How Long Can The West Stay Focused On Ukraine?

For years Germany, the fourth largest economy in the world, has played both sides of the American-Russian standoff, both during and after the Cold War. Germany has refused to militarize, choosing instead to rely on America’s nuclear umbrella while at the same time staying on Moscow’s good side. The Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline was but the latest symbol of drushba (friendship) between the two as Germany continued to draw 55% of its gas and 45% of its oil from Russia. Blame their geographical proximity and Otto von Bismarck's famous line, “Never cut the link to St. Petersburg.”

Sanction Russia and Belarus by copying the Iran model

Kevin Hassett at National Review has a simple plan to bring Russia and its ally Belarus to their knees.

As Biden sounded the alarm of an impending invasion, he delayed defensive weapons to Ukraine

“The Biden team has been too slow to beef up Ukraine even as Mr. Biden repeatedly served as a crisis broadcaster of a sure invasion,” writes Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times.

    The administration has offered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy safe passage out of the war zone only to be rebuffed. “I need ammunition, not a ride,” was the response of the embedded president now standing alongside his compatriots as they fight for the very survival of their country.

Playing Make-Believe with the Taliban

Throughout the entire process of negotiating a truce with the Taliban, officials from the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations were pretending that the Taliban could be a legitimate partner that would negotiate in good faith with its 20-year enemy the United States. The Taliban played them for fools but they were willing accomplices in their own deception.

Where Are The Statesmen?

A key pillar of foreign policy is to project the notion that you are a good friend to have, as well as a bad enemy to have. In the last decade the United States has done the opposite. We have regularly turned our back on our allies, abandoned projects we started, and appeased those who want to see us destroyed.

A Lesson In Shame

To further comprehend the hell that President Biden let loose in Afghanistan, I would like to point you toward an article published in The Atlantic back in March by George Packer.

Forget About 1975 Saigon. We Should Now Be Concerned With A Repeat of 1979 Iran

And so it happened. We all knew it would, it was only a matter of time. And yes, more violence is sure to follow.

American Counterterrorism Capabilities Have Been Severely Diminished Due To The Withdrawal of Military and Intelligence Forces in Afghanistan

The United States no longer has a strong military presence in Afghanistan, where prisons have been emptied and thousands of militants have been set free by the Taliban. American defense officials are now concerned with the capabilities the US can bring to any counterterrorism campaign in the region.

Hostage to the Taliban

On Sunday, the Pentagon initiated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, an emergency program that has only been evoked now three times since its creation after World War II. A total of 18 civilian wide-bodied, long-haul aircraft from five airlines have been activated. The planes will not fly into Afghanistan, but rather will transports Afghan refugees that have already escaped the country and are waiting at US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The airliners will then help “augment military flights carrying Afghans to Germany, Italy, Spain and other stops in Europe, and then ultimately to the United States.”

This Is Not How Wars End ... It's How They Begin

One of the major justifications offered by the Biden Administration for the abdication of its duty in Afghanistan is that our global adversaries want to see us bogged down specifically in this Southern Asian country. They don’t want us to leave; they want us to forever funnel billions of dollars into a hopeless cause to stabilize a lawless country.* Even more, leaving Afghanistan allows us to shift our focus to Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

    By this logic, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing should be frightened or at least concerned with the US withdrawal. After all, the small deployment of 2,500 American troops there helped maintain regional stability at no cost to China.