Biden wants cash for a lot of things, so I doubt defense spending can survive at even current levels. Will Biden try to get allies to make up for our retrenchment?
Is "revitalized" alliances a goal Biden can achieve?
President-elect Joe Biden's incoming secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is set to pledge on Tuesday that he will work to revitalize damaged American diplomacy and build a united front to counter the challenges posed by Russia, China and Iran.
If Biden hopes can make up for defense cuts, he is mistaken. Leading from behind is nice work if you can get it, I've noted:
To avoid the expense and time of leading the Western alliance, lately we've become taken with the idea of "leading from behind." That is, we'll direct the actions while our allies take the lead in fighting the action. Nice work if you can get it, as the expression goes.
Indeed, we spent much of the Cold War and post-Cold War begging our allies in NATO to build up their defense capabilities. Our government once seemed to hope that the LibyaWarTime-Limited, Scope-Limited, Kinetic Action would be the template as we provided key logistics, intelligence, command-and-control, and initial surge counter-air assets, while our allies took on the day-to-day bombing tasks.
So you'd think that Japan's decision to reverse a decade of defense spending decline and actually seek the capabilities to defend themselves would be welcome. We are pivoting to the Pacific and not away from the Persian Gulf, right? So help in the Pacific should be welcome, right?
But no. Sure, the usual suspect is all upset. But I've read that even our government is worried. Why? Because with increased military capabilities, Japan might start an armed confrontation that it cannot now, and drag us into a war with China.
Welcome to the flip side of "leading from behind."
When we want allies who can fight without us taking the lead--wait for it--we get allies who can fight without us in the lead.
But this time, for sure!
Making allies happy consists of asking them not to make any sacrifices for common goals. So I'm sure our allies will love Biden. Until things go badly and these allies need a strong American response.
Who breaks this news to Macron, that hopeful sap?
French President Emmanuel Macron hoped on Tuesday that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will show a greater military commitment to fight against Islamic extremists in several theaters of conflict and especially in the Middle East.
The French are tired of the expense of their Mali-centric mission. I'm sure Biden will get right on that.
