Pepe Escobar observes that Clown World is losing on every front to the unrestricted warfare being waged by the BRICSIA+ alliance:
The Axis of Asymmetry is in full swing. These are the state and non-state actors employing asymmetrical moves on the global chessboard to sideline the US-led western rules-based order. And its vanguard is the Yemeni resistance movement Ansarallah.
Ansarallah is absolutely relentless. They have downed a $30 million MQ-9 Reaper drone with just a $10k indigenous missile.
They are the first in the Global South ever to use anti-ship ballistic missiles against Israel-bound and/or -protecting commercial and US Navy ships.
For all practical purposes, Ansarallah is at war with no less than the US Navy.
Ansarallah has captured one of the US Navy’s ultra-sophisticated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), the $1.3 million Remus 600, a torpedo-shaped underwater drone able to carry a massive payload of sensors.
Next stop: reverse engineering in Iran? The Global South eagerly awaits, ready to pay in currencies bypassing the US dollar.
All of the above – a maritime 21st-century remix of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War – spells out that the Hegemon may not even qualify as a paper tiger, but rather as a paper leech.
None of this should have come as a surprise to the strategists of Clown World, except they were so accustomed to lying that they no longer have the ability to ascertain the truth and their arrogance caused them to actually believe in their nonsensical rhetoric about being Special or Exceptional.
As events proceed, it is becoming abundantly clear that it is China that is winning WWIII, because the events closely follow the strategy laid out in Unrestricted Warfare by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui in 1999. You cannot possibly understand anything about what is happening, or how systematic the undermining of every foundation of Clown World has been, without reading that book.
The Chinese strategy goes well beyond conventional military issues; that is the literal meaning of “unrestricted” in the title. And it is fundamentally asymmetric; Escobar doesn’t mention Qiao and Wang’s book in his article, but his use of the word strongly suggests that he is familiar with it. The two Chinese colonels defined the concept thusly:
ASYMMETRY—SEEK NODES OF ACTION IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION FROM THE CONTOURS OF THE BALANCE OF SYMMETRY
’Asymmetry’ “fei junheng” as a principle is an important fulcrum for tipping the normal rules in beyond-limits ideology. Its essential point is to follow the train of thought opposite to the balance of symmetry “junheng duicheng” and develop combat action on that line. From force disposition and employment, selection of the main combat axis and the center of gravity for the attack, all the way to the allocation of weapons, in all these things give two-way consideration to the effect of asymmetrical factors, and use asymmetry as a measure to accomplish the objective.
No matter whether it serves as a line of thought or as a principle guiding combat operations, asymmetry manifests itself to some extent in every aspect of warfare. Understanding and employing the principle of asymmetry correctly allows us always to find and exploit an enemy’s soft spots… This use of asymmetrical measures which create power for oneself and make the situation develop as you want it to, is often hugely effective. It often makes an adversary which uses conventional forces and conventional measures as its main combat strength look like a big elephant charging into a china shop. It is at a loss as to what to do, and unable to make use of the power it has.
So, it’s now clear that China is using its allies in Russia, Yemen, and elsewhere in much the same way that Russia was using the Donbass militias, Wagner, and the Chechens in Ukraine. Even Gaza may be a front, although whether it was created, anticipated, or was simply a fortuitous coincidence is impossible to know at this juncture. And this means we not only have not seen the main axis of the conflict, it almost certainly means we haven’t even begun to understand the full extent of the asymmetrical probings for more of Clown World’s soft spots or the consequences of the exploitation of those that are revealed.
Speaking of those soft spots and the exploitation thereof, Escobar makes a prediction that I have not previously seen.
The endgame: only a West Asian Special Military Operation, to the bitter end, will settle the Palestinian tragedy. A translation of what happens across the Slavic Axis of Resistance: “Those who refuse to negotiate with Lavrov, deal with Shoigu.”