Will China and/or Russia grab territory while the US is distracted?
China has long wanted to take over Taiwan, aka the Republic of China, to incorporate it into the mainland. Russia would like to take over parts of eastern Ukraine to gain land access to Crimea and weaken the West’s influence in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the US is struggling to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and keep the economy on track for recovery.
These efforts are being hamstrung by Republicans hellbent on bringing down the Biden administration by discouraging vaccines, mask mandates, and social distancing to prolong the pandemic and keep the economy in the doldrums. This reckless campaign of disinformation to convince Americans they need to value their “individual freedom” more than their collective health is making it harder to govern and is designed to bring Republican victories in the House and Senate in 2022.
In addition to all the COVID-19 hysteria, we are witnessing a coordinated attack on free and fair elections that makes a mockery of the phrase “one person, one vote.”
This all adds up to a very dangerous situation in which the US is perceived as weak, not living up to its values, and in total disarray. This dysfunction and lack of unity provide a rich opportunity for our competitors to take advantage of these distractions to make mischief — like interfering in elections — and even to take military action to acquire territory.
The cartoon above was created by DonkeyHotey for WhoWhatWhy from these images: Joe Biden caricature (DonkeyHotey / Flickr – CC BY 2.0), Laura Ingraham caricature (DonkeyHotey / Flickr – CC BY-SA 2.0), Chuck Todd caricature (DonkeyHotey / Flickr – CC BY-SA 2.0), globe (Dim Grits / Wikimedia – CC BY-SA 4.0), tables (Los Angeles County Museum of Art / Wikimedia), and background (Trump White House Archived / Flickr).
