Richard Miniter

They are dependent on

Iranian oil and Iranian intelligence.

Let's take that away from them.

Let's take away the markets for Chinese consumer goods in Russia.

Let's not get involved in Ukraine, but let's make sure that China's main ally is

that is Russia, is significantly weakened by letting the war in Ukraine drag on every day, not just causing Russia blood and treasure, but diminishing the fearsome reputation of Vladimir Putin.

And so there is a grand global strategy here that is all directed at China.

There's a reason why remote Pacific Island bases that the US has not used in World War II have been resurfaced and navigation beacons have been reestablished and why training missions are occurring in the second island chain.

There's a reason why US Naval Forces are visiting Saipan and Guam for the first time in decades.

I mean, senior personnel.

There's a reason why training exercises are being planned with the Philippines.

Also, look at the Straits of Malacca.

So everyone talks about the Strait of Hormuz, but Chinese oil also has to go through the Straits of Malacca off the Malaysian coast.

Well, both Malaya and Indonesia, which have not been US allies in decades, now have made agreements in the past six months.

So that India has moved from being a non-aligned nation, unofficially aligned with Russia in the Cold War, to becoming effectively a US ally and using its navy to stop the shadow fleet and reducing its refining of Iranian oil.

So if you take Iranian oil from Iran and you trace it, it now has to go past India, which is now more or less in the US camp,

It has to thread its way through the Straits of Malacca, past two new US allies, and then enter waters in longtime US allies, the Philippines and so on, to get to where it's going.

Uh, if you see it from that perspective, you understand why this was not a war of choice.

This is why Iran was, why they're doing Iran now, why they did Venezuela, why the CIA and other us interests are active in the Colombian election.

Uh, why what's going on in Peru and Nicaragua makes sense.