News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.
1. China expected to unveil hike in military budget as tensions rise
2. Five Reasons to Be Wary of a New Domestic Terrorism Law
3. Marines, Infantry Most Highly Represented Among Veterans Arrested After Capitol Riot
4. Younger Military Personnel Reject Vaccine, in Warning for Commanders and the Nation
5. Son Tay Raid commander Leroy Manor dies at 100
6. Psychological ‘signature’ for extremist mind found
7. The rivalry between America and China will hinge on South-East Asia
8. Opinion | America is becoming more imperial than many empires were. That’s a mistake.
9. The Long Arm of U.S. Law: The Patriot Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 and Foreign Banks
10. Military divers wage war on trash
11. New guidance for federal hiring and firing puts less emphasis on marijuana use as a disqualifier
1. China expected to unveil hike in military budget as tensions rise
japantimes.co.jp · February 28, 2021
Excerpts:
“If Beijing does announce a sharp increase, it would signal an intention to intensify military operations against Taiwan or assert Chinese sovereignty over other disputed territory in the South China Sea or East China Sea, Babbage and other Western analysts said.
Wang Xiangsui, a retired senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army and a professor at Beihang University in Beijing, said a rumor last year that the United States was considering a plan to use MQ-9 drones to attack islands or reefs in the South China Sea in a so-called “October Surprise” would have given China a keener sense of crisis about the security situation.
Beijing took the rumor seriously enough to seek formal clarification from the Pentagon and subsequently publicized U.S. denials, he added.
Wang said U.S. moves to restrict Chinese access to military equipment and technology would force China to invest more on homegrown research and development.
“The U.S. military wants to preserve its overwhelming advantage in nuclear and space, and China wants to upset this. More spending is definitely needed,” Wang said.
2. Five Reasons to Be Wary of a New Domestic Terrorism Law
rand.org · by Brian Michael Jenkins
Wise words form one of our nation's terrorism experts.
3. Marines, Infantry Most Highly Represented Among Veterans Arrested After Capitol Riot
military.com · by Gina Harkins and Hope Hodge Seck · February 26, 2021
Yes let's designate the infantry an extremist organization (note my extreme sarcasm).
Seriously:
Jessica Watkins, who served in the Army infantry and is an alleged member of the Oath Keepers, is accused of holding a training course before the Capitol riot.
Perhaps she served in an infantry division. There are still few women who have served in the Infantry. I think most women who have been in the infantry are still serving in the infantry since it has only been recently that women have been able to complete infantry training and be granted infantry as a military occupational specialty.
I think this is a more accurate description. Women did not serve in the military occupation specialty infantry in 2002
Prosecutors initially charged Watkins and two other Oath Keepers who allegedly planned to take over the Capitol. These three defendants are veterans; Watkins served in an infantry unit in the US Army for three years and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2002, according to the Pentagon.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/26/politics/jessica-watkins-oath-keepers-capitol-attack/index.html
So now I question the entire infantry statistic in this article. Serving in an infantry unit (e.g., 1st Infantry Division, 2d Infantry Division, 3d Infantry Division, etc.) is not the same as serving in the infantry. There are lots of non-intrantrymen serving in infantry units.
4. Younger Military Personnel Reject Vaccine, in Warning for Commanders and the Nation
The New York Times · by Jennifer Steinhauer · February 27, 2021
This is really troubling. Have our young troops been influenced by disinformation?
I am reminded of Giap's strategy of Dau Tranh.
Dan Van- Action among your people: Total mobilization of propaganda, motivational & organizational measures to manipulate internal masses and fighting units. Example: Intensive indoctrination and total mobilization of all civilian and military personnel in North Vietnam.
Binh Van- Action among enemy military: Subversion, proselytizing, and propaganda to encourage desertion, defection and lowered morale among enemy troops. Example: contribution to large number of South Vietnamese Army deserters and draft evaders in early years.
Dich Van- Action among enemy's people: Total propaganda effort to sow discontent, defeatism, dissent and disloyalty among enemy's population. Involves creation and/or manipulation of front groups and sympathizers. Example: work among South Vietnamese and US media, activist and academic circles.
Let's influence the young troops so the US military will not gain herd immunity. Hyperbole perhaps, but we should give this some thought.
5. Son Tay Raid commander Leroy Manor dies at 100
airforcetimes.com · by Harm Venhuizen · February 27, 2021
The passing of another great American. Rest in peace General.
6. Psychological ‘signature’ for extremist mind found
asiatimes.com · by Fred Lewsey · February 28, 2021
This will not go over well and will play right into some extremist narratives when there are calls to use a "psychological signature" to identify extremists - this will give "big brother" new tools for repression. (note my snark - but we need to be wary of these kinds of studies and how they might be used (or, more importantly, misused)).
That said we should read this article and embark on some self reflection and reflection on those we know.
