When the west wind meets the east wind, does the west wind blow away the east wind, or does the east wind blow away the west wind? In other words, if there is a second Cold War between China and the United States, will the United States have the last laugh? Recently, Kissinger gave an intriguing answer to this question, and the intensive visits to China by European countries and the two ASEAN countries seem to testify to this.
According to a report by Spain's "Le Monde" on March 25, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was interviewed by the newspaper a few days ago. In the interview, the newspaper asked Kissinger if there is another outbreak of a "cold war" similar to the "cold war" between the United States and the Soviet Union, let's call it the "second cold war." So, who can have the last laugh between China and the United States, and will the United States continue to win this time?
In this regard, Kissinger looked solemn, and even his voice carried a solemnity. He warned that if a "second cold war" broke out, it would be far more dangerous than the first. What exactly does "more dangerous" mean here?
You know, during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the "Cuban Missile Crisis" also broke out. At that time, if it were not for an American soldier who withstood the pressure and repeatedly verified the "order for a nuclear strike", I am afraid that the United States would have launched a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union in advance. At that time, a global nuclear war may be inevitable.
The same is true on the Soviet side, where a chief of staff of the nuclear submarine formation named Vasily also successfully prevented the Soviet nuclear submarine captain and political commissar from detonating the nuclear bomb and dying with the nearby US fleet because he misjudged the start of a US-Soviet nuclear war. If the nuclear bomb had really been "detonated" at that time and the surrounding US fleets had perished, I am afraid that the US-Soviet nuclear war would have also detonated.
To put it bluntly, it was the first time that humanity was only half a step away from a global nuclear war. However, in Kissinger's view, all this is far less dangerous than the outbreak of the "second cold war" between China and the United States.
What is Kissinger worried about, and what does he mean by "more dangerous"?
Subsequently, Kissinger gave the answer. He believes that if a "second cold war" breaks out between China and the United States, the danger is greater than the first because this "cold war" will iterate more advanced technology. Such as artificial intelligence, big data, etc., these powerful technologies have destructive capabilities, which are completely incomparable to the Cold War during the United States and the Soviet Union.
What's more important?
Kissinger believed that even if it was as strong as the Soviet Union, the resources of the Soviet Union were still not comparable to the Western camp led by the United States at that time. In other words, in terms of resource stock and mobilization, the US camp still has a considerable advantage over the Soviet camp. Although it is not "crushing", it can also be a force.
This time, however, things changed.
In Kissinger's view, China has come to the fore, while China and the United States have their own resources. On the whole, China and the United States have equal resource advantages. This means that if a "second cold war" breaks out between China and the United States, China will be more resilient than the Soviet Union, and the United States will be weaker than in that year, and in the end, "half a pound against eight taels", not only can no one help anyone, but this "cold war" may take longer.
But that's not what worries Kissinger the most. What he is really worried about is that the United States, the European Union, or the entire Western world are already in debt. Compared to then, countries cannot afford to wait.
At that time, the United States may not rule out a "fight to the death", otherwise a "new cold war" will fall, and the debt of the United States is likely to completely extinguish this "lighthouse country". Once the debt collapses, the United States will be pushed by the wall, fall apart, and be completely swept into the garbage heap of history.
But the question is, who can guarantee that the United States will not take risks at the "last minute"? In the same way, with the lessons of the Soviet Union, China will not easily step into the "Soviet footsteps". This means that in the end, it is likely that the United States will really be the first to survive, and the world will therefore face a hysterical "crisis" before the collapse of the United States.
Today, whether to call this a warning or a prophecy from Kissinger, the point is that it all seems to be being verified and come true.
On March 27, yesterday, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife arrived in Guangzhou to officially start their visit to China. However, what the outside world did not expect was that Lee Hsien Loong had just arrived on the front foot, and the prime minister of Malaysia, another ASEAN country, Anwar Ibrahim, would also visit China this week.
On March 26, local time, the day before Lee Hsien Loong's visit to China, Malaysian Transport Minister Luk Siu Fook said while participating in the live broadcast of Malaysian Radio and Television (RTM) that he will visit China with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim this week and discuss with China to strengthen existing cooperation and jointly develop new projects between the two countries.
