The Road to 2025 (Part 2) – Russia and China Have Had Enough

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Part 1 of this series focused on how the U.S. empire no longer provides any real benefit to the average American citizen. Rather, the spoils of overseas wars, the domestic surveillance state and an overall corrupt economy are being systematically funneled to a smaller and smaller group of generally unsavory characters. The public’s starting to recognize this reality, which is why we saw major populist movements emerge on both the traditional right and left of the political spectrum in 2016.

As millions of Americans emerge from their long slumber, much of the world’s been aware of this reality for a long time. They don’t see the U.S. as a magnanimous humanitarian empire, that’s a fairytale more suited for children’s books and the mass media. In fact, it seems clear that the billions of humans who live in various sovereign nations around the world would certainly prefer to be in control of their own destinies as opposed to mere vassal states of the U.S., they simply haven’t possessed the military or economic power to stand up and chart their own course. But things are changing.

The most significant geopolitical change of the 21st century is the emergence of China, and the reemergence of Russia, as globally significant military powers. This is the core driver behind the establishment’s panic about Russia. It has nothing to do with Putin’s authoritarianism or human rights abuses, that’s just marketing directed at a heretofore extremely gullible public.

In reality, those determined to perpetuate a unipolar world run by the U.S. are appalled and concerned about the fact Russia was able to become involved in Syria and prevent another regime change operation. Russia very publicly, and very successfully, stood up and said “no” to U.S. imperial ambitions in Syria. This isn’t just historically significant, it’s seen as blasphemous and recalcitrant by the U.S. status quo.

With that out of the way, let’s revisit a few things I wrote over the weekend in my first thoughts on the latest Syria strike:

Russian leadership are not a bunch of fools, nor will they back down. After last night, they know for certain the U.S. empire is determined to castrate them globally at all costs in order to impede an inevitable emergence of a multi-polar world.

I don’t think Russia or Iran will respond with a shock and awe attack any time soon, nor will this likely spiral out of control in the near-term. It’s more likely we’ll see this all play out over the course of the next 5 years or so.

I also don’t expect this to go nuclear, but I think the chances the U.S. experiences an imperial collapse similar to that of the USSR (or like any historically unmanageable and corrupt empire) has become increasingly likely. My view at this point is the U.S. and its global power position will be so dramatically altered in the years ahead, it’ll be almost unrecognizable by 2025, as a result of both economic decline and major geopolitical mistakes. This will cause the public to justifiably lose faith in all leadership and institutions.

The more I reflect on what’s going on, the more I’m convinced the U.S. is trying to goad Russia into a response with these provocations. I think the Russians know this, which is precisely why they’re responding with cool heads to a blatantly illegal and unconstitutional strike likely based on a fake narrative. In fact, we still don’t have any reliable or rock solid evidence of what happened. Naturally, this didn’t stop Donald Trump from bombing without consulting Congress, nor did it stop Theresa May from doing the same without consulting Parliament. Please tell me again about our illustrious Western democracies. I suppose that’s just another fairytale for public consumption.

Moreover, Russia’s lack of a military response shouldn’t be seen as a sign of weakness, but as an intentional and well thought out strategy. The Russians seem to think the U.S. (and UK) are acting like desperate feral lunatics and the best thing they can do is sit back, play defense, and let the short-sighted fools running the American empire ruin themselves. The erratic and demonstrably thuggish and shady manner in which the U.S., UK and France behaved in this latest criminal act has not been lost upon the populations of the world, including considerable portions of the American and British populace who are disgusted at what these governments are doing in our names. Russia’s strategy is to look reasonable on the global stage compared to a U.S. which seems increasingly crazy and unhinged. It seems to be working.

That being said, Russia by itself isn’t capable of successfully standing up to the U.S. empire in the long-run. This is where China comes into play. Chinese leadership have also had enough but are, like the Russians, holding back and acting like the reasonable adults in the room. We saw this most recently with the Chinese cooling down the trade wars. U.S. pundits cheered this as a sign of weakness, but I think the opposite. China’s playing the same game as Russia. Allow U.S. leadership to continue to look like insufferable bullies on the world stage until everyone gets completely sick of U.S. dominance.

A reader who lives in Europe wrote the following comment on my last post, which seems like a fair representation of global public opinion at this point:

The Soviet empire fell because the cost of the arms race depleted the rest of the society to such a degree that a collapse was inevitable. I believe the US are in a similar state now. The current wars are carried out by technology at distance, or by proxy warriors, and not by actual americans on ground. How long can the citizens carry that burden? At the same time the US is losing the moral support within the public among their allies, as I know first hand, by being from a european allied country. Although our domestic politic leadership and mainstream press are supporting the US, especially when they launch some rockets, opposition and disbelief is large and growing among normal people. The US has lost its posiotion as our leading star, not just among the leftist, but all over the spectrum. The insanity and lies are becoming so evident that it is impossible to deny it.

