Ukraine, Iran, ISIS ... Can America still ‘pivot’ to counter China?

To illustrate the challenges President Joe Biden faces as he struggles to redirect America’s strategic focus to countering a rising China, Margarita Konaev cites one of the world’s renowned international affairs analysts.

“As Mike Tyson once said, ‘Everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face.’”

And President Biden has taken a few punches over his first year in office – from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, from an Iran barreling toward nuclear capability, even from a much-weakened but recalibrated ISIS. Those hits have distracted the United States from its long-envisaged “Asia pivot,” says Dr. Konaev, adjunct senior fellow in technology and national security at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

After two draining Middle East wars, America is viewed internationally and on a divided home front as both tired of expectations that it provide international leadership, and distracted by conflicts in regions