"What you're seeing in the relationship between [Vladimir] Putin and Xi [Jinping] is a marriage of convenience right now,” says Kirk Lippold, “that really is focused on undermining U.S. influence and strength throughout the world.”
Lippold, a former U.S. Navy commander, is reacting to a Wall Street Journal report in which military analysts raised alarm about close Russia-China collaboration in military aviation and hypersonic-missile technology.
Biden promises 'decisive' action to help UkraineChad Groening, AFN The current stand-off between Russia and Ukraine is a messy issue and President Biden is not helping that situation, says a national security analyst. During a recent phone call with Ukraine's president, Biden promised that the U.S. and its allies will act "decisively" if Russia’s military pushes into the Eastern European nation. Ukraine is not a NATO member. U.S. and Western allies are attempting to de-escalate the showdown after intelligence officials fear Russia intends to invade using an estimated 100,000 troops that are stationed on the border. Bob Maginnis, of the Family Research Council, says it is unlikely Putin believes Biden’s threats. “And really, at this point, that's what's important. What does [Biden] mean by take decisive action?” Maginnis stresses. “The only thing the administration has outlined are more sanctions, and I'm not sure that more sanctions against the Russians are going to have any persuasive move.” |
The story also points out the two countries held a massive joint military exercise in China last summer, though those military drills date back at least to 2005, according to a New York Post story about the joint drills.
Russia has rebuilt its once-enormous armed forces following the collapse and breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, back when MiG pilots were unable to fly and train by their then-broke government. Just seven years before that collapse, a powerful Soviet Union was imagined in the Cold War-era "Red Dawn" film in which screen writer John Milius, ironically, imagined China allying with the United States.
The world has changed greatly since the Cold War ended. Once ignored and mocked by the West, the dangerous carrot-and-stick influence of China is known to the American public thanks to the warnings of analyst Gordon Chang, for example, and years of alarming national security stories from Bill Gertz at The Washington Times.
The Wall Street Journal story concludes the U.S. is facing a “new challenge” to U.S. power abroad. Reacting to that warning, Lippold says it means our country must have friends who understand the Russia-China alliance threatens free and democratic nations.
“And that's what it really comes down to,” he insists. “They're both authoritarian regimes that are going to seek to delegitimize the form of government that the United States and many western nations enjoy."
