Russia and China are still our enemies

We delude ourselves that the Cold War ended when the Berlin Wall fell, and somehow, China and Russia are just misbehaving, delinquent members of the Free World. Spoiler Alert! The Cold War never ended. China remains authoritarian. The head man, Xi Jinping, declared himself President for Life. Russia’s Putin has accomplished this through multiple sham elections while circumventing term limits written into the Russian constitution. Unless his Ukraine debacle destroys his political ambitions, he will find some way to declare himself President-for-life, just like Xi.

Whether declared as communist or socialist or authoritarian or Emperor or Tsar, it doesn’t matter. Both countries have a long history of being ruled by autocrats. This will continue into the near future. And that’s why we should not economically engage them. Financially assisting these bullies, egoists and madmen only strengthens their hand against their own people, their neighbors and us. We must stop fooling ourselves that engagement with our enemies will somehow make them open to democracy. Autocrats hate democracy. Why? Because democracy has at its core a fundamental belief in checks-and-balances. Even leaders of democracies hate checks-and-balances because it limits their power and their agendas. It is easy to see why democracy is anathema to autocrats. Absolute power is absolutely intoxicating and will not be given up without a fight. These autocrats become delusional that they alone possess all answers for their people.

The Cold War’s past

I am a child of the 50’s, the era of backyard bomb shelters and elementary school Duck-and-Cover drills.  With rapt attention to the TV, I watched news of when Soviet Russia put an orbiting satellite directly over our heads. It was easy for U.S. citizens to imagine that orb, Sputnik, morphing into an intercontinental, nuclear-armed missile. A few short years later, they installed medium range nuclear missiles in our geopolitical backyard, Cuba.  The first became the Space Race, the second the Cuban Missile Crisis. Possessing nuclear weapons, Russia was, and remains, a very real threat.

Prior to Communist China possessing nuclear weapons, it had displayed a threat that was beyond The Bomb.  And it was frightening.

Westerners of the Boomer generation were very aware of the 350% advantage China possessed in their population size versus the U.S. And, unlike the U.S. enjoying its post-war, consumer economy, at a moment’s notice a large majority of the Chinese population could be mobilized into their army. China could physically overwhelm any part of the world they chose.  They don’t need nuclear weapons. They can swarm their opponents.  War movies of Chinese buglers rousing waves of charging Chinese soldiers towards our fighting men in Korea left the rest of us thankful for an ocean between us and them.  As the Korean War, and most recently Ukraine, show us in the West, despotic leaders have no regard for their own people.  Their populations are war materiel to be used as cannon fodder.

During WW2, the Soviet Union’s despotic, sadistic and ego-maniacal leader, Stalin, issued orders that any retreat was cowardice and would result in execution. Constant advance regardless of losses were the standing orders. Russia lost 27 Million soldiers in that war (as compared to the 400 Thousand U.S. losses). Stalin also tortured and murdered 20 to 30 Million of his own citizens.  The most reviled historical European leader since Attila the Hun, Adolph Hitler, could not boast this number.  And the current Russian leader, Putin, is sending wave after wave of suicide assaults against the Ukrainians, regardless the losses.

Shortly after the end of WWII, we became mutually bound to the defense of Korea, Japan and other nations tangent to the Red Menace (China + Soviet Union). Our deepest commitment was, and is, Taiwan.  We watched on television the evil that the Soviets perpetrated upon Eastern Europe.  Repeated hopes of freedom, in countries like Czechoslovakia and Hungary, were crushed under the treads of Soviet tanks.

And the same time, we in the West were very aware of associated stories coming out of Communist China. This involved the social upheavals, torture and designed famine, hence starvation, of their own people by the state.  They called it The Great Leap Forward and The Cultural Revolution under the direction of their meglomaniac leader, Mao Tse Tung. This was the same psychopath that had his finger on the nuclear button. Thank God Zhou Enlai (number 2 in the Communist Party) had a knack for distracting his insane boss with shiny things (or people to torture).

