For 16 years (218 BC – 202 BC) Hannibal and his mostly Celtic mercenaries ravished the Italian peninsula, annihilating Roman and allied armies and pillaging the wealth of newly unified Italy.  The Italic people suffered PTSD on a massive scale, so much so that mothers often used “Hannibal ad portas!” (“Hannibal is at the gates!”) to cow their children into obedience.  He and his nation Carthage were the boogeymen of ancient Italians.

Vladimir Putin is already past the gates of Ukraine, probably wondering what he got himself into.  Even if he is victorious on the battlefield, as Hannibal was, 16 years may not be enough time to pacify an occupied Ukraine.  Hannibal misjudged the Roman world and eventually lost his army and his homeland.

The Romans lured him back to Africa where they defeated him and brought Carthage to its knees.  But it wasn’t long after that Italy found itself facing a revitalized Carthage, an economic powerhouse that could dominate North Africa and the Mediterranean.  True, Russia isn’t an economic powerhouse but its partner in crime, Red China, is.  It is apparent that prior to his invasion of Ukraine, crypto-Communist Putin sought the advice of comrade/President Xi.  Xi apparently told him to hold off any actions until after the Beijing Olympics and even slipped him U.S. intelligence nuggets.  Moreover, Red China pledged “no limits” to a diabolical Sino-Russian friendship.   

Putin now has a super-accomplice to rely on.  And the West may be distracted from the Red China threat by the events in Ukraine.  However, Russia cannot “bury” us economically, as Khrushchev used to predict, but Red China can.  No other country on earth has drained our industrial base to such a disturbing degree.  The Chinese plan is global dominance by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the Communist takeover of China.  Carthage had a similar plan.

Rome had put down Carthage twice in the second century before Christ.  The first war gained Rome both Sicily and Sardinia.  The second, against Hannibal, almost cost it Italy itself.  Many Romans didn’t see Hannibal’s defeat as the end of the rivalry.  One senator in particular, Marcus Porcius Cato, visited Carthage as it was rebuilding itself.  He was shocked to see how it had grown wealthy again, rearming and reconstituting its Mediterranean trade monopolies.   He returned to Rome with a bundle of Carthaginian figs he had picked three days earlier.  Holding the figs aloft in the Senate he warned the Romans that their worst enemy was only a short distance away and could eventually pauperize Italy.  For the next 25 years Cato never ended a speech without adding “And by the way, Carthage must be destroyed.”  He lived to see his wish come true. The year before his death, the Romans leveled Carthage and cursed its ashes.  Italy was master of the Mediterranean.

I had my Cato/fig moment with Red China the other day when I bought some toothpicks – Made in China.  Can you imagine, we import toothpicks! The town of Strong, Maine once prided itself as “The Toothpick Capital of the World,” making 90% of America’s toothpicks – no more, the factory stopped producing in 2003 and left Strong with a social, economic, and cultural void. American toothpicks were made of white birch, rarely broke or splintered like the Chinese counterfeits. 

As petty as toothpicks may sound, we all know that too many important things are imported from Red China.  Even the solar panels that will “free us” from foreign energy are made in China.  Last year our trade deficit with Red China was $355 billion, marking the tenth straight year the U.S. trade deficit with China has topped $300 billion.

I would guess that our one profit center with Red China is college tuition.  Some 350,000 Chinese students are enrolled in our universities, paying full, mind-blowing tuition.  That’s millions of dollars into the coffers of our best universities to train our future competition. That’s 350,000 students studying our science and technology while our kids are learning gender studies and race relations. 

Red China has a multi-level approach to global dominance that includes picking our brains.  Their “no limits” support of Vladimir Putin should earn them sanctions as well.  I’d start with their student exports – damn our collaborating universities!  Limit Chinese student visas to equal the number of American students in China, a paltry 20,000.  That’s fair and balanced trade.

And by the way, Red China must be… -JLM