A Rude, Cold Awakening
In The Clash Of Civilizations And The Remaking Of World Order, Samuel Huntington gave fourteen reasons for the West’s global domination. Here they are, updated:
Owns and operates the international banking system; India joined China and Russia to bypass the US dollar. A new global reserve currency is ready for prime time.
Controls all hard currencies; the PBOC is richer and the RMB, like the ruble, is resource-backed. Russia’s natural (and China’s manufactured) resources represent real wealth, not promissory notes.
Is the world’s principal customer; China is the world’s principal customer for almost everything from almost everyone. BRI trade rose 14% this half.
Provides the majority of the world’s finished goods; China provides almost everything for almost everyone.
Dominates international capital markets; Shanghai Stock Exchange launched the most and the biggest IPOs last year.
Exerts considerable moral leadership within many societies; there are now more hungry children, drug addicts, suicides and executions, more homeless, poor, illiterate, and imprisoned people in America than in China.
Is capable of massive military intervention; all US military interventions have failed and left widespread ill-feeling. China has helped 103 countries develop vital infrastructure.
Controls the sea lanes; the US Navy controls the sea lanes to within 2,000 miles of China’s shores. The PLAN controls the space from 2,000 miles to the shore, beyond range of US naval aircraft and missiles.
Conducts most advanced technical research and development; China conducts more advanced scientific and technical R&D–in quality and quantity–than the West, and outspends them.
Controls leading edge technical education; PISA results confirm China’s control of STEM subjects at age 15. Peer-reviewed papers confirm its lead at the post-graduate level.
Dominates access to space; the US still depends upon Russian rockets, China doesn’t. China’s space firsts–ignored by our media–continually impress space geeks.
Dominates aerospace industry; Comac’s first single-aisle airliner starts commercial operation next month. Comac’s first twin-aisle fuselage awaits its new, high-bypass Russian engines, currently undergoing static testing.
Dominates international communications; Western media dominate international communications but, despite heavy censorship, there is abundant useful China information.
Dominates the high-tech weapons industry. Russia and China dominate the high-tech weapons industry, both in quality and quantity, and General H.R. McMaster’s advice holds good for China, too: “Should US forces find themselves in a land war with Russia, they would be in for a rude, cold awakening”.
The Rude, Cold Awakening
Millions of people–including our media, government, war profiteers, and militaries–daily reassure us that Rome rules yet, but their words sound hollower each day. (Today’s learning? China’s SMIC sells millions of its home-grown 7 nanometer chips, while US and EU foundries are stuck at 12 nm).
We are becoming rule-takers rather than rule-makers.
We’re losing moral, political, and societal cohesion. Stressors like epidemics, climate change, recessions, and wars reveal our governance inadequacy.
Meanwhile, Eurasia and the Global South–90% of the world–are charting a future further from us and closer to China.
Potentially, the most dangerous scenario [for America] would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an ‘anti-hegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances. Zbigniew Brzeziński.
Supremacy has been part of our raison d’être for so many centuries that it’s almost genetically encoded.
What will happen when it’s gone?
