China is exploiting American weakness to stage a proxy war in the Middle East, retired Col. John Mills told Newsmax on Wednesday.
Speaking about the current pause in fighting in Gaza as Hamas releases hostages kidnapped in Israel, Mills told Newsmax's "Newsline" that "there's something much bigger in play here."
He said that "this is a proxy war. I'm beginning to lose track of how many ships [have been attacked]. We have a tanker war like the 1980s on a much broader and bigger scale."
He emphasized that "this is all China, giving the green light to Iran, the Houthis and others to attack shipping on a much larger scale. And all of this really emboldens China, because they see how tied down" the United States is.
Discussing the deal that has brought about a current pause in fighting as hostages are released from Gaza, Mills said "I'm all for saving lives. I'm all for getting hostages back, but this is potentially not helping the situation longer term."
He said there is not any robust inspection of the aid coming into Gaza as part of the deal, and there can easily be contraband material there that can help Hamas in its war against Israel.
Mills also said that comments from President Joe Biden that try to tie Israel's hands as it fights Hamas only deter from the needed mission to defeat the terrorist organization, saying that winning a war "is always about clarity and resolve, and I'm not sure we are seeing that."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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