Will Trump Cave To Putin In Alaska?

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Or will Trump punish Russia for refusing a ceasefire? What you need to know about Trump and Putin’s high-stakes summit in Alaska.

The talks in symbolically important Alaska are taking place despite Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire refusals and without Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.

For Moscow, Putin’s one-on-one meeting with Trump is already a victory and reinforces the Kremlin’s goal of redrawing the global security order. It has also helped divert Trump’s threats of further sanctions against Russia, at least for now.

Russian analysts say that Putin will seek to drive a wedge between the U.S. president and Zelensky and his European allies.

Zelenskyy said that Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that it controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the leader categorically rejected.

However, Trump has toughened his stand on Putin. On Wednesday, Trump threatened “very severe consequences” if Putin didn’t agree to end the war after this week’s summit.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Army will soon assume a broader mission in defending the U.S. homeland, expanding from a focus on countering intercontinental ballistic missiles to address a much wider variety of threats, from drones to cruise missiles to hypersonic weapons.

AI is expected to play a central role in the Golden Dome air-defense system, from helping to integrate today’s sensors and interceptors to accelerating the detection and tracking of threats, according to slides on DOD’s ambitions for missile-killing satellites.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Eight hundred Air and Army National Guardsmen began their mission in D.C., helping the city’s temporarily federalized police through “monument security, community safety patrols, protecting federal facilities and officers, traffic control posts and area beautification.”

National Guard troops watched over some of the world’s most renowned landmarks and Humvees took up position in front of the busy Union station. This, as Washington, D.C., police chief stepped up cooperation between her officers and federal immigration officials as President Trump’s law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital took root Thursday.

Tennessee governor said he’s willing to send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to aid with a federal police takeover.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Air Force and Space Force budgets call for nearly $2.3 billion in spending cuts in 2026, including funding for more than 5,700 full-time civilian jobs, linked to DOGE effort.

US POWER OVERSEAS

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and participating Latin American forces will participate in UNITAS 2025 to be held across multiple locations along the East Coast of U.S. starting September 15.

31st MEU supports anti-submarine warfare operation in Indo-Pacific utilizing the Marine MV-22B Osprey teamed with two Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters to distribute sonobuoys.

Amphibious warship USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) left Norfolk Va., Thursday, the first time a U.S.-based Amphibious Ready Group with embarked Marines has deployed since December.

Navy KC-130T tactical tanker and transport plane served as a ‘fake’ surrogate missile ahead of the Army’s Typhon test during last month’s Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia.

MIDDLE EAST THREATS

Israel appears set to give formal planning approval to a highly controversial settlement project for more than 3,400 new homes that has been frozen for decades and which critics say would split the occupied West Bank in half.

Israel says it is in talks with several countries about taking in Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza.

CHINA THREAT

China and Japan remain locked in a game of cat-and-mouse near the Senkaku Islands, with China this year setting another record for the number of consecutive days its vessels have sailed near the disputed islets in the East China Sea.

Taiwan has developed a launch system for AGM-114 Hellfire missiles concealed inside what looks to be a civilian truck. The covert truck-mounted launcher could provide a new means of employing Hellfires, especially if its AH-1W and AH-64E attack helicopters face heavy air defense threats.

Chinese officials and analysts say the U.S. Golden Dome air defense project exacerbates international tensions, escalates the arms race in space, and undermines global stability, according to U.S. Air force report.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Ukrainian forces fighting Russians have identified more and more uses for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), from serving as hosts for electronic warfare payloads to medevac, and more.

Surge in Russian use of ballistic missiles with enhanced maneuvering capabilities has cut into the effectiveness of Ukraine’s Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, says DIA.

Putin hailed North Korean troops sent to fight in Ukraine as “heroic” in a letter to Kim Jong-un.

NATO member, Lithuania has announced that it is establishing a multi-layered defensive line composed in part of anti-tank obstacles, drainage ditches, minefields and more to fortify its borders.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

Weak. South Korea has said it intends to restore an agreement suspending military activity along its border with North Korea and revive inter-Korean cooperation, as its new president attempts to dampen soaring tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear program and deepening ties with Russia.

South Korea is ‘misleading the public’ on loudspeaker claim, says the influential sister of North Korea’s leader, who denied as a “red herring” a claim that her country had dismantled some of the propaganda loudspeakers along its border with the South.

SPACE THREAT

China is working on reusable rockets—and a strategic leap in space power.

Proxy wars in a space-serviced world: gaming satellite-assisted terror in the Middle East. To maintain military space superiority and to be the world’s leading commercial space power will require more than just augmenting America’s commercial, civil and military space programs and protecting them against military attacks.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Super carriers, smaller carriers rise across the Indo-Pacific. Japan, for the first time since World War II, will once again have a navy that includes aircraft carriers — technically, at least, after retrofitting two helicopter-destroyers to host recently arrived F-35 stealth fighters.

Mali has arrested a group of military personnel and civilians, including two Malian army generals and a suspected French secret agent, accused of attempting to destabilize the west African country.

The new rules of international digital economic warfare. On Feb. 21, 2025, North Korean state hackers pulled off the largest digital theft in history, stealing around $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum from a cryptocurrency exchange called ByBit, the biggest digital hack ever recorded

US MILITARY

Army intends to accelerate and scale the use of 3D printing, as it has become increasingly aware of the advantages 3D printing capacities can provide to logistics and sustainment.

Air Force putting AI-based model for faster and more accurate air battle management decisions through its paces.

AMTI is not air battle management: Why the U.S. needs the E-7 AWACS plane now. Airborne Moving Target Indicator (AMTI) data, snapshots of moving targets from radar-based systems like space-based satellites, is not the same as the orchestration of the air battle.

Space Force will absorb all space missions currently handled by Air National Guard units by Oct. 1, a consolidation move that bypasses years of lobbying for a separate Space National Guard.

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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