Home Australia A Changing World, But the West Remains Locked in a Time Warp

A Changing World, But the West Remains Locked in a Time Warp

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By  James O’Neill*

Western politicians in general, and the American and Australian versions are not exempted, are fond of using phrases such as “the rules based international order.” What they unfailingly really mean is the Western version of a rules-based order. The classic definition was set out in Wikipedia when it said:

“The rules based international order describes the notion that contemporary international relations are organised around principles of international cooperation through multilateral institutions, like WTO, open markets, security cooperation, promotion of liberal democracy and leadership by the United States and its allies.”

The key lies in the last part of that quote, “leadership by the United States and its allies.” For the United States any other concept was simply unthinkable. Not only was the United States self- represented as the personification of the “liberal rules-based order”, it fought almost continuous wars between 1945 and the present to ensure that the rest of the world understood and excepted that principle.

It was never realistic. As Nick Bisley (AIIA 27/7/18) pointed out, the rules based international order became a rhetorical centrepiece of Australian international policy. The problem for Australia (and the United States) is that the premises underlying the policy are being progressively more challenged as world power relentlessly shifts away from a United States centred approach.

Bisley suggests that the apogee of the policy was in fact 2016 when the phrase was mentioned no less than 48 times in the Australian defence department White Paper of that year. The notion of an international rules-based order has a number of problems which the western media were remarkably reluctant to face.

Perhaps the foremost problem lies in the assumption that the rules and the associated principles were built on the clear assumption of United States military supremacy. That was always a dubious proposition. It has become increasingly untenable as power in the world shifts.

The Western powers had become accustomed to having their own way over the previous 200-300 years. Unfortunately for them, they never questioned the basis of that power, nor conceived that the sun would indeed set upon the Empire. This power was reflected in the United Nations Security Council’s permanent membership.

Until the early 1970s that permanent membership consisted of three Western powers who had been victorious in World War II, plus the Soviet Union and China. The expulsion of the Nationalist regime from China in 1949 was not reflected in the Security Council, where they clung to power for a further 23 years.

Nowadays the privileged status of France and the United Kingdom as permanent members of the Security Council looks increasingly anachronistic. 75 years after the war ended, Germany and Japan are still excluded from permanent membership. Some would argue that others, such as India and Brazil should also be considered for permanent membership.

The retention of the current permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council represents a world that no longer exists. A major part of the problem is that the Western powers are reluctant to acknowledge that the world has changed since 1945, and with those changes there has been a diminution of their political power.

They may still think in terms of the rules-based international order, but are reluctant to ask some fundamental questions. For example, whose rules are we really talking about? How valid is a system of Western rules when the vast majority of the membership of the United Nations are neither “Western” nor particularly addicted to the West’s system of rules.

Those nations see the rules-based order as simply a device designed to maintain Western power. Their disquiet or even rejection of this principle is enhanced when they observe the actual actions of those same Western powers. The United States is but one example, but it is a major one. As noted before, the United States has been almost continuously at war somewhere in the world since 1945. None of these wars could be described as in defence of a truly liberal rules-based order. One has only to look at the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria to make the point.

Afghanistan was invaded based on a lie, and when the object of that lie, Osama bin Laden was long dead, the invading troops failed to leave. There is currently speculation about whether the new United States president, Biden, will honour even Trump’s manifestly flawed commitment to leave.

A different set of lies was used to justify the invasion of Iraq and again, 18 years later the Americans and their allies like Australia are still there. In Iraq’s case the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution in January 2000 that all foreign troops should leave the country. One year later they are still there.

The invasion of Syria was a regime change operation. That has failed, but United States troops are still there. The felony is compounded by the systematic theft of Syrian oil. Israel continues to regularly bomb Syrian targets, a felony that compounds the theft of Syrian territory more than 50 years ago. The Australian government does them the courtesy of not mentioning the theft, and is regularly part of a tiny minority of votes for Israel in United Nations General Assembly resolutions. None of this is fit for publication in the Australian mainstream media.

Looking at this long history of bad international behaviour it is little wonder that the bulk of the world’s nations look askance at notions of the “rules-based international order”. They see it for the hypocrisy that it manifestly is.

