https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ex-pentagon-chiefs-warns-of-civil-interference-in-military-o

Ex-Pentagon chiefs warns of civil interference in military operations

Former US Defense chiefs published an open letter on Tuesday on the War On The Rocks website which details how political divisions in US politics are exerting pressure on the military personnel while stressing that relations between civilians and the military could further deteriorate in the future.

In order to prevent this, eight former defense secretaries and five ex-joint chiefs chairmen signed a statement on 16 "Best Practices of Civil-Military Relations."

"We are in an exceptionally challenging civil-military environment," they wrote.

"Politically, military professionals confront an extremely adverse environment characterized by the divisiveness of affective polarization that culminated in the first election in over a century when the peaceful transfer of political power was disrupted and in doubt," they said.

"Looking ahead, all of these factors could well get worse before they get better."

The statement did not cite any examples to illustrate civil-military tensions. Yet, it appears to be referring to the challenges faced by the 2020 election results by Trump and his supporters that led to the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol. As per the statement:

"Politically, military professionals confront an extremely adverse environment characterized by the divisiveness of affective polarization that culminated in the first election in over a century when the peaceful transfer of political power was disrupted and in doubt. Looking ahead, all of these factors could well get worse before they get better."

The Pentagon has been accused of stalling the deployment of National Guard troops to confront the US Capitol attackers.

The Pentagon was chastised for its slow response during the January 6 attack on Congress by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, which resulted in five deaths and dozens of injuries.

Due to a slew of bureaucratic requirements, it took military officials more than three hours to deploy the National Guard to Congress as it was besieged by rioters.

On December 31, 2021, the Pentagon announced that it would streamline the process for approving the use of National Guard forces in Washington, nearly a year after the deadly attack on the US Capitol.

According to the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense will now be "the single approval authority for all requests" for emergency use of District of Columbia National Guard personnel inside Washington.

Also during the Trump years, military personnel were asked to help in a number of non-traditional activities, including building a border wall and guarding the border against undocumented migrants, and helping police cities hit by violent protests.

In one incident, Trump had then-defense secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, who is still the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, walk alongside him in front of the White House after police cleared the street of people protesting the murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by police.

Both later expressed regrets they took part in what was widely labelled a political "photo op" for the president.

Under President Joe Biden, the military has been forced to undertake a haphazard and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan that senior Pentagon leaders did not agree with.

And Biden was widely criticized last week for giving a deeply political speech attacking Trump's supporters while two Marine guards stood behind him.

The officials stressed that the military leadership must accept orders even when they disagree with them, but said the orders must be legal.

"Regardless of the process, it is the responsibility of senior military and civilian leaders to ensure that any order they receive from the president is legal."

The statement was signed by defense chiefs under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Mark Espe,r and James Mattis. The latter two served under Trump and were both fired after they clashed with the president.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/biden-willing-to-meet-xi-if-he-attends-g20-meeting-in-bali

Biden willing to meet Xi if he attends G20 meeting in Bali

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday said he was "sure" he'd meet Xi Jinping in November if the latter will attend a G20 meeting planned in Indonesia's resort island of Bali.

"If he's there I'm sure I'll see him," Biden told reporters at the White House.

Since becoming president in January 2021, Biden has not met with the Chinese leader, limiting contact between the two superpowers leaders to a series of phone and video calls.

Tensions have been mounting between the world's two biggest economies since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island of Taiwan in early August.

China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.

The US has recently approved $1.1 billion for a potential arms deal with Taiwan which Taipei intends to use to increase its security budget.

Earlier today, China issued a call for the US to annul its $1.1 billion arms deal with Taiwan and to cease all military contacts with the country.

China has also criticized the NATO alliance, to which the US is it's de facto dictator, over its criticism of the Russian-Chinese partnership in the Arctic.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that it showed the Alliance's efforts to perpetuate the Cold War mentality and that it should immediately abandon "dangerous thinking", causing confusion in the world.

It is peculiar for Biden to express eagerness in meeting with Xi. China's strong relations with Russia have recently led to the paying for Russian gas in rubles and yuan rather than US dollars, as Moscow seeks stronger ties with Beijing in the aftermath of Western sanctions over Ukraine.

This obviously poses a challenge to the financial hegemony of the US dollar, which is the most widely used currency in international transactions - a challenge to its use as the standard currency in the commodity market as well as its direct impact on commodity prices.

In August, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia told Bloomberg that both Xi and Russia's President Vladimir Putin would be at the Group of 20 summit, also setting up the possibility of the first Biden-Putin encounter since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in February this year.

As for the White House, it has yet to confirm details of Biden's travel plans.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/trump-held-on-to-material-on-foreign-nations-nuclear-capabil

Trump held on to material on foreign nation's nuclear capabilities: WP

Former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate has proven to be an absolute treasure trove of critical documents, and reports saying the FBI raid on the home was with the aim of finding classified nuclear documents have proven to be true.

FBI agents that conducted the Mar-a-Lago search found a document detailing a foreign nation's military defenses, which include its nuclear capabilities, the Washington Post reported, saying this raised concern about the classified materials Trump has been keeping in his possession for all this time.

Several documents seized by the FBI contained information about top-secret US operations that only a handful of officials know about them. The FBI seized 11 boxes worth of papers, including data deemed to be so secret that they could not be stated individually in the "receipt" of what was taken. Only the president, handpicked members of his Cabinet, or near-Cabinet-level officials are able to reveal the information about the top-secret documents to other government officials, people familiar with the matter told WP.

The documents in question are of such secret nature that they require special clearances, not just a top-secret clearance. These types of documents are also so secret that only a handful of government personnel are authorized to know about them, with records relating to them being kept under lock and key.

In addition to the 150 documents recovered by the National Archives in January and the documents given to the DoJ in June by Trump aides, the documents recovered in the Mar-a-Lago raid raised a total of more than 300 classified documents recovered by Washington, the New York Times reported previously.

Trump and the National Archives have been at each other's throats since the former left office in 2021 after the agency found that he was in possession of White House documents that he should have turned over to the government upon the end of his term.

It was only in the latest batch of documents seized from Trump that there was information regarding a foreign country's nuclear and military capabilities, and people familiar with the issue did not reveal which country was in question nor give out any additional details about the Department of Justice's investigation into the matter.

The dramatic FBI raid on Donald Trump's palatial Florida residence has supercharged the bitter, polarizing political debate around the slew of judicial investigations facing the former President as he considers another White House run.

The raid led to Trump facing a criminal investigation over potential violations of the Espionage Act and additional statutes relating to obstruction of justice, as well as the destruction of federal government records, according to the search warrant executed by FBI agents at the former President's home.

Trump is in such hot water that he announced that he was taking the US government to court over the FBI's raid in a bid to stop the federal agency from delving into the material seized from him until a special court official can be appointed to review the documents in question.

The violation of the Espionage Act has a possible punishment of 10 years in federal prison, the statute for obstruction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and the statute for the destruction of records carries a potential lifetime ban on holding public office.

The whole debacle with the Department of Justice deals a Trump mighty legal blow, which constitutes his latest, as he fights numerous other cases, including the January 6 Capitol riots, which could obstruct his path to a new presidency at the White House in 2024.