Friday
In the immediate post-WW2 era, Pax Americana served a needed and wanted purpose. The belligerent and totalitarian U.S.S.R. openly sought world dominance. Without the projection of U.S. military might, the world would have been overrun and, today, would be living in the lap of luxury — North Korean style.
But now we are in a new age. I doubt very much that it will be up to the standards of the Pax Americana years, but it will likely be better than the current perverted, fetid remnants of the U.S. light on the hill that first dimmed then, like a candle that reached its base, set light to the curtains.
The humiliation of the tinpot despot Zelensky, in Ukraine’s pointless and murderous war against its own eastern provinces, showcased a powerful and confident Russia. Russia has spent the last 40 years living within its means and re-building its economy and military. In that same period, the U.S. debt rose by tens of trillions of dollars, whole industries were destroyed and the L.G.B.T. whatever took over the military.
The real loser of the war is not the Ukraine, it is the U.S. Great nations come and go. It is early days, but the evidence, as of July, 2022, is that the U.S is in the final stages of collapse, and that Russia is ascendent. The calibre of the people around Putin suggests that this is not a one-man miracle. Russia seems set to continue on its sensible path even after the eventual departure of Putin.
Last week, standing alongside the Russian delegation at BRICS+, were China, India, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia, Thailand, Cambodia, Kazakstan, Belarus, Algeria, Senegal, Malaysia, Uzbekistan and Fiji. They constitute a percentage of the world’s economy that is not only growing but, due to the suicidal sanctions of Europe and the U.S., will soon be larger than the West’s.
It is not just the military and the economy that have failed, the U.S. has lost its moral authority. The J6, Soviet-style show-trials are already falling apart — even with their own hand-picked, partisan witnesses. U.S. citizens have been incarcerated for up to 18 months for peacefully protesting their constitutional right to a fair presidential election. High-ranking political appointees of the previous administration are arrested in the middle of the night by armed agents. By what authority does this U.S. administration lecture China on the Uyghur concentration camps?
The current predilection of the U.S. for shouting loudly and carrying a twig has been exposed by the Ukraine situation. Biden’s threat to expand N.A.T.O. even further east continues his provocative in the extreme behaviour. How about Russia sets up missiles in Cuba? Is that what it would take to wake up this administration?
The U.S. has also lost the P.R. war. Most of the world do not read the WaPo or NYT, or watch CNN or the BBC or any of the other propaganda organs of the West. In short, they know that the Russians are not to blame for the fighting in Ukraine. They know that for over thirty years, the Russians tried everything to avoid military conflict.
N.A.T.O.’s thrust, at the behest of the U.S. to needle Russia into military action in the Ukraine was a fatal miscalculation. Coming so soon after the Afghanistan debacle, it was the final one. It is apparent to the world that the U.S. has passed its use-by date, as an economic, military and moral power.
My formative years were in the U.K. in the 1950s, secure under Pax Americana. My lifelong, till this year, Yankophilia was born of that experience.
Now? The corruption and excruciating imbecility of Joe Biden is an apt metaphor for the state of the U.S. While some are amazed at how low his approval rating is – 34% was the last number that I saw – I am dismayed, nay aghast, that one in three Americans still approve of his performance.
I find no pleasure in noting any of the above, but can no longer either excuse or deny it.