A Narrow Pacific Waterway is at the Heart of U.S. Plans to Choke China’s Vast Navy +

Reuters reprint: A Narrow Pacific Waterway is at the Heart of U.S. Plans to Choke China’s Vast Navy

Until recently, locals say, this smallest and least populous province of the Philippines was a peaceful backwater. But geography dictates that it is now on the frontline of the great power competition between the United States and China for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region. The islands sit on the southern edge of the Bashi Channel, a major shipping lane between the Philippines and Taiwan that connects the South China Sea with the Western Pacific.

This year’s exercises revealed how the U.S. and its Philippine ally intend to use ground-based anti-ship missiles as part of efforts to deny the Chinese navy access to the Western Pacific by making this waterway impassable in a conflict, Reuters reporting shows. These missiles could also be used to attack a Chinese fleet attempting to invade Taiwan or mount a blockade against the democratically governed island.

Recent Chinese maneuvers show how access to the Bashi Channel is critical for Beijing’s plans in the Pacific. In June, a powerful Chinese navy aircraft carrier battle group used this passage to enter the Western Pacific before launching an extended series of exercises south of Japan, according to Japanese military tracking data.

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2 US military veterans killed in Ukraine during intense fighting

Two U.S. military veterans were killed in Ukraine late last month as they fended off intense Russian attacks so their comrades could maneuver, according to Ryan O’Leary, a U.S. Army veteran who leads foreigners in Ukraine’s 59th Motorized Brigade.

2 US military veterans killed in Ukraine during intense fighting

H/T: Emil Cosman

Previously:

US Army Vet From Iowa Rats Out Ukrainian Corruption

A war vs. US wars

A huge anti-war protest rally is expected to be held in Washington this Friday (Feb. 17, 2023) on the anniversary of the Ukraine War and President’s Day Weekend, it’s dubbed “Rage Against the War Machine!” Speakers at the event are now famous anti-US wars dissenters Jimmie Dore, Medea Benjamin, Scott Hortan, Garland Nixon and David Swanson with war veterans, musicians and more.

A war vs. US wars

Slight correction, the Rage Against the War Machine rally is tomorrow (February 19th, 2023).

US adviser calls on Washington to provide Ukrainian forces with banned weapons

An American adviser to the Ukrainian military has called on Washington to send Kiev forces banned weapons such as cluster munitions to fight Russia.

US adviser calls on Washington to provide Ukrainian forces with banned weapons

Related:

Ukrinform: Ukraine needs cluster munitions to inflict devastating losses on massive Russian forces on the battlefield.

That’s according to Dan Rice, Special Advisor to Ukraine Army Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who spoke with CNN, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Daniel Rice:

Dan is the President of Thayer Leadership and a 1988 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 2010, Dan co-founded Thayer Leadership along with four other West Point graduates with the mission of bringing the world to West Point and bringing West Point leadership to the world. Over the past 10 years, Thayer has grown steadily, becoming one of the Top 40 leader development companies in the world. As a lifelong learner, he has earned 3 Masters degrees and recently completed his Doctoral classes.

In 2022, Dan was named Special Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Thayer Leadership