From The Washington Post's David Ignatius:
Pentagon strategists have always divided the world into East and West, with U.S. regional forces under European Command or Indo-Pacific Command. But looking at the embrace of Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin this week, you wonder whether we may need a
single "Eurasian Command" to handle an integrated threat....
If you were looking for another reason why it’s important that Ukraine succeeds against Russia, consider the photos from Moscow. "The President of Eurasia" — I fear that’s the invisible caption of the pictures of Xi that we’re seeing amid the Kremlin’s golden doors and red carpets. The idea that a vast swath of the world is dominated by a China that stands so resolutely against freedom and democracy is chilling. If this alliance succeeds, we will live in a darker world....
Xi is [Putin's] only powerful friend. Dealing with them separately is bad enough. If they truly become partners in Eurasia, sharing dominion under a Chinese banner, that would be worse.
I've not too much to add, since the essence of what Ignatius writes I have also observed in numerous posts; thoughts on a "darker world," whether one characterizes the mushrooming conflict as one of East vs. West or the U.S. confronting a double-barreled, Orwell-like "Eurasia."
I will however add to Ignatius's remark, "why it’s important that Ukraine succeeds against Russia." Is the West acting as though it's truly important? Eminently important?
We have pretty much nickeled-and-dimed Ukraine, with a little here and then a little more there. Every progression made in the firepower we've offered has been agonizingly ponderous. By now, in a just world, Ukraine would be weighted down by Western tanks, perfectly domed by Western antiballistic missiles, its skies full of Western fighter jets.
And yet ...
Furthermore, the West should signal to Putin that Ukraine will not fail in its upcoming counteroffensives, whatever it takes. Period. Let Vladimir fret and stew as to what that means. NATO flights? U.S. and allied ground troops?
Make Putin sweat out the possibilities of his escalated war for a change, rather than the West always trying to second-guess what he's thinking.
While we're at it, we would also make President Xi realize just how far the West is genuinely willing to go in defense of freedom and democracy. Are we, in fact, willing to go all the way? To do whatever it takes to defend Ukraine? To ensure its unmitigated victory?
Because that is where the borders of our "darker world" begin. And it's there they should end — indeed, must end; not in Taiwan and the Baltics.