We offer you this.
And a year or so ago the same was happening in Ukraine.
The Second Amendment is there in part because the Founders knew this sort of thing could
happen…anywhere.
We offer you this.
And a year or so ago the same was happening in Ukraine.
The Second Amendment is there in part because the Founders knew this sort of thing could
happen…anywhere.
Very good points raised about crime rate in a population that’s largely the same and has decades, if not centuries, of cultural behavior indoctrination. Obviously, we could use some of that parental (and institutional) behavioral modification over here.
Moving on, learning how to shoot isn’t the same as learning how to fight with a gun. OK, it’s a decent foundation that’s proven itself over time, but the learning curve on the second part can be really steep and failure isn’t just a bad grade.
Civilian familiarity with arms is a start but only a start. Washington though the militia was useless. The NRA was founded by a group of former Union generals, including Grant, appalled by the lack of skills exhibited by soldiers. What we need is subsidized training. I don’t really trust the government to do the training without indoctrination but a subsidy to private training organizations or those wishing training (vouchers) could be a winner. The government could also release the billions of rounds of ammo they have stockpiled for the likes of the IRS, EPA, and Education Department. Subsidy of ranges would be a big plus too. Some of that goes on now but more is needed.
I expect that, sooner or later, the Chinese military will overrun Taiwan for the following reasons:
1) The Chinese have always maintained that Taiwan is a “renegade province” of China. They have long-standing claims to Taiwan that they have never renounced. Therefore, their “justification” for invading Taiwan is already set.
2) The Taiwan military is too small to effective oppose a Chinese invasion. China, if it wished, could land enough troops to overrun the island in a matter of weeks.
3) As this article notes, the Taiwan population is disarmed. Therefore,the population will be easy to enslave. They won’t have enough weapons to employ asymmetrical warfare tactics against the Chinese invaders. Unlike America, in World War II (or even today), there won’t be “a rifle behind every blade of grass” on Taiwan.
4) Under left-wing Democrat leadership, America is a declining power in the World. Taiwan can’t rely on America, especially under the Biden Regime, to play “White Knight” and ride to their rescue. That is another link to Ukraine. Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons because of assurances from the Obama Regime that America would protect their borders. You see what that promise was worth! America, in her declining condition, is “too weak of a reed” for any other nation to rely upon. Taiwan would be foolish to do so.
My recommendation to Taiwan would be to immediately (if they have not already done so) start a crash “Manhattan Project” to develop nuclear weapons (International Treaties be damned!). They might study the options of Chemical or Biological Warfare too. The threat of NBC retaliation would be the only possible option to hold the Chinese at bay.
However, this approach has its own dangers. It would have to be done with absolute secrecy until it was successful. Otherwise, if China found out about it, they might well launch a preemptive invasion to “nip it in the bud”.
The odds are that China will overrun Taiwan with the next 20 years. Probably, within the next 10 years. The clock is already counting down on Taiwan, IMHO. Democrat leadership (Oxymoron! 🙂 ), here in America, is too weak to stop it.
I concur.
One can only pray that the American people wake up and soon. I don’t think they will though.
I think your 10 to 20 year estimate is optimistic. Very optimistic.
If it looks like either Trump or DeSantis will be elected in 2024, China would be foolish not to take Taiwan before the inauguration.
5: Taiwan manufactures more than half of the world’s computer chips, followed by South Korea, Japan, the U.S., and China.
Never say never.
Great article. Thanks for sharing.
I’m sure we will be pulled into this conflict, but Codrea’s “question of why the U.S. should help people who won’t help themselves” is a good one.
History has countless examples of citizens needing arms for defense from many threats: a few include Ukraine, the Allied nations of WW2, Okinawa from Japan, Eurasia from Khan, etc….
There may be reasons so many people have fled other countries, risking life & limb, to come here to the USA for so many generations.
There may be reasons our Founding Fathers made our government so different than anyplace else.
In 1940 Britain found itself facing Hitler across the Channel. The civilian “home guards” were preparing to defend the beaches with brooms and rakes, and many of the Army’s weapons were left in the sand at Dunkirk. So the NRA put out a call, and U.S. civilians donated shiploads of firearms to arm the Brits.
Not long after Victory in Europe Day the British Government ignored the lessons of five years of World War II, and re-instituted gun control.
I like to ask anti-gun people ‘in 1910 how many sane Germans beleived that in the remaining lifetime of an already middle aged person that the government of one of the most scientifically, industrially, economically, artistically, philosophically advanced countries the world had ever seen would build extermination factories and run over six million innocent civilians through them? Yet thirty five years later the Holocaust was already over.’
