By Jeff J. Brown
Downloadable SoundCloud podcast (also at the bottom of this page), as well as being syndicated on iTunes and Stitcher Radio (links below):
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the second book of The China Trilogy (http://chinarising.puntopress.com/2017/05/19/the-china-trilogy/), China Rising – Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations, I frequently expressed my amazement at how living and working in China is like a parallel universe, compared to what people experience in the West, and what they watch and listen to in the mainstream media. In one particular chapter, I used the theme of The Who’s great psychedelic send-up, I Can See for Miles. In the song, there are some wonderful geopolitical metaphors, like,
The Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal are mine to see on clear days
You thought that I would need a crystal ball to see right through the haze.
My vision being life in China, looking outward across the rest of the world, through the haze of mainstream propaganda.
Another great metaphorical refrain is,
I know you’ve deceived me, now here’s a surprise
I know that you have ’cause there’s magic in my eyes
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah
If you think that I don’t know about the little tricks you’ve played
And never see you when deliberately you put things in my way
Well, here’s a poke at you
You’re gonna choke on it too
You’re gonna lose that smile
Because all the while
I can see for miles and miles
The deceptions, tricks and things in my way being the CIA’s fake news, false flags and educational brainwashing Westerners are subjected to all their lives, with the magic in my eyes being my personal journey of awakening and understanding of how the West, China and the rest of the world really work.
There is an increasing global interest among humanity about new definitions of freedom. They are looking for anti-establishment solutions to the world’s myriad problems and crises. This includes learning about socialism (http://chinarising.puntopress.com/2017/10/25/how-can-western-capitalism-beat-this-thats-the-rub-it-cant-china-rising-radio-sinoland-171022/), communism (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25019716 and https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/The-Revolution-That-Always-Was-How-Communist-Led-Kerala-Is-Leading-India-20170612-0012.html), cooperatives (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/07/mondragon-spains-giant-cooperative), ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/01/may-day-workers-of-the-world-unite-and-take-over-their-factories), self-sufficiency farming (https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/self-reliance/self-sufficient-homestead-zm0z11zkon), immigrating to far off lands such as Russia (http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russia-the-worlds-second-largest-immigration-haven-11053) – anything but capitalism (http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/42624-capitalism-is-not-the-only-choice). This interest in a fresh look at possibilities for the 21st century includes steadily growing numbers of readers and listeners of anti-imperial China Rising Radio Sinoland. In any case, I think we can keep that last four-line stanza in the song firmly in the future tense for the time being. The West’s owners and their puppet governments are extremely powerful and trillionaires to boot, so they have what we call resources at their disposal.
I may be poking at them with every article and podcast here, but our elites are far from choking or not smiling. Maybe there are days when they reluctantly resort to keeping a stiff upper lip. All those millions of fellow homo sapiens being massacred and exterminated every year, thanks to their “laws and policies”, can weigh on their psychopathic souls – ever so briefly. Then, it’s time to roll up the proverbial shirtsleeves, late into the night and carry on with the joys of genocide, extraction and exploitation. After all, it is what the West does best.
I am totally outmuscled by these butchers in Washington-London-Paris-Tel Aviv, and I’m sitting firmly at the bottom of what they perceive to be the shit heap of humankind. Nonetheless, I’m all in for the good fight against imperialism, colonialism, capitalism and racism, which are facets of the same Hydra monster. I only regret it took me most of my life to fit these four pieces of the global imperial puzzle into a seamless cipher. It’s the only one that solves all the riddles of history, current events, as well as predicting the future correctly.
The West’s Hydra monster includes all of its satrap states, mostly concentrated in the G20. Too bad the artist did not include an Iranian warrior, to join Russia and China, but the artist, sadly unnamed, deserves an award for such a terrific metaphor.
Compared to the time when I wrote that I Can See for Miles chapter in China Rising, nothing has changed since then and everything has changed dramatically at the same time. Same old same old in that our owners are still very large and in charge, with prospects for a dignified life diminishing by the minute for most of humanity’s surviving 99.99%.
But, thanks to the rising soft power, post-imperial vision, economic and military might of the Anti-West (headed by China, Russia and Iran), the global political and financial roulette table is less tilted than it was, compared to even a year or two ago. After five centuries of the world’s riches being spun like a roulette funnel at a 45-degree angle towards Eurangloland, the world is starting to see some equilibrium brought back to a very rigged game.
When we were kids, we used to hold our breath when going by a cemetery, to ward off bad luck and errant ghosts. Did you ever do that? If we were on foot, we were doomed; on a bike, it was touch and go; in a car we were saved. Don’t hold your breath for Washington-London-Paris-Tel Aviv to crumble any time soon, because the human race is still having to walk past its colonial cemetery. We’ve got a ways to go yet.
