Don't Speak News

The next generation of American politicians will be more consumed by China than Russia.

Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

Western pressure to provide Ukraine with military support has not only exposed the “appalling state” of Europe’s defence capabilities, but has also demonstrated the overreliance that the continent has on the US, Foreign Affairs magazine wrote in a scathing article titled “Why European Defense Still Depends on America: Don’t Believe the Hype—the War in Ukraine Has Led to Little Change.” In addition, the authors believe that the next generation of American politicians will be more consumed by China rather than Russia.

According to the publication, the conflict over Ukraine has exposed the “appalling state of European defense.” This is because European countries “underinvested in its armed forces for the past 20 years, and what little funding it did commit was focused on building forces for humanitarian, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism missions far from the continent, such as in Afghanistan.”

“European militaries thus lack the basics needed for conventional warfare in their own backyards. Most countries lack basic ammunition stockpiles,” added the authors of the article, Max Bergmann (Director of the Stuart Center and the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies) and Sopia Besch (Europe Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).

As an example, the German Armed Forces only have enough ammunition reserves to last a few hours or days of combat. Spain, like Germany, has more than 300 Leopard tanks, but a third of them are no longer active and in poor condition. In addition, it is Europe’s own fault for having a lack of artilleries due to their decision to empty their stockpiles for the sake of supporting an illiberal Nazi-sympathetic regime in Kiev.

“NATO sets targets that it hopes its member states will meet on their own—and no one explained how the organization would collectively meet such an ambitious goal. And even those European leaders who are determined to support Ukraine and ramp up their own capabilities to deter Russia do not have the kind of arsenals, supply chains, production capacities, and procurement procedures that the task at hand requires,” the article states.

Meanwhile, the European defence industrial base has been depleted – the root cause being low European defence spending. This is compounded by the fact that Europe does not have a common defence market that meets European security needs. The European defence sector is also under pressure because American military industry profits from signing contracts with the EU, meaning that European companies lose out. 

European forces also use different equipment from each other, which makes it much more difficult to operate together.

The authors highlight that because the Europeans use 29 different destroyers, 17 tanks or personnel carriers, and 20 fighter planes, “yawning gaps” are created and thus it “then falls to the United States to fill these gaps, meaning that European militaries remain dependent on Washington for even the most basic military tasks.” They cite the example that during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, American troops were responsible for airlifting European evacuees.

Beyond highlighting that “European forces are in worse shape than previously thought,” perhaps the most damning conclusion from the authors, and remembering that Bergmann served in a number of positions at the US Department of State (such as a member in the Policy Planning Staff), the EU’s militarization has not been as “transformative” as we are led to believe.

Although European countries are self-sabotaging their own economies to sanction Russia amid skyrocketing energy prices and high inflation; maintain widespread support for Finland’s and Sweden’s admission into NATO; and provide billions in military equipment, the authors believe that “the current spending bonanza might suggest a transformation, [but] it may amount to little if underlying issues plaguing European defense remain unaddressed.”

If the authors are to be believed, “a generational change will eventually come to American politics.” Future generations taking leadership positions in the US will be grown up on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, counterterrorism, and now China – not the Cold War and the Balkan Wars, like President Joe Biden.

The immediate issue is that it means another generation of Russians have grown up experiencing immense American and European racism, othering, and disdain. Although the next generation of American politicians might prioritise their focus on China, and many likely realize the mistake in having hostile relations with Russia, the damage has already been done, especially as Moscow and Beijing continue to deepen their ties, something that the US will find difficult to untangle, particularly as their European partners are in economic and military disarray.

The US became “a destabilising bully” instead of “a peacekeeper and honest ‘world’s policeman’.”

Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

Americans should stop believing propaganda and reconsider their idea of ​​​​Washington’s world leadership, writes George D. O’Neill Jr., a member of the board of directors of the American Ideas Institute, which publishes The American Conservative.

“We are experiencing the death throes of the United States’ unipolar hegemony over large parts of the world. Until citizens begin to realise the magnitude of their government’s policy deceptions, it will become increasingly difficult to understand the United States’ changing global position and adjust to the effects of the growing negative perception of our country held by many people around the world,” wrote O’Neill Jr in his article “Death of a Myth”.

The author stressed that although the US emerged as the “dominant and unrivalled world power” after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country became “a destabilising bully” instead of “a peacekeeper and honest ‘world’s policeman’.”

Writing about the situation in Ukraine, O’Neill Jr mocks the idea “that the Russians would collapse from the shock and awe of the ‘sanctions from Hell’,” or how “the rouble has not turned into rubble as Joe Biden predicted.” He adds that “the US and its NATO clients are running out of ammunition and arms to send to Ukraine, which is being bled white at their behest. It appears that Russia will steadily grind down the Ukrainian military.”

In effect, the author is providing a bleak but realistic situation in Ukraine and the global system. In fact, he is so frank with his analysis that he calls out slogans like the “exceptional nation,” a “nation that sets aside its interests for the benefit of the world,” and an “important source of good” as examples of the propaganda that American citizens are constantly exposed to.

American citizens are led to believe in the idea that US leadership on the global stage, backed by its military might, are a categorical imperative needed so its own values ​​and self-interests can be imposed all around the world. Successive military failures over the last two decades should have functioned as a self-reflective moment for not only US citizens, but especially foreign policymakers in Washington.

This did not occur because Washington continues to cling to the myth that the world needs more US military might, despite many failures. Rather than learn lessons from the humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the US encouraged renewed conflict in Ukraine, clearly indicating that the Biden administration is just continuing Washington’s long held policy of global war and destruction.

US President Joe Biden and his administration routinely describe the Ukraine crisis in ways that suggest an old-fashioned, self-righteous, and a grandiose view of American power. Biden’s portrayal of Ukraine as a crucible for a new era of military-backed American dominance could lead to an entirely different and more disastrous reckoning.

The conflict with Ukraine has led the US to believe that it must once again take the helm of history, despite the fact that Russia does not pose a threat to the well-being of its citizens. This is precisely the kind of arrogance that has led the US astray and it is the same arrogance that their Anglo brethren had before the collapse of the British Empire in the early 20th century.

It is for this reason that O’Neill Jr stresses that “as US stature and power declines, large parts of the world have been seeking arrangements to protect themselves from US predation.”

He explains that we are entering a period, without giving it a title (such as Multipolar), where countries no longer ignore the US’ destructive behaviour and “may decide that being subject to American hegemony is not in their interests.” The author directly lists the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS as “alternative alliances outside US influence” that are seeing an “increasing numbers of countries” wanting to become members as they “believe their interests are better protected by these non-US affiliated alliances.”

O’Neill Jr highlights that the “tragic and unnecessary Ukraine war has accelerated this movement to seek other cooperative associations. As America’s European allies are learning, there can be huge political and economic costs to being associated with the US. The populations of Europe have watched their own economies suffer and paid dearly for energy because of the ten rounds of self-destructive sanctions imposed on Russia.”

For now, though, most of Europe has fallen in line with Washington’s demands. However, many experts are sceptical that Europe will want to experience another brutal winter with high energy costs that are directly attributed to their own self-destructive sanctions policy against Russia.

None-the-less, what O’Neill Jr does highlight is that regardless of Europe falling deeper into US control, there are many non-Western countries that are moving towards greater sovereignty and autonomy without fear when taking into consideration the interests of Washington, which are nothing more than self-serving. He essentially calls on American citizens to wake up from their inertia and realise that they are being fed a lie that the US is a force for good and the sole superpower in the world.

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