Author: Frank V. Vernuccio, Jr.

ISRAEL

In a recent interview Secretary Blinken said that “President Biden believes, and that is that the best and ultimately only way forward, really, is through a two states [solution]… first, Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is going to have truly lasting security through two states, and the Palestinians would get the state that they’re entitled to.  That also means that any steps that anyone takes – unilateral steps that anyone takes – that make the prospect of two states even more challenging than it already is, we oppose, and we’ve also been very clear about that.” 

ARCTIC COUNCIL

Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended the 12th Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, with foreign ministers from all eight Arctic States. All signed onto the 2021 joint declaration reaffirming the Council’s commitment to maintain peace, stability, and constructive cooperation in the Arctic region, emphasizing Arctic States’ unique position to promote responsible governance in the region, and asserting the importance of immediately addressing the climate crisis in the Arctic.  Recently, the region has become a focus of potential great power competition as the Northern Passageway presents the potential of creating a shorter maritime passage to Europe from Asia. Advanced technologies now available also make it possible to excavate the region’s vast undersea mineral and energy resources. While there Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov discussed Russia’s Arctic Council Chairmanship and the importance of cooperation given the two countries shared stake in the region. 

RUSSIA

Secretary Blinken while attending the Arctic Council meetings said that the United States “seeks a predictable, stable relationship with Russia.” According to Blinken, it is good for the US and the Russian people. He added that “It’s also no secret that we have our differences. And when it comes to those differences, as President Biden has also shared with President Putin, if Russia acts aggressively against us, our partners, our allies, we’ll respond.  And President Biden has demonstrated that in both word and deed – not for purposes of escalation, not to seek conflict, but to defend our interests.”

Blinken also acknowledged that there are many areas where Washington and Msoscow’s interests intersect and overlap. “Whether it is dealing with COVID-19 and the pandemic, combatting climate change, dealing with the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, Afghanistan, there are many areas of intersecting interests,” he said.

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BURMA

On Tuesday, May 18th, in Geneva, the United States announced nearly $155 million in new humanitarian aid for Rohingya refugees and affected host communities in Bangladesh at the launch of the 2021 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis. The Deputy Spokesman for the State Department, Jalina Porter, said that of the $155 million more than $138 million is for programs inside Bangladesh. That brings the United States’  total assistance for the crisis response since August 2017 to more than $1.3 billion.

“This funding will sustain the efforts of our partners to provide life-saving assistance to affected communities on both sides of the Burma-Bangladesh border, including the nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees who have taken refuge in Bangladesh – some 740 million of whom arrived since 2017, when they were forced to flee ethnic cleansing and other horrific atrocities and abuses in Burma’s Rakhine State, according to Porter. The funding also is expected to provide assistance to more than 470,000 Bangladeshi host community members and to others affected by the ongoing violence in Burma.

TURKEY

Ned Price, State Department Spokesman, said the United States “strongly condemns President Erdogan’s recent anti-Semitic comments regarding the Jewish people and finds them reprehensible.” He added that Washington is urging “President Erdogan and other Turkish leaders to refrain from incendiary remarks, which could incite further violence. We call on Turkey to join the United States in working to end the conflict.” 

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

You’ve probably heard of the movie, Money Pit, in which Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, playing his wife, purchase a country home in need of repair for a very low price, only to find out later on it is a financial trap, and not a great deal. Sri Lankan government officials in Colombo must not have seen the movie before they met with officials from a consortium led by Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE), China Merchant Port Holdings Company, in 2011. They were presented with a financial offer they could not refuse, to develop the Colombo International Container Terminal and in another, funds to develop the port at Hambantota.

Sri Lanka is a small island nation that lies off the south east tip of India. Most Americans would have trouble pointing it out on a map. Fewer still would recognize it as a strategic asset sitting between India and China. Beijing, however, is keenly aware of the country and its importance to China’s maritime Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) linking the Asian communist giant to Western markets. A Chinese consortium agreed to initially invest $500 million in a Sri Lankan project to build the first state of the art deep water terminal in South Asia, in exchange for 85% ownership of the facility. The port also is critical to India as 40% of transshipped container cargo heading to that country passes through the nation.

A twin Sri Lankan project that China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) is developing is the $1.4 billion Hambantota Port on the southern tip of the island, along with additional land reclamation that eventually will add up to a $13 billion investment to build a world-class financial and trade center, according to Jamestown Foundation’s May 7, 2021, China Brief. The port facilities at Hambantota, which quickly proved unprofitable, were handed over to China when Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt payment to China. Under the foreclosure agreement China received a 99-year lease on the port.

