MONDAY PDB – Communist China dominates the rare earth materials needed to make the electric vehicles and solar panels that the Defense Department needs to meet Team Biden's extreme emissions reduction targets.
And Republicans are sounding the alarm.
Pentagon seeks to ease China's green tech chokehold amid GOP criticism. The Defense Department, the world's largest institutional greenhouse gas emitter, is trying to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, even as it seeks to lessen its dependence on China for its renewable energy supplies.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, took aim at the Pentagon's goal of transitioning its roughly 170,000 non-tactical vehicle fleet to electricity or alternative fuels by 2030, accusing Biden's Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm of “putting the climate crusade ahead of the [Defense] Department's lethality.”
Right now, China controls the [electric vehicle] supply chain,” Ernst added. “The communist regime produces about 75% of all lithium-ion batteries that power those electric vehicles.”
Those batteries are also needed for military assets such as surveillance drones.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here's a roundup of today's other top stories.
Not the President's Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL'S DAILY BRIEFING – the PDB:
POLITICS
MORE WOKE? – What Gen. CQ Brown would bring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Brown stared directly into the camera. It had been several days since Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd. Protests and civil unrest over racism and inequality had spread across the country.
What Biden's expected Joint Chiefs pick will likely face in the Senate. Gen. C.Q. Brown can count on a harsher confirmation hearing than his last one.
HOMELAND SECURITY
DID BLM RIOTERS COMMITTING SAME CRIMES GET SIMILAR SENTENCES? – Jan. 6 US Capitol attacker gets 14 years for pepper spraying cops. A Kentucky man with a long criminal record was sentenced Friday to a record-setting 14 years in prison for attacking police officers with pepper spray as he stormed the Capitol with his wife.
Marine vet accused of putting man in deadly chokehold on NYC subway. The man who put a threatening homeless man in what a medical examiner later determined as a deadly chokehold Monday has been identified as a Marine infantry veteran.
CHINA THREAT
As China builds military ties across Southeast Asia, one factor stands in the way. China's strong economic ties with the region and an unfocused ASEAN favor the expansion of the Chinese defense network. But China's disregard of the 2016 South China Sea ruling makes it hard for smaller neighbors to completely trust it.
Plans say Guam's new missile-defense system will be spread across island. The system proposed is expected to be operational by 2027 and comprise up to 20 individual sites across the island to achieve 360-degree coverage.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
NOT ‘UNSTOPPABLE' – Ukraine downs Russian hypersonic missile with US Patriot system. Its air force claimed Saturday to have downed the missile over Kyiv using newly acquired Patriot air defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow's most modern missiles.
Russia says Ukraine behind bombing of nationalist, pro-war author. It says the suspect in a car bombing that injured the pro-Kremlin novelist and killed his driver has admitted acting at the behest of Ukraine's special services.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 439. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, says he received “a promise” of more ammunition from the Russian army after threatening to pull his front-line troops out of Bakhmut, Ukraine.
Worries grow about Ukraine nuke plant amid evacuations. Anxiety about the safety of Europe's largest nuclear power plant grew Sunday after the Moscow-installed governor of the Ukrainian region where it is located ordered civilian evacuations from the city where most plant workers live.
IRAN THREAT
Iran hid weapons among earthquake aid to target US troops, leak says. Iranian operatives and their affiliates in Iraq moved swiftly to capitalize on the February disaster that left tens of thousands dead.
SPACE THREAT
Space Force wants key allies to join 24/7 GPS ops center. In a rare tour of the GPS ops floor, the commander of the Space Force's 2nd Operations Squadron, described the mission and why timing, more than anything, is critical.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
China, Pakistan and Afghanistan FMs hold talks in Islamabad. Foreign ministers from all three nations promise to pursue trilateral cooperation efforts as political ties deepen.
Israeli firm reveals unmanned submarine ‘BlueWhale.' Israel Aerospace Industries has developed a new unmanned submarine designed for covert intelligence-gathering operations.
BIDEN'S AFGHAN DISASTER
Thousands of Afghans escaped the Taliban with the help of private veteran groups. Today, 2,100 remain in limbo, held in a compound in the United Arab Emirates more than 18 months after they were evacuated from Afghanistan largely by private groups.
US MILITARY
WHAT ABOUT DOD? – Marines slam a shrinking amphibious fleet, but the Navy isn't to blame. The recent evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Sudan, was noteworthy partly because such missions — once a standard mission for Navy and Marine amphibious forces — was conducted by a special operations force. And the Corps only has itself to blame.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin named honorary brigadier general, member of Space Force. Aldrin was honored on Friday, more than 50 years after he first set foot on the moon.
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.
READ NEXT: Leftists Call It ‘Murder' – Marine Vet Put Criminal In ‘Chokehold' On NYC Subway
NO Green New Deal then
Does the “Biden Crime Family” as some are inclined to call them, have investments with the CCP in China for the lithium-ion batteries that will power all of these electric vehicles? If so, no wonder Joe Biden is so involved getting so involved and friendly with the Communist Chinese whio are out to control the USA and the rest of the world. The Communist Chinese are evil people and why is our President and members of his family and other Democrats so involved in this ? – John Kerry who with his wife also have many investments in China and Nancy P:elosi and otherAnericans. This is so disturbing. Why do we let this happen?
Good grief – does ANYONE check these articles for accuracy? FIRST SENTENCE – ‘raw” earth minerals – definitely WRONG – it is RARE earth minerals, meaning there ain’t much of that stuff. And hopefully lithium, cobalt, etc will SOON run out, and then where will the military be – probably stuck in some desert!
Biden has to get his 10%, he is in bed with China.