The Post-Cold War Era "Definitively Over", White House Says, As It Releases National Security Strategy

The post-Cold War era is “definitively over,” the Biden administration declared on Wednesday as it released its new National Security Strategy which had been delayed due to the war in Ukraine, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

“The world is at an inflection point, and the choices we make today will set the terms on how we are set up to deal with the significant challenges and the significant opportunities faced in the years ahead,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

The new document describes Washington's intention to compete ferociously against adversaries, while also collaborating with them on global threats like climate change.

The most challenging problem, per the strategy, “powers that layer authoritarian governance with a revisionist foreign policy” — that is, China and Russia.

China “is the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do it,” the administration declares in the strategy.

To win that competition, the administration officials say that Washington will help countries meet their needs without the reciprocation China typically expects, work to maintain peace between China and Taiwan, align a diplomatic approach toward China with allies, and work with Beijing on areas where U.S. and Chinese interests align.

As for Russia, which the document says “has chosen" to pursue an imperialist foreign policy with the goal of overturning key elements of the international order," Washington will proceed to punish the country for the invasion of Ukraine.

As Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it in a statement, "American diplomacy will continue to leverage our country’s unrivaled networks of allies and partners to build the strongest and broadest possible coalition of nations."

"Together, we will advance and defend this vision at a moment when revisionist, authoritarian powers are undermining international peace and stability and we face unprecedented, shared challenges, like the climate crisis and pandemics, that threaten the lives and livelihoods of all our people."

But, just like with China, the Biden administration is open to working with Russia in areas where a partnership can be “mutually beneficial.”

Asked by TURAN's Washington correspondent whether the U.S. viewed Russia as a top national security threat, State Department's spokesperson Ned Price told the daily press conference that Washington sees Russia’s aggression "with the priority that it deserves"

"There is no question that we have spent countless hours focused on the threat that Russia is posing to Ukraine, but more than that, the threat that Russia is posing to the international order... This is not only an unjustified, brutal assault on the people and Government of Ukraine," Price said.

The spokesperson went on to add, "this is an assault, a strike at the very heart of the UN principles, of the UN Charter, of the UN system, of the international order that has undergirded some eight decades of unprecedented levels of stability, of prosperity, of opportunity for people all over the world – including, by the way, a system that in many ways enabled the rise of a country like Russia."

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.