Mattis paints a global picture that’s puzzling
need for U.S. military might? It didn’t take long. In the same speech, Mattis singled out Russia and China as “revisionist powers” seeking to “create a world consistent with their authoritarian models, pursuing veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic and security decisions.”
But no one with a foothold in reality believes that Russia and China are attempting to impose any kind of ideology on other countries. Does anyone in the U.S. really think that Russia and China are breathing down their necks on a daily basis? Mattis has just said that this should be your primary security concern as an American. Seriously.
If anything, China and Russia are playing a capitalist “away game” on the world stage that puts some of the original proponents of capitalism to shame.
Mattis laments Russia and China’s “veto authority” over other nations. It’s hard to imagine which veto powers Mattis is referring to. With the exception of Security Council resolutions, U.N. resolutions are non-binding. Mattis seems to be pretending that the United Nations has dictated to America what it can and cannot do, which has never been the case.
Where Mattis has a valid point is in pinpointing detrimental aspects of the current globalist system. Institutions of global governance were initially created by Western nations in an attempt to avoid war and to draw countries such as China and Russia into the global fold. But China and Russia have adopted a measured multilateral approach without sacrificing their own self-interest or national borders — unlike in Europe, where countries are struggling with the effects of ceding national sovereignty to supranational European Union governance.
The Trump administration has more in common with China and Russia than Mattis cared to admit. All are looking out for their own interests in an era where the failures of globalization have become all too evident. All are playing the same game. So let’s not pretend that there are good and bad players here — it’s just our side and their side. And our side really needs to get real and stop blaming others.