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Today’s PDB includes a variety of critical, global national security issues.
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READ TODAY’S PDB BELOW:
NATIONAL SECURITY
US MODERNIZING – CHINA GROWING – Nuclear-armed nations spent $82.4bn on weapons in 2021. The biggest spender was the United States, which accounted for more than half the total spending, followed by China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said in its annual report on nuclear spending
WEAK DEMS – House Democrats rebuke calls to raise spending in defense bill. House Democrats sided with the Biden administration Tuesday, offering a $762 billion fiscal 2023 defense spending bill in an initial draft released by the Appropriations Committee.
CRITICAL SUPPLY – The war in Ukraine has exposed a critical American vulnerability. Shoring up the nation’s supply chain is the single greatest challenge to the national defense.
ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY – Expedite arms deliveries to beleaguered democracies. Fielded combat capabilities — not arms sales announcements from Washington — are what help America’s beleaguered democratic partners such as Taiwan deter and defeat aggression.
CHINA THREAT
TAKING TAIWAN WON’T BE EASY – 4 lessons China should take from Ukraine: Pentagon policy chief. Colin Kahl, the undersecretary for defense for policy, said he hopes Russia’s troubles in Ukraine are “soaking in” as China eyes Taiwan.
NOT THE SAME – Washington already fought a Cold War with Beijing. It was a disaster. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February, a debate within the U.S. foreign policy community has reignited over how far Washington would go to defend Taiwan if China launched a similar assault on the island.
Australia’s foreign minister Wong to travel to Solomon Islands amid concern over China security pact. Australia’s foreign minister will travel to the Solomon Islands on Friday to meet with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare amid concern over the regional impact of a security deal between the Pacific islands nation and China.
MESSAGE TO BEIJING – American carrier strike groups in Philippine Sea ahead of RIMPAC 2022. Two carrier strike groups, along with an amphibious assault ship, are drilling together in the Philippine Sea ahead of the Rim of the Pacific 2022 (RIMPAC).
RUSSIA THREAT
WINNING? Putin still aims to conquer Ukraine despite early losses, Pentagon official says. Russian President Vladimir Putin still desires to take over Ukraine completely as his armed forces make progress in the eastern part of the country, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said Tuesday.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 112. Ukraine’s forces are finding it more difficult to hold off Russian troops in the key eastern city of Severodonetsk, as Moscow’s army continues to pound the city with artillery, the governor of Luhansk said. He added that Russian troops control about 80 percent of Severodonetsk. The governor Luhansk said about 500 civilians remain at the Azot plant, including 40 children.
Ukraine battle intensifies as Western backers mull new military aid. Russia intensified its assault on a strategic Ukrainian city on Tuesday as NATO officials prepared to debate increased military support for Kyiv’s attempt to reverse Russian momentum in the country’s east.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
France announces capture of senior Islamic State figure in Mali. France announced on Wednesday that soldiers from its operation battling Islamist militants in the Sahel region of West Africa had captured Oumeya Ould Albakaye, a senior Islamic State figure in Mali.
NEW RADICAL REBELS – Militant indigenous uprising in Chile tests new leftist leader. President Gabriel Boric shifts gears to halt violent attacks on forestry companies and police by radical Mapuche members with claims on ancestral lands.
US MILITARY AND SPACE
LATIN BEAUTIES – Army advisors in Latin America told to behave as word of drinking, Tinder use, and STDs grew. Soldiers dispatched to Latin America for the Army’s new trademark advising missions were warned last fall to behave after word trickled out that there had been an increase in STDs among married and single advisors, use of online dating apps, and drinking against regulations.
BUT – INFLATION! – 4.6% pay raise for troops gets support across Capitol Hill. There’s broad support for the largest increase in military paychecks in 20 years, but not more to account for rising inflation.
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.
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for state and federal office, taught political science, wrote for the editorial board of a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad. To read more go to: paulcrespo.com.
China owns Biden and has for decades. He doesn’t care if they take Taiwan. He’ll probably help them. As long as he does not consider China a threat, why would he care about defense spending? He trying to buy oil from Iran of all places. All he cares about is kickbacks and it doesn’t matter from which evil regime he gets them.
In On Russia help
Unfortunately our military (which used to be the last Meritocracy in America) is becoming “woke” and deteriorating rapidly. General Milley talks about “white rage” and our troops are being indoctrinated in CRT and real patriots are leaving in droves. Biden in compromised by China, and all the big multi-national corporations (Disney, Nike, Coke, etc.) are bowing to China because they only see billions of dollars and buyers. The DOD just twittered a Marine helmet adorned with “rainbow” bullets in support of Gay Pride month. The Russians and Chinese are rolling on the ground laughing. We are doomed………
I am an American living in Poland covering the conflict in Ukraine. The U.S. DoD has admitted to funding 46 illegal bioweapons operations in Ukraine–not the 26 we had originally revealed–all in violation of the 1975 Bioweapons Treaty. Fact–Donetsk and Luhansk regions never agreed to join the Ukraine territory in 1992 and Crimea voted to rejoin Russia by 97% in a UN sponsored election in 2014. Since that time, the Neo-nazis have murdered 14,000 Russians in those eastern States. Putin learned that the U.S. created and backed Neo-Nazis in Ukraine planned to release pathogens from these labs while simultaneously exploding a ‘dirty nuke’ in Chernobyl to blame on him on March 8th, so Putin went in to stop it on February 24th. You fail to mention these facts. I’m no Putin fan, but if he had not taken these actions to stop U.S./NATO sponsored WW III, I would not be alive now. He does not want and cannot afford ‘Ukraine’, he wants and will retake the Russian regions in the east which have been Russia since the 1686 Treaty of Eternal Peace.
Howell Woltz
The Richardson Post