By Syrializm Analytics
We don’t mean in the title to define the West & the East, with what took place during the Cold War between the Western capitalist blocs represented by Western Europeans, sure led by the United States (within the formation of NATO) on the one hand & the Eastern Bloc represented by the Soviet Union & the communist States that follow & at the time countries such as China North Korea & Vietnam, without forgetting the European bloc of the so-called Warsaw Pact.
Of course, the conflict was then based on ideological foundations, the source of the West’s concern about the expansion of communism in the world & on the east, the pursuit of the central goal of communist thought, the international domination of the world.
As is known, the whole conflict was for everyone a military & geostrategic conflict between the two blocs around the world & the side confrontations, threats & various events, such as shooting down aircraft of the parties and military confrontations in several points of the world, such as south east Asia at the Korean War, Vietnam, through the conflict in Cuba, after the arrival of a Communist rule, which is only a few miles from the US coast at 1958, as the Soviet missile crisis there.
Then, the conflict in the Middle East and many other confrontations, printed by intelligence confrontations & mutual espionage, in which Europe was a breeding ground for many of these confrontations.
In fact, the nucleus of the conflict is always overlooked, namely, that all of the above mentioned escalation & confrontations are economic.
The war of ideology is based on economic thought, between Western capitalism and Eastern socialism.
The situation remained this way, until the picture was made clear to the blind people, when it been discovered that what was going on, was nothing but an economic war in the first place, the use of force, diplomacy or the threat of long wars that erupted in several places in the world, until the last bullet fired towards The Eastern Bloc, economically drained in its arms race and space conquest & the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan to help the it’s government that use to be pro-Moscow at the time, against the jihadists who came from all the Muslim world & with its funding & comprehensive US support, eventually led to a humiliating defeat of the Red Army.
The defeat precipitated the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
Far from continuing to tell that history and what happened, we return to the important factor behind everything: the economy.
All wars and global conflicts are purely economic, in which the forces, religions and political ideology are used – all of which are just tools to put more & more money into the pockets of a certain category in those countries at the expense of the peoples.
It’s the mistake of those who think that the Communist system was at it was being written on papers & also those who think that the capitalist system is keen to provide a beautiful life for people, is also mistaken.
Neither communism provided what it was talking about, or even couldn’t preserve what it had, nor of course did the capitalist system have its main base: corporate ownership of capital Which basis on monopoly policy, thus control the market and people’s requirements.
Today, we‘re witnessing the same picture we’ve seen in the past, an economic conflict between the West & the East, but in a slightly different way, China, which is still communist despite adopting world market policies in a unique blend, as a country the size & great potential of China can play this role, Russia, which uses its only economic weapon, is energy.
On the other hand, the European Union is, in fact, a very strange location, unlike in the previous confrontation between the two blocs.
Today, the EU has its own economic nucleus & currency – but it is still largely dependent on the US decision still, at the same time it relies on the strength of the two Eastern Rounds in terms of its dependence on Russian gas, Chinese goods that fill its markets despite its compete with the European producers, which often fails to compete with the Chinese producers, for a very simple reason, which is the cost.
The United States, as it is, hasn’t changed its style even a slight, followed by several presidents since the collapse of the Berlin Wall & the rotation of the Republican & Democratic parties in power & faced with a number of economic crises & today is dealing in the same way, with the rise of debt to 22 trillion dollars!
The United States today is headed by a businessman, a controversial figure, but at the same time proves that he is doing the dimple what he is talking about, if not, he is at least trying.
Trump’s economic war against China is clear-cut & on the other hand the United States is still nine toward re-doing what it did against the Soviet Union in the last century, against Russia today.
It teaches the strengths & weaknesses of Russia’s economic & social structure, which are Russia’s two weaknesses.
Russia is a vast country, which possesses vast quantities of different types of energy sources & we can say that it is largely food-rich, it produces a part & imports the other from neighboring countries & some countries of the former Soviet Union, with number of its needs.
The population is small, compared to an area of only 150 million people.
However, given the figures & resources, we find that the Russian people lack a lot & their economic level is not comparable to any of these European and US buckets.
Why?
Today, Russia possesses remarkable military forces & important military technologies, and adopted as tools in the global political arena, which is important to restore some of Russia’s international prestige to the world, that the USSR had.
We’ve talked about the reasons that triggered the crises in the Middle East over the past decade, but the most important reason is the economy, let us be more precise energy sector in the economy.
It is energy that has made China a huge production machine that has flooded the world markets with various products.
Energy is one of the tools & causes of confrontation between Iran & the United States.
The gulf wars, energy was the main element of it.
Energy is one of the causes of the war in Syria.
Today, the United States is working to hit Russia’s economic powers, represented in the energy sector.
At the forefront, Russia is still dealing with the European Union & working with Turkey today on various energy projects from gas supply lines to building nuclear reactors.
Even Turkey, by 2023, is waiting to get rid of the terms of the Lausanne Agreement, so that it can search for energy resources on its territory & coasts as well as regain control over the collection of transit fees for ships from the Bosphorus.
Today, the South China Sea, one of the places of confrontation between the United States & China, which is a major source of energy.
Also, there is the Arctic continent & the United States is also trying to put its full hand with keep bleed the Persian Gulf & its Arab countries using various means.
Also, trying to put its hand again on Venezuela, facing Iran… all of these countries are energy producers.
Even, the United States is working to boost domestic energy production, developing new technologies such as shale oil extraction & modern energy projects.
But the most dangerous part is the North!
That spot, which today appears on the world stage as a point of struggle for control of its energy stocks & at the same time must be recalled the seriousness of this to the future of the planet.
The United States is trying to seize new energy resources, especially in the Arctic, as the US president’s bid to buy Greenland from Denmark was only one chapter in that story.
