USA is a beacon for war, stirring trouble, spreading lies, stealing oil and money of other states

 Joe Biden is again playing the game of provocatively and deviously telling the world to look after the USA's interest, by saying that support for Israel and Ukraine is paramount for the USA's security. In other words can we say that security for others in the world is not important and have to be sacrificed for the USA, even though he is probably talking about Israel and Ukraine vis a vis the USA. Is that what he is trying to say discreetly if you read between the lines?

Calamity Joe also said that the USA is the 'beacon' for the rest of the world. What beacon is he talking about? Beacon for war and destruction, colour revolution, forming alliances for conflict and confrontation, coercing countries to tow their line and threatening them if they do not? Of course Joe Biden has no moral authority left to talk about being a beacon for helping poor countries to progress and live in peace. He does not even qualify to be quoted as helping his own countrymen living on the streets, and those Hawaiians left in the lurch after the fire in Maui.

The world is now not interested in what Biden espouse, as evidenced by the more than 140 countries taking part in peaceful co-existence at the BRI meeting in Beijing. The world is looking for a beacon to help them progress, in peace and stablity, not in war and destruction. Their being in Beijing is no co-incidence and no coercion is needed for them to be there.

What has the USA and the West done for Africa, after decades of colonisation and exploitation, with so many military bases still on the continent? What has the USA done for Iraq, bringing purported democracy but ruining the country, all for the purpose of illegally stealing its oil, which is morally illegal, considering the use of fake and fabricated evidence to invade the country? What has the USA given to Afghanistan, in terms of development, in its two decades controlling the country? Now Afghanistan is looking pretty forward looking, making deals to rebuild the country, after stagnating for two decades, while the rest of the world rushed by. Even Iran progressed beyond expectation in the face of USA sanctions. What kind of leadership has the USA exhibited even for the Europeans, dragging them into economic malaise by confronting Russia?

Yes, Joe Biden is trying very hard to sell his snake oil to the rest of the world, that they must must all sacrifice to protect the USA's interest, the beacon of evil that the world is seeing. That warp message is only meaningful for the 40 odd countries of allies and crony states, not for the Global South, and certainly not Russia or China.

It is time for China and other countries to realise that supporting the survival of the US$ hegemony and buying USA treasuries and bonds is tentamount to supporting the evil that the USA is doing to the rest of the world.

The fact that Israel has cut off food supplies, water and electricity to Gaza is already a war crime. By allowing only twenty truckloads of food into Gaza is a drop in the ocean according to International Federation of Red Cross. The USA and Israel really wants to starve the people in Gaza using hunger genocide, pure and simple. Has the ICC (International Criminal Conspirators) opened its bloody mouth yet regarding Gaza? Probably still in slumber, at the right time, like a dog being asked by its master to sit quietly in the corner until told to bark.

Anonymous

American support - Israel or Ukraine?

 If Israel invades Gaza, the Middle East will be on fire perennially, and could be the end of mankind.

Russia is not going to scrap its ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which means the arms race is going to be reignited. In the face of this, rare earth and nuclear elements are going to play an essential part in the scheme of things. Russia is just taking a leaf from the USA, unilaterally withdrawing from treaties as it likes. Two can play the same game and the pot should not call the kettle black, as what the USA is now doing.

Do not take your eyes away from Ukraine, as Putin is going for a winter offensive. What does that leave Ukraine? With little weapons support, except being left with an empty 'iron clad' verbal support from the dementia tainted Joe Biden, all will be forgotten and Zelenskyy is going under the bus. 'Did I say that?' will be a simple reply from Joe if he is asked by Zelenskyy about the 'iron clad' support deal. The 'iron clad' clamp is moving to Israel now.

There were many versions about how successful was Israel's 'iron dome' protection, ranging from 5% to 96% effectiveness according to different sources. That davastation in Israel in the lastest Hamas attack does provide clues to support those claims. Hamas now knows how to overcome those defences, having conducted test runs before. Moreover, the cost of providing those anti missile setups is much more costly for Israel than those cheap rockets fired by Hamas. And that means the USA has to pour more support into Israel. Where art thou, Zelenskyy, going forward?

