President Trump

Australia Suspends Flights Over Syria After Russian Warning

Australia has suspended air combat missions over Syria after Russia had threatened that it would treat any plane from the US-led coalition flying west of the Euphrates River as a potential target.

This was in the aftermath of a US F-18 shooting down a Syrian SU-22 on Sunday after the pilot bombed pro-coalition SDF forces outside of Raqqa. The US and coalition forces have tried to steer clear of the Syrian troops of the embattled government of President Assad. They’ve tried to target only the Islamic State (IS) who held sizable portions of the country.

The Australians have six fighters stationed in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) that have been used in combat operations against both Syria and Iraq. But for now, they have stopped operations over Syria, “as a precautionary measure.”

A spokesman for the Department of Defence told the ABC that the situation would be monitored and sorties over Iraq would continue. “Australian defence force personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course,” he said.
The UK Ministry of Defence said it would continue its operations against Isis as part of the US-led coalition in Syria.
Moscow’s warning on Monday to US-allied warplanes west of the Euphrates escalated the threat of a direct Russian-American confrontation in Syria, following the first US shooting down of a fighter jet belonging to the regime since the start of the civil war six years ago.
Russia stressed it would in future be tracking the coalition’s jets, not shooting them down, but added that “a threat for those jets may appear only if they take action that poses a threat to Russian aircraft”.
Moscow’s foreign ministry said: “All kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] of the international coalition, detected to the west of the Euphrates river will be tracked by the Russian SAM systems as air targets.”

The US’ General Joseph Dunford had stated that “we made every effort to warn those individuals not to come any closer and then the commander made a judgment that it was a threat to the forces that we are supporting and took action.”

Meanwhile, the war of words between the US and Russia continues to escalate as the civil war grinds on in Syria.

To read the entire article from The Guardian, click here:

Photo courtesy US DOD

McCain Blasts Trump’s Lack of Winning Strategy in Afghanistan

Senator John McCain has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and on Monday, called out the president again, citing his lack of a winning strategy for the war in Afghanistan.

In a statement, McCain cited the recent attack by an Afghan soldier on three members of the 101^st Airborne Division where the soldiers were all killed and stated that he hopes that this will “turn the situation around in Afghanistan.”

“After nearly 16 years of war, we are at a stalemate in Afghanistan,” he added. “Worse, we have no strategy to end that stalemate and achieve victory.”
McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, pointed to testimony last week by Defense Secretary James Mattis, who said that the U.S. is not winning in Afghanistan.
There are 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan involved in training and advising the Afghan military — 2,000 of whom are involved in counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and the ISIS affiliate in the country.
Last week President Donald Trump authorized Mattis to increase the military presence in Afghanistan. U.S. military commanders have recommended 2,000 to 5,000 additional troops in the country, according to American officials. Mattis has not yet made a determination on troop levels.
“We cannot keep going like this,” said McCain. “If the administration fails to develop a strategy for success, Congress will need to play a greater role.”

Trump and Defense Chief Mattis hope for an additional 3000-5000 additional troops in Afghanistan to help turn the stalemate into a winning situation. “Defense Secretary Mattis testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that we are not winning in Afghanistan. And yet, six months into the new administration, it still has not delivered a strategy,” McCain said.

Later on Monday Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said at the National Press Club Monday that the administration will have a strategic review complete on Afghanistan sometimes in mid-July.

The entire article and interview from ABC News can be found here:

Featured Photo: Getty Images

Otto Warmbier Dies One Week After Being Released From North Korea

Just a week after being released by North Korea, 22-year old Otto Warmbier has died. His death is still a mystery although it is believed he received trauma at the hands of his North Korean captors.

He was arrested in 2016 after traveling to North Korea and attempted to steal a propaganda poster. He was released last week in a state of what doctors called “unresponsive wakefulness.”

The doctors who treated Warmbier said they had agreed not to speak about his outlook, but they had said he did not require help breathing.
The Warmbier family did not say how Otto died.
“We would like to thank the wonderful professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who did everything they could for Otto. Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,” the family said in their statement.
“It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost — future time that won’t be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds,” the family added.
“You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched — Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two — that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family.”
Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia, was detained in Pyongyang in January 2016 while on a tourist trip to North Korea. He was charged with committing a hostile act against the government after officials said he had tried to steal a propaganda banner from a hotel. After a one-hour trial, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor.
Warmbier’s father, Fred, said his son was “brutalized” by the North Koreans.
In their statement, the family said that “when Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands.”
“He looked very uncomfortable — almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed — he was at peace,” they said. “He was home and we believe he could sense that.”

President Trump didn’t mince words in his comments to the family on the loss of their son and about the rogue regime in Pyongyang.

“Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing,” President Donald Trump said in a statement. “There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life.

“Otto’s fate deepens my Administration’s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency,” the president said. “The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.”

The entire article and interview from NBC News can be found here:

Featured photo: CNN

North Korea Launches Several Land-to-Ship Missiles, South Korea Delays THAAD

The rogue nation of Kim Jong Un in North Korea continues to up the ante in the never-ending weapons program tit-for-tat. The North launched a series of missiles that were characterized as land-to-ship and defensive in nature off of its coast.

While the UN continues to impose more economic sanctions on the North, Jong’s military continues their dangerous game of cat and mouse and have been rattling their saber and tweaking the US and the South.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in who took office on May 10 has pledged to work for a peaceful solution with the North and has delayed the installation of the controversial US missile defense program THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) that China, North Korea’s chief ally particularly have issues with.

South Korea on Wednesday said it will hold off on installing remaining components of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system that has angered North Korea’s main ally, China, amid early signs of easing tensions between the two countries.
The missiles were launched Thursday morning from the North Korean coastal city of Wonsan and flew about 200 km (124 miles), South Korea’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Under third-generation leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has been conducting missile tests at an unprecedented pace in an effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting the mainland United States.
Compared to the different types of ballistic missiles Pyongyang has recently tested, the missiles launched on Thursday are considered to be more defensive in nature, designed to defend against threats such as enemy warships.
North Korea unveiled a number of new weapons at a massive military parade on April 15 to mark the birth anniversary of the state’s founding leader and has since tested some of them.
“What appeared to be a new type of land-to-ship missile equipped with four launching canisters was unveiled at the parade,” said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Far Eastern Studies in Seoul. “I think this might be what was used today.”
“Obviously, the pressure China puts on South Korea has taken effect. Seoul’s will has been shaken,” the paper said. “However, attitude is not everything. Without solving the problem of THAAD, the pain it has brought to bilateral relations will not disappear, and South Korea must swallow some of the bitter results.”
China should work with Russia on counter-measures to THAAD, the Global Times added.
Asked about the latest missile test, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called for all parties to exercise restraint.
“The UN Security Council resolution has clear rules on (North Korea’s) use of ballistic missiles technologies,” she said. “All sides should work together to de-escalate tensions and take active steps to stabilize the region.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressing China aggressively to rein in North Korea, warning that all options, including a pre-emptive military strike, are on the table if Pyongyang persists with its nuclear and missile development.

The decision to delay THAAD has been seen as a sign of weakness by South Korea. The Global Times, published by China’s official People’s Daily has said “Obviously, the pressure China puts on South Korea has taken effect. Seoul’s will has been shaken,” the paper said.

“However, attitude is not everything. Without solving the problem of THAAD, the pain it has brought to bilateral relations will not disappear, and South Korea must swallow some of the bitter results.”

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Reuters

United States Sanctions North Korea and Their Military Suppliers

While the United States is unable to stop the North Koreans from abandoning their nuclear weapons program, they’re going after the companies that do business with the government of Kim Jong Un.

The Treasury Department has slapped additional sanctions on the financial, coal mining and military interests of North Korea by targeting companies that aid it in obtaining weapons of mass destruction and its continued violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The sanctions bar the companies and individuals from doing business with American citizens, and any assets they have in the United States or under U.S. control would be frozen
The sanctions are mostly symbolic since it’s unlikely that the targeted companies or individuals have any such business dealings or U.S. assets. Previous sanctions have had little apparent effect.
The penalties come as the Trump administration seeks to block North Korea’s ability to build a nuclear weapon small enough to put atop a missile, and a ballistic missile powerful enough to deliver it to U.S. shores.
North Korea also has test-fired at least nine ballistic missiles so far this year, most recently on Monday. That missile flew 280 miles toward Japan before falling in the ocean.
The U.S. on Tuesday conducted its own test of a missile defense system, launching a rocket from California that officials said successfully hit and destroyed a target warhead fired from an atoll in the mid-Pacific.
The latest sanctions target North Korea’s army and Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, its revenue from mining coal and minerals, and several overseas financial operations, according to the Treasury statement.
Among the companies is Moscow-based Ardis-Bearings LLC and its director, Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin. It allegedly works with a North Korean trading company, Tangun, which the U.S. accuses of securing supplies for the nuclear program.
The order also blacklisted Korea Computer Center, a state-run technology research and development company that generates income for the government of Kim Jong Un, with reported overseas locations in Germany, China, India and the Middle East, Treasury said.

President Trump called the North Korean attempts to gain a nuclear arsenal an imminent threat to the United States and has repeatedly called on the north’s biggest ally to do more to stop their nuclear testing. The Chinese have encouraged North Korea to cease and have been working back channels to get them to obey the UN sanctions.

