Commentary
U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq are under rocket and ballistic missile attacks supported by Iran. Russia is bombing Ukraine with munitions supplied by Iran and North Korea. A Russian missile allegedly entered Polish airspace. That’s concerning as Poland is a NATO member that could demand NATO action against nuclear-armed Russia.
Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas, backed by Iran, on Oct. 7. In the last few days, U.S. and Israeli retaliation extended to Iranian proxies hit in Lebanon and Iraq. International shipping through the Red Sea is in chaos due to Iran-backed Houthi missiles and drones, including on Jan. 4. It immediately followed and defied a U.S. and allied ultimatum.
The Biden administration now has two choices: hit Yemen with strikes or face the music in the upcoming elections for failing to enforce its own red line. Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon is seriously considering further escalation.
In response to a threatened Venezuelan invasion of neighboring Guyana, the United Kingdom sent a lone warship. That could pull the United States into a war in South America. The U.S. military is already coordinating with its Guyanese counterparts.
North Korea is firing artillery into a maritime buffer zone maintained by South Korea. The latter is responding in kind.
All of these militarized disputes, especially the already hot wars initiated by Russia and Iran, distract world attention from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping’s plan to invade Taiwan. If the CCP had a hand in instigating some of these conflicts, it would be a skillful execution of diversionary tactics and propaganda by the deed. If not, it is deftly exploiting the wildfires.
Beijing is not valiantly manning the firetruck. No. That would be penny-foolish and pound-wise. It instead takes advantage of the fires for short-term economic gain, including the purchase of sanction-cheap oil from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.
The Group of Seven (G7) democracies tried to leverage Beijing’s influence to stop Russia and Iran but to no avail. It is in the CCP’s perceived interests to let the Pax Americana devolve into violence and enjoy the spoils of he who stays out of the fight to pickpocket the belligerents.
If the United States is one, especially against nuclear-armed Russia, Beijing could pick up a pretty penny: world hegemony. With that, Beijing would finally take its “rightful” place at the center of the world, ruling “all under heaven.” This was the old delusion of the Chinese emperors. It could come true today.
But a “Pax Sinica” would be entirely different than Pax Americana and far more violent to the point of global brushfire wars waged against the CCP’s attempts at extending hegemony. Communist China would not give national governments around the world the kind of freedom and sovereignty that the United States allowed them after World War II, and which has been turned against us in the case of the “axis of evil“ countries: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.
Even India, Turkey, and Hungary have been rogue democracies that put the entire international system at risk through their parochial and short-sighted policies that pander to China and Russia for markets, energy, and military technology. Their complicity in the killing of Ukrainian civilians should be considered an international crime.
The G7, plus close allies like South Korea, is unique in having both the coordination, democratic values, and economic power to address today’s increasing instability. But democratic leaders have not yet taken the bull by the horns. They dither around the edges because they do not want to “provoke” more war.
Democracies do not want war, but war wants democracies. Russian leader Vladimir Putin is buying yet more weapons from Iran and North Korea. Xi is threatening Taiwan and reorganizing his military and economy to that end. He proves himself a true communist totalitarian by fiddling with crackdowns in the finance, construction, and tech sectors. In response, international investors are backing away. Since 2020, four of America’s largest banks cut their exposure to the country by 24 percent, a fall from $60 billion to $46 billion by the third quarter of 2023. Smart money believes that risk from China is on the rise.
Xi led multiple rounds of what is claimed to be “anti-corruption” drives against China’s elites, including most recently his military leadership. Longtime allies of Xi are exempt. This is creating so much fear in the CCP that it could be seizing up just when Beijing finally has an opportunity to take Taiwan by force.
Don’t look to the United Nations for a solution to global war. The storied institution is full of dictators and panderers to Russia and China. Unless we manage to expel these two, they will continue wielding their vetos in defense of aggressors, and the United Nations will limp brokenly along. The global challenges to peace are now so great that only joint action by the G7 and allies can save us from the fiddler and his ilk.
