Now Chad, then Mali: Why African Countries Are Normalizing with Israel

[Photo: “Connective Financing: Chinese Infrastructure Projects.” Bluhm, et al, 9/2018, AIDDATA.]

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note

In thinking about Israel and its political and colonial activities we can become a bit myopic and forget that there is a much larger picture here. There are those in the United States who are concerned about the influence of Israeli interests on U.S. Middle East policies. It is clear that time after time the United States has vetoed UN Security Council sanctions against Israel. Another way to look at the “special relationship” between the US and Israel is that Israel is effectively a US proxy protecting US interests in the Middle East, and in return, the United States provides them with the largest foreign military aid and supports Israel’s own actions regardless of whether they might fall afoul of both international law and human rights.

Ramzy Baroud speaks to an evolving situation where it appears that Israel is pursuing its own path in forming “strategic relationships” with Muslin-majority African nations, possibly out of concern regarding the wavering commitment and influence of the United States in the Middle East and globally. I would argue that there is also a reality that Israel, the United States, and the world, in general, is perhaps waking up to; namely that China is on a path of global presence that more than challenges the United States position as a hegemonic power. In my opinion, the U.S. has been failing completely to address the dual reality of a planet with limited resources, a climate that is transforming where food sources and habitable land lies, and how to even frame the emerging financial challenges of China – and India. China has been working the long view on these issues as demonstrated by the graphic below that shows China’s global investment from 2000-2014. Sorry, this was the most recent report I could find, but I am certain it has increased dramatically since then.

In other words, we are in a multidimensional environment with a nation that tends towards the short-sighted in the best of times. Currently with a President who has virtually no sense of complexity and whose goal is to withdraw behind a wall and to court dictators and oligarchs, those he sees a “strong men” who rule their countries with an iron fist. He is not even playing checkers.

Category: Globalization - Corporatization, Israel, Ramzy Baroud | Comments Off

3 January 2019

How to Repair the U.S.-China Relationship—and Prevent a Modern Cold War

[Photo: New Chinese imperial flag signifying the reunion of Taiwan and China (OREN).]

By Jimmy Carter
Source: Washington Post via CommonDreams

Editor's Note

My respect for Jimmy Carter is far higher now than when he was President. He was presented at that time as being relatively inept, but looking back, he put more personal effort into making real change than any other President in my lifetime. His efforts for peace and justice have continued since he left the Presidency to the point that (it seems to me) he is consistently treated as the “Pariah President”. Most of this is due to his vocal opposition to Israel’s policies towards Palestine, and his arguing for Palestinian autonomy. I am glad to see him breaking past-president silence and speaking out on China.

Trump’s crude “negotiating” style could run us into long term conflict with China, and frankly, I do not think that the U.S. would win that conflict. Further, Trump’s “trade war” with China, in combination with his uninformed, will-o-wisp Asian (and general international) policy is going to deal the United States right out of the mix into the future. All issues of trade and intellectual property aside, there are three major considerations where China has significant leverage and would be a better partner than competitor. First, China owns more than a quarter of U.S. government debt ($1.168 TRILLION as of January of 2018, Investopedia). What would happen if China started divesting itself of that debt, or devaluing the dollar, or a number of other options it could take than could drive the U.S. economically into the ground). Second, China culturally and politically plans for the long term, and this was institutionalized governmentally under Mao with the 5 year plan approach. The United States seems incapable of even passing the annual appropriations. Instead, we stumble from one CR (Continuing Resolution) to another. This makes it virtually impossible for government to function effectively on any level (and I think allows for a tremendous amount of graft, self-dealing, and pay backs to big contributors). So we have forward planning 5 year plans against myopic ideological tug-of war. Who would you bet on (or invest with)? Third, and intimately tied with planning, China has been buying agricultural land across the planet to assure a food supply for its people as climate and population changes. It has also invested heavily in making resource partners. At some point, the U.S. is going to wake up and realize that it has been maneuvered out of access to resources that are becoming increasingly scarce. Part of global positioning has been China’s Pacific positioning which makes itself the “buckle” of the One Belt One Road plan (a modern day version of the Silk Road). Lastly, we might take a note of humility. China has a formal history going back at least 4,000 years. The United States came formally into existence in 1776 – 242 years. We are a long way from surviving to our first millennium. Just saying.

Carter’s op-ed below presents an informed way forward to reestablish a decent relationship with China. At least Carter understands the importance of good relationships – an understanding that totally escapes the narcissistic Trump.

Category: Guest, Policy, War and Conflict | Comments Off

4 November 2018

It Is a New Era, But China’s Balancing Act Will Fail in the Middle East

[Photo: China loves Israel – Chinese delegation Jerusalem march. wikicommone)]

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note

China and the United States could hardly be more different in their approach to the world. China takes the long view. It looks ahead at challenges and lays the pathways to meet those challenges. And it does so with great discipline, as its population control policies reflect. Realizing that global warming would reshape agriculture globally, China quietly began buying up millions of acres of land in the Americas to meets its food supply needs. Identifying the rapid growth of technology and precious metals necessary to produce them, China bought mines and entered agreements with nations and companies across the planet to meet future needs, but also to position China at the top of the food chain. Watching the demise of rain forests (and prime lumber) China and Japan began buying up timber from the Pacific Northwest (and elsewhere), running factory ships in international waters to turn that timber into lumber, but also literally sinking millions of board feet to preserve for a future when trees are scarce. Five, ten, fifty year plans are the forte of China. This is a world view very similar to American Indigenous tribes seven generations perspective.