Sri Lankans today are concerned about China’s rapidly growing influence in the area. Other countries also are worried about what China plans militarily in the Indian Ocean region. Sri Lanka easily fell into China’s “debt trap” when its SEO consortium intentionally loaned the country more money than it knew the island nation could afford to repay. Presumably, Beijing did so with the intention of eventually foreclosing on Hambantota and using it as a naval facility. The top CCP leadership, including President Xi Jinping, see the port as a key link in its maritime BRI. It will potentially provide China with a maritime presence in the Indian Ocean and an increased ability for intelligence operations overseeing US activities at the American naval facility on Diego Garcia. China’s navy also could use it to launch patrols of the Indian Ocean shipping lanes. 

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Last year China used its so-called “maritime BRI” to import 542 million tons of crude oil. Over 53% of China’s crude originates in the Middle East and is carried on tankers through the Indian Ocean to ports in China. Xi Jinping views it as a national security issue since other nations currently control the maritime route. Recognition of the concern was formalized first in a 2015 Defense White Paper linking the route to national economic and security issues. According to www.gov.cn, a Chinese government web site, “The traditional mentality that land outweighs sea must be abandoned, and great importance has to be attached to managing the seas and ocean and protecting maritime right and interests.” The Sri Lankan ports are part of China’s long-term “String of Pearls” strategy for creating military and economic links across the world in support of its hegemonic goals. 

While Sri Lanka has not yet granted Chinese submarines permission to dock there since 2014, China did give its navy a gift of a frigate in 2019 further linking the two countries, according to a Jamestown Foundation report. In the case of the Sri Lankan debt equity swap, local government officials have grown wary of Chinese intentions and want to renegotiate the deal. It has not transpired. By 2019 China surpassed India in cumulative infrastructure investment in the country equivalent to 14% of the country’s GDP. This top-down prioritization of investment in Sri Lanka stems from Beijing’s 40-year effort to make military and economic inroads in the region. This pattern of coercive overseas investment is found in many countries of strategic importance to China. The Chinese debt trap strategy is proving to be an effective top down policy for the CCP. 

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

According to American Military News, Satellite images released in April revealed Russia has been expanding its military bases along its Arctic coastline and its Nagurskoye airfield on the Alexandra Land island in the Arctic.

Russia has also been using its Arctic facilities to test new weapons, including the Poseidon 2M39 nuclear torpedo, a device launched from an Arctic-based vessel designed to create a tsunami along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. coastline.

Russia is the dominant presence in the Arctic, and China is a player by calling itself, without much accuracy, a “near-Arctic nation.” But the U.S. is going to need to develop more “persistence” in the region if it wants to be a player there, according to the commander of U.S. Northern Command.

“To compete in the Arctic, you have to be on the field,” said Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, who also commands the North American Aerospace Defense Command, during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. “And currently, our capabilities, I would assess that we’re in the game plan development [stage]. We’re not able to have the persistence that I need to compete day-to-day in the Arctic.”

The general said the U.S. military, along with the Canadian Armed Forces, are now in the early stages of modernization in building additional military capabilities in the Arctic. A priority for VanHerck, he said is domain awareness.

“It starts with the ability to communicate and provide data and information so that we can operate and have persistence in the Arctic,” he said, thanking lawmakers for $46 million in funding the department received toward that effort.

He said the U.S. currently has 10 satellites in orbit that help with that domain awareness.

But communications and domain awareness are only part of the picture, he said. Perhaps even more critical is actually having presence on the water there.

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Russia has 46 ice cutters, including seven that are nuclear powered, and 12 more are under construction. Although China isn’t an Arctic nation, they have two ice cutters and another under construction. The U.S. Coast Guard has a mere two ice cutters.

Cleary, the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard are overmatched by Russia’s naval and ice-based strength in the strategic region, a fact that produces extraordinary danger for both America and Canada.

VanHerck said Russia has reopened and strengthened Cold War military installations that were once shuttered. “They absolutely have a vested interest in the Arctic, and they also want to ensure that it’s secure for their efforts…” he notes.

China is not actually in the Arctic, but considers itself a “near Arctic” nation and seeks increased influence there, Both Russia and China are interested in changing international rules-based norms to better serve themselves, he said.

“It’s incumbent upon us to be persistent, working with allies and partners and like-minded nations to ensure that we maintain the consistency of the international rules-based norms and laws that have served us well over time,” General Vanherck stressed.

The challenge has been building for several years. In 2018, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller noted that “NATO must be more active in the area… there are real military challenges developing to which the NATO alliance has not paid sufficient attention for many, many years and we need to up our game…”

The U.S. has only two icebreakers committed to the Arctic, while Russia has forty. The U.S. Naval Institute quotes Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zuknft’s statement in support of new icebreakers:“If you do not have presence to exert sovereignty, you’re a paper lion.”

Photo: Version of a Russian military helicopter, specifically designed for Arctic use (Russian Defence Ministry)

“America’s Pastime” has lost its way, and forgotten the vital role it has played in the life of the nation.

