THE BULL AND THE BULLDOG VS. THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON

First posted 17th March 2022.

Empires rise and fall. The western empire rose, had its day for three hundred years and appears, short of some miracle or economic/military war, about to be eclipsed.

The American bull along with its British sidekick, the bulldog decided in recent years to wage war against the Russian bear and Chinese dragon.

Exactly when the decision was made is debatable but for my money the final factor (no matter what other economic factors and statements were already factored in) was 9/11.

In the hours after the attacks on the USA it is certain that the most important and fateful decisions for our world were made by the tiniest percentage of its population ever. Those decisions underpin every geopolitical event and media focus from that day to this. The events now occurring in the Ukraine are part and parcel of decisions made at meetings in Washington in September of 2001. They follow on from those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen predicated upon the perceived need of the USA, UK and their allies to insure U.S. security and global dominance in perpetuity and a general agreement to do whatever it takes to gain this.

Such decisions made at such a level and with such a level of desperate, convinced emotion attached and with such a degree of agreement at every elite level across an entire series of allies are so fixed as to be virtually impossible to be undone or even questioned without the greatest resistance possible. This means that the entire enterprise has been on automatic pilot from the end of the final meeting after 9/11 to reach agreement on what steps must be taken, until now and into the future. Countermanding the protocols set at that time appears utterly impossible as to do this is perceived as an unconscionable and unimaginable lessening of the USA’s security.

So this is where we stand in my view. The West (USA, UK plus their allies) are determined to eliminate all traces of resistance to the continued global hegemony enjoyed by them for virtually all of the last three hundred years. There is no Plan B that I can conceive of. No compromising (as they see it) of the security of the western alliance. For them it MUST survive as the preeminent arbiter of all… though comprising only 15% of the world’s population within their nations.

An empire does not fall without a struggle. It will fight to the death to maintain itself. It will strike out and take others into itself as it did with Ukraine. It will do all in its power to enhance its power still further and lessen the power of those it perceives as its enemies for rising to resist it.

These two factors are united within the West’s resolve. Nine Eleven which made them resolve to dominate the world entirely and alone. And the exacerbating factors of China rising economically and threatening to lessen the West’s influence and thence its ability to dominate and dominate to the extent it fervently wishes to (as agreed after 9/11). These two factors have generated the great energy and reckless behaviour we have seen in recent years of regime change wars along with the thoughtless desire to push Russia into a corner and connect in ever closer fashion with China.

As to the bear and the dragon, they have been seeking to rise economically rather than spread any particular ideology. Indeed both have embraced western capitalism to varying degrees. Putin was first to say that a multipolar world was to be sought, not a continuance of the unipolar world run by the western powers. China surged forward in economic strength and began seeing its geopolitical influence grow in tandem. Neither has displayed any great love of waging wars of conquest. Russia involved itself in Syria much to the dismay of the western powers and agreed to Crimea becoming (once again) part of Russia, it decided it could not look away as the Russian-speaking people of eastern Ukraine asked for assistance. But neither Russia nor China has appeared ready to take the military course of action taken again and again by the West and its allies in the last two decades. As far as I can see both Russia and China have been concerned solely in geopolitical terms with raising the levels of their economies and preserving the national security of their borders.

Now Russia has intervened in Ukraine militarily due to the final factor mentioned above and the political and media elites have enthusiastically encouraged a view of that in quite different terms which is accepted by the vast majority of western populations. A view completely absent of any Russian viewpoint or any sympathy for it.

However, despite the West being virtually united in condemnation of Russia over Ukraine it is my own view that this will not be crucial regarding the greater war between the Bull and Bulldog vs. the Bear and Dragon, what will be crucial are the facts on the ground in Ukraine and the ultimate outcome… leading one way or another to an absolute benefit for whoever wins out. As Professor John J. Mearsheimer has recently said, that is likely to be the side with the greater resolve. He favoured Russia in this, however, the resolve on both sides and for the reasons I have given, is at levels never before experienced on this planet.