China: Wars are about money

 

It is no secret that while USA has been waging wars on credit and getting increasingly into debt, China has beed working hard, spreading its influence across the world and investingly heavely in the UK, in the USA and in many other countries.

The 2008 financial crisis is a clear example of how the USA has been operating, getting into debt, fuelling or creating conflicts around the world and using the consequences of conflicts it has created to invest more and more in the weapons industries - investing monies that the USA does not really have.

When the obvious consequence of such folly becomes self-evident, the recipe to ignore where the root of the problem really lies is to blame China and Russia as if demonising China and Russia the problems of the USA could be magically solved.

The conflict in Ukraine, for example, is a Ukrainian issue, but it is constantly used by the USA to justify massive military deployments. The conflict in Hong Kong and in Taiwan is a Chinese issue, but once again it is used by the USA to justify accusations about 'Chinese aggression and lack of democracy'. China has been a Comunist country since the days of Mao Tse-Tung, but the West including the USA were very happy to ignore whatever was going on in China because they wanted to invest in China to make money by using cheap labour and then sell manufactured products back in the West.

China took the transfers of resources and increasing indebtness of the West - including the USA - to develop its own economy and perfect technology to compete with the West and buy in the West whatever it could buy. China buys soy from Argentina and invests in Brazil in the creation of gateways to link the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across Brazil. China invests in Africa because Africa is rich in mineral resources that China really and trully needs to develop its industries. China invests in New Zealand and Australia that now see their economic future that depends on their relationship with China.

While America speculates with dubious financial investments that ruin its economy and condemn millions of Americans to abject poverty, China - despite its ideological stance - is creating more wealth that the USA and heading towards pole position when it comes to world powers. 

Huawei and fears about economic warfare

Huawei and fear of economic warfare

Real fears about Huawei have nothing to do with National Security or espionage. Fears about Huawei are about economics and the fact that now Chinese companies like Huawei can outbid any Western company at international level when bidding for contracts.

Nokia and Ericsson could hardly compete with Huawei in terms of getting things better at a lower price and at a time when even countries like UK are having to look very carefully at the monies they spend, Huawei will undoubtedly have the upper hand. While the EU and others have to deal with regulations regarding competition and subsidies, Chinese companies don't have to worry about lack of subsidies. The biggest foreign debt is the US Foreign Debt and China is one of its main creditors - if not the biggest creditor of the USA. If China were to mobilize the monies the USA owes to China, there would enough capital to over-run and outpace any Western company. Therefore, the issue is not about espionage. The issue is about economic warfare. China can buy whatever it wants to buy, but the West cannot afford to sell strategic assets to China. This is why the USA and other Western countries are claiming that there are issues of National Security. They cannot openly say that this is merely about economic warfare. They try and implement higher tariffs against Chinese exports, but if China buys into the USA and into the said countries the said investments would not be exports but national and local investments that will not be affected by tariffs on exports.

Today, it is about who controls the telecommunications industries. Tomorrow, it will be about heavy industries or food production. Why using any other means when you can buy countries directly? In a world of services, communications have crucial importance. Whoever controls the communications market has the upper hand when it comes to the rest of the economy. 

For the USA, repatriating jobs is not the same as allowing foreign companies to buy the USA. Awarding contracts to Ericsson looks like a safer bet than awarding the same conttracts to Huawei. This is not about National Security. This is about - once again - about economic warfare. Using the words of President Clinton, 'it's the economy, stupid.' 

The Conservative Party promised in its manifesto that it would develop communications networks in the UK to provide services to even the most remote community in the United Kingdom. It will be a costly exercise. They know that the prices demanded by Western companies will be much higher that the prices asked for by Huawei. Money makes the world go around. If you can pay less for better services, you can then have more monies for others projects including Trident and HS2. You can have more monies to provide advantages to Labour voters that chose to vote Conservative in the 2019 General Election. Behind the decision made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson there is a lot of strategic thinking. If he can get Huawei to deliver faster and cheaper what he promised in the 2019 Manifesto, those who can access new and faster services at a fraction of the cost will think more about having affordable and reliable services. 

Much has been said about Huawei. What about the safety of ordinary communication links?

Much has been said about Huawei. What about the safety of ordinary communication links?

On a daily basis we learn about scams committed using ordinary communcation links in UK. It has gone beyond impersonation. Foreign gangs can now alter information registered by British servers operating links from overseas.

Using computers in India they can, for example, alter the information registered by British Telecom services. When you dial 1471, you are supposed to be told the number that actually called. Not anymore. The fraudsters can now alter at will the numbers registered by British Telecom servers and put in any number that they want as a way not to be tracked down.

We reported the matter to BT authorities, to Members of Parliament and to the Metropolitan Police as servers could be manipulated to extract vital information that could affect not just ordinary people and businesses but also public services including Police and Armed Forces.

How deep this goes is everybody's guess.Next time you receive a spam call think that it could well. be the tip of the iceberg, something involved not just your own personal security but also National Security.

Until Brexit is completed, there will be no deal

Until Brexit is completed, there will be no deal

A quick look at what is happening in the main EU countries is more than enough to understand that the EU is in no position to negotiate anything. If anything, the EU has to devote all its energies to prevent a meltdown that would lead to the extinction of the EU.

In France, President Macron doesn't seem to be getting things done. It looks like a growing crisis that threaten the very foundation of democracy in France. Showering French citizens with tear gas and water cannons, and engaged in unwarranted acts of violence, Police forces that follow President Macron's orders are turning France into a battlefield. 

In Germany, the sheer idea of having to go cap in hand to ask German taxpayers for more money to subsidise failing economies is a sobering thought for ailing Angela Merkel that knows that she is being watched from inside and from outside the CDU/CSU. She is no longer leader of the ruling coalition very much like Theresa May is no longer leader of the Conservative Party and is very much yesterday's Chancellor.

Events in Austria, Poland, Hungary, Italy and elsewhere are not reassuring either. In Spain, recently elected Members of the European Parliament are not being allowed to join the European Parliament because of the struggle for independence in Catalonia. 

Contenders in the leadership election in the Conservative Party or those in opposition can talk about a deal but it is a deal that no longer exists. It was killed by Parliament and led to the downfall of Theresa May. Most of the world deals with WTO terms and has been doing so for a very long time. The issue is the survival of a protectionist club called European Union (before European Community, earlier Common Market) that almost single-handed led to a debacle across the Developing World when over-production and subsidies caused a dramatic fall of agricultural prices and the creation of massive foreign debt in countries that very much depend on agriculture to make ends meet.

Delivering Brexit is a sine qua non for the Conservative Party. They know that they either deliver Brexit or are replaced by the Brexit Party under a Marxist Prime Minister. This has enormous implications for Britain and for international equilibrium. Whatever is left of the |Special Relationship could come to an end. This is not just the crisis regarding Huawei. This is Huawei and everything else including Britain's membership of NATO.

Britain should seek to preserve the Conservative government by getting Brexit done as a way to prevent a major geopolitical catastrophe.