Most imperial collapses take time, sometimes centuries. Even the implosion of the Western Roman Empire in 476AD took over a century to transpire (https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-fall-of-rome-112688). Like today’s Western empire, this Roman version had had a 500-year run, before being overrun by Barbarians, Vandals and Visigoths. Even still, the Eastern Roman Empire hung on for another 1,000 years, as the Christian Byzantines.
The Mongolian Empire was vastly bigger, spanning from China to Europe, so it is ostensibly more relevant to today’s global Western version. Heralding the largest contiguous land empire in human history, it only lasted from 1206-1387AD. That’s when the Chinese part, the Yuan Dynasty was retaken from these nomadic invaders, by the Ming Dynasty. However, rag tag remnants of the once mighty Mongols managed to hang on to bits and pieces of Eurasian territory until 1687.
Eurangloland’s empire is like no other. Depending on your definition, it has about 800-1,000 military bases and installations in the vast majority of the world’s countries, housing 250,000 American soldiers and many thousands more from NATO (https://www.thenation.com/article/the-united-states-probably-has-more-foreign-military-bases-than-any-other-people-nation-or-empire-in-history/). The West can keep it going indefinitely, as long as it is allowed to print football fields of dollars and euros every day, out of thin air. Eventually, countries like China, the oil producers and other big holders of Western debt will finally give up the ghost and publicly declare that their dollar and euro bonds will never be paid back. They know it already, but prefer to live the lie, in order to maintain stability and development for as long as possible, and keep their citizens safe and increasingly prosperous. But, when push comes to shove and the world’s creditors pull the plug, that’s when the financial run starts and all those trillions of euro and dollar bonds will be hyperinflated into toilet paper and nothingness. Along with this nearly worthless and disappearing debt, the West’s tyranny of imperial invasion and occupation will follow suit.
Then we will see a repeat of 476AD happen across the entire planet. Our only hope is that instead of Barbarians, Vandals and Visigoths filling the void, the Anti-West can stabilize humanity and prevent the death of many tens of millions of fellow citizens around the world, from all the ensuing socioeconomic upheaval, chaos and possibly revolutions against our owners.
That latter scenario about taking out our owners sounds like fun! To quote a great Clint Eastwood western, Hang ‘Em High. In the meantime, let The Who rock your Anti-West soul, with three versions of I Can See for Miles below. Take your pick. The original 1967 one is vintage anti-establishment rebellion and splendor. To think there was a time when people in show business were actually mocking and criticizing our owners. Where is George Carlin, when you need him? The second one was recorded live in 1969, probably for a TV show back in the day. It is proof positive there will never be another rock drummer like Keith Moon, R.I.P. The third one is for all you grey heads out there, including me, who like to watch 70-year old guys and gals cut it lose, for the love of life. In this version, the geriatric Who played their hearts out in 2015, in Glastonbury. And to think The Who once defiantly sang in My Generation, “I hope I die before I get old…” I’m glad they reconsidered.
That’s you sporting the cool hat, as Clint Eastwood, lining up the West’s elite owners for a trip to the gallows. Be patient. We’ll get there one day.
Regardless of your age, quit complaining about all your aches and bruises. Time to get off the pity potty about how much the West has screwed up our only home. The mountain to a more just and peaceful Pale Blue Dot is tall indeed. Just continue learning about how the world really works on websites like this one, and reading books like The China Trilogy. Then, keep climbing Freedom Summit and singing your song.
Official song video from 1967:
1969 live in the studio:
2015 Glastonbury:
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Why and How China works: With a Mirror to Our Own History
 China Is Communist, Dammit! Dawn of the Red Dynasty |
JEFF J. BROWN, Senior Editor & China Correspondent, Dispatch from Beijing
Jeff J. Brown is a geopolitical analyst, journalist, lecturer and the author of The China Trilogy. It consists of 44 Days Backpacking in China – The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass (2013); Punto Press released China Rising – Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations (2016); and for Badak Merah, Jeff authored China Is Communist, Dammit! – Dawn of the Red Dynasty (2017). As well, he published a textbook, Doctor WriteRead’s Treasure Trove to Great English (2015). He is also currently penning an historical fiction, Red Letters – The Diaries of Xi Jinping, to be published in late 2018. Jeff is a Senior Editor & China Correspondent for The Greanville Post, where he keeps a column, Dispatch from Beijing. He also writes a column for The Saker, called the Moscow-Beijing Express. Jeff interviews and podcasts on his own program, China Rising Radio Sinoland, which is also available on SoundCloud, YouTube, Stitcher Radio and iTunes.
In China, he has been a speaker at TEDx, the Bookworm and Capital M Literary Festivals, the Hutong, as well as being featured in an 18-part series of interviews on Radio Beijing AM774, with former BBC journalist, Bruce Connolly. He has guest lectured at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences and various international schools and universities.
Jeff can be reached at China Rising,
je**@br***********.com
, Facebook, Twitter and Wechat/Whatsapp: +86-13823544196.
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