WHY DOES PUTIN AND XI JINPING'S MEETING MAKE WASHINGTON NERVOUS?
Washington’s anxiety is not driven by the friendly rhetoric displayed in front of the cameras, but rather by structural shifts in the global security and economic architecture. There are four main pillars that lead the White House to view this Beijing meeting as an existential threat to United States leadership: 1. The Strategic Nightmare: A "Two-Front War" The ultimate fear for US military planners (the Pentagon) is a scenario in which they must confront two major conflicts simultaneously: Russia in Europe (Ukraine/the Baltics) and China in the Pacific (Taiwan/South China Sea). The Analysis: If Putin and Xi become increasingly synchronized, they can coordinate military pressure in a way that forces the US to divide its military resources, thereby weakening its effectiveness in both regions. Washington is well aware that its military is no longer structured to win two major wars against peer adversaries at the same time. 2. The Erosion of the Financial Weapon (Dedollarizati...