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Web Log - October, 2021

Summary

31-Oct-21 World View -- Saudi Arabia expels Lebanon ambassador over Iran's increasing influence

Judge Tarek Bitar the center of the Beirut's October 14 gun battle

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Saudi Arabia expels Lebanon ambassador over Iran's increasing influence


Christian protesters block the streets in Beirut (Al-Jazeera)
Christian protesters block the streets in Beirut (Al-Jazeera)

Lebanon continues to face one disaster after another, following a historic port implosion last year and an eight-hour gun battle in Beirut earlier this month. Lebanon now faces a major diplomatic and trade crisis with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Lebanon on Friday for consultations, and requested the departure of Lebanon's Saudi envoy by Monday. Saudi Arabia futhermore halted all imports of all products from Lebanon. Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia in solidarity, and Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates did the same.

The action was triggered by the airing last week of an August 5 interview in which Lebanon's Information Minister George Kordahi made harsh criticisms of the Saudi Arabia led coalition in the war in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. In the interview, Kordahi that the Houthi rebels were "defending themselves ... against an external aggression," and that "homes, villages, funerals and weddings were being bombed" by the coalition.

Last week, Kordahi told local reporters on Wednesday that he refused to apologize and that the interview was his "personal opinion," since he was still a private citizen at the time. He said, "I did not wrong anyone. I did not attack anyone. Why should I apologize? I stated my position with love as a human who feels Arab suffering."

Well, the Saudis apparently did not feel the love, as the Saudis withdrew their ambassador shortly thereafter.

Saudi Arabia has considered Lebanon a close ally for decades, but relations have soured as Hezbollah has gained power in Lebanon. Hezbollah is recognized as a Shia terrorist group by the West and by the Arab League. Saudi Arabia and Lebanon got along well for years, as long they could agree that Israel was the bad guy. But things started deteriorating in 2011 when Syria's Shia/Alawite president Bashar al-Assad started attacking innocent Sunni protesters, and and Hezbollah's militias began fighting in Syria in support of al-Assad's army. Relations between Lebanon and Saudi further eroded in 2020, when the Abraham Accords were signed during the Trump administration.

A particularly dramatic incident occurred in 2017, when Saad Hariri, the prime minister of Lebanon, made a seemingly routine trip to Saudi Arabia, but then shocked everyone by resigning as prime minister while there, giving as a reason the fear that Iran and Hezbollah would assassinate him. Hariri's father, Rafiq Hariri, was killed in 2005 by a massive explosion in Beirut that was blamed on Syria and Hezbollah. (See "5-Nov-17 World View -- Saad Hariri shocks Lebanon by resigning as PM while in Saudi Arabia")

So George Kordahi's harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia's role in Yemen may have been stated "with love," but now that he is Lebanon's Information Minister, he is under increasing pressure to resign.

Judge Tarek Bitar the center of the Beirut's October 14 gun battle

The new actions by Saudi Arabia followed a six hour gun battle in downtown Beirut, Lebanon's capital city, on October 14. Hezbollah supporters were marching peacefully to protest the investigation of last year's port explosion, which was led by Judge Tarek Bitar. The gun battle was between Hezbollah supporters and supporters of Samir Geagea, who is leader of the Lebanese Forces party (which is a political party, not the Lebanon army). Each side accuses the other of firing the first shot, and seven people were killed, with dozens injured.

At the center of all this is Judge Tarek Bitar, who has been described as incorruptible, and who is conducting the investigation into who is responsible for the Beirut port explosion last year. On Tuesday, August 4, 2020, a catastrophic explosion in the Beirut seaport leveled thousands of homes, killed and injured thousands of people, and left 300,000 people homeless. It's considered by many to be the biggest non-nuclear explosion in history. (See "22-Aug-20 World View -- Hezbollah implicated in catastrophic Beirut Lebanon explosion")

Lebanon is a country where corruption runs deep and politicians are assassinated, all with impunity. Meanwhile, there is no regular electricity or water or garbage collection, the value of the currency has fallen 90%, and the politicians appear to be doing very well. The ordinary people of Lebanon are sick and tired of the impunity, and want someone to be named responsible for the port blast. It's widely believed that Hezbollah is responsible, though the crime may be great enough to enmesh other politicians as well. The reason that Hezbollah supporters were marching on October 14 is that they were demanding that Judge Bitar's investigation be ended, leaving no one to take the blame for the port blast.

