July 4, 2017. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, during a joint news conference following a meeting. © Michael Klimentyev © Sputnik
Business Insider: Russia and China are on the brink of a military alliance that could overwhelm the US
* For decades, the US has been the world's main military superpower.
* But the US faces formidable new threats, and rising global conflict.
* In the wake of the Ukraine war, Russia and China have been growing closer.
For decades, the military might of the US was unchallenged.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US was the world's only military superpower, with its forces deployed all over the world to defend allies and deter aggression.
But as 2023 draws to a close, conflicts are flaring across the world, and Russia and China are growing increasingly aggressive in their shared ambition to topple the US as the world's biggest power.
Their authoritarian leaders, Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, are seeking to exploit global instability to damage the US and its allies, say analysts, and are drawing closer to forming a military alliance that poses the biggest threat the US has faced in decades.
"It is clear that the two states see themselves as military partners, and that this partnership is growing deeper and more experienced, even if it is not a formal alliance in the Western sense," Jonathan Ward, CEO of the Atlas Group, told Business Insider.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: For decades one of the top priorities in US foreign policy was to always do what was necessary to make sure that Russia and China do not form a political/economic/military alliance. It is the reason why Nixon went to China in 1973, and why subsequent US Presidents have worked hard to cultivate ties with both countries, even at times compromising on US interests and priorities to make sure that such a Russia - China alliance did not form.
Unfortunately for the West. Circumstances, short - sighted US/Western policies, and the current geopolitical environment has pushed both China and Russia to form just such an alliance.
To say that this could have all been avoided is an understatement. Especially on the Russian side where all the West had to do was accept Russia's terms on Ukraine .... a neutral/non-NATO country that would recognize and respect its Russian speaking minorities in the eastern part of the country.
Sighhh ....
A prediction. Future historians will look back at this time and will wonder how did the US and its Western allies screw-up such a good thing after the Soviet Union broke-up and the West stood supreme over everyone.