Of course, Trump wasn’t the first US president to seek Greenland, preceded by several presidents in the past, led by former US President Harry Truman, who offered to buy the island from Denmark in the late 1940s.
Why does US President Donald Trump want to buy Greenland, the world’s largest autonomous island, which falls under the umbrella of the Kingdom of Denmark?
When rumors of US President Trump’s willingness to buy Greenland hit the Wall Street Journal, an immediate denial came from Copenhagen and the Greenland government.
“Of course, Greenland is not for sale”, Greenland’s government spokesman Kim Kelsen said in a statement.
Danish politicians have ironically received Trump’s desire to buy Greenland, calling it “very ridiculous”.
However, the numerous reports that surfaced in the United States have highlighted some serious aspects of the parade that has caused a worldwide uproar.
The timing of the story was bizarre enough to raise suspicions that Trump might only hunt.
It surfaced ahead of his official visit to Denmark in early September, but Trump’s interest in establishing a stronger US presence in Greenland is probably a real deal & is part of the race to control sources of energy & wealth in the north.
The melting of the Greenland & the Arctic ice is a global tragedy, but it is also an opportunity for Washington policymakers.
The ice-free Arctic will open new trade routes and make natural resources available.
The US government estimates that the Arctic comprises 22% of the world’s natural gas and oil & will usher in a new era of competition among superpowers, the Pentagon said in a statement of its Arctic Strategy in 2019.
It is no secret that a large number of countries in the world are seeking to enter the region, from Russia, through China, & to Canada & the Nordic countries, on the North Pole to absorb oil & participate in the show of force & the United States doesn’t want to miss participating in this ceremony & it’s only foothold in the Arctic is Alaska, which may not be enough.
Energy extraction from Alaska is very limited, due to the existence of a law prohibiting energy extraction & contamination in Alaska, which is considered a natural reserve & one point of legal conflict at the center of domestic decision-making in the United States, with a democratic objection to polluting Alaska.
It makes sense that the Greenland region is of interest to Trump, because it lies between the Russian Arctic & the eastern coast of the United States, essentially on the other side of the globe for Alaska.
The United States already has a military presence in Greenland, an air base, belongs to the US air force, a facility that was built in 1943.
Shortly thereafter, in 1946 the administration of US President Harry Truman attempted, as I mentioned, to buy Greenland from Denmark for $ 100 million, but Denmark refused.
Perhaps the motive behind Trump’s quest to buy the island in one word:
China.
Over the past few years, the island’s Chinese economic entity has been booming.
Chinese companies have invested a lot in many Greenland companies, especially in mining; China now has a very prominent presence on the island.
This is a fact that confirms all that has been said in the past. China isn’t a country belonging to anyone.
Even from a military & technical point of view, it won’t be long before we find sophisticated Chinese-style staples.
I don’t really know what will happen to Russia, especially in the post-Putin era.
Going back to the Greenland case – in 2017 Denmark offered a Chinese mining company to buy an abandoned naval base in Greenland, which Beijing is feared to use as a springboard to establish a military presence.
Buying Greenland may be an easy way to compete with China & it makes it very difficult for Chinese companies to thrive in Greenland if Greenland becomes a US state.
How do the United States seek to counter China’s “New Silk Road” plan?
There is Russia, also is another target, because for the US to more approach Europe with the fact of obtaining, energy resources from Greenland, such as natural Gas will impose deadly threat to Russian Gas Supply to the EU, which means more being close to the Area geographically with having ability to Supply gas to EU, what will be left for Russia?
One of the facts that makes this scenario unbearable is buying as an idea at the basis of this context.
Attempts & actual purchases by the United States aren’t new.
The United States bought Louisiana from France for $ 15 million, in 1803 it bought Alaska from Russia for $ 7.2 million, and in 1867, it bought the Virgin Islands and paid Denmark $ 25 million worth of Gold in 1916.
But the possibility of buying the countries & the people that live in, like buying any ordinary product, may seem like a sinister & dull idea today, but if the United States buys Greenland, it’ll be the fifty-first state, that is, we’ll add a new star to its flag.
The situation for the people of Greenland is two things.
To leave the island…. or to become US citizens with holding the citizenship of Denmark & the United States.
Trump’s idea of buying Greenland is rooted in an old tradition, when colonists exchanged plots of land, but the principle of self-determination gives the Greenland people the right to decide whether to become part of the United States, rather than whether the Danish government decides whether to accept Trump’s offer or reject it.
The offer is actually addressed to the Greenland government, not to the government of Copenhagen.
Since 2009, the island has been self-governing & has been slow, but steadily on the path to independence ever since.
The law allows for full independence through a referendum & what prevents Greenland’s 56,000 citizens from independence is that their country’s budget is heavily dependent on Danish aid.
Every year, Copenhagen sends $ 591 million in aid to the Arctic, while the United States allocates an average of $ 12 billion in grants to each of its states each year.
Covering Greenland’s financial needs won’t be a difficult task for Washington & Trump’s best bet would be to try to first push Greenland to independence, then annex it to the united states.
Of course, this may never happen, especially after the arrogance that accompanied Trump’s alleged plans for the island, but it is worth asking how the takeover proposal would have been received if it came from someone like Barack Obama or Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate, who has long sung in praise of social democracy at Nordic countries.
So the epic of the US purchase of Greenland isn’t over & in fact it’s only the beginning.
In fact, Russia & China should wake up more & deal with what they hope for in the world & if China is sparing no effort, what about Russia?
What are Russia’s plans?
What are its capabilities to meet those huge challenges that may restore the 1991 image again?
The energy war is a real war.
Russia-Putin must realize that everything that has been built in the country since 2000 until today & is being worked on over the past two decades may collapse in an instant.
