The tide therefore continues to turn in Russia’s favor. And the easiest option of defeating Putin through Ukraine is starting to close.
But it’s not just Russia. It is China that actually poses the most strategic and defining challenge for our time.
Both countries have contempt for the West, reject Western norms, and want to see the West weakened. Both hate international scrutiny of their domestic affairs and both feel threatened by the rules-based order.
However, China has bigger plans. It seeks global leadership, economic supremacy, technological advantage, as well as a desire to assert territorial and regional claims in the South China Sea and Taiwan. “It is time for us to take the forefront of the world and make greater contributions to humanity,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said. And to this end, China is employing a multi-faceted strategy that includes economic projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as a strong military posture.
Like Putin, Xi’s tactics probe the underbelly of Western vulnerability. A new Beijing-Moscow-Tehran axis now presents a united front in world affairs, opposing Western policies and influence.
In addition, they now also have a global institution – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization – established by Putin and Xi in 2001. The world’s largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population, it covers around 80%. of Eurasia and 40% of the world’s population. , and in 2021 its combined GDP represented approximately 20% of global GDP. With India, Iran and 20 other members present, it is essentially anti-West.
On the current trajectory, the world is therefore on the verge of dividing into two spheres of competing interests. The world turned upside down as we were distracted by complacency. And as Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine have contributed to double-digit inflation in the UK, they have highlighted how much our economic security depends on our national security, and vice versa.
Today, as Britain prepares to put itself on a war footing, our growing anxiety about the threat of wider conflict is accompanied by the expectation that we will, once again, have to , improve our defense architecture – and be among the first to put ourselves in danger.
Politico
