Western right wing ideologues target China
Two party rule - Better than one-party rule? (Cartoon courtesy - polyp.org.uk).
They suggest a new era reminiscent of Protestant Capitalism. They want us to believe the atheist Chinese are prepared to work harder and defer their gratification for longer. (via China: Hugh Hendry warns investors’ infatution (sic) is misguided – Telegraph).
The busting of China
Hugh Hendry is not alone in portraying an economy issue to a theocratic issue.
Jim Chanos, an investment house head, has been giving stick to China and its economy. He portrayed China as the of ‘Treadmill to Hell’, on the famous US radio show – the Charlie Rose show.
The Charlie Rose show is reputedly a voice of the conservative, Christian, Right-Wing establishment. Charlie Rose is himself supposedly a part of the Council On Foreign Relations, a right-wing, conservative, Christian-Democrat organization.
It was recently reported that the CFR is “expanding its Washington office to a $60 million building on F Street.”
Establishment rules
The importance of this group was well demonstrated when
Mr. Ahmadinejad, the man who has become the defiant face of Iran, squared off with the nation’s (USA) foreign policy establishment, parrying questions for an hour and three-quarters with two dozen members of the Council on Foreign Relations, then ending the evening by asking whether they were simply shills for the Bush administration.
The Right Wing narrative!
On China’s media, CFR says,
more than two thousand newspapers, over eight thousand magazines, and some 374 television stations in the country. China also has an estimated 380 million Internet users and, despite restrictions governing online content, domestic and international stories that censors would prefer to control continue to slip through government information firewalls (Atlantic). Only state agencies can own media in China, but there is creeping privatization as outlets subcontract administrative operations to the private sector.
But what CFR does not talk about is about how in the US of A,
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting … a private nonprofit agency created and funded by Congress. This year it distributed $387 million in federal dollars to PBS, NPR, hundreds of public radio and TV stations around the nation, and some individual programs.
Right-wing ideologues
For instance, CFR’s (ex-?)President and a top ideologue is one of the
Few Americans (who) know(s) the inner world of American foreign policy — its feuds, follies and fashions — as well as Leslie H. Gelb. He served Lyndon B. Johnson in the Pentagon and Jimmy Carter in the State Department. He was a foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times and president of the Council on Foreign Relations. (text in parenthesis supplied).
The CFR approach suggests that
America should be unafraid to exercise power, but it must be mindful that power’s reach usually exceeds its grasp. According to Mr. Gelb liberal Democrats should stop apologizing when they use American power, and conservative Republicans should stop believing that no problem can resist the application of American force. Both need to understand that power is wasted when it’s used unwisely. The chief missing ingredient in United States foreign policy, he argues, is common sense.
What to do?
Providing inputs to the media, are ‘specialists’ like Adam Segal, a senior fellow in China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, who some time back opined that
the vast majority of Chinese have been made better off by economic development, it provides a credible argument for why, even with fairly widespread social unrest, the reign of the current regime is not seriously challenged.
Leslie Gelb suggests that America should stop
trying to foster democracy in countries where you can’t drink the water. We can’t drink the water in Afghanistan, and Mr. Gelb advises that America should abandon ambitions of state or nation building there and concentrate instead on eliminating Al Qaeda.
Since China has good quality drinking water – probably CFR, Jim Chanos, Charlie Rose, Hugh Hendry are trying to foster democracy in China.
Or else!
Exciting new series. From 1 Mar, 2010.
be careful here… you cannot loosely throw around acronyms such as CFR, NPR, PBS or talk about Corporation for Public Broadcasting and then arbitrarily associate left wing and right, without establishing them as such… your credibility is in question – even if you message might not be.
Additionally, CFR is not “one” voice… there are several people who contribute to the thinktank and most articles are opinions of the authors.
Too many american conspiracy theorists have labeled CFR as the invisible “ruler” of the world… naive – don’t you think?
I always read Hugh Hendry and I didn’t notice whether he is right wing or left wing. From his letters I know he’s interested in economy and money only. He correctly predicted the US crisis, then he correctly predicted the European sovereign and currency crisis, and now he’s predicting another bust. He was not neither anti-american nor anti-european when predicting the crisis. The same goes with his China’s crisis alert, no matter if this time he’s right or wrong (nobody is alwasy right in that business). That’s the kind of people with no political or personal issues. Only guessing markets’ behaviour.
Paolo -
The rapid succession of ‘crises’ has made the prediction game very easy.
I am hereby predicting a next round of crises in India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa stock-markets, currency and banking markets, followed by a recession. Resulting in hyperinflation in the BRICS world.
This will not affect the G8 countries much – as lower commodity prices will offset lower demand for industrial goods from the West. Western currencies will appreciate and BRICS currencies will be devalued.
There.
Was it not easy!
And his correct predictions leave me completely unimpressed. What worries me is when Hugh Hendry stops playing the prediction game.
And when a few such ‘economic-astrologers’ start talking about Protestant Capitalism, Atheist Chinese and Confucian ethics. History is full of examples where war, genocide, crusades followed such statements.
On a more serious note, and sadly! My own excellent record at predictions has not been duly noted, appreciated and applauded by the mainstream media. How do you think that makes me feel!
Galeo –
You raise three points: -
1. The ‘looseness’ that you allege
Now there seems to be general consensus in the US to blame China for the yuan-dollar imbalance. Without addressing the issue of ‘liquidity surge’ or ‘dollar overhang’ – the excess dollars printed in the USA!! The CFR is part of the problem.
2. The NPR /PBS /CPB issue
While the CFR talks of Government-controlled media in China, the CFR is silent about the US Government control over US media.
Arguably, there is a difference in the Governmental-control, but then is hair splitting a good idea? Last I remember, the free media in US did not help the Native Americans, the African Americans or the Afghans or the Iraqis much!
3. Conspiracy theorists
My thinking that conspiracy theories arise from a sense of powerlessness. Dinned into my head is the idea that dharma (not as in religion) is everybody’s business – and one (just one) can make a difference. Hence, my posts are always about a belief that each one of us can make a difference.
So, while I empathize with the feeling of powerlessness of the conspirastas, I do not subscribe to these theories.
Naive these conspiracy theories are not. Indicative of the systemic malaise is what they are!!
I am impressed with your following saying “one (just one) can make a difference. Hence, my posts are always about a belief that each one of us can make a difference.”
I am a Chinese living in the USA.