The West is Dead. Why the East will continue to dominate the rest of the 21st Century.
Commentary by Dan Fournier, published Monday, August 18, 2025 at 08:52 EDT.
A woman living in a tent city in Phoenix, Arizona (left) & Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)’s skyline featuring the world’s second tallest building, the Merdeka 118 (right).
This post is segmented as follows:
Introduction
“We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbours.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Having lived in both the West and East for many years, I have gained interesting perspectives on the underlying dynamics of each region.
As I stated in a recent podcast interview of mine, you can learn a lot about your home country by living years in another.
That is what occurred when I moved to and lived in China from July 2008 to late 2021. The views and perspectives I gained looking at my home country, Canada, from the outside really opened my eyes to a lot which I hadn’t previously noticed. Some good, some bad; sadly, a lot of it bad.
Before moving to China I did a lot of research about its history and culture and even learned a bit of Mandarin before getting my feet wet in that mysterious and faraway land. Perceptions about China and Chinese people are often falsely depicted and portrayed by Western media. I knew this was the case, so I wanted to be well prepared for my transition abroad.
Without getting into a long discussion about my experiences living in the Middle Kingdom, I’d rather focus on the harsh reality that hit me upon my return to my native country.
I returned to Canada on November 1, 2021 smack during the Covid-19 Scamdemic. While things were pretty wild in China during this period, nothing shocked me more than what had been occurring in Canada – and much of the Western world, for that matter – amidst the despotic and totalitarian atmosphere that seemed to rule with an unswerving iron fist.
Upon my return I immediately experienced a rather negative reverse culture-shock.
Here is what I wrote in my very first Substack post on this sentiment:
“In November of 2021 I found my way back to Canada after having lived and worked in China for a total of 13 years. Being absent from my homeland provided me with a different lens through which I could view Canada, its politics, socioeconomic tendencies, history, people, culture, values, and so on. Upon my return, and amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, I could barely recognize the country I had left back in 2008.
This great nation was no longer the one whereby its citizens were openly fun-loving, sociable, free, proud, and as considerate as before (at least for the most part); this really saddened me (and it still does!) Instead, what I returned to was divisiveness, bitterness, anger, along with people who have seemed to have forgotten the values that underpinned what it really means to be Canadian.”
I wrote a lot more on the subject in this post, titled In Search of Truth which actually led to my change in vocation from teacher to independent investigative journalist.
I was eager to find out what the hell had happened to Canada and the West in general.
Since then, I learned so much about how Canada is run, and it has mostly been dystopian to say the least (as can be attested by the bulk of my writing on Substack and in my podcasts).
This has thus incentivised me to return to Asia for another look, and for another possible, likely permanent, move eastward.
So, this past July and early August, I returned to China and also re-visited Thailand in order to further observe differences from the East versus the West through an even more refined lens in this post-Covid19 word.
As will be shown in this post, I am solidly convinced that the West is dead and the East is continuing its steady and unswerving rise.
I will thus present numerous factors I think help explain this reality.
East vs. West: Fundamental Differences
Firstly, allow me to distinguish and broadly define East and West.
By the West or Western nations, I am largely referring to those of North America (USA, Canada, Mexico), many in South America (particularly Brazil, Chile, and Colombia), and countries in Western/Northern/Southern Europe.
With regards to the East I am mostly referring to countries in Asia (except Russia) including India, China, and those of Southeast Asia.
Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines can somewhat be considered hybrids since the United States still retains a significant grasp on them, largely due to their military treaties. But we are already seeing some rifts in some of these traditionally solid relationships, including a growing rapprochement between Japan and China in the face of Trump’s tariffs. Fundamentally, both Japan and South Korea have deep-seeded Asian roots – especially in terms of a collectivist mindset which contrasts with that of Americans and other Westerners.
After having lived for four decades in the Western nation of Canada and over a decade in the East (China), including travels to several countries in the region, I have gained some insights regarding fundamental differences of their respective individuals and governments.
While such differences are quite complex and numerous – too many to be examined in this post, there exists, at least from my perspective, one predominant distinction: Westerners tend to rely on their governments while Easterners don’t.
In most Asian countries, for the most part and likely due to largely populated masses, individuals pretty much need to fend for themselves: for their food, lodging, health care, security, retirement, and so on.
Though some social supports do exist, they are far from being as prevalent and expansive as in the West. Needless to say, these social supports in the West – often referred to as “welfare states” while seemingly generous and alluring, are largely funded by taxpayers (individuals and businesses) themselves which are borne by much higher taxation rates compared to those in the East. Such high taxation rates bring about the burden of expanding government budget deficits and ballooning debt levels.
Some also use the phrase “the nanny state” to express the nature of Western governments.
