Posted on 03/03/2022 5:32:37 AM PST by Kaslin
Over the past week, we have seen Vladimir Putin launch a brutal, imperialist war against Ukraine. In the process, he made clear what has been increasingly apparent for some time: the post-Cold War era, constructed in large part by President George H.W. Bush, has crumbled, quite likely beyond repair.
For over 30 years, the world has been defined by peace among great powers, stability of international borders, and greater economic integration. This order was underwritten by the undisputed supremacy of the United States, economically and militarily. The European Union has been a significant economic bloc but is largely dependent on the U.S. for security, Russia a legacy military power but with an economy smaller than Italy, and China a rising power (aided by the foolish decision to let them into the World Trade Organization), not yet ready to directly challenge America.
However, China has significantly closed the gap with the United States and is clearly a great power, leading Putin to buddy up with Xi, forming a modern Authoritarian Axis. With a rising ally to sell his oil, gas, and agriculture too, Putin has set out to rebuild the Russian Empire and establish a sphere of influence over Eastern Europe, emboldened by Europe’s dependence on his natural gas.
In our big cities, we have seen that when police are hamstrung and prosecutors don’t go after crime, respect for domestic laws diminishes. Similarly, international law, a purely theoretical concept, is ignored when dictators do not fear the keepers of the peace, namely the United States and our allies.
As we transition into this new world, there are predictably those calling for more foreign adventurism. The best example is suggestions we enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would put the U.S. and Russia into a direct military conflict. On the other extreme, there can be a pull to isolationism, questioning whether events in Eastern Europe matter to America at all.
In fact, as we move into this multipolar world, with aggressive authoritarian powers, the answer is we must re-double our efforts at crafting an America First foreign policy, encompassing not just national security, but economic and energy security.
The harsh reality is that the US, Russia, and China are the three nations that have the capacity to end the world with their nuclear arsenals. As such, direct military conflict can never be seen as a viable Plan A, B, or C. Deterring aggression that can lead to such a conflict is clearly in our interest as is global stability and the respect for sovereign nations’ borders. This is also in the interest of our democratic allies from Japan to France.
The other harsh reality is we are just one nation with finite resources. Xi is happy to see Putin unleash chaos on Ukraine because it forces us to send more resources to the European theater to boost NATO—resources that cannot be deployed to the Pacific to counter China. Xi is happy to see Russia and Iran divert our focus—China can win if we spread ourselves too thin.
America alone cannot protect the Free World everywhere at all times; there must be burden-sharing.
It is encouraging to see nations like Germany suddenly commit to spending 2% on defense as NATO requires—it appears former President Donald Trump was right after all. To ensure the authoritarian axis cannot wear us down, we must get every ally in Asia, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe to make similar defense commitments and hold them to it. The free world has far greater resources than the authoritarians, but only if everyone commits them. We can protect those who protect themselves not those who choose to free-ride. We must add enforcement mechanisms to NATO defense spending commitments and all formal alliances.
We must also harden our economy to insulate it from adversaries and require military allies to do the same. There can be no more relying on us for defense while prioritizing economic ties with China. That means bringing manufacturing out of China and energy production out of Russia. We must shift from a policy of reliance to one of self-sufficiency. If Russia turns off the gas to Europe, that continent could slip into a severe recession, just as we would if China halted exports. Even if it costs more to produce goods here or in allied countries, the security benefits outweigh them. That means drilling everywhere, investing in renewables, building factories here, and getting our allies to do the same. If you want our protection, buy our gas, not Russia’s.
We cannot return to a world where great powers can bully neighbors—that is a fundamentally more dangerous one. We also cannot glibly go to war with Russia or China. As such, we must deter aggression. The only way to do that is to have credible military might across the free world, which only happens if we enforce minimum spending requirements on allies. We also must decouple our economy and those of allies from the manufacturing and energy machines of China and Russia, so that they cannot wage economic war on us.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be a wake-up call that the post-Cold War era is over; authoritarianism is a genuine threat that cannot be handled by the US alone. Let’s use this moment to get allies to carry their weight and bring back manufacturing and energy production. If not, we may face an even graver crisis, like China invading Taiwan, in a year’s time. We cannot let this second Cold War turn into a third World War. Strength and self-sufficiency will ensure it doesn’t.
Gee, if only there was someone out there who was an “America First” candidate.
the democrats would give Alaska back to Russia if it would guarantee they would stay in power forever...
A lot of Democrats today resemble the Greg Stillson character from the end of “The Dead Zone” film.
How do you know there isn’t? *eye roll*
Every war is a failure of deterrence. The last thing you want to do if you want peace is have to prove it with force. It’s far better to issue mean Tweets and carry the sick like you plan to use it if given the slightest provocation. Whereas the faculty lounge liberals think we can sit down with dictators and sing Kumbaya. But if you look like a faculty lounge liberal a dictator will use your skin to upholster his den’s sofa.
Oh, and letting men in your military wear dresses and makeup DOES make you look really tough.
Generally a good article, except it speaks in too many generalities. We need specific targets and timelines that are minimum goals. Such as, “USA to double petroleum product production in 5 years.”
Before we concentrate on kicking out a dictator and restoring democracy overseas, we should FIRST kick out the dictator-governors running many of America’s states and restore democracy in all of those states ruled by unlawful and unconstitutional executive orders.
What we see on the Left is the only acceptable “democracy” is one in which their Left side wins elections. The people are not free to elect the “wrong” leaders like Donald Trump.
The USA is still being turned into North Mexico just as Daddy Bush envisioned.
“It is encouraging to see nations like Germany suddenly commit to spending 2% on defense as NATO requires—it appears former President Donald Trump was right after all.”
Of course Trump was right. Peace through Strength still works.
Trump sent the first Javelins to Ukraine. He knew this was a possibility and the weakness of Biden, guaranteed it.
We have to wait at least three years for that. But by then the vote cheating will be so ingrained Biden’s rotting corpse will win by 100 million votes and democrats will never lose again.
There’s nothing like closing the gate after the cows get out. An America first policy would have prevented this cold war.
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