Extracts from an article in the ABC toady from Stan Grant.
I believe in this instance he is correct, the two autocracies seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet and that is a problem for the West.
Our good old days are not over, but we don’t portray power like we used to.
I’m wondering how long before the Taiwan issue gets tested!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-20/vladimir-putin-joe-biden-meeting-last-word/100226200
’The same exists in China, where Xi also speaks the language of history and grievance in China. The West underestimates this, and that is a strategic mistake.
Joe Biden has set out a great contest between democracy and autocracy that will frame his foreign policy. Just as at the end of the Cold War, Biden believes history is on the side of the West.
Putin would say Biden does not understand history at all, history is struggle and survival.
He would tell him to read Tolstoy.
Happy people have no history.’
‘To Putin, America is in decline and he has tested it and arguably bested it.
When Barack Obama failed to enforce his "red line" in Syria after Assad's use of chemical weapons, Putin seized an opportunity. He is now an indispensable figure in that conflict.
He launched his actions in Ukraine and Crimea, calculating that the US would do nothing to stop him. And, sanctions aside, he has been proved right.’
