So you all wanted a trade war, eh?

Above image. Nothing quite captures the rot inside the United States today than the very foundations of New York City.

Calm cool, accurate, and easy to read. Here’s the reality as we move forward in January 2022.

From Strategic Culture…

Eamon McKinney
January 8, 2022
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In a world of chronic shortages China has realized that commodities hold more value than cash.

The current trade war with China began at the very outset of the Trump administration. Apparently alarmed at America’s dependence on Chinese goods, particularly the extent to which its defense industries are reliant on Chinese components and rare earths, Trump had a point but may have better served to speak softly about this vulnerability. He mentioned only two dependencies, there are thousands of products that America relies on China exclusively for.

In moves that were simply anti-competitive practices he then launched in a “tech war” with China. Banning the sale of chips and semi-conductors, along with bans on Chinese 5G and Huawei the global leader in particular. Not content with that the U.S. launched a global push to pressure its “allies’ to also ban Huawei and its state of the art 5G technology. Not to be taken in isolation, the tech war was just part of an overall strategy to damage and restrain China’s economy. “Decoupling” had arrived into the general lexicon.

To an extent the measures worked, the chip shortage caused a slowdown among many tech dependent sectors, but not for long. China has developed its domestic production at a pace not possible anywhere else. It has also convinced China that it needed to greatly accelerate its self-sufficiency across all sectors.

As it stands today, America has nothing that China needs that it can’t make or buy elsewhere. America conversely needs China desperately, without China’s goods the American economy grinds to a halt. The extent of that dependency has been highlighted by Americaэs ongoing supply chain chaos. Manufacturing, retail, construction and countless other industry sectors have stalled without Chinese goods. No country in the world is as dependent on imports as the U.S. Attempts to find alternatives to China are fruitless, no other country can match the efficiency, infrastructure, economies of scale and cost that China can. American manufacturing only accounts for 20% of the American economy, self-sufficiency for Americans is a fantasy, even in the best case scenario, it is generations away.

Long spoken of is “China’s nuclear option”, dumping its dollar holdings and rendering the dollar worthless. China doesn’t want to do that. Firstly the loss of a trillion of its own dollar holdings is not to be taken lightly, and it would also damage the holdings and economies of its other trading partners around the world. Such a move would be an absolute last resort. China’s real nuclear option is the withholding of essential goods to America.

China has all but monopolised the rare earth industries, now accounting for more than 85% of global production. Without rare earths Americas tech and defence sectors would be paralysed.

Curious how President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, makgin American purchases of anything out of Xinjiang illegal. 

Funny thing though... all of the Chiense "rare earth" minerals come from Xinjiang and are mostly mined by Uighurs. 

Uh oh! (Head slap!)

All the seventeen critical rare earths are mined and refined in China in high volume. Some are mined in other countries in smaller volumes: developing alternative sources to China would a very lengthy process. For the foreseeable future, China decides who gets rare earths, and who doesn’t.

Unknown to many Americans the pharmaceutical industry is among the most heavily dependent of China. 80-85% of its products and precursors come from China, and there are currently few alternatives. I leave it to the reader’s imagination to visualize an America without medications, think Zombie apocalypse.

More than 131 million people — 66 percent of all adults in the United States — use prescription drugs. 

-Health policy institute at Georgetown

Some recent developments in China have given us a glimpse of the future. China is stockpiling food and other commodities at unprecedented levels. It is believed to hold more than half the world’s grain and maize already, other essential food stuffs are also being stockpiled at similar levels.

Iron ore, steel and other industrial raw materials are also being hoarded in previously unforeseen quantities. In a world of chronic shortages China has realised that commodities hold more value than cash.

More significantly, China just published a Governmental “White Paper.” It emphasises the need to conserve natural, finite resources (again think rare earths.) It also addresses the paradox that Trump was concerned about, why is China supplying parts to the U.S. military contractors? These among many other sectors will now require a “special export licence”. Read between the lines. China can apply these principles across any exported product it chooses. If they don’t like where it is headed, or what it will be used for, it isn’t going. Fertilisers, for which China accounts for about 30% of the world’s production are already banned from export. This is already forcing American many American farmers to switch from wheat to less fertiliser-intensive crops like soybeans.

