⏱ 6 minute read
PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – The Chinese yoke: Russia’s return to vassalship. In the 13th century, Muscovy, the medieval antecedent to modern Russia, was a small outpost on the periphery of Kyivan Rus.
Today, a similar dynamic is taking shape as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime becomes structurally dependent on China — not only to sustain its war in Ukraine, but also to maintain basic stability.
The question is: To what degree will Russian dependency on China continue after the war?
The prospect of a continuing China-Russia axis may tempt some to consider a “reverse Nixon” strategy, where the U.S. and Europe deepen ties with Russia and rush to a peace deal to fracture the Sino-Russian axis before it can solidify. The key problem is that this isn’t viable unless a suitable regime comes to rule Russia with converging interests to ours.
To support Putin’s regime survival or a like-minded successor is to support renewed hybrid warfare in the U.S. and Europe following Russia’s eventual recovery while still having to contend with a Russian-Chinese axis.
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
Amid deepening security ties between India and the U.S., New Delhi has significantly increased procurement of U.S. military equipment as supplies from Russia, for long India’s biggest source of weapons, have declined significantly.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Two illegal alien Russian women arrested at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton last month are detained by ICE pending immigration proceedings and removal. Is China subcontracting Russians to spy?
DEFENSE POLITICS
Canada is reevaluating the planned purchase of U.S. F-35 fighters over escalating trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa in what has become a flash point between the two allies.
F-15EX progresses in Asia, but without Indonesia. Despite a memorandum of understanding for up to 24 aircraft in August 2023, Boeing officials admit the prospective sale is now dead.
Trump’s latest White House remake? Adding a Christopher Columbus statue to the grounds. Reconstruction of Baltimore Columbus statue, toppled by thugs and thrown into the city’s harbor during violent 2020 BLM riots, serves as the model for new installation.
“We need to right this wrong”: House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee examined bills to fill gaps for compensation and provide other help for widowed spouses of service members who died in line of duty or from diseases connected to military service.
US MILITARY BUILDUP
Raytheon, a division of RTX, is to ramp up production of several key missile systems, weeks after President Trump threatened to nix the company’s government contracts unless it invested more in manufacturing.
The Navy is feeling out ship construction options in Turkey. Momentum is building within some corners of the Trump administration to offshore Navy warship production to yards in allied nations.
US POWER OVERSEAS
An infantry brigade from the 10th Mountain Division will deploy to Central Command, an area that oversees military operations across the Middle East and parts of Central and South Asia.
IRAN THREAT
Nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. will take place in Oman, as tensions between the countries remain high following Tehran’s bloody nationwide crackdown on protests last month.
Destroyer USS Truxtun deploys amid military buildup near Iran.
MIDDLE EAST THREATS
U.S. military unleashed a new round of strikes against Islamic State members in Syria following the deadly December ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one U.S. civilian interpreter.
RUSSIA THREAT/UKRAINE WAR
Finland has urged U.S. officials not to describe future security pledges to postwar Ukraine as “Article 5-like,” implying that doing so could undercut the mutual defense clause at the heart of the NATO military alliance.
Ukraine and Sweden are discussing the prospect of arming Kyiv with Europe’s top air-to-air missile, the Meteor, which Saab said would be “natural content” of a weapon package for users of Gripen fighters, such as Ukraine.
Russian defense companies have vanished from major airshows in Asia, which experts say reflects the country’s shrinking and increasingly concentrated arms-export industry.
What international law says about striking energy facilities in war. Russian missiles and drones have pounded Ukraine’s energy grid in recent weeks, plunging people into frozen darkness in one of the country’s coldest winters on record.
SPACE THREATS
As satellites become targets, Space Force plans broader role. Six takeaways from a conversation with Gen. Shawn Bratton, vice chief of space operations.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Spain is the latest country to plan a social media ban for children under the age of 16, after Australia last year set a trend by restricting juveniles from accessing some online content creation platforms.
US MILITARY
Long-range precision-guided missiles will become a new attack capability for Marine AH-1Z Viper helicopters by 2027.
Marine gets an award for designing the Corps’ first fully NDAA-compliant 3D-printed drone at $700 a pop. The HANX platform is the Marine Corps’ first 3D-printed drone that complies with laws prohibiting the military from acquiring unmanned aerial systems with parts from certain foreign entities.
On Jan. 21, the Air Force conducted a live warhead test of a new standoff cruise missile developed in less than a year and a half.
Sharpen up your greetings: Senior Air Force leaders have a message for security forces Airmen: Set a better example.
Breaking in the ghillie suit. The ghillie wash is designed to test the strength and durability of the suits as well as weather them. Sniper students use sand, water, and mud to perfect their camouflage.
The Army is revamping how it hands out reenlistment/retention bonuses, adding extra dollars for those with top scores in PT tests and job performance.
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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Treasury Secretary Clarifies Threat Against Bill Pulte
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged Wednesday that he threatened to “kick ass” during a heated confrontation last year, while firmly denying reports that he threatened to punch the now-acting Director of National Intelligence “in the face.”
The unusual exchange emerged during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, where Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) pressed Bessent about reports surrounding a confrontation between the two Trump administration officials during the summer of 2025.
According to Bessent, one key detail in the widely circulated account was inaccurate.
While he denied threatening.
Seijah Drake
Seijah Drake was born in Boston, MA, where she developed a penchant for writing early on and a passion for politics in college. After college she worked briefly for a conservative media in New York before relocating to the Greater D.C. Area to pursue a career in political marketing. She now resides in the free state of Florida.