Lebanon is hoping for aid from the international community before the economy collapses completely. Aid is being blocked, pending reforms and democratization of Lebanon's government, and Bitar's investigation has been seen by the international community as the best hope for reform. Lebanon's politicians were particularly hoping for support from the Arab nations, but that now seems impossible.

The October 14 gun battle has further paralyzed Lebanon's government. Hezbollah is refusing to allow any cabinet meetings to occur unless Judge Bitar's investigation is permanently ended. Lebanon's government was disastrously weak before, but now can't even hold a meeting.

Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah is blaming Samir Geagea and the Lebanese Forces party with being responsible for the October 14 shootout, and is accusing Saudi Arabia of providing support and perhaps instigating the attack on Hezbollah protesters. This infuriated the Saudis, and after the airing of George Kordahi's interview, and his harsh criticisms of the Saudi Arabia led coalition in the war in Yemen, the Saudis withdrew their ambassador from Lebanon.

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(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Generational Dynamics World View News thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (31-Oct-2021) Permanent Link
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24-Oct-21 World View -- Myanmar/Burma junta massing troops in northwest, preparing for mass slaughter

ASEAN blocks Myanmar's attendance

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Myanmar/Burma junta massing troops in northwest, preparing for mass slaughter


Burmese troops
Burmese troops

Ever since the military coup that took place on February 1 of this year, the military junta of Myanmar (Burma) has been increasingly violent. More than 1,100 civilians have been killed by Myanmar security forces with thousands of others arrested, according to the United Nations, involving mostly peaceful anti-government protesters.

Now, the military junta in Myanmar is massing tens of thousands of troops and heavy weapons in northwest Myanmar, and talking about "clearance operations." This is exactly the same scenario that preceded the ferocious attacks, unspeakable violance and mass atrocities conducted against the Rohingyas in Rakhine state in 2016-2018.

According to Tom Andrews of the United Nations:

"These tactics are ominously reminiscent of those employed by the military before its genocidal attacks against the Rohingya in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017.

We should all be prepared, as the people in this part of Myanmar are prepared, for even more mass atrocity crimes. I desperately hope that I am wrong."

As I've described starting with the massive demonstrations in 2007 by the "'88 Generation," Burma's last two generational crisis wars (1886-1891 and 1948-1958) were extremely bloody and violent civil wars involving multiple ethnic groups. (See "Burma: Growing demonstrations by the '88 Generation' raise fears of new slaughter")

When a crisis war ends, the country enters a new generational Crisis era (fourth turning) 58 years after the end of the war. In this case, Myanmar entered a new generational Crisis era in 2016.

Almost on cue, Myanmar's army started committing major atrocities in 2016, and today, the next round of atrocities is apparently about to begin.

ASEAN blocks Myanmar's attendance

ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Nations) has ten members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and they've always followed a strict policy of not criticizing the government of any of the others. ASEAN has been criticized in the past for refusing to condemn atrocities conducted by any of its member governments, but they've maintained their non-interference policy until now.

At an emergency meeting two weeks ago, ASEAN members agreed to exclude Myanmar junta's chief Min Aung Hlaing from attending a regional summit later this month, on October 26-28. This was a major snub since nothing like it has ever happened before. The reason given is that they didn't want to legitimize the junta as the government of Myanmar. Instead, they said that they would invite a "non-political representative" to represent Myanmar.

Apparently this panicked the government of Myanmar, since two days later they released thousands of political prisoners. But it soon became obvious that this a ploy to regain the approval of ASEAN, since they re-arrested many of those prisoners since then. Myanmar has angrily rejected the claims of ASEAN, blaming them on "foreign intervention," referring to the United States. Myanmar may not have anyone at all representing Myanmar at the meeting.

