Is critical race theory in the US military ‘dangerous’?

After renewing their Cold War-era alliance earlier this week, Beijing and Moscow challenged the US military hegemony by claiming American global dominance was ‘over’ and threatening to strike back if any ‘boundaries are crossed.’ GOP lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee told The Spectator that the Defense Department’s focus on critical race theory under the Biden administration is ‘stupid and wacko’ while the Sino-Russian powers are on the march.

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin met Monday during a virtual summit to extend their cooperation treaty between their respective countries, both of which have strained their ties with the US ever since the treaty was initially signed 20 years ago. The Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, according to Putin, embodies the support both nations have for one another as opposition from Western powers grows. The agreement will automatically extend for five years on February 2022, according to Reuters.

Two days later, Putin, speaking at the Valdai forum, taunted the US and other western powers for sanctioning Russia, claiming the move was a string of mistakes ‘typical of an empire’.

‘An empire always thinks that it can allow itself to make some little mistakes, take some extra costs, because its power is such that they don’t mean anything,’ the Russian president said. ‘But the quantity of those costs, those mistakes inevitably grows. Thank God, this situation of a unipolar world, of a monopoly, is coming to an end. It’s practically already over.’

‘No matter what sanctions are imposed on Russia, no matter what the scaremongering, Russia is developing, and in some respects, our country has surpassed the European countries and even the US,’ the Russian president boasted.

Two weeks ago, Russian navy fired warning shots and bombs in the path of a British naval destroyer to force it from entering an area near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia has annexed since 2014. Putin claimed that even if Russia had sunk the British HMS Defender, the action would not trigger World War Three because the West knows ‘full well that they can’t win in that war’.

‘Even if we sank that ship, it wouldn’t put the world on the brink of World War Three because those who do it know that they can’t emerge as winners in that war, and it’s very important,’ Putin declared.

Xi joined his Russian counterpart in challenging Western opposition during the centenary celebration of the Chinese Communist party. Speaking in Beijing on Thursday while dawning a Mao-esque gray suit, Xi gave a fiery speech where he vowed to ‘crack the skulls’ of foreign nations who attempt to influence China. US relations with China have deteriorated more recently due to speculation surrounding the country’s responsibility for the outbreak of COVID-19.

‘The Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress or enslave us. Anyone who dares will have their heads cracked and their blood will flow before the steel Great Wall built with the flesh and blood of 1.4 billion Chinese people,’ said Xi as he stood atop the imperial palace overlooking Tiananmen Square.

The Chinese president spoke of tearing down ‘the old world’ and rebuilding it anew under the purview of the CCP.

‘The Communist party of China and the Chinese people, with their bravery and tenacity, solemnly proclaim to the world that the Chinese people are not only good at taking down the old world, but also good at building a new one,’ Xi warned. ‘Only socialism can save China, and only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China.’

Back in the States, Republican congressional members on the House Armed Services Committee are not pleased with the priorities of the Defense Department as tensions with China and Russia reach a post-Cold War high. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, in particular, condemned what he called the Biden administration’s surrender of the ‘Pentagon to the Woketopia’.

‘Nobody in Russia is quivering over their “white rage”  — whatever that is,’ Gaetz told The Spectator. ‘In China, they spend money modifying submarines, not the genders of service-members.’

‘And I’m going to battle against this. Only a Benedict Arnold would surrender the Pentagon to the Woketopia without a fight,’ he added. ‘We should leave the CRT curriculum books in Kabul when the last US plane pulls up its landing gear on the way out.’

Last month, Gaetz sparred with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, over critical race theory’s role in the military. The lawmaker claimed the Pentagon’s embrace of diversity and ‘anti-racism’ had made them too ‘woke.’ Milley disagreed and instead argued for further study into ‘white rage’ in order to understand the January 6 Capitol riot. Milley called Gaetz’s questioning offensive and claimed the military needed to be ‘more open-minded.’

‘I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military…of being “woke” or something else because we’re studying some theories that are out there,’ Milley said in the hearing. ‘I want to understand white rage — and I’m white,’ he continued. ‘What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America?’

More GOP lawmakers on the committee, however, share Gaetz’s sentiment that partisan politics is muddling the military’s priorities as threats abroad grow.

‘Unfortunately, America’s military superiority is quickly eroding, in large part because idiotic and dangerous radical “WOKE” politicians are changing America’s military from a powerful fighting machine into a weird social experiment,’ Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama said in a statement to The Spectator. ‘Money that should be spent on better training and weaponry is being diverted to transgender hormonal treatments, teaching racist critical race theory and the like. The radical left’s vision for America’s military is not only stupid and wacko, it is dangerous and risks American lives.’

Brooks predicted ‘another Pearl Harbor or 9/11’ may occur if Americans do not ‘wake up’ to global dangers.

‘Critical race ideology will reduce cohesion, morale, retention, and recruitment within our military,’ Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, told The Spectator. ‘It won’t make service members less loyal to our country.’

‘It’s a self inflicted wound, when our leaders must be entirely focused on the growing existential threat the Chinese Communist party poses to American citizens.’

On Thursday, the State Department said China’s exponential buildup of its nuclear arsenal was concerning and demanded Beijing implement measures to reduce the ‘risks of destabilizing arms races.’ This comes days after the Washington Post reported the People’s Republic had started construction for more than 100 new missile silos in its western desert.