Spy agencies: US faces increasingly fragile world order

Reuters carries an article about the US which faces an increasingly fragile world order, Caliber.Az reprints the article.

US intelligence agencies said that the country faces an "increasingly fragile world order," strained by great power competition, transnational challenges and regional conflicts, in a report released as agency leaders testified in the US Senate.

"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 agencies said in the 2024 Annual Threat Assessment of the US intelligence committee.

The report largely focused on threats from China and Russia, the greatest rivals to the United States, more than two years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

China is providing economic and security assistance to Russia as it wages war in Ukraine, by supporting Russia's industrial base, the report said.

"Trade between China and Russia has been increasing since the start of the war in Ukraine, and [Chinese] exports of goods with potential military use rose more than threefold since 2022," it said.

In her testimony, Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, urged lawmakers to approve more military assistance for Ukraine. She said it was "hard to imagine how Ukraine" could hold territory it has recaptured from Russia without more assistance from Washington.

She noted concerns that the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas could spread global insecurity. "The crisis in Gaza is a stark example of how regional developments have the potential of broader and even global implications," Haines said.

She noted attacks by Houthi militias on shipping and said the militant groups al Qaeda and ISIS "inspired by Hamas" have directed supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and US interests.