Climate change is upon us. A pandemic continues to wreak havoc worldwide. Who knows what further catastrophes await humankind? Some speculate that in addition to the ravages of climate change and predicted further and perhaps even more virulent and deadly pandemics to come, we may find even more deadly threats facing us all in the years directly ahead.
It ought to be clear to all of us that in these circumstances the nations of the world, especially the most economically and technologically powerful, should be working together to find solutions and preventative measures. Yet it is clearly not at all clear to a certain section of the world’s population. A tiny percentage of humanity to be sure, but certainly one of the most powerful and influential percentages. The primary figures holding the levers of power in the West.
What are the issues gripping the minds of western elites at this moment? Certainly some of them pay lip service to the potential for human, economic and environmental catastrophe that looms in the shape of climate change. It isn’t hard to see however that they tie their hands to a great extent when it comes to agreeing to changes that would impact their economies and blunt their ambitions to see economic growth rise unhindered. This latter obsession is underpinned by a desire to compete with and outdo economic rivals along with their need to have the money to grow their capitalist and hyper-capitalist societies.
The desire to compete rather than cooperate is therefore deeply ingrained as the default mindset within western nations that have become conditioned to believe through years of indoctrination (from Chicago School economists and political activists) that competition is the universal solvent for the needs and woes of any and all societies worldwide. Western political and media elites clearly believe this in the same manner as if it were religious dogma. This has resulted in a fossilised way of thinking and reacting that is incredibly dangerous in this moment of imminent threat. A house divided cannot stand and humanity at this moment needs to stand together more than at any previous moment.
The deeply ingrained and chronically conditioned reliance on competition that informs western elite thought seems impermeable to the obvious necessities which face us as a species. It brings to mind the fate of the dinosaurs who met their end in a cataclysm that comprehensively engulfed and destroyed them.
So, if these elites are unwilling or unable to observe the situation as it is now with all the dangers inherent in it, what are they in fact focussing upon?
It is surely clear that they are focussed on an agenda which mitigates exactly against establishing good working relations between the nations of our planet. They are focussed upon confrontation, name-calling and tactics to create a mud-slinging contest that can only end in terminal misunderstanding, offence, loss of any hope of mutual respect and ultimately, war.
In particular, the elites of the USA are quite obviously locked into a mindset whereby they must be top dogs or they won’t play. The game they are playing, they insist, must be totally one-sided, they make demands and the other side or sides comply. The norms of diplomacy are ignored and in fact, in large part abandoned in this talk-down mode where a self-assed exemplary team sit on high pointing fingers at the other side unwilling to truly engage with anything approaching mutual respect. Why is this?
Though Russia has in recent times been the headline issue for these elites much of the angst created was not in essence fundamentally about Putin and Russia or their purported misdemeanours. True, there were some who appear to have believed that there was an issue of importance involved, but mostly it was simply about getting rid of Trump who had encouraged the campaign by positive statements about both Putin and Russia.
The real target of western elites, at least in terms of the elites of the USA and arguably the UK, is China. China is the rising economic powerhouse that cannot help but see its influence grow and grow significantly in the decades ahead. There can surely be no doubt on this point. And what does this mean for the elites of the USA and UK, so used to being top political and geopolitical dogs, global players, fixers, controllers and disciplinarians? Clearly, it means the loss of much if not all these facets of their significant economies and histories that serve to generate the patrician status they have held for centuries. This provides the fuel for their determination now to confront and defeat this fast-rising rival rather than cooperate with it for the sake of our and future generations.
You may say this is a madness that can only provide an extremely limited solution for these elites in the short term while putting at risk their entire enterprise along with those of all others. And if you do say so I would absolutely agree. However, though some of the elites in question may understand the factors involved and perhaps even the urgency for cooperation rather than competition that exists it is likely they are completely hamstrung by the weight of very long-term conditioning that maintains competing with adversaries or enemies as the highest possible priority.
The USA and UK appear completely hooked as power-junkies controlling our planet, terminally unable to quit their habit, and unwilling to even approach the kind of cold-turkey that would come with losing their fix.
These many circumstances featured above hardly need explaining at this point, they are so very obvious. Yet the political and media elites of these nations continue to broadcast a totally false facade which they assert is reality, that they are fighting evil foes for the soul of the world in the name of ‘western liberal values’ and a ‘rules-based order’. These are the issues that they say justify waging an economic and propaganda war against those it calls ‘adversaries’ and ‘enemies’. These issues rather than the fate of the entire population of Planet Earth are those that obsess them. And lead them to ‘bring on’ the existential threats facing us all while fixing the international environment as an ultra-confrontational war of opposing systems.
Only recently Biden ramped up the economic war against Cuba. Totally ignoring the suffering caused by its previous sanctions and embargoes and that the people there are also in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic. The same goes for Venezuela where in excess of 40,000 Venezuelans have died due to draconian U.S. sanctions and financial terrorism against the nation. Nicaragua and other nations not complying with U.S. strictures are being targeted constantly.
Verbal and economic attacks continue against Russia and the same is true to an ever-increasing and more tightly-focused degree against China.
It is almost as if the elites of the USA and UK have an utterly irresponsible and in fact quite insane death wish that includes the entire planet. Is it the case that they would rather see everything possible destroyed in an unending series of cataclysms than accept they must exercise tolerance and respect for the diverse systems of other nations with a view to cooperating to save present and future life on our planet?
You could be forgiven for thinking that the elites of the western world and in particular those of the USA and UK exist within their own mental kindergarten where the rules demand only certain thoughts be allowed, those of confrontation where all others perceived within that kindergarten must submit to them as the bigger kids, the dominating elite who brook zero resistance.
If we are being subject to the whims and demands of these kindergarten elites of the western world perhaps we need to work fast to tear down its walls and the walls in their minds and expose them to the light of day, the very real dangers to all of us that demand a quick upgrading to a very much needed higher form of education.
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