Krkljanac, again

On the main roads, the unsung Krkljana reigned again. It's as if traffic rules have ceased to apply.

Overtaking is done illegally, the right of way is not respected, and driving in the opposite direction from the prescribed one is common. Actors of chaos generally take on the role of law enforcement, punishing each other and excluding them from traffic, which then becomes even more irregular.

These kinds of scenes surpass the performances of the biggest breaks, such as revolutionary and counter-revolutionary coups or transitions between mafias. Now, however, they are an illustration of a nightmare in international relations, especially, and surprisingly, among those most responsible for preserving global stability, if not for stimulating general tranquility.

In the quadrangle of world security - USA, China, EU and Russia - all kinds of strategic grumbling and growling prevail today. Along with mutual accusations - from violation of basic human rights to interference in other people's internal affairs. Sanctions are raining on all sides and for various reasons due to the aggressiveness shown, disregarding the norms of international law, spying, with mandatory retaliatory measures. The mutual expulsion of diplomats took off as if it were pushy illegal immigrants or spreaders of the coronavirus.

In short, the series goes like this - the West imposes sanctions on Russia and China for violating human rights, and from there they retaliate by meddling in other people's organizations from the outside, to which the West adds accusations that those two easterners stand out by interfering in sovereign processes such as its democratic elections which the so-called duo either does not practice (China) or only pretends (Russia). Beijing and Moscow emphasize that the world has changed significantly, perhaps even more than with the fall of the Berlin Wall, so that "now the power of the West is declining, and the power of the East is growing."

One would say they are right. With the addition - the West is still superior in every respect, even militarily, if such an undesirable balance is called out.

The well-informed Farid Zakaria recently specified on CNN, among other things, that America's arms expenditures exceed the sum of the next ten powers in this regard (including six of its allies) and are three times higher than China's. And that Washington's intelligence budget is greater than Russia's total defense investment.

The mentioned analyst also explains that it is not all about money. American expenses in the twenty-year long war in Afghanistan were, presumably, 10.000 times higher than those of the opposing Taliban, so it will soon withdraw its army from that country, where power could once again fall into the hands of the aforementioned radical Islamists.

The Afghan case is indicative in many ways, including the history of the last four decades. The government established after the Russian invasion in 1978 was replaced by US-backed guerrillas. Al Qaeda emerged from that support. And the assassinations of its independent members on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 marked this century, since then America began the "global war against terrorism", which is still ongoing, and in which it initially enjoyed support from Moscow, which had previously been defeated there. These days, after Joe Biden's announcement about his withdrawal, Russia has again expressed interest in "fixing the situation" in that "tomb of empires" (previously British).

It's not really too much of an exception. In those areas, politics has previously imitated the circulation of matter in nature. More than forty years ago, by means of Washington diplomacy (Nixon-Kissinger), China was directed against the USSR and began, relying on the West, the modernization with which it is now, in cooperation with Russia, trying to overthrow the dominance of the USA, and the West as a whole, in world affairs.

A more daring saltomortale cannot be remembered. China projects itself as the winner of globalization in which, first by imitating America, it contributed to the breakup of the USSR, and then with the help of the rest of the USSR challenged the "hegemony" of America and its alliance with Europe as the most effective model for shaping the world. Although thanks to him, with the addition of the communist dictatorship to the dictates of capitalism, it grew into a first-rate power. But at the same time, it presents the first serious challenge to the long-confirmed rule that democracy and the free market are prerequisites for national and international prosperity.

China's exception to the rule is commendable, but only so much. By no means should it become a rule from which democracies with developed welfare states would become an exception. And here it is as if the Chinese model is being pursued, which may be coming to an end, since it has been on the rise for twice as long as American unitarism has lasted. Although it seemed to be long-lasting, it actually gave a convincing impression only to the last decade of the last century.

It's time for accelerated history. She does not suffer long dominance or long identification with her.

When even the all-powerful America failed to fend off fierce global competition, neither will China. With the difference that America would not succeed without opposition, while China has yet to really face the opposition. In which I guess we here will also be, no less inclined than her to fly over.

(novimagazin.rs)