Without a doubt the government of China does espouse an over-bearing desire to control many aspects of their citizens’ lives. But at the same time – and what would come as a surprise to many – it pretty much leaves them to do as they please in their daily lives. As long as they aren’t causing a civil rukus or directly criticising the government, they will be left the hell alone.
Governments in the West, however, have increased controls and restrictions on their citizens in the last few decades and in earnest within the last few years.
I will come back to a lot of these differences throughout this post.
But for now, let us continue with some other key differences between East & West.
Collectivist Mindset vs. Individualism, Education, Savings
By collectivist, I am not referring to collectivism or communism. Rather, I simply mean that Asian people are brought up to think of others and to maintain a high degree harmony in society.
As much as possible, conflict is avoided and people will not easily get triggered or publicly display strong emotions outwardly as can be observed in Western countries.
The same can be said about the workplace. Group work trumps individual achievement. It tends to be the opposite in the West in which climbing the corporate ladder is highly sought after.
Competition in education – especially in countries like Japan, South Korea and China, however, is fierce, if not cutthroat.
All these countries have what is called cram schools whereby students will take evening or weekend (or summer) classes to keep up or gain an edge in subjects such as math, languages – including English, and science. Even weekend music classes are quite common. While in China I use to do a lot of private tutoring in this respect.
From 2013 to 2015, I taught and set up an international program in the middle school division of Shenzhen Middle School, the top-rated school in the city. During a parents-teachers meeting, I had made a presentation (with my limited Mandarin) in which I began by indicating that if the entire student population of China were ranked as a country, it would figure fifth in the world just before Brazil with a whopping 220+ million students (from pre-kindergarten to university). Needless to say, parents do whatever they can to give their children an edge for education. And this starts as early as within a child’s first weeks with the best milk formula parents can get their hands on, as they strongly believe it will make them smarter.
In China public school are actually superior to private ones. The reason being that competition is fierce to get into the best public schools while parents can easily enrol children who are weaker, academically speaking, into costly private schools.
Another fundamental difference is that in Asia, students are highly respectful of teachers. Teachers overall in society are very well viewed. I also taught in the West and though most of my students were respectful, the difference between the two regions is palpable.
What I found to be sad about China, though, is that the education system is still largely based on memorisation with a strong focus on tests (especially obtaining the best test scores), as well as a teacher-speaks, students-listen environment that is more the norm than the exception. For China at least, some of these norms are derived from the Chinese imperial examination system. In ancient times, the focus was more for producing the best candidates to serve in civil office. While in more modern times, the focus is more on obtaining the highest possible test score on the Gaokao (university entrance exam). A tremendous amount of time – usually starting in the first year of high school – is spent studying for this one exam that will determine which university (and major) students will access. There’s even a prior test called the Zhongkao which is taken by junior middle school students for high school admission.
Some of my former Chinese Shenzhen Middle School students having a rest during lunch break. Photo taken by the author in 2014.
Another down side, in my opinion, is that Chinese (and many Asian) students have much of their youth “stolen,” so to speak since they have very little leisure time (even during summer breaks) to enjoy life compared to students in the West.
The last point I would make for this section would be to indicate that in Eastern countries, individuals and households are much better savers compared to their counterparts in the West.
While specific figures are harder to come by, savings rates in the East are high (some save as much as 45% of their take home income), particularly in China.
In Western countries, credit card debt is also a major hurdle for individuals and households, rather notably in the United States.
Aggregate credit card debt in the United States from Q1 1999 to Q2 2025 which sits at approximately $1.2 trillion. Image source: Lendingtree.
There are various reasons and contributing factors surrounding this phenomenon. But the key takeaway here is that Asians tend to save more for a rainy day which, in aggregate, offers more resiliency when bad economic times (such as with Covid-19) arise.
Laissez-Faire vs. Strict Government Controls
Contrary to popular belief, even countries like China adopt a largely laissez-faire approach towards its social contract with the people as well as with businesses. As long as they don’t cause trouble, Chinese citizens and those of most Southeast Asian countries can pretty much go about their daily lives with limited interference by the government.
They can enjoy a beer on the street late in the evening without fear of being harassed or fined by police.
They can ride their scooters without a helmet and park them almost anywhere without fear of being imposed an egregiously priced fine. Many places won’t even require them to take costly, months-long, driving course to ride them either, though that certainly lead to less chaos on some streets!
