Ukraine and the West are facing a devastating defeat

The prospect of a failed counter-offensive and significant territorial concessions would only embolden Russia and China

On Monday, while delivering the keynote address at the annual China Business Summit held in Auckland, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins weighed in on the power dynamic in the Indo-Pacific.  New Zealands estimation matters because it is a small country in the Southern Pacific heavily dependent on trade with China for preserving its prosperity and yet Continue reading Multipolar Maneuvering in Indo-Pacific

A bunch of current headlines are scary: Higher food prices and more hunger: Collapse of Black Sea grain deal poses a massive threat - CNN - Jul 18 World facing prospect of 'hunger games' as China hoards grains and Russia...

Regardless of the overlapping of terms, whether the region in question is called West Asia or the Middle East, we can say that West Asia is a region that can be defined as an area where states believe they have a particularly close set of relations due to history, culture, and geography. It consists of the states of the Arab League plus Iran and Egypt, with some states belonging to more than one region.

As for Israel, although it belongs to the West Asian region and part of the Middle East geographically, it is closer to Europe politically and culturally; it has connections to European countries and takes part in European events.

West Asia enjoys an important geostrategic location, linking East and West by land and sea, includes the most important international waterways, and holds an economic and political weight in the world.

It has remained at the heart of global security concerns throughout the last decades and has multiple disputes, often with significant involvement from outside powers. Since 2010, at least 7 countries in the region used military force in combat on their own territory, and 11 used it on the territory of other countries.

West Asia is the only region of the world that does not have an inclusive regional security system. Attempts to create such a system have always foundered on the regions myriad tensions and complexities. For that, the issue of security and stability in the region constitutes an urgent and critical question in one of the most turbulent regions in the world, where chaos enhances the security dilemma, due to the complex relations among regional powers, external intervention, and lack of trust between the political players.

The question then is whether the dramatic events that have occurred in the region in the past few years made the current moment ripe, at least, for beginning a process of establishing a comprehensive security system. Much has changed since the so-called Arab Spring outbreak, the emergence of terrorism and other new forms of religious extremist groups, and the perception that America is not so fully committed to regional stability as it was in the past, along with the rise of China and Russia as competing powers in the area.

Under these circumstances, one might ask about the necessary steps to start establishing a comprehensive and cooperative regional security system. In fact, it is hard to believe that a regional security system can be formed easily and quickly because in all cases there will remain disagreements that cannot be fully agreed upon, and many disputes will appear when taking the initial steps to setting up such a system.

Nevertheless, I can say that setting up a comprehensive and sustainable security system to achieve the highest level of stability and cooperation is possible if there is political will. I believe political will and popular desire to achieve this is looming on the horizon. In addition, some historical precede...

The news regarding the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) implementing their plan to create a new international currency has gained momentum. The currency will be backed by gold, as announced on July 7, 2023. In a recent meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries, along with Continue reading Russia Confirms BRICS Will Create A Gold-Backed Currency

Rep. Mike Gallagher Fox News July 17, 2023

As part of a push to sinicize religion, the Chinese Communist Party has embarked on a 10-year project to rewrite the Bible and other religious texts.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus famously confronts the accusers a woman caught committing adultery, saying let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.

The chastened accusers slink away and Jesus says to the woman, Has no one condemned you? No one, sir, she replied. Neither do I condemn you, said Jesus. Go away, and from this moment sin no more.'

A beautiful story of forgiveness and mercy.

Unless youre a CCP official. Then its a story of a dissident challenging the authority of the state. A possible sneak preview of what a Bible with socialist characteristics might look like appeared in a Chinese university textbook in 2020. The rewritten Gospel of John excerpt ends, not with mercy, but with Jesus himself stoning the adulterous woman to death.

Across Henan province, local CCP officials forced Protestant churches to replace the Ten Commandments with Xi Jinping quotes. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, became diktats like: Resolutely guard against the infiltration of Western ideology.

The 10-year project to rewrite the Bible, Quran and other sacred texts is all part of Xi Jinpings quest to make the faithful serve the party rather than God.

At the 19th Party Congress, Chairman Xi declared We will insist on the sinicization of Chinese religions, and provide active guidance for religion and socialism to coexist.

Let me translate: Xi Jinping has no problem with the first commandment, just so long as he and the CCP are playing the role of God.

You might expect the Vatican, the leaders of the largest Christian congregation in the world, to be incensed and defiant. Unfortunately, youd be wrong.

In a secret 2018 negotiation, the Vatican agreed to allow the CCP to select Catholic bishops in China, supposedly in exchange for vague reassurances of safety for some Catholic congregations which were immediately abrogated.

The CCP wants the authority to select the next Dalai Lama, a sacred tradition in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists are attempting to stand up to CCP coercion, but Beijing counters that even Pope Francis, leader of the mighty Catholic Church, accepts their authority over Church leadership.

Religions power is tantalizing to the CCP what better demonstration of party supremacy than bringing global religions to heel?

Th...

Orientation

How long has capitalism existed? Has it always been with us all the way back to tribal societies or is it a product of the modern age? Is there any pattern to its evolution? Is it cyclic,  spiral-like  or random? What is the nature of capitalist crises? Why does capitalism grow flush in certain parts of the world, die out in others and yet seemingly reignite itself in another part of the world? What can world-systems theory tell us about the current battle between the Anglo-American empire and the multipolarists of China, Russia and Iran?

What is capitalism?

Capitalism is a historical economic system that arose in Europe in the 15^th century.  Over a 600-year period its leading hegemons were first the Italian city-states of Genoa and Venice. In the 17^th century these city-states were superseded by the Netherlands. The British overtook the Dutch in the 18^th century and the United States crowded out the British well before World War I. Capitalism is characterized by a law-enforced right of private property (as opposed to state or community ownership) in the areas of:

• raw materials (land)
• means of production (tools and methods of harnessing energy)
• labor (who uses the tools and the methods of harnessing energy to work on raw materials)
• commodities (finished products and services)
• money which is transformed into capital stocks, bonds and derivatives
• power settings in which decisions about the economy are made (political settings). These include The National Association of Manufacturers and The Business Round Table. Internationally the Council of Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum and the G7 are examples.

The purpose of capitalism is to make a profit which is unlimited in scope, protected by law, and if necessary, by the military. According to world-systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein capitalists derive their profits by two processes:

• broadening its reach, colonizing the periphery counties for its natural resources, inducing it to produce a single cash crop while paying wages far below wages of the workers in the core countries.
• deepening its re...

Hungary has found allies outside of Europe for its pro-peace position

BY JOHN CODY REMIX NEWS JULY 18, 2023

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn took to Facebook on Tuesday to proclaim that Hungary and Latin America both have a pro-peace stance regarding the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and want the war to end as soon as possible.

Most of the world is tired of war. Today, we argued for an immediate ceasefire and peace, and this time the leaders of Latin America joined us! wrote Orbn on Facebook following the meeting of the leaders of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) summit in Brussels.

Although Orbns pro-peace stance is a minority position in Europe, he has found broad support from nations with a similar outlook toward the war elsewhere in the world, including India, China, and countries in Latin America. China, for example, has put forward a peace plan that Hungary has backed.

Within Latin America, there are a number of nations directly aligned with Russia, including Venezuela and Cuba, but more broadly speaking, there are many more nations skeptical of the Western war effort in Ukraine that have called for an immediate ceasefire. Countries like Brazil and Mexico have also refused to back sanctions against Russia, arguing it is not in their economic interest. Full article