Month: September 2020

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USAF Reveals New Arctic Strategy

In July, the USAF revealed what it describes as a “new strategy” for dealing with the growing military threat emerging in the Arctic, a region of growing strategic importance both in terms of ice-free transportation and access to an abundance of raw materials.

The Air Force has the largest presence of any branch of the military in the Arctic region, with resources in both Alaska and Greenland.

“Historically, the Arctic, like space, was characterized as a predominantly peaceful domain,” Air Force Secretary Barbara A. Barret recently noted. “This is changing with expanded maritime access, newly discovered resources and competing sovereign interests.”

Russia, she said, has the largest permanent military presence in the Arctic — “No other country matches its presence there. Recent Russian investments in the Arctic include a network of offensive air assets and coastal missile systems. The Arctic defines Russia. Almost 25% of Russia’s [gross domestic product] comes from … north of the Arctic Circle… mostly from hydrocarbons.”

Barrett said that Russian economic reliance is one explanation for its growing military initiatives in the region. But Russia is not alone in its interest in the Arctic. China, which is not itself an Arctic nation, has also staked claims there, she said.

“China is trying to normalize its presence in the Arctic to gain access to regional resources, which are said to include over 90 billion barrels of oil and an estimated trillion dollars’ worth of rare earth metals,” Barrett said. “In 2018, China linked its Arctic activities to its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative. Many are concerned that China may repeat what some see as predatory economic behavior, to the detriment of the region.”

The Air Force has announced it has established four strategic Arctic priorities.

The first is enhanced vigilance. “Vigilance encompasses everything from weather forecasting and consistent communications, to threat detection and tracking,” Barrett said. “Physical facilities delivering vigilance include advanced systems like the long-range discriminating radar at Clear, Alaska, and the north warning system, stretching from Alaska to Labrador.”

Second is a focus on projecting power through a combat-credible force.

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“Bases in Alaska benefit from the region’s strategic geography…When the full complement of planned F-35s arrive at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska’s unparalleled concentration of fifth-generation fighters will project unmistakable influence.” Barrett stated.

Third, the USAF will work with regional allies.

Finally, the Air Force will focus on joint preparation for Arctic operations with the other armed services. According to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein, successfully operating in the Arctic and ensuring free access to the region by the United States and its allies will require a joint effort from all U.S. services.

Goldfein said he and Space Force Gen. John Raymond, the chief of space operations, are working through a concept called “joint all-domain operations” that addresses the need for a joint effort in the Arctic.

“It’s a technological approach…If you look at one of the most critical missions that we do, and that’s missile warning, the Arctic is our front edge of that mission. We do that…both at Thule, Greenland, north of the Arctic Circle…We also do it in Alaska, at Clear Air Force Station.”

Raymond said the Arctic’s geographic location makes it the best place to conduct space operations.

“If you look at the key terrain aspect of that environment, we also command and control satellites,” he said. “If you’re going to command and control satellites that are in polar orbits, where better to do it then on top of the world at the pole? It allows us to get great access to those satellites to be able to command and control and do that business. So that geography and the position on the globe … makes it an extremely advantageous place to operate from.”

Photo: F-35’s in the Arctic. (USAF photo)

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Foreign Policy Update

CHINA

Every week China is committing new human rights abuses domestically and aggressive acts abroad that further destabilize the entire East Asian region. Secretary Pompeo talked about poor Chinese behavior in his recent historic speech in Southern California.  He said that if you “look at the Chinese Communist Party today and what General Secretary Xi is doing, you see, whether it is the actions internal to the country, the enormous human rights violations, the way they’re treating the Uyghurs, and even the Mongols of the north and the Tibetans, this is a gross deterioration in basic human rights that General Secretary Xi’s providing for his own people.”

