 Communist China has dramatically increased its military strength – from an ocean-going navy to new stealth fighters to an aggressive space program. Pictured: Sailors and fighter jets on the deck of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning in the sea near Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong province on April 23, 2019. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images) |
History reminds us that great nations have been brought down when their leaders failed the ultimate test – one that requires unwavering courage, insightful vision, and resolute patriotism.
Historian Paul Kennedy writes in his book "The Rise and Fall of Great Powers" that empires able to bring superior economic and technological resources to bear invariably win the pitiless fight for global power. First published in 1989, his book is not only relevant today but should be required reading in Washington.
One has to wonder if anyone currently in the Biden White House is familiar with Kennedy's research; it spans the centuries, from Spain's undisputed leadership in the 1500s to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. It is a roadmap that leads readers straight to the gates of Beijing where the present communist leadership has harnessed enormous economic power, a growing arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, and a surveillance technology of its population that Stalin and Hitler could only dream of.
Current satellite imagery has revealed the stunning news that Communist China is building what defense analysts believe are more than 100 new silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
This action cannot be taken as an isolated decision: Communist China has dramatically increased its military strength – from an ocean-going navy to new stealth fighters to an aggressive space program. The leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also seem to think nothing of allowing spent boosters to fall back to earth wherever they may. Meanwhile Hong Kong's democracy is being strangled while international media has exposed how China seeks to crush their Uighur minority in sprawling prison camps.
China's global shadow is only lengthening. This autumn will mark the second anniversary of a COVID virus from Wuhan whose actual origin inside China is still being debated by a global health organization that lacks both the means and political will to actually access the data that would reveal the truth.
Against this battering from Beijing, the Biden Administration seems to be sleepwalking. In response to the CCP's military expansion journalists say our defense budget will be – in essence – flat, at best. There are urgent needs and well-deserved increases for US military pay but the Chinese can keep growing their military confident that we are not investing anywhere near the sums needed to respond to their moves. Hand-wringing aside, the Biden's response to the Uighur outrage is his Treasury Department issuing sanctions that probably would not even be noticed by China unless they read the press release.
As the CCP carefully plots its strategy for a return to global dominance it would not be surprising if they are reflecting on the wisdom of one of America's founding fathers, Patrick Henry, who wrote, "I have no way of judging the future but by the past..." They would see a Biden White House incapable of inspiring its citizenry, indifferent to crisis, and captured by Progressive ideologues whose pork-barrel policies will create a national debt so vast that it will threaten our nation's future.
While these mistakes, missteps, and missed opportunities are early in Biden's term, the Chinese also know the proverb that "Truth is buoyant" – it will surface at some point and become obvious to all. When it does, will America still have the means to preserve its security and freedom?
Lawrence Kadish is a national real estate developer and entrepreneur and witness to an era when the song "Brother can you spare a dime" revealed an America determined to escape the grip of The Great Depression.
