STRATCOM Commander Warns Nuclear War With China Or Russia A 'Real Possibility'

Russia and China are growing and modernizing their strategic nuclear forces. Here, a Russian RS-24 Yars (or Topol-MR) road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile moves along a highway in Teikovo, Ivanovo region, Russia. Sputnik 

Daily Mail: Nuclear war with China or Russia is 'a real possibility' because rivals are 'aggressively challenging global peace in ways not seen since the height of the Cold War,' US Navy admiral warns 

 * US Navy admiral says nuclear war with Russia or China is 'a real possibility' 

 * Admiral Charles A. Richard heads the US Strategic Command - or STRATCOM 

 * Richard accused Cold War-era foes of 'aggressively challenging global peace' 

 * He said Russia, China were 'taking advantage of pandemic to advance agendas' 

 * Richard cited SolarWinds cyber attack, which US intelligence blames on Russia 

 * Russia has denied any involvement in the hack of US government agencies 

 * China has also stepped up military presence in South China Sea 

 * Richard noted Russia and China have bolstered their nuclear capabilities 

Nuclear war between the United States and Russia or China is ‘a real possibility’ because Moscow and Beijing are ‘aggressively challenging’ world peace ‘in ways not seen since the Cold War,’ a four-star admiral warns. 

Admiral Charles A. Richard, who heads the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which oversees America’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, expressed alarm at Russian and Chinese ‘cyber attacks and threats in space.’ 

Richard accused Moscow and Beijing of ‘taking advantage of the global pandemic to advance their national agendas.’

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WNU Editor: Admiral Charles A. Richard's article that has raised this warning is here .... Forging 21st-Century Strategic Deterrence (Admiral Charles A. Richard, U.S. Navy, US Naval Institute). 

 More News On STRATCOM Commander Admiral Charles A. Richard Warning A Nuclear War With China Or Russia Is A 'Real Possibility' 

Nuclear war with China or Russia a 'real possibility,' STRATCOM commander warns -- FOX News 

Nuclear war warning: China and Russia spark WW3 fears with 'aggressive challenge' to peace -- Daily Express 

US admiral warns of ‘real possibility’ of nuclear war with Russia, China -- NYPost 

Nuclear war with China or Russia is a REAL possibility, warns US Commander as tensions escalate to Cold War levels -- The SUN 

Top U.S. Commander: We Must Assume 'Very Real Possibility' That We May Need To Use Nukes Against China, Russia -- Daily Wire 

Pentagon Shares STRATCOM Chief's Concerns Over Possible US Nuclear Conflict With Russia, China -- Sputnik

The Cold War Between The U.S. And China Is Getting Hotter

Image: Wikimedia

Frederick Kempe, CNBC: The cold war between U.S. and China just got a lot hotter

* Some argue that the danger of a U.S.-Chinese war is growing. What that misses, a prominent Asian business leader told me this week, is that China has already decided the war has begun.
* Like the Cold War before it, the outcome is unlikely to be decided by military means. Also like the contest before it, the war will be fought not over days but over decades.

So, this is what life feels like “in the foothills of a new Cold War,” as Henry Kissinger has called it.Though perhaps the better metaphor would be “in the trenches,” for this week one could hear the steady din overhead from the escalating U.S.-Chinese conflict that will define our times.

On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea as “completely unlawful,” and he pledged U.S. support for those countries that would wish to challenge Beijing.

For its part, China sanctioned Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, among others, in retaliation for their legislative actions against Chinese officials linked to the detention and repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

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WNU Editor: The pandemic has opened everyone's eyes, and we are now seeing China unleashed. But here is an easy prediction. This is just the start. China is focused on expansion, and has zero interest to compromise or accommodate its neighbours or nations like the U.S..They are going to push the envelop further.