A New Richard’s Crusade

In the late 1960s, a rehabilitated Richard Nixon clawed his way back onto the national scene. In ’68, his second presidential run was successful. But this wasn’t the Old Nixon, the hardcore conservative hawk, HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) griller of Communist infiltrators. He now had a new advisor, Dr. Henry Kissinger.  He came on board Nixon’s political train as a trade. Nixon would have the support of the East Coast One-World RINOs (Republican-In-Name Only) if Kissinger were given access and listened to. Nixon agreed. This was the “New” Nixon, pandering to the Republican Left, showing his softer side by single-handedly ending the Cold War.

He started his redemption by signing away to the Soviet Union our right to protect our land-based missiles and to limit our launching platforms (i.e. subs). There was no on-site verification process. The only reason the Soviets agreed was that they knew they were falling further and further behind, not just in production of missiles and warheads, but in the electronic and technical development of weapons systems across the board. They were trying to slow the U.S. down until they could catch up. For his political survival, Nixon needed a big foreign policy win in order to distract the American public from his deepening entrenchment into Viet Nam. So he went to Moscow, had a hug fest and signed the ABM and SALT I agreements.

The treaties were mainly atmospherics because of MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle). This meant 8,10 and eventually 12 warheads could be atop a single missile. And each could be sent to different targets upon reentry of the missile. While reducing the number or missiles in each country’s arsenal, it had little impact upon the increasing lethality of the remaining missiles. MIRV warheads were never part of the pacts. Whether the Soviet Union knew of this potential, were working on it themselves or already possessed the capability is not known. The point is, Nixon was willing to appear to his party’s hardliner hawks as an appeaser, cozying up to the Soviets.

Nixon (with Dr. Kissinger whispering in his ear) hoped the offering of reduced strategic-missile deployment would bring another benefit. He urged the Soviets to end support of Hanoi, pushing their client-state North Vietnam into negotiations with the U.S.

It never happened. But Nixon did get nods from the Libs & Left for being “brave” in giving away America’s lead in strategic missiles and potential development of a missile shield to protect the country from incoming nukes. (The ABM Treaty became Reagan’s handcuffs when he tried to develop the StarWars defense system).

It was up to a later, true conservative, Republican President to bring the Soviet empire to its knees by outspending them militarily. The Soviet state-run economy was a disaster. Its peoples were up in arms (literally) as Guns & Butter had failed to deliver the Butter (and the Bread). The Soviets couldn’t keep up with the West’s capitalism. So, they threw in the towel and withdrew back to original Russian borders. The Soviet Union dissolved into just Russia. Eastern Europe was freed of their tyranny.

Russia actually tried democracy while keeping the old autocrats in power. For President, they placed their bet on a long-time Party Boss… a drunk. And, worse than that, the drunk, Boris Yeltsin, bet on his assistant to take the country even further along the path of democracy during his alcoholic blackouts. The assistant’s name: Vladimir Putin. Perhaps a KGB Colonel isn’t the best choice for a democratic successor. But, oh well, who knew?

Just every Western leader with an intelligence service.

Nixon gives a lot more away to China

Instead of giving away nuclear advantages to China, Nixon instead threw open our land-of-milk-and-honey. The land was our markets; the honey our wealth. Greedy Western capitalists were eager to throw our multi-generational, hard-earned capital at them while we were forced by corporations to disassemble our manufacturing capabilities and ship it over there. Everything had gone global, including our jobs.

Western capitalists were justifying their greed, saying that international trade with Beijing would tame the authoritarian Red government; make them more civilized and desirous of adopting international standards of behavior. There was fervent hope that, eventually, China would follow Russia’s recent democratic moves. Except, that wasn’t going to happen. Tiananmen Square put a sizeable dent in that theory. We still do not know how many died there.

While keeping our foreign dishes spinning upon their flimsy poles, the West sidled up to Russia’s latest Stalin-wannabe, Mr. Putin. We thought he was a nice guy because he smirked in photos with Western Leaders. He literally smirked in almost every shot. He was amused at the West’s gullibility.

While we praised Russia’s conversion to Western democracy (which never happened), we were abandoning our morals with China. First, we stopped demanding they institute international laws on human rights. Then we stopped referring to it as Red China. Then Communist China. Then Mainland China (distinguishing it from Taiwan as Republic of China). Today, it’s just plain ol’ economic buddy China. If I were Taiwan, I’d develop some new allies, rather than depend on the U.S.

