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"Colossal Defeat" For Obama As Australia Joins China's Regional Bank

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Having attacked its "closest ally" UK for "constant accomodation" with China, we suspect President Obama will be greatly displeased at yet another close-ally's decision to partner up with the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). As The Australian reports, "make no mistake," the decision by Australia's Abbott government to sign on for negotiations to join China’s regional bank, foreshadowed by Tony Abbott at the weekend,  "represents a colossal defeat for the Obama administration’s incompetent, distracted, ham-fisted dip­lomacy in Asia."

 

As The Australian's Greg Sheridan writes Op-Ed,

The decision by the Abbott government to sign on for negotiations to join China’s regional bank, foreshadowed by Tony Abbott at the weekend, represents another defeat for Barack Obama’s diplomacy in Asia.

 

The Abbott government is right to make this decision. It had well-founded concerns about the vague and unsatisfactory governance arrangements of the institution when Beijing first invited Canberra to join.

 

Those arrangements have ­improved since then and Australia is only signing on to negotiate terms of accession.

 

If the terms are no good, Australia will ultimately walk away.

 

Canberra’s move follows similar decisions by Britain, Singapore, India and New Zealand.

 

Make no mistake — all this represents a colossal defeat for the Obama administration’s incompetent, distracted, ham-fisted dip­lomacy in Asia.

The Obama administration didn’t want Australia to sign up for the China-led AIIB. The Abbott government rightly feels that it owes Obama nothing.

Obama went out of his way to embarrass the Prime Minister politically on climate change with a rogue speech at the G20 summit in Brisbane.

 

The speech had been billed as dealing with American leadership in Asia and instead was full of ­material designed to embarrass Abbott.

 

Since then, the Abbott government has felt absolutely zero subjective good will for Obama.

 

This is an outlook shared by many American allies.

 

It’s important to get all the distinctions right here.

 

The Abbott government operates foreign policy in Australia’s national interest.

 

That includes full fidelity to the American ­alliance and to supporting US strategic leadership.

 

But the Obama administration has neither the continuous presence, nor the tactical wherewithal nor the store of goodwill or personal relationships to carry Canberra, or other allies, on non-essential matters.

The Obama administration has tried to convince both its friends and ­allies not to join the China Bank.

This was probably a bad call in itself, but, as so often with the Obama administration, it was a bad call badly implemented.

 

The characteristically bad implementation has helped shred Obama’s diplomatic credibility.

 

The Chinese have been the US’s best friends in Asia, diplomatically. Their territorial aggressiveness in the East and South China Seas has driven Asia to embrace America’s security role more tightly than ever.

 

The American military are now the best American diplomats in Asia by far.

 

Such prestige as the US enjoys in Asia these days rests disproportionately on the shoulders of the US military.

 

Obama has neglected and mistreated allies and as a result Washington has much less influence than previously.

 

The saga of the China Bank is almost a textbook case of the failure of Obama’s foreign policy.

*  *  *

As we have detailed recently, Australia is in trouble economically and its pivot to China makes perfect self-preservation sense... as Sheridan notes:

Obama treats allies shabbily and as a result he loses influence with them and then seems perpetually surprised at this outcome.

 

The Asian professionals in Washington regard the Obama administration as particularly ineffective in Asia.

 

The consensus is that the Obama White House is insular, isolated, inward-looking, focused on the President’s personal image and ineffective in foreign policy.

* * *

De-dollarization continues... As Simon Black recently concluded, now we can see words are turning into action...

Britain and Australia might be too polite to tell the US straight up– “Look, you have $18.1 trillion in official debt, you have $42 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and you’re kind of a dick. I’m dumping you.”

 

So instead they’re going with the “it’s not you, it’s me” approach.

 

But to anyone paying attention, it’s pretty obvious where this trend is going.

 

It won’t be long before other western nations jump on the anti-dollar bandwagon with action and not just words.

*  *  *

Bottom line: this isn’t theory or conjecture anymore. Every shred of objective evidence suggests that the dollar’s dominance is coming to an end.

