Decisions

Posted on 12 August 2019 by eehines

Hong Kong’s 34,000 policemen and the force as a whole are approaching a decision point—or perhaps, the People’s Republic of China’s President Xi Jinping is about to force a decision on them.

With Hong Kong’s summer of unrest escalating, its police are in a bind. The local population increasingly accuses them of inflaming protester rage by using excessive force, while mainland Chinese authorities are exhorting them to get tougher to resolve the crisis.

Violence? With the Hong Kong police, it’s becoming fairly routine to use tear gas and truncheons. Protestor-originated violence has remained isolated and rare.

This is a preview of Decisions. Read the full post (316 words, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)

One More Reason

Posted on 27 July 2019 by eehines

…to be clear and overt in our support for the Republic of China.

We sailed a guided missile cruiser through the international waters of the Taiwan Strait last Wednesday, and the People’s Republic of China objected. Then it threatened.

China said it would take all necessary military measures to defeat “separatists” in Taiwan.

This comes, also, after the PRC threatened military action against the people of Hong Kong because they’ve been uppity enough to insist that the PRC honor its commitment to Hong Kong’s (semi-)autonomy IAW its handover agreement with Great Britain.

This is a preview of One More Reason. Read the full post (194 words, estimated 47 secs reading time)

Asylum Seekers

Posted on 26 July 2019 by eehines

The Trump administration has moved to make it harder for folks arriving on our border to claim to be seeking asylum, and the American Civil Liberties Union and American Immigration Council don’t like it. Here’s AIC’s Managing Director Royce Murray:

…the Trump administration is “throwing everything they have at asylum seekers in an effort to turn everyone humanly possible away….”

Which, of course, misrepresents the facts. The vast majority of folks arriving at our border claiming to be asylum seekers are nothing of the sort. Their presence on our border or illegally crossing it demonstrates that they’ve already rejected asylum offers, even job possibilities—offers and possibilities Mexico has offered them.

This is a preview of Asylum Seekers. Read the full post (156 words, estimated 37 secs reading time)

A Thought on Huawei

Posted on 17 July 2019 by eehines

John Hemmings made some interesting and critical points about the “security” (my metaphoric quotes) of Huawei equipment. In doing so, he cited a study by Finite State, a cyber-security organization that looks deeply into the Internet of Things and resulting vulnerabilities—an IoT of which Huawei is aiming to be a central part (as well as a central part of national communications and defense systems and of governments). Finite State’s analysis investigated “more than 1.5 million files embedded in 9,936 firmware images supporting 558 different products within [Huawei’s] enterprise networking product lines.”

Hemmings’ points center on these:

This is a preview of A Thought on Huawei. Read the full post (440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

A Continued Power Grab

Posted on 16 July 2019 by eehines

The People’s Republic of China objects to the sale of defensive weapons to the Republic of China.

China will sanction US firms that participate in arms sales to Taiwan [The Wall Street Journal‘s conflation of the island with the nation that sits on the island], after Washington approved sales of $2.2 billion in tanks, missiles and related military hardware, Beijing said.

The PRC’s Foreign Ministry has justified the threat with this:

the arms sales “harmed China’s sovereignty and national security”

This is a preview of A Continued Power Grab. Read the full post (225 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy

Posted on 15 July 2019 by eehines

Last Thursday, Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Joe Biden laid out his foreign policy paradigm. The gist of his policy is this:

[The] overarching purpose of our foreign policy, I believe, must be to defend and advance our security, prosperity, and democratic values that the United States stands for.

And

I would remind the world that we are the United States of America and we do not coddle dictators. The United States of America gives hate no safe harbor.

And he’ll

make it my mission to restore American leadership….

In fine, Biden’s foreign policy is to Make America Great Again.

This is a preview of Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy. Read the full post (133 words, estimated 32 secs reading time)

The Cost of a Celebration

Posted on 8 July 2019 by eehines

President Donald Trump held America’s Independence Day celebration with a Salute to America, centered at the Lincoln Memorial.

Together, we are part of one of the greatest stories ever told—the story of America. Today, just as it did 243 years ago, the future of American Freedom rests on the shoulders of men and women willing to defend it.

Just to pick out a couple of things: The Wall Street Journal cited “Democrats” complaining about

the use of military hardware for a traditionally nonpartisan celebration.

Because defending our nation’s existence and celebrating those who do that defense isn’t nonpartisan. Sure.

This is a preview of The Cost of a Celebration. Read the full post (304 words, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

A Whole Year

Posted on 6 July 2019 by eehines

That’s how close Iran is to getting a nuclear weapon. The Wall Street Journal‘s subheadline tells the tale.

Tehran exceeded a key limit in the 2015 deal but experts say that it is only a small step and that it would take Tehran at least a year to make a weapon

That’s how far away from nuclear armament Iran would have been under the JCPOA on that deal’s expiration. After all,

The 2015 deal was structured to make sure that Iran would take a year to amass enough material for a weapon if it chose to break the accord.

This is a preview of A Whole Year. Read the full post (136 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)

Hong Kong Protests

Posted on 5 July 2019 by eehines

And the People’s Republic of China threatens. Hong Kong citizens have been protesting a PRC-endorsed law proposal that would allow Hong Kongese and others resident in or visiting Hong Kong to be extradited to the mainland for trial in the PRC’s government-run court system.

[The PRC’s] government signaled its fraying patience with protesters in Hong Kong after they stormed the city’s legislature, calling the violent turn a direct challenge to Beijing’s authority and suggesting it would have to be answered.
Public statements from Beijing marked a shift in Chinese leaders’ attitude toward the crisis in the semiautonomous territory, indicating they may be forced to step in….

This is a preview of Hong Kong Protests. Read the full post (348 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

“The Trump Doctrine”

Posted on 3 July 2019 by eehines

That’s the title of The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial last Sunday about President Donald Trump’s general foreign policy. They’ve misunderstood it, though, beginning with their subheadline:

With this President, the diplomacy is always personal.

Well, of course it is. Just as all politics are local, so all diplomacy is personal: the principals must know who each other are and the degree to which they can trust each other.

And this:

President Trump believes in personal diplomacy and showmanship above all in foreign policy….

This is a preview of “The Trump Doctrine”. Read the full post (241 words, estimated 58 secs reading time)

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Category Archives: defense policy