They stood outside the window of their
imagination; they looked into the window and salivated at the magnificent war
they could be having if only the American people were not tired of seeing their
country involved in fruitless wars that cost oodles of money, countless
American and foreign lives, and the disgust of a world that became accustomed
to hating America and everything labeled American.
These are the neocons who were mugged by the
reality that advocating for war, be it endless or short term, was no longer
gaining traction among the progressives or even the die-hard right-wingers of
the country. And so, the neocons invented a new way to play what they say is
only a make-believe war game that’s meant to entertain –– but in reality, they
mean it to be a rehearsal for the real thing for when the time will come if it
ever will.
Jed Babbin is one of the dreamers that is
standing outside the neocon-enchanted window, playing the game that will never
see the light of day in real life. Nevertheless, he took the trouble to
describe what could have been. He did so in an article he wrote under the
title: “United States must restore its independence from China,” and the
subtitle: “Cold War games entwine medicine, rare earth minerals and more.” The
article was published on May 17, 2020 in The Washington Times.
So, how does Jed Babbin and those like him
play the game without revealing what they are up to? Well, if you really want
to know, you can form an understanding by reading the first paragraph of
Babbin's article. It goes something like this: “We are decades into a Second
Cold War, this time with China … our ability to deal with the threats it poses
is uncertain.” Does that tell you something, dear reader?
In any case, now that Babbin got you
scared, he reassures you that it was natural, therefore inevitable that when
the Soviet Union fell, China would replace it and become America's new rival.
In fact, he goes on to say, there are a dozen reasons why these two countries
were slated to be rivals and at war. But make no mistake, he goes on to say,
even though this process is a natural phenomenon, the two sides are not equal.
Babbin explains that America stands as the
good guy in this confrontation, whereas China stands as the bad guy. America is
a free nation, he explains, and China is totalitarian. The Chinese seek to
dominate America's allies, he laments, in addition to engaging in a cyberwar
against American interests, as well as being aggressive in the South China Sea.
And he warns that the Chinese have been
playing a long-term sneaky game. He explains that some 30 years ago, then
Chinese leaders Deng Xiaoping reassured the world that China was more like a
domesticated pussycat than a wild tiger. It sought nothing more than security
for itself, and will never claim leadership of the world. But look at China now
under Xi Jinping, says Babbin; he complains that the new leader of China, “has
given up the pretense of restraint in claiming China's position as a global
leader”.
That means the Cold War is on, says Jed
Babbin. It is on, not because America or China want it, but because the
hallmarks of a Cold War are here whether or not we like it. But as during the
first Cold War, the ideological struggle between the two powers, as well as the
fear of a nuclear war, are present.
What's happening now, he goes on to say,
is that the Chinese are engaged in cyberattacks to steal American research in
the race to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. China is also engaged in
a disinformation campaign to confuse the world about the reality that the
pandemic originated in China, and that the Chinese are leading the global
effort to fight the disease.
To be honest, Jed Babbin had managed to
build a magnificent moral edifice up to now, and should have stopped here. But
in his eagerness to paint America as a perfect world-player, and paint China as
imperfect, he inadvertently went on to demolish the edifice he erected with
such devotion. Look what he did:
“The facts of China's disinformation
campaign, and that it sent thousands of COVID-19 test kits to other nations,
most of which were defective, established China's record. If China claims to
have won the race to develop an anti-COVID-19 vaccine, no nation could
rationally trust the vaccine's effectiveness or safety. China's ubiquitous
involvement in our economy possesses its own significant threats, including its
dominance of the US antibiotics market. On the economic side, we need to do whatever
it takes to restore our independence regarding medicine and other critical
items”.
So, here it is. After denigrating the
medical supplies that China sent to other countries, calling them defective,
Babbin admitted that for years, America had been relying on those same supplies
to the point of being totally dependent on them.
Does that mean America had been so
incompetent and careless, it was risking the lives of its people not knowing
what was going on? Or does it mean that America knew all along it was importing
and paying for medical supplies that were killing its people?