There is no accommodation for peace with the West when it comes to China or Russia. China is using its new-found wealth (our old-lost wealth) to push its influence outward. It leans hard on its neighbors and economically infiltrates. Does it not bother anyone that China owns 40% of the Philippines’ main power grid (NGCP) and can shut it down (or merely threaten to) anytime they want to exercise their geopolitical muscle?  Do we find it acceptable that the company that oversees maintenance and security of the Panama Canal is Chinese, and could physically deny U.S. military access during times of war or, worse, blow up the locks and put the canal out of commission indefinitely?   Doesn’t it make us nervous that China is buying mineral resources all over the world? Americans don’t have to look far for their influence. To date, the Chinese ha,ve purchased over 384,000 acres of U.S. food production land. And, as chilling as it is absurd, guess who they are becoming best buddies with: Cuba. And China makes some bad-ass missiles, with nuclear warheads. Wow, talk about full circle.

All of this occurs on top of the bevy of spies China infiltrates into the West, particularly into the U.S. through our sieve of supposed immigration control. Whether it targets our industrial or military secrets matters not, for in their country, they are synonymous. Even their social media is weaponized, designed to steal passwords while they build files on vulnerable Western potential assets.  What happens when some married Defense-Industry bureaucrat with high government clearance has his kinky internet sex life hacked?

Please ban your kids from TikTok and all Chinese manufactured communication gear.  Chinese workers may work at an American factory within their country.  But they still work for the Chinese government.  That is the main point of Communism!  Can we be so blind as not to consider that Chinese workers in Apple’s Zhengzhou factory are not infiltrating the phones with abilities to be hacked?  Grow up, America.

Noting their spying, what is the reason for their balloons drifting across our nation?  The first is obvious: collecting intelligence in the form of digital imagery. It can be assumed they now have details of our ICBM bases; our nuclear equipped bomber bases; our sub pens and drydocks. But the real reason for these balloons is more chilling: they are used to detect our military intercept response time. It’s one thing to gather information about an adversary or steal its technology. But this signifies something completely different. It is used to determine how and where to attack another nation in event of war.

We should easily understand this. We did it often during the Cold War. We sent military planes into Russian and Chinese airspace to determine their response. We stopped because the Cold War supposedly ended. And it’s now thought of as a provocative act. (It may have also been somehow complicit in Russia’s flaming of KAL 007).

But the Cold War is not over.  China knows this.  Do we need to float a balloon for this idea to catch on?

Uncontained Containment

Harry Truman’s administration devised a policy to stop the spread of world-wide communism in 1948.  It was called containment.  Every U.S. president since Truman maintained the policy (too directly in Viet Nam). That is, every president until Richard Nixon. A man of raging insecurities, Nixon was easily manipulated by the Eastern intellectual, Mister Realpolitik, Henry Kissinger. Dr. Kissinger’s marching orders came directly from his Council on Foreign Relations masters, the Rockefeller family.

From a Quaker-poor, powerless youth, Nixon always pandered to the power brokers and uber rich. He was intimidated by East Coast Ivy-Leaguers with his lowly Whittier College degree. It’s also why he hated Jack Kennedy. (Jack didn’t have to pander to this crowd because his family was already one of them. But he must have ignored the elites once too many times and died for it).

Breaking 20 years of U.S. policy, Nixon tossed containment on his large pile of broken tenets and went full engagement with China, including handshakes, smiles and even a few hugs, ala his Soviet Union meetings.

He also threw in our hard-earned, multi-generational accumulation of capital as well. He told the greedy capitalists, jump into China! There’re no more trade restrictions. There’re no more capital restrictions. We’ll protect you. The U.S. government is giving you free access to a billion-man (and woman) labor pool. And when we’ve sufficiently made them rich, there will be a billion-man (and woman) consumer pool. Win, Win!

And what did we demand of China in return? Ending of supplies and support to North Vietnam? Pressure on North Vietnam to negotiate an end to the war? (Again, Dr. Kissinger was whispering his delusional speculations into Nixon’s ear); Reduction of China’s two-million-man army? China’s withdrawal from Tibet? China’s recognition of Taiwan as an independent nation? Reigning-in of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions? Establishment of Hong Kong as an independent state after 1997? implementation of human rights for China’s own people? The answer is Nada, Zip, Zero. We didn’t even ask. Nixon thought that would be rude.

