Lessons from Machiavelli

Is the US failing?

Is the US failing? If it does, will it take the rest of the world with it? Some think that Trump can turn it around. Some don’t.

Alex Krainer, Pepe Escobar and Michael Hudson have some answers. !

Krainer

While I don't always agree with Krainer, he almost always makes important points succinctly and this is no exception. He’s someone to watch - just like Escobar. These are people who make you think!

He begins quoting Machiavelli, who wrote in The Prince:

Men will not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be - and are ruined .

He goes on to indicate that this is the case with the collective West-- or what I call the "Western Collective" since that is what it is— an economic and political collectivity centered in Washington. The West sees the world as it wants it to be – not as it really is-- so sets itself up for ruin.

Krainer says the US is now falling behind in almost every measure of civilizational progress– economic, military, technological or social – and the only remedy would be stand back, look at its failures and how other countries such as China are succeeding and change course—despite resistance from “vested interests”.

At the same time, he implies that that cannot happen-- that Trump and his Chumps are as blind as everyone else.

I have been making the same points for a long time in my posts— and in more detail in my “special articles’— which look at how civilizations and cultures collapse.

Descartes said, “I think therefore I am”. I argue “I see, therefore I think, therefore I am”—“thinking” begins with perception. And if you cannot “see”, you cannot really “ think”—and therefore you cannot “be”. You become nothing,

The US does not “see”. It has been blinded by the power it briefly enjoyed after WWII, and also by the delusion that financialized wealth is real— rather than numbers on paper. Its elites in their walled estates and islands in the Caribbean see look outside to view carefully kept gardens. Why change anything?

Trump is not the answer, as Krainer says. From my point of view, the Donald fails all tests as a “leader” because he is a supremacist believer, not a thinker. He believes in the supremacy of both himself and the US –despite all indications to the contrary.

Escobar

Pepe Escobar’s comments are mostly about BRICS. But they follow directly from Krainer.

Escobar points out that Trump and his “team” of circle jerks clearly do not understand anything about BRICS, for example, not even that BRICS has no intention of creating a BRICS currency anytime soon. Rather, BRICS enables a trade arrangement so even countries like the KSA which are sitting on the fence are already trading in yuan with China.

Is the US going to put 100% tariffs on the Saudis? I think not!

Trump cannot stop the movement towards new and more efficient trade arrangements without declaring war on the world majority – and losing.

Previously, the US could deal with countries one by one – as they did with Argentina in the past-- and now threaten to do with Mexico and Canada.

With over 50% of the world now and continuing to grow, BRICS members or partners or observers or states seeking entry, have the numbers on their side in more ways than one.

Michael Hudson—

Escobar talks about an article by Michael Hudson.American Imperialism in Plain Site.

Hudson says in the course of an interview with Ben Norton:

So the problem (sic) if Mexico, Colombia, or other countries are faced with a blockade of their exports, and they decide, “We’re not going to pay the foreign debts, because you’ve prevented us from paying the foreign debts; that makes these debts odious debts”, they have to do it as a group, by getting together and saying, “We Latin American countries, African countries, and many Asian countries, along with Canada and Europe, are all in the same boat. We’ve got to suspend debt service”.

And we know that that is going to bring down the international financial system, but that’s going to hurt primarily the United States and its English and European satellites.

That’s what their strong point is. They can call Trump’s bluff, and they can call the bluff that any American tries to make, by saying, “Yes, you can wreck the trade system; we can wipe out the financial system. And by doing that, we’re reestablishing, we’re actually helping our balance of payments,

In other words, by playing the long game, Putin and Xi seal the fate of the US and its allies. In the long term, a slow-motion Debit Jubilee!

Krainer doesn’t think Trump gets it. Nor does Escobar. Nor does Hudson.

But many others seem to think there is hope for Trump – and by extension for the US.

Machiavelli disagree….

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Trump 1.2’ s team is better than that of Trump 1.0—but they all seem to share the same basic worldview – based on delusions of American superiority. Just another cluster fuck. Who will be first to cut and run?

Chappy loves Ichi’s Tail

Chappy loves his Big Bro, even his tail which is about 1/10 as long as Chappy’s.

I should mention that Chappy weighs just over 3 kg. Ichi weighs about twice that—big boned and muscular. But Ichi is very gentle with Chappy, as he is with me.

They are both gentle with me.

Yesterday, I celebrated Christmas and New Years. I had a leg of smoked Turkey and mashed potatoes and gateau chocolat (I LOVE chocolate). Over the holidays, I was busy writing and researching. With the article on leadership finished I decided to celebrate.

Of course, Chappy and Ichi got treats.

.

Valentine’s Day is coming.

In Japan there are TWO “Valentine’s Day”.

The first one is for women and girls who are required to buy chocolates for all the men they know — bosses, colleagues, friends, family members, boyfriends…..

The second comes a month later and the men buy chocolates for every female in their acquaintance. It’s called “White Day”—presumably because “white” symbolizes purity and it contrasts the “red” of male passion.

This custom was popularized in the 70s.

Cats can’t eat chocolate. And I probably won’t get any.

So please buy Chappy and Ichi and their human pet (me) Valentine’s coffee so I can finish off the next “special article” in the leadership series.