China

A lesson for China

Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government and Chinese patriots are certainly keeping a close eye on what’s going on in Russia, what’s been going on in Russia for the past 30 years and what preceded these events while the Soviet Union still existed from Sakhalin Island to Belarus, from Leningrad to Almaty. What lessons do they draw? Here they are:

① Never, ever and under no circumstances, believe what Western politicians promise. Western politicians promised the leaders of the Soviet Union that they would not accept countries bordering on the Soviet Union into NATO, and they have not kept that commitment.

② Never, ever and under no circumstances should you trust Western politicians to treat you as an equal, as a partner. Yes, these will be the promises, yes, this is how Western politicians will pretend to be during the flirtation period, during the seduction period of the country in question (in this case China), but the moment the country in question (China) is seduced, Western policy will change: the partner will gradually turn out to be the dominator.

③ Never, ever and under no circumstances should economic reforms proposed by the IMF or WB or similar institutions be adopted. Such reforms are calculated to turn the economy of the country receiving aid upside down and to subordinate that country to the global financiers.

④ Never, ever and under no circumstances should one be dragged into international projects because sooner or later they will serve to subordinate a member country to supranational organizations that serve the United States, the European Union or the financial international circles, but certainly not the member country.

⑤ Never, ever and under no circumstances should one rely on the international division of labor, that is, on the arrangement that some produce this and others produce that, or on the scheme that Russia is to be the supplier of raw materials, China – the global factory and the West – the brain of the world, the world’s manager. The state should be self-sufficient, at least when it comes to the most important branches of the economy or else the sanctions imposed by the West might ruin the country thus punished. Continue reading →

What is Kazakhstan about?

That the Russians and Belarusians are invading Kazakhstan right now is no wonder at all: the subversives, protesting against higher gas and fuel prices, also demanded that Kazakhstan abandon all alliances with Russia and that both President Tokayev and the government resign immediately. Moscow cannot put up with such political demands. Kazakhstan is a major oil and gas producer and also supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s uranium. Kazakhstan is home to a number of first-class mining companies: Lukoil from Russia, CNPC from China, Chevron and ExxonMobil from the USA, Shell from the Netherlands, ENI from Italy, and Total from France. Insofar as oil and gas extraction has been allowed to the foreign corporations, uranium extraction remains in Kazakh hands. It is a tasty morsel for all the countries that talk so much about green energy at the moment, but in fact are preparing for the future that will be based on nuclear energy. After all, Russia’s nuclear missiles and power plants, Baikonur and space presence depend on Kazakhstan.

Rioters topple statues of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the “Elbasy”, the father of the nation, as Nazarbayev is called for life, the man who once guaranteed friendly relations with Moscow as long as he was honorary chairman of the Security Council. The Nazarbayev-Tokayev tandem has been uneasy for some time, however, and now the Father of the Nation left his fatherland aboard the private plane of his son-in-law Timur Kulibayev, a billionaire and one of Kazakhstan’s richest men. We know such stories from different countries. Main characters: oligarchs serving foreign capital. Behind the protests could be Mukhtar Ablyazov, another controversial oligarch who is at odds with the current government team in Kazakhstan and who used to live permanently in Paris, but is now in Kiev. Please note: in Kiev. If you think about the role of the oligarchs in the upheavals in Ukraine in recent years and at present, it will immediately become clear to you that this is an attack by the West, namely the USA and Ukraine, who want to “facilitate” the forthcoming talks between Biden and Putin with a blow to the “soft underbelly” of Russia, i.e. Kazakhstan.

Tokayev has also taken advantage of current events domestically to remove the government that was loyal to Nazarbayev and especially Abish Satidbaldila, the former president’s “man” who was deputy chairman of the Public Security Committee. As a result, Tokayev took full power, which enabled him to get rid of Nazarbayev painlessly. From Moscow’s point of view, what happened is actually a palace revolution, a shock. Not only because, as it turned out, in practice there is no ironclad guarantee of life for the former head of state, but also because Putin has been demonstrably respectful towards Nazarbayev and somewhat, perhaps even more, disrespectful towards Tokayev. At the recent CIS summit in St. Petersburg, he met with “Elbasy” and found no time to talk to the current president. It is likely that if a new government is formed, relations with Moscow will be different and probably more difficult for Russia.

