TheList 5381

The List 5381     TGB

To All

Good Wednesday Morning July 8.

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Today in Naval History

July 8

1777 British frigate HMS Rainbow and brig HMS Flora chase the Continental frigates Boston and Hancock and the captured prize, British frigate HMS Fox, off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Boston escapes but Hancock is captured and renamed HMS Iris.

1778 The Allied French fleet under Adm. Comte dEstaing arrives in America with reinforcements for the American Revolution and participates in the Battle of Rhode Island and at the Siege of Savannah.

1879 USS Jeannette departs San Francisco to explore the Arctic, but becomes frozen in the ice pack by September. On June 13, 1881, the bark-rigged wooden steamship sinks after she is crushed in an Arctic ice pack during an attempt to reach the North Pole through the Bering Strait. Of the 33 who set off after the ship went down, only 13 of Jeannette's men survive their adventures and return to civilization.

1944 The cruisers and destroyers of Task Group 53.18, commanded by Rear Adm. Charles Turner Joy, begin daily bombardment of Japanese defenses on Guam. Battleships join the bombardment group on July 14.

1960 USS Proteus (AS-19) is recommissioned and serves as a tender for the Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines.

 

Thanks to CHINFO

Executive Summary:

•           USNI News reports that the House Appropriations defense subcommittee included a second Virginia-class submarine in their FY 21 NDAA mark.

•           Multiple outlets report that the Navy has canceled its fall physical fitness assessment due to COVID-19.

•           Multiple outlets report that CENTCOM commander Gen. Frank McKenzie said that no Americans are known to have died in Russia's bounty scheme

This day in History

8 July

1099 Christian Crusaders march around Jerusalem as Muslims watch from within the city.

1608 The first French settlement at Quebec is established by Samuel de Champlain.

1663 The British crown grants Rhode Island a charter guaranteeing freedom of worship.

1686 The Austrians take Budapest from the Turks and annex Hungary.

1709 Peter the Great defeats Charles XII at Poltava, in the Ukraine, effectively ending the Swedish empire.

1755 Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with France as their disputes in the New World intensify.

1758 The British attack on Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, New York, is foiled by the French.

1794 French troops capture Brussels, Belgium.

1815 With Napoleon defeated, Louis XVIII returns to Paris.

1822 29-year old poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowns while sailing in Italy.

1859 The truce at Villafranca Austria cedes Lombardy to France.

1863 Demoralized by the surrender of Vicksburg, Confederates in Port Hudson, Louisiana, surrender to Union forces.

1864 Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston retreats into Atlanta to prevent being flanked by Union General William T. Sherman.

1865 Four of the conspirators in President Abraham Lincoln's assassination are hanged in Washington, D.C.

1879 The first ship to use electric lights departs from San Francisco, California.

1905 The mutinous crew of the battleship Potemkin surrenders to Romanian authorities.

1918 Ernest Hemingway is wounded in Italy while working as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross.

1941 20 B-17s fly in their first mission with the Royal Air Force over Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

1943 American B-24 bombers strike Japanese-held Wake Island for the first time.

1960 The Soviet Union charges American pilot Francis Gary Powers with espionage.

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Thanks to Mugs

Defend America's History—and Retake Its Institutions

The country hasn't passed from great to evil in 20 years. But elites have failed and betrayed us.

By Gerard Baker - Wall Street Journal

July 6, 2020

At the end of the 20th century, the U.S. had won World War II and the Cold War, liberated half the planet from history's most dehumanizing ideologies, advanced a free-market capitalism that had led more humans out of poverty than any economic system ever devised, and given the world the richest bounty of intellectual, cultural and scientific capital since the Enlightenment. Americans could—and did—look at themselves and the nation they had built with immense pride.

Twenty years later much of the country's political leadership, almost its entire academic establishment, most of the people who control its news and cultural output, and a good deal of its corporate elite view America as an irredeemably malignant force for enslavement and oppression, a uniquely evil power founded on an ideology of racial supremacy. These Jacobins demand that Americans repudiate most of the nation's history, tear down the icons of its creation, and engage in a cultural expurgation of its sins.

Only four years ago Sen. Bernie Sanders, a man not noted for a surfeit of patriotic fervor, visited Mount Rushmore and pronounced: "It really does make one very proud to be an American." On Friday, when President Trump made the pilgrimage, we were told that he was appearing, in the words of a CNN reporter, "in front of a monument of two slave owners and on land wrestled away from Native Americans."

