Sumantra Maitra writes at the Federalist about one group happy to see divisions in America over racial issues.
It’s a cliché to claim every setback as the official end of unipolarity, but if there were ever to be a date for historians to mark the televised humiliation and official end of American hegemony, it would be the very public verbal slapping of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan by the Chinese ambassador on U.S. soil. …
… What was supposed to be a mild first meeting between the two predominant global powers turned to a virtue-signaling slugfest. The Chinese diplomats predictably humiliated the unprepared and frankly amateurish American side with critical race theory-infused talking points that one could encounter in any western university sponsored by taxpayer money. The event is bound to be played over and over again in hundreds of thousands of TV channels in Asia and Africa.
The meeting that took place in Anchorage, Alaska, was supposed to be a mild matter of the two sides getting to know each other. President Biden wanted to reset relations after the explosive Trump years. The meeting was also supposed to demonstrate the virility and diversity of the American side, compared to the highly meritocratic Chinese side. The person sitting next to Blinken had purple hair in the moment destined to go down in history books.
Blinken started out by criticizing Chinese human rights violations and violations of international law and its own agreements. …
… Naturally, the result was a ferocious reply from the Chinese side, accusing the United States of failing in racial justice, and reminding Americans that they are not speaking from a position of strength. It was like watching a slow dissection of a hapless but well-meaning professor. The video, instantly played all over the world, was earth-shattering.