The Western world is enthusiastic about the revolution and interprets what is happening on the streets as a struggle against dictatorship and for democracy, but it seems to me that this perspective is misleading and that it is worth looking at the situation in Kazakhstan from a different, non-European angle. We tend to see the roots of the revolutionary events in the bad mood related to poverty and the lack of reforms in the authoritarian state, which drives people to the extreme and to the streets. Apart from what can be seen with the naked eye and what is difficult to question, there is an even deeper level, which is the logic of the people living there. In any Central Asian society, clan and family relations are more important than political divisions or material differences.

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Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind

There used to be a time when European countries would conquer other continents to spread Christianity, i.e. to save the savages – as it was said – from eternal damnation. Since Christianity has been dead for many decades now, Western nations have rolled out a new religion: that of human rights. The advantage of the new creed is that it is supposed to be universal – as such was adopted by the United Nations – and does not require the different peoples of the world to renounce their religious beliefs. Rather, the religious leaders of all the other faiths fall all over themselves to show that their religious precepts have always been in line with the universal human rights or, indeed, that the human rights derive from their creed.

Be it as it may, the human rights religion is a political tool in the hands of the powerful for subduing others to their will. Under the pretext of defending human rights – wars are launched, missiles are fired, revolutions are staged and governments are toppled. Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan – you name it – have all been subjected to penal measures in the name of preventing humanitarian disaster from occurring or spreading. The countries were bombed in the name of saving the lives of – yes, yes – women and children and oppressed minorities of all types. Even when the Americans did not know what to do with the incorporation of Crimea into Russia, Victoria Nuland, while listing the alleged Russian violations of the international law and – how otherwise! – human rights, pointed to the alleged prosecution of the homosexual “community” as they say.

The human rights religion is only used when it becomes useful. The fate of Uyghurs in China was not a problem for the “international” opinion for decades until it fit Washington’s plans to use it as a pressure to be exerted against Beijing. Since China has been regarded as America’s rival vying for world dominance, the human rights card is being played more frequently. When you lend your ear the the Western media, then all the message that you get is that the Middle Kingdom is a den of perpetrators of the worst atrocities aimed against particular groups of people: Uyghurs, the Tibetans, Christians, political dissenters and so on, and so forth.

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EU, not China or Japan, is the biggest US Treasury holder. And this is not a good sign.

US-based media have been reporting that Japan has become the biggest holder of the US treasuries, surpassing China last month. However, this is true only in regard to single countries. If we consider the European Union member states collectively, then they appear to be the biggest holder of the US treasuries. It has been so almost one year long. Unfortunately, the EU’s holdings are artificially overstated because of some financial havens and they are going in the opposite direction to the trend: up rather than down.

According to the latest data from TIC (Treasury International Capital System), the EU was in possession of $1242 billion of US Treasuries in November 2016, $9 billion more than one month earlier. The EU was the only one from three biggest holders that increased its amount of US treasuries in November, while China and Japan continued to lower their holdings.

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China is militarizing the South China Sea, or is it?

China is by far the most powerful contestant. Neither the Philippines, nor Malaysia nor Vietnam can compare, though they, especially Hanoi, dare to put up a fight and stave off the encroachment on its sovereignty. China, true, is willing to sit down to the negotiation table, yet insists on bilateral talks; the smaller contestants prefer group talks. And they all look to the United States, if for different reasons. China is trying to expand its regional clout, the smaller countries are defending their rights. And the United States? Failure to respond to the Chinese challenge entails serious consequences such as damage to Washington’s status of the world superpower and loss of American credibility, not only in the eyes of the few South-East Asian nations concerned but also others, like Japan. The eyes of the world are thus focused on the South China Sea.

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‘Chinese dream’ only for the chosen few?

China’s Communist Party leaders are working on the 13^th Five-Year Plan this week. One of the main targets for the next years will be reducing social disparities within the country. Is it possible?