America Wake Up To The Threats You Face

Sacrifice and Act in the National Interest

The Russian threat to Europe and the world has only increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Why? The United States and NATO did little during the entire time they believed Russia was about to invade Ukraine. Russia will continue to be a threat until the U.S. and NATO understand a simple fact — they have to pre-empt Russian aggression and not simply react at every turn, and even then in a weak half-hearted fashion. It’s high time to stand up and crush Russia in Ukraine. America overwhelms weak countries, so why won’t it stand up to Russia? Then again, Russia is not the only threat. The United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand will have to learn quickly if they want to prevent a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and followed this up in 2014 by annexing Crimea and a large area of eastern Ukraine. In all cases, NATO talked a lot and imposed ineffective sanctions, making no impression on Putin. His image of standing up to the West was re-enforced and his standing in Russia was buoyed. Putin was emboldened, understandably, has felt that he could do almost as he wished with no meaningful pushback from the West. The West and the United States, actually invited this latest Russian aggression.

Vladimir Putin sees the weakness of democracies — they worry about the next election, they are soft and forget what it means to sacrifice. They will do whatever necessary to safeguard their personal and political interests. He must be amused by the self-dealing of U.S. officials in the Persian Gulf, how they pretend to act in their national interest but work hard to enrich themselves after they leave office. Germans too have followed the U.S. lead in padding their bank accounts. The West has been for sale for years so why would it change now? To make matters worse for the West, a number of countries are veering toward autocracy. And the U.S. is hopelessly divided and could fracture if given the right push by the right populist leader. The message from NATO to Putin was clear: we are not going to do much as long as we are not attacked and as long as our economic and financial interests are not threatened.

So much for the United States and NATO. Putin feels much the same about the United Nations. He knows that the United Nations is utterly ineffective because the five permanent members can veto anything that goes against their interests. Article…