John Adams, the second US President, had prophetically said, “The two ways to conquer and enslave a country is by the sword, the other way through debt.”
The USA, the undisputed super-power after WW2, suffered humiliating military defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan after many years of occupation. But for decades their geo-political strategy, as supposed leaders of the Free World, was to install puppet rulers to do their bidding. They rolled out 800+ military bases across the globe in a show of sheer power. US controlled institutions like the IMF and the World Bank doled out loans to the developing and poor countries. As they got sucked into the quicksand of debt, the Americans took over their natural resources and cheap labour. Arms sales further pushed these nations into US subservience. Colonization- without the burden of actual occupation. Please read ‘The Confessions of an Economic Hitman’ by John Perkins to get the real picture.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese strongman, has delusions of being the Emperor of China. In 2013, ‘The One Belt One Road’ (now Belt & Road) initiative was launched with grand fanfare. To supposedly promote trade, commerce and development in partnership with over 100 countries across the world. What happened? The $ 300 million power plant in Tajikistan has made the country a China vassal state. Default has led to take-over of the gold and silver mines. A debt-ridden Angola is now supplying cheap oil to its benefactor. The Hambantota port in Sri Lanka is’ a white elephant’, adding no value to the local economy. The corrupt ‘Gotta Go’ Rajapaksa family perfectly fits into the profile of leaders the Chinese government wants to deal with. The Chinese research vessel which docked at the port for a few days is a naval warship used to track down satellites and missiles. China has already established a naval facility at Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. It’s said that the Sri Lankans are reeling under a $12 billion debt from China. In fact much more. The Chinese banks, monitored by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) have also loaned big.
Pakistan has become a willing pawn to the Dragon’s scheme of things. Govt to Govt debt of $ 26 billion has made it a basket case. The majestic African Union (AU) headquarters in Ethiopia has been built by Chinese loan money, Chinese contractors and workers and even their food sent over from mainland China. As the African countries cope with the debt, the Chinese have already cashed in. Also Huawei cameras have been installed to spy on their African brethren leaders.
The factory to the world plans to rule the world. Markets + Natural Resources + humongous geo-political influence. Many of these countries are being coerced to vote for & support China on critical issues like Taiwan and human atrocities in the Xin Jiang province.
Vladimir Putin was a middle level KGB operative in East Berlin when the Berlin wall fell in 1989. Followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union. This trauma has dictated his world view and it helps that millions of Russians think the same. The Ukraine invasion was triggered by the NATO overreach. But control and supply of oil and gas to Europe is what the news headlines are now all about. Europe and especially Germany are in for a harsh and long winter. Putin has turned off the Nord Stream gas pipeline. The Continent is now reeling with the heat-wave and high inflation and is bracing for the inevitable recession. If you add the fact that Russia and Ukraine are amongst the world’s major wheat exporters, the consequences are even more alarming.
Trump has always been Putin’s puppet. The Tsar probably has the dirt on him-peeing on the bed occupied by President Obama during his Moscow visit or doing something more in keeping with the Donald’s playboy image. Russian oligarchs also got together to secretly bail out the distressed Trump Org through a major European Bank. Likewise, the Saudis sent $2billion to Jared Kushner’s (Trump son-in-law) dwindling account to control the fall-out of the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi reportedly at the behest of MBS.
The army of hackers in St Petersburg have attained cult status. They delivered Brexit to Putin with the Ayes at 51.9%. Social media was flooded with images of hordes of immigrants from the Middle East & Asia. In 2016, the same ploy had helped to get Trump into the White House. Only, then the hordes were from Mexico and South America. Indian economic institutions, corporates and infrastructure utilities are major targets of hacking, mainly from China and North Korea. A hack attempt on JNPT port was thwarted a few months ago. Imagine if the ATC (Air Traffic Control) of a major airport like Dubai or Heathrow is hacked- with flights grounded for days the financial losses will be huge. A few years’ back 60 trusts of UK’s NHS (National Health Service) bore the brunt of a cyber- attack with ransomware demands. 20% of the UK Health Service was crippled. It has still not been established whether the Russian State or a criminal group from the US were behind the attacks.
