At the end of the Second World War, a nation whose time to rise to greatness had come, stood clear-headed among the dizzied and disoriented other combatants. They welcomed clear-headed America giving them direction as it was willing to show them the way to reconstruction and national salvation. America even helped those nations materially so that they can take the first crucial steps in the right direction.
But given that by definition,
a rising power is a novice power, America itself needed counseling on how to
discharge its new responsibilities. Looking for guidance, it turned to Britain,
the hegemon it was replacing on the world stage. But that turned out to be the
mistake that changed America's procession from the upward direction on which it
had been before the war and during it, to a downward direction after the war.
The most consequential mistake
America made, was to take seriously the British advice, mouthed by the mouthy
Winston Churchill, about the Soviet Union being at the same time “a riddle,
wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma,” and a well-known evil force that's
bent on conquering the world, if left unchecked.
Thus, checking the Soviet
Union in the sense of containing it, became America's obsession ever since that
time. The Soviet Union responded to America's moves by developing the weapons
it would need to defend itself, should America decide to attack it with what it
had newly acquired. An arms race ensued, and this is how the Cold War raged in
earnest. The result has been trillions of dollars wasted on developing ever
more lethal weapons, much of which fell into the hands of those who were too
happy to use them as best they knew how, thus killed more innocent civilians
than soldiers.
Now that China has replaced
the Soviet Union as America's potential rival, there are people in America who
wish to replicate the Cold War. They do not see it as having been instrumental
in fostering an arms race that brought the world to the brink of Armageddon on
several occasions. On the contrary, they see it as having been instrumental in
maintaining a balance of power that kept the peace.
This happened, say the lovers
of the Cold War, because America responded the right way to the Soviet
challenges. That is, in the same way they view America standing against the
Soviet Union expanding its Iron Curtain and add more nations to its Warsaw Pact
alliance, America had formed its own NATO alliance; one that brought the Warsaw
Pact to its knees.
In a similar fashion, say the
lovers of the Cold War –– including Mike Pompeo, the current Secretary of
State, who wishes to see America enter into an alliance with three other
nations in the Indo-Pacific region, and form a military quad –– China’s
expansionary impulses can be contained.
You can see discussion of this
possibility in two articles by two writers who do not share the views of Mike
Pompeo. One article came under the title: “Quad Group challenges China's
bullying of the Indo-Pacific neighbors,” written by Gary Anderson, and
published on October 2, 2020 in The Washington Times. The other article came
under the title: “An Asian NATO?” written by Jimmy Quinn, and published on
October 7, 2020 in National Review Online.
Both writers show reluctance
in sharing the view of the Secretary of State because they see that the Asian
nations themselves are not sold on the idea. One reason they are not, is that
they have issues with each other concerning border disputes and other matters.
Another reason is that the Asian nations do not want to antagonize China that
is, after all, the big kid on the bloc, and they have to live with him.
Thus, instead of a NATO-like
alliance, Gary Anderson proposes, “an Indo-China version of the Monroe Doctrine
strongly stating that any attempt to resolve a regional issue by force would
cause American intervention against the party initiating the conflict”.
Of course, China will not be a
signatory to that deal. Thus, if one of the signatories is bullied by China, we
must recognize the following, says Anderson: “China's bullying of regional
actors is as much economic as military, and the United States should be
prepared to assist victim nations with economic aid and lucrative bilateral
trade agreements”.
However, as military exercises
will take place and grow in importance anyway, Gary Anderson proposes the
following: “The United States can encourage regional partners to standardize
ammunition, communications and air/sea defense.” And you can imagine who will
benefit the most from selling this ammunition and equipment to the enthusiastic
buyers.
As to Jimmy Quinn, he offered
this opinion: “If the Quad is to be a fixture of the free world's defense
against Chinese authoritarianism, it must take the form of network that suits
the nature of this contest, not of the last century's Cold War”.
The reality is that Mike
Pompeo and those in his corner, know China does not want war. Thus, if America
does not start one, there will not be a war in the Indo-Pacific region. So
then, what's their beef?
It is that they fear what they
visualize as a virtual Iron Curtain carrying China's economic model, pushing
outward to engulf the entire planet by trampling over America's Capitalism––and
they don’t like it.
Well then, let’s see Mike Pompeo hold back the imaginary Iron Curtain he fears so much.