During times of great upheaval, the sport has been a means that brought together those of different ideologies, faiths, generations, and, eventually, races.  It demonstrated that, playing under a set of rules in an arena devoid of politics, people could come together and find a means of supporting a common goal, despite whatever differences they may have.

More so than any other form of entertainment or athletic competition, it honored tradition. It was so ingrained in the American character that during the Second World War, its statistics and trivia were employed by front-line troops for security purposes.

The sport’s current leadership, and even many of the players, fail to comprehend what baseball contributes to a country suffering from deep divisions. Rather than standing above the fray and providing a means to keep some common ground and maintain a forum for unity, it has descended into just another venue for partisan debate. It does so at its own peril, and ours.

This isn’t just a problem brought about by those who run the sport. Sports writers, like many news journalists, apparently care less about objectively reporting the facts than virtue signalling and making ideological points.

One baseball news site, “Views from 314” wrote: “American professional sports and politics intersect at every possible, uh, intersection… For too long, we’ve used sports as an apolitical refuge when it is absolutely, positively not that at all…  athletes have a large platform and are capable of reaching a lot more people… When politics and sports collide–in ways beyond their already conjoined nature–athletes should feel free to speak up just as fans do. They should not shut up and play.”

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Baseball embraces politics at its own peril. Consider the NFL’s losses following its decision to stray into the field. The National Football League took a significant financial and popularity loss following its surrender to players who sought to interject politics into their sport.

Not everything has to be about politics. Yet, Major League Baseball’s decision to move its All-Star event from Atlanta to Denver signals to fans that politics is more important than the unifying tonic the game offers. It’s not just the MLB organization. Some individual players, such as the New York Yankees Aaron Hicks, who chose not to play after a tragic interracial incident, have used the game to push their perspective.

The move to transfer the All-Star game from Atlanta to Denver illustrates the utter lack of sophistication of these would-be politicos. Atlanta is minority-majority city; Denver is a Caucasian-majority city.  The protested legislation which prompted the idea did little more than provide more security and transparency to Georgia’s electoral system. Ironically, baseball itself practices one form of security, the requirement of identity when picking up reserved tickets, that has been a flashpoint in the national debate over ballot security.

There may be more to the story.  Shortly before MLB rendered its inappropriate decision, it announced that it had signed a deal with a Chinese company. China, through its vast financial influence within the U.S., has done all it can to encourage racial animosity. MLB has cast hungry eyes on the 1.3 billion population of China for over a decade, having opened an office there in 2007. CNN  reports that in 2020,  “MLB partnered with China Education TV, a national network, to air select MLB shows and games. CETV reaches nearly one billion viewers.” Beijing has a significant history of working with Black Lives Matter.

The social fabric of a nation is comprised of many important facets. Making them all subordinate to politics is a terrible move.

Illustration: Pixabay

Our Nation is in deep peril. We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty. 

During the 2020 election an “Open Letter from Senior Military Leaders” was signed by 317 retired Generals and Admirals and, it said the 2020 election could be the most important election since our country was founded. “With the Democrat Party welcoming Socialists and Marxists, our historic way of life is at stake.” Unfortunately, that statement’s truth was quickly revealed, beginning with the election process itself. 

Without fair and honest elections that accurately reflect the “will of the people” our Constitutional Republic is lost. Election integrity demands insuring there is one legal vote cast and counted per citizen. Legal votes are identified by State Legislature’s approved controls using government IDs, verified signatures, etc. Today, many are calling such commonsense controls “racist” in an attempt to avoid having fair and honest elections. Using racial terms to suppress proof of eligibility is itself a tyrannical intimidation tactic. Additionally, the “Rule of Law” must be enforced in our election processes to ensure integrity. The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020. Finally, H.R.1 & S.1, (if passed), would destroy election fairness and allow Democrats to forever remain in power violating our Constitution and ending our Representative Republic. 

Aside from the election, the Current Administration has launched a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing the Congress, with more than 50 Executive Orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous Administration’s effective policies and regulations. Moreover, population control actions such as excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression are all direct assaults on our fundamental Rights. We must support and hold accountable politicians who will act to counter Socialism, Marxism and Progressivism, support our Constitutional Republic, and insist on fiscally responsible governing while focusing on all Americans, especially the middle class, not special interest or extremist groups which are used to divide us into warring factions. 

Additional National Security Issues and Actions: 

• Open borders jeopardize national security by increasing human trafficking, drug cartels, terrorists entry, health/CV19 dangers, and humanitarian crises. Illegals are flooding our Country bringing high economic costs, crime, lowering wages, and illegal voting in some states. We must reestablish border controls and continue building the wall while supporting our dedicated border control personnel. Sovereign nations must have controlled borders.

