Tag: NATO

Stevenson’s army, February 14

Trump sees a protection racket because he is a mob boss.

– FT say 18 of 31 NATO members will hit 2% target this year

Trump advisor explains his NATO plan

– WaPo tries to explain Sen.Graham’s policy shifts

– J Street endorses 2 state solution [DPS comment: J Street has long endorsed two states. The news here is openness to recogntion before a final settlement]

– WH has new critical technologies list

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

Tags : , , ,

Stevenson’s army, February 12

Trump targets:

NATO and foreign aid — and he has allies

CISA and cyber

Insufficiently loyal officials — they even have a Feb 19-20 “boot camp” 

Ecuador wants to mimic El Salvador

– Academics say that’s the wrong way to go

NYT has a revealing article on Ukraine troop problems. I was struck by these facts:

The bill on mobilization has passed a first reading in Ukraine’s Parliament. It would lower the conscription age to 25 from 27 and stiffen penalties on draft dodgers.

Ukraine currently drafts men between the ages of 27 and 60. Under martial law, all men 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country, lest a decision be taken to draft them.

Men with three or more children are exempted, but men with three children or fewer who volunteered, or whose families expanded as they served, have not been permitted to leave the military.

Lowering the draft age, for example, would bring more lithe, healthy soldiers to the fight but would pose long-term risks for sustaining Ukraine’s population, given the country’s demographics.

As in most former Soviet states, Ukraine has a small generation of 20-year-olds because birthrates plummeted during the deep economic depression of the 1990s. Because of this demographic trough, there are now three times as many men in their 40s as in their 20s in Ukraine.

Drafting more men in their 20s, given the likely battle casualties, would risk reducing the number of births in this small generation of Ukrainians, resulting in declines of draft- and working-age men decades from now and endangering the country’s future security and economy.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

Tags : , , , , ,

Stevenson’s army, February 11

– Opposition wins in Pakistan.

– Senate resumes voting today on foreign aid package

– WSJ reports Hamas tunnels beneath UNRWA HQ

Egypt threatens end of Camp David accords

– WaPo has background on Abraham Accords

– Venezuela builds troops on Guyana border

– Trump questions NATO treaty, encourages Putin

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

Tags : , , , , , , , , ,

Stevenson’s army, February 6

Senate compromise looks dead

– GOP doesn’t like pandemic treaty

– Orban’s party delays vote

– Mattis secretly advised UAE

US helps Guyana

– Fred Kaplan analyzes Biden policy

– Politico asks if Blinken is too nice

Prof questions drawing “lessons” from history [Never mind, you still have to do the reading]

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

Tags : , , , , ,

Stevenson’s army, January 25

Slovakia makes a U-turn to support Ukraine

Orban now seems willing to let Sweden join NATO

McConnell backs away from Ukraine + border bill

– Biden pressures Congress on F16s for Turkey

All but 2 Senate Democrats cosponsor amendment calling for 2 state solution. Here’s the text

– SFRC approves bill to use Russian assets for Ukraine

-Here’s the text of the Kaine et al letter on war powers for Houthi attacks

– RollCall reports 2023 lobbying expenses. Note how little was foreign policy related.

And read this delightful interview with Sen. Angus King [Ind-Maine] about when he was a young Senate staffer. Times have changed.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stevenson’s army, September 24

– Turkey approved Sweden in NATO; Hungary still needs to act.

Republican Senators fight over border & Ukraine, shows weakened McConnell

– Some Senators question Biden authority to attack Houthis [My view: President has authority & precedents for Red Sea operations, not for defense of Israel]

Taiwan Caucus group goes to Taiwan.

– WOTR writer sees corruption in Chinese rocket forces

– Scottish prof says AI is already changing the battlefield

– WSJ says US sees new threats in West Africa

– Deja vu: Heritage supports Jimmy Carter’s road-mobile ICBM plan

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

Tags : , , , , , , , , , , ,
Tweet