China's Global Times' Editor-In-Chief Answers If "There Will Be A War Between China And The US"

File photo:China Military

Zero Hedge: Global Times' Editor-In-Chief Answers If 'There Will Be A War Between China And The US'

In addition to occasionally provocative but mostly dreadfully unimaginative propaganda tweets, the editor in chief of China's Global Times Hu Xijing represents a useful barometer of sentiment among Beijing's top power echelons, which in a time when a new cold war has broken out between the US and China, can prove rather valuable.

Which is why the following episode is rather informative in terms of how China views the current tit-for-tat in diplomatic and tech warfare between the two superpowers. In an op-ed in his Global Times, Hu Xijin writes that toward the end of his dialogue with Qiu Zhenhai, a Phoenix TV commentator on Friday night, in a video chat about the current US crackdown on China, a netizen asked: Will there be a war between China and the US?

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WNU Editor: Hu Xijin's op-ed is here .... Will there be a war between China and the US? (Global Times)

China Has Already Declared A Cold War On The U.S.

Niall Ferguson, Zero Hedge/Bloomberg: China Has Already Declared Cold War On US

“We are in the foothills of a Cold War.” Those were the words of Henry Kissinger when I interviewed him at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing last November.

The observation in itself was not wholly startling. It had seemed obvious to me since early last year that a new Cold War — between the U.S. and China — had begun. This insight wasn’t just based on interviews with elder statesmen. Counterintuitive as it may seem, I had picked up the idea from binge-reading Chinese science fiction.

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WNU Editor: This new cold war has been ongoing for the past few years .... Three Major Powers Are Involved In The New Cold War (March 12, 2020).

Could The Wars In Syria And Libya Cause A New US-Russia Cold War?

Seth J. Frantzman, The Hill: Could a new US-Russia cold war erupt over Syria and Libya?

The U.S. and Russia appear to be heading for some sort of confrontation in Syria and Libya, as tensions grow in both countries and Turkey pressures the U.S. to play a larger role. On June 8, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan phoned President Trump to discuss Libya, among other issues. The Pentagon has been spotlighting Russia’s growing involvement in Libya, where a 10-year civil war once claimed the life of a U.S. ambassador, and Washington is concerned.

At the heart of this new Middle Eastern cold war may be the desire to bog down the Russians in numerous conflicts. Like most countries, Moscow still is dealing with COVID-19 at home, and its ally in the Syrian regime has failed to right a rapidly declining economy. James Jeffrey, the U.S. Special Representative for Syria, has said he wants to make Syria a “quagmire” for the Russians. That conjures up images of Afghanistan in the 1980s, made famous in the film “Charlie Wilson’s War.”

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WNU Editor: I just do not see a New Cold War happening right now. I know in Russia no one is thinking about it, and I do not see any U.S. public support for starting a new Cold War, especially over failed states like Syria and/or Libya.

Is Chinese President Xi Jinping Risking A New Cold War?

Image: China's President Xi Jinping (C) attends the bilateral meeting with President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 31 August 2018. Roman Pilipey/Pool via Reuters

Reuters: China's 'nervous' Xi risks new Cold War, last Hong Kong governor says

LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is so nervous about the position of the Communist Party that he is risking a new Cold War and imperilling Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s pre-eminent financial hub, the last British governor of the territory told Reuters.

Chris Patten said Xi’s ‘thuggish’ crackdown in Hong Kong risked triggering an outflow of capital and people from the city which funnels the bulk of foreign investment into mainland China.

The West, he said, should stop being naive about Xi, who has served as General Secretary of the Communist Party since 2012.

“We have long since passed the stage where, without wanting another Cold War, we have to react to the fact Xi seems to want one himself,” Patten said.

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WNU Editor: China is now only risking a Cold War with the U.S. and its allies, but China is also risking its relationships with almost every country in Asia because of its territorial demands. In the short term this may bolster the Chinese Communist Party and their legitimacy to rule China, but in the medium to long term the costs are going to be ery high.

Is The U.S. And China On The Brink Of A New Cold War?

