And Russia & China use that dissatisfaction to their advantage.
Moscow can turn to many states—post-Soviet states, the Middle East, much of Asia and Africa—with arms wide open. The 2024 BRICS Summit illustrated the allure of a new global community of states, separate from the legacy liberal West.
Moscow is ultimately willing to partner with anyone who prefers an alternative to the West. The bar is low. Most of the world is far from progressive when it comes to values.
Russia’s behavior (and policy) now amounts to an almost total disregard for the liberal rules-based international order, as facilitated by the European and American bureaucratic apparatus.
There are instances where US has ignored international law to pursue strategic objectives. That’s all right though. We are the “Exceptional” nation in which the rules do not apply.
the Kremlin clearly sees an opportunity to craft a desirable alternative structure. China has likewise consistently ignored international liberal rules and norms. Even countries like Hungary or Poland, which would prefer the anti-communist nationalism and sovereignty promoted by the American right-of-center, are prioritizing national interests before liberal values by involving themselves in programs like the China-CEE.
It is evident the West is faltering; the shine is rubbing off. This poses obvious challenges, so we must write new rules for the future of Western agility (perhaps even existence) in the future international system. As a starting point, Washington requires a new foundation: an American foreign policy that isn’t loathed by the Middle East, utterly ignorant of Africa, or unaware of the importance of careful, considered diplomacy in its relations throughout Asia; a foreign policy to competitively co-exist with non-liberal states and their growing network of like-minded partners globally
What!!!
The hubris of the USA is limitless!
We will continue to meddle wherever we wish and attempt to run roughshod over those who disagree.
The destruction of Russia economically & militarily & China economic destruction are lights at the end of the tunnel.
The dollar STILL reigns supreme! No other nations currency challenge us. The national debt is meaningless!. We just have to outlast our opponents. Unfortunately those opponents have managed to stay in the game. And one has actually challenged us with use of ICBM/hypersonic weaponary. We know though that Russia will blink in the showdown. They always have.
Uber Alles Pax Americana! The sole world power in which the world has to bend a knee.
As commented before, in my experience, CEOs are, by nature, self-centered bullies. I do not consider being a CEO as a qualification for any elective office, because the personality traits are different.
I fully expect to see drone strikes in the USA. Now they might be drone strikes from Americans against Americans.
We have a lot of enemies in the world. They are not inept, impotent enemies, either. And a lot of them are religious zealots, so be prepared for kamikaze strikes in the Name Of ___ .
Steve, we know you didn’t have a good employment experience. In the various jobs I had over the decades I never had a boss who was a bully. They had various levels of competence, but no bullying.
Having spent decades bringing American technology to Venezuelan businesses I can answer those questions. You can’t transplant the technology as is, you have to adapt it to the local situation, infrastructure, and customs. There is no cookie cutter solution, you need to understand both the American Technology and the local situation. Partnering with locals helps.
The problem is not solely on the American side, I’ve had situations where the locals were simply too intransigent to accept required changes.
Culture does not travel well:
“Schwarzwälder kirschtorte” becomes “Black Forest cake” in English which omits the “kirsch” or “cherry” part. Because it is black, in Venezuela it becomes a chocolate cake, ignoring both the “Black Forest” and the “cherries.”
A car mechanic asked me what birds had to do with cars. He did not speak English but had to use English language manuals. He looked up “crane” and the dictionary told him it meant “grulla” which is the bird you people call cranes. The mechanical crane that lifts things is a “grua.”
“You can’t transplant the technology as is, you have to adapt it to the local situation, infrastructure, and customs.”
It’s been a while but as I recall it teaches you can’t transplant Western technology as is to a third world country. They need tools they can use and maintain.
Every time I pushed back, the other party bucked the issue up to a higher authority. The higher authority gave me a disciplinary writeup, and said words to the effect “shut up and work”. So the honchos sat and counted their money, until they looked up one day, and I was gone.
I speak from personal experience. After seven years working at three US multinationals in Caracas (IBM, Colgate-Palmolive, NCR) my ex-boss at Colgate and I set up a Management Consulting firm with the idea of bringing the experience we had gained to local companies. At IBM i had several multinational clients (Orinoco Mining – US Steel, GM, Purina) where I saw how they interacted with their home offices.
Before his post as Data Processing Manager at Colgate-Palmolive my partner had worked at Mene Grande Oil Company, a subsidiary of Gulf Oil. He developed the Oil & Gas System they used in the Gulf of Mexico. The reason I know this is because we had a visitor from Sinclair oil who on greeting him asked, "Are you the Gamboa who wrote the Oil & Gas System we still use in the Gulf? Friends called him “El Negro Gamboa.” He claimed to be the descendent of African Kings and AmerIndian Princesses. My father called him, “My Black Son.”
The first thing we did was to figure out who our market would be:
Government
Multinationals
Local Business
There was a fourth category which I don’t recall
We decided on Local Business. A curious factoid was that Domingo Alberto Rangel, a Communist professor and economist, had written La Oligarquía del Dinero about the top economic groups in Venezuela. He did excellent research. Our market research cost two copies of this book, about all we could afford. The only thing wrong with the book were his philosophical conclusions. Communism does have its uses!
Meanwhile, on the national “news” a day or two ago, the GIC of Oklahoma schools was asked why he was forcing Bible study into public schools. He said it was needed for the students to understand why the US was so “exceptional”.
In related “news”, Texas is not requiring Bible study in public schools, but offering school districts a $40/student bonus for providing religious indoctrination to elementary school students.
I don’t know about the pay part but example in the book is hand cranked auger screw to lift water into an irrigation ditch. Far more practical than a powered pump that requires mechanical ability to keep running as well as purchased fuel.
You are not surprised to see the powered pump sitting idle for lack of needed resources while the hand pump continues to be used. It fits the situation better.
Similar to what happened with me. Business owner (several times, different businesses and owners) didn’t have a clue how to run the business. I set it all up and they became profitable (owners said so). They figured they did not need me any more, so I was gone. Some time later (within 5-10 yrs), those businesses were gone. One was a stellar “crash and burn” (~$1/4B dollar business went bust).
