The news lately from the Pact of Steal is interesting. How lucky is America's foreign policy?
China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran threaten the global system underwritten by America and its allies that has resulted in historically unprecedented prosperity. But they have visible problems.
CHINA: Unrest over China's Covid-19 response has been directed at Xi Jinping:
Protesters pushed to the brink by China's strict COVID measures in Shanghai called for the removal of the country's all-powerful leader and clashed with police Sunday as crowds took to the streets in several cities in an astounding challenge to the government.
So ... how much does Xi know about what is going on? At the moment of his triumph, does Xi face interesting times? Although contrary to the AP report, "mass incidents" aren't rare in China. The news may be just the usual churn that we notice now. Still, it is a lot of anger focused on Xi and his CCP. If the many protests really are commonly focused on Xi and the system itself, that is new.
We'll see if the People's Armed Police is sent in.
NORTH KOREA: And he's handsome and witty, as well!
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country's intends to have the world's most powerful nuclear force as he promoted dozens of military officers involved in the recent launch of a new ballistic missile, state media reported on Sunday.
North Korea can't afford that nuclear force. And trying is undermining his conventional military and security forces that keep him in power, even as his people starve, sicken, and die.
RUSSIA: Putin's body count of Russian lives extends beyond battlefield deaths:
Over five million Russians have permanently left Russia since Vladimir Putin took power in 1999. The exodus accelerated when he made his rule legally permanent in 2020. In 2022 Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, the first of several conquests he proclaimed necessary for Russian survival. This is not working out well because increased internal repression and external violence have crippled the economy (fewer jobs) while forcing men into the army to fight in Ukraine have led to still more Russians leaving Russia. The departures are substantial and continually reduce the population and percentage of the population that is Russian.
IRAN: good:
The U.S., its allies and individuals across the globe are struggling to support protesters in Iran in what observers say is a make-or-break moment that could tip the scales for regime change in Tehran.
President Biden said in early November that "we’re gonna free Iran. They’re gonna free themselves pretty soon."
Although I'm so old I remember when regime change was horrible and Democrats screamed "hands off Iran". And I suspect Biden really wants to save the mullah regime despite the words that come out of his mouth.
Still, three aces is pretty good. Even a pair is nice. How lucky is America?
UPDATE: The question is asked:
China’s cities are filling up with large, loud, and surprisingly defiant public protests against the country’s draconian “zero Covid” policies. It raises the question of whether Xi Jinping and the yes-men around him are so stubborn and so obsessed with never admitting error that they’re almost self-destructive, and whether the U.S. and the world are dealing with a rising autocracy that is powerful but dumb.
I suspect that rather than being dumb or just stubborn, the rulers don't know what is happening outside of their bubble. But they think they know what is going on. As I noted in the original post, the mountains are high and the emperor is far.
UPDATE: So far no PAP needed:
China’s vast security apparatus has moved swiftly to smother mass protests that swept the country, with police patrolling streets, checking cell phones and even calling some demonstrators to warn them against a repeat.
NOTE: Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
