It should come as no surprise that many are beginning to note that there is something seriously disconnected in the fumbling foreign policy of the United States slavishly followed by the 27 members of the European Union and Britain. The evacuation failure in Afghanistan shattered the already waning self-confidence of the American political elite and no evidence that anyone in the White House is really focused on protecting American interests. Now we have an actual shooting war in Ukraine as a result, a conflict that might easily escalate if Washington continues to send the wrong signals to Moscow.
To cite only one example of how outside influences distort policy Biden told Israel that as far as the US is concerned, Israel could exercise ‘freedom of action’ when dealing with the Iranians. But not the Russians?
Encirclement and containment are why an overstretched US military is being tasked with creating ever more bases worldwide. As the Ukrainian situation turns into a debacle, it is becoming more and more obvious that the twin crises that have been developing over Ukraine and Taiwan are ‘Made in Washington.’
But Russia also has unconventional weapons in its arsenal. It can, for starters, shift focus away from Ukraine by intervening much more actively in support of Syria and Iran in the Middle East, disrupting feeble American attempts to manage that region to benefit Israel.
Russia has been effectively sanction-proofing its economy and is capable of selective reverse-sanctioning of countries that support an American initiative with any enthusiasm. Such a response would likely hurt the Europeans much more than it would damage the leadership in the Kremlin.
Barring Russian gas from Europe by shutting down Nord Stream 2 would, for example, permit increased sales to China and elsewhere in Asia and would inflict more pain on the Europeans than on Moscow.
European NATO members are clearly nervous and not fully behind the US agenda on Ukraine. There is the legitimate concern that any Washington missteps would escalate into a nuclear exchange that would be catastrophic for Europe’s nations.
Then the long-term damage is strategic. The Joe Biden Administration has painted itself into a corner. America’s two principal adversaries Russia and China have drawn closer together to form something like a defensive as well as an economic relationship that will be dedicated to reducing and eventually eliminating Washington’s assumed role as the global hegemon and rules enforcer.
Wright provides the most serious analysis of the new developments. She argues that ‘Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping pledged that there would be No forbidden areas of cooperation.
The two nuclear-armed countries that span Europe and Asia are a game-changer militarily and diplomatically.’ China now has the world’s largest economy and Russia has a highly developed military deploying new hypersonic missiles that would give it the advantage in any conflict with NATO and the US. Both Russia and China, if attacked, would also benefit because they would be fighting close to their bases on interior lines.
For the first time in the history of the USA (1776) the nation’s adversaries have the reach to strike at the heart of the United States: Russia, China, and North Korea. In the Middle East, Iran can decimate Israel and US bases.
What is happening in Europe and Asia should all come down to a very simple realization about the limits of power: America has no business in risking a nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine or with China over Taiwan.
The United States has been fighting much of the world for over two decades, impoverishing itself and killing millions in avoidable wars starting with Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US government is cynically exploiting memories of old Cold War enemy Russia to create a false narrative that goes something like this: ‘If we don’t stop them over there, they will be in New Jersey next week.’
It is all nonsense. And besides, who made the US the sole arbiter of international relations? It is past time Americans started asking what kind of international order is it that lets the United States determine what other nations can and cannot do.
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Worst of all, the bloodshed in Ukraine has all been unnecessary. A little real diplomacy with honest negotiators weighing up real interests could easily have come to acceptable solutions for all parties involved.
It is indeed ironic that the New York Times and Washington Post as well as on Capitol Hill has in fact created a real formidable enemy, tying Russia and China together in an alliance due to their frustration at dealing with a Biden Administration that never seems to know what it is doing or where it wants to go. Source
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Europe Renaissance 