Growing Foreign Threats to the U.S.

The American people are accustomed to believing their country is so strong, it could never be taken over by another country. Yet, a series of policy mistakes and a weakness of will by the Biden Administration is bringing that conviction into question. At the same time that a lack of willpower by Biden is encouraging enemies to attack us, Democrats are diminishing our ability to defend ourselves.

The Slow Decay of U.S. Forces

At least since the Vietnam War, American progressives have viewed U.S. foreign problems as something usually invented by the military-industrial complex. Moreover, American foreign policies supported by the military-industrial complex were considered to be in pursuit of an American empire. A common theme among progressive Democrats is that the U.S. must make amends for its past deeds, which they view as imperialist.

In addition, they think of the Defense Department as draining resources from more highly valued social-welfare programs, including their green new deal. Nevertheless, when adjusted for inflation, fiscal year 2024’s defense budget at $842 billion remains roughly constant.

Yet, a large fraction of that spending goes to supplying both Ukraine and Israel in their wars with Russia and Hamas, respectively. Outside of additional aid for the Hamas war, the U.S. gives Israel $3.8 billion. This amount is dwarfed by an emergency request for $14 billion. The total Israeli military aid in 2024 would then be $17.8 billion. In 2023 Ukraine was sent a total of $46.3 billion in military aid (a total of $29.1 billion was sent separately in humanitarian and financial aid). It appears that a similar amount will be spent in 2024. If that is the case, then a total of $64.1 billion would be spent on military aid to Ukraine and Israel. That is 7.6% of this year’s defense budget.

Now, not all of this aid is part of the Defense Department’s budget. Even so, much of it is used to buy weapons and munitions from DoD stocks. The Department of Defense would then have to replenish those stocks just to retain its capabilities. Anyway you cut it, DoD’s effective budget for its own war-fighting capability is approximately $842 billion minus $64 billion, or $778 billion. This is less than the $800 billion spent in 2021.

A declining effective defense budget is not the only way U.S. forces are decaying. The Report of the National Independent Panel on Military Readiness, sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, records a number of ways in which the Pentagon is undermining the warfighters’ ability to do their job. This panel finished its research in February 2023, but the conditions it noted are ongoing. The Biden Administration’s woke politics has pushed the Joint Chiefs of Staff into adopting personnel policies that depress both recruitment and morale.

In 2022, the Army recruited 25 percent fewer soldiers than they needed. The Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps were even worse, recruiting 50 percent below their goals. Troop retention levels are also falling according to the National Independent Panel on Military Service and Readiness.

A November 2022 poll of military members gives some explanations for this rot. Reasons given for the decline included “military leadership becoming overly politicized” and “so-called ‘woke’ practices undermining military effectiveness.” Another survey showed that 65 percent of active-duty service members are concerned about woke training programs. DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs absorb large amounts of DoD resources, redirecting them away from their main war-fighting duty. The Biden Administration’s 2023 DoD budget request included $34.2 million to conduct a witch hunt for “extremist” activities in the ranks. That is, they wanted to purge conservative service members who did not share their progressive values.

U.S. Foreign Policy Weakness and the Threats It Generates

At the same time that Biden’s policies are weakening our military and naval capabilities, his administration is also tempting our foreign adversaries to stomp on us. He might not appreciate it, but he is practically begging for war by being weak. For a very long time, at least since the Vietnam War, progressive Democrats have been advocates for appeasement of foreign adversaries. Their ardent belief was that the U.S. and the “imperialist” West were responsible for military conflicts between the nations, During the Obama Administration, this attitude led to President Obama’s infamous apology tour around the world. It was his belief (and that of progressive Democrats in general) that the U.S. must atone for its past “imperialist” foreign policies, and seek redemption from other countries.

Yet, what happens when a country becomes unwilling to exercise military power in defense of itself or in defense of its allies? Answer: Its foreign adversaries are encouraged to take military advantage of that country’s weakness of will. The more the Biden Administration tries to appease our enemies, the more likely the U.S. will end up at war with them. In the run-up to the First Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush asserted, “If history teaches us anything, it is that we must resist aggression or it will destroy our freedoms. Appeasement does not work. As was seen in the 1930s, we see in Saddam Hussein an aggressive dictator threatening his neighbours.” As alluded in this last quote, World War II started between the Western Allies and Germany when the British attempted to appease Nazi Germany.

