23-8-20 NATO's Rearmament & Spending - NATO's R-U Response - Perun > .
23-6-14 [Unambiguous US-T commitments - thwarting invasion] - Hoover > .
23-5-2 America Spends $800 Billion on Vets & War Prep - T&P > . skip > .
23-2-20 Military spending: UK may offer some insights - CNBC > .
22-12-20 US military in Pacific to prevent Xinese invasion of Taiwan - PBS > .
22-12-14 US National Security Strategy in 6 points – Geopolitics c Alex Stubb > .
22-11-17 US-Xina-Taiwan relations (G20 2022) - Update > .
22-10-11 Condeleeza Rice - Xina and Taiwan - Hoover > .
22-10-7 What If Pootin Nukes Ukraine? - OBF > .
22-8-4 Situation Zoom: Pelosi Visits Taiwan | Goodfellows - Hoover > .
22-7-21 Why Every NATO Member Joined (Why Others Haven't) - Spaniel > .
22-4-14 Beyond Hype: How To Rate Military Power? - mah > .
22-1-31 Will Taiwan Spark a US-China Conflict? - Whatifalthist > .
21-12-28 Why China Wants to Annex Taiwan | What Could Go Wrong - gtbt > .
America's National Interests (1998):
The real competition is perforce economic. If this is true, there are a few simple logical steps America can take to enhance its economic competitiveness. Step one would be to slash its bloated defense budget by half and re-invest the money saved into research and development. Step two would be to completely withdraw all its defense forces from the Middle East and stop fighting unnecessary wars, which have cost American taxpayers $5 trillion since the post-9/11 wars began. Step three would be to reverse all the steps that the tRUMP Badministration took in the trade war with China. Why reverse them? They didn’t weaken the Chinese economy. Indeed, they may have damaged America’s economy instead.
There are only five vital national interests:
- to prevent the threat of an attack of weapons of mass destruction on U.S. soil or its military abroad;
- to ensure U.S. allies' survival and cooperation to shape an international system in which we can thrive;
- to prevent the emergence of hostile powers on U.S. borders;
- to ensure the viability of major global systems;
- and to establish productive relations with nations that could become adversaries.
A president faces six cardinal challenges:
- to strengthen partnerships with Japan and European allies despite an immediate threat;
- to facilitate China's entry onto the world stage without disruption;
- to prevent the loss of control of nuclear weapons;
- to prevent Russia's reversion to authoritarianism or chaos;
- to maintain the United States singular leadership;
- and to marshal forces that promote freedom and prosperity.
Interests are defined as vital, extremely important, important and secondary.
- Vital interests are necessary to enhance America's survival.
- Extremely important interests would prejudice but not imperil the United States. Important interests would, if compromised, have major negative consequences for the United States.
- Secondary interests are desirable conditions, but have little direct impact on the United States.
The report provides a summary of national interests -- listing them in three categories of descending importance -- in China, Russia, Europe and NATO, the Middle East, the Western Hemisphere, nuclear future, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, drugs, international trade and development, cyberspace, global environment, and military capabilities.
---
Misconceptions about China: Evidence shows that China stopped supporting fellow communist parties decades ago. China’s real mission is to rejuvenate Chinese civilization, not waste time exporting communist ideology. The second misconception is that when China becomes the number one economic power in the world, replacing America, it will, like America, go on a universalizing mission and export the Chinese “model,” just as America exported the American “model.” Here’s a perfect example of America’s total ignorance of its adversary. The most basic fact that Americans should know about the Chinese people is that they do not believe that anybody can be a Chinese in the way that Americans believe that anybody can be an American. The Chinese believe, quite simply, that only Chinese can be Chinese. And they would be puzzled if anybody else tried to become Chinese.
Beijing doesn’t give a fig whether a country is a democracy or autocracy. It only cares whether it can work effectively with a given country. Hence, if the birthplace of Western democracy, Greece, decides to join the Belt and Road Initiative and welcome Chinese investment in its Port of Piraeus, China doesn’t care whether Greece is a democracy or not. It will cooperate with any country for mutual benefit.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.