China didn’t start or want this trade war, to date it is has been a one-sided assault on the Chinese economy by an increasingly desperate American government. China has not retaliated or employed any of the measures it could have in response, until now.

America now truly has its trade war, and more decoupling will follow, but from here on in, it will be on China’s terms.

From LinkedIN

WHO WANTS A DOLLAR?
NOT CHINA

Dr Eamon McKinney

But America does need China it needs the rare earths required for military production, automotive and hightech manufacturing. All would come to a standstill without the rare earths which China has essentially monopolized.

Additionally, 85% of all Pharmaceutica used in the U.S. and their component chemicals come from China. Imagine what America would look like if supplies of
Pharmaceuticals were stopped. The truth, however unpalatable is that America needs China,

China no longer needs America.

What is now happening in China should alarm all Americans businesses. China no longer wants the dollar, China has too many dollars it doesn’t need any more of what it regards as increasingly worthless currency for tangible products.

Where trade is still being conducted many Chinese companies are no longer pricing their goods in Dollars, they are pricing in RMB and want to paid in
such. For the last 40 years, dollars came in and were exchanged into local currency, now, if you want Chinese goods, first buy RMB with your dollars.

First slide…

Second slide…

Second slide.

Third slide…

Third slide.

And China is not alone, widely unreported is the fact that many countries who are considered allies of America, The U.K, France, Germany, India and Mexico are also moving rapidly away from the Dollar and the institutions that sustain it. The swift payment system, the I.M.F. the World Bank and the Bank for International Settlements are all now being replaced by more equitable alternatives.

Trump’s tariffs have not affected China or hurt it any way. The tariffs have been paid by the American consumer. It has just added further inflationary pressure on the economy.

But that is the tip of the iceberg. Biden’s new $1.9 Trillion stimulus (actually a bailout) will plunge the dollar to new lows.

If that is not alarming enough, consider this: 40% of all the $US currently in circulation globally have been created in the last year.

The dollar has plunged in value some 15% over the last few months, and it continues to decline. We can only hope that as inflation inevitably increases
it will be gradual, the consequences of a more rapid decline are unthinkable, yet most certainly possible.

Denial appears to be the prevailing U.S. Government policy, but denial is not a useful strategy for the private sector. Companies must deal with the fact that global supply chains may soon to be a thing of the past for American companies.

As the dollar continues to decline, it’s reduced purchasing power is making foreign products uneconomical. The one positive is that the companies who have recognized these facts are bringing their supply chains home.

Reshoring makes good economic sense, because it is possible that in the near future, the only people who will accept the US dollar are likely to only be other American companies.

Conclusion

You will not read about the collapse, the SHTF, or the various wars and brush fights in the American Government controlled media. But they are still going on. Here’s an insight as to what is going on.

Finance folk, bankers, accountants, and other FIRE industries have looted the United States, and gutted American society. It’s a big boated crusty shell with nothing but dust on the inside. Soon, very soon, there is going to be a mass realization of this reality.

It could be harsh, brash and catastrophic.

Or, it could be a serious of controlled implosions.

But it WILL HAPPEN.

There is no way out of this mess. None. The only thing that a person can do is hunker down in a smaller community away from the larger clusters of dependent citizenry, become active and involved in your respective communities, and be the Rufus; help others will no concern for personal profit.

I will advise you all to use all of the techniques provided on MM here to center your consciousness, and prepare.

Here’s a quick review…

  • Affirmation prayer campaigns.
  • Perform your Fate Forecasting, and monitor it closely.
  • Center your consciousness using Hemi-sync.
  • Conduct world-line travel and slides as necessary.
  • Be part of your community.
  • Be able to provide a service, or volunteer in your community.
  • Tune out the bullshit propaganda off the “news”.
  • Stock up your food larder. Have a garden.
  • Trade and barter with neighbors.
  • Ride a bicycle more often. Use the car less.
  • Surround yourself with cats, or dogs, or other animals.
  • Be kind. Be calm. Be neighborly.

Make your little area a bubble of kind softness. That way, no matter what changes hits your world, your little area will be mostly immune to them. Be great; be the Rufus.