If the self-image of Americans a generation ago was that of a smiling GI receiving flowers from liberated peoples, today we're told it's a police boot stamping on a human face forever. What happened?

We can hope that the present mania is in part one of the baleful consequences of the lockdown lunacy. If you've been stuck at home mainlining the distortions of the media for four months, your tolerance threshold for fiction has doubtless been raised.

But the roots of the current insanity are more profound than the inch-deep scholarship of the sophomores now in control of America's newsrooms.

With hindsight, it's clear that America in 2020 was ripe for the kind of mindless Maoism that demands fealty to its gospel of ideological cleansing. The nation has reached a combustive moment. The rot in America's cultural institutions was spread for more than half a century by a self-loathing cultural establishment. Now it has matured amid a public malaise induced by 20 years of elite-driven political and economic failure that has undermined faith in the system that made America great.

The cultural corrosion has been evident for decades. Perhaps what we should have seen better were its consequences: Generations of students fed a steady diet of critical race theory and postcolonial gender studies—all delivered in safe spaces protected by an intolerance of dissent—poured out of college campuses into the world, waving their white-fragility texts like little red books.

But they graduated into an America that has been convulsed by two decades of unaccustomed failure and loss. In 20 years, wars and foreign-policy failures in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere; financial breakdown; and now the pandemic have exposed a hollow political leadership.

All the while the capitalism that had produced so much opportunity for so many has become increasingly a vehicle of power for a few. Megacompanies in finance and technology have grown unchecked. The modern woke corporation publicly disdains and derides the values on which the nation—and its profits—were built, even as it pursues global opportunities at the expense of American communities.

It won't be enough to reassert America's great historic virtues. It will require weakening the power of the totalitarians on campus, ensuring fair access for all voices on tech platforms, holding to account the lawless mobs defacing and defaming the nation's legacy. But it will also require addressing the rot in American capitalism, reining in the power of bloated monopolies, and ensuring that corporations prioritize Americans over their globalist, progressive agendas.

This is personal for me. I came to this country as that great American century was closing. Like millions of immigrants I was drawn by the irresistible allure of a nation forged in pursuit of a universal ideal it had actually succeeded in achieving. Of course we knew there was a sharp tear in America's vibrant fabric, a legacy of racial prejudice that mocked the ideals of the founding. But the nation's demonstrated ability to advance beyond that, to mend and improve itself, makes America even more admirable.

This country hasn't passed from great to evil in two decades. America hasn't failed. But Americans have been failed—misled by inept and deceitful political leaders, deserted by predatory and mercenary corporate chiefs, and, above all, betrayed by a parasitic cultural elite that exploited American freedom to trash the country. It isn't America's history that needs to be repudiated. It's its present.

 

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Thanks to Mike

Let's break it down...

1. Joe Biden isn't winning just like Hillary wasn't winning.

2. Bubba Wallace wasn't a victim.

3. Black lives do matter, along with everyone else.

4. What happened to Floyd should never happen again.

5. All cops definitely aren't bad, nor are they all racist.

6. Trump is the President and doing a great job !

7. Rioters and looters have nothing to do with George Floyd.

   (And should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law).

8. Police lives matter.

9. Unborn lives matter.

10. Colin Kaepernick isn't a hero, and never will be!

11. CNN isn't news (nor is MSNBC)

12. Elizabeth Warren isn't Indian just a fake person!

13. Facebook only censors conservatives.

14. All lives do matter (red, yellow, black and white, they

      are precious in his sight).

15. COVID 19 is being used to gauge just how much of

      our freedom they can take away.

16. All fear is fueled by the media; this is a fact!

17. God is still in control and always will be.

18. Epstein did not kill himself. NASCAR did kill themselves.

19. Most people are not racist.

20. There is NO White Privilege .

21. There are no slave owners or slaves still living.

      There are no people trying to enslave anyone in the U.S.

22. LIFE is What YOU Make of it.

23. No one OWES You ANYTHING !

24. I stand for the Flag and National Anthem.

25. I kneel only for Jesus.

And there ya' have it!