I remember when I was a teenager in the 1980s in my hometown in Quebec where I was able to get a motocross bike without having to take a course to learn to ride it. Last summer, I was thinking of getting one but was repulsed by the fact that I had to take a mandatory $1,000+ driving course, spend $541 to plate the bike, fork over $225 (representing huge increases over the previous year) for the permit itself, along with insurance which would likely exceed $500. So, we are talking about nearly $2,300 just to be able to ride the bike! In Asia, I can purchase it (for a much lower price mind you), get a 1-2 day driving course, get a really cheap drivers permit, and be on the go in no time. In Quebec, not so much and it simply isn’t worth the time, expense, and patience. I suspect that it’s similar in other provinces such as Onterrible (a.k.a. Ontario), in states south of the border, across the pond in the U.K., and in Western Europe.
In the West, countries, states/provinces, and municipalities have perfected the art of devising a permit for almost every conceivable human activity.
In Quebec for instance, you need a permit to bring your child to go fishing, or even do a garage sale at your home. If you get caught committing these heinous crimes without a permit, be prepared to be heavily fined. I was even told that if I don’t get a fishing permit and am caught fishing without one, they can take my driver’s license away. Can you believe it?
The same regressive mindset plagues the business world in the West.
The West is closed for business.
Apart from the nonsensical permission-based (as illustrated above) and regulation-intense (as discussed below) environments, another fundamental difference between East and West has to do with how individuals and businesses are allowed to run free when commencing a new enterprise.
In the East, individuals are largely unimpeded from turning an idea into a business. They aren’t restrained and required to produce a panoply of documents and permits in order to get their project off the ground, but are rather just focused on setting up shop. Of course I am speaking in general terms here. But the main point I want to make is that the business environment in the West has, over several decades, been tailored to favour large corporations.
To illustrate this fact and trend, look no further than all the Mom & Pop stores which have essentially disappeared over the years. Retail is dominated by big box stores such as Walmart, Costco, Best Buy, and restaurants to chains like Domino’s Pizza and Starbucks.
Such big names do exist and are fairly popular in the East (due to intense local marketing, branding & advertising), but the vast majority of businesses and restaurants are small outfits run by locals.
This is one reason why their economies are thriving more. Profits are earned and redistributed to the local sphere rather than being funnelled to the coffers of multinational enterprises, their overpaid [often woke] CEOs, and shareholders.
One thing one may notice when travelling in Asia – whether in China or any country in Southeast Asia – is that you will see so many small shops where goods or foodstuffs are sold at very low prices. Sure they won’t always be the tidiest of places with impeccable service from staff, but, collectively, the diversity and availability of whatever it is you need will be there and it will be dirt cheap compared to the bigger box stores and retail outlets.
As I alluded to a bit earlier, another big factor impeding business in the West is over-regulation.
Last summer I was having a conversation with and acquaintance who told me, as per his work in the field, that it takes nearly 10 years to get a municipal permit to get [a very modest sized] land ready for the construction of a modest apartment bloc.
Environmental restrictions – some with legitimacy and others rooted in the climate scam are front and center in the West compared to the East.
These restrictions bring about a double-edged sword to entrepreneurs. First, it impedes them, and next it adds costs – such as egregious and unnecessary carbon taxes, for instance.
Such restrictions along with many other business impediments form the basis by which so many entrepreneurs get discouraged and why the vast majority fail within five years of operations.
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long been a culprit in impeding businesses from expanding with its countless regulations and restrictions.
Regulators in practically every industry in the West have been captured by oligarchical interests.
“In regulatory capture, a special interest is prioritized over the general interests of the public,” noted George Stigler, an American economist and Nobel laureate.
The quote from above concerning regulatory capture is certainly spot on. The sentiment which it succinctly articulates was most notably on display during the Covid-19 Scamdemic whereby regulators across multiple industries acquiesced to the whims of oligarchical power.
Another American conveyed a similar sentiment:
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.” – P. J. O'Rourke
And for any awakened soul living in the West, it is quite apparent that their legislators do not work for them, but are cretinous sellout enablers who serve the needs and desires of their true masters and those who fund them such as lobby groups, amongst many others.
To prove this notion I often ask: When is the last time a politician representing your constituency introduced a bill that would actually benefit you or your community as opposed to special interest groups?
Entire books have and will continue to be written about how politicians in the West are utterly corrupt. So, I will leave that stark reality aside.
To conclude this part, yes there are, inevitably, regulations across industries in the East, but regulatory capture by the oligarchical class is way more subdued there than in the West. In China for instance, esteemed billionaire Jack Ma was subject to this lesson by the government back in 2020 when he called for reform in the country’s financial regulatory system. In contrast, in the West billionaire oligarchs rarely fall out of favour and enjoy benefits of a two-tiered justice system (as was and continues to be the case surrounding the Covid-19 scamdemic); the examples are too numerous (and depressing) to list here, so I will render this final point mute.
