Diplomacy & Crisis News

Charlie Gao

NATO Artillery, Europe

What does NATO have to compare to Russia's artillery?

Here's What You Need to Remember: Designed to pump out a high volume of fire within a short period, rocket artillery systems are particularly dangerous in their ability to obliterate a position before units have a chance to take cover. This capability, while less relevant in Western counterinsurgency doctrine, has proven useful in recent conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

Rocket artillery is one of the most destructive weapons on the modern battlefield. Designed to pump out a high volume of fire within a short period, rocket artillery systems are particularly dangerous in their ability to obliterate a position before units have a chance to take cover.

This capability, while less relevant in Western counterinsurgency doctrine, has proven useful in recent conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. However, most rocket artillery systems used in those conflicts are Russian or Soviet. What does NATO have to compare?

Here are what could be considered the best rocket artillery systems NATO has to offer:

1. M270 MLRS

In the 1980s, the United States developed the M270 MLRS, the most common rocket artillery system in NATO. It is fielded by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

It shoots 227mm rockets, twelve of which are held in two six-rocket pods. During the Cold War, the standard rocket was the M26 cluster rocket, which held 644 dual-purpose submunitions. Nowadays, due to treaties on cluster munitions, a new rocket with a unitary high explosive warhead is being fielded.

The system is designed to be quickly reloaded via swapping the pods. The MLRS is also designed to fire the ATACMS tactical guided missile, which can be set in place of one rocket pod.

2. M142 HIMARS

The HIMARS in some ways can be considered the MLRS’ smaller cousin. Featuring more modern fire control (which is being retrofitted to the M270 in the M270A1 variant), the HIMARS only can mount one six-rocket pod to the MLRS’ two.

The system is significantly more strategically mobile compared to the M270, as it is C-130 transportable. It is also cheaper to maintain than the M270 since it is mounted on a truck chassis. However, this limits its tactical mobility.

The system has seen recent interest with NATO nations, with Poland buying twenty launchers in late 2018. Romania also bought the HIMARS in early 2018.

3. RM-70

Although designed for Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War, RM-70 launchers continue to serve in NATO arsenals in Central Europe.

Based on the proven Tatra truck chassis, RM-70 launchers can even serve as a budget alternative to the HIMARS, as Slovak companies have offered to convert RM-70s to be able to mount a NATO-standard 6-round 227mm rocket pack.

However, even with the original 122mm rockets (the same as on the Soviet BM-21 Grad), the RM-70 is a formidable launcher. Unlike the Grad, the long 8x8 truck chassis allows for the carriage of a single full 40-rocket reload in front of the launcher.

4. LAROM

In addition to the HIMARS, Romania also fields a lighter Grad-alike rocket system. The LAROM is a version of Israel’s LAR-160 rocket launcher mounted on a simple truck chassis. The ability to use Israeli 160mm rockets provides a significant increase of capability over a regular Grad launcher.

The Israeli rockets have cluster munition warheads and are mounted on pods to allow for fast reloading in the field. In contrast, a regular Grad launcher like those found on the BM-21 or RM-70 has to be loaded tube by tube by a crew. However, a podded reload requires a crane on an ammunition support vehicle.

The LAROM can use both a standard Grad array as well as Israeli pods depending on its configuration.

5. T-300 Kasirga

The Turkish T-300 Kasirga is perhaps the only NATO rocket artillery system that could truly be considered a “heavy” system like the Russian/Soviet BM-30 Smerch.

Firing massive 300mm rockets, the T-300 is one of the longest ranged rocket artillery systems in the NATO arsenal, with the rockets capable of reaching out to 100 km. This is significantly longer than the 70 km that the M270 can reach with M30/M31 GMLRS rockets, although rockets in development may extend the M270’s range out to 150 km.

The T-300 also has one of the largest warheads of an artillery rocket in NATO inventory. The M31 has a unitary warhead weight of 90 kg. This is far less than the T-300’s 150 kg warhead or the Smerch’s massive 243 kg.

Charlie Gao studied political and computer science at Grinnell College and is a frequent commentator on defense and national-security issues.

This article first appeared in 2019 and is being reposted due to reader interest.

Image: Reuters

Kris Osborn

China, Asia

Beijing has made rapid advances in recent years.

Here's What You Need to Know: The U.S. military is fast-tracking AI applications to existing and emerging weapons systems just to keep up.

A prominent member of Congress is expressing significant concern that China’s military-oriented AI initiatives could pass the U.S. in terms of sophistication in merely the next several years, absent a more vigorous, sustained, and well-funded effort to stay in front.

Speaking at the opening of an extremely pressing and high-priority joint hearing of the House Oversight & Reform Subcommittee on National Security and the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems,” Rep. Elise Stefanik said “China will surpass the United States in AI leadership and with the innovation race if we fail to invest in emerging technologies.

