China And Russia Make A Dangerous Arctic Power Grab

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Russia and China are increasingly working together in the Arctic region, and their presence there will be a growing threat to NATO allies, said Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a four-star American general.

As Arctic ice recedes and access to the region improves, Russia and China are cooperating with joint patrols not only on the north coast of Russia, but also north of Alaska and near Canada.

“They’re not studying the seals and the polar bears. They’re out there doing bathymetric surveys and trying to figure out how they can counter NATO capabilities on and under the sea. So that’s something that could grow very quickly, and we need to be mindful of it and ready for it.”

President Trump has cited the presence of Russia and China around Greenland to justify a claim to the Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark where U.S. has a military base.

The U.K. has reportedly been in talks with NATO allies about how to beef up security in the Arctic to counter threats from Russia and China.

The Arctic holds about 22% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas resource base, with East Greenland Rift holding the third largest reserves in the Arctic, including 8.9 billion barrels of oil, 86.18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 8.12 billion barrels of condensate.

Greenland likely has large reserves of rare earth elements critical for green and defense technologies, with at least 25 of 34 minerals deemed critical by the EU.

Arctic Oil and Natural Gas Potential

Greenland Portal (GEUS)

Hydrocarbon Potential of the Jameson Land Basin

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

THE PDB – Not the President’s Daily Briefing, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Mostly Democrat “bipartisan” group of lawmakers introduces a bill to prevent President Donald Trump or any other president from taking military action against NATO members or territory, like Greenland.

What Silicon Valley gets wrong about national security. In 1993, Bill Clinton’s secretary of defense, Les Aspin, and William Perry, then deputy secretary of defense, met with defense industry leaders. The Cold War was over, and no looming Soviet threat justifying ever-rising defense budgets; consolidation would be necessary.

HOMELAND SECURITY

U.S. citizens joining the military to protect illegal alien parents. Amid an ICE crackdown in her area, an Oregon National Guard recruiter offers a way to save parents from deportation.

A Green Beret went on a shooting rampage. Is the Army at fault? High-tempo special operations training can cause brain injuries that accumulate unnoticed. One soldier says that is why he snapped and killed three people.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced bills to give veterans wider access to treatments for brain injuries at facilities outside the VA.

Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy Captain receiving pay and benefits, sued the Pentagon over attempts to punish him administratively through the UCMJ for his controversial, and likely seditious, video urging active-duty troops to disobey unspecified “illegal orders.”

Pentagon clarifies War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ‘putting hands on recruits’ statement, adding more context about aggressive and physical troop training during his address to general officers and admirals in late September.

New Senate bill will require Pentagon to assess whether its current efforts to recruit, train, and retain cyber talent are working — and produce a new department-wide plan aimed at addressing persistent cyber workforce gaps.

US POWER OVERSEAS

The Army inactivated the Security Force Assistance Command based in North Carolina, eliminating a headquarters that for years oversaw brigades tasked with advising foreign militaries.

Lightning Lab gives the Pacific Army division drone-building capabilities on the front lines. 25th Infantry Division is all about drones: Drones that sense. Drones that shoot. Drones that get blown up for HIMARS target practice. And increasingly, drones built by soldiers themselves.

Lockheed Martin appointed former Australian army officer, a veteran of major defense acquisition programs, to lead its operations across Australia and New Zealand.

VENEZUELA RAID AND AFTERMATH

“Is it a coup?” A week in Venezuela, after the attacks. Locals are still sorting through the fallout of the strikes in Caracas.

VIDEO – Following the removal of Maduro, what’s next for U.S. forces in our hemisphere? An analyst weighs in.

How did the raid in Venezuela affect the defense industry’s bottom line? A look at how it has rippled through the defense industry financial market.

Foreshadowing the U.S. military raid in Venezuela. What were the conditions and context of the U.S. military buildup in the months leading up to the capture of Maduro? An analyst breaks it down.

Remarkable operation by U.S. forces to capture Venezuela’s illegitimate narco dictator leader grabs the world’s attention. Let’s look at how the mission unfolded.

Not quite the same, but similar. Trump’s other Latin American feud: Why Colombia’s Petro is not Maduro. Left-wing leader rallies his supporters as the U.S. president accuses him of drug trafficking and threatens military action.

NARCO THREAT

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, rejected President Trump’s offer to use U.S. military against the country’s drug cartels, as Mexican security officials grow concerned about potential U.S. demands in the wake of Venezuelan narco dictator Nicolás Maduro’s ouster.

The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in the first attack on a boat smuggling drugs, killing 11 narco terrorists last September. The aircraft carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings.

CHINA THREAT

USS Abraham Lincoln holds live-fire drills in the South China Sea amid “routine operations,” where the aircraft carrier has been operating for at least two weeks.

UKRAINE WAR

Germany will finance the delivery of five Rheinmetall Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, with the first systems expected to arrive and see combat in the coming weeks.

Ukrainian Armed Forces are using the U.S.-made V2X Tempest high-mobility vehicle with a launcher for AGM-114 Hellfire missiles optimized for the counter-drone role, but potentially also other aerial targets, too.

EUROPEAN DEFENSE

Sweden allocated $1.6 billion to establish multiple dispersed air defense units equipped with short-range air defense weapons to guard cities and critical infrastructure against aerial threats, especially drones.

IRAN CRISIS

Trump is considering “very strong” military options against Iran as the protester death toll climbs. The president claims ‘Iran wants to negotiate’ as rights groups report that the regime’s crackdown has killed hundreds, if not over a thousand.

US MILITARY

Pentagon ditching height and weight tables in favor of using the waist-to-height ratio to estimate troops’ body fat. To pass, a service member’s waist measurement can be only slightly more than half their height.

The Army tapped a research and development company to create software to identify and analyze “unpredictable” AI behavior to ensure its AI-enabled systems are trustworthy.

The Navy reported 61 service member deaths in fiscal 2025 from events such as vehicle crashes, aviation incidents, or off-duty recreational activities.

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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