A study by an elite European government-funded think tank found that, while the United States and Europe are growing closer together, the West is increasingly out of touch politically with the rest of the world.
The report, from the EU member state-financed European Council on Foreign Relations, conceded that the system of “American global supremacy” is in rapid decline, and many people in the Global South want a new “multipolar world”.
The series of polls concluded that NATO’s proxy war in “Ukraine confirmed the renewed centrality of American power to Europe”, uniting the West under Washington’s leadership. Today, Europeans and North Americans “hold many views in common about major global questions”.
But this “consolidation of the West is taking place in an increasingly divided post-Western world”, the study acknowledged. The Global South is moving in the opposite direction.
It described “a wide gap between the West and the ‘rest’ when it comes to their desired outcomes for the war and differing understandings of why the US and Europe support Ukraine”.
The report admitted that, even if Ukraine somehow managed to win the NATO proxy war with Russia, “it is highly unlikely to restore a US-led global liberal order”, and, instead, “the West will have to live, as one pole of a multipolar world”.
The 13% of the global population in the West is out of touch with the ‘rest’ of the world
This study was conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a notoriously hawkish think tank that expresses overt anti-Russia and anti-China bias...
The study is called out as being biased, yet -
...despite the ECFR study’s many flaws, its results convey an unmistakable message: The West is out of touch with the rest of the world.
The Western nations surveyed in the study have a combined population of nearly 1 billion – approximately 13% of the global population of 8 billion.
This is a mere fraction of the populations of China (1.41 billion), India (1.39 billion), Russia (142 million), and Türkiye (83 million).
Together, these countries have a population of just over 3 billion – making up around 38% of the total global population.
The ECFR polling shows how significantly the public opinion of the 13% in the West differs from that of the Eurasian powers.
The West’s view of the Ukraine war is not shared by the rest of the world
In its report, the European Council on Foreign Relations stated that the proxy war in “Ukraine marks both the consolidation of the West and the emergence of the long-heralded post-Western international order”. Read more...
The study helps show the divide existing between the West (or "Global North" - apart from Russia) and the East (or what is being called the Global South, which basically amounts to most of the rest of the world, minus Australia and New Zealand).
A large US/NATO trained and equipped Ukrainian army is being slowly defeated by a private Russian military company and Donbass militias. From the beginning the process has been one of slow village by village slug-fest. The question I continually raise is why does the Kremlin proceed in this way when the main result is to give the US/NATO time to get involved and to supply increasingly more effective and longer range weapons to Ukraine, thus both widening the war and causing higher Russian casualties. From a military standpoint, the Kremlin’s policy is nonsensical.
One consequence is that some are now theorizing a conspiracy between the US and Russia to create a war for some globalist or World Economic Forum reason. In other words, some are beginning to see the war as another hoax on mankind with an agenda different from the declared opposing agendas of Russia and US. This doesn’t help Putin’s reputation or Biden’s.
The fact that the two leaders who have each declared the other to be completely untrustworthy are trusting one another’s word is inexplicable to many.
I am not ready to endorse the conspiracy theory, but I do remain puzzled why the Kremlin allows the war to metastasize rather than to commit the resources to end it quickly. For now I will stick to my emphasis that Putin’s inaction is the principal reason the war is widening. US assessing Ukrainians for possible F-16 training – NBC — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
Iran, China and the Panama Canal: Is the US Being Encircled?
by Lawrence A. Franklin
Iran and China are on the move again. Last Friday, to the apparent surprise of the Biden Administration, China asserted its influence in the Middle East by entering the vacuum created by US President Joe Biden, and brokering a deal between Iran and its threatened neighbor, Saudi Arabia, which Biden had vowed to make a "pariah," and "end the sale of material" to it. The Saudis heard.
Iran, meanwhile, has not been shy about its mission to "export the revolution" to the Western hemisphere. Most recently, in February, two Iranian warships docked in Brazil, under its recently elected socialist President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. From there, the ships will reportedly proceed to the Panama Canal, already controlled at both ends by Iran's newish ally -- the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Chinese Communist Party officially declared a "people's war" on the US on May 14, 2019, in flagship news[paper, the People's Daily, as well as before that, on January 29, 2017, even if the US was not listening.
