Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, just gave a speech at SAIS in Washington on “American leadership.” As unplanned counter-programming, it happens that I gave a speech at the exact same time as part of a large anniversary celebration for New Zealand’s Centre for Strategic Studies in Wellington. We had very different messages.
Glad to read that you have delivered a sort of counterpoint at NZCSS to Blinklin’s SAIS speech. It seems to me that primacy, especially in the Pacific, has been US policy ever since WWII. Long ago I recall hearing that “the US Navy thinks it owns the Pacific.” It was evident by 1980 that rising Asian nations would not indefinitely tolerate such conceits from America. When the need to have a serious plan for a more equal relations with Asia was obvious, why are we suddenly told that the only choice is to prepare for war. Astoundingly reactionary!
Speech: Rivalry as a Struggle Against Order
Glad to read that you have delivered a sort of counterpoint at NZCSS to Blinklin’s SAIS speech. It seems to me that primacy, especially in the Pacific, has been US policy ever since WWII. Long ago I recall hearing that “the US Navy thinks it owns the Pacific.” It was evident by 1980 that rising Asian nations would not indefinitely tolerate such conceits from America. When the need to have a serious plan for a more equal relations with Asia was obvious, why are we suddenly told that the only choice is to prepare for war. Astoundingly reactionary!