Every Card In US Defense Deck Counts vs Russia & China?

While experts say the US showed China its hand after Russia’s Ukraine invasion & how sanctions alone did not deter it, Taiwan dreaming China must also be leery of how poorly conventional war tactics worked for Putin in the face of determined defenders.

The Institute for the Study of War, Matthew McInnis, is one who told Fox News sanctions will not prove effective unless accompanied by a “full-spectrum campaign” that includes the threat of significant force, effective political and diplomatic maneuvers, information sharing and increased weapons supplies. ”Economic sanctions simply do not work on their own,” he concluded. James Anderson, one time undersecretary of defense under former President Trump “underscored the need to bolster Taiwan’s capabilities” as did NATO treaty allies with Ukraine ahead of Russia’s invasion, only more so.

Taiwan, of course, is not Ukraine, which is surrounded by NATO countries. Still, our Indo-Pacific allies … including Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand … are well aware of the damage an imperialistic China can do to them as well as to their neighbors. “The good news here,” said Anderson, “is that Japan is acutely aware of what it means to them if Taiwan falls to the PRC … because Japan would be economically at Beijing’s mercy.” Further argued former Russian foreign minister, Andrei Kozyrev, China is not exactly Russia. The former, he suggested thinks & aspires more in terms of economic power while the latter thinks & aspires more in term of military might. As a result, he said, sanctions might hold more weight with President Xi than President Putin. Bottom line: Every card in the US defense deck counts.

Davd Soul