Iran has high praise for da Silva. He has refused to join the US-led sanctions regime against Tehran, and has stated repeatedly that Iran has the right to develop peaceful nuclear programs and that the Islamic Republic should be taken at its word until proven otherwise by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). According to the IAEA, however, Iran seems to have been cheating the "whole time."
Now according to reports, Iran is just days away from being able to create its nuclear bombs, just as the 2015 JCPOA "nuclear deal" allowed it to do, anyway. The Biden Administration, like the Obama Administration, is most likely just trying to avoid having Iran going full nuclear "on my watch," as Obama let slip in 2015.
In a visible challenge to US dominance in the Western Hemisphere, the Iranian ships will proceed to the Panama Canal, at both ends of which sits -- China.
"It's no secret that China has been pouring resources into South America this century, chipping away at the United States' historic dominance." — Buenos Aires Times, February 18, 2022.
Is the US being encircled?
Iran has not been shy about its mission to "export the revolution" to the Western hemisphere. Most recently, in February, two Iranian warships docked in Brazil. Pictured: The Iranian warship Iris Makran sails off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 27, 2023. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images):
Iran and China are on the move again. Last Friday, to the apparent surprise of the Biden Administration, China asserted its influence in the Middle East by entering the vacuum created by US President Joe Biden, and brokering a deal between Iran and its threatened neighbor, Saudi Arabia, which Biden had vowed to make a "pariah," and "end the sale of material" to it. The Saudis heard.
Iran, meanwhile, has not been shy about its mission to "export the revolution" to the Western hemisphere. Most recently, in February, two Iranian warships docked in Brazil, under its recently elected socialist President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. From there, the ships will reportedly proceed to the Panama Canal, already controlled at both ends by Iran's newish ally -- the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The CCP officially declared a "people's war" on the United States on May 14, 2019, in its flagship newspaper, the People's Daily, as well as before that, on January 29, 2017, even if the US was not listening.
Iran has been openly infiltrating South America for decades. In 1994, it famously blew up a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85 people. Recently, while the Biden Administration has been pursuing a "nuclear deal" with Iran -- one that will enable it soon to have as many nuclear weapons as it likes -- Iran has been expanding its already sizeable foothold south of the US border. The militant Islamic theocracy already has a significant presence -- and presumably influence -- in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. It is now targeting Brazil and the Panama Canal.
Brazilian President da Silva has a history of welcoming Iran. In 2009, during his previous presidential term, he warmly greeted then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his state visit to Brazil. Da Silva will decidedly shift from the pro-US and pro-Israel foreign policy of his predecessor, President Jair Bolsonaro, to one that favors friendly ties with Iran.
Da Silva, who served as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, barely defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff election last October. A left-wing populist, da Silva drew support from Brazilians who benefited by his liberal welfare policies, particularly access to affordable health care, during his previous terms as president.
Under the Bolsonaro administration (2019-2022), diplomatic links between Iran and Brazil were chilly. His investigation of Hezbollah and its activities in the tri-border zone of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina resulted in the 2018 arrest of the terrorist group's regional financier Assad Ahmad Barakat. Bolsonaro's support for Israel, on the other hand, was shown by the first visit ever by an Israeli Prime Minister to Brazil: Benjamin Netanyahu attended Bolsonaro's inauguration in 2019.
Iran welcomed da Silva's election and the warming of relations with Brazil it expects will ensue. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, was quick to congratulate da Silva on his election. The congratulatory message from Hamas politburo member Basir Naim, was, not surprisingly, that Hamas "looks forward to President Lula mitigating all the effects of the unlimited support [from Bolsonaro] for the Israeli Occupation State."
Brazilians do not necessarily support da Silva's shift to the left on foreign policy. A Pew poll conducted in 2015 revealed that the great majority of Brazilians had an unfavorable view of Iran. Brazil had warm relations with Iran during da Silva's earlier terms. He visited Iran in 2010, following Ahmadinejad's visit to Brazil in 2009. Brazil is also Iran's largest trading partner in Latin America. Brazilians ship large amounts of meat (mostly beef), medicines and cars to Iran. Brazil's oil giant Petrobras has invested heavily in Iran's oil industry.