Inflation & Taxation Regimes
While Eastern countries’ central banks do engage in monetary expansion like their Western counterparts, their inflation is much more tame, as cost of goods and services tend to be much lower.
Generally speaking, the same goods or same meals at restaurants are cheaper in the East than the West. Have a look at the classic Big Mac Index for specific comparisons.
During my recent travel to the region, I’ve compared costs for specific goods and for foodstuffs, meals and found them to be relatively lower. For instance, a pair of Bermuda shorts at a H&M in Thailand cost the equivalent of C$17 while the same or similar pair would be in excess of C$35 in Canada.
An explanation for this is that in Canada, the U.S., and many European countries prices of goods will include various indirect taxes (excise taxes, transportation-related taxes such as on fuel or with carbon taxes) along with higher direct sales tax(es). For instance, in my province of Quebec, we pay two types of sales taxes on goods and services – federal and provincial; the federal tax (5%) is calculated first followed by the provincial tax (9.975%). As a simplified example, if you buy a good worth $100 you will pay $114.98%, or roughly 15% in total sales tax which is much higher compared to many Asian countries.
Western countries such as Canada and the United States also tend to have many more types of taxes than in the East, and income tax rates tend to be higher.
Last month, the Fraser Institute reported that the average Canadian family spent 42.3% of income on taxes alone – more than on housing, food and clothing combined.
The following website also lists and compares various tax rates for estate/property/inheritance/capital gains between the U.S. & Canada.
Another major difference is that in the West, property taxes tended to be higher compared to the East. In countries like Thailand, there are no yearly property taxes. This is in contrast to the U.S. and Canada where property taxes are very high given rising property prices (due to excessive expansion of the monetary supply and inflation). Even if you finished paying the mortgage on your house outright, over a few decades the cost of your property taxes alone can easily exceed 30, 40, or 50% of the value of your home.
A big reason for excessive taxation regimes in the West has to do with the countless social welfare programs governments establish (largely on the promises of politicians seeking to be elected), not to mention a tremendous amount of wastage on frivolous programs, grants, and travels (hundreds of billion$$$ worth exposed here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
Do you think governments of Asian countries waste taxpayer money on these kinds of useless projects?
As if such of wastage weren’t enough (at least in Canada) there also seems to be talk of taxing the equity on people’s homes. Yes, you heard that right. Even if you totally paid off the mortgage of your home, they want to tax the equity that has been built up over time (which is usually a lot given inflated property prices).
And in the U.S., there was talk about taxes on unrealised capital gains for investments proposed during the Biden Administration. Luckily, the plan has not been pursued by the second Trump Administration. But given that they are cash-strapped to service budget deficits and interest payments on debt, don’t be surprised if such proposals resurface.
Much more could be said about Western taxation regimes, but I think you get the point so we’ll leave it at that.
China: Asia’s Powerhouse Leading the Way
Since the reform and opening up shift in China spearheaded by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, China has radically transformed itself into an economic powerhouse.
Deng incorporated elements of market capitalism to the Chinese economy by introducing special economic zones (SEZs) such as those of Shenzhen and Zhuhai with later ones in Shanghai, Ningbo, and Guangzhou, but to name a few.
Alongside the reforms, the billionaire class in the West who owned businesses outsourced manufacturing to China as well as other low-cost labour nations such as Vietnam and Indonesia.
While President Trump has demonstrated a strong desire to repatriate manufacturing to the United States, the simple reality is that is highly unlikely to happen. Accordingly, such economic activity is most likely to reside in the East, continuing to fuel local economies and spur job growth.
Further exacerbating the employment situation in the West is the fact that many low-wage jobs are increasingly performed by economic migrants with the recent surge in open borders policies embraced by Western governments.
Getting back to China and its reforms and opening up, there’s little doubt that it has been emerging as an economic superpower in the past several years despite recent setbacks such as with the pullback in its overheated property market and its recent destructive zero-COVID policy. Despite these challenges along with Trump’s tariffs, the Asian Dragon has shown its adaptability and economic resiliency with figures that suggest a stronger than anticipated recovery.
And when it comes to comparing superpowers’ business activity, trade certainly matters. One needn’t look much further than the following infographic by Visual Capitalist to observe that the economic trade winds are blowing eastward.
What can also be deduced from the astute observer of the infographic above, is that many Chinese goods are actually not exported to Western countries (in blue) due to high tariffs and protectionist measures of these countries.
For instance, though the Chinese produce top-notch electronic products such as smartphones as well as electric vehicles (EVs), these goods cannot make their way into Western markets.
Take the case of Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. Though they make excellent smartphones (I’ve owned two thus far which have worked flawlessly), you will most likely not find them available for sale in your [Western] country. Moreover, Xiaomi even manufactures its own line of electric vehicles (EVs) that rival Elon Musk’s Teslas.
