Quote (babun1024 @ 2 Aug 2023 18:02)

https://tribune.net.ph/2023/07/30/america-hands-taiwan-345-m-military-aid/

I won't comment for the faint one but people with brains would interpret the info accordingly.

Quote (Hamsterbaby @ Aug 2 2023 04:07pm)

They want to get rid of their old stocks asap.
It is a win win situation for the United States. The timing of the sales and political climate and mood is just the right time.

Quote (babun1024 @ 2 Aug 2023 22:16)

They're using American tax money to finance the aid, they're diverting stuff which could be sent to Ukraine. Ukraine isn't getting enough ammunition as of now.

Quote (Hamsterbaby @ Aug 2 2023 11:40am)

Maybe the mood in the Foreign Policy Establishment is that Ukraine proxy war is either coming to an end or the ROI is not as good as it seems.
So now they are finally diverting their attention to Taiwan and East Asia.

I have said in this thread before, it goes back to very early last year when I first posted in Ferdia's thread. The Ukraine war is a continuation of Biden's Ukraine's Port folio during his stint in the Obama's administration with Nuland.
They want to put the final nail in Russia's coffin and concentrate on their main target China.

USA's Engage and Hedge policy with China started to crumble when Xi took office ( It is a whole other conversation as to why it failed).
Which is why they decided to pivot East.

My Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew , Henry Kissinger and Helmut Schmidt ( They are life long buddies by the way If you are German you will know who Schmidt is) told the Republicans and Democrats in close door meetings to pivot to Asia as soon as possible in the late 90s and early 2000s.
The discussion was, the earlier you pivot the earlier you set certain terms and conditions and rules with the Chinese, the easier it is to manage and handle their rise which will prevent future conflicts. But of course they didn't listen.

As to why they didn't listen.....

American Corporate were making an immeasurable amount of profits from the Chinese Market.
The cheap labors , no unions, the production of American products 24/7 at an extremely cheap cost etc etc etc....

Quote (DizzyBusiness @ Aug 2 2023 11:29am)

The "War on Terror" was the pivot to Asia IMO, it doesn't really make much sense to me unless the purpose was to limit the flow of energy to China and to also destabilize their planned route for the belt and road initiative.

I really don't think long term US foreign policy switches every 4-8 years with a new president, I just don't believe that is how things are conducted at that level, the amount of money and resources dedicated to these things create a lot of momentum that can't just be stopped without serious consequences.

Allowing US corporations to operate in China was done to integrate China into western liberal democracy, I think the US genuinely believed in Fukuyama's "end of history" theory which is why they allowed their manufacturing to be sent there.

Quote (DizzyBusiness @ 3 Aug 2023 00:29)

The "War on Terror" was the pivot to Asia IMO, it doesn't really make much sense to me unless the purpose was to limit the flow of energy to China and to also destabilize their planned route for the belt and road initiative.

I really don't think long term US foreign policy switches every 4-8 years with a new president, I just don't believe that is how things are conducted at that level, the amount of money and resources dedicated to these things create a lot of momentum that can't just be stopped without serious consequences.

Allowing US corporations to operate in China was done to integrate China into western liberal democracy, I think the US genuinely believed in Fukuyama's "end of history" theory which is why they allowed their manufacturing to be sent there.

Quote (thesnipa @ Aug 2 2023 01:42pm)

personally i find this theory to be smart, but too smart for those involved. the war on terror was just pumping money into corporations that would make the weapons and items for reconstruction. even back to post-WW2 the reconstruction of germany was done purely to have an ally subject to our whims and pump cash to companies that made the items via US tax dollars. and chinese outsourcing was more about making a quick buck IMO than the new world order running a psy-op on chinese culture.

they may have been tertiary goals, but it was primarily motivated by $$$.

Quote (DizzyBusiness @ 3 Aug 2023 01:56)

That thought does make me doubt my beliefs for sure, I might be seeing 4D chess when they are really playing checkers.

I just see the war on terror as a drastic change in how US foreign policy was conducted and I don't think it would have been motivated purely by financial gain.

I think the reconstruction of Germany was more about creating a western controlled bulwark against communism and stopping the resurrection of fascism while also extending US influence through Europe via a stranglehold on manufacturing. I think a lot of that stuff was based on heartland theory and it's various offshoots.

I don’t think the term psyop is really appropriate in this context, IMO the general thinking was that China would naturally gravitate to a western liberal style democracy over time and allowing US corporations to operate there would speed up the process. Making tons of money was obviously nice but not worth the long term cost of destroying US industry.

^Hamsterbaby
They probably didn't read it, why would they value his views at that point(2014)? His theory had already failed in their eyes and if my theory about the war on terror is correct they were already more than a decade into their strategy of containing China.

And I checked out that link, very interesting. My opinion is they were all correct in some ways and wrong in others, I don't think any of their theories completely explain things but I do think they offer valuable perspective. I need to read clash of civilization, I have read summaries of it but not the actual book.

Haven't heard of Betts, will check him out for sure, thanks!

Quote (thesnipa @ 2 Aug 2023 18:42)

personally i find this theory to be smart, but too smart for those involved. the war on terror was just pumping money into corporations that would make the weapons and items for reconstruction. even back to post-WW2 the reconstruction of germany was done purely to have an ally subject to our whims and pump cash to companies that made the items via US tax dollars. and chinese outsourcing was more about making a quick buck IMO than the new world order running a psy-op on chinese culture.

they may have been tertiary goals, but it was primarily motivated by $$$.