AMBITIOUS BEIJING: US Navy Admiral Philip Davidson said China seems eager to supplant the US in the global order by 2050, with Taiwan on its to-do list for this decade/ AFP, WASHINGTON
China could invade Taiwan within the next six years, US Navy Admiral Philip Davidson said on Tuesday, raising hackles in Beijing, which yesterday accused the top US commander of attempting to “hype up” the threat of an invasion to inflate Washington’s defense spending.
“I worry that they’re [China] accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order . by 2050,” Washington’s top military officer in the Asia-Pacific region said.
“Taiwan is clearly one of their ambitions before that and I think the threat is manifest during this decade in fact, in the next
US President Joe Biden’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, on Tuesday pledged to tackle extremists in the military’s own ranks, after some members of the military dressed in civilian clothing took part in the attack on the US Capitol.
“The activity that we’ve seen recently in terms of potential racists or extremist behavior within our ranks is in my view absolutely unacceptable,” said Austin, a former general who is set to become the first African American to head the Pentagon.
In a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, Austin promised “to rid our ranks
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
On December 8, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives approved final passage of a $740.5 billion annual defense policy bill, the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (“National Defense Authorization Act” or “NDAA”), by a vote of 335-78-1, a veto-proof majority. Following a filibuster on December 10, on December 11, the U.S. Senate approved the NDAA by a vote of 84-13, also a veto-proof majority. The bill now heads to the President for his signature, who has threatened a veto because the bill does not include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Passage of the NDAA marks the 60th consecutive year that the Congress has adopted this legislation, which the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee noted “fulfills our most important constitutional duty: to provide for the security of this nation and the men and women who lay
15:45, 12.12.20 World 641
The bill authorizes US$250 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, including US$75 million for lethal assistance.
REUTERS
The U.S. Senate by an overwhelming majority of 84 to 13 on Friday approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021.
Earlier this week, the bill was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, as reported by the Voice of America s Ukrainian service.
Among the important provisions of the bill approved in the Senate, Republican Senator Ted Cruz, in particular, called provisions that once and for all clarify that everyone involved in the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas project will be subject to destructive sanctions developed by him together with Senator from the Democratic Party Jeanne Shaheen.