The U.S. is rapidly losing support and confidence at the grassroots level, both at home and abroad. We see the lies and we see the disregard for the Constitution. The U.S. and its pet allies like the UK and France will all be increasingly seen as rogue states by much of the world if they keep this up.

Finally, for those of you who doubt which side China is on in this global drama, let me point out the following excerpts from a recent editorial published in the state-sponsored Global Times earlier this week:

The facts cannot be distorted. This military strike was not authorized by the UN, and the strikes targeted a legal government of a UN member state. The US and its European allies launched strikes to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack in Duma last weekend. However, it has not been confirmed if the chemical weapons attack happened or if it did, whether government forces or opposition forces launched it. International organizations have not carried out any authoritative investigation.

The Syrian government has repeatedly stressed that there is no need for it to use chemical weapons to capture the opposition-controlled Duma city and the use of chemical weapons has provided an excuse for Western intervention. The Syrian government’s argument or Trump’s accusations against the “evil” Assad regime, which one is in line with basic logic? The answer is quite obvious.

The US has a record of launching wars on deceptive grounds. The Bush government asserted the Saddam regime held chemical weapons before the US-British coalition troops invaded Iraq in 2003. However, the coalition forces didn’t find what they called weapons of mass destruction after overthrowing the Saddam regime. Both Washington and London admitted later that their intelligence was false.

Washington’s attack on Syria where Russian troops are stationed constitute serious contempt for Russia’s military capabilities and political dignity. Trump, like scolding a pupil, called on Moscow, one of the world’s leading nuclear powers, to abandon its “dark path.” Disturbingly, Washington seems to have become addicted to mocking Russia in this way. Russia is capable of launching a destructive retaliatory attack on the West. Russia’s weak economy is plagued by Western sanctions and squeezing of its strategic space. That the West provokes Russia in such a manner is irresponsible for world peace.

The situation is still fomenting. The Trump administration said it will sustain the strikes. But how long will the military action continue and whether Russia will fight back as it claimed previously remain uncertain. Western countries continue bullying Russia but are seemingly not afraid of its possible counterattack. Their arrogance breeds risk and danger.

China and Russia will work together, often behind the scenes, to convince the rest of the world that the U.S. has become a rogue state, and will use this argument to build international support for a multi-polar world. The only thing that could slow this process down is if the U.S. stops acting like a rogue state, something that appears increasingly unlikely with Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and John Bolton as National Security Advisor.

Part 3 will focus on the weak link in U.S. imperial dominance, the USD.

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In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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27 thoughts on “The Road to 2025 (Part 2) – Russia and China Have Had Enough”

  3. Hmmm… then you’ve got the Iran vs Saudi/Israel pot stewing. Wonder if Russia and/or China can put a lid on that one.

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  4. What you have just written has been my take as well on this subject. The Neo-Cons are so hell bent on having a one world government with them at the top of the heap that they are totally ignoring what is likely to be the end result of what their game is. Any U.S. citizen living there would be well advised to find a bolt hole somewhere in South America and lay low for awhile. It’s not going to be pretty.

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    • I’ve heard this argument and I do not find it convincing for several reasons.

      1) Yes, Russia and China have been under the thumb of U.S. empire, but they are sick of it. All evidence is that they are indeed dedicated to creating alternative economic zones, not because they are going to join forces with a Western cabal to rule the planet, but because they want to dominate their geopolitical spheres, versus being vassal states to D.C.

      2) No, I don’t think it’s “stage-managed.” The history of humans is a thrust for power and dominance, and when an old empire looks weak, up and coming nations take advantage to gain power. This is no different, it’s as old as humanity itself.

      3) This is the most bizarre point. We pretty much have a one world currency right now. It’s the USD. That’s exactly why they do everything they can to preserve its power via military operations overseas. If you are suggesting that all nation-state currencies, local currencies and crypto currencies will suddenly be outlawed and eliminated for only one currency on the planet, I’d say this has a close to 0% chance of being achieved.

    • Michael, your points are well-made and may well be closer to the truth. We peons will probably never know what actually goes on at those levels, we can only speculate. Your guesses may well be more true than mine.

      Just wanted to clarify re: your last sentence. I didn’t mean to imply that implementing their one-world currency would be ‘sudden’. More likely they’ll gradually peg the various national currencies to a common standard (like the SDR) over 5-10 years. They’d then take at least a generation or two to gradually phase out the ‘brand-name’ national currencies. Similar to how they gradually removed the PM backing of the dollar (1933/44/68/71).

