Adventures in Natostan
0 views
Skip to first unread message
Bill Totten
May 24, 2023, 9:01:16 AM5/24/23
to GoogleGroups
Adventures in Natostan
Sparks Flying in Ibiza, Locked Down Bilderberg in Lisbon
by Pepe Escobar
https://strategic-culture.org (May 20 2023)
https://strategic-culture.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/TN5_1794-930x520.jpg
(c) Photo: g7japan-photo
With G7 "leadership" mired in a sticky swamp of intellectual
shallowness, predictably the only agenda in colonized Japan was more
sanctions on Russia.
Let's start with a graphic depiction of where the Global North and the
Global South really stand.
1. Xian, the former imperial capital, and a key hub of the Ancient
Silk Roads: Xi Jinping hosts the China-Central Asia summit, attended
by all Heartland "stans" (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgzystan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan).
The final statement stresses economic cooperation and "a resolute
stand" against Hegemon-concocted color revolutions. That expands what
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) are already implementing. In practice, the summit
seals that the Russia-China strategic partnership will be protecting
the Heartland.
2. Kazan: the Russia-Islamic World Forum unites not only religious
leaders but top businessmen of no less than 85 nations. Multipolar
Russia proceeded in parallel to the Arab League Summit in Jeddah,
which welcomed Syria back to the "Arab family". Arab nations
unanimously pledged to end "foreign interference" for good.
3. Hiroshima: the ever-shrinking G7, actually G9 (adding two unelected
EU bureaucrats), imposes a single agenda of more sanctions on Russia;
more weapons to black void Ukraine; and more lecturing of China.
4. Lisbon: the annual Bilderberg meeting - a Nato/Atlanticist fest -
takes place in a not-so-secret hotel completely locked down. Top item
on the agenda; war - hybrid and otherwise - on the "RICs" in BRICS
(Russia, India, China).
I could have been in Xian, or most likely Kazan. Instead, honoring a
previous commitment, I was in Ibiza and then scraped the idea of
flying to Lisbon as a waste of time. Allow me to share with you the
reason why: call it a little tale from the Baleares, breaking the
trademark pledge that what happens in swinging, sweaty deep house
Ibiza stays in Ibiza.
I was a guest at a top business gathering - mostly Spanish but also
featuring Portuguese, Germans, Brits, and Scandinavians: ultra
high-level executives - in real estate, asset management, and
investment banking. Our panel was titled "Global Geopolitical Shifts
and Their Consequences". Before the panel, participants were invited
to vote on what worried them most when it comes to the future of their
business. Number one was inflation and interest rates. Number two was
geopolitics. That prefigured a very lively debate ahead.
When an EU hagiographer goes berserk
Little did I - and the audience - know that would turn into a wild
ride. The first presentation came from the director of the "Center for
European Politics" in Copenhagen. She bills herself as a political
science professor and is an adviser to EU Chief Gardener Borrell.
Well, I adopted a Cheshire cat stance after the tsunami of cliches
spewed out about "European values" and evil Russkies, as well as her
being "frightened" by the future of Europe. At least immediate relief
was provided by the impeccably diplomatic Lanxin Xiang, an adorable
character, always with a cheerful smile on his face, and one of the
very few leading experts on China who actually knows what he's talking
about, in fluent English.
Lanxin Xiang, among other accomplishments, is Emeritus Professor of
the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in
Geneva; director of the Institute of Security Policy at the China
National Institute for SCO International Exchange; and executive
director of the Washington Foundation for European Studies. This is a
column {1} I wrote about him and his work, published in October 2020.
Professor Xiang offered a masterly exposition on the American
obsession to fabricate a "Taiwan problem" and how Europe, already
squeezed by the US proxy war against Russia, must be very careful when
it comes to lecturing China.
When it was my turn, I went for the kill, dismissing all those EU
press release platitudes as absolute nonsense, and stressing how
Europe is already being eaten alive by the proverbial "American
interests". As briefly as possible I explained the whole geopolitical
background of the war in Ukraine.
