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German Defense Minister Pistorius visit to Kviv comes as Russia plans an offensive in Ukraine with newly mobilized additions to its armed forces.

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With the Biden Infrastructure Act and other infrastructure, science and chips spending of $4 trillion the US needs to act to have oversight on waste and overspending in 2025. We just want to show that it is in the American tradition of democratic government, that an obscure Senator from Missouri initiated such an effort called the Truman Committee when he addressed the Senate on Feb 10, 1941. The US Senate describes this Special committee to Investigate the National Defense Program. As the US prepared to enter World War II in Feb. 1941 an obscure Senator from Missouri rose up in the Senate to call for oversight over the $10.1 billion Roosevelt had got approval from the US Congress to spend on war efforts. The oversight was to fight overspending, waste and fraud in spending the huge amounts dedicated to the war effort. The result was the Truman Committee in the US Senate with as chairman of the committee Harry Truman 1941-1944, James Mead 1944-46, Harley Kilgore 1946-47, Ralph Brewster a Republican from Maine in 1947-48. These were the years when the US spent on the war effort- $330 billion in 1945 dollars, $4 trillion in 2024 dollars $212 in US government borrowings, $136 billion in war bonds With the Biden Infrastructure Act and other infrastructure, science and chips spending of $4 trillion the US needs to act to have oversight on waste and overspending in 2025. ...

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This editorial in the WSJ says the reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to allow collective self-defense in no way brings Japan back to its militarist past. It reminds readers that Prime minister Abe faces the Japanese public's skepticism as a majority of Japanese in polls show they do not favor the collective self defense interpretation. The New Komeito party in the coalition government also restricted the interpretation. South Korea's reservations have also to be considered by Japan. The revised interpretation lets Japan fill some needed changes in its role in the new situation where China has taken a more assertive stance on territorial issues in Asian waters near Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea. In this manner the restricted interpretations lets Japan fulfill a role necessary for the U.S. to continue its presence and strength in the Pacific and Asian waters needed to maintain peace in the region.

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Two German Patriot air defense systems are to be transferred to Ukraine and replaced by the US. The decision by Germany's Merz comes as Kyiv suffers a cruise missile attack that destroys an apartment block leading to 31 dead and 159 wounded on July 31, 2025. Five of 8 cruise missiles used evaded air defense systems.  The war brings ancient history important to Russia in the founding of the Russian state in European history before 1450 and complicated history after the Communist Bolshevik Russian revolution in the Ukraine region, the Cold War and Russia returning to its historic role of a Northern European Power. Russian commentary on Russian nationalism today suggests Russia seeks acceptance as a major European power without Wall Street's evaluation based on GDP of nations leaving Russia middling status. Wall Street gives disproportionate importance to China relative to India, Russia and Brazil three large nations on 3 continents for example. Witkoff is on the way as DJT emissary to Russia to seek some solution, but the war drags on as Russia sees itself making slow yet steady progress and seeks to end the war on terms favorable to it following huge loss of life estimated at hundreds of thousands. In August both sides including DJT are losing patience. DJT offers more sanctions but says at the same time that this may not deter Russia. Following SPD's Scholz frustrated yet restrained approach to the war, Chancellor Merz is investing in a rebuilding of Germany's defense forces and it's infrastructure. ...

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The Interior Minister of Lower Saxony, Boris Pistorius, takes over from Christine Lambrecht as the new Defense Minister of Germany. His first priority will be to resolve the issue of German tanks for Ukraine. Chancellor Scholz is under pressure to approve the sending of German tanks after the British decision to do so. Lambrecht was one of three female defense ministers in Germany, after Von der Leyen and Karrenbrauer in the Merkel years. She came under much criticism for not making the decisions for reinforcing German armed forces in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

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Neglected landscapes with invasive grass species, weak building standards, and decommissioned dams, made Hawaii weakened Hawaii's defenses against fires driven by fast blowing winds burning flammable material.

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German industry and arms buildup to counter Russia in Ukraine January 2026.

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The S-400 antiaircraft missile defense system used by Russia is changing the way U.S. operates as an undisputed air power. It has not been tested in operations yet it has affected use of U.S. air power in difficult spots around the world. Russia says it is its way of contesting a U.S. led world order. Purchases of the system by China and India allow Russia to spread the cost of the system with a smaller budget for defense. 

