Legality and Legitimacy | Carl Schmitt

Carl Schmitt ranks among the most original and controversial political thinkers of the twentieth century. His incisive criticisms of Enlightenment political thought and liberal political practice remain as shocking and significant today as when they first appeared in Weimar Germany.

 

Carl Schmitt (1888 — 1985), » among the most original « , e.g.:

 » The emptiness of mere majority calculus deprives legality of all persuasive power. «

 

Legality and Legitimacy was composed in 1932, in the midst of the crisis that would lead to the collapse of the Weimar Republic and only a matter of months before Schmitt’s collaboration with the Nazis. Schmitt questions the political viability of liberal constitutionalism, parliamentary government, and the rule of law. Liberal governments, he argues, cannot respond effectively to challenges by radical groups like the Nazis or Communists. Only a presidential regime subject to few, if any, can ensure domestic security in a highly pluralistic society.

Quoted from the introduction to the 2004 first English translation of

Carl Schmitt (1932) - Legality and Legitimacy.

 

November 24, 2023 - In the People's Republic of China, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is linked to citizens' mandatory digital ID. If somebody drives over the speed limit, the speed camera system automatically deducts a fine from their digital wallet.

 

November 24, 2023 - President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, announces the launch of the European CBDC — the digital euro — which will enable unelected technocrats at the ECB to program how, when, where, on what and by whom it can be spent, including the imposition of social credit, carbon allowance and vaccine passport systems. And despite the lie that 'cash is here to stay', you can be absolutely certain that megalomaniac technocrats such as Lagarde have every intention of gradually phasing out cash altogether, so eventually people will be forced to use CBDCs. European Union citizens already face imprisonment or fines for engaging in cash transactions above €1000, but the introduction of the digital euro will facilitate financial totalitarianism on a scale that would make even George Orwell wince.

 

November 24, 2023 - Christine Anderson, German Member of the European Parliament, explains how CBDCs, in conjunction with digital ID, will be used to exert absolute control over the population: » If you don't comply, they will just shut down your bank account. And it's not like it hasn't happened before. Look to Canada ... There were people standing up for their freedom, for their right not to get some unknown substance injected into their arms. They shut down their bank accounts. So if there was no cash, what are you going to do? They can just eliminate you with a flip of a switch. It's as simple as that. «

 

 

» This would imply to castrate humankind and to degrade it down to the pitiful level of the Chinese. «

Friedrich Nietzsche (1888) answering to Immanuel Kant's 'eternal peace' ideas in his Ecce Homo. Why I am a destiny.

Avoiding Default By Destroying Others | The War-And-Pillage Business Model

The US started talking again about a possible default. However, while a default is technically possible, it is unlikely for now. A default would have immediate severe consequences for the US themselves. Their entire war economy would collapse. And why default now? So far continued destruction of other countries has proved to be a lucrative alternative, attracted investors and directed gigantic capital flows to the US.

 

 Wonders of a War-And-Pillage Economy.

Since 2008 full spectrum assault missions on European Union countries turned out to be nothing short of a success story for the US. In dollar terms the EU economy is now down to 65% of the United States economy. That’s down from 91% in 2013. American GDP per capita is now more than twice that of the EU, and the gap continues to widen. However, now one dollar is worth 50 cents in 2020 dollars. And why exactly is 2013, the year before the US Maidan coup in Ukraine, important? Because in 2013 the US systematically began to use sanctions mechanisms to deprive the European Union countries of cheap Russian energy and to force them to break off beneficial trade and projects with Russia and China. Capital fleeing from the EU to the US was triggered and has been increasing ever since. The US is perfectly content with the now rapidly de-industrializing, US energy-dependent, asset-stripped and broke European Union and will abuse it as long as it lasts. 

RAND Corporation (Jan 25, 2022) - Crush Europe and Strengthen the US.

 

So this time around, which are the remaining wealthy, long-term strategically expendable, docile and suicidal vassal states expected to finance the US for just a little bit longer: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE? Taiwan, South Korea, Japan? In reality the recently near global US dollar hegemony shrunk by half a planet since February 2022. Destroying and plundering Russia, China and Iran remains the US' only goal and hope. Whatever it takes. For the universal triumph, to the full satisfaction and for the eternal glory of their chosen masters. Or, under certain circumstances, God willing, war and regime change in the US will soon mess up those ambitions, as L. David Linsky suggests.

 

April 27, 2023 – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaking plainly about sensitive issues, sanctions against Russia, 

shrunken labor force, high inflation, minuscule growth, ample support to Ukraine, his interest rates-scheming for 2023, etc.

in a real Russian television interview with pranksters Vovan and Lexus, who posed as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

» O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. «
Prophet Isaiah, Holy Bible.