To read the entire article from Los Angeles Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Getty

Will the US Policy of Annihilation and Humiliation Work?

The United States has shifted its focus from a war of attrition against ISIS and radical Islamism to one of annihilation and humiliation. Secretary of Defense James Mattis outlined the plan recently and he believes that this is a plan that the US and its allies can win.

But the big question is, will this plan work? History is basically against Mattis’ plan although the theory of destroying the enemy on the battlefield is always a prerequisite to winning a war. But against an enemy that melts away into the civilian population, it is easier said than done.

Mattis pointed to the battles for Mosul and Tal Afar as models for how these tactics will be implemented in other places. In both cases, forces on the ground, some with U.S. help, have surrounded IS targets to try to prevent Islamic State militants from retreating and foreign fighters from leaving the battlefield to return home. The forces then advance and clear these cities block by block, a hard task that takes time. This is what Mattis described as annihilation. The Islamic State’s greatest strength on the battlefield has been its ability to retreat and regroup, and the goal of annihilation is to destroy that strength. But this strategy comes with a high price. Iraq sent its best trained and equipped fighters into Mosul first, and casualty rates were reportedly around 50 percent for some units. The battle is about to enter its eighth month.
According to Mattis, this will be the blueprint for destroying the Islamic State’s caliphate, and the table is being set to apply this model on the de facto IS capital of Raqqa. Mattis is optimistic that IS will lose this fight, but even if this happens, the challenge will then be to prevent another group like IS from emerging.
This is where the humiliation tactics come in. In his interview, Mattis pointed out that the fight against the Islamic State is not just a military conflict. It is “a fight about ideas.” Mattis said the Islamic State’s recruiting and fundraising capabilities must be destroyed. The way to do this is to degrade the IS “message of hatred and violence” and any nation that would support it.
This is easier said than done. At multiple points in the interview, Mattis emphasized that the U.S. does everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, which he said differentiates the U.S. from its adversaries. On the simplest level this is true. The U.S. does not target civilians; the Islamic State does. But reality is more complicated. People who have lost loved ones in an accidental U.S. airstrike take no solace in the fact that the U.S. tries to avoid civilian deaths.

Mattis’ best hope is to get the US’ European and Middle East partners to completely buy into this line of thinking. If they do, and our partner nations do their part, then the plan has a chance of success until the next foe rises from the ashes.

To read the entire article from the Geopolitical Futures click here:

North Korea Fires Scud Ballistic Missile into the Sea of Japan

The North Koreans are it again, test firing a Scud-type ballistic missile that successfully launched and landed in the Sea of Japan off Korea’s east coast. This was the latest in a series of missile tests that the reclusive, belligerent nation has conducted in recent weeks.

This latest test unleashed a protest from Japan who stated that the missile landed in their exclusive economic zone. President Trump, returning from a weeklong trip overseas was briefed on the situation. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis spoke on television about the latest developments and was asked what a conflict in Korea would be like answering, “probably the worst kind of fighting in most people’s lifetimes”.

The missile was believed to be a Scud-class ballistic missile and flew about 450 km (280 miles), South Korean officials said. North Korea has a large stockpile of the short-range missiles, originally developed by the Soviet Union.
Monday’s launch followed two successful tests of medium- to long-range missiles in as many weeks by the North, which has been conducting such tests at an unprecedented pace in an effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting the mainland United States.
North Korea likely showing its determination to push ahead in the face of international pressure to rein in its missile program and “to pressure the (South Korean) government to change its policy on the North”, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said.
It was the third ballistic missile test-launch since South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in took office on May 10 pledging to engage with the reclusive neighbor in dialogue.

The Russians called for restraint in the area while Pyongyang’s protector, China, in a statement to the UN’s Security Council that the council’s resolutions had ‘clear rules’ and urged the North Korean government to follow them.

In a statement from the Foreign Ministry, China stated, “The situation on the Korean peninsula is complex and sensitive, and we hope all relevant sides maintain calm and exercise restraint, ease the tense situation as soon as possible and put the issue back on the correct track of peaceful dialogue.”

To read the entire article from the Reuters click here:

Photo courtesy BBC

Israel Supposedly the Source of Trump/Russia Intel Flap

The decision by President Trump to share sensitive intelligence with the Russians that was provided by Israel has created another flap for the administration. Trump reportedly told the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak about an ISIS plot to attack airplanes using laptops.

That intelligence was provided to Washington via the Israelis and according to one former senior Israeli intelligence official and recruiter of assets for Israel’s Shin Bet security service has put the relationship between the US and Israeli intelligence services “in crisis”.

