VICTOR DAVIS HANSON (reviewjournal.com)
"But the examples explain well enough why our emboldened enemies do not fear us, our triangulating allies judge us unreliable and calculating neutrals assume America is in descent and too dangerous to join."
"Why is French President Emmanuel Macron cozying up to China while trashing his oldest ally, the United States?
"Why is there suddenly talk of discarding the dollar as the global currency?
"Why are Japan and India shrugging that they cannot follow the U.S. lead in boycotting Russian oil?
"Why is the president of Brazil traveling to China to pursue what he calls a “beautiful relationship”?
"Why is Israel suddenly facing attacks from its enemies in all directions?
"What happened to Turkey? Why is it threatening fellow NATO member Greece? Is it still a NATO ally, a mere neutral or a de facto enemy?
"Why are there suddenly nonstop Chinese threats toward Taiwan?
"Why did Saudi Arabia conclude a new pact with Iran, its former archenemy?
"Why was Egypt secretly planning to send rockets to Russia to be used in Ukraine, according to leaked Pentagon papers?
"Since when did the Russians talk nonstop about the potential use of a tactical nuclear weapon?
"Why is Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador bragging that millions of Mexicans have entered the United States, most of them illegally? And why is he interfering in U.S. elections by urging his expatriates to vote for Democrats?
"Why and how, in just two years, have confused and often incoherent President Joe Biden and his team created such global chaos?
"Let us answer by listing 10 ways by which America lost all deterrence:
1) Biden abruptly pulled all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. He left behind to the Taliban hundreds of Americans and thousands of pro-American Afghans. Biden abandoned billions of dollars in U.S. equipment, the largest air base in central Asia — recently retrofitted at a cost of $300 million — and a $1 billion embassy. Our government called such a debacle a success. The world disagreed and saw only humiliation.
2) The Biden administration allowed a Chinese high-altitude spy balloon to traverse the continental United States, spying on key American military installations. The Chinese were defiant when caught and offered no apologies. In response, the Pentagon and the administration simply lied about the extent that China had surveilled top secret sites.
A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Norbert Rottgen, said, “This night will not be forgotten. The Democrats must now change course. And Germany must prepare itself as quickly as possible for a future that is uncertain in terms of security policy. If we do not take responsibility for Europe now, no one will.”