            Cheers

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 8, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

8 July

1913: Beckwith Havens made the first long-distance flight in a Curtiss Flying Boat, flying 885 miles on the Great Lakes. (24)

1940: Boeing's 307B Stratoliner, with a pressurized cabin, made its first commercial flight from Burbank, Calif., to Long Island, N. Y. (21) (24)

1941: The RAF used B-17s for the first time in a daylight raid on Wilhelmshaven, Germany. (21)

1943: Col Malcolm G. Grow, an Eighth Air Force surgeon, received a Legion of Merit for designing the flak vest and steel helmet to deflect low velocity missiles from American airmen. (4) (24)

1944: Lt Col Clifford Heflin flew his C-47 on the first mission into France to rescue airmen who had parachuted behind enemy lines. (21)

1950: KOREAN WAR. From radio-equipped jeeps, Lts Oliver Duerksen and Frank Chermak provided the first forward air control to direct air-to-ground attacks. (28)

1955: At Hurricane, Utah, a rocket sled made the first run on the 12,000-foot Supersonic Military Air Research Track (SMART). (24)

1960: Operation NEW TAPE. The Congo's independence from Beligum led to civil war. To help the Africans, the UN started airlift operations. Through January

1964, MATS flew 2,128 missions to move 63,798 people and 18,593 tons to cargo. On 15 July, USAFE also began helping with the airlift operations. (2) (4)

1961: Using three RB-50s and one C-54, a 138-man team from the 1370th Photo Mapping Wing surveyed the Hawaiian archipelago to establish a geodetic position for the Midway and Johnston Islands in relation to the Hawaiian Islands.

1962: Operation DOMINIC. From Johnston Island, a Thor IRBM carried a megaton-plus hydrogen bomb above 200 miles in altitude. The detonation marked the highest thermonuclear blast by a US bomb, and perhaps, the highest of any nation. It also provided the U.S. public with the first display of the major EMP affects of a high-alt nuclear burst. (16) (24)

1965: SYNCOM II and III communications satellites transferred from NASA to the Defense Communications Agency. The USAF also gained control over three telemetry and command stations at the Seychelles Islands, Hawaii, and Guam. These stations maintained control and positioning of the satellites. (21) Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz died in a crash at Buttercup Valley, Ariz., while filming the Flight of the Phoenix. (8: Jul 90)

1966: From Cape Kennedy, a Minuteman II launched, carrying the first Mark 12 Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle. (6)

1969: The first of 25,000 troops to be withdrawn from SEA under President Nixon's new policy were airlifted by C-141s from Vietnam to McChord AFB. (16) (26)

1977: SECDEF Harold Brown decided to end production of the Minuteman III. (12)

1979: Exercise GLOBAL SHIELD I. Through 16 July, SAC exercised every phase of its Single Integrated Operations Plan (SIOP), short of nuclear war. The Global Shield exercise featured full involvement by SAC's active forces and AFRES units as most bombers, tankers, and missiles were placed on alert. Some aircraft also dispersed to preselected bases, while others flew sorties over radar bomb-scoring sites. (1)

1993: At its plant in York, England, Slingsby Aviation rolled out the first T-3A Enhanced Flight Screener for the USAF. (20)

1998: An upgraded T-38C Talon advanced trainer aircraft flew for the first time over Mesa, Ariz. The T-38 received improved avionics under the Avionics Upgrade Program (AUP) and the Pacer Classic initiative. The T-38C took off from the Williams Gateway Airport Runway for a 1 hour 20 minute flight with Boeing test pilot Ed Wilson sitting in the front seat and USAF test pilot, Capt John Deems, in the rear seat. (AFNEWS Article 981017, 14 Jul 98) Exercise BALTIC CHALLENGE '98. Through 9 July, a 445 AW (AFRC) C-141 aircrew from Wright-Patterson AFB airlifted five dolphins, their handlers, and veterinarians from NAS North Island to Palanga IAP, Lithuania, to participate in this joint military land and sea exercise. The dolphins found and marked mines on the Baltic Sea floor and searched for live ordnance from World War II. On 20 July, another 445 AW aircrew returned the dolphins to California. (22)

2001: Boeing's X-32 Joint Strike Fighter successfully completed its flight-test pogram with a series of short takeoffs at NAS Patuxent River. (AFNEWS Article 0942, 12 Jul 2001)

