RED STORM RISING: While Defense Secretary Mark Esper travels to Guam and Palau to participate in the ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, he carries with him a warning about the upcoming Battle of the Pacific: countering what he calls “anti-China behavior, debt-backed economic coercation, and other malicious activities.”
In a speech last night in Hawaii, Esper warned that China was ready to be the dominant military force in Asia until 2049, the centenary of its communist revolution. “The People’s Liberation Army continues to implement a competitive modernization plan to create a world-class army until the mid-century,” Esper said. “This will undoubtedly inspire the PSR’s provocative behavior in the south and east China seas and elsewhere that the Chinese government will criticize for its interests.”
STRENGTHEN ALLIANCES, ARMAR ALIADOS: “The U.S. Commitment In the Indo-Pacific region it has its roots in our long-standing security alliances, which provide an asymmetrical merit that our adversaries have,” said Esper, who asked the U.S. allies. In the region they spend more on defense and depend less on Chinese technology.
“The United States wants our allies and partners to make a contribution in a fair and equitable manner. We want them to maintain close alignment in policies that maintain a lax and open order and reject decisions that gain advantages from malicious actors to our collective detriment,” he said. . “I continue to inspire all like-minded partners to thoroughly understand their potential telecommunications infrastructure options and assess the long-term collective dangers associated with using Chinese state-backed suppliers.”
SALE OF 160 MILLION WEAPONS: Esper promoted the simplified procedure that provided $160 billion in arms sales to its allies, $22 billion in new projects introduced in this fiscal year alone.
“By simplifying the FMS process, we have reduced prices and accelerated our reaction time to spouse countries’ applications, allowing us to deliver critical functions faster and more efficiently,” Esper said. “We get F-35 aircraft in Japan, Seahawk and Apache helicopters in India, and F-16 fighter jets and M1 Abrams tanks in Taiwan, to name a few.”
NEW VISA RESTRICTIONS: The United States has done little to avoid China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea, which come with the construction of synthetic islands from reefs and with weapons and aircraft at the island’s outposts.
On Wednesday, the State Department announced that the United States would impose visa restrictions on Chinese “responsible or complicit in the large-scale rehabilitation, structure, or militarization of disputed outposts in the South China Sea.”
“Beijing has continued to expand destructive lands for the environment and militarize disputed outposts. This has caused irreparable damage to coral reefs,” a senior State Department official said Wednesday. They have also used these platforms in the South China Sea as coercive platforms opposed to their neighbors, expanding the success of the People’s Republic of China’s maritime defense force and civilian law enforcement vessels, supported by the Chinese army, to intimidate Southeast Asian applicants from accessing the coast. Resources. These movements are provocative and destabilizing. »
“These new restrictions are a positive and late first step,” Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a self-proclaimed Chinese hawk, said in a statement. “Chinese state-owned enterprises have been the tip of the communist spear in the South China Sea. Array America cannot allow China’s economic and army expansion to spiral out of control and we will have to continue working with our allies and partners in the region to deal with Beijing.”
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MARKETS AFTER KENOSHA VIOLENCE: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers will send 500 National Guard soldiers to Kenosha, where two other people were shot Tuesday in protests against the shooting of black Jacob Blake.
So far, the Democratic governor has not accepted an offer of 2,000 more Guard soldiers through President Trump, however, in a phone call with White House officials, he agreed to send more than 200 federal FBI agents, U.S. Marshals Service. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“We will NOT protect looting, arson, violence and anarchy on American streets,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “My team just phoned Governor Evers, who agreed to settle for federal aid (Portland does the same!).
LOI AND ORDER IN THE BOLETON: In his acceptance speech on the third night of the Republican National Convention, Vice President Mike Pence accused Joe Biden of ignoring “the violence and chaos that is ravaging the cities of this country” and said that with democracy and economic recovery, “Law and order are on the ballot.”
“President Trump and I will help Americans’ right to nonviolent protest. But riots and looting are not non-violent demonstrations. Killing statues is not freedom of expression. And those who do will be prosecuted with the full rigour of the law,” he said. “Let me be clear: violence will have to stop, whether in Minneapolis, Portland or Kenosha.”
