The world is on the threshold of the World War III. Or, if we count the Cold War, the World War IV. All previous wars were won not only due to competent political and military leadership, but also due to industrial power and rich natural resources. The West needs certain resources to win, Spiked reports.
A 21st-century world war would pit the West and its Asian allies – notably India, Japan, and South Korea – against a modern version of the “Pact of Steel” of the 1940s. This time, however, it will be an alliance of Iran, China, and Russia. Military preparedness is necessary to meet this threat with dignity. But equally important is the rapid build-up of Western economic power.
To counter the power of Russia, China and Iran, the West needs not a Green New Deal (part of which Joe Biden included in his poorly named Inflation Reduction Act) but something closer to the original New Deal of the 1930s, a programme that promoted infrastructure development, energy generation and industrial productivity. These policies laid the groundwork for transforming America and its allies into what Franklin D. Roosevelt called the “Arsenal of Democracy” – turning the United States into an industrial centre to support the fight against fascism.
Any attempt at re-industrialisation is met with opposition from much of the US establishment. This includes financial companies such as BlackRock, whose largely unprofitable “environmental, social and corporate governance” (ESG) policies are designed to encourage investment in companies that supposedly fit their Net Zero obsessions. In practice, this policy favours China’s continued industrial hegemony, which puts a stick in the wheels of Western industry. At the same time, BlackRock is happy to expand its business in China, the biggest polluter and autocracy on a global scale.
Free market dogma has influenced the deindustrialisation of the West. Consultants and investors are pushing businesses to look offshore for almost all critical manufacturing resources. Between 2004 and 2017, there was a decline in the US share of global manufacturing from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. At the same time, US dependence on Chinese components doubled. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the trade deficit with China has led to the loss of 3.7 million American jobs since 2000. Overall, the US and EU share of value-added manufacturing has fallen from 65 per cent in the 1960s to barely half that share today, according to Spiked.
The West is woefully unprepared to meet the challenges of geopolitical conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. A recent study by Cynthia Cook of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies found that even before the Hamas attack, the need for arms supplies to Ukraine “raised concerns about whether the remaining stockpiles were sufficient for training and military plans.” The destruction of the industrial base explains Washington’s total arms shortage. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the US was forced to seek help from its leading geopolitical rival, China, to deal with the emergency there.
The claim that the US can offset import dependence through its high level of technological development is a cruel deception. Last year, the US net trade deficit in high-tech products was $242bn. A similar situation is expected this year.
This amount is made up of critical components for military products, many of which are now made in China. If China, seeing the turmoil in the West, decides to invade Taiwan, which many US companies that make key components rely on, this dependence could only worsen. One Taiwanese company, TSMC, is of particular importance. It supplies Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, AMD, Nvidia and other major technology companies. It is also the manufacturer of semiconductors for the F-35 fighter jets. Imagine the scale of what would happen if China were to take over these assets, Spiked reports.
The powerful climate lobby’s obsession with renewable energy only favours China’s dominance of the green industry, while the capitalist elite undermine US economic security. China has complete control over both the rare earth metals needed and the technology to process them. As a result, China is a monopoly in solar power and currently produces twice as many electric vehicles (EVs) as the US and EU combined. China’s BYD is the largest electric car manufacturer in the world. Environmentalist nutjobs like California Governor Gavin Newsom have hailed China’s dominance of the electric car market as a step toward “net zero,” even though China continues to aggressively build coal plants and emit more greenhouse gases than all developed countries combined.
China has complete leeway for pollution, and current green policies are weakening the West. For example, Newsom’s California, which was desperate to get rid of both fossil fuels and nuclear power, now suffers from some of the highest electricity prices in the country. As a result, many companies, including technology companies, are finding it increasingly difficult to stay in the state. That’s bad news for California, which has lost a third of its manufacturing jobs since 1990, well above the national average. Last year, only 1.3 million jobs remained in the state. In Europe, the situation is similar. Germany, the only economic superpower in Europe, is also deindustrialising rapidly, largely due to its extreme green policies.
However, not all is lost yet. One positive development is the re-establishment of the US as the dominant fuel producer. Domestic oil production declined 50 years ago, during the Yom Kippur War and the US became increasingly dependent on oil from the Middle East. Now, thanks to the fracking revolution, the US exports about four million barrels of crude oil per day, as well as record amounts of natural gas (about 20 billion cubic feet per day). Today, the US is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.
This expansion has not come without environmental damage. The US leads the world in reducing CO2 emissions and energy efficiency. As the latest Statistical Review of World Energy shows, between 1973 and 2022, per capita energy consumption in the US fell by about 20 per cent. In addition, US CO2 emissions have fallen by about 915 million tonnes since 2000, the largest reduction of any country on the planet, according to Spiked.
This progress – and the promise of energy free from Middle Eastern domination – faces opposition from analyst Robert Bryce’s what he calls the “anti-industry industry,” or the $4.5 billion-a-year NGO-corporation-industry-climate complex. This interconnected network of activist groups receives hundreds of millions of dollars from oligarchs such as Michael Bloomberg, Laurene Powell Jobs, Jeff Bezos and John Doerr to stop traditional energy sector and promote renewable energy.
Simply put, a significant industrial upturn cannot happen with fully renewable energy. High energy costs threaten entire industries such as automobiles, and an aging power grid is made even weaker by dependence on variable solar and wind power. Western countries must realise that industrial superiority and energy self-sufficiency are essential for security.
The self-destructive aspect of modern environmental policy is also evident in the rejection of nuclear power, the most efficient carbon-free energy source. France is belatedly learning this lesson. Thanks to green opposition to nuclear power in the West, Russia has become the world’s largest uranium enricher, with 46 per cent of the world’s enrichment capacity.
The West needs to wake up seriously instead of unilaterally disarming the economy. Fortunately, it seems that resistance to this misguided policy is already emerging. In Europe, some leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have recognised the need to re-industrialise the continent. And in the US, climate change and the environment are top priorities for less than five per cent of the population. Even the Biden administration is making greater efforts to respond to China’s growing challenge to scientific and technological development.
However, most Western countries still pay insufficient attention to military power. Washington prioritises the development of “climate strategies”, while ammunition stocks are gradually running low and the quality of combat forces has declined dramatically. The situation is similar in Europe, where armies are turning their attention to climate change and security services are prioritising “LGBT+ rights” over developing a strong deterrent.
The bottom line is that the West can no longer turn a blind eye to the threat posed by the emerging hegemony of authoritarian states. It now seems more likely that China will achieve its stated goal of dominating supply chains and becoming the world’s leading superpower by 2050 than that Western governments will realise their vague dreams of “building back better” or imposing a “great reset” against economic growth.
The West must prioritise strengthening its military, industrial and energy resources. It is now hard to imagine that the country’s leadership is up to the task. However, history has shown that it was once able to do so. It is only unknown whether this time there will be enough time and will to win again.
