Michael Hochberg & Leonard Hochberg
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to end the Russian-Ukraine war soon after entering the White House. Peace, however, is only one value in an array of American interests. Of greater significance is re-ordering Eurasian geopolitics in the interest of the United States.
Ever since Halford John Mackinder delivered his 1904 masterpiece, “The Geographical Pivot of History,” the grand strategy of the dominant maritime power has been to “distract” the territorial power occupying the Eurasian “heartland.” According to Mackinder, this required identifying “bridge heads” on the Eurasian landmass to capture the attention of the heartland power and prevent them from building fleets that might threaten the maritime power. If circumstances permitted, as was the case in the aftermath of World War I, the USSR might be “confined” to the heartland by advancing national independence for states from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic and Black Seas.
Today, an emerging alliance among the autocratic powers of Eurasia – China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea (CRINK) – is the primary threat to maritime powers. These allies have launched three fronts of a four-front war (here, here, and here): Russia’s war on Ukraine, Iran and its proxies against Israel, Iran and the Houthis against maritime shipping. What remains to be attempted is the Chinese conquest of Taiwan, either through economic coercion, blockade, or military action. Beyond sharing military hardware and knowhow among the CRINKs, their common purpose is also revealed by the North Korean commitment of troops to reconquer the Kursk region.
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