Ian Welsh

Trump has shown himself to be a partner who can’t be trusted — he’s unreliable and routinely goes back on his word. But Western nations hate China enough that Trump might pull this off, Welsh says.

If so, we’ll be the weaker side, as the USSR/Warsaw Pact was last time and we will lose the new Cold war, falling further and further behind technologically and watching as the Chinese enjoy goods we can barely even dream of, just as was true of the late Soviet Union.

Everything, and I mean everything, will be sacrificed to keep the oligarchs in power, keep making them richer and keep the flow of unearned cash pouring into every rich person’s orifices.

On the other hand, the EU and China are in talks to end EU tariffs on electric vehicles. “That sound you hear is Elon Musk puckering up to kiss his ass goodbye.”