Anonymous Coward User ID: 77047218 Russia 05/21/2019 02:18 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | We're Headed for Civilizational Crisis. US Rivalry With China, Russia, Everyone Else Is a Side-Show The outlook of current Western leaders suggests that humanity will be hard pressed to survive the 21st century
Pepe Escobar 11 hours ago | 1000 words 1,918 Comments YOUR ASIAN MASTERS Talk about a graphic display of soft power: Beijing this week hosted the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.
Organized under the direct supervision of President Xi Jinping it took place amid an “Asian Culture Carnival.” Sure, there were dubious, kitschy and syrupy overtones, but what really mattered was what Xi himself had to say to China and all of Asia.
<figcaption>An engraving from 1882 of The Battle of Milvian Bridge Between The Roman Emperors Constantine I And Maxentius. </figcaption> An engraving from 1882 of The Battle of Milvian Bridge Between The Roman Emperors Constantine I And Maxentius.
In his keynote speech, the Chinese leader essentially stressed that one civilization forcing itself upon another is “foolish” and “disastrous.” In Xi’s concept of a dialogue of civilizations, he referred to the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as programs that “have expanded the channels for communication exchanges.”
Xi’s composure and rationality present a stark, contrasting message to US President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign.
West vs East and South
Compare and contrast Xi’s comments with what happened at a security forum in Washington just over two weeks earlier. Then, a bureaucrat by the name of Kiron Skinner, the State Department’s policy planning director, characterized US-China rivalry as a “clash of civilizations,” and “a fight with a really different civilization and ideology the US hasn’t had before.”
And it got worse. This civilization was “not Caucasian” – a not so subtle 21st century resurrection of the “Yellow Peril.” (Let us recall: The “not Caucasian” Japan of World War II was the original “Yellow Peril.”)
Divide and rule, spiced with racism, accounts for the toxic mix that has been embedded in the hegemonic US narrative for decades now. The mix harks back to Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, published in 1996.
Huntington’s pseudo-theory, coming from someone who did not know much about the multi-polar complexity of Asia, not to mention African and South American cultures, was mercilessly debunked across vast swathes of the global South. In fact, Huntington did not even come up with the original, flawed concept. That was the work of Anglo-American historian and commentator Bernard Lewis, who passes for a Middle East guru in the US. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 52532524 Australia 05/22/2019 03:06 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | and we open our doors before knowing their own racism stance...but by opening that door it shows us our own stance and those around us..
I would expect that they are mature enough to know that not all people share the same thoughts as those of the loudest ugliest mouths.
It was highlighted to me, that all colours can be, and display racist overtones, behaviors and many other forms of subtleties in regards to this subject. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 15817001 United States 05/22/2019 03:15 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | why is racism and high words needed to oppress and annialate a slant eyed region? logic and reason crush hearts and minds,the rest is a wash. nothing stands between me and an objective,what is ops objective? |