What Nixon really wanted

Nixon was hellbent on establishing his legacy. After losing his first, razor-thin electoral battle to JFKs charm offense with the American people, Nixon’s insecurities went into overdrive. When, nearly a decade later, he won the Presidency, he was determined to run a two-front assault: first, assail anti-war ‘nicks’ in the street on behalf of his so-called Silent Majority; second, follow Kissinger’s example by becoming the darling of the liberals and the liberal press by extending an olive branch (known today as a white flag) to China and Russia. He was hailed as the New Nixon! Maybe a little dark (not just his 5 o’clock shadow), but he was toeing the line of East Coast Globalists with whom he had fallen into bed with over the last decade. Nelson Rockefeller (Kissinger’s CFR sponsor) cheered Nixon’s China policy. Barry Goldwater threw up.

Nixon was never a conservative. He was a two, maybe three-faced opportunist. (The sweaty upper lip gave it away). That’s why Eisenhower didn’t like him. And real conservatives never trusted him. It’s not certain who came up with the line about Dick, “Would you buy a used car from this guy?” But it expressed what his own party conservatives thought of him.

After losing to JFK and then losing a gubernatorial race in his home state of California, Nixon became adrift in the political wilderness of obscurity. So, here’s the election loser, insecure, lip-sweating, five o’clock-shadow Nixon copying Diane Wiest from The Birdcage, brooding, “Someone has to like me best!” Kissinger, in that deep, guttural German accent, kept whispering in Nixon’s ear, “Recognize China.  Give them our money and markets.  The monied liberals you have so desperately courted without success will applaud you.”

And they did… in Congress… after his helicopter made a grand entrance, landing on Capital grounds. Nixon beamed. It was his magical moment. He could be bosom buddies with the powerful elites now that he had done their bidding

Except everyone but Nixon knew it wouldn’t last. Conservatives reviled his betrayal of two-and-a-half decades of Containment. Liberals were quietly looking for that petard from which to hang the old Nixon. And he gave it to them. We call it Watergate today. Mister Insecure had to make sure his 1974 reelection was a landslide, exceeding the election of shit-kicker Johnson in ’64 (built upon the ashes of JFK’s funeral pyre.

The one-handed shake

With Nixon’s (technically Kissinger’s) new China policy, suddenly the Cold War with China was over. Well, at least from our side. China never said it was over. The latest Mandarins of China were laughing up their oversized sleeves. It was like the code of the men’s restroom; the ending of the Cold War was a one-handed shake.

Since this time, China has produced enough wealth to afford Guns & Butter. They’ve had some economic hiccups recently. But even a total economic collapse would mean installation of another hard-liner. It seems in China, bountiful economic times ensure the Party dictators stay in power. Bad economic times mean they change chairs. What has China done with their newly given wealth? Their two-million-person army has grown to two-million, five-hundred thousand, while the rest of the world has shrunk their standing armies. They’ve created a formidable navy that is now challenging the West at sea while threatening the continued existence of Taiwan. They have modernized and expanded their weapons systems to match those of the West. They have created an outer-space capability and are racing to build a moon base along with plans to mine as many minerals as possible. They have never signed any agreements as to banning weapons in space. Every international agreement that China has ever dodged is part of their long-range strategy.

For some reason, we keep forgetting these people have a two-thousand-year head start over the world in economic, domestic and foreign policies. They are the home of Sun Tsu (The Art of War), They were printing cotton-infused paper currency while Rome was still clipping metal coins. When they think of the future, they think in terms of multi-generations, not decades, or election cycles.

And they’re right on plan.

Russia grabs the tar baby while running straight into the briar patch

As to Russia, their leaders have a history of being more self-destructive than even our leaders. Putin rolling into Ukraine is a Godsend to the West. It’s as if Russia has grabbed the tar baby (Ukraine) while stumbling into the briar patch. The Ukrainians live in the briar patch. They know the ins and outs. It’s no wonder Russia’s offense bogged down from day one

I feel extremely sorry for the suffering of the people of the Ukraine. However, they are fighting a noble and awe-inspiring battle with evil. Russia stupidly invaded these brave people. And finally… finally, the West has banded together in mutual response. It can only be hoped that we give these heroes every request they make.

We have an opportunity to crack Russia into pieces like a pinata. And not a single American boy has to die. The Ukrainians have stepped up to do this. All they ask for is the tools. It’s the complete reverse of Vietnam where Russia gave arms and sat back to watch Americans die from those arms. The tide has turned.

Payback, Baby!

Some think Afghanistan already served that role. Yes, Russia lost and had to retreat. But it wasn’t a total victory for the West. We had just armed some of the most fanatical Muslims that hated everything about the us, the infidels. Whe we turned our backs and exited Afghanistan (the first time), we left some evil people to their evil plots, culminating in 9/11.

Ukraine is one of us

But Ukraine is vastly different. It has an educated populous. It has an established democracy.  It has (or had until Russia invaded) an established economy. It recognizes human rights. It is of the West in thought, culture and deed. And it’s right on Russia’s border. It’s resistance to Russia, its strength has given spine to Finland and Sweden to finally request NATO membership. Both countries have, since WWII, avoided provoking the ill-will of Russia by joining NATO. Now that Ukraine has shown the bully to be a paper bear, a very beatable Russia, these two countries are able to muster the courage to join the Western alliance. With Ukraine eventually included in NATO, Russia will be completely surrounded as regards access to Europe and the Mediterranean states. And, finally, Containment will be reestablished.

This is currently underway against Russia. And it will be successful with determination and planning. This U.S. internal debate of Ukrainian-support versus no-Ukrainian-support is beyond ignorant. This is emboldening Putin to hang on within Ukraine until at least the 2024 U.S. election is over. Current political rifts over government funding are doing more to hand a victory to Russia over Ukraine than any strategies or tactics within Moscow’s incompetent military.

Ukraine is a Western, Christian, nascent-Democratic nation filled with brave, intelligent and determined patriots. They are a nation united in the defeat of Russia. They deserve more than our money, logistics, planning and weapons. They deserve our endearing, loud support along with adoration in the form of multiple public choruses. This small country has single-handedly revitalized NATO while bringing Sweden and Finland into the defense of Europe. They have also renewed the West’s resolve to see the Russian Bear skinned once and for all.

Ukraine, along with Poland and Lithuania, become the bulwark against Russia. Who has felt the crushing weight of the Russian boot more than these three? As soon as they defeat Russia, Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO and that organization should immediately advance our nuclear missile defense system within the borders of these three. That will put a real freeze upon Moscow.

Allies against China

The key to containing China is to stop trading with it. Stop providing our capital. Stop allowing it to take advantage of the West’s international finance web. Economic containment should be established. Without a surplus of funds, China will have to focus its attention back to home, to Butter, not Guns. And there has been a sea change within China that will demand this

To understand Chinese society, we must understand its structure. Essentially, China works within a system closely representing our medieval past. Ruler (Emperor, Chairman, President) is on top. He derives power from some higher plane. For Emperor it came from Heaven. Now it’s from the collective concept of The State.   Prior to a hundred years past, the next levels were Generals, religious leaders, bureaucracy (Mandarins), merchants, the family, then the individual

Like Western medieval times, in China the individual has no power (unless you are rich enough to offer bribes). And an individual with no contact to family is like a Japanese Ronin from the 1500s, rudderless, drifting. Rebellion of the young against the state would cause exclusion from the family because it threatens ostracism for the entire family by the state. And the family relies upon the state for sustenance, housing, transportation, jobs and formal education.

The West in modern times put the individual on top of the pyramid. The family connection is not critical (unless one has sights set on the Ivy League). The leveler is education. Education allows, in most instances, a level playing field in our culture. It makes our society more a meritocracy than an aristocracy. Granted, it’s not perfect. But many individuals of no prior social station have achieved star-studded and financial fame just from an educated idea.

And this is the sea change in China. Education allows upward mobility, along with actual, physical mobility; two things not available in China until two decades ago. Education creates freedom of thought and relies upon critical thinking skills. Education cements internally within the individual his or her self-worth. It builds a sense of pride. Most important, education demands freedom of thought. And freedom of action is not a huge leap from there. All these points are a potential threat to an authoritarian regime. Education of the masses is a two-edged sword for a centralized government trying to practice mind-control over its population.

Modern nations require educated individuals in order to advance a nation into the upper competition of science. But once people become educated, once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s difficult to push the stopper back in. It can only be accomplished with great force against one’s own citizenry. This we saw in Hong Kong, bringing it back under the thumb of Beijing. Like Tiananmen Square, we have no idea how many have disappeared due to their protests on behalf of freedom, something they had in large measure before 1997. China has so many people, with a vast majority under 30, it must maintain aggressive GDP growth or face revolt. It can only do that with Western capital and Western markets open to its goods.

This author visited China many times during and since the 1970’s and found it’s people to be natural entrepreneurs and capitalists. The Mainland’s educated younger class has leaned hard into Western styles of dress, entertainment… and thinking. Since Tiananmen, lack of political freedom is accepted by this group without much open dissent. But it comes with the proviso that growth in the quality of public services, the financial rewards of an expanding economy and the increasing job and career opportunities keep flowing. If that stops, if this demographic is placed upon some minimal government dole, or is forced by the state to abandon the cities for the countryside or distant provinces, or is forced to move back in with aging parents, Tiananmen Square will raise its defiant head

Handling China as an adversary, not a partner

Our best action against an aggressive China is to keep our military strong in numbers and advanced weaponry, especially our Navy. Next is to equip our friends with the armaments required to provide security against an aggressive China. Naturally this speaks to Taiwan, but it should also include Japan and Korea. Vietnam is also a possible ally. This may sound anethma to persons of the Boomer generation.  But let’s not suffer the future while holding fast to the past. Remember the proposition that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”  We sufferers of the Vietnam war can park emotions in order to curb China. Even though China supplied Vietnam with armaments during the conflict, the two countries have been enemies for a millennium. China conquered and occupied Vietnam for nearly a century. There is no love-loss between these two. And Vietnam has struggled hard to develop economic ties with the United States. That might indicate the antipathy felt by Vietnam for China. Most nations that ring China’s border feel the same. India and China have actually gone to war. We need to use all resources, including guile, seduction and diplomacy along with confrontation to keep China in check until forces within can liberate its own people and create a non-militarily, yet aggressive capitalistic democracy. Then we will welcome them into world markets. Our nation should prepare itself for that day, as China will be a formidable competitor

A hard position required

With China ramping up aggressive actions and threats towards Taiwan, we need to take an unprecedented step, now. We need to start arming Taiwan, Japan and South Korea with tactical and, if deemed necessary, strategic nuclear weapons. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Russia had armed Cuba with “Frogs”: tactical nuclear weapons that could have wiped out any U.S. invading sources if JFK had approved an invasion.

This may seem extremely dangerous. But if we are sincere in protecting Taiwan, we cannot expect them to withstand a Chinese invasion force many multiple times larger than anything Taiwan could bring to bear. (Remember their swarm technique?). The only path to success for Taiwan if an invasion occurred would be a tactical nuclear response. And I do not see the U.S. having the will to directly push the button in this moment. If this capability were given directly to Taiwan, and kept a secret, blunting China’s initial invasion force, it would so throw them off-plan and into confusion. Taiwan could follow up with even greater decapitation of Chinese abilities. The only retaliation on Beijing’s part would be use of strategic nuclear weapons… unless they thought that Taiwan possessed long-range nuclear-tipped missiles as well.

Interesting stand-off. Very much like us and North Korea. And that is why we should secretly arm South Korea and Japan with tactical and strategic nuclear weapons as well. If these three nations developed pacts to defend one another, three potential sources of nuclear attack could hit China from different directions

If Taiwan hit Chinese invasion forces with nuclear weapons, it should be planned that South Korea take out North Korea at the exact same moment. That way, Beijing loses its proxy nuclear partner. If China thought it could use cover of North Korea to strike at Taiwan, the masque would be ripped away.

And all the time, we play innocent, disavowing knowledge of this nuclear triad. Hopefully, this restrains release of Chinese ICBMs at us.

But could the nuclear ability of these three be kept a secret? No problem. A nuclear-tipped cruise missile could be easily transported, hidden and launched from a modified cargo container. We could easily ship a thousand containers over the next twelve months into these countries. That’s less than 85 containers a month, which is merely a blip on the overall number of containers in and out of these mega-trade countries. They can be transshipped for even greater cover, arriving from Australia or New Zealand or unsuspecting Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. The container ship would be transiting “in bond” through these ports, not subject to inspection of cargo that stays on board

And if it’s thought we can’t rustle up 3,000 cruise missiles, take note that our Navy is getting rid of 4,000 Tomahawk missiles very soon in order to upgrade missile type

Is the U.S. dependable?

Do we expect our proxy allies to push the button if this all came about? Taiwan, no problem; after all, they would be fighting for their life. South Korea, no problem. They have lived with the specter of Pyongyang’s menacing threats and missile launches for 70 years. They are definitely ready to end the game. Japan? Everyone continues to view Japan as anti-war and, hence, passive toward its own defense, relying on Big Brother Uncle Sam for all protection, especially of the nuclear shield kind. That may have been true decades ago. But newer generations in Japan don’t have the need for self-flagellation of older (and past) generations. The biggest problem with the current situation is that Japan worries if the U.S. would really push the button to defend them. Would the U.S. initiate a nuclear response to save Japan from North Korea? Or China? With the “Greatest Generation” gone from America, and the Boomers still apologizing for Vietnam and Gen X still trying to define ‘X’, the waffling and in-fighting within Washington is interpreted by Japan as a crap shoot for their defense. Would the US be an active war ally?

With North Korea test launching missiles towards Japan, it would not be surprising to learn Japan has already stocked up on nuclear weapons, putting the button under their own thumb. Japan’s history is as a militaristic nation. From daimyos and battling samurai; sinking of the Russian fleet at Tsushima; defeating China in Manchuria, twice; to the attack against Pearl Harbor, Japan has never been stilted by its Buddhist roots.

The Triad would not only hold, but it would also synchronize with the U.S. laying out a battle plan and “trigger” actions to which all parties agreed. China doesn’t have to be feared as the big, bad boogie man, scything through Asia at will. With determination and planning it can be brought to heel when the moment requires.

The China solution

Communist China needs to die (it feels good to again call them by their real name). It too can bring forth a democratic nation from the ashes. It has a burgeoning, young (under 30) and educated middle class that are natural entrepreneurs and capitalists. They are eager to express themselves in the streets and at the ballot box. All the U.S. has to do is similar to our embargoes on Russia: deny the Dragon access to our markets and our capital. Its economy will collapse. Its leaders will start thrashing about for an external target to focus upon rather than the failure of its economic policies. That is when our nuclear-armed triad keeps the Dragon in check.

After the collapse, we should have our set of demands and conditions ready for renewed access to aid, capital and markets. The first might be surprising: China needs to be broken up into 4 nations: China-Beijing, China-Shanghai, China-Canton (reverting back to its non-Mandarin roots), and Hong Kong. China is too populous, too geographically varied and filled with too many ethnicities to peacefully transition to democracy. It has always required authoritarian regimes to force all of China’s disparate parts together.

Additionally, China is too militarily threatening to all its neighbors to be under one command. Maximum numbers for armies and navies would be established. Perhaps some or all of the Four would opt for no military. Strong border guards or civilian police forces may suffice.

I do not advocate reestablishing some form of colonial rule over China. The Four should be left to build democracies in their own image.

The Russia solution

Similar to China, Communist Russia needs to die (yes, it’s Communist because it is still run by the Communist thugs from the Soviet era). From these ashes, the West can support the rise of democracy, within the caveats and terms we dictate. The first will be a maximum number for their army. And not one weapon, boot or ship west of the Urals. The new Russian Navy will be based in Vladivostok only. And any troops will be within marching distance of the Chinese border. This will be another check on the Dragon.

Conclusion

The ideas presented herein may appear fantastical, but the conclusions and solutions are viable. They all start with one premise: our democratic allies, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania will be the bulwarks to do the fighting. All we have to do is support them fiscally, militarily (advanced and conventional weapons), publicly and morally.

Only when Russia and China rise from the ashes as true democracies will the Cold War be over.

The Cold War Never Ended Copyright © 2025 by M.  A.  Farrell.  All rights reserved.   No part of this article  may  be  used  or  reproduced  in  any  manner  whatsoever  without author’s written  permission  except  in  the  case  of  brief  quotations  embodied  in  critical  articles, media reference or  reviews; all properly cited.  For information and permissions, contact: maf@evstarpub.com