The "Great Game" Turns Violent
The War in Ukraine is part of the struggle for world domination, also call the "Great Game." Innocent people are dying, as they have in many countries since World War II.
World War II was part of the Great Game, as well. Germany, Japan, France and Italy were eliminated from contention. The United Kingdom became a vassel state of the US. More people than ever before died.
Left standing were the United States and the Soviet Union. The US because it had entered the war late, and because its productive capacity was not damaged, but grew to new heights. The defeat of Japan and the development of the atomic bomb also helped increase America’s power.
The USSR stayed in the game because it was overwhelmingly responsible for defeating Nazi Germany, and also had become an industrial powerhouse. In 1950, the Peoples Republic of China joined the game after defeating the gangsterism of Chiang Kai-shek nationalist army. It took more than 50 years for the Chinese to increase their industrial power to a level that permitted them to play the Great Game.
In 1989, the USSR lost its associated states in Eastern Europe, and in 1991 dissolved. It’s largest piece, Russia, sank into a disgraceful form of capitalism where assets of the Russian working class were plundered by foreigners and oligarchs. Within 20 years it had rebounded to an approximation of its earlier incarnation.
Volunteers to Fight and Die
Both sides in the Ukraine/Russia conflict are welcoming volunteers. As many as 3,000 Americans are planning to go fight, according to Ukrainian souces. President Zelenskyy said he expects as many as 16,000 voluteers from America and Europe.
He may have gotten this figure from Russia’s announcement of 16,000 confirmed volunteers from west Asia (Middle East). There is speculation that they are veterans of the fight against ISIS, in which Russia participated.
Volunteers have not been in such demand since the Korean War when thousands of Chinese volunteers turned the tide of battle. There is, as yet, no information about possible Chinese volunteers in Ukraine. However, even without them most volunteers on the Russian side would be soldiers of color while Ukraine is soliciting white volunteers from Europe and America.
How is the Great Game being fought?
In addition to old-fashioned war, the Great Game is being fought on several fronts, including propaganda (also called news), threats and demands, economics including sanctions, trade, innovation, and spying.
Propaganda is very apparent in the current situation while military clashes are taking place in the Ukraine. The US and its European supporters have immediately banned Russian news agencies, including RT and Sputnik. During the original cold war, the US clearly won the propaganda war. But we, the American public, are not supposed to see opposing viewpoints or countervailing facts, least of all from the Evil Empire, Russia.
In the old days of the Cold War, people who wanted to know what the Soviets were thinking had to tune in to Radio Moscow on shortwave. We could also wait for the occasional book on social or political topics from Moscow’s Progress Publishers.
Mass disenchantment with Mainstream Media has turned the tables. Before its banning, RT had more than five million viewers on YouTube, and countless more on its website and cable shows. These figures don’t include Sputnik, the radio network, which is now running videos as well. At the same time, CNN had barely one million viewers on a good day.
Those figures are for the US. In the Global South (third world), it’s even more lopsided. RT is broadcasting in multiple languages and gaining viewers. Sputnik radio is even more of a factor in poor countries. The offerings of the US Empire had appeal with the local ruling classes but hardly anyone else. After the fighting is over, it will be a struggle for Russian media to regain its viewers in the US, but it is likely to continue growing in the developing countries.
Even now, Russian media/propaganda is alive and well in all parts of the world, excluding the US and NATO countries. In these countries, working people cannot see what the “other side” is showing.
But, like the income gap, RT and other sources can be seen by the elite who can contact their IT department or go into their government office, according to informed sources. There they can watch RT News report on Ukraine bombing civilian populations in the Dombas with cluster bombs, and in one scene a video shows most Ukraine ships, filled with donated weapons of war, being abandoned in their ports by their crews and captains who apparently were having breakfast, just before they heard that a Russian army was approaching, the sources report.
Threats and demands have worked well for the Russians. Even though NATO and the US military are within striking distance of Russian troops in Ukraine, they have been restrained by Putin’s order putting his country’s nuclear arsenal on high alert. It seems no one wants to jump into a nuclear caldron. As a result, western troops are keeping their distance.
The Empire’s sanctions have kicked Russia out of its clearing house for payments, called Swift. This action will definitely have unintended consequences. Russians can easily switch to the Mir card system. A large number of Russians already have a Mir (as opposed to Visa/MasterCard) credit card. The Mir card is only good within Russia, but it is linked to UnionPay, the Chinese system for international payments. More countries, particularly in the Global South will likely sign on to the Chinese system. The US will be hurt by the shrinking volume of transactions going through Swift.
Perhaps the biggest blunder in terms of sanctions is the banning of Russian oil from the US, and likely, Europe. It may inconvenience Russia, but not otherwise hurt that country. Russia can sell oil and gas to China, and probably, Pakistan, India and other Central Asian countries.
US consumers with gasoline-powered automobiles make see prices per gallon jump from $5 to $10, or more. Europe, on the other hand, will suffer the most since it is reliant on Russian heating oil. It will take years for the US to replace the Russian pipeline flow, at a higher price.
This has lead so to theorize that the US’ real target in this scenario is Europe, not Russia. It is true that Europe suffers from nearly every sanction the US applies. The worse blow was the US demanding the Russia-Germany pipeline, Nordstream 2 be shut down.
Climate change will not be gentle with Europe, especially if the warm Gulf Stream stops flowing, and warming Europe. A winter without gas for their heaters could be devastating for Europeans. Russians will stay warm and toasty, while Europe freezes thanks to the US Congress and President.
Normal trade between Russia, China and the West may not return for a long time. While Russia is being denied new iPhones, the West may suffer the same fate due to a shortage of rare metals from Russia. The world is much too interrelated to be able to target trade restrictions and sanctions to just one country. The Blowback will affect everyone on the planet.
Although calling it a “game,” seems to trivialize the deaths, injuries and suffering caused by the collusion of great powers, it is what it is, and the Great Game is afoot at an intensity not seen in many years.
