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Today's PDB includes a variety of critical, global national security issues.
READ TODAY'S EXTENDED ‘RUSSIA THREAT' PDB BELOW:
National Security
Top Republicans urge Biden to reject Russia, China demands on missile deployments. Top House Republicans are urging President Joe Biden to reject calls from Russia and China to limit U.S. deployments of intermediate-range and short-range ground-based missiles in Europe and the Pacific region.
Tripwire for real war? Cyber's fuzzy rules of engagement. Cyberattacks, including those that cripple critical infrastructure with ransomware, have been on the rise for years and often go unpunished. It's unclear how grave a malicious cyber operation by a state actor would have to be to cross the threshold to an act of war.
China Threat
CRITICAL – US sees China watching Ukraine crisis as proxy for Taiwan. The Biden administration increasingly believes that China is gauging the U.S. response to the Ukraine crisis as a proxy for how America would deal with more aggressive action by Beijing against Taiwan, according to three senior officials.
Blinken says US has a ‘long-term future' in the Pacific Islands. The secretary of state promised a new embassy in the Solomon Islands and help on issues like climate change, as Washington vies with Beijing for influence in the region.
Russia Threat – Ukraine
US officials won't confirm reports on possible Russia invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday. Senior U.S. officials on Sunday said they could not confirm reports that U.S. intelligence indicates that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine on Wednesday but said they would try to prevent any “surprise attack” by sharing what they knew of Russia's plans.
US says Russia may create pretext to attack Ukraine. Russia could invade Ukraine at any time and might create a surprise pretext for an attack, the United States said on Sunday, as it reaffirmed a pledge to defend “every inch” of NATO territory.
European, US leaders race to defuse Ukraine crisis amid warnings of imminent Russia attack. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Monday ruled out any compromise on its aim of joining NATO and called for security guarantees to deter a Russian invasion, as diplomatic efforts continued over Russia's massive military buildup near Ukraine.
Airlines suspend flights in Ukrainian airspace as tensions remain high. President Biden told Ukraine's president that the U.S. and its allies would respond “swiftly and decisively” to a Russian invasion.
US jets deployed to Poland and Romania are ‘prepared to scramble' in support of NATO air policing. Sixteen U.S. Air Force fighter jets have deployed to Poland and Romania in recent days to support Baltic enhanced air policing and to reassure NATO eastern flank allies in the face of heightened Russian activity, according to U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Ukraine receives anti-aircraft missiles from Lithuania. Ukraine on Sunday received a consignment of Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems and ammunition by plane from Lithuania, the defense ministry in Kyiv said.
Florida National Guard troops ordered out of Ukraine by SECDEF. The soldiers, assigned to the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, have been ordered to reposition elsewhere in Europe.
Russia Threat
DOUBTFUL – Russians claim they chased US sub out of their waters. The U.S. submarine was operating in an area where Russia's Pacific fleet was conducting an exercise in Russian Federation national waters near the island of Urup in the Kuril archipelago, the Russians claim.
Iran Threat
US F-22 fighter jets arrive in UAE after Houthi attacks. The Raptors landed at Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, which hosts some 2,000 U.S. troops.
North Korea
US, Japan and South Korea present united front on North Korea. The U.S., Japan and South Korea will strengthen their joint efforts to deter North Korea's missile activity and nuclear ambitions, while continuing to push for diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang, the allies' senior diplomats said.
International Security
FAILED DEMOCRACIES – Why have civilians welcomed the recent coups in West Africa? Citizens in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea are punishing corrupt political elites who have long ruled their countries by ascribing legitimacy to military juntas.
Biden's Afghan Disaster
INCOMPETENCE – Declassified Afghanistan reports back US commanders who said Biden team was indecisive during crisis. Declassified U.S. military analyses of the calamitous exit from Afghanistan detail repeated instances of friction between American troops and diplomats before and during the evacuation, concluding that indecisiveness among Biden administration officials and initial reluctance to shutter the embassy in Kabul sowed chaos and put the overall mission at “increased risk.”
DISGRACEFUL – Biden is still ignoring Afghans' suffering. On Sunday, the White House deployed national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby to the Sunday talk shows for interviews on the urgent Russian threat to Ukraine. But as one war looms, those shows still had a few questions regarding the end of another: last summer's disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. CNN's Jake Tapper even ended “State of the Union” with a commentary on a U.S. Army review of the exit.
END of PDB
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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
