"China-Russia air patrol shows Japan and South Korea in disarray" by Frank Ching in ejininsight.com.
Our East Asian allies were spooked by what the two countries working together can do.
According to Colonel Lang:
"This is a really bad thing and IMO it is altogether the result of the hyper-aggressiveness displayed by the US toward Russia since the fall of the USSR. We had the option then of offering a welcoming hand to Russia as it emerged from the nightmare of communist rule, but we did not extend such a hand. Instead, our civilian and military policy elites insisted that Russia was necessarily an enemy for the US and was still the communist USSR in disguise.
We (the US) drove the eastern boundary of NATO absurdly far into Russia's "comfort zone," and actively recruited the former member countries of the Warsaw Pact into NATO. We have also recruited many former Union Republics of the USSR into a specifically ant-Russian military alliance.
We are now surprised that a weakened Russia, spurned by us, makes common cause with China? What else were the Russians supposed to do? Fall on their knees before us and beg our pardon for existing?
Neocon folly and a lack of any sort of policy thoughtfulness have brought us to this.."We agree with Colonel Lang, but go further. This is why a neutralist ethos is necessary. When the smartest guys get together, they overthink. Actually, they are probably not all that smart.
In the comments, Patrick Armstrong has observes: "I am starting to think that Russia/China were reacting for a long time; now I suspect they have started acting, Given that they completely outwitted the West's assemblage of giant minds in their reaction period, we can look for lots and lots of surprises to come."
Fasten your seatbelts.
