China threat intensifies as Putin toys with Biden

Vladimir Putin is untrammelled and untroubled by US rivalry with Russia. Picture: AFP

My admiration for Ukraine’s defenders grows every day. To continue a fight you know you cannot win takes huge lumps of guts and determination.

Vladimir Putin had expected the might and power of his war machine to roll through Ukraine and crush all resistance within a few days. the Russian President’s plans were thrown into chaos when he met such fierce resistance.

As usual the West sent too little aid too late. Putin is continually emboldened by Western weakness. He has Joe Biden’s measure, although that is not necessarily a mighty achievement. Never has the US looked so powerless as it does now. Putin is untrammelled and untroubled by US rivalry with Russia. He can bank on Biden’s propensity for indecision. There could not be a better choice than Biden as leader of the US as far as Putin is concerned.

For all of his weaknesses, Donald Trump at least talked a good game. Now the US is seen as chronically weak, and that affects NATO because European leaders can sense the power balance shifting against the US.

The US is seen as chronically weak under President Joe Biden. Picture: Getty Images

The Chinese must be chortling at what they are now witnessing. The US is being embarrassed by the Russians and the Chinese have not been forced to play any part in this exercise.

It beggars the imagination that a country which produced Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton now witnesses a battle for superiority between Trump and Biden. The pygmies have taken over. Such is the paucity of US leadership that the Europeans will have to take more of a role in setting the direction that NATO takes over the next few years.

Economically, the Europeans are lifting their game as well. Germany provides the economic oomph and the French provide the style.

Countries like Spain are moving ahead but Greece remains a basket case.

For all the tough talking at the time by their European counterparts, the Greeks knew instinctively that if they kept their heads down the threats from European banks would be pretty empty.

Once again the Greeks proved that they may be hopeless economic managers but they are astute judges of how long their benefactors can maintain the rage.

Firefighters at a school in eastern Ukraine's Lugansk region after a Russian missile attack.
Picture: Ukrainian State Emergency Service

Meanwhile, China continues to be one of the world’s biggest lenders. What China can’t achieve at the barrel of a gun it seeks to achieve by splashing largesse around the world. Some Pacific nations are discovering there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to China. It is voracious when it comes to spreading its influence.

It is easy to form the impression that the Chinese would love to expand their efforts to become the greatest power, in terms of its military and financial clout, in the world.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is big on ambition and has the hardware to fuel that ambition.

The greatest challenge facing Australia is how to keep our biggest trading partner relaxed and comfortable with our reliance on the US as our chief defence partner.

When Australia prepares for war or holds war games with its allies, the enemy in the frame is always China. Let us hope that we do not get to the stage of saying “Let the Games begin”.