2006: In a ceremony within a Wyoming ANG hangar at Cheyenne, Lt Col Steve Hopkins (USAF) took command of the USAF's new 30th Airlift Squadron. The 30th would be under the operational control of the Wyoming Air Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing and share the latter's C-130 transports, but it would be administratively attached to the 463rd Airlift Group at Little Rock AFB, Ark. The 30th was the first unit of its kind associated with the ANG. (32)

 

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This Day in US Military History

JULY 7

 

1760 – The Battle of Restigouche, a naval battle fought during the French and Indian War on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of vessels of the French Navy, Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq militias. The French vessels had been sent to relieve New France after the fall of Quebec. Supplies were extraordinarily important because France ran their colonies such that the colonies were wholly dependent on products and manufacturing of the motherland. The loss of the Battle of Restigouche and the consequent inability to supply the troops, marked the end of any serious attempt by France to keep hold of their colonies in North America, and it severely curtailed any hopes for a lengthy resistance to the British by the French forces that remained. The battle was the last major engagement of the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias before the Burying of the Hatchet Ceremony between the Mi'kmaq and the British.

1775 – The Olive Branch Petition, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, was signed by members of the Continental Congress. The petition was a final attempt to avoid a full-blown war between the Thirteen Colonies that the Congress represented, and Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. In August 1775 the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected in fact, although not having been received by the king before declaring the Congress-supporting colonists traitors.

1776 – In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell rings out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall), summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, by Colonel John Nixon. On July 4, the historic document was adopted by delegates to the Continental Congress meeting in the State House. However, the Liberty Bell, which bore the apt biblical quotation, "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof," was not rung until the Declaration of Independence returned from the printer on July 8. In 1751, to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of Pennsylvania's original constitution, the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly ordered the 2,000-pound copper and tin bell constructed. After being cracked during a test, and then recast twice, the bell was hung from the State House steeple in June 1753. Rung to call the Pennsylvania Assembly together and to summon people for special announcements and events, it was also rung on important occasions, such as when King George III ascended to the throne in 1761 and to call the people together to discuss Parliament's controversial Stamp Act of 1765. With the outbreak of the American Revolution in April 1775, the bell was rung to announce the battles of Lexington and Concord. Its most famous tolling was on July 8, 1776, when it summoned Philadelphia citizens for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. As the British advanced toward Philadelphia in the fall of 1777, the bell was removed from the city and hidden in Allentown to save it from being melted down by the British and used for cannons. After the British defeat in 1781, the bell was returned to Philadelphia, which was the nation's capital from 1790 to 1800. In addition to marking important events, the bell tolled annually to celebrate George Washington's birthday on February 22, and Independence Day on July 4. In 1839, the name "Liberty Bell" was first coined in a poem in an abolitionist pamphlet. The question of when the Liberty Bell acquired its famous fracture has been the subject of a good deal of historical dispute. In the most commonly accepted account, the bell suffered a major break while tolling for the funeral of the chief justice of the United States, John Marshall, in 1835, and in 1846 the crack expanded to its present size while in use to mark Washington's birthday. After that date, it was regarded as unsuitable for ringing, but it was still ceremoniously tapped on occasion to commemorate important events. On June 6, 1944, when Allied forces invaded France, the sound of the bell's dulled ring was broadcast by radio across the United States. In 1976, the Liberty Bell was moved to a new pavilion about 100 yards from Independence Hall in preparation for America's bicentennial celebrations.

 

1853 – Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, sails into Tokyo Bay, Japan, with a squadron of four vessels. For a time, Japanese officials refused to speak with Perry, but under threat of attack by the superior American ships they accepted letters from President Millard Fillmore, making the United States the first Western nation to establish relations with Japan since it had been declared closed to foreigners two centuries before. Only the Dutch and the Chinese were allowed to continue trade with Japan after 1639, but this trade was restricted and confined to the island of Dejima at Nagasaki. After giving Japan time to consider the establishment of external relations, Commodore Perry returned to Tokyo with nine ships in March 1854. On March 31, he signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan. In April 1860, the first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power in over 200 years reached Washington, D.C., and remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks, discussing expansion of trade with the United States. Treaties with other Western powers followed soon after, contributing to the collapse of the shogunate and ultimately the modernization of Japan.