To be fair, the Biden Administration’s foreign policy record has been only partially one of appeasement. It has given military support to the Ukrainians in its war with Russia. Initially, it was very supportive of Israel in its war with Hamas. However, as the Israeli war progressed, domestic political reaction started to erode Biden’s support for Israel. Antisemitic demonstrations by American university students are chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The river is the Jordan River and the sea is the Mediterranean. Some idealists say this means a single country composed of both Jews and Muslims. However, given the Islamic hatred for the Jews, it can only be a prescription for a Jewish genocide.

Another force propelling the U.S. toward appeasement in the Israel-Hamas war is the influence of Iran. It is no secret that the Abraham Accords, negotiated by the Trump Administration with Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, threaten Iranian influence in the Middle East. As a consequence, Iran is encouraging proxy wars against U.S. Middle East interests in order to halt the growing relations between Sunni Arab states and Israel started by the Abraham Accords. As always, when faced with overseas opponents, the first instinct of Democratic progressives is to respond with appeasement.

Also, the Biden Administration is desperate to renew the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. The JCPOA was an agreement in 2015 by the U.S. under Barack Obama, Iran, and a number of other world powers. This agreement required Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons program and to allow international inspections of nuclear facilities in exchange for sanctions relief. Yet, despite all this, Iran blocked requisite inspections by the IAEA required by the agreement. Because of this, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA in May 2018. One could be forgiven for suspecting Biden wants the JCPOA reinstated as much because Trump opposed it, as for any other reason. An author writing on the Gulf International Forum website opined,

Hence, when former President Trump called the JCPOA ‘the worst deal ever negotiated,’ Biden most likely took personal umbrage and views the JCPOA’s restoration as part of his legacy while in office.

Professor Gregory Aftandilian, The Gulf International Forum

Yet another U.S. show of weakness that could lead to war is the Biden Administration’s dismantling of the U.S. border with Mexico. The flood of illegal aliens that has resulted is no longer composed merely of hispanics from Mexico and Central and South America. A very large fraction come from all parts of the world, as documented in the PBS NewsHour video shown below.

How many of these people are followers of ISIS, or the Taliban, or agents of Iran? On September 11, 2001, only a handful of al Qaeda terrorists who had infiltrated the United States were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. These attacks killed almost 3,000 Americans. The FBI director Christopher Wray has warned of an increasing probability of coordinated terrorist attacks within the United States. He delivered this warning to a Senate panel on March 11, 2024, as shown below.

A similar threat comes from the increasing numbers of military-aged Chinese men among the immigrants at our southern borders. Indeed, CBS News has reported that “Chinese migrants are the fastest growing group crossing from Mexico into [the] U.S. at [the] southern border.” From January 2023 to February 2024 a total of 64,979 Chinese adults have crossed into the United States according to the U.S. Border Patrol Union Chief, Brandon Judd. That is about the number of people needed for seven infantry divisions. Should China declare war on the U.S., would they form a fifth column to attack us?

Many, particularly in the Pentagon, think that war with China in the near future is quite likely. The most probable cause would be a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency says Xi Jinping has ordered his armed forces to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Should that happen, Joe Biden has promised on many occasions to come to Taiwan’s aid. Beijing must take Biden’s promise, despite his weakness of will, very seriously. It would then be quite likely China would preemptively strike U.S. forces at allied bases and ships in the Orient. This possibility becomes more fearsome when you consider China has the largest army and navy in the world as of January 2024. This is shown in the bar chart below provided by Statista.com. The numbers are in thousands of men.

With our enemies gaining in military strength while we are weakening, and with U.S. resolve to defend allies waning, what will happen?

Will the U.S. Survive As an Independent Nation?

In 1984, an American movie Red Dawn was released that depicted the invasion of the United States by Soviet, Warsaw Pact, and Marxist Latin American states. The movie was panned by many as unrealistic and its alarmist view silly. Aso, its presumption that Communist states were the imperialists, not Western capitalists, outraged some liberal critics. One critic, Adam Arseneau, opined that the film “often feels like a Republican wet dream manifested into a surrealistic Orwellian nightmare.” However, given present-day developments, Red Dawn might well prove to be prophetic.

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