Living In The Past--Bad Idea
We’re in the graduation season these days, and Trump and Veep Vance have been turning up at the military academies to make programmatic speeches about the role of the American military. Unfortunately, it’s all coming out wrong. Both Trump and Vance are coming across as seeking to maintain US global hegemony. Yes, they talk about jiggering things around a bit, doing away with woke DEI in the military, not getting into culture change wars or wars that lack concrete goals. But the bottom line is more war—war to maintain hegemony, to destroy our “adversaries”, in Trump’s own words. What in the world should those countries that we have declared to be “adversaries”—Russia, China, Iran—make of Trump’s words? Is this a guy with whom they can establish a credible relationship?
Also lacking from these words is any apparent realization that the multi-polar world constrains the US military in any meaningful way. That the US military is simply no longer capable of traversing the globe, waging war with impunity. Has no lesson been learned from our experience with the Houthis? After that debacle, what could Trump possibly mean by his bellicose rhetoric directed at a Putin, whom he claims has gone “absolutely crazy”. The rank hypocrisy of Trump saying that he doesn’t like killing people when he’s conducting a genocide in Gaza that deliberately targets civilians—we’re providing vast amounts of munitions as well as equally vast amounts of intel gathered with our drones and other aircraft, for use by the Israelis.
And then, in an airport interview, Trump—with threatening tone of voice and facials—said he “doesn’t like it (Putin’s actions) at all” and “we’ll see what I do about it”, again in a very threatening tone of voice. What does he think he’s going to do? Beyond further destroying his own credibility, which is already in tatters? More sanctions? It didn’t help that Trump claimed, in the same exchange with the reporters, that he didn’t know about the Ukrainian attempt to assassinate Putin. Was he lying? If so, what should Putin make of that? But, if it was true that Trump didn’t know, how can Putin regard Trump as a credible partner when it appears that critical intel is withheld from him? Or maybe Trump just forgot. There’s no good look to any of this. Trump is doing nothing but encouraging Putin and Russia to settle their conflict with the West sooner rather than later—and on its own terms.
And it’s not just the military balance of power that has changed. The economic balance has shifted and continues to shift. The US needs a measured, long range policy to realign with changing realities but, again, unilateral threats appear to be the order of the day—as if the rest of the worldd has no alternatives. Alternatives to King Dollar and the US printing press fueled consumer market may turn out to be painful for some, but they are coming and we need to prepare against that day. Instead, Trump’s key economic and trade partners have echoed Heritage’s Project 2025 idea that our military and economic policies go hand in hand.
With that in mind, consider this latest development—one of a steady stream of developments that the US military is powerless to stop and that US sanctions cannot reach:
Iran, China Launch New Commercial Railway Bypassing US Sanctions
A new commercial rail route connecting China to Iran has officially launched with the arrival of the first cargo train from the eastern Chinese city of Xian at the Aprin dry port near Tehran.
Aprin's CEO highlighted the port's strategic role in lowering transport costs and reducing reliance on coastal freight hubs.
Railway infrastructure connecting Iran and China allows freight trains to travel from Shanghai to Tehran in 15 days, compared to 30 days via the maritime route.
On May 12, railway officials from Iran, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Turkiye met in Tehran to advance a transcontinental rail network linking Asia to Europe, Tasnim News Agency reported on May 25.
The six nations agreed on competitive tariffs and operational standards to streamline regional rail services and boost trade connectivity.
China and Iran have expanded trade and economic relations in recent years, as Tehran seeks to bypass US economic sanctions seeking to strangle its economy and oil exports.
The rail line between the two countries enables Iranian oil exports to China and allows Chinese goods to reach Europe without US naval interference.
Here’s what that looks like—and count on it, this is just the start of more networking to come, throughout West Asia as well as into Russia:
Nobody can match China in infrastructure projects. Look at this incredible railway track from China to Iran — stretching whopping 10,000 km!
Meanwhile the US Navy is being pushed further and further away from the Eurasian land mass by the threat of anti-ship missiles. I have no idea how Prof Mearsheimer thinks the US military is going to prevent this increasing China driven Eurasian integration from taking place. I agree with Doug Macgregor—we can’t prevent it and it’s none of our business.
Further, consider this:
Pakistan joining Iran's efforts to eliminate Israel would be a game-changer indeed
Quote
Khamenei.ir @khamenei_ir
Effective, joint efforts by Iran and Pakistan are necessary to stop the Zionist regime’s crimes in Gaza.
I’m not making predictions—there are obstacles to closer relations between Iran and Pakistan, let alone to real coordination. But there are also dynamics—military and economic—that favor such a development. Pakistan is riding high after the strong showing of its military in facing down India—after a string of disastrous defeats over the decades since the end of the British Raj. But they know that they cannot rest on these limited laurels. Better relations with Iran make sense both militarily and economically (relations with China are already strong), and Pakistan has been putting out feelers to BRICS.
The point is, what is the US going to do about this development, the trajectory of which suggests further Eurasian integration—this time of a nuclear armed Iran with Russia, Iran, and China? The US can learn to live with these new realities through cooperative relations with other nations, or it can tilt at the windmill, in a vain attempt to maintain global hegemony. Increasingly, world alignments are shifting and developing without input from the erstwhile global hegemon, but the sounds coming out of DC are not encouraging for a constructive response.
This month of May is looking like a turning point, and the US is not dealing with it well. The establishment is living in the past, bought off by Anglo-Zionists who see their influence slipping away.
Fine summary, Mark. We have to admit at this point that Trump has gone to the bad. MAGA, we now know, means Make Aggression Great Again - against anyone who dares challenge US (and Western) hegemony. As Will Schryver, whom you referenced a while back, so pithily points, the US has no chance whatsoever in a fight against any of its three main rivals individually let alone collectively. Now we get to see in real time which of the options the dying Empire on the Potomac goes for: all-in war, or a humiliating climb down.
now it may be that the Iran-China rail line runs inland to skirt the vast mountain range that is the Himalayas, but is it also a lucky coincidence that the rail is out of range of any "Western" missiles" from any launch position?
Now, this is speculation, but it would appear to be easy for Russia to spike a spur from the trans Siberia rail down to meet it.