To continue as a prosperous nation, we must have a “business plan” for national security, which includes foreign policy, to ensure survival and allow us to work towards expanded prosperity.

National Security means protecting the homeland from internal and external threats. It means secure borders. Truly, it is the government’s primary function, perhaps even the only legitimate function of government. Foreign policy concerns itself with external threats and minimizing such threats. Protecting our homeland does not mean protecting or providing for another nation that offers nothing in return.

Large businesses will often have a three-tiered plan for prosperity, which includes near, mid-term, and long-range goals. It only makes sense. Often, near-term goals dominate government because of election cycles. Thus, we went to war in Vietnam and Iraq for the individual political goals of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush. The costs to our country in terms of treasure and human life were disastrous. You would think we would have learned from those mistakes but, clearly, leadership has not (although I think the American people have).

A good foreign policy requires convincing other nations, the friendly or neutral ones, to work with us to secure our goals, which usually means a concomitant promise to secure their goals.

What happens, though, when dealing with an adversarial relationship? Must we physically force our will upon the recalcitrant party, or are there other ways?

President Eisenhower avoided war despite the ongoing hostility of the “Cold War.” Richard Nixon ended our mistake in Vietnam. The means was wretched but, still, he ended it. President Reagan toppled the Soviet Union without firing a shot.

Image: Democrat representatives meet with Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022. YouTube screen grab.

Most recently, Donald Trump intuitively understood Chinese Warlord Sun Tzu’s famous dictum, “It is best to win without fighting,” included in Sun Tsu’s still-relevant The Art of War. Therefore, Trump refused senseless military conflict. The current administration has gone on record as saying that, if Trump were president, there would not be fighting in Ukraine—as if that would be a bad thing.

Going back to our “business plan,” who in his right mind would have made Ukraine the centerpiece of America’s foreign policy? This conflict is devolving into the very real threat of nuclear war. Tucker Carlson has been the most visible opponent of this mad war. Meanwhile, the formerly anti-war Democrats are banging the war drums.

While the threat of nuclear war should be at the forefront of America’s concerns, Biden and the war hawks have committed another deadly error in judgment. The government is depleting our necessary weapons supply so substantially that we risk being unable to defend against true threats to our national security interests:

Top officers in the U.S. Navy warn that the Ukraine war is putting a strain on an already stretched industrial base, complaining defense contractors continue to fall behind in keeping up with the Navy’s needs, according to media reports. “If the conflict goes on for another six months to another year, it certainly continues to stress the supply chain in ways that are challenging,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said in a follow-up to his remarks at the annual Surface Navy Association conference Tuesday.

Most of the $29.9 billion in security assistance so far committed to Ukraine is withdrawn from existing U.S. stocks……. However, as contractors scramble to invest more in expanding production capacity for HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) Stinger missiles and other equipment, they poach resources that could be applied to filling the Navy’s orders, leaders warned according to the Navy Times.

Admiral Daryl Caudle had announced the day before a goal to keep at least 75 Navy ships at “full mission capable status”, meaning that they are not in a shipyard undergoing maintenance, manned and ready to go, Defense News reported. The Navy stripped parts from other ships to fill roughly 1200 orders for replacement parts in 2022–twice as many as the prior year. Of the 10 new attack submarines the Navy ordered in the past five years, only six have arrived.

John Solomon’s Just the News staff echoes these concerns:

The supplying of so much military aid to Ukraine to combat Russian forces means that it will take several years to replenish the drained U.S. weapons inventories, potentially undermining America’s ability to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, experts warn.

“As the United States transfers massive amounts of weapons, munitions, and supplies to Ukraine, questions arise about the health of U.S. inventories”, Mark Cancian of the center for Strategic and International Studies wrote in a recent report. It could take seven years, for example, to rebuild the country’s inventory of standard 155mm ammunition based on recent production levels and four to five years based on a surge rate of increased production. Former artillery officer Cancian has subsequently been quoted as saying “Artillery ammunition is the foundation of ground warfare”.

There is currently a massive backlog in arms sales to Taiwan because systems have been diverted to Ukraine. The Chinese Nationalists are not asking for welfare. They are willing to pay and fight the communist aggressor. They are only asking to be supplied.

Just the News reached out to the Pentagon for clarification about where we stand in terms of our ability to respond to a Taiwan invasion by Mainland China forces in view of our depleted weapons systems. No one responded. Similarly, the Navy failed to respond when the Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to them with questions.

It has now been reported that we are raiding U.S. weapons supplies in Israel and South Korea for Ukraine’s benefit. These supplies were in place to support our vital interests in the Middle East and Korean Peninsula. A war in the Middle East brings instant worldwide economic chaos. The sovereignty of the Republic of South Korea must be maintained as part of our coalition against China.

Is Ukraine now considered a more valuable ally than countries with first-world economies and true democracies that are willing to pay their own way and fight for their freedom? Thanks to the Biden administration, the United States has very limited resources, and we must choose our friends and battles carefully.

And I’ll leave you with one question: Who in their right mind would choose Ukraine over Taiwan, Israel, or The Republic of South Korea?