Will the United States Still be a Superpower?
Realpolitik and a New Cold War | #TC66
Welcome to Third Cultured, a Queer Reading of the American Empire through crisis-after-crisis — written by yours truly, Kyle Borland.
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The quick and dirty answer is: No.
By true realpolitik parameters, sure, the US will still be the “most powerful” country in the world. But, we won’t embody the role that Americans have come to understand as “the superpower.” How could we when our president has spent the last four years trashing our allies, destroying global institutions we put into place, and cozying up to autocrats?
Instead of leading and rallying the world through the most pressing challenge in modern times, we retreated into one of our worst instincts – isolationism – and are still suffering because of it. Rather than understanding the States’ true power rested in our reserves of Soft Power – the belief that our country knew what it was doing and was worth emulating – we leaned on the might and bluster of our demagogues.
Almost 87,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus because of those mistakes.
50,000 more than the UK, the nation with the second-highest death toll.
What kind of leadership does America have offer the world right now?
One thing we don’t need to give the world: a new Cold War. Even though China wants to retake its spot atop the summit of nations, it does not want a Cold War with the US.
In the face of catastrophic failure in the early days of the outbreak, China made the COVID pandemic work for them and deployed “global medical diplomacy” to build up its credibility while the US languished in imperial embarrassment.
Whether Americans like it or not, we have an equal – a true rival – on the world stage.
Stay safe and healthy, beautiful people. And, thanks for reading.
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xoxo,
Kyle (@kgborland)
"Do you not see that although everyone looks to the One for the nod of approval, the One himself is clueless and has no substantive understanding of rulership and governance, despite his undeniable talent for playing power politics? The price for his overarching egotism is now being paid by the nation as a whole."
– Tsinghua University professor Xu Zhangrun argues that Chinese governance and political culture under the Chinese Communist Party have become morally bankrupt. Chinese officials were more concerned with censoring the internet and news of the disease to preserve Xi’s one-man rule than with protecting the people from a public-health disaster. (We have no choice but to stan.)
American Empire & Other Wars
16 former NATO generals and defense ministers urged the US to stay in the Open Skies Treaty (OST), a pillar of nuclear security between NATO and Russia, but the letter also warned European capitals to prepare for a US exit.
A Republican newcomer, Mike Garcia, won the CA-25 special election to replace Rep. Katie Hill. It was the first time a Republican had flipped a previously Democratic House seat in CA since 1998. The victory provides the GOP with needed momentum as the race took on national partisan implications because of the COVID crisis and the fact it was held mostly by mail. Adding to their haul on Tuesday, the GOP won a House seat special election in Wisconsin, as well.
Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani announced the resumption of offensive operations against the Taliban after a string of attacks over the weekend, even though ISIS was responsible for the maternity ward and funeral attacks.
Biden received a letter from 50+ Progressive groups asking him to slash the Defense budget by $200 billion/year and roll back Trump’s marquee military policies, including an updated nuclear arsenal and a separate Space Force.
China wants to invalidate the “phase one” trade pact in order to negotiate a deal that its elites can swallow better. In response, Trump said, “No, not at all. Not even a little bit. I’m not interested. We signed a deal. I had heard that too, they’d like to reopen the trade talk, to make it a better deal for them.” On Wednesday, Trump extended an order prohibiting US companies from using Huawei.”
Collegiate political leaders called for the closure of Confucius Institutes on all US campuses, including the College Republican National Committee and the College Democrats of America, representing universities in more than 45 states, released a joint letter demanding the Chinese government-funded organizations be closed.
Get to know Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, 9/11’s mystery “Third Man.”
Describing the request by lawyers for the 9/11 families to depose that individual under oath, Sanborn’s declaration says in one instance that it involves “any and all records referring to or relating to Jarrah.”
The reference is to Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, a mid-level Saudi Foreign Ministry official who was assigned to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., in 1999 and 2000. His duties apparently included overseeing the activities of Ministry of Islamic Affairs employees at Saudi-funded mosques and Islamic centers within the United States.
The Sanborn declaration represents the first public confirmation that the so-called “third man” referred to in the 2012 report was in fact an accredited Saudi diplomat. But all of the FBI evidence the agents had gathered about Jarrah and his communications about the hijackers remain under seal.
One former bureau official familiar with the FBI investigation into the matter, and who asked to speak confidentially, says that agents had developed strong evidence of meetings and communications among Jarrah, Thumairy and Bayoumi in which assistance to Mihdhar and Hazmi, the two hijackers, was believed to have been discussed.
GOP senators are shaking in their boots looking at November’s electoral map. The Republicans hold a 53-to-47 advantage and can only bank on gaining Doug Jones’ seat in 2020. Colorado and Alabama cancel each other out, so the balance of power will come down to North Carolina, Arizona, Maine, and Iowa. McConnell’s strategy for protecting his majority? Attack Obama, relentlessly.
Michael Flynn isn’t home free yet. A federal judge ordered more arguments to be put forth to why the government believes Flynn was wrongfully charged, signaling the judge is at least skeptical of the DOJ’s reasoning. On top of that, nearly 2000 former DOJ officials called on AG Barr to resign. This week, Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released from prison to house arrest after being convicted to serve a seven-year sentence.
