Putin, Xi... and Modi? The Curse of 'Interesting Times'
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday pressed his vision for a new global security and economic order that prioritises the "Global South", in a direct challenge to the United States, during a summit that included the leaders of Russia and India.
"We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics, and practise true multilateralism," Xi said, in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States and President Donald Trump's tariff policies.
Having written on Xi, Putin, and the cascading, devastating consequences of Donald and his admin’s short-sighted, ignorant, and greedy policies I can’t say this is too surprising to see. We’ve turned our back on our allies and the adversaries Donald’s admired and tried to cozy up to don’t want us—they want to undermine us and take advantage of our current, glaring weaknesses.
Speaking of avarice in the administration:
As discussed when I wrote on Putin: what’s happening is perfectly in-line with the ambitions outlined by nutjob Aleksandr Dugin in his Foundations of Geopolitics: shattering the global order in favor of the earlier, more brutal idea of Spheres of Influence. Putin dreams of Russia being a central Eurasian power—he and Dugin believe it is destiny.
Whether or not Putin has that piss tape of Donald paying hookers to urinate on the bed where Obama slept (and, given Putin’s history and Don’s predilections: they were probably minors), he made his bet in 2016 with the Internet Research Agency and election interference. Safe to say that whatever he was hoping for, he’s seen a much better return on investment than he ever could have imagined when he began.
And as Donald reminds us daily: why go up against your global adversaries when you can praise them, turn a blind eye, and sic martial law on your own citizens?
Much easier that way, citizens don’t have military weaponry. Not to mention it softens us up for any adversary that does decide to put boots on the ground—say, like China wanting to retake Taiwan and intending to have the capacity to do so in the next few years. (Meanwhile, Donald finally got his ego stroked with a long-fantasized dictator-esque mlitary parade).
Remember: Putin and Xi have a “no limits partnership.” They’re courting Modi of India, the most populated country on the planet. I don’t know much about Modi, but gimme a week or two and I’ll get some documentaries and studying in, try to get something cohesive out.
Where are we going to get the resources to take on China when we’ve run the National Guard dry by having them pick up litter outside the White House? Is that how we plan to run the other branches of the military, draining their funding for dumb stunts?
(Don’t get me wrong: I’m all about picking up litter and helping your community. But that’s not what our military is for, especially as we’re goose stepping our way to fascism. Donald is also allegedly fucking over the National Guard—29 rather than 30 day orders, stripping them of the housing pay they’d receive with a full 30-day deployment).
I’m sure the rest of our branches will be handled with the same fiscal responsibility and probably bled dry by the members of this corrupt admin trying to make a quick buck and bail. After all, we’re seeing a rise of oligarchs not unlike Russia has seen under Putin, though the wealthy have had an outsized influence in our country for a long time, running from dark money to Peter Thiel and Edolf Musk.
And hey, look at Trump: he and his republican party balk at helping our allies in Ukraine and are letting Putin continue to wreak havoc:
Trump casts doubt on Putin-Zelensky meeting: ‘Maybe they have to fight a little longer’
Lives torn apart in Kyiv after Russia's heaviest bombardment for weeks
Returning to China and India, however, he’s helping with peace elsewhere!
Modi is on his first visit to China since relations between the two countries deteriorated after Chinese and Indian soldiers engaged in deadly border clashes in 2020. Modi is visiting as part of India’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional political, economic and security group founded by China.
Admittedly, in a way that is very detrimental to the United States’ global standing; but hey, at least Xi and Modi are starting to patch up their differences. Donald’s irate, too, because Modi was seen palling around with Putin, the man he wanted as his best friend
Trump Lashes Out After Putin and Modi Are Seen Holding Hands
To lean on Mother Love Bone, “Dreams like this must die… And a dream like this must die…”
Add onto that the ongoing genocide in Gaza (and yes, it officially qualifies as a genocide). The humanitarian crisis is worsening as people continue to starve, Reuters won’t even tell the IDF where its reporters are anymore; why?
Reuters stopped sharing Gaza locations with Israel after IDF strikes killed 'so many journalists'
Almost like they don’t want people reporting the truth of what’s going on… then we’ve got this bullshit plan for “voluntary” relocation so they can build a desirable “Riviera of the Middle East.” Sounds a helluva lot less like a humanitarian mission and more like a genocidal money-making scheme:
If you’re not big on that whole ‘history’ thing, yes, this is almost exactly how the third reich presented its concentration camps to outsiders.
I recall a four-panel propaganda piece from my nazi Germany class that showed concentration camps as these great places where people went to get reformed and sent back into society as productive, contributing members. That, obviously, was not what happened then and it’s not what’s going to happen now as Gazans are starved to death and children, women, and hospitals continue to be bombed—along with any journalists who dares to report on it.
Of course, we’ve got our own problem with these inhuman roundups and concentration camps from CECOT to South Sudan to Uganda (where the admin wanted to send Kilmar Arego Garcia in their most recent assault on his liberties) to ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ which thankfully was shut down. Don’t get complacent; the scumbags are already trying to replace it with the cutesy-named ‘Speedway Slammer’ and the ‘Cornhusker Clink.’
The only people who belong in these hellish places are ICE agents and everyone in this administration trying to bring back concentration camps on a mass scale.
We’re targeting kids, too. Yesterday, a judge had to hold an emergency hearing to block efforts by Donald, Stephen Miller, and the rest of the neo nazi scum in the White House to repeat what they did to Abrego Garcia on a larger scale: ship off hundreds of kids to Guatemala, then go to court and claim, “They’re already gone, can’t do anything now!”
There’s no way to pretend this is anything resembling justice; it’s sadism. Everyone involved in these crimes against humanity deserves a slot at a second Nuremberg. The people doing this do not belong in civilized society. Ever. Their lust to hurt others has made them the monsters they pretend to be pursuing.
Of course, in such a hellish atmosphere, with ICE thugs snatching people off the streets, it should come as no surprise we are withdrawing from the UN Council on Human Rights and will be the first country to not provide a report on the state of human rights in our own nation.
That’s not a ‘First’ to be proud of; it’s quite a fall from grace, considering the founding ideals of our country.
The fracturing of our current world order is pretty horrifying—not only do we have international issues like global warming that require cooperation to tackle, the post-WWII order has brought us the Long Peace, one of the lengthiest periods of human history without major wars. We are jeopardizing that.
If it can be stopped, who knows?
I’ve been wondering if we’d have a legitimate 2028 election insstead of a Putin-inspired ‘guided democracy’ a while now and both Newsom and Pritzker have raised concerns.
With more recent admin moves, especially as we gear up for 2026, I’m starting to wonder if we’ll get legitimate midterms, if republicans will accept the results. Even if we get someone more responsible in charge, they’re going to have an overflowing plate with the demands of our accumulated domestic and international problems.
With a partisan SCOTUS and a quite possibly red Congress, we can also count on obstruction the whole damn time, a complete reversal from their current, “Unitary Executive Theory means fuck the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the President should have absolute authority over everything” to, “Can the President even carry out his Constitutional duties? We think not. Dijon mustard, tan suits, and being President while Democrat should all be impeachable offenses.”
With every passing day, I think I understand more why, “May you live in interesting times” is considered a curse, not a blessing.