Europe Rallies To Push Back On Russian Threat

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Germany, France, and Poland support stronger European integration to counter Russia, potentially mobilizing frozen Russian financial assets to support Ukraine under an EU-proposed scheme, as well as deeper defense integration with Kyiv.

NATO has expanded its Baltic Sentry mission with additional vigilance assets and activities in response to recent drone incidents in Denmark.

If Russia again encroaches in NATO-member airspace, officials now have set expectations about how that nation will respond—and the list includes options from tracking the Russian aircraft to shooting them down.

And more significantly, Can more British and French nuclear cooperation help deter Russia? Policymakers across Europe are urgently considering alternative nuke deterrence arrangements.

French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly spoken of the “European dimension” to the French nuclear deterrent and his country’s willingness to open a conversation about extending a French nuclear umbrella to Europe’s non-nuclear states.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Forge ahead with Sentinel nuclear ICBM to replace ageing Minuteman missiles but consider making it mobile. GAO report shows that relying entirely on the current plan for silo-based ICBMs could pose grave risks that leave the U.S. with a far too-small ICBM force when the adversaries’ combined ICBMs have swelled.

Democrat Senators are raising concerns about the cost and technical feasibility of the Golden Dome missile shield — although one GOP lawmaker said the $175 billion cost estimate given by Trump has stayed steady.

The nation’s top spy offices are expected to pare down certain “non-essential” long-term intelligence-gathering activities if the government shuts down.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Every Venezuelan drug boat leads to 25,000 deaths. Trump delivered remarks quantifying the dangers Venezuelan drug-carrying vessels pose to the U.S. during a publicly televised military gathering.

A top New Orleans police official welcomed the possibility of a National Guard deployment in his city but pushed back on suggestions of rising crime rates and said he was unclear on how the military might be used.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Trump promises mass layoffs. The federal government shutdown. Congress failed to pass any funding to kick off fiscal 2026, which will cause hundreds of thousands of federal employees to be furloughed and the rest of the civil service to continue working without immediate pay.

DEFENSE POLITICS

On Sept. 30, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered an address at Marine Corps Base Quantico to an unprecedented gathering of hundreds of admirals, generals, and senior leaders. A full transcript and video here.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lamented against “fat troops” and “woke” policies, pledging to create higher physical fitness and grooming standards with gender neutral, age-normed criteria that match the current male fitness standards.

‘No more beardos’: Hegseth gives military branches 60 days to end shaving waivers for almost all U.S. troops.

Hegseth and Trump lectured 800 of the most senior military officers and enlisted leaders at the Marine Corps base Quantico. Not everything they said was unhelpful or untrue, but the whole event showed a lack of understanding of just how “lethal,” to use Hegseth’s term — the U.S. military remains today.

Trump administration’s sweeping U.S. military shakeup is expected to gain momentum in the months to come — with more leadership changes, major acquisition updates and possible personnel cuts in the Pentagon’s pipeline, Hegseth suggested.

President Donald Trump told a gathering of military leaders Tuesday they should use U.S. cities as “training grounds” to fight against what he called a “war from within.”

US POWER OVERSEAS

Pentagon to upgrade the Philippine Navy’s primary base at Subic Bay near the South China Sea to support small boats and unmanned surface vessels.

RUSSIA THREAT

Trump’s U-turn on Ukraine could lead to the end of Putin’s reign in Russia. Trump has now said that Kyiv “can win all of Ukraine back in its original form, territory Russia has invaded [and] maybe even go further than that.”

Why are U.S. Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine a ‘red line’ for Russia? Moscow says it is monitoring Ukraine’s request for long-range “Tomahawk” missiles that could boost Kyiv’s ability to strike deep inside Russia.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been off the grid for seven straight days, warning of the potential threat of a “critical” situation.

MIDDLE EAST THREATS

Facing foreign arms embargoes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently called for Israel to become far more self-reliant on homegrown defense products, describing his vision of Israel as a “super Sparta.”

Armed militia and gangs supported by Israel are seizing control of parts of Gaza, exacerbating its humanitarian crisis and potentially threatening any efforts to bring order under Trump’s plan for Gaza.

‘Fatal flaws’: Analysts cast doubt on Tony Blair’s plan for future of Gaza. The emergence of Blair as a potential Gaza interim consul and member of Trump’s “board of peace” marks his latest reinvention as a would-be power broker in the Middle East.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

South Korea selected an L3Harris Global 6500 bizjet-based solution for its new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to bolster its current fleet of four Boeing E-737s, their version of the E-7 Wedgetail selected by the U.S., NATO, and other allies.

US MILITARY

Navy Secretary John Phelan is consolidating planning authorities for the service’s future fleet, budget development and international affairs objectives into a new high-level position known as the chief of naval policy (CPOL).

Columbia-class submarine. Navy aims to design and build a class of 12 new nuclear missile SSBNs to replace the current force of 14 aging Ohio-class SSBNs. Navy has consistently identified the Columbia-class program as the Navy’s top priority program.

Soldiers under misconduct investigation won’t see careers stall under new Hegseth policy. They can be promoted, receive awards, and move to new assignments, rather than see their careers frozen in place while waiting for the result to their investigation.

Trump nominated Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach — the former head of Air Combat Command who had been slated to retire — to be the Air Force’s next chief of staff.

Air Force will start 2026’s annual recruiting cycle with a record-high number of potential recruits in the service’s delayed entry program.

F-47 ‘Phoenix’ patch is authentic, still a work in progress. The patch’s central feature, a phoenix or a firebird, raises the question of whether the sixth-generation fighter may already have a nickname.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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