Steve has noted that President Trump is working hard to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end. In a closely related development, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned our NATO allies that they will have to be primarily responsible for defending Europe:
America cannot be relied upon to guarantee the security of Europe from Russia because it has to focus on its own borders and the threat of China, President Trump’s defence secretary told Nato leaders on Wednesday.
In remarks that experts said would “rock” Nato, Pete Hegseth used his first speech on the world stage to rule out using US troops to uphold a peace deal in Ukraine.
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Hegseth said the US would “no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency”. “Rather, our relationship will prioritise empowering Europe to own responsibility for its security,” he said after holding his first bilateral meeting with John Healey, the British defence secretary.He warned allies that he wanted to “directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevented the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe”.
What is driving this policy?
“The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must — and we are — focusing on securing our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
China is a peer competitor. Russia is not. And right now, China is on offense and steadily gaining a strategic advantage over us.
To understand the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, order Senator Tom Cotton’s forthcoming book, Seven Things You Can’t Say About China. It will be available in six days, and no matter how much you think you know about China’s various initiatives against the U.S., there will be plenty that surprises you. The extent of China’s military buildup and aggressiveness, for example, and the respects in which it is already ahead of us, were largely new to me. Also the strategic importance of Taiwan, which is in the CCP’s sights.
So what are the seven things you can’t say about China? They are the titles of the book’s chapters:
1. China Is an Evil Empire.
2. China Is Preparing For War.
3. China Is Waging Economic World War
4. China Has Infiltrated Our Society.
5. China Has Infiltrated Our Government.
6. China Is Coming For Our Kids.
7. China Could Win.
Seven Things is meant to be widely read. It is only 170 pages long, and is written in an accessible, engaging style. I encourage you to buy a copy. Or buy 10, and give nine to friends.
We are entering an era of global superpower competition, in which China, which plays by no rules, has many advantages over us–not least our heretofore somnolent government. The hour is growing late. This may be the most important issue as to which the Trump administration has arrived in the nick of time.
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