Important Takeaways:
- Law enforcement officials expressed concern that radicals in the U.S. might respond to ISIS calls for similar attacks in the wake of last month’s deadly terrorist attack at a concert hall in Moscow.
- The U.S. said it shared intelligence with Russia that warned that ISIS was preparing similar attacks on concerts in Moscow weeks before the attack. A State Department official said that the U.S. government had shared information on a possible attack with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding “duty to warn” policy.
- The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a warning on March 7, advising U.S. citizens to avoid large gatherings for 48 hours, saying extremists have “imminent plans” to target large-scale gatherings in Moscow.
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Important Takeaways:
- China Warns Citizens Inside USA: Prepare for “Various unexpected situations”
- A strange warning has been issued by China to any of its citizens located in the United States: “take safety precautions and be prepared for ‘various unexpected situations.’
- According to the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, several Chinese students and company employees have recently been subjected to “unwarranted interrogations and harassment” by US airport law enforcement officers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on its WeChat account on Friday.
- Their phones, computers and other luggage items were searched piece by piece, and several people were banned from entering the country, it said.
- To most casual observers, this “warning” from China makes no sense. At worst, perhaps twenty people from China have had unusual incidents trying to enter the United States; hardly a reason for such a large warning. Unless . . .
- So-called “Conspiracy theorists” are wondering if this “warning” is actually a “signal” to Chinese forces already inside the US; sort of a notice to “prepare for action?”
- [Even the South China morning Post reported on this] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3257317/china-issues-travel-advisory-citizens-visiting-us-warning-unwarranted-interrogations-and-harassment
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Important Takeaways:
- The U.S. cannot afford a war with China. The size of our military has been shrinking, and our resources are stretched way too thin.
- Today, the U.S. has military bases in 80 different countries, and we have troops stationed in 178 different countries. That is insane.
- No empire in the entire history of humanity has had forces spread all over the planet like this. Our ammunition levels are extremely low due to major conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, and every war game that our leaders have conducted has shown us losing a war to protect Taiwan. So we should be trying to avoid sparking a war with China, because we are holding a losing hand.
- It is being reported that officials in Taiwan have confirmed that U.S. forces are now permanently stationed “on its islands in the Taiwan Strait”…
- Taiwan has officially confirmed the presence of US troops stationed on its islands in the Taiwan Strait permanently, a development that could further escalate mounting tensions with China.
- The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed in 2023 facilitated the deployment of these troops to conduct training programs for Taiwanese frontline forces.
- We are being told that U.S. troops have also been stationed on the Penghu islands and the Kinmen islands…
- According to reports from Taiwan’s United Daily News (UDN), US Army Green Berets from the 1st Special Forces Group are now permanently stationed at bases of the 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, a Taiwanese army special operations force, located in outlying island counties of Penghu and Kinmen. Notably, Kinmen lies just over a mile from Chinese shores.
- Additionally, reports suggest an American military presence in the northeast city of Taoyuan on Taiwan’s main island, with service members providing specialized training on drone equipment for Taiwan’s elite Airborne Special Service Company.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia and China on Friday vetoed a U.S. draft UN Security Council resolution which called for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza along with “the release of all remaining hostages” held by Hamas.
- This was the fourth time since the war began in October that the Security Council failed to agree on a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
- This time, the dispute was over the U.S. insistence on linking the ceasefire call to a hostage deal and condemnation of Hamas, rather than the unconditional ceasefire resolution demanded by Russia and China.
- S. and Israeli officials said the Biden administration had been working for weeks on mobilizing support for its draft resolution.
- In order to garner more votes, the U.S. strengthened the paragraph in the draft resolution that referred to the ceasefire.
- The U.S. draft resolution also included strong language expressing concern about a possible Israeli ground offensive in Rafah.
- The Security Council is expected to vote on an alternative resolution put forward by eight member states, calling for an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan to lead to a permanent ceasefire.
- The U.S. is expected to veto.
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Important Takeaways:
- World on the brink as Taiwan admits US troops are now stationed on Chinese border
- American troops are to be permanently stationed in Taiwan, according to Taipei, a huge move that will likely send tensions with China soaring as its president Xi Jinping covets the island.
- According to reports from Taiwan’s United Daily News (UDN), US Army Green Berets from the 1st Special Forces Group are now permanently stationed at bases of the 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, a Taiwanese army special operations force, located in outlying island counties of Penghu and Kinmen. Notably, Kinmen lies just over a mile from Chinese shores.
- Additionally, reports suggest an American military presence in the northeast city of Taoyuan on Taiwan’s main island, with service members providing specialized training on drone equipment for Taiwan’s elite Airborne Special Service Company.
- Both the US Army and Chinese Foreign Ministry have yet to comment on these developments.
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Important Takeaways:
- Bipartisan action is increasingly hard to come by, especially in a presidential election year. But one issue still manages to get attention on both sides of the aisle: China’s growing influence right here in the Americas.