Chinese aggression on the Indian border also is of concern as Beijing has ordered more soldiers to that border than at any time since the early 1960s. Pompeo said this is causing huge problems for other countries in Southeast Asia and their ability to simply exercise their basic rights inside their own economic zones.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The United Arab Emirates recently made a historic decision to recognize Israel and to come to a common understanding about the real threat to the people of the Emirates. According to Pompeo, this emanates “certainly not from the state of Israel but rather from the Islamic Republic of Iran. These are big global shifts and things President Trump has been leading on for the three and a half years I’ve been part of this administration.” This is a win for the Trump Administration and for movement toward peace in the Middle East and increased security for Israel.

Recognition is a big step toward creating a new path for the first time in 40 years, According to Pompeo. He pointed out that there’s “… a deep recognition that it is no longer… a challenge between the Palestinians and Israel that causes the instability.  There’s a recognition that the challenge comes from the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

BELARUS

There was a fraudulent election in Belarus. It concerns the United States and most of the Western world. What is happening there is what’s happening in places like Lebanon and Iraq, according to Pompeo. “People are standing up and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve just had enough’.” The Belarus population, he said, is demanding that they no longer be treated in the way that communist regimes have treated people for so long. 

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“We’ve made very clear that this election was not a real election… It was fraudulent; it wasn’t fair. And we have now begun to work with our EU partners to ensure that the things that these people have gone to the streets for – they’ve sacrificed themselves; many have been put in jail – simply to demand the basic freedoms that every human being is entitled to by nature of their being created in the image of God,” said Pompeo.

At the recent OSCE meeting, Deputy Secretary delivered remarks  reinforcing the US position on Belarus and called for an immediate end to the violence against the Belarusian people and the release of all those unjustly detained, including American citizen Vitali Shkliarov. He emphasized that the people of Belarus must be provided the self-determination to choose their own leaders through a truly free and fair election under independent observation.

IRAN

Two of the world’s greatest violators of basic human rights, Iran and China, just signed a 25-year strategic partnership.  This nuclear deal allows the Iranians to buy and sell weapons starting in six weeks.  Pompeo said it was crazy and that “It’s unsafe; it’s destabilizing… one of the countries that would like to sell weapons to Iran would be China.  They’ll make a lot of money off of it.”

According to Pompeo, the United States needs to prevent this from happening. The world, he said, should know that if China choose “to violate the sanctions that we have imposed against Iran, that we’ll hold everyone accountable.”

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Pixabay

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China’s Aggressive Technology

Jaywalk in Shanghai, attend a mosque service in Xinjiang, use too much toilet paper at home, or simply walk through a public square in Jiangsu province and you probably have been visually identified, and your transgression caught, by China’s whole-of-government, security surveillance system. The objective of China’s new 50 million plus cameras and 100 billion plus data points collected in its big data analytics program is to ensure “domestic tranquility” and to “improve social development.” By perceiving and predicting behavior the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) intends to stop future crime, social unrest, disloyalty, and other behaviors deemed inappropriate by the state.

China is building “smart cities” to integrate facts concerning every move made by residents and their vehicles, into a single computer platform, filled with massive amounts of personal information. When complete the software will download the vast amounts of big data into a “police cloud” to create a comprehensive picture of every citizen. It is scheduled for completion in 2020. The Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) is at the center of the Chinese government’s security plan. According to a recently released RAND Corporation study on Chinese views of big data analysis, the IJOP incorporates advanced facial recognition software, infrared cameras, and Wi-Fi “sniffers” to identify computers. It will accumulate other personal data including genetic information, fingerprints, blood types, iris scans, and reports from police interrogations. No one’s medical information will be private.

When finished the IJOP will have the capacity to track how much money is in a citizen’s bank account, conduct government tax audits, identify events people attend, and even cross-reference arrests and detentions in a 21st century version of an Orwellian state. Using 75 different behavioral indicators the IJOP assigns risk factors to individuals according to data points such as the length of time spent abroad, unusual electric consumption, or attendance at a mosque. It also can determine if someone is using an app to avoid the invasive surveillance.

