The truth and facts of the matter are that Russia and China owe their very being and existence to America. If it were not for the American manufacturing industries there might not be a Russia or a China as we know them today. Sure the land mass of both countries would still be there but the governments might not exist. The way that I feel about it, that would be a good thing. What you have here, in both countries, is a leadership that has shown little to no apprehension for what America has done for them in the past — that being saving their collective ass from domination by Germany and Japan during World War II. Before America even entered into WWII, we were doing more for both of these countries than they were doing for themselves.

Yes, we were allies during the war, but that did not last long, not long at all — not even five years before China would show America that past considerations meant nothing to these people and their leadership.

It would not take long for Russia to show America the same disdain for our people and our past help.

Billions and billions of American tax dollars would be used to shore up both of their countries militaries and help feed their people in the 1940s. This money has never been paid back and it is still owed. Now let us add the interest into the calculation. The amount owed now has reached into the realm of a $1 trillion or more. Some would say no interest is owed. If that is the truth, then tell me why Obama’s administration paid interest on Iran’s money that we had held? After they destroyed our embassy and held our people captive for 444 days. The same should be so for the rest of the world. With that said, the rest of the world owes America more than we owe them.

Back to the debt owed by Russia and China. First to China: during WWII, Japan overran just about all of China with its troops. It was a slaughter, to say the least, before America stepped in. But for China, it was not just the Japanese that they were fighting. It was also civil war within the factions that ruled China during that time period. It was all about power between these groups. No one was willing to work together. It was all about me, me, me and not “us “ as a whole, to save their country from Japanese domination.

It was about 1927 when civil war within China started. At that time, China could not pay its bills, so the Chinese government went into default. By 1938 — and full-fledged war with Japan — the Chinese government started selling U.S. dollar-denominated bonds to finance the war with Japan. These bonds were sold worldwide. The Chinese were in survival mode and issued these bonds until 1940. Americans bought loads of them and China has never paid off those debts. Within part of its wartime financial aid, the American government gave China a $500 million credit in 1942 and shipped these funds in the form of gold bullion. This was done to stabilize their currency. Our own State Department records show that China never paid back this debt to the American government either. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China ended decades of military, financial and political cooperation. This was the point at which the Chinese Communist Party came to power.

In most cases, when another government comes to power they are bound to pay off past debt. With the communist government, they refused to pay the war debts. No one even looked into this debt until the late ‘70s. This was also what took place with our political relations with China. At that time, Washington released government financial claims regarding the expropriation of American property and appears to have dropped the matter of the war debt entirely.

Wait one damn moment. I’m sorry, but the politicians — as I see it — did not have the right to just give up on a claim that was backed by the American taxpayers’ dollars. Not no, but Hell no. That is the American citizens’ money, not the politicians’ money. The government, again, has no right to give up on that claim. Now the individual citizen who lost money on the Chinese bonds tried to sue the Chinese government in the 1980s and ‘90s. But because of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, it is very hard for any U.S. citizen to sue a foreign government in U.S. courts because the law says that U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction. The World Court does. That debt today to the American investor is as much as $750 billion.

I know how to fix this problem with the Chinese government and it’s simple: They owe our people and our government a combined amount of $1.75 trillion; we owe them about $1.5 trillion of our own debt. Don’t pay them anything and call it even, they will come out to the good. We saved them during WWII. We can take it back even if they do not want to give it back. If our politicians can’t do their jobs then we do not need them either. Those who will not work for the American taxpayer need to be put out of office. Vote them out. Our collective tax dollars pay these people.

Russia is another country of bums that will not pay what is owed to America. Germany had Russia by the throat in 1940. America’s military industries stepped into the picture and gave them all that they needed in the early years of the war. Without America, Russia would have fallen to Germany’s powerful military. Just to give you an idea of what was shipped to Russia, here is a list of just a few items (this all came from America, not our other allies, but the allies did send what they could): 6,430 planes; 3,734 tanks; 10 mine sweepers; 82 smaller boats of 100 feet or better; 210,000 cars and trucks; 3,000 anti-aircraft guns; 1,100 heavy field guns; 17,000 motorbikes; 1 trillion cartridges; 700,000 miles of telephone cable; 245,000 field phones; 257 million gallons of fuel; 6 million pairs of boots; and 8 million tons of food.

We sent Russia $5 billion worth of arms alone, another $5 billion in other supplies. Can you tell me the cost of 26,000 airmen who died over Russia? For I cannot place a price on that loss of our young men. After the war, Gen. Georgy Zhukov stated that if it had not been for the allies, Russia would have fallen in 1943 — and that is the truth.

This was not all that we sent to them. We sent them the hope of survival for their entire nation. We, as a nation, gave all for the war effort, only to have China spit in our face, just five years later — that being that we would fight them during the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. Then, just 10 years later in Southeast Asia, we would fight a proxy war with both Russia and China. They would arm North Vietnam with Russian MIG fighter jets, T-34 tanks and surface-to-air missile batteries to shoot down our aircraft. The Chinese, at times, would also send in their own troops to serve in a wide vairety of jobs.

Still today, we fight these countries all over the world against their proxy troops. These nations that owe us their very lives have forgotten the past and the cost of their freedom that they never paid back to us. Without America and our troops, what would the world look like today? It would not be the same as it is today. Russia and China will forever live in debt to America. We are still the shining light of hope for the world.

Robert Lee is a concerned citizen and U.S. Marine veteran who owns and operates Rockingham Guns and Ammo. His column appears here each Saturday.

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Robert Lee

Contributing columnist