Last week's column noted: "Our armed forces are woefully unprepared to deter war and therefore make war more likely." It concluded the mission for the 222 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives is to enhance national security. This week, we have evidence why both statements are correct.
By words and actions, the Biden administration repeatedly shows there are few, if any, senior policy advisers who grasp how vulnerable we are in this increasingly dangerous world. As made clear in Fidelis Publishing's first book, "America's #1 Adversary," the People's Republic of China poses the most dangerous threat to the security of our nation. Xi Jinping, "dictator for life" in Beijing, along with his allies in Moscow, Pyongyang and Tehran, share the goal of replacing the United States as the dominant global power.
Since Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, his administration has done little to reassure our allies they can count on the U.S. during a crisis. In the aftermath of the catastrophic "Biden Bugout" -- as U.S. troops described it -- the British government called the event a "disaster" and members of Parliament said, "... it inspired people like Vladimir Putin to believe that he could attack Ukraine ..."
No doubt, some problems the "Biden Team" is experiencing are because of "cognitive disarray" in the mind of our commander in chief. His inability to express himself and articulate U.S. policy is potentially disastrous to our allies. On Sept. 18 last year he was asked if U.S. forces would defend Taiwan against a PRC invasion. His answer -- "Yes!" -- sent diplomats in Beijing, Taipei and Washington scurrying for microphones and cameras.
The Communist Chinese said it was "a seriously wrong signal" and would be "resolutely opposed." In Taipei, their foreign ministry spokesman thanked POTUS for his "rock-solid" commitment to Taiwan. And in Washington, our State Department stated, "What the president meant to say is that we are sticking to our longstanding policy of 'strategic ambiguity' regarding Taiwan."
According to the "readout" of the Nov. 13, 2022, meeting between Biden and Xi in Bali, Indonesia, the two discussed "transnational challenges -- such as climate change, global macroeconomic stability including debt relief, health security," etc., and our president "raised U.S. objections to the PRC's coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan ..." We may never know what was really said because no transcript has been released. Some suspect it never will be because Xi has "information" about alleged Biden family connections with PRC entities neither leader wants known.
The "readout" also notes "President Biden raised Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and Russia's irresponsible threats of nuclear use." But nowhere in this one-and-a-half-page document is there any mention of Beijing's obscene, well-known collaboration with Vladimir Putin and the Ayatollahs in Tehran. That's what makes the hastily organized Middle East trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken so curious.
Last week, as the U.S. and Israel concluded the largest joint military exercise ever, CIA Director William Burns made an unannounced trip to Israel. On the eve of Biden's State of the Union address, our sec-state popped in on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, then to Jerusalem for a chat with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Why?
The question prompted a call to an Israeli friend with long experience in defense, intelligence and counterterrorism. He scoffed that Blinken was there to talk about unidentified "quadcopter 'drones' dropping explosives on an Iranian military building in Isfahan" during his visit. "The U.S. press blames Israel, but we never acknowledge any such an operation."
"So why did Blinken come?" I asked.
"To insist we de-escalate our response to Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians and ease Netanyahu's 'paranoia' about Iran building nukes and the means of delivering them on us -- and you."
Israelis understand the best way to prevent war is by being prepared to win one. Shouldn't we do so, too?