The future of Myanmar (Burma)

Myanmar entered a generational Crisis era (fourth turning) in 2016, and is apparently already in a full-scale generational crisis war. The last crisis war, from 1948 to 1958, was a massive, bloody war involving multiple ethnic groups within Burma (Myanmar).

It now appears that Myanmar is entering a similar period. The army is currently massing in Myanmar's northwest, but analysts I've heard say that the army is expected to do the same in other regions of the country.

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(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Generational Dynamics World View News thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (24-Oct-2021) Permanent Link
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20-Oct-21 World View -- Investigation of Beirut Lebanon's seaport explosion leads to more violence

Hezbollah threatens large-scale violence

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Bloody gun battle in Beirut Lebanon stokes memories of civil war


A man stands near the Beirut blast site on August 11, 2020.  Graffiti reads 'My government did this' (Reuters)
A man stands near the Beirut blast site on August 11, 2020. Graffiti reads 'My government did this' (Reuters)

One again, new events have occurred to prove that Lebanon is an island of grief surrounded by woe. The people have to suffer through one disaster after another in Lebanon, where there is nobody on the side of the angels.

On Thursday of last week, there was a bloody five-hour gun battle in Lebanon's capital city Beirut, pitting Syriac Maronite Christians versus Shia Muslim Hezbollah. Seven people were killed, all Shia Muslims, and dozens were injured.

The gun battle was carried live on al-Jazeera. The gun battle occurred in an ordinary residential neighborhood, where the apartment buildings on one side of the street were mostly occupied by Hezbollah supporters, while the apartment buildings on the other side were mostly occupied by Christians. The Hezbollah protesters marched down the street separating the two neighborhoods. According to the news reports, snipers were on top of the apartment buildings on the Christian side, shooting protesters in the head as they walked by. Hezbollah, which is a military force backed by Iran, and its political arm, the Amal movement, are accusing the Christian party of conducting an "ambush."

According to the reports, the residents of the apartment buildings were elderly people who remembered the extremely horrific 1975-90 civil war, and did not want to see it repeated. This is what always happens after a crisis war. The people who lived through the war are traumatized and keep the war from recurring. In the case of an ethnic civil war, the result is the Democide pattern which means that the government (the winning side in the civil war) uses violence to keep the losing side under control.

As the gun battle was progressing, many people feared that it would escalate into a renewal of the civil war. But this is a generational Unraveling era for Lebanon, and there are too many people alive who remember the horrors of the last civil war, and will do everything in their power to prevent a new one. So it's not surprising the gun battle fizzled after five hours.

Lebanon's government of impunity

In August of last year there was a massive explosion in the port of Beirut, which could be felt as far away as Cyprus. It has been described as the greatest non-nuclear explosion in world history. The people of Beirut, many of whose lives were destroyed by the catastrophe, correctly blame government officials. Many go to blame the most powerful force in Lebanon's government, Iran-backed Hezbollah. (See "22-Aug-20 World View -- Hezbollah implicated in catastrophic Beirut Lebanon explosion")

In 2013, 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored in an unprotected warehouse in the seaport of Beirut next door to a fireworks factory. The government did nothing about it for years, despite repeated warnings, and there are reports that Hezbollah used some of the ammonium nitrate to create bombs and weapons that it used in the war in Syria. Finally, on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, a catastrophic explosion in the Beirut seaport leveled thousands of homes, killed and injured thousands of people, and left 300,000 people homeless,

Prior to the explosion, goverment services like providing electricity, water and garbage collection were spotty. Since the explosion, the value of the currency has fallen 90%, homes go for days with no electricity, the water is filthy, and there's no garbage collection.

Anecdotally, they now live the “shawarma paradox”: the national sandwich which cost 5,000 Lebanese pounds or $2 a couple of years ago, today is priced at 20,000 pounds or less than a dollar.