Da Silva's turn away from the West was recently underscored by his granting permission for two Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro immediately after his visit to the White House late last month. The US Department of State and the US Ambassador to Brazil Elizabeth Bagley were unsuccessful in their efforts to persuade da Silva to deny Iran's warships permission to dock.
Iran has high praise for da Silva. He has refused to join the US-led sanctions regime against Tehran, and has criticized Western suspicions of Iran's intentions concerning nuclear weapons. Da Silva has stated repeatedly that Iran has the right to develop peaceful nuclear programs and that the Islamic Republic should be taken at its word until proven otherwise by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). According to the IAEA, however, Iran seems to have been cheating the "whole time."
In 2004, the IAEA accused Iran of violating the agency's "Safeguards Agreement": the regime failed to notify the IAEA of increased enrichment activities. The IAEA also noted that Iran prematurely deployed advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges. In still another accusation leveled by the IAEA against Iran, the agency declared that Tehran processed uranium gas necessary for the production of the uranium metal needed for the core of a nuclear weapon. These are but a few of the violations which underscore Iran's duplicity regarding its nuclear program. What is needed for peaceful nuclear use is uranium enriched to 3% to 20%. Iran has now enriched uranium to 84%, close to the 90% needed for use in nuclear bombs, and, according to reports, is just "days away" from being able to build its nuclear weapons, as the 2015 JCOA nuclear deal [allows](file:///C:/Users/Lawrence/Downloads/the%202015%20JCPOA) it to do, anyway.
The Biden Administration, like the Obama Administration, is most likely just trying to avoid having Iran going full nuclear "on my watch," as Obama let slip in 2015.
The Iranian vessels that docked in Brazil, were the Iris Makran (the largest Iranian warship) and the Iris Dena, a frigate. They are part of Iran's 86th Flotilla and its newly established Atlantic Ocean Command. In a visible challenge to US dominance in the Western Hemisphere, the ships will proceed to the Panama Canal.
This visit to Latin America is the second such naval deployment to the hemisphere since Iran's Atlantic maritime tour in 2021. There is every reason to expect Tehran to attempt to expand its diplomatic and military profile in this region.
As Brazil is the largest, most populous, and militarily strongest nation in South America, other Latin American countries might be emboldened to also seek better ties with adversaries of the US. How did "China Beat Out the U.S. to Dominate South America"? According to Bloomberg:
"China has bought up so much copper, pork, and soy—and constructed so many roads, trains, power grids, and bridges—that it's surpassed the U.S. as South America's largest trade partner and is now the single biggest trader with Brazil, Chile, and Peru."
"It's no secret that China has been pouring resources into South America this century, chipping away at the United States' historic dominance," noted the Buenos Aires Times.
Seven South American countries – Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay -- are already part of the China's Belt and Road Initiative; the only country with diplomatic ties to Taiwan is Paraguay. Add to this that China is also apparently eager to increase its economic and military presence in the Caribbean.
Is the US being encircled?
Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
BREAKING: War Tensions Rise As Russia Teams Up With China And Iran For Joint Military Drills
Three of the United States’ top international adversaries have partnered to perform military exercises in the Middle East, according to a statement by China’s Ministry of Defense.
China, Russia, and Iran are preparing to cooperate their offensive postures off the Middle Eastern coast in a series of exercises dubbed “Security Bond-2023.” The four-day initiative runs through March 19 and will demonstrate the naval capacity of all three countries operating in a coordinated effort against a common enemy.
In its announcement, the Chinese Defense Ministry said the exercises would “help deepen practical cooperation between the participating countries’ navies … and inject positive energy into regional peace and stability.”
White House officials are monitoring the situation but so far have expressed no concerns that the effort by all three countries is meant to escalate or inflame conflicts between the United States and its three oft-seen rivals in global affairs.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby sought to allay fears Wednesday morning:
“We’re going to watch it, we’ll monitor it, obviously, to make sure that there’s no threat resulting from this training exercise to our national security interests or those of our allies and partners in the region,” Kirby said on CNN. “But nations train. We do it all the time. We’ll watch it as best we can.”
Tensions between the West and all three Eastern nations have risen in recent years as the result of provocative postures taken over Covid-19, human rights abuses, and the war in Ukraine.
