In his hopeful WP column on the world’s future after the pandemic, Fareed Zakaria cites Lawrence of Arabia and World War I peace terms. From Lawrence of Arabia he cites, “Nothing is written” about the future. For post-World War I, he cites the failure of the US to embrace the League of Nations, while Europeans imposed harsh terms on Germany. He does not mention that many of the harsh terms were perceived as coming from Jewish financiers, whether they actually were or not, and that this perception that Jews were trying to destroy Germany and the German people led in about a decade to the Holocaust.
There is a danger that people will perceive the current
financial crisis similarly as a K-shaped recession, benefitting the richest,
many of whom are Jews like Jeffrey Epstein, George Soros, Larry Ellison,
Sheldon Adelson, and many others. They
are at the top of the K, while many ordinary Americans are at the bottom of the
K. Will those Americans at the bottom of
the K rebel in the future like the Germans did in the1930s. Fareed basically hopes that the 2020s will be
more like the 1950s than the 1930s. Both
periods were marked by the end of World Wars.
World War I ended with anger and oppression. World War II ended with cooperation and
generosity. If the 2020 pandemic is
similar to a World War, Fareed wants it to end like World War II, rather than
WW I.
The pandemic has gotten Europe to develop cooperation more
strongly among the EU countries in the last few months. Brexit is propelling Britain toward more
separation. Trump is distancing the US
from Europe and most all of its long-term allies. Fareed says the US need to develop a better
relationship with China.
It is surprising to me that no one seems concerned whether
the pandemic is some kind of Chinese plot against the West and the US in
particular. China seems to have almost
completely recovered from the pandemic, presumably because of its authoritarian
government, but also because it followed the advice of its scientists on how to
deal with a pandemic. The US may have
been significantly weakened by its freer lifestyle. Ironically, Trump and his conservative allies
are saying maintain that freedom, while the liberal Democrats are saying that
the US needs a more authoritarian approach to dealing with the pandemic. Schumer and Pelosi believe America should
follow the authoritarian Chinese model. In
any case, the Chinese will almost certainly emerge from the pandemic stronger
vis-à-vis the US and the rest of the world.
Whether that is by plan or accident is still too early to tell for sure,
although all the evidence available to date indicates that the corona virus
release by China was accidental.
At the moment I see the pandemic as a sign of worse things
to come, but who would have seen the beginning of World War II as the beginning
of the greatest growth in prosperity in the history of the world? Maybe, as Fareed hopes, our better angels
will take over, and we will be able to make something good out of something
bad.
