I have been brooding on these threads for some time now about a potential Berlin/Moscow/Beijing axis and we are now seeing physical as well as symbolic evidence of the potential for that extremely dangerous alliance. Make no mistake, my neighbors here in Germany are as inclined to blame all of their problems on America as they are on Putin. They see America is the country which invades their privacy. They have a whole different view of privacy than Americans entertain. This attitude is now leaching into a view of America as a sinister (read Jewish) Wall Street conspiracy fomenting discord around the world (read Iraq, read Ukraine) for its own advantage to its military/industrial complex.
America is plunging headlong toward disaster. We have squandered our military superiority in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan where we have also poured away our treasure. Nothing could be more disheartening than to read a thread yesterday in which brave and patriotic veterans became indignant when the failed policy in those lands as been criticized. Criticism of policy is not criticism of the service of heroic veterans whether of these wars or of Vietnam. We must be free to debate policy or perish.
We are hollowing out our economy, taxing ourselves into competitive disadvantage, impoverishing ourselves with debt, burdening ourselves with unproductive immigrants, regulating ourselves until we are strangled, and setting race against race for political advantage. Our opposition party, surrendered to greed and cynicism, has neither the desire nor the integrity to change our course so it is worse than unrealistic, it is the essence of folly to expect salvation from Washington.
Perhaps Jimmy Rogers had it right when he moved his family to Singapore and determined to raise his daughters to be fluent in Mandarin. He is a through and through libertarian who has no illusions about what is going on in Washington. I don't think you will hear him talk about the problems of making the trains run on time on the New Silk Road, I think you will hear him talk about the real world of power and money. Perhaps we should listen to the likes of Jimmy Rogers and, yes even to this rank leftist, Pepe Escobar. We had better start listening and quick.
