Ending the Ukraine war with Russia to turn Taiwan into Asias Ukraine against China?

A recent report from Rand suggests the US is looking toward an exit strategy from Ukraine

Avoiding a Long War

RAND

JAN-2023

We conclude that, in addition to averting possible escalation to a Russia-NATO war or Russian nuclear use, avoiding a long war is also a higher priority for the United States than facilitating significantly more Ukrainian territorial control. Furthermore, the U.S. ability to micromanage where the line is ultimately drawn is highly constrained since the U.S. military is not directly involved in the fighting

Beyond the potential for Russian gains and the eco- nomic consequences for Ukraine, Europe, and the world, a long war would also have consequences for U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. ability to focus on its other global priorities—particularly, competition with China—will remain constrained as long as the war is absorbing senior policymakers’ time and U.S. military resources

Washington does have a long-term interest in ensuring that Moscow does not become completely subordinated to Beijing. A longer war that increases Russia’s dependence could provide China advantages in its competition with the United States.

Already, European and some U.S. stocks of weapons are reportedly running low

https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/perspectives/PEA2500/PEA2510-1/RAND_PEA2510-1.pdf

Meanwhile in Taiwan, Republicans and McCarthy picking up the torch  from the Democrats and Pelosi. The Uniparty after all (Democrats and Republicans) is a War Party

US preparing for speaker’s visit to Taiwan: report

The Pentagon is preparing for US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Taiwan later this year, Punchbowl News reported on Monday, citing an official directly involved in the talks.

US administration officials anticipate McCarthy would visit Taiwan some time in the spring, the report said.

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2023/01/25/2003793118

And just in case you didn’t get the message

A four-star US Air Force general has warned of a conflict with China as early as 2025 — most likely over Taiwan — and urged his commanders to push their units to achieve maximum operational battle readiness this year.

In an internal memorandum that first emerged on social media on Friday, and was later confirmed as genuine by the Pentagon, Air Mobility Command Commander General Mike Minihan said that the main goal should be to deter “and, if required, defeat” China.

“I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” Minihan said.

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2023/01/29/2003793291

Meanwhile as US passes bill to loan Taiwan 2 billions for weapons purchases, payable within 12 years, just to ensure payment is made in full, efforts to get Taiwan into the IMF (our collection agency are in place)

Two US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill calling on Washington to support Taiwan’s participation as a member of the IMF to ensure its voice is heard on international financial issues.

The “Taiwan non-discrimination act” — introduced by US Representative Young Kim, who is on the US House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs committees, and US Representative Al Green — seeks to ensure that the US representative on the IMF board of governors advocates for Taiwan’s admission in the international financial institution.

The bill also calls for Taiwan’s participation in the organization’s regular surveillance activities relating to Taiwan’s economic and financial policies, job opportunities for Taiwanese at the IMF, and a provision for IMF technical assistance and training for Taiwan.

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2023/01/29/2003793290

$2 billion may not seem much but thats $30 billion adjusted for US population size and with TSMC heading to US and Japan (chips are 20% of Taiwans GDP) and a shrinking population, tough times may be looming

An additional $10 billion in grants was authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 but not yet released

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2022/12/31/2003791737

Thats presumably on top of the $14 billion backlog in weapons Taiwan already agreed to purchase

WASHINGTON — Pandemic-related acquisition issues have sparked a backlog in the U.S. delivering $14.2 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan that the island has purchased since 2019.

With much of Washington’s attention focused on how to rapidly deploy a steady stream of military aid to Ukraine, some lawmakers are concerned the Taiwan delay is undermining its ability to deter a potential Chinese invasion.

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/04/14/pandemic-delays-spark-14-billion-backlog-of-us-defense-transfers-to-taiwan/

Taiwan has also expanded mandatory conscription after school from 4 months to 1 years. This is only for men though, but I don’t hear any outrage from the gals, and a nice pay raise from $195 to $650 a month.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/12/27/asia/taiwan-military-conscription-intl-hnk/index.html