China Crosses "Red Line" Advancing Russia's War Effort

by Judith Bergman • February 26, 2023 at 5:30 am

It has been known for quite a while that China has been undercutting Western sanctions against Russia.... and in their own national currencies. When, however, it was recently reported that "China is providing technology that Moscow's military needs," including "navigation equipment, jamming technology and jet-fighter parts," the move seemed to take the Biden administration by surprise.
China has already supplied significant military aid in the form of dual-use products that have both civil and military uses, including semiconductors used in a wide variety of weapons including fighter jets, helicopters, drones and guided missiles.
US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield was even more explicit: If China provided lethal military aid to Russia, she said, it would cross a "red line."
It is highly questionable at this stage whether the Chinese will pay any heed to Blinken's or Thomas-Greenfield's warnings: In March 2022, the Biden administration delivered similarly worded threats to China -- that helping Russia evade sanctions would lead to "consequences." China did exactly that; a year later, "consequences" have yet to be seen.
These revelations are not only an embarrassment for the Biden administration -- which should have known and acted upon them long ago -- but also serve as yet another black hole in the ability of the United States to deter adversaries.
It shows, sadly, that the words and threats of the US carry zero weight internationally, and that America's most aggressive adversaries are able successfully to collaborate.

China has recently been supplying significant military aid to Russia in the form of dual-use products, including semiconductors used weapons including fighter jets, helicopters, drones and guided missiles. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Wang Yi, China's senior diplomat, in Moscow on February 22, 2023. (Photo by Anton Novoderezhkin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

It has been known for quite a while that China has been undercutting Western sanctions against Russia through trade and Chinese purchases of long-term energy supplies.

Twenty days before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia and China declared a "no-limits" partnership, and have steadily been increasing trade with each other ever since -- and in their own national currencies. When, however, it was recently reported that "China is providing technology that Moscow's military needs," including "navigation equipment, jamming technology and jet-fighter parts," the move seemed to take the Biden administration by surprise.

China is "considering" what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called "lethal" support to Russia, as he said in an interview with CBS on February 19. Asked what was meant by "lethal support," Blinken replied, "Weapons... There's a whole gamut of things that fit in that category, everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves."

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The Republic of Fear: 20 Years After

by Amir Taheri • February 26, 2023 at 4:00 am

Well, [Iraq] may not be a better place, but is certainly less bad than it was 20 years ago.
Neighboring Iran is facing a bigger outflow of refugees, especially highly educated people, than Iraq.
In 2021, Iraq was no longer among the countries regarded as "vulnerable" in terms of food shortages and famine.
In terms of political and social freedoms, Iraq is also doing better than such neighbors as the Islamic Republic of Iran and the parts of Syria controlled by the Assad regime.
Facing such deadly challenges as the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS/Da'esh) and the attempted Kurdish secession, post-Saddam Iraq has manifested a higher degree of resilience than many might have expected.
It has also succeeded in frustrating attempts by the Islamic Republic of Iran to stall the emergence of an Iraqi national army and the imposition of a militia state.
The war didn't turn Iraq into a model of democracy. But, as an Iraqi friend put it the other day, it ended what Kanan Makiya had called "The Republic of Fear."

Iraq may not be a better place, but is certainly less bad than it was 20 years ago. Pictured: Then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein meets with then PLO leader Yasser Arafat on October 22, 1988. (Photo via Getty Images)

In his picaresque novel Twenty Years After, a sequel to The Three Musketeers, French novelist Alexandre Dumas muses on the theme of "the benevolent despot" as a rampart against unbridled change that could lead to savage turbulences.

In Arabic folklore, 20 years represents a generation, a marking point for reviewing the past in the hope of drawing lessons for the future.

The first day of the next spring, 20 March, the 20^th anniversary of the Iraq War provides an opportunity for the kind of flashback that Athos, one of Dumas' characters in the novel, uses for judging past events.

Well, without beating around the bush, no pun intended, let's see if today we see the war that toppled Saddam Hussein the same way we did two decades ago.

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