By Mike Landry June 16, 2023
As undoubtedly China works to destroy the U.S. from within, its communist masters are working externally against American interests, joining with other countries to undermine the dollar, threatening Panama Canal passage and establishing a strategic installation in nearby Cuba.
It’s Cold War 2.0
Except the Chinese show more stealth than the Soviets and have a sophistication that demonstrates they’re playing the long game.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is focused on the dangers of white supremacy, the Evil Orange Man, violent parents of schoolchildren, Russian assets like Tucker Carlson and the woes of transgender suppression.
Where are the adults in all this?
The 1960s race to the moon was less about scientific exploration than it was about national prestige. Nations wondering which superpower to sidle up to — the U.S. and its Western allies or Russia and its satellites and allies like China — would judge which side was the better bet.
Put a man on the moon and you’d be considered a power to hitch your wagon to.
In some respects, China is playing a similar game, as it unites with countries with economies well along the path to full development, according to Modern Diplomacy.
The countries are lumped together under the acronym BRICS, meaning Brazil, Russia, India, China, and also including South Africa.
Their joint efforts will increase their gross domestic products at the expense of that of the U.S., Modern Diplomacy said.
Worse, more than 30 countries want to join BRICS. Even worse than that, at a summit in South Africa later in 2023, BRICS hopes to replace the U.S. dollar with a new common currency.
Imagine that. Countries moving out of Third-World status seriously challenging the prestige of the United States, which itself is moving toward Third-Worldism (consider censorship, criminally charging political opponents, rogue federal police and addressing the nation in front of a blood-red military-guarded background).
Some countries and regions are already moving away from the dollar, according to Geopolitical Economy.
Russia and China are using their own currencies for trade, China and Brazil have dropped the dollar in their trade; using a French intermediary, United Arab Emirates is receiving payment for gas exports to China in yuan; countries in Southeast Asia are substituting local payment methods for the dollar and Kenya is using its own currency to buy Middle Eastern oil, the outlet reported.
There’s more.
It was recently learned that in 2019, China planted a spy station in Cuba. That’s right out of the Soviet playbook of 1962. Except then, the Russians were doing more than listening — they were tooling up to have missiles able to reach Washington in just a few minutes.
There are no reports China is doing that yet, but besides spying from Cuba, China is developing chokepoints against U.S. shipping, according to U.S. Commander of the United States Southern Command, General Laura Richardson.
Among those chokepoints is the Panama Canal, she said in a March 8 letter to Congress.
“PRC [People’s Republic of China] is spreading its malign influence, wielding its economic might, and conducting gray zone activities to expand its military and political access and influence in the AOR [Area of Responsibility of the Southern Command],” Richardson said.
“The PRC is investing in critical infrastructure, including deep-water ports, cyber, and space facilities which can have a potential dual use for malign commercial and military activities.
“In any potential global conflict, the PRC could leverage strategic regional ports to restrict U.S. naval and commercial ship access.
“This is a strategic risk that we can’t accept or ignore,” she said.
In 17 countries, Chinese companies are developing deep-water ports “particularly around strategic maritime chokepoints in this region,” according to Richardson.
She noted that similar Chinese developments in Asia, Africa and the Middle East “abused commercial agreements by conducting military functions at host-country ports.”
“What’s to keep them from doing the same right here in this hemisphere?” Richardson asked.
Critically, Chinese companies are bidding or already working on “several projects related to the Panama Canal — a global strategic chokepoint,” she said. “These projects include port operations on both ends of the canal, water management, and a logistics park.”
In addition, China wants to put a maritime facility near Ushuaia, Argentina, close to the Strait of Magellan, Drake Passage and Antarctica, “a potential game-changer for the PRC, dramatically improving its access to Antarctica,” Richardson said.
And there’s something that bothers me. Watching, awhile back, a great movie from 2000 entitled “Thirteen Days,” about the Cuban missile crisis, I was struck by portrayals of overall gravitas of the men wrestling with that serious event.
John and Robert Kennedy, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, United Nations Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Kennedy advisor and former Secretary of State Dean Acheson and others.
While flawed, these were serious men of experience, depth and knowledge.
I’ll not go further. You can make your own comparisons to our current situation.
It’s Cold War 2.0
Except the Chinese show more stealth than the Soviets and have a sophistication that demonstrates they’re playing the long game.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is focused on the dangers of white supremacy, the Evil Orange Man, violent parents of schoolchildren, Russian assets like Tucker Carlson and the woes of transgender suppression.
Where are the adults in all this?
The 1960s race to the moon was less about scientific exploration than it was about national prestige. Nations wondering which superpower to sidle up to — the U.S. and its Western allies or Russia and its satellites and allies like China — would judge which side was the better bet.
Put a man on the moon and you’d be considered a power to hitch your wagon to.
The countries are lumped together under the acronym BRICS, meaning Brazil, Russia, India, China, and also including South Africa.
Worse, more than 30 countries want to join BRICS. Even worse than that, at a summit in South Africa later in 2023, BRICS hopes to replace the U.S. dollar with a new common currency.
Some countries and regions are already moving away from the dollar, according to Geopolitical Economy.
Russia and China are using their own currencies for trade, China and Brazil have dropped the dollar in their trade; using a French intermediary, United Arab Emirates is receiving payment for gas exports to China in yuan; countries in Southeast Asia are substituting local payment methods for the dollar and Kenya is using its own currency to buy Middle Eastern oil, the outlet reported.
There’s more.
It was recently learned that in 2019, China planted a spy station in Cuba. That’s right out of the Soviet playbook of 1962. Except then, the Russians were doing more than listening — they were tooling up to have missiles able to reach Washington in just a few minutes.
There are no reports China is doing that yet, but besides spying from Cuba, China is developing chokepoints against U.S. shipping, according to U.S. Commander of the United States Southern Command, General Laura Richardson.
Among those chokepoints is the Panama Canal, she said in a March 8 letter to Congress.
“PRC [People’s Republic of China] is spreading its malign influence, wielding its economic might, and conducting gray zone activities to expand its military and political access and influence in the AOR [Area of Responsibility of the Southern Command],” Richardson said.
“The PRC is investing in critical infrastructure, including deep-water ports, cyber, and space facilities which can have a potential dual use for malign commercial and military activities.
“In any potential global conflict, the PRC could leverage strategic regional ports to restrict U.S. naval and commercial ship access.
“This is a strategic risk that we can’t accept or ignore,” she said.
In 17 countries, Chinese companies are developing deep-water ports “particularly around strategic maritime chokepoints in this region,” according to Richardson.
She noted that similar Chinese developments in Asia, Africa and the Middle East “abused commercial agreements by conducting military functions at host-country ports.”
“What’s to keep them from doing the same right here in this hemisphere?” Richardson asked.
Critically, Chinese companies are bidding or already working on “several projects related to the Panama Canal — a global strategic chokepoint,” she said. “These projects include port operations on both ends of the canal, water management, and a logistics park.”
In addition, China wants to put a maritime facility near Ushuaia, Argentina, close to the Strait of Magellan, Drake Passage and Antarctica, “a potential game-changer for the PRC, dramatically improving its access to Antarctica,” Richardson said.
And there’s something that bothers me. Watching, awhile back, a great movie from 2000 entitled “Thirteen Days,” about the Cuban missile crisis, I was struck by portrayals of overall gravitas of the men wrestling with that serious event.
John and Robert Kennedy, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, United Nations Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Kennedy advisor and former Secretary of State Dean Acheson and others.
While flawed, these were serious men of experience, depth and knowledge.
I’ll not go further. You can make your own comparisons to our current situation.
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