News and Commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and Published by Riley Murray.
1. US to withdraw from Open Skies Treaty with Russia: officials
2. Trump Should Act Against Russia’s Use of Chemical Weapons
3. What If China Launched a Surprise Attack on the U.S. Military?
4. Time for Donald Trump to Visit Taiwan
5. Clickbait and Switch: How Junk News Sites Influence Young People
6. UK raises pressure on China with carrier deployment to Asia
7. China’s major Indo-Pacific trade deal a 'wake-up call' for US and Europe
8. Why Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution Will Fail: CNBC’s Cramer Answers - Chaos!
9. China Has Made Drone Warfare Global
10. State Department Says Anti-American Educators Undermine U.S. Efforts to Counter China
11. Trump Exits Open Skies Treaty, Moves to Discard Observation Planes
12. Hackers 'try to steal Covid vaccine secrets in intellectual property war'
13. Total Number of U.S. Covid-19 Cases Tops 12 Million
14. Trump Forfeits America’s Slice Of $200 Billion In Global GDP On His Way Out The Door
15. Thousands march in Taiwan against US pork imports
16. US provides $17M in humanitarian aid as Hurricane Iota death toll rises
17. Joe Biden’s Silence on Ending the Drone Wars
18. Mapping China's Tech Giants
19. WH's Navarro: 'Now' Is Time For Trump To Crack Down On China
20. 700,000 and Counting: Why the TOW Missile System Is So Deadly
21. Will American history forget the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?
22. What The U.S. Election Meltdown Looks Like to Other Countries
23. The oldest Chinese restaurant in America
1. US to withdraw from Open Skies Treaty with Russia: officials
foxnews.com · by Lucia I. Suarez Sang, Lucas Tomlinson
2. Trump Should Act Against Russia’s Use of Chemical Weapons
defenseone.com · by Gregory D. Koblentz and Andrea Stricker – 20 November 2020
Conclusion: "The outgoing administration should impose appropriate sanctions right away to send a clear message to the Kremlin that the entire U.S. leadership considers Moscow’s actions to be unconscionable. Only a unified response at home and solidarity with our allies abroad will be able to match the brazenness of Russia’s violations of international law and norms against these barbaric weapons."
3. What If China Launched a Surprise Attack on the U.S. Military?
The National Interest · by David Axe · November 22, 2020
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
“Be extremely subtle even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.”
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
- Sun Tzu
4. Time for Donald Trump to Visit Taiwan
The National Interest · by Christian Whiton · November 21, 2020
That would be quite an event though I would not bet on it.
Conclusion: "In effect, the Taiwanese would be reminding us of who we are: that contrary to the moaning and lies of the progressive Left, America has a remarkable and enduring history of freedom and of helping others defend freedom. And we would be reminding China’s illegitimate government that we have its number. Get on a plane and go."
5. Clickbait and Switch: How Junk News Sites Influence Young People
dailywire.com · November 21, 2020
More on the culture wars. I have been checking out some of the news my college age daughter is watching on You Tube and there are actually some pretty good shows that actually report the news without injecting too much opinion into the reporting.
Two interesting excerpts:
Conservatives think their children become progressive because of their professors. But it’s often because of the content produced by BuzzFeed, NowThis and other sites like them. College kids don’t love their homework or going to class, but they do love reading stories on their phones.
Conservatives and libertarians must remember that political technology is philosophically neutral. Rather than trying to force apolitical college kids to read bland policy papers or watch overtly ideological videos, we need to shift the fight to the most important battlefield there is—the culture.
6. UK raises pressure on China with carrier deployment to Asia
asia.nikkei.com- by Yusuke Nakajima – 21 November 2020
7. China’s major Indo-Pacific trade deal a 'wake-up call' for US and Europe
Washington Examiner · by Joel Gehrke · November 21, 2020
Excerpt:
China has attempted to use economic incentives and pressure to discourage the U.S. and other democratic nations, especially in Europe, from establishing a united front against Beijing. Politicians in Germany, the economic heavyweight in the European Union, have placed a premium on economic ties with China, but they may be wearing thin.
“China is absolutely an enemy to the EU’s ideas about the European way of life, to how we define what our society should look like,” Weber told the South China Morning Post.
China’s major Indo-Pacific trade deal a 'wake-up call' for US and Europe
8. Why Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution Will Fail: CNBC’s Cramer Answers - Chaos!
Forbes · by Steve Brozak · November 21, 2020
I hope this is the red team analysis (and "pre-mortem" See page 73 here The Red team Handbook: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/documents/ufmcs/The_Red_Team_Handbook.pdf ) and we can avoid these errors.
Conclusion:
By definition, any complex activity that takes place on a national scale and requires military-like precision carries an element of danger. If anticipated, much of the danger can be ameliorated or avoided. It is also likely that no matter how thorough the planning is, there will be unexpected events once the project is initiated, therefore, flexibility and adaptability also will be important requirements for efficient and effective nationwide distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine.
In the end the lives and well-being of all Americans is being placed on the development, manufacture, delivery and administration of vaccines to control Covid-19. This effort must be conducted in a carefully planned and professionally implemented manner and as Jim Cramer pointed out, there are no plans, hence rather than a predictably reliable roll-out, chaos should be expected. We all remember the hackneyed but true adage - If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
9. China Has Made Drone Warfare Global
Foreign Affairs · by Michael C. Horowitz, Joshua A. Schwartz, and Matthew Fuhrmann · November 20, 2020
Interesting conclusion:
Some research even suggests that the use of drones could contribute to stability in some cases. Experimental war games have demonstrated that military decision-makers are more likely to favor aggressive military responses to the downing of an inhabited aircraft than they are to that of an uninhabited drone. For a real-world example, consider President Trump’s decision on June 19 to back down from launching airstrikes against Iran after it downed a $130 million RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone. To justify his decision, Trump tweeted that retaliating with airstrikes was “not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”
While the long-term impact of this military technology is not yet known, it is clear that the genie is out of the bottle, and armed drones are proliferating rapidly. Big questions about drone proliferation thus loom for an incoming Biden administration. A President Joe Biden could restore Obama-era restrictions on U.S. drone exports, once again ceding the market to China. A Biden administration might, conversely, decide there is no turning back, as drones become a more regular feature of warfare. Or it could chart a middle path, restoring a somewhat higher level of scrutiny for drone exports while making them more accessible to close allies, especially democracies.