Responses range widely, but nearly always boil down to ‘well, that can’t happen HERE!’ They never come up for a reason why, tho, beyond the magic incantation ‘because this is America!’ Even gays, blacks, and Jews come up with that response.
We cannot know what our government will be like even thirty years out. All we can know is that there are always going to be at least a few people who would emulate the worst Germans of the 1930s ‘for simple social justice’, and that more would vote for them.
The Nazis didn’t register guns. The previous administration did, for the asserted -and probably honest- purpose of crime reduction. Those registries still existed when the new administration took power, though: they inherited the lists.
We needn’t accuse pro-registration people of seeking an American holocaust, because they almost certainly don’t. Not a real one like Germany imposed on Europe. Those registries will still exist in future decades, though, and we cannot control who inherits them.
The same with gun prohibitions. When we allow guns to be prohibited, we don’t prohibit them only to each other. We prohibit them to future generations as well.
Thirty five years out…
This is an important point that many people miss.
So long as criminals hold powers of authority here or abroad through elections or other means, the need for
armed and disciplined citizens will exist.
Not only could it happen, it always happens. All dictatorial regimes follow the same path: control the press, imprison political opponents, re-educate the children, suppress religion, turn groups of citizens against each other, create a secret police, confiscate civilian firearms. All these things are ongoing in this country in real time. The extremely low rate of compliance with the illegal ATF brace rule gives some hope that Americans will not surrender their arms like Great Britain, Australia, Canada, etc… As Nancy Reagan said “Just say NO!”
That article was expertly written. It makes so much sense, no Communist (also known as a Democrat in the USA) could ever believe it.
I thought the Taiwanese were smarter than that. People can be good at making money, but that doesn’t mean they have any brains when it comes to politics and warfare.
Remember, Ukraine used to have nuclear weapons. America told them to give them up, and we would protect them. If Ukraine had kept its nuclear weapons, there is a mighty good chance this war would have never happened. That means every Ukrainian who died in this war would still be alive AND it also means every Russian who died in this war would still be alive. Nuclear weapons would have saved thousands of lives ON BOTH SIDES!
If I was President, I would love to tell Americans I want machine guns to be bought and sold just like semi-automatic self-loaders. I would do that just to spite the Communists, and watch them squirm. I want to offend them.
I have admired the Orient. Great food, great people, nice and obedient, very smart, almost as inventive as Mighty Whitey (gunpowder, paper, kites, “The Art of War,” printing). I consider the Japanese to be the British of the East, because they are an island nation which did a lot of conquering, just like the Brits.
I feel sad for the Taiwanese, and everyone who lives under one of the oppressive governments of the East. I just finished reading two books by Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector. WOW!! The only people born in the USA who have suffered as much as she has would be those who were POWs for four or more years. Horrible, but fascinating reading. She fled North Korea simply because she wanted to eat something, anything. She ate bugs.
It’s a fact. It’s undeniable. Squirm you Commies, squirm. THE WEST IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!
America. Love it or leave it.
the Second Amendment exists for precisely these kind of times when “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”…… but I suspect that part of the CCP/Democrat Party’s strategy is to throw the US into a civil war ……a great way to destroy America !!!
South Korea is another country sharing a border with a vicious and hostile neighbor, which exhibit almost no backbone, desire or resolve to defend itself. Gun ownership in South Korea is almost as pathetic as Taiwan at around two guns per thousand people. Realistically, they have no reason to build a comprehensive defense force when good old Uncle Sugar and the US taxpayers will do it for them, while they party into the night and enjoy all the fruits of free enterprise with little or no cost.
April 19, 1775
TN_MAN wrote:
‘Taiwan can’t rely on America, especially under the Biden Regime.’
That would be the Biden who is arming and financing Ukraine, as opposed to the Trump who won’t say he’d support them?
@ Nicholas Kane,
I stand by my views. It serves the purposes of the American and Global Left to support Ukraine at this time.
The American/Global Left has an interest in perpetual warfare. Note that this is another idea from Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ that the Left has adopted.
It serves the following purposes:
1) It serves as a distraction for propaganda purposes.
2) It enriches the Leftist leadership with graft and kickbacks from the Military/Industrial Complex. It serves as a method to funnel taxpayer money into the pockets of the Leftist leadership.
3) It functions as a way to bleed America. To weaken America, long-term.
Obama promised help to Ukraine and then let them down. With the wars in the Middle-East, the Left did not need another front in Ukraine at that time. So, Obama only offered verbal support/non-military support.
President Trump knows the “War Games” being played by the American/Global Left. Part of MAGA is to stop this bleeding of America. So, yes, he did not jump into Ukraine either. He was too busy trying to stabilize the mess made by Obama in the Middle-East.