It is a little surprising therefore that an ever-growing number of nations look to China as the leader of a different order. China has a number of features that distinguish it from the western view. One of the most important is the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other nations.

It is clearly a principle that has stood China in good stead. One result has been increasingly strong criticism by some western nations of alleged flaws in China’s own internal behaviour, especially its alleged treatment of the Uighurs.

Whatever the merits of that criticism, one feature stands out. There is never any attempt by the Western critics to understand the nature of the problem, let alone acknowledge that China is facing a security problem heavily influenced by Western training of local

terrorists, most of whom have returned from fighting on behalf of Western interests in the Middle East and elsewhere.

China’s economy has now surpassed the United States in terms of parity purchasing power measures. It is a fact that the Americans are reluctant to accept. Donald Trump’s increasingly irrational and anti-China measures were an attempt to reverse that trend. It will fail and the main reason it will fail is that it is an attempt to reverse the tide of history. The danger for the rest of the world is that the United States will not except that it no longer rules the roost.

*Geopolitical analyst.  He may be contacted at jamesoneill83@icloud.com

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46 COMMENTS

  1. In my opinion it is long overdue for the corrupt United Nations Organisation to be demolished. The Covid-19 hoax is but one reason. The fact that the UNO was intended (supposedly) to prevent nations from going to war, has not happened. This has been a dismal failure. Very little peace since 1945. Seeing that those who have control over the UNO are the very same that finance both sides in every war, this is inevitable.

  2. Reporting from the West versus reporting from the East.

    “In Wuhan to Reveal Truth in the Name of God”. Zhang Zhan’s Secret. Christian Reporter Tortured and Jailed by Communist China

    The SS Nazis used hunger bunkers to end the lives of their rebel prisoners, the Communists of China – where a totalitarian and military regime proliferates even more cruel for the number of death sentences and its long duration favored by continued economic complicity of the West even after the Tiananmen Square massacre – to save appearances before the international community, they force prisoners to survive the hunger strike by feeding them with a nasal tube.

    https://www.veteranstoday.com/2021/01/05/in-wuhan-to-reveal-truth-in-the-name-of-god-zhang-zhans-secret-christian-reporter-tortured-and-jailed-by-communist-china/

    ZHANG ZHAN’S ABUSE OF SOCIALIST FREEDOM BROUGHT TO AN END!

    “………Zhang Zhan is a ‘Christian’ with links to the Western Churches which support predatory capitalism. Freedom of religion is guaranteed in China – but Zhang Zhang…………

    Despite being treated with kindness, compassion, tolerance and understanding by her fellow Chinese Citizens and the Socialist System, Zhang Zhan strengthened her support for the bourgeois West and its destructive capitalist system. As a lawyer, instead of supporting the people and the CPC – she attempted to change the system into one of discrimination and oppression. She took the side of the US, UK and EU-terrorist attacks in Hong Kong – even attempting a four-day hunger-strike which soon ended when she was shocked by the violence of the protestors! TheCPC and the Chinese people defeated the Covid19 Crisis by carefully isolating and caring for the population – whilst also not scaring the populace through the spreading of false-data, superstition and fear! Unfortunately, Zhang Zhan (whose antics had been tolerated for some time), took to supporting the latter path. This could not be tolerated because of the threat it represented to the health of the nation and the health of the world. Zhang Zhan was therefore arrested, tried and sentenced to four-years in prison – which is a relatively short-time considering her crimes. She will be treated humanely and with compassion and will leave custody a better person. ………….”

    https://www.greanvillepost.com/2020/12/30/zhang-zhans-abuse-of-socialist-freedom-brought-to-an-end/

  3. Many years past I read a report of a fellow with a prophetic dream……Probably Bullshit I thought then, but now I wonder?
    But just for the record. II summarise: the Chinese invasion will stop at Byron Bay (very similar to the old Brisbane line…some know history of WW11
    Well James, as you live in Brisbane, then at least you may then feel at home.

    • Quit with the invasion nonsense.

      The U.S invasion of Iraq bankrupted the Yanks to the tune of $5 – 6 trillion and counting (and they still could not secure the entirety of the country).

      Any country that invaded Oz would flushe MULTIPLES of that figure down the S-bend and would be in for a world of hurt.