Well, this was all delivered to top business people who consume The
Economist, Financial Times, and Bloomberg as their prime sources of
information. Their reaction would speak volumes.
Predictably, the EU-paid bureaucrat completely freaked out, and
shrieking with outrage, went full pre-ordained script, from
threatening to abandon the stage to accusing me of being "paid by the
Kremlin". I asked her, point blank, to "contradict me, with facts". No
facts were provided. Just fear and bewilderment, mixed with
intimations of cancel culture.
To his great merit the vastly experienced moderator, Struan Robertson
from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, kept things civil, giving more
time for Lanxin Xiang to explain the Chinese mindset and opening the
floor for a sequence of very good questions.
In the end, the audience loved it. Many came to personally thank me
for information they will never have access to in El Pais, Le Monde,
or The Economist. A minority in the room was simply stunned - but our
debate at least must have left them musing over a lot of preconceived
notions.
It's the total merit of the key organizers, Jose Maria Pons and head
of the program Cristina Garcia-Peri, to host such a debate in fabulous
Ibiza, in Spain, prime Natostan territory. In the current situation,
this would be absolutely impossible in France or Germany, not to
mention Scandinavia or those demented Baltics.
There's no way to counter-act the fabricated narratives parroted by
EU-paid hacks and bureaucrats except for ridiculing them - in their
faces. They become livid and barely manage to stutter when their lies
are exposed. For instance, one of the questions from the floor, by a
top-of-the-line German businessman, enumerated a litany of dark facts
about Ukrainian "democracy" that are absolutely verbotten by
EUrocracy.
The G-Less Than Zero freaks out
What happened in Ibiza dovetails with what happened in US-nuclear
bombed Hiroshima - Hegemons don't do apologies - and in that locked
down Lisbon hotel.
With the G7 "leadership" mired in a sticky swamp of intellectual
shallowness, predictably the only agenda in colonized Japan was more
sanctions on Russia - imposed over third countries and on companies in
the energy and military-industrial sectors; more weapons to the
Ukrainian black void; and a ridiculous counter- productive new
obsession of piling up on China "containment" for alleged "economic
coercion".
In the photo opportunities, by the way, it's not a shrinking G7 that
shows up: but a warmongering G9, artificially augmented by that
pathetic couple of unelected EUrocrats, Charles Michel and Pustula von
der Lugen.
As far as the real Global Majority - or Global South - is concerned,
this looks more like a G-Less-Than-Zero. The more the senseless,
illegal Sanctions Wars are "expanded", the more the absolute majority
of the Global South moves away from the collective West,
diplomatically, geopolitically, and geoeconomically.
And that's why the top Bilderberg agenda at the hijacked Lisbon hotel
was to revamp Nato/Atlanticist coordination in a war - hybrid and
otherwise - against the driving force in BRICS; the RICs (Russia,
India, China).
There were other items on the menu - from AI to the acute banking
crisis, from "energy transition" to "fiscal challenges", not to
mention proverbial "US leadership".
But when you get in the same room people like Nato's Stoltenberg;
director of US intelligence Avril Haines; senior director for
Strategic Planning at the National Security Council Thomas Wright;
Goldman Sachs president John Waldron; Chief Gardener Borrell (whose
minion was in Ibiza); vice chair of Brookfield Asset Management, Mark
Carney (one of their executives also in Ibiza); Supreme Allied
Commander Europe, Christopher Cavoli; and Canadian Deputy Prime
Minister Chrystia Freeland, among other Atlanticist shills, the plot
is self-evident:
It's war on the multipolar world. At least we can dance it away {2} in Ibiza.
Links:
{1} https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/shedding-light-on-the-limits-of-chinese-power/
{2} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iji4TaRkUv8
_____
Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst, writer, and
journalist. Also see
https://strategic-culture.org/contributors/pepe-escobar/#articles.
