What If. . .

With all the terrible scenes of suffering coming out of Ukraine, it's hard to imagine that anything good could possibly result from this tragedy. But. . . 

What if naive Europeans, who bought into the idea that sovereignty no longer mattered and that war was a relic of the past, suddenly realize that peace comes through strength and start to provide for their own defense with serious investments, as Trump urged them to do?

What if our youth, the least patriotic generation in history, seeing the patriotism of young Ukrainians come to reject the hate-America left and experience a rebirth of patriotism themselves?

What if many liberals, seeing the courageous Ukrainian people taking up arms to defend their homes against foreign invaders, rethink their anti-Second Amendment views?

What if Americans and Europeans, seeing the resolute faith of the Orthodox Christian Ukrainians, come to realize how important that faith is to the survival of the Western world?

What if the youth of Europe and the United States, many obsessed with TikTok and selfies, see all these images pouring out of Ukraine and start to realize what's really important in life – faith, family and freedom?

Just something to pray about.

Canceling Russia

Cancel Culture has come for Russia. In response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been largely cut off from the global financial system. Russian assets are being seized all over the world. Even Russian vodka is now "verboten." 

I'm not suggesting this isn't justified. But the reason it has been so easy to cancel Russia is because Russia does not have its economic tentacles all over the world.

There are no Russian centers spewing Russian propaganda on our college campuses. Instead, we have Confucius Institutes spewing communist Chinese propaganda on our college campuses.

Our corporate CEOs are not dreaming of wealth made in Moscow. They're dreaming of wealth made in Beijing. 

There are few Russian products, other than oil and vodka, that we depend on. We don't need Russia's oil, and it's easy to cancel vodka. But if the pandemic proved anything, it proved just how dependent we are on communist China for just about everything.

When Americans demanded COVID tests, where did the Biden Administration go to get all those tests? Not to American companies, but to communist Chinese companies. (The irony is breathtaking!)

Our political establishment, the great families of American politics both Democrats and Republicans (and you know who I'm talking about), are complicit in the transfer of massive amounts of American wealth to communist China. They sent our factories and our jobs to communist China in exchange for cheap goods. 

When Donald Trump started to crack down on communist China, there were fears he might deprive American teenagers of TikTok. Oh, the inhumanity! Meanwhile, there's an actual genocide taking place in communist China, but you know, priorities.

Yet even as we see all this, our country is STILL moving toward increasing our dependence on communist China. 

Joe Biden talks a good game about "Buy American."  But he's waging war against the great American energy industry, while he's pushing solar and wind power, which the communist Chinese control. 

I would love to think that when communist China makes the move we all know it will – to seize Taiwan – that we will see the same zealous determination to punish communist China as we have to punish Russia. But I fear we will see the exact opposite. 

Powerful segments of American society won't be beating the drums of war. They will instead be apologizing for communist China, trying to protect their bank accounts. 

Here's the sad fact: Yes, Vladimir Putin is dangerous, but Russia is a declining power. Its economy is one-tenth of ours. Its empire is over. 

Communist China, however, is a rising power. Its economy rivals ours. It is daily engaged in provocative maneuvers to intimidate other nations. Its tentacles are spreading all over the world.

One final irony: We're right to boycott Russian products to isolate the Russian economy in response to Putin's aggression. But make no mistake about it: Communist China will take full advantage of this. They are playing the long game, while we obsess over the latest images on the nightly news. 

We can punish Russia all we want. But at the end of the day, communist China remains our greatest enemy.

Your Thoughts

Earlier this week, we asked for your feedback on the situation in Ukraine, and we got a lot of responses. In fact, they are still coming in! 

While plenty of varying and strong opinions were offered, there was overwhelming consensus (71%) that we should continue to provide weapons and supplies to the Ukrainians, tighten sanctions, including on the Russian energy industry, while avoiding direct military engagement with Russian forces.

Thank you, my friends, for taking the time to share your thoughts with me!

Meanwhile In Vienna. . .

While the eyes of the world are fixated on Ukraine, there's growing concern over another major Biden foreign policy disaster in the making. 

As you know, the Biden/Harris Administration is desperately trying to rejoin the 2015 Obama/Biden nuclear deal with Iran. That deal would lift sanctions on Iran's radical regime in exchange for miniscule restraints on Iran's nuclear weapons program. It was a terrible idea in 2015 and it's a terrible idea now.

But Iran's key ally in the negotiations is . . . Russia. And the nuclear negotiations in Vienna have been scrambled since Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The ayatollah now believes he holds tremendous leverage in the talks.

According to the Washington Post, "Iran's chief negotiator returned to Vienna from a visit to Tehran over the weekend with hardened demands." In addition to massive sanctions relief, the Wall Street Journal reports that Iran is also demanding that a U.N. investigation into illicit nuclear materials discovered in Iran be shutdown.

Predictably, there are additional reports that the Biden Administration is folding like a cheap suit.

While we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, our Israeli allies have learned the hard lessons of history – to trust the threats of your enemies more than promises of your allies. 

Takeaways From Texas

The 2022 campaign season officially kicked off this week with the Texas primaries. Here are some key takeaways from the results.

• Governor Greg Abbott easily survived a primary challenge, taking 66% of the vote against three competitors. He'll face Democrat Beto O'Rouke, who won 91% of the Democrat primary vote, in the November general election.

• Attorney General Ken Paxton was forced into a run-off election against Land Commissioner George P. Bush, the son of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

• In the 3rd Congressional District, GOP Rep. Van Taylor was forced into a run-off with Collin County Judge Keith Self. But Taylor just dropped out of the race after reports of an affair with the wife of an ex-ISIS fighter made headlines.

• In the 28th Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar, whose home was recently raided by the FBI, was forced into a run-off with AOC-endorsed progressive activist Jessica Cisneros. 

• For all the left's talk about turning Texas blue, Tuesday's primary results suggest there is a huge enthusiasm gap working against the left. Republicans comprised nearly two-thirds of all 2022 primary voters. Compared to 2018, Democrat turnout was virtually unchanged, while GOP turnout soared 25%.

Lastly, kudos to the Republican Party of Texas for showing, at least among the GOP ranks, how folks feel about issues central to faith, family and freedom.

The Texas Republican Party put a number of non-binding propositions on the statewide primary ballot to gauge where Republican voters stood.  Here's what they found:

• 96% of Texas Republicans believe the state should verify the citizenship status of all registered voters, and there should be serious penalties for voter fraud.
• 93% of Texas Republicans affirmed the belief that our freedoms come from God, and government should not control the conscience of individuals.
• 93% oppose permanent gender transitioning procedures for children.
• 92% want the state to deploy the National Guard and other necessary law enforcement personnel needed to secure the border.
• 91% believe children should be taught American exceptionalism, and that Marxist critical race theory should be banned from classrooms.
• 89% of Republicans do not believe that Texans should be penalized for refusing to take COVID vaccines.
• 88% support school choice with education funds following the student.
• 83% support a state constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity of life.