I believe in you.

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You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.

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Instead of the USA trying to contain Russia and China, the rest of the world is determined to contain the United States instead.

Well, well. Here’s some thing for thought. What? You didn’t think that the United States couldn’t be contained, did you?
I struggle to understand people like Cohen (and Blinken and Pompeo and Albright and the rest of them). I don't think pathologizing them as psychopaths or sociopaths is definitive. Simply evil comes closer. And yet we let them rule us.

-Posted by: NoOneYouKnow | Apr 14 2021 19:26 utc | 2
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Indeed, everything on the “news”, almost without exception, is about how America is doing this to “contain China”, and doing that “to sanction Iran”, and doing this other such thing to “contain Russian actions”.  You read this automatically, and you automatically get this idea in the back of your mind that…
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  • America is out of control.
  • It is everywhere doing everything.
  • America is super powerful.
  • No one dares fight back.

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And that is only because America controls the “news” media over most of the Western world, and if you read, speak or think in English, your thoughts are being manipulated.

But,you know, don’t you think that it is pretty fucking sick for the United States to try to contain anyone? I mean, that’s what “freedom” and “liberty” is supposed to be all about. It’s supposed to be a “live and let live”, and only fight at the very last possible moment when someone gets up in your face…

Instead, the US is out in everyone else’s face and “laying down the law”.

Like this…

Contain Russia

Contain China

Contain Iran

People! this is all very fucked up.

A schoolyard bully located in The state of Alabama purportedly assaulted a 9-year-old female, resulting in the girl having a major concussion, a pair of black eyes in addition to a head rife with bruises. Institution authorities were adamant that this particular young lady had not been picked on, rather these bruises were self-inflicted and that the girl had some personality “issues”. Not that a bully had beat her to a pulp.

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That’s what the USA is today.

It’s a big bully, and when anyone tries to point it out, the toadies of the bully come up with all kinds of excuses.

It is NOT, not, not sustainable.

And unless it stops, and stops quickly, someone’s nose is going to get awfully bloody.

Unless the bullying stops, some of the victims of the bullies are going to rise up and go “Sandy Hook” on their asses.
Here's a pretty good article. It's worth the read, don't you know. It's By Andrew Korybko, and all credit to him. It was edited to fit this venue.

Here’s The 20-Point Plan For How Russia Could Contain The US

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov’s dramatic declaration that his country “will pursue the policy of active containment of the US on all fronts” if American pressure on Russia doesn’t soon end inspired a unique 20-point plan for what this could look like in practice.

Russia’s Anti-American Containment Policy

Russia finally appears to be serious about “decoupling” from the West after over half a decade of its well-intended and passionate efforts to enter into a rapprochement with it following the onset of the Ukrainian Crisis.

This event was a game-changer which would push Russia to accelerate its foreign policy diversification strategy towards non-Western countries, especially those in the Global South.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is evidently very serious about this after dramatically declaring in February 2021 that his country “will pursue the policy of active containment of the US on all fronts” if American pressure on Russia doesn’t soon end.

He promised to [1] prevent foreign meddling in his country’s democratic processes, [2] promote multipolarity across the world, and [3] impose counter-sanctions on the US.

Markov’s 10 Euro-Centric Proposals

Prior to Ryabkov’s policy announcement, Russian expert Sergey Markov predicted ten ways in which his country could respond to more EU sanctions against it. As Google Translated into English from his original Facebook post and slightly edited for clarity, these are:

1. Russia may recognize the DPR and the LPR and accelerate their integration into Russia;

2. Russia may impose strict sanctions in the economy against the EU;

3. Russia may cease to consider the interests of Europe in Syria and Libya;

4. Russia may impose strict restrictions on the work of Russian-speaking media that are supported by the EU;

5. Russia may limit the work of NGOs, with which the EU tries to influence Russian public opinion;

6. Russia may tighten the position regarding the Russophobic regime in Ukraine and start working on its elimination and replacement with a pro-Russian government;

7. Russia may switch its economic projects from the EU to other countries, especially the East;

8. Russia may significantly increase its military resources in the Kaliningrad region and other regions close to the EU;

9. Russia may begin to react significantly more strictly to the Russophobic policies of EU countries such as Poland, the Baltic countries, Romania;

10. Russia may dramatically reduce consultations with France and Germany on important global strategic issues. This will reduce the impact of France and Germany in the world.”