 

1918 – Ernest Hemingway is severely wounded while carrying a companion to safety on the Austro-Italian front during World War I. Hemingway, working as a Red Cross ambulance driver, was decorated for his heroism and sent home. Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. Before joining the Red Cross, he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. After the war, he married the wealthy Hadley Richardson. The couple moved to Paris, where they met other American expatriate writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. With their help and encouragement, Hemingway published his first book of short stories, in the U.S. in 1925, followed by the well-received The Sun Also Rises in 1926. Hemingway would marry three more times, and his romantic and sporting epics would be followed almost as closely as his writing. During the 1930s and '40s, the hard-drinking Hemingway lived in Key West and then in Cuba while continuing to travel widely. He wrote The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, his first major literary work in nearly a decade. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. The same year, Hemingway was wounded in a plane crash, after which he became increasingly anxious and depressed. Like his father, he eventually committed suicide, shooting himself in 1961 in his home in Idaho.

Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

*TIMMERMAN, GRANT FREDERICK
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 14 February 1919, Americus, Kans. Accredited to: Kansas. Other Navy award: Bronze Star Medal. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as tank commander serving with the 2d Battalion, 6th Marines, 2d Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianas Islands, on 8 July 1944. Advancing with his tank a few yards ahead of the infantry in support of a vigorous attack on hostile positions, Sgt. Timmerman maintained steady fire from his antiaircraft sky mount machinegun until progress was impeded by a series of enemy trenches and pillboxes. Observing a target of opportunity, he immediately ordered the tank stopped and, mindful of the danger from the muzzle blast as he prepared to open fire with the 75mm., fearlessly stood up in the exposed turret and ordered the infantry to hit the deck. Quick to act as a grenade, hurled by the Japanese, was about to drop into the open turret hatch, Sgt. Timmerman unhesitatingly blocked the opening with his body holding the grenade against his chest and taking the brunt of the explosion. His exception valor and loyalty in saving his men at the cost of his own life reflect the highest credit upon Sgt. Timmerman and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

*SHEA, RICHARD T., JR.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company A 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sokkogae, Korea, 6 to 8 July 1953. Entered service at: Portsmouth, Va. Born: 3 January 1927, Portsmouth, Va. G.O. No.: 38, 8 June 1955. Citation: 1st Lt. Shea, executive officer, Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. On the night of 6 July, he was supervising the reinforcement of defensive positions when the enemy attacked with great numerical superiority. Voluntarily proceeding to the area most threatened, he organized and led a counterattack and, in the bitter fighting which ensued, closed with and killed 2 hostile soldiers with his trench knife. Calmly moving among the men, checking positions, steadying and urging the troops to hold firm, he fought side by side with them throughout the night. Despite heavy losses, the hostile force pressed the assault with determination, and at dawn made an all-out attempt to overrun friendly elements. Charging forward to meet the challenge, 1st Lt. Shea and his gallant men drove back the hostile troops. Elements of Company G joined the defense on the afternoon of 7 July, having lost key personnel through casualties. Immediately integrating these troops into his unit, 1st Lt. Shea rallied a group of 20 men and again charged the enemy. Although wounded in this action, he refused evacuation and continued to lead the counterattack. When the assaulting element was pinned down by heavy machine gun fire, he personally rushed the emplacement and, firing his carbine and lobbing grenades with deadly accuracy, neutralized the weapon and killed 3 of the enemy. With forceful leadership and by his heroic example, 1st Lt. Shea coordinated and directed a holding action throughout the night and the following morning. On 8 July, the enemy attacked again. Despite additional wounds, he launched a determined counterattack and was last seen in close hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. 1st Lt. Shea's inspirational leadership and unflinching courage set an illustrious example of valor to the men of his regiment, reflecting lasting glory upon himself and upholding the noble traditions of the military service.

