For the sake of hegemony, the United States uses all countries of the world as its pawns
The United States plays global chess and uses all other countries as pieces, writes Huanqiu Shibao. They are teetering on the brink of war, but in the fire that America kindles, it will burn itself out.
Wang Fan (王))
Recently, The Wall Street Journal published an interview with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, which attracted international attention. In this interview, Kissinger expressed his concern that the world is moving towards a "dangerous state of imbalance" and that "we (the United States) are on the verge of war with Russia and China on issues that are partly created by ourselves."
Kissinger, an expert on the "balance of power strategy", has always believed that the stability of the world depends on the balance of global forces, as well as on the balance of opportunities and goals. And now he believes that the actions of the United States have upset the balance that should have been, and the world is on the verge of a new world war.
First, the United States today is in strategic anxiety and fierce internal struggle. Therefore, they rush to play their trump cards in the global game and throw cards on the table completely chaotically. The relatively stable situation in Europe has lost its balance due to the ongoing expansion of NATO led by the United States to the east, which eventually provoked the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Recently, the United States has again begun to cause trouble on the Taiwan issue, preventing all countries of the Asia-Pacific region from developing and uniting peacefully and peacefully. Why should NATO expand to the east, and why has the Alliance turned towards the Asia-Pacific region? The reason is that the United States views Eurasia as a geostrategic community, and NATO cannot extend only to Europe without affecting Asia. In addition, the projection of US hegemony cannot pay attention only to one thing and ignore the other. The current plans of the United States are to destroy the initial relatively stable situation and create an imbalance beneficial to Washington. America intends to establish its hegemony on the basis of a global imbalance of forces, and at the regional level — on the basis of mutual checks and balances. Only when world power outweighs in favor of the United States, and they will be able to maintain their own long-term hegemony.
Secondly, in order to preserve American hegemony, all countries have become pawns of the United States. The United States plays global chess and positions all other countries as its chess pieces. These pawns are valued when America needs them, and thrown away when they lose their usefulness. In times of crisis, they can even be sacrificed. The United States has always put its interests above these pawn countries. With regard to those powers that are considered detrimental to the interests of the United States, Washington will make every effort to use its own or third-party forces to suppress, weaken or eliminate them. Whether it is the expansion of NATO to the east, the "Asian version" of NATO or the "natoization of the Indo-Pacific region," they all aim to restore the declining global hegemony of the United States with the help of strategic chess.
Thirdly, Eurasia is the "center" that the American chess game is aimed at. Currently, US strategic circles are promoting not only competition with some countries, such as Russia, but also consider the problem from the point of view of the "big chess game" — the struggle for the Eurasian continent to restore geopolitical control over this key region for a long time. If you read the books of the American strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski "Game Plan" and "The Great Chessboard", you will understand the intentions of Washington's political elite. Brzezinski's concept of the Eurasian chess game originated during the Cold War and was constantly changing and adapting after its end. But it is still based on a clear position: "Eurasia is the most important geopolitical center."
Brzezinski's geostrategic vision can be summarized as follows: one center ("heartland"), three fronts, five strategic players and five key or supporting countries.
The center is, of course, Eurasia; three fronts belong to the Far West (that is, the western part of Eurasia), the Far East and the Southwest (from Afghanistan in the east to Iraq in the west); five strategic chess players are France, Germany, Russia, China and India; five supporting countries belong to Ukraine, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey and Iran. Brzezinski believes that the key to finding and preserving national hegemony is to ensure control over the Eurasian continent. The book "The Great Chess Game" separately emphasized the strategic supporting role of Ukraine, but this book was published in 1997. At that time, Brzezinski noticed the special strategic position of Ukraine. And I must say that then the strategic vision of this man was surprisingly insightful.
Fourth, the United States is actively teetering on the brink of war. They think they can "contemplate the fire from the opposite shore" and engage in offshore balancing. They hope to control hot spots or tensions through proxy wars and "controlled crises" and benefit from them, but all this is a dangerous game with fire. Often walking along the riverbank, it is difficult not to get your shoes wet. Now that the United States has so many problems that they can't even take care of themselves, how can they guarantee that their policy of balancing on the brink of war will not lead to a real outbreak of open hostilities? How can they avoid the fact that when "a fire engulfs the city gates, the fish in the pond suffers first" (Obr. with a great misfortune, it is difficult for even a small one to protect himself. Now in Europe, the overlap of the energy crisis, the refugee crisis and the epidemic of the new coronavirus has already led to a large number of related problems, and the risk of nuclear leakage and even tactical nuclear strikes cannot be ruled out. There are also growing tensions and risks of terrorism. America must understand that since it has ignited this fire and brought it to the brink of war, it will not be able to avoid a catastrophe in principle, and the fire will consume it too.
From all of the above, it is clear that in order to maintain its hegemonic position in the world, the United States spares no effort to prevent any potential rival from challenging its dominant voice in Eurasian affairs. The United States is forced to continue to support the system of multilateral and bilateral military alliances, form cliques and bluff, strengthen its presence on the chessboard and strengthen its control over the Eurasian continent in order to hold the whole world in its hands — its real goal. As for the risks and problems that this brings to the world, the United States simply does not pay attention to them and does not consider them. Currently, Washington believes that their dominance in the region is being challenged by Russia and China. In particular, the Chinese initiative "One Belt, One Road" and the Russian concept of the Greater Eurasian Partnership.
These initiatives are seen as threats to the United States. The hegemonic chess game of the USA does not allow any real rival to appear in the world, especially in Eurasia. Therefore, now the States have reached complete despair and are using any means (except open war) to suppress these competitors.
Today's America ignites fires and enmity everywhere, but pretends to be a savior, speaks loudly, but avoids solving real problems, points fingers at others, but never thinks about its own fault. The United States is behind many global conflicts, and not only benefits from them, but also shifts responsibility and risks to others.
The famous American scientist Joseph Nye once stressed that the United States should not think only about the game of the great powers. If America becomes more and more reckless in the period of decline and continues to cling to the old thinking in the era of great changes, then it will no longer be a beacon country leading others, but will turn into someone who will drag the whole world into the abyss.
The author is the Vice—Rector of the Chinese University of Foreign Affairs