However, by the time of the Biden Regime, the wars in the Middle-East were winding down. Biden was kicked out of Afghanistan with his tail between his legs.
With the wars in the Middle-East gone, the American/Global Left needed a new war to continue to reap taxpayer money and to continue to bleed America dry. Ukraine is just the kind of golden opportunity for the left’s brand of “Perpetual War and Money-Making”. Thus, the sudden great desire of the Biden Administration, and the Uni-Party, to support Ukraine after getting kicked out of Afghanistan.
Please don’t try to sell me on the idea that this is some “Noble Act” of the Biden Administration. I won’t buy that piece of Media Propaganda although many, like yourself, seem to have believed that narrative.
Excellent analysis TN_MAN! Answers a lot of questions that have been rambling around in the back of my mind, especially about Biden’s duck and run from Afghanistan to Ukraine.
Thanks!
“President Trump … did not jump into Ukraine either.”
What he did do, though, is block completion of the Nord Stream II pipeline, which bypassed Ukraine and meant if Russia invaded Ukraine, they would be cut off from selling oil.
As soon as President Biden cancelled those sanctions, Russia mobilized and invaded.
The Really Stupid Point is that throughout the Trump Administration so many people thought Putin feared Clinton and Biden more than Trump, and helped Trump get elected.
@ Winters – Thank you for your comment.
I’ll add a little more background. The final withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan occurred on 30August2021. The Russian Invasion kicking off the current war in Ukraine started on 24February2022. So, the Global/American Left went without their military/taxpayer kickbacks for only about 6 months!
I do hope that was not too much of a hardship for them! 🙂 (snark)
Wikipedia notes the following:
“On 28 April 2022, US President Joe Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion to assist Ukraine, including $20 billion to provide weapons to Ukraine. On 5 May, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that Ukraine had received more than $12 billion worth of weapons and financial aid from Western countries since the start of Russia’s invasion on 24 February. On 21 May 2022, the United States passed legislation providing $40 billion in new military and humanitarian foreign aid to Ukraine, marking a historically large commitment of funds. In August 2022, U.S. defense spending to counter the Russian war effort exceeded the first 5 years of war costs in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported that new U.S. weapons delivered to the Ukrainian war front suggest a closer combat scenario with more casualties. The United States looks to build ‘enduring strength in Ukraine’ with increased arms shipments and a record-breaking $3 billion military aid package.”
As this article notes, the financial shortfall for the Military/Industrial Complex, from the end of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan was soon “Set Right”.
Note, $40 billion in military aid from the U.S. alone. Billions more from other countries. Wonder what the “slice” of this money was for the Global/American Left. Was it “10% for the Big Guy” all over again? 🙂
Is it any wonder that the World seems set in a state of perpetual warfare with this kind of taxpayer money at stake?
Thus, the adoption of Orwell’s idea of “Perpetual Warfare”. See this link:
https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/119150/17-42-spring-2009/contents/assignments/MIT17_42S09_student6assn2.pdf
While the above paper is accurate, the author did not consider the financial incentives (at play for the Left) to stoke “Perpetual War” in Today’s World.
Quote of the Day:
“War is Peace” – George Orwell from his Novel ‘1984’
TN_MAN & Everyone,
If the Russians fight like we Americans, all it will take to defeat them is Korans and Kalashnikovs, plus, a willingness on the part of the Ukrainians, to die defending their country. To their credit, the Ukrainians have shown themselves to be honorable people, willing to fight and die for their homeland.
The reason we Americans lose wars is because once the enemy hides among the non-combatant population, we refuse to kill him there, for fear of killing non-combatants. If the Russians are not afraid to kill non-combatants, then it may take more than Korans and Kalashnikovs to defend Ukraine.
I don’t know what to do about the war in Ukraine. I want the Ukrainians to win, but since America has been broke for a long time, I don’t want us to pay for anything. At least our fighting men have not been sent to die for another country, like they did in all the twentieth century wars, plus Iraq and Afghanistan. Like General Smedley Butler taught, we should only fight for defense of the homeland, and the Bill of Rights. War is a racket.
Speaking of defending the homeland, notice how we are being invaded by non-combatants on our southern border. But, instead of fighting to keep them out, our Border Patrol babysits the invaders and changes their diapers, AND WE PAY FOR IT!
The Minute Men were hard men, armed to the teeth by the standards of the day and wouldn’t back down from a fight with the greatest power the world had ever known. By contrast, Taiwan and South Korea are wimps, blissfully unaware of how naked they are, scared to death of their own shadow with NO desire to fend for themselves! Why should they when they can always depend on the best of American youth to stand and die for them while they party into the night?
