Which Way The Wind Blows

These are challenging times for all of us, from nations down to individuals like you and I.  The times are also changing (when in recent years have they not?) and nothing is what it seems.  It is no wonder then that people in all walks of life are becoming – perhaps understating the situation – a little jumpy.  There is a lot to be concerned about.

With these thoughts in  mind, I suggest to you that the wise will (already) be watching, with interest, for emerging trends.  The foolish of course, and the uninformed or misinformed, may not have noticed that anything is amiss or are perhaps too wrapped up in their daily problems to even think about it.

So, which way is the wind blowing just now?  In order to see that clearly it is best to not concentrate too much attention on those things that are at the forefront of world ‘news’.  Simply note that they are happening and may purely be symptomatic of deeper trends.  Get too wrapped up in newsy stuff and it will prove difficult to see any further than that.

I want to draw your attention to just one thing in this post.  Get that, and a whole new world of information may open up for you.

For some years now, perhaps for the whole of two decades of the current century, last century’s global powerhouse, policeman and wrecker of nations – the United States of America – has not enjoyed the success and popularity in certain quarters that it used to be able to rely on.  In fact that nation, especially in the last decade, has been on a sliding decline in pretty much all aspects of nationhood.  To a point where it no longer commands – that’s the wrong word, swap it with ‘receives’ – the sort of respect among other nations it expected in the past.  That newly degraded and diminished base of power stretches even to a growing number of its traditional allies and sits at basement level among those nations it has butchered over the years.

Which leads me to this emerging story.  Germany, powerhouse of the European Union and long time NATO ally of the US, has obviously been watching the situation closely and appears to wisely be looking elsewhere for closer ties of a steadier nature than the US can now offer.  Enter China, the new emerging global powerhouse.

I mentioned somewhere in my writings some years ago that there has historically been a westward shift of what once was called ’empire’ but since the word has been sullied in closer history let’s just refer to it as ‘influence’ or perhaps ‘civilisation’ – although the latter name has also suffered a certain degradation in modern times.  Civilisation (or empire) began in the Middle East with the Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Indus region developments that we still don’t fully understand or of which we (at least in the West) tend to downplay the importance.  Those ’empires/civilisations’ flourished for thousands of years until supplanted from the west by a series of European nations – which did not enjoy the same longevity, though perhaps broader success, because they could not get along with each other and continually and regularly wasted their power in fruitless inter-nation combat which, having depleted themselves and finding their subject nations demanding independence, paved the way for the next march of ’empire’, westward again, this time jumping the Atlantic Ocean to America, or a small part of America, known to us as the USA.  For the last 100 years or more, after finding its feet in the decay of European authority, the US has abused the right that its new found power bestowed on it, to bully and oppress or destroy any newly emergent nation that has raised its head to avow any form of independence or national sovereignty for itself outside the sphere of influence of the predominant US power.  

That situation had to end.  Though the US, probably like all its predecessor ’empires’, never thought or even contemplated that it would – seeing for themselves paramount and eternal global dominance.  The decay of this latest instalment of global empire is what we are witnessing right now.  Are we not fortunate this is happening in our time?  Perhaps so, but these things, these times of great change, are never other than very messy and unpleasant – and often destructive.  We have to be prepared for that eventuality.

So, where next?  The wind is blowing all the way across the Pacific Ocean this time – to China.   The wise will accept that, and adjust accordingly.

As an aside, I might say that there are sufficient gusts of the winds from the east to include Russia (which we sometimes forget also borders the Pacific) to enjoy some influence if it so chose. But I am of the opinion that nation simply wishes to take a background role, allowing it the freedom to express itself openly as a friend and partner to anyone who can mutually benefit from such acquaintance. I feel sure that much the same will also be revealed as China’s plan for the future – should we be so fortunate as to have one. A much more benign and productive prospect than that which we presently face.

Now read the story:

“With America in crisis, a reluctance in Germany to be ‘leader of the free world’” – Erik Kirschbaum, author, journalist and executive director of German-American exchange program RIAS, for the South China Morning Post

“Ties with EU to help bolster global stability” – Cao Desheng for China Daily