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July 8th, 2021
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Politico published an article on Wednesday that cited two unnamed US officials who said the Afghanistan withdrawal is essentially complete, although there are plans to keep troops in the country. "The withdrawal is over, for all intents and purposes," one official said. "It's done."
The official said currently, about 600 US troops remain in Afghanistan. Most of the troops are Marine Corps or Army personnel who will stay at the US embassy in Kabul. The rest of the 600 will be based at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is also located in Kabul.
The report said these 600 troops will stay after the US officially completes the withdrawal. The only military personnel left in Afghanistan that will be pulled out before President Biden's September 11th deadline are Gen. Scott Miller, the top US commander in Afghanistan, and his staff.
By Dave DeCamp
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In the US July 4th is all about America's independence. The creation of the new republic on the North American continent - and even more so its survival in an imperial world and transformation into the globe's most powerful nation - is an extraordinary, and some would say miraculous, story.
Looking back through the mists of time reveals a people who would have been shocked by what their often fractious, disunited colonies became. After all, they were defending themselves, not assaulting others. As they sought to explain "to a candid world" in the Declaration of Independence, the king was "at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."
By Doug Bandow
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The Pentagon warned of an "increased potential" for a nuclear conflict in a document that was released to the public on Tuesday. The document is a manual on the Pentagon's nuclear strategy originally published in April 2020. It was posted online this week after being obtained by the Federation of American Scientists through the Freedom of Information Act.
The manual blames US "adversaries" for the heightened risk of nuclear war. The document reads: "Despite concerted US efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in international affairs and to negotiate reductions in the number of nuclear weapons, since 2010 no potential adversary has reduced either the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy or the number of nuclear weapons it fields. Rather, they have moved decidedly in the opposite direction. As a result, there is an increased potential for regional conflicts involving nuclear-armed adversaries in several parts of the world and the potential for adversary nuclear escalation in crisis or conflict."
By Dave DeCamp
Joe Biden's administration has made mobilizing an allied "common front" against both Russia and the People's Republic of China (PRC) a high priority. To a significant extent, Biden has merely continued the policies that Donald Trump put in place. Despite the news media's portrayal of Trump as a "Putin puppet," U.S. policy toward Russia became more, not less, confrontational during his presidency, with general approval from allied governments. Trump also pressured the European and East Asian allies to approve a firm protest and impose some sanctions against Beijing for its crackdown on Hong Kong and continuing domestic human rights violations. That effort largely failed, and Biden has experienced only modestly greater success in enlisting the allies to confront the PRC on such issues as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea.
By Ted Galen Carpenter
According to a report from Axios, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has ordered a review of Israel's Iran policy that is to be concluded before his first meeting with President Biden, which is expected to take place later in July.
Like his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, Bennett is an Iran hawk and opposes a US return to the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. But Israeli sources told Axios that there is a debate within the Israeli government if the current situation is better or worse than if the JCPOA was revived.
"There are several questions in the discussions - is the current treading water better or worse than a US return to the deal, if and how Israel can influence the Biden administration, and what the current situation means for developing an Israeli military option," an unnamed Israeli official told Axios.
By Dave DeCamp
A recent naval provocation from the UK in the Black Sea that involved a British warship sailing 12 nautical miles off the coast of Crimea has put a renewed media focus on the sensitive region. The US and Ukraine are leading 30 other nations in the Sea Breeze 2021 naval exercises in the Black Sea, and a US Navy commander told Newsweek that these drills are "essential" despite heightened tensions with Russia.
Commander Daniel Marzluff of the US Navy's Sixth Fleet told Newsweek that the US's allies in the region are the "greatest strategic advantage" in countering Russia. "Here in the Black Sea, we have three NATO allies that are poised and ready to respond to any type of Russian aggression," he said.
By Dave DeCamp
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