I’m no friend of Ukraine, but at least the people there are willing to take the weapons we’ve provided and visit hell on their aggressors! Would the Taiwanese or Koreans do the same? I think not.
Let’s take care of ourselves first!
If I had more money, I would rent a billboard. The billboard would feature no text, just two photographs side by side. On the left, either a black & white photo from a WWII concentration camp, shabbily-dressed prisoners behind barbed wire. Or, a more recent color photo of a jihadist on a beach, holding a knife, while orange-suited prisoners kneel before him with their hands tied behind their backs. On the right, there would be a photo of an America family, well-dressed, posing on their front porch with their guns, and big smiles on their faces.
I suppose I could fit those two photos on a custom-made T-shirt, one above the other.
I’d choose the b&w concentration camp, & maybe add a caption: Did you know the Nazis inherited the nation’s gun registry lists?
I know that I’m supposed to dig up links to photos for the ideas I present, so here they are. COMPUTERS ARE FOR NERDS! HA! HA!
Photo of Nazi concentration camp
https://www.alamy.com/a-picture-of-inmates-behind-barbed-wire-taken-in-1945-when-the-concentration-camp-of-auschwitz-was-liberated-in-poland-where-millions-of-jewish-deportees-were-exterminated-by-nazis-during-world-war-ii-this-photo-is-an-excerpt-from-the-soviet-film-auschwitz-by-soviet-film-director-elizaveta-svilova-1945-image399152996.html
2015, ISIS beheads Coptic Christians in Orange jumpsuits on a beach in Libya. Scroll down a bit for the best photo.
https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/02/16/february-15-2015-21-coptic-libya/
American Family posing with guns.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-congressman-posts-family-christmas-picture-with-guns-days-after-school-2021-12-05/
TN_MAN wrote:
‘the mess made by Obama in the Middle-East.’
And there was me thining it was Duby who invaded Afghanistan and Iraq! 🙂
‘The American/Global Left has an interest in perpetual warfare.’
Biden pulling out of war in Afghanistan is proof the Dems want to be at war.
Not supporting war in Ukraine is proof the Dems want war.
Supporting war in Ukraine is also also proof the dems want war.
A thesis that is supported by whatever happens is worthless.
And as always; for all this, you can produce absolutely NO evidence.
@ nicholas Kane – Your method of argument is to duck the points under discussion while raising side issues that (you think) support your left-wing view-point.
For example, I mentioned (in passing) that Obama left the Middle-East in a mess. Given, (a) the disaster of the ‘Arab Spring’, which the Obama Regime encouraged, (b) the rise of ISIS on his watch, (c) the Syrian Civil War (also on his watch), (d) his terrible “Iranian Deal’, plus his (e) so-called “Line in the Sand” which he did not enforce to America’s humiliation, I would say that there are plenty of grounds to support the idea that Obama left the Middle-East in a mess.
Your response? Ignore all that and try to pass the buck to Bush II for the Iran/Afghanistan Wars (side issue!).
However, since you bring it up, I will address it too. Bush II did (indeed) get us into the Iran and Afghanistan Wars. Afghanistan was a result of 9-11 and Iran as a result of the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD’s). However, both wars were the results of Intelligence Failures. The CIA (seemingly) missed the 9-11 planning and attack. They also were wrong on the WMD issue. They provided information to the Bush II Administration (on WMD’s) that turned out to be dead wrong.
I wonder if, even back then, the CIA was playing on the team of the Global Left. Consider the results:
1) Two new Middle-East Wars that boosted sales for the Military/Industrial Complex and fresh kick-backs for the Washington Elites.
2) Increased Justification and Expansion of the Intelligence Services. Some are now calling them the “Fourth Branch” of the U.S. Government.
3) The passage of the “Patriot Act” which is now being used to spy on Americans. Specifically, to spy on political enemies of the American Left.
4) And a Republican President, Bush II, to take all the blame when no WMD’s were found and the wars dragged on for years and consumed billions of dollars (all provided by the American Taxpayer).
Ah, don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? Watch all that “Synergy” at work!
Correction – I (mistakenly) referred to the War in Iraq as the War in Iran in my above comment. I suppose that the similar names combined with my previous reference to the “terrible Iranian Deal” led to me having a “Senior Moment”.
I, clearly, meant to refer to the Iraq War, kicked off by the search for WMD’s, in my comments above. Please substitute Iraq for Iran, as appropriate, when reading this comment.
Sorry for my mistake. Sometimes, when writing a comment, my fingers get ahead of my mind! 🙂
You’re preaching to the choir Reverend.
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