No Reverse Gear in the Collective West...

Prepare for impact fellow crash test dummies, or so it seems as the west doubles down on its collision course to war with both Russia and China. This week alone, the US pledged another three billion over the next few years to provide arms to Ukraine, and the UK and BoJo pledged an additional $63M in arms. Not to mention the likely new PM of the UK is ready to start a nuclear war with Russia. Additionally the US is setting up Taiwan as Ukraine 2.0 to provoke a war with China. Meanwhile, much of the world plans to hitch their wagon to the rising economies of the BRICS+ economic alliance rejecting subjugation to the US, IMF and the collective west. The west continues its self delusion that they are most of the world, but in reality comprise 12-15% of global population.

When future historians write the obituary on Dollar Hegemony, they will be certain to mention how it was a tragic case of suicide.

After the 2008 crash many central banks enacted low and negative interest rates for any financial institution that could borrow directly from the central bank, or indirectly from those favored financial institutions. This cheap money spigot for the wealthy, to the tune of tens of trillions of dollars, never got turned off until this year, when inflation finally crept into the economy.

While the U.S. and all of Europe react in horror to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the first, second, fourth, tenth and twelfth most-populated nations in Asia feel very different. It really doesn't matter whether you agree with these nations or not. The sheer size and proximity of these nations require respect.
The least surprising is China.

We all know how white-collar crime is punished in the United States - it isn't.
At best there is a fine of less than the amount that was originally stolen. Sometimes the CEO loses his job, but not without a golden parachute.
Basically, there are no consequences in corporate America for fraud, corruption, or incompetence.
It's the exact opposite of how capitalism is supposed to function.

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One year ago, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent to Republican election campaigns and to AM talk radio stations (Republican-owned media monopolies that use misinformation to torque US election outcomes across the nation) a detailed, 57-page memo authored by a top Republican strategist advising GOP candidates to address the coronavirus crisis by aggressively attacking China.

These talking point memos are sent to member stations of the Republican-owned AM Radio Monopolies on a weekly basis (sometimes daily) to coordinate the lies, prejudice, and propaganda across Red State America. We can see side effects of this propaganda in the thousands of attacks against innocent Asian Americans that took place during 2020 and 2021. Much of this propaganda was embraced by Democratic Party "moderates" and megaphoned by the Democratic Establishment in order to satisfy their Big Donors from the Defense Industry and their intelligence-agency political candidates and media cutouts.

Monday's Open Thread was a reminder the current Chinese Civil War began 95 years ago between the Chinese Nationalist and Chinese Communist Party. There has not been an official end to the conflict.

1927 – Chiang Kai-shek ordered the massacre of Chinese Communists in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.

As a person who sees the struggle with Russia and China as being about the nationalization of resources, which means the sharing of wealth with the workforce, versus ownership of resources by capitalists who oppress, terrorize, or enslave labor, I find the following articles important this week.

and I doubt it can be slowed let alone reversed.