President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Business Insider: The US and China are on the brink of a new Cold War that could devastate the global economy

* The US and China have entered the beginnings of a new Cold War in the coronavirus era, experts say.
* "We're essentially in the beginnings of a Cold War," the director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society told Insider, warning of "grave" consequences for the global economy.
* "For the international system as a whole, a Cold War would be devastating," the director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations told Insider, adding that it could "force countries to choose a side."

The relationship between the US and China was already teetering close to the edge of a cliff before COVID-19, but the pandemic pushed it right off.

The dynamic between Beijing and Washington has become so contentious in the coronavirus era that China experts now say the two major powers have stumbled into the early days of a new Cold War that could prolong the pandemic, exacerbate the economic devastation linked to the virus, and weaken the world's ability to thwart common threats.

"We're essentially in the beginnings of a Cold War," Orville Schell, the director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society, told Insider. "We are on a downward slide into something increasingly adversarial with China."

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More Commentary And Analysis On Concerns Of A U.S. - China Cold War

The "new Cold War" started in Beijing -- Axios
In Coronavirus War Of Words With The U.S., China Pulls No Punches -- NPR
Can a broke America fight a cold war with China? -- Japan Times
A Cold War With China Would Be a Mistake -- Council on Foreign Relations

Update: The West is talking about a Cold War. This is different from what is being said in China, where some are openly talking about war (tweet below is from China's Global Times editor) ....

I am asked a lot recently: Will a war break out between China and the US? My answer: The two countries increasingly dislike each other, various conflicts are rising, therefore, risk for a military clash is increasing. But meanwhile, they both don't want a war. Am I right?

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) May 14, 2020

Is President Trump's Impeachment Escalating The New US-Russian Cold War?

Zero Hedge: Cohen: How Impeachment Is Escalating The New US-Russian Cold War

Summary of Broadcast Produced by Yvonne Lorenzo:

As the New Cold War gathers up speed and escalates, we are entering a “fact free world” as allegations are made that are proved not to be true are promoted; for example, the allegation that the DNC was hacked by Russia has been officially debunked—no one could name the seventeen intelligence agencies, the Coast Guard was one. The notion of the hacking was cooked up by two agencies: by the DNI’s head James Clapper and Brennan at the CIA. Nevertheless, recently News Anchor Chuck Todd of NBC (the most pro-Russiagate network, the ones who shamelessly accused presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard of being a Russian asset) took it one step further: ignoring the facts, Todd again stated that seventeen intelligence agencies agreed that the Russians not only interfered in the election but that they swung the election to Trump.

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WNU Editor: I know Stephen Cohen and I have disagreed with him on numerous occasions. But his above analysis on Russia is correct. His podcast on the John Batchelor Show is not working, but his recent talk with Larry King (above video) summarizes what he has been saying for the past three years.

Are We In A New Cold War?

U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands ahead of their bilateral meeting during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Marion Smith, USA Today: We’re in a new Cold War. Hong Kong, like Berlin before it, is the first battle.

Continued American silence will convince China that it can advance on other fronts. We must show Beijing that Hong Kong’s freedom isn’t up for grabs.

Would the United States have let the Soviet Union invade West Berlin? Never. Yet America is on the verge of allowing Communist China to enslave the free city of Hong Kong. If this happens, it will be one of the greatest abdications of U.S. moral leadership in history.

Right now, Communist China is massing paramilitary forces on its border with Hong Kong. The purpose appears obvious: Intimidate the pro-freedom movement that has brought parts of the city to a standstill in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Beijing’s rulers have labeled Hong Kong’s protesters "terrorists,” while stating that “those who play with fire will perish by it.” The echoes of the Tiananmen Square massacre 30 years ago are unmistakable.

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WNU Editor: I grew up in the Cold War, and this is not the same. What we are seeing is the rise of China both economically and politically, and how they are using these strengths as leverage on the world stage. Ideology may play an important role for President Xi in China, but outside of China Communist ideology is the last thing that people are interested in.