 

 » Know your enemy. «
Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

Li Jingjing's World | The Tianxia System For A Possible World Order

 

» Where were you, why didn't you invest in them?  «

» In this video, I share my own story of seeing how infrastructures lifted China out of extreme poverty, 

and my observations of Belt and Road projects in Asia, Africa, and Europe. 

I also give my analysis of why some Western politicians designed the whole smear campaign on Xinjiang. «

 

天下

 

Tianxia (天下) ─  » All-under-Heaven «  or » Celestial Empire «  ─ is a Chinese cultural concept that denotes the entire geographical world and the metaphysical realm of mortals. Today Tianxia is mainly associated with political sovereignty, the Chinese Civilization-State and international relations governed by universal and well-defined principles of order.

 

Reference:
Li Jingjing (Nov 10, 2023) - Why some wants to destroy the Belt & Road Initiative. (video)

 

Conquer hearts and minds. Develop cooperation. Create wealth.

 

See also:
Tingyang Zhao (2021) - All under Heaven: The Tianxia System for a Possible World Order.

Alexander Dugin (2023) - The Civilization-State.

Creditors And Debtors In The Real Sector Of The World

An interesting picture is emerging: China is a creditor to other countries in the world to the tune of more than 1,300 billion dollars. This is according to a report published by AidData: "With new data from more than 700 state-owned lenders and donors in China, we show that Beijing remains the largest source of international development finance in the world. It continues to surpass all other bilateral and multilateral sources of aid and credit to the developing world, including the US and the World Bank." Note that China, together with Hong Kong, is by a wide margin the world's largest lender. The top 8 largest debtor countries have not changed for many years (Ireland is to be overtaken by Italy early next year), but the amount of debt is growing: 1. US, 2. UK, 3. Japan, 4. Netherlands, 5. France, 6. Ireland, 7. Italy, 8. Germany. G8 total external debt ~ over $63 trillion. 

Quoted from:
Pravda (Nov 09, 2023) - An interesting picture is emerging.

The US War On China | Edward N. Luttwak

Xi’s incessant calls for “combat readiness” may mean that he actually doubts that Chinese military forces are ready for real combat. Its navy, after all, is brand new and inexperienced, while the air force is greatly inferior in its technology, mostly relying on Soviet jet engines, radar-evading “stealth” that is not really stealthy, and inferior missiles. But more importantly, Xi’s intense bellicosity and intense calls for “the rejuvenation of the Chinese people” suggests motives that we cannot even imagine. No, not Taiwan, which China could have had for the asking by merely treating Hong Kong’s freedoms with demonstrative respect, making “one country, two systems” very attractive to the Taiwanese.

 

» There is no China. There is only Xi. He is a dictator. He is isolated. He is obsessed. Kill the bastard ! 

Wang Yi is but a lackey. China is corrupt and weak. Dump Ukraine and destroy China ! «

Edward N. Luttwak, July 18, 2023

 

» Know your enemy. He will win who knows why to fight how to fight when to fight and when not to fight. «

  Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

 

Much more likely is his personal sense of shame that China’s history is a long sequence of defeats at the hands of badly outnumbered invaders — the Turkic, Mongol and Manchurian Jurchen tribes-people, and then the Japanese who might still be there if they had not attacked the US. As with Mussolini, then, Xi’s real aim may well be to turn his unwarlike people into warriors.

Quoted from:
Edward N. Luttwak (Jul 19, 2023) - The clue China is preparing for war.

 

See also:

Edward N. Luttwak (Jul 18, 2023) - Biden and Putin are ready to do a deal. Dump Ukraine, destroy China. (video)

Edward N. Luttwak (2016) - Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook.
Edward N. Luttwak (2002) - Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace.

Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN (Oct 25, 2023) - Explanation of Vote by Ambassador Zhang Jun on the UN Security Council Draft Resolution Regarding the Palestinian-Israeli Situation.

 

Pepe Escobar comments on Kissinger's visit to China in July 2023.