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent
those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/05/20/adventures-in-natostan-sparks-flying-in-ibiza-locked-down-bilderberg-in-lisbon/
TO POST A COMMENT, OR TO READ COMMENTS POSTED BY OTHERS, please click
the appropriate link at the top or bottom of
https://billtotten.wpcomstaging.com/2023/05/24/adventures-in-natostan/
Sparks Flying in Ibiza, Locked Down Bilderberg in Lisbon
by Pepe Escobar
https://strategic-culture.org (May 20 2023)
https://strategic-culture.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/TN5_1794-930x520.jpg
(c) Photo: g7japan-photo
With G7 "leadership" mired in a sticky swamp of intellectual
shallowness, predictably the only agenda in colonized Japan was more
sanctions on Russia.
Let's start with a graphic depiction of where the Global North and the
Global South really stand.
1. Xian, the former imperial capital, and a key hub of the Ancient
Silk Roads: Xi Jinping hosts the China-Central Asia summit, attended
by all Heartland "stans" (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgzystan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan).
The final statement stresses economic cooperation and "a resolute
stand" against Hegemon-concocted color revolutions. That expands what
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) are already implementing. In practice, the summit
seals that the Russia-China strategic partnership will be protecting
the Heartland.
2. Kazan: the Russia-Islamic World Forum unites not only religious
leaders but top businessmen of no less than 85 nations. Multipolar
Russia proceeded in parallel to the Arab League Summit in Jeddah,
which welcomed Syria back to the "Arab family". Arab nations
unanimously pledged to end "foreign interference" for good.
3. Hiroshima: the ever-shrinking G7, actually G9 (adding two unelected
EU bureaucrats), imposes a single agenda of more sanctions on Russia;
more weapons to black void Ukraine; and more lecturing of China.
4. Lisbon: the annual Bilderberg meeting - a Nato/Atlanticist fest -
takes place in a not-so-secret hotel completely locked down. Top item
on the agenda; war - hybrid and otherwise - on the "RICs" in BRICS
(Russia, India, China).
I could have been in Xian, or most likely Kazan. Instead, honoring a
previous commitment, I was in Ibiza and then scraped the idea of
flying to Lisbon as a waste of time. Allow me to share with you the
reason why: call it a little tale from the Baleares, breaking the
trademark pledge that what happens in swinging, sweaty deep house
Ibiza stays in Ibiza.
I was a guest at a top business gathering - mostly Spanish but also
featuring Portuguese, Germans, Brits, and Scandinavians: ultra
high-level executives - in real estate, asset management, and
investment banking. Our panel was titled "Global Geopolitical Shifts
and Their Consequences". Before the panel, participants were invited
to vote on what worried them most when it comes to the future of their
business. Number one was inflation and interest rates. Number two was
geopolitics. That prefigured a very lively debate ahead.
When an EU hagiographer goes berserk
Little did I - and the audience - know that would turn into a wild
ride. The first presentation came from the director of the "Center for
European Politics" in Copenhagen. She bills herself as a political
science professor and is an adviser to EU Chief Gardener Borrell.
Well, I adopted a Cheshire cat stance after the tsunami of cliches
spewed out about "European values" and evil Russkies, as well as her
being "frightened" by the future of Europe. At least immediate relief
was provided by the impeccably diplomatic Lanxin Xiang, an adorable
character, always with a cheerful smile on his face, and one of the
very few leading experts on China who actually knows what he's talking
about, in fluent English.
Lanxin Xiang, among other accomplishments, is Emeritus Professor of
the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in
Geneva; director of the Institute of Security Policy at the China
National Institute for SCO International Exchange; and executive
director of the Washington Foundation for European Studies. This is a
column {1} I wrote about him and his work, published in October 2020.
Professor Xiang offered a masterly exposition on the American
obsession to fabricate a "Taiwan problem" and how Europe, already
squeezed by the US proxy war against Russia, must be very careful when
it comes to lecturing China.
When it was my turn, I went for the kill, dismissing all those EU
press release platitudes as absolute nonsense, and stressing how
Europe is already being eaten alive by the proverbial "American
interests". As briefly as possible I explained the whole geopolitical
background of the war in Ukraine.
Well, this was all delivered to top business people who consume The
Economist, Financial Times, and Bloomberg as their prime sources of
information. Their reaction would speak volumes.
