News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.
1. Defend, dominate, deny: Declassified U.S. strategy shows vision for Indo-Pacific
2.What’s in a Name? Reimagining Irregular Warfare Activities for Competition
3. Appeasing China, New Zealand abandons the Five Eyes
4. Trump Orders U.S. Military Reorganization Favored by Pro-Israel Groups
5. America’s Far Right Isn’t Authoritarian. It’s Anti-Statist.
6. No Place in DOD for Extremism, White Supremacy, Officials Say
7. MIT Professor Who Received $19M in Federal Grants Arrested for Concealing Ties to China
8. Millions Flock to Telegram and Signal as Fears Grow Over Big Tech
9. Opinion | Biden Must Retire the Illogical Great Power Competition Paradigm
10. Norquist to serve as acting defense secretary; acting service secretaries named
11. Why the alt-right believes another American Revolution is coming
12. Court orders arrest of Maria Ressa, Rambo Talabong over Benilde thesis story
13. New China defense law could "justify" PLA action against U.S.- think tank
14. If You Want Peace, Study War
15. China’s Quiet Play For Latin America
1. Defend, dominate, deny: Declassified U.S. strategy shows vision for Indo-Pacific
japantimes.co.jp · by Jesse Johnson · January 13, 2021
A summary of the recently declassified Inod-Pacific strategy. The question is what part of this strategy will transcend the transition of administrations?
2. What’s in a Name? Reimagining Irregular Warfare Activities for Competition
warontherocks.com · by Kevin Bilms · January 15, 2021
An important contribution to the debate on terminology and definitions. The question is will Kevin's proposals help clean up the proliferation of terms? Every term has baggage and people who are wedded to those terms (e.g., I would never do away with unconventional warfare)
3. Appeasing China, New Zealand abandons the Five Eyes
Washington Examiner · by Tom Rogan · January 11, 2021
Of course, the title caught my eye (one of my two eyes and not my five eyes:-))
But this appears to be hyperbole - the "abandonment" is that New Zealand did not stand with the other four in condemning China over Hong Kong (and Rogan provides other "offenses"). I have not heard of any reporting saying the New ealand has actually left the Five Eyes construct.
Conclusion:
“The bottom line: New Zealand has fed the rising perception in Washington that while its intelligence services remain staffed by talented patriots and allies, its government can no longer be trusted to safeguard the most sensitive American intelligence. The U.S. has also noticed the argument by influential New Zealanders that their government should now act as intermediary between the U.S. and China rather than an ally to the former.
Put simply, New Zealand's silence on Hong Kong is a symptom of a much deeper and more worrisome problem.”
4. Trump Orders U.S. Military Reorganization Favored by Pro-Israel Groups
WSJ · by Michael R. Gordon and Gordon Lubold
As General Zinni says this is probably the right time to do this.
5. America’s Far Right Isn’t Authoritarian. It’s Anti-Statist.
defenseone.com · by Christine German and Michael A. Hunzeker
An important essay. This is what I see on my social media feeds from many of my friends who are Trump supporters. Anti-statist is probably the best description. And there is the belief that the existential threat to America comes from the left. I believe this is what really animates them.
6. No Place in DOD for Extremism, White Supremacy, Officials Say
defense.gov · by Jim Garamone
Excerpt:
"We ... are doing everything we can to eliminate extremism in the Department of Defense," Gary Reed, the director for defense intelligence and counterintelligence, law enforcement and security, said. "DOD policy expressly prohibits military personnel from actively advocating supremacist, extremist or criminal gang doctrine, ideology or causes."
7. MIT Professor Who Received $19M in Federal Grants Arrested for Concealing Ties to China
National Review Online · by Brittany Bernstein · January 14, 2021
Excerpts:
“Chen allegedly received roughly $29 million in foreign funding since 2013, including the funds from SUSTech.
MIT spokeswoman Kimberly Allen said in a statement to the Daily Caller that the university is “deeply distressed” over Chen’s arrest.
“MIT believes the integrity of research is a fundamental responsibility, and we take seriously concerns about improper influence in U.S. research,” Allen said. “Prof. Chen is a long-serving and highly respected member of the research community, which makes the government’s allegations against him all the more distressing.”
8. Millions Flock to Telegram and Signal as Fears Grow Over Big Tech
The New York Times · by Jack Nicas, Mike Isaac and Sheera Frenkel · January 13, 2021
Growing counterintelligence challenges.
9. Opinion | Biden Must Retire the Illogical Great Power Competition Paradigm
commondreams.org · by Sharon Squassoni · January 13, 2021
There is more to great power competition than a nuclear arms race.
