the world is changing and it's changing fast we're exiting a period of incredible growth and relative stability where after the most destructive war in human history the U. S Rose to power as the global leader the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolutely and as that leader the U. S created new structures like NATO and the World Trade Organization they established rules rules about trade rules about economics rules about Justice rules that they based on Western philosophical values now being projected around the globe by a country with an astounding amount of alliances and military hardware for a time another great Empire challenged that order operating with a different set of rules a different set of values and philosophies trading with their own block and working with their own alliances but it couldn't last the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s left the U.
S and their Rich allies as the sole Setters of the rules the holders of the power so the U. S doubled down and their system of liberal values democracy and free trade spread and fortified throughout the world but when you're the global leader when you're the one who sets all the rules you get to decide when you follow your own rules and when you don't being the global superpower has turned more into being the global policeman over these last 75 years the US has been known to violate the values norms and ideals that it built the whole global system off of cozying up to strongman dictators throwing out democratically elected governments fueling Regional Wars and generally trying to Stamp Out communism across the globe and anyone who didn't want to play by America's rules was cast out as an insane Pariah in need of regime change the Iraqi regime has plotted to develop Anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade and yet despite this double game the US has played this system has been a part of the most peaceful period of human history major Empires don't fight each other like they used to and a major reason is because they came to understand that getting in line with the american-led system would mean Economic Opportunity and growth it wasn't worth a war fighting against this system often meant destruction and losing deals for all sides this piece was also helped by the existence of the most powerful weapons ever invented which great Powers didn't dare use on each other the american-led system has meant stability and an incredible amount of trade leading to a dramatic reduction in global poverty but that era is coming to an end hey it's me not in the vo Booth here on camera so I can just tell you about something I'm not sure if you've heard that the goal of this channel is kind of developing let's say we want to become the place for rigorous independent journalism on the internet and on YouTube and we're doing that not just here on the channel but we just launched a new channel called search party with my old box colleague Sam Ellis it's live now if you're looking for ways to support this journalism and get something in return I've got a fun one for you consider subscribing to nebula nebula is a creator-owned streaming service where we publish all of our videos a week early and AD free you pay a few bucks a month or a yearly subscription for a discount and a portion of that subscription goes directly to supporting our next journalistic project but that only happens if you sign up with the link in my description which is nebula. tv Harris apparently people actually aren't clicking the link they're just opening a new tab and typing in nebula.
tv and signing up and missing out on a discount as well as supporting us please don't do that but signing up for nebula isn't just about supporting independent journalism and getting my videos a week early and AD free it's also the home of super premium content that you can't get anywhere else like I've been watching this excellent series Lately by real engineering called Battle of Britain it's full of all of this stunning animation and compelling storytelling about the engineering and technology behind British military aircraft in the 40s really really good stuff or you can let Wendover Productions teach you about the world of logistics that you never thought you needed to know but you actually do because it's fascinating and of course one of my all-time favorites real-life lore has a series on Modern conflicts where he beautifully teaches you about the military strategies and developments in a bunch of conflicts around the world if you need to take a break from all of the learning on nebula check out jet lag jet lag is this race challenge game show that takes place around the world not totally sure how they pull this off but it's incredibly entertaining and a nice entertainment break from all of the like super rigorous teaching and learning that you get on nebula there is so much good stuff on this platform that is not driven by algorithms and advertisements but is driven by subscribers and creators who are talking to each other through hyper quality premium content I'm super into it and it's just a few bucks a month you get a discount if you go to nebula. tv Johnny Harris and once again if you do that a portion of your subscription every month or your yearly subscription goes directly to fund our journalism projects so please consider subscribing if that is interesting to you you can try it out cancel anytime for those who sign up I will see you a week early and AD free on all of my videos and for the rest of you uh let's dive back into the globe in part thanks to the usled order China which until recently was the most populous country on Earth has risen to become the second largest economy and world's largest military based on active forces and more and more China seems the U. S as an unfair policeman of the global order only holding to the rules that benefit them and this projection of values and philosophies from the West to the leaders in China this looks a lot like the modern day version of colonialism they see this hypocritical American Empire Drnk on Power that they've had since 1945 an America that is increasingly defensive because it's in Decline with its broken politics divided people and a complacency with their spot at the top so China is building a competing system in March 2023 China's leader Xi Jinping announced his Global civilization initiative where he stated that countries must quote refrain from imposing their own values or models on others and refrain from stoking ideological confrontation so instead of the hypocritical colonialism of the U.