7. The rivalry between America and China will hinge on South-East Asia
The Economist· February 27, 2021
Conclusion: "To help South-East Asia avoid slipping into China’s orbit, America should encourage it to keep its options open and build counterweights to Chinese influence. One mechanism is more regional integration. As it is, trade and investment among the countries of South-East Asia outweigh the business they do with China. Another mechanism is to strengthen ties with other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea—one ASEAN has rightly embraced. Above all, America should not fall into the trap of trying to force its members to pick sides. That is the one thing South-East Asia is determined to resist."
The battle for China’s backyard
8. Opinion | America is becoming more imperial than many empires were. That’s a mistake.
The Washington Post· by Fareed Zakaria · February 25, 2021
I too am saddened by the over "securitization" ( as Zakaira writes, hyper-securitization and “thickening” ) of our capitol and government.
Although it may seem counterintuitive now is the time to be doubling down on American ideals of freedom and civil liberties. Our over-reaction to events and our imposition of questionable population and resources measures to prevent future events may have adverse second and third order effects and may actually make us less secure.
9. The Long Arm of U.S. Law: The Patriot Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 and Foreign Banks
lawfareblog.com· by Zia M. Faruqui, Jessie K. Liu, Noha K. Moustafa · February 23, 2021
Excerpts:
“The Patriot Act authorized subpoenas to foreign banks for records related to correspondent accounts, “including records maintained outside of the United States relating to the deposit of funds into the foreign bank,” and empowered the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury to bar a foreign bank that refused to comply from correspondent banking in the U.S.
At the time of the North Korea investigation, there was little precedent to guide the D.C. prosecutors, but they decided to plow forward anyway. By late 2017, they were ready to move, and on Christmas Eve, the U.S. attorney made a special trip into the office to sign a Patriot Act subpoena to the third bank, kicking off 18 months of negotiations and litigation that ultimately led to a sweeping U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit opinion in 2019 upholding the subpoena. On the first day of 2021, Congress passed groundbreaking legislation, over the president’s veto, expanding the ability of U.S. authorities to obtain foreign bank records. The pleadings in the Patriot Act subpoena litigation were unsealed recently, and they provide many clues about how the U.S. government will use its new subpoena authority, how foreign banks might respond and how courts will rule if such subpoenas are challenged.
...
At the same time, it remains unclear how frequently U.S. prosecutors will seek to use this expanded subpoena authority. Since Patriot Act subpoenas inevitably implicate international relations, they cannot be issued without a significant degree of intragovernment consultation and coordination, including written approval from the Office of International Affairs in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, which manages the department’s relations with its international counterparts. Moreover, although the federal courts in D.C. upheld the Patriot Act subpoena, they also made clear that their holdings were grounded in their conclusions that China’s compliance with its MLAA obligations had been unreliable and that the critical U.S. national security interests at stake, involving North Korea’s nuclear program, outweighed the comity concerns raised by the subpoena. During a floor debate on the AMLA amendments’ reach and application, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer urged the Treasury and Justice departments “only to use this new authority where a foreign bank operates in a jurisdiction as to which no MLAT or other information-sharing agreement exists or where the relevant foreign government has not satisfied its obligations under an MLAT or other information-sharing agreement.” In addition, in the nearly 20 years since the passage of the Patriot Act, there has been only one other publicly known issuance of such a subpoena.
...
That said, the AMLA unquestionably gives U.S. prosecutors more leverage in seeking to obtain documents held by foreign banks overseas. The new provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act geared toward fighting money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions, combined with the Congress’s willingness to override the president’s veto, signal bipartisan concern about these threats and readiness to grant investigators and prosecutors tools to combat them. Much of the practical effect of the new statute may well take place behind the scenes—in negotiations between banks and U.S. prosecutors, banks and their local authorities over document productions, and policymakers in both countries. The one thing that is certain is that there will be much more time spent on, and attention paid to, Patriot Act subpoenas than at any other time in the past 20 twenty years of their existence.
10. Military divers wage war on trash
keysnews.com · by Citizen staff report
11. New guidance for federal hiring and firing puts less emphasis on marijuana use as a disqualifier
New meaning to "smoke'em if you got'em?" Though I know that was not meant to be applied to lighting up in this way. (note my attempt at humor). I still would not go out and start using marijuana right away.
Excerpts:
“John Mahoney, a Washington-based lawyer who represents federal employees, said that when taking actions against employees for positive drug tests, agencies already consider a range of factors but that some "are pretty hard-core in disciplining employees."
"It is significant in that OPM is putting less emphasis on past marijuana use in terms of suitability determinations," he said in a phone interview. "This does mark the beginning of a trend in the federal sector of moving toward a less strict standard vis-à-vis marijuana use, and I expect that trend to continue."
He added, though, that federal applicants and employees still should understand that under the government's drug-free workplace policy, current marijuana use is prohibited and could be the basis for firing.”
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"An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot."
- Thomas Paine
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -- and both commonly succeed, and are right."
- H.L. Mencken
“Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.”
- George Washington, George Washington's Farewell Address