Lebanon's government is a government of impunity. Any government official can skim money and put it into his Swiss bank account or buy a Swiss villa with impunity. There have been numerous political assassinations, and no one is ever held accountable. There are never even any investigations.

With the seaport explosion, a whole city was blown up, and so many of the Lebanese people were traumatized, and are still traumatized, that the ordinary people (not the élite) and are demanding to know who was responsible for the explosion so that they can be held accountable.

The investigation of the port explosion paralyzes Lebanon's government

The "ordinary" people of Beirut have been demanding an investigation, and an end to the government of impunity. They want to know who is responsible, and they want someone to be held accountable. People want to know who owned the ammonium nitrate? Who refused to do anything about it, though they were repeatedly warned over and over? Who ordered the ammonium nitrate to be unloaded from the boat into the port in 2013 in the first place?

Last year, the people initially demanded an international investigation. Hezbollah's powerful leader, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, blocked those attempts, and said that an investigation would have to be local.

So surprisingly there actually was a Lebanese investigation, led by Judge Tarek Bitar has been praised by the international community for being unbiased and transparent in carrying out the investigation.

However, as the investigation has proceeded, it has been increasingly threatening to Hezbollah, as former Hezbollah ministers are being called to testify. At the same time, Lebanon's Christian President Michel Aoun has supported the investigation.

It's the success so far of the investigation that led to Thursday's shootout. The Hezbollah supporters were protesting the investigation, demanding that Bitar be removed. It's not clear why the Christians were ambushing the Hezbollah protests at this time, except that there's a lot of anger among victims of the catastophic seaport explosion, and they are willing to use violence to determine who is responsible.

Hezbollah threatens large-scale violence

Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has made it clear that he will not tolerate the Bitar investigation much longer. An investigation that finds that Hezbollah officials were responsible for the explosion would be a major humiliation to Hezbollah and to Iran.

The Christian president Michel Aoun and Hezbollah leader Nasrallah formed an alliance of convenience in 2006, to their mutual benefit. However, the Catholics want an investigation and Hezbollah does not, and this has caused a split between Aoun and Nasrallah.

This conflict has benefited Aoun's Christian political rival, Samir Geagea, a Hezbollah opponent with close Saudi ties. Geagea is leader of Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party opposing Aoun.

Geagea was a military commander during the Lebanese civil war, and is accused of participating in massacres and an organized coup. Nasrallah is now blaming Geagea and the Lebanese Forces with being responsible for the shootout last week, allied with Saudi Arabia, the United States and Israel. According to a pro-Hezbollah report, Geagea has sought to “impose himself as the sole representative of the Christians and return to the sectarian stronghold by committing a deliberate and organized massacre like the one he committed during the Lebanese Civil War.”

In a nationally televised speech on Monday, Nasrallah said:

"Civil war constitutes the real plan of the Lebanese Forces party, because civil war will lead to demographic changes, which will cram the Christians into a specific area, like in [their] past dreams, where they will establish a Christian canton, a Christian state, or a Christian ghetto, which will be dominated by the Lebanese Forces party. ...

[Geagea,] you should pay attention to the following figure. This is the first time I divulge this figure, and I do it to prevent a civil war, rather than to threaten to start one. You know me, I never say something that is not true. I belong to the school that maintains that lies are not useful even in psychological warfare. Only truth and reliability are useful in psychological warfare."

At the same time, Hezbollah continues to demand that Judge Bitar's investigation be ended, while the public at large is demanding that it reach a conclusion and identify the responsible parties.

Lebanon's future

Lebanon's government was already in a fragile state, but the dispute over Judge Bitar and the investigation has paralyzed the government completely, as it is now impossible even to call a cabinet meeting.

The situation is evolving on a daily basis. Nobody wants another civil war, particularly the elderly people who survived the last civil war. But there will still be sporadic violence.

Unanswered questions: Will Judge Tarek Bitar's investigation continue? Will the government collapse completely? The situation is so volatile, we may have at least a few answers soon.

