THURSDAY PDB – OF COURSE, WE ARE! – We may already be in a Cold War with China. Although bilateral trade with China in 2022 increased to a record $690.6 billion, bilateral relations deteriorated to their lowest level since the normalization of relations in 1979. One could argue that we've entered a Cold War with China.
CHINA IS PREPARING FOR WAR – The US-China rift is only growing wider. After President Xi Jinping accused the United States of seeking to contain, encircle and suppress his country, his foreign minister warned that conflict could be inevitable.
MEANWHILE – Chinese actions in South America pose risks to US safety, senior military commanders tell Congress. Recent Chinese actions, like financing a $3 billion container port, establishing a space monitoring station near the Straits of Magellan and buying lithium mining operations in three South American nations, pose increasing risks to U.S. security, senior military commanders said Wednesday.
AND – China brought down its ‘spy balloon' after it crossed Latin America. China took down its own balloon after transiting Latin America around the same time another spy balloon from Beijing was crossing the United States earlier this year, the head of the U.S. Northern Command revealed Wednesday.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here's a roundup of other developing stories.
Not the President's Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL'S DAILY BRIEFING – the PDB:
NATIONAL SECURITY
What TikTok withholds is as concerning as what it posts, Nakasone says. What TikTok doesn't tell you in its digital feed is at least as concerning as how its posts can influence opinion, according to the leader of both U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency.
CHINA THREAT
Space Force's INDOPACOM unit to embed allies to help deter China. China's growing number of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites are “designed to find, fix, track and target US forces and allied forces.
Philippines launches strategy of publicizing Chinese actions. A Philippine official says the country's coast guard has launched a strategy of publicizing aggressive actions by China in the disputed South China Sea.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Major Russian missile barrage slams targets across Ukraine. Russia unleashed “a massive rocket attack” that hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 regions of Ukraine, the country's president said Thursday, with officials reporting at least six deaths in the largest such night-time attack in three weeks.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 379. Russia unleashed a missile barrage targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine, hitting residential buildings and killing at least six people in the largest such attack in three weeks.
In race to arm Ukraine, US faces cracks in its manufacturing might. The war has exposed an inability to rapidly surge production of many weapons needed for Ukraine and for America's self-defense.
Russian air strikes cut power at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. At least nine people have been killed and power at Europe's largest nuclear plant has been lost after Russia launched missiles across Ukraine.
SPACE THREAT
Space Force offers launch pads to companies as commercial demand soars. The U.S. Space Force will allocate launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to four commercial launch companies as part of a broader effort to use excess range capacity to support the burgeoning market.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
MEXICO IS ALREADY NEARLY A NARCO STATE – Pentagon worries deploying US troops against drug cartels could damage relations with Mexico. A top Pentagon official told lawmakers Wednesday that she was wary of growing calls to deploy American troops into Mexico to battle cartels responsible for at least some of the deadly drugs pouring into the United States across the southern border.
Australia expected to buy up to 5 Virginia class submarines as part of AUKUS. Australia is expected to buy up to five U.S. Virginia class nuclear powered submarines in the 2030's as part of a landmark defense agreement between Washington, Canberra and London, four U.S. officials said on Wednesday, in a deal that would present a new challenge to China.
Egypt ties an ‘essential pillar' in the region, Austin says. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Cairo on the latest leg of his Middle East tour.
BIDEN'S AFGHAN DISASTER
Lawmakers revisit ‘breakdown' [aka self-created disaster] of Afghanistan evacuations. House GOP lawmakers reexamined shortfalls from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan on Wednesday, scrutinizing the Biden administration for its handling of an evacuation that left several American service members dead and many thousands of loyal Afghan allies stranded.
US MILITARY
What Air Force leaders are considering to better defend forward bases. Air Force and Space Force leaders are thinking long and hard about the need to better defend U.S. forward-deployed forces and allies in a world awash in cruise and ballistic missiles, armed drones, and potential adversaries increasingly emboldened to use them, they said.
YES? NO? MAYBE? – The US military needs to create a cyber force. Online attacks are growing in both number and danger, and a new branch of the armed forces is the best way to protect against them.
END of PDB – PAUL'S DAILY BRIEFING
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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We may already be in a Cold War with China.
There is no “may be” about it. China has already DECLARED war.