Month: April 2021

Very few Americans will recall that this month commemorates the 246^th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution, an event that transformed not just one nation but an entire world’s concept of personal rights.

The British had been moving steadily to reduce both the private and community rights of their American dominion. The colonists, separated by time and distance from London, had grown accustomed not only to governing themselves, but to the practice of freedoms considerably greater than those in effect anyplace else across the globe. It was becoming increasingly apparent that their liberties were being dismantled. To protect themselves from the escalating abuse, the colonists took steps protect their liberties.

The National Archives describes what happened next: “On the evening of April 18, 1775, the British authorities, acting on information that a supply of ammunition for the local militia was being stored in Concord, sent British regular troops from Boston to confiscate the arms. Skirmishes occurred in several places, most notably on Lexington town green and afterwards at Old North Bridge spanning the Concord River in Concord. The incidents are referred to as the Lexington Alarm and the Battle of Concord… The colonists felt wronged. They had been fired upon unjustly.”

It’s not surprising that this vital anniversary is barely observed. American education has sharply deemphasized the importance of teaching history. But there is more to this than mere ignorance. To be blunt, the principles that inspired the heroic actions in Massachusetts that directly led not only to the establishment of a unique new nation but to the adoption of the Bill of Rights a mere sixteen years later are not ones shared by those currently in power in Washington, or those who influence public opinion in education, entertainment, and the majority of the major news outlets.

The personal freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights are simply not in vogue with those wielding influence in print or on the air and internet spectrums.

Upon taking office in 2009, Barack Obama promised to fundamentally transform America, and did. Ironically, considering the events commemorated this month, one of his first targets (using the Internal Revenue Service) was the Tea Party, a group named after an action against King George III in 1773 in response to unfair taxes. The Department of Justice was employed to harass those who disagreed with the Obama-Biden Administration on climate change. In 2014, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced a measure in the Senate to weaken the First Amendment in order to be able to restrict paid political speech.  He garnered 41 votes, but fortunately lost.

No less a person than a United States Supreme Court Justice has also expressed a similar lack of respect for the central principle behind the founding of the nation. During the 2010 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, Sen. Tom Coburn had a testy exchange in which he pushed her to state her belief in fundamental rights.  She evaded answering.

 The plutocrats of social media, and the campus administrators who tolerate no difference of opinion have pulled out all the stops to suppress differences of opinion. This has led to an environment that justifies physically assaulting opponents in the streets who disagree with leftist ideology.  

Almost a century after the Revolution, Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of a Civil War that sought to extend the personal liberties the colonists fought for to those enslaved, speculated on how Americans could lose those precious rights.  “”Whence shall we expect the approach of danger? …In the trial of a thousand years, if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we will live forever…or die by suicide.”

Picture: National Park Service

RUSSIA

The State Department is expelling 10 Russian officials from the US and calling on Russia to de-escalate the situation near the Ukrainian border. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also announced formally that the US is holding the Russian Government accountable for the SolarWinds intrusion, reports of bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan, and attempts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections. According to Blinken, President Biden will be signing a new Executive Order on Russia that will broaden the scope of the US’ sanctions authorities. The Treasury Department is issuing a directive prohibiting US financial institutions from conducting transactions in the primary market for new ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds issued after June 14, 2021.  

“In terms of Russia, we’ve made very clear – the President has, and the Secretary has underscored that – that there is a price to be paid, the kind of sanctions that the Russians have, what we call Crimea sanctions, but a variety of other sanctions from us, from the European Union, and from others globally, because of their earlier actions, according to a senior State Department official. He added that “…to this day, they (Russians) have given no good explanation of what they’re doing with this enormous and costly buildup….”

NORWAY

With Russia potentially on the move in the Ukraine, the US and the Kingdom of Norway concluded a Supplementary Defense Cooperation Agreement (SDCA), which will allow the two countries to deepen bilateral security cooperation, strengthen NATO operations, and increase Transatlantic security, according to a statement released by the State Department. The SDCA builds on the 1951 NATO Status of Forces Agreement to facilitate further development of opportunities for US forces to train and exercise in Norway, promoting improved interoperability with Norwegian and other allied forces.

CHINA

Asked in a recent NBC interview if the US would respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan, Secretary Blinken hesitated to make any commitment saying: “All I can tell you is we have a serious commitment to Taiwan being able to defend itself.  We have a serious commitment to peace and security in the Western Pacific.  And in that context, it would be a serious mistake for anyone to try to change that status quo by force.”