The one emerging hope is that there will be reforms leading to the emergence of a non-sectarian government of technocrats. If such a government is acceptable to the international community, then sanctions will be removed, and aid will flow into Lebanon.

However, that's a dream. Iran and Hezbollah will never give up their power without a war, and it's more likely that the sporadic violence will recur and grow.

Sources:

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(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Generational Dynamics World View News thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (20-Oct-2021) Permanent Link
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11-Oct-21 World View -- Tensions heat up between China and Taiwan

When will the Chinese Communists invade Taiwan?

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Taiwan celebrates 'Taiwan National Day'


Isabel Zhang was born in mainland China, while her husband James Xu is Taiwanese.  The Australian couple are worried about their respective families in case of war (Australian Broadcasting)
Isabel Zhang was born in mainland China, while her husband James Xu is Taiwanese. The Australian couple are worried about their respective families in case of war (Australian Broadcasting)

On October 10, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising began, launching the Chinese Revolution and forming the Chinese Nationalists, led by Sun Yat-Sen. He created the Republic of China based on his "Three Principles of the People," developed in 1905 -- nationalism, democracy and welfare. Later in the century, the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong, defeated the Chinese Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, in the Chinese civil war that climaxed in 1949. Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalists fled to Formosa and formed the nation of Taiwan. On Sunday, October 10, Taiwan celebrated the anniversary of the uprising that led to the Republic of China.

Beijing prefers to celebrate its own China National Day on October 1, which commemorates the creation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The Chinese Communists hate Taiwan's National Day, and this has led to dueling rhetoric.

Taiwan celebrated with huge parades highlighted by military equipment. Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen said the following:

"We will do our utmost to prevent the status quo from being unilaterally altered.

We will continue to bolster our national defense and demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves in order to ensure that nobody can force Taiwan to take the path China has laid out for us.

The path that China has laid out offers neither a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, nor sovereignty for our 23 million people."

China sends hundreds of fighter planes and bombers into Taiwan airspace

During the past few days, the Chinese Communists have sent hundreds of fighter planes and bombers into Taiwan airspace. China's state media explained this aerial invasion in this way:

"According to statistics from Taiwan island, the PLA has sent warplanes into the island's "airspace" in 198 days so far this year. Such a number reflects that the PLA has carried out wide-ranged and profound operations to familiarize itself with battlefield conditions, with a large number of PLA Air Force units having experience flying close to the island. Once the order to attack is given, the PLA's pilots will fight as "experienced veterans." ...

The PLA is forming a siege of Taiwan with a show of strength as it did in Beijing in 1949. There is no doubt about the future of the situation across the Taiwan Straits. The initiative of when and how to solve the Taiwan question is firmly in the hands of the Chinese mainland."

Well, that's an interesting historical comparison. They're relating the "siege" of Taiwan to a siege that the Communists used to defeat the Nationalists in 1949.

So the Communists say that the purpose of sending hundreds of warplanes over Taiwan is to allow their pilots to gain experience and become "experienced veterans." There are two possible interpretations of this. One is that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is imminent, and the other is that the current incursions are merely practice for a future invasion to occur sometime in the future.

That the Communists intend to invade Taiwan is certain. China has repeatedly declared the intention to invade Taiwan and annex it to China.

Last week, as the hundreds of warplanes were threatening Taiwan, Communist leader Xi Jinping said the following:

"Taiwan independence separatism is the biggest obstacle to achieving the reunification of the motherland, and the most serious hidden danger to national rejuvenation. ...

Reunification through a peaceful manner is the most in line with the overall interest of the Chinese nation, including Taiwan compatriots. ...

No one should underestimate the Chinese people's staunch determination, firm will, and strong ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The historical task of the complete reunification of the motherland must be fulfilled, and will definitely be fulfilled."

Xi Jinping is running out of time

Xi's problem is that, in many ways, he's running out of time, mostly for generational reasons.

