America’s Armed ‘Sentinel State’ Encirclement

America’s Armed ‘Sentinel State’ Encirclement

‘Encirclement’ and ‘containment’ effectively have become Biden’s default foreign policy, Alastair Crooke writes. The key to China’s security riposte to the U.S. is linked to two words that go unstated in U.S. formal policy documents, but whose silent presence nevertheless suffuses and colour-washes the text of the 2022 National Defence Authorisation Act. The term ‘containment’…

Antony Blinken Visited the South-East Asian Region Yet Again

Antony Blinken Visited the South-East Asian Region Yet Again

Another tour, started on December 9 by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, may have been unprecedented since he took office, both in terms of the number of countries visited and the breadth of topics that were supposed to be discussed with foreign colleagues. The plan was for the trip to include three phases: a stop…

Encircling China and Praising India: The US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific

Encircling China and Praising India: The US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific

The feeling from Rory Medcalf of the Australian National University was one of breathless wonder.  “The US government,” he wrote in The Strategist, “has just classified one of its most secretive national security documents – its 2018 strategic framework for the Indo-Pacific, which was formally classified SECRET and not for release to foreign nationals.” Washington’s…