Is the West taking an existential risk to remain the sole tiger on top of the mountain ?

Part 3, of my last article "Deal with it : Dualism drives the thinking of Western minds !", was titled "The mainstream media announces "The Globalization of White Supremacy". In it I stated the following :

Deal with it : Dualism drives the thinking of Western minds

For 30 years M. K. Bhadrakumar was an Indian diplomat. He is now retired and writes about "Indian foreign policy and the affairs of the Middle East, Eurasia, Central Asia, South Asia and the Asia-Pacific". His views are those of a humanist who has reflected during his entire life on how the last Centuries of Asian misery, at the hands of white Christian Europeans, are shaping the cultural contours of Eurasia in this 21st century.

Separating Europe from China in the hope of remaining forever the sole Tiger on the mountain

Over the whole of its time-span Modernity has witnessed 7 shifts of the center of gravity of its economy-world. An eight’s shift is presently in the works that moves the center of gravity of the economy-world from the USA to China. But this time around it is leaving the territorial domain of the Western civilization for what Western eyes view as an "otherworldly" civilization. And Western minds have difficulties to accept this unfolding reality.

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (14)

Part 6.   The paradox of humanity’s predicament

6.1. Modernity, is the greatest achievement of humanity but it fosters life extinction

6.2. the shift in the governance-world leads to uncertainties

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (13)

5. A gradual shift from a Western to an Eastern model of society

5.3. Covid-19 is a first fatal blow to Late-Modernity

Covid-19 did not collapse national economic systems as is portrayed in Western mainstream media. It was merely the catalyst that activated the clean-up of the many severe imbalances that had been accumulating since the nineteen-eighties which then exploded after the  great recession of 2007-2008 :

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (12)

5.  A gradual shift from a Western to an Eastern model of society

5.2.5. the rise of the Asian model of governance

Regional Economic Blocks have a decisive governance advantage over the present world institutions. For one they group neighboring countries that have privileged and often long-standing inter-relations. Secondly they are not burdened by the weight of bureaucracy and corruption that characterize present day International Institutions. Thirdly these regional blocs are not torn apart by the ideological divisions between the declining power and the upcoming power.

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (11)

5.   A gradual shift from a Western to an Eastern model of society

5.2.4. the irresistibility of Regional Economic Blocks (REBs)

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (10)

5.  A gradual shift from a Western to an Eastern model of society

5.2.  Toward a world confederation of regional blocs (REBS)

The Western centric world institutions, created after the 2nd World War, did not adapt to a changing Geo-political reality. Western countries have been resisting the institutional reset that naturally should have followed the shifting of the center of gravity of the economy-world towards East-Asia. Under necessity the world is now starting to turn toward an alternative institutional setting to accomplish what the international institutions no longer can.  Along the last decades we observed the the first timid steps of the re-organization of the world, into Regional Economic Blocs (REBs) and the twenties, of this 21th century, will see an acceleration of that process.

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (9)

5. The shift from a Western to an Eastern model of society

5.1. after covid-19 reality = affirmation of regional blocs

The economic reset, that is taking place in this first part of the 21th century, is a historical event fraught with danger. The West is losing its hegemony over an evolving Late-Modernity. The center of gravity of the economy-world is moving to a nation outside the Western civilizational realm.  But the West, or would it be better to say the USA, is not taking this reset agreeably and is multiplying the provocations against China.

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (8)

Part 5:  The shift from a Western to an Eastern model of society

Economic reality finances the social and cultural endeavors of a society and so the comparative influence of societies in the international sphere is given primarily by their economic power. The following table traces the evolution of economic power between the West and East-Asia over the last 20 years.

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (6)

Part 4.  The virus is the pin that deflated the bubble of everything

“  In less than three decades, a mere blink of the eye in historical terms, the United States has gone from the world’s sole superpower to a massive foundering wreck that is helpless before the coronavirus and intent on blaming the rest of the world for its own shortcomings.  … But how and why did this pitiable condition come about? Is it all Donald Trump’s fault as so many now assume? Or did the process begin earlier?

The answer for any serious student of imperial politics is the latter. ... two things are clear. One is that the process did not start under Trump, while the other is that it will undoubtedly continue regardless of who wins in November. Once collapse sets in, it’s impossible to stop.”  (1)

First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (4)

Part 2.  Timeline of the Chinese answers to the outbreak of ‘Covid-19’

The fact that the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in Wuhan does not imply that the virus originated in Wuhan. In matter of fact the origin of COVID-19 is still unknown. Calling it “China virus” or “Wuhan virus” is thus dishonest to say the least. It reflects a will, by those who use such terms, to manipulate peoples’ minds and glue in the collective unconscious a narrative that satisfies their ideological interests.

