Making China Great Again

[DemocratSinceBirth]

This snippet about makes me sad:

Late one afternoon in November, I went to see a professor in Beijing who has studied the U.S. for a long time. America’s recent political turmoil has disoriented him. “I’m struggling with this a lot,” he said, and poured me a cup of tea. “I love the United States. I used to think that the multiculturalism of the U.S. might work here. But, if it doesn’t work there, then it won’t work here.” In his view, the original American bond is dissolving. “In the past, you kept together because of common values that you call freedom,” he said. Emerging in its place is a cynical, zero-sum politics, a return to blood and soil, which privileges interests above inspiration

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/08/making-china-great-again

At our best we are united by fidelity to ideals like pluralism, majority rule/minority rights, the sanctity of the ballot, due process, free and fair markets with a robust safety net, and a welcoming and tolerant spirit, not blood and soil. I never understood why I am supposed to feel a bond with people who find these ideals antithetical to them, just because I share a piece of real estate with them.

[Irish_Dem]

1. America is sinking in world status. Other countries will rise.

There will be leveling off in terms of world power.
Maybe not such a bad thing.

And we don't deserve super power status any more for a whole lot of reasons.

[handmade34]

2. hmmm

was just reading this article a few minutes ago... sad, disconcerting, frustrating

the entire article is an excellent read...

"...China...In recent years, it has taken steps to accrue national power on a scale that no country has attempted since the Cold War, by increasing its investments in the types of assets that established American authority in the previous century: foreign aid, overseas security, foreign influence, and the most advanced new technologies, such as artificial intelligence. It has become one of the leading contributors to the U.N.’s budget and to its peacekeeping force, and it has joined talks to address global problems such as terrorism, piracy, and nuclear proliferation.

And China has embarked on history’s most expensive foreign infrastructure plan. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, it is building bridges, railways, and ports in Asia, Africa, and beyond. If the initiative’s cost reaches a trillion dollars, as predicted, it will be more than seven times that of the Marshall Plan, which the U.S. launched in 1947, spending a hundred and thirty billion, in today’s dollars, on rebuilding postwar Europe.

China is also seizing immediate opportunities presented by Trump. Days before the T.P.P. withdrawal, President Xi Jinping spoke at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, a first for a paramount Chinese leader. Xi reiterated his support for the Paris climate deal and compared protectionism to “locking oneself in a dark room.” ...

"...Already, the world has less confidence in America than we might guess. Last year, the Pew Research Center asked people in thirty-seven countries which leader would do the right thing when it came to world affairs. They chose Xi Jinping over Donald Trump..."