• China is the greatest external threat to America. Establishing cooperative relations with the Chinese Communist Party emboldens them to continue progress toward world domination, militarily, economically, politically and technologically. We must impose more sanctions and restrictions to impede their world domination goal and protect America’s interests. 

• The free flow of information is critical to the security of our Republic, as illustrated by freedom of speech and the press being in the 1st Amendment of our Constitution. Censoring speech and expression, distorting speech, spreading disinformation by government officials, private entities, and the media is a method to suppress the free flow of information, a tyrannical technique used in closed societies. We must counter this on all fronts beginning with removing Section 230 protection from big tech. 

• Re-engaging in the flawed Iran Nuclear Deal would result in Iran acquiring nuclear weapons along with the means to deliver them, thereby upsetting Mideast peace initiatives and aiding a terrorist nation whose slogans and goals include “death to America” and “death to Israel” . We must resist the new China/Iran agreement and not support the Iran Nuclear Deal. In addition, continue with the Mideast peace initiatives, the “Abraham Accords,” and support for Israel. 

• Stopping the Keystone Pipeline eliminates our recently established energy independence and causes us to be energy dependent on nations not friendly to us, while eliminating valuable US jobs. We must open the Keystone Pipeline and regain our energy independence for national security and economic reasons. 

• Using the U.S. military as political pawns with thousands of troops deployed around the U.S. Capitol Building, patrolling fences guarding against a non-existent threat, along with forcing Politically Correct policies like the divisive critical race theory into the military at the expense of the War Fighting Mission, seriously degrades readiness to fight and win our Nation’s wars, creating a major national security issue. We must support our Military and Vets; focus on war fighting, eliminate the corrosive infusion of Political Correctness into our military which damages morale and war fighting cohesion. 

• The “Rule of Law” is fundamental to our Republic and security. Anarchy as seen in certain cities cannot be tolerated. We must support our law enforcement personnel and insist that DAs, our courts, and the DOJ enforce the law equally, fairly, and consistently toward all. 

• The mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief cannot be ignored. He must be able to quickly make accurate national security decisions involving life and limb anywhere, day or night. Recent Democrat leadership’s inquiries about nuclear code procedures sends a dangerous national security signal to nuclear armed adversaries, raising the question about who is in charge. We must always have an unquestionable chain of command. 

Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration, our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered now by electing congressional and presidential candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic. The survival of our Nation and its cherished freedoms, liberty, and historic values are at stake.

We urge all citizens to get involved now at the local, state and/or national level to elect political representatives who will act to Save America, our Constitutional Republic, and hold those currently in office accountable. The “will of the people” must be heard and followed. 

Signed by: 

RADM Ernest B. Acklin, USCG, ret.  

MG Joseph T. Anderson, USMC, ret.  

RADM Philip Anselmo, USN, ret.  

MG Joseph Arbuckle, USA, ret.  

BG John Arick, USMC, ret.  

RADM Jon W. Bayless, Jr. USN, ret.  

RDML James Best, USN, ret.  

BG Charles Bishop, USAF, ret. 

BG William A. Bloomer, USMC, ret.  

BG Donald Bolduc, USA, ret. 

LTG William G. Boykin, USA, ret.  

MG Edward R. Bracken, USAF, ret. 

MG Patrick H. Brady, MOH, USA, ret.  

VADM Edward S. Briggs, USN, ret.  

LTG Richard “Tex’ Brown III USAF, ret.  

BG Frank Bruno, USAF, ret. 

VADM Toney M. Bucchi, USN, ret.  

RADM John T. Byrd, USN, ret.  

BG Jimmy Cash, USAF, ret.  

LTG Dennis D. Cavin, USA, ret.  

LTG James E. Chambers, USAF, ret.  

MG Carroll D. Childers, USA, ret.  

BG Clifton C. “Tip” Clark, USAF, ret.  

VADM Ed Clexton, USN, ret. 

MG Jay Closner, USAF, ret  

MG Tommy F. Crawford, USAF, ret.  

MG Robert E. Dempsey, USAF, ret.  

BG Phillip Drew, USAF, ret.  

MG Neil L. Eddins, USAF, ret.  

RADM Ernest Elliot, USN, ret. 

BG Jerome V. Foust, USA, ret.  

BG Jimmy E. Fowler, USA, ret.  

RADMU J. Cameron Fraser, USN, ret. 

MG John T. Furlow, USA, ret.  

MG Timothy F. Ghormley, USMC, ret.  

MG Francis C. Gideon, USAF, ret.  

MG William A. Gorton, USAF, ret. 

MG Lee V. Greer, USAF, ret.  

RDML Michael R. Groothousen, Sr., USN, ret. 

BG John Grueser, USAF, ret.  

MG Ken Hagemann, USAF, ret.

BG Norman Ham, USAF, ret.  

VADM William Hancock, USN, ret.  LTG Henry J. Hatch, USA, ret.  