 

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Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:15 | 5897038 northern vigor
northern vigor's picture

As Putin once put it ..."Working with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon...it struts around knocking over  all the pieces, and shits all over the board".

 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:43 | 5897174 Victor999
Victor999's picture

Putin never said that, nonetheless, it is a true statement... ;-)

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 04:10 | 5897197 basho
basho's picture

this one deserves a 'sticky', no matter who said it. ROTFLMAO

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 00:11 | 5896929 MrButtoMcFarty
MrButtoMcFarty's picture

This is starting to get interesting....although I still believe WWIII will start in Eastern Europe.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 00:16 | 5896941 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

Millions dying every minute is in the prophecy.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:58 | 5897190 basho
basho's picture

BS

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:06 | 5897025 franciscopendergrass
franciscopendergrass's picture

Money talks and bullshit walks.  China talks and the US walks

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:17 | 5897043 northern vigor
northern vigor's picture

Obama hasn't pissed off the Ozzies half as much as the Canucks.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:35 | 5897046 pakled
pakled's picture

This 'funny' was created back when Obama was first elected. It's a shame it's no longer funny.

 

 

 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:31 | 5897062 Condition 1SQ
Condition 1SQ's picture

Christ, these days I feel that choosing between living in one state or another, or one country or another, is like choosing whether I want to be drawn and quartered or stoned to death.  So few countries (if any) have gotten it right.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:31 | 5897066 DIgnified
DIgnified's picture

France, Germany and Italy have all agreed to follow Britain’s lead and join a China-led international development bank

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0655b342-cc29-11e4-beca-00144feab7de.html#axzz...

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:50 | 5897086 Hapa
Hapa's picture

Damn FT with their paywall.  This news is hot off the press!  I don't see it anywhere else on the net yet

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 04:07 | 5897194 DIgnified
DIgnified's picture

Got you covered brother. 

Financial Times article screenshot.  No paywall. 

https://archive.today/YSlY5

Although I'm sure we will be seeing this here tomorrow. 

Most paywalls will let you sneak by if you go through Google and its news section.  Try searching the phrase "Financial Times Europeans defy." It should be the top link.  It will let you through there.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 08:24 | 5897518 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

The Rothschilds won't be pleased with you not paying for their news.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 11:56 | 5898363 DIgnified
DIgnified's picture

Sticking it to the man. 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 01:51 | 5897085 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Ain't no NWO politician gonna stop a bankster from running to greener pastures. That's why I say buy all things Russian (I don't like China because I have to compete against them at college). That's the place to be this century and that's why the NWO is trying to conquer them. Banksters are like pedophiles and as soon as they realize Russia is the new kid in town it's over. You mayswell send the neocons to Somalia.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 02:14 | 5897100 Jano
Jano's picture

When Germany finally makes the same in regards to Russia, the WH Soetoro can go to the hell together with his masters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaL5wCY99l8&feature=youtu.be

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:29 | 5897158 dag
dag's picture

When China's Xi Jinping visits Washington in June, the incompetent Obama will reverse the US position and join AIIB.

 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:46 | 5897420 short screwed
short screwed's picture

Was the U.S. even invited? Seriously, does China even want the U.S. government involved?

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 04:35 | 5897173 tokerhead
tokerhead's picture

Just waiting for Gen. Scales to go back on Faux News and tell us we have to kill a-bunch of Chinese.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 05:18 | 5897242 Wahooo
Wahooo's picture

+1000.  Scales is the Face of America.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:21 | 5897353 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Well, it has two cheeks but thats no mouth.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:23 | 5897362 Mi Naem
Mi Naem's picture

Only to thew extent that the "face" you refer to is blind, and comprised of two cheeks with a vertical separator and a tiny, toothless orifice. 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 08:21 | 5897511 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

Yeah, that must have gone down a treat in Russia.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:51 | 5897178 zippy_uk
zippy_uk's picture

Britain has losts of "special relationships" - and our relationship with China is becoming more "special".