ARSON SUSPECTED IN A NAVIRE FIRE: The chimney that would possibly have broken the USS Bonhomme Richard beyond any maintenance last month would possibly have been intentionally ignited through a U.S. Navy sailor, a senior defense official told The Associated Press.
The sailor is being questioned as part of the investigation through the Naval Criminal Investigation Service and the ATF, the official said under anonymity.
The July 12 chimney burned for four days while the USS Bonhomme Richard, an amphibious attack ship, was moored in San Diego for maintenance work, causing damage estimated at $4 billion. We have not yet decided whether the warship will be demolished.
DOD IG EXAMINATE THE VINDMAN PLAINTE: Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman’s lawyers demonstrated that Vindman, Alexander Vindman’s double brother, a key witness to the indictment, had filed a retaliatory complaint with the Pentagon inspector general. A workplace spokesman said he had “received the letter and reviewed the application.”
“The complaint points to disturbing new allegations that President and White House officials retaliated against Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Vindman for leaking information, adding President Trump’s July 25, 2019 call with the Ukrainian president and serious allegations of legal and moral violations through senior White House officials. . officials,” said a Congressional Democrat organization, which he wrote to Acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell and suggested that he open an investigation.
The letter signed by Representative Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the Reform and Oversight Committee; Rep. Adam Schiff, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Intelligence; and Representative Stephen Lynch, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security of the Oversight and Reform Committee.
THE COST OF THE NEW FIN WITHOUT START: Senator Bob Menendez, the most sensible Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Congressman Smith cite a new budget report in The Congressional workplace to his argument that if the new START doesn’t get bigger, a treated gun relief that expires in February , will lead the United States into a dangerous nuclear arms race.
But the report itself is less alarmist and concludes: “If the United States chooses to increase its forces in reaction to the expiration of the treaty, modest expansions can be affordable and can be carried out quickly.
The report examines scenarios that may be limited to the expiration of the treaty with Russia, which limits either party to 1550 drop-down warheads, and concludes that the charge can range from nothing to $449 billion. “However, larger expansions can be quite expensive and can take several decades to complete,” says the CBO.
“The extension of the new START treaty for five years is obviously the right choice of monetary and national security,” menendez and Smith write. “The United States cannot pursue an expensive and harmful nuclear arms race, especially in the midst of our monetary, political, and fitness crises. We call on Trump’s leadership to make the new START treaty bigger today.”
RAMM BY RUSSIA: A video posted on Twitter shows an incident in Syria this week in which a Russian army vehicle appears to intentionally ram a U.S. combat vehicle in a confrontation in a dusty field.
The Pentagon did not comment on the encounter, which allegedly wounded four U.S. infantrymen who may have suffered “concussion-like injuries.” Chief of staff, General Mark Milley, said Milley spoke by phone with General Valery Gerasimov, his Russian counterpart, on Wednesday, but did not say if the incident had been discussed. express the main points of their personal conversation,” the spokesman said.
“If Russian troops hit a vehicle with U.S. troops inside, resulting in multiple injuries, it marks a competitive act that obviously violates security protocols established across both sides,” said Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, a veteran combatant. and a staunch critic of the president.
“While I am relieved that no U.S. service official seems to have died in this incident, I ask Trump’s management to treat those obvious traumatic brain injuries as the serious injuries they are rather than minimizing their severity as they have been in the past.” Duckworth said. in a report. “And for the protection of our troops on the ground, Donald Trump will have to denounce Vladimir Putin and ask for answers on why his troops are harassing and wounding our troops in Syria.”
Washington Examiner: ”A Victory”: Iran inspectors to enter two suspicious sites
Washington Examiner: ‘Play Dirty’: Chinese official threatens US doctors over battle against Huawei
Washington Examiner: U.S. intelligence community: Not from a foreign country that violates postal vote
Washington Times: China’s ‘carrier killer’ missile as US announces new sanctions
Bars and Stars: Chinese Missile Training in South China Sea Will Deter Military Operations, Says Third Fleet Commander
Forbes: China strengthens naval base in South China Sea for aircraft carriers
Yonhap: Esper renews North Korean Denuke’s purpose ‘full, verifiable and irreversible ” insists on diplomacy
AP: TikTok CEO gives up U.S. pressure To sell video app
AP: Esper’s to small Palau highlights competition between US and China
Washington Post: Missing Fort Hood soldier killed
Breaking the defense: Milley will signal a new unified command plan; Defines SPACECOM roles
Only the news: alleged green beret spy: counterintelligence factory or unmasked threat through a deserter?