“What we’ve seen and what is a real concern to us is increasingly aggressive actions by the government in Beijing directed at Taiwan, raising tensions in the straits.  And we have a commitment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, a bipartisan commitment that’s existed for many, many years, to make sure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to make sure that we’re sustaining peace and security in the Western Pacific,” Blinken added.  

AFGHANISTAN

The United State announced that beginning May 1 the US will start withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan and finish by September 11, 2021. Secretary of State Blinken in a press conference at the American Embassy in Kabul that “The threat from al-Qaida in Afghanistan is significantly degraded. Osama bin Laden has been brought to justice…But even when our troops come home, our partnership with Afghanistan will continue. Our security partnership will endure… We’ll intensify our diplomacy with the Government of Afghanistan, the Taliban, countries in the region and around the world that have a stake in Afghanistan’s future.”

SOUTH SUDAN

The State Department in Washington announced it is sending more than $95 million to support the response to the South Sudan humanitarian emergency.  The funding will provide critical protection, economic opportunity, shelter, essential healthcare, emergency food assistance, safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services to some of the nearly four million South Sudanese refugees and internally displaced people in South Sudan.  It also supports refugees and host communities in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.   

IRAN

Iran announced it is enriching uranium to 60%, which puts it closer to weapons-grade levels of more than 90 percent enrichment and exceeds its current top level of 20 percent. Secretary Blinken said the US takes this “very seriously” and considers it a “provocative announcement.” He called on the P5+1 countries to remain unified and united in rejecting Iran’s move.  “I have to tell you the step calls into question Iran’s seriousness with regard to the nuclear talks, just as it underscores the imperative of returning to mutual compliance with the JCPOA,” said Blinken. The United States and Iran have both stated a common objective of returning to mutual compliance with the JCPOA.  We’ve been engaged constructively in a diplomatic process to achieve that goal.  In Vienna last week, we explored concrete approaches that we could take, the steps that Iran and the United States would take to return to compliance.   

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

The Annual Threat Assessment from the office of the Director of National Intelligence has just been released. We provide excerpts from its analysis on China:

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will continue its whole-of-government efforts to spread China’s influence,  undercut that of the United States, drive wedges between Washington and its allies and partners, and foster new  international norms that favor the authoritarian Chinese system. Chinese leaders probably will, however, seek  tactical opportunities to reduce tensions with Washington when such opportunities suit their interests. China will  maintain its major innovation and industrial policies because Chinese leaders see this strategy as necessary  to reduce dependence on foreign technologies, enable military advances, and sustain economic growth and  thus ensure the CCP’s survival. 

∙ Beijing sees increasingly competitive US-China relations as part of an epochal geopolitical shift and  views Washington’s economic measures against Beijing since 2018 as part of a broader US effort to  contain China’s rise. 

∙ China is touting its success containing the COVID-19 pandemic as evidence of the superiority of its  system. 

∙ Beijing is increasingly combining its growing military power with its economic, technological, and  diplomatic clout to preserve the CCP, secure what it views as its territory and regional preeminence,  and pursue international cooperation at Washington’s expense. 

Regional and Global Activities 

China seeks to use coordinated, whole-of-government tools to demonstrate its growing strength and compel regional  neighbors to acquiesce to Beijing’s preferences, including its claims over disputed territory and assertions of  sovereignty over Taiwan. 

∙ China-India border tensions remain high, despite some force pullbacks this year. China’s occupation  since May 2020 of contested border areas is the most serious escalation in decades and led to the first  lethal border clash between the two countries since 1975. As of mid-February, after multiple rounds of  talks, both sides were pulling back forces and equipment from some sites along the disputed border. 

∙ In the South China Sea, Beijing will continue to intimidate rival claimants and will use growing  numbers of air, naval, and maritime law enforcement platforms to signal to Southeast Asian countries  that China has effective control over contested areas. China is similarly pressuring Japan over  contested areas in the East China Sea. 

∙ Beijing will press Taiwan authorities to move toward unification and will condemn what it views as  increased US-Taiwan engagement. We expect that friction will grow as Beijing steps up attempts to  portray Taipei as internationally isolated and dependent on the mainland for economic prosperity, and as China continues to increase military activity around the island. 

