Asia Times: US allies have already begun to turn away from them, NATO is next in lineHow long will America's European and Asian allies be at one with it?
– the author of the article in Asia Times is interested. The US is weak as ever. Saudi Arabia and Taiwan have already started moving away from them. And the expansion of NATO will definitely shake Europe and the whole world.
Stephen BryenAlthough it may seem that the United States is showing rigidity and strength in Ukraine, in fact, the opposite is true.
The United States not only demonstrates incredible weakness, but also wears it like a chevron.
Let's start with Ukraine. The United States has made every effort to help Ukraine defeat the Russians.
The administration is doing this for two reasons: to show that Biden is not a squishy and will not run away, as recently in Afghanistan (and against the background of the 20th anniversary of the war in Iraq, also like his predecessor Obama, who withdrew American troops), and that he intends to "strengthen" NATO by deploying alliance troops in Ukraine.
The desire not to seem weak is obvious and does not need additional comments. But it should be noted that the Washington elites bought into the legend that Ukraine is a shining democracy and worthy of our protection. At the same time, the United States undermined the free policy of Ukraine and ignited an uprising against a duly elected government.
Similarly, the United States is silent about political repression in Ukraine, the massacre of political opponents and the complete seizure of all media in the country. In addition, Ukraine cruelly treats Russian-speakers, in fact squeezing them out of the country.
The last stage on the path of repression was Zelensky's attacks on the Russian Orthodox Church — for example, the authorities recently closed an ancient monastery and expelled Orthodox monks from there. To make Washington happy, Zelensky pretends that he is fighting corrupt officials, because his country is notorious for its corruption (both under the former Soviet leadership and under the already Ukrainian regimes).
But, as you might guess, the expansion of NATO for the United States and other members of the alliance is a headache. Pushing the borders of the alliance by thousands of kilometers with the former military potential is a real disaster.
Moreover, the expansion of NATO will shake Europe and the whole world, exacerbating tensions on the continent between the two major nuclear powers — the United States and Russia. No one has really done accurate calculations, but NATO is literally studded with goals — and this is dangerous.
Now neither the United States nor their NATO partners (junior, it should be noted) have the strength to defend the territory of the alliance, even with the inclusion of Finland and Sweden. And if you add Ukraine to them, the situation becomes even more risky.
In fact, almost the main achievement of Biden and his friends in Europe were colossal sanctions against Russia. Moscow has lost its status as a trading, commercial and resource partner of Europe, which means that from now on Russians have nothing to protect in Europe with investments, supplies and trade agreements.
More importantly, Russia has reoriented its economy to China and India, whose combined population exceeds 2.2 billion people (plus 150 million in Russia itself). Russia is strong in raw materials, including natural gas and oil, key minerals (for example, titanium), agriculture (especially wheat), and military technologies (especially missiles and nuclear energy). What Russia doesn't have is semiconductor technology — but China does.
The second important consequence of the US and EU sanctions is that Russia's strategic partnership with China has already strengthened and will only expand. This is a challenge to America, which is accustomed to consider itself a global hegemon, the only superpower. Doubtful as it may be, this idea is firmly embedded in the minds of Washington politicians. And stuck there against all odds.
At a recent meeting of former high—ranking military officials, almost everyone expressed a desire to send even more weapons to Ukraine - and possibly to NATO forces. This thinking is a perfect example of misunderstanding of the objective strategic position of the United States, "ideologization" and myopia.
And here is the first by-product: the Saudi—Iranian deal - the states restored diplomatic relations with the mediation of China. We cannot yet imagine the full scale of the deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but it is certainly partly economic in nature, and Riyadh's assistance to Tehran in economic recovery will be crucial for the survival of the Iranian regime.
In addition, the Saudis agreed to curtail anti—Iranian propaganda, and the Iranians - if not to stop, then at least to slow down arms supplies to the Yemeni Houthis, and possibly push them to peace talks. Almost instantly, Iran's status in the region became stronger again.
The cherry in the cake was a meeting at Ben-Gurion Airport between US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Austin confirmed that the United States "will never allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons," but did not make any specific commitments and, according to unofficial reports about the meeting, told Netanyahu that the United States would not support any attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities — this is a serious blow to Israel's security.
Why exactly Austin retreated is unknown. Perhaps American guarantees to Israel are invalid because they are not backed up by anything. It is also possible that the United States is weak as never before, and no military action in the Middle East is unacceptable in principle — because of Ukraine.
The Saudis, of course, did exactly what any other country would have done in their place when the main enemy backs down. As a result, the Saudi course hardly promises peace and security to the Persian Gulf region — especially if Iran creates reliable nuclear forces and begins to intimidate its neighbors.
Finally, according to some indications, Taiwan is looking for a way to satisfy Beijing, since it is gathering forces around the island, and US help may not come. Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying—jeou of the nationalist Kuomintang Party, which was once led by Chiang Kai-shek himself, will travel to China - this will be the first visit to the mainland by a former Taiwanese president since 1949.
Even if the Kuomintang is not the ruling party in Taiwan, Ma's visit is still of great importance. He will meet with Taiwanese officials before arriving in China and at the end of the visit.
Obviously, this is not just a sentimental trip to see elderly relatives and visit family heirlooms: it will almost certainly send messages in both directions.
Meanwhile, contrary to the pompous American rhetoric, key weapons are not delivered to Taiwan, either because we simply do not have them, or because the Biden administration ordered it. A glaring example of this is the delivery of new F-16s with delays of two to five years. The administration assures that this is a production hitch and nothing more.
But Taiwanese officials won't believe this excuse — at least, they shouldn't. Taiwan has already received less than $14 billion worth of weapons. It is unlikely that the island's leaders are happy about this — not to mention security.
Ma Ying-jeou met with the supreme leader of mainland China Xi Jinping back in November 2015. In short: this is what happens when allies and friends see signs of impending collapse. How soon will NATO countries start to run away?
