Foreign Policy is important to governments, to nations, to people. It can be about war or peace, free trade or none. It involves #Superpowers, the big kids on the block.
Their dealings with each other gave rise to the business of #Diplomacy, the formal system of dealings between states. One might feel that it took on its modern form at the #Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
The whole business of #Superpowers was written about by George Orwell, an Englishman & Socialist but one with decent instincts. His book was Nineteen Eighty Four; it deals inter alia with the relations between the totalitarian superstate Oceania [ read America & Europe ], Eurasia & Eastasia. Today, in 2022 that means America, China and Russia with American power declining as China's grows.
Michael Hudson, a real economist explains matters for grown ups at #The American Empire Self-Destructs and other articles.
Foreign Policy ex Wiki
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through multilateral platforms.[2] The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that a government's foreign policy may be influenced by "domestic considerations, the policies or behaviour of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs."[2]
Superpowers ex Wiki
A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural strength as well as diplomatic and soft power influence. Traditionally, superpowers are preeminent among the great powers. While a great power state is capable of exerting its influence globally, superpowers are states so influential that no significant action can be taken by the global community without first considering the positions of the superpowers on the issue. [1]The term was first applied in 1944 during World War II to the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union.[2] During the Cold War, the British Empire dissolved, leaving the United States and the Soviet Union to dominate world affairs. At the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States became the world's sole superpower.[3][4][5] Today, scholars debate which countries and organizations to include in the list of superpowers, with the leading candidates being the United States of America, the People's Republic of China, the European Union, the Republic of India, and the Russian Federation.[6]
Diplomacy ex Wiki
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written speech acts by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.[1][2]Diplomacy is the main instrument of foreign policy and global governance which represents the broader goals and strategies that guide a state's interactions with the rest of the world. International treaties, agreements, alliances, and other manifestations of international relations are usually the result of diplomatic negotiations and processes. Diplomats may also help shape a state by advising government officials.
Modern diplomatic methods, practices, and principles originated largely from 17th-century European custom. Beginning in the early 20th century, diplomacy became professionalized; the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, ratified by most of the world's sovereign states, provides a framework for diplomatic procedures, methods, and conduct. Most diplomacy is now conducted by accredited officials, such as envoys and ambassadors, through a dedicated foreign affairs office. Diplomats operate through diplomatic missions, most commonly consulates and embassies, and rely on a number of support staff; term diplomat is thus sometimes applied broadly to diplomatic and consular personnel and foreign ministry officials.[3]
Peace of Westphalia ex Wiki [ 1648 ]
The Peace of Westphalia (German: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people. The Holy Roman Emperor (Ferdinand III of Habsburg), the Spanish Monarchy, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, the United Provinces (Netherlands), and their respective allies among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire participated in these treaties.[1]The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two cities, because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control. A total of 109 delegations arrived to represent the belligerent states, but not all delegations were present at the same time. Two treaties were signed to end the war in the Empire: the Treaty of Münster and the Treaty of Osnabrück.[2][3] These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, with the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria and Spain) and their Catholic allies on one side, battling the Protestant powers (Sweden and certain Holy Roman principalities) allied with France, which was Catholic but strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV. The separate Peace of Münster ended the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the United Provinces.
Joachim Whaley, a leading English-language historian of the Holy Roman Empire, mentions that later commentators such as Leibniz, Rousseau, Kant, and Schiller eulogized the Peace of Westphalia as the first step towards a universal peace, but he points out that "their projections for the future should not be mistaken for descriptions of reality".[4]
Scholars of international relations have identified the Peace of Westphalia as the origin of principles crucial to modern international relations,[5] collectively known as Westphalian sovereignty, though other historians argue that this is largely a myth invented after the fact.[6]
America’s Real Adversaries Are Its European and Other Allies
[ 7 February 2022 ]
The American Empire Self-Destructs [ 7 March 2022 ]
The basic assumption of economic and
diplomatic forecasting is that every country will act in its own
self-interest. Such reasoning is of no help in today’s world.
Observers across the political spectrum are using phrases like
“shooting themselves in their own foot” to describe U.S.
diplomatic confrontation with Russia and allies alike.
For more than a generation the most
prominent U.S. diplomats have warned about what they thought
would represent the ultimate external threat: an alliance of
Russia and China dominating Eurasia. America’s economic
sanctions and military confrontation have driven these two
countries together, and are driving other countries into their
emerging Eurasian orbit.
American economic and financial power was
expected to avert this fate. During the half-century since the
United States went off gold in 1971, the world’s central banks
have operated on the Dollar Standard, holding their
international monetary reserves in the form of U.S. Treasury
securities, U.S. bank deposits and U.S. stocks and bonds. The
resulting Treasury-bill Standard has enabled America to finance
its foreign military spending and investment takeover of other
countries simply by creating dollar IOUs. U.S.
balance-of-payments deficits end up in the central banks of
payments-surplus countries as their reserves, while Global South
debtors need dollars to pay their bondholders and conduct their
foreign trade.
This monetary privilege – dollar
seignorage – has enabled U.S. diplomacy to impose neoliberal
policies on the rest of the world, without having to use much
military force of its own except to grab Near Eastern oil.
US Dollar Hegemony Ended Abruptly Last Wednesday [ 29
March 2022 ]
The
Dollar Devours the Euro [ 7 April 2022 ]
The U.S. aim is to keep them from trading with China and Russia
The Iron Curtain of the 1940s and ‘50s was ostensibly designed to
isolate Russia from Western Europe – to keep out Communist ideology
and military penetration. Today’s sanctions regime is aimed inward,
to prevent America’s NATO and other Western allies from opening up more trade and investment with Russia and China. The aim is
not...
Read More
QUOTE
But nobody thought that it would happen this fast
Empires often follow the course of a
Greek tragedy, bringing about precisely the fate that they
sought to avoid. That certainly is the case with the American
Empire as it dismantles itself in not-so-slow motion.
UNQUOTE
The dollar was the world's
Reserve Currency giving the American treasury a free ride.
Printing $100 notes for maybe 5 cents each was good business for
them. Now states are being forced away; bad news for the Yanks.
Interview with Margaret Flowers, Clearing the Fog
Margaret Flowers: You're listening to Clearing the FOG, speaking
truth to expose the forces of greed, with Margaret Flowers. And
now I turn to my guest, Michael Hudson. Michael is the president
of the Institute for the Study of Long-term, Economic Trends,
ISLET. He's a Wall Street financial analyst and a distinguished
research professor of...
Read More
It is now clear that today’s escalation of the New Cold War was planned
over a year ago, with serious strategy associated with America’s plan to
block Nord Stream 2 as part of its aim of blocking Western Europe
(“NATO”) from seeking prosperity by mutual trade and investment with
China and Russia. As President Biden...
Read More