      Imagine if Coke and Pepsi and all the other soft drink companies secretly merged their companies, gradually moved to using a common cola recipe, but still sold the one cola in the different bottles for years, complete with adversarial marketing campaigns.

  6. Great work Michael! I am waiting on the independent investigation to finish on the evidence or lack thereof a chemical attack and by who. I strongly doubt Assad did anything, it does not make sense. And yes the West is ruled by a bunch of imperialist childish oligarchs who have all our lives under the dagger. Meanwhile bitcoin technology keeps getting better. I think atomic swaps will be standard in apps and provide the last step in making cryptocurrency transactions using bitcoin and other tokens completely anonymous. I think bitcoin will decentralize the power from the childish rulers for good and within those five years you mention. Yes I can see the collapse of the American empire. Hopefully without much suffering to the common man. Note the same technology that will take away the power of the western rulers will take the power away from the rulers of Russia and China.

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    • Bingo, well said. That is the hope. That the humans throughout the world, including in all these massive countries, turn away from centralized power and dominance and toward a better vision of voluntary cooperation for humanity.

  7. The neocons are bent on balkanizing America. They are no doubt preparing to jump ship and align with China when they’ve succeeded in this task.

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    • I’m not convinced the neocons are bent on this, I think they actually want total global dominance.

      Nevertheless, you bring up an important point. Once the unipolar order dies, there will likely be a great deal of confusion in the U.S. and opportunities for players like China to swoop into our politics like the U.S. did to Russia after the USSR collapsed. We must be on the look out for this power play. I don’t want a master in Beijing.

  8. Semi OT, but is anybody noticing the media blitz around Barbara Bush? She is being lionized in death far more than Nancy Reagan, Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, Jackie O, Pat Nixon, etc. This probably isn’t an accident.

    What did Babs Bush actually represent? Well, there were a few memorable quotes that showed how out of touch she was (the “beautiful mind” one was a doozy) as the matriarch of a political dynasty. That’s how she should be remembered, as one of the most establishment women ever to set foot on the political stage. She and HW somehow parlayed northeastern boarding school upbringings to play pretend ranchers in Texas and got away with it for more than half a century before the general public started to wake up.

    The media has nothing but glowing things to say, all the way down to her chocolate chip cookies, which the MSM have deemed the “best ever”. You’ll have to excuse my skepticism, but I remember as a kid in the 1980s that HW Bush was astounded by a simple checkout scanner at a grocery store and had never seen one before. People who never shop for their own food aren’t likely to slave away in the kitchen concocting delicacies. They have people to do that for them. The cookies are just one of many examples of media fawning, humanizing someone who knew no more about average American life than Saddam Hussein did. Who knows, Hussein may have been more in touch with the heartland.

    It’s as though the media is imploring people to return to the fold (establishment politics) and away from populism. Who represents the establishment better than the Bushes and Clintons? Does anyone seriously think that Rosalynn Carter (now 90) will be so feted in death?

    Apparently TPTB think collapse is nowhere on the immediate horizon. It’s not too late to veer back to the establishment! Repent, all you deplorables, while there’s still time!

    Please clap.

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  9. So we are really heading for a “multi polar” world? What ever happened to a one world government? Is that idea really no longer viable for the elite? More likely we need one more big conflict so they can institute it.

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  10. I hope Michael that you are correct in your opinion that the next war will be one more of economics than of bullets. I, like many others have and continue to prepare for an economic collapse. I do not share your hope of economics only. My family, from the retired nuclear submarine captain brother to the house wife sister all got a good laugh back in the spring and summer of 2001 when they saw the addition to the home in the forest included what they all laughingly referred to as “the bunker.” The brother moved from Hawaii right after the incoming nuke scare and none of them have been laughing for the last few years. In fact I was asked once while building WHY, didn’t I get the message the cold war was over? Like I told them in the summer of 2001 I listen to the little voices in my head and if that makes all who read this think me a nut so be it. I have been called a lot worse. The little voices no longer whisper, THEY SCREAM, time is short and the beast will soon slip its chains to be loosed upon the world. FOOT

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  11. I signed up for F. William Engdahl’s newsletter, and latest message is the 5th chapter of his ‘Target: China’ book… all about the long build up to a supposedly ‘defensive’ military encirclement of China, which will enable US to safely make a ‘first strike’ … the thread of ‘MAD’ will soon no longer exist. Very interesting, and well cited, stuff.

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    • Nancy, I agree that the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) aka “The second strike” may become questionable for several reasons. So what happens when deterrence fails?

