FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – American Liberty News (ALN) – in collaboration with respected national security expert Paul Crespo and the Center for American Defense Studies (CADS) – provides our readers the PDB:
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DAILY BRIEFING.
Get Your Best Daily Defense and Foreign Affairs Intelligence Here in One Brief. Read the summaries or dive deeper via the linked articles.
‘PRINCE’ HARRY WATCH
FIRST THING ABOUT ‘FIGHT CLUB’ – YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT ‘FIGHT CLUB’- JUST SHUT UP AND GO AWAY ALREADY, YOU WHINY B*TCH – Harry’s claim he killed 25 in Afghanistan draws anger, worry. Harry says he killed more than two dozen Taliban militants while serving as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner in Afghanistan in 2012–2013.
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
CLUELESS GEN Z – IDIOTIC PENTAGON – The Army could not effectively address Gen Z’s misconceptions about Army life in 2022. In generations past, there were a few things we were sure we knew about joining the Army: You got money for college, free health care, access to VA home loans and you could retire after 20 years. Generation Z, the generation of Americans born after 1997, doesn’t know any of that, according to a survey released last year — but they also think they do.
TOTAL B*LLSH*T – YOU ADJUST TO THE CORPS – THE CORPS DOESN’T ADJUST TO YOU! – With 2 Sikhs headed to Marine boot camp, legal battle is ongoing. Jaskirat Singh and Milaap Singh Chahal plan to ship off to boot camp “as soon as their personal circumstances allow.”
POLITICS
Michael Flynn restored to Twitter on Jan. 6 anniversary. Twitter suspended the account of the retired Army lieutenant general two days after the violent assault on the capitol Jan. 6, 2021.
GOP’s McCarthy elected House speaker in rowdy post-midnight vote. Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker on a historic post-midnight 15th ballot early Saturday, overcoming holdouts from his own ranks and floor tensions that boiled over after a chaotic week that tested the new GOP majority’s ability to govern.
Military experience doesn’t help veterans get elected, but may influence their behavior in Congress. After a tumultuous process to select a House Speaker, the 118th Congress will begin work this week. Among the ranks of this Congress are 97 lawmakers with military experience, 19 of whom are freshmen. The share of veterans in Congress increased a modest 1 percent from the previous session, but veteran representation in Congress has declined since the early 1970s when nearly three-quarters of members had a military background. Today, less than one in five members served in the military.
NATIONAL SECURITY
WATCHING CHINA AND NORTH KOREA – MAYBE EVEN RUSSIA – A new radar installation in the Pacific will let US forces look over the horizon. So far, the Department of Defense is being fairly tight-lipped about the project in Palau. Here’s what we know.
HOMELAND SECURITY
MAYBE THEY SHOULD BE OVER – IT’S A PARTISAN WITCH HUNT AND MOST CHARGES ARE PETTY – Two years later Jan. 6, trials are ‘far from over,’ Justice Dept. says. More than 950 individuals have been charged for various layers of participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
WORST SPY IN DECADES – Ex-Pentagon intelligence analyst who spied for Cuba freed. A former U.S. defense intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Cuba more than 20 years ago has been released from a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
Florida National Guard activated to help with migrant increase. More than 4,400 migrants, mostly Cubans with some Haitians, have arrived by boat in Florida since August.
CHINA THREAT
China says it carried out more military drills around Taiwan. The latest Chinese drills around Taiwan are the second big military exercises in less than a month.
DC THINK TANK – War game suggests Chinese invasion of Taiwan would fail at a huge cost to US, Chinese and Taiwanese militaries. A Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2026 would result in thousands of casualties among Chinese, United States, Taiwanese and Japanese forces, and it would be unlikely to result in a victory for Beijing, according to CSIS, a prominent Washington think tank, which conducted simulations of a possible conflict. A war over Taiwan could leave a victorious US military in as crippled a state as the Chinese forces it defeated. At the end of the conflict, at least two US aircraft carriers would lie at the bottom of the Pacific and China’s modern navy, which is the largest in the world, would be in “shambles.”
