial identity is coming into play again. Is Australia having something of an anglo-saxon revival along with Britain and the USA?
19th July, 2016
A senior Chinese official has warned Australia not to join in any US sea patrols aimed at challenging China’s sovereignty in the South China Sea
Posted in brexit crisis | Tagged: anzus, Australia-China relations, China Australian cooperation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 30, 2016
2010-2013 may be seen in retrospect to mark the beginning of a prolonged confrontation between China and the USA seeing both the coming to power of Xi, according to this article under the influence of the 2010 book “China Dream”, and the publication in 2011 of Clintons essay Asia’ Pacific Century. I had always tended to regard the famous “pivot to Asia” with some skepticism seeing it as merely a response to US failure in the Middle East. However, Brexit has made me rethink since it seems essentially to be a realignment of the UK with the USA with regard to China. Cameron called for the referendum on the EU in early 2013 but subsequently the UK appeared to be entering into an unprecedented strategic partnership with China. However, Cameron’s role in this was viewed with evident skepticism by the Chinese and it was George Osborne who took the leading role culminating in President Xi’s visit to London last year. Osborne is the main victim of post-Brexit vote machinations as well as the leave campaign’s neoconservative leaders who seemed to be under the illusion that victory would bring them to power. Power has instead fallen to May who has already put dampeners on the China partnership and brought the UK out of the sphere of influence of Chinese soft power. Not for the first time in its history Britain has abandoned its own national interest in deference to that of US imperialism.
13th March 2013
Soon after taking over as Communist Party and military chief, Xi Jinping launched a series of speeches referring to “The China Dream.”
Posted in brexit crisis, Uncategorized | Tagged: Asian pivot, brexit agenda, Clinton agenda, Obama agenda | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 30, 2016
10th February, 2016
As expected, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders scored an easy win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary voting for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. While most of the attention focused on Donald Trump’s massive victory in the Republican Party primary, Sander’s win – or, more accurately, Clinton’s defeat – might be cause for celebration in an unlikely place: Zhongnanhai.
Posted in Drive to Global War | Tagged: isolating China | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 30, 2016
In trying to assess the meaning of Brexit one thing is already absolutely clear: Brexit represents a rejection of the kind of top-level state-to-state engagement with China associated with George Osborne. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is over. Whether it may be revived later depends largely on whether article 50 is actually ever triggered. From a Chinese viewpoint such a shift would definitely correlate with a Clinton presidency according to a recent analysis in The Diplomat.
May had objections to Hinkley Point, says Cable
30th July, 2016
Theresa May had “objections” to a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point during the coalition, the then Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable has said.
Posted in British economy | Tagged: brexit agenda, China-UK comprehensive strategic partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 30, 2016
July, 2016
The British media has never had much time for Jeremy Corbyn.
Within a week of his election as Labour Party leader in September, it was engaging in a campaign the Media Reform Coalition characterized as an attempt to “systematically undermine” his position. In an avalanche of negative coverage 60 percent of all articles which appeared in the mainstream press about Corbyn were negative with only 13 percent positive. The newsroom, ostensibly the objective arm of the media, had an even worse record: 62 percent negative with only 9 percent positive.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: battle for the Labour Party | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 30, 2016
The hawks and harpies coalescing around Clinton are making threatening noises but their options on the ground in Syria are very limited and have just become a lot more limited with the loss of Turkey to Russian diplomacy. It all boils down to whether they are prepared to challenge Russia directly, risking all out confrontation. The rather lukewarm warmongering proposals below suggest not. Trump is the man of the moment in that sense: his policy of engagement with Russia against ISIS is consistent with the deeper underlying shifts in the global balance of forces. His Russia policy may be “controversial” but it is logical and realistic for an America in terminal decline.
As Hillary Clinton begins her final charge for the White House, her advisers are already recommending air strikes and other new military measures against the Assad regime in Syria.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: detente with Russia, US-Russia strategic partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 30, 2016
30th July, 2016
Donald Trump’s flurry of offhand remarks and abrupt zingers on Russia — praising Vladimir Putin, dismissing NATO — have jolted the world, not to mention the U.S. presidential campaign.
Posted in Disband NATO!, Global peace process | Tagged: End of empire, retreat from empire, trump agenda | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 29, 2016
This article is very important in advancing the thesis of Velikovsky concerning the influence of catastrophic events on human history. It appears that some of these events may have been more recent than he thought and may be particularly important in relation to the demise of the Inca and Aztec empires. These certainly suffered catastrophic events but Velikovsky found the chronology anomalous. This article helps to provide some answers.
19th December, 2007
I just finished reading this one and all I can say is: Wow! This was an intense book! Not a long one, either – just 208 pages including appendices. It’s tight and economical with no wasted words or idle rambling around. Every example and temporary diversion is crucial to the central argument which is – brace yourself for this one – Mike Baillie (yeah, a real scientist and not a crackpot), is saying that the Black Death, one of the most deadly pandemics in human history, said to have killed possibly two thirds of the entire population of Europe, not to mention millions all over the planet, probably wasn’t Bubonic Plague but was rather Death By Comet(s)!
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Posted by seumasach on July 29, 2016
19th July, 2016
Like the British Empire before it, the banking/military/industrial juggernaut that is the US Hegemon is slowly sinking beneath the waves despite its frantic efforts to stay afloat. The attempted coup in Turkey this last week is just the latest fiasco for the hegemon. But before we do any finger pointing at the US, a little history will help with our understanding of what is at stake. Context is everything.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: russia -Turkey strategic alliance, Turkish coup, Turkish diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 