Anonymous

BRI - Isthmus of Kra in discussion

 Meanwhile Thailand is revisiting the Isthmus of Kra project, that had been talked about for decades. Probably building a canal just like Panana is not in the plan, but building two ports on either side of the Isthmus with road and rail connections is the intention. This is said to provide another alternative, just in case the Straits of Malacca is blockaded. China should be interested in the project.

Hard to tell at this time, but there will be opposition from countries with vested interest in keeping the Straits of Malacca as the only passage for trade between China and Europe, Middle East and Africa. And therein will come all the reasons, including environment issues, to stop the project.

By the way, it seems the Panana Canal is now facing a big problem - water. That sounds illogical. But water for the locks to work comes from Gatun Lake, a freshwater lake, to raise and lower ships transversing the canal, on top of providing water to its citizens. It is reported that the amount of freshwater released into the sea each time a vessel goes through the canal is a big drain on the lake, what with climate change affecting the water level.

And there were also loose talk of Nicaragua looking at the possibility of digging another canal across the land. China should be interested in this as well.

Anonymous

Dismissing the western myth of debt traps...real debt traps by IMF and World Bank

 In fact if China extended loans to poor countries in US$ (by recycling its US$ surpluses in trade, which in the past goes to buying more risky US$ Treasuries) and asking for repayment in Yuan over an extended period, is actually beneficial for those debtor countries with the slightly weakening Yuan. This is my two cents worth, so please pardon me, as I am no economist.

On the other hand, when countries take US$ loans from the IMF and World Bank, which is to be repaid in US$ for sure, the debt trap is there, if those countries' currencies are slowly being devalued, as it is happening today. Therefore, repayment is getting more and more difficult for them by having to buy expensive US$ to repay their loans, using their devalued currencies. That is the debt trap that we are talking about, pure and simple. Argentina is the perfect example of taking IMF loans.

Mohammed bin Salman just rubbished the Chinese debt trap narrative espoused by the West over those BRI projects. Countries that took the loans from China have all the infrastructures to show - airports, railways, roads, reservoirs, ports, housing, on top of opening up trade that benefits economically those countries that took Chinese loans for infrastructures. Such infrastructures belongs to them and no one is able to take them away. Those infrastructures that China constructed do not belong to China anymore, while the surplus US$ in trade as held by China is a target for sanctions and is subject to the risk involved. The lessons from Russia, having its Central Bank reserves seized by the USA, has not gone unnoticed by the Chinese. That was a drop in the ocean compared to the size of China's foreign reserves of US$3.2 trillion.

The only take away is that it is a win win situation for China and the debtor countries, and this is not beneficial for the USA. China discovers a channel to recycle its massive US$ surpluses, without having to take the risk of buying more US$ treasuries, while the USA has no chance of seizing those assets constructed by China, which now belongs to others and not China. Seizing those infrastructures is impossible, unlike USA assets held by China, which had alreay been targeted by the USA neo-Cons during the COVID19 pandemic, right?

Anonymous

Arrest warrant for ICC officials

 The treacherous arrest warrant on Putin was anything but a laughing stock. The charges were fabricated and untrue but the ICC went ahead to issue the warrant. On the other hand, many very serious war crimes were conducted not only in Ukraine pre the War, in Kosovo, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and in the past in Vietnam and North Korea were not spoken off and nothing was done to the criminals of such serious war crimes. The undisputed and widely acknowledged war crimes against Iraq, invaded by fake news leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions wounded or displaced and the perpetrators are still walking free, Bush Jr and Blair and many others, is a sheer mockery of ICC.

Now there are war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza daily, every hour, every minute. In fact these war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by the Israeli occupation forces in Palestine for decades but not a whimper from ICC. They simply turned a blind eye to the crimes against hapless, helpless and defenceless civilians, mother and children, young and old. What is the point of having an ICC that is not doing its job but acting on political interest of the Americans to condemn and even arrest innocent individuals but not bothering with the guilty?

The officials in ICC have abused the trust in them and turning the ICC into a farcical organisation. They are committing crimes against humanity for not doing their job according to the constitution of ICC. They are perverting justice and law and protecting criminals instead of their victims. They are in cahoot with the Americans and the West against the rest of the world. They are the thugs and gangsters, not people upholding law and justice.

They should all be arrested for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

PS. The culling of Palestinians must be stopped immediately.