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine praises US military aid as cease-fire said to falter. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Bradley armored vehicles included in the latest U.S. aid package are “exactly what is needed” for Ukrainian troops.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 320. Russia launched seven missile strikes, 31 air raids and 73 attacks from salvo rocket launchers in the past day, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a daily report on Monday. Ukrainian forces repelled attacks on 14 settlements, including Bakhmut, it added.
US sending Ukraine Sea Sparrow missiles in latest aid package. The United States will send RIM-7 Sea Sparrows to Ukraine as part of Washington’s latest aid package.
Volunteers seeking revenge against Russia join the fight in Ukraine. Chechens, Crimean Tatars and people from the former Soviet republics, all with deep historical grievances against Moscow, are eagerly taking up arms for Kyiv.
War in Ukraine ‘essentially trench warfare,’ senator says after Kyiv visit. The situation in Eastern Ukraine is “essentially trench warfare,” Sen. Angus King said Sunday on CBS, as he underscored what he sees as a need to continue funding the country’s fight against Russia.
US to send Ukraine largest package yet, worth $3.75 billion. The U.S. announced its largest Ukraine aid package yet, worth $3.75 billion, which includes Bradleys and other armored vehicles as well as $907 million in more financing for Ukraine and its neighbors to buy American-made weapons and equipment.
PODCAST – Russian airpower in Ukraine: Lessons for the West. John “Slick” Baum chats with Dr. Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies along with Heather “Lucky” Penney and Lt Col Michael “Mongo” Kingry of our Mitchell Institute team about key takeaways from the Ukraine-Russia war.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY – NATO, MIDDLE EAST, ASIA, AFRICA
‘JAN 6’ IN BRAZIL – Pro-Bolsonaro rioters storm Brazil’s top government offices. Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who refuse to accept his election defeat stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace Sunday, a week after the inauguration of his leftist rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
US airstrikes in Somalia increased in 2022, killing more than 100. U.S. Africa Command conducted more than a dozen airstrikes in Somalia in 2022 in its counterterrorism operations against al-Shabab and aiding the Somali government, an increase of more than 30% over the previous year.
Drone shot down over Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base. Defense systems at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts U.S. forces, shot down a drone near the base on Sunday, with Iraqi military sources and the U.S.-led international military coalition offering conflicting accounts of the incident.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
SOUTH KOREA JOINS GROWING COALITION TO FACE CHINA – South Korea’s Indo-Pacific strategy broadens focus from northern threat. South Korea’s strategy says the ROK will “nurture a sounder and more mature relationship as we pursue shared interests (with China) based on mutual respect and reciprocity, guided by international norms and rules.”
IRAN THREAT
SAVAGES – Iran hangs two more people in brutal campaign against protesters. They are the third and fourth protesters to be executed by the government.
SPACE
Tankers in space? New report says ‘true military mobility’ demands a more agile USSF. Just as the Air Force relies on tankers to refuel fighters and bombers in flight, the Space Force should enable “true military mobility” for its satellites, a new report says.
Raytheon, Millennium get more funding for missile tracking satellites. The Space Force released an additional $605 million in November to Raytheon Technologies and Millennium Space Systems to build prototypes of satellites that can detect and track hypersonic and ballistic missiles from medium Earth orbit.
BIDEN AFGHAN DISASTER
In Kabul, Taliban rulers are changing the face of the capital. Widening roads and replacing monuments, officials erase relics of adversaries and fulfill long-awaited plans.
Military investigation reveals how the US botched a drone strike in Kabul. Documents obtained through a lawsuit reveal how biases led to the deadly August 2021 blunder, and that officials made misleading statements concealing their assessment of civilian casualties.
US MILITARY
Is the V-22 Osprey actually as dangerous as people think? Every service member lost in training or combat is a tragedy, but in order to determine whether the V-280 is truly an unsafe replacement for the UH-60, it’s important to view these tragic incidents through an admittedly difficult-to-muster lens of objectivity.
Trial set for Army officer suing police over violent stop. The trial is scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Richmond.
Camouflage combat utility uniforms OK’d for Pentagon Marines. Marines already have been milling around the food court and strolling the hallways of the Pentagon in their ‘cammies.’
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.
Like a guy who was in Korea told me, When the Chinese came in wave after wave, they did not have guns and were expected to pick one up from a dead comrade.
When gone Nuclear bets are OFF