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BG James M. Hesson, USA, ret. 

MG Bill Hobgood, USA, ret. 

BG Stanislaus J. Hoey, USA, ret.  MG Bob Hollingsworth, USMC, ret.  MG Jerry D. Holmes, USAF, ret.  MG Clinton V. Horn, USAF, ret.  LTG Joseph E. Hurd, USAF, ret.  

VADM Paul Ilg, USN, ret.  

MG T. Irby, USA, ret. 

LTG Ronald Iverson, USAF, ret. 

RADM (L) Grady L. Jackson  

MG William K. James, USAF, ret.  LTG James H. Johnson, Jr. USA, ret.  ADM. Jerome L. Johnson, USN, ret. BG Charles Jones, USAF, ret. 

BG Robert R. Jordan, USA, ret.  

BG Jack H. Kotter, USA, ret. 

MG Anthony R. Kropp, USA, ret.  RADM Chuck Kubic, USN, ret.  

BG Jerry L. Laws, USA, ret.  

BG Douglas E. Lee, USA, ret.  

MG Vernon B. Lewis, USA, ret. 

MG Thomas G. Lightner, USA, ret.  MG James E. Livingston, USMC, ret. MOH  MG John D. Logeman, USAF, ret. MG Jarvis Lynch, USMC, ret.  

LTG Fred McCorkle, USMC, ret.  MG Don McGregor, USAF, ret. 

LTG Thomas McInerney, USAF, ret. RADM John H. McKinley, USN, ret. BG Michael P. McRaney, USAF, ret.  

BG Ronald S. Mangum, USA, ret. BG James M. Mead, USMC, ret.  

BG Joe Mensching, USAF, ret.  

RADM W. F. Merlin, USCG, ret.  RADM (L) Mark Milliken, USN, ret.  MG John F. Miller, USAF, ret.  

RADM Ralph M. Mitchell, Jr. USN, ret.  MG Paul Mock, USA. ret. 

BG Daniel I. Montgomery, USA, ret., RADM John A. Moriarty, USN, ret., RADM David R. Morris, USN, ret.  RADM Bill Newman, USN, ret.  

BG Joe Oder, USA, ret.  

MG O’Mara, USAF, ret.  

MG Joe S. Owens, USA, ret.

VADM Jimmy Pappas, USN, ret.  

LTG Garry L. Parks, USMC, ret.  

RADM Russ Penniman, RADM, USN, ret. 

RADM Leonard F. Picotte, ret.  

VADM John Poindexter, USN, ret. 

RADM Ronald Polant, USCG, ret.  

MG Greg Power, USAF, ret.  

RDM Brian Prindle, USN, ret.  

RADM J.J. Quinn, USN, ret.  

LTG Clifford H. Rees, Jr. USAF, ret.  

RADM Norman T. Saunders, USCG, ret.  

MG Richard V. Secord, USAF, ret.  

RADM William R. Schmidt, USN, ret. 

LTG Hubert Smith, USA, ret. 

MG James N. Stewart, USAF, ret.  

RADM Thomas Stone, USN., ret.  

BG Joseph S. Stringham, USA, ret.  

MG Michael Sullivan, USMC, ret.  

RADM (U) Jeremy Taylor, USN, ret.  

LTG David Teal, USAF, ret.  

VADM Howard B. Thorsen, USCG, ret.  

RADM Robert P. Tiernan, USN, ret.  

LTG Garry Trexler, USAF, ret.  

BG James T. Turlington, M.D., USAF, ret. 

BG Richard J. Valente, USA ret.  

MG Paul Vallely, USA, ret. 

MG Russell L. Violett, USAF, ret.  

BG George H. Walker, Jr. USAR Corp of Engineers, ret.  MG Kenneth Weir, USMCR, ret.  

BG William O. Welch, USAF, ret.  

MG John M. White, USAF, ret. 

MG Geoffrey P. Wiedeman, JR. USAF, ret.  MG Richard O. Wightman, Jr., USA, ret. 

RADM Denny Wisely, USN, ret. 

RADM Ray Cowden Witter, USN, ret. 

LTG John Woodward, ret.

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

It is no secret that crime in New York City has risen at an alarming rate, in a short period of time.  As reported by the New York Post, “(t)he number of shootings soared 97% from 777 in 2019 to 1,531 in 2020 and murders jumped by 44% from 319 to 462, according to the NYPD…(b)urglaries also shot up 42% from 10,909 to 15,463 and car thefts soared by 67% from 5,422 to 9,038, officials said.” 

New York’s ABC affiliate, Eyewitness News, reports that “(i)n the (first) 11 months of 2020, shootings in New York City…surged to levels unseen in years…(w)hile overall crime overall remains flat, the number of shootings increased again in November, this time by 112%…Police say there were 115 shootings (in November of 2020) vs. 51 in November of 2019.” 