Are We At The Start Of An Economic Cold War Between The China And The U.S.?

Jason Lee, Reuters

Shi Jiangtao, SCMP: Is this the start of an economic cold war between China and the United States?

* First it was the trade war and geopolitics, now Beijing and Washington are at odds over currency

US-China relations – already frayed by trade and geopolitical tensions – are threatening to unravel after Washington designated Beijing as a currency manipulator, raising fears of an economic cold war.

Diplomatic and economic analysts expressed concern about the bleak prospect for bilateral ties, which they say could accelerate the decoupling of the world’s two biggest economies.

The US Treasury Department made the announcement about Beijing on Monday at the request of US President Donald Trump, who pledged during his campaign to name China a currency manipulator on his first day in office.

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WNU Editor: I have always believed that China has been waging economic warfare for years. The only difference now is that some in the U.S. (and elsewhere) have figured this out, and are doing to China what China has been doing to everyone else for years.

China Reacts To U.S. Announcement Of Deploying Intermediate Range Missiles In Asia

If the US really deploys Intermediate-range missile in Asia, it will inevitably trigger an intense arms race. Arms race is full of uncertainties, but it will only have one result. That is China will have a strategic weapons arsenal on par with that of the US. https://t.co/jM6JzaeQIE

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) August 4, 2019

Zero Hedge: "New Cold War" Unleashing "Geopolitical Chaos": China Reacts To US Offensive Missiles In Asia

China's Global Times — the communist country's hawkish, belligerent state tabloid — has responded to the Pentagon's Friday announcement stating the US is looking to deploy intermediate range ballistic missiles to Asia "within months," warning "it will certainly trigger an intense arms race in the region."

Its editorial board, long understood as a mouthpiece of the state, has slammed remarks made by US Defense Secretary Mark Esper outlining the new mid-range ballistic missile deployment plans, crucially which came immediately on the heels of the formal collapse of the landmark US-Russia INF treaty, saying American greed and naked drive for hegemony will spark a dangerously unprecedented arms race which will fuel further "instability" across Asia.

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WNU Editor: I have been telling my friends and contacts in China for years that if they continued with their military buildup and aggressive territorial demands, there will be a backlash. The Chinese are now learning what that backlash is. A trade war and an arms race.

The United States Is Definitely Not On The Brink Of The Next Cold War

Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin © Reuters / Pool and Kevin Lamarque

Michael O’Hanlon and Sean Zeigler, USA Today: No, we aren't on the brink of a new Cold War with Russia and China

It might be a popular phrase to drum up clicks and interest, but the United States is definitely not on the brink of the next Cold War

Increasingly in U.S. national security circles, it has become common to hear talk of a new Cold War with great-power rivals. But this way of thinking is imprecise at best, dangerous at worst. A distinguished group of American experts has just warned against such thinking in regard to China, lest it create a self-fulfilling prophecy. However unbecoming Vladimir Putin's rule may be in Moscow, we need a similar corrective for how we think about Russia.

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WNU Editor: I concur with the above analysis. I lived through the real Cold War, and today's tensions are not even remotely close to what the world was like 30 to 65 years ago.

The Current Cold War Has Similarities To The European Conflicts In The 1600s

Niall Ferguson, Boston Globe: The outbreak of the second Cold War

Regular readers of this column will not have been surprised by the outbreak of the Second Cold War. Ever since President Trump imposed the first tariffs on Chinese imports last year, I have argued that the trade war between the United States and China would last longer than most people expected and that it would escalate into other forms of warfare.

The tech war — exemplified by last week’s measures by the United States against the Chinese telecom company Huawei — is now in full swing. If you still think peace will break out when Trump meets Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Osaka next month, you’re in for a disappointment.

Historical analogies are powerful. As the former US defense secretary Ash Carter said at a recent conference at Harvard, in the corridors of power “real people talk history, not economics, political science or IR [international relations].” The first question they ask is: What is this like? And yes, this sudden escalation of Sino-American antagonism is a lot like the early phase of the Cold War.