Predictably, the EU-paid bureaucrat completely freaked out, and
shrieking with outrage, went full pre-ordained script, from
threatening to abandon the stage to accusing me of being "paid by the
Kremlin". I asked her, point blank, to "contradict me, with facts". No
facts were provided. Just fear and bewilderment, mixed with
intimations of cancel culture.
To his great merit the vastly experienced moderator, Struan Robertson
from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, kept things civil, giving more
time for Lanxin Xiang to explain the Chinese mindset and opening the
floor for a sequence of very good questions.
In the end, the audience loved it. Many came to personally thank me
for information they will never have access to in El Pais, Le Monde,
or The Economist. A minority in the room was simply stunned - but our
debate at least must have left them musing over a lot of preconceived
notions.
It's the total merit of the key organizers, Jose Maria Pons and head
of the program Cristina Garcia-Peri, to host such a debate in fabulous
Ibiza, in Spain, prime Natostan territory. In the current situation,
this would be absolutely impossible in France or Germany, not to
mention Scandinavia or those demented Baltics.
There's no way to counter-act the fabricated narratives parroted by
EU-paid hacks and bureaucrats except for ridiculing them - in their
faces. They become livid and barely manage to stutter when their lies
are exposed. For instance, one of the questions from the floor, by a
top-of-the-line German businessman, enumerated a litany of dark facts
about Ukrainian "democracy" that are absolutely verbotten by
EUrocracy.
The G-Less Than Zero freaks out
What happened in Ibiza dovetails with what happened in US-nuclear
bombed Hiroshima - Hegemons don't do apologies - and in that locked
down Lisbon hotel.
With the G7 "leadership" mired in a sticky swamp of intellectual
shallowness, predictably the only agenda in colonized Japan was more
sanctions on Russia - imposed over third countries and on companies in
the energy and military-industrial sectors; more weapons to the
Ukrainian black void; and a ridiculous counter- productive new
obsession of piling up on China "containment" for alleged "economic
coercion".
In the photo opportunities, by the way, it's not a shrinking G7 that
shows up: but a warmongering G9, artificially augmented by that
pathetic couple of unelected EUrocrats, Charles Michel and Pustula von
der Lugen.
As far as the real Global Majority - or Global South - is concerned,
this looks more like a G-Less-Than-Zero. The more the senseless,
illegal Sanctions Wars are "expanded", the more the absolute majority
of the Global South moves away from the collective West,
diplomatically, geopolitically, and geoeconomically.
And that's why the top Bilderberg agenda at the hijacked Lisbon hotel
was to revamp Nato/Atlanticist coordination in a war - hybrid and
otherwise - against the driving force in BRICS; the RICs (Russia,
India, China).
There were other items on the menu - from AI to the acute banking
crisis, from "energy transition" to "fiscal challenges", not to
mention proverbial "US leadership".
But when you get in the same room people like Nato's Stoltenberg;
director of US intelligence Avril Haines; senior director for
Strategic Planning at the National Security Council Thomas Wright;
Goldman Sachs president John Waldron; Chief Gardener Borrell (whose
minion was in Ibiza); vice chair of Brookfield Asset Management, Mark
Carney (one of their executives also in Ibiza); Supreme Allied
Commander Europe, Christopher Cavoli; and Canadian Deputy Prime
Minister Chrystia Freeland, among other Atlanticist shills, the plot
is self-evident:
It's war on the multipolar world. At least we can dance it away {2} in Ibiza.
Links:
{1} https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/shedding-light-on-the-limits-of-chinese-power/
{2} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iji4TaRkUv8
_____
Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst, writer, and
journalist. Also see
https://strategic-culture.org/contributors/pepe-escobar/#articles.
The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent
those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/05/20/adventures-in-natostan-sparks-flying-in-ibiza-locked-down-bilderberg-in-lisbon/
TO POST A COMMENT, OR TO READ COMMENTS POSTED BY OTHERS, please click
the appropriate link at the top or bottom of
https://billtotten.wpcomstaging.com/2023/05/24/adventures-in-natostan/
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages