2022 was the year when everybody had to stop kidding themselves and ignoring the obvious.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while now clearly bogged down and in danger of going into "deep reverse," was nevertheless a blatant challenge to the pre-existing order (essentially a partial or incomplete global system rather than "the Western Empire" that leftists, Alt-Rightists, and Kremlin shills talk about).
In the light of that watershed moment, the disturbing signs from China could also no longer be ignored. The Western imposed/supported global system is in for a serious challenge in the years ahead by a number of states that are prepared to spill a lot of blood and treasure.
There is an obvious analogy with the pre-WWII period. Up until the invasion of Poland on the 1st of September 1939, everything was still pretty cool, and 'we' were all looking forward to the 1940 Tokyo Olympics.
What happened?
It was still possible to view "Herr Hitler" as "someone we could do business with," as someone whose frequent statements that he didn't want war could be taken at face value, and whose plans for World domination written down for all to see in "Mein Kampf" could be dismissed as some sort of prison-time LARP that didn't accurately represent the senior statesman he had become.
Even the war that had been raging in China between various Chinese forces and the Japanese invaders could be downplayed as just part of the chaos that seemed endemic to that part of the World.
Even the war that had been raging in China between various Chinese forces and the Japanese invaders could be downplayed as just part of the chaos that seemed endemic to that part of the World.
But after 1st of September, we were clearly in a new paradigm.
Something similar happened on 24th February 2022, the main difference being that the nations or empires arrayed against the never truly completed global system are intrinsically harder to defeat than either Germany, Japan, or Italy. The New Axis that the Western-supported global order faces is Russia, China, and North Korea; and, while the New Axis lacks the ability of the earlier Axis to project power and invade neighbouring countries, they are much tougher as defensive entities and all are nuclear armed.
Something similar happened on 24th February 2022, the main difference being that the nations or empires arrayed against the never truly completed global system are intrinsically harder to defeat than either Germany, Japan, or Italy. The New Axis that the Western-supported global order faces is Russia, China, and North Korea; and, while the New Axis lacks the ability of the earlier Axis to project power and invade neighbouring countries, they are much tougher as defensive entities and all are nuclear armed.
A good indicator of how China fits into this picture can be gleamed from the kind of movies it is producing and promoting. A good example that I had the dubious pleasure of watching recently (in Chinese with Japanese subtitles no less) was The Battle at Lake Changjin. At first it had me thinking, "Wow, this is very well-produced for a North Korean movie," as the style was so blatantly propagandistic. But this film, produced in 2021, while most of China was in a severe Covid lockdown, was a massive production and box office smash.
The movie focuses on an historical event, the battle of the title, when a larger Chinese army forced a smaller United Nations force to retreat from North Korea, in the process suffering enormous casualties.
The Chinese Communist heroes are, of course, very humanised, with back stories of big brothers caring and sacrificing for little brothers and of sweethearts left behind, etc., while the evil Americans are portrayed as glib and arrogant until they realise they have met their match in the CCP's supermen.
The Chinese Communist heroes are, of course, very humanised, with back stories of big brothers caring and sacrificing for little brothers and of sweethearts left behind, etc., while the evil Americans are portrayed as glib and arrogant until they realise they have met their match in the CCP's supermen.
"Hang in there little bro, we gonna teach them Yankee
running dog imperialists a lesson in manners"
running dog imperialists a lesson in manners"
A contrast is also made between Chinese endurance and a willingness to sacrifice blood and guts with American opulence and reliance on technology. In one segment before a major Chinese attack, the Chinese are shown shivering on a snow clad mountain with just a few frozen potatoes for sustenance (one guy cracks his tooth on one of these), while down below in the US lines, they are feasting on a proper Thanksgiving dinner.
Historical inaccuracies abound -- nowhere is it mentioned that the American action in Korea was a UN-sanctioned effort to defend South Korea from a hostile attack -- and the battle scenes are often ludicrous, as they are designed chiefly to create spectacular vistas 0f CCP bros all charging together into the jaws of death or victory.
Another key point made in the film is that Mao Zedong, shown as a peace-loving ruler (of course!), decides to commit Chinese troops against the "US Imperialists" only after a military briefer states that the U.S. has "already invaded China" by stationing forces in Taiwan.
Another key point made in the film is that Mao Zedong, shown as a peace-loving ruler (of course!), decides to commit Chinese troops against the "US Imperialists" only after a military briefer states that the U.S. has "already invaded China" by stationing forces in Taiwan.
Before 24th February last year, this could be viewed as mere "entertainment," and even laughed at in that ironic way we respond to the corniness and cliches of old Soviet propaganda, but after that seminal date, there is a chilling feeling that this may actually be a prep video for WWIII.
US soldiers salute their superior opponents who missed the turkey dinner
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Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying it here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia).
China produces movies like this all the time. Against japanese, against americans, against tibetian feudalists, against who ever is the bad guy this week. The sheer size of the communist government makes propaganda on that scale possible and the CCP rules china as a low intense state of emergency, till covid. The korean war isn't exactly a good propaganda piece to prep overweight chinks for ww3 cause they didn't gain anything from it and the war was fought by mostly mandschuko POWs who didn't want to return to china when captured by UNO forces. Just shows how short the list of chinese military success really is that they have to parade korea as a W.
ReplyDeleteGood that. The film Hero (with Jet Li ) was a great example of modern Chinese film propaganda that promotes Chinese style authoritarianism and the sacrifices that must be made to maintain it.
ReplyDeleteAmerica made Top Gun and other successful films like that as ‘constant conflict’ propaganda for their on going GAE adventures.
2 notes, mr Liddell.
ReplyDelete1-aren't Americans producing tons of propaganda war movies, like the PCC?
2-I can't consider February 2022 as important as September 1939,because Ukraine is not a random country for Russia, but a part of its historical lands. (except Galicia).
IF Putin start to invade non-russian land, like Baltic countries, Poland or Romania-Moldova (Moldova is romanian), then, I would agree with you.
But, for now, I refuse to choose betwern Putin's corrupt regime/totalitarian PCC vs Globhomo. Let's care about the ones we love and about our lives, and let's watch all this political shit as a badd t serie.
America tends to produce movies about war sucking. Not quite the same thing.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "historical lands" argument, it could get extremely messy extremely quickly. There is a LOT of history and not so much land. On balance, I think we're better off sticking with an admittedly imperfect "rules-based international order" if we want to avoid constant moronic wars, like the present one, breaking out everywhere.