President Biden has told Americans to leave Ukraine. No surprises there.
Asked recently to comment on Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine and the pre-Olympic meeting between Presidents Xi Jianping and Vladimir Putin, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink claimed Beijing “should have used the summit to encourage Russia to pursue diplomacy and de-escalation in Ukraine. That is what the world expects from responsible powers.”
No doubt Xi feels mortified by Kritenbrink’s words. Unfortunately, the Nebraskan’s statement is typical technocratic balderdash and remarkably naïve.
Kritenbrink, of course, is fully aware that Xi and Putin specifically met to strengthen their unholy alliance against the United States, the West, and flip the world order that we’ve enjoyed since the end of World War II.
Certainly any American concerned about his country’s place in the world should be aware.
The assistant secretary of state’s statement, moreover, is a prime example as to why President Joe Biden is failing around the world and why China and Russia are ascendant.
While the Biden Administration exercises soft power for diplomacy’s sake and deludes itself into believing this strategy can possibly advance our national security interests, China and Russia deal in the world of hard power and realpolitik. The strategy of sanctimonious lecturing cannot and should not replace the successful Ronald Reagan strategy of peace through strength. Yet it has.
This guileless approach to international affairs defines the overarching Biden agenda around the world, too. Look no further than the administration’s misguided environmental pursuits.
As Democrats declare a regressive “war” on vital fossil fuels to achieve absolutely nothing, Russia and China build pipelines and coal-fired power plants to enrich their economies and military.
While Biden appeases Islamist thugs, Iran builds up its nuclear weapons program and spreads theocratic behavior across the Middle East. And, without debate, the catastrophic Afghanistan surrender last summer remains the nadir of Biden’s foreign policy blunders.
Honest observers realize Xi and Putin have determined there is nothing to fear from Biden, except maybe a sclerotic lecture littered with semi-strong adjectives.
This is why Russia is primed to gobble up Ukraine, before perhaps pushing their military elsewhere into Eastern Europe; meanwhile, China continues to attempt greater expansion by moving into Afghanistan, Africa, possibly recapturing Taiwan, and taking more action in the South China Sea.
The left and the trendy neo-isolationist wing may not want to care about foreign affairs, but we don’t live in Madagascar; we live in the West, so foreign affairs care about you.
A.J. Kaufman taught school and served as a military historian before beginning his journalism career. His work has appeared in numerous national print and digital outlets since 2005. The author of three books, he also contributes to Israel National News, The Lid, Business Central Magazine, and is a frequent guest on The Ed Morrissey Show. A.J. and his wife currently reside in the Midwest.
A version of this article appeared at AlphaNews.