The top-down leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is wary of domestic unrest by ethnical minorities and, literally, fears the Muslim Uighurs in western China. Beijing’s solution is to place cameras outside the homes of Muslim religious leaders and then identify, and detain, people who associate with them. The MPS and its IJOP system then predicts whether they represent a high risk to the state’s preservation of order. If they are scored as a threat to the state, or the CCP, they are sent to brutal reeducation camps with open-ended sentences. Their families also are subject to police investigation and extrajudicial detention. The explanation is attributed to the government’s beneficent intent to reduce potential future crime. China is integrating big data analytics, the use of computers to make sense of large data sets, across the entire country. This is an intermediary step before establishing a full artificial intelligence system to control and monitor Chinese citizens using only computer algorithms.

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Predictive policing may sound somewhat innocuous in that it infers a technical advance in crime prevention. The MPS, however, is expanding that system beyond surveillance in an even more devious move due to be completed this fall. It is integrating the new Social Credit System (SCS) into IJOP with the intent to restrict the movement and behavior of individuals deemed potentially disloyal or undesirable by the state, to pressure them into conforming to CCP norms. The SCS will have a wide-ranging impact on people from restricting the types of transportation they can use to incorporating a special ringtone on their phones. It will alert the receiver of a call that they are about to talk with a person the MPS considers a high-risk to the state.  

The Chinese State Council officially unveiled its intent “to keep pace with the leading countries in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and applications” to enable it to become a major technology center of innovation and, within the decade, dominate the field. State-backed big data and AI research companies initially focused on technologies such as facial recognition for ATM machines. By 2019 it had morphed into a program that helped the communist giant arrest well over 10,000 Chinese citizens in less than four years. The world needs to question how the CCP’s leadership will further leverage these advanced technologies and the implications these advances hold for the Chinese military.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

Illustration: Pixabay

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Media Suppresses Americans’ Anger at China

Why aren’t you hearing about the American people`s boiling anger at China?

A recent Rasmussen poll disclosed that U.S. voters think China is chiefly to blame for the coronavirus, and most now believe the Chinese should pay at least some of the global costs of the pandemic.

China’s malfeasance in dealing with its Covid-19 disaster resulted in more harm to the U.S. economy and civilian population than just about any event in over a century. But compare it to the extraordinary mood that swept the nation in the aftermath of the 9/11 disaster. Amazingly, the media reports almost no public anger.

Obviously, that’s not an accurate representation of the American public’s mood. Speak with everyday people, and a sense of their fury comes through loud and clear. A Gallup report  found that 55% of the public disapprove of the media’s coverage of the Chinese-caused pandemic.

Why the dichotomy? There are two explanations.

The first and most significant is the most successful propaganda and influence buying campaign in American history. Leftist leaders, Media barons, and corporate chiefs have decided that their devotion to Beijing’s money far exceeds any inclination towards the truth, patriotism, or concern for their fellow countrymen.

Since 2012, notes one recent analysis, Beijing has made a significant effort to influence U.S. public opinion by buying into Hollywood and other outlets of popular influence and culture. This affects both fiction and news broadcasting.

USNews notes that “Beijing is increasingly looking to global media as a tentacle for sharing its ideology…China…has interfered in content dissemination, public debate, and in some cases, electoral politics outside of China.

Freedom House finds that China’s state media outlets have vast sums to gain influence on foreign media outlets. Beijing spends heavily on buying the support of foreign journalists, politicians and businesses seeking to do business in China.

Why haven’t those American corporations that have been devastated by COVID protested? The Washington Post explains:

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“In subtle and sophisticated ways, Beijing convinces, cajoles and cudgels American companies to…enshrine self-censorship about China in their corporate cultures. When it’s successful, as with ESPN, the company advances Chinese propaganda…One way American companies protect the party’s view is by suppressing negative information…”

Beijing’s message is blunt. If you want to do business in China, kowtow to all the wishes of its Communist leadership.

The second explanation is campaign politics and political corruption. 

