USA

4.1 The REAL reason the U.S. is picking a fight with Iran

In 1983, Iran blew up a Marine barracks at the US Embassy in Beirut, killing dozens. President
Ronald Reagan abandoned Lebanon and it appeared Iran had chased the US out of the region.
That same year an Iraqi man called Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis car-bombed the US Embassy in
Kuwait. Though he escaped, with Iran's help, he was sentenced to death in absentia in Kuwait
for the bombing. It's believed he then went on to help hijack passenger planes. Western
intelligence agencies also accuse him of involvement in the hijacking of a Kuwaiti airliner in
1984 and the attempted assassination of a Kuwaiti prince. Do you want to know who was in the
same convoy as General Soleimani on Friday when that drone missile struck? It was that same
car-bomber, al-Muhandis.

VM#4.2 Russia has every right to act in Ukraine - George Galloway - Russia Today - 4th
March 2014

The incursion by the Russian military was seen as responsible for the defeat of Ukrainian
forces in early September. In November 2014, the Ukrainian military reported intensive
movement of troops and equipment from Russia into the separatist-controlled parts of eastern
Ukraine. The Associated Press reported 80 unmarked military vehicles on the move in rebel-
controlled areas.OSCE monitors further stated they observed vehicles transporting ammunition
and soldiers' dead bodies crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border under the guise of
humanitarian aid convoys. As of early August 2015, OSCE observed over 21 such vehicles
marked with the Russian military code for soldiers killed in action. According to The Moscow
Times, Russia has tried to intimidate and silence human rights workers discussing Russian
soldiers' deaths in the conflict. OSCE repeatedly reported that its observers were denied access
to the areas controlled by "combined Russian-separatist forces".
CHINA
VM#4.7 Prof Wolff   Socialism With Chinese Characteristics 

China has deepened supply-side structural reform in a new set of trying economic conditions,
sometimes called the "new normal." People are starting to cash in on the benefits of various
reforms in such areas as intellectual property, the two-child policy, household registration,
medical reform and university admission. China's reform and innovation has no limits and offers
viable ideas for global governance. The country's concept of innovative, coordinated, green,
open and shared development became keywords at the G20 summit held in the city of
Hangzhou last year and have been incorporated into the international discourse for global
governance.

4.10 John Mearsheimer_ We are Moving to a Multipolar World with Three Great Powers -
YouTube

John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago talks

about why Russia and the United States are not bound to stay on the top of the headlines
forever as China rises. Mearsheimer also lays out three possible scenarios for Russia's actions
as the United States and China become the primary economic and military powers.
Mearsheimer also talks about the relevance of the structural theory of international relations,
even as it is criticized for being inadequate in the modern world. Mearsheimer and Valdai Club
Programme Director Timofei Bordachev also discuss the process of teaching and learning, and
why an education in international relations remains important.
China vs USA
4.5 Understanding the China _ US Economic Relationship - Richard Wolff –

China’s economy has grown or “developed” much faster over recent decades and now
rivals the United States and EU economies. China was better prepared for and better contained
the damages flowing from the 2000 dot-com crisis, the 2008-09 Great Recession, and the 2020
COVID-19 crisis. The party and government in China mobilized private and public resources to
focus on prioritized social problems that also included reduced dependence on exports and
massive infrastructural expansion. A key lesson of Chinese development is that economic
objectives are better met faster if a dominant social agency prioritizes achieving them and can
mobilize the maximum resources, private as well as public, to that end. China’s party and
government were that agency.

4.11 Lecture Mearsheimer Moscow-Offensive Realism in explaining the current and

future US-China relations

The rise of China has been met with mixed reactions. For optimists, the rise of China makes a
world that has seen a long peace even less likely to see conflict. Others take a more cautious
approach and argue that what the future holds cannot be predicted. China’s rise may give lead
to conflict or it may not. For pessimists, the rise of China is likely to or will inevitably cause
instability and conflict. Just as Thucydides deemed the Peleponnesian War inevitable as Athens
rose and the relative power of Sparta declined (Thucydides 1996, 163), so history will repeat
itself as China rises and the relative power of the United States declines.

