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> This is the first time the US gets challenged on multiple fronts from multiple actors. China, Russia and non-alignment members are all challenging the status

> This is the first time the US gets challenged on multiple fronts from multiple actors. China, Russia and non-alignment members are all challenging the status quo. Two blocs are emerging. One is largely unified around shared cultural interests in resilient democracy and defence of human rights. The other is a hodge-podge of malcontents, allies-of-convenience and one strong but largely regional power (i.e. China). If we look at this as a political struggle then we have to look at the problem-solution ledger to see who holds the advantage. The US (and the West) have issues with an imbalance of power and wealth, and growing numbers of disillusioned, young voters - this is the problem statement. What is the solution that the non-aligned movement can offer? Worse inequality? Fewer rights? What? The non-aligned countries have fractuous political bases and are shoring up their systems by cracking down on dissedents, attacking neighbours and attempting to corrupt other nation's foreign policies. No one is lining up to migrate to these countries, no one is holding them up as a beacon of rightousness (outside of the wingnut extremes, of course). Contrast this to the Cold War. The Soviets held a significant sway over the "International Left". They had answers to the problems of the West. Not good answers, but good enough to sway a lot of students and intelligentsia. China has no allies of note. Russia is a basket case. The rest of the non-aligned bloc are essentially local dictators trying to keep the pin in their respective grenades. All of them are experiencing the same struggle of either a rapidly aging population with no migration, or a rapidly growing youth who want a better life. For example, China's median age is rising 6 months for every year that passes, and they are a long way from being a sustainable, powerful economy. These are interesting times in the political sense but unless the West starts kicking a lot of "own goals" - which is very possible but not exactly probable - then the US (and to a lesser extent the EU) will own this century as well.

sofixa 4y ago
> The US (and the West) have issues with an imbalance of power and wealth, and growing numbers of disillusioned, young voters - this is the problem statement. What is the solution that the non-aligned movement can offer? Worse inequality? Fewer rights? What? The problem is that with modern politics and all its tools, logical (proposed) solutions aren't needed. Éric Zemmour, multiple times found guilty of stoking racism on TV, got 2.5 million votes/7% of the presidential vote in France on a platform that basically consisted of "France is no longer France, let's ship everyone of foreign descent to where they come from, ban Muslims, rename every person with a foreign name, screw the EU". If you think about it for more than a few seconds, that's just terrible on multiple levels and would ruin the country alongside millions of lives. Yet 2.5 million agreed with him? Yeah, he was heavily sponsored by a shithead billionaire, but still. Similarly with Le Pen, who got 8 million for 23%, had a vague populist "foreigner's fault, EU's fault, we'll give money to the poor to subsidise fuel consumption, etc." platform, while literally being bankrolled by Russia (multiple favourable loans from banks close to Putin and friends which saved her party). Brexit was merely the first major "Western" own goal. We'll see also how climate change changes the field.
- monkeydreams 4y ago
  > The problem is that with modern politics and all its tools, logical (proposed) solutions aren't needed. Éric Zemmour, multiple times found guilty of stoking racism on TV, got 2.5 million votes/7% of the presidential vote in France on a platform that basically consisted of "France is no longer France, let's ship everyone of foreign descent to where they come from, ban Muslims, rename every person with a foreign name, screw the EU". In other Western countries it is not uncommon for 7-10+% of the vote to go toward extreme right-wing parties. This is not the death knell of Democracy. 10% of the vote is a long way from winning government. The problem for would-be dictators who are trying to usurp the West's governments is that, once things get tough under their leadership, the population turns against them very quickly. Take the Tories in the UK - if an election were to be held today they would likely become only the third largest party in the UK lower house. Similarly the conservative Coalition in Australia; they were trounced in both state and federal elections after their competence and corruption became clear. The West takes some hits from time to time. It's strength is in its ability to recover.
danaris 4y ago
Notably, for much of the Cold War, Soviet propaganda was such that many in the West were either unsure whether the Soviet communist experiment was working, or genuinely believed it was—including those on the political right. The excesses and failures of the system (and the degree to which its "communism" was nothing but authoritarianism draped in a red flag) were not always clear until well after the fact. Contrast that with today, where we may not have a perfect window into China, but we can certainly see a lot of what's going on there, including reprehensible things like the Uighur genocide, and the degree to which China's "communism" is heavily colored by capitalism on the one hand, and authoritarianism on the other.

sofixa 4y ago

> The US (and the West) have issues with an imbalance of power and wealth, and growing numbers of disillusioned, young voters - this is the problem statement. What is the solution that the non-aligned movement can offer? Worse inequality? Fewer rights? What? The problem is that with modern politics and all its tools, logical (proposed) solutions aren't needed. Éric Zemmour, multiple times found guilty of stoking racism on TV, got 2.5 million votes/7% of the presidential vote in France on a platform that basically consisted of "France is no longer France, let's ship everyone of foreign descent to where they come from, ban Muslims, rename every person with a foreign name, screw the EU". If you think about it for more than a few seconds, that's just terrible on multiple levels and would ruin the country alongside millions of lives. Yet 2.5 million agreed with him? Yeah, he was heavily sponsored by a shithead billionaire, but still. Similarly with Le Pen, who got 8 million for 23%, had a vague populist "foreigner's fault, EU's fault, we'll give money to the poor to subsidise fuel consumption, etc." platform, while literally being bankrolled by Russia (multiple favourable loans from banks close to Putin and friends which saved her party). Brexit was merely the first major "Western" own goal. We'll see also how climate change changes the field.

monkeydreams 4y ago
> The problem is that with modern politics and all its tools, logical (proposed) solutions aren't needed. Éric Zemmour, multiple times found guilty of stoking racism on TV, got 2.5 million votes/7% of the presidential vote in France on a platform that basically consisted of "France is no longer France, let's ship everyone of foreign descent to where they come from, ban Muslims, rename every person with a foreign name, screw the EU". In other Western countries it is not uncommon for 7-10+% of the vote to go toward extreme right-wing parties. This is not the death knell of Democracy. 10% of the vote is a long way from winning government. The problem for would-be dictators who are trying to usurp the West's governments is that, once things get tough under their leadership, the population turns against them very quickly. Take the Tories in the UK - if an election were to be held today they would likely become only the third largest party in the UK lower house. Similarly the conservative Coalition in Australia; they were trounced in both state and federal elections after their competence and corruption became clear. The West takes some hits from time to time. It's strength is in its ability to recover.

danaris 4y ago

Notably, for much of the Cold War, Soviet propaganda was such that many in the West were either unsure whether the Soviet communist experiment was working, or genuinely believed it was—including those on the political right. The excesses and failures of the system (and the degree to which its "communism" was nothing but authoritarianism draped in a red flag) were not always clear until well after the fact. Contrast that with today, where we may not have a perfect window into China, but we can certainly see a lot of what's going on there, including reprehensible things like the Uighur genocide, and the degree to which China's "communism" is heavily colored by capitalism on the one hand, and authoritarianism on the other.