Despite clear contrary facts, Democrats, in a bid to gain a campaign issue, have ignored China’s culpability.  They have attempted to rather absurdly focus blame on a Trump Administration that had actually moved early to contain the disease. This approach hides the reality that when President Trump closed down the U.S. border to travel from China, Democrats called the move “racist” and “xenophobic,” and key Democrat cities refused to take action.

Corruption places a key part as well.

The billions of dollars elected officials have gained from personal dealings with China is a key part of the story. Some of those billions represent blatant corruption, such as the Biden family’s income from Beijing during Joe’s tenure as Vice President.  Other prominent officials from both political parties have also profited heavily, in ways ranging from thinly disguised bribes to quasi-legitimate business deals. The downplaying of China’s malicious culpability proceeded in return for the profit Biden and other politicians gained.  

In a fascinating portrayal of how events can bring together disparate individuals, both capitalist President Trump and Socialist Bernie Sanders have complained about China’s influence in U.S. politics.

A heavily Beijing-influenced media refuses to pursue the story, and pushes the line of their Chinese benefactors.

Photo: China’s leader, Xi Jinping (Official China government photo)

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How is that “Defunding the Police” Working Out? Part 2

This article was provided exclusively to the New York Analysis of Policy and Government by the distinguished retired judge, John H. Wilson

Is there any relation between Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s views and the increase in violent crime?  According to the Chicago Sun Times, “as the number of murders in Chicago soared in June, there was a huge slowdown of police activity that the police union blames on rock-bottom morale and distrust of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.” 

Portland, Oregon is in a category all its own.  As of this writing, riots disguised as protests have gone on for 60 straight days.  In particular, these rioters have focused on the federal courthouse, prompting federal agents to protect federal property.  The reaction of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler?  “(This) appears to be a blatant abuse of police authority by the Trump administration. As best as I can tell, this is an effort – a last-gasp effort by a failed president with sagging polling data who’s trying to look strong for his base, and so he is actually using the federal police function in support of his candidacy.” 

Mayor Wheeler has made no secret of his intention to defund the Portland Police.  According to The Oregonian, he has “pledged the city will divert $12 million from the police bureau and other city departments to directly support communities of color, defund three police units including the gun violence reduction team and ban officers from using chokeholds as part of plans to reform the Portland Police Bureau.” 

This leads us to Mayor Bill DeBlasio of New York City, another proponent of defunding his city’s police department.  “According to the NYPD, 178 homicides were reported in New York City so far this year. The statistics include information through June 30. This is a 21 percent increase from the number (of) homicides reported during the same time last year when the city saw 147 homicides…The city has seen 528 shooting incidents and 636 shooting victims this year through June 30. This translates to a 46 percent increase in incidents and a 53 percent increase in shooting victims compared to the same time last year when the city reported 362 incidents and 415 victims.”

Yet, how does Mayor DeBlasio spend his time while murder and shootings are on the rise?  When not quoting Karl Marx, and Che Guevara, the Mayor is painting the words “Black Lives Matter” in front of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. 

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Of all the actions of the various Mayors discussed here, Mayor DeBlasio is the only one who might have violated Ethical Rules by his actions.  Under Chapter 68 of the New York City Charter, Section 2604(b)(2) and (3), “No public servant shall engage in any business, transaction or private employment, or have any financial or other private interest, direct or indirect, which is in conflict with the proper discharge of his or her official duties,” and “No public servant shall use or attempt to use his or her position as a public servant to obtain any financial gain, contract, license, privilege or other private or personal advantage, direct or indirect, for the public servant or any person or firm associated with the public servant.” 

Does painting the words “Black Lives Matter” on a public street constitute an attempt to “use his position as a public servant to obtain any…other private or personal advantage” and constitute an act “in conflict with the proper discharge of his…official duties?”  That would be up to the NYC Conflict of Interest Board to decide.  But the placement of this particular “mural” just outside the residence of the current President, when DeBlasio is a former candidate for the Presidency himself underscores the political advantage New York City’s Mayor may expect from supporters of Black Lives Matter.

