August 8, 2021
By Stephen Lendman
Since usurping power by brazen election fraud, Biden regime hardliners have been pushing things for confrontation with Russia, China and other nations.
Last week, it notified Congress of its intent to sell around $750 million worth of weapons to Taiwan, taunting China with the announcement.
According to the State Department, the sale aims to strengthen Taipei’s “self-defense capabilities to meet current and future threats (sic).”
China’s Foreign Ministry denounced the sale. Vowing “countermeasures to defend its legitimate interests,” it called the sale “a wrong signal to Taiwanese independence forces,” adding:
It’s “damag(ing) Sino/US relations”more than already, along with “stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
According to a spokesman for Taiwan’s office of the president:
Taipei “continue(s) to deepen cooperation with the US and other like-minded countries.”
Days earlier, US war secretary Lloyd Austin falsely accused China of “destabilizing military activity and other forms of coercion against the people of Taiwan (sic),” adding:
“We will not flinch when our interests are threatened (sic).”
On Thursday, US Indo-Pacific Command’s Admiral John Aquilino vowed to defend Taiwan, adding:
“(W)e have to be in a position to ensure that status quo remains as it applies to Taiwan.”
INDOPACOM he heads called on Congress to spend over $27 billion by 2027 to boost US military capabilities in the region.
On August 2, INDOPACOM announced the beginning of “Large Scale Global Exercise 21 (LSGE21) to continue through August 27.
US army, navy, marines, and air force are involved, along with UK, Australian and Japanese forces.
What’s ongoing throughout most of August is the largest-scale US-led naval and amphibious drills since its Ocean Venture exercises in 1981 with NATO allies during the Cold War with Soviet Russia.
According to a US Navy statement, ongoing S. China Sea exercises signal to Washington’s invented enemies that it’s “ready at the high end of warfare expressly because of its global operational commitments.”
Operation “Large Scale Global Exercise 21” coincides in part with China’s military drills in the South China Sea.
Begun on August 6, they’ll continue through the 10th.
Flashpoint South China Sea risks US confrontation with Beijing where Pentagon forces don’t belong.
According to regional visiting professor Brad Glosserman, US-led South China Sea exercises “signal” Washington’s intent to increase its regional involvement.
Claiming the Biden regime doesn’t seek “confrontation or a conflict” with China, it “could erupt by miscalculation of US resolve and its commitment to the defense of its allies and regional security, or as the result of an accident,” he believes.
Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming doesn’t expect ongoing US military exercises to heighten tensions with China more than already, saying:
Despite “targeting China,” they’re unlikely to “to go too far and will not deliberately seek to cross China’s bottom lines.”
“The US military presence in the Asia-Pacific recently is not sufficient, so they need to use these kinds of exercises to prove themselves.”
According to Australian international relations professor Remy Davison, US-led LSGE21’s scale shows its Indo/Pacific allies and adversaries that its regional military footprint is longterm.
Separately in response to the Biden regime’s offer of “safe haven” to Hong Kong residents in the US, China’s official People’s Daily broadsheet said the following:
Along with “unscrupulous (US) smears and sanctions on China (for) safeguard(ing) Hong Kong’s security and stability,” the Biden regime’s “safe haven” offer is all about “siding with…Hong Kong rioters” — ones the US created and supports,” adding:
For some time, Washington’s hostile-to-China ruling class has been “colluding with and even abetting rioters in Hong Kong” — calling them “fighters (and) heroes.”
Its actions are all about waging war on China by other means, aiming to undermine its development.
An agenda doomed to fail, a clash of civilizations continues and escalates toward risking direct confrontation by accident or design.
Irreconcilable differences define bilateral relations, things worsening, not improving.
US hegemonic aims are the stuff that wars are made of.
The Rand Corporation earlier called US war with China “unthinkable.”
The same goes for confronting Russia militarily.
US war against one or both countries would be ruinous for combatant countries.
According to Rand, if occurs “(t)he world economy could be rocked and international order…shattered.”
It could go on “inconclusive(ly)” because neither side has an advantage in dealing with adversaries able to give as much as they take.
The US was unable to defeat North Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Syria.
What chance would it have against powerhouse countries China and Russia?
According to Rand, “(a)s its military advantage declines, the US will be less confident that a war with China” or Russia would go as planned.
Preparing for war defensively is one thing, waging it against powerful adversaries another entirely.
Is it possible anyway? Is the US foolhardy to think it’s militarily superior enough to defeat any adversaries?
Is unthinkable nuclear confrontation possible?
China and Russia prioritize world peace and stability in sharp contrast to belligerent USA.
If conflict occurs between these nations, most likely it would be short-lived to avoid mass-annihilation.
Even a war of weeks or a few months could be devastating for combatant countries.
Is the above incentive enough for US policymakers to avoid war with China and/or Russia at all costs?
Or will it happen anyway ahead by accident or design?
According to Rand, US “war with China (or Russia) would be so harmful that both sides should place a very high priority on avoiding one.”
Clearly the above view is shared by China and Russia.
Given its rage to dominate other countries by whatever it takes to achieve its aims, it’s very much unclear whether hegemon USA is likeminded.
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