As Russia begins its spring offensive and Ukraine is preparing to do the same, the rush to bring troops, ammunition and equipment to the front is on. It is reported that Russian losses is approaching 200,000 casualties and has had to go to its reserves to make up for them.
Ukraine is asking for help that includes German and American heavy battle tanks among other things. Both countries will come out of their trenches and the bloodletting is expected to continue.
Lurking in the background is the potential confrontation of Europe, the United States and Russian over NATO’s assistance to Ukraine. Also, the continuation of heavy Russian invasion loses can tempt its leadership to use battlefield nuclear weapons and risk a deadlier conflict that can involve the world.
This potential doomsday scenario is what the Cold War was all about. The threat of a nuclear exchange was always part of that circumstance and there were several times that America and its allies reach the brink of catastrophe with the Soviet Union.
Things changed somewhat with the fall of the Soviet Union toward the end of the 20th Century. However, a diminished Russia still has a vast nuclear arsenal and continues to pose a threat to the world.
We learned many military lessons from the Soviet Union. However, the economic might of the United States combined with the Soviet inability to compete in that area led to their downfall.
Not so when it comes to China. Although it is under communist rule, China nevertheless is an economic giant in the making and a growing military power.
The fact is that China is strong in commerce and trade, and that makes it possible for the world free market econo- mies including the United States to develop a different way of dealing with this adversarial relationship. One of the best initiatives in the area was the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiated under the Obama administration and signed in 2016.
The TPP organized an economic block of 12 Pacific rim countries including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the U.S. It proposed to set the rules for international trade in the Pacific and Eastern Asia and require everyone, including non-member countries like China, to follow those rules and stop violations of such things as intellectual property rights as part of a trade relationship.
Waiting on the sidelines to also join were Taiwan, the Philippines, Colombia, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. The block represented 40 percent of world GDP and one third of global trade.
The United States Senate did not get to ratify the treaty because President Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2017. But the way for a more healthy rivalry using business rather than military competition was discovered and could be done again.
World commerce is the stock and trade of market economies like the United States and the other developed countries. Given our history with capitalism and free enterprise this approach is also to our advantage.
It is time to think of a different dynamic to get along bet- ter as a community of nations. The world is being threatened by serious issues affecting all people and we need to think more of coming together to confront common challenges.
One way of doing this is to compete with ideas, creativity and the production of goods and services for the marketplace and not try to find military solutions to issues. Genuine economic competition with China provides a start.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of la Voz bilingüe. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
