DISADVANTAGE/ANTI-USA AXIS

ANSWER: ANTI-USA AXIS WILL NOT FORM

RUSSIA-INDIA-CHINA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PUT ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES ENOUGH TO FORM AN ANTI-USA AXIS

Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1999, Part B; Page 6; Editorial Writers Desk HEADLINE: ANTI-U.S. AXIS? // ln-acs

International politics can produce expedient alliances. The Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939 is a notable example. Is there a solid basis for a strategic partnership among China, Russia and India? Certainly cash-starved Russia is eager to sell China and India advanced weaponry. Certainly a common feeling of impotence in the face of the global projection of U.S. power encourages consideration of closer political and military cooperation. Does this portend a genuine alliance that challenges American interests?

It's far too early to say, though it seems a good guess that the three countries are not so motivated by envy or fear of the United States that they are ready to forget about their own sometimes competing national interests. It's one thing to strike short-term deals for, say, weapons transfers. It's another to cast aside decades or even centuries of suspicions, rivalries and occasional open hostility.

WE SHOULD NOT FEAR A RUSSIA-INDIA-CHINA AXIS

DAVID BRUNK, Los Angeles Times September 30, 1999, Part B; Page 10; HEADLINE: NATO AND CHINA, INDIA, RUSSIA // ln-10/99-acs

This is another desperate attempt by our "foreign policy experts" to come up with a credible enemy to threaten us with. Three of the poorest countries per capita in the world, with no ability to move troops beyond their borders, with no guiding philosophy in common, are no threat to the U.S. in war or business.

The only thing they have in common is a fear of the unbridled power of our military and the unbridled greed of our capitalistic ruling class. I join them in fear of these huge and unrestrained forces.