China, Russia, and the Long 'Unipolar Moment'

The Diplomat ^ | N. Sears

[GoldenState_Rose]

Despite the “rise and fall of the unipolar concert,” China and Russia’s balancing strategies have backfired: they are not leading to multipolarity, but are actually reinforcing unipolarity. The reason is that China and Russia’s balancing strategies have focused on regional “revisionism,” which has provoked powerful responses in East Asia and Europe to contain them.

Russia’s balancing strategy has to a large extent proven to be counter-productive. Instead of preventing the expansion of NATO through a “divide and conquer” strategy, or driving a diplomatic wedge between the United States and Europe, Russian revisionism has united NATO...Perhaps most illustrative of all, a number of the post-Soviet republics now increasingly look toward the United States and NATO for security, including Ukraine and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

China has also clearly left behind its “hide and bide” strategy in order to counter-balance the United States. China’s “new assertiveness” in its pursuit of revisionist aims in a number of maritime sovereignty disputes—as well as the broader balance-of-power in East Asia—is increasingly at odds with its official foreign policy of a “peaceful rise.”

However, instead of undermining U.S. influence and forcing states to “bandwagon” with China, Chinese revisionism is actually strengthening the U.S. alliance system in East Asia...such as with Japan, the Philippines, and Australia.

Anxiety about China’s rise is leading a number of ASEAN member states—such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia-to increasingly look toward the United States for security.

Yet the most important strategic development is the trilateral relationship that is gaining steam between India, Japan, and the United States.

China and Russia will most likely continue down their current paths of balancing through revisionism, which will only strengthen the U.S. alliance systems in East Asia and Europe, and therefore the unipolar moment of the United States’ geopolitical preeminence will endure.

[Cronos]

just like the British and French protected Poland in WWII

i hope you meant that as sarcasm...

[Cronos]

1. No one in the Baltic states or Central Europe is talking about tearing down Soviet soldiers graves
2. You're right it's not about Lenin status but rather about memorials to Soviet actions in WWI
3. But the thing is that for many (Czechs excepted), the Soviet defeat of Germany was NOT a liberation (like how western Europe was liberated by British, American and other troops), rather it was
   • For countries that fought on the side of the Allies (well, only Poland) - it was a different occupation - a bit less bloody than the German, but still an occupation until 1990
   • for countries that fought on the side of Germany (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria), an occupation
   • For Baltic states - the return of the old nightmare. They had been occupied by Russia in the 1700s and 1800s and had undergone intense attempts at Russification.

   I can speak for Poland that people don't mind the gravesites for the brave Soviet soldiers who died) but they don't want to see a monument that talks about "the Liberation of Poland by her Soviet brothers" or communist motifs talking about how Poland was saved by the USSR.

[Rashputin]

Absolutely.

The British and French ostensibly go to war over Poland after giving them a mouth full of promises sane men in Poland should have known would never be kept then FDR and Churchill handed Poland to the USSR on a silver platter.

I've read that DeGaulle objected but I've also read that his objections were all for show so I don't really know how the French saw the situation and couldn't have done anything about it if they did dislike things. Churchill gets a lot of credit for things he had no real say on, too, so the bottom line to me is that after the French and British shafted Poland FDR finished the job by making sure the 75% of the population that survived would be shafted for the rest of the century.

Poland has had more than a few delusions of grandeur over the centuries but the damn sure deserved better "allies" than they had in WWII. Personally, I don't think they're very smart to put much trust in the US, British, and NATO, even now.

But, hey, what do I know?

[Rashputin]

I guess I talk to different people than you do. I've had Poles who came to visit my relatives that want the cemeteries gone and whether they disinter the remains and send them back to Russia or just remove the markers doesn't make any difference to them.

I see you point and agree, but the Russians who died fighting to throw Germans out of Poland didn't have much choice in the matter one way or the other. They went where they were sent and a lot of them died fighting the Germans there. With the exception of some special troops, the vast majority were just State property used to achieve State goals.

Let them at least be individuals with a decent, undisturbed, resting place when they're dead.

JMHo

[Cronos]

I guess they are different people

I'm not Polish, but have lived here 8 years and am married into the Polish nation. Thankfully none of the people I've met want the bones removed and graves destroyed and I feel that they are the majority

Removing the memorials talking about "we saved you" is the most they want

Disintering the bones would be wrong imho

[Cronos]

“Poland has had more than a few delusions of grandeur over “ - what do you mean?