And need it be mentioned that Mayor Lightfoot, Mayor Wheeler and Mayor DeBlasio are all members of the Democratic Party? 

All the blame for New York City’s problems cannot be laid at the feet of Mayor DeBlasio alone.  Doing his part to support the new agenda, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a contender for Mayor of New York in the next election, “urged people to solve non-violent disputes among themselves without involving police officers to avoid the risk of a police confrontation escalating.”  The result?  “A Brooklyn woman was killed after attempting to reason with several people illegally setting off fireworks in the neighborhood of East New York.” 

So how is that “Defunding the Police” thing going for these cities?  Apparently, no so good.

Photo: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot (Office of the Mayor)

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How is that “Defunding the Police” Working Out for You?

This article was provided exclusively to the New York Analysis of Policy and Government by the distinguished retired judge, John H. Wilson

There is a popular parody of the typical advertisement for action movies which begins, “In a world gone mad…” or words to that effect.  Lately, for many of us, it may feel as if that parody has come to life.

As a direct result of the “protests” which spread across the world in the wake of the death of George Floyd, more than one municipality has decided that “defunding” their police department and curtailing enforcement of various public order laws is necessary to bring a halt to police brutality.  Let us see how that policy is working across the nation.

In Minneapolis, the City Council has proposed an ordinance which seeks to replace the Police Department with a “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention Department.” This new Department will ” have responsibility for public safety services prioritizing a holistic, public health-oriented approach,” with a Director who “will have non-law enforcement experience in community safety services, including but not limited to public health and/or restorative justice approaches.”

While this proposal, unanimously approved by the Minneapolis City Council, must be reviewed by a public commission before it can be added to the next ballot for approval by the voters,  many of those voters decided to put into practice the philosophy of the Minneapolis City Council in advance.

As a homeless encampment grew in size in Powderhorn Park, which is located within the City of Minneapolis, “residents there have vowed to avoid calling the cops, feeling that doing so could put people of color in danger. But now with hundreds of outsiders flooding the park — drawing in more car traffic, including drug dealers, and resulting in at least two overdoses — the neighbors are facing a moral dilemma.”    In fact, since the homeless have made Powderhorn Park their home, among a host of other crimes, three rapes have been reported in the span of two weeks.   

As one resident of the area stated, while discussing the increase in crime, “We’re all liberals…We’re all sympathetic and would love for these people to have dignified housing and to get the social services that the city, the state, the county is failing to support. But this is not the answer.” 

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Meanwhile, in the less liberal neighborhoods of Minneapolis, according to the Wall Street Journal, “Minneapolis residents in some areas still recovering from rioting and unrest are forming community watch and security groups, some bearing firearms, to fight a surge of crime.” 

Much like Chicago, Minneapolis has seen a recent increase in gun violence.  The reason?  “Minneapolis police have stopped making as many street stops as they made previously.” 

Speaking of Chicago, while Mayor Lori Lightfoot has not expressly supported defunding the police, her intentions appear to be the same – “what I believe what we’re really talking about is what I ran on, and why it’s so important that we follow through on a commitment to the investments in black and brown neighborhoods that haven’t seen any investment, truly, in decades,” she said …“What people are saying, I think, is in too many communities across our city, particularly black and brown Chicago, what they see every day is a manifestation of government is the police…” 

And how is this philosophy working out in the Windy City?   “Six months into the year, 329 people have been killed in Chicago, an increase of about 34% from the 246 homicides during the same period last year, according to police. Shootings in that period rose by about 42%, from 978 in 2019 to 1384 in 2020.  Shootings across the city increased by 75% last month alone, with 424 shootings in June 2020 compared to 242 in June 2019, according to police statistics. Murders in Chicago rose by 78%, with 89 reported in June 2020 compared to 50 in the same month last year.” 

The Report Concludes Tomorrow

Illustration: Pixabay