So, what is the new project?
At present, there is a saying in the rivers and lakes that Malaysian Transport Minister Luk Siu Fook followed Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to China this time to explore with the Chinese side the possibility of cooperation between enterprises of the two countries to develop the Xinlong high-speed rail (HSR) project.
In other words, Malaysia wants to build high-speed rail. Of course, from the infrastructure team to the loan, it is definitely necessary to "take advantage of the cheap", that is, China has to bear more. Seeing this, some friends may stand up and shout, "We can't become the unjust boss, pay money and give out people, and finally work in vain."
However, Xiao Zhang does not think so. On the one hand, although we may invest and loan Malaysia to build high-speed rail. However, in the future, our high-speed rail management team will definitely enter the project, participate in the operation of the project, and slowly recover the early input cost through the form of operation sharing.
But what's more important than that? Our team in this project is not only responsible for the operation and management of high-speed rail, but also integrates the corresponding high-speed rail project into the trade and logistics system built by China, which is the most important.
What's more important? If the Xinlong high-speed railway project is finally undertaken by the Chinese side, and the construction is completed and put into operation, it will undoubtedly further improve the mainland-led "Trans-Asian Railway" project, which is also part of the "Belt and Road" initiative.
However, this is not the end of it.
If the construction of the Xinlong high-speed railway project is completed, once a war occurs, with the blessing of "high-speed rail speed", Southeast Asia will be more likely to be connected. Of course, how to prevent a crackdown is a matter of later story. But even so, it is easier to repair some damaged tracks than to build a new high-speed rail.
Not only that, if the Xinlong high-speed railway project is established, it can also drive the export of smelting, chemical and other industries in the mainland, driving domestic employment at the same time. The employment driven by the Xinlong high-speed rail project in Malaysia will increase the income of local people and further promote the mainland's trade and exports to Malaysia.
Therefore, don't look at us again spending money and being out of people, in fact, it is not "work in vain". On the contrary, it can also achieve win-win cooperation between China and Malaysia. But the point is, Malaysia needs to abide by the contract. Judging from the situation in recent years, this point is still trustworthy.
So, does Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit to China also have the same purpose as Malaysian Prime Minister Anwarul Ibrahim to increase cooperation on new projects with China?
Judging from the current indications, the heads of state of Singapore and Malaysia must have hoped to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with China in the context of the global economy is not "very prosperous", and at the same time publicize their own tourism industry by the way. Summer is coming, and they hope to take advantage of this trip to China to travel more Chinese tourists to Singapore and Malaysia for tourism and consumption, and drive local employment and economic development.
However, these are all incidental.
So, what is the core reason for the visits of the heads of Singapore and Malaysia to China?
The answer is to communicate with China on mediating the Russia-Ukraine conflict, implement the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea as soon as possible, and communicate and consult on the Philippines' desperate intention to open four military bases to the United States.
In other words, there are two main quests behind it. One is to mediate the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as soon as possible, and the United States can no longer be allowed to continue to "arch the fire". Another main line is that it is very important to solve the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and more importantly, the Philippines must not be allowed to undermine the stability of the South China Sea region.
To put it more bluntly, the visit of the heads of state of Singapore and Malaysia to China, in addition to discussing the stability of the South China Sea and the situation in Russia and Ukraine, also has the intention of putting pressure on the Philippines in disguise. The Prime Minister of Singapore came, the Prime Minister of Malaysia also came, Indonesia has publicly shown goodwill to China many times, this is ASEAN's position, not only for the Philippines, but also for the United States, hoping that the United States can "restrain from the precipice".
Combined with the recent period, Western countries have collectively visited China. From New Zealand Foreign Minister Mahuta, to Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez, French President Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President von der Leyen will come to China to "check in", and in May, the heads of state of Russia and the four Central Asian countries may also visit China to participate in the "China-Central Asia Summit". For a while, China was really a stormy meeting here.
At this moment, the heart of the United States is not a taste, a mouth full of acidic water, no matter how to swallow spit.