And just what is the New York City Council doing to control this extreme surge in violent crime? “The New York City Council moved to end qualified immunity for Police Officers…making it the first big city in the nation to do so.”   

The legislation, which awaits Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s signature, amends the New York City Administrative Code to repeat the protections against unreasonable searches and seizures enshrined in the 4^th Amendment to the United States Constitution.  There is also the addition of the right to bring a civil action; “A person aggrieved may make a claim…in any court of competent jurisdiction by filing a complaint setting forth facts pertaining to the deprivation of any right created, granted or protected by (this section) and requesting such relief as such person aggrieved considers necessary to insure the full enjoyment of such right.”

These restatements of already existing rights would be of little concern, but for the addition of this provision; “It is not a defense to liability pursuant to this chapter that a covered individual has qualified immunity or any other substantially equivalent immunity.” 

What exactly is qualified immunity, and why is its abolition as a defense a problem for law enforcement?

According to FBI Academy Instructor Richard Schott, quoting from the US Supreme Court case of Harlow v. Fitzgerald (457 U.S. 800 (1982)), “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.”  

Justice Powell, writing for the majority, continued:

“[o]ur decisions have recognized immunity defenses of two kinds. For officials whose special functions or constitutional status requires complete protection from suit, we have recognized the defense of “absolute immunity.” The absolute immunity of legislators, in their legislative functions, and of judges, in their judicial functions, now is well settled. Our decisions also have extended absolute immunity to certain officials of the Executive Branch. These include prosecutors and similar officials, executive officers engaged in adjudicative functions, and the President of the United States. For executive officials in general, however, our cases make plain that qualified immunity represents the norm. [W]e [have] acknowledged that high officials require greater protection than those with less complex discretionary responsibilities.”

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In language particularly relevant, Justice Powell stated that “public officers require this protection to shield them from undue interference with their duties and from potentially disabling threats of liability.”

“(L)aw enforcement officers are government officials who perform discretionary functions and may be protected by qualified immunity. This shield of immunity is an objective test designed to protect all but ‘the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law’…officers are not liable for damages ‘as long as their actions reasonably could have been thought consistent with the rights they are alleged to have violated’…qualified immunity is not appropriate if a law enforcement officer violates a clearly established constitutional right.” 

According to Attorney Rebecca Pirius, “(j)udges created the qualified immunity shield as a way to balance the competing needs of (1) public officials to perform discretionary duties without the constant fear of being sued and (2) victims to hold public officials accountable for acting in violation of the law…Proponents of the current rule argue it’s needed so public officials can perform their duties without hesitation. And, because lawsuits won against public officials almost always end up being paid for by the government entity, the financial burden of loosening the standard would fall to local and state governments and taxpayers. Opponents argue that the ‘clearly established rights’ standard is so high that victims can only win if they can point to a case with nearly identical facts and circumstances. Given this high bar, critics maintain public officials are not accountable for their actions, and victims effectively have no remedy under the law for violations.”

There is no denying that in certain instances, the application of the qualified immunity doctrine has led to unfair results.  In the case of Dukes v. Deaton (852 F.3d 1035 (11th Cir. 2017)), an officer executing a “No-knock” search warrant, tossed a flash-bang grenade through the bedroom window of the residence to be searched, without looking to see whether anyone was present.  One of the two occupants of the bedroom was seriously burned by the grenade.

In dismissing the case, the 11^th Circuit ruled that “(a)lthough we agree with Dukes that Deaton used excessive force, we also agree with the district court that Deaton is entitled to qualified immunity because it was not clearly established that his conduct violated the Constitution. And he is entitled to official immunity because Dukes offers no proof that Deaton intended to injure Dukes.” 

A case like this clearly points to the necessity of reforming the law of qualified immunity.  However, rather than look for an approach that would protect both Police Officers trying to do their jobs, and people whose rights have been violated, the New York City Council almost literally throws the baby out with the bathwater.  As described by Fox News, “(o)pponents of the bill said it might discourage some from getting into law enforcement. ‘Ending qualified immunity will prevent the best young men and women in our city from joining the police force,’ Councilman Robert F. Holden said as he voted no, according to the New York Times…’New Yorkers are getting shot, and police officers are on the streets day and night, trying to stop the bloodshed,’ Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement, adding that the new bill would ‘chill the operations of law enforcement.’” 

It would seem prudent and reasonable, that at a time of increased violent criminal activity, the City of New York would want their police force unfettered by worries of civil liability.  Instead, the City Council prefers its law enforcement officers to act with the threat of personal liability for their actions hanging over their every move.

In this environment, who would want to wear the once-proud uniform of the NYPD?