10. State Department Says Anti-American Educators Undermine U.S. Efforts to Counter China
freebeacon.com · by Jack Beyrer · November 21, 2020
Excerpts:
Experts also spoke to the strength of the State Department’s efforts. Foundation for Defense of Democracies defense experts Bradley Bowman and Nathan Picarsic applauded the document for laying out the stakes of the conflict.
"The Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State deserves credit for undertaking such an ambitious paper focused on the People’s Republic of China—the greatest threat that the United States and fellow democracies confront," Bowman told the Free Beacon. "As the paper notes, the staff is trying to ‘step back and take a long-term view.' Too few in the U.S. government attempt to do that, and such an effort is sorely needed."
Picarsic called Beijing's rise "a generational challenge." He emphasized that America's cooperation with European and Asian partners across several areas will determine how Washington stands up to China.
"The hard work ahead will be determined by those on the ground and in the trenches of 21st-century battlegrounds spanning ideological, technological, economic, and military domains," Picarsic said.
11. Trump Exits Open Skies Treaty, Moves to Discard Observation Planes
WSJ · by Michael R. Gordon
The buried lede: "In a move that could complicate President-elect Joe Biden’s options if he sought to re-enter the agreement, the Trump administration is taking steps to dispose of the two specially equipped OC-135B planes the U.S. has used to carry out Open Skies flights."
12. Hackers 'try to steal Covid vaccine secrets in intellectual property war'
The Guardian · by Dan Sabbagh · November 22, 2020
This is what revisionist and rogue powers do.
13. Total Number of U.S. Covid-19 Cases Tops 12 Million
WSJ · by Esther Fung
A sad development.
14. Trump Forfeits America’s Slice Of $200 Billion In Global GDP On His Way Out The Door
Forbes · by William Pesek · November 21, 2020
Ouch!
15. Thousands march in Taiwan against US pork imports
AP · November 22, 2020
16. US provides $17M in humanitarian aid as Hurricane Iota death toll rises
foxnews.com · by James Rogers | Fox News
17. Joe Biden’s Silence on Ending the Drone Wars
The Intercept · by Elise Swain · November 22, 2020
The buried lede - reasserting Article I of the Constitution.
Conclusion:
“I think there is a genuine bipartisan consensus to be built around this idea of Congress reasserting its Article I authority over war,” Duss said, referring to the constitutional provisions that give Congress sole power to declare war. “In following through on the commitment to end the forever war, that’s something that could be very useful for the Biden administration to focus on.”
Ending the wars is a broadly popular idea, but different actors see different ways of accomplishing the goal. Critics of the U.S.’s assassination programs, though, warn of approaches that would bring troops home while leaving the shadowy targeted killing programs in place. Pradhan said, “There is no credibility to ending a war if you continue these strikes without accountability.”
18. Mapping China's Tech Giants
The 28 page report can be downloaded here: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/2019-05/Mapping%20China%27s%20technology%20giants.pdf?EINwiNpste_FojtgOPriHtlFSD2OD2tL
19. WH's Navarro: 'Now' Is Time For Trump To Crack Down On China
newsmax.com · by Cathy Burke · November 22, 2020
20. 700,000 and Counting: Why the TOW Missile System Is So Deadly
The National Interest · by Peter Suciu · November 21, 2020
The TOW has been around for a long time. When I commanded Combat Support Company, 1-506th Infantry in Korea we had 18 TOW systems in three anti-tank platoons (plus the Scouts and 4.2 inch Mortars). The last thing I did just before I left Korea and command in 1988 right after the Seoul Olympics was to conduct a night live fire training exercise in Story Impact area right alongside the DMZ. We could never do anything like that today.
21. Will American history forget the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?
taskandpurpose.com · by Jeff Schogol
Excerpts:
The Forever Wars have been allowed to mull along for nearly 20 years because our elected officials, television news, and most of the American public have become completely apathetic to the consequences of having troops deployed in war zones.
These days, I swear to myself as I write about the latest troop drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq because I know that almost no one cares. It’s as if the past 19 years never happened.
To paraphrase President Abraham Lincoln: The world will little note nor long remember defense officials’ vapid statements about progress in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, but we should never forget that a generation of service members volunteered to go to war, and they kept fighting long after their government had ceased to care about the outcome.
22. What The U.S. Election Meltdown Looks Like to Other Countries
Politico – 22 November 2020
We are still a nation founded on an idea and ideals. The only such country in the world. Our great American experiment works and will continue to work. Convince me otherwise.
23. The oldest Chinese restaurant in America
CBS News · November 22, 2020
So this is when (and where) it all started.
"In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack-the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers."
-Sun Tzu
"...there was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, 'and this will always be the man in the street.' Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology...Hatred and contempt must be directed at particular individuals."
- H. Trevor-Roper (ed), The Goebbels Diaries, p. XX, cited in Regan, Geoffrey. 1987. Great Military Disasters. New York: M. Evans and Company.
"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment nothing can fail. Without it nothing can succeed. He who molds opinion is greater than he who enacts laws."
- President Abraham Lincoln