      China has the brains to know that it will COST THEM LESS to just buy the critical resources from said country at the prevailing market rate rather than squander a hell of a lot more by attempting invasion. (And that’s not even factoring in a dollar figure for the countless lives that would be forfeited).

      China became great because they’re following the Jeffersonian prescription that made America great in the first place.

      ie: trade and good relations with all nations, and avoidance of foreign entanglements.

  4. Australians are asleep at the wheel. Distracted by anything from war, TV or the beach… while China continues to move on it’s own path of dominance — with or without Australia’s cooperation.
    For example: “Beijing UPC Energy Investment Management Co. Ltd. engages in the developed of large scale renewable energy solution, including wind and solar energy.
    The guardian: “China was already widely recognised as the largest investor in domestic renewable energy.”
    Busy building the countries future power starting in Tasmania

  5. About 30 odd years ago I reckoned that if, and when, the sleeping giant in East Asia woke up to the fact that they’d been subjugated by a foreign power and they said “We’re not having any more of this” it would be the beginning of the end of the Synagogue of Money. Of course, the mind slaves of the plutocracy would be outraged but I hope the Chinaman and the Ordinary Man all over the World would beat the mad megalomaniacs eventually.

  8. “China has a number of features that distinguish it from the western view. One of the most important is the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other nations.”

    Hello?

    • Yes, one belt road initiative, similar to Huawei global web dominance, is keeping CCP within OWG borders. From my suburban view, on the streetscape, the amount of SUV’s Bentleys etc. with p-plates is staggering. Not even the crown kabal can boast such opulence and wealth. Let’s face it, 120 million party members have spread their wings and bought up waterfronts in all desirable five eye nations and beyond. Technically, they are not expanding beyond borders cause ‘we are one’ (global government). Red flag with gold star, above Edgecliff station shows true colours of our soveriegnity.

      • The high rise development, past decade, has been solely to accomodate the personnel needed for their new age. We are in lockdown, with mandatory face nappies and restrictions on movement, meanwhile the planes keep landing, similar to shipping containers that are one way traffic only.

      • ’56’, I’ve spoken to quite a few successful and semi-successful Chinese immigrants and pretty much all of them, to a man and woman, have swallowed the Zio-owned U.S MSM narrative that the U.S is the beacon of light, the exceptional nation, the soul repository of truth and justice in the world.

        That’s why they relocated to Oz to start a new life.

        I always respond by saying that, for all it’s faults, China’s shortcomings are a pin-prick in comparison to those of the most corrupt, most depraved entity the world has ever seen – none other than the Anglo-Zionist empire. (emphasis mostly on the UK/U.S/Israel nexus – we other other ‘Anglo’ countries within the Five Eyes are only along for the ride, courtesy of politicians that sold us out).

        These ‘successful’ Chinese are certainly not CCP operatives – they hate the CCP with a passion.

        Yes, many of them have their fancy cars – courtesy of the wealth they’ve generated for themselves and the country via the contribution they’ve made over decades (they are disproportionately successful professionals that have ‘value added’ to our economy through their expertise).

        ’56’, you forget that when the alleged Tiananmen Massacre occurred, there were tens of thousands of Chinese students studying in Oz over 30 years ago that Bob Hawke gave asylum to and permanent residency.

        These students, now in their 50’s are , by and large, successful businessmen and women and professionals that enrich our society.

        I have no doubt that there are some Chinese here in Oz that are still loyal to their country of birth, but all the fear mongering (courtesy of Sky News Australia and all the other CIA affiliated mouthpieces), exaggerates the number of ‘CCP operatives’ here by a THOUSAND FOLD (at a minimum).

        The overwhelming bulk of Chinese here have primary loyalty to Oz, but at the same time, are rational enough to know that the unhinged demonising of China is nothing more than Deep State generated propaganda that has absolutely NO BASIS IN FACT.

        • TV… What Hawke did, as a CIA agent, was to facilitate a Chinese invasion.

          What is the difference between immigrants and invaders? The former were invited and quickly commenced learning the language of their adopted country.

          The latter, if they are Chinese, speak Mandarin out of choice, as directed by the CCP. The Immigrants defiantly speak their native language at home… Cantonese, Haka, and other southern tongues.

          Currently, some of the invaders are demanding that government health information be distributed in Mandarin, but they carefully avoid using the word mandarin and say Chinese instead. No normal Chinese ever says this. The point is, there is no intention of adopting Australian language and culture.

