by James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer
The world witnessed the coverup of a president that is in sharp decline and our enemies are not going to wait for a new president to be selected before continuing the pursuit of their strategic goals.
U.S. domestic politics is roiled over President Biden’s dénouement. The American people wonder whether Biden will be president in the weeks to come. Collectively, Americans are straining their eyes as they attempt to read the color of the smoke coming from the chimneys of the DNC, the White House, and Obama’s mansion in Kalorama. Will Biden step down or ride it out to the election? Will the 25th Amendment be invoked or will Biden stubbornly remain in office until January sees President Trump return to office or another Democrat occupy the Oval Office? Certainly, it deserves to be explored why Biden’s condition was obvious for so long but not acknowledged and addressed. As does the curious timing of a presidential debate in June to make the issue front and center and thus provide the Democrats time to find a replacement.
However interesting and important these issues are, you do not get to call a “time out” in international politics. While the Democrats decide whether Biden will remain in office and serve as their candidate, America’s enemies are hard at work. The dictator of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Xi Jinping, was meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana, Kazakhstan for the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) gathering. That meeting was notable for two reasons. First, the SCO is expanding. Belarus joined the SCO to become the tenth member along with Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, the PRC, Russia, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Second, the SCO now exists as a visible counterweight to U.S. influence in global politics. Putin made the meeting in Astana on the back of his visits to North Korea and Vietnam. No matter the success of these efforts, it demonstrates that Putin is chopping wood while Biden sleeps.
In that effort, he is not alone. Xi is putting the screws to U.S. allies. Putin’s travels around Asia divert attention from the PRC’s increasing aggression against the Philippines, a U.S. Treaty ally. The PRC’s coercive actions against Manila at Second Thomas Shoal are notable because of Beijing’s escalation. Its coast guard and navy are directly interfering with the resupply of the Sierra Madre, the vessel permanently beached on the shoal to protect Manila’s sovereignty. Beijing is executing a maritime sovereignty campaign to seize Filipino territory through an orchestrated process of incremental coercive steps that are increasingly violent and could very well lead to an armed conflict. It remains unclear whether the PRC will succeed, but if it does, it will be because the Biden administration watched and did nothing to aid the brave Filipino military.
Similarly, the feebleness of this administration has emboldened Xi to expand the PRC’s maritime operations in the East China Sea by driving Japanese fishermen from the waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands and sending surface action groups through key choke points where PLA Navy combatants are now operating in the Sea of Okhotsk and the waters of the western Pacific.
Biden’s infirmity has significant domestic and international costs. In the international realm, the perception of weakness, senescence, and confusion that he projects allows the PRC and Russia to capitalize upon the perception that the U.S. is enfeebled. That perception is bad enough as it weakens U.S. standing in the world, which, in turn, affects U.S. allies and enemies. But it also encourages states to think that they have a window of opportunity to act before Biden’s time in office ends. This was a window of opportunity that the Biden administration created. It is a vulnerability that PRC can exploit in its political warfare against the U.S. and its allies. It would be one thing if the U.S. had overwhelming military superiority over the PRC. In such a world, the hard facts of military power could be converted into credibility. Unfortunately, and contemptibly, the U.S. does not enjoy such favorable circumstances. For instance, the PLAN’s second aircraft carrier, Shandong, was dispatched to the South China Sea along with other major combatants in a show of naval power against the Philippines not previously demonstrated by the CCP. Local superiority is a matter of doubt. That ambiguity is a fact well marked by our allies who look to U.S. credibility and capabilities for their security, as the U.S. does for the protection of its own national security interests.
In an odious, dangerous, and supremely selfish manner, the Biden administration has placed its political survival before the interests of the United States. The camarilla who are in control of this administration may not care, but the perception of an enfeebled president resonates at home and abroad. The world witnessed the coverup of a president that is in sharp decline and our enemies, especially the CCP, are not going to sit by and wait for a new president to be selected before continuing the pursuit of their strategic goals. This is a very dangerous time and America’s military and allies should be on high alert.
James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer are authors of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure.
James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2024/07/07/bidens-denouement-hurts-u-s-standing/
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