U.S. Deal with China Saves Huawei, Threatens America

by Gordon G. Chang • July 30, 2019 at 5:00 am

This is the worst possible time in what is called the "cold tech war" to give relief to Huawei. Huawei is vulnerable to American measures for only a short period, so this is the time for the Trump administration to exert leverage.
[W]hen it comes to harm, we haven't seen anything yet. Beijing will undoubtedly use Huawei to control the networks operating the devices of tomorrow, remotely manipulating everything hooked up to the Internet of Things -- in other words, just about everything.
So far, the U.S. has had little success in persuading other countries not to buy low-cost (subsidized) Huawei equipment for their 5G networks (the fifth generation of wireless communication). The Philippines, a treaty partner of the United States, has decided to buy 5G Huawei gear, and Italy, another ally, is almost certainly going to make the same decision soon.
The Trump administration, by crippling Huawei, can make up for the failure to convince other countries to shun its equipment... Huawei cannot market its phones without Google's Android operating system.... Outside China, Huawei's phones would be commercially unmarketable because they would not be able to connect to the Google Play Store.
So, if the Trump administration is going to move against Huawei as a national security threat, it has to do so now. Beijing is now stalling, hoping to buy time for Huawei.

President Donald Trump after his meeting last month with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping, told the press that he was prepared to grant exemptions from its Entity List to Huawei Technologies, the world's largest networking-equipment manufacturer and second-largest smartphone maker. The Chines company, an across-the-board bad actor, undermines vital U.S. national security interests. Pictured: President Trump and Xi Jinping during Trump's visit to Beijing on November 9, 2017. (Photo by Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images)

American and Chinese trade negotiators, meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Shanghai, are cooking up an interim deal that is deeply injurious to U.S. national security.

There is growing pessimism that Washington and Beijing can reach a comprehensive agreement, given the fundamental differences over, among other things, industrial policy, intellectual property protection, and restrictions on foreign investment.

The Wall Street Journal reports, however, that a "small agreement" is in the works. The Commerce Department, according to the paper, would grant exemptions from its Entity List to Huawei Technologies. This would allow American companies to license tech and sell products such as chips to the embattled telecom-equipment manufacturer, and China would buy more American agricultural products.

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Turkey Adopts Eurasianism

by Burak Bekdil • July 30, 2019 at 4:30 am

Few observers back then warned that Erdoğan's pro-West façade was fake and his deep adherence to political Islam, an enemy of the Western civilization, would one day urge him to seek non-Western alliances.
Turkey's choice of a Russian-made air defense system that is primarily designated to hit NATO aerial assets is a reflection of its anticipation of an aerial military conflict with a NATO member in the future.
No doubt, the S-400 is also a sign of Erdogan's disregard for Turkey's increasingly problematic place in the Western alliance. Erdoğan's ideologues keep on portraying the U. S. as an "enemy country" while many Turks increasingly buy that line. Seven out of 10 Turks now report feeling threatened by U.S. power....

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's decision to deploy the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system in Turkish (NATO) territory reflects his ideological anti-Western thinking. It was not a coincidence either that Erdoğan in 2013 demanded from Russian President Vladimir Putin a seat at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, NATO's Eurasian replica. Pictured: Erdogan visits Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 22, 2013. (Image source: kremlin.ru)

Ironically, it was an anti-Islamist, Kemalist Turkish general who first suggested that Turkey should align its foreign policy with the rising powers of Eurasia -- all of Europe plus Asia. It was just eight months before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power, and since then, has remained undefeated. The U.S. at the time was busy with the final touches on the military operation that would oust Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein, in March 2003.

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Arrow - and Israel - in Alaska

by Shoshana Bryen • July 30, 2019 at 4:00 am

Hitting a missile with a missile is what we do.
American and Israeli missile technology, missile capabilities and production capabilities are closely interwoven. They can be because our defense goals are interwoven. The ability to defend civilians from an enemy -- regardless of the weapon the enemy brings to the battlefield -- is the first and highest priority of both governments.
At the edge of Alaska, Israeli and American cooperation and coordination produced another test of a more humane way for "free people to rest secure." Just watch out for those rogue amendments.

Pictured: The recent Arrow 3 missile test in Alaska, which was announced on July 29, 2019. (Image source: Israel MoD video screenshot)

The recent Arrow 3 missile test in Alaska, announced on Sunday, was nearly taken out by a rogue. Not a rogue missile, mind you, but a rogue amendment to the to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Earlier this month, Congresswoman Lois Frankel (D-FL) proposed the following language:

"None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2020 may be made available for the research, development, testing, evaluation, procurement, or deployment of a United States shorter- or intermediate-range ground launched ballistic or cruise missile system with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers..."

The prohibition was aimed at the Trump administration's decision to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. But according to one analyst:

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