11/07/2020 News & Commentary - National Security

News and Commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and Published by Riley Murray.

 

1. What Chinese and Asian soft power teaches the West

2. Report on World Geography and U.S. Strategy

3. 2020 election reveals two broad voting coalitions fundamentally at odds

4. Chaotic US election stress tests global economy

5. Fighting the CENTCOM OIF Campaign Plan: Lessons for the Future Battlefield

6. AFP, Facebook team up vs terror (Philippines)

7. Western Economies Embrace State Intervention, Emulating Asia

8. Can the world stop China's surge into biological warfare?

9. Cancel culture vs. toleration: The consequences of punishing dissent

10. Head of nuclear weapons agency unexpectedly resigns

11. USAID deputy leader ousted in staff shakeup amid vote counting

12. QAnon Is Winning: Conspiracy thinking in America had a huge night on Tuesday.

13. Capitalism After the Pandemic: Getting the Recovery Right

14. Incendiary texts traced to outfit run by top Trump aide

15. Shuttering Asymmetric Warfare Group and Red Team is the 'wrong direction,' retired Army three-star says

16. Taiwan's Overall Defense Concept, Explained

 

1. What Chinese and Asian soft power teaches the West

asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · November 7, 2020

Excerpts:

While digital China looks set to remain walled off from the globe, the rest of cybersphere is seeing digital frontiers evaporate. "We are seeing the rise of a borderless culture and economy, and young people don't care about the nation it's from. They say, 'That is so cool, I am now a fan'," Bang said.

But speaking geographically, Bang likes the look of Southeast Asia.

"ASEAN is the next place that is going to rise, it is a huge market, it is not to be scoffed at," she said, citing the Malaysian animation Egen Ali. "He is this Muslim detective who is loved all over the region," she said. "And we are seeing some great Malaysian hip hop."

 

2. Report on World Geography and U.S. Strategy

news.usni.org · November 6, 2020

The CRS report can be accessed here: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20402600/if10485.pdf

Key excerpts from report: 

Consistent with a goal of being able to conduct sustained, large-scale military operations in Eurasia or the oceans and airspace surrounding Eurasia, the United States also stations significant numbers of forces and supplies in forward locations in Europe, the Persian Gulf, and the Indo-Pacific.

The United States is the only country in the world that designs its military to depart one hemisphere, cross broad expanses of ocean and air space, and then conduct sustained, large-scale military operations upon arrival in another hemisphere. The other countries in the Western Hemisphere do not design their forces to do this because they cannot afford to, and because the United States is, in effect, doing it for them. Countries in the other hemisphere do not design their forces to do this for the very basic reason that they are already in the other hemisphere, and consequently instead spend their defense money primarily on forces that are tailored largely for influencing events in their own local regions of that hemisphere. (Some countries, such as Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France, have an ability to deploy forces to distant locations, but only on a much smaller scale.)

 

3. 2020 election reveals two broad voting coalitions fundamentally at odds

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/06/2020-election-reveals-two-broad-voting-coalitions-fundamentally-at-odds/?utm_source – by Claudia Deane and John Gramlich – 6 November 2020

We should think hard about this and, regardless of which camp or tribe you fall into or are a part of, ask if we are still committed to making our great American experiment work?  Are we committed to the true and fundamental ideals and ideas upon which our nation was founded (not the ideas and ideals espoused by the revisionists)?

 

4. Chaotic US election stress tests global economy

asiatimes.com – by William Pesek

Conclusion: "All this means markets hoping for clarity in Washington could be in for a long, stressful and financially turbulent Trumpian wait."

 

5. Fighting the CENTCOM OIF Campaign Plan: Lessons for the Future Battlefield

mwi.usma.edu · by Kevin Benson · November 6, 2020

We can always learn something about campaign planning and campaigning from Kevin Benson.

 

6. AFP, Facebook team up vs terror (Philippines)

philstar.com · by Romina Cabrera

 

7. Western Economies Embrace State Intervention, Emulating Asia

WSJ · by Tom Fairless and Stella Yifan Xie

Is this really something new?  I think governments have been pretty interventionist for a long time... (forever?)

 

8. Can the world stop China's surge into biological warfare?

http://www.washingtontimes.com

Short answer. No.