Intended to address the findings of a newly released National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence report, Stefanik, who is the ranking member on the HASC Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems, cited the report’s conclusions.

In her opening statement on the hearing, Stefanik describes the report’s conclusions as delivering a “profound and disturbing” impact on national security.

“The report concluded that China will achieve superiority over the U.S. within the next decade if we don’t solve our organizational and investment challenges by 2025—just four years from now,” she said.

Stefanik’s comments speak to a pressing issue of great concern to the U.S. military, given the extent and scope to which the services are fast-tracking AI applications to existing and emerging weapons systems. The list of programs, and the anticipated impact upon future warfare dynamics, is far too expansive to describe or categorize in any kind of cursory fashion. However, broadly speaking, the ability to quickly gather, organize and analyze new combat-sensitive information against a vast existing compiled database and, in a matter of seconds, perform the analytics necessary to offer human decisionmakers an optimal series of tactical options, is completely reshaping war planning.

While a single term to describe this phenomenon may seem reductive to an extent, much of it centers upon the word “speed.” The military services characterize this in terms of sensor-to-shooter time, massively expediting, shortening, and improving the rapid-response time available to commanders in war. Gen. Murray, Army Futures Command Commander, told The National Interest in an interview that future warfare is expected to include a “hyperactive” battlefield. This means the force which gets inside or, or completes the decision cycle ahead of an enemy by virtue of being able to discern, analyze and transmit new information, is likely to prevail in warfare.

The fundamental concept of AI-enabled decisionmaking is the primary foundation for the Army’s breakthrough Project Convergence project last September at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz. By drawing upon an AI-enabled database called FIRESTORM, Army forces demonstrated a warfare scenario which reduced sensor-to-shooter attack and counterattack timelines from 20 minutes, down to 20 seconds. This means that, if under attack from enemy fire, an Army force will be instantly empowered by fast-analyzed response data outlining recommended courses of action based upon AI-enabled analyses, pairing the incoming sensor data with the right “shooter” or “effector” with which to attack. Project Convergence demonstrated this technical breakthrough in a variety of air-ground warfare scenarios to include the use of ground combat vehicles, forward sensing mini-drone operations, and even satellite connectivity across vast distances.

However, this concept of AI-empowered warfare by no means stops with the Army, but it rather a tactical and strategic premise inspire a DoD-wide Multi-Domain Operations approach to modern warfare. The Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System, as it contributes to the Pentagon’s well-known Joint All Domain Command and Control, is similarly based upon multi-node, real-time data analysis and sharing across a dispersed, yet interwoven, mesh of otherwise disparate combat “nodes.” Drones, bombers, fighter jets, and ground command centers, ideally, can simultaneously access organized threat data to make instant determinations amid war scenarios.

The entire aim is to introduce new paradigms for joint warfare, based on high-speed information sharing, analysis, and warfare tactics, across the entire military. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, described the Army’s Project Convergence success as a “contribution to Joint All Domain Ops where we (the Army & Air Force) come together as a team and take some of the things they are working on and some of the things they are working on and see if they can converge together. They have a great program with Joint All Domain Command and Control - we want to be part of that.”

Both the Army and the Air Force speak to the emerging urgency with which the U.S. military needs to refine, fast-track, and further operationalized AI-enabled technologies, in part to specifically counter rapid Chinese advances. 

Kris Osborn is the defense editor for the National Interest. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Master's Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

This article first appeared in March 2021.

Image: DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. DeNoris Mickle, U.S. Air Force

Stephen Silver

U.S. Marine Corps,

Marines may no longer be prevented from getting inked. 

A new report suggests that the Marine Corps is planning to change the policies that have restricted tattoos for the past five years. Task & Purpose reported this week, and the Marines confirmed, that the Marine Corps is “considering changes to its current tattoo policy.” 

“The Marine Corps is currently considering making changes to its tattoo policy and we will update once the policy is complete,” Maj. Jim Stenger, a Marine spokesman, told Task and Purpose. 

The first inkling of the change came from a Reddit post that shared a screenshot of an email attributed to Sgt. Maj. Rafael Rodriquez of Manpower and Reserve Affairs. 

“This week, the updated [Marine Corps Bulletin] to the tattoo policy will be on the street,” the post said. “A lot of the restriction[s] were lifted… We will have one tattoo policy that covers both enlisted and officers.” 

The email said that full sleeve tattoos, which were outlawed in 2016, will be authorized, although “the main issue will be the content of the tattoo.” There will also be no restriction on the number of tattoos that a Marine is allowed to have, although officers will not be allowed to have more than four visible tattoos. 