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WNU Editor: I love it when analysts compare current events to historical periods. The above is a fascinating post. Read the whole thing.

Are China And The U.S. Engaged In A 'Cold War Lite'?

Minxin Pei and Brad Carson, War On The Rocks: Jaw-Jaw: Minxin Pei Predicts a Cold War Lite Between the U.S. and China

The United States and China are headed for a “cold war lite,” says Minxin Pei. What does this exactly mean? And what threat does China present to the U.S. that would necessitate such a confrontational posture? Can China transition to a less export-driven economy or will its growth inevitably slow? What are the root causes of corruption in China? Is Xi’s anti-corruption campaign successful? These and other questions are explored in this week’s episode of Jaw-Jaw.

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WNU Editor: If China and the U.S. were in a Cold War right now, even a "lite" one, U.S. tariffs will be replaced with sanctions, and U.S. - China travel will be restricted. But if this continues we are heading that way.

The American Model Of The Internet Is Losing To China's Version Of Controlling It

Bloomberg: The U.S. Is Losing a Major Front to China in the New Cold War

* Increasingly autocractic regimes find China’s model alluring
* The spread of Beijing’s vision is starting to alarm the U.S.

A swathe of the world is adopting China’s vision for a tightly controlled internet over the unfettered American approach, a stunning ideological coup for Beijing that would have been unthinkable less than a decade ago.

Vietnam and Thailand are among the Southeast Asian nations warming to a governance model that twins sweeping content curbs with uncompromising data controls -- because it helps preserve the regime in power. A growing number of the region’s increasingly autocratic governments watched enviously the emergence of Chinese corporate titans from Tencent Holdings Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. -- in spite of draconian online curbs. And now they want the same.

The more free-wheeling Silicon Valley model once seemed unquestionably the best approach, with stars from Google to Facebook to vouch for its superiority. Now, a re-molding of the internet into a tightly controlled and scrubbed sphere in China’s image is taking place from Russia to India. Yet it’s Southeast Asia that’s the economic and geopolitical linchpin to Chinese ambitions and where U.S.-Chinese tensions will come to a head: a region home to more than half a billion people whose internet economy is expected to triple to $240 billion by 2025.

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WNU Editor: China is offering the entire package to these autocratic regimes. An advanced infrastructure with the means to regulate and control its content. How can they say no?

Is The U.S. And China Locked In Cold War 2.0?

ABC News Online: US and China locked in Cold War 2.0, historian Niall Ferguson warns

The world is entering a new Cold War as China and the US go head-to-head for the title of dominant economic superpower, high-profile British historian Niall Ferguson has warned.

"We're now looking at something much more than just tariffs," he told The Business.

"If you look at the battle that has broken out over the Chinese telecoms company Huawei, you see it has something of the features of the Cold War.

"There is also defence element to it — the Chinese are building a lot of weaponry which is probably designed to challenge American pre-eminence in the Asia-Pacific, so tick that box."

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WNU Editor: This Cold War .... if it does become a Cold War .... will not resemble the nuclear tensions that existed during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West. It is going to be something different.

Russian Foreign Minister Does Not Expect A New Cold War To Follow The Suspension Of The INF Treaty

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Moldovan President Igor Dodon at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

TASS: Lavrov predicts Cold War won’t re-ignite following suspension of INF

The Russian top diplomat comments on the US decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty

BISHKEK, February 4. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov does not expect a new Cold War to follow the suspension of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), as he himself said at Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University on Monday.

"I don’t think that we should talk about a new Cold War. A new era has begun, an era when the United States decides to move towards destroying the entire arms control system, which is regrettable," the Russian top diplomat noted. "US experts are already saying that the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which expires in 2021 will come next," he added.

