What if Putin Used a Nuke in Ukraine?

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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.

POLITICS

VOTE! – Georgia military absentee voters: Mail your ballot now for the runoff. Military absentee voters who are registered to vote in Georgia should be aware of the deadlines for voting in the Dec. 6 runoff for the U.S. Senate seat between the Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock, who is seeking his first full term, and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

NATIONAL SECURITY AND NUKES

If Putin uses a nuclear bomb in Ukraine. A no-fly zone would put an end to Russia’s war effort.

NONSENSE – A new nuclear weapons delivery system is the last thing the US needs. As conditions for Russian soldiers deteriorate on the battlefields of Ukraine, we have seen a rhetorical escalation of threats of a nuclear strike from Moscow in response. The risk of a possible nuclear conflict has not been this high since the height of the Cold War decades ago.

PENTAGON WOKE WATCH

MAYBE LATINO OFFICERS JUST DON’T LIKE THE AIR FORCE – Lawmakers ask Air Force to study why it lacks Latino general officers — and to come up with a plan. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in October that the service needs to do a better job of identifying, recruiting, and mentoring Hispanic/Latino officers, especially at its very highest ranks.

JUSTIFIED – VMI’s first Black superintendent under attack by conservative White alumni. The critics are questioning what VMI is paying Cedric T. Wins and even calling for him to be fired.

WELL DONE, BUT ENOUGH WITH THE BIZARRE DRAG SHOWS ALREADY! – Army veteran says he went into ‘combat mode’ to disarm Colorado gunman. Richard Fierro described charging through the chaos at an LGBTQ club, tackling the gunman and beating him bloody with the gunman’s own gun.

CHINA THREAT

WASTED EFFORT – US and Chinese defense chiefs meet in reflection of easing tensions. The bilateral meeting in Cambodia follows a summit between President Biden and Xi Jinping this month.

MORE PRODUCTIVE EFFORT – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meets with Indonesian defense minister. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met his Indonesian counterpart to push stronger defense ties amid growing Chinese naval activity in the Indo-Pacific.

US Destroyer -USS Benfold conducted Taiwan Strait transit in early November. Guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65) conducted a previously unannounced Taiwan Strait transit earlier this month, said Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, on Friday.

KEEP PUSHING PI INTO US HANDS – Chinese coast guard seizes rocket debris from Philippine navy. Chinese coast guard ships have blocked Philippine supply boats in the past, but seizing objects in the possession of another nation’s military constituted a more brazen act.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Weapons shortages spark tough choices for Ukraine’s allies. Top defense officials in Europe say arms shortages among Ukraine’s Western allies are forcing difficult conversations about how to balance support for Ukraine with concerns Russia may target them next.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 272. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Russia was bombarding Kherson city from across the Dnieper River, now that its troops had fled. “There is no military logic: they just want to take revenge on the locals.”

How Ukraine can win a war of attrition against Russia. Ukraine and Russia are locked into a grinding war of attrition in which the first side to become exhausted will lose.

Ukraine claims Russia planning false flag attack on Belarus nuclear plant. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Sunday claimed that Russia is planning a false flag attack on a major nuclear power plant in Belarus as part of an alleged effort to rope the country into its war against Ukraine.

Shelling at nuclear plant raises alarm, as war intensifies in east Ukraine. The International Atomic Energy Agency called for a halt to bombing near the Zaporizhzhia plant in Russian-occupied Enerhodar as Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other.

SERIOUSLY? – Top Ukrainian official raises concerns about Elon Musk’s ‘manipulation’ of information. Ukrainian deputy prime minister Olga Stefanishyna is worried that Twitter is becoming “the major source of manipulation” under Musk’s leadership, with Musk himself “test[ing] the manipulation limits he can use.”

What Russia has gained and lost so far in Ukraine, visualized. Russia hasn’t gained more than 1,000 square miles in a week since April. See how Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine has changed throughout the war.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

North Korea’s leader showed off his daughter. What could it mean? The first-time appearance of Kim Jung Un’s daughter was an intriguing and protocol-breaking move by her father, experts say.

North Korea calls UN’s Guterres ‘puppet of US’ after launch. North Korea’s foreign minister called U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “a puppet of the United States” as she slammed the U.N. chief for joining U.S.-led condemnation of the North’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile test.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY – NATO, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA

Poland accepts Germany’s Patriot offer after fatal missile strike. Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has announced that, in the aftermath of last week’s fatal missile strike on Polish soil, he has “received with satisfaction” the offer of his German counterpart, Christine Lambrecht, who said Germany could deploy some of its Patriot launchers to protect its neighbor’s skies.

Uganda to send 1,000 troops to regional force against M23 in DRC. Uganda will be the third country to deploy troops after contingents from Kenya and Burundi have arrived in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

WHAT FOR? Serbia may become biggest operator of military drones in Balkans. Amid rising tensions with Kosovo, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s recent order to shoot down all UAVs found in no-fly zones and near military facilities, Iranian officials suggested that Serbia made a formal bid to purchase that country’s drones.

Al-Shabab gunman kills 3 Kenyan peacekeepers in Somalia. A lone gunman entered a military base in Somalia and killed at least three Kenyan peacekeepers Monday, the latest attack by extremist fighters who oppose the presence of foreigners in the Horn of Africa nation.

DANGEROUS MOVE INTO US-ALLIED IRAQ – Erdogan signals a Turkish ground offensive in Syria, Iraq. Russia and the US call for de-escalation amid Turkish cross-border raids on Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq. 

SPACE

NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit. NASA’s Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the far side and buzzing the lunar surface on its way to a record-breaking orbit with test dummies sitting in for astronauts.

US MILITARY

GOOD – The Army piece of a growing US footprint in Philippines, Indonesia. The United States wants a bigger military footprint in the Philippines and Indonesia which could mean more Army rotations with the key Indo-Pacific partner in the coming years.

Ukraine, irregular-war changes are reshaping Pentagon’s info-ops strategy. Civilians reporting military movements and a return to proxy war will inform the first IO update in seven years.

Here’s the Air Force’s plan to train armed overwatch pilots. Four months after military officials picked a modified crop duster as America’s newest counterterror plane, Air Force Special Operations Command is working to answer a crucial question: How do you fly it?

VERY COOL – Marines look to pull water out of the air to support operations. As the Marine Corps looks at the future of operations across the Pacific, the service is looking for ways to move lighter and faster in scenarios where supply lines may not be reliable.

USS Zumwalt’s recent Pacific underway is ‘first step’ for future of the class, says PACFLEET commander. Ahead of next year’s installation of hypersonic missiles, the Navy took one of its most advanced warships out for a three-month underway in the Western Pacific to test the ship’s capabilities and reliability, said the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet.

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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