In addition, “tattoos are not authorized C7 and above, no tattoos on the face, head, or hand,” with the exception of some ring tattoos. And those with a tattoo in the “V” portion of their neck will have to wear a crew neck shirt, according to the email. 

Stenger told Task & Purpose that the information included in the leaked email is not the final determination of what the new policy will look like. 

“I will say that all of this is pre-decisional right now,” Stenger told the site. “Something might be in a policy that has yet to be reviewed by the senior leadership that needs to review it. So whatever you’re seeing in that email, it might — and I emphasize, it might be — what’s in that current policy, but that might not be in that final policy and that happens often with policies that we’re generating.”

The current policy was enacted in 2016. 

“Marines have inherited a legacy that we must honor and preserve for future generations of men and women bearing the title United States Marine, and that means meeting and exceeding the standards the American people have come to expect from our Corps,” then-Commandant Gen. Robert Neller wrote at the time. “The American people expect Marines to be disciplined, physically fit, and ready to accomplish any mission. They also expect Marines to possess esprit de corps and a squared away and sharp personal appearance.”

 Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

Ethen Kim Lieser

Child Tax Credit,

In light of its success, the enhanced credits have been found to be one of the programs that made the cut as Democrats race toward an agreement over a framework for their social spending plan.

What recent data and studies have revealed is that the expanded Child Tax Credits approved last spring under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan are appearing to be doing a great job in feeding the country’s hungriest families and lifting millions of children out of poverty.

In light of this success, the enhanced credits have been found to be one of the programs that made the cut as Democrats race toward an agreement over a framework for their social spending plan. According to the $1.75 trillion proposal, there will be enough money set aside to ensure that nearly forty million families will continue to receive the monthly direct payments for at least another year.

However, the current proposal falls far short of what many Democrats had in mind—namely making the Child Tax Credit permanent. And Biden, in a previous proposal, aimed to continue the program at least through the year 2025.

Direct Cash to Parents

Due to the president’s ambitious stimulus bill, eligible parents and guardians, beginning in July, have been able to receive as much as $3,600 per year for a child under the age of six and up to $3,000 for children between ages six and seventeen.

Broken down, this means that a $250 or a $300 payment for each child will be direct deposited each month through the end of the year. In addition, parents can claim the other half of the total payments as a refund come next tax season.

Improving Lives

According to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, because of the expanded credits, the number of adults living in households with children that reported not having enough to eat has plummeted by 3.3 million—a total reduction of about one-third.

“Congress should make it a top priority to extend the monthly payments and ensure that the full credit remains permanently available to children in families with the lowest incomes,” wrote Claire Zippel, senior research analyst at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

A separate report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed that a permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit could potentially lift more than four million children out of poverty.

“Every child needs food, health care, and safe and stable housing. Millions of households with children already lacked these necessities before the pandemic,” the report noted.

“To continue on progress already made on recovery, the foundation recommends: making the expansion of the federal child tax credit permanent,” it added.

Another study released by the Urban Institute revealed that continuing the expanded credits beyond this year has the potential to slash child poverty to about 8.4 percent from 14.2 percent—which would represent a massive 40 percent drop. Furthermore, child poverty could be cut by 50 percent or more in eleven states.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters

Kris Osborn

Jets, Americas

Unfortunately, innovative upgrades to the Fighting Falcon might not enable it to rival Russian or Chinese fifth-generation stealth fighter jets.

The Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies recently published a study that recommends the rapid retirement and divestiture of the Air Force’s fourth-generation fighter jets. 

Despite calling for “wholly divesting” those fourth-generation platforms, the study, titled the Future Fighter Force Our Nation Requires: Building a Bridge, recommends that the Air Force “keep” large numbers of the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Why? One pressing reason, apart from the fact that it costs less to operate a Fighting Falcon when compared with fifth-generation platforms, may relate to the success of the Fighting Falcon modernization program and its service life extension program (SLEP).   

Today’s Fighting Falcon dates back as far as the 1970s, a circumstance that raises questions as to how the combat aircraft has sustained its combat relevance and performance into today’s modern and vastly more substantial threat environment. The SLEP improved the upper wing skin and fittings. Additionally, it adjusted the bulkhead and canopy.  

Part of the equation relates to an effort to integrate some of the F-35 fighter jet’s technologies into the Fighting Falcon such as an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. The radar allows the Fighting Falcon to find, detect and track enemy threats at greater ranges. SLEP is expected to extend the flight time of Fighting Falcons from roughly six thousand to seven thousand flight hours all the way to eight thousand or more flight hours. On top of that, the upgrades have prompted the Air Force to have the Fighting Falcon fly up to twelve thousand hours. Lockheed Martin, which developed the AESA radar, claims it can track as many as twenty targets at one time, a scenario that allows the Fighting Flacon to be more effective in major-power warfare. 

