John Mearsheimer, father of "Offensive Realism", elucidated the above topic at the Australian Center for Independent Studies on 15 March. He spoke with great clarity on how the US has unwittingly become mired on both feet in Ukraine and the Israeili-Hamas wars, unable to concentrate on China as its acknowledged greatest rivalry for global power.
Mearsheimer also highlighted the American folly of pushing Russia into China's embrace, (not forgetting Iran). This was the deadly "anti-hegemonic alliance" forewarned by the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, a doyen of American foreign policy, in his much-acclaimed 1998 tome The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives (page 55).
To this anti-hegemonic alliance must now be added North Korea, and indeed, many countries in the Global South, growing disillusioned with "America-First" hegemony.
However, the dilemma remains that the U.S. cannot wash its hands off Ukraine and/or Gaza without undermining its global power, adding to the perception of China getting a one up in the great power rivalry.
To Mearsheimer's call for US strategic focus, let's not forget a host of other "global threats" summarized by the US Director of National Intelligence in his Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community of 5 Febuary 2024. The report addresses in great depth a host of perceived threats faced by the United States, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Ukraine, Gaza, Disruptive Technologies, "Digital Authoritarianism", Weapons of Mass Destruction, Climate Change, Health Security, Migration, as well as Non-State Threats including Transnational Crime, Human Trafficking, Terrorism, and Private Military and Security Companies.
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