Day: September 4, 2021

In Afghan Withdrawal, a Biden Doctrine Surfaces

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — In the chaotic finale of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, a Biden Doctrine is emerging: a foreign policy that avoids the aggressive tactics of forever wars and nation building, while uniting allies against the authoritarianism of rising powers. President Biden began to define this doctrine on Tuesday when he declared the end of “an era of major military operations to remake other countries,” offering what he said was a better way to protect American interests around the world through diplomacy, the military’s targeted antiterrorism abilities and forceful action…

Our Afghanistan Failure and the American Empire in Retreat

Chin@Strategy

In one of the more arresting videos that circulated after the fall of Kabul, a journalist follows a collection of Taliban fighters into a hangar containing abandoned, disabled U.S. helicopters. Except that the fighters don’t look like our idea of the Taliban: In their gear and guns and helmets (presumably pilfered), they look exactly like the American soldiers their long insurgency defeated. As someone swiftly pointed out on Twitter, the hangar scene had a strong end-of-the-Roman Empire vibe, with the Taliban fighters standing for the Visigoths or Vandals who adopted…

China’s Nationalist Cancel Culture

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement It might be the fiercest example yet of cancel culture. After three-year-old photos of Zhang Zhehan at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine were dug up by web sleuths, the Chinese actor was dropped by all his commercial sponsors, including Coca-Cola and two Japanese brands, in the span of four hours and was immediately expelled from the entertainment industry by Chinese authorities, including the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It is not the first time for a Chinese celebrity to be “cancelled” by internet users. Earlier this summer, pop star Kris…