With raging wars and an addled president, it’s a perilous moment
By
Byron York
November 21, 2024 4:55 pm
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WITH RAGING WARS AND AN ADDLED PRESIDENT, IT’S A PERILOUS MOMENT. Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo is head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. In Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, he took part in a discussion at the liberal Brookings Institution. Paparo discussed at length the military strength of China — he called it “the most capable potential adversary in the world” — and the challenges facing the United States in countering China’s power in the region.
Paparo also addressed the growing costs of U.S. support of Ukraine, in its war with Russia, and Israel, in its war with Hamas and related organizations. This is from a report in the Defense Department publication defense.gov:
The United States has worldwide commitments and there are competing requirements for resources and systems. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas attack on Israel are depleting stocks the Indo-Pacific might need, Paparo said. He said that until this year the effect on his command by the delivery of systems to Ukraine and Israel was negligible. “But now, with some of the Patriots that have been employed, some of the air-to-air missiles that have been employed, it is eating into the stocks…and to say otherwise would be dishonest,” he said. These high-end stocks are crucial in the Indo-Pacific, he said. “It imposes costs on the readiness of America to respond in the Indo-Pacific region, which is the most stressing theater for the quantity and the quality of munitions, because [China] is the most capable potential adversary in the world,” Paparo said.more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/3238296/raging-wars-addled-president-perilous-moment/
