To War or Not to War

For an old guy I thought President Biden did pretty well in his “Meet the Press” session last week. Two hours and a bunch of unscripted (?) questions. Of course, he had hidden backup throwing up suggestions behind the scenes that we couldn’t see but two hours would be a tough stint.

I’ve wondered for several years why President Joe reminded me of persons I’ve known in the past and think that I’ve figured it out. Our President never has an original thought. When faced with a situation he hangs back to see what his associates espouse as their idea and then kind of at random seizes on whatever thought he thinks fits the situation and goes with it. For instance, cancelling the pipeline, he probably doesn’t know siccem about restricting the production of vital petroleum but someone laid out the plan and he went with it. Maybe it was Warren Buffet who stood to gain $$$ by moving the crude on his rail line rather than by the much cheaper and secure underground pipeline. Then too the fuzzy headed “green energy” climate change crowd that has no sense of economic reality probably made a big push to “cut carbon emissions”. Unfortunately such a person does not make for a good leader and hence his low approval ratings.

The buildup of Russian forces on the border of Ukraine is big news currently. It is understandable that the Ukrainian people feel threatened by a Russian takeover. Back in the days before WWI with Stalin in charge some ten million Ukrainian farmers were starved to death to facilitate the take over of Communism. Those farmers refused to surrender their privately owned land so that Stalin could restructure the area into Communist Communes. Stalin stole their crops and all the food stuffs they had set aside to get through the winter. The present Ukrainian government appears to be somewhat of a corrupt fledgling democracy but from past performance they know the present Russian dictator (President for Life) Vladimir Putin will seek to change back to the communistic hell that they had to endure under the Soviet Union.

Yet it remains to be seen what the United States and our allies in Europe will do to prevent the impending invasion. Hopefully our President Biden will not send our American Military into Ukraine to prevent the Russian invasion. In his recent press conference he vowed to use sanctions to punish the Russians if they stepped over the border. It may be too little too late and unfortunately we may see American blood shed in an unwinnable war. Stay tuned!

Now China’s Sabre rattling against Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, is a more ominous matter for our current administration to handle. A brief sketch of their history is interesting. During WWII we were allied with China in the fight against Japan. Chiang Kai-shek was the Nationalist president of the republic and he allied with Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communist party. It was with Chiang that our famed Flying Tigers and later the U.S. Army Air Corps went to fight the Japanese occupation. After victory over Japan in 1945 the U.S. presence departed. The war wasn’t over for the Chinese though as it became a civil war with Mao’s communist side winning the fight in 1949.

Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist troops, dependents and as many of the non-communist population as could fled to nearby island Providence of Formosa. Mao was back in the mainland murdering non-communists by the millions to establish the typical Communistic oppressive regime. Interestingly Chiang established a government in the renamed Taiwan that had governors and staff for all the former providences of China as if they were thinking of going back some day to take over the mainland. Didn’t happen. Anyhow Chiang Kai-shek also established a true democratic republic to govern Taiwan. The Island flourished into the capable, prosperous, and free economy we see today.

Somehow through the years both Chinas kept the mindset that they were still one nation just separated by some twenty miles of ocean. Our United States government although considering Taiwan as one of our valuable allies never officially recognized that they were two separate entities. The latest President of Taiwan, inaugurated in 2016, has stated that Taiwan is now a stand-alone country separate from the PRC that presently rules China. Not so the Communist Chinese dictator Xi Jinping “President of the People's Republic of China” PRC who has decided to take back the rogue providence as they recently did formerly independent Hong Kong.

A war of Taiwan vs China probably won’t kick off until after the upcoming Olympics in Beijing although XI’s Air Force has been making incursions into Taiwan’s airspace. The Chinese Navy, now the largest in the world, acts like they rule the South China Sea and obviously are prepared to invade the Island Nation of Taiwan.

Both Ukraine and Taiwan depend on the nuclear shield of the U.S. for their safety. We have no impending reason to commit treasure and blood in Ukraine or other Eastern European countries other than to prevent an expansion by Putin’s Russia. In China though the U.S. has countless economic trading ties that would be suspended in a war to keep Taiwan from being invaded by the PRC. Then too many of our politicians and senior bureaucrats have business ties with the PRC that they might be hesitant to lose if cut off by China. “Minor” other ties like the Biden family accepting $31 million from contacts in China for no discernible business interests according to Peter Schweitzer in his latest book “Red Handed”. Will corrupt U.S. politicians and their cabal simply hang our friend Taiwan out to dry if their Communist friends invade? Oh, what a tangled web we weave. That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail