Gordon Chang Commentary: It’s Time to Bankrupt China

“We are probably not going to be able to do anything to stop, slow down, disrupt, interdict, or destroy the Chinese nuclear development program that they have projected out over the next 10 to 20 years,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley on March 29 at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. “They’re going to do that in accordance with their own plan.”

Milley is wrong about China’s nuclear weapons ambitions. He is, unfortunately, expressing the same pessimism that pervaded the Nixon, Ford and Carter years, when the American foreign policy establishment took the Soviet Union as a given and therefore promoted détente.

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Most of Georgia’s Congressional Delegation Votes in Favor of Defense Spending Bill

Most of Georgia’s congressional delegation voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including both Democratic senators, five out of six Democratic representatives, and five out of the eight Republican representatives. After the bill passed out of the Senate on Thursday, Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) said the bill included his own legislation to help veterans access their service records, and Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) touted the inclusion of the Water Resource Development Act (WRDA), which includes $75 million in water infrastructure spending for rural and economically disadvantaged regions in Georgia.

“I’m so glad we were able to get this year’s NDAA over the finish line with tremendous bipartisan support. Georgia notched notable wins in this year’s defense package, including bolstering Georgia’s military bases, ensuring our state is a crucial component to our nation’s national defense for years to come and securing more affordable military housing for servicemembers and their families,” Warnock said in a press release.

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Report: The U.S. Military Is Almost Completely Dependent on China for Key Mineral Used in Ammunition

The U.S. military depends almost completely on China for a mineral essential to the production of ammunition and other defense products, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The House Armed Services Committee released draft legislation on Wednesday which would require a briefing on the antimony supply by October and a five-year outlook on supply chain vulnerabilities, Defense News reported. The U.S. has no domestic mine for the mineral antimony, which is reportedly used in the production of night vision goggles, armor-piercing bullets, explosives and nuclear weapons.

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‘You Broke the Military’: Milley, Austin Set for Second Congressional Grilling on Afghanistan

Top American military leaders are set for another round of intense congressional grilling on Wednesday, following a day-long Tuesday session that at times featured blistering criticism of their part in the U.S. exit from Afghanistan.

The Tuesday hearing placed on the griddle Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin; U.S. Central Command Chief Gen. Frank McKenzie; and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

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Bipartisan House Leaders Say National Guard Presence at Capitol Is Unwarranted

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Armed Services Committee called the current National Guard deployment on Capitol Hill unwarranted.

Democratic Rep. Adam Smith and Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, the committee’s respective chairman and ranking member, asked the Department of Defense to implement a “measured drawdown” of the guardsmen stationed at the Capitol in a joint statement Thursday.

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