Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste

Neil Oliver, GBNews: We watch Ukraine and Russia - but at the same time we should watch what our leaders are up to here in the West  

I don’t trust Putin and I don’t trust our leaders or our government either 

I’ll be honest. I don’t know what’s happening in Ukraine. I don’t understand it either. 

 I ignore most of the mainstream media because I don’t trust it. In the Wild West world of online, where I graze widely, it feels like there are as many different assessments and explanations of the situation in Ukraine as there are people with keyboards and phones. 

What I do know is that truth is rarer than gold, and therefore harder to find. 

I also know that whatever Vladimir Putin is up to in Ukraine, the West must accept responsibility for a share of the blame for what is now being suffered and endured by ordinary people there.  

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WNU Editor: The news coverage is overwhelming on the Russia - Ukraine war. What a perfect time for our leaders to take advantage of this catastrophe and use it as a distraction to implement policies and measures that would never be accepted or supported in normal times. The next few weeks are going to be interesting indeed.

The Past Decade Was The Best Ever

Kyle Smith, NYPost: Suck it, doomsayers! The past decade was the best ever

Want to know why 1940s Americans were the Greatest Generation and we’re the Grumpiest Generation? For them, at a time when Europe and the Pacific were ruled by actual fascists carrying out mass murder and US troops were under fire, mass culture was all ironclad optimism — “Oklahoma!” and “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

Today, we have mass hysteria when a TV star stages an obviously fake hate crime in Chicago, Chuck Todd calls the 2010s “the worst decade in politics,” a cover story in The Atlantic wonders if we’re on the brink of civil war, and a Washington Post column claims “Americans are at each other’s throats.”

Rubbish. Nearly everything right now is actually awesome.

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WNU editor: Putting everything into a better perspective .... The World's Poorest People Are Getting Richer Faster than Anyone Else: In 1820, 94% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%. (Foundation For Economic Education).

The Past Decade Has Been The Best In Human History

Matt Ridley, Spectator: We’ve just had the best decade in human history. Seriously

Little of this made the news, because good news is no news.

Let nobody tell you that the second decade of the 21st century has been a bad time. We are living through the greatest improvement in human living standards in history. Extreme poverty has fallen below 10 percent of the world’s population for the first time. It was 60 percent when I was born. Global inequality has been plunging as Africa and Asia experience faster economic growth than Europe and North America; child mortality has fallen to record low levels; famine virtually went extinct; malaria, polio and heart disease are all in decline.

Little of this made the news, because good news is no news. But I’ve been watching it all closely. Ever since I wrote The Rational Optimist in 2010, I’ve been faced with ‘what about…’ questions: what about the great recession, the euro crisis, Syria, Ukraine, Donald Trump? How can I possibly say that things are getting better, given all that? The answer is: because bad things happen while the world still gets better. Yet get better it does, and it has done so over the course of this decade at a rate that has astonished even starry-eyed me.

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WNU Editor: The above post is from a British prospective. But looking at it from a global vantage spot, there are still many trouble spots, conflicts, widespread poverty, and social upheavals. BUT .... IMHO the world is in a better place today than what it was a decade ago. The reason being is the expansion and availability of education, economic efficiencies, and the benefits of new technologies.

These Are The World's 8 Great Powers

Walter Russel Mead & Sean Keeley, American Interest: The Eight Great Powers of 2017

In 2016, Russia surpassed Germany, and Israel joined the list for the first time.

1. The United States of America

No surprise here: as it has for the last century, the United States remains the most powerful country on earth. America’s dynamic economy, its constitutional stability (even as we watch the Age of Trump unfold), its deep bench of strong allies and partners (including 5 of the 7 top powers listed below), and its overwhelming military superiority all ensure that the United States sits secure in its status on top of the greasy pole of international power politics.

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WNU Editor: France? U.K.?

Is The International Order Unravelling?

Wikipedia

Mark Urban, BBC: What lies in store for the world in 2017?

What lies in store for the world next year? Some telling recent events suggest it could be very difficult for Western countries.