Illustration: Pixabay

KOREA

As part of a series of meetings between the US-South Korea, State Department Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ambassador Atul Keshap and Director-General for ASEAN and Southeast Asian Affairs of the Republic of Korea Jae-kyung Park pledged to expand cooperation in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific in support of ASEAN centrality and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. They also discussed respect for international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea, advancing digital innovation and smart cities, addressing cyber issues, tackling cross-border challenges across the Mekong River Basin, and expanding cooperation in the maritime domain.

ISRAEL

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas this week about the violence in Israel. This is part of a comprehensive, ongoing outreach and dialogue at all levels of the U.S. Government to its respective counterparts, according to Blinken. The objective is to achieve an end to the violence, which continues to claim the lives of innocent children, women, and men. He said: “We’ve been very clear that rocket attacks must cease. We’ve been very clear about Israel’s right to defend itself. We’re also engaging our regional partners with urgency to see to it that calm prevails, and our heartfelt condolences go out to the loved ones of those lost.” The Middle East was calming down during the Trump Administration. Recent escalations appear to be the worst for many decades with some military analysts predicting a full out ground war in the region.

IRAN

When asked in a press briefing about Iranian involvement in Lebanon’s firing missiles on Israel, Blinken responded “I don’t have anything to offer on whether there is Iranian involvement or not in what’s taking place.” He added “that when it comes to any of the malign activities that Iran may or may not be engaged in, whether it is support for terrorism, whether it’s efforts to destabilize other countries, whether it is other actions that we find objectionable, that only underscores the importance of doing everything we can to make sure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.”

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CHINA

During a meeting in Washington with the Australian Foreign Minister, Secretary Blinken was asked about China. He said “… with regard to China and economic coercion, we’ve been very clear, both publicly and privately, about the concerns that we have when we see China exerting economic coercion generally, and also specifically with regard to our ally [Australia]. We’ve raised these concerns across the government with Beijing. We’ve done so publicly; we’ve done so privately. And we’ve made clear to the PRC how such actions targeting our closest partners and allies will hinder improvements in our own relationship with China.” The US is working to find new approaches to economic diversification and its critical supply chain to ensure its security. Washington wants to ensure it is outside of China’s reach and is resilient to it efforts at economic coercion.

UKRAINE

 The US recently conducted a virtual training exercise with the Ukraine to identify and respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction  (WMD) in targeted assassinations, according to the State Department Spokesman. 

The purpose of the exercise is to help domestic security services, law enforcement, and first responders identify, respond to, and investigate assassinations involving WMD. Recent events in Europe have highlighted the real threat of government-sanctioned, targeted weapons of mass destruction attacks, according to a statement from the State Department.

“These attacks have highlighted the need for countries to have effective national responses, particularly strong and established communication between technical experts, law enforcement, and national security stakeholders. As part of the training in Ukraine, U.S. law enforcement and medical experts provided local officials with information to identify the medical symptoms that indicate WMD material use, the attack cycle involved in WMD assassination attempts, and the specific measures that enable safe and secure detection and response to WMD incidents.”

“Without equivocation, the PRC Government is among the worst abusers of religious freedom in the world. One of the other worst abusers is the Government of North Korea. There’s no question that these two governments stand, unfortunately, together in this hall of shame,” according to Daniel Nadel, a senior State Department official in the Office of International Religious Freedom. What is happening in western China goes beyond Nadel’s concern about eliminating religious freedom. Lives are at stake. President Xi Jinping intends to fundamentally alter the social and physical landscape of Xinjiang. The communist government has built hundreds of detention centers in the autonomous region. Minority women, including Uyghur, Kazakh, and other indigenous nationalities, are losing their reproductive rights. Whole families are placed indefinitely in detention centers.

Secrecy and disbelief helped enable the Germans in WWII to commit widespread atrocities. Today, the Chinese government is taking a page from Hitler’s notebook and committing genocide in northwestern China under a 21^st century style cloak of secrecy suppressing social media accounts of the atrocities. President Xi is methodically wiping out the Uyghur Muslim minority inside China’s borders, while millions more allegedly remain in detention camps.With a population of 25.8 million, Xinjiang is three times the size of France, and sits on the country’s western border just north of Tibet.

Reports coming out of China from human rights groups and others who have visited the region reveal that Beijing is forcibly sterilizing women, imposing forced labor, raping, torturing and killing individuals, and refusing Muslim Uyghurs the right to practice their religion, among other abuses. The only thing more amazing is China’s arrogance this week when it publicly insisted the United States, Germany, and Britain cancel an upcoming video conference covering Beijing’s crackdown on the Uyghur Muslim minority. Beijing went so far as to call on other UN members not to attend the event, claiming that the world is “interfering with China’s internal affairs.” This is an ongoing theme for Chinese government personnel. In April a Chinese diplomat speaking to the British press said that people outside China “should mind their own business.” 