 

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World News for 8 July thanks to Military Periscope

USA—Air Force Veteran Pleads Guilty To Stealing Classified Documents Dept. Of Justice | 07/08/2020 A former airwoman who worked in the intelligence community pled guilty to two charges after being caught attempting to pass classified documents to Russia, reports the Dept. of Justice. Elizabeth Joe Shirley entered the guilty plea for one count of "willful retention of national defense information" and one count of "international parental kidnapping," as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, the department said on Monday. Shirley took a National Security Agency Document classified at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (TS/SCI) level from her work and fled to Mexico, offering the documents to the Russians. In July 2019, Shirley took kidnapped her 6-year-old daughter and took her to Mexico in an attempt to keep her away from her legal custodian, her father. While in Mexico, she allegedly wrote a letter to Russian officials offering to pass national defense information to them. Shirley was arrested in August 2019 by U.S. Marshals and Mexican law enforcement officials after West Virginia officials issued a warrant for her arrest for kidnapping her child. She worked with the NSA while in the Air Force and held various positions with the Office of Naval Intelligence, Dept. of Defense and Energy, National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force and at least five different cleared defense contractors, reported Stars and Stripes. It was not revealed when or how she obtained the classified information. Shirley faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for the national security charge and three years in jail and fines of up to $250,000 for the kidnapping charge, said Justice.

 

USA—Half Of Counterintelligence Cases Involve China, Says FBI Director Fox News | 07/08/2020 FBI Director Christopher Wray says that about half of his agency's counterintelligence investigations center on China, reports Fox News. About 2,500 cases currently under review involve Chinese theft of U.S. personnel information, he said at a Tuesday event at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. Most Americans have likely had their personal data compromised, he said. For example, Chinese hackers were behind the 2014 breach of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which compromised more than 21 million records, Wray said. Chinese clandestine operations represent "the greatest long-term threat to our nation's information and intellectual property, and to our economic vitality," said the FBI director as quoted by Business Insider. This campaign has been waged through undercover operatives, hackers and bribery, resulting in one of the largest wealth transfers in human history, he said. China denies engaging in cyber espionage and corporate theft. 

 

USA—Trump Administration Considers Banning Chinese Social Media Apps Fox News | 07/08/2020 The Trump administration is examining banning Chinese social media apps, including the popular TikTok app, over concerns that the Chinese government may have access to user data, reports Fox News. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview that there are concerns that Beijing is using the app to monitor users and distribute propaganda. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, which has been linked to the Communist Party of China (CPC), and is accused of censorship on the app, including the suppression of videos calling out human-rights abuses, reported Business Insider. TikTok has previously argued that it is separate from ByteDance and says that its data centers are located outside of China, reported CNN. None of its data is under the jurisdiction of Chinese law, the company says. The U.S. government previously banned downloading the app onto government devices. Last week, India announced that it was proscribing the app along with several dozen other Chinese apps over national security and privacy concerns. Australia is also reportedly considering banning the app. 

 

United Kingdom—Government Set To Resume Arms Exports To Saudi Arabia Defense News | 07/08/2020 The British government has lifted a ban on the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia, reports Defense News. New arms sales to Riyadh were halted in June 2019 after a British court ruled that the government may have violated international humanitarian law by approving the export of equipment that might have been used in the conflict in Yemen. That decision only halted new approvals for sales to Saudi Arabia but did not end the granting of export licenses, reported Reuters. Work on existing projects was not affected. On Tuesday, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said that the government had no evidence that weapons supplied to the Saudi government "might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law." Exports will resume after the British government completes a review of defense export licenses for Saudi sales. A backlog has developed and will take some time to clear, said Truss. 

 

Lithuania—Black Hawk Helicopters Sought To Boost Airlift Capabilities U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency | 07/08/2020 The U.S. State Dept. has approved the sale of utility helicopters to Lithuania, reports the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). The potential US$380 million Foreign Military Sales deal covers six UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters. The possible sale also includes 14 T700-GE701D engines (two spares); eight AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning Systems (CMWS) (two spares); 12 CMWS user data modules; eight Talon forward-looking infrared radars (two spares); and 12 M240H machine guns. Other equipment covered by the proposed deal are 15 Eagle +429 embedded GPS/inertial navigation systems (three spares); eight AN/APX-123A identification-friend-or-foe transponders (two spares); 15 AN/ARC-201D radios (three spares); 15 ARC-231 radios (three spares); eight AN/ARC-220 radios (two spares); two VRC-100 HF radio ground stations (one spare); eight AN/AVR-2B laser warning receivers (two spares); emergency transponders; 30 AN/AVS-6 night-vision goggles; head-up displays; and other associated equipment. The helicopters will improve the ability of the Lithuanian military to perform missions such as troop transport, border security, counterterrorism, medical evacuation, search and rescue, resupply and combat support, said the DSCA. 

