Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 11
United States intelligence agencies have warned that the country faces an “increasingly fragile world order”.
The alarm was sent through the 2024 Annual Threat Assessment report issued on Monday. The document on worldwide threats to US national security cautions that China, Iran and Russia are challenging the current international rules-based order.
The report, outlining the collective insights of the US intelligence community, says the country “faces an increasingly fragile global order, strained by great power competition, transnational challenges and regional conflicts”.
Focusing on threats from China and Russia, the report notes the latter’s invasion of Ukraine. It also points at the risk of broader conflict related to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza since the October 7 attacks by the Iran-aligned movement that governs the enclave.
“An ambitious but anxious China, a confrontational Russia, some regional powers, such as Iran, and more capable non-state actors are challenging longstanding rules of the international system as well as US primacy within it,” the report reads.
China is providing economic and security assistance to Russia as it wages war in Ukraine, supporting Russia’s industrial base, the report said.
The report notes that trade between China and Russia has been increasing and that Chinese exports of goods with potential military use have risen more than threefold since 2022.
Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns told the upper house that continuing support for Ukraine would also send a message to China about aggression towards Taiwan or in the South China Sea.
Haines noted concern that the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas threatens to spread global insecurity.
“The crisis in Gaza is a stark example of how regional developments have the potential of broader and even global implications,” she said.
“The reality is that there are children who are starving. They’re malnourished as a result of the fact that humanitarian assistance can’t get to them. It’s very difficult to distribute humanitarian assistance effectively unless you have a ceasefire,” he said.
Regarding Israel, the report noted that “Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy.
“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections.
FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed concern about the “terrorism implications from potential targeting of vulnerabilities at the border”, noting rising threats from US nationals inspired by armed groups and other foreign fighters since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.
Source: Al Jazeera & News Agencies
