Trump’s rhetorical Greenland spectacle
President-elect Donald Trump, by calling for the effective U.S. purchase or annexation of Greenland, an autonomously-run territory of European NATO ally Denmark, seems to be playing mind games with Copenhagen, yet by so doing does damage to Ukraine, Israel, and NATO in open, obvious benefit to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Problem 1: By doing…
Internet Morphs WSJ Article on 2021 IC Differences on Covid-19 Origin into “Cover-up”
Feature photo from China Daily. On Friday December 27th, 2024, the Wall Street Journal published “U.S. Intelligence Review of Origins of Covid-19 Masked Deep Divisions,” (also titled “Behind closed Doors: The Spy-World Scientists Who Argued Covid Was a Lab Leak”) reporting that the FBI was the only member of the IC with “moderate confidence” that…
The Ouster of Christopher Wray
If President-elect Trump had learned anything since his first term he would have retained Christopher Wray as FBI Director for the duration of Wray’s term. Instead, Trump ousted an effective FBI director who served in the best traditions of the FBI’s national security and law enforcement missions. Specifically Mr. Trump hated that FBI agents under…
Africa, Awaken to Intentions of Putin, Xi Jinping
Africa’s future leaders will discover that they are expected to acquiesce to Russian and Chinese imperial foreign policy expectations in which Africans are tools, or they will be removed, even by signature Putin methods. A more accurately evocative image by which to remember the KGB ideals of the Russian nationalist Putin despite his diplomatic charm…
Strategic Lens on China’s Economic Vicissitudes
Recent Economic Backdrop Appears as Organic Economic Downturn By Summer 2024, China’s economy had reportedly reached average GDP growth between 5.3% in Q1 and 4.7% in Q2 on course with meeting its 2024 goal of 5%. However, during Q3 China saw a dive in consumer spending, 17%-18% young urban unemployment, and more loan defaults by…
Beirut’s Port Explosion: Analysis and Strategic Implications
Introduction Purpose: To analyze open source information about (1) the strategic context and (2) chain of events leading to the massive ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut’s port on August 4th, 2020, killing some 200 people, injuring over 6,500, and displacing 250,000.¹ Pre-and-Post Explosion Context Lebanon Generally: Modern Lebanon with its East Mediterranean ports2 has been a…
Capitol Hill Pipe Bomb Analysis
Introduction As authorities charge suspects in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot and insurrection, the pipe bomber suspect recorded the night before remains a menacing question mark. This source-linked analysis begins with observations, questions, and analysis of the actions of the suspected pipe bomber captured on select FBI-released video segments from the U.S. Capitol Hill neighborhood…