∙ China’s increasing cooperation with Russia on areas of complementary interest includes defense and  economic cooperation.

Beijing will continue to promote the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to expand China’s economic, political,  and military presence abroad, while trying to reduce waste and exploitative practices, which have led to  international criticism. China will try to increase its influence using “vaccine diplomacy,” giving countries  favored access to the COVID-19 vaccines it is developing. China also will promote new international norms  for technology and human rights, emphasizing state sovereignty and political stability over individual rights. 

China will remain the top threat to US technological competitiveness as the CCP targets key technology  sectors and proprietary commercial and military technology from US and allied companies and research  institutions associated with defense, energy, finance, and other sectors. Beijing uses a variety of tools, from  public investment to espionage and theft, to advance its technological capabilities. 

Military Capabilities 

China will continue pursuing its goals of becoming a great power, securing what it views as its territory, and  establishing its preeminence in regional affairs by building a world-class military, potentially destabilizing  international norms and relationships. China’s military commitment includes a multiyear agenda of  comprehensive military reform initiatives. 

∙ We expect the PLA to continue pursuing overseas military installations and access agreements to  enhance its ability to project power and protect Chinese interests abroad. 

∙ The PLA Navy and PLA Air Force are the largest in the region and continue to field advanced  long-range platforms that improve China’s ability to project power. The PLA Rocket Force’s  highly accurate short-, medium-, and intermediate-range conventional systems are capable of  holding US and allied bases in the region at risk. 

WMD 

Beijing will continue the most rapid expansion and platform diversification of its nuclear arsenal in its history,  intending to at least double the size of its nuclear stockpile during the next decade and to field a nuclear triad.  Beijing is not interested in arms control agreements that restrict its modernization plans and will not agree to  substantive negotiations that lock in US or Russian nuclear advantages. 

∙ China is building a larger and increasingly capable nuclear missile force that is more survivable, more  diverse, and on higher alert than in the past, including nuclear missile systems designed to manage  regional escalation and ensure an intercontinental second-strike capability. 

Space 

Beijing is working to match or exceed US capabilities in space to gain the military, economic, and prestige benefits  that Washington has accrued from space leadership. 

∙ We expect a Chinese space station in low Earth orbit (LEO) to be operational between 2022 and 2024.  China also has conducted and plans to conduct additional lunar exploration missions, and it intends to  establish a robotic research station on the Moon and later an intermittently crewed lunar base.

∙ The PLA will continue to integrate space services—such as satellite reconnaissance and  positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT)—and satellite communications into its weapons and  command-and-control systems to erode the US military’s information advantage. 

Counterspace operations will be integral to potential military campaigns by the PLA, and China has counterspace weapons capabilities intended to target US and allied satellites. 

∙ Beijing continues to train its military space elements and field new destructive and nondestructive  ground- and space-based antisatellite (ASAT) weapons. 

∙ China has already fielded ground-based ASAT missiles intended to destroy satellites in LEO and  ground-based ASAT lasers probably intended to blind or damage sensitive space-based optical sensors  on LEO satellites. 

Cyber 

We assess that China presents a prolific and effective cyber-espionage threat, possesses substantial cyber-attack  capabilities, and presents a growing influence threat. China’s cyber pursuits and proliferation of related  technologies increase the threats of cyber attacks against the US homeland, suppression of US web content that  Beijing views as threatening to its internal ideological control, and the expansion of technology-driven  authoritarianism around the world. 

∙ We continue to assess that China can launch cyber attacks that, at a minimum, can cause localized,  temporary disruptions to critical infrastructure within the United States. 

∙ China leads the world in applying surveillance systems and censorship to monitor its population and  repress dissent, particularly among ethnic minorities, such as the Uyghurs. Beijing conducts cyber  intrusions that affect US and non-US citizens beyond its borders—such as hacking journalists, stealing  personal information, or attacking tools that allow free speech online—as part of its efforts to surveil  perceived threats to CCP power and tailor influence efforts. Beijing is also using its assistance to global  efforts to combat COVID-19 to export its surveillance tools and technologies. 

∙ China’s cyber-espionage operations have included compromising telecommunications firms, providers  of managed services and broadly used software, and other targets potentially rich in follow-on  opportunities for intelligence collection, attack, or influence operations. 