Military.com: Repair of fire-damaged USS Bonhomme Richard would probably take years, Admiral says
The Hill: Marine Corps: Marines in goP naturalization rite were in official service
Marine Corps Times: Eat Around the Mold: Marines in Japan served expired food while quarantined COVID-19
THURSDAY, THURSDAY, 201 AUGUST 27
9 a.m. – Virtual discussion of the Center for Strategic and International Studies on U.S. policy toward North and Inter-Korean Korea with Markus Garlauskas, a non-resident principal investigator of the Atlantic Council and a former national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council; Victor Cha, senior advisor to CSIS and president of Korea; Mark Lippert, senior non-resident advisor to CSIS and president of Korea; and Sue Mi Terry, CSIS principal investigator and president of Korea. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event
10 a.m. ANULO – The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute is launching the Reagan Institute’s new Center for Freedom and Democracy, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Postponed to September 15. Https://www.reaganfoundation.org
3 p.m. – Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center: “Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Strategic Nuclear Deterrence: Together to Keep america and our Global Partners Safe,” with Brent Park, Deputy Nuclear Defense Non-Proliferation Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration. www.mitchellaerospacepower.org
9: 1301 p.m., Constitution Avenue N.W. – The fourth and final day of the Virtual Republican National Convention on the theme “Land of Greatness”. President Trump delivers a speech at 10 p.m. from the south garden of the White House. Other speakers include: HUD Secretary Ben Carson; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican for Kentucky; Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California; Rep. Jeff Van Drew, RN. J.; Jared Kushner, Senior Adviser to President Trump; Ivanka Trump; President Trump’s daughter; and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Https://www.2020gopconvention.com
FRIDAY, FRIDAY, AUGUST 189, 28
4 p.m. – General James C. McConville, Chief of Staff of the Army, is on the two-day broadcast of the General Conference of the United States National Guard Association from Washington, DC on Saturday. Speakers include: General Daniel R. Hokanson, the new head of the National Guard Office at 1 p.m.; General Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chief of Staff at 2:00 p.m.; General John W. “Jay” Raymond, First Chief of Space Operations, Space Force at 2:30 p.m.; Lieutenant General Jon A. Jensen, the new director of the Army National Guard at 3:40 p.m.; and Lieutenant General Michael A. Loh, the new director of the Air National Guard at 4:10 p.m. www.ngaus.org/events/142nd-general-conference
TUESDAY, TUESDAY, TUESDAY, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
12:00 p.m. – National Interest Centre webinar: “Will Israel and the United Arab Emirates bring peace or instability to the Middle East?” with Dennis Ross, former envoy to the Middle East of President Bill Clinton; Henri Barkey, former director of the Middle East Center at Woodrow Wilson Center; Shai Feldman, President, Sapir Academic College, Israel; Geoffrey Kemp, National Interest Center. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
1 p.m. – American Enterprise Institute webinar: “Evaluation of the Chinese Army: an overview of the report on China’s military power of the Ministry of Defense”, Chad Sbragia, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense of China; and Zack Cooper, researcher, AEI. https://www.aei.org/events/webinar
WEDNESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER
12:00 p.m. – Virtual discussion of the U.S. Army Association Noon Report on Racial Issues and Diversity in the Military with Lt. General Darryl Williams, Superintendent of the American Military Academy at West Point; Major General John Evans, Commander General of the Army Cadet Command; Sergeant. Major Jimmy Sellers, the oldest soldier enlisted in the G-4 Army, Logistics, who was recently the top commander of the United States Army Academy of Sergeants Major; Sergeant. Major Julie Guerra, the oldest soldier enlisted in the Army’s G-2 intelligence, who was in the past a primary command sergeant at the U.S. Army Cyber School. https://www.bigmarker.com/ausaorg
Defense Secretary Mark Esper warns China in a speech in Hawaii.