Excerpts:
“A big reason to retire the great power competition paradigm is its utter illogic when it comes to nuclear weapons. There is no winning a nuclear arms race and no winning a nuclear war. The use of any nuclear weapon in conflict is a loss for humanity. In the nuclear weapons realm, stability, not dominance, is the name of the game. In that realm, the United States, Russia, and China have a lot more to gain by cooperation than confrontation, and cooperation is all but impossible within a great power competition paradigm.
Take, for example, the conduct of nuclear arms control during the Trump administration. Arms control is the traditional sphere of cooperation when it comes to nuclear weapons. The United States repeatedly insisted that China be part of any deal to extend New START, even though China is not party to the treaty and has a far smaller nuclear arsenal than Russia or the United States. As Fu Cong, China’s director general for arms control, explained for a global audience in November, “Arms control that aims at increasing one’s own security, at the expense of the security of others, is neither acceptable nor sustainable” (Fu 2020). Fu then directly criticized the US for playing a zero-sum game. Predictably, China was not convinced to engage in arms control that only carried costs and no benefits for it.”
10. Norquist to serve as acting defense secretary; acting service secretaries named
Defense News · by Aaron Mehta · January 14, 2021
11. Why the alt-right believes another American Revolution is coming
theconversation.com · by Clare Corbould
Our Constitution was designed with the checks and balances and separation of powers (both at the federal level as well as among the federal, state, and local governments). The question is has our Constitution failed? If we support and defend it shouldn't our efforts be focused on making it work through the political system and processes that it established? Can violence, insurrection, and civil war support and defend our constitution? What is the end state for defending the Constitution through employment of violent ways and means?
I would really like to know the strategy of those who are advocating another revolution. I know they fear socialism from the radical left and the radical poses an existential threat in their minds. But don't we have sufficient political processes to protect against those radical ideologies? How does their strategy play out? How does violence insurrection and revolution support and defend the Constitution that so many profess to believe in?
12. Court orders arrest of Maria Ressa, Rambo Talabong over Benilde thesis story
The current Philippines regime is one the biggest threats to freedom of the press. Maria Ressa continues to fight the good fight. She deserves the support of the international community and freedom loving people of the Philippines.
13. New China defense law could "justify" PLA action against U.S.- think tank
Newsweek · by John Feng · January 13, 2021
Lawfare.
14. If You Want Peace, Study War
persuasion.community · by Margaret MacMillan
I am reminded of Edwin Starr:
“(War, huh) Yeah!
(What is it good for?) Absolutely nothing, uhuh”
Excerpts:
“I would not suggest that student preference should determine what departments offer. But they should at least be listened to. Much more important is what we, as societies, want our future leaders to know. Political history, diplomatic history and the study of war—they all offer critical warnings and instructive analogies to our times. Social and cultural histories, and history from the bottom up, add to our understanding too. But we need balance, and a sense of how the micro- and macro-histories mesh with each other.
Do we really want citizens who have so little knowledge of how war helped to shape our values and societies and our world? Do we ever want another president asking, as Donald Trump did during a visit to the Pearl Harbor memorial: “What’s this all about? What’s this a tour of?”
If we aren’t aware of how wars happen, we may fail to recognize warning signs when the next conflict brews, as it will.”
15. China’s Quiet Play For Latin America
noemamag.com · by Margaret Myers
Excerpts:
“However, the Trump administration’s heavy-handed, China-centric approach to regional policy may have unintentionally boosted Beijing’s image in Latin America. The Pew Research Center has noted that views of China in the region shifted from negative to mostly positive following Trump’s election in 2016, and have increased every year thereafter.
Trump’s punitive foreign policy and isolationist trade agenda also alienated critical U.S. allies in the region, including Latin American members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump withdrew from on his first day in office. Other aggressive moves — such as the nomination of Mauricio Claver-Carone, an American, to head the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which violated a long-standing agreement among IDB members that Latin Americans should lead the bank — reinforced the notion of a hegemonic U.S., making China’s claim of “non-interference” that much more appealing.
Now that Trump’s time in office is ending, China’s efforts to shape its image in Latin America will be made more difficult. Assuming Biden employs a more cooperative and moralistic approach to hemispheric affairs, China will be judged, as it often was before Trump, on its own merits rather than in comparison to Trump’s domestic and foreign policy, both of which have largely dismissed existential challenges to hemispheric wellbeing, including in the areas of global health and climate change.”
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"In the “strategic equation” of war there are “four factors — combat, economic, political, and psychologic - and that the last of these is coequal with the others.”
- U.S. Army General Staff, April 1918
"A well-organized intelligence service ... publishes estimates of the military, economic, political, and psychological status of [active and potential enemies, allies, and neutrals]."
- Alexander E. Powell, The Army Behind the Army, 1919
With absolutely no apologies to Leon Trotsky: America may not be interested in irregular, unconventional, and political warfare but they are being practiced around the world by those who are interested in them - namely the revisionist, rogue, and revolutionary powers and violent extremist organizations.