Yesterday witnessed an extremely important International statement by the western neo-liberal establishment. The inaugural Grotius prize was awarded by Centre Right think tank Policy Exchange to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
According to Policy Exchange,
The Prize was awarded to Hon Scott Morrison MP, the Prime Minister of Australia, in recognition of his work in support of the international rules based order.
You can see the speech etc for yourself on the Policy Exchange website here
You will no doubt be aware that Mr Morrison has stood up to China recently. In the latest move by China last week, the Chinese government stated 14 grievances with Australia, saying Australia would be considered an enemy if she continued to behave like one…
The tone and nature of these assertions by the Chinese government remind me of the rhetoric and tactics of Adolph Hitler in the 1930s. That is no exaggeration. The evidence is all there for those who care to face up to it:
- China’s rapid internal economic recovery resembles Germany in the ’30s – sudden self assertion after a period of national humiliation on the world stage
- her internal policies and practice regarding minorities are barbaric nb the Uighur Muslims
- the close control of her own population is evident in the development of the Social Credit system of rewards and penalties for good and bad social behaviour – that is everyday behaviour, not criminal activity !
China has a Materialistic and Atheistic political culture based on an Enlightenment worldview refined by Karl Marx and Mao Tse Tung; a cynical, tactical exploitation of the liberal world trade order to advance the strategic Chinese goal of global hegemony; and has been expanding her economic influence around the globe for the last 3 or 4 decades in order to secure control of critical natural resources and food supplies for her vast population and insatiable manufacturing capacity – Australia’s refusal to be subjected to the type of outrageous demands she makes and wins in weak third world countries is a direct affront to a totalitarian mindset
But, quite understandably, China’s government has no respect for western nations which espouse a rules based order yet break the spirit of those same rules when it is convenient to their interests.
Mr Morrison says, however, he does not understand the Chinese.
Mr Morrison is, of course, a child of the Western world order, not the Oriental. Which is why he won the prize. It’s a western prize, not an Oriental one. It is a prize for former colonial powers and colonies which discovered a new way to exploit the world’s resources and markets.
Now please don’t misunderstand me. I believe that what Mr Morrison was advocating is broadly speaking desirable because in the real world with all its limitations and constraints, the principle of free trade has proven its worth in lifting so many people out of poverty.
But it is a world order based on a western conception and practice. Mr Morrison explicitly cites the Atlantic Charter issued in August 1941. That Charter’s purpose was to state the strategic world view and aims of the Allies fighting the totalitarian, racist tyranny of the Axis Powers. It was designed to set the moral, political tone and framework for the post war world.
However, by means of the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement, America imposed a new world order reliant on the dollar – a world order backed up by the newly established CIA and by a massive Pentagon establishment.
Don’t be surprised, then, if the now emerging power of a united and economically powerful China refuses to take lessons in morality from the West !
Mr Morrison’s fine words and exemplary intentions are all very well, but the geo political reality fundamentally conflicts with his aspirations. In fact his own belief in free and open liberal societies grounded on the rule of law is at odds with the way western democracies are now working. Covid 19 restrictions in Australia have been among the most severe in the world.
The practice and dominant culture within western democracies is now at odds with the fine words spoken by Mr Morrison. The reaction of western governments to the crisis for health services everywhere in the face of Covid 19 speaks volumes. A crisis in health care provision has been turned by government policies into a crisis for the world economy, a crisis for the world’s poor, and a denial of the basic human norms of free movement and assembly.
Avowedly democratic governments have overturned the norms of our entire way of life. The atheistic intelligentsia running our media and institutions have succumbed to a simple fear, and they are now interpreting everything according to that fear – regardless of all the evidence and regardless of a realistic, comprehensive and proportionate perspective.
They are so accustomed to filtering out information that conflicts with their liberal-Left worldview, that they believe nonsense. They see only a part of the truth and yes, that part is distressing – as at today nearly 59 million people have contracted Covid 19 and almost 1.4 million have died worldwide.
But the proportionate reality is that 59 million constitute 0.75% of the world’s population, of 7.8 BILLION and that 1.4 million constitute a death rate of 2.37% of that 0.75%. The normal global death toll is over 50 million annually !
Yet every night French TV news shows people being vaccinated and taking tests. The assumption that vaccination is the only normal and legitimate response, and the portrayal of any disagreement as quirky or extreme, looks like a deliberate attempt to frame public perception, opinion and practice to acquiesce in a given line.
Indeed the chairman of a biotechnology company in North Carolina selling the COVID-19 test says:
There is utterly unfounded public hysteria driven by the media and politicians. It’s outrageous. This is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public. There is absolutely nothing that can be done to contain this virus. Other than protecting older, more vulnerable people. It should be thought of as nothing more than a bad flu season.
Dr Hodkinson’s full, revealing and informative statement is online here.
Ray Catlin
Conservatism Institute 