FRIDAY PDB – Britain wakes up to new government as Labor Party wins election in a landslide. The former socialist and now Labor Party leader Keir Starmer is now certain to become prime minister, replacing his Conservative Party counterpart, Rishi Sunak.
Labor is traditionally seen as a left-wing party. But like Tony Blair twenty years ago, Starmer has shifted to the middle ground.
Looming largest is the possibility that he may have to work with former President Donald Trump, not exactly a natural bedfellow for a self-described socialist.
He has made it clear he will work with whoever wins the presidency in November, although that relationship is likely to be made more awkward by comments his foreign policy chief made in 2018.
David Lammy called Trump a “woman-hating neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” and a “profound threat to the international order.”
On defense, Starmer has mirrored the Conservative promise to raise military spending to 2.5% of the country's gross domestic product — a slight rise over last year and above NATO's 2% target. But, with fears that Russia's invasion of Ukraine might one day spread into other parts of Europe, military officials say the British armed forces remain dangerously threadbare.
The party itself also has potential problems. Opinion polls and interviews suggested that many voters were motivated not by love for Labor but rather by a desire to punish the Conservatives for 14 years of scandals and policy missteps. It raises the prospect that Labor's support — while wide — could be shallow and brittle, shattering just as easily as it came together.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here's a roundup of today's other top defense stories from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President's Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL'S DAILY BRIEFING – the PDB:
NATIONAL SECURITY
LIKE DEMOCRATS CALLING ALL REPUBLICANS “EXTREMISTS” AND “THREATS TO DEMOCRACY”? – ‘Toxic' politics increase terrorism, extremism risk, DHS official says. A “toxic political environment” has made the United States more vulnerable to acts of violence that threaten the country's social fabric.
AI drones threaten US forces. Swarms of cheap versions of a technology we invented could overrun the U.S. military.
Is the precision revolution in warfare fading away? Precision munitions have given the U.S. a decisive combat edge for 50 years. As we passed this capability to Ukraine for its struggle with Russia, HIMARS with GMLRS, Excalibur 155 mm artillery shells, Ground-Launched Small-Diameter Bombs, and JDAMs have had an immense impact on the battlefield.
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
NO. IT ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT – THE LEFT'S VERSION OF “DIVERSITY” IS HIGHLY DAMAGING AND DIVISIVE – Different makes us stronger: American diversity is a national security asset. Divisive domestic policies which counter efforts to leverage diversity are further entrenching the vulnerabilities that make these communities, and American society as a whole, susceptible to foreign adversaries. COUNTERING DIVISIVENESS IS DIVISIVE? WHAt BULLS**T.
POLITICS
Here's what Biden and Trump actually did for veterans as president. Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have both sought to claim the mantle of veterans' champion as each vies for a second term in office.
Trump advisers call for US nuclear weapons testing if he is elected. A former national security adviser says Washington “must test new nuclear weapons for reliability and safety in the real world,” while critics say the move could incite a global arms race that heightens the risk of war.
ISRAEL WAR AGAINST TERROR
Biden tells Netanyahu: It's “time to close” Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal.
Air Force's ‘WiFi in the sky' provides a backbone for Gaza airdrops. The Air Force's E-11A airborne communications relay planes are known for their ability to share battlefield data with faraway aircraft as well as troops on the ground, including across the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan for which they were developed.
US POWER OVERSEAS
F-15EX, F-35 headed to Japan under new DOD tactical aircraft laydown. This will see older US Air Force F-15s and F-16s replaced by newer aircraft like the F-15EX and F-35, as well as changes involving Marine Corps F-35Bs.
Potential Trump presidency shadows military cost-sharing talks with South Korea. This, as the U.S. and South Korea renegotiate the cost-sharing agreement for stationing 28,500 American troops on the Korean Peninsula.
US Army comes ashore in NATO's High North. A whining mechanical sound pierces the quiet morning in a small port ringed by snow-capped peaks. The ramp of a massive blue and white cargo ship gradually unfolds and lands with a thud on the pier.
US Army garrisons, Air Force base in Germany ease force protection alerts. At least three garrisons and Ramstein Air Base lowered their alert statuses Wednesday, days after American military bases around Europe began taking additional security precautions.
CHINA THREAT
Marines want to shut down sea lines of communication in a Pacific fight. A key Marine Corps role is to “serve as the inside force” in the first island chain – from the Ryukyus to Australia – to curb China's ambitions, Commandant of the Marine Corps said Tuesday, adding that no service can deter of defeat Beijing alone.
Philippine military chief warns his forces will fight back if assaulted again in disputed sea. They will defend themselves with “the same level of force” if they come under assault again from China's coast guard in the disputed South China Sea, where Chinese personnel armed with machetes and spears injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged two of their boats in a chaotic faceoff last month.
Chinese ship suspected of raiding World War II wrecks detained. The Chinese dredger suspected of plundering two Royal Navy shipwrecks last year has been detained by Malaysian maritime authorities.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Zelenskyy challenges Trump to reveal plans for ending war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that any proposal must avoid violating the nation's sovereignty.
Ukraine lays its tracks to Europe. By expanding its railways, Kyiv hopes to tie its fate to the rest of the continent.
Putin's diplomacy with North Korea deepens the global risk in Ukraine. Putin seized Crimea in 2014 and then sent in troops in a shock invasion in 2022. His miscalculation was significant; Ukrainians rallied to push his troops back, leaving the two sides mired in a conflict two and a half years later.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
South Korea resumes artillery drills near border with North after 6-year pause. This is also the first such move since suspending a ban on live drills in June.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Finnish defense chief: Finland is dedicated to NATO's Northern, Baltic needs. The new memberships of Finland and Sweden provide an additional 344,000 soldiers, more than 1,000 artillery pieces, over 300 main battle tanks and more than 160 fighters to NATO´s strength.
US MILITARY
US Navy picks a full-size amphib for high-profile sinking exercise. The biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise is the largest naval exercise in the world, and every edition includes a capstone “sinking exercise” (SINKEX) targeting a decommissioned U.S. Navy warship. This year it will be an unusually substantial target: the former USS Tarawa, a full-size amphibious assault vessel.
WATCH Soldiers use Bangalore explosives to light up a training obstacle.
Mental health tops list of reasons troops hospitalized in 2023, new reports find. This trend began in 2009 but has shown signs of easing in the past three years.
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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