          Any ‘good guys versus the bad guys’ model is doomed to disappointment. Both the US and China are oligarchies. Only the proportion of plutocrats and bureaucrats is different but this is fading fast. Both are expansionist but the Yanks are addicted to bombs and bullets and Abahnm tanks whlst the Chinese prefer to own you from the bottom up and then take everything from you. This was the reason for the Night of the Long Knives… in Indonesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The tactic is unvarying.

          • Tony, both you and ’56’ have said a lot of insightful things over a long period of time, and if I were a betting man, I’d be very hesitant to wager against either of you.

            That said, in my not-so-humble-opinion, whilst I agree with you that Hawke sold out to the CIA, I’m yet to be convinced that he facilitated a Chinese invasion.

            One thing is for sure, we won’t have to wait long for the day when even the sceptics concede that the U.S is a crumbling heap of smoldering ashes and the world is ruled by a Sino-Russo partnership.

            My bet is that Australia will be a demonstrably better, less authoritarian place under the patronage of the CLEAR lesser of Two Evils, than we are today, prostrated into submission by the Great Satan (aka the Anglo-Zionist axis of evil).

          • I will contend, TV, that Bo-bork (a Rhodes Scholar) Whitlam-Cairns and many others were all batting for the same “internationalist” team. Whitlam didn’t get hurt by his “dismissal” but it sure was a big win for the powers that wanted to deride and slip around the constitutional rules that the “government” is supposed work under.

          • I’m not brave enough to betting against you either Dave.

            In any event, your contention above is not only plausible but seems to align well with the facts on the ground.

    • Criss X, Marx’s line of ‘Accuse Your Enemy of What You Are Doing, As You Are Doing it to Create Confusion’ has been the modus operandi of the Zio-cabal for over 100 years.

      People would do well to never lose sight of this fact.

  11. Let’s remove Israel from American politics

    The “hydra-headed” monster that is essentially killing virtually everything it touches in the United States is the Israeli regime

    “…..In order to bring back foreign and domestic policy to the practical world—a world in which responsible people behave according to the moral and political order—Israel needs to be removed from American politics.

    In order to bring back the economy to reality, Andrew Jackson essentially killed the banksters of his day. Jackson developed a simple political principle which turned out to be true: You either kill the monster that is destroying the national economy, or the monster will eventually kill you. There is no other way. For Jackson, the monster was none other than the people who were manipulating the money supply for their own political and personal gain, not for the good of the nation. They were the usurious and rapacious bankers……………

    https://www.veteranstoday.com/2021/01/05/lets-remove-israel-from-american-politics/

    • Hallelujah brother.

      And Criss X, let’s not stop with removing Israel from American politics.

      The sooner the Israel lobby is removed from Oz politics (and/or registered as an agent of a foreign government), the better.

      • Hey fellas, always remembering that Zionism, Israel, the banker alliance, AIPAC, the CFR, the Trilateral Commision. NED, News Corp, Frank Lowy, Rupert Murdoch, and Ross Garnaut, are entirely the same entity, just different faces. Australia is as very much controlled as the US.

        If you want to rid Australia of this cancer, go for it, but I suggest you change your locks and bring that outside fridge back inside first.

        • The “Anglo-Zionist Empire” is, in my opinion, is a very apt description of the monster that has been on a mission of rape and pillage and subjugation all over the World for several hundred years. It has subverted and pillaged and remotely controlled many nations in the Middle East, South and East Asia, Africa and North America via the corporate and banking interests that run the show. For a while there was some competition between the nations of Holland, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy and Germany as to which would be the most compliant face and agent for the megalomaniac usurers. The blardy Poms eventually won out big time, mostly, I think, because the “important people” there were “in the pocket” of the Judaeo-Masonic notion of “British Israel”.

          • Dave, it would’ve been nice to able to claim the ‘Anglo-Zionist Empire’ moniker as my own invention but alas, I got it from one of Paul Craig Roberts’ most valuable sources – none other than The Saker.

            And Tony, as to your suggestion that I change my locks etc, no one said it was going to be easy.

            There will be blow-back for sure, but it’s something that has to be done for the sake of future generations.