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Israel's Centre Left parties are left with fragmentation, as there is no popular leader for elections scheduled Jan. 22, 2013. Ehud Olmert is fighting corruption charges, Shimon Peres is 86, and Ehud Barak has a low political popularity rating.About 60% of Israelis support his performance as defense minister but only 3% say they would vote for him, with his Independence faction of the Labor party expected to win only 1-2 seats, according to polls in Israel. Barak, 70, was a member of the Israel Defense Forces for 35 years, and for many years a leader in the Labor party. In 2009 he formed a partnership with premier Netanyahu and joined the cabinet as defense minister, having similiar views on the Iranian nuclear threat. Barak has held positions as head of the defense forces, defense minister and prime minister. Experienced observers see the move to withdraw from the elections as a tactical one, considering the low poll ratings, so that he could join a future government.

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China's Defense Minister Gen. Wei and Mr. Austin, US Defense Secretary are to meet on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore in 2022. Mr. Wei last met Defense Secretary Mark Esper in 2019 in Bagkok. No meetings have taken place since then. Gen. Wei is seen as an outspoken leader who told a conference in 2019 that the use of the military to stop the Tiananmen protests in Beijing in 1989 was the right step as this gave Chine three decades of peaceful development.

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Germany's Interior Ministry and the Federal Press Office in the Chancellery are taking the lead for setting up the Center for Defense Against Disinformation, says DW.com citing Der Spiegel. Steffen Seibert heads the press office in the chancellery. Fines of 500,000 euros have been proposed for fake stories on Facebook.

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Japan's efforts to improve defenses in the Pacific.

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The German response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is to increase its spending on defense to over 2% of GDP.  An emotional Scholz told an extraordinary session of the German parliament - We have to ask ourselves: "What capacities does Putin's Russia have? And which capacities do we need to counter his threats?" "Putin wants to establish a Russian Empire... the question is... whether we can summon the strength to set boundaries to warmongers like Putin," said Scholz. Scholz said he would immediately invest 100 billion euros or $113 billion in weaponry. Mr. Scholz also announced concrete arms procurements including the decision to buy state-of-the art drones from Israel and F-35 warplanes from the US, which he said would be used to amplify NATO's nuclear deterrent against Russia. 

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British prime minister Theresa May fires her Defense Secretary for leaking information on a review of the use of equipment from China's Huawei Technologies Co. in the UK telecom 5G network. May had agreed to let Huawei make some of the equipment for "less sensitive" parts of the UK telecom network, a decision opposed by Mr. Williamson and others in the Conservative Party. The U.S. has taken a strong position opposing the use of Huawei equipment in western telecom networks for 5G.

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Chuck Hagel answers questions in the U.S. Senate about his views on the Iraq and Afghanistan surge, on sanctions against Iran, and nuclear disarmament. Hagel says the U.S. must engage not retreat in the world, and discussed his world view without getting drawn into details about policy issues. He faces a difficult nomination for U.S. Defense Secretary with skepticism from Republicans. Hagel opposed both surges and says the right approach is bilateral disarmament for nuclear weapons.

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BAE Systems has a $120 million contract to provide social anthropologists to the Defense Department of the USA. In December, L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. acquired International Resources Ltd, a Washington based economic-development firm which is different from its military advisory business. This is the way the Defense Department and the suppliers to the Defense department are changing in response to Defense Secretary Gates philosophy that economic development, rule of law programs and strategic communications and a whole host of soft power initiatives are essential needs, and to the new President's philosophy. Now US Defense suppliers Lockheed and Northrop are providing peacekeepers thorugh the State Department, and BAE SYstems is providing social anthropologists in addition to armored vehicles to go with US troops on village patrols. The State Department, Agency of International Development and a changing Defense Department are all getting the attention of suppliers who are building new relationships for new needs and new services tackle the issues of terrorism, poverty, drugs and crime that generate or exacerbate conflict in other countries. In the first budget presented recently Obama pledged $50 billion double the amount before for foreign assistance. A portion of the $130 billion requested for wartime operations in 2010 will be allocated to these new kinds of services which are more effective and generate better understanding and support for the US in other countries....