BRICS+ Destroys The US And EU Currency Monopoly | Michael Hudson

There is no way that today’s international debt overhand can be repaid. That is as true for the United States as it is for Global South debtors. The US Treasury owes much more to foreign governments in the form of their holdings of US securities than it can foreseeably repay. It has post-industrialized its own economy, and has committed to spending enormous sums abroad, while its dependency on foreign imports is rising and its prospects for collecting its existing debt claims on deficit countries is looking shaky. The past half-century’s foreign investment has taken the form of privatization of the public domain of debtor countries. This investment has not helped them develop but has merely transferred ownership of their oil and mineral rights, public utilities and other assets. A viable international financial system requires productive investment such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative that can help countries prosper, not asset stripping. Dollar dominance will continue over Europe and other US satellites. Other countries that still need dollar reserves for their trade and investment with the United States can continue as it has. But what will be changed is a new basis for the international economy itself. There will not be a new BRICS currency in the sense of a dollar or euro that could become a medium for trade, investment or international speculation. There will only be a mutual "currency of settlement" of payments imbalances among central banks joining the new system. And that system itself will be based on principles opposite from the financialized neoliberal model being promoted by the Dollar/NATO bloc. That is the real context for the current discussion of BRICS+ economic reform.

President Putin was very clear when he recently talked in Valdai about a single settlement currency: "This definitely deserves our attention. It's a complex issue, and we have to solve it in one way or another." The Western press talks about how much wealth and reserves do the BRICS countries have. Naturally, you count their gold as a large part of their reserves. But where is the gold of the BRICS countries? Much of their gold is not in their own countries. It's in the New York Federal Reserve Bank, it's in the Bank of England and the gold of African countries is in the Bank of France. Right now, this gold is being held hostage. But countries can ask the US, the UK and France to give them back their gold. Germany tried to do that a few years ago and said, "Can't you begin to give us our gold back that was moved to your banks during the last seventy-five years of  US occupation? " And the US said, "Oh I'm sorry, we can't. We've already done something else with your gold. There are legal problems and we are not giving it back to you!" Now, let's say the BRICS countries would ask for their gold and if the United States and England and France will not return it, those countries could take compensation, including all of the foreign investments in their countries. They could do another thing: If, especially the African countries, say, "You've stolen our gold. You cannot expect us to pay our foreign dollar debts if you have come and seized our gold. Give us back our gold. You owe to us. And by the way, we're going to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization so you can't send your troops in and do what you did in Libya and simply grab it." This is an element of the financial future that nobody in the West has talked about.

Quoted from:

Michael Hudson (Oct 07, 2023) - A BRICS+ Bank: How would it really function?

Michael Hudson (Oct 25, 2023) - BRICS Destroys the US and EU’s Currency Monopoly. (video)

Beware When Fighting Monsters | Friedrich W. Nietzsche

» Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.

For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. «
 

Friedrich W. Nietzsche

1886 

 

Netanyahu is obsessed with razing Gaza to the ground. If that happens, a wider regional war is nearly inevitable. Sections of the West applauding the upcoming ethnic cleansing – including Zionists posing as 'analysts' saying out loud that the "population transfers" that began in 1948 "must be completed" – believe that with massive weaponry and media coverage, they can turn things around in short shrift, annihilate the Palestinian resistance, and leave Hamas allies like Hezbollah and Iran weakened. Peace in West Asia means the US retreat from Syria and Iraq; Israel retreats from Syria; Syria reconstruction – in which China is now officially involved; active redevelopment for Iraq and Lebanon; Iran and Saudi Arabia as part of BRICS 11; the Russia-China strategic partnership fully respected and interacting with all regional players, including key US allies in the Persian Gulf. And, as Chinese President Xi Jinping diplomatically put it in December 2022, Beijing "firmly supports the establishment of an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. China supports Palestine in becoming a full member of the United Nations." 

 

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a map of "The New Middle East" without Palestine

during his September 22, 2023 address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

 

See also:

Omar Suleiman (Oct 13, 2023) - On Israel. 

Mustafa Abu Sway (Oct 13, 2023) - Palestine: The Origins of The Conflict. 

 

Syria Warns the US: "Stop the Oil and Gas Robbery! Get Out Immediately!"

The United States tries to overthrow Syrian governments through different proxies like Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1970ies, and since 2011 through al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, more radical Jihadi terrorists and militias as well as through substantial US military forces inside of Syria. As a consequence more than half of Syria's population of 23 million is displaced from their homes, 5.5 million fled the country, and estimates of the total number of deaths, in what is framed as 'the Syrian civil war' by the West, vary between 603,064 and about 620,000 as of August 2023. 

 

On September 10, 2023 the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and the President of the Security Council Ferit Hoxha, demanding that they put an end to aggressive practices and violations of the principles of international law and the provisions of the UN Charter, which are being committed by the United States of America and its military forces that are illegally present on one third of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic - on more than sixty thousand square kilometers - in the northeast and in the Al-Tanf region in the southeast of the country (yellowish and light green on the map below). 

 

While the United Nations so far does not even recognize the illegal US presence and occupation in Syria as a fact,
the rate of theft was around 100-130 thousand barrels per day and recently reached 150 thousand barrels per
day in addition to 59.9 million cubic meters of natural gas and 413 thousand tons of domestic gas.