The world, however, is not obeying China’s warnings. Adrian Zenz, of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said “we know it’s mass internment.” In June 2020, The Jamestown Foundation issued a report on the incarcerations and atrocities in the region, saying they met the UN criteria for classification as “genocide.” This week the Australian Strategic Policy Institute released an in-depth report describing Chinese efforts to reduce the size of the indigenous population in Xinjiang, saying that Beijing is calling for a decrease in the birth-rate in southern Xinjiang by at least 4.00 per thousand from 2016 levels.

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The CCP crackdown has led to an unprecedented and precipitous drop in official birth-rates in Xinjiang since 2017, according to the report. “The birth-rate across the region fell by nearly half (48.74 percent) in the two years between 2017 and 2019.” The largest declines, however, have been in counties where Uyghurs and other indigenous communities are concentrated. Across counties that are majority-indigenous the birth-rate fell, on average, by 43.7 percent in a single year between 2017 and 2018. The birth-rate in counties with a 90 percent or greater indigenous population declined by 56.5 percent, on average, in that same year.

The Chinese government’s systematic efforts to reduce the size of its Muslim population in Xinjiang includes a range of coercive birth-control policies. Its own publicly available statistics of county-level birth-rates (natality) across 2011-2019 indicate a dramatic change after the crackdown began in 2016. Unlike the majority Han population, which is experiencing a loosening of family planning rules, CCP Party officials in Beijing are cracking down in Xinjiang. Together with the other abuses and detention camps, which can be seen by satellite, China is facing increased scrutiny for its genocidal policies toward its minorities. Now is not the time for the world to cower to China’s demands that we look the other way.

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

Speaking remotely at the Aspen Security Forum, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks revealed sobering realities regarding China.

“Beijing has the economic, military and technological capability to challenge the international system and America’s interests within it. This is happening all along the continuum of conflict — from routine statecraft, through the use of sharp power or gray-zone tactics, to the potential for sustained combat operations and an expanded and capable nuclear enterprise…As an example, Beijing continues to leverage its maritime militia to press its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.”

China’s rate of increase in military appropriations exceeds that of either the Soviet Union or the United States at the height of the Cold War. The actual value of the PRC’s spending is even more formidable when various factors are taken into account, including the fact that billions that would be spent on research and development are saved by stealing technology from western nations, especially the U.S., and the fact that, unlike western nations, profits by private defense contractors are not much of a consideration.

Recently, the office of the Director of National Intelligence noted that The Chinese Communist Party conducts a whole-of-government effort 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 model.

Secretary Hicks gave specific examples of China’s dramatic buildup, noting that Beijing continues to make progress, strengthening its ability to conduct joint operations, fielding increasingly sophisticated conventional systems such as long-range precision missiles and integrated air defense weaponry. China is also advancing its space and cyber capabilities, Hicks said, adding that China presents a prolific and effective cyber espionage threat and possesses substantial cyberattack capabilities.

Beijing and Moscow have moved ever closer in a de facto alliance aimed at America and its allies. Weapons technology transfers and cooperative training between the armed forces of both nations present an unprecedented threat.

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Despite the growing danger, there appears to be little reaction in Washington.  Although the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan, the effect of decades of concentrating on countering terrorism has exhausted U.S. personnel and depleted combat equipment. Rather than focusing on peer threats from China and Russia, America’s armed forces are geared to actions from far less powerful or sophisticated adversaries.

At this point, critics note, the Pentagon should be provided with funding to refresh, refocus, and retool its inventory. However, it appears that the funding for that task will not be forthcoming.

Acting Army Secretary John Whitley, in a report noted in the Federal Times, warned that   “We’re about 35% of the active duty and strength of the department; about 45% if you add in reserve forces…we’re two thirds of the readiness demands and the readiness priorities for warfighting for the Department of Defense. The Army cannot sustain that level of commitment, and operating tempo and readiness for such a wide range of things in a declining budget environment and that’s the simple math.”

Even as Russia openly threatens the Ukraine, surging massive numbers of troops on its border, and China engages in actions designed to prepare its military to attack Taiwan (Beijing recently engaged in its largest aerial incursion into the Island nation’s air defense zone) the U.S. Department of Defense has received what amounts to an inflation-adjusted budget decrease from the Biden Administration. Some in Congress have proposed even steeper cuts.

The threats from Russia and China are not just to other nations. The Air Force Times reports that “Intercepting record numbers of Russian aircraft off of North America’s west coast has stretched Air Force units thin, a top service official in Alaska said. ‘We have certainly seen an increase in Russian activity. We intercepted over 60 aircraft last year. … We monitor more than that,” Lt. Gen. David Krumm said from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. “That’s the most action the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone — a region spanning 200 nautical miles that reaches past U.S. territory and into international airspace — has seen since the Soviet Union fell in 1991.”

Photo: DoD