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William R Barker's avatar

As you know, Russia and China are presently "allies of convenience" along the lines of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" - the U.S. being their common enemy. Of course China's long-term plan is to dominate Russia... dominate the world... and Russia knows this.

The great tragedy (well... in terms of foreign relations) of Deep State primacy in the U.S. is that it's linked with the UK and European Deep State. The players are "allied." And of course at the top of the pyramid it's more about wealth and power and going along to get along - and PERSONALLY prosper - than it is about any sort of intellectual philosophy.

The DANGEROUS dichotomy is how so many of OUR elites are business partners with CHINA'S elites. While our Deep State truly DOES see Putin's Russia in black and white terms as an enemy (and of course they've MADE Russia an enemy) there's basically a schizophrenic "relationship" between the U.S. and China because SO MANY OF OUR ELITES are either in thrall to China OR mistakenly view themselves as "partners" with China.

Now... back to Russia... of course the American Deep State cares nothing for the interests of the American People and both fear and hold contempt for the American middle class they see (correctly) as their only threat domestically... BUT IF THEY DID REPRESENT AMERICAN INTERESTS instead of their own wealth and power we'd be ALLIED with RUSSIA today. At this point in history RUSSIA is Byzantium. RUSSIA is the Eastern Roman Empire. RUSSIA is the repository of any hope of reviving the traditional Western model that grew out of Western cultural norms.

As to Europe... well... Western Europe is a shit show in terms of RUSHING TOWARDS cultural suicide. Beyond that... Europe has long been a BURDEN upon us. At the same time Germany (in particularly in terms of Europe) has long been one of the nationals "hollowing out" the U.S. industrial basis. Germany on the high end... China on the lower end.

Yes. Both China and Russia have been winning. (Of course... how could they NOT win when their "opponent" is largely controlled by those seeking the destruction of traditional America... the Constitution... our social and cultural values... our economic primacy as INDIVIDUALS vs. foreign INDIVIDUALS...)

Yes. Russia is more "capitalist" than the U.S. at this point. And yes... agreed... there's a great deal of nuance when we discuss concepts such as "capitalism" and "free markets" whether we're talking Russia or the U.S.

As for Taiwan... all I'll say is this: I hope they have nukes. Having nukes and reliable delivery systems represent their best hope for remaining a stand-alone nation-state.

"What we are reaping now isn’t a Biden thing, or a Trump thing. It is the culmination of 51 years of mismanagement and shortcuts by a failing state and society."

Yep. Agreed.

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Sam Brunson's avatar

I agree with most of that, and have covered it to one degree or another in previous letters. There is only so much one can put into the 1300-1800 word limit I try (and sometimes fail) to keep these to. Where I think we disagree is that I think both China and Russia believe their alliance is a real solid mutually beneficial thing. That being said I also think both Russia and China believe they will be the Sr. Partner in the relationship once everything shakes out with the west. This will not become an issue until after they have resolved the current issues by putting the west in its place.

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