This has been a dangerous time in foreign affairs that has the United States anxiously watching the ongoing fighting in the Ukraine, in the Middle East, and the Chinese against Taiwan. Within the news, Ukraine has penetrated into Russian territory and has taken one hundred soldiers’ prisoner. For two years, President Vladimir Putin has unleashed a war that has destroyed parts of the Ukraine, seen their nuclear energy plants targeted by the Russian military, attacked civilian populations, and the United States provide billions of dollars of aid to this nation. For the first time since the German “Operation Barbarossa” invasion in 1941, the Russians are unable to deter this smaller army that has confused and embarrassed Putin. Ukrainian soldiers have pushed into the Kursk region, and they are threatening valuable gas pipelines that sell oil to the Europeans and railroad lines that are bringing materials to Russian soldiers fighting on the front lines. And they are operating in the open against the nuisance of enemy drones, as Ukrainian soldiers over the last ten days are changing the face of this war and stretching out a tired enemy force.
This assault began on August 6th by 10,000 hardened Ukrainian soldiers that were eager to bring the war to the Russian people and make them feel the sting of fighting. President Volodymyr Zelensky had to endure the in-fighting between the Republicans and Democrats over the most recent financial and military aid congressional bill. The Ukrainians are reveling in this reversal of fortune against Putin who has ordered reserves from battlefield areas and redeployed them back toward their own territory and must oppose the onslaught of drones that has attacked Russian airfields. Zelensky is determined to regain his territory and not to make peace with Russia until all these lands are liberated. Putin has more equipped forces, but he is shocked over his country’s weakness to halt this enemy's weeklong enemy incursion. Outside of establishing a commission to address this incursion, the Russian government is dumbfounded in how to handle this movement that has not yet been pushed back.
The Ukrainian government claims to have taken seventy-four towns and four hundred square miles of Russian territory. This was a top secret incursion that has caught the world off guard
and is rooting for the Ukrainians to keep bringing this war to the interior of Putin’s Russia. The United States has given weaponry but previously stated that its military equipment was not to be used inside of Russian territory. There’s the fear that Putin would escalate the war, but at this juncture, he looks vulnerable in front of his own people that already lost over 60,000 dead to this war with some 230,000 casualties. Zelensky proved to the western nations that have complained over the financial and military support that his country can successfully hit the Russian homeland. He has also presented to the Russian citizens that territory that is near the Ukraine is not safe and that his military will take risks to hurt Putin’s regime.
In the Middle East, Israel and Iran have reached a boiling point that has been simmering over the last several decades. These two military powers constantly
oppose each other for prominence in this region, as Israel is a nuclear power that is not willing to allow the Iranians to gain this powerful weapon. Whereas Israel has defeated its neighbors since its statehood in 1948, Iran has established “proxies” in this area that has supported aggressor forces in Iraq, Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen. The fighting in Gaza since the Palestinian attack into Israel on October 7th has produced terrible losses between both sides of soldiers and civilians. These two countries previously utilized covert operations against each other, but now they have resorted to direct assaults. As they have not been powerful, they are dangerous through the ability of escalation to create more instability in this volatile region and possible warfare. For the last several years, Iran has maneuvered to present themselves as the main military power in this region, but like the Russians, they could show their own military ineptness
against the well-trained military and secret services of Israel.
On July 31st, the Israeli Mossad showed Iran their ability to strike against adversaries who are strongly guarded by its security. This operation saw a bomb planted two months before it was detonated against Ismail Haniyeh, a key leader of Hamas that was assassinated in Tehran. The Iranians are startled over this operation, as this figure was protected by the powerful Revolutionary Guard. Using their capable intelligence service, the Israelis had the ability to plant this device in a compound that was supposed to be constantly protected. Haniyeh was expected to see a presidential inauguration that also killed bodyguards. While American and Western European officials were briefed, this was a secret operation that has now gained open threats of retaliation by Hamas and Iran. Right now, the United States has moved additional naval and air
presence to support Israel and to deter possible Iranian aggression. Across Asia there are the present threats of the Chinese to militarily overrun this free nation and annex Taiwan by the Communists on the mainland. The Chinese continually make their presence felt, as they fly into Taiwanese air space and display naval strength around this island. Asian and Pacific countries are alarmed by the aggressiveness
of China, as the Philippines regularly contest their island and sea claims of authority. Australia has signed an important nuclear submarine deal between the United States and England and attempts are made to strengthen the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). The South Koreans do not support the Chinese willingness to aid the North Koreans and the Japanese fear of Chinese economic and military dominance in this region.
The Chinese government has stated that Taiwan will be attacked and occupied by their forces. Although China has emerged as a superpower, they do not hold the same military experience as the United States faced during the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. Chinese power must be respected with an armed forces of two million members, but they fought the Korean War some seventy years ago and engaged in a brief border war against Vietnam in 1979. There are some sparks of fighting between the Chinese and Indians over the Himalayan Mountain 2,100 mile border dispute.
China would have to engage a motivated military force within a mountainous terrain that will slow down advances and make them costly. Like the Russian armed forces, there are no certainties of total victory, especially when the Chinese have not conducted any major
military operations. Taiwan is the twenty-fourth largest military in the world with about 1.6 million members of its armed forces that are mostly reservists. But they have pledged to defend against any invasion, and last January, the Taiwanese government initiated one year of military conscription to protect this country. The Chinese must handle the American naval presence, military advisors training the Taiwanese, financial aid, and observe the immense trade between both nations. To demonstrate American resolve, our navy has ordered its warships through the “International Waters” of the Taiwanese Strait that rests between these two nations that angered the Chinese. While the Chinese closely monitor Taiwanese shipping and will likely blockade this island during a war, there is an American naval presence that will not leave these waters. America recognizes the “One China” policy that was established under President Richard Nixon, but it would be disastrous to American foreign policy commitments to openly allow the Communists to conquer this nation.
As the fighting in the Ukraine is vastly different from the expected assault on the Taiwanese island, China certainly realizes that if they try to take a free nation, that like in Russia, powerful western countries and its corporations will quickly pull its businesses out of this Communist nation. China is economically motivated to surpass the United States, but a major assault on Taiwan will have an adverse economic impact on their nation. It will perhaps force nations to produce their own goods and the Chinese do not have the experience to sustain losses, fight a long war, and to handle military surprises. They should look at the Ukrainian resistance from the last two years and the daring leadership of Zelensky to order his own forces to disrupt, scare, and bring the war to the Russian people.