S imposing their human rights and democracy around the world his system would be transactional stripping away the veil of what he views as a hypocritical rules-based order that is built to basically benefit one group the Chinese system would be built on common interests beneficial deals and opportunistic alliances not purported philosophical values and unlike decades past China now has the military and the money to make it happen to ignore the rules of the global superpower and to make their own to engage with the world in a different way to pursue Chinese interests outside of the system and so now you see a competition between these two great powers that have become deeply economically entwined over the last 50 years and now they're slowly decoupling and around the world you see China planting seeds for its new system using state-backed money to invest in infrastructure projects all over the globe this gives China a presence in many new countries tying these countries to Chinese debt which often translates into future leverage in March 2023 China sent diplomats to the Middle East for the first major effort to broker a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran these two bitter Rivals this is something that the U. S couldn't do and it showed the declining influence that the U. S has on this region but the U.
S Still Remains on top and they will as long as they can control the economic and financial systems that the world operates on which they do for now but China is challenging this as well working with Brazil Russia India and South Africa or the brics countries to develop an alternative economic block these are all major growing economies and they will only become more important in the next two decades since 2009 the brics countries have been stepping up their cooperation meeting annually creating a new development Bank to invest in their countries and coordinating on various policies the brics countries are becoming a potential rival to the G7 countries which represent the U. S led order brics countries are even discussing creating their own currency that they share between these five growing economies they're creating a secondary economy in the world totally independent of the United States we won't have to talk about sanctions in five years because there'll be so many countries transacting and currencies other than the dollar that we won't have the ability to sanction them this would be a major challenge to the US dollar which is currently the standard for international trade and a major reason why everyone has to play nice with the US Russia's invasion of Ukraine was in major pushback against the Western Security and economic order and it showed us which countries will fall on which side of that divide you can see that most countries aren't taking a side here they aren't siding with Russia and China or with the Western Bloc you could call these the non-aligned countries the undecided the countries that China and the US will be looking to influence into their system in coming years let's highlight the 25 largest economies among these non-aligned countries at least according to the economist intelligence unit these are the economies that the U. S is working to keep on their side to keep in their system and that China is trying to woo to join their new transactional system but this cold war is different than the last one the one where the USA and the Soviet Union forced countries to deeply choose a side based on ideological convictions about capitalism versus communism this new Rising Cold War could be much less black and white instead in this much more globalized and interconnected world non-aligned countries will exploit this bidding war between the superpowers to get them the best trade and security deals possible like in Brazil where this is already happening Brazil is a massive country who is a super close Ally with the United States and yet they're a part of the brics block with China which is one reason Brazil refused to sell weapons to Ukraine when the country requested a deal they're already walking this line be between their interests that align with the U.
S order and their interests that align with China Brazil's president traveled to Beijing in April 2023 and not only did the Brazilian president sign around 20 new agreements on technology trade and agriculture but he actually asked Beijing to help him negotiate the war in Ukraine so even as the U. S and China cut ties Brazil is showing that they're not going to take aside they're going to play Both Sides to their own benefit India is kind of doing the same thing getting lots of cheap oil and nearly half of their weapons from Russia and then getting a quarter of their weapons from Europe and recently securing 200 billion dollars in funding from the U. S for Indian technology startups Saudi Arabia gets almost all of its weapons from the United States but is turning away from the U.
S in other ways like trade where China is now their top trading partner in late 2022 China and Saudi Arabia signed a strategic partnership agreement meaning that their leaders will be meeting more frequently there will be more trade more technology transfer and more diplomacy turkey is a member of NATO and generally aligned with the west but also has to walk a fine line here because it has strong economic ties to Russia turkey also doesn't want to lose out on China's economic expansion China has this belt and Road initiative that runs right through turkey and they're hoping to court more Chinese investment in transportation energy and Mining Pakistan is a country that has been aligned with the US in recent years and a partner on the war in Terror but it also entertains investment and trade with China including a 62 billion dollar investment from China's belt and Road initiative to create this economic Corridor between the two countries the continent of Africa is full of mostly non-aligned countries it's also where China has been busy giving huge loans and Building Bridges ports mines and Railways all with the goal of tying these countries to the Future Chinese way of doing things and China is expanding trade here too trading 254 billion dollars with Africa in 2021 while the U. S only traded 44 billion dollars a sixth the amount of China China's investment has been Swift and effective here and all over the globe in garnering new friends and allies laying the foundation for their competing world order but the US isn't just going to sit back and let this happen they're already responding big names like Kamala Harris the vice president or Janet Ellen the head of the Federal Reserve Anthony blinken the Secretary of State have all visited Africa in 2023. President Biden went to Saudi Arabia last year despite calling the country a quote Pariah State on the campaign Trail he was there to try to claw back some influence that was being taken by China and then of course the U.
S is hitting China straight on cutting them off from Western technology to hamper their economic and Military progress the U.
