Category: Thinking About China

Iran: Death Before Disorder 

Commentary Iran’s clerics had learned by late November that they could—absent any international scrutiny—suppress opposition protests comprehensively, harshly, and without repercussions. But is it a long-term solution for the Islamic Republic? The most comprehensive national protests since 2019-20’s—when there were more than 1,500 known civilian deaths—were becoming weaker by late November, but only because the…


US Educational Institutions Surrender to the LGBTQI and CRT Invasion

Commentary U.S. educational institutions are being hollowed out by their adoption of cultural Marxist ideologies that are alien to traditional American culture. And the communist Chinese couldn’t be happier. After all, destroying the institutions of the United States from within is an easier task for the communists than kinetic war, whose outcome is problematic in…


Iran’s Threat to US National Security

Commentary While Russia is dominating headlines with the Ukraine invasion and China’s economic, political, and military expansion is being monitored closely, Iran-sponsored terrorism remains the third largest challenge, according to the U.S. intelligence community. ‘”ISIS, al-Qa‘ida, and Iran and its militant allies will take advantage of weak governance to continue to plot terrorist attacks against…


Seabed Mining Will Help Break China’s Grip on Critical Minerals

Commentary China dominates global supply chains for nearly all critical mineral resources. Especially important are elements such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper, and the rare earths that power decarbonization technologies such as batteries, electric motors, and turbines. The rapidly increasing demand for these minerals has rekindled interest in extracting polymetallic nodules from the deep seabed….


Dire Straits–How a China Taiwan Takeover Could Look Like the Cuban Missile Crisis

Commentary It’s been said that not only does history repeat itself, but it also rhymes. That may be mixing adages, but regarding the United States, China, and Taiwan, both may apply. Similar Geopolitical Factors Let’s consider the geographic similarities between Cuba and Taiwan. Cuba sits 90 miles offshore from the United States, a global superpower….


The War Is Over; Long Live the War?

Commentary Ethiopia’s civil war—by far the worst conflict in terms of casualties and refugees in the world at present—is far from over, despite a peace accord between two of the combatant powers. The Tigray Popular Liberation Front (TPLF) has almost certainly secreted large quantities of weapons in caches around the Tigray region, as it has…


Welcome to NATO, Finland and Sweden

Commentary There is a phenomenon in social sciences called the “law of unintended consequences.” Basically, this is when the outcome of a purposeful action is unexpected or unforeseen. In other words, someone does A expecting B, but instead gets C. Unintended consequences can be positive—such as when the IRS sends you a tax refund that…


The Most Addictive Drug in America

Commentary The United States has a serious drug problem. Of all the drugs plaguing the country, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 100 times stronger than morphine, is perhaps the most dangerous. However, it’s not the only drug ruining the lives of Americans, especially younger Americans. Sadly, the country’s fentanyl crisis is getting…


Russia’s Arctic Threat to US National Security

Commentary The world is allowing itself to be distracted by Ukraine, which is just a small part of Russia’s overall political and military strategy. Roughly 25 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian goal has been to eliminate democratic Western influences across a number of dimensions, including global security, the rule of…


The Clouds of War

Commentary Democracy and freedom are under threat. They always are in times of war. Today, the war is hot in Ukraine, but there are others brewing. In Taiwan. On the Korean peninsula. Between Israel and Iran. Potentially between NATO and Russia, or the United States and China. Possibly, disastrously, between all at once. Wars tend…