Military Technology 06/2021

To its credit, President Joe Biden’s administration is strengthening and mending ties, albeit selectively, with a number of nations around the globe. As these words are written, the US president had just hosted Prime Ministers Scott Morrison of Australia, Narendra Modi of India, and Yoshihide Suga of Japan for the first-ever in-person Leaders’ Summit of the Quad. The leaders put forth ambitious initiatives to advance practical cooperation on 21st-century challenges, from ending the COVID-19 pandemic, to partnering on emerging technologies, space, and cybersecurity. And in a development still reverberating in many capitols around the world, a new partnership between Australia, Britain and the US (AUKUS) was announced to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. While President Biden, shored up the ‘plus’ side of his foreign affairs ledger during a very busy September, the first-term president is also witnessing the weakening, and perhaps unraveling, of many heretofore long-enduring US alliances and friend- ships with nations around the globe. The United States’ disastrous withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and the selective pullout of eight PATRIOT anti-missile systems from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, and Iraq, as well as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system from Saudi Arabia, has recast and weakened America’s standing in the Middle East. Of note, this August, Russia and Saudi Arabia signed a new military cooperation agreement – a sign of growth between the two governments, and a crystal-clear signal from Riyadh it is willing to further diversify its defence relationships beyond its longtime US focus. This, at a time when America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has become ever more turbulent over the last three years. Beyond the Middle East is the ever-strengthening Five Eyes network, built around the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, apparently leaving little room for European nations in general, and France in particular. While the political, economic and diplomatic fallout of the AUKUS deal will resonate for the foreseeable future, there are higher-order develop- ments in play that appear to be beyond the White House’s calculus. Due in part to the Biden administration pushing through the deal, alliances in NATO and beyond are mutating and evolving at a quickening pace – with the die cast for more change. By partnering with a post- Brexit Britain at the expense of humiliating France (in that nation’s eyes), he has exacerbated the legitimate uncertainty many European Union nations correctly maintain regarding America’s commitment to the continent and, by extension, to NATO. For its part, France, a tried-and-true US ally since America’s founding, is correctly rebuilding its Pacific region strategy by bolstering its relationship with India and other regional nations. In a much wider-ranging policy issue that will hopefully play out deliberately and void of emotions – once cooler heads prevail in Paris, and Gallic pride and bruised egos heal – is whether and how France will pursue more autonomy and a more sovereign Europe. The broader global community – including, dare one add, Russia and China, from their self-interests in gaining a more stable and predictable peer- competitor – had hoped the Biden presidency would move beyond the ‘go it alone’ and disengagement ‘strategy’ derived from the foreign policy underpinnings of the Trump White House. Unfortunately, while the US has been quick to selectively re-engage in global efforts to halt climate change, and to take the lead in battling COVID-19 through its accelerated distribution of vaccines to health organisations, the nation has stumbled in its efforts to maintain and strengthen alliances and partner- ships in continental Europe. While the US has unique and varied, self- and vital interests to pursue, the Biden administration would be well advised that it can no longer treat its allies and friends in a shabby manner, as it did with its lack of consideration for its coalition partners during its hasty Afghanistan with- drawal, and in the build-up of AUKUS. There are simply too many issues at play on an unsettled and dynamic global stage for the US not to hold its friends and allies close, without compromising its security goals and vital interests. One huge, evolving issue demanding an adjustment to US behaviour is the broader, complex European Union-China issue. China has become an increasingly important bilateral trade partner with France, Germany and other nations on the continent. More significantly, the perspective of many European nations regarding the US-China competition remains uncertain and, in fact, is increasingly blurred by the US’s focused, almost myopic, view of the Asian nation being a peer competitor in most things defence and security – never mind the US’s bulging trade deficit with China and other policy matters requiring a reset. So, it’s decision time at the White House: to genuinely act, and not create an illusion, that France and other EU nations are part of a more balanced relationship, ideally aligned with the most vital interests of each partner. Marty Kauchak Note to President Biden: Maintain Your Enduring Friends and Allies 40 · MT 6/2021 Letter from America After a 23-year career in the US Navy, from which he retired as a Captain, Marty Kauchak regularly covers a broad range of topics for Mönch and is MilTech ’s North American Bureau Chief.