The spectacle of a Western break-down

I had written a comment as a response on an article titled "It’s Time for Conscious Uncoupling With China" that was written by Dan Harris and published on "The China law blog" this April 11, 2020.

_________

I now share this response on my blog because "The China Law Blog" censured it while in no way does it peddle fake-news, nor does it attack individuals, nor does it use foul language. It conveys an analytical sketch of the present moment in history. In other words refusing to publish it was a blatant act of censuring free speech. A screenshot of freedom made in the USA...

_________

Organic art = the patterns of life (4)

3.  In the 20th century the 3rd world was forced to adopt Modernity in order to survive

For the last 40 years I had the great chance of being a close witness of the Chinese story and I observed that to ensure the survival of their nation the Chinese, in a first move, largely copied Western Modernity.

With the benefit of hindsight it becomes evident that a second move down the road will enable them to walk their own national way into the future. There is no better guide than the artworld to understand how the country is generating its own way by forcing the integration of Modernity inside Chinese Traditional Culture.

And so under the sheer weight of population numbers China is quietly shedding Modernity’s old Western skin...

Organic art = the patterns of life (3)

2.   how did Modernity emerge in Europe

Why is understanding the emergence of Modernity so important ? Well, in order to survive in the 20th century, all countries on earth were forced to convert to the quasi-worldview of Modernity and to the reason that is at work within capital. What ensued was a radical departure from the past that thoroughly impacted the ways of thinking and the behaviors of the individuals in all third-world nations. And this resulted in a blow-back of monumental proportion on their worldviews, culture, art, and societal governance.

I observed first hand how – the art world in Beijing during the eighties was mesmerized to ape Western productions, rock and punk music, the modernist avant-garde painting, – and how this resulted in three decades of sheer insanity. Things have certainly evolved since then but the blow-back resulting from aping the first world has still not been completely digested...

Having said that the fact of the matter is that the blow-back on the 3rd world is nothing compared to the chaos that was unleashed on the first world.

Today we come to suspect that Modernity and capitalism have cursed humanity. And nothing could liberate us more thoroughly from this curse than by gaining a clear comprehension of why and how Modernity emerged in Western Europe in the first place and how things then evolved toward Late-Modernity.

What’s going on here ? (5)

2. the cultural context forces human thinking and actions

The present post covers:

-  chapter 2.3.   Culture
-  chapter 2.4.  Collision of our cultural context with societal collapse

Next week’s post will cover:

-  chapter 3. determinant factors driving the ‘governance-world’

Art. From tribal to power societies.

In the present stage of our understanding tribal art roughly emerged around 40,000  years ago while Chinese Xieyi painting, Chinese Buddhism and Christianity only started around 500 AD.

Calligraphy originates sometimes before 200 BC. It was revered as a fine art in line with poetry and music while painting was merely viewed as a craft applied in the field of decoration, remembrance of ancestors, or illustration of daily life. Xieyi appeared later as an extension of calligraphy and this is when painting finally acceded to the status of a fine art in China.

What is striking, in the juxtaposition of images here under, is how visually similar Chinese Xieyi painting is to tribal art. Chinese Buddhism still has some common traits with tribal art but with Christianity we enter into a whole new world.

Why is Xieyi so similar to tribal art?
Why is Christian art depicting such a totally different world than tribal and Xieyi art?

Center of gravity of the economy-world and worldviews

This article is a sketch of the general context of the present moment we find ourselves in the world. It comes as a conclusion of my short series “the disconnection in perceptions between East and West”. I'll follow this sketch with 2 more posts addressing – the realities on the ground in China and the West, – their future prospects in view of their present realities.

America First? Hum... but China Is already starting to Dominate Global Technology!

As I wrote in the first post of this series (A growing disconnect between Chinese and Westerners) "Change is assaulting our certainties as never before. The fields it affects are multiplying while its speed is accelerating and in consequence our minds are being numbed into incomprehension".

But few would ever think that these changes already imply that the technological center of gravity of the world is leaving the US. So what follows will come as a surprise to most. The reality is that China is sprinting investing all over the place while the West is broke, its societies atomized and on the verge of violent confrontations, and the interconnections between its systems are clogged like the arteries of a patient with advanced arteriosclerosis. Treating this condition is not a given and many specialists (economists, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, etc...) believe that the patient is on its death bed. It should thus not come as a surprise that year after year, month after month, the scientific news is informing us that Western technological supremacy is sifting, one sector after the other, like sand falling through the fingers.

Imaginings of the future. Rational abstractions reached by the thinking mind…

1.  Past trends that help to understand the present: