News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Duncan Moore.
1. Russia’s Fancy Bear hackers likely penetrated a US federal agency
2. Mike Pompeo should visit Taiwan
3. Marine Corps activates first new base in nearly 70 years
4. No matter who wins in November, budget cuts and domestic politics will crimp America’s China strategy
5. Facebook, Twitter flounder in QAnon crackdown
6. ‘We’re not taking a knee’: training under pandemic conditions could better prepare soldiers for the big fight
7. The Asia inheritance: Trump and US alliances
8. Kremlin orders 2-week virus quarantine for all Putin visitors – Reports
9. Trump tweets that he will overturn recent changes to the Navy SEAL ethos
10. Two more reasons to worry about China
11. Why downplaying China's election interference could backfire
12. What if Sherman Kent was wrong? Revisiting the intelligence debate of 1949
13. Pentagon urges caution in linking steep increase in Army suicides to pandemic
14. A solarium for presidential transition teams
15. 50 U.S. senators call for talks on trade agreement with Taiwan
16. How Russia targets U.S. elections
17. The United States has repatriated 27 Americans from Syria and Iraq including ten charged with terrorism-related offenses for their support to ISIS
18. British Army to become force of ‘boots and bots’: CGS
19. Why Trump’s retreat from US allies could have nuclear consequences
20. The truth about today’s anarchists
1. Russia’s Fancy Bear hackers likely penetrated a US federal agency
Wired · Andy Greenberg · October 1, 2020
I wonder what agency.
2. Mike Pompeo Should Visit Taiwan
National Interest · Michael Rubin · October 1, 2020
This would really raise tensions to a boiling point.
But I am not really clear what critical strategic effect we would be trying to achieve with such a visit.
3. Marine Corps activates first new base in nearly 70 years
Marine Corps Times · Philip Athey · October 1, 2020
Will we shift more forces from Okinawa to Guam?
4. No matter who wins in November, budget cuts and domestic politics will crimp America’s China strategy
Diplomat · Jacob Parakilas · September 30, 2020
And I think the effects of COVID-19 are going to be felt for years to come.
5. Facebook, Twitter flounder in QAnon crackdown
AP News · Amanda Seitz & Barbara Ortutay · October 1, 2020
This QAon conspiracy is just crazy. But it still amazes me how any sane or normal person could fall for it.
6. ‘We’re not taking a knee’: training under pandemic conditions could better prepare soldiers for the big fight
Stars & Stripes · Corey Dickstein · October 1, 2020
The military must "fight through" this pandemic. If we fail to do so, we not only damage readiness, we also telegraph our weakness to our adversaries, and they will surely try to develop biological weapons that will cause our military to halt operations.
7. The Asia inheritance: Trump and US Alliances
Diplomat · Abraham M. Denmark & Shihoko Goto · October 1, 2020
Some apparent good news. We need our alliance structure. Without it we are vulnerable, and we will be unable to protect our national interests.
8. Kremlin orders 2-week virus quarantine for all Putin visitors – Reports
Moscow Times · September 30, 2020
Very interesting timing of this order (this report is from Wednesday). Did the Kremlin know something before we did?
9. Trump tweets that he will overturn recent changes to the Navy SEAL ethos
Navy Times · Geoff Ziezulewicz · October 1, 2020
We just do not need this.
10. Two more reasons to worry about China
FDD · Thomas Joscelyn · October 1, 2020
Don't we have enough already?
11. Why Downplaying China's Election Interference Could Backfire
FDD · by Craig Singleton · October 1, 2020
12. What if Sherman Kent was wrong? Revisiting the intelligence debate of 1949
War On the Rocks · Zachery Tyson Brown · October 1, 2020
13. Pentagon urges caution in linking steep increase in Army suicides to pandemic
ABC News · Luis Martinez · October 1, 2020
14. A solarium for presidential transition teams
War On the Rocks · Benjamin Jensen · October 1, 2020
A useful tutorial on the transition process.
15. 50 U.S. senators call for talks on trade agreement with Taiwan
Reuters · Patricia Zengerle & David Gregorio · October 1, 2020
16. How Russia targets U.S. elections
RAND · Marek N. Posard et al.
17. The United States has repatriated 27 Americans from Syria and Iraq including ten charged with terrorism-related offenses for their support to ISIS
US Department of Justice · October 1, 2020
18. British Army to become force of ‘boots and bots’: CGS
Army Technology · Harry Lye · September 30, 2020
19. Why Trump’s retreat from US allies could have nuclear consequences
Defense One · Eric Brewer · October 1, 2020
A cautionary note.
20. The truth about today’s anarchists
New York Times · Farah Stockman · September 30, 2020
"The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards."
- Sir William Francis Butler
"The history that lies inert in unread books does no work in the world. If you want a new idea, read an old book. `Tis the good reader that makes the good book. A book is like a mirror. If an ass looks in, no prophet can peer out."
- The "maxims” quoted from Clark Becker, Lord Lytton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Georg Lichtenberg quoted in Jay Luuvas' Military History: Is It Still Practicable?
“The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”
- General of the Army, Omar Bradley, rendered on Veterans Day 1948 (then called Armistice Day)