Daily Times

The world might be heading for a greater global crisis due to certain irrational acts of the stakeholders. The fight for the global supremacy between the US-led west and China-led south is getting intensified with every passing day. Perhaps, the time has come to see a showdown between philosophical teachings of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli.

While the US-led west remained busy in unnecessary wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya, China in sync with Russia was quietly consolidating politically and economically. Now, China-led politico-economic alliances like Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and expanded BRICS is seriously challenging the US-led G-7, QUAD, AUKUS, etc. Although each organization has a different objective, but membership clearly indicates a divide.

Though, the US still holds the title of sole super power, but perhaps militarily only. The process of de-dollarization has already started, and more and more countries are trading in mutual currencies with every passing day. Whereas, the dollar will not disappear from the world trade soon, but the process has started.

Ukraine might be getting political, economic, and military support in terms of latest equipment and training; its counteroffensive to regain the lost territories is not progressing as planned.

While Russia-Ukraine war is causing a lot of stress on European states that were dependent for energy and food from the warring states, France is not willing to cede its control on Francophone Africa. A new war in Africa may be only weeks away, and it is necessary to mentions that China and Russia have both some serious stakes in Africa. Russia has already assured Niger of its support in case France instigates ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries to attack the military-led government in Niger.

Ukraine might be getting political, economic, and military support in terms of latest equipment and training; its counteroffensive to regain the lost territories is not progressing as planned. Moreover, Medvedev’s open threat to use nuclear weapons in case the counteroffensive succeeded has really sent waves to relevant corridors.

Afghanistan remains unrecognized and a constant source of worries for the western world for its regimes’ anti-women policies. Moreover, an all-time supporter of Taliban and its takeover, Pakistan has some serious concerns about Afghanistan-based terrorist groups that carry out attacks inside its territories.

Coming back to great power’s rivalry, China and Russia-led alliances are the first serious challenge to the US-led western world since the disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union. However, this time the paradigm has changed. The challenge is not in geostrategic domain, but on the geo-political and geo-economic canvass. China has expanded its sphere of influence in all regions, and not by providing arms and equipment, but by doling out huge amount of money for energy and infrastructure projects in the host countries. China is not winning territories, but the hearts of the people through its investments in public welfare projects, which are creating jobs and helping the poor south in its much delayed but needed development.

Interestingly, the US is faced with a different type of adversary this time, whose philosophy resides in Sun Tzu’s precepts: win the war without fighting, and this author’s dicta ‘win the war by other means’ inspired by the Chinese sage. It’s a contest between a declining Hard Power and the rising Soft Power, and that is why it is tangentially variant to the Cold War competition.

Unfortunately, the US-led powers are not willing to unshackle from Machiavellian’s power dicta, and still believe that they can counter China’s rise, which is deftly supported by Russia. The US leadership is unable to understand the philosophy of China’s political rise. It is primarily based on mutual respect, mutual cooperation, for mutual gains. These terminologies are alien to the western world that has plundered the world through colonization, and is still not willing to cede control on its former colonies. Moreover, the US-led west does not consider fit to help the poor south in its development and growth, so that they are unable to stand on their feet and must remain sub-servient and dependent on international lending institutions. The political and economic strangulation of the weaker states by these powers is frequently used through the international institutions in terms of sanctions and expensive bailout packages.

This author is of the opinion that the US-led west is seriously deficient of rational leadership. They are unable to match the experience and statesmanship of Xi Jinping and Putin. Perhaps, Biden is too old to remain in office, Macron is too arrogant, and Sunak was never elected as the Prime Minister by the people. Unfortunately, the world might be heading for a far more serious crises, and current global leaders are not competent to handle the highly probable gravity of the fast-evolving situation. However, they cannot blame anybody else, but themselves for their irrational decisions of resolving issues through wars and conflicts, instead of mutual cooperation, and co-existence.

The writer is the author of the book ‘Nuclear Deterrence and Conflict Management Between India and Pakistan’. He is presently working as the Director of the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies.