When Your Adversary Sees You More Clearly than You Perceive Yourself, Can Trouble Be Far behind? — A Surprisingly Accurate Chinese Perspective on the United States

07 November 2014

Astute — and better with the English language than most of our American media is

From the Republic of China’s Global Times — my underlines added:

Obama always utters "Yes, we can," which led to the high expectations people had for him. But he has done an insipid job, offering nearly nothing to his supporters. US society has grown tired of his banality.

Undoubtedly, Obama is one of the post-Cold War presidents who had to undergo difficult times. He has encountered the global financial crisis and the decline of US influence. He has found many thorny problems because he is the first African-American president in history. As a result, he can only get limited tolerance and acceptance.

Obama has behaved much more prudently than most of his predecessors, and has thus lacked the ability to push forward complicated issues. What's worse, Obama is in the midst of a time when partisan politics is becoming more extreme.

That party interests are placed higher than the interests of the country and its people is an inherent shortcoming of Western political systems. The problem is particularly acute when the US undergoes difficulties. Cohesion in American society is diminishing.

Obama's best performance is empty rhetoric, while he achieved nothing on issues such as lowering the income gap. The American people have not benefited from the economic recovery.

In foreign policy, Obama must also take his share of the blame. He has managed to take US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but left no peace. Osama Bin Laden was killed during his tenure, but the IS has emerged from the Middle East.

Moreover, the Ukrainian crisis has almost brought Europe back to the Cold War era, and his pivot to Asia strategy only increased mistrust between China and the US and among East Asian countries.

Bush, who dared to do everything, and Obama, who dares to do nothing, come from different parties but have the same destiny. Is this their problem or the problem of the US system?

With China's rise, we gradually have the ability to have a clear understanding of the US.

The country is too lazy to reform.

Significance

Two things about the Chinese editorial struck me — its penetrating insight and the concisely accurate word choices than go with its expression. Capable strategic minds generated this message.

An adversary exhibiting clear perception is already far along in competently practicing the Art of War.

The moral? — American shortsightedness, political narcissism, and greed have turned us into bumblers

China’s leadership almost certainly shares the Global Times’ acuity. America’s blindly conceited, imperialistic juggernaut is likely headed for jujitsu-savvy takedown — unless a substantial and influential segment of our population wises up to our perennial short-sightedness.

Twice this week, I have said that the American 2014 mid-term elections presented a meaningless choice and outcome. Today, I will have to modify the statement. By prompting the Global Times editorial, the elections did us the service of generating potentially counter-punching insight into our singularly most capable adversary’s strategic mind.

For intelligent Americans with unflinching spine, self-reflection would be enough to mend our profligately stupid ways. But I would not count on the development of this sort of maturity. There is something about the combination of plutocratic greed and narcissism that tends, eventually, to stumble over its nationally expressed feet.

For China’s leaders, it is only a question of where to place the fluidly moving obstacle that America’s insanely directed momentum will trip over. A series of increasingly weakening cuts will finish the job.

We’ve been warned.

PeteFree.com

When Your Adversary Sees You More Clearly than You Perceive Yourself, Can Trouble Be Far behind? — A Surprisingly Accurate Chinese Perspective on the United States