 

Russia—Residents Warned Of Upcoming Tests At Secretive Facility On White Sea Moscow Times | 07/08/2020 Russian officials have offered residents of the town of Nyonoksa the opportunity to evacuate ahead of planned trials at a nearby secret military testing facility, reports the Moscow Times. On Sunday, the administration in the nearby city of Severodvinsk issued a warning that the town was in the "danger zone" around the military facility, reported Business Insider. Warnings were also issued to ships sailing nearby in the White Sea. Authorities will provide five buses for the approximately 500 residents of the town that would leave early Tuesday morning. The unspecified trials are scheduled to take place from 6 a.m. Tuesday until 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The first scientific center of unit 09703 is performing the tests. In August 2019, an accident near the testing facility in Nyonoksa killed five and resulted in a radiation leak. The accident is believed to be linked to testing of the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile. 

 

Russia— Journalist Accused Of Providing Secret Information To Prague In Ongoing Crackdown On Media Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | 07/08/2020 Russian prosecutors have charged a former defense journalist with treason for passing unspecified military information to a NATO government, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. On Tuesday, the Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested Ivan Safronov Jr. outside of his Moscow residence and took him to court, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. Since May, Safronov has been working as an adviser to the chief of state space agency Roskosmos. Prosecutors alleged that while working for the Kommersant newspaper in 2017, Safronov passed information to the Czech Republic about Russian arms sales to the Middle East and Africa, said his lawyer. If convicted, Safronov faces up to 20 years in jail. Safronov is the latest journalist to be arrested in what critics say is a calculated attempt to stifle critical press coverage in the country. 

 

China—Accession To Arms Trade Treaty Completed Xinhua | 07/08/2020 China has officially completed all legal procedures needed to join the global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), reports Xinhua, China's state-run news agency. On Monday, Zhang Jung, China's ambassador to the U.N., submitted the instrument of accession to the treaty to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The treaty will enter force for China 90 days following its accession, Zhang said. The ATT is designed to regulate the cross-border trade of conventional weapons and prevent the transfer of arms to human-rights abusers, reported Reuters. China announced its plans to join the treaty in September 2019. China is the 107th country to sign on to the agreement. President Barack Obama signed the treaty when it was approved by the U.N. General Assembly in 2013, but it was never ratified by the Senate due to opposition from the National Rifle Association. President Trump announced in April 2019 that he planned to revoke Washington's status as a signatory. In July 2019, the administration informed Guterres that the U.S. did not intend to become a party to the treaty and that it did not have any legal obligations from the 2013 signature. 

 

Afghanistan—16 Militants Killed In Fighting In Laghman Province Khaama Press | 07/08/2020 The Afghan military says it has killed at least 16 Taliban militants in an operation along the Kabul-Jalalabad highway in the eastern Laghman province, reports the Khaama Press (Afghanistan). Security forces launched the joint operation in the southern Sarkund Baba area of Laghman after receiving intelligence of a Taliban presence in the area, said the 201st Silab Corps in a release. Six militants were reported wounded in the fighting. The corps did not indicate if there were any casualties among the security forces. Troops recovered several weapons and ammunition following the fighting. 

 

Afghanistan—Taliban Claims Deadly Suicide Attack In Kandahar TOLONews | 07/08/2020 At least three police officers have been killed in a suicide attack on a police headquarters in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, reports the Tolo News (Kabul). Early Wednesday, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb near the headquarters in the Shah Wali Kot district. The police station is near the district governor's compound, said a source. Security forces had information about a potential attack and shot and killed the bomber before he could breach the facility, said a spokesman for the provincial governor. The attacker was still able to detonate his explosives. The blast killed three officers and injured 18, including civilians, the spokesman said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, reported Turkey's Anadolu Agency. Separately, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a land mine blast in the Deh Yak district in the central Ghazni province that killed four police officers, including a district chief. The attacks come as the Taliban and Afghan government are preparing to engage in direct negotiations for the first time. 

