Getting Practical about Our Safety
National Security "cliffnotes"
Memorial Day weekend has slipped away. You may have put flowers on family members’ graves, remembered our soldiers who fought for our freedom, and/or rushed to a picnic.
But there is one more thing to do: We must get practical about our national security.
Both Russia and China are playing with fire, betting that European nations and the U.S. together in NATO are tired and won’t care as the two make their land and water grab.
Ukraine? Russia wants the land. Iran has provided millions of ballistic missiles. China provides about 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the microelectronics Russia needs — no weapons, just the parts Russia needs to make the weapons.
Israel? Oh oh! Russia’s new dependency on Iran means Israel worries that Russia may transfer advanced cyber capabilities to Iran. Iran supports Hamas.
Estonia? Russia’s removal of border markets is just the beginning. After, or maybe now, Russia’s next targets are Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia—all members of NATO.
Taiwan? China insists it owns Taiwan, but Taiwan has never been part of China. Taiwan elected a new pro-democracy president and China is punishing Taiwan with four days of military exercises over Taiwan’s waters.
The Philippines? Oops. China is busy claiming waters and islands in the South China Sea, Japanese waters, and more.
When your house is on fire, do you wait until the roof falls in before you call the fire department?
Right now, the world is on fire. Both the main attackers — Russia and China, are totalitarian dictatorships who want the land and resources; they oppose freedom. Other dictatorships are their allies.
Now, we must stand firm together. NATO—the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—has 32 member countries, including the U.S. So far, the NATO alliance has kept us from WWIII.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wants to untie Ukraine’s hands, allowing it to attack deep into Russia. This is the right thing to do because for Russia and China to take over the Western World—Western democracies, their Step One is to “grab” Ukraine. While it’s on its back, Russia and China want more. Their appetites are unsatiable.
People who remember WWII or have studied it note that one of the reasons the war got so big was that first, the UK and the U.S. (and other countries, too) stood back. Initially, they did not take Germany seriously as it rolled into country after country. Finally, when the Maginot Line fell in France, the UK and the U.S. suddenly realized they would be next.
It takes teamwork to stop big wars, so read the details below. Understand that a complete list would be longer.
As you read, remember! We have 112 Members of Congress—all Republicans—whose votes lined up on the side of Russia and Putin. These elected Members either played the scaredy-cat role or betrayed our country with their votes.
Which was it? Scaredy-cat? Or traitor?
What we have to do is stop the fires!
When we stand together to stop the fire in Ukraine, we push Russia and China back to square one. We teach them: Don’t mess with democracy; Keep your strongman tactics inside your borders.
We stop the fires!
If we want to be safe and free, we stop the fires!