GOP-Led House Approves Iran War Powers Resolution In Rebuke To Trump
Six Thousand Complaints, 27 Investigations: The Federal Whistleblower Shield Exposed
California Tech CEO Arrested For Allegedly Supplying US Equipment To Iran’s Nuclear Program
Ohio Supreme Court Decision Could Affect Thousands Seeking Firearm Rights
PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – The Chinese yoke: Russia’s return to vassalship. In the 13th century, Muscovy, the medieval antecedent to modern Russia, was a small outpost on the periphery of Kyivan Rus.
Today, a similar dynamic is taking shape as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime becomes structurally dependent on China — not only to sustain its war in Ukraine, but also to maintain basic stability.
The question is: To what degree will Russian dependency on China continue after the war?
The prospect of a continuing China-Russia axis may tempt some to consider a “reverse Nixon” strategy, where the U.S. and Europe deepen ties with Russia and rush to a peace deal to fracture the Sino-Russian axis before it can solidify. The key problem is that this isn’t viable unless a suitable regime comes to rule Russia with converging interests to ours.
To support Putin’s regime survival or a like-minded successor is to support renewed hybrid warfare in the U.S. and Europe following Russia’s eventual recovery while still having to contend with a Russian-Chinese axis.
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
Amid deepening security ties between India and the U.S., New Delhi has significantly increased procurement of U.S. military equipment as supplies from Russia, for long India’s biggest source of weapons, have declined significantly.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Two illegal alien Russian women arrested at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton last month are detained by ICE pending immigration proceedings and removal. Is China subcontracting Russians to spy?
DEFENSE POLITICS
Canada is reevaluating the planned purchase of U.S. F-35 fighters over escalating trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa in what has become a flash point between the two allies.
F-15EX progresses in Asia, but without Indonesia. Despite a memorandum of understanding for up to 24 aircraft in August 2023, Boeing officials admit the prospective sale is now dead.
Trump’s latest White House remake? Adding a Christopher Columbus statue to the grounds. Reconstruction of Baltimore Columbus statue, toppled by thugs and thrown into the city’s harbor during violent 2020 BLM riots, serves as the model for new installation.
“We need to right this wrong”: House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee examined bills to fill gaps for compensation and provide other help for widowed spouses of service members who died in line of duty or from diseases connected to military service.
US MILITARY BUILDUP
Raytheon, a division of RTX, is to ramp up production of several key missile systems, weeks after President Trump threatened to nix the company’s government contracts unless it invested more in manufacturing.
The Navy is feeling out ship construction options in Turkey. Momentum is building within some corners of the Trump administration to offshore Navy warship production to yards in allied nations.
US POWER OVERSEAS
An infantry brigade from the 10th Mountain Division will deploy to Central Command, an area that oversees military operations across the Middle East and parts of Central and South Asia.
IRAN THREAT
Nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. will take place in Oman, as tensions between the countries remain high following Tehran’s bloody nationwide crackdown on protests last month.
Destroyer USS Truxtun deploys amid military buildup near Iran.
MIDDLE EAST THREATS
U.S. military unleashed a new round of strikes against Islamic State members in Syria following the deadly December ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one U.S. civilian interpreter.
RUSSIA THREAT/UKRAINE WAR
Finland has urged U.S. officials not to describe future security pledges to postwar Ukraine as “Article 5-like,” implying that doing so could undercut the mutual defense clause at the heart of the NATO military alliance.
Ukraine and Sweden are discussing the prospect of arming Kyiv with Europe’s top air-to-air missile, the Meteor, which Saab said would be “natural content” of a weapon package for users of Gripen fighters, such as Ukraine.
Russian defense companies have vanished from major airshows in Asia, which experts say reflects the country’s shrinking and increasingly concentrated arms-export industry.
What international law says about striking energy facilities in war. Russian missiles and drones have pounded Ukraine’s energy grid in recent weeks, plunging people into frozen darkness in one of the country’s coldest winters on record.
SPACE THREATS
As satellites become targets, Space Force plans broader role. Six takeaways from a conversation with Gen. Shawn Bratton, vice chief of space operations.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Spain is the latest country to plan a social media ban for children under the age of 16, after Australia last year set a trend by restricting juveniles from accessing some online content creation platforms.
US MILITARY
Long-range precision-guided missiles will become a new attack capability for Marine AH-1Z Viper helicopters by 2027.
Marine gets an award for designing the Corps’ first fully NDAA-compliant 3D-printed drone at $700 a pop. The HANX platform is the Marine Corps’ first 3D-printed drone that complies with laws prohibiting the military from acquiring unmanned aerial systems with parts from certain foreign entities.
On Jan. 21, the Air Force conducted a live warhead test of a new standoff cruise missile developed in less than a year and a half.
Sharpen up your greetings: Senior Air Force leaders have a message for security forces Airmen: Set a better example.
Breaking in the ghillie suit. The ghillie wash is designed to test the strength and durability of the suits as well as weather them. Sniper students use sand, water, and mud to perfect their camouflage.
The Army is revamping how it hands out reenlistment/retention bonuses, adding extra dollars for those with top scores in PT tests and job performance.
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: Republican Stronghold Suddenly In Play After Rep Abandons Trump
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Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for state and federal office, taught political science, wrote for the editorial board of a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad. To read more go to: paulcrespo.com.
Treasury Secretary Clarifies Threat Against Bill Pulte
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