            Let’s start with one baby step at a time – by getting rid of Josh Fry-dem-burgers from the Australian parliament and reassign him to something commensurate to his worth in society – perhaps working in a kosher abattoir.

            Come to think of it, that will be much more than a baby step.
            If he were alive, Neil Armstrong would’ve said :

            ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for Oz-kind’.

          • I appreciate y’ bitta yooma. TV. Yair! change the locks so that the goons can test their battering rams against all sorts of locks and hinges.

  12. Some pictures and videos on the DC protests. Looks like it is going ‘kinetic’, gee who would have thought that if you keep poking someone they eventually decide they have had enough.

    https://www.sott.net/article/446836-MASSIVE-crowd-of-Trump-supporters-have-gathered-in-DC-for-March-For-Trump-rally-UPDATES-Capitol-building-stormed-shots-fired-curfew-announced

    So the MSM lies about the protest and just pokes them again. Great plan, gonna end well…

  13. If the media is going to lie about you, why not just be violent? A lot of those people have had enough, if reason no longer works and violence is the only thing left, then violence it will be. It is not rocket surgery.

    The BLM thugs were burning down innocent people’s businesses, the Conservatives will leave the businesses alone, but they may burn down the government buildings.

  14. As also with Caitlin Johnstone of Melbourne and for the same reason, there was a time before the 1st quarter of 2020 when I was prepared to read Mr O Neill attentively rather than to merely skim.

    However as his article contains no mention of Covid, let alone the Great Reset, which is astounding if you consider the hectares of print that have been devoted to phrases such as the Wu-flu or the Chicom virus, its not worth the time.

    After all, the USA destroyed the Jap semiconductor industry in favour of S Korea and Taiwan in the 80s and then did the same to Alstom and Siemens in favour of General Electric in the 90s.

    The current version of this lawfare is the detention by puppet Trudeau of the Huawei CFO.

    Various authors have thus suggested that Covid is either US warfare or alternatively China hitting back at the West.

    The jury is out, but I would say it behoves Mr O Neill to even enter the courtroom at all.

  15. DS… valid points made.

    Just like William Shakespeare, I learned long ago, never to trust a lawyer. Their advocacy training and occupation, and cultivated loyalty to the Law Society, blinds them to the natural truth. It is always this side or that side, often lopsided, but truth is always somewhere in between. Likewise, ever since 1973, journalists adhere to the narative of the academic elite and system-published gurus, which is never the story told by Joe Blow. Ever see a journalist chatting to Joe Blow? Never.

  16. I literally discovered this channel less than an hour ago and felt it worth sharing.

    The title of this video is actually intentionally and brilliantly satirical.

    Chinese Government Officials Corrupted My Videos! | JaYoe Conversation

    He confirms everything I have been reading about China’s system of government although I left a comment to ‘challenge’ his statement that the Chinese government is top-down (infiltrative) – it is in fact bottom up (democratic) with layers of checks and balances.

    The video is actually a very inspiring and moving story of a villager doing the best he can for his community – and successfully.

  17. I don’t know many Chinese people but the few that I have known are very agreeable and companionable… usually much more so than the blardy emigrant Poms who considered themselves vastly superior to us “colonials”. Curiously, one of my grandmothers who had both parents from ole Inglin had an implacable hatred for Poms and Policemen. She had an adage: “once a policeman never a man” and emphatically decreed that “My (her) father was an Englishman, not a Pom!”.

    Anyhow, getting back to the inferences of the above video; I have long been of the opinion that the Chinaman with his strong cultural roots of deference to an antecedent cause, as in the debt of gratitude owed to ancestors (Honour Father and Mother) will eventually rebel against that communism imposed by agents created, owned and controlled by a malicious foreign entity.

    • Being of Irish descent probably explains why i have much empathy for Ned Kelly and his implacable hatred for Poms and Policemen. I have Chinese friends, and I find them to be very kind, hard working with very little time to be interested in politics.

      • My grandmother’s husband was a Kelly from South Austraya… no known connection to the famous Ned.

        Lots of those early policemen were called “Irish” but I seriously doubt that the Poms would tolerate any Catholicky types in any gov’t agency in those days or for a hundred years after. I’m old enough to remember the overt hostility to little Catholic kids by all the “important” people around town.

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