US officials have been out-foxed by the Russians and Chinese:
Russia and China must’ve known that the US would be unable to resist funneling money, munitions, bombs, equipment and–while of course “unofficially”–actual soldiers into Ukraine.
The US is known for this type of thing. Russia dealt with the US propping up the Syrian rebels to prolong the Syrian civil war as Russia worked to support the Assad regime. This is what the US does: it gets into endless wars. And it turns wars that should be quick and decisive into drawn-out quagmires by propping up the losing side.
But while America is determined to prop up the Zelenskiy Regime in an attempt to both bleed Russia out and keep war industry profits booming, it’s backfiring. Russia is in it to win it–they view this as an existential struggle for survival against the Empire of Lies. And on top of that, they have leverage over Europe, too, in the form of Gazprom and the Nord Stream pipeline.
And now the US, in an effort to sabotage the Russian war effort, is depleting both its Strategic Petroleum Reserve and its ammunition stocks, probably just as the Russians and Chinese expected.
Would this be a perfect time for the Chinese to invade Taiwan, now that the US is stretched as thin as it is? Probably.
Will it happen?
Who knows. But the US now has a decreased ability to defend Taiwan. And I’m sure it’s not by accident.