Korybko’s 10 Non-Western Proposals

I regard all ten of his proposals as viable options.

However, you have to understand and believe that they are (never the less) quite Euro-centric and reactionary.

For that reason, here are ten non-Western ones that could prospectively be paired with Markov’s and pursued even in the event that the West temporarily stops provoking Russia:

1. Rigorously implement “Democratic Security” at home to safeguard Russia’s domestic political processes in accordance with Ryabkov’s vision;

2. Thoroughly articulate the unofficial national ideology of multipolarity and actively promote these views abroad through foreign policy & civil society outreaches, including through academia and the media;

3. Export bespoke “Democratic Security” solutions to at-risk Global South states modeled off of the Central African Republic, Congo Republic, and Togo precedents to help defend others from US Hybrid War threats;

4. Double down on “military diplomacy” with China through increased cutting-edge arms sales and joint military drills in order to send a message of unwavering security solidarity with the People’s Republic;

5. Pull out all the stops in seeking to jointly lead a new Non-Aligned Movement (“Neo-Nam”) with India in order to restore “balance” via tripolarity to the increasingly bipolar world that defines the US-Chinese New Cold War;

6. Prioritize progress on the N-CPEC+/RuPak Corridor in order to fulfill President Putin’s envisioned Arctic-Indian Ocean corridor that he first publicly proposed in October 2019 while speaking at the Valdai Club;

7. Ensure that Azerbaijani President Aliyev’s six-country regional integration platform is a success in turning the South Caucasus into the zone of geostrategic convergence between Russia, Iran, and Turkey;

8. Bring together steps 4-7 to ultimately create an expanded Golden Ring in the Eurasian Heartland which would function as the center of gravity for the emerging Multipolar World Order;

9. Continue practicing “vaccine diplomacy” to creatively establish strategic inroads in non-traditional partners that could then be courted to contribute to the collective cause of multipolarity;

10. Fulfill “Russia’s Five Most Important Tasks For Surviving World War C” and do everything to ensure that the entire world is aware of the significant insight that President Putin shared about this during his Davos speech.

Concluding Thoughts on Russia

Ryabkov’s official announcement that Russia is seriously countenancing the creation of an anti-American containment strategy proves that the Kremlin is finally fed up with the West’s games.

Markov’s prior ten proposals for how his country could react to the potential EU-initiated worsening of bilateral relations are thought-provoking and deserve to be considered.

However thy are nevertheless Euro-centric and reactionary.

The addition of these other points, which are non-Western in focus can be added to the mix. As such they can be proactively undertaken even without Brussels taking the first step by sanctioning Russia.

Taken together, this 20-point containment strategy should hopefully give Russian decision makers a better understanding of the full range of options available to them.

They probably won’t implement every proposal, but it’s likely that at least some of them will see the light of day, though it might still take time for their effects to be felt as would be the case with my long-term policy suggestions.

Comments

Is the greater public ever going to get a clear view of the difference behind the "rules based order" of the West (we own the money system and make the rules) and the negotiated International law based order?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 20 2021 17:05 utc | 4

You know, most American don’t have a clue to what is going on in Russia. it’s the same thing about China. It’s been a near non-stop hate-fest against Shina for the last five years, and yet the American (and Western) readership still hasn’t a clue as to anything. It’s all the same old nonsense.

And they are all falling for it. It’s like this…

Well…

These other nations are fed up.

They are linking together. They are investing time and money and doing so with very little “fan fare” and publicity. You might read about one thing or the others in your travels of daily “news” reading. But that’s about it. You read about a rail line in Pakistan, and an oil pipeline in the Black Sea. But since most people don’t know geography or history they have no context to put everything into context.

Russia has stopping playing games.

China has stopped playing games.

They have set things up for a big “spring loaded” global powers reset, and are just waiting for the USA-led Western powers to walk into the trap.

Mouse Trap.

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