Until the 1990s, the Nationalists ruled Taiwan, and most Taiwanese believed that it was only a matter of time before Taiwan would be reunitied with the mainland, although many would have demanded that the Nationalists govern the reunited country.

Since then, the survivors of the 1940s civil war have died off, and new generations have grown and come to power. A major turning point was the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, which the citizens of Taiwan watched with horror. This led to the rise of the nominally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), whose leader is the current president Tsai Ing-wen. As the new generations have come to power, and young people displace old people, more and more people oppose reunification. In recent years, Beijing's brutal treatment of Hong Kong has reinforced this opposition. According to polls, fewer than 10% of the people today favor reunification, and many of those would agree to reunification only if mainland China became a democratic country, something that's not going to happen.

So Xi Jinping is running out of time in Taiwan, but he's also running out of time on the mainland. Younger generations are increasingly nationalistic and xenophobic, and are demanding that Xi Jinping stop stalling and take action in Taiwan.

China's disastrous one-child policy produces harsh consequences

The one-child policy, adopted in 1979, has been a disaster for China. Women who had unapproved pregnancies could be violently dragged from their homes and forced to abort and be sterilized. If an unapproved child was born, then the child could not be registered, and essentially did not exist, so could not get schooling or other social benefits.

The policy accelerated the aging of the population, and a decline in the working-age population, which threatens economic growth. Furthermore, with fewer children, fewer elderly people could be cared for by their children. In 2015 there were eleven working age Chinese for every retiree. By 2050, if not earlier, there will only be two for each retiree.

In addition, parents often aborted girl babies, since they wanted their one child to be a boy. The result is that millions of young males have been unable to find a wife, and so females are enticed or coerced (kidnapped by criminal gangs) to become wives of Chinese men who have no other options, which is raising tensions with China's neighbors.

The result is that the number of elderly people is growing, while the population as a whole is shrinking. This puts a strain on the country's pension system, and creates a constantly shrinking labor force. China is already finding it difficult to fill many difficult jobs, including jobs in the military, resulting in lower GDP growth.

There are other domestic problems facing Xi Jinping. The collapse of Evergrande is spreading and could have far-reaching consequences, including outside of China. (See "25-Sep-21 World View -- China Evergrande construction firm heads to default")

Internationally, China is facing criticism about its brutal crackdown on the free press in Hong Kong, China's arrest and enslavement of millions of Uighurs, and illegal belligerent actions in the South China Sea. The Chinese Communists have made it abundantly clear that they don't care at all what others think of them, and what international laws they violate. What we're seeing is the millennia-old Chinese culture saying that the rest of the world are barbarians, and are to be treated as donkeys, with no purpose except to serve the Chinese Communists.

Taiwan's friends -- America, Japan, Australia, India

According to analysts, China would prevail in an invasion of Taiwan, although Taiwan would inflict a great deal of damage on China at the same time. However, that assumes that Taiwan would fight Taiwan alone.

By the way, to my knowledge nobody supports China's invasion of Taiwan. Cambodia and Pakistan are close allies with China, but I'm not aware that they or any other country would join China in an invasion of Taiwan.

However, there are several countries that are likely to help defend Taiwan.

The most obvious friend is the United States, and it's debated endlessly whether the US would defend Taiwan, or would just stand by and allow Taiwan to be swallowed up by China. My personal belief is that this would constitute a "generational regeneracy" event (regenerating civic unity behind the president), and we would be at war with China within a few hours or days.

America has been helping Taiwan to defend itself, mainly by providing weapons systems. In the last few days, it was reported that about two dozen U.S. troops have been deployed to Taiwan for at least the last year to train local military forces to bolster the island's defenses. The special operators have worked with Taiwanese ground troops and the Marines have worked with maritime forces on small-boat operations.

Taiwan has other friends, most notably Japan. As I've been writing for years, China has been thirsting for a war with Japan in revenge for the atrocities (chemical warfare, rape of Nanking) committed by Japan on China during World War II. Furthermore, and nationalism and xenophobia have increased in both countries, and there are now signs that the Japanese are thirsting for a new war with the Chinese. It shouldn't take long for both thirsts to be quenched.

