News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.
1. Mike Pompeo Urges Chinese People to Change Communist Party
2. 'Nightmare scenario' confronts China as Asian aggression opens doors for U.S.
3. Opinion | Why we should invite Hong Kong businesses to move to the United States
4. US senators introduce legislation to counter China on multiple fronts
5. China's Deep State: The Communist Party and the Coronavirus
6. Indo-Pacific Commander Details Regional Deterrence Efforts
7. China Aims Missiles At Guam. How Should the Pentagon Defend America’s Pacific Bomber Base?
8. Republican-Controlled Senate Defies Trump, Passes Defense Spending Bill Removing Confederate Names From Military Bases
9. That Other Virus (spoiler alert: Anarchy)
10. INDOPACOM Wants Billions To Build, As Pentagon Plans Cuts To Overseas Presence
11. House, Senate pass bills to study the number of cancers striking military pilots
12. In Defense of A Strategy of Not-Losing
13. What If It Doesn’t End Quickly? Reconsidering US Preparedness for Protracted Conventional War
14. Pennsylvania man pleads guilty to posing as heroic Navy SEAL to get $300,000 in veterans benefits
15. Hybrid Warfare: How Cancel Culture Can Fuel a War
16. Exclusive: How Carlos Ghosn Escaped Japan, According to the Ex-Green Beret Who Snuck Him Out
17. The Strange Defeat of the United States: A French Historian’s Message for Pandemic Times
18. Special Forces Operatives are 'High Functioning Psychopaths': What Happens When they are Deployed to 'Democratic Cities'?
1. Mike Pompeo Urges Chinese People to Change Communist Party
WSJ · by Kate O’Keeffe and William Mauldin
We should send the Chinese people Gene Sharp's From Dictatorship to Democracy.
2. 'Nightmare scenario' confronts China as Asian aggression opens doors for U.S.
washingtontimes.com · by Mike Glenn
Can we exploit China's problems and mistakes?
3. Opinion | Why we should invite Hong Kong businesses to move to the United States
The Washington Post · by Opinion by Jonathan Schanzer and Eric Lorber
4. US senators introduce legislation to counter China on multiple fronts
SCMP · by Robert Delaney
How will this align with the White House's new strategic approach to China? Here it is.
5. China's Deep State: The Communist Party and the Coronavirus
lowyinstitute.org · by Richard McGregor
I think Richard MacGregor's book The Party is still one of the best books on the Chinese Communist Party. It is about 10 years old but I think it remains a valuable read for understand the party.
6. Indo-Pacific Commander Details Regional Deterrence Efforts
defense.gov · by Jim Garamone
7. China Aims Missiles At Guam. How Should the Pentagon Defend America’s Pacific Bomber Base?
Forbes · by David Axe · July 23, 2020
Good question.
8. Republican-Controlled Senate Defies Trump, Passes Defense Spending Bill Removing Confederate Names From Military Bases
Forbes · by Rachel Sandler · July 23, 2020
It seems Congress does have enough votes to override a veto.
9. That Other Virus (spoiler alert: Anarchy)
legion.org · by National Commander James "Bill" Oxford
A short, thought provoking essay.
10. INDOPACOM Wants Billions To Build, As Pentagon Plans Cuts To Overseas Presence
breakingdefense.com · by Paul McLeary
Even if we go to more of a rotational force presence we will still need facilities.
11. House, Senate pass bills to study the number of cancers striking military pilots
missoulian.com · by Tara Copp McClatchy · July 23, 2020
Just pilots? I know there are other cancer issues for service members.
12. In Defense of A Strategy of Not-Losing
thestrategybridge.org · July 23, 2020
I could not help adding these quotes: “The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerilla wins if he does not lose.” Henry Kissinger, Foreign Affairs, Jan 1969
“You will kill ten of our men, and we will kill one of yours, and in the end it will be you who tires of it” Ho Chi Minh (1969)
13. What If It Doesn’t End Quickly? Reconsidering US Preparedness for Protracted Conventional War
mwi.usma.edu · by Patrick Savage · July 23, 2020
Mao did write a little book on Protracted Warfare.
And Sun Tzu reminds us:
"Therefore, I have heard of military campaigns that were clumsy but swift, but I have never seen military campaigns that were skilled but protracted.
No nation has ever benefited from protracted warfare." Sun Tzu.
14. Pennsylvania man pleads guilty to posing as heroic Navy SEAL to get $300,000 in veteran’s benefits
taskandpurpose.com · by Robert Moran, The Philadelphia Inquirer
It is amazing that people do these things. I hope the judge throws the book at him.
15. Hybrid Warfare: How Cancel Culture Can Fuel a War
securityboulevard.com · by Daniel Smith on July 22, 2020 · July 22, 2020
I do not know if Hybrid Warfare is that difficult to define. Frank Hoffman provided us with a useful definition:
"Any adversary that simultaneously and adaptively employs a fused mix of conventional weapons, irregular tactics, terrorism and criminal behavior in the battle space to obtain their political objectives."
16. Exclusive: How Carlos Ghosn Escaped Japan, According to the Ex-Green Beret Who Snuck Him Out
Vanity Fair · by May Jeong
Interesting background on another crazy story about someone from the SF Regiment.
17. The Strange Defeat of the United States: A French Historian’s Message for Pandemic Times
Foreign Affairs · by Robert Zaretsky · July 20, 2020
I bet you did not expect to read about the Phoney War, the Maginot Line, the fall of France at the beginning of WWII and about someone who served in the French Resistance.. An interesting read with advice for historians.
18. Special Forces Operatives are 'High Functioning Psychopaths': What Happens When they are Deployed to 'Democratic Cities'?
bylinetimes.com · by CJ Werleman· July 23, 2020
Ugh...I offer this screed purely for propaganda education. The author notes his complete lack of credibility when he tells us none of his "research" has ever made it onto the pages of a manuscript. This kind of "research could never make it through a peer review.
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"We are all inevitably someone's adversary."
- Lawrence Freedman, Strategy: A History
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams
"Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith."
- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America