 

Iraq—Counter-ISIS Mission Shifts Focus To Staff, Leadership Training Military Times | 07/08/2020 The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq is refocusing its mission on training Iraqi military staff and leaders, reports the Military Times. On July 2, Task Force Iraq, a one-star subordinate command of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) formally became a military adviser group, the CJTF-OIR announced on July 4. The U.S. and 13 other nations provide personnel for the task force. The move enables Task Force Iraq to reduce its size and focus on advising Iraqi security staff and leaders. The new military adviser group will provide directorates with operational planning support; intelligence fusion; air support; and other specialized planning assistance through a planned Joint Operational Command Advisor Team and two Operational Command Advisor Teams. The mission change was made possible by the success of Iraqi security forces against ISIS, with more than 1,200 independent missions completed so far this year, officials said. 

 

Israel—4 Countries Warn Against Plan To Annex Parts Of W. Bank Politico | 07/08/2020 The governments of Egypt, France, Germany and Jordan have warned the Israeli government against the unilateral annexation of West Bank territory, reports Politico. "Any annexation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 would be contrary to international law and would jeopardize the foundations of the peace process," the foreign ministers of the four countries said in a statement following a videoconference. Such a move would negatively impact stability and security in the region, the ministers said. The talks were held as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been considering extending Israeli control over parts of the West Bank containing Jewish settlements. Netanyahu says the proposed move would be in line with a Trump-sponsored peace plan that was unveiled last year, reported Reuters. The Palestinian Authority has opposed the proposal and threatened to end cooperation, including security cooperation, with Israel. Washington has not yet publicly indicated its support for the plan. 

 

Morocco—Security Forces Crack ISIS Cell In Rif Region Agence Maghreb Arab Presse | 07/08/2020 Security forces say they have busted a terrorist cell planning attacks in Morocco, reports the state-run Maghreb Arabe Press. On Tuesday, counterterrorism police under the Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) arrested four men aged 21 to 26 in the northern city of Nador, in Morocco's Rif region, the interior ministry said in a release. The group was believed to be supporters of ISIS and linked to a Spanish-Moroccan cell that authorities broke up in December. The militants were planning attacks within Morocco, the ministry said without providing details. Last year, Morocco arrested 79 people on terrorism-related charges, according to official figures cited by Agence France-Presse. 

 

Somalia—2 Police Officers Die In Mogadishu Blast Reuters | 07/08/2020 Two police officers have been killed in an explosion in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, reports Reuters. The blast occurred on Wednesday in the city's Hodan district, said witnesses. Initial reports suggested that the explosion was the result of an improvised explosive device (IED) that detonated next to a military convoy, reported the Garowe Online (Somalia). There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Such attacks are usually blamed on Al-Shabaab. 

 

Burkina Faso—Security Forces Behind Suspected Extrajudicial Killings, Says Human Rights Watch New York Times | 07/08/2020 An investigation by New York-based Human Rights Watch indicates that Burkinabe security forces are behind the deaths of nearly 200 men in the northern part of Burkina Faso, reports the New York Times. The report was published recently following an eight-month investigation and includes testimony from numerous witnesses. The accounts match witness reports obtained by the Times in its own investigation into abuses by security forces in Burkina Faso. Human remains of at least 180 men have been discovered outside the town of Djibo since November. Residents said that the military, which controls the town, deposited the bodies in the city's suburban areas. The corpses were buried in March after townspeople convinced authorities that the remains posed a health hazard. Several locals said that they saw soldiers arrest men who later turned up dead in Djibo. Both the victims and members of the surrounding community are predominately Fulani, an ethnic group that is mostly Muslim and pastoral. Terrorist groups in the area have targeted the Fula (Peul) for recruitment, which has made the community vulnerable to reprisal attacks by security forces. Defense Minister Cherif Sy has promised to investigate the allegations. Reports of targeted killings against the Fula have been ongoing for years, noted analysts. 

 

Argentina—Stryker Wheeled Armored Vehicles Sought From U.S. U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency | 07/08/2020 Argentina is seeking to buy infantry fighting vehicles from the U.S. reports the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The proposed US$100 million sale covers 27 M1126 Stryker infantry carrier vehicles; 27 M2 Flex .50-caliber machine guns; AN/VAS-5 driver's vision enhancers; AN/VIC-3 vehicle intercoms; AN/VRC-91E Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS); M6 smoke grenade launchers; spare parts; and associated technical and logistics support. The armored vehicles would enhance Argentina's operational capabilities, particularly in the areas of stability operations in support of disaster relief and peacekeeping missions, said the agency.

 

 

 

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