"When sanctions on Russia were introduced in February, President Biden issued a warning to Americans: Standing up to President Vladimir V. Putin could hurt the U.S. economy. “I will not pretend this will be painless,” he said.
But few in Mr. Biden’s administration imagined just how much domestic political and economic pain could result.
In meetings of the Group of 7 nations and NATO this week in Europe, Mr. Biden and his allies hammered home the idea that they must stand united against Russia while drawing new and firmer lines against what they see as predatory economic practices by China.
But the gatherings also underscored deep strains of the sanctions on Western leaders and consumers from energy costs that have soared.
For all of the steps that Mr. Biden and his allies took to counter Russian aggression — including a fast path to NATO admission for Finland and Sweden and a plan to cap the price of Russian oil exports — the leaders failed to describe the endgame.
An extended conflict would among other things require the United States and its allies to find additional money for military and other aid to Ukraine. For now, it is just a small group of opponents questioning the spending, but that discontent could spread.
Those currents make the next several months crucial for Mr. Biden and his emboldened international coalition."
We are also doing reversed Kissinger:
"China has accused NATO of “maliciously attacking and smearing the country” and “provoking confrontation” after the alliance’s leaders announced an assertive new vision that, for the first time, declared China to be a strategic “challenge” alongside NATO’s primary adversary, Russia.
In a statement published on Wednesday on the website of China’s mission to the European Union, an unnamed spokesperson rebuked the alliance’s “Cold War thinking and ideological bias” and vowed to take “firm and strong” measures in response to the new designation.
Born during the Cold War, NATO has traditionally been focused on protecting North America and Europe. But in recent years the military alliance has signaled increasing concerns about China as well, citing its growing military ambitions and rapidly developing offensive cyber capabilities.
Those views hardened this year after China’s leader, Xi Jinping, declared in early February that his country’s friendship with Russia had “no limits.” Since then, Chinese leaders have declined to condemn Russia, instead blaming Washington and NATO for goading Moscow with the military alliance’s expansion in Central and Eastern Europe.
“The deepening strategic partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run counter to our values and interests,” NATO leaders said in a new mission statement issued during their summit in Madrid.
Days before NATO’s declaration, the Group of 7 countries said they intended to raise $600 billion to expand global infrastructure investment in developing countries, a plan meant to counter the $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative that Beijing started in 2013.
The recent moves are part of the Biden administration’s push to strengthen alliances to counter China’s growing political, economic and military influence. Together, the developments have reinforced a sense within Beijing that China is being encircled by hostile powers bent on hobbling the country’s ascent. Adding to Beijing’s concern was that NATO invited the leaders of four countries from the Asia Pacific region to the summit: Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
“Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, it has not yet abandoned its thinking and practice of creating ‘enemies’ and engaging in bloc confrontation,” the Chinese mission’s statement said, referring to NATO.
NATO’s new vision “claims that other countries pose challenges,” the statement went on to say, “but it is NATO that is creating problems around the world.”"
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