Saudi Arabia deployed its own missile defense system in response to the US removing two of the four Patriot missile batteries it installed in September. A Pentagon report showed a heightened focus on Iran was deteriorating the anti-ISIS effort and “accelerating” a US withdrawal from Iraq/the region.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Israel this week to discuss the president’s Vision for Peace with PM Netanyahu and co-leader Benny Gantz. It’s likely the White House is trading an endorsement for the planned West Bank annexation for more active support of the peace plan from Israel.
Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) stepped down from his Intel committee chairmanship after FBI agents seized his cellphone as evidence in an insider trading investigation. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) were also contacted by the FBI for trades they made during the COVID crisis.
The Senate voted to extend and expand the Patriot Act, allowing the FBI to look at your browsing history without a warrant.
Trump wants to make his COVID border rules an indefinite reality.
Turkey accused the UAE of trying to destabilize the Middle East, citing its Abu Dhabi’s efforts in Libya and Yemen. The accusation came after the UAE condemned, “Turkey’s military interference in Libya,” in a joint statement with France, Cyprus, Greece, and Egypt.
Two of Guaido’s US-based political advisers resigned after the failed invasion. If that wasn’t enough, the FBI is probing several European and Mexican companies for trading Venezuelan oil.
“We know how to bring the economy back to life. What we do not know is how to bring people back to life.”
– Ghanian President Nana Akufo-Addo, in late March.
COVID-19 Updates (as of 9pm, 5/14/2020)
Total Confirmed: 4,443,597; Total Deaths: 302,462; Total Recovered: 1,588,365
US Cases: 1,457,593; US Deaths: 86,912; Recovered: 318,027; Tested: 10,341,775
–27% – Projected slide in global trade in the second quarter of 2020.
36.5 million – Jobless claims in two months after 2.981 million filed last week.
$650 billion – Projected state budget shortfalls nationwide.
$3 trillion – House Democrats unveiled a fifth COVID relief package. The Congressional Progressive Caucus threatened to block the measure because it didn’t do enough, notably excluding a “Payroll Guarantee,” and Senate Republicans rejected it because they’ve decided austerity is en vogue, again. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell may have broken the stalemate by calling on Congress and the White House to spend more money to avoid a painful multiyear recession.
It included nearly $1 trillion for state, local and tribal governments and territories, an extension of unemployment benefits and another round of $1,200 direct payments to American families. The measure would also provide a $25 billion bailout for the Postal Service and $3.6 billion to bolster election security.
The bill would also provide for $75 billion in mortgage relief and $100 billion for rental assistance. It would substantially expand eligibility and increase the value of some tax credits targeted to the poorest Americans, like the earned-income tax credit.
The bill would temporarily suspend a limit on the deduction of state and local taxes from federal income taxes, a move that would disproportionately benefit high-income taxpayers in high-tax areas, and which Democrats have pushed for since the limit was imposed by Mr. Trump’s signature 2017 tax overhaul.
The bill also proposes rolling back a widely-criticized tax break for the wealthy included in the stimulus package. That provision permits married couples making at least $500,000 a year to use losses in their business to wipe out their tax bills from gains in the stock market.
$8.4 trillion – Emerging economies owe more than $8.4 trillion in foreign debt, which is about 30 percent of the developing world's total GDP. In order to give the developing world a chance at recovery, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Rep. Ilhan Omar called on the IMF and World Bank to cancel their debt.
Anti-gay sentiment exploded in South Korea after Seoul’s COVID resurgence was tied to the city’s LGBTQ+ district. In California, Governor Newsom has been criticized for not collecting LGBTQ+ data related to COVID.
Germany announced it will spend €750 million ($812 million) to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, Merkel admitted she was hacked by Russian military intelligence (GRU).
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a $260 billion coronavirus economic relief package, the equivalent of nearly 10% of the country's GDP (the fifth largest of any such plan in the world).
News organizations sued the Small Business Administration over its refusal to release detailed information for loans provided through the $659B Paycheck Protection Program.
President Trump used Vets as hydroxychloroquine guinea pigs. It didn’t go well.
Putin found flat-footed as Russia become the second-largest COVID outbreak.
Surveillance powers are being streamlined worldwide amidst the pandemic, especially in Russia, Egypt, Turkey, the Philippines, and Hungary.
Under cover of redressing what President Donald Trump and his allies call the FBI’s “witch hunt” over collusion with the Kremlin, McConnell, via an amendment to the PATRIOT Act, will expressly permit the FBI to warrantlessly collect records on Americans’ web browsing and search histories. In a different amendment, McConnell also proposes giving the attorney general visibility into the “accuracy and completeness” of FBI surveillance submissions to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court.
The Navajo Nation has more cases per capita than any US state or territory. Trump announced $600 million in aid for the Nation to battle COVID-19. Worse yet, nearly 500 Native-run casinos are shut down which serve the economic backbone of tribes all over the United States.
Wuhan, China will test all 11 million of its citizens for COVID after a surge in cases following the city’s reopening. Although impressive, China is still hasn’t shared the results from the tests it took of Wuhan’s wet market in December. In response, GOP Senators introduced a bill on Tuesday that would sanction China for not cooperating with international investigations into COVID’s origins.
A Cultural Thing
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