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Update #1: Russia: U.S. exit from nuclear pact would not mean new Cold War - RIA (Reuters)
Update #2: Russia: US nuclear pact withdrawal does not mean 'development of a Cold War' (The Hill)

WNU Editor: I disagree with the Russian Foreign Minister. There is a lot of hostility directed at the Kremlin from Washington right now, and it is a trend line that is getting worse with each passing day. We are at a low-level "Cold War" right now, and I do not see any possibility of relations improving in the future. In fact .... I see it getting worse as the 2020 U.S. Presidential election approaches.

Is The Cold War Really Over?

Pat Buchanan: Fighting two cold wars at once

Kim Jong Un, angered by the newest U.S. sanctions, is warning that North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization could be imperiled and we could be headed for “exchanges of fire.”

Iran, warns Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is testing ballistic missiles that are forbidden to them by the U.N. Security Council.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that, within days, he will launch a military thrust against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria, regarding them as allies of the PKK terrorist organization inside Turkey.

Vladimir Putin just flew two Tu-160 nuclear capable bombers to Venezuela. Ukraine claims Russia is amassing tanks on its border.

How did the United States, triumphant in the Cold War, find itself beset on so many fronts?

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WNU Editor: The old one is definitely over. The new ones are a different story.

U.S. Vice President Pence: All-Out Cold War Will Occur If China Is Unwilling To Make 'Massive Changes'

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the joint news announcement with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan REUTERS/Issei Kato

Washington Post: Pence: It’s up to China to avoid a cold war

ABOARD AIR FORCE TWO, ABOVE THE SOUTH CHINA SEA — When President Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina later this month, the escalating tension between the world’s two global powers will face a crucial test. If China wants to avoid an all-out cold war with the United States and its partners, it must fundamentally change its behavior, according to Vice President Pence. The United States, he assured me, won’t back down.

As Pence arrived Tuesday in Singapore to represent the United States at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, the question on the minds of all the region’s leaders is whether Washington and Beijing are headed into a protracted, long-term economic and strategic confrontation. Pence and Xi will both attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit in Papua New Guinea later this week, but they won’t meet. Xi is set to meet Trump in Buenos Aires at the upcoming Group of 20 meeting, which starts on Nov. 30.

Pence told me in an interview that Trump is leaving the door open for a deal with Xi in Argentina, but only if Beijing is willing to make massive changes that the United States is demanding in its economic, military and political activities. The vice president said this is China’s best (if not last) chance to avoid a cold-war scenario with the United States.

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More News On U.S. Vice President Pence's Remarks That An All-Out Cold War Will Occur If China Is Unwilling To Make Massive Changes

Mike Pence Says Trump Administration Won’t Budge to Avoid Cold War with China -- Newsweek
Pence: US won't back down on China tariffs, even if it means a cold war (Washington Examiner)
VP Pence said to be gearing up for all-out Cold War with China unless it bows to all US demands -- RT
Pence: "All-Out Cold War" Coming If China Doesn't Change Course; "We Won't Back Down" -- Zero Hedge

Asia Is Not Ready For A Cold War Against China

John S. Van Oudenaren, National Interest: America's Asian Allies Aren't Ready for a Cold War with China

The China challenge cannot be met by drawing a line in the water and telling all of Asia that “you are either with us or against us.”

Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the Hudson Institute last month was a watershed in U.S.-China relations. Pence trumpeted what is obvious of late, that the relationship has shifted from competition mixed with guarded but extensive engagement to out-and-out strategic rivalry. Tellingly, the speech generated little pushback, including from Democrats. On the contrary it seemed to capture the zeitgeist of a growing consensus in Washington that it is time for a harder line on China.

Bipartisan Frustration with Beijing

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WNU Editor: I would say that in Asia the vast majority of countries/governments do want the U.S. to take a hard stand against China. Unfortunately .... they do not want to get their hands dirty to join the U.S. to do this. They are also definitely not ready for a Cold War against China, but this is one of those situations where they may not be ready to get into a confrontation with China, but China is definitely to be confrontational against them.