The revelation that Israel was the ally who provided the intelligence that Trump passed on to now threatens a diplomatic crisis with a longtime ally.
“Trump has made a crisis between Israeli intelligence and American intelligence,” the former official and recruiter tells Newsweek by phone. (He asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.)
The Israeli government tells Newsweek Trump’s visit to the country, in which he plans to revive the moribund peace process, will go ahead as planned. “We have a schedule, we have a plan and everything is going ahead, absolutely,” says Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, speaking over the phone from Israel.
But that trip could now become much more awkward. Some Israeli officials speaking to Newsweek were cautious about how the leak would affect relations, emphasizing its severity but unable to predict how the situation would play out between the allies.

Trump and Netanyahu spoke on the phone but according to Israeli sources, the conversation had to do with just Trump’s upcoming trip to Israel, which is still on. Israeli officials say the upcoming meeting between to the leaders could be awkward. And although Trump claims that no sources or methods were discussed, the Israelis differ.

To read the entire article from Newsweek, click here:

Photo courtesy Haaretz

US Intelligence Chief Warns of Deteriorating Security in Afghanistan

For the Trump Administration, facing a question whether to increase the US troop levels in Afghanistan, this can’t be good news. US National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said on Thursday that even if the US and its allies increase their military aid to the war-torn country, the security situation there is still likely to deteriorate.

LTG Vincent Stewart, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s director, also testified before a Senate panel on Thursday that the situation is grim and that the US must do “something very different” in Afghanistan or else the Taliban will make new advances on the battlefield. He maintained that the current stalemate in fighting could then tip in the Taliban’s favor.

“The political and security situation in Afghanistan will also almost certainly deteriorate through 2018, even with a modest increase in the military assistance by the US and its partners,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said at the hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“Afghanistan will struggle to curb its dependence on external support until it contains the insurgency or reaches a peace agreement with the Taliban,” Coats told lawmakers in presenting an annual assessment of threats to US national security.
US-led forces have been fighting in Afghanistan for 16 years, making it America’s longest war, yet the situation there remains a stalemate.
The Taliban, which first emerged in the mid-1990s in southern Afghanistan, managed to conquer most of the country before its 2001 ouster with the help of a range of foreign jihadists, including Pakistanis, Saudis and Chechens.
But it has been on the rebound, Coates said, and continues to gain strength. “The Taliban are likely to continue to make gains, especially in rural areas,” said the US spy chief, adding that efforts to bolster local military have been less fruitful than hoped.

Under the original plan by the Obama Administration, the United States was to withdraw all its military forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016. Those plans have proven very premature as the security situation was deemed critical. The US still has 8400 troops on the ground with NATO forces adding an additional 5000.

President Trump is weighing whether to send as many as an additional 5000 troops into the fray to defeat both ISIS and the Taliban in the country.

To read the entire article from the Nation, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

International Community Supports Trump’s Syria Air Attack

While the fallout from the US airstrike that hit the Syrian airbase at Shayrat on Thursday night was mixed here in the United States, the majority of the reactions coming from the international community is one of mainly support.

At 3:45 a.m. local time, US Navy warships launched a reported 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian airbase, located near the city of Homs. It was from this base that Syrian air forces used to bomb their own people on Tuesday in a chemical weapons attack that killed scores including children in an early morning raid.

President Trump said that after seeing the video of the victims in the chemical air attack, his thinking had changed on Syria and the US moved forward with the attack to stop Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from using the base as a staging area for any more attacks in the future.

Although Russia and Syrian state television blasted the move as “aggression,” leaders from around the world solemnly praised the act as a measured and fair response to dictator Bashar al-Assad’s suspected use of chemical weapons in the town of Idlib on Tuesday.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that “In both word and action” Trump “sent a strong and clear message” that “the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters that the Australian government supported the “swift and just response” of the U.S. airstrikes.
“This was a calibrated, proportionate and targeted response. It sends a strong message to the Assad regime, and … has been struck at the very airfield from which the chemical attack was delivered,” Turnbull said.
Turkey welcomed the airstrike, calling it an “important and meaningful” development, but urged the world to take an even tougher stance on Assad.
“We see the (airstrikes) as positive, but we believe that this should be completed,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said. “The Assad regime’s barbarism must immediately be stopped.”

The Russians and the Iranians roundly condemned the attacks as they are supporters of the Assad regime in Damascus. Russian envoy to the UN Vladimir Safronkov said Russia had warned the U.S. to “think about what military actions have led to in Iraq, Libya, and other countries.” The Iranians characterized the strike as a “unilateral action that is dangerous, destructive and violates principles of international law.”

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy the DOD