U.S. sanctions red line doesn’t stop at Russia

OPINION:

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

I have written many times that I believe Russian malign behavior needs to be confronted, that NATO borders need to be a serious “red line” and that Kremlin denials of said behavior have become the country that cries wolf, not to be believed.

However, there is a stench of disproportionality in the air when it comes to the “sanctions from hell” that are working their way through Congress to further punish the Russian Federation.

I can’t help but wonder: Why all this attention on Russia and none on China or, for that matter, on Iran? Inquiring minds want to know.

The coming sanctions as discussed by Sen. Lindsey Graham and others have been termed an economic “act of war” by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He’s the guy to whom President Obama whispered, “Tell Vlad I can be more flexible after the election,” when it came to giving away our nuclear deterrence. The new penalties could very well shut down major parts of the Russian economy, especially if they target Russian banks. Maybe the sanctions are justified by Russian behavior. I don’t have access to classified information to make that determination.

However, I do have access to public information that shows the extremely malign activity of the Chinese government in its bid to rob us blind in trade, steal our technology, treat our companies unfairly, pump propaganda into and even control the dialogue on our university campuses, and conduct cyberwarfare against the United States.

Strangely enough, however, I don’t hear any “sanctions from hell” targeting the Chinese. I don’t hear any “sanctions from hell targeting Iran for attempting to bomb the Free Iran Gathering 2018 in Paris, where our president’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich were in attendance, along with other American dignitaries. I don’t hear any “sanctions from hell” being planned against China for its militarization and essential takeover of one of the most important sea lanes in the world in the South China Sea.

The question is: Why not?

Could it be because of money — payoffs to members of Congress? It is well-known that Iran and China have attempted to buy influence in the American legislature. Certainly the left, while screaming, “The Russians did it,” are fine with Chinese Confucius Centers being stood up in more than 100 American universities, where they are allowed to dictate what speakers can come onto campus and propagate communist propaganda to American students.

Could it be because Google, Facebook and others, which donate millions of dollars to congressional candidates, are helping China develop its censoring infrastructure for controlling the internet and preventing Chinese citizens from seeing the real world? Could it be that the Chinese market is just too important for “sanctions from hell?”

Could it be that the left, for some reason, has enabled and helped the Iranian regime, especially under the Obama administration whose antics are well-documented in support of the mullahs, and essentially want to see Iran get the bomb? So they ignore Iranian terror and malign activity around the world? Two Iranian spies were arrested in the United States this month for targeting members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran for assassination. I don’t hear Congress pushing “sanctions from hell.” On the contrary, Congress has for the most part tried to curtail the Trump administration’s push for a tougher response to Tehran.

When there is this obvious amount of disproportionality when it comes to Russia, you know something is going on, and it’s not good.

I believe it ties in to the attempt to delegitimize the current president of the United States. Most of those on the left scream “Russia!” and know nothing about Russia. Moscow has become a convenient, and yet tired, excuse for the left failing to win elections, as America doesn’t want their brand of totalitarianism.

Russia is an adversary, but they are not threatening the very existence of the United States. China is. Iran is. North Korea was.

I’m all for holding Russia accountable, but let’s have some proportionality, for God’s sake. Those who called Donald Trump a “warmonger” during the election campaign are now pushing for a war with Russia.

⦁ L. Todd Wood is a former special operations helicopter pilot and Wall Street debt trader, and has contributed to Fox Business, The Moscow Times, National Review, the New York Post and many other publications. He can be reached through his website, LToddWood.com.