This was easily one of the most unhinged and fear-mongering speeches by a Pentagon chief in Asia ever, with relents of the worst times of the Cold War.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1928694074984513887
This was easily one of the most unhinged and fear-mongering speeches by a Pentagon chief in Asia ever, with relents of the worst times of the Cold War.
Funnily enough, Hegseth started his speech by saying that "for a generation, the United States ignored this region" because they were "distracted by open-ended wars, regime change, and nation building" elsewhere.
Good start to the speech 
And, interesting coincidence, that very generation during which the US "ignored" Asia corresponds to the region's most peaceful and prosperous period in centuries. And to catastrophic wars and entire nations destroyed where the US chose to focus their efforts instead. Strange, isn't it? 
But fear not, Hegseth says, the US are doing their utmost to "shift our focus to this region" in order to answer "the threat China poses", which "could be imminent". I'm sure the audience was very reassured 
How does Hegseth define this "China threat" he's so worried about? As an "alteration of the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific", the US being "pushed out of this critical region" and China "conquering Taiwan by force."
In short the "China threat" is... China daring to become more powerful than the US in its own neighborhood.
And of course, as everyone with half a brain knows, what makes war over Taiwan more likely: is it Hegseth's ironically named "peace through strength" approach where he says the threat of war is "imminent", "insists" that everyone ramps up military spending and says the US is preparing "to fight and win, decisively"? Or maybe, just maybe, is it to keep the same "One China" approach that's worked at preserving the peace for decades?
You could make the comparison with Cuba: what if China were to suddenly go to the Western hemisphere and start saying the US threat is "imminent," demanding Mexico and Canada ramp up their military spending to 5% of GDP while lecturing them about "altering the balance of power in the Americas" and announcing China is "preparing to fight and win, decisively" against the US? Would that make war more or less likely?
Another veiled threat Hegseth made is to "beware" of "the idea of seeking both economic cooperation with China and defense cooperation with the United States," because of "the leverage that the CCP seeks with that entanglement."
The lack of self-awareness is hilarious: the guy is literally threatening and "insisting" everyone in the region ramp up military spending to 5% of GDP to align with US defense priorities at their expense, while in the same breath warning them about Chinese economic leverage. Peak American exceptionalism...
Anyhow, all this would be funny if it wasn't so fundamentally disgusting: at heart this is the US determined to prevent China, the only great power to ever reach this status peacefully, from continuing to modernize and develop itself - because in their zero-sum view of the world the very idea that 1.4 billion people might achieve prosperity without American dominance is apparently intolerable.
And, interesting coincidence, that very generation during which the US "ignored" Asia corresponds to the region's most peaceful and prosperous period in centuries. And to catastrophic wars and entire nations destroyed where the US chose to focus their efforts instead. Strange, isn't it?
But fear not, Hegseth says, the US are doing their utmost to "shift our focus to this region" in order to answer "the threat China poses", which "could be imminent". I'm sure the audience was very reassured
How does Hegseth define this "China threat" he's so worried about? As an "alteration of the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific", the US being "pushed out of this critical region" and China "conquering Taiwan by force."
In short the "China threat" is... China daring to become more powerful than the US in its own neighborhood.
And of course, as everyone with half a brain knows, what makes war over Taiwan more likely: is it Hegseth's ironically named "peace through strength" approach where he says the threat of war is "imminent", "insists" that everyone ramps up military spending and says the US is preparing "to fight and win, decisively"? Or maybe, just maybe, is it to keep the same "One China" approach that's worked at preserving the peace for decades?
You could make the comparison with Cuba: what if China were to suddenly go to the Western hemisphere and start saying the US threat is "imminent," demanding Mexico and Canada ramp up their military spending to 5% of GDP while lecturing them about "altering the balance of power in the Americas" and announcing China is "preparing to fight and win, decisively" against the US? Would that make war more or less likely?
Another veiled threat Hegseth made is to "beware" of "the idea of seeking both economic cooperation with China and defense cooperation with the United States," because of "the leverage that the CCP seeks with that entanglement."
The lack of self-awareness is hilarious: the guy is literally threatening and "insisting" everyone in the region ramp up military spending to 5% of GDP to align with US defense priorities at their expense, while in the same breath warning them about Chinese economic leverage. Peak American exceptionalism...
Anyhow, all this would be funny if it wasn't so fundamentally disgusting: at heart this is the US determined to prevent China, the only great power to ever reach this status peacefully, from continuing to modernize and develop itself - because in their zero-sum view of the world the very idea that 1.4 billion people might achieve prosperity without American dominance is apparently intolerable.
posted by Satish Sharma at
07:44
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home