We still haven't figured out how to ditch all this "human rights" crap we get told to raise every time we talk to the Chinese but we are working on it.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 05:09 | 5897230 Snoopy the Economist
Snoopy the Economist's picture

Australia sells lots of base materials to China - of course they would sign the deal.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 05:10 | 5897231 groundedkiwi
groundedkiwi's picture

Aussie and China were discussing and implementing free trade without the $ before Obama's watch.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 05:14 | 5897234 Batman11
Batman11's picture

US foreign policy is without doubt a complete disaster bringing civil war to every nation it touches.

Also, most other Western nations are still dealing with the effects of the toxic waste (complex financial instruments) Wall Street produced on the back of sub-prime and exported to their banks.

Wall Street did more damage to the West than Russia achieved throughout the whole of the cold war.

The US does seem to be a complete disaster area and really needs to buck up its ideas if it doesn't want to be completely isolated.

 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:09 | 5897343 optimator
optimator's picture

I think I see a patern here.  BIS moving to Hong Kong, etc.  

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 05:51 | 5897269 Rusputin
Rusputin's picture

Time for some Obama "arm twisting". After all, what are friends for?

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:19 | 5897350 Mi Naem
Mi Naem's picture

I'd love to twist his arm - off - so I could beat his brains in with it. 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 06:33 | 5897294 Panic Mode
Panic Mode's picture

Which part of "Boomerang" that you don't understand?

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 06:34 | 5897295 Falconsixone
Falconsixone's picture

Just as planned. These world leader actors need the hook. America stupid, rest of the world smart. So where's the new world paper? and does anyone care what it's based on?

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 06:59 | 5897329 corbeau
corbeau's picture

"..The Obama administration didn’t want.."

 

Who cares.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 08:46 | 5897333 NuYawkFrankie
NuYawkFrankie's picture

USSA vs The British Empire (aka Perfidious Albion)!

The Insatiable Beast vs The Ultimate Back-Stabber!

Wow! What a match-up! LET'S RUMMMMM....BLE!

(No matter who prevails, rest assured: It'll be a Great Day for "The Only Democracy In the Middle East" - which, I have a hunch, has more than a "few shekels" on The Back-Stabber ;)

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:13 | 5897347 machop
machop's picture

I thought ZH said China is going to collaps?

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 07:56 | 5897445 Jano
Jano's picture

Stop thinking!

as Svejk stated: it is a dangerous situation for everybody if a moron pretends to be thinking.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 08:02 | 5897467 tjp
tjp's picture

What does it mean to join a regional bank?

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 08:16 | 5897498 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

"Bottom line: this isn’t theory or conjecture anymore. Every shred of objective evidence suggests that the dollar’s dominance is coming to an end."

All logic says so but the dollar's proportional usage in foreign trade and as a  reserve currency has remained stubbornly consistent over the last five years or so.

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 08:52 | 5897600 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

Don't take this in any way as a sign of trust in the US government.

 

But I sure as hell don't trust the Chinese government.

 

 

 I don't blame Obama for the whole mess - but he is a very poor leader. The fact he was elected twice speaks volumes for how fucked up America is right now.

 

 

 

 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 09:35 | 5897748 Shawnee
Shawnee's picture

Hey nid-styles...its called shemitah!!

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 09:39 | 5897759 Farmer Joe in B...
Farmer Joe in Brooklyn's picture

But, but, but.... we're #1.  American exceptionalism and all that... right?? 

Right...?? 

RIGHT, GOD DAMN IT..?!?!?   YOU BETTER FUCKING AGREE THAT WE'RE THE BEST OR I'M GOING TO FUCK YOU UP...!!!!!!

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 16:24 | 5899579 rbblum
rbblum's picture

Failure to embrace the future assures continual erosion based upon the past.

Wed, 03/18/2015 - 11:14 | 5902122 thecrud
thecrud's picture

I am sure bat sit American poltitics are driving the everyone bail while you can global shift.

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