Aaron Schock is now in the competition for being the stupidest candidate to run this cycle. I’m taking a bigger chunk from the column because it is so amazing so my apologies to Bernie and the Springfield Journal-Register:
I couldn’t attend Schock’s official announcement of his candidacy for Congress, but I did recently receive a copy of his speech, which included a number of foreign policy proposals.
In particular, Schock’s plan to offer nuclear arms to Taiwan if China doesn’t go along with U.S. policy toward Iran seemed odd to me.
An international relations expert I checked with agreed, saying that idea not only shows “incredible naivete,” but, if carried out, probably would lead to war between China and Taiwan.
Shock, a Peoria Republican, at 26, is the youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly. He also is one of the three Republican candidates to replace retiring U.S. Rep. RAY LaHOOD, R-Peoria, in Illinois’ 18th Congressional District. Schock made his intentions official Oct. 27 with events in Peoria Heights and Springfield.
In his speech, he noted that President RONALD REAGAN came to the aid of such rebel groups as the Contras in Nicaragua and the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan. Schock said Reagan also provided freedom movements such as Solidarity in Poland “with CIA training in organizing, and all the equipment necessary to function.”
“Any freedom movement in a totalitarian country faces enormous difficulty in organizing against the unlimited resources of a ruthless state,” Schock said in the speech. “Those freedom movements need help from free nations. In Congress, I will advocate for them.
Schock said he would propose spending the same amount to support “freedom fighters inside Iran” as Iran gives Hezbollah in Lebanon each year
“Let’s turn the tables,” Schock said.
The money could be used to train underground leaders in how to organize and prevent detection, satellite phones, communications, radio broadcasts from nearby countries, “and eventually arms,” Schock said.
“Funding a freedom movement to overthrow the regime will cause massive turmoil in Iran,” he went on. “No American troops will be necessary. We will simply facilitate the people’s overthrow of the Iranian regime, just (as) we did successfully all over Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Ethiopia and Nicaragua.
In regard to Taiwan, Schock said the U.S. should put more pressure on China and Russia to go along with tougher economic sanctions against Iran.
“If China continues to be irresponsible about nuclear proliferation in Iran, we should tell them that if they do not care about proliferation — and since they are enablers of it in Iran — that if they don’t change their position, we will sell Pershing nuclear missiles to Taiwan for their defense.”
“Non-proliferation will either be enforced universally or not at all — it is their choice,” Schock continued. “The Chinese will come around, I have no doubt.”
The obvious problem is that if we were to scrap the non-proliferation treaty, as this move would require, there would be no way to force inspection or be able to use multilateral tools to pressure countries to not go nuclear and it would mean that countries like Pakistan and North Korea would be free to engage in proliferation activities. This isn’t just stupid, it’s dangerously stupid.
If Taiwan were to even think seriously about developing a nuclear deterrent, mainland China would attack and we would be forced to enter into World War III or let Taiwan fall.
This is exactly the kind of insanity that Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld were promoting when they kept sending envoys trying to get Taiwan to declare independence, only this would utterly destroy the entire fabric of non-proliferation policy worldwide.
Aaron Schock is a moron and anyone this dangerous must be stopped from getting to Congress.
H/T Rich
ArchPundit