It is time that the Democratic Party leadership, particularly Barrack Obama and Joe Biden, explain their foreign policy goals and methods.
In April 2014, the military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported a story almost totally ignored by the media: all American tanks had been withdrawn from Europe under orders from President Obama.
According to the Department of Defense, at its peak, Germany, the main center of NATO activity during the first Cold War, was home to 20 U.S. armored divisions, with about 6,000 tanks. Despite the glaring revival of threats from Moscow, the United States no longer had any tanks, the pivotal weapon in land combat, stationed on the entire continent.
Mr. Obama’s extreme views on the lack of need for tanks became an issue in the 2012 campaign, when vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan criticized the President’s attempt to shut down the only American plant that produces them.
Russia had invaded and annexed Crimea in March 2014.
As the Obama Administration concluded its tenure, major reversals by the succeeding Administration were required to undo the extraordinary foreign and defense policy errors that were committed during Barack’s tenure in Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific and within the Western hemisphere including its precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, leaving no residual force behind, which gave rise to the ISIS Caliphate, a move duplicated when Biden withdrew from Afghanistan leaving vast amounts of military equipment behind in the hands of the Taliban.
Since the inauguration of Joe Biden and the takeover of Congress by Democrats, America has projected weakness at home and abroad.
The Biden Administration intentionally destroyed American energy independence, thereby enriching Russia. It surrendered Afghanistan to the Taliban. It weakened the U.S. military. It has made it easier for China’s spies to steal from the U.S.
In response to the assault on Ukraine, the sanction that would most immediately and effectively impact Putin would be one placed on Russia’s energy sector. Biden has resisted doing this. Indeed, his Administration has noticeably taken a back seat to Europe in opposing Moscow’s aggression.
It’s more than just questions of events occurring abroad. Recently, the Biden Justice Department has ended the “China Initiative,” a program aimed at reducing the impact of Beijing’s massive espionage efforts in the United States.
As threats from China and Russia have grown more intense, the Biden Administration’s response was to cut the Pentagon’s spending power. Indeed, its initial Defense request to Congress would have sliced 3% of the military’s purchasing power. Congress had to restore some of that in a common-sense move.
Vladimir Putin has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, thanks to a deal Obama made with him in the early days of his presidency. China has been dramatically increasing its nuclear forces. It has also ordered the building of multiple launch sites. One military analyst in Washington suggested that the density of each silo field indicates that these are intended to be used for a first strike.
RealClearDefense reports that “On August 12, 2021, the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command Admiral Charles Richard stated, ‘We are witnessing a strategic breakout by China….The explosive growth in their nuclear and conventional forces can only be what I described as breathtaking.’He added that ‘…frankly, that word ‘breathtaking’ may not be enough.’ Admiral Richard characterized China as a ‘peer’ nuclear competitor and noted that we now face two nuclear ‘peer’ competitors, Russia and China, compared to one during the Cold War.”
For the first time, America faces not one but two nuclear adversaries, one, Russia, with a larger arsenal and the other, China, that will soon equal or exceed U.S. atomic capabilities. Putin has openly stated that he would have no reservations about using nukes both on the battlefield and across the globe. China continues to develop first-strike capabilities.
In response to these clear and unequivocal threats, Democrats continue to underfund America’s defense.
illustration: Pixabay