Excerpt: We have to take seriously China's thinking about military applications of biological warfare, including specific "ethnic genetic attacks." By broadening the concept of biowarfare - which it labels one of the principal domains of war - into fields such as genomics, the study of human DNA, China intends to create weapons based on genomic data. The concept is not fanciful.

 

9. Cancel culture vs. toleration: The consequences of punishing dissent

Big Think · November 4, 2020

Cancel culture must stop.

Conclusion: This is what cancel culture robs society of - the healthy and essential practice of toleration, without which pluralism and a peaceful society cannot be sustained.

 

10. Head of nuclear weapons agency unexpectedly resigns

Defense News · by Aaron Mehta · November 6, 2020

 

11. USAID deputy leader ousted in staff shakeup amid vote counting

The Hill · by Laura Kelly · November 6, 2020

 

12. QAnon Is Winning: Conspiracy thinking in America had a huge night on Tuesday.

defenseone.com · by Kaitlyn Tiffany – 7 November 2020

It so pains me to read this: "QAnon is not just on the internet anymore; it's in the U.S. Capitol. It is not just a conspiracy theory anymore; it's a voting bloc. And it is not going anywhere."

 

13. Capitalism After the Pandemic: Getting the Recovery Right

Foreign Affairs · by Mariana Mazzucato · October 28, 2020

Excerpts:

When the public and private sectors come together in pursuit of a common mission, they can do extraordinary things. This is how the United States got to the moon and back in 1969. For eight years, NASA and private companies in sectors as varied as aerospace, textiles, and electronics collaborated on the Apollo program, investing and innovating together. Through boldness and experimentation, they achieved what President John F. Kennedy called "the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked." The point was not to commercialize certain technologies or even to boost economic growth; it was to get something done together.

More than 50 years later, in the midst of a global pandemic, the world has a chance to attempt an even more ambitious moonshot: the creation of a better economy. This economy would be more inclusive and sustainable. It would emit less carbon, generate less inequality, build modern public transport, provide digital access for all, and offer universal health care. More immediately, it would make a COVID-19 vaccine available to everyone. Creating this type of economy will require a type of public-private collaboration that hasn't been seen in decades.

Some who talk about recovering from the pandemic cite an appealing goal: a return to normalcy. But that is the wrong target; normal is broken. Rather, the goal should be, as many have put it, to "build back better." Twelve years ago, the financial crisis offered a rare opportunity to change capitalism, but it was squandered. Now, another crisis has presented another chance for renewal. This time, the world cannot afford to let it go to waste.

 

14. Incendiary texts traced to outfit run by top Trump aide

AP · by FRANK BAJAK and GARANCE BURKE · November 7, 2020

Of course if I were advising a subversive organization that was in opposition to the Trump campaign, I might contract this service and send out inflammatory messages that appear to be in support of the campaign in order to try to discredit it.  And of course, if I were advising supporters of the Trump campaign, I would advise them not do something like this that is so blatantly obvious and wrong.

 

15.  Shuttering Asymmetric Warfare Group and Red Team is the 'wrong direction,' retired Army three-star says

armytimes.com · by Kyle Rempfer · November 4, 2020

It seems to me the AWG and the Red Team course are organizations and programs that apply well to both IW and traditional warfare.  And I am sure they are worth the very minimal investment to sustain them.  The title mentions Red Team, but the text discussed the Rapid Equipping Force.  We know the Army is closing the Red Team program at Ft Leavenworth as well

 

This is from 2007 and is reaffirmed in the new IW annex to the NDS.

It is DoD policy that IW is as strategically important as traditional warfare and DoD must be equally capable in both. Many of the capabilities and skills required for IW are applicable to traditional warfare, but their role in IW can be

proportionally greater. (DoDD 3000.07 "Irregular Warfare")

 

16.  Taiwan's Overall Defense Concept, Explained

thediplomat.com · November 3, 2020

I was fortunate to attend a working group with the Taiwan Army that was led by our Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group.  Taiwan absolutely must take an asymmetric approach to its defense.

 

"Never appeal to a man's better nature. He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage."

- Robert A. Heinlein

 

Helmuth von Moltke: "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

Bob Leonhard: "A plan that doesn't survive first contact with the enemy is called 'a bad plan.' You shouldn't be a planner. Fire your G2. Learn about decision matrices."

 

"A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot."

- Robert A. Heinlein, Friday