In this age of frenzied social media, misinformation by hostile powers is the name of the game. Take for example the controlled propaganda narrative about the prolonged Farmers’ Agitation in India. Public protests and rallies are an integral part of any democracy. Yes, the genuine grievances of the farmer community deserves to be heard and addressed with sensitivity and respect. But it soon became obvious that a very grim picture was being created, hyped and funded by controllers in Canada, USA and UK. As if the entire country had come to a stand-still. The underlying objective was to create chaos and malign and embarrass the Government of the day. Even PM Trudeau jumped on to the bandwagon to satisfy a segment of his vote-base as did some western celebrities for the lure of Mammon. But Karma hit back. The transporters strike in Canada against some Covid-19 regulations saw Trudeau hiding from the public eye for days and then emerging to declare a national emergency. Hence, spreading toxicity, stoking social unrest and fanning law and order problems is the subversive agenda of such ‘warriors.’
The proxy war through radicalised terrorists has been going on for more than 30 years. Major outfits like the Ku Klux Klan (now morphed into Proud Boys), Red Army, Black September, ISIS, Boko Haram have done their work and spread their message . Young men, brainwashed on-line, are now weaponizing motor vehicles to kill and maim and to spread terror as they did in London and Spain in 2017. Interestingly, after 9/11 an unknown assailant sent weaponised anthrax through US mail in an unsuccessful attempt to kill members of the US Congress. Disruption, fear, instability and more free lancers recruitment ensues.
Insidious infiltration of the political parties, journalists and academia has been the game-plan of the CIA & KGB from the 1950’s onwards. ‘The Mitrokhin Papers’ (KGB archivist who fled to the UK) reveals how top Indian leaders and bureaucrats were compromised by the KGB in the 60’s. The Comrade ideology was soon embraced by journalists, writers, poets, professors and even some in the film industry. Vodka, honey-traps and money did the trick where Ideology did not deliver. Now the Chinese are up to the same tricks. Besides India, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Eastern Europe and South America are on their radar. In India, we have heard some netas screaming that the People’s Liberation Army has occupied over 2500 square km of Indian land over the last 2 years. Debunked by international intelligence agencies of standing and repute. The Lab leak of the Wuhan virus and gross negligence by China has been downplayed by some of our top TV channels and newspapers. Moreover some human rights activists and NGO’s have kept eerily silent on the brutal pogrom run by the CCP against the 1 million Uyghur Muslims in the Xin Jiang province of China. Surely, the Comrade-rie is growing.
The Wuhan Lab leak happened when a ‘Gain of Function’ research was on.” This refers ‘to serial passaging of micro-organisms to increase their transmissibility, virulence, immunogenicity and host tropins by applying selective pressure to the culture.’’ A Red Flag alert to the scary scenario of bio-chemical warfare. The USA sprayed Agent Orange and napalm bombed Vietnam with brutality. They weaponised and stockpiled 7 bio-agents by the time they shamefully exited Vietnam. Saddam Hussein’s stockpile of chemical weapons was unleashed on the Kurds and during the Iraq-Iran war. Russia used Novichock nerve agents to murder political opponents in Salisbury, England in 2018.
The other intriguing facet enabling the Art of the unconventional power-scramble is the undermining of independent international institutions. The IMF & the World Bank were run by the US for decades. The WHO played tango with China to cover-up the country’s responsibility in the origin and spread of the pandemic which cruelly enveloped the world for 2 years. The UN and the Security Council are clearly impotent in dealing with tragic crises like Yemen, Syria or the Ukraine war. This has led to an unstable and untrusted world order. India as the largest democracy, the most populated nation and the 5th biggest economy in the world does not have a seat as a Permanent Member of the Security Council. This tells the whole story of the power struggles in the elite, self-serving club and the overwhelming desire for control.
Conventional war-fare is no longer the preferred option for the big powers. If wealthy Europe can be brought to its knees by shutting down the Nord Stream gas line, why not?! Hacking and disrupting the Pentagon or a financial powerhouse sends an incredibly strong message. A much wanted terrorist in Kabul can be taken out by a drone attack. Planted news articles and relentless social media propaganda can diminish a country, manoeuvre an election there or even topple a legitimate government. Sinister disinformation and conspiracy theories can lead to riots and even civil wars. The Remote, covert way of warfare is now the espoused strategy by both States and fanatical groups. The world may not be on the brink of WW3 despite all the noise and posturing but the world is certainly a very troubled and uncertain place.
A Fistful of Salt 