James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer – American Greatness

The Attempted Assassination of Trump: What Man Intended for Bad, Turned to Good

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 07:00:22 +0000

The horrific assassination attempt against former President Trump on July 13 resulted in the murder of one American man and the wounding of two others. […]

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The PRC Is a Greater Threat than Russia, Time for NATO to Act Like It

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:00:50 +0000

Hope springs eternal, and so in that spirit, NATO’s summit in Washington, D.C., was notable for what was conveyed about the threat to the alliance […]

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Biden’s Dénouement Hurts U.S. Standing

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 07:00:21 +0000

U.S. domestic politics is roiled over President Biden’s dénouement. The American people wonder whether Biden will be president in the weeks to come. Collectively, Americans […]

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America’s Achilles’ Heel: Threat Deflation

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 07:00:13 +0000

Over the past 30 years, the U.S. national security community has failed to recognize the increasingly dangerous strategic trendline of the People’s Republic of China’s […]

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Why the U.S. Should Seek Regime Change in the PRC

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 07:00:19 +0000

When senior officials make mistakes, they can have profound and deadly consequences. In his famous “Perimeter Speech” on January 12, 1950, at the National Press […]

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The Great and Multiple Sins of the IC Were on Display at Hunter’s Trial

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 07:00:05 +0000

The major strategic problems that the U.S. now confronts, including a formidable challenge from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), an aggrieved Russia with potent […]

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Admiral Dong’s Coming Out Party

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 07:00:34 +0000

The new Defense Minister of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Admiral Dong Jun, the first Admiral to hold this position, recently had his coming-out […]

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The Foreign Policy of Trump’s Second Term – America First Means A Stable World

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 07:00:05 +0000

Recently, Foreign Affairs published Hal Brands’ “An “America First” World: What Trump’s Return Might Mean for Global Order.” In the essay, Prof. Brands hypothesizes that […]

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The Obama-Biden’s Revolution: 2024 Is America’s Last Chance

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Thu, 23 May 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Given the realities of the past three years of the Biden Administration, this article expands on the thesis we have made in these pages that […]

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Election 2024: A Political Renaissance for America or the Path to Totalitarianism

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sat, 18 May 2024 07:00:59 +0000

It has been decades in the making, but the country is now on the precipice between its traditional ideology of political liberalism and a path […]

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U.S. Defense Spending: The Value of Spending Rather Than Its Amount

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sat, 11 May 2024 07:00:55 +0000

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently released a report that estimated the People’s Republic China’s (PRC) true military spending as $710.6 billion, which is three times larger than PRC’s self-reported totals and several billion dollars […]

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Biden’s Political Persecution of Trump Damages the U.S. and Aids the PRC

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sat, 04 May 2024 07:00:23 +0000

A fundamental aspect of American politics is that it is simultaneously domestic and international. Domestic events impact international ones, and vice versa. What happens within […]

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The Philippines Is a Great Ally, and the U.S. Needs to Recognize It

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 07:00:51 +0000

The alliance relationships of the U.S. are valuable for diplomatic, military, and economic reasons. Less often considered is that U.S. allies provide the invaluable service […]

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The U.S.’s Strategic Realities Require A New Alliance—The Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 07:00:15 +0000

One of the principal duties of statesmen is to match their national security requirements to the strategic realities their country faces. The strategic realities of […]

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Victory over the PRC: Why Engagement Makes War with Beijing More Likely

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 07:00:07 +0000

The United States faces three choices regarding its policy towards the People’s Republic of China (PRC): continuation of the Biden administration’s Engagement policy, what we […]

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The U.S. Must End Engagement (and Biden’s Neo-Engagement) With the PRC Now

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 07 Apr 2024 08:00:51 +0000

U.S. foreign policy toward the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been dominated by the Engagement School since the end of the Cold War. Its […]

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How to Address the CCP Threat: Engagement, Defeatism, or Victory

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 08:00:39 +0000

Broadly, the U.S. foreign policy community has developed three distinct schools of thought regarding how to address relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). […]

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Great Challenges Are Ubiquitous but Americans Can Best Them

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 08:00:34 +0000

Wherever one looks, it seems that the U.S. is on the backfoot. In domestic U.S. politics, it seems that there is no bottom. The U.S. […]

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Generational Differences Affect Americans Understanding of the PRC Threat

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 08:00:05 +0000

One of the major problems in identifying the existential threat from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is that younger Americans have little conception of […]

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The PRC’s Bid for Strategic Superiority

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 09:00:42 +0000

The unrelenting pace of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) nuclear and conventional modernization continues without abatement. The PRC continues its bid for global strategic […]

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European Parliament’s Bold Resolutions Call for U.S. to Recognize Taiwan

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:00:04 +0000

In an unprecedented move, the European Parliament has adopted two resolutions that affirm that neither Taiwan nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are subordinate […]

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Kinmen as West Berlin: The Opportunity to Forge a New U.S. Commitment to Taiwan

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 10:00:55 +0000

To sustain a credible extended deterrent, the U.S. sometimes must commit to defending a piece of land that otherwise would have little or no value […]

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Lack of Credibility Places U.S. Deterrence Under Great Strain

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:00:45 +0000

American national security and the security of many of our allies depend upon the ability of the U.S. to deter aggression. Deterrence depends upon having […]

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The Operational Impact of America’s Greatest Strategic Failure

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 10:00:58 +0000

In our forthcoming book, Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure, we make the case that the United States has made two fundamental and interrelated […]

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Taiwan as the Frog in the Pot: Beijing Turns Up the Heat One More Degree

