The Woke Rock & The Global Conflict Hard Place
To say that the United States is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to how the stage is being set for global conflict would be an understatement. With the US engaged in a proxy war with Russia to the tune of getting on $200 billion (unaccounted for) and a sizeable depletion of our military arsenal for their benefit, the Asia-Pacific theater exists ripe for the taking by the Communist Chinese.
According to a May 2022 report by James Di Pane, a defense policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, the US military, today, is not positioned to take on a two-theater war:
“It is too small and too old to fight on numerous fronts. Force drawdowns since the end of the Cold War and 20 years of fighting in the Middle East have left the US military a shell of its former self.
“This should worry everyone – especially because China and Russia spend a significant portion of their economic output on their defense budgets, with the purpose of challenging American military superiority.”
A Skewed Mission Statement
Since the advent of the Biden administration, the Pentagon and the US military hierarchy have dangerously misappropriated resources, focus, and priority, all while our two most significant rivals on the world stage – Communist China and Russia – have been honing the potencies of their military and intelligence forces.
The Austin-Milley Department of Defence has pivoted away from the US military’s original and only legitimate mission statement – to defend the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic – to focusing heavily on Woke social justice and race– and gender-based issues.
Instead of focusing on executing a second-to-none training regimen that centers on maintaining and advancing the capabilities of the most lethal fighting forces the world has ever seen (this began over a decade ago when the Navy rolled out the idea that the US Navy was a “global force for good”), our Pentagon has become more concerned with diversity, equity, and inclusion amongst the troops and whether or not the DoDs Environment, Social Justice & Governance (ESG) score is highly rated.
This does nothing – nothing – for military efficiency, potency, or readiness. It is simply – and exclusively – an exercise in Woke virtue signally that exists as worthless.
The Depletion Of US Resources
I have been having a polite intellectual conversation with a good friend of mine who has served the EU Parliament with his expertise on Russia, its government, and the people’s culture. As he reveres the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights as brilliant and pinnacle works of humanity, we are usually on the same page on most of the major issues facing the world.
On the issue of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the role of the United States in those hostilities, we have some fundamental disagreements, among those disagreements is the ability of the United States to aid the Ukrainians to the extent that it becomes a direct conflict with the Russians.
My friend contends that there has never been a better time to confront and vanquish what he understands to be a culture of conquest and enmity. And while I agree that Russia has been and always will be a disingenuous player on the world stage, I contend that the United States – because of far-Left Progressive spendthrift policies and a lack of vision where the health of our military defense capabilities are concerned – is not in a position to engage in a full-blown conflict with the former Soviet Union, i.e. Putin’s Russia, neither economically nor militarily.
Aside from the almost $200 billion in unaccounted-for financial support, the United States has “gifted” (we will get nothing in return for this investment of taxpayer dollars, so gifted) Ukraine – which until the beginning of the conflict with Russia was noted for being one of the most corrupt governments on the face of the planet, as of March 2023, – according to the US State Department:
Over 1,600 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
Over 8,500 Javelin anti-armor systems;
Over 54,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions;
160 155mm Howitzers and over 1,000,000 155mm artillery rounds;
Over 6,000 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds;
Over 10,000 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems;
100,000 rounds of 125mm tank ammunition;
45,000 152mm artillery rounds;
20,000 122mm artillery rounds;
50,000 122mm GRAD rockets;
72 105mm Howitzers and over 400,000 105mm artillery rounds;
298 Tactical Vehicles to tow weapons;
36 Tactical Vehicles to recover equipment;
30 ammunition support vehicles;
38 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition;
30 120mm mortar systems and over 175,000 120mm mortar rounds;
Ten 82mm mortar systems;
Ten 60mm mortar systems;
Over 2,500 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
Over 1,000,000 rounds of 25mm ammunition;
Precision-guided rockets;
Ten Command Post vehicles;
One Patriot air defense battery and munitions;
Eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions;
Two HAWK air defense firing units and munitions;
RIM-7 missiles for air defense;
12 Avenger air defense systems;
Anti-aircraft guns and ammunition;
Equipment to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine’s air defense systems;
Equipment to sustain Ukraine’s existing air defense capabilities;
High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs);
Precision aerial munitions;
4,000 Zuni aircraft rockets;
20 Mi-17 helicopters;
31 Abrams tanks;
120mm ammunition;
45 T-72B tanks;
109 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles;
Four Bradley Fire Support Team vehicles;
Over 2,000 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
Over 100 light tactical vehicles;
44 trucks and 88 trailers to transport heavy equipment;
90 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers;
300 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers;
250 M1117 Armored Security Vehicles;
Over 500 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs);
Six armored utility trucks;
Mine clearing equipment;
Over 13,000 grenade launchers and small arms;
Over 100,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition;
Over 75,000 sets of body armor and helmets;
Switchblade Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
Phoenix Ghost Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
CyberLux K8 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
Altius-600 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
Jump-20 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
Two radars for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
Laser-guided rocket systems and munitions;
Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels;
Over 70 counter-artillery and counter-mortar radars;
20 multi-mission radars;
Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems and equipment;
18 air surveillance radars;
Two Harpoon coastal defense systems;
58 coastal and riverine patrol boats;
M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
C-4 explosives, demolition munitions, and demolition equipment for obstacle clearing;
Tactical secure communications systems and support equipment;
Four satellite communications antennas;
SATCOM terminals and services;
Thousands of night vision devices, surveillance systems, thermal imagery systems, optics, and laser rangefinders;
Commercial satellite imagery services;
Explosive ordnance disposal equipment and protective gear;
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear protective equipment;
100 armored medical treatment vehicles;
Over 350 generators;
Medical supplies to include first aid kits, bandages, monitors, and other equipment;
Electronic jamming equipment;
Field equipment, cold weather gear, and spare parts.
