If Trump thinks he can pry Russia away from China, he’s sadly mistaken. From Finian Cunningham at strategic-culture.su:
It is tempting to speculate that U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to align with Russia in a bid to weaken China.
It is tempting to speculate that U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to align with Russia in a bid to weaken China.
That puts Washington’s rapid peace diplomacy over the Ukraine conflict into a more cynical perspective. The real objective, so the reasoning goes, is not to achieve peace based on genuine principle and humanitarian concern, but rather for the Trump administration to ingratiate Russia as a way to gain leverage over China.
The alleged policy is labeled a “reverse Kissinger.” It refers to the geopolitical overture by the administration of Richard Nixon in the early 1970s when he made the daring visit to Red China. Nixon’s foreign relations guru, Henry Kissinger, was credited with masterminding that ambitious policy to engage the People’s Republic of China – with the aim of undermining the Soviet Union. To a degree, back then, the stealthy move was a success, and it consolidated Kissinger’s image as a Machiavellian genius.
A half-century later, is the Trump administration attempting to court detente with Russia for the bigger purpose of isolating and weakening China?
Trump’s diplomatic outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to end the conflict in Ukraine has caused international shockwaves, especially among America’s European allies. They feel sidelined and are fretting that Trump may produce a peace deal with Putin without Europe’s input.
