2023 Issue 34

Michael Beckley published a piece in Foreign Affairs which dismisses the appeals by some that the United States seek re-engagement with the PRC. Beckley argues that the United States and the People’s Republic are already in a Cold War and that the United States should seek to contain Beijing’s power while Washington simultaneously seeks to avoid direct military conflict with it rival. Those who desire some form of détente to stabilize the relationship are naïve, as détente will likely exasperate the tensions between the two countries.

As if on cue at the BRICS Summit in South Africa, Beijing and Moscow delivered anti-American broadsides, forcing India and Brazil to accede to their demands to expand the BRICS grouping and turn it into a geopolitical bloc against liberal democracies. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE will join BRICS in January 2024.