Xiaomi’s YU7 sedan EV. Photos taken by the author at a Xiaomi store in a shopping Mall in Wuhan, China this past July.
Howbeit, these cars are practically unavailable in Canada and the United States since they have been imposed a 100% import tariff rate.
Wait, weren’t these countries suppose to be environmentally-friendly?
Belt and Road Initiative (New Silk Road)
Since 2013, China has undertaken an ambitious project called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – including the Maritime Silk Road – in order to expand trade across continents in the spirit of the ancient Silk Road.
Though some controversies regarding the project have arisen such as strategic use of ports (specifically with the deep water port in Hambantota, Sri Lanka), projects have largely been centered on development and mutual collaboration and benefit.
To illustrate one example, I would like to begin by showcasing one about the development and use of high-speed rail.
Having lived in China and often taken high-speed trains between various cities, I was always amazed at the efficiency of rail travel in China, particularly during Spring Festival which sees nearly half a billion passenger trips. The trains always leave on the minute they are scheduled to.
This past summer I took the high speed train from Wuhan to Shenzhen (and back) which are just over 1,000 kilometres apart. Here is a photo I took from my phone on the return trip showing the train’s speed (350 km/h):
Photograph taken by the author this past July showing a display inside a high-speed train during a trip from Shenzhen to Wuhan. The Chinese writing translates to “Next station” and “Changsha South” which is a stop in Hunan province along with the [current maximum allowable travel] speed which is 350 km/h.
With just a few stops, the 1,000+ km journey takes only four hours.
High-speed rail lines are commonplace between most mid- and large-cities in China with more being added every year.
China is also helping to develop high-speed rail infrastructure in other countries.
Part of it’s Belt and Road Initiative includes the development of an 873 km high-speed rail project that will connect Bangkok (Thailand) towards the north to the Laos-China railway.
“Once completed, it will be possible for people and goods to travel from Bangkok to Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province,” states a related article from ASEAN Briefing.
Map showing the China-Thailand high-speed railway project which will link Bangkok, Thailand, to Kunming – the capital of Yunnan province in China. Image source: CGTN – China-Thailand railway project: The route and key events.
The project is expected to be complete in 2028, in less than ten years after its construction launch in 2017 with an estimated cost ranging between US$5 billion and US$9.9 billion.
Akin to many other projects of the BRI, this project will be completed in a relatively short amount of time and at moderate cost compared to similar endeavours in the West.
It should be noted that in North America there has yet to be a single mile or kilometre of high-speed rail (for trains with a 300+ km/h speed capacity), despite many projects having been proposed and even commenced.
In Canada, there’s long been a proposed high-speed rail route which would run from Quebec City passing through Montreal and Ottawa, finally reaching Toronto which is roughly 1,000 km in total distance.
But if we compare the BRI project in Thailand with the proposed one in Canada (which are of similar size and scale), we can immediately see that the delays and costs for the latter are extremely larger.
Moreover, just the initial study and feasibility plan is projected to cost at least C$3.9 billion and the costs of construction and physical asset procurement are currently estimated at between C$80 to C$120 billion. Reality, however, shows that most large-scale projects in Canada end up taking much longer to complete with costs commonly doubling from original estimates.
So, we can easily notice that the costs to produce a similar high-speed rail line in Canada are at least ten times that of the one in Thailand.
Moreover, the referenced article from last March indicates that the first (planning) phase alone would take 5 years and God only knows how long it would take for the actual construction. Reasons for such long delays include inter-provincial and federal politics, regulations, environmental assessments, and consultation with Indigenous communities.
South of the Western Canadian border, we see the same level of inefficiency, poor planning and execution with the failed California High-Speed Rail line project which would have, by 2020, linked San Francisco and Los Angeles.
By this year, only a portion of that line has been built with cost estimates now exceeding US$128 billion, neither major city is yet connected and there is no clear completion date in sight.
Through this illustrative example, we can clearly see that China retains a panoply of competitive advantages (cheap labour, high worker productivity, less costly materials, favourable regulatory environment, etc.) compared to so-called modern Western economies.
And this is likely to remain the case for decades to come.
Shenzhen – an Economic Miracle
It would be a pity, if not irresponsible, to talk about China without showcasing the economic miracle that is Shenzhen, the megalopolis located in Guangdong province in southern China right across the border from the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong.
Around 40 years ago Shenzhen was just a modest fishing village. But thanks to the aforementioned reforms enacted by Deng Xiaoping, the city was chosen as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and has flourished and developed faster than any city in history.