John Mearsheimer is one of these pessimists and arguably one of the most prominent skeptics
of China’s “peaceful rise” (referring to China’s foreign policy which has sought to mitigate the
“China Threat” school of thought). Underpinning his skepticism of China’s peaceful rise is a
compelling formulation of offensive realism. The aim of this essay is to examine whether
Mearsheimer’s theory of offensive realism provides a logically coherent basis for the view that
the rise of China will be unpeaceful. In answering this question, Mearsheimer’s theory as
presented in the The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, earlier writings (1990, 1995) and his
specific writings on the topic of the rise of China (2005, 2006a, 2010) will be assessed.

VM#4.16 Joseph Stiglitz Discusses U.S. – China tension

After the US involvement started fifty years ago, China's economy has expanded tenfold.
American businesses could not see Chinese companies as competitors, Gary Ginsberg reports.
Ginsberg claims that China was accused of manipulating its currency. He says the issue is how
any trading profits will be reaped. Ginsberg: If we seek to disengagement and lose our political
and economic structures, we will pay a high price. All countries must find a way to share trade's
advantages.
VM#4.3 What do all of these regime change wars have in common_

Regime change is the replacement of one government regime with another. Use of the term
dates to at least 1925. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical
leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy. It can be the deliberate product of
outside force, as in warfare. Rollback is the military strategy to impose a regime change by
defeating an enemy and removing its regime by force. Regime change can also occur through
inside change, caused by revolution, coup d'état or reconstruction following the failure of a
state.

VM#4.4 The Military-Industrial Complex.mp4 

The military–industrial complex (MIC) is an informal alliance between a nation's military and the
defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public
policy. A driving factor behind this relationship between the government and defense-minded
corporations is that both sides benefit—one side from obtaining war weapons, and the other
from being paid to supply them. The term is most often used in reference to the system behind
the military of the United States, where it is most prevalent due to close links between defense
contractors, the Pentagon and politicians and gained popularity after a warning on its
detrimental effects in the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17,
1961.

4.12 John Mearsheimer - Geopolitics and Beyond, November 2, 2013 - Int'l Relations
theory

With a number of controversial publications behind him and not least his book,The Tragedy of
Great Power Politics, John J. Mearsheimer has firmly establishedhimself as one of the leading
contributors to the realist tradition in the study ofinternational relations since Kenneth Waltz’s
Theory of International Politics.Mearsheimer’s main innovation is his theory of ‘offensive realism’
that seeks tore-formulate Kenneth Waltz’s structural realist theory to explain from a structural
point of departure the sheer amount of international aggression, whichmay be hard to reconcile
with Waltz’s more defensive realism. In this article,I focus on whether Mearsheimer succeeds in
this endeavour. I argue that, despitecertain weaknesses, Mearsheimer’s theoretical and
empirical work representsan important addition to Waltz’s theory. Mearsheimer’s workis
remarkably clearand consistent and provides compelling answers to why, tragically, aggressive
state strategies are a rational answer to life in the international system. Furthermore,
Mearsheimer makes important additions to structural alliance theory and offers new important
insights into the role of power and geography in world politics.
VM#4.6 Are We Headed For A Great Depression

During this time of uncertainty, when businesses are failing and people are losing jobs, it
is not hard to imagine that the economic damage caused by this crisis could lead to more losses
in the future. Such losses, which might send the economy to a deeper crisis, can be caused by
over borrowing and deflation.

VM#4.9 The Worst Economic Collapse In History Is Starting Now  Be Prepared 

A U.S. economic crisis is a severe and sudden upset in any part of the economy. It could be a
stock market crash, a spike in inflation or unemployment, or a series of bank failures. They have
severe effects even though they don't always lead to a recession. The United States seems to
have an economic crisis every 10 years or so. They are difficult to eradicate because their
causes are different. But the results are always the same. They include high unemployment,
near-bank collapse, and an economic contraction. These are all symptoms of a recession. But a
financial crisis doesn't have to lead to a recession if it's addressed in time.