Thus, the AESA radar is a massive upgrade beyond the mechanically-scanned radar previously carried by the Fighting Falcons. The AESA radar can scan in a 360-degree sphere that includes horizontal, vertical and diagonal vectors. In recent years, the Fighting Falcon has received new cockpit avionics such as moving map displays, video in the cockpit, digital graphics screens and new target tracking systems. Upgraded Fighting Falcons use a high level of onboard automation designed to free up a pilot’s workload.  

It’s notable that Lockheed Martin isn’t only focused on these upgrades. The company has been building a new F-16V Viper variant that uses new computers, software, a high-definition cockpit display. Also, the “V” model comes with a new data bus, electronic warfare suite, missile warning sensor and helmet-mounted cueing system. This is the technical starting point for Lockheed Martin’s next-generation F-21, which will be specifically built for India. The F-21 will have the AESA radar and a next-generation targeting system known as Infrared Search and Track (IRST) technology. IRST, which is used extensively in F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, is a passive, long-range sensor that searches for and detects infrared emissions. Much like the AESA, the IRST can track multiple targets at once and operate in an electromagnetic warfare environment. IRST is a passive, long-range sensor, that will allow the Fighting Falcon to conduct air-to-air targeting.

These innovative upgrades to the Fighting Falcon might not enable it to rival Russian or Chinese fifth-generation stealth fighter jets. Still, these upgrades may explain why the study recommends holding on to the Fighting Falcons. 

Kris Osborn is the defense editor for the National Interest. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. 

Image: Reuters

Stephen Silver

Social Security,

“We will continue to identify and aggressively pursue any instances of employee fraud and hold wrongdoers to account. These efforts are critical to maintaining the public’s trust in Social Security," says the Social Security Administration's inspector general.

Crime and fraud related to Social Security funds are pretty frequent crimes, but it’s not so frequent for them to entail dismemberment.

A Nevada woman is accused of dismembering the body of her husband, throwing the body parts in the trash, and continuing to collect his Social Security benefits for more than four years, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The sixty-nine-year-old woman is also charged with theft of government money. She was caught, per the report, after authorities received a tip that her husband was missing. She claimed that he was on a “walk-about,” but later admitted that he had been dead for several years.

She is accused of collecting more than $120,000 in benefits. The newspaper also reported that investigators found it unusual that the man, who was in his seventies, had no record of receiving medical attention after 2015.

The woman is not accused of having killed her husband, only of disposing of his body, and it’s not clear how he died.

In another, much less grisly case of alleged Social Security fraud, a man in the Boston area has been arrested for “fraudulently receiving Social Security disability benefits.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the sixty-seven-year-old man has been charged with one count of theft of public funds. The man is accused of improperly collecting 38,601 in Social Security disability benefits over a four-year period between 2013 and 2017. He faces over ten years in prison.

Meanwhile, it was announced earlier this month that a Social Security Administration (SSA) operations supervisor was sentenced to over five years for wire fraud and identity theft. She had pled guilty to the charges two years earlier.

The woman, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, “caused over $760,000 in SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits to be electronically deposited into nine different bank accounts held in her name, and in the names of various family members, by making false and fraudulent representations to fellow SSA employees, including claims representatives and other supervisors.”

“We will continue to identify and aggressively pursue any instances of employee fraud and hold wrongdoers to account. These efforts are critical to maintaining the public’s trust in Social Security. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for its support of our investigation and efforts to bring it to a successful resolution,” Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, said of the North Carolina case.

In the Charlotte case, the woman has also been forced to surrender her Harley Davidson motorcycle, the Charlotte News and Observer reported. It was purchased with the ill-gotten funds.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

Stephen Silver

Consumer Electronics,

Amazon’s TVs offer unique features and integration capabilities. 

Last month, Amazon officially announced the release of the first Amazon-branded televisions, the Amazon Fire TV Omni Series and 4-Series smart TVs. 

The TVs arrived on the market Wednesday and, per The Verge, the company has delivered a last-minute announcement: The imminent inclusion of AirPlay 2 and HomeKit in the TVs. AirPlay allows users to mirror their devices on a TV, a capability that is not possible on the existing Fire TV devices. 

“Coming soon, you can use AirPlay to share videos, photos, music, and more from your iPhone or iPad to your Fire TV,” Amazon said in a blog post. 

Amazon had announced in July that it was making the technology available on the Toshiba and Insignia-made 4K UHD Smart Fire TV models. These models had the “Fire TV’ branding but weren’t advertised as “Amazon-built” the way the new ones are. 

Amazon touted the new TVs in a blog