Opinion
By Ken Timmerman
12-22-23
| Are the Europeans finally waking up to the threat from Putin? Or are they just preparing to hide behind America’s skirts once again? This week, Germany’s defense minister Boris Pistorius warned that Europe could face a hot war with Russia by the end of the decade, and urged his EU colleagues to match Germany in stepping up defense spending. Astonishingly, Germany committed to a one-time boost of 100 billion euros (around $112 billion) to upgrade the Bundeswehr just days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That’s nearly double its entire 53 billion euro defense budget for 2021. That money continues to get drawn down today, and Pistorius said Germany would use part of it to expand Germany’s defense industrial base and urged his European colleagues to follow suit. As I point out in this week’s edition of Prophecy Today Weekend, the NATO alliance has far more troops and equipment than Russia, on paper at least. The real key to holding the line against Putin, however, is political resolve. And that has been in very short supply with the Biden administration. Just as Ukraine was, in my view, a manufactured crisis, so is the latest crisis in the Red Sea, which Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists have essentially closed to international shipping. This past week, for example, four of the five biggest international shipping companies rerouted all container ships from the Red Sea for fear of Houthi missile strikes. The Iranian-backed strikes have also reduced shipping traffic to the Israeli port of Eilat by 85%. Predictably, this has added 25 days to the time it takes to sail from China to Europe, and has increased shipping costs five-fold, from $2000 for a 40′ container to over $10,000 this week. The U.S. response, announced by Sec/Def Lloyd Austin this week, was to rustle up a posse of NATO navies to stare down the Houthis. Until now, however, it has been a virtual no-show. Shutting down the Houthis is not difficult, folks. We have pilots on board two carrier strike groups in the region that are fully capable of dealing with them and getting home for lunch. Instead, General Austin prefers to stand up at his big podium and say, “Boo.” I walk you through these issues, and add a surprise anecdote about Christmas in the Persian Gulf on the USS George Washington in this week’s edition of Prophecy Today Weekend (bunking under the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is an experience, trust me!). As always, you can listen live at 1 PM in the Jacksonville, Fl, area on 104.9 FM or 550 AM, or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app. And if you miss it, you can listen to the podcast here. And, if you want to learn how I have been preaching the faith to the heathen (and learn a bit about the olive culture of Provence), don’t forget to order my latest book, Raising Olives in Provence. Yours in freedom – and Merry Christmas to one and all! Ken |
| Ken Timmerman’s 12th book of non-fiction, AND THE REST IS HISTORY: Tales of Hostages, Arms Dealers, Dirty Tricks, and Spies, is now available from PostHill Press. AND THE REST IS HISTORY can be ordered directly from Amazon by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. – Republican nominee for Congress, Maryland District 8 (2012) – National Security and Foreign Policy Advisory Board, Trump for President 2016 – President & CEO, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, www.iran.org – Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2006 Cell: 301-675-7922 Follow me on Twitter @kentimmerman #TheElectionHeist Facebook: ken timmerman Reply to: [email protected] Website: kentimmerman.com |
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The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
