"Imperialism in the East"

 Martin Luther King’s emphasis on character over race is a lesson for us all, as we in the United States and in these discordant times, celebrate his birth today. Unlike our color, height or biological sex that are determined genetically, character is a quality for which we bear responsibility, and something on which we can all work.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Imperialism in the East”

January 17, 2022

 

“…the American left should focus on where empire

as an ideal truly endures, which isn’t in the West.”

                                                                                                              Robert D. Kaplan (1952-)

                                                                                                              American author and political commentator

                                                                                                              The Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2022

 

President Biden’s two immediate predecessors fractured the nation with divisive talk. In his campaign, Mr. Biden promised unification. Instead, he has increased dissension, focusing on identity politics, federalizing voting laws and diminishing the role of the traditional family, all the while calling his political opponents misogynists, racists, xenophobes, bigots and domestic terrorists who want to destroy democracy. Such intemperate language does little to bridge legitimate differences between Democrats and Republicans – progressives and conservatives. He has wasted political capital, personally denigrating those with whom he disagrees, which has meant less time on issues that affect all Americans, regardless of Party – from the economy, inflation, education and illegal immigration at home to the consequences for the United States as to what is happening in the Middle East, Central Asia, China and Russia.

 

The calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan sent a message to its allies that the United States’ commitment means little, and to its enemies that America need not be feared. The Abraham Accords, one of the Trump Administration’s finest achievements, has been stalled by the anti-Israel stand of the Biden Administration, and by a desire to reinstitute the Iranian nuclear deal. While Western imperialism of an earlier time is, perhaps justifiably, denigrated, its reincarnation in the East – in China and Russia – is ignored by the same pundits who criticize the West. Recent riots in Kazakhstan and the plight of the Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang Province are examples of unrest that are being dealt with harshly by Russia and China, while the West turns a blind eye.

 

Under both land-based and sea-based Belt and Road initiatives (BRI), Chinese banks and companies fund and build roads, power plants, ports, railways, 5-G networks, and fiber-optic cables around the world. According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), as of last March 139 countries from five continents have joined BRI. Not all members host projects, but all endorse BRI as a concept and “pledge to cooperate with China to promote the initiative.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lauded China’s BRI for having “sustainable development as the overarching objective,” and pledged that “the United Nations stands ready to travel this road with you.” China’s Belt and Road initiative began, shortly after Xi Jinping assumed the Chinese Presidency in 2013. The absorption of Hong Kong and China’s threat to Taiwan have shown what they can (and will) do to free markets and political freedom. In increasing the dependency of member states on China, BRI is reminiscent Ivar Kreuger’s early Twentieth Century scheme to create monopolies in myriad countries for his match businesses, by lending the countries money. Kreuger’s business collapsed in bankruptcy in 1932. China has an anti-democratic, authoritarian government that competes for the hearts and minds of people around the world, with their supposed economic success. It risks impoverishing its Belt and Road members by indebting them.

 

The threat in Ukraine appears more imminent. Over 100,000 Russian troops have gathered on Ukraine’s eastern border and have been joined by tanks and other weapons from Russia’s east. “Mr. Putin,” wrote Kathryn Stoner, author of Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order, in Saturday’s The Wall Street Journal, “has a history of using foreign policy to improve his domestic standing when he has felt his status slipping.” COVID-19 and the economy have caused his poll numbers to slip. They are now at their lowest level in ten years. Last September’s national election saw proceedings so corrupt that even the Communist Party – the “loyal opposition” – cried foul. In December, a Russian court closed the Memorial Human Rights Center, originally established to document Stalin’s crimes against humanity. In 2014, with his poll number slipping, Putin invaded Crimea, and then saw his approval numbers jump from around 60% to 90%. Since, they have slipped. Vladimir Putin justifies his imperialistic tendencies by claiming concern for the security of his homeland. It is true that the Baltic states, which had been part of the Soviet Union after World War II and at least six former Warsaw Pact countries have joined NATO. However, the only threat Ukraine poses to Russia is the pitting of democracy against authoritarianism. Putin’s interest in Ukraine is personal. As Ms. Stoner wrote: “What does any autocrat truly fear? Being strung up by his own people from a lamp post.” 

 

What we are seeing is what Yaroslav Trofimov of The Wall Street Journal termed the “Great Power competition.” The question: What will the West, led by the United States and Europe, do to deter this trend? The prognosis does not instill hope. Wokeness and identity politics dominate both cultures. Europe’s focus on social welfare has meant that it spends little on defense. Led by Germany, the Continent has become dependent on Russian energy. At the same time, the United States has given up its oil independence and has been embroiled in battles of self-hatred, focusing on what is wrong with our lifestyles and government, rather than what is right. The West is smug, fat and complacent. Europe’s lack of defense and now buying oil and gas from Russia, and with Mr. Biden disparaging his political opponents as enemies of democracy, the West risks the world becoming more authoritarian.