I share your sentiments @patriamreminisci, it is disgusting to stand by and watch an authoritarian behemoth absorb a thriving democracy. But in this new Cold War, unfortunately we have to choose our battles. We have to choose which democracies to defend.

Like I said in the post, the ground is shifting below our feet, and increasingly the free world is in a fight for their lives. Our resources are limited, like in all competitions, and we have to allocate for maximum effectiveness, or we will lose it all.

Even if the US and allies “win” a Taiwan campaign now…which is highly uncertain…it will not be sustainable over the long term as China grows twice to three times the size of those economies over the next 30 years. And this is even to say whether China attacks at all. They may economically and eventually politically absorb the Taiwanese economy and sovereignty over that time, making war obsolete, for Taiwan anyway.

What concerns me is that the US and allies lose a third of military assets they commit to theater…degrading the US's ability to hold territories beyond the 2nd island chain. Preventing any US responses to Chinese incursions into the southern Japanese archipelago or the Philippines…and that is if the war is localized to the East and South China Sea…and doesn't spill over to Guam, Hawaii or the US West Coast.

This says nothing about if the Russians take advantage of the situation…and push NATO forces out of Ukraine…and secure a more robust Eastern European buffer…because the Americans are preoccupied in China's periphery.

I get what you're saying, I really do. But the US’s and allies' ability to shape the democratic global order is waning…and we all have to tread carefully to manage it the best we can.