March 1, 2023 Ali

Insanity # 17: High Alt. Balloons Need Hot Air & No Shortage of That – How About 75 Sec. Of Earthly Honesty?

Calling Out Absurdities & Curating Common Sense for The Greater Good

 

  • The past few weeks while all eyes were on “The Balloon” in US skies, the mother earth shattered beneath humanity’s feet in Türkiye & Syria
  • They say the earthquake took only 75 Sec. to cause such tragic carnage leading to unfortunate loss of 50,000 innocent lives & counting
  • 75 Sec. is 1 Min & 15 Sec. So I want to invite you to fully focus on a few observations and I promise for no longer than 75 Sec
  • Türkiye is the 2nd Largest Military in NATO, ,yet none of her military prowess could predict, plan, protect or stand in the path of Mother Nature
  • Nor NATO’s Article 5 could come to rescue confronting Mother Natures Article 0 – the Zero Sum Game of Planet’s Power
  • The brute force & growing frequency and fractures that natural disasters present, should make us wonder “How Fragile We Are?”
  • Though 1/3 of Pakistan was submerged in floods, Türkiye’s cities turned into dust – Myopic Politicians still perceive power in One Dimension..
  • Military Might: We lose sight that the entire NATO were present in Afghanistan for 20 Yrs., Super powers camped for 20 Yrs. In Iraq, while…
  • Japan a pacifist nation since World War II & without a fraction of Türkiye’s military expenditure – has her cities shaken & rattled on a monthly basis , begging the question what is the definition of power in real terms?
  • While cities collapse & submerge, we should be more worried about the shallow foundations on which Global Leaders contest & quarrel
  • A new definition for power, resilience & leadership in the world is long overdue and most likely in making & emerging…a New World?

 

Hybrid Wars & The Ones “Who Can Do No Wrong” – Impunity á La Carte

Emmanuel Macron at Munich Security Conference: “I’m very impressed by how much WE are losing the trust of the Global South”. Here are few questions that may help Monsieur Le President, why the Global South feels this way:

Q1: Global South is wondering where are the net assessments of Iraq, Afghanistan & Libya invasions? Why after 20 odd years, WE have no balance sheet of the destruction caused & lost lives? Why WE have not used the same wonderful tools, capabilities that are rightly measuring, the cost & damages to Ukraine, do the same for these wars too?

Q2: Is impunity a new currency that is minted & supported by the size of the PR/Media & Digital Hybrid Assets of the parties involved? Can WE keep our eyes only wide open for “Conflicts of Convenience” & yet wide shut on a “Conflicts of Collective Culpability”? Can WE regain lost trust by freezing OUR assets for reparations of invasions of past 20 Yrs.?

Q3: Climate Change is the biggest threat to planet & yet WE lecture Global South to curtail their just energy needs for their growth, how can WE justify the Carbon Emissions of our Forever Wars, let alone pricing them, & why are WE not trying to stop this war ASAP?

Texas Two Step Bankruptcy Coming to Global Politics Near You– Not a Whataboutism But a Dose of Realism

Q1: Texas Two Step Bankruptcy is a unique corp. defense mechanism for companies that face litigation. Global Powers have also learned how to ring-fence, mitigate, isolate & cordon off all their losses, liabilities of Aggressions of Yesterday, by immediately establishing a New Crisis. Can this model be challenged in Courts of Consciousness in Global South? Will Afghan women left behind in hands of The Taliban second this?!

Q2: Majority of Global South & China included have remained neutral in Ukraine-Russia crisis. China so far has refrained from providing military aid to Russia and yet is pitching for a Ceasefire, why should WE discount, ignore or undercut her efforts? Why all the hysteria?

Q3: Peace Brokerage demands grit & US has failed in Mid-East Peace Process. So why not “Give Peace a Chance” even if sung in Mandarin for a change?

 

IRA: Inflation Reduction Act or Inflicting Real Ambiguity on Pensions, Productivity & Prosperity of Europe?

Q1: What are ramifications for EU when, Germany its key economic engine stutters loses momentum & arrives at The Recession Station?

Q2: Will US speed up decamping luring German/EU industries to US, as China faces major headwinds for new FDI on the continent?

Q3: With Nord Stream Allegedly Sabotaged, EU’s mid/long-term energy security at peril, will EU industrial behemoths have to choose between US & China as BASF the world’s largest integrated chemical company may be doing so?

 

USA’s “Status Anxiety” – America Needs More Sociologists than Senators

Q1: Geo-economical & geopolitical tectonic plates are rumbling & can lead to a 7 richter scale earthquake between US & China. Today its Chips Act, tomorrow when Global South set up their trade payment solutions, beyond SWIFT for a non-dollar trade, will US then tell them: “Hey Global South you can’t use Trans Atlantic/Pacific Fiber Optics & internet infrastructure of United States?“ Then What?

Q2: Does not United States need more Sociologist today than Senators? As many US intellectuals even worry, If main challenges of US are at home, how can the answers be found around the world?

Q3: From Full Spectrum Dominance to Full Spectrum Dialogue. If that is not the case, aren’t we heading to Full Spectrum Disaster while Global South is rooting for multi-polarity? Can’t US lead that evolution from the front, and cheer dialogue, which is the end game of every war & conflict?

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

Ali Borhani is the Managing Director of 3Sixty Strategic Advisors Ltd. It is the readers’ responsibility to verify their own facts. The views and opinions expressed in this article/commentary are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other individual, agency, organization, employer or company.