The World as I See It, June 4, 2021

Truth is the sublime convergence of history and reality.  

By Rich Kozlovich

Typically I find I see the world just a little differently than most.  I can't explain why, but I try to see farther, deeper and wider than everyone else, mostly because nothing is really ever as it appears.  There's always more to the story.

Also, I spend a lot of time reading history and the commentaries of those who follow world events.  I've been doing it all my life, and so I have a lot of stored concepts that come out in my writing, and I've adopted what's supposed the motto of science as my own. De omnibus dubitandum.  "Everything is to be questioned".  

I subscribe to Geopolitical Futures as a result I get notifications on everything publicly going on in the world (I recommend subscribing) and this leads me to seeking out information from other sources dealing with the subjects they're highlighting.   I've compiled some of their Daily Memo stuff here from yesterday and day before that I think is important to share with you.  I edited what I think will be of long term consequence, even if it appears not so big a deal now.   

Their highlights take me to other sites for information, which I linked in order to attempt give a broader and deeper understanding of events.  

All big events start out small, and it's a crap shoot which will turn into something profound for the world.   In short, it's all guesswork based on finding and seeing the patterns of life, which repeat over and over again.  And if you see them correctly, you're ahead of the curve.  But either way, it's all guesswork.  I'll be sharing my guesses with you, and you can pick and choose for yourself. 

Enjoy.  

Unseating Bibi. Israeli opposition parties reached a deal on Wednesday to form a government and unseat current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The coalition consists of Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party as well as an Islamist party called the United Arab List led by Mansour Abbas. Under the agreement, Bennett would serve as prime minister for two years and then be replaced by Lapid. Israeli ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates and Greece have already said bilateral relations will not be significantly affected by the change in government.

My Take – This is a mess in the making as these three groups are at odds with each other’s goals, visions and views of what Israel is and what it should be.   Bennet is allegedly far right.  It seems to me that Lapid is a former journalist who is more leftist than centrist.  And Abbas is a liar, and the ruling arrangement is a formula for incoherence.  What could possibly go wrong?

Chinese planes in Malaysian air. Malaysia’s government is upset after China reportedly sent more than a dozen warplanes into Malaysian airspace. According to Malaysia’s foreign minister, the country scrambled jets to intercept incursions by 16 Il-76 and Y-20 military transport planes off the coast of Sarawak, near areas where Chinese coast guard vessels have periodically harassed Malaysian oil drilling operations in recent years. Beijing says it's much ado about nothing.

My Take – This is a lot to do with isolating Taiwan and intimidating their neighbors.  The question we should be asking is whether or not China would be so bold, as it’s been recently, and will continue more so in the future, if Trump was still President?  I think the answer is China has a goal and Trump stood in the way and they knew he wasn’t a Jimmy Carter, and no one was going to push him around.  But they have Biden and he’s even worse than Carter because he believes in nothing, understands nothing, and is fast becoming completely unhinged mentally, and it seems to me he has no idea who he’s appointing to important positions, nor does he understand the consequences of his policy decisions, which I have serious misgivings as to their origins within “his” administration.

U.S.-Chinese trade talks. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Xi Jinping's top economic adviser and trade negotiator, held talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday. This comes days after Liu spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. There's little reason to expect a broad warming trend in U.S.-Chinese relations, but there is some room for “and mutual interest in“ a narrow deal on specific trade issues.

My Take – If Yellen is there it’s a mess, and what’s it mean when they say, “There's little reason to expect a broad warming trend in U.S.-Chinese relations”?  I really find that confusing as China’s eating Biden’s lunch worldwide, and it’s clear he has no vision about this, unlike President Trump. It seems to me Biden isn’t doing much about it, and it appears to me his administration is filled with Sinophiles, and it seems to me there’s no clear consistent vision or goal, or for that matter any harmonious understanding about China and what to do about them within the administration.

Cambodia reaches out. Cambodia’s defense minister confirmed the poorly kept secret that the country was seeking China’s help in modernizing a key naval base on the southwestern edge of the South China Sea. According to the minister, China will not be the only country given access to the facility  which is another way of saying that the Chinese navy will be given access to the facility.

 My Take – This is a story to watch as China has been trying to expand it’s long range naval influence since they have no military bases anywhere outside their immediate sphere of power, as they’re attempting to intimidate Asia into an imposed economic hegemony for their benefit.   This is far more important than is presented. 

China set the fusion reaction record.  On May 23rd by sustaining a temperature of 120 million degrees C (216 million degrees F) for 101 seconds; far hotter than the temperature of the sun.  South Korea held the prior record achieving a 100 million degree C fusion reaction for 20 seconds in December.  China's reactor is a "Tokamak" designed to contain fusion's incredible heat within an incredibly powerful magnetic field.

My Take – Will fusion energy ever come into being?  Yes!  Will it happen soon? No!  While all this is important to know, it’s also nothing that will change anything in the near future unless there’s some kind of unexpected massive scientific breakthrough not on the drawing boards currently, but serendipity has advanced science tremendously in the past, well beyond that which was expected, and it will do so in the future, but serendipity doesn’t happen on any schedule.  The likelihood of it happening over something so complex seems unlikely. 

U.K. to start TPP accession talks. The 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership agreed to allow the United Kingdom to begin accession talks. A working group has been set up to discuss tariffs and rules for trade and investment. British membership in the club makes sense for all involved, both economically and to further the trade bloc’s enduring efforts to entice the United States back in.

My Take – This is going to be interesting to watch.  Pay attention!  I think is much bigger than it appears, and there's going to be economic consequences many will not like.   China cannot be trusted to adhere to any agreement.  This piece by Ashlianna Kreiner, Report: Communist Chinese Arrest Bishop, 7 Priests, 10 Seminarians, Close Seminary, is a perfect example of how any agreement with China is merely a temporary ploy for their long term goals.  And those goals aren't beneficial for the rest of the world.  The Pope lost sight of reality, as was predicted in this piece, Pope Francis' deal with China is a disaster

Food inflation. Global food prices in May saw their biggest surge since 2011, according to U.N. data. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s monthly food price index soared 40 percent in May compared to a year prior. As always, take year-on-year figures this spring with a grain of salt, given the extreme disruptions that were widespread this time last year. But considering the amount of inflation we’re seeing across commodity sectors, and given the political explosiveness of food inflation, watch this closely.

My Take – Tie this in with anti-GMO legislation in so many places in the world and we will see more food issues.  The upside?  This could trigger a pro GMO action all over the world.  Starving people aren’t “reasonable”, that is if you define “reasonable” as going along to get along versus following the facts and drawing the correct conclusions.  I would like to know what insurmountable obstacle was ever overcome by being “reasonable”.