Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be a match that ignites a global conflict, where an emboldened Beijing and its proxies exploit the situation to act on their own ambitions, according to China analyst and author Gordon Chang.
“We didn’t think Putin was going to invade Ukraine. And so right now the world is a very different place, and we have to throw out our assumptions, and we have to start defending ourselves,” Chang recently told Epoch TV’s “Crossroads” program.
The reason the military conflict in Ukraine could turn global is two-fold, according to Chang.
From the Russian side, “Putin is not going to stop at Ukraine,” but will likely go after members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and destabilize the whole of Eastern Europe.
Then there’s China that has largely banded itself with Russia in their mutual opposition to the United States, which will take a cue from how the world responds to Russia’s assault.
“I don’t know where this ends up. But we cannot rule out the worst scenarios,” said Chang.
Lack of US Leadership
With Russia breaking apart Ukraine, nations are looking to the United States to step in as the world leader. But the pattern of U.S. responses from the beginning has been “extremely troubling,” he said.If the Biden administration wanted to show it was “serious” about deterring Putin, the president should have taken action before the invasion, according to Chang.
“Before the first Soviet Russian soldier steps into Ukraine, you knock their banks out of SWIFT. You stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. You cut Russia off completely, from not only the banking system but from the global economy. You go after Putin. You issue red notices at Interpol,” he said.
