News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.
1. Stop dragging the military into election fights
2. Biden Inherits a Challenging Civil-Military Legacy
3. Employee intentionally removed COVID-19 vaccine from fridge, ruining more than 500 doses, hospital says; FBI investigating
4. The Plague Year
5. White House moves to freeze some foreign aid, defying Congress in Trump’s final days
6. How The US Military Is Handling Covid-19 And What We Can Learn From Their Experience
7. Trump Appointee Seeks Lasting Control Over Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia
8. Why China Is Winning Against India
9. NYSE to Delist China’s Major Telecommunications Operators
10. Hong Kong’s Political Prisoners
11. Covid-19 Was Consuming India, Until Nearly Everyone Started Wearing Masks
12. What to Know as Troubled Afghan Peace Talks Enter a New Phase
13. Covid has no grand lesson for the world
14. US’ will to fight boils down to its interests (Taiwan)
15. Joe Biden Must Embrace Liberal Nationalism to Lead America Forward
16. What Is Your Moral Plan for 2021?
1. Stop dragging the military into election fights
Washington Examiner · by Mackubin Owens · January 1, 2021
2. Biden Inherits a Challenging Civil-Military Legacy
warontherocks.com · by Jim Golby and Peter D. Feaver· January 1, 2021
Conclusion: "Notwithstanding all of the other urgent priorities vying for his attention, neglect of the civil-military file would likely impose intolerable costs on Biden down the road — a price that would be vividly evident, sooner or later, when an urgent national security crisis takes center stage. The only prudent course is for the Biden team to attend to both policy and process at the same time — to move out quickly on the pandemic and the economy, while also setting the national security establishment on the path to healthier civil-military relations. Problems in the civil-military foundations of an administration must be fixed before a crisis lays bare the rot that may lie just out of view."
3. Employee intentionally removed COVID-19 vaccine from fridge, ruining more than 500 doses, hospital says; FBI investigating
USA Today · by Ricardo Torres
Why this sabotage? What was his motive?
4. The Plague Year
The New Yorker · by Lawrence Wright · December 28, 2020
A long and depressing read.
5. White House moves to freeze some foreign aid, defying Congress in Trump’s final days
The Washington Post· by Yeganeh Torbati and John Hudson · December 31, 2020
Excerpt: "The Trump administration, which over its four years in office repeatedly tried to cut foreign aid in its formal budgets only to be rebuffed by Congress, has used the rescission process as a tool to make it harder for the State Department and USAID to spend money. Last year, it tried to use the bureaucratic move to cancel up to $4 billion in foreign aid, but scrapped the plan after facing opposition from Republican and Democratic lawmakers."
6. How The US Military Is Handling Covid-19 And What We Can Learn From Their Experience
Forbes · by William A. Haseltine · December 31, 2020
The question is how does the military fight through the pandemic and still be ready to fight tonight?
7. Trump Appointee Seeks Lasting Control Over Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia
NPR · by David Folkenflik · December 30, 2020
If this is accurate it truly saddens me. This is about partisan agendas and not about accomplishing a critical national security mission.
8. Why China Is Winning Against India
Foreign Policy · by Sushant Singh · January 1, 2021
Conclusion: "It would not have been difficult for Beijing to predict New Delhi’s current predicament. For years, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been obsessed with hyping minor operations against Pakistan to reap electoral benefits, putting on the back burner the military transformation required to deal with a rising China. With India’s economy now having entered a recession, such a major reform has become an impossibility. There are no easy answers to India’s China problem. Unless there is a dramatic shift in New Delhi’s thinking, its cure of the Ladakh border crisis may end up being worse than the disease—and that’s exactly what Beijing wants."
9. NYSE to Delist China’s Major Telecommunications Operators
WSJ · by Chong Koh Ping· December 31, 2021
Conclusion: "Other U.S. initiatives could also bring more delistings. Last month, Mr. Trump signed legislation that could have Chinese companies kicked off U.S. markets if American regulators can’t inspect their audits within three years. Some Chinese companies, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc., have already obtained secondary listings in Hong Kong, which could help blunt the impact of such an action."
10. Hong Kong’s Political Prisoners
WSJ · by The Editorial Board· December 31, 2021
Powerful statement here: "Beijing now considers it a criminal offense to attempt to flee persecution in Hong Kong. This is Soviet or North Korean behavior, and we hope that Joe Biden and his officials will speak plainly against it."
11. Covid-19 Was Consuming India, Until Nearly Everyone Started Wearing Masks
WSJ · by Eric Bellman· December 30, 2021
A lesson from India?
12. What to Know as Troubled Afghan Peace Talks Enter a New Phase
The New York Times · by Najim Rahim, Fahim Abed and Fatima Faizi · January 1, 2021
13. Covid has no grand lesson for the world
Financial Times · by Janan Ganesh · December 29, 2020
Pandemics do not care about politics.
14. US’ will to fight boils down to its interests (Taiwan)
Taipei Times · by Chang Kuo-tsai
The first great "trinity:" fear, honor and interest.
US’ will to fight boils down to its interests
15. Joe Biden Must Embrace Liberal Nationalism to Lead America Forward
The National Interest · by John J. Mearsheimer · December 29, 2020
Quote: "Otto von Bismarck famously quipped that “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.” In this grim situation, Joe Biden (and indeed, all Americans) must hope he was right."
16. What Is Your Moral Plan for 2021?
project-syndicate.org · by Peter Singer & Agata Sagan · December 30, 2020
Some food for thought for all of us to ponder.
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“No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.”
- Buddha
"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot."
- Michael Altshuler
"Kindness, kindness, kindness. I want to make a New year's prayer, not a resolution. I'm praying for courage."
- Susan Sontag