Biden was anxious, and asked very angrily: "China's small life has been too beautiful, too moist, and too shivering recently, what should I do?" Are you guys coming up with an idea? If we don't make any more moves, my face as a 'rogue boss' will be lost." Anyone can step on it, no one is afraid of us, what will we mess with in the future? Why should other countries be beaten by us but dare not fight back, and be scolded by us but dare not fight back? Hurry, Mari, give me a counterattack plan, we must not sit still. ”
So, a hilarious scene happened.
US Vice President Harris weakly said that Southeast Asia "does not welcome" us, the Middle East side pretends not to understand, does not invite us, Brazil side with the president "sick" and does not want to receive us, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines welcome us, but the "boss" you can't look at their "poor backcountry".
Biden was anxious, "Say the point, the point, I want to listen to the point." ”
U.S. Vice President Harris gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, saying, "Old lady, I'm going to visit Africa." ”
Biden glanced sideways at Harris, who gritted his teeth again, "This time I opened up and finalized the itinerary of at least three African countries." For Harris's courage to share his worries, Biden nodded with satisfaction.
According to the US "Politician" news network, on March 26, local time, US Vice President Harris arrived in Ghana and began his first trip to Africa in office. This time, U.S. Vice President Harris will visit three African countries: Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia.
Meanwhile, to show the importance he attaches to the three countries, Harris will spend three nights in Ghana, two nights in Tanzania and one night in Zambia before departing for the United States on April 2.
Compared with US Vice President Harris, US President Biden has not visited Africa since taking office. However, seeing a series of "brilliant achievements" in China's diplomacy, Biden, as the nominal "big boss" and "big leader" of the United States, decided to "go out and shine", so he asked his staff members "Where should I visit?" ”
Everyone stared wide-eyed and looked at each other, and in a moment of silence, someone weakly suggested, "How about a visit to the British pimple?" Biden is obviously reluctant, after all, the current Britain is not even comparable to such "horse boys" as his subordinates Japan and South Korea. If it were not for the fact that Britain was an "old seniority" among the "Anglo-Saxon" countries, the United States would not want to "play" with this goods.
In the end, Biden decided to simply go to Canada. After all, Canada has a pleasant landscape, and it is also its own people, and it is also thoughtful to take care of.
So, on March 23-24, Biden "symbolically" made a trip to Canada, and after a short "vacation", he hurried home. The reason is simple, China and Russia are too capable of "tossing", Biden does not come back to sit in town, everyone is not steady. After all, something really happened, with Biden standing in front of him "pretending to be stupid and pretending to be confused", and everyone in the White House "demonized", there is not so much psychological pressure.
The United States side is "busy", which is called countering the influence of China and Russia, while the European side has begun to play "reverse".
Hungary, which is both a member of the European Union and a NATO country, has recently "reversed" its status, suspected of being regarded as an "unfriendly ally" by the United States, and even worse.
On March 27, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economy, Peter Sialto, said U.S. authorities positioned themselves as Hungary's "unfriendly ally" and viewed Hungary as an enemy. As for why this is the case? It is because Budapest, that is, Hungary in the EU and NATO, chose to defend Hungary's national interests, rather than let other countries "entrap".
It seems that the United States is increasingly tolerating "voices of opposition", and countries like Hungary seem to be increasing. Just like Bulgaria, a member of the European Union, has recently begun to openly "contradict" the United States, changing its previous attitude of supporting Ukraine to "claim justice" and seek explanations from Russia.
According to the "Russian Satellite News Agency" on March 27, Bulgarian Vice President Yotova said that she supports negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, otherwise there will be a risk of a sharp escalation of the situation.
At this moment, Xiao Zhang's comment is that when Russia really "launches a ruthless attack", in the face of the "threat" of tactical nuclear weapons, it seems that more and more European countries are beginning to worry, and they have begun to wake up, and decide to retreat as soon as possible. At the very least, it is also necessary to issue a "position" to ease the atmosphere of tension between itself and Russia. Do not ask Russia for forgiveness, but when asking Russia to throw a nuclear bomb, first take care of other countries to "smash", do not be the first to think that "taking care of yourself" is a big surprise.
Compared to Hungary, which became a thorn in the side of the United States and Bulgaria began to encourage a reversal of "peaceful settlement of disputes", the biggest reversal in Europe was Serbia.
