Greenlighting deep strikes inside Russia is all risk, no reward
“The Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to use longer-range ATACMS to launch strikes deep inside of Russia is strategically unwise and operationally unnecessary. The move will not meaningfully improve Ukraine’s military position, but it will intensify U.S. and NATO entanglement in the conflict and worsen the risk of Russian escalation—including possible retaliation on U.S. or European targets.
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Did he know Jeffrey Epstein? I’ll try looking into more later.
Donald Trump’s cabinet picks signal tougher stance on China
Alexander Gray, who served as National Security Council chief of staff in the first Trump administration, said the selections showed that Trump wanted “to surround himself with strategic thinkers who understand the challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China”.
But Gray said Waltz would be an “honest broker”, mediating debates in the inter-agency process rather than trying to impose his own positions instead of the president’s.
Related:
Alexander Gray is a Senior Advisor at the Marathon Initiative. Gray previously served at the White House for four years, most recently as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council. He had earlier served as Special Assistant to the President for the Defense Industrial Base at the National Economic Council and as the first-ever Director for Oceania & Indo-Pacific Security at the National Security Council.
Marathon Initiative (Colby & Pottinger)
Pentagon Has Two Years to Prevent World War III
By China Hawk Mike Gallagher, Palantir
Xi Jinping has ordered the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to seize Taiwan by 2027. Whether he launches an invasion may depend on President Trump’s defense secretary. If confirmed by the Senate, Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Mr. Trump’s nominee, will have to confront the collapse of deterrence in Europe and the Middle East, resource constraints on Capitol Hill, recruitment challenges, and a deteriorating balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. The only way to promote peace is to go to war on day one—not with China, Russia or Iran but with the Pentagon bureaucracy.
Gallagher wants a wartime economy while leaving the financing to the private sector. It won’t work. 👇👇👇
Related:
US Seeks “Super Weapons” to Reign as Sole Superpower
In reality, Russia and China’s industrial bases are larger than America’s because of a number of factors, including factors no amount of American political will, can overcome. China in particular has a population four times greater than the US. China graduates millions more each year in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics than the US, and the physical size of its industrial base – military or otherwise – reflects this demographic disparity.
Even if the US had the political will to reform its military industrial base, stripping away profit-driven private industry and replacing it with purpose-driven state-owned enterprises, even if the US likewise transformed its education system to produce a skilled workforce rather than squeeze every penny from American students, and even if the US invested in its national infrastructure – a fundamental prerequisite for expanding its industrial base – it still faces a reality where China has already done all of this, and done so with a population larger than it and its G7 partners combined.
FYI, Gallagher is with Palantir, as well as the Hudson Institute.
Hudson Institute’s funding
Trump taps Hegseth as defense secretary, vows ‘no Marxism, no communism’ in military
Related:
Pentagon report warns of threat from white supremacists inside the military
A Defense Department report highlights disturbing examples of white supremacy inside the military, calling for changes in how the department screens recruits for possible ties to domestic extremism.
The report, which the Trump administration drafted last year before the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, was sent to Congress in October, but it has not been made public until now.v
The Financial Times reported that “Two of the ideas were laid out in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ‘victory plan’ with Trump specifically in mind”, with these being the proposal for Ukraine’s partners to extract its resource wealth and Ukraine’s offer to replace some US troops stationed in Europe. Trump probably really does appreciate these two points since they align with his interests. The first would help him recoup some of the US’ investment in Ukraine while the second could facilitate his “Pivot (back) to Asia”.
As a businessman, Trump doesn’t want his country to lose out on promising business opportunities in Ukraine after investing several hundred billion dollars there, hence why he’s unlikely to abandon his predecessor’s proxy war completely even though he’s much more likely to try to reach a deal. Senator Lindsey Graham estimated over the summer that Ukraine has $10-12 trillion worth of critical minerals under its soil. Even if it “only” has $1 trillion, then it’s still attractive enough to catch Trump’s attention.
Trump Probably Really Does Appreciate Two Points From Zelensky’s “Victory Plan”
So why does he want to risk business with China? 🤷🏼♀️
Purge at the Pentagon! Reuters reports that the incoming Trump administration is drawing up a list of generals to be fired. These are generals associated with former Chairman of the JCS Mark Milley and anyone else branded with a scarlet “W” for woke. The current Chairman, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, may also be fired, as some within the Trump camp suspect he may have been a DEI hire.
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As Army officer Paul Yingling famously wrote (“A Failure in Generalship”), a private is severely punished for losing a rifle but generals get promoted for losing wars. I doubt this is going to change. Instead, under Trump it appears the firing of generals is another leg of his vengeance tour, a purge of those who are perceived as disloyal.
H/T: Der Friedensstifter
Marco Rubio, a Republican foreign policy hawk tapped by Donald Trump to lead the US Department of State in his new administration, is known for his confrontational stance toward Iran and close ties with anti-Iran groups.
Trump’s pick for Sec. Of State Marco Rubio’s love affair with Israel, MKO, Pahlavi’s
Related:
What is Really Behind Iran’s Unrest?
Communities targeted by escalating right-wing violence are learning from their own histories how to keep each other safe.
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“In moments where I have seen [community defense], it’s always been something that has been asked for explicitly,” says Snow. [Yellow Peril Tactical] YPT formed in 2020 amid a slew of anti-Asian hate crimes. Organizers from around the U.S. met through activist networks and began supporting each other not just in learning self-defense and firearms skills but also in creating more visible networks of care and connecting their ideas about community empowerment to international struggles such as supporting anarchists fighting Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Related:
California Gun Control: How Ronald Reagan and the Black Panthers Started a Movement
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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