ANOTHER REASON TO START EMPHASIZING FOREIGN POLICY – OVERNIGHT:  We should be focusing on China, and on the continuing threat from Iran.  But as the World War II generation fades into history, America seems increasingly less interested in the fact that an incident in Asia can result in the drafting of a boy in Des Moines.  From Fox: 

In what experts say may signal plans to significantly expand its nuclear capabilities, China has begun constructing more than 100 new missile silos in a desert area in the western part of the country, according to a report.

Work at 119 sites was clearly visible and resembled existing missile-launch facilities, according to satellite images obtained by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The sites were not the only areas in China where launch facilities were under construction, one nuclear watcher told the newspaper.

"If the silos under construction at other sites across China are added to the count, the total comes to about 145 silos under construction," said Jeffery Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, according to the Post.

"We believe China is expanding its nuclear forces in part to maintain a deterrent that can survive a U.S. first strike in sufficient numbers to defeat U.S. missile defenses," he added.

The work in China signals possible intentions to upgrade the country’s nuclear arsenal from the existing 250 to 350 weapons – a more modest total when compared to the U.S. and Russia, the Post reported.

The U.S. is believed to have a total of more than 5,500 nuclear warheads, including around 1,700 that have been retired and are awaiting dismantlement, according to the website of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

COMMENT:  There will be attempts by the usual suspects to downplay this news, citing the nuclear arsenals of the United States and its allies.  However, it doesn't take that many nuclear warheads to create a hell on Earth, and Chinese nuclear weapons are intended in part to scare and intimidate other nations in Asia.  They are also intended to be used against the U.S. Navy in the Pacific.  With China once again threatening the independence of Taiwan, that Chinese capability cannot be ignored or trivialized.

June 30, 2021