One trigger for a Japanese war with China would be a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Although Japan has a "pacifist" constitution, in 2015 the law was reinterpreted to permit Japanese forces to defend an ally (Taiwan or the US) as "collective self-defense," provided that Japan's government determined that the war was a security threat that threatened Japan's own survival. For example, the Japanese might view the invasion of Taiwan as a stepping-stone to a planned invasion of Japan. (See "28-Jun-21 World View -- Japan's plans for defending Taiwan from an attack by China")

Beyond Japan, there is also the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, linking the United States, Japan, India and Australia, This grouping does not have any military commitments, but it will hold talks to "hold China accountable."

The Beijing Olympics

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will begin on Friday, February 4, and end on Sunday, February 20. This is an interesting milepost in the discussions of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

On the one hand, the Olympics games are a matter of enormous prestige for the Chinese Communists, and they would not want to besmirch the games by an untoward event, like a major war. This suggests that any planned invasion of Taiwan would have to come after February 20.

On the other hand, it's expected that there will be substantial boycotts of the games, for two reasons. One reason is that China is actively committing genocide, ethnic cleansing and enslavement of millions of Muslim Uighurs, and many people will boycott in protest. The second reason is that China kidnaps and jails foreigners without charges in order to gain political advantage, in a policy known as "hostage diplomacy," and many people want to stay away from China for fear of being held hostage to some political dispute.

When will the Chinese Communists invade Taiwan?

Xi Jinping and Tsai Ing-wen both upped rhetoric this past week, in celebration of the "National Days" for China and Taiwan, respectively, with China going much farther by launching hundreds of warplanes to fly over Taiwan.

There is enormous and growing pressure on Xi Jinping to do something to solve the Taiwan problem. However, I agree with those analysts who say that Xi cannot risk an invasion at this time (or at any time, really) because the results would be too unpredictable and potentially catastrophic. So you have the "pressure cooker" analogy, where you don't know when the pressure will be too great, but you know that the pressure has to blow at some point. Or maybe you prefer the "straw that breaks the camel's back" analogy where you know that if you keep piling on straw, then eventually a straw will break the camel's back, though you don't know in advance which one.

As I've written in the past, crisis wars begin with a chaotic unexpected event. World War I began because a 12-year-old high school student decided in 1914 that it would be fun to shoot an Archduke. WW II began in 1937 because a Japanese soldier had to pee and got lost in the woods. Those wars were a complete surprise, even to the belligerents. That's how WW III will begin. It will be totally irrational, insane and unexpected, and it could happen any day.

Moving

During the last two weeks, I've been moved to a new apartment, and I still can't figure out where many things are in the new apartment. At the same time, my computer's hard disk crashed, though fortunately I had everything backed up. All of this has been extremely overwhelming, and it turns out that at age 77 it's even more so, when everything happens at once.

So anyway, anyone who wants to contact me by snail mail should use my new address, which is the same as my old address, except for the apartment number:

John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 2-03C [New apartment number]
Cambridge, MA 02142

John Xenakis is author of: "World View: War Between China and Japan: Why America Must Be Prepared" (Generational Theory Book Series, Book 2), June 2019, Paperback: 331 pages, with over 200 source references, $13.99 Complete Table of Contents
https://www.amazon.com/World-View-Between-Prepared-Generational/dp/1732738637/

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Web Log - June, 2018
Web Log - May, 2018
Web Log - April, 2018
Web Log - March, 2018
Web Log - February, 2018
Web Log - January, 2018
Web Log - December, 2017
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Web Log - December, 2016
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Web Log - December, 2015
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Web Log - December, 2014
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Web Log - December, 2013
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Web Log - December, 2012
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Web Log - January, 2012
Web Log - December, 2011
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Web Log - August, 2011
Web Log - July, 2011
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Web Log - December, 2010
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Web Log - September, 2004
Web Log - August, 2004
Web Log - July, 2004
Web Log - June, 2004


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