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Friday, June 10, 2022

Offsite Post: ‘Reaping What We’ve Sown’

 

Once upon a time, there was a wee bit of a diplomatic arrangement called the Monroe Doctrine, one of whose clauses went something like this:  In exchange for the European powers' abstaining from Latin American affairs, the United States would abstain from European disputes.

That arrangement has gone straight out the window with US interference in the Ukraine, and the spirit of the thing (that cultures/nations have spheres of influence that ought to be free from outside meddling) is also being rejected by the US vis-à-vis Taiwan:


Just as the the United States and its allies created an existential threat to Russia through the transformation of Ukraine into a highly militarized proxy of Western military power – so too is such a threat being deliberately and systematically created on the island of Taiwan vis-a-vis Beijing.


From 2014 onward, the United State had installed into power regimes in both Ukraine and Taiwan disrupting the status quo both territories had with Russia and China respectively.


While much attention in 2014 was focused on Nazi militants seizing power in Kiev, the US-sponsored “Sunflower movement” likewise paved the way for a US-backed political order to take power in Teipei.


Since then, the US has poured additional billions of dollars into interfering and overwriting the political structures of both Ukraine and Taiwan as well as pouring in billions in weapons. In addition to this, both Ukraine and Taiwan have hosted US forces to train the military in both territories.


While US military training in Ukraine was done more or less openly, US forces placed in Taiwan, a territory the US acknowledges is Chinese or acknowledges is perceived as being Chinese by Beijing, was done relatively quietly.

Such incendiary policies are the result of the Straussians, who dream of US global hegemony that lasts forever and who are willing to use force to see that it comes about.  Unfortunately, they never stopped to think about the consequences of their actions.  But they are here, and more are coming; and regular folks across the States and in many other countries will soon feel the full weight of them:


Medvedev said “hellish” Western sanctions not only have failed to cripple Russia, but are instead “returning to the West like a boomerang.” Confidence in reserve currencies is “fading like the morning mist”, and ditching the US dollar and the euro is not unrealistic anymore: “The era of regional currencies is coming.”


After all, he added, “no matter if they want it or not, they’ll have to negotiate a new financial order (…) And the decisive voice will then be with those countries that have a strong and advanced economy, healthy public finances and a reliable monetary system.”

The sanctions against Russia have already led to sky-high fuel prices; the same will quickly come for food staples like crackers, oats, bread, corn, etc., and other essentials as well.  The end of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency will bring even more far-reaching effects here and abroad.

And if the insane policy makers in the Biden Administration succeed in finding a reason to levy similar sanctions against China over Taiwan – well, let’s just say that a lot of pampered Americans won’t be too happy with their new economic situation.

But the fallout is happening elsewhere in our hemisphere as well.  The supposed beneficiaries of the Monroe Doctrine, the nations of Latin America, are ready to break with the US over their latest demand to ‘side with us, or else’:


But perhaps the most underreported, and indeed most dangerous defections from U.S. dominance have taken place in Latin America.  Mexico's president hails from the Party of the Democratic Revolution and has been celebrated for being the first truly indigenous leader of the tenth most populous country in the world (close to 130 million people).  You would think a man with such lefty credentials would be positively thrilled to work with a Democrat after four years of Trump...but you would be wrong.


President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced soon after the imposition of sanctions that Mexico would not partake in them: "We are not going to take any sort of economic reprisal because we want to have good relations with all the governments in the world."


Let us just say it is less than comforting that we have a 1,900-mile open border with a country that just announced that it wants good relations with a Russian government the U.S. has sworn publicly to crush.


The other powerhouse south of the border is Brazil, where president Bolsonaro is not playing ball with Joe Biden, either.  Besides mocking Zelensky's status as a comedian, Bolsonaro said Brazil needs Russian partnership to support its agribusiness and feed its population of over 200 million people.  As Reuters reported, "[h]e added that he was against any sanctions that could bring negative repercussions for Brazil, citing Russian fertilizers which are crucial for the country's giant agribusiness sector."

We reap what we sow, folks.  When we don’t uphold our end of agreements like the Monroe Doctrine, not expanding NATO, etc., some unpleasant consequences are going to follow eventually.  Thus, all the virtue-signalers, from Samsung’s renamed phone to the representatives of the North Carolina House who voted unanimously for a resolution in support of the Ukraine, may look mighty foolish in the not-too-distant future.

Nevertheless, it is in those very State legislatures, and governors’ offices and judicial courts, where we stand the best chance of putting into place some policies to help us weather the storms that are coming because of the lunatics on the Potomac.

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2022/04/garlington-reaping-what-weve-sown/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

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