Intelligence, Influence Operations, and Elections Influence and Interference 

China will continue expanding its global intelligence footprint to better support its growing political,  economic, and security interests around the world, increasingly challenging the United States’ alliances and  partnerships. Across East Asia and the western Pacific, which Beijing views as its natural sphere of  influence, China is attempting to exploit doubts about the US commitment to the region, undermine  Taiwan’s democracy, and extend Beijing’s influence. 

∙ Beijing has been intensifying efforts to shape the political environment in the United States to promote  its policy preferences, mold public discourse, pressure political figures whom Beijing believes oppose its  interests, and muffle criticism of China on such issues as religious freedom and the suppression of  democracy in Hong Kong.

Photo: China’s amphibious armored naval vessels (China Defence Ministry)

North Korea has returned to the world stage in dramatic and worrisome fashion.

 Marked by a meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang had been relatively quiet for several years. However, a combination of factors is prompting new concern.

Relations between Kim and the U.S. have returned to a dangerous state, with North Korea engaging in belligerent comments and building up its nuclear forces. President Joe Biden has labelled Kim a “thug.”

According to a report in American Military News, Kim Jong-un recently stated that “ “Our external political activities must focus on our arch-enemy and the fundamental obstacle to our revolutionary development, the United States,” Kim told the 8th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported. The efforts will focus on overpowering and bringing them to their knees.”

Of particular concern to American defense experts is Pyongyang’s unveiling of a new ballistic-missile capable submarine on January 15, according to the authoritative 38 North publication.    

The Congressional Research Service notes that North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts. North Korea is observing a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing. Recent ballistic missile tests and an October 2020 military parade suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defenses. Such an approach likely reinforces a deterrence and coercive diplomacy strategy— lending more credibility as it demonstrates capability—but it also raises questions about crisis stability and escalation control. Congress may choose to examine U.S. policy in light of these advances.

North Korea’s activities are part of the vast Indo-Pacific region threat. Defense Department officials have told the House Armed Services Committee that the Indo-Pacific is the priority theater for the United States military because of potential threats, but also because America’s future is entwined with the region.

David Helvey, the acting assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs; Navy Adm. Philip Davidson, the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; and Army Gen. Robert Abrams, the commander of Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea, testified before the full committee. Abrams testified from an undisclosed bunker in South Korea.

They presented a unified message of the need to maintain deterrence of China and North Korea in a region whose importance will only grow in the years ahead. The region already accounts for 60 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and is responsible for more than two thirds of the present global economic growth. If current trends continue, in 10 years, the region will host two-thirds of the world’s population and two-thirds of the global economy.

While China is the near-peer competitor to the United States, North Korea is also a danger, Abrams said. “North Korea’s continued pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs constitutes an extraordinary threat to the United States and our allies and partners in the region,” he said. “Pyongyang’s proliferation of weapons and advanced technology is a threat to international peace and security and undermines the global non-proliferation regime.”

Internally, the Hermit Kingdom is in deep distress. United Nations affiliated personnel have reported that starvation, even worse than usual for the perennially underfed nation, has reached crisis levels. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, highlighted “deaths by starvation” linked to a “drastic” decline in trade and commerce, as well as an increase in the number of children and elderly people forced to beg. Severe containment measures had also led to “a number of concerning consequences” that further isolate the country’s people from the outside world, Mr. Quintana said in a report to the Human Rights Council.

Photo: A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress, from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., six F-16 Fighting Falcons and four Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s, from Misawa Air Base, Japan, fly in formation off the coast of Northern Japan as part of a combined, continuous bomber presence and bomber task force mission, Feb. 3, 2020. U.S. Strategic Command’s bomber forces regularly conduct combined theater security cooperation engagements with allies and partners, demonstrating U.S. capability to command, control and conduct bomber missions across the world (DoD)

This article written by the distinguished jurist, John H. Wilson, (ret.)

A review of the rankings, prepared by Barnor Hesse, an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, lists a “White Traitor” as someone who “actively refuses complicity…need them to dismantle institutions.” 

This phenomenon isn’t limited to the public schools.  Manhattan’s Grace Church School, a kindergarten through 12^th grade Episcopal school has issued “a 12-page guide to students and staff explaining the school’s mission of inclusivity.  The detailed guide recommends using the terms ‘grown-ups,’ ‘folks,’ ‘family’ or ‘guardians’ as alternatives to ‘mom,’ ‘dad’ and ‘parents.’ It also suggests using ‘caregiver’ instead of ‘nanny/babysitter.’” 

