One-time NOR blogger Dominick Sansone makes an apt and educative historical comparison in a recent article (“Weak Interventionism,” The American Conservative, March 28) about America’s proxy war in Ukraine.

He first dispenses with the oft-repeated “appeasement” comparison between interwar Germany and present-day Russia, which has been the kneejerk reaction of contemporary pro-war pundits.

The actually useful comparison, writes Sansone, is the pre-WWII political situation, which demonstrates “how biased and one-sided policy prescriptions ultimately blind decisionmakers to the larger geopolitical picture.” While Western nations were focused only on punishing the Germans, on the larger geopolitical scene “the Soviet Union in particular, and global communism in general, was able to curate its image as a moderate regime, and tactfully navigate the international terrain in a manner that directly benefited its own geopolitical aspirations.”

Fast-forward to today and to who is benefitting this time around: “The ideological war that the West is currently waging has subsequently created the space for China to step in as a moderate and responsible major power. CCP leader Xi Jinping has positioned himself to be a reasonable voice calling for peace in a sea of Western voices demanding escalation.”

Sansone gives these details:

• Chinese president Xi just met with Putin. He will soon meet with Zelensky. China is Ukraine’s largest trading partner. Sansone notes, “The image of Xi as the only leader willing to speak from a neutral position with the two primary antagonists of the ongoing war presents a singular image on the international stage.”
• Further, Beijing has “decried the use of force while refusing to condemn Moscow, acknowledging that reckless U.S. foreign policy contributed to pushing Putin to war.” The fact that China says that second part out loud, says Sansone, “actively works to attract both greater support to Beijing and greater contempt to Washington.”
• China recently proposed a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine. The U.S. denounced its terms but did not offer its own plan — and never has.
• “The Chinese proposal also comes on the heels of its recent mediation of bilateral relations between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and the Shiite Iranian Republic.”

Perhaps America hasn’t lately been concerned about its image on the international stage. But it’s time to rethink that if our myopic foreign policy — to say nothing of our obnoxious ideological colonialism — makes atheistic communists look like the reasonable ones.

The link to Sansone’s article: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/weak-interventionism/