06/28/2020 News & Commentary – National Security

News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.

1. The new voice of America breaks his silence

2. The Army Is About to Get its First Female Green Beret

3.  Scientists just beginning to understand the many health problems caused by COVID-19

4. Opinion | China has been bungling its post-coronavirus foreign policy

5. The Chinese Communist Party's Ideology and Global Ambitions

6. Here are the biggest national security challenges that Trump or Biden will face after the presidential election

7.  How conspiracy theories emerge-and how their storylines fall apart

8. Opinion | I opposed taking Woodrow Wilson's name off our school. Here's why I changed my mind.

9. Opinion | What tearing down statues reveals about revolutionary movements

10. Facebook Tightens Controls on Speech as Ad Boycott Grows

11. Taiwan fact-checking group wins award for debunking vote rigging claim - Focus Taiwan

12. (Australian) Special forces chief acknowledges war crimes, blames 'poor moral leadership'

13. New MARSOC Commander - MG James Glynn

14. OSS Morale Operations: The Story of Cornflakes, Pig Iron and Sheet Iron

1. The new Voice of America breaks his silence

Washington Examiner · by Byron York · June 26, 2020

This is the key statement from my Mr. Pack: "My plan is to bring this agency back to what it was legally required to do," That is something we all should be able to support.  

2. The Army Is About to Get its First Female Green Beret

news.yahoo.com · by Matthew Cox · June 26, 2020

July 9th will be a historic day for the Regiment.

3. Scientists just beginning to understand the many health problems caused by COVID-19

Reuters · by Julie Steenhuysen· June 27, 2020

This is very worrisome.  Think about the long term impact on those who are infected and thus the long term impact on the medical system. This should be enough to convince all of us that we should implement aggressive and effective public health procedures to #killthevirus.  It is going to take an orchestrated national and individual effort to eradicate this deadly virus.  We cannot depend on a vaccine or therapeutics. We all must be vigilant.  There will be many long term effects that we are not yet anticipating.  

4. Opinion | China has been bungling its post-coronavirus foreign policy

The Washington Post · by Fareed Zakaria · June 25, 2020

A good run down on Chinese blunders.  

5. The Chinese Communist Party's Ideology and Global Ambitions

whitehouse.gov · by President Donald J. Trump

Video at the news link for those who want to watch and listen rather than read.

Also, here is the link to the White House's New Strategic Approach to China released on May 26, 2020. 

6. Here are the biggest national security challenges that Trump or Biden will face after the presidential election

taskandpurpose.com · by Jeff Schogol

Spoiler alert:

1. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

2.  The war in Afghanistan

3.  Cutting the Pentagon's budget

4. Extremists in the ranks

5. North Korea

No China? Russia? Middle East? Economy?  That must be for part two.  But in defense of the author this is the focus of his article:" immediate decisions that will affect the lives of troops and their families."

7. How conspiracy theories emerge-and how their storylines fall apart

phys.org · by Jessica Wolf, University of California, Los Angeles

We must pay attention to what happens with conspiracy theories.  They are too prevalent today and there are too many who are swayed by them (just look at the idiocy of QAnon)

I have never heard of this description before: "computational folklorist."

8. Opinion | I opposed taking Woodrow Wilson's name off our school. Here's why I changed my mind.

The Washington Post · by Christopher L. Eisgruber

Perhaps some will read this objectively. I know the argument of where will it stop? But this is a thoughtful OpEd from the President of Princeton.

9. Opinion | What tearing down statues reveals about revolutionary movements

The Washington Post  · by David Von Drehle · June 26, 2020

Some Sunday food for thought. "This continuum, from peaceful protests to wanton destruction, is an arc traveled by iconoclasts through the ages. And it may illuminate the frequent failures of revolutionary movements. Destruction is easy, persuasion is difficult. The ground has shifted; the country can be persuaded to look at its past anew. Vandalism, however, will lose the argument."

I will just add one of the reasons the American Revolution succeeded while others failed is because our founding fathers thought (and argued) more about the devising a governing system and rather than just write a Declaration of Independence and fight a revolution. They were not focused on destruction like so many today. They were focused on the future and the principles they believed in. They wrote a Constitution (after the failed Articles of Confederation) to codify what is arguably the most effective political philosophy in history and then explained it to (and persuaded) the people through the Federalist Papers (and there has been no improvement on this political philosophy since the Federalist Papers). Most other revolutions never invest the time and intellectual capital to develop the system and structure of a government with separation of powers and checks and balances to protect individual liberty, regulate interstate commerce, and provide for national security based on the universal rights of man (men and women). Most revolutions (like political parties today) are only concerned with their own power and remaining in power and are not committed to the ideals of the way our founding fathers were - and yet there was much disagreement among the founding fathers which had to result in the compromise agreement of the Constitution.

10. Facebook Tightens Controls on Speech as Ad Boycott Grows

WSJ · by Suzanne Vranica and Deepa Seetharaman · June 26, 2020

The market still plays a role.

11.  Taiwan fact-checking group wins award for debunking vote rigging claim - Focus Taiwan

focustaiwan.tw · by Sabine Cheng and Matthew Mazzetta · June 27, 2020

12. (Australian) Special forces chief acknowledges war crimes, blames 'poor moral leadership'

The Sydney Morning Herald · by Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters · June 28, 2020

I am always reminded of the late LTG Sam Wilson whenever I read about special operations and ethics and moral leadership.

20.  INTEGRITY, HONESTY, AND LOYALTY.

            A.  Need to take a moral bath.
            B.  Special Operations are very decentralized in execution and conducive to improprieties.
Improprieties, because of the political sensitivity of SO mission, cause long term mistrust within the command structure that take hard work and many years to overcome.

https://maxoki161.blogspot.com/2014/03/20-characteristics-of-special.html

13. New MARSOC Commander - MG James Glynn

sof.news · by Lance Cpl. Christian Ayers, SOF News · June 28, 2020

Congratulations Raiders.

14. OSS Morale Operations: The Story of Cornflakes, Pig Iron and Sheet Iron

psywar.org · June 23, 2013

Some history reading for Sunday.

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Patience strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride, bridles the tongue."

- George Horne

"A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world."

- John le Carré

"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion."

- Democritus