Chinese officials continue to stymie international efforts to explore the possibility that Covid-19 was the result of a leak at the Wuhan research lab. The US continues to sanction Iran and its top government officials for the use of live ammunition to quell peaceful protests at home. Russia, which recently passed the one-year mark since its invasion of Ukraine, continues to face a barrage of international sanctions and economic pressure led by the US, an effort that has so far maintained bipartisan support in Washington.
China Is ‘Officially’ Sending Drones To Russia; Getting Help ‘Unofficially’ From Kazakhstan, Pakistan & Belarus: NYT
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, China has supplied more than $12 million worth of drones to Moscow, demonstrating the two nations’ deepening cooperation despite threats from the US to take action against Chinese firms, reported The New York Times.
The report noted that the shipments included DJI products—a well-known drone manufacturer worldwide—and products from various smaller businesses—often flowed through small-time middlemen and exporters.
The report cites official Russian customs data from a third-party data provider, noting that US measures established in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion have failed to block shipments of unmanned aerial vehicles.
It is also hard to establish whether there are US components in the Chinese products, which might represent a breach of the US export rules. This is primarily due to the complicated sales channels and ambiguous product descriptions within export data.
Furthermore, the official sales may be only a tiny portion of a larger flow of technologies through unofficial routes and other countries close to Russia, such as Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Belarus.
As a result, Russia continues to receive new drones, which are then sent to the front lines of its conflict with Ukraine. Beijing has become a more crucial military, political, and economic partner for Russia in its war campaign.
The world continues to be largely dependent on China’s factories and clusters of specialist component makers despite recent attempts by the United States to undermine some Chinese enterprises through export prohibitions.
Thus, China’s stranglehold over the world’s electronics supply chain has made it more difficult for the United States to cut Russia from crucial technology and funding.
DJI Drones Still Flowing To Russia
The manufacturer of hovering quadcopter drones, DJI, has presented particular difficulties for the US government. The ability of DJI drones to be easily adapted to carry out various activities has led to their increasing use in the ongoing war.
The corporation is already under export control from the US. In 2020, the Commerce Department added DJI to a list of companies prohibited from selling technology without specific approval in the United States.
According to the customs data, the measure did not impact DJI’s domination in the drone business. The company’s products accounted for almost half of all Chinese drone shipments to Russia.
Since the invasion, roughly 70 Chinese exporters have sold 26 different kinds of Chinese drones to Russia, The New York Times added. Autel, a Chinese drone manufacturer, was the second-largest brand sold; exporters sold about $2 million of its drones, with the most recent batch being delivered in February 2023.
Autel has subsidiaries in the US, Germany, and Italy. Meanwhile, DJI earlier asserted that it had ceased all operations and shipments to Russia and Ukraine since the start of the conflict and has “thorough protocols” to ensure that it does not breach American sanctions.
Since both sides are taking down drones with increasing efficiency, these consumer UAVs require regular replenishment. Due to Ukraine’s reliance on drone donations from third-party organizations and individuals, their soldiers also use DJI drones in combat.
Foreign drones, primarily DJIs, are believed to make up nearly half of the Ukrainian stockpiles. According to some experts, the proliferation of Chinese drones should be viewed in the same light as more lethal weapons.
Chinese enterprises that sell UAVs to Russia may use chains of proxy firms that include up to a dozen different firms for commercial or political reasons. In other instances, shipments’ descriptions may be purposefully ambiguous or underplay the overall amount of goods being sent.
Meanwhile, on March 21, Chinese President Xi Jinping posed as a mediator during a diplomatic visit to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, promoting a peace plan to halt Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. The United States has denounced the plan as a biased effort to provide the Kremlin leader cover as he continues his invasion.
Putin supported Xi Jinping’s call for a “peaceful settlement in Ukraine” in a display of support for one another at the Kremlin that suggested the possibility of a strengthened anti-Western bulwark at the global level.
Nevertheless, western lawmakers argued that China’s offer, which calls for a truce and talks but makes no mention of Moscow withdrawing its soldiers from Ukrainian territory, was drafted without the assistance of Kyiv.
Bangladesh Unveils Maiden Submarine Base Built With Chinese Assistance
The foundation stone of Bangladesh’s first submarine base was laid by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2017.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday inaugurated the country’s first-ever submarine base at BNS Sheikh Hasina, in Cox’s Bazar on the seaboard of the Bay of Bengal.