Having lived in worked in the city from 2008 until late 2021 I have witnessed an incredible amount of additional change and progress. As such, though I might be slightly biased, I consider Shenzhen to be the most modern city in the world.
The urban planning for this coastal city has enabled its blossoming in terms of beauty, cleanliness, and functionality. Furthermore, its sub-tropical climate and weather allows for a splendourous display of colours shone on its flowers and lush vegetation which is intermeshed with the concrete roadways and sidewalks.
In addition, Shenzhen is a very cosmopolitan city by Chinese standards. People in the city come from all around China. The young city is also matched by a youthful and vibrant population eager to make their mark and chase their “Chinese dream.”
This past July, I had the opportunity to return to Shenzhen for a week and re-visit some old favourites, as well as attend an impromptu meeting with roughly 30 of my former students from Shenzhen Middle School.
I also took a trip atop the Ping An Finance Center building which, at nearly 600 meters is the second tallest building in China and fifth in the world. Here are some photos I took from the observation platform on the 116th floor.
Additional photos of Shenzhen can be viewed by clicking on the following image:
For a vertiginous view of the tower look no further than the following four-minute video made back in 2015 when it was nearing its completion. Two [completely insane] Russian young men sneaked in the building during the Spring Festival break when all workers were in their home towns eating dumplings and sipping on baijiu, made their way to the top, and even climbed the 60 meter crane that was perched atop the skyscraper. What Russians wouldn’t do for a spectacular selfie!
USA: The Bully on the Block
It’s no secret that the United States of America has been using its military might to amplify its hegemony since even before the end of the Second World War.
It’s no secret that the United States of America has been using its military might to amplify its hegemony since even before the end of the Second World War.
It has done so for nearly six decades in the 20th century and has continued pretty much unabated for the first decades of this century.
Countless instances of war and intervention, color revolutions (many CIA and USAID-led), coups d'état (such as in the Ukraine), looting of resources, and so on are too numerous to list here. The wanton destruction with immeasurable human, economic, social, and environmental costs have proven utterly disastrous for humanity and the human condition.
Economic warfare exerted by the U.S. has also been omnipresent over the past several decades. As I previously reported on, the U.S. has long weaponised the dollar and SWIFT system against countries that do not submit to its will.
In this regard, things have really ramped up with Trump’s tariff wars whereby his administration has been able to bully entire blocs such as with the European Union to submit to its will.
Though China is too big of a player to bully in this regard, the U.S. has nevertheless been attempting to coerce some of its largest trading partners to turn against the Asian dragon. But it appears to be backfiring, as even long time foes like Japan are considering a rapprochement with China. Moreover, to counter such bullying, Asian nations are flexing strength in cooperation, as attested by their recent joint statement at the recent 28th ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting. The joint statement by the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprised of member states Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) is rather telling; one passage from their joint statement speaks volumes:
“9. We urge international organizations to uphold multilateralism and promote free trade, analyze and monitor the potential impact of trade tensions on the global economy, and support their members in providing policy advice to manage the negative shocks that may arise. We will promote greater intra-regional trade and investment flows to strengthen the region’s resilience against external shocks, to adjust to pre-existing and new challenges, and to support sustainable and equitable economic development. Given our financial market interlinkages, we are closely monitoring regional financial market conditions. We also reaffirm our resolve and commitment to ensure our financial systems and markets remain resilient despite the uncertainty, while maintaining open communication among members in light of the rapidly evolving developments.”
Notice the tone of the language used in the above statement which is indicative of Asian culture. Unlike the U.S., they do not respond with threats or coercive language, but rather with tact and skill.
While I could list countless instances of economic coercion on the part of the U.S., here is an instance of a recent one whereby the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States Scott Bessent pretty much admitted that the U.S. would take control (i.e., appropriate/confiscate) of a portion foreign nations’ U.S. dollar reserves to put into U.S. projects such as re-building factories.
Here is what Scott Bessent, who also happens to be the #1 operative I have identified who will usher in the new financial and monetary system in the U.S., specifically said regarding these appropriation plans:
“We have these agreements in place where the Japanese, the Koreans, and to some extent the Europeans will invest in companies and industries that we direct them, largely at the President’s discretion.”
“It’s almost like an offshore appropriation,” the interviewer from Fox News replied to Bessent.
The key excerpt can be accessed via the following post on X:
The first few comments below this X post also speaks volumes as to the nature of these so-called “agreements” with those who are nice enough to lend to Uncle Sam:
Much more could be said about how the U.S. bullies countries and its “allies” into submission, but we’ll leave it at that for now. For more on the subject and how new opposing financial paradigms of East versus West are developing, I would encourage you to read my article One Great Financial Reset, Two New Monetary Systems published last June.