FYI, Time has an excellent short video on this period that everyone should watch. Take 4 minutes for a window into history to remind us of a lesson forgotten already.

Then we have the once and fading heavyweight the United States. Never strong on long range planning. Barely able to make three year plans; the ever impetuous U.S. has double and tripled down on immediate profits (wins or gains); following the lead of corporate culture that incentivized the short term gain over long term stability flushing billions into the hands of the uber-wealthy; bankrupting companies and short changing workers. Thereby creating a wealth gap that exceeds even the so called “gilded age”. Of course only “gilded” for the “winners” – some of whom’s families form the “old wealth” pool of today’s .01%.

China, looking ever ahead has forged ties and trade (including military weaponry from the US to make Israel THE military powerhouse in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia not withstanding). Where will these plans lead? This is the question that Ramzy Baroud raises in the following discussion.

Category: Economics, Globalization - Corporatization, Israel, Palestine, Ramzy Baroud | Comments Off

18 August 2018

Economic war on Iran is war on Eurasia integration

[Photo: Rouhani, Erdogan, and Putin (Kremlin).]

By Pepe Escobar
Source: Asia Times

Editor's Note

All points of character aside, one of Trump’s major weaknesses is his processing style. The man has no finesse; no sense of complexity, and no concern for consequences that go beyond himself. In other words, Trump is a hammer and the world is a nail. In my opinion, this is a fatal flaw in anyone who has responsibility for others – including being President of the United States. Iran is and has been a balance point for many things for decades. Hence, the US interest that led them support Mohammed Reza Shah until his government was overthrown in 1979. In all that time since, the US has been unable to come to an agreement with Iran. Trump’s current plan to economically crush Iran so that people will overthrow the government is likely to blow up as the people know full well who is killing the economy – and it is not the current government of Iran.

Category: Economics, Globalization - Corporatization, Guest, Resources, Trump, Trump & Administration, War and Conflict | Comments Off

26 July 2018

The Massacre of Inn Din: How Rohingya Are Lynched and Held Responsible

[Photo: Rohingya – The Forgotten People.]

Ramzy Baroud, PhD

Editor's Note

There are people who become targets of state persecution. Generally speaking, there are on of two reasons why certain peoples are selected to be targets of state persecution. The “state” needs a low status, high bias target to blame for problems and set out for an angry populace on which to vent its rage, OR they are on top of (or in the way of) a desirable resource. First, they must be easily distinguishable from the general population. Second, there must be something that makes (or can be made up to seem like it makes) them culturally significant. Third, the must have little to no political power. Propaganda seeps in and with a whiff of mob psychology we have a scapegoat. Whether it was the Jews in Germany (and other countries – including the U.S.) in the 1930s and 40s, or the Roma (aka Romina or Gypsies), or Hispanic immigrants, or innumerable indigenous peoples, or the Rohingya, they have been targeted – often genocidally targeted.

Yunan pipeline, Rokhine, Rohingya — Shwe gas pipeline map from Environmental Justice Atlas modified by R. Wolf to highlight Rakhine.

The Rohingya of Burma/Myanmar are both culturally distinct, and their home in the Rakhine state of Burma is also the route for the variously named Sino-Myanmar pipelines, or Yunan pipelines. More specifically is a 479 mile (770 km) pipeline running from the Kyaukpyu port on the Bay of Bengal, to the landlocked state of Yunan, China:

The US$1.5 billion pipelines, which started construction in 2009, are designed to shift natural gas from Myanmar and crude oil from the Middle East and Africa through the Bay of Bengal to terminals in Myanmar. The pipelines then transfer the resources to Yunnan to feed refineries for the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, eliminating the 5,000-km shipping lanes of the pirate-infested Strait of Malacca and across the South China Sea.

The pipelines inside Myanmar, owned and built by Beijing under the One Belt, One Road policy, are designed to transfer 22 million tonnes of crude oil annually (around 442,000 bbl/day) and carry nearly 6 percent of China’s 2016 total energy imports. Today China is demanding up to 85 percent ownership of the strategic Kyaukpyu port at the western terminus. (Asia Sentinel)

While the Rohingya have been the victims of waves of persecution since 1948, I believe this most recent genocidal purge is tied directly to the pipeline on which construction began in 2009 (India Times). I would argue that this almost certainly explains why so many other nations refuse to even use the name Rohingya.

Category: Ethnocentrism, fossil fuels, Genocide, Ramzy Baroud, Resources, Social (In)Justice | Comments Off

UncommonThought

Since 2002

Now Chad, then Mali: Why African Countries Are Normalizing with Israel

How to Repair the U.S.-China Relationship—and Prevent a Modern Cold War

It Is a New Era, But China’s Balancing Act Will Fail in the Middle East

Economic war on Iran is war on Eurasia integration