Bold Moves

Where in the world is Zhou Xiaochuan? The first three reports are always wrong. What we do know, however, is that an explanation will follow (after the dust has settled; after Monday's market close).

The continued perceived weakness of the Obama administration on virtually every front, is inviting bold moves. When the North Koreans attacked the South Korean war ship, Cheonan, and the Obama administration did essentially nothing, China knew it can do whatever it wants. America is no longer an impediment to whatever goals it might set for itself.

That much is true: America no longer has a foreign policy. As long as Obama remains in office, America will maintain the classic stance of the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys. The sole challenge Obama acknowledges is the one here at home where he has deemed the American people the enemy.

Abroad, countries are scrambling to get what they can before America regains its senses. China has been building infrastructure throughout Asia to accommodate its ever growing military might . Just this month, Chinese naval vessels made port call in Myanmar for the very first time. Major Chinese construction projects are ongoing in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. China has been busy making deals all over the world to secure exclusive rights to important natural resources. China is putting all its ducks in a row.

Clearly, China is readying for war. Why, you might ask, is China so intent on positioning its military favorably at a time when the U.S. is in clear decline? China does not view the U.S. as the enemy. It is not the U.S. it must be ready to fight. It’s the chaos that will ensue once it has become clear to everyone that the U.S. has exited the world stage.

China is already in a position to push the U.S. over that edge. Its holdings of U.S. debt give it that power. However, China feels, it is not yet ready. When she moves, she will move fast. Much of her U.S. holdings will go up in smoke. But it won’t matter. America will lie in ruins. Taiwan will assume the position of low hanging fruit.

The current act is simply a way for the gamers to squeeze some temporary cash out of the markets. Strictly small stuff compared to having to face the Russian bear …later.

Hollywood Always Has It End Well

The narrative in and around the Gulf is so compelling - so riveting - if it never had happened, we would have had to invent it. And so we did. Plenty of horror movies out there in which some threat is burgeoning and seemingly unstoppable. Then the hero rides to the rescue on his white horse… Hollywood always has it end well.

It occurs to me that in this particular oil spill saga there are no heroes – at least none that we can see (yet). It just keeps chugging along, getting worse every day. The means we have currently devised to mitigate the immediate problem – the loss of jobs; massive dislocation, and overall threat to the environment – seem inadequate. We’ve elected to sacrifice BP on the altar of public opinion and, along with it, even more jobs. The moratorium on drilling ups the ante as even more jobs are absurdly sacrificed to our pagan god, Gaia. In short, we seem to be fighting the loss of jobs with the loss of more jobs.

In the meantime, the spill spills on. There are signs that the media and our ADD president are on the verge of losing interest altogether. The World Cup and our rapidly approaching midterm elections are just too juicy to overlook. And then, of course, there was Michael Jackson’s death anniversary.

Odd to see no one coming to our aid. Besides affecting the lives and livelihoods of Gulf residents – not to mention wildlife – badly, the spill can also be classified as a global environmental emergency. Whenever there has been such an emergency abroad, the U.S. has usually been the first to arrive. We were always quick to offer humanitarian aid to the stricken whether we were invited or not. Earthquakes in Turkey and Haiti; tsunamis in East Asia; famine in Africa; etc. Often our considerable contribution had to be disguised - our sacks of emergency foodstuffs re-labeled - to look like it’s not coming from us but from some NGO (as not to offend the people filling their bellies with our own home-grown grains).

On May 3rd, 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit shore in Myanmar and devastated the densely populated, rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division. It was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history. The ruling junta’s version of our Jones Act prohibited the country from accepting foreign aid – this, despite 200,000 dead or missing and millions displaced. We continued to beg and bribe officials and they eventually relented and allowed some of us in.

No such efforts are being made here. The nations of the vaunted ’global community’ seem to be just standing around, clucking their tongues and shaking their heads. Where are the Russians, the Chinese, the Venezuelans, Brazil? Where is the Middle East? Europe? Where is The Sierra Club? PETA? Nothing to say? Where is the UN to bash down our doors and fix this thing (which, as is becoming increasingly clear, we can’t handle ourselves).

“Yes, we can!” indeed! Since Obama has been in office, we haven’t been able to do anything, except to make things worse. Whether due to incompetence or by design, it doesn’t matter anymore. We’re going to hell in a hand basket. While the rest of the world just stands around watching.

I once saw an Indian film “Bandit Queen” (Shekhar Kapur) in which a woman was publicly beaten to within an inch of her life. The town’s people just stood around and watched. It sent a chill through my heart.

Could this be the legacy of Ameica's fall from grace: Nobody helping anyone? Every man out for himself?

Myanmar

I've been thinking of Myanmar recently. Myanmar is probably one of the two most repressive regimes in the world. The other is North Korea. I haven't been to North Korea, but I've been to Myanmar. The people there are like people everywhere, inquisitive, gentle, but somehow dispirited. The world doesn't care about what anyone in Myanmar says or thinks. Myanmar is like a black hole on the globe. The whole nation is a prison.

And yet, from the look of things, Myanmar was once a great nation. One can gather that much from seeing its antiquities. At some point, all the greatness ceased; the people's spirit died. The people still exist, but they do not live. They are afraid to speak out, or even enquire. No one seeks their advice; their opinion. There will never be an International Auto Show in Rangoon.

This is what we can expect to happen in America if our present administration gets its way. Even the socialist countries of Europe are scrambling to form alliances with some sense of future in mind. Only our government seems determined to choke of all avenues of progress; hope. It's done so much damage already; it's difficult to gage our chances of recovery. Two and a half years of same should suffice to plow us under for good. The world will turn its back on us. Even the most morbid among us find it painful to watch a suicide. Like Myanmar, it won't even be worth the effort to bury the corpse.

Presidential Sex Crimes

I said months ago that the Obama presidency would bring about a shift in global alliances. We had always been known as the leader of the 'free world'. Those who shared our ideals were considered our allies; those who did not were considered our adversaries. Now that we have so openly displayed our weakness (under this administration) there is no longer any reason for anyone to side with us. No one needs us for money, for we are bankrupt; no one needs us for protection, for we refuse to fight. No one even needs us as a credible adversary.

The betrayal and handover of an eviscerated America will not be celebrated by our enemies. They will not hate us less. Neither will they reward Obama for it. We will quietly slip into irrelevancy - like Myanmar; like North Korea. Some future American dictator might even find it necessary to build a bomb to extort aid from the successful nations.

The world will laugh at our bravado; they will know that there is nothing behind our threats; our baseless boasts; that we have squandered all we had to atone for the sex crime of a former American president.