As the good guys gather...

"The bellicose actions of China towards the PI and to a lesser extent towards Australia, have done the trick. Both the PI and Australia want to be bigger players in the area, so if push comes to shove - they are ready. Even Viet Nam is armed to the teeth."

What is happening right now in the world, kind of reminds me of the West Side Story. We are divided into the Sharks and the Jets. Two groups, getting ready to go to battle with each other. The one side is made up of the baddies - the usual suspects. Russia, China, (hopefully not India) North Korea, and Iran. On the other side of the ball are the good guys. Both in Europe and now in the Indo-Pacific. And this list is looking better all the time.

First Europe. I have addressed this before. NATO, which was showing its age and lack of resolve, has awakened from its slumber (except for Canada). We can thank Putin that due to his invasion of Ukraine, it was a wake-up call. Now all of a sudden, most Euro countries have ponied up close to the 5% of GDP goal. Plus, we have Finland, Norway and Sweden to cover the north. Poland has evolved as the new heavyweight, and Germany wants to contend. All in all, with our help supplying some weaponry, NATO is once again a great stopper to Euro aggression by the bad guys. 

Now to the other side of the world. China is the big bully with the big Navy and lots and lots of missiles. The good guys over there continue to be South Korea, Japan, Australia, Philippine Islands (PI), Viet Nam, and of course - us. I have to say, I have been quite impressed with how serious Japan is taking China's adventuresome prowling in the entire Indo-Pacific area. They are locked and loaded, and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. But that is not all.

The bellicose actions of China towards the PI and to a lesser extent towards Australia, have done the trick. Both the PI and Australia want to be bigger players in the area, so if push comes to shove - they are ready. Even Viet Nam is armed to the teeth. For a small country who recently endured decades of war, their Navy is quite impressive. It consists of 50,000 officers and sailors and almost 130 ships. Going against China, every ship who fights for the good guys is helpful.

I keep hearing that China is looking at 2027 as their "go time" to invade Taiwan. If that is true, time is not our friend. But with Trump and Hegseth involved, we will make the most out of the time we have left until 2027. My feeling remains that if we can show enough resolve and backbone in both Europe and the Indo-Pacific, the bad guys will think twice about any more aggressions. It is the whole "Peace through strength" thing.

But in any event, it is nice to have former enemies like Germany, Japan and Viet Nam on our side as good guys. If things get nasty, former enemies, now friends, will help all of us prevail. And that is a very good thing.