A significant number of Russian and Chinese warships decided to conduct naval exercises off the coast of Alaska. They wandered, purposefully perhaps, quite close to American waters.

A combined Russian and Chinese naval force patrolled near the coast of Alaska earlier this week in what U.S. experts said appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach American shores.

Eleven Russian and Chinese ships steamed close to the Aleutian Islands, according to U.S. officials. The ships, which never entered U.S. territorial waters and have since left, were shadowed by four U.S. destroyers and P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

“It is a historical first,” said Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a retired Navy captain. “Given the context of the war in Ukraine and tensions around Taiwan, this move is highly provocative.”

A historical first. Now WHY in the wide world of foreign policy would this be a first? Perhaps because we have a pudding head for President? Perhaps because we have jackasses in our Department of Defense and State Department who are much more concerned with progressive woke crap than making sure we are prepared for war at a moment’s notice??!!

This isn’t the first time Russia and China played the ‘I dare you’ game. Nope, they did the same last fall near the same area off the Alaskan coast. Furthermore, Russia and China sent these ships to play around while not long before that, the two countries conducted a major exercise off the coast of Japan. 

China and Russia have been busy little bears given they ALSO conducted naval exercises in the Gulf of Oman earlier this spring. 

This recent news should be raising big red flags all over the place. In all seriousness, we have an Administration in place that has caved time and again to provocation from our adversaries. 

The Chinese balloons debacle is a major case in point. If it weren’t for a reporter in Billings, Montana, we likely would’ve never known about the spy balloons that traversed the country gathering all sorts of intel as they flew by. The Biden Administration’s response to all that was tepid at best. And no, blowing one of the balloons out of the sky shouldn’t be counted as a “win” for the U.S. by any stretch of the imagination. 

That said, these exercises that China and Russia are conducting near Alaska should serve as a wake up call to our military. Are we ready if a fight is necessary? Many good people who deal in reality have been sounding the alarm about our LACK of readiness. 

American intelligence officials have asserted that China is the “most consequential threat to US national security,” and experts told us that a conflict with Beijing would trigger an “onslaught” of military threats for which the US was unprepared. A war would likely devastate the militaries involved and plunge the global economy into peril — a bleak scenario with far-reaching consequences. Any war with China would be fought on multiple fronts — from the air and sea to the web and financial markets. While the US has plenty of advantages, years of underinvestment and complacency have left America lacking in several key areas that it would need to strengthen to successfully counter threats from China. 

~Snip

America’s manufacturing prowess has atrophied in the decades since, especially since the end of the Cold War. Nowadays, it might take years to build a US Navy ship. The reasons for this are complex — shifted priorities, increased technology on board, overseas labor costs — but the effect is clear: In a high-intensity conflict, the US would face challenges in not only producing vessels but also repairing any ships damaged in battle.

US defense production has a tendency to be over budget and behind schedule, Dan Blumenthal, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the US Department of Defense, told us. If the US wants to get to a place where it’s prepared for a full-scale conflict, he said, it will need to reverse some of these trends.

Case in point regarding our lack of readiness and inability to ramp up production at a high rate of speed… 

The PRC has a modern cruiser in serial production

The USN does not.

Now the South Koreans have a cruiser design ready for building – no, scratch that – they have TWO CG designs ready for their shipyards to get to work.

The USN does not.

Tell me again why we don’t need change. https://t.co/sIpWRhhUVx

— cdrsalamander (@cdrsalamander) August 5, 2023

And don’t get me started on the inability to build planes in a timely manner, nor the fact that every single branch of service won’t be able to meet recruitment numbers…

– Only the Air Force’s UH-1N helicopter produced in the 1970s, was deemed mission capable throughout the 11-year period studied.

– Navy’s EP-3E anti-submarine reconnaissance turboprop was second best, meeting the annual mission capability goals for 7 of 11 years.

— Venkatesh Ragupathi (@venkatesh_Ragu) November 13, 2022

If we have to go against Russia and China, with a side of Iran, we will have to go with what we’ve got. And what we have has been negatively impacted by the progressive woke policies and inability to build/manufacture the weapons we need. Sending all our surplus arms and weaponry to the Ukraine hasn’t helped matters either. 

China claims they were just wandering around Alaska with no ill intent. This even as China claimed that they too claim ownership of the region in question. 

Russia and China, even as Russia looks like it might be failing on the Ukraine front, are playing the “I dare you” game with the U.S. and our allies. How far will they push things? What happens when they finally cross the line? What will Joe and his handlers do if that happens?

Feature Photo Credit: Russia China U.S.  chess board via iStock, cropped and modified