A recently-released joint statement from Russia and China declaring a strategic alliance is an “incredibly dangerous development,” with growing tensions with Ukraine, according to Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff for the National Security Council and vice-chairman of the American First Policy Institute.
“When we talk about Ukraine, we have two overwhelmingly important concerns for the United States, keeping out of war with Russia and stopping Russia from falling further into the hands of China,” explained Fleitz.
“Those two nations don’t like each other. They have a lot of differences, but this alliance could do enormous damage to American and international security.”
The United States’ handling of Ukraine is pushing Russian President Vladimir Putin into a closer relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and according to Fleitz, “This is not a good development.”
China and Russia announced the strategic alliance when Xi hosted Putin on the opening day of the Winter Olympics hosted by China in Beijing.
In a joint statement, the two countries said their new relationship is superior to any other military or political alliance made during the Cold War era.
Biden administration accusation
The Biden administration accused Putin’s regime of possibly planning a mass casualty event on Russia by Ukraine as a means to justify an invasion.
Fleitz said the recent exchange between reporters and State Department spokesman Ned Price questioning the evidence was “really important” because intelligence sources behind such reports can often be proven incorrect.
“I was a CIA analyst for 19 years, and I’ve seen intelligence that has been wrong, has had bad sourcing, and sometimes the CIA’s paid sources just tell the agency what it wants to hear. If something’s been declassified, that means it’s been released. That means this information has to be given to the American people and the press so it can be scrutinized.
“The fact that the State Department won’t let the press see this supposedly declassified information indicates there’s be something wrong with it, or this intelligence doesn’t exist at all. This isn’t true just because the administration says it is. They have to put up or shut up,” said Fleitz.
Fleitz emphasized that President Biden has been “all over the map” regarding Ukraine and Russia. “It’s hurting American credibility, and I have to take it that the Ukrainians are not happy with this inconsistency.”
Fleitz also said that Iranians are “saving us from ourselves” by not agreeing with the Biden administration’s attempts to salvage the Iran nuclear deal by restoring sanctions relief.
“Biden is so desperate to reverse Donald Trump’s withdrawal from this terrible agreement, and Iran’s nuclear program has surged during the Biden presidency, but Biden still wants us to get back into this terrible deal. My hope is that the Iranians would continue to prevent that by not agreeing to an agreement,” said Fleitz.
