Assuming We're Not All Incinerated: Eurasian Power in a Post-Western World

“Western Europe is undergoing a wave of Islamization, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. It is awash in this, and we would like to ensure that the State of Israel will have varied markets around the world.”

Speaking ahead of a meeting with the prime minister of Japan on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Israel’s need to reduce its dependence on European trade. The arrival of the delegation marked the first time since 2006 that a Japanese prime minister has visited Israel, and highlights the extent to which ties have been strengthening between the two countries since Netanyahu was welcomed in Japan in May of last year.

On the surface, this statement from the Israeli prime minister makes perfect sense. It immediately calls to mind the Charlie Hebdo insanity radiating out across the planet from Europe. I mean really, who would want to do business in such a hostile environment? Not this guy. But of course, as with anything spewing forth from a politician’s mouth, you’re only getting a piece of the truth—if any at all.

As I explained in a previous article, the West is in trouble. Its banking system is failing and it can no longer con the awakening masses into the wars it needs to right the ship. The European Union in particular is flatlining. Juxtaposed to this is the emerging strength of the BRICS nations and their New Development Bank. If you see it as a competition, as you should, then the tide is clearly turning.

The fact that Russia was able to persuade Ukrainian leaders to walk away from the EU is the most glaring evidence of this, but there’s no shortage of other events to cite.

In June of 2014 Vladimir Putin signed an energy cooperation deal with the president of Argentina to build two nuclear power plants in the Latin American country. Argentina needed foreign investors so it could begin to seriously develop its vast shale fields, but few were willing due to the debt crisis the country was facing. Essentially, Russia stepped in where the West wouldn’t.

China, the other true powerhouse of BRICS, signed a $12 billion agreement with Nigeria last November to build a railway along its coast. The project promised 200,000 Nigerian jobs during the construction phase and 30,000 positions once the operation went live. This came four years after China inked a $23 billion oil contract with that country, part of a campaign to up the Chinese presence in resource-rich Africa.

The other BRICS nations and their allies are following suit. Deals, not bombs, seems to be the strategy. And it’s working. But the offers aren’t confined strictly to outlying nations.

Back in 2008, as NATO member Iceland was experiencing a crushing financial crisis, it was Russia that ponied up with a $5.4 billion bailout. The benefits for Russia were twofold. It was a boon to its reputation on the diplomatic stage, sure, but it also moved the energy powerhouse one step closer to laying claim to the Arctic shelf’s untapped energy resources. At the time, BRIC (South Africa didn’t sign on until 2010) was simply a loose association of nations with a hunger to be more. But the bailout of Iceland marked the beginning of a pattern.

Fast forward to today, and behold the sheer audacity that BRICS—and Russia, in particular—feels comfortable with displaying to the world.

Greece, who will hold elections on January 25 that will almost certainly see a new party come to power, is hurting, and hurting bad. The likely incoming Syriza Party has indicated a willingness to write off much of Greece’s gargantuan debt, which naturally has European Union leaders sweating bullets. After all, in the philosophy of the central banking scheme, debt is sacrosanct.

In the midst of this chaos, Russia tendered Greece a positively mind-blowing offer: leave the EU, pledge to work with the budding Eurasian Economic Union, and the Russian food embargo currently imposed upon Greece would be lifted.

Indeed, the BRICS message is impossible to misinterpret. They’re willing to work with any nation that is willing to work with them. Come one, come all, as it were.

But there are always exceptions. At the moment, for instance, it’s difficult to imagine any scenario, ever, in which Russia and the United States could productively collaborate. If we—as in the human race—are lucky, then cooler heads will prevail and the tensions escalating now will ease without incident. You’re welcome to hold your breath on that one if you’d like. I’ll pass.

And it’s at this point that Israel comes back into the picture. Because all the Islamization, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism aside, Netanyahu sees the writing on the wall.

As far as top dog status goes, the West may very well be done. What’s left of its planetary stranglehold weakens by the day. Crippled by debt and overextended militarily, the United States and its Western allies have fallen victim to their own predatory system. By contrast, those nations begrudgingly forced to accept Western rule have, until recently, been quietly executing a counter-offensive. Now, sensing Western fragility, they have no reason to hold back (hence, the power play for Greece).&

Momentum has shifted, and Israel must adjust accordingly. That’s what the pivot toward the East is really all about. Israel wants to be—by its very nature, absolutely has to be—on the winning side. Its survival depends upon it. Up until now, the only thing keeping the Middle Eastern wolves at bay has been the threat of the American military. So if the Western regime falls, Israel will be left alone, surrounded by enemies.

Some may point to Iran as a reason why Israel would never align itself with a Eurasian superpower. It was only days ago that Iran and Russia signed a military agreement, after all, and Iran is the country Netanyahu has consistently pointed to as the true enemy of mankind. But that obsession with toppling Iran has always been part of a Western agenda, and it stands to reason that Israel would be willing to shrug off old grudges in order to secure its continued existence.

Because that’s precisely what’s at stake for Israel right now. It’s continued existence.

The perception of Israel as history’s great victim is dying. Dead, in my opinion. As dead as the perception of America as the world’s shining beacon of liberty and free expression. For anyone with open eyes, last summer’s conflict in Gaza exposed the State of Israel for what it ultimately is—a bully. The numbers don’t, can’t lie. Over 2,000 Palestinians dead, the vast majority of them civilians. And out of those civilian deaths, nearly 600 were children. And it continues. As we speak, IDF soldiers are razing Palestinian villages, stealing the land upon which they were built, and radioing the all clear to start erecting Jewish settlements.

The difference this time around is that the State of Israel is being called on its brutality. The International Criminal Court has made the decision to open a preliminary probe into Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, and it might just be that no amount of sabotage can stop it. Even if Israel or its enabler the United States could somehow scuttle the probe, world opinion is already shifting toward something more closely resembling the truth. And the truth is that Israel is fast becoming the pariah of the global community.

Which brings us back to BRICS. The expanding Eurasian bloc has made it clear that it’s willing and eager to partner, yes, but not out of some humanitarian impulse. They want something in return. So the question becomes…What does Israel bring to the table in a de-Americanized, post-Western world?

It’s here that some would undoubtedly argue that BRICS would, in fact, shelter Israel after a Western collapse. That BRICS is somehow different than all the superstates of the past. That its devotion to peace is evidenced by the very links I’ve included in this article. These are the same people who think Vladimir Putin is a swell guy.

Wake up. There’s one reason, and one reason only, that the Eurasian bloc has thus far refused to turn to war—it doesn’t need to.

There’s a very real possibility the Western world will implode on its own. In that case, Russia and the BRICS nations can safely watch from a distance. And if the worst happens and it comes to world war—and, as my title suggests, we’re not all incinerated in the process—I can’t help feeling like America and its allies wouldn’t be all that difficult to put down.

And that’s when you’d start to see it. Once the West was under heel, the new Eurasian state would begin—admittedly, very slowly at first (you know, so as not to alarm anyone)—to show its true colors. Until, eventually, a more sophisticated but no less oppressing system of enslavement would be cemented into place. There’s no question about this. Such is the nature of the state.

We’re fighting back, and we’re doing real damage. I truly believe this. And there’s something else I believe…they’re afraid. They’re genuinely terrified of our power. But until we, as a species, awaken to the truth that the state—not Russia or North Korea or even Iran as a little man in Israel would have us believe—is the true enemy of mankind, a body such as the ICC will forever have atrocities to investigate.

James Holbrooks is a professional writer and editor. You can find his work at HolbrooksWordsmithing.com where this article first appeared. Follow James on Twitter.