On the domestic front, the U.S. has also proven itself to be an iron-fisted bully, particularly with regards to its metastasization into a police and surveillance state with a particular recent focus on censorship and the suppression of free speech.
It certainly appears that since Trump took office in January of this year in commencement of his second term in the Oval Office that legislation and executive orders surrounding this and other matters which are targeting Americans have been moving at lightning speed.
The most recent incident involves his decision to deploy National Guard troops to police Washington D.C. which has been causing grave concern amongst U.S. citizens. There is also talk that such domestic military deployments could take place in other major cities such as Chicago and New York City.
A leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security has indicated that Trump’s use of the military for domestic law enforcement could soon get worse. As per The New Republic (TNR) who obtained the memo, it was authored by Philip Hegseth—the younger brother of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who is a senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and a DHS liaison officer to the Defense Department. It should also be observed that Peter Hegseth is, or at least once was a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) member (with all that that implies).
Much more could be said about this sordid affair, including the possibility of Trump creating a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force,” but I will leave it up to Aaron and Melissa Dykes from Truthstream Media to explain its potential ramifications:
Vassal States of America
The United States hold on many nations’ governments, particularly with regards to their foreign policy and maintaining the so-called “rules-based international order,” presents a toxic basis upon which these nations choose to run their affairs.
Japan and Germany represent such obvious vassals, given their proclivities for maintaining peace and harmonious relations with the United States following the Second World War.
Over the past several decades Japan has obliged by buying trillions of dollars worth of U.S. debt.
Germany has allowed the U.S. Armed Forces installations on its territory for decades. Similar to how the American Empire has its own grasp over media thanks to the Council on Foreign relations, Germany has its own version which ensures that narratives fall in line with U.S. policy. This fact was further substantiated by the late German journalist for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Udo Ulfkotte. “I was bribed by billionaires. I was bribed by the Americans not to report exactly the truth,” stated Ulfkotte back in a 2014 interview with RT.
Screenshot of the 2014 RT interview with German journalist Udo Ulfkotte. Even back then in 2014, there was talk of how the American and German media were trying to bring war to Europe (against Russia). Click the image to listen to the interview.
The former journo is also the author of the book Presstitutes Embedded in the Pay of the CIA: A Confession from the Profession published in 2019.
Germany, once the beacon leader of European skilled manufacturing, has been literally self-imploding these past several years bending over backwards to support the U.S., particularly in regards to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
They literally allowed spooks from the Biden Administration to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline which use to provide their economy with critical cheap energy from Russia. Not once did their “leaders” publicly complain about this egregious and unlawful act which has gravely penalised them and their economy (and of course their citizenry) in the last couple of years and will continue to do so for decades to come.
As for the European Union as a whole, look no further than how they just prostrated themselves to Trump by submitting to a blanket 15% tariff rate on most EU exports to the U.S. thanks to Ursula von der Leyen, the unelected witch leader of the Marxist European Commission.
Other vassals include member states of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, namely Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand who ensure consistency in the application of the “rules-based international order,” maintain the perpetual “war on terror,” keep track of [obvious/fabricated false-flag] cyberattacks, spy on their citizens and exchange data and information about them via cross-border swaps in order to skirt domestic privacy laws.
Then there’s the NATO beast which is really a U.S.-led military alliance that ensures perpetual war, conflict, and continuous mammoth profits for the Military-Industrial Complex.
It’s a real sad state of affairs when a declining empire needs to resort to brute force, coercion, and bullying of its allies in order to cling on to its dominant hegemonic position and to retain (and continue to weaponise) the dollar as the world reserve currency.
Conclusion & Recommendations
I wish I could end this post with a glimmer of hope regarding the current predicament the West finds itself in.
But sadly, I can come to no other conclusion than that the West is indeed dead.
It has long been argued that the globalists, oligarchs and wealthy families that are really in control need to take down the United States of America, the last stronghold for freedom and democracy, in order to complete their takeover and enslave the masses.
Changes in the U.S. since Trump took office this past January have been happening at breakneck speed, particularly with regards to how the technocratic control grid is rapidly being implemented, along with the new cashless digital monetary system.
Unless Americans – and citizens of most Western nations – massively and collectively rise up against this tyranny, I’m afraid that the West is indeed doomed and that future generations will know nothing other than involuntary servitude and financial slavery.
There is still some time left to reverse the situation. But unless this is accomplished within the next few years, prior to that notorious 2030 mark, its chances of succeeding will greatly diminish.
But why wait?
If you want my advice: take care of yourself and your family and get out of the West while you still can!