      1. The Ohio Class subs are rapidly approaching their end of life. If the US cannot deploy their replacements in a timely manner (10 yrs) then they will 1 by 1 come offline. Personally, I don’t know if they will make it in time.
      2. The entire US military network of satellites are vulnerable and with several nations developing the ability to disable them. The result of an attack would leave the military deaf, dumb and blind.
      3. Pres. Bush pulled out of the 1972 ABM treaty (a colossal blunder) to open the door for the US to deploy a Missile Defense System which will intercept and destroy warheads. The problem is that other nations can do the same.

      Now, with Mr. Krieger articles in mind think about how pissed off some nations are at US behavior. The world is rapidly approaching a collision course with destiny.

      Growing up on the streets of Leningrad I learned in a fight to Strike First. – Vladimir Putin

  12. All this is true to some extent. We don’t have to like those we do business with but on a small planet the nations can’t just take their business elsewhere, everything being interconnected. Most nations are under the financial yoke of the debt based monetary system and those who own it. While JinPing and the political control the financial in China, this being the creation of the yuan, this is only a local national currency. Putin has even less control and does not have a great deal of say on the creation of rubles, though this may change in the future possibly. The president of the Russian central bank has won the award for ‘banker of the year of the Euro zone’ several years running to give you an idea of the power structure in Russia. Outside of their respective nations both China and Russia are both members of the international monetary system conducted through the BIS. It is this constant backdrop that sets order or lack thereof on the international stage. While this order is set to benefit those who own this system naturally, there will also be those who would challenge the outcomes. Mssr Gaddafi being a prime example. Most African nation central banks act as subsidiaries of the French central bank and pay dearly for the privilege. Gaddafi wanted to form a new pan African central banking system based a gold backed Dinar as a common currency to amend this situation. The rest is history.

    Macron recently stated that he was as powerful as Mr. Putin and he may just be correct. As the ‘golden boy’ of the international money creation cabal Macron probably has access to the backroom maneuvers that can cripple almost any nation economically in dramatically short order. This is the real power behind the international order. Not all powerful but certainly the most powerful structure on this planet bar none. Jinping, Putin, Trump and May all know who is calling the shots and just how far each can stray with an independent policy. Now beyond the political there is the people which are truly the other great power on this planet…. if they only knew it.

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  13. Please stop using Cloudflare. They block access in many countries and I have to complete 287 captchas before getting the page! 🙁

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  14. @ Foot in the Forest regarding “the bunker.”

    If it gets so bad you need the bunker I suggest you lose the fear and develop a better relationship with your death. Which BTW, is inevitable.

    “Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, at an arms length. Death is the only wise adviser that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you’re about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you’re wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch.”

    – Don Juan Matus

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  16. the american empire is built upon unrepayable debt, not missiles. military power is merely the muscleman enforcer for the debt issuance.

    goading russia into a military action would provide the fig leaf the owners of the empire require to allow the debt to implode keeping the public from blaming them directly and hanging them from lamp posts in rage

    an external enemy is required therefore to misdirect the public away from the real source of their gradual impoverishment here and in europe.

    if russia can hold its tongue and allow the debt to implode the empire the public will see who is the REAL source of their troubles once and for all.

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  17. First of all, I apologize for my poor english, as unfortunately, I am french…

    Second, congratulation to you, Michael.I fully agree with your analysis and it s good that people like you, are able to take some distance with the daily upcoming events and deliver pragmatic and common sense ideas.

    Then, being somehow a bit provocative, what about this question:
    The one world currency…

    the dollar has been, more or less, this one world currency !!
    of course, with the subsequent manipulations, corruption, frauds, …etc
    but not to the satisfaction of our masters !!!
    Why would they intend to replace by another dollarxxx ???

    In maths, you can say:
    the dollar is replaced by the xxxmoney.
    the problem remains the same…..

    To me , a world currency, the debt…is just a matter of control !!!
    and to achieve the best control, if I would be the master of the world, I would try to implement this currency:
    similar to food stamps: your”money” gives you a right to buy so much consume goods, so muche electronics, so much real estate, so much medical drugs, so much food…and for any other investment or buying , you have to submit an application…hihihi
    I would have then, not only the control of the money you make….but on the money you spend !!!!!

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  18. Wondering whether you are aware of these 2 articles. You might find them interesting:
    The demise of the dollar
    In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading
    Robert Fisk @indyvoices
    Tuesday 6 October 2009 00:00
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-demise-of-the-dollar-1798175.html

    Robert Fisk: A financial revolution with profound political implications
    Such large financial movements will have major political effects in the Middle East
    Wednesday 7 October 2009 00:00
    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-a-financial-revolution-with-profound-political-implications-1798712.html

    Regards,
    G.

    Reply

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