Officials must stay ‘keenly aware’ of challenges and prepare for ‘most extreme scenarios’, President Xi Jinping tells National Security Commission
Comments show China harbours no ‘illusions’ about fallout of US rivalry and has little hope of a lasting improvement in ties, analysts say
The New Cold War is here, folks.
:deeper-sadness:
Barring a MAD scenario, I really do think America is on the back foot here and cannot win. This cold war is very different than the last, and in my amateur opinion the deck is stacked in China's favor. The US is no longer the world's supreme economy in the aftermath of a world war. China is the "world's factory" now. The US seems increasingly unable to adapt to changing circumstances or deal with problems domestic or abroad.
Most crucially, both competing powers are pretty woven into the world economic fabric. The US and its economic allies were able to keep the USSR mostly sealed off from the bulk of the developed world economy. This had the extra effect of making it really easy to convince neutral or undecided nations to adopt policies more favorable to the capitalists in order to gain more favorable deals. Today, China is one of (if not the primary) centers of mass of the world economy. The US has been trying to sever its own links to the Chinese economy since 2018 and it's been completely unable to do so. In terms of manufacturing, China cannot be removed from global commerce. It just can't be done. So assuming the CPC continues to manage the Chinese economy competently, the PRC will avoid a USSR style economic collapse.
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To add an ideological dimension to this, in the United States there is no understanding of the material conditions of the Cold War. If it gets covered (the story of history usually ends with WWII in our classrooms), it's about how capitalist USA won because we're just better and free-er than authoritarian liberal-commie Stalinism. Our leaders assume this conflict will go similarly because they have no reason to believe otherwise - that China will just collapse like the USSR, for no other reason than "that's what central planning does". They grew up in a world were the reported threat of communism just vanished with - as far as they are aware - no warning.
Yep, they grew up on a unipolar world where the US have final say on everything, so they have a sense of superiority. There’s certainly a section of US elite doesn’t like this Cold War and tell the hawk to stop, but it’s going down hill way to fast to break
This is exactly why :DaBiden: made the statement that relations will soon thaw. There is this sense that all the US needs to do is remind everyone of their preordained superiority, and they will fall in line. There are some people who actually seem to understand materialism well enough to understand the cold war. But, most of them are retired like kissenger or out of favor like clinton. Biden is literally an idiot who wants all his buds in Washington to have a good time.
It's funny when lifelong professionals are worse at material analysis than fucking Donald Trump.
Imagine spending your entire professional life in politics. You make policy decisions and go on diplomatic missions. Throughout your career both you and many of your colleagues are successful in this. And your only explanation for that success is, America good, freedom, little countries being vewy vewy good listeners. Nothing about dollar superiority or the way the military actually projects power. You might not even know the USA genocided bangladesh and indonesia and flattened laos.
The DPRK is just a rogue state that needs to be brought back into the international community.
The CIA and FBI have a colored history but help "keep america safe." But, American political stability is maintained through liberal democracy not repression.
It's genuinely terrifying to watch them fumble around with the machinery of our political system.
This is exactly what I was taught in high school US history
I remember being taught that the proliferation of the fax machine was a big part of it. Apparently the ability for the people to share information and better coordinate themselves is what led to them dissolving the government. They use the Berlin wall falling to say that the soviets hated their government, and that their protest led to the government's destruction. The implication of that teaching is that cell phones and the internet make us more free which is, of course, pure :zizek-preference:
Which is why the US want to provoke a hot war over Taipei strait instead of going with this Cold War. They know when China complete their modern military and the dual circulation economy, they’re done. It’s actually too late now but they still have small chance, but by 2027 or 2030, that’s window is close. Also the EU doesn’t really completely on board with this Cold War, this is Cold War is not about ideology, it’s about new power rising and the old one want to maintain status quo.
Yeah, and the lack of ideology is the most concerning feature. Even assuming a resounding and decisive Chinese victory in the new cold war, we're not getting global socialism. Global social democracy at best.
social democracy normally functions by offshoring exploitation, so I'm not sure how it could be global
Setting up a "Leaving Omelas" situation where FALGSC is accomplished through outrageous oppression of the people of the Pitcairn Islands
Man what I’d to to have some social democracy though
Climate change will force people to do some sort of revolution
Hopefully they'll mostly be communist ones
The US never goes to war with a real rival power. It is the most fundamental part of US military doctrine.