Ukraine-Russia war: Biden neocons, 1; Biden globalists, 0; Biden, confused
After Trump, neocons control foreign policy again; Is Forever War in Europe their next objective?
It’s always sad to see to grown men and women cry, but that’s just what the Davos crowd was doing this past week amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, lamenting the collapse of globalism in the wake of the war and on the heels of the global pandemic.
Most remarkably, the CEO of the multinational investment firm BlackRock, Larry Fink, sent out a letter to shareholders that was, more than anything, a eulogy for globalism. It was almost enough to bring tears to your eyes:
As I write this letter to you, the world is undergoing a transformation: Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine has upended the world order that had been in place since the end of the Cold War, more than 30 years ago. The attack on a sovereign nation is something we have not seen in Europe in nearly 80 years—and most of us never imagined that in our lifetimes we would see a war like this waged by a nuclear superpower. I speak for everyone at BlackRock when I say that witnessing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been truly heartbreaking.
That it has been, but what is just as tear-wrenching for Fink as the Russian assault on Ukrainian sovereignty and on its people was the assault on globalism’s foundations. A winner in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine cannot yet be declared, but Fink saw the war as a knock-out punch to globalism:
But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades. We had already seen connectivity between nations, companies and even people strained by two years of the pandemic. It has left many communities and people feeling isolated and looking inward. I believe this has exacerbated the polarization and extremist behavior we are seeing across society today.
Fink said he still believed in the benefits of globalization:
I remain a long-term believer in the benefits of globalization and the power of global capital markets. Access to global capital enables companies to fund growth, countries to increase economic development, and more people to experience financial well-being.
Well, he’s right about the power of global capital markets. Just look at what they did to middle America: While global corporations were minimizing their labor and capital costs, and maximizing their profits and government subsidies, they eliminated millions of American jobs and destroyed vast swaths of the heartland and the Northeast. So financial well-being is in the eyes of the beholder.
You can’t say globalism wasn’t efficient in its creative destruction, though. At least unemployed workers could buy cheap toasters.
Now all that goodness is asunder, Fink said, and not just because of government sanctions:
Capital markets, financial institutions and companies have gone even further beyond government-imposed sanctions. As I wrote in my letter to CEOs earlier this year, access to capital markets is a privilege, not a right. And following Russia’s invasion, we saw how the private sector quickly terminated longstanding business and investment relationships.
OK, so what now for the globalists? They definitely don’t want war, or a new Cold War, either, and one would think that the Biden administration—globalist as it is perceived to be—would come riding to the rescue. Or at least try to ride to the rescue. Unfortunately for the globalists, it isn’t. Indeed, the new Cold Warriors are riding high in the party, and that’s why Fink and other elites are wringing their hands in public. Let’s take a look.
Biden, globalism’s last best hope, or not? …