To be perfectly blunt, I don’t think the presentation of a united front is the issue. The wariness is from China wanting to fill the power vacuum left by the US, and many countries being extremely wary of hitching their wagons to an authoritarian superpower (which is what the US is turning into, and one of the primary reasons outside of the tariff idiocy that a lot of countries are stepping away from the US now). And the PRC is absolutely an authoritarian superpower.
Yes, the EU and other alliances in general, and individual states specifically, need to reestablish technical and financial independence, and keep it. International alliance can and should also be made, with the goal of always, always guarding sovereignty at home.
Best case scenario at this point is that both China and the US are successful in neutering each other's foreign power.
I doubt either will be neutered, in the near future; heavily curtailed is a starting point.
A man can dream, right?
"In the beginning was the word."
Aliester Crowley said magick is causing a change in reality, in conformance with will. It's unfortunate so many conflate that with bippity-boppity-boo and no do. The word without action is merely a dream. Sacrifices will need to be made, even up to human life. That doesn't necessitate bloodlust though.
I had to come back to share with you what was coincidentally posted on YT this evening. Perhaps you will find it as relevant as I did -- or not. By one of my recent favorite lecturers:
I always thought the was a global shift coming although in my mind it was going to be to do with the end of the oil / gas era.
I thought that as countries moved away from fossil fuels, power would shift away from the US, Russia, and Arab states. As renewables replaced oil, energy generation would become far more diverse and distributed. Each country would be able to utilise their own resources (Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Hydro) and so not have the external dependencies they currently do if they’re not an oil producing nation. They would all gain stability through self reliance for critical needs.
I think we’ve already seen this in part with the EU disconnecting itself from Russian gas due to the invasion of Ukraine. Russia didn’t have the power it thought it did over Europe because there were alternatives. The EU was able to minimise gas usage and get what it needed elsewhere.
Part of me wonders if Russia kick-started a strong independent EU and now Trump is giving it another boost with the trade war. China is trying to step into a “vacant role” which the countries are just freeing themselves from. They don’t want another sugar-daddy that keeps the lights on.
No one ever said there’s a net benefit. It’s just what ends up happening one way or another. Achieving a perfect balance of power between every nation on the earth has never happened in history.
Someone will take that mantle. Someone always does. And, that being the case, it should be the E.U.
I’d love to live in the fantasy world where every country just minded its own business and left each other alone and we all just frolicked in fields of daisies…
But go and try to explain how that needs to happen to Putin, Xi, and Trump and see how far you get.
No… Other regions should have their own "E.U"s and all these should report up into one global collaborative assembly. To each their local governance and independence, under global coordination. It’s the only way.
While true, there is economy to the least awful option - by virtue of the USA making itself less reliable, they’ve increased China’s standing automatically, especially in the soft-power vacuum the US has left behind.
China is right to calculate this, even if they aren’t really anyone’s ally.
They may be more “stable” right now - but the amount of outright IP theft, cyber attacks and espionage is more than enough to keep them at arms length.
threaded - newest
To be perfectly blunt, I don’t think the presentation of a united front is the issue. The wariness is from China wanting to fill the power vacuum left by the US, and many countries being extremely wary of hitching their wagons to an authoritarian superpower (which is what the US is turning into, and one of the primary reasons outside of the tariff idiocy that a lot of countries are stepping away from the US now). And the PRC is absolutely an authoritarian superpower.
Yes, the EU and other alliances in general, and individual states specifically, need to reestablish technical and financial independence, and keep it. International alliance can and should also be made, with the goal of always, always guarding sovereignty at home.
Best case scenario at this point is that both China and the US are successful in neutering each other’s foreign power.
A man can dream, right?
I doubt either will be neutered, in the near future; heavily curtailed is a starting point.
"In the beginning was the word."
Aliester Crowley said magick is causing a change in reality, in conformance with will. It's unfortunate so many conflate that with bippity-boppity-boo and no do. The word without action is merely a dream. Sacrifices will need to be made, even up to human life. That doesn't necessitate bloodlust though.
As an anarchist absolutely. As an American, absolutely.
I had to come back to share with you what was coincidentally posted on YT this evening. Perhaps you will find it as relevant as I did -- or not. By one of my recent favorite lecturers:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p7OUAoyIUWU
Eta: here is the text: https://hermetic.com/crowley/international/xi/11/humanity-first
I always thought the was a global shift coming although in my mind it was going to be to do with the end of the oil / gas era.
I thought that as countries moved away from fossil fuels, power would shift away from the US, Russia, and Arab states. As renewables replaced oil, energy generation would become far more diverse and distributed. Each country would be able to utilise their own resources (Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Hydro) and so not have the external dependencies they currently do if they’re not an oil producing nation. They would all gain stability through self reliance for critical needs.
I think we’ve already seen this in part with the EU disconnecting itself from Russian gas due to the invasion of Ukraine. Russia didn’t have the power it thought it did over Europe because there were alternatives. The EU was able to minimise gas usage and get what it needed elsewhere.
Part of me wonders if Russia kick-started a strong independent EU and now Trump is giving it another boost with the trade war. China is trying to step into a “vacant role” which the countries are just freeing themselves from. They don’t want another sugar-daddy that keeps the lights on.
The E.U. should rule the world.
Why does the world need to be "ruled"?
Power abhors a vacuum.
So let each country be powerful enough to rule themselves. I don't see the net benefit of having a single global "ruler."
No one ever said there’s a net benefit. It’s just what ends up happening one way or another. Achieving a perfect balance of power between every nation on the earth has never happened in history.
That's not what "should" means.
Someone will take that mantle. Someone always does. And, that being the case, it should be the E.U.
I’d love to live in the fantasy world where every country just minded its own business and left each other alone and we all just frolicked in fields of daisies…
But go and try to explain how that needs to happen to Putin, Xi, and Trump and see how far you get.
Well, that entirely depends on your method of explaining.
What would yours be?
The world doesn’t need power to rule it, but power needs something to rule.
Exactly. And in the absence of power someone will step in to take over.
No… Other regions should have their own "E.U"s and all these should report up into one global collaborative assembly. To each their local governance and independence, under global coordination. It’s the only way.
We have this. It’s called the UN.
The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend.
While true, there is economy to the least awful option - by virtue of the USA making itself less reliable, they’ve increased China’s standing automatically, especially in the soft-power vacuum the US has left behind.
China is right to calculate this, even if they aren’t really anyone’s ally.
They may be more “stable” right now - but the amount of outright IP theft, cyber attacks and espionage is more than enough to keep them at arms length.
The idea is sound, China, but nobody fucking trusts you.