FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – American Liberty News (ALN) – in collaboration with 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.
SPECIAL REPORT – US MILITARY CONTRACTORS
HELPING ALLIES OR ENEMIES? Key findings from The Post’s series on veterans’ lucrative foreign jobs. For two years, U.S. government lawyers fought The Washington Post’s FOIA requests for documents detailing foreign work by retired troops.
US fought to keep veterans’ jobs with foreign governments secret. Hundreds of veterans have taken lucrative foreign jobs that U.S. officials approved – but fought to keep secret.
UAE paid hundreds of US veterans to build up its military. The hottest overseas job market for retired U.S. service members is a tiny Persian Gulf nation that outsources much of its military to foreign advisers and mercenaries.
NATIONAL SECURITY
US military in decline, threats from China ‘formidable,’ report says. U.S. military power was weaker this year than the year prior, according to a new report by the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that analyzes the strength of the armed forces and the threats to America.
McCarthy signals GOP-led House likely to oppose more aid to Ukraine. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is signaling that if Republicans win the House majority in next month’s midterm elections, the GOP is likely to oppose more aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
DANGEROUSLY PARTISAN – Democrats turn up the heat on Saudi Arabia. The fallout of the OPEC Plus decision to cut oil production still smolders in Washington, where many interpreted it as an act to humiliate President Biden.
HOMELAND DEFENSE
F-16s intercept Russian bombers flying near Alaska. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said the incident remained safe and professional and noted such interactions over international waters near Alaska occur regularly.
CHINA THREAT
SERIOUS CONCERN – China plans to seize Taiwan on ‘much faster timeline,’ Blinken says. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China of speeding up plans to seize Taiwan as Chinese President Xi Jinping looks set to secure a precedent-breaking third term at a Chinese Communist Party congress this week.
As Xi calls for reunification, Pentagon says China policy is unchanged. The Pentagon on Tuesday stopped short of supporting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s new assessment that China is moving to seize Taiwan “on a much faster timeline” than previously thought.
GREEDY, NAÏVE TRAITORS – UK military warns ex-pilots not to train Chinese air force. Britain’s Defense Ministry warned former military pilots not to be lured by lucrative contracts to train the People’s Liberation Army, citing security concerns.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
‘Massive blackouts’ as 30% of Ukraine’s power stations destroyed in just over a week, Zelensky says. Thirty percent of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed in just over a week, leading to “massive blackouts” across the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, as the Kremlin steps up attacks on critical energy infrastructure.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 238. The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine made a rare acknowledgement of the pressures they are under from Ukrainian offensives to retake southern and eastern areas that Moscow claims to have annexed just weeks ago.
AS WE REPORTED DAYS AGO – Iran sends drone trainers to Crimea to aid Russian military. Trainers from Iran’s paramilitary wing have been deployed to help Russia overcome mechanical problems with the fleet that was used in recent attacks.
Russia’s kamikaze drone strikes against Ukraine aren’t the sign of strength Putin thinks. Russia has launched Iranian-made drones against Kyiv in the first known mass deployment of loitering munitions against Ukrainian civilians.
Most Ukrainians want to keep fighting until Russia is driven out, poll finds. Most Ukrainians backing the war effort defined victory as retaking all territories seized by Russia since 2014, including Crimea, Gallup said.
Four non-nuclear ways Putin could escalate the Ukraine war. Russian President Vladimir Putin set off nuclear alarms last month with his bellicose rhetoric while announcing a series of moves to ramp up his war on Ukraine.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
U.S., S. Korean troops stage river-crossing drills as North Korea protests. South Korean and American troops practiced building floating bridges to ferry tanks and other armored vehicles across rivers on Wednesday, part of a larger joint military exercise that has angered North Korea.
North Korea fires artillery shells near border with S. Korea. North Korea fired artillery shells near its sea boundaries with South Korea late Tuesday, a day after the South began annual military drills to better deal with North Korean provocations.
IRAN THREAT
DO MORE, JOE! – Biden Administration must do more to support Iran’s nascent revolution. The question of “how to deal with Iran” has been among the top foreign policy challenges for Washington for the past four decades. But with policies focused on Tehran’s nuclear threat and reckless attempts to empower imaginary Iranian “moderates,” Washington has failed to recognize – and strategize for – a revolution that has been long in the works.
As Iranian munitions kill in Ukraine, pressure builds for Israel to reassess its Russian balancing act. Israeli defense sources told Breaking Defense that the cooperation between Iran and Russia in Ukraine may have changed the calculus on Israel’s sideline stance.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Japan and Australia PMs to focus on closer military ties. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will discuss with his Japanese counterpart strengthening their bilateral defense and security partnership when Fumio Kishida visits Perth this week.
SPIES AMONG US – Germany removes cyber chief accused of ties to Russia. The Interior Ministry said it had decided that Arne Schönbohm should step away from his duties “with immediate effect.”
Ethiopian army captures several towns in war-torn Tigray. Rebel forces concede the loss of Shire as the UN warns over air attacks’ ‘devastating impact’ on civilians.
HOMELAND SECURITY
White House aims for bio-defense ‘moonshots’ in new strategy. US wants more rapid testing, vaccine production, etc. using breakthrough technologies.
PENTAGON ‘WOKE’ WATCH
SURPRISE, SURPRISE – Investigation finds allegedly racist texts to Black airman were fake. An airman is facing discipline after Air Force officials found that text messages appearing to show job discrimination against a Black airman were fake.
Coast Guard used ‘digital tool’ to more efficiently ‘mass deny’ religious vax exemptions, Republicans allege. The U.S. Coast Guard used a “digital tool” to illegally assist in mass denials of religious COVID-19 vaccine exemptions even though federal law and Pentagon policy requires an individualized analysis of every request, House Oversight Committee Republicans claim.
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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China WINS vs our “woke”
God is punishing America with our “abortion rights,” our “gay rights,” and our obsession with money by giving us lots of powerful enemies. We are unwise (stupid) to turn our jobs, factories, and technology over to Communist Red China. We are friends with the Muslim countries who want to destroy us. And we keep importing more and more Muslims. We only turn to God when we are in big trouble–like the 9/11 attacks. It will probably take something like the 9/11 attacks to bring us back to God. Only it may be too late. Everything we have will be gone.