The Guide specifically states that “we actively try to undo notions of a ‘typical’ or ‘normal’ family structure, each family is unique,” and “Race is any number of socially constructed categories based on antiquated metrics.”  Further, “anti-racism” is defined as “active policies, practices and programs that oppose racism by attempting to dismantle the systems that uphold a hierarchy based on skin-color privilege.” 

From “woke” math, to a “whiteness” scale, to a 12-page guide to inclusive language, all use similar language to describe their objectives.  “Resist.”  “Liberation.” “Dismantle institutions.”  “Undo notions (deconstruction).”  

Does this language seem familiar?

“As long as the general status of culture and knowledge is as low as at present, new ideas will always be met with rigorous opposition, especially when it is in the interest of the ruling classes to limit culture and knowledge to their own strata. Therefore new ideas are at first upheld only by a small minority…(b)ut…the minority will eventually become the majority…was Socialism destroyed in Germany by twelve years of persecution by exceptional laws? The victory of Socialism was never more certain than when it was thought to be destroyed.”  

These words were written by the German Socialist August Bebel in 1879.  Describing the advent of women’s independence, Bebel wrote about the decline of the family structure: “The development of our social life…demands the release of woman from her narrow sphere of domestic life, and her full participation in public life and the missions of civilization…the growth of what we call civilization, the feelings of piety toward family life decrease and its bonds become looser and have less influence on the actions of men. This fact is so general that it may be regarded as a law of social development.” 

Compare Bebel’s statement with the “Manifesto” of the Grace Church School, which calls for the active undoing of the “typical” or “normal” family.

In 1920, Bolshevik Nikolai Bukharin made a very clear statement that would resonate with the progenitor of the Seattle Public School Math Ethnic Studies Framework:

“In the matter of education, as in all other matters, the Communist Party is not merely faced by constructive tasks, for in the opening phases of its activity it is likewise faced by destructive tasks. In the educational system bequeathed to it by capitalist society, it must hasten to destroy everything which has made of the school an instrument of capitalist class rule.  In capitalist society, the higher stages of school life were the exclusive property of the exploiting classes. Such schools…have to be destroyed.  The teaching staff of the bourgeois schools served the purposes of bourgeois culture and of fraud. We must ruthlessly expel from the proletarian school all those teachers of the old schools who either cannot or will not become instruments for the communist enlightenment of the masses.”  

Bukharin went on to say that “(t)he task of the new communist schools is to impose upon bourgeois and petty-bourgeois children a proletarian mentality. In the realm of the mind, in the psychological sphere, the communist school must effect the same revolutionary overthrow of bourgeois society, must effect the same expropriation, that the Soviet Power has effected in the economic sphere by the nationalization of the means of production. The minds of men must be made ready for the new social relationships…it is the task of the new school to train up a younger generation whose whole ideology shall be deeply rooted in the soil of the new communist society.” 

Substitute the word “white” for “bourgeois,” and the words “communities of color” for “proletarian.”  You can also easily substitute the word “indoctrination” for “education.”

If we follow the experience of the Soviet experiment in revolution and contrast it to this American experiment in “woke” political education of children entering kindergarten, the conclusion is inevitable.  Rather than create “equity in the community,” the “overthrow of bourgeois society” led instead to the mass starvation of millions, and the death of millions more in “Work Camps” in the Russia of the 20^th Century.  This is the inevitable result when you “dismantle institutions” using people you describe as “White Traitors.”

Whatever happened to Nikolai Bukharin?  “(I)n 1928 Stalin denounced Bukharin…Bukharin was secretly arrested in January 1937 and was expelled from the Communist Party for being a ‘Trotskyite.’ In March 1938 he was a defendant in the last public purge trial, falsely accused of counterrevolutionary activities and of espionage, found guilty, and executed.” 

Professor Hesse and both the Seattle and Oregon Public Schools should take note.

Illustration: Pixabay

This article written by the distinguished jurist, John H. Wilson, (ret.)

Being at the forefront of progressive politics, Seattle’s Public School system has introduced a new method for teaching mathematics.  According to the website Parentology, “’Math Ethnic Studies’…is known colloquially as ‘Woke Math’… a reference to the plan’s intention to tie the subject of mathematics to social issues, history and critical thinking, among other disciplines.” 

