Oh Joy.

Update:

fas·cism

   [fash-iz-uhm]  Show IPA

noun

1.

(sometimes initial capital letter) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce,etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism (unless the leader is any color than white).

Hillary goes to Myanmar to brow-beat them into submission, I mean open trade talks and get warm and fuzzy.

It wasn't Drudge's snappy headline, "Empire Strikes Back!"  It wasn't the news that a quarter of all US women (admit) are on psycho-tropic drugs.  It wasn't all the fun concerning Penn State and the rest of the university sex trade called 'athletics'.  It wasn't all the frolicking on Wall Street with NYPD wearing Halloween costumes to look like Nazi storm-troopers.

Nope, it was Bammy's whirlwind tour of the Asia-Pacific territories, and his stationing of a couple of thousand marines in Australia that got my attention.  Apparently, it got the attention of China and Indonesia, as well.

Yes, now that the Anglo-American Empire has conquered north Africa and the Middle East (except Iran, of course, but that's next).  Now that regional governors are being set up in Greece and Italy (bankster overseers of receivership).  Now that China's western and eastern sides are hemmed in (Fukishima keeps them away from Japan).  Now that all that is done, there's only the Asian-Pacific rim to sew up.

Right on cue, Bammy sticks his big cod-piece in the Northern Territories, placing Indonesia in the middle of the US pissing match with China.  This is an overt militaristic move on the US's part with long-range implications for Indonesia.

You see, Indonesia is a prime supplier of coal to China, which powers hundreds of generators around the country.  Indonesia has also been reticent to allow US military bases in the country, and rightly so.  The US response was to support Timor L'este's independence, in order to gain a foothold in the archipelago.  It's quite possible that the US is covertly supporting Papuan uprisings for the same reason.

Perhaps Bammy's little spin through Bali recently was to take in Kuta beach and see the sights one last time before he levels them in the quest for empire.

You see, the real news is this high-stakes poker game going on at the summit of Olympus.  There is a major push on the part of the Anglo-American empire to shut down its only viable rival, China, as fast as possible.  They are trying to put the genie back in the bottle, that Nixon let out back in the 70s.  Powerful entities don't like challenges to their hegimony, because it shows up their weaknesses.  If your whole PR game is to play like everyone loves you, then you can't allow anyone to NOT love you.  Just won't do.

If we project this game out a little bit...just play 'what if' for a minute.  What would China's natural reaction be, other than, "Oh no you don't!"

Well, first off, China owns America, which is the US's major Achilles' Heel.  Wally-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, is China Inc.  China has also been snuggling up to Central and South America, Africa, India, and Russia for a long time, embedding itself in the blindspots of US policy.

China bought the Panama Canal after Carter let it go.  It has been on Goodwill missions in South America and Africa, making friends with public works projects and economic exchange.

The US's policy has been one of militaristic bombast.  It has demanded and traded weaponry, and its sole economic offering has been to set up military bases and offer its sailors and soldiers a place to rape and pillage, and drop a couple of bux on shore leave.

Naturally, the world is looking at the two options and figuring China makes the better bargain.  At least they can keep their souls after the papers are signed.

What does this all mean?  Well, Africa and South America are major suppliers of US oil imports.  China is offering more lucrative deals to the locals, that include infrastructure and trade, while the US offers, "Take our dollars or else."  Natually, folks are liking the Chinese plan.

South America has lots of psychological victories in waiting.  It is historically the US's backyard, and any dog that gets in to piss on the fence posts stirs up a problem or two.

After Carter gave away the Panama Canal, the Chinese bought the company that operates it.  A ship doesn't pass through the canal without approval, and if it doesn't play by the rules, your ship can get stuck up in the mountains of Panama...literally.  If you think I'm kidding, look up how the canal works.  Most people don't have a clue, really.  Needless to say, one flip of the switch and all trade between the east and west coasts of the US is toast, since truck and train just don't have the capacity that ships do.  The only options are the Northwest Passage and Tierra del Fuego.

Next in line?  China is in every home and office in the US.  All those gee-gaws and trinkets that folks can't get enough of all come from China, or at least through China.  A little rise in prices or slow-down in production and  POOF!  No more gee-gaws, like iPads and plasma TeeVees, and all that crap folks need so bad.

China has invested a lot of time and effort in its PR game.  It has possitioned itself as the good guys, coming with money to spend and hand-shake deals and consumer products to sell cheap.  The US, on the other hand, has chosen the route of bully.  If a country doesn't take the lousy rip-off deal offered, then the back-up is endless sorties of bomber wings until you like the deal.  If you were Generic Country A, which offer would you find more appealing?  China, which offers goods and services flowing INTO your country, or the US, who takes everything OUT of your country and gives you debt paper in exchange?  I know, tough choice.

The US has enjoyed a fairly good reputation in Indonesia for a long time.  After WWII, the US made it part of the Marshall Plan to tell all European empires to pull out of Indonesia and let the country grow on its own.  After a 40-year struggle for independence, that would tend to make you look good in the local's eyes.

Also, because Indonesia is so far away, not many American tourists get here, so Americans still have a fairly good reputation, unlike other places where the ugly underbelly of American culture has trashed the local neighborhoods.

Furthermore, Indonesia has centuries of history with China shoplifting around the archipelago, and there's little or no love lost between the two.  So when both China and Indonesia turn together to face the US in common cause, you know the 'war for hearts and minds' is being lost on the spot.

It's quite obvious that the US intention in Australia is to place a boot in the region, and most especially within striking distance of China's major power supply (not to mention cheap labor outsourcing supply).  The US move is a loud diplimatic knock on the door, and China will no doubt answer.  It must, if it wants to maintain its relative distance from the A-A empire.  Such a menacing move can not be ignored, from a geo-political standpoint.  The question is how China will respond.

With the installation of banksters at the tops of Greek and Italian governments, the whole Euro crisis is showing its true colors.  The plan is obviously to crash the continent and take over the pieces with the iron fist that couldn't be achieved any other way.  The whole purpose of the euro was to undermine the national sovereignty of the European nations, and once their economies were toast, the banksters could quietly move in and do what centuries of war and bickering could not, at least not since the fall of the Holy Roman Empire.

In fact, if you squint just right, you can see the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, with its subsidiary, the Anglo-American Empire rising across the pond.  Once the two are firmed and running nicely, it's a simple matter to merge them.  With that done, it leaves only Asia to conquer, and to that end, US marines are being placed in Australia, which is Holy Roman Empire-Eastern Division.

The two big wild cards in this game are Africa and South America.  Where those two cards land will tell the tale.  Either they land in China's hand, and the global empire is put off for a while, or they land in the A-A hand, and the global empire is at hand.  It seems that in the absence of will and fore-thought on the part of people of the world, that one of these two conclusions is inevitable, unless the deus ex machina shows up in short order.

It's a tough call which is the likely outcome.  If I were a gambling man, I'd have to lay odds at 50-50 about now.  Both sides have cards to play.  Both sides have allies, political will and economic where-with-all.  Since the audience (us) doesn't seem too keen on upsetting the table, then all that remains is to watch the action.

It's China's move now.  We should keep our eyes peeled for some kind of action in Africa or South America, and most probably the latter, since it is in the US's backyard, much like Indonesia is in China's.  And Venezuela supplies 20% of US oil with Chavez dying rather dramatically from cancer.  That will leave a power vacuum that leans in China's favor at the moment.  The only thing more ferocious than a cornered beast is a man with nothing to lose and history to write.

Anyone for a trifecta wheel?