The War vs. War, a War vs. US wars

 

Byย Herman Tiu Laurel

 

A huge anti-War protest rally is expected to be held in Washington this Sunday February 17, 2023 on the anniversary of the Ukraine War and Presidentโ€™s Day Weekend, itโ€™s dubbed โ€œRage Against the War Machine!โ€ Speakers at the event are now famous anti-US wars dissenters Jimmie Dore, Medea Benjamin, Scott Horton, Garland Nixon and David Swanson with war veterans, musicians and more.

The Washington โ€œRage Against the War Machine protestโ€ follows a long series of European protests stretching back to November of 2022 as the Financial Times reported them, โ€œโ€™Ordinary Germans are payingโ€™: anti-war protests stretch across central Europe… Demonstrations bring together unlikely hardline bedfellows from left and right over impact of Ukraine conflict.โ€

Earlier in mid-January 2023 anti-war protests in 50 key U.S. cities were staged in commemoration of the Martin Luther King Day, denouncing the military alliance NATO and its escalation of the Ukraine War. At the rallies, organizers recalled or played Kingโ€™s April 1967 speech when MLK castigated the U.S. war in Vietnam.

The Japanese anti-war protests have been active even earlier, in August 2022 Japanese citizens staged anti-war protests in Tokyo on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of Japanโ€™s defeat and unconditional surrender in World War II, and in December protesters rallied at Japanโ€™s Prime Ministerโ€™s office lambasting Japanโ€™s policy shift to war footing.

The Japanese protest chanted the slogan โ€œMilitary power does not create peaceโ€ as the countryโ€™s leaders considers setting up โ€œenemy base strike capabilityโ€ which is pre-emptive strike and offensive capability (against the post-World War II policy of defensive posture of the Japanese armed forces). All the offensive Japanese initiatives are egged on by the U.S.

In the Philippines the think tank Asian Century Philippine Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSII) is convening a media forum on the same theme of โ€œrage against warโ€ with various speakers from the U.S., Singapore and the Philippines. A previous forum sponsored by the same think tank featured Col. (ret.) Ann Wright of the U.S. Army along with former Philippines presidential candidate Ernie Abella and others.

Most Filipinos still canโ€™t imagine how close to reality the nuclear Third World War is coming to be. Although the US strategic intention is to wage a limited war in the West and then in the East to depress the global economy for the US restore its economy by suppressing  the rest of the worldโ€™s growth, especially China which it aims to reduce by 35%, there is no certainty it can be controlled.

My information about the US strategic timetable of the year 2025 to wreck Chinaโ€™s economy through limited regional war is retired gen. Vic Corpus and his book โ€œโ€™Americaโ€™s Dim Mak Pointsโ€™… Unrestricted Warfare in the 21st Centuryโ€ which is a book used also at the US military academy at West Point and in the studies of the Rand Corporation.

The U.S.โ€™s top military think tank Rand Corporation did a study in 2016 entitled โ€œThinking Through the Unthinkableโ€ and concluded that:

โ€œEscalation to the nuclear level in any US-China conflict, however intense, is very unlikely;

War would be far more devastating for China, with an estimated 25%-35% devastation in GDP after one year, as opposed to a 5%-10% reduction for the US;

A long conflict would test the internal stability of the Chinese state; and

The prospect of major land operations is low, unless the war was on the Korean peninsula.โ€

While it is understandable that Rand Corporation will suffer some bias for the U.S. side concluding that China would lose but the U.S. would win with unacceptable costs, the Lowy Institute of Australia had these conclusions in its assessment which I attenuate:

โ€œ1. RAND seriously underestimates the probability of a high-intensity conflict escalating to the nuclear level;

2. RANDโ€™s assessment of US economic resilience is unrealistic

3. Disruption of Chinaโ€™s internal stability is wishful thinking

4. RANDโ€™s conclusion about the use of land forces is incorrect…

Nevertheless, it is entirely possible that in a lengthy high-intensity conflict, economic losses would be equivalent, decisive military engagements would be elusive, and Chinaโ€™s post-war recovery would be faster. Combined with the benefit of regional proximity and a weakened allied presence in the Western Pacific, this means the possibility of a Chinese strategic victory in 2025 or beyond cannot be excluded.โ€

In other words, there is no victory for the U.S. and Chia will quickly recover. As the saying goes, โ€œIn the long run, China will win.โ€ This March, President Xi Jinping will pay an official visit to President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a clear signal to the West that the China-Russia partnership is ready to go to greater lengths to firm up its challenge if the US dares. Is the Philippines betting on the right future?

 
<strong>Herman โ€œKa Mentongโ€ Tiu Laurel</strong>
Herman โ€œKa Mentongโ€ Tiu Laurel

is a broadcast journalist. He is aย former columnist of Daily Tribune (INFOWARS and DIE HARD III; Mondays and Wednesday) and OpinYon (Consumersโ€™ Demand!, Criticโ€™s Critic, and Peopleโ€™s Struggle; weekly).
He hostedย Talk News TVย andย Journeys: Chronicles of our Asian Century, both on Global News Network.
He is now the host of the radio and live stream program Global Talk News Radio for Radyo Pilipinas 1 โ€“ 738AM, which broadcasts every Sunday 8AM to 10AM.
While in quarantine, he is hosting the live stream program Power Thinks on his personal Facebook pageย Herman Laurelย (fb.com/hermantiulaurel) and theย Global Talk News Radioย Facebook page (fb.com/globaltalknewsradio)
He was also the former Administrator of the Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC; now called the Bataan Technology Park, Inc.) during the administration of Corazon C. Aquino.

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