One enthusiastic supporter of this new system, Colin Seale, writes in Forbes magazine, that “(e)ven the student who is not a ‘math person’ can be compelled to care very deeply about underlying conceptual foundations of ratio and proportions when we apply it to the equity questions regarding the electoral college and the Founding Fathers’ grand compromise of giving every state equal representation in the United States Senate.  Math through a social justice lens is still math…But making a meaningful connection to these topics by tapping into our students’ inherent sense of fairness and justice moves students closer to the crucial ‘why’ needed for a deep conceptual understanding of math.” 

Other than the idea that the electoral college and equal representation are subjects best covered in either a Civics or Social Studies class, a holistic education sounds like a great idea.  Ready to sign your child up?  Not so fast – let’s review the underlying framework for the program published by the Seattle Public School system.

According to this Framework, “Mathematical theory and application is rooted in the ancient histories of people and empires of color… Power and oppression, as defined by ethnic studies, are the ways in which individuals and groups define mathematical knowledge so as to see ‘Western’ mathematics as the only legitimate expression of mathematical identity and intelligence. This definition of legitimacy is then used to disenfranchise people and communities of color. This erases the historical contributions of people and communities of color.”

Here are some of the questions math teachers are expected to examine with their students, beginning in kindergarten, and continuing through the 12^th grade; “Where does Power and Oppression show up in our math experiences?  Who gets to say if an answer is right? What is the process for verifying the truth? Can you recognize and name oppressive mathematical practices in your experience? Why/how does data-driven processes prevent liberation?”  Pre-teen and Teen students are also encouraged to examine “How has math been used to resist and liberate people and communities of color from oppression? When has math been used historically to resist and liberate? How can we use data to resist and liberate? How can we use math to measure the impact of activism?”

The Framework also seeks the study of these issues; “How is math manipulated to allow inequality and oppression to persist? Who is doing the oppressing? Who does the oppression protect? Who does this oppression harm? Where is there an opportunity to examine systemic oppression? How can math help us understand the impact of economic conditions and systems that contribute to poverty and slave labor?”  

Rather than teach a 1^st grader that 2 + 2 = 4, Seattle Public Schools encourage 7- and 8-year-olds to think outside that narrow box.  “What does it mean to do math? How important is it to be Right? What is Right? Says Who?”  In fact, the Framework does not accept the role of a teacher as the one conveying knowledge to a student.  Instead, the student is expected to ask “Where does Power and Oppression show up in our math experiences? Who holds power in a mathematical classroom? Is there a place for power and authority in the math classroom? Who gets to say if an answer is right?” 

But Seattle is not the only place where teachers will be discussing mathematical methods of resistance and liberation.  “The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) recently encouraged teachers to register for training that encourages ‘ethnomathematics’ and argues, among other things, that White supremacy manifests itself in the focus on finding the right answer… Part of the toolkit includes a list of ways ‘white supremacy culture’ allegedly ‘infiltrates math classrooms.’ Those include ‘the focus is on getting the ‘right’ answer,’ students being ‘required to ‘show their work,’ and other alleged manifestations.” 

Not to be outdone, in New York, a public high school principal in New York City distributed “a ranking list titled ‘The 8 White Identities,’ which ranges from ‘White Supremacist’ to ‘White Abolitionist’” to the parents of his students.  “A (Department of Education) rep said in a statement, ‘Anti-racism and the celebration of diversity is at the core of our work on behalf of the young people of New York City, and the East Side Community School’s students, parents and staff partner together to advance equity in their community.’” 

The study concludes tomorrow.

Illustration: Pixabay

Lt. General H.R. McMaster served as National Security Advisor, following a 34 year career as West Point graduated officer in the United States Army. He recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The New York Analysis of Policy and Government provides key excerpts:

Thank you for  the privilege of discussing global security challenges and how the United States, alongside our  allies and partners, might overcome those challenges, preserve peace through strength, promote prosperity, and secure a better future for generations of Americans to come.  

…Thirty years  ago almost to the day, I had the privilege of commanding Eagle troop of the Second Armored  Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of 73 Easting. During an intense twenty-three-minute assault  across four kilometers of heavily defended ground, our 132 troopers equipped with nine  Abrams tanks and twelve Bradley Fighting Vehicles destroyed a brigade of the Iraqi Republican  Guard without suffering casualties.  

