US Marines And Japanese Forces To Defend Islands From China

WEDNESDAY PDB – U.S. Marines and sailors from the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and troops from Japan's 2nd Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment, have begun three weeks of amphibious training amid concerns of Chinese military moves around Japan and Taiwan.

The combined troops will practice recapturing an island during the Iron Fist 24, which is “focused on island defense.”

The exercise, which ends March 17, involves 2,100 U.S. and Japanese personnel.

Japan in recent years has strengthened its amphibious capabilities in response to a rapid Chinese military build-up, aggression toward neighboring countries and a promise by Xi Jinping to unify Taiwan, by force, if necessary.

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

Far from the front, AI is starting to prove its military value. From customizing training to slashing through red tape, artificial intelligence tools are being put to use.

UKRAINE AND ISRAEL FUNDING

Congress needed to pass aid for Israel ‘yesterday.' Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer stressed the urgency of passing congressional aid to Israel.

POLITICS

TOTAL S**TSHOW – ‘Incompetence': Democrats join Republicans in faulting Austin and his team over hospital secrecy. Senators also faulted DOD for keeping parts of its review into the matter classified.

Biden shouldn't stick to a defense-budget deal the House will not honor. Instead, the president should take a page from his former boss' playbook—and seek the money the military needs.

Army will have to cancel exercises with NATO, inside CENTCOM, with no budget supplemental. “We don't have a lot of cash under the sofa cushions and if we don't get a budget, and we don't get a supplemental, we're probably going to have to cancel some things.”

HOMELAND SECURITY – LAW ENFORCEMENT

Army personnel file shows Maine Army reservist who killed 18 people received glowing reviews. This, even as some of his family members were growing increasingly worried about his mental health.

IRAN THREAT

Use the War Powers Resolution to send Iran a lasting message. Team Biden has focused on bringing an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict while preventing a wider war with Iran and its proxies. It needs to do more.

Senior US senators want Congress to authorize strikes against Houthis. Two senior U.S. Democratic senators said on Tuesday they believe that Joe Biden should seek congressional authorization for the military action.

US and UK hit Iranian IRGC deputy commander and Houthi militant leader with sanctions. The U.S. additionally sanctioned firms registered in Hong Kong and the Marshall Islands, along with two ships, including one that transported $100 million in Iranian commodities to China.

All the Houthi-US Navy incidents in the Middle East (that we know of). A running list of every instance where a Navy ship or jet has shot down a Houthi attack, and every instance where the United States and its allies have hit back at Houthi sites in Yemen, since October.

4 charged with transporting Iranian-made weapons appear in US court. Four crew members from an unflagged ship that was carrying Iranian missile components to Houthi rebels in Yemen are scheduled to appear Tuesday in federal court in Virginia.

CHINA THREAT

LOL! – AS CHINA IS TRIPLING ITS NUKES! – China urges largest nuclear states to negotiate a ‘no-first use' treaty. States with the largest nuclear arsenals should negotiate a treaty on no-first use of nuclear weapons against each other or make a political statement in this regard, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

China Expands Scope of ‘State Secrets' Law in Security Push. The legal change, which could further limit access to information, is part of an increasingly hostile environment facing foreign businesses in the country.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Ukrainians are being killed by US tech in Russian weapons, experts tell senators. Advanced weapons components of U.S. origin are being recovered from Russian bombs, drones, vehicles, and munitions.

Ukraine plunders Howitzer graveyard to keep big guns firing. At a repair base in Ukraine, mechanics patched together Western artillery guns using parts scavenged from the battered carcasses of some 20 damaged howitzers scattered outside.

Germany and Poland say they're not sending troops to Ukraine as the Kremlin warns of a wider war. The two European military heavyweights affirmed this after reports that some Western countries may be considering doing so.

Ukrainian President lands in Saudi Arabia to push for peace and a POW exchange with Russia. Volodymir Zelenskyy met the kingdom's powerful crown prince.

ISRAEL'S WAR AGAINST HAMAS

Here are the hostages released by Hamas and those remaining in Gaza. More than 110 hostages held in the Gaza Strip have been released since they were taken in the cross-border Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Biden hails cease-fire developments: Hamas, Israel downplay progress. Joe Biden says Israel has agreed to pause fighting in Gaza during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which begins in two weeks, but Israel and Hamas both sought Tuesday to downplay any progress toward a deal.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

French AI firm to process drone footage for automatic threat detection. A French firm that deploys artificial intelligence to observe Chinese and Russian military activity says it is integrating video footage gathered by drones into its algorithms for detecting adversaries' military movements.

US MILITARY

Army units must trim command posts, add drones to survive. Fighting in Ukraine and Gaza has taught Army leaders that their battlefield headquarters need to shrink to survive, and practice drone and counter drone tactics at every level.

Here are the winners and losers in US Army's force structure change. The Army has unveiled a whitepaper detailing how the service plans to shrink the force in some places and grow it in other areas.

Army to slash thousands of jobs in major revamp for future wars. It is slashing the size of its force by about 24,000, or almost 5%, and restructuring, as the service struggles with recruiting shortfalls that has made it impossible to bring in enough soldiers to fill all the jobs.

National Guard orders aviation safety pause after Apache crashes. The Army National Guard's top officer ordered a component-wide pause on flight missions Monday after a pair of AH-64D attack helicopter crashes this month.

Navy seeking to rapidly prototype new air-launched, stand-off missile. it wants to produce up to 500 rounds per year and field an early version in fiscal year 2027.

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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