Slowly, surely, almost systematically, the United States and its allies edge into a geostrategic sinkhole from which there can be no return. The spotlight for most observers is on the Ukraine situation, but natural signs of the decline of the Western hegemony lie elsewhere.
In the most recent news, Russia’s Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, Shanghai Cooperation Organization met his counterpart Rajnath Singh Shanghai Cooperation Organization. According to Shoigu, the U.S. and the rest of the Western allies aim to strategically defeat Russia and become a threat to China to maintain a decades-old hegemony (empire). This was before the two defense ministers agreed to deepen longstanding defense ties. Since the West’s proxy war on Russia began, India has become a mainstay of Russian exports, not just weapons.
Russia’s arms industry supplies almost half India’s military’s arms and material needs. Furthermore, India has become the top importer of Russian seaborne oil since the U.S. economic and proxy military attack on Russia. And India is paying for this oil in currencies other than the dollar. This is where the American hegemony hits the most bottomless quicksand. Now, the BRICS are calling for a new international currency backed by gold and other commodities, not simply banking elite promises. China’s yuan has already replaced the dollar as the most traded currency in the Russian market. It’s important to note that the BRICS countries now surpass the United States and the entire G7 group of wealthiest countries in GDP.
On the home front, Western nations led by the United States have dived into an ultra-liberal quagmire, dragging tradition, culture, and the legacy of hundreds of millions into what will undoubtedly be a dystopian nightmare. So, when I read that the U.S. state of Florida had banned books like author John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” I was astonished. This and other bans of timeless classics reminded me of the German Student Union (Deutsche Studentenschaft, DSt) ceremonially burning books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. Other authors banned from school libraries include Margaret Atwood, Aldous Huxley, and children’s book author Jewell Parker Rhodes.
Digging deeper, I discovered the situation in traditionally conservative Texas is even words. In the past year, more than 800 books have been banned, including titles by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss), J.K. Rowling, Tom Clancy, Harper Lee, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and many more. It seems as if the elite liberal order running things in the so-called “West” is determined to reshape history and the young minds who will fashion the America of tomorrow—speaking of mind-bending.
U.S. President Joe Biden is on the record saying that laws restricting LGBTQ rights are “cruel” and “close to sinful.” His statements came as Florida legislators enacted laws that ban classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in primary schools. The same lawmakers trying to dial back the brainwashing are also considering bills to block medical care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery, for transgender youths. The conservatives in Florida and other states are also moving to grant courts emergency jurisdiction over children who might receive gender-affirming care. For those of us so-called “Baby Boomers,” the fact such laws are even needed is right out of the worst parts of the Holy Bible. Morality is but one huge problem, however.
Finally, over in Babylon (formerly NYC), the heads of major western oil concerns, corporations, and private funds are raking in profits as never before. At this exact moment, the U.S. middle class is set to collapse over fiscal skullduggery and bad geopolicy; ExxonMobile, Shell, Chevron, and other big oil companies won big on the Ukraine crisis. Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies made $134 billion in excess profits. Meanwhile, because of the US debt and other factors, everyday people from Atlanta to Edinburgh, U.K., are set to fall into poverty. 2022. Meanwhile, Everyday people see spending on the military-industrial complex rather than on American infrastructure as the big “sin” and not keeping kids from maiming themselves irreversibly. Here in Greece, some of the country’s most successful businesses are being boarded up, even as top politicians are caught spying on their opposition, and worse. Biden talking about “sin” as if he even understands what the Sunday school teacher taught. It’s lunacy to watch. All we know is people like Tucker Carlson get the axe for calling out the pharmaceutical companies. Truth is a sin these days.
The West’s Russophobic policies aimed at destroying the world’s biggest country are the catalyst for what is sure to become a far more devastating cataclysm. Few, if any, analysts have speculated what Russia would look like carved up like Yugoslavia. If you can imagine what happened after Rome fell, it shouldn’t be hard to envision dozens of power-hungry local oligarchs shooting up neighbors like some 21st-century St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Has anyone thought of what the fallout from two dozen nuclear-armed sub-states might be? What would take the place of modern Russia? I leave that to your imagination. The problem in focus is the United States of America and its allies flying at warp speed into a black hole nobody’s explored. And we are all along for the ride.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
