March 20, 2022
BIGGEST LOSER:
Biden's call with Xi underscores deepening bilateral deadlock (PHELIM KINE, 03/18/2022, Politico)
"What the US should do is to seriously reflect on its role in the Ukraine crisis and the part it has played, effectively assume its due responsibilities, and take practical actions to ease the situation and solve the problem, instead of continuing to add fuel to the fire and shifting problems," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said. "As the culprit of the Ukraine crisis, why does the US keep smearing China instead of reflecting on the security predicament in Europe caused by the eastward expansion of US-led NATO?"
Xi needed three things from the war:
(1) for the Russian/Chinese alliance to be strengthened. Instead, Russia is well on its way to not existing.
(2) for the West to be weakened. Instead, not only has opposition to Russia been universal but Westerners have been surprised by how much power we have over such malign regimes.
(3) for it to be a dry-run vis-a-vis Taiwan. Instead, it not only shows that Taiwan would win but that China would be devastated.
No wonder he's as petulant as a Trumpist: the Nationalist dream went to Kiev to commit suicide.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 20, 2022 12:00 AM