The Ministry pointed out that the United States of America and its tools continue to violate sovereignty and plunder the country’s wealth and strategic resources, with the aim of exacerbating the effects of illegal unilateral coercive measures and depriving Syrians of the capabilities of their homeland and increasing their suffering. The Ministry added that the value of the damage caused to the Syrian oil and mineral wealth sector as a result of acts of aggression, looting and sabotage committed by the US forces and their terrorist tools amounted to a total of $ 115.2 billion during the period from 2011 until the end of the first half of the year 2023. The Ministry stated that the latest statistics and estimates of the losses of the oil sector in Syria show that the value of direct losses amounted to $ 27.5 billion, resulting from the following: The theft, waste and burning of extracted oil quantities estimated at 341 million barrels. The rate of theft was around 100-130 thousand barrels per day and recently reached 150 thousand barrels per day in addition to 59.9 million cubic meters of natural gas and 413 thousand tons of domestic gas. The value is $21.4 billion. Vandalism and theft of facilities, resulting in damages amounting to $ 3.2 billion. 

 

Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, US-Department of Defense, October 2019:
"The US now owns one third of Syria, all of the hidrocarbons, and the country's food basket. The rest is rubble."

The so-called ‘international coalition’ bombed oil and gas facilities in Syria, with the amount of damage amounting to $2.9 billion. The Ministry continued that the indirect losses amount to $87.7 billion, which represents the value of the lost benefits (from crude oil, natural gas, and domestic gas) as a result of a decrease in production below the planned rates under normal working conditions. Syria demanded that American officials be held accountable for these thefts and that the American administration be forced to compensate for them, end the illegal presence of American forces, and return the lands it occupies, oil and gas fields and other natural resources to the Syrian state to ensure improving the humanitarian and living conditions of the Syrians.

Reference:
SANA (Sep 10, 2023) - Syria: Washington and its terrorist tools continue to plunder Syrian strategic resources.

Map of Syrian Civil War - Syria news and incidents today (live map)
Kevork Almassian (Sep 15, 2023) - Syria's Warning to America: Get Out Immediately and Cease Oil Robbery! (video)

South Front Analysis & Intelligence (2023) - Updates on the Military Situation in Syria.
Wikipedia (2023) - Casualties of the Syrian civil war.

MFA of the People's Republic of China (2023) - US Hegemony and Its Perils.

Crush Europe and Strengthen the U.S. | RAND Corporation

January 25, 2022 

Confidential

Distribution: WHCS, ANSA, Dept. of State, CIA, NSA, DNC 

 

Executive Summary

[...] The current German economic model is based on two pillars. These are unlimited access to cheap Russian energy resources and to cheap French electric power, thanks to the operation of nuclear power plants. The importance of the first factor is considerably higher. Halting Russian supplies can well create a systemic crisis that would be devastating for the German economy and, indirectly, for the entire European Union. The French energy sector could also soon begin to experience heavy problems. The predictable stop of Russian-controlled nuclear fuel supplies, combined with the unstable situation in the Sahel region, would make French energy sector critically dependent on Australian and Canadian fuel.

 

"A reduction in Russian energy supplies - ideally, a complete halt of such supplies -
would lead to disastrous outcomes for German industry." - RAND Corporation, Jan 25, 2022.

 

[...] The only feasible way to guarantee Germany's rejection of Russian energy supplies is to involve both sides in the military conflict in Ukraine. Our further actions in this country will inevitably lead to a military response from Russia. Russians will obviously not be able to leave unanswered the massive Ukrainian army pressure on the unrecognized Donbas republics. That would make possible to declare Russia an aggressor and apply to it the entire package of sanctions prepared beforehand. Putin may in turn decide to impose limited counter-sanctions - primarily on Russian energy supplies to Europe. Thus, the damage to the EU countries will be quite comparable to the one to the Russians, and in some countries - primarily in Germany - it will be higher.

 

The prerequisite for Germany to fall into this trap is the leading role of green parties and ideology in Europe. The German Greens are a strongly dogmatic, if not zealous, movement, which makes it quite easy to make them ignore economic arguments. In this respect, the German Greens somewhat exceed their counterparts in the rest of Europe. Personal features and the lack of professionalism of their leaders - primarily Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck - permit to presume that it is next to impossible for them to admit their own mistakes in a timely manner.

