Month: November 2022

Stevenson’s army, November 30

– House party groups meet today to elect leaders and set rules. Democrats will face a proposal to begin term limits for top committee positions.

– RollCall says more than a dozen of the 80 new members previously were staffers. [The figure in recent years has been about 16%]

– CRS has new short paper on the debt limit.

– DOD yesterday released its 196-page congressionally-mandated report on Chinese military power.Some analyses by WSJ.

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).

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Stevenson’s army, November 29

A shift of only 3,340 votes in the five closest House races would have given the Democrats control of the House in the 18th Congress. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

CRS has a paper on electing the Speaker , which took 9 ballots a hundred years ago. The winner needs a majority of those voting, but that need not be a majority of the whole House.

A RUSI analyst discusses whether winter weather helps Russia or Ukraine.

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).

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Stevenson’s army, November 28

There are more and more students protesting at Tsinghua University, shouting “democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression”, which is the earliest political appeal in Beijing’s protests.

– Ukraine aid slows arms to Taiwan.

NATO uneasy with US hard-on-China push

– Ukraine fighting wears out its artillery.

And here’s news abut Taiwan’s elections this wekeend:

Taiwan’s ruling tough-on-China party gets clobbered

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down as leader of the ruling Democratic Progress Party after it lost big to the opposition Kuomintang party, or KMT, in Saturday’s local elections. As expected, the KMT, which has long favored closer ties with Beijing but denies being pro-China, swept the polls across most big cities. The DPP had tried to turn the election into a referendum on protecting Taiwan’s democracy from Chinese encroachment, but it didn’t work: Voters responded better to the KMT’s pitch about prioritizing local issues such as COVID and the economy. Meanwhile, the upstart Taiwan People’s Party — seen as a rising alternative to the DPP and KMT — turned heads by capturing Hsinchu, known as the self-ruled island’s Silicon Valley because it is home to many semiconductor companies. The result ups the ante ahead of the 2024 presidential election, when voters will likely be more worried about China’s growing threat. A KMT victory would be welcomed by Beijing, but success in local elections doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll do well in 2024. After all, in early 2020, the DPP recovered from a similar local election defeat to reelect Tsai in a landslide.

Charlie added later:

Reuters says US may send missile with 100-mile range to Ukraine.

Dan Drezner has praise for Biden foreign policy.

He doesn’t like Biden’s trade policy, but the Politico weekly trade newsletter notes how carefully the administration is consulting with stakeholders over new rules.

Two GOP Members have bill to drive “wokeness” from the Pentagon.  Their 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).

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Stevenson’s army, November 25

– EU parliament brands Russia sponsor of terrorism.

– Billionaires account for 15% of mid-term funding.

Iran confronts US.

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).

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Stevenson’s army, November 23

– Cook Political Report says House in 118th Congress will be 222 R to 213 D. Every vote counts and every Congressional District counts.

Big fight looms over spending.

– I agree with Paul Pillar’s analysis of negotiations over Ukraine.

– German analyst recaps earlier negotiations.

– George Packer dumps on American foreign policy realists and restrainers

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).

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Stevenson’s army, November 22

Iran team captain Ehsan Hajsafi Sunday:

– Erdogan may attack in Syria.

– Russia may have false flag attack in Belarus.

– WSJ says US is pressing allies on Russia sanctions.

– There is an intelligence authorization bill this year.  More details here.

– Fred Kaplan analyzes nuclear weapons programs.

– Legistorm reports on privately funded congressional overseas travel.

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).

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