Would moving you and your family to Asia or another part of the world be costly and burdensome? Sure it would. But, it may be even more costly and difficult to do so once the control grid, biometric Digital IDs, and CBDCs (or equivalents) are in place. By that time, many Western nations might have already enacted laws instituting human capital controls (on top of financial capital controls, to prevent capital flight and preserve taxation bases, which would prevent you from taking your money and investments out of your home country) which would prohibit you from permanently leaving your own country.
I’ve done two international moves to and fro Asia before and it is not as bad as it may appear; it just requires some serious soul-searching, sound planning and execution.
If you’ve made it this far in my post, I would implore you to take five minutes to listen to this impassioned and very powerful message by Francis Hunt and ponder what he says for a while; for, in my opinion this is the best advice you can possible get at this moment in time (watch from the 30:14 mark until 35:56):
The East, in contrast, will continue to flourish and prosper, and shun itself from the West’s tyrannical rules-based international order, paving their own way for the rest of the 21st century and beyond.
Addenda
2025-08-21 - My appearance on SGT Report discussing my article & Children’s book on geoengineering
Be sure to check out my discussion ‘THE DEATH OF THE WEST‘ with Sean, the host of SGT Report via any of the following links:
During the podcast I also mentioned the recent publishing of a children’s books I co-wrote titled Where has our Blue Sky Gone? (click title or image below to access the book on lulu.com)
The book is only available on paperback. Parents can read it together with their children; here is a sample from inside the book:
2025-09-02 - China/Asia currently dominates in terms of Science & Technology centers
When writing this article, I had remembered an infographic which showed where science and technology centers were concentrated around the world and that China was a major hot spot. But I couldn’t relocate it. Recently, I have come across it so have decided to included here in this addendum.
The infographic is titled Mapped: The Top 50 Global Science and Technology Clusters produced by Visual Capitalist:
One thing that is immediately noticeable in the world map above is the absence of any significant science/tech hubs in Canada. Zero.
China is even ahead of the United States:
The United States—one of the world’s most innovative countries—is second behind China in terms of the total number of S&T clusters, with 11 of the top 50 global clusters.
One may also notice that Shenzhen is rated #2 in terms of tech clusters which is largely determined by the number of international patent applications and scientific publications. Having lived and worked in the city for 13 years and taught at various private companies, I can certainly attest to this level of entrepreneurial spirit and innovation.
This infographic is quite telling in that it is yet another area — Science & Technology — in which the East will continue to dominate and bear fruit, compared to their Western counterparts.
2025-09-02 - The West is becoming Venezuela
I came across this interesting analysis of the migrant invasion taking place in the United Kingdom by Jesús Enrique Rosas who was born in Venezuela but eventually fled his home nation (for obvious political reasons) with his family to escape its tyrannical rule.
I think that his analysis in his recent video Britons Have PAINFULLY Reached Boiling Point perfectly summarises the United Nations’ vision of flooding Western countries with migrants through open borders in order to destroy them.
Here are few quotes from this must watch video (note: though he is more specifically talking about the United Kingdom, his statements pretty much encapsulate what is occurring in most Western countries):
“You have no rights in your own country. Asylum seekers have more rights than you.
”You have to accept all this assaults on your girls, on your because, yeah, the government and the judges - all of them hate you with all their guts.”
”You have the right to protest. You have the right to take your country back. But you have to understand that the government, all those politicians that have been in the government and are in the government right now, all those judges that are right there, …, in the benefit of migrants, giving their more rights to them than you; all of them will happily happily send you to jail or worse stuff if you don’t, you know, you don’t get with the globalist narrative of the invasion. They will jail you if you’re not on with the replacement.
For a reality check, Rosas cites three choices citizens of these Western nations have with regards to this invasion:
Let things are they are (accept your fate that you are being replaced by migrants), i.e., do nothing.
Leave your country for another that actually values you.
Make a stand, protest, and fight back.
He is spot on.
He adds that whether one decides to stay or leave their country, it will be “tough as nails,” - a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. He doesn’t sugar coat how difficult it can be to leave your home country, as he has done.
Watch the full video here:
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The writing on the wall is very clear - the intent is the same worldwide.
Intent does not guarantee success though.
I am an optimistic realist.
I hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
The wise foresee the danger and turn aside.
Fools ignore the danger and suffer the consequences.
I am reserved about advice to go here, go there, do this or do that.
This war may come to all of our doors sooner or later, regardless.
However, I am no Oracle.
A Russian family escaped to a remote Siberian location and survived the communist assault on orthodox Christians.
I intend to act to protect myself and my loved ones to the best of my ability.
I can do no more.
Interesting piece Dan. Lots of differences between the east and west, however the Covid plandemic was shockingly global and obviously planned. How would they do this without cooperation with each other? This event made me realize that despite the differences between countries, the goal is ultimately the same. It just may take some countries longer.