Biden’s Kumbaya Internationalism Won’t Defend America; Will Biden Learn from Trump and Keep Making America Secure Again, and related stories

U.S. relations with allies must be accompanied by message about challenges that China and Russia pose

The world has radically changed since the Obama-Biden team took the reins 12 years ago.

The Clinton-Bush-Obama presumption that engaging China would yield comity and democratic reforms is obsolete. President Xi firmly believes the compromise of core communist values — absolute party rule and a state orchestrated economy — resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Emboldened by economic success, China is pushing out in all directions — repressing Hong Kong, a massive naval buildup that challenges the security of U.S. friends in the Pacific, and more broadly, for example, by bullying the U.K. when it is vulnerable during Brexit.

With Joe Biden’s ascent, Beijing is pushing the view that cooperative competition is desirable. However, its responses to the existential threats to civilization — climate change and global pandemics — clearly demonstrate that the Middle Kingdom — as currently organized to serve the Chinese Communist Party — cannot be persuaded into a responsible relationship with Western democracies.

Just last September, Beijing pledged to reach peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2060 — China is the largest source of new greenhouse gases and no possible solution to the planet heating up is possible without those kind of hard commitments. However, China, which already has more than half world’s coal-fired electrical generation, continues to build coal-fired plants and at the December Climate Ambition Summit did not table any meaningful initiatives to keep its promises. —>READ MORE HERE

Will Biden learn from Trump and keep making America secure again:

Build Back Better” was Joe Biden’s campaign slogan. How different is that, really, from “Make America Great Again”? Both BBB and MAGA suggest the need for restoration, for reversing deterioration and decline, for fixing what’s broken.

In foreign and national security policy, President Trump — following eight years of President Obama’s unwillingness to bolster the credibility of American power against America’s enemies — achieved some significant successes. He also suffered some significant failures. In other areas, he made incremental progress which his successor can advance — if he sees his task as building his own presidency rather than building back the Obama White House.

Mr. Trump came into office with limited knowledge of international relations, and the complex mechanisms by which policy is formulated and implemented. He did know a thing or two about deal-making, and he intuitively grasped the logic of “peace through strength.” On that basis, he increased defense spending — essential because massive defense cuts during the Obama years had left the U.S. military with decreasing readiness and aging weapons. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

Biden’s Transition Has Been a Flaming Disaster

There’s No Reason for Biden to Reward Iran

6 Experts Predict The Worst-Case Scenario With China Under A Feeble Biden Foreign Policy

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