- That is for good reason. In the first two decades of the 21st century, China’s trade with the region jumped 26-fold to $315 billion while it simultaneously enhanced influence in the technology and security domains. China has used its economic engagement to cement access to vital natural resources, such as lithium, or to push countries in the region to loosen ties with Taiwan.
- Why is this possible? For one thing, outside the dedicated public sector officials who have Latin America and the Caribbean as part of their portfolios, the United States has historically paid a problematic lack of attention to the region. That didn’t bear the level of direct implications 20 years ago – when China’s economic and political presence in the Americas was minimal – as it does today.
- Presidential action is important but policies that can span administrations come from the power of Congress.
- Thus, it’s welcome news that senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), alongside House co-sponsors representatives Maria Salazar (R-FL) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) introduced the Americas Act on March 5. The bill seeks to marshal the collective resources, institutions, and international agreements of the U.S. government to incentivize investment in the hemisphere and to show our regional partners that strong ties with the United States can bring concrete support in addition to words of encouragement.
- The bill proposes a much-anticipated, welcome set of policy tools—from e-governance to commerce—to advance prosperity in the hemisphere while simultaneously beginning to check China’s economic ambitions.
- The introduction of the Americas Act is also a welcome reminder that the situation demands not just a response, but a long-term strategy. If the United States fails to actively compete with its primary authoritarian revivals, nations in the region may continue to be persuaded to prioritize engagement with China in sectors detrimental to U.S. interests.
- Absent a strategic course correction, the United States will find itself more vulnerable close to home. That would be an unfortunate new reality with grave consequences for U.S. power projection globally.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia producing three times more artillery shells than US and Europe for Ukraine
- Russia appears on track to produce nearly three times more artillery munitions than the US and Europe, a key advantage ahead of what is expected to be another Russian offensive in Ukraine later this year.
- Russia is producing about 250,000 artillery munitions per month, or about 3 million a year, according to NATO intelligence estimates of Russian defense production shared with CNN, as well as sources familiar with Western efforts to arm Ukraine. Collectively, the US and Europe have the capacity to generate only about 1.2 million munitions annually to send to Kyiv, a senior European intelligence official told CNN.
- “What we are in now is a production war,” a senior NATO official told CNN. “The outcome in Ukraine depends on how each side is equipped to conduct this war.”
- Officials say Russia is currently firing around 10,000 shells a day, compared to just 2,000 a day from the Ukrainian side. The ratio is worse in some places along the 600-mile front, according to a European intelligence official
- Russia is running artillery factories “24/7” on rotating 12-hour shifts, the NATO official said. About 3.5 million Russians now work in the defense sector, up from somewhere between 2 and 2.5 million before the war. Russia is also importing ammunition: Iran sent at least 300,000 artillery shells last year — “probably more than that,” the official said — and North Korea provided at least 6,700 containers of ammunition carrying millions of shells.
- Russia has “put everything they have in the game,” the intelligence official said. “Their war machine works in full gear.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Prices rose more than expected in January as inflation won’t go away
- Inflation rose more than expected in January as stubbornly high shelter prices weighed on consumers, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.
- The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of the prices shoppers face for goods and services across the economy, increased 0.3% for the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. On a 12-month basis, that came out to 3.1%, down from 3.4% in December.
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Important Takeaways:
- The northern invasion: New York, New Hampshire and Vermont see highest EVER border crossings as migrants take advantage of lax laws to get into Canada
- New York, Vermont and New Hampshire counties have seen a record number of illegal border crossings in recent months, startling statistics show.
- The new numbers, up more than twofold from 2022, come as an increasing number of migrants elect to travel through Canada rather than Mexico to avoid detection, creating a new spin on the now years-long crisis.
- While most still use legal ports of entry, more than 12,200 were apprehended crossing illegally from the north in 2023 – much more than the 3,578 arrested the year prior.
- Experts have attributed this phenomenon to Canada’s lax laws, like not requiring travelers from Mexico to have a visa to enter the country.
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Important Takeaways:
- Plans for U.S. strikes on Iranian personnel and facilities in Iraq, Syria approved after Jordan drone attack
- U.S. officials have confirmed to CBS News that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets — including Iranian personnel and facilities — inside Iraq and Syria. The strikes will come in response to drone and rocket attacks targeting U.S. forces in the region, including the drone attack on Sunday that killed three U.S. service members at the Tower 22 base inside Jordan, near the Syrian border.
- Speaking at the Pentagon Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the U.S. won’t tolerate attacks on American troops.
- “This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Austin said, noting that Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen on commercial shipping in the Red Sea were also happening in the region. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.”
- Weather will be a major factor in the timing of the strikes, the U.S. officials told CBS News, as the U.S. has the capability to carry out strikes in bad weather but prefers to have better visibility of selected targets as a safeguard against inadvertently hitting civilians who might stray into the area at the last moment.
- Iran’s Reaction…any strike on Iranian territory or personnel would escalate tension in the tumultuous region, not make U.S. forces safer.
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