So, without actually being at war with Russia, we are doing a pretty good job of significantly depleting our defensive military resources in the name of coming to the aid of the Ukrainian people, which leaves the United States vulnerable to the most dangerous foe to the United States: Communist China.
Enter The Dragon
There are several things with regard to Communist China that are not open to debate. First, they have their eye on “repatriating” Taiwan. Second, they are dramatically expanding their reach – both financially and militarily – around the world. And third, they are – and have been – on a war footing with the United States for quite some time.
That Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and president of the People’s Republic of China, wants to see Taiwan consumed by Communist Chinese authority is not news to anyone. He has stated that objective publicly on more than a few occasions.
Xi has also made it clear that he feels the United States is not strong enough to keep the People’s Liberation Army from taking Taiwan on a timetable amicable to Beijing. That timetable gets updated each time the Biden administration further ingrains itself in its proxy war (for now) with Russia in Ukraine.
The 2020 annual report to Congress by the Secretary of Defense titled, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2020 states, in part:
“... as this report shows, China is already ahead of the United States in certain areas such as:
Shipbuilding: The PRC has the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines including over 130 major surface combatants. In comparison, the U.S. Navy’s battle force is approximately 293 ships as of early 2020.
Land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missiles: The PRC has more than 1,250 ground-launched ballistic missiles (GLBMs) and ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs) with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The United States currently fields one type of conventional GLBM with a range of 70 to 300 kilometers and no GLCMs.
Integrated air defense systems: The PRC has one of the world’s largest forces of advanced long-range surface-to-air systems – including Russian-built S-400s, S-300s, and domestically produced systems – that constitute part of its robust and redundant integrated air defense system architecture.
“More striking than the PLA’s staggering amounts of new military hardware are the recent sweeping efforts taken by CCP leaders that include completely restructuring the PLA into a force better suited for joint operations, improving the PLA’s overall combat readiness, encouraging the PLA to embrace new operational concepts, and expanding the PRC’s overseas military footprint.”
Couple this with the rhetoric that met newly seated US Secretary of State Antony Blinkin during his first meeting with his Communist Chinese counterpart in Alaska in 2020, in which the Chinese said point blank that the United States no longer negotiates from a position of power, and you can see that while Xi and the PLA respect the US military, they certainly do not fear it. And with our arsenal depleted and the Biden administration fanning conflict for political purposes in Ukraine, the Communist Chinese may just be truly invited to strike at Taiwan if not further into the free world.
But That’s Not All…
Unlike Vladimir Putin and the Russians, who see confrontation as an exercise in military might and intelligence gathering, the Communist Chinese – like the Islamofascists before them – understand that to win a global battle to advance totalitarianism (of which Communism is a brand) it must be won by not only depleting a nations economic and military might but by also winning the long game that is altering the target society’s culture.
We all remember the George W. Bush Era mantra “winning hearts and minds.” For whatever reason, less-critical adherents to the blessings of freedom embraced the miscalculation that simply introducing freedom to the oppressed would instantaneously win “hearts and minds.” After a twenty-year military presence in Afghanistan that was focused on winning hearts and minds, the Taliban – in no small part due to the Biden administration’s shameful abandonment of that country – is back in control and with billions of dollars of American military equipment and training.
An aside: China has negotiated a peace treaty between the Saudis (Sunni) and the Iranians (Shi’ite) creating the very real possibility of a unified Islamofascist front when it comes to squaring off with the West.