Senator Sam Nunn, who as you know rendered extraordinary service to our nation as a senator, member of this committee, and its chairman, invited me to testify as a captain alongside retired U.S. Army General Paul Gorman to explain our cavalry troop’s lopsided victory in the Gulf War, a war that was full of lopsided victories. I thanked the committee for giving our troop, our Army and our entire joint force the weapons that allowed us to overmatch the fourth largest  Army in the world and prove wrong pre-war predictions of massive American casualties. But  General Gorman and I stressed the less tangible sources of our force’s combat prowess and in  particular the training, military education, and leader development that were foundational to  forging confident, cohesive teams bound together by our warrior ethos, an ethos based on  honor, courage, respect and a willingness to sacrifice for one another and the mission.  

It is that same ethos that has allowed our small volunteer military to sustain combat operations across the first two decades of this century after the most devastating terrorist attack in history took the lives of nearly 3,000 innocents on September 11, 2001. The warrior ethos is foundational to combat power and to the sacred covenant that bonds servicemen and women  to one another and to those in whose name we fight. With the support of this committee,  General Gorman and other leaders of his generation strengthened that ethos as they led a renaissance in our all-volunteer joint force after the Vietnam War, a renaissance based on  improved training, education, doctrine, organization, equipment and quality of recruits.  

Our joint force is a living historical community in which today’s leaders are charged with building on the legacy of excellence inherited from those who have gone before them. Today’s leaders, like those of General Gorman’s and my generation, will continue to rely on this  committee to help them preserve the warrior ethos and fulfill their responsibilities to the  servicemen and women of today and generations to come.  

We live in a dangerous time because our confidence appears eroded as the global pandemic  catalyzes challenges to American security, prosperity, and influence in the world. I describe  some of those challenges in my statement for the record and suggest ways that we might  overcome them and secure a better future for generations of Americans to come.  

In general, we must overcome our narcissistic view of the world and stop assuming that what  we decide to do or not do is decisive to achieving a favorable outcome. We need to adopt a  non-partisan long-term approach to foreign policy focused on competitions important to our  nation’s security, prosperity, and influence in the world. And we must ground our national  security and defense strategies in the reality that rivals, adversaries, and enemies are unlikely  to conform to our preferences. 

CHINA

As tensions rise in the South China Sea, the Navy is facing with a little-known challenge. The Navy is deploying additional ships to the western Pacific that can pack a powerful offensive punch. The fluid environment requires it to be prepared for both an offensive and defensive role should hostilities break out between China and Taiwan. The US Navy is installing powerful laser weapons system on nine of its destroyers. Eight installations use the nonlethal Optical Dazzling Interdictor (ODIN) system and one employs the High Energy Laser and generated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, which has the potential to become an anti-missile defense system. Ships have a limited capacity to carry weapons and payload decisions need to be made between offensive and defensive systems. As the potential for conflict grows in the region more American ships may need to reconfigure the missile payload to increase the percentage of offensive weapons. How Beijing interprets the change may have an impact on it calculates the risk of invading Taiwan.

TAIWAN

As Beijing calculates the risk of a military move against Taiwan, the Biden Administration is faced with the task of determining how best to respond to aggressive Chinese moves toward  the island. A bad decision could result in either abandoning democratic Taiwan and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), or the US could risk involvement in an all-out war. Under the TRA Washington has pledged to help defend Taiwan. Referring to Beijing’s pattern of steadily increasing harassment of Taiwan, State Department spokesman Ned Price on Wednesday expressed “great concern” at Chinese efforts of intimidation. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters they are willing to defend themselves in a fight with China. 

US-TAIWAN RELATIONS

The State Department this week issued new guidelines for government interaction with Taiwan counterparts to encourage American engagement with Taiwan that reflects the deepening unofficial relationship. The guidance, according to the Department “underscores Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and an important security and economic partner that is also a force for good in the international community.”  These new guidelines liberalize guidance on contacts with Taiwan in a way that is consistent with US unofficial relations. It provides clarity throughout the Executive Branch on effective implementation of America’s “one China” policy.  

