When we take a closer look at Obama’s Asian journey, we find Americans in deep trouble across the Pacific, and the guy who gets tough with the Russian leader elicits mostly shrugs. No amount of happy talk can change these realities.
In truth, Obama’s days in Beijing, including a summit with President Xi Jinping, had more defeat than victory in them. Bring the cameras in close: We watch as the U.S. reaches its limits with the Chinese, even as China’s ties to other nations, notably Russia, power on with extraordinary momentum.
There is a simple way to put this: When Washington speaks to Asians now it is the past talking plaintively to the future. With the rest of the region abuzz about all that it’s getting done for itself, nagging China and other Asia nations about America’s once-unchallenged primacy in the Pacific is a certain loser.
The press pictures coming out of this trip, which included a gathering of leaders under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation banner told a truer story. Obama was at a complete loss in the presence of the Russian president. Plenty of time with Xi, but both of them avoided eye contact every time a shutter snapped.
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