While at the end of 2015 I looked at the way nationalistic populism would make the job of diplomats harder in 2016, now there are signs that the West's ability even to set the rules of the international game is beginning to unravel.

"The post-Cold War era of Western-led globalisation, US predominance and the comfortable ascendancy of liberal international values is over," says Sir Simon Fraser, head of the UK Diplomatic Service 2010-2015.

"The current stresses on the international order that we've known since the end of the Second World War", argues US General Stanley McChrystal, who commanded Nato forces in Afghanistan 2009-2010, "reflect a decentralization or 'atomization' of power on multiple levels".

Among key events in the latter part of 2016:

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WNU Editor: The World Order has been unravelling for a long time. But what has accelerated this trend lately is the realisation among many that the promises that were made of a better world have not been realised .... especially in the West. The result has then become predictable .... Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the rise of populism in the West. My prediction .... these trend lines are only going to accelerate in 2017, starting with the West looking more inward for its solutions and policies than outwards. And as for the age of massive trade agreements, the power of international legal and political institutions coupled with grand political-military alliances .... I see that coming to an end.

Why So Many Military Drills Across The Globe?

U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships steam in formation during their military manoeuvre exercise known as Keen Sword 15 in the sea south of Japan, in this November 19, 2014 handout provided by the U.S. Navy. REUTERS/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Chris Cavagnaro/U.S. Navy/Handout

News24: Military Drills Increase Globally- War Preparations in Progress?

Joint and individual military exercise drills have proliferated across the globe over the past couple of months with no sign of these occurrences abating, if anything it appears as full steam ahead.

As these events are at an unprecedented level to-date, they point to potential war preparations, or if not, preparations for an event unbeknown to the general public at this stage.

Let’s sum –up and examine these events accordingly;

First up are the ongoing ‘Jade Helm’ drills across several American states with parallel exercises in Canada known as ‘Maple Resolve’ involving NATO military personnel.

WNU Editor: I think we should have some perspective here .... the number of military drills that have happened in the past year and planned for the rest of this year do not match what was happening during the height of the Cold War .... not even close. But it is true that for many of this generation .... the frequency in the number of military drills that are being conducted globally is unprecedented .... and worrisome.

Who Are The World’s Real Seven Great Powers

Walter Russell Mead, American Interest -- The Seven Great Powers

WNU Editor: Brazil, Iran,and Turkey may have a future seat at this table.

Everything Is Coming Apart

The Great Unraveling -- Roger Cohen

It was the time of unraveling. Long afterward, in the ruins, people asked: How could it happen?

It was a time of beheadings. With a left-handed sawing motion, against a desert backdrop, in bright sunlight, a Muslim with a British accent cut off the heads of two American journalists and a British aid worker. The jihadi seemed comfortable in his work, unhurried. His victims were broken. Terror is theater. Burning skyscrapers, severed heads: The terrorist takes movie images of unbearable lightness and gives them weight enough to embed themselves in the psyche.

It was a time of aggression. The leader of the largest nation on earth pronounced his country encircled, even humiliated. He annexed part of a neighboring country, the first such act in Europe since 1945, and stirred up a war on further land he coveted. His surrogates shot down a civilian passenger plane. The victims, many of them Europeans, were left to rot in the sun for days. He denied any part in the violence, like a puppeteer denying that his puppets’ movements have any connection to his. He invoked the law the better to trample on it. He invoked history the better to turn it into farce. He reminded humankind that the idiom fascism knows best is untruth so grotesque it begets unreason.

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My Comment: This New York Times commentator has finally woken up to what is happening in the world today. Of course he does not lay any blame on the role that he and his newspaper has played in supporting the politicians and policies that has brought us to where we are today.

Are We Witnessing The Collapse Of Democracy?