IRAN

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator in Vienna said Tehran’s view on removal of the JCPOA sanctions, is that it would not be step-by-step but would Iran would require the US to “take its actions in one step, then we’ll verify, and then Iran will follow with its own actions.” Price said that is that “the primary issues to be discussed in Vienna are twofold: on the one hand, the nuclear steps that Iran would need to take in order to effect its return to compliance with the JCPOA; and on the other hand, the sanctions relief steps that we would need to take in order to return to compliance as well.” 

IRELAND

Washington is deeply concerned by the violence in Northern Ireland in recent days and has joined the British, Irish, and Northern Irish leaders in a call for calm. State Spokesman Price said: “We welcome the provisions in both the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the Northern Ireland Protocol, which help to protect the gains of the Belfast and the Good Friday agreements.” He said that as the United Kingdom and the EU implement Brexit-related provisions, the Biden Administration is encouraging Northern Ireland to prioritize political and economic stability in the area. 

ETHIOPIA

Asked if the Biden administration growing frustrated with Ethiopia’s treatment of people in the Tigray region, State Department Spokesman Price said the US has had an occasion to “engage directly with the Ethiopian government.” He added that the messaging across all of those engagements has been consistent as the US is deeply concerned reports emanating from Tigray about the humanitarian plight of the Tigrayan people. Washington is monitoring the implementation humanitarian aid. Price added that “We have left no doubt with…the Ethiopian leadership that there needs to be follow through given the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in Tigray.”

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

The US will be “out-classed” by the Chinese Navy in the Pacific theater if Washington doesn’t forward-deploy to the Western Pacific, according to Admiral Philip Davidson, US Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command. In testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee recently he said that China now has sophisticated warships and a quickly modernizing military. If Beijing decided to attack Taiwan it would take months for the United States to bring its personnel levels in the Pacific to full strength. It takes time to make all aircraft and ships combat ready and fully supplied with wartime ammunition, he testified. 

The reality is even more grim. If China decides to launch a surprise “no-notice attack,” the war will likely be over before the US military is fully ramped up. Warships based in Alaska require 17 days to reach the first island chain near Taiwan. It takes 21 days to transit the Pacific from the US West coast. If the Japanese and Australian militaries cannot fill in the interim period, Taiwan will have to wait for help to arrive from the United States’ Seventh Fleet.

Admiral Davidson is not the only one in the US defense community with concerns. Former Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis goes even further arguing that “No matter how one calculates it, fighting China over Taiwan would harm American interests and security without even holding the potential for benefit. We must resist the temptation to act on the presumption that we can always choose to fight because we will always win. The future of our country might hinge on getting this right.” 

Davis believes that if the US became engaged in a China-Taiwan conflict it could intensify to a nuclear level if China believed it was losing the war with the United States. He argues that by staying out of the conflict the US will end up in a stronger military position in Asia vis-à-vis China as Beijing will lose fighter jets, ships and thousands of personnel that will take a long time to replace. He sees no benefit to American involvement from a national security perspective. The long-term risk is that if the US becomes involved and fails to deter the crisis, he concludes, America loses its dominant position in Asia.

The critical question is will Chinese President Xi Jinping risk sending his military into a war when they are inexperienced and untested in battle, especially against a United States-Taiwan joint effort. Xi recognizes he can’t count fully on the Biden Administration to stand down, although China has been preparing for such a moment for years. 

They are building the Type-927 extremely long-range anti-submarine detection ships that few navies outside of the US and Japan can afford to own. Japan has a total of three in service. China has built three, equivalent to the US Navy SURTASS version in just the last four years. They will be a critical asset in a South China Sea conflict.

Previously, the US Navy’s advanced hard-to-detect submarines provided a significant US advantage over China’s navy. That is no longer the case. China’s fighter pilots are flying mock missions around Taiwan and their ships are transiting Taiwanese waters. Quantitively China’s navy and air force is twice the size of the US Pacific fleet. Qualitatively, over time, it is closing the gap.

The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which replaced the 1954 Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan states that the US will consider “any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States.” With its signing, Washington committed to “make available to Taiwan such defense articles and … services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capacity,” as well as to “maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.” 

Computer simulations of a US-involved conflict with China over Taiwan indicate the American military in the region will be outnumbered and outgunned against a motivated enemy. How the Biden Administration addresses the situation may prove a make it or break point for the US in Asia.

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.

Photo:  Warship formation attached to a naval flotilla under the PLA Southern Theater Command steams during a maritime comprehensive replenishment training exercise in early spring, 2021. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Sun Chenxu)