Washington pushes China into Russia’s arms, pushes Iran into Russia’s arms
All discussion in the Washington foreign policy establishment on how the Ukrainian war has pushed Russia into China’s arms and made it a ‘junior partner’ is utter nonsense. My contention is that a hubristic U.S. foreign policy that pays no attention to what adversaries are saying because that is ‘disinformation’ has pushed China into Russia’s arms.
This took time to achieve: two years plus of the Special Military Operation, to be precise. And this is not due just to blunders of the incompetents manning the top posts in the National Security Council and the State Department. No, the bipartisan majority in Congress has also enabled the incoming disaster for U.S. global standing by its full-voiced approval of punitive sanctions on Chinese goods and approval of what constitute kinetic war plans against Beijing as well as the formation of a military alliance directed against China in its neighborhood.
The handwriting is on the wall. Beijing must support the new robust nuclear doctrine of Russia to ensure its neighbor’s victory over the U.S.-led coalition supporting Ukraine.
By the same token, unqualified U.S. support, including active participation in Israel’s latest atrocities in Lebanon that resulted in the death of Hezbollah’s high command has pushed Iran into Russia’s arms. The liberal-minded new president of Iran has reversed his recently declared readiness for dialogue with the signatories of the now suspended Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on nuclear arms. We saw the proof of that yesterday when Iran moved from wait-and-see mode into retaliatory mode for the humiliations Israel has inflicted on the Axis of Resistance. One hundred ballistic missiles were fired at Israeli military targets and it would appear that they got through both the Iron Dome and air defenses provided by the U.S. fleet and by French anti-aircraft systems.
I contend that Iran’s missile attack on Israel was approved in advance by Moscow when Vladimir Putin sent his envoy to Teheran a few days earlier. It is unthinkable that Iran would challenge Netanyahu so directly without the certainty that Russian air defense systems give it the best protection known on this planet.
After serving as a reliable if unacknowledged guarantor of the state of Israel for decades, Russia has clearly changed sides.
There are also other important conclusions that we can draw from the above observations.
One of these relates to the open discussion I am having with John Helmer over Vladimir Putin’s commitment to defend Russia’s national interests. Does he or does he not have backbone? I insist that Russia’s backing for Iran, which surely made yesterday’s attack possible, is proof positive that the Russian president is ready for a fight with Washington that he previously avoided at all costs. It is inevitable that Russia’s support for Iran will bring it into direct confrontation with Washington.
Who will blink first? Given the vulnerability of all U.S. assets in the West Asian region starting with the aircraft carrier task force, I believe that Washington will blink first.
I intend to further develop these points as the situation evolves in coming days.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024