Interesting article in the local paper in Australia written by an academic and former intelligence officer.
Cuckold Europe, prop up dictators: Trump’s global plot laid bare
Today’s sovereigntists aim to weaken non-Western international associations that seek a more democratic international order.
They make common cause with similar forces; Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Hungary’s Viktor Orban, for example.
Their aim is an illiberal international geopolitical order where domestic political systems resemble “competitive authoritarianism” – multi-party elections embedded in a rigged legal and political environment.
Under this model, the media and the machinery of government are used to attack opponents and co-opt critics.
Trump wants the US, not China, to write the technical standards of the global economy.
Control over these standards creates lock-in effects in finance, telecommunications, space, robotics, bioengineering, nanotechnologies, and advanced materials and manufacturing methods.
That means full-spectrum rivalry with China.
If economic control is not possible, the plan B goal is global economic separation from China.
For Trump to achieve these goals, there are three key frontlines: Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Taiwan.
Trump pushes for a Europe that is divided, subordinate to the US, and geopolitically inconsequential.
He has long wanted to prevent the economic integration of the vast Eurasian continent, whether by Russian energy flows or by China’s Belt and Road network.
A successful Greater Germany would have connected Russia’s energy exports with the Chinese economy at the other end of a Eurasian continental front.
Instead, it is now reliant on US tankers for energy.
Trump, wants to focus on China, without diverting military resources to the European theatre.
The second frontline is the Middle East, where Israel’s military strength remains vital to US strategy.
Israel’s proficiency in surveillance technology can help friendlier Arab regimes stay in power by improving their ability to monitor and control their populations.
In times of crisis, the US gets veto power over who can access Middle Eastern oil and on what terms: energy-rich Arab monarchies can restrict China’s access to energy supplies if the US wishes to coerce it.
Israel relies on the US for its power but fights in its own interests to ensure a pro-US Middle East.
The third frontline is Taiwan, which US army general Douglas MacArthur described in 1950 as “an unsinkable aircraft carrier and submarine tender”.
At the edge of mainland China’s continental shelf, China cannot reach the western Pacific Ocean without going through the Miyako Strait north of Taiwan, or through the Luzon Strait south of Taiwan.
Undersea sensors at key choke points allow the US to detect, track and follow Chinese submarines as they leave their bases, and sink them if ordered to do so in a crisis.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-a ... 5lcpo.htmlif its behind a paywall or geo block
https://archive.md/yaLQg