By Helping Israel Export Its Natural Gas, the U.S. Can Counter Both Russia and China

It has of late become almost conventional wisdom that the People’s Republic of China is in every way getting the better of the U.S., whether by developing new military technologies, or educating its young people to compete in the information-age economy, or working with ostensibly private companies to gain global influence, or conducting foreign policy through investment in infrastructure. While there is some truth to these claims, Robert Silverman notes that America has in the past succeeded in directing its economic might to achieve tangible results that benefit both itself and its allies. He gives as an example the BTC pipeline, which brings oil from Azerbaijan, via Georgia, to Turkey, and the more recent natural-gas pipeline that runs alongside it: