Will the U.S. Lead or Continue to 'Lose Ground'?

In this mailing: - Pete Hoekstra: Will the U.S. Lead or Continue to 'Lose Ground'? - Daniel Greenfield: Terrorism, Ukraine, Taiwan and the Outsourcing Wars [] [Will the U.S. Lead or Continue to 'Lose Ground'?]( by Pete Hoekstra • April 5, 2022 at 5:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - Today, Russia in Ukraine is the focus, but the aspirations of China and Iran must not be ignored. - The US must -- in the best interests of the United States -- immediately deliver the weapons Ukraine needs to forestall future predators such as China, Iran and North Korea. What happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine. - The longer the US shilly-shallies, the longer urgently needed weapons fail to reach Ukraine, the more it invites other predators. - Ukraine must have -- now -- not only the weapons it needs to combat Russia's carnage, weapons to "close the skies," such as S-300s and S-400s and MiGs that the Ukrainians could pull over the border; it must also have heavy weapons such as tanks and long-range anti-ship munitions that Zelenskyy is requesting to repel Russia's assault to sever Ukraine from the Black Sea, and landlocking the country to suffocate all means of commerce. - One wonders, as Kasparov suggests, if the Biden administration secretly wants Putin, "the devil you know," to win. - "Everything I hear from other NATO members is that the U.S. has become the obstacle, and an explanation is required. Allowing Mr. Putin to keep an inch of Ukrainian soil after bombing civilians should be unimaginable. Conceding large areas of eastern Ukraine to the invader in exchange for a cease-fire would only give Mr. Putin time to consolidate and rearm for next time—and there will always be a next time." — Garry Kasparov, Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2022. - Kazakhstan, too, had an inspirational leader, Serikzhan Bilash, willing to fight for freedom. Many in the media and the Biden administration have completely ignored him and the struggle of the people of Kazakhstan. - Another rising voice of freedom is that of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the opposition in Belarus, who is fighting to keep her country on the side of freedom. She, along with Zelenskyy and Bilash, represent the dreams and aspirations of thousands, likely millions, of people within their homelands. They are risking everything for the ideals that America and the West claim to hold dear. - [S]upporting those leaders who are out front should be easy. Why is America not supporting them further? Why are Russia's generals and military leaders not being threatened? Why are America's attempts at sanctioning Russian energy and all of Russia's oligarchs, their families and their businesses so incomplete and half-hearted? - There is no diplomatic way out of this war. - The U.S. not only needs to recognize the power of these defiant leaders, but do more -- much, much more -- to help them. That is what is in the strategic interests of the United States. Today, Russia in Ukraine is the focus, but the aspirations of China and Iran must not be ignored. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on June 14, 2019. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP via Getty Images) The world is seeing Vladimir Putin's clear plan to reestablish the Russian Empire. It also is hearing rumblings from Asia about restoration of a Chinese dynasty, and in the Middle East, a return to when Persia -- now an extremely different Iran -- dominated the region. For any of these empires to expand, they need to take control of other states or groups of people. Those states can either be overrun and annexed, or they can be controlled and remain smaller, more manageable political units. Today, Russia in Ukraine is the focus, but the aspirations of China and Iran must not be ignored. [Continue Reading Article]( [] [Terrorism, Ukraine, Taiwan and the Outsourcing Wars]( by Daniel Greenfield • April 5, 2022 at 4:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - Russia isn't fighting for Communism, but for market dominance. - Europeans outsourced the responsibilities of powering their cities and heating their homes to Russia. While they tinkered with windmills and solar panels, Russia built an energy monopoly. Now it's expanding its monopolistic control the way that most powers and empires used to. - Russia may want all or part of Ukraine for nationalistic reasons, but, more importantly, because of pipeline routes and energy reserves. The underlying motive for this war is gas and the European nations decrying the invasion were the ones who provided the motive for the war. - The PRC [Communist China] may also be obsessed with claiming Taiwan because of its nationalistic One China program, but the island refuge also possesses TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry which dominates chip manufacturing. If China were to take Taiwan and then help North Korea swallow up South Korea, the PRC and its allies would control over 80% of global semiconductor contract manufacturing. And that would provide China with a virtual monopoly on the future. - Solidifying control over Hong Kong and then taking Taiwan is Xi's equivalent of Russia's invasion of Ukraine with tech instead of energy. - Even the most socialist leaders had come to think of the world as a set of commodity exchanges. They outsourced the dirty work and salved their conscience by financing some local NGOs. - That's how we ended up with the War on Terror, now the Ukraine war, and quite possibly a Taiwan war before too long. Western nations may have decided to abandon imperialism, but all they did was outsource it to the Muslim world, to Russia, and China who are happy to take it on. - We can either build empires, grow poor, or become self-sufficient. - The green fantasy in which we can leave behind pollution and unsightly factories by embracing solar panels, electric cars, and products with green labels is a lie. Green products are no cleaner, they're just marketed that way. Behind the scenes there are still strip mines, grimy factories, and exploited workers because it takes even more dirty work to make something look shiny and clean. - If we want to stop the wars, we have to stop funding Chinese, Russian and Islamic imperialism with our wealth and our industries. - The only way to bring the troops home is to bring the industries and resources home. Russia may want all or part of Ukraine for nationalistic reasons, but, more importantly, because of pipeline routes and energy reserves. The underlying motive for this war is gas and the European nations decrying the invasion were the ones who provided the motive for the war. Pictured: A gas station burns after Russian attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 30, 2022. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images) In the 90s, Russia was a spent force. The consensus was that free enterprise had defeated Communism. And it had. Russia isn't fighting for Communism, but for market dominance. A generation later we're watching what may be the largest outsourcing war of a new century. Russia, like China, rebooted its economy by exploiting the growing desire of western liberalism to accommodate environmentalists and socialists by offshoring their "dirty" industries. The United States outsourced its manufacturing to China which took on everything from making dollar store trinkets to recycling our used soda bottles while our elites focused on preparing the populace for the "jobs of the future" that would all involve using a computer. Now the PRC has a rising middle class and America has a falling one. China is building entire new cities for its middle class while the American middle class can no longer afford to buy a house or a car. [Continue Reading Article]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Donate]( Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved. 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