by Kathleen Brush, American Thinker:
Presidential wannabes agree that China is the greatest geopolitical threat and that the solution is economic decoupling. But decoupling from China will be economically disastrous for Americans while leaving unaffected China’s mission to unseat the American superpower. Its partner in this mission is Russia. That’s why the war in Ukraine matters.
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Candidates haven’t mentioned our adversaries’ plans because voter priorities are the economy and preserving freedoms. This makes sense. Voters don’t prioritize unknown issues, and American education, unlike education in China and Russia, doesn’t focus on maintaining the nation’s strength and integrity. No one learns that, if Russia and China are ascendant, that endangers American freedoms, breaks the economy, and introduces world chaos. Presidential candidates should explain that economic decoupling won’t protect America from its greatest geopolitical threats and then articulate how their approach will.
China’s and Russia’s missions are rooted in righting the perceived wrongs of history. For 500 years, from 1453 to 1945, a contest for global supremacy took place between the Chinese, Russian, European, and Turkish empires. After WWII, the United States was central to creating a new rules-based world order.
Memorialized in the U.N. Charter, empires were to be dismantled and made part of history, and all nations committed to honoring sovereign borders. However, the signatures of Russia and China didn’t signify agreement. Their conduct demonstrates that they reject the Charter’s principles, which reflect Western influence and a Western rules-based order.
One of China’s goals is to restore the most expansive borders of the Chinese Empire. Taiwan is first. Next up could be Arunachal Pradesh’s disputed border with India or Russian Manchuria.
Russia’s goal is to resurrect the dismantled Soviet empire. Ukraine is first among fourteen target sovereign states, including three members of NATO. Putin’s strategy is the same “Military First” approach used by Russian leaders from the time of Peter the Great (1682-1725) onward.
Russian leaders know their place on the world stage relies on military power because economic power has been elusive. If they stop flaunting military power, they become the unthinkable—a second-rate power. Military First works because Russians have learned that they must sacrifice quality of life because their sovereignty is always at risk.
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