Small Wars Journal

10/28/2020 News & Commentary – National Security

Wed, 10/28/2020 - 9:34am

News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs

1. US senators seek to declare China 'genocide' against Uighurs

2. Trump team reinforces a fundamental reality: China must change

3. China's COVID triumphalism could be premature

4. NSA O'Brien's Latest Audible on Navy Plans: Calls For More Frigates, Faster

5. How the United States Handed China its Rare Earth Monopoly

6. How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific

7. Does the U.S. Nuclear Umbrella Still Protect America's Allies?

8. GM Defense delivers its first Infantry Squad Vehicles to U.S. Army

9. Will U.S. Troops Return to Taiwan?

10. Pompeo Touts U.S.-India Defense Deal, With an Eye on China

11. The Headwinds Looming for the U.S. Army

12. Retooling U.S. Security Sector Assistance

13. Al Qaeda Feels Losses in Syria and Afghanistan but Stays Resilient

14. Esper, Pompeo drive US anti-China message in India visit

15. Emails reveal how Capt. Crozier's pleas for help from the Navy fell on deaf ears until his bombshell letter leaked

16. Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter launches the Integrated Operating Concept

17. Drop in insurgent attacks, coalition airstrikes leads to fewest civilian casualties in Afghanistan since 2012

18. U.S. overbearing meddling shows hegemonic bigotry

19. Background on rescinding a so-called "firewall rule"

20. Pushback As Trump Appointee Tries To Control VOA

21. Joint Statement on the third India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

22. China shocked to discover the developed world views it in a negative light

 

1. US senators seek to declare China 'genocide' against Uighurs

news.yahoo.com · October 27, 2020

Excerpts:

The UN convention on genocide, drafted in the aftermath of the Holocaust, obligates states to prevent and punish the "odious scourge."

It defines genocide to include actions such as killing as well as preventing births "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

A data-driven study by German researcher Adrian Zenz found that China has forcibly sterilized large numbers of Uighur women and pressured them to abort pregnancies that exceed birth quotas.

The Trump administration earlier described Myanmar's brutal campaign against the mostly Muslim Rohingya people as "ethnic cleansing."

US senators seek to declare China 'genocide' against Uighurs

 

2. Trump team reinforces a fundamental reality: China must change

The Hill · by Joseph Bosco· October 27, 2020

Conclusion: "As has been said, "America First" does not mean America alone - and China is reminding the West of why it needs to remain united."

 

3. China's Covid triumphalism could be premature

Financial Times · by Gideon Rachman · October 26, 2020

Excerpt: "The inability to accept criticism suggests that pro-Beijing triumphalism is premature. In broad terms, there is not much doubt that China, after mishandling the initial outbreak, has done a good job of containing the disease. But some Asian democracies, such as South Korea and Taiwan, have done even better, which undermines Mr Xi's claim that China's "socialist system" was the key to success. China's urge to suppress criticism also suggests that if there are continuing problems inside the country, Beijing will cover them up."

 

4. NSA O'Brien's Latest Audible on Navy Plans: Calls For More Frigates, Faster

breakingdefense.com · by Paul McLeary

The left hand not talking to the right hand?  The NSA is not in the chain of command, administrative or otherwise.

 

5. How the United States Handed China its Rare Earth Monopoly

Foreign Policy · by Jamil Hijazi, James Kennedy · October 27, 2020

Conclusion: "The history around publicly funding private ventures that require subsidies to survive also suggests that Rubio's proposal may be more on the mark-particularly since it addresses one of the root causes of the United States' fall from dominance to begin with. In that way, the plan may put the United States back on the right path."

 

6. How the US can build cooperation in the Pacific

aspistrategist.org.au · by Steven McGann · October 27, 2020

Conclusion: "There's a longstanding record of Congress using legislation to direct foreign policy initiatives that unify the efforts of American civilian agencies and the military. The competition with China and others challenging the US in the Pacific requires a resources-based strategy that underpins US regional commitments. For US allies and partner nations, a coordinated, comprehensive and cohesive approach would become a useful planning tool to meet common objectives."

 

7. Does the U.S. Nuclear Umbrella Still Protect America's Allies?

Foreign Policy · by Ivo H. Daalder · October 27, 2020

Conclusion:

The next president needs to forestall destabilizing steps by allied nations as they rethink their nuclear security by clearly and unequivocally reaffirming that the United States' alliances and collective defense commitments remain central to its national security. This affirmation must include a formal recommitment to allied nuclear security.

Words alone, however, may not be enough. The next administration should open up its nuclear planning processes to allies and include them in its deliberations on nuclear strategy, deployments, and modernization. It will also need to prioritize new nuclear arms control negotiations, starting with an extension of the New START agreement with Russia, while taking allied concerns about existing and evolving nuclear threats into account.

 

8. GM Defense delivers its first Infantry Squad Vehicles to U.S. Army

foxbusiness.com · by Gary Gastelu

 

9. Will U.S. Troops Return to Taiwan?

realclearworld.com · by Phillip Orchard

I doubt it but it would be quite a signal and quite provocative.  Although I intuitively support this I do have to ask what effect we would be trying to achieve?  Are the effects worth the potential costs?

I am confused by the map graphic below showing US naval bases and facilities in the INDOPACIFC - Fort Magsaysay airfield in the Philippines is a US Naval facility?  Utapao in Thailand is a US Naval facility?  I did not know.

 

10. Pompeo Touts U.S.-India Defense Deal, With an Eye on China

WSJ · by William Mauldin and Rajesh Roy

SECSTATE statement: "Our leaders and our citizens see with increasing clarity that the [Chinese Communist Party] is no friend to democracy, the rule of law, transparency, nor to freedom of navigation-the foundation of a free and open and prosperous Indo-Pacific."

 

11. The Headwinds Looming for the U.S. Army

warontherocks.com · by David Barno · October 27, 2020

Conclusion: "Taken together, these changes will challenge the Army's traditional identity as the service that delivers war-winning outcomes on land for the nation. It is going to get smaller, and become a supporting service in the nation's primary theater of potential conflict. Its missions will also expand to include a greater role in homeland security, and the importance and relevance of its reserve component may eclipse that of its active forces in some domains of future conflict. Navigating the Army through these tremendous challenges will require imagination, resilience, and resolve at every level of command, especially as resources decline. Army senior leaders will need to challenge some of the assumptions that have long guided the force, and overcome deeply ingrained orthodoxies about the relative priorities of warfighting versus support, fires versus maneuver, and active versus reserves. Doing so successfully will help assure that the Army can remain a relevant and vital component of the nation's military power as it transforms in the years and decades to come."

 

12. Retooling U.S. Security Sector Assistance

warontherocks.com · by Stephen Tankel · October 28, 2020

It must be tied to strategy.  I think it remains critical for support to our friends, partners, and allies.  But I concur that a retooling is necessary.

Conclusion: "Security sector assistance was critical for building the web of U.S. alliances and partnerships that endures across the globe, as well as the military capacity of many countries in these regions. That was then. This is now. Today, the United States is no longer well-positioned to use security sector assistance to compete with China and Russia - especially in "gray zone" activities short of war - or to prepare for a potential conflict with either of them. Security sector assistance can be a vital tool of American statecraft. Using it effectively will require rethinking the types of assistance the United States provides, reorienting this assistance toward the regions that matter most, and better integrating it with other instruments of national power. Much of the heavy lifting will take place behind the scenes, in Congress and the interagency process, where reforms to the ways in which security assistance is prioritized, planned, and implemented are desperately needed."

 

13. Al Qaeda Feels Losses in Syria and Afghanistan but Stays Resilient

The New York Times · by Eric Schmitt · October 27, 2020

 

14. Esper, Pompeo drive US anti-China message in India visit

militarytimes.com · by Matthew Lee · October 27, 2020

Excerpts:

Pompeo has made no secret of the Trump administration's desire for India's help in the U.S. bid to isolate China. Since Trump became president, the U.S. and India have steadily ramped up their military relationship. When Trump visited India in February, the two sides concluded defense deals worth over $3 billion. Bilateral defense trade has increased from near zero in 2008 to $15 billion in 2019.

The talks in New Delhi on Tuesday follow a meeting that Pompeo had earlier this month in Tokyo with his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia, which together make up the four Indo-Pacific nations known as "the Quad." The Quad is seen as a counterweight to China, which critics say is flexing its military muscle throughout the region.

 

15. Emails reveal how Capt. Crozier's pleas for help from the Navy fell on deaf ears until his bombshell letter leaked

taskandpurpose.com · by Jeff Schogol

 

16. Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter launches the Integrated Operating Concept

gov.uk

The 20-page UK concept can be accessed at this link

 

17. Drop in insurgent attacks, coalition airstrikes leads to fewest civilian casualties in Afghanistan since 2012

militarytimes.com · by Rahim Faiez · October 27, 2020

 

18. U.S. overbearing meddling shows hegemonic bigotry

english.cctv.com · by zhangrui

From the Chinese propaganda outlets CCTV and Xinhua.

 

19. Background on rescinding a so-called "firewall rule"

usagm.gov · by Michael Pack · October 26, 2020

Here is Michael Pack's rationale for removing the "firewall rule" at USAGM.  I think it is missing some history and context which I am sure some experts will fill in.

 

20. Pushback As Trump Appointee Tries To Control VOA

Barron's · by AFP - Agence France Presse

 

21. Joint Statement on the third India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

mea.gov.in· October 27, 2020

 

22. China shocked to discover the developed world views it in a negative light

japantimes.co.jp · by Frank Ching · October 27, 2020

And I am shocked gambling is taking place in Macau as well.

 

---------------

 

There is no such thing as hybrid war, just reasonably good campaign design."

- German GO at the Global SOF Conference:

 

"Perhaps the most important lesson from Game Theory is that in business, war, or any competitive enterprise, one must anticipate his opponent's strategy before developing one's own strategy."

- Geoffrey Goff

 

"Kind hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat an enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: war is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst ... To introduce the principle of moderation into the theory of war itself would always lead to logical absurdity." 

- Clausewitz

Categories: News