The recently unveiled U.S. National Security Strategy has ruffled liberal and even some conservative feathers both here and abroad, for two reasons: No. 1, the Trump administration told Europe an inconvenient truth: The birthplace of Western civilization is facing “civilization erasure.” And No. 2, critics feel that the strategy is not critical enough of Russia and China.They’re wrong.An entire section, “Economic Security,” is a not-so-subtle nod to America’s ongoing, great power competition with China, evident in these carefully selected priorities: “balanced trade,” ”securing access to critical supply chains and materials,” “reindustrialization,” “reviving our defense industrial base,” etc.The other controversy is: Why does the strategy call for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and not just openly condemn Vladimir Putin instead? Because the assessment is grounded in reality. Unless the Europeans want to spend more than the already mandated 5% of GDP on defense budgets and pour more sophisticated weapons systems into Ukraine, then the conflict has no clear end in sight: “Do you wanna have an ongoing bleeding Stalingrad or Verdun … right on the borders of Europe,” asks Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”