Hasina attended the inauguration of the base through video conferencing from Dhaka, the capital city.
The submarine base has been built with the help of Chinese state-backed company Poly Technologies. Estimated to have cost $1.21 billion, the submarine base can reportedly accommodate six submarines and eight warships.
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen was present during the inauguration ceremony.
Bangladesh procured two submarines from China in 2016, necessitating the need for a base.
Bangladesh’s growing defence proximity to Beijing has raised some concerns in India, which has traditionally been Dhaka’s biggest security and economic partner.
The two countries vowed to intensify defence cooperation during the meeting between Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2019.
During the visit of Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe to Dhaka in 2021, both sides said they would coordinate their positions to safeguard regional peace and stability.
Amid New Delhi’s concerns, Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League has assured that the new submarine base would be used only by Bangladeshi vessels and Dhaka won’t allow any visits by Chinese naval vessels.
Cho also threatened that “any force” against North Korea’s nuclear weapons will be “dealt with resolutely”.
He said: “Even today, the international community is watching with anger and pain the US's crimes against humanity.
“Now, how many more countries are being invaded and how many more people must shed blood before the US imperialist's high-handedness and arbitrariness will stop.
North Korea has warned America that any attempt to force the communist dictatorship to abandon nuclear weapons will be seen as a "declaration of war”. At a United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday, diplomats tried to negotiate an end to North Korea’s repeated missile tests over neighbouring countries. But North Korea was infuriated as nuclear weapon scrappage was discussed at the summit.
Now, Cho Chul-soo, a director at North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has warned that “forcing the DPRK to give up nuclear weapons is a declaration of war”.
The diplomat said: “The US representative to the UN again risked our exercise of our right to self-defence, arguing long-windedly about the old (Complete, Verifiable, Irreversible Denuclearisation) and some kind of ‘human rights situation’.
“The more the US staged a mock arena against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the UN arena, the more it would only expose the failure of US-style diplomacy to the world, which is anachronistic, unrealistic, and messed up.
“Thomas Greenfield may think that he has ‘struggled’ for the national interest of the United States, but in reality, he must be aware that he is only doing disgraceful things that terribly damage the image of the US administration.”
Cho also threatened that “any force” against North Korea’s nuclear weapons will be “dealt with resolutely”.
He said: “Even today, the international community is watching with anger and pain the US's crimes against humanity.
“Now, how many more countries are being invaded and how many more people must shed blood before the US imperialist's high-handedness and arbitrariness will stop.
“Even a few days ago, I warned that Thomas Greenfield would surely deplore his situation as a mere pawn and minion of the substance of the United States in relation to his daring to risk our “human rights situation”.
Just two days ago North Korea simulated a nuclear counterattack in its latest missile incursion.
The drill saw the DPRK prepare for an attack on South Korea, and marked its fifth missile demonstration this month.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un told his military to hold more drills to sharpen the war readiness of his nuclear forces in the face of “aggression” by his enemies, state media reported.
It comes after North Korea claimed 800,000 soldiers signed up to fight US in just one day.
North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun claimed the total number included many North Koreans who wanted to re-enlist.
“The soaring enthusiasm of young people to join the army is a demonstration of the unshakable will of the younger generation to mercilessly wipe out the war maniacs making last-ditch efforts to eliminate our precious socialist country”, their report said.
The North Korean military operates on a conscription system, with males by law required to serve for 10 years and females for three.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during the closing session of the National People’s Congress, Beijing, March 2023
hinese leader Xi Jinping says he is preparing for war. At the annual meeting of China’s parliament and its top political advisory body in March, Xi wove the theme of war readiness through four separate speeches, in one instance telling his generals to “dare to fight.” His government also announced a 7.2 percent increase in China’s defense budget, which has doubled over the last decade, as well as plans to make the country less dependent on foreign grain imports. And in recent months, Beijing has unveiled new military readiness laws, new air-raid shelters in ....
U.S. Navy Denies Iran Boast of Harassing an American Nuclear Submarine
Iranian naval officials claimed on Thursday that they had successfully intercepted and harassed an American nuclear-powered submarine, a claim the U.S. Navy denied on the grounds that no such submarine was in the region.
According to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, the incident occurred as the USS Florida attempted to enter the Strait of Hormuz.