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 10:00:33 +0000

A recent survey of 52 so-called “leading experts” by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) China Power Project did not think the People’s […]

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The “Mary McCarthy” Rule for Discussing the PRC’s Economy and Economic Data… and the WEF

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 10:00:16 +0000

While there is no shortage of threats to the United States, many of these are transparent for those with the eyes to see, such as […]

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Deterrence, Taiwan, and the Strategic Realities of the 21st Century

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:00:54 +0000

The greatest act of statesmanship is to recognize the reality of the conditions a country faces and adapt its military and diplomatic posture to advance […]

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The National Security Implications of Biden’s Open Border Are Transformative for America

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 10:00:57 +0000

The Biden administration has opened the United States’ border, and this has fundamentally threatened America’s national security in ways not felt since the early days […]

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The Immediacy of the PRC Threat: The Change from Land Power to Maritime Power

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:00:06 +0000

One of the biggest news stories coming out of Asia for the New Year was the alleged purge of senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers, […]

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The PRC’s Aggression Is Happening Now Against the Philippines

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 10:00:29 +0000

A warning from the 20th century is that dictatorships tend to use aggression not first against great powers but against smaller states. Hitler pressured Austria […]

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Avoiding America’s ‘Suez Moment’

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 10:00:28 +0000

In the summer of 1956, the “Suez Crisis” began when Egyptian President Nassar nationalized the Suez Canal. By November England, France, and Israel invaded the […]

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Progressivism Forces Americans to Forget Their History

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 10:00:21 +0000

The difficulties of the presidents of major American universities—Harvard, MIT, and UPenn—to denounce anti-Semitism is both appalling and a symptom of the larger ideological upheaval […]

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Credible Assurance is Appeasement by Another Name

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 10:00:58 +0000

As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) mourns the loss of their “old friend” Dr. Henry Kissinger, who passed away on November 29, it is […]

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A Manifesto for a Renaissance of American Leadership

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 10:00:07 +0000

In a time of ideological upheaval and the threat from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Americans face acute perils to their lives, livelihoods, traditions, […]

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The Cost of Engagement Hurts Our Allies and Alliances

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:00:39 +0000

One of the keys, and unfortunately consistent, failures of the American foreign policy is in assessing the impacts of foreign policy decisions on U.S. national […]

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Dinner with a Dictator: When American Business Leaders Support the Enemy

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 10:00:06 +0000

Never in our history have Americans so openly and brazenly celebrated a dictator. By happenstance, the 400 business leaders who attended the dinner with Chinese […]

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Worse Than Appeasement: Xi Will Be Saved by Biden While the Risk of War Is Intensifying

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 10:00:46 +0000

President Biden’s initiated bilateral summit with Xi Jinping this week in San Francisco, as both attend the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ meeting, […]

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Why Arms Control with the PRC Is a Threat to U.S. Security

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 10:00:43 +0000

This week the Biden administration will meet with officials from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to discuss an arms control and non-proliferation agenda. The […]

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Pentagon’s China Threat Report is Another Case of Threat Deflation by Biden Administration

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 10:00:44 +0000

We have identified a condition of international politics that we term “threat deflation”—where one state consistently underestimates the nature and scope of the threat it […]

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A Test of Wills: ISR Missions Must Be Protected Now

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 10:00:31 +0000

The Pentagon has rightfully issued a condemnation of aggressive intercepts of U.S. military conducting Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Ely Ratner, the Assistant Secretary […]

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Lessons for Taiwan: U.S. Capabilities Are Needed Now to Defeat Intelligence Failure

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 10:00:57 +0000

Hamas’s surprise war against Israel is horrific and a stark warning for the United States’ interests in the Indo-Pacific and for Taiwan. The nature of […]

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Communism is the Root Cause of CCP’s Behavior

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 10:00:47 +0000

Know your enemy is the first principle of an intelligence professional and is the foundation of all strategy. Knowing your enemy requires not just tracking […]

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Beijing Demands U.S. Humiliation Before Resuming Mil-to-Mil Engagement

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 10:00:06 +0000

Last week in these pages the authors revealed the Biden Administration’s unambiguous pursuit of restoring American foreign policy to the pro-PRC policies of unconstrained and […]

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The Great Restoration: The Return to Engagement with Communist China

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 10:00:57 +0000

About 20 years ago, before Xi Jinping assumed control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) would often refer to […]

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Xi’s Leadership Is in Crisis; Now Is the Time to Act

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 10:00:32 +0000

There is a growing body of evidence that indicates the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership is in freefall. If true, this makes Xi Jinping more […]

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Biden’s Continuing Failures of Policy and Men

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 10:00:46 +0000

President Biden’s presence at the G20 meeting in New Delhi provides a time to reflect on how much the position of the U.S. has weakened […]

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Why the CCP is Losing Its Political Warfare Against Japan

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 10:00:45 +0000

For the past two months the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has instituted a political warfare campaign condemning the government of Japan for permitting the […]

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New Truman Doctrine Needed to Break the Engagement School

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 10:00:11 +0000

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in the midst of several crises, including a major economic downturn, that have the potential to test the Party’s […]

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Taiwan’s Fall to CCP Would Devastate America’s Asian Alliance Structure

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 10:00:44 +0000

We have argued that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is determined to conquer Taiwan, and that the U.S. must deter this outcome for our own […]

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PRC’s Aggression in South China Sea Needs to Be Defeated

James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 10:00:55 +0000

A hard lesson from the 1930s and from the Cold War is that aggression must be checked when it occurs. Inevitably, aggressors start small, with […]

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