Washington not taking China threat seriously

 Washington Examiner:

President Joe Biden and both parties in Congress are reminding us that they do not take China's military threat seriously. Instead of making hard choices to bolster the U.S. military's means of deterring and defeating the People's Liberation Army, Congress is prioritizing corporate cronyism and wokeness.

The problem starts with Biden. The president insists that he is determined to meet China's challenge, but his defense budget is utterly incompatible with that rhetoric. Woefully insufficient in funding, it wouldn't even address inflationary concerns, let alone the urgent need to improve readiness to fight China. And Biden is worsening the critical shortage of military assets available in the Pacific Ocean by redeploying them to Europe .

Also, under pressure from the Democratic Left, the Biden administration has forced the military to embrace more and more stupidly woke initiatives at the expense of training within specializations, operations, and professional development. When sailors, airmen, Marines, and soldiers are not told to learn about critical race theory, they're forced to undergo mindless PowerPoint presentations and video training sessions that have nothing to do with military service.

Yet, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley proved when he told Congress he "wanted to understand white rage," too many senior military officers are willing to dance to Biden's woke waltz in order to get promoted. So even as the military is firing useful personnel who refuse vaccines, it is rewarding useless and sycophantic officers responsible for leadership failures of a toxic nature .

Republicans recognize at least some of these problems. Writing last December, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Jody Hice (R-GA), Michael Cloud (R-TX), and Warren Davidson (R-OH) warned of a military that is more focused on bolstering its woke credentials than deterring China.

But as Congress sets perimeters for the National Defense Authorization Act, it's clear that Republicans are also part of the problem.
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The woke nonsense also appears to be impacting recruiting as the army is understaffed by the thousands and the Marines are trying to improve retention to meet the shortfall in recruiting.  The story also points out the waste of funding on non-priority weapon systems that the military does not want or need.