Trump To Face A China Filled With Contradictions

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB): China’s AI ascent leaves Trump a stark choice: escalate or relax chip controls? Beijing and Washington are locked in an era-defining contest – China’s rapid technological progress raises questions about the limits of containment.

Chief Executives and Tech Leaders to Accompany Trump to China, including Tim Cook of Apple and Elon Musk of Tesla.

China Believes America Will Flame Out. Beijing’s geopolitical restraint is all part of a long game.

Xi’s China: Dazzling Technology, Military Muscle—and an Economic Mess. Government pours money into AI, electric cars and military power, while consumer confidence sags and job market grows bleak.

Forget U.S. debt, China’s total borrowing is in ‘a league of its own’—much worse and deteriorating faster.

What a former top CIA China analyst reveals about a potential China fight. It’s hard to point to an area other than submarines and undersea warfare and say U.S. still has an advantage. 

Xi’s anti-corruption crackdown sentences former Chinese defense ministers to death. The suspended sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment without parole.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of the top defense news of the last couple of days 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

Pentagon unsealed first tranche of “new, never-before-seen” files related to otherworldly encounters, months after Trump directed government to begin disclosing intelligence related to possible alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and unidentified flying objects.

Even as China outbuilds the U.S. in naval combat ships, and catches up, or surpasses U.S. in critical defense technologies, Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona absurdly said Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion budget request for defense spending is “outrageous.”

U.S. military needs another revolution. New forms of war have developed since 1986, when Congress enacted the last major reform. American military’s global pre-eminence over past quarter-century can be traced to overcoming two seminal failures.

AI wins have Alphabet poised to become world’s biggest company.

Two fronts, one war: Why Ukraine and Iran are part of the same fight.

HOMELAND DEFENSE

Pentagon to install laser and microwave weapon systems at five bases in U.S. by year’s end, to defend the critical installations from aerial drones.

DEFENSE POLITICS

A dozen House Democrats who served in military, and one House Republican Army veteran, are seeking to place limits on U.S. war against Iran through two newly introduced bills.

Hegseth to cut through bureaucracy with ‘Deal Team Six.’ He launched team of elite private sector businessmen tasked with handling and approving defense contractor negotiations, aimed at fixing “broken Pentagon bureaucracy.”

US POWER OVERSEAS

German officials looking for ways to address strategic and economic ramifications of planned U.S. troop reduction that could upend small garrison towns where Americans have been a mainstay.

IRAN NEGOTIATIONS

Iran sent its response to latest U.S. proposal to end the war via Pakistan but President Trump quickly rejected it in social media post as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”

The reported terms of one-page memorandum of understanding to end Iran war spurred swift backlash from Iran hawk allies of President Trump who have cheered on his fight against the Islamic Republic.

Neither U.S. nor Iran can sustain Strait of Hormuz standoff indefinitely. Simply hanging on could be a disaster for Iranians, while Trump needs to resolve the economic crisis.

IRAN CAMPAIGN

U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian-flagged unladen oil tankers after the ships attempted to cross the Navy blockade in Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s still missing Supreme Leader reportedly briefed military chief on ‘new guiding measures’ to pursue military operations and firmly confront adversaries.”

Kuwait’s army says it has intercepted hostile Iranian drones over its airspace.

South Korea said fire aboard Korean-operated cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz was caused by military strikes, the first official acknowledgment by Seoul that the incident was result of an attack.

As adversaries integrate, U.S. partners bypass Washington. Drones hitting Gulf Arab states daily are not merely Iranian. These designs and production processes were improved and refined by Russia through years of battlefield testing against Ukrainian defenses.

RUSSIA THREAT/UKRAINE WAR

Russia breaches three-day ceasefire with Ukraine. Ukraine’s president says Russian army is “not complying” with the U.S.-mediated truce and is “not even really trying to.”

Could Russia follow ‘Hormuz playbook’ in the Baltic and Black Seas?

Ukraine ramps up ground robot production to spare soldiers, haul ammo — and rescue grandma.

EUROPEAN DEFENSE

Greece scrambles to explain how explosive-packed drone likely from Ukraine landed in its waters.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

How could Labour remove UK’s PM Keir Starmer? Four possible routes.

Pope Leo XIV will inaugurate main tower of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família during trip to Spain that will also take him to Madrid and migrant reception center in Canary Islands.

India to build strategic outpost near key shipping lane in Indo-Pacific. Its $9 billion infrastructure project will bolster its military footprint on Great Nicobar Island which sits far from Indian mainland near one of world’s most critical shipping arteries.

US MILITARY

Marine Corps is looking for a few good robots to build airfields. For Marines who have toiled over assembling airfields in austere environments, relief may be on the way.

Marine Corps overhauling its reconnaissance training as ubiquitous surveillance tools redefine modern conflict and service officials wrestle with difficult questions over sensor and robotic employment for new training.

Marine Corps to phase out enlisted jobs tied to F/A-18 Hornet as it transitions to an all-F-35 tactical aircraft fleet.

After time in storage at the ‘boneyard,’ and two years of “intensive” maintenance efforts, a B-1B Lancer bomber is back in action and combat ready.

END of PDB

FOR MORE DETAILED, UNCENSORED, INTELLIGENCE, AND ANALYSIS FROM PAUL CRESPO, SUBSCRIBE TO HIS SUBSTACK.

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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