On March 5, the Russian Satellite News Agency and RIA Novosti reported on Serbian President Vučić's reply to Serbia's arms sales to Ukraine, emphasizing that the relevant reports were lies, and the Serbian side provided military weapons to Ukraine or Russia.
However, the rocket artillery produced by the Serbian military-industrial enterprise Krushik, the "BM-21 rocket launcher", did appear on the Ukrainian battlefield and was used by the Ukrainian army in its hands. It turned out that the weapons were purchased by a Canadian company and then shipped to Ukraine through Turkey and Slovakia.
What Xiao Zhang wants to say is that Serbia can't see that Canada, the United States, and Britain are good brothers in a pair of pants? Serbian military factories export weapons to Canadian companies, and in whose hands do they end up, Serbia really does not count in its heart? Frankly, I don't believe it anyway. Behind this, I am afraid that Serbia is also a little unable to bear the pressure, and directly came a "tanuki for a prince", even if the East Window incident happened, he could "pick it up" and pretend that he didn't know at all.
At the same time, next month, April 22, the Serbian army will hold the largest exhibition of military equipment, including military aviation equipment and air defense systems from China, and Serbian President Vučić personally announced this and "stood on the platform" for this weapons exhibition.
What Xiao Zhang wants to say is that the Russian-Ukrainian war is in full swing, Serbia is now holding a weapons exhibition, who does it want to sell weapons to? Definitely not to Ukraine, and not to Russia. But when Serbia's weapons are exported to European countries, who can guarantee that they will not be used on Russians?
After a marathon meeting between Serbia and Kosovo on March 18, an agreement was reached on the annexes to the agreement on the normalization of relations between the two sides. In other words, the two sides reconciled. However, the two sides were unable to agree on a normalization proposal, which would allow Kosovo to become independent from Serbian territory as a separate State. If Vučić, as the president of Serbia, really agreed to this, he was destined to become a "sinner" in Serbian history, so this last point can never be agreed.
But on the other hand, this matter is intriguing. In addition to Kosovo's inability to become independent, including some proposals involving Russia, Vučić has probably backed down and compromised.
It is worth mentioning that during this negotiation, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell personally appeared to "watch" this matter. Therefore, in a sense, Serbia finally "yielded" in the face of Europe and the United States. Maybe there is a lot of bitterness and helplessness here, but anyway, the result is the result, Serbia's "little thin arm", after all, has not been able to screw the EU's big thick legs, let alone "argue" with the United States.
At the same time, Germany seems to have completely resigned itself to its fate, submitted to the United States, and abandoned its position of mediating the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and trying to turn the conflict into a victory.
On March 25, at the request of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to Belarus's request to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, the so-called "low-yield nuclear weapons," on the territory of Belarus.
Although NATO prepared a series of "bad consequences" caused by the deployment of 300,000 troops to the Russian border, NATO has never developed the "habit of reflecting on itself", which is the result of years of "rogue hegemony" culture.
What was unexpected, however, was Germany's attitude.
An official at the German Foreign Ministry told AFP that the incident was "another attempt by Russia to intimidate nuclear intimidation." Listen, this is the attitude of Germany, they do not think that Russia really dares to use nuclear weapons, but use this to intimidate Europe.
In turn, Xiao Zhang wanted to ask: "NATO 300,000 troops deployed on Russia's doorstep, is it intimidation?" Or is it ready to rush into the homes of Russia and Belarus at any time, burning and looting? ”
At this moment, Xiao Zhang wanted to tell the truth, that is, he had seen hooligans, he had never seen hooligans played so righteously, and he looked like he was threatened and wronged. I have to say that NATO is really "a rogue among hooligans, the best of scoundrels."
Finally, what Xiao Zhang wants to say is that Kissinger's warnings and predictions actually mean the United States? It is warning and predicting the decline of the entire Western world. In other words, it is not the Western world that has declined, but the "rogue hegemony" in the bones of the Western world that should have been swept into the garbage heap by the times. As long as they fail to self-reflect and self-clear their cancerous values, the Western world, including the United States and the Anglo-Saxon countries, is doomed to a downtrodden end.