Holy Cow.. everything old is new again.. Axis 2.0

[Peacetrain]

For our younger members.. the Axis powers of WW2 were Germany, Italy and Japan... and all the horrors that went with it... is Russia trying to start a new Axis set up with Russia, China and Iran?? Input anyone who has a clear vision on this one??

[roamer65]

1. Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Aka SCO

It’s been around since the 1990’s.

Seems like Orwell was nearly correct. Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia.

[Peacetrain]

3. I have been behind in my reading

and just caught a quick blip on where Russia met with China before they met with us over the Ukraine.. and bells started going off.. what the hell did Trump give the Russians while he was in office.. I still remember him meeting with them and letting the Russian press in but not the American.. he sold us out somehow someway..

[roamer65]

6. Putin met with Xi to get his approval.

Xi is the puppeteer of Putin.

The Chinese are in the driver’s seat.

[Peacetrain]

8. Really... that is an interesting point..

[roamer65]

11. SCO was formed by the PRC.

It is in the drivers seat of it. Originally it was called the Shanghai Five.

Putin either kisses Xi’s ass, or eventually they lose Siberia to the Chinese.

This point was brought up to me by a Belarus immigrant to the US and it makes sense.

[EastMeetsWest]

20. Xi is definitely in the driver's seat

I don't know if he would be stupid enough to invade Siberia, but he might work out some sort of loanshark loan with Putin where he would get Siberia if Putin couldn't pay back the loan.

[cilla4progress]

2. I believe the Atlantic article by Anne Applebaum addresses this -

The Bad Guys Are Winning, Nov. 2021.

I haven't read it, but I heard a good breakdown of it on the PoliticsGirl podcast.

Don't forget Turkey, Hungary, the Saudis...

[Peacetrain]

4. Thank you.. I will go read that..

[wiggs]

15. That's why this battle isn't just dems vs gop...or US 99% vs 1%...this is global. nt

[Buckeyeblue]

17. Especially the Saudis.

Lots of money between the Saudis and the Chinese. The Russians just have to do the dirty work.

I think Ukraine is a small use-case to solve. Based on what they learn, next steps will be taken. Next targets will be taken.

If we are smart the first missile fired if Russia moves on Ukraine would be at the Kremlin.

[Hekate]

5. I recently had an insight that Russia & China might be setting up a pincer movement on the US...

… now that we've been suitably weakened and disunited by Trump and the Trumpistas.

Shared this with my husband and he said: Add Iran to that.

You are not the only one, Peacetrain.

[Peacetrain]

7. Hekate.. my husband and I were just talking about the same thing

[Wicked Blue]

10. "We have always been at war with Eastasia"

Or not.

[Hekate]

14. And this is relevant to the discussion how?

China has been aggressively building across the globe — and buying real estate — something that seems to fly under the radar of nearly all news reports, altho the info is certainly there if you look for it.

In addition, China has been, shall we say, building real estate in the Pacific Ocean. The military locates some unclaimed blip of coral and constructs a landing-strip on top. Voila: Chinese territory. They’ve been doing this since 2014. Our Navy has to sail around them.

Beyond that, their moves toward Taiwan have only gained impetus in the past year or so. How many times can a squadron of fighter jets buzz your house before you get the message? They appear to not only be terrifying the Taiwanese, but seeing how far they can push the US. Taiwan has always been under US protection — are they still? Let’s find out. Have you seen what China has done to Hong Kong? Do you trust them to do anything else if they “reclaim” Taiwan?

This is real — not invented for propaganda. What the US does about it involves choices.

[Wicked Blue]

18. It was about how close the world is to becoming the novel '1984'

with perpetual war and shifting alliances among the three major powers.

I share your concern about Taiwan. Particularly after the way China destroyed Hong Kong's democracy.

[EastMeetsWest]

22. One slight correction--

Technically, it's the South China Sea where China has been building real estate. What they're doing in the open Pacific is looking for corrupt leaders of island nations and setting them up with loans they can't possibly pay back, so that China ends up with some port or mine or prime real estate in that country. Australian TV has had some very interesting programs about that.

[Hekate]

23. Thank you. In my mind I was seeing the South China Sea. Anyway, they are busy, busy, busy...

Remember PNAC? The hubristic document called Project for the New American Century — it popped up after Dubya was installed, and was clearly a product of the late 90’s detailing conservative plans for the 2000’s. Jeb Bush, Rumsfeld, William Kristol and a bunch of others wrote it and signed it. Ha!

I mention it only to point out that the 21st Century is likely to be the Chinese Century — and we won’t like it.

[EastMeetsWest]

24. Yeah, I remember PNAC

Those MFers set us up for a fall.

[Hekate]

26. They certainly did. Hubris all the way. I went to a speech by Amb. Joe Wilson, who went to Niger...

…to gather information to challenge the justification of our pending war in Iraq. You may recall Cheney had outed Wilson’s wife as a CIA operative in revenge.

It was a very interesting speech, full of then-current politics and vivid reminiscences about his career as an ambassador. Among them: when he decided to leave his last post, he went with some friends to visit the Temple of Nemesis, the ancient Greek punisher of hubris. He was a man who knew what he was seeing unfold.

[EastMeetsWest]

25. And speaking of the Pacific

I think I read somewhere on this site that the island-nation of Kiribati was in lockdown due to its first cases of Covid. However, I think there might be more to that story. Kiribati doesn't like foreigners coming in and finding out what's happening in the country. Like scenes like this: "China defends ambassador walking on Kiribati children’s backs" https://hongkongfp.com/2020/08/21/china-defends-ambassador-walking-on-kiribati-childrens-backs/

[Hekate]

27. Ew. That's a custom I never heard of before. nt

[EastMeetsWest]

29. I'm wondering if the mothers were forced to have their kids line up like that

I can't imagine any mother willingly allowing her child to be trod upon like that-- that could do some serious bodily damage, especially to a kid. I get the feeling that the mothers are in the crowd in the background-- unable to do anything to protect their children, while their new overlord walks over their kids.

[EastMeetsWest]

21. China is trying to surround India

Indians call it the "string of pearls" strategy. Essentially, China is trying to cozy up to every country that borders India that isn't already part of China. That includes supporting the military junta in Myanmar/Burma, building ports in Sri Lanka and Pakistan that can handle military ships, and wining and dining the governments of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Maldives to set them up for loans that they can't possible pay back.

[lagomorph777]

9. Axis 2.0 also includes the U.S. Reptilian Party.

Today's version of this:

[captain queeg]

12. If they had ARs instead of cowboy guns they'd fit right in today.

[dflprincess]

19. American Bund 2.0 nt

[roamer65]

13. Know your enemy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation

Aka the Shanghai Pact.

[Hekate]

16. KnR

[Celerity]

28. do not forget the 7 smaller Axis powers

Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Romania
Slovak Republic
Kingdom of Bulgaria
Independent State of Croatia
Republic of Finland
Kingdom of Thailand

and very briefly and not really counted as one of the ten

Yugoslavia (two-day membership)

Of the European states, only Andorra, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Vatican remained neutral to the end.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers

Map of Participants in World War II:

Dark Green: Allies before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, including colonies and occupied countries.

Light Green: Allied countries that entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Blue: Axis Powers, their colonies and allies.

Grey: Neutral countries during WWII Dark green dots represent countries that initially were neutral but during the war were annexed by the USSR

Light green dots represent countries that later in the war changed from the Axis to the Allies

Blue dots represent countries either being conquered by the Axis Powers, becoming puppets of those (Vichy France and several French colonies).