America’s rivals have become more brazen recently. On a weekly basis, countries such as China and Russia taunt American planes and ships with flybys and other dangerous and inflammatory actions. These incidents have been highly publicized for the past few years and nothing has truly been done to discourage America’s rivals from using these reckless maneuvers.

What will it take for America’s diplomats and strategists to face these threats had on? It has already been well-illustrated that Russian and Chinese military staff will continue these provocative actions if left to their own devices. It has also been made clear that Chinese and Russian units do pose a credible threat to American ships and jets. During an incident in April of 2014, Russian jets may have jammed electronic systems on board the Donald Cook. The claims that the ship’s electronics were disabled by the Russian jets has been disputed and it is still unclear whether or not the Russian jets were responsible or not for an electronic attack. If the claims are indeed true, the Donald Cook would have been a sitting duck in a true combat situation.

Not only are incidents like the 2014 flyovers of the Donald Cook dangerous for everyone involved, they are also damaging to international relations. Relations between the US and Russia have not been as tense as they are now since the collapse of the USSR. The reason why encounters of this nature continue is simple. Since our government has refused to take direct action against these threats, they will continue happening.

John Kerry said that had the Donald Cook shot down the Russian fighters, they would have been justified based on US and NATO rules of engagement. Turkey recently shot down a Russian jet that crossed into their airspace. Although Russia reacted with some economic sanctions, the Turks enforced their rules and it is unlikely that Russia will mess with Turkey again because of it. Our policymakers have to respond more harshly when our interests are threatened. It is very unlikely that lethal force against Russian or Chinese jets would lead to war.

Since China is reliant on the US for economic growth and Russia has a host of domestic issues to attend to, neither country is fit to fight a full-scale war right now. Our strategists should be using our leverage to strengthen our interests around the world. Instead, we see our military being downsized, companies leaving the US for China and other countries, and a weakening of foreign policy that allows other nations to take advantage of us both militarily and economically. Policymakers have to realize that much of the world is trying to take advantage of us and the only way to stop it is to crack down and negotiate more aggressively and efficiently.