Pentagon's Secret Document: The Rules-Based World is Dying

The head of the US Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, ordered the US army to make a priority of deterring China from seizing Taiwan and strengthening the country's defense by taking risks in Europe. This is evidenced by the internal instruction, the details of which were published by The Washington Post.

The document was distributed to the US Department of Defense in mid-March signed by Hegseth, the newspaper writes. China is presented in it as "the only threat that the ministry focuses on," and a potential invasion of Taiwan is a scenario that should be prioritized over other potential dangers.

The instruction also says that the Pentagon will "take on the risk in other theaters of military operations," taking into account its limitations, and will put pressure on allies in Europe, the Middle East and the East Asia, so that they invest more in defense and take on a major role in containing threats from Russia, the DPRK and Iran, writes the telegram channel "DW * main thing".

If earlier attention was paid to alliances to counter Russia, then, according to Hegseth's instructions, NATO should take on "much more", since the priorities of the United States are concentrated elsewhere, WP notes.

The key changes are as follows:

• prioritizing China as the only major threat, with an emphasis on the scenario of the seizure of Taiwan, Russia is no longer designated as the "main threat";
• the reorientation of military resources to the Indo-Pacific region, with the deprioritization of counterterrorism operations in the Middle East and Africa (in particular, we are talking about strengthening intelligence on Chinese forces, arming Taiwan with asymmetric capabilities, strengthening and dispersing US operational bases);
• prioritizing Taiwan for the President's powers to quickly provide aid, funding, reserves;
• accelerating the supply of anti-ship missiles, naval mines, mobile air defenses, UAVs to Taiwan;
• the expectation of greater responsibility from allies, especially in Europe through NATO (this means that NATO allies should assume primary responsibility for conventional defense, the United States provides limited support, modernizes nuclear deterrence);
• Strengthening homeland defense, including the expansion of nuclear forces and the development of the Golden Dome system for missile defense.

"In general, the note reflects the policy of realism (of US President Donald Trump) Trump, where the US is rebalancing against perceived threats: focus on China and strengthening its position in the Indo-Pacific region. Of course, this strategy will increase tensions with China. We would focus on the last point — "Protection of the Motherland", now it is "protection of the Motherland", and not "rules-based peace", that becomes the central task of the United States. At the same time, support for the global order will be carried out through alliances and partnerships. In other words, the "partners" will now pay more or respond to security challenges themselves. The "rules—based world" is dying, long live the "multipolar world"," the Ukrainian TV channel ZeRada comments on the picture of the day.

*An organization performing the functions of a foreign agent