 

Thus, it will be enough to quickly form the media image of Putin’s aggressive war to turn the Greens into ardent and hardline supporters of sanctions, a ‘party of war’. It will enable the sanctions regime to be introduced without any obstacles. The lack of professionalism of the current leaders will not allow a setback in the future, even when the negative impact of the chosen policy becomes obvious enough [...] This will ensure a sufficiently long gap in cooperation between Germany and Russia, which will make large German economic operators uncompetitive.

"The prerequisite for Germany to fall into this trap is the leading role of the German Greens."

[...] A reduction in Russian energy supplies - ideally, a complete halt of such supplies - would lead to disastrous outcomes for German industry. The need to divert significant amounts of Russian gas for winter heating of residential and public facilities will further exacerbate the shortages [...] A complete standstill at the largest in the chemical, metallurgical, and machine-building, plants is likely, while they have virtually no spare capacity to reduce energy consumption. It could lead to the shutting down of continuous-cycle enterprises, which would mean their destruction.

The cumulative losses of the German economy can be estimated only approximately. Even if the restriction of Russian supplies is limited to 2022, its consequences will last for several years, and the total losses could reach 200-300 billion euros. Not only will it deliver a devastating blow to the German economy, but the entire EU economy will inevitably collapse. We are talking not about a decline in economy growth pace, but about a sustained recession and a decline in GDP only in material production by 3-4% per year for the next 5-6 years. Such a fall will inevitably cause panic in the financial markets and may bring them to a collapse.

The euro will inevitably, and most likely irreversibly, fall below the dollar. A sharp fall of the euro will consequently cause its global sale. It will become a toxic currency, and all countries in the world will rapidly reduce its share in their forex reserves. This gap will be primarily filled with dollar and yuan.

 

NATO's purpose is "keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down",
as Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, NATO's first Secretary General, put it.

Another inevitable consequence of a prolonged economic recession will be a sharp drop in living standards and rising unemployment (up to 200,000-400,000 in Germany alone), which will entail the exodus of skilled labour and well-educated young people. There are literally no other destinations for such migration other than the United States today. A somewhat smaller, but also quite significant flow of migrants can be expected from other EU countries.

 

Since 1871 the prime U.S. geopolitical foreign policy doctrine for Europe is:
"Keep Germany and Russia separate and in conflict."
Or as Victoria Nuland put it in 2014: "Fuck the EU!"

The scenario under consideration will thus serve to strengthen the national financial condition both indirectly and most directly. In the short term, it will reverse the trend of the looming, economic recession and, in addition, consolidate American society by distracting it from immediate economic concerns. This, in turn, will reduce electoral risks.

In the medium term (4-5 years), the cumulative benefits of capital flight, re-oriented logistical flows and reduced competition in major industries may amount to USD 7-9 trillion. Unfortunately, China is also expected to benefit over the medium term from this emerging scenario. At the same time, Europe's deep political dependence on the U.S. allows us to effectively neutralise possible attempts by individual European states to draw closer to China [...]

Quoted from:
RAND Corporation (Jan 25, 2022) - Executive Summary: Weakening Germany, Strengthening the U.S.

See also:

Hans-Benjamin Braun (Apr 07, 2023) - Nord Stream Pipeline Blast by US-Nuke. 

Michel Chossudovsky (Aug 30, 2023) - Niger’s Military Junta is Supported by the Pentagon.

Washington’s Unspoken Objective: “Remove France from Africa”.

Max Blumenthal & Aaron Maté (2023) - German Greens, the world's most hypocritical party? (video)

 Bruno Maçães (2018) - Greater Eurasia: Russia’s New Energy Gamble.

Chinese 24 Solar Terms & Lunar Cycles in 2023

References: 

Tianbao Zhou, Xinghao Li & Peng Wang (2021) - Statistics and Practice on the Trend’s Reversal and Turning Points

of Chinese Stock Indices based on Gann’s Time Theory and Solar Terms Effect.

 National Astronomical Observatory of Japan - Online Calendar and Ephemeris Generator.

 

 

 

See also:
4X other way (2020) - Moon Trading: Sidereal and Synodic Cycles - Tops and Bottoms Spot On. (video)

The Chinese Communist Party | Martin Jacques

There is virtually zero knowledge or understanding of the Chinese Communist Party in the West. It is seen as a clone of the Soviet Communist Party. In reality it is entirely different. It has been extraordinarily successful, not just transforming China but is also in the process of changing the world. Everyone needs to know about the CPC and understand the reasons that lie behind its extraordinary success.

 

Reference:

Martin Jacques (2021) - 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (video). 

 

Martin Jacques (2009) - When China Rules the World. (video)

See also:

Martin Jacques (2009) - When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order.

Zhang Weiwei (2023) - The American financial crisis will happen sooner or later, and China needs to save the United States twice? (video)