{"id":4391,"date":"2013-03-08T13:50:01","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T03:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=4391"},"modified":"2013-03-12T08:07:51","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T22:07:51","slug":"a-peer-on-the-promise-and-perils-of-the-pivot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/a-peer-on-the-promise-and-perils-of-the-pivot\/","title":{"rendered":"A peer on the promise and perils of the pivot"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n In basketball, a pivot is a tactic, not a strategy.<\/p>\n Yet the US pivot to Asia looms as a strategic shift of fundamental import. This is high-level strategy that responds to the gravitational effect of geoeconomics as well as the push and pull of geopolitics. And it is a pivot in the sense of turning away as well as turning towards.<\/p>\n In Washington, the term \u2018pivot\u2019 has had to do bureaucratic battle with \u2018rebalancing\u2019.<\/p>\n Peter Jennings reports that Hillary Clinton held the State Department true to the pivot terminology because it had a basketball provenance that meant something to Obama. So, for the next four years at least, the pivot lives for the White House, if not for many other parts of the US polity which want to keep on balancing rather than turning.<\/p>\n When Barack Obama started talking about the pivot, some in Asia might have looked at the basketball definition to see what it means. Here\u2019s one explanation of a pivot<\/a> that caught my eye, particularly for the use of words like \u2018surprise\u2019 and \u2018explode\u2019:<\/p>\n To pivot, keep one foot stationary and step around with the same foot as the direction you are going to turn. You should spin around quickly so that you can catch your opponent off guard. Make sure that you stay on the balls of your feet and maintain bend in your knees so that you can explode to the basket or up for a shot right after your pivot.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For Asia, the ultimate meaning of the pivot is a story yet to be told. If, however, you accept that it is a strategic shift of the highest importance, one big judgement is already open. The pivot marks a major moment on the final pages of the history of the Cold War: this is the US turning away from the Cold War role it carried in Europe to redefine the central role it has always claimed for itself in Asia. That turn from Europe to Asia was the starting point of the interview I did with a distinguished Brit, Lord Michael Williams of Baglan.<\/p>\n