Riot police stand guard as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 13, 2014. (Reuters / Mario Anzuoni)

Attitude Is Everything -- Martin Armstrong, Armstrong Economics

Part of the war cycle is just the general feeling or attitude that shifts due to economics. We seem to be headed for such a fateful turn. The police domestically have turned militaristic. This is a very serious issue far beyond what most people would even guess. It tends to show the changing attitudes within society. Couple this with Obama who seems to think he was elected to start a war. We are approaching a serious turning point that may reshape the world as did 1932 following the economic trend of the Great Depression.

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My Comment: A short .... but to the point commentary. Read it all.

Hat Tip: Zero Hedge

Who Were The World's Biggest Losers in 2013?

Global Heat Map of Protests in 2013

2013: The World’s Biggest Losers -- Walter Russell Mead, American Interest

Yesterday we looked at the countries, movements and people who, in a purely Machiavellian sense, had a good year in 2013. Whether what they did was right or wrong, good or evil, smart for the long term or not, the winners emerged from the arena at the end of 2013 with their power and their prestige significantly enhanced. Today we look at the flip side and ask who were the unlucky and unskillful players who lost the most ground in 2013. Once again this is not about moral beauty or enlightened self interest. This isn’t about whether your intentions were good or bad, or whether your impact on the world was for the better or the worse. It is about whether, at the end of 2013, you were in a weaker position than you were at the start of it.

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My Comment: Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan are on the top of my list for the "world's biggest losers" in 2013. The NSA is my non-country organization that got the biggest "black-eye" last year.

The End Of Globalization?

Is This The End Of Globalization? -- David Francis, Fiscal Times

In the three decades before the 2008 financial crisis, individual national economies became increasingly global: banks, companies and consumers overseas had a direct impact on the economy here in the United States.

But in recent years, the amount of money flowing across borders has drastically decreased. According to a new report, this represents a drastic shift away from international commerce, with localized markets more dependent on domestic consumption for growth. It could mark the end of modern globalization.

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My Comment: Globalization has been a historical trend since the beginning of recorded history. I expect this trend to continue.

Has Globalisation Made Us More Catastrophe-Prone? -- A Commentary

From The Independent:

As the world grapples with the worst economic downturn in decades and the possibility of a flu pandemic, a growing body of research suggests the complexity of the modern global economy may make us more vulnerable than ever to catastrophe.

The financial crisis began as turmoil in one small segment of the US mortgage market. Within months it had morphed into a global meltdown affecting almost everyone on earth.

"The speed at which these events unfolded was unprecedented," said the World Economic Forum's 2009 report on global risk.

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General Commentaries

Is America's New Declinism For Real? -- Financial Times
NATO-Russia: Not Business As Usual -- World Politics Review
Does Europe Believe in International Law? -- WSJ
A Disarmed Palestinian State? -- Jerusalem Post
How to Beat Mr. Chávez -- Washington Post editorial
Hugo Chávez’s Choice -- New York Times editorial
Fantasizing About Justice For Citi's Failures -- Portfolio
GM: Death of the American Dream -- Fortune
Did Britain Just Sell Tibet? -- New York Times
China and Taiwan: A Welcome Thaw -- CS Monitor
Pyongyang Puts Politics Above Dollars -- Asia Times
Room for Asian Influence in G-20 -- Japan Times
Staggering Saudi Hypocrisy -- National Review
Kremlin's Guide to Dismissing Disobedience -- Moscow Times
China's Growing Protesters -- Wall Street Journal
Pakistani Feelers to India -- Financial Times
Brown Sets Britain Back Decades -- The Independent
Deal or No Deal in Zimbabwe? -- The Guardian

World Confronts A Choice Between Chaos And Order -- A Commentary

From The Financial Times:

It seems only yesterday that scarcity was the story. Energy and commodity prices were heading into the stratosphere. The oil was running out, food shortages loomed, Russia was resurgent and China was marching into Africa amid a scramble for dwindling resources.

Now? Prices everywhere are falling as recession bites. Investment banks have disappeared; and the global credit system is on life-support. The big threat is deflation rather than inflation. The oil price has slumped, wiping the smirk from authoritarian leaders such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez.

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