IN the UN last week, the collective West supported Nazism in voting 52 versus 105 from the rest of the world. The US, the UK, Ukraine, Canada, France and allies rejected the UN draft resolution raised by Russia on fighting neo-Nazism, a militarized form of racist nationalism, and related forms of intolerance.
This anti-racism motion was seen by the West as a move against Ukraine since the Zelenskyy government supported the neo-Nazis. Zelenskyy moved against use of ethnic language Russian and made a national hero of Stepan Bandera, a Nazi holocaust facilitator; Ukraine’s armed forces is composed of more than 25 percent by the Azov battalion, which engaged in continuous attacks on ethnic Russians in the last eight years and was among those being trained and armed by the US, which was given by President Putin as a reason for invading Ukraine.
Space stations. China has launched the Tiangong space station and is accepting participation from applying countries but not from the US. The US had earlier blocked China’s several applications for using the International Space Station, or ISS, for over a decade. The ISS is a joint activity of Russia, Japan, Germany, the US, etc., and was to be decommissioned in 2024. The US is accusing China of excluding countries and the satellite of not conforming to “international standards”; Tiangong is a project built by China and uses Chinese language.
Viruses. Boston University admitted synthesizing a variant virus. Combining the spikes of deadly Covid species with the highly infectious but mild variant Omicron, to attain an extremely infectious resulting virus that raised to 80 percent the infected mice that died, up from zero. The lab defended its study, saying that it was only on mice, and that the lab had Level 4 safety protocols. The US health officials have not denounced this verified virus tweaking officially, the way they do if other nations are even suspected of trying such research.
Meanwhile, the UN and the US still refuse to investigate the 26 biolabs for keeping banned microorganisms and allegedly conducting gain of function research in Ukraine. This was initially denied by the US but later admitted, by State Department Undersecretary Victoria Nuland, to being funded by the US. Why 26 labs, and in just one country? In Ukraine, where Hunter, son of President Biden was given very well paid positions for doing very little?
Lie for untested vaccines to sell billions. The Pfizer CEO disappeared from scheduled hearing, and sent staff, J Small, who admitted they did not yet test the vaccine for protection vis-a-vis transmissibility before selling billions of doses and profiting billions of dollars, pushed by the US and the EU around the world as being necessary to protect against transmission of then covid variant, while criticizing other vaccines. Submission of documents by Pfizer showed more than 90 percent of the words blacked out. Information on indirect side effects is not being released. No accountability is being pushed.
Sixty-year Cuban blockade. Two weeks ago, at the UN, 185 countries voted to demand an end to the 60-year US blockade on Cuba, a country that poses no threat to the US. Two countries opposed, the US and Israel, with Ukraine abstaining. The majority vote has been for lifting the blockade for 30 years, ignored by the US. The blockade has destroyed the prospects of the Cuban economy and even prevented access to health care and supplies during Covid. Doesn’t the US believe in national self-determination?
Smart phones. The US ban crushed Huawei’s cellphone business. Blocking it from selling in the west and blocking its access to Google, it has crushed the phone that was No. 2 in the world as it was on its way to reach No. 1 in sales, overtaking Samsung and Apple. It has dropped to No. 10 and may disappear. The attempt to make Huawei’s own operating system did not take off in the market; the company lost over $20 billion in sales due to overall US sanctions on phones, software and equipment. Sales dropped from over $120 billion to below $100 billion as a group, but Huawei is continuing to grow its other core strengths.
ICT infrastructure network systems. After being banned by the US in all its allied countries, Huawei is rebuilding its markets as the lead in 5G and in network ICT, controlling over 3,300 patents and now already developing 6G, even far more powerful than 5G. France, which removed over 3,000 antennas already installed, has returned to discuss potential business with Huawei in optical cable intercontinental installations.
Trade sanctions on Russia. Resulting in large surpluses for the Russian trade due to high oil prices, so the US and the EU tried to set a price cap of around $40, where the market was at $90. US oil companies profited over a hundred billion dollars in a quarter, selling to allies in the EU at four times the price domestically of US gas. The Russian economy was damaged but has recovered to a more stable inflation, and the ruble has strengthened even beyond pre-war values.
Europe is suffering the highest inflation in decades at over 10 percent, severe devaluation, energy costs at over 400 percent higher, and is likely entering a recession. Europe’s economy will be damaged for years as industries are leaving for Asia and to the US also, with much courting at the expense of its allies.
Saudi, Qatar, the UAE and OPEC have all refused to raise oil production as the US demanded, causing a rift. The US threatens to reduce weapons sales to Saudi, but South Korea is aggressively selling its fast growing arms industry exports. These countries are now also considering allowing trading oil in currencies other than the US dollar, which may cut into the power of the US in printing the dollar to purchase goods from the rest of the world, without the US having to produce goods in return.
Trade war with China. The US and the world are buying more than ever from China, since the rest of the world’s production and logistics are hampered by all the US imposed international sanctions, impairing even the US’ own exports to China. The chip ban is reducing by over a hundred billion US dollars of chip sales by US companies to Chinese companies.
Apple, Tesla and other major US businesses have recently announced expansions in China. China in 2021 had a massive increase in trade surplus versus the world, to over $450 billion, and then again in 2022, despite its lockdowns. Biden was forced to consider lowering tariffs on Chinese goods, due to pressure from US businesses, as part of the bid to reduce inflation.
Germany goes to China, against all US warnings, a pivotal no-conformity for the first time for Scholz, together with captains of German industry Volkswagen, Siemens, etc., in an attempt to mend fences with China, wanting to avoid the destruction of German industry that was headed for recession and even closures, as the Germans realized the US did not care much if Germany industries go into massive decline.
“Political trust is easy to destroy, hard to rebuild” — a gentle reminder from President Xi Jinping to Scholz, after which China booked a $17-billion order for over 140 planes from Airbus, a German-French joint venture. German industries also bared plans to make massive manufacturing expansions in China.
War is going on today in every dimension imaginable, as the US National Security Strategy called for all-out war, via an “integration across domains, regions, spectrum of conflicts,” except in direct military. The Philippines has traditionally been part of the domain, spectrum of action of the US.
Philippine policymakers should study the decisions and outcomes of different examples around us, on far more dimensions and option-seeking, than our institutions are used to integrating. This is an expertise of IDSI. “A smart person learns from his mistakes; a wise person learns from the mistakes of others.”
A similar version was published in Manila Times on November 13 2022. We welcome logical feedback and possibly working together with compatible frameworks. (idsicenter@gmail.com)
