The American public has been so preoccupied lately with the circus act put on by our so-called presidential candidates, that we hardly pay any attention to what is going on in the rest of the world. Of course, we are dependent on what we are told by the news media, and the news media appears to choose to ignore what is going on elsewhere. We do get little bits and pieces now and then, after all, you can't ignore the almost daily suicide bombings by ISIS/ISIL, nor the American deaths that are beginning to rise again in our war against terror. Then there is that annoying Kim Jong Un of North Korea who periodically does something that our media feels obligated to mention, like launching missiles or testing nuclear devices. But, it seems that neither the media nor our government is really taking North Korea and its wacky leader seriously. News coverage on North Korea appears now and then almost as a change of pace kind of reporting, just to keep the public's interest! Russia seems to have almost completely disappeared from our news coverage, mainly because Putin hasn't invaded any of the former Soviet Republics or has not made any statement that interests the media. But I think the media, and the public in general, has been lulled to sleep when it comes to Russia!
Yes, there is no more Soviet Union and that "Evil Empire!" Yes, there is no more of that "us" and "them," the "commies" and the "good guys." Oh, there are still "commies," let's not forget North Korea, Cuba,Vietnam, and China (PRC). Despite our seemingly friendly relations with PRC and our heavy dependence on their manufactured goods, it is still a communist country. China's form of communism may be different, but it isn't called the People's Republic of China for nothing! So, there are still "commies" out there! They may not be like the old Soviet communists, but they are still out there.
Interestingly, the threat to us that existed in the form of the "Evil Empire" (the Soviet Union), still exists. Only it has changed its name and appearance somewhat, and it is no longer that huge part of the world that we used to refer to as the Soviet Bloc or Eastern Bloc, plus Communist China! What we have now, in a sense, is much more dangerous and insidious. There is Russia, that on the surface is no longer the evil communist country that is out to get us! Russia has indeed changed, but unfortunately, its leaders have not! Vladimir Putin is a product of the old Soviet Union, the worst part of it, the KGB! Putin has openly admitted to missing the old "empire" and wanting to establish the role of Russia as the supreme power. He has quietly and not so quietly, allied himself with China. In other words, he brought China back into the fold that it belonged to before it broke away after that famous Kissinger visit in the 1970s. He has also, quietly, allied with North Korea. Yes, the same North Korea that his predecessors had dumped, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union. How do we know this? Well, most recently he announced that the U.S. must essentially stop its military cooperation/alliance with South Korea if it wants Russia to help curb North Korea's nuclear program. In other words, he isn't going to help us to deal with North Korea unless we stop our military alliance with South Korea!
But, whereas Russia, as the Soviet Union had more allies in eastern Europe, it had very few in the Middle East. At one time there was Egypt and Syria, but they lost Egypt to us after the Yom Kippur War. There have been some lesser countries like Yemen that at one time were allied with Soviet Union, but essentially Syria has been the only Russian ally since the old Soviet Union days. But now, Iran, possibly the most militarily powerful country in the Middle East other than Israel, is staunchly in Russia's corner. We, very stupidly, helped Russia even more in that respect by negotiating that Nuclear Deal with Iran. We also allowed Iran to enter Iraq in hopes that they would rid the country of ISIL and as one of the payments for agreeing to the Nuclear Deal. What that accomplished was to let Iran gain foothold in Iraq. No, the much ballyhooed Iranian Quds Force, their Special Operations, gained some success at first and earned points with the Arab world, but failed to defeat ISIL.
Ultimately we are forced to send more of our own Special Operations troops to fight! But Iran got what it wanted. Now, together with Russia and Iraq, the three have set up shop in the "Green Zone" establishing a headquarters for fighting ISIL. To add insult to injury, we, of course, are not invited to participate! Iran has also dispatched its Quds Force to Syria, along with Hezbollah of Lebanon, which is supported by Iran. So, Russia and Iran are solidly partnered in the Middle East. We gave a bunch of money to Iran for the Nuclear Deal and Iran immediately turned around and gave money to Russia for military hardware. We should have just given the money directly to Putin!
So now, there is a new Axis on the rise. In some ways it is more sinister than the old Soviet Union. China is extremely influential in the world today. It is no longer the third world power (it used to be a power mainly because of its large population) that went around waving the little red book and armed with outdated weaponry. It is one of the most powerful economic entities in the world, backed up by an increasingly more modern military, that is also the largest in the world. It holds I.O.U.s of most major countries in the world. China is our biggest debt holder, and it recently agreed to build a nuclear power plant in UK! It is a given that in another quarter of a century China will be the world's leading economic power, and Putin, very wisely, agreed to build a pipeline and supply China with its much needed oil! So Russia, unlike most Western countries including us, has China in a position that it needs Russia!
In the new world order, we are the only military super power. We are still the leading economic power, but we will lose that position to China if things keep trending the way they have been for the past quarter of a century. Russia does not have the military power that we do, no one does. But although they are a distant second to us, they are nevertheless a military power. With China's rise in economic power, with new technology growing daily, Russia could become a very serious threat in a short time if it remains allied with China. At the same time, its alliance with Iran, much more so than Syria, makes Russia a major player in the Middle East. North Korea is a nice wild card for Russia and China to have. You can bet that any hostilities that develop in Northeast Asia will more than likely involve North Korea, and it will be essentially a surrogate for Russia/China alliance!
May be there is a lot of concern in Washington over the recent turn of events involving Russia and its "allies." I sure hope so. But at the same time, I doubt very much if anyone is really paying that much attention. To be sure there are intelligence analysts who are keeping tabs and other career employees of the government that are concerned. But sadly, their thoughts and ideas are rarely if ever taken seriously by the decision makers who change every few years. Each new administration, each new appointee, have their own agenda, and it is almost never what it was of the predecessors'. Our government operates reactively with apparently no institutional or historical memory. Why else would we continually make the same mistakes, repeat the same gaffs that we made a decade or even less years ago?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment