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From https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5292882-pentagon-china-risks-global-instability/

In late March, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued the Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance to the Pentagon. According to the guidance, as quoted by The Washington Post, “China is the Department’s sole pacing threat, and denial of a Chinese fait accompli seizure of Taiwan — while simultaneously defending the U.S. homeland is the Department’s sole pacing scenario.” The Pentagon is instructed, per the report, to plan only for contingencies with China.

Given the trends in the new administration, none of this is surprising, but it is shocking.

The document is a blueprint for geopolitical malpractice. The guidance’s identification of China as a major security threat, and thus a priority, is appropriate. But the prescribed downgrading of American commitments in Europe and the Middle East is a recipe for global instability, including in Asia. Violent conflagrations will follow.

The US has already said it will start withdrawing troops from Europe and Hegseth considers China a bigger threat than Russia.

I already said that another option would be for the UN to be obligated to protect Ukraine if Russia attacks again. It would then be unnecessary for Ukraine to be in any alliance.

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Had not the powerful US entered World War II, Russia would have been conquered by Germany. Russia had a much greater population than Germany, but its troops weren’t as well trained and in the beginning of the war its equipment weren’t as good.

No. Russia regained some land but, in the summer of 1942, Germany went on the offensive.

The US would withdrawal fully if it meant the end of the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has to be assured that it would be protected if Russia attacks again. Another option would be for the UN to be obligated to protect Ukraine if Russia attacks again.

The difference is that Trump doesn’t seem interested defending Europe. The EU should use this to bargain with Putin regarding Ukraine.

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I know that but the Western allies kept Hitler from concentrating his forces against Russia. Also, the West through Arctic convoys gave Russia supplies. Finally, it was the West which bombed Germany not Russia.

Russia would gain Crimea, the US military would no longer be in Europe, sanctions against Russia would be lifted, and with UK and French troops in Ukraine, Russia would not be able to conquer Ukraine.

No. In December 1941 when the US entered the war after Hitler foolishly declared war on the US, Russia had simply stopped Germany outside of Moscow.

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By 1944, Russia had fully recovered from the German invasion and was a powerful military. That was not the case in 1942. When Hitler launched his 1942 summer offensive, he had to keep units in the west to repel any invasion of France by the Western allies.

Numbers alone don’t count. During World War II, Germany could have conquered Russia if it didn’t have to fight the powerful US in the west. That’s the reason Putin might accept the plan. Without the US in Europe, Putin might think he can conquer Europe.

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