Top Biden official: Israel-Gaza war "could spiral" into bigger conflict
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Cover illustration: Ricardo Tomás. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
In a 7,000-word tour of the globe's future, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan writes that amid Middle East peril, America needs a long-term "sustained sense of confidence in our capacity to outcompete any country."
Driving the news: "In the decade ahead, U.S. officials will spend more time than they did the past 30 years talking with countries that they disagree with, often on fundamental issues," Sullivan writes in the cover story of the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs, shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: "The world is becoming more contested, and the United States cannot talk only with those who share its vision or values," Sullivan writes.
- "The coming era of competition will be unlike anything experienced before."
Zoom in: Sullivan — in an online update to the print version of his article, "The Sources of American Power: A Foreign Policy for a Changed World" — warns that the Middle East crisis "could spiral into a regional conflict."
- But he adds that doesn't "change the fact that the United States needs to prepare for a new era of strategic competition — in particular by deterring and responding to great-power aggression," including Russia invading Ukraine.
Apt for the moment, Sullivan says the U.S. must expect strategic surprise:
By investing in the sources of domestic strength, deepening alliances and partnerships, delivering results on global challenges, and staying disciplined in the exercise of power, the United States will be prepared to advance its vision of a free, open, prosperous, and secure world no matter what surprises are in store. We have created, in Secretary of State Dean Acheson's words, "situations of strength."
In other key points, Sullivan ...
- Spells out, in new detail, the Biden administration's plan to make America stronger by domestic investments and deepening alliances and partnerships.
- Lays out, in a section called "The Competition to Come," how the administration sees the emerging strategic competition with China.
- Vows that the Biden administration "understands the new realities of power. And that is why we will leave America stronger than we found it."
The bottom line: "It is clear," Sullivan writes, "that the world is becoming more competitive, that technology will be a disruptive force, and that shared problems will become more acute over time."
Keep reading ... Link to full issue.
Go deeper: How the Israel-Hamas war is affecting neighboring countries
