Changes not seen in a Century – Chas W. Freeman, Jr.
Sunday, July 3, 2022 5:30 PM
Let me know when we go off a cliff.—They Drive By Night
Sunday, July 3rd, 2022
Dear Friends + Interlocutors,
Below please find a link to retired U.S. ambassador Chas Freeman’s remarks last April to the China Forum at Harvard College. Freeman has high credentials.
Here’s the gist:
Russia’s three-century-long effort to attach itself to the West has definitively failed. Sanctions are decoupling it from Europe and North America and leaving it with no alternative to dependence on China and India. Europe is no longer at peace. Germany and Japan are rearming. Finland and Sweden are applying for membership in NATO as Turkey sets it aside. With “Brexit,” Britain has forfeited influence in Europe and thereby diminished itself globally. The Middle East has ceased to be an American sphere of influence. International law has lost almost all credibility. The future of the dollar-based international monetary system is in increasing doubt.
In short, developments do not seem positive…despite the euphoria in Washington.In the meantime, I am in Venice. The Biennale is better and stranger than ever. But the Russian pavilion is padlocked, with an armed guard out front. At the end of the day, politics vetoes art and culture.
Also in the meantime, here’s Professor Mearsheimer's closing remarks at his recent lecture (June 6th) in Florence. It’s the gist.
The lunatics in Washington are in the driver’s seat, with clueless European “leaders” along for the ride in a rumble seat.
Hold,
Patrick
=====