Hearts and minds can’t be won unless there is a change in the culture itself. The awake (not woke) understand this because those who are awake and paying attention; learning from mistakes. It is the only blessing of failure. So, too, do the Communist Chinese.
The Ugly American & The Chinese Circus Mirror
For decades the Communist Chinese have been slowly, quietly, and incrementally embedding themselves in American culture and infrastructure. From Hollywood to the National Basketball Association to the widespread use of TikTok to their acquisition of thousands if not millions of acres of US farmland, the Communist Chinese are here and it will take a mass awakening to displace them.
Tim Doescher, host of the Heritage Foundation’s Heritage Explains podcast covered this issue in an episode titled, How China Is Taking Control of Hollywood. In it he and his guests accurately point out:
“...The Chinese are financing some of your favorite films, buying theater chains, it is a growing trend. Major Chinese production companies teaming up with Tinseltown, which is leading to concerns over pro-China propaganda making its way into major American blockbusters…
“...If you go to a movie theater right now, it's a pretty decent chance you're going to be seeing a Hollywood movie with a budget partly from China. That is actually true of two of the top three movies out right now, and it's just one sign of a global power shift in entertainment that's already changing the movies you see…”
“...Hollywood is relying more and more on the Chinese markets to make profits on movies. That means our films are being written with China in mind…”
In addition to Hollywood, which controls – with significant sway – the tenor of our culture, the Communist Chinese-connected TikTok allows that nation’s government to glean user data directly from individuals. So, what could they do with this data? I mean, it’s just a bunch of people posting cute cat videos to social media, right?
The FBI – albeit questionable in its credibility these days, revealed evidence that TikTok serves as a data-harvesting portal for the Communist Chinese government. In testimony before Congress, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated the FBI has a number of concerns about the popular app:
“They include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations if they so chose, or to control software on millions of devices, which gives it an opportunity to potentially technically compromise personal devices.”
And as Rachel Treisman of NPR.org writes:
“TikTok, which hit one billion monthly active users in September 2021, is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Chinese national security laws can compel foreign and domestic firms operating within the country to share their data with the government upon request, and there are concerns about China's ruling Communist Party using this broad authority to gather sensitive intellectual property, proprietary commercial secrets, and personal data.
“TikTok has long said that it stores US user data within the US and does not comply with Chinese government content moderation requirements. But the company has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months, and in July it acknowledged that non-US employees did in fact have access to US user data.
“Citing leaked meeting audio, Buzzfeed News reported in June that China-based ByteDance employees have repeatedly accessed non-public data (like phone numbers and birthdays) of US TikTok users. Separately, Forbes reported in October that ByteDance planned to use TikTok ‘to monitor the personal location of some specific American citizens,’ which the company denied.”
Since then, both the House and the Senate have passed legislation to ban the use of TikTok from the sovereign United States not as a form of censorship, but because it is a tool of espionage and a valuable one to the Chinese Communist Party.
But TikTok and Hollywood are just two intellectual fronts in Communist China’s war on the United States:
For decades, the Communist Chinese have overtly pilfered intellectual property without apology;
For decades they have manipulated their currency against the US dollar to their benefit and to the detriment of the American people and the value of the World Reserve Currency;
And for decades they have infiltrated our universities, colleges, and non-governmental organizations, gently manipulating our culture to one that better suits the totalitarian and globalist schemes of the Communist Chinese.
To the last point, some Republicans in Congress are waking up to this cultural danger, perhaps a wee bit late in the game.
Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA), and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), have introduced the Stop Higher Education Espionage & Theft Act. The legislation would counter any and all espionage and influence campaigns in American colleges and universities by foreign entities, specifically the Chinese Communist Party.
“The CCP is actively engaged in efforts to spy on American citizens across every industry, field, and institution, including our college campuses,” Steel said during the roll-out of the legislation. “We must combat these threats wherever they arise. College campuses should be places that foster academic freedom and sound, unbiased, research – values that the CCP seeks to undermine.”
As reported in The Epoch Times, Steel declared that the Chinese Communist Party is “the number one threat facing the United States, noting the presence of Confucius Institutes (China-funded cultural educational programs) on American campuses.
Congresswoman Stefanik went on to call Communist China’s attempt to infiltrate classrooms a threat to national security.
Hearts and minds, don’t you know…
So, while the world is focused on the totalitarian global conquest aspirations of Vladimir Putin, the United States is making the blindered mistake of not paying attention to the manipulated perversion of our culture by the Communist Chinese to their way of thinking.
It is a dangerous blindspot and one that could benefit both China and Russia in the short term.
One thing is for certain. This self-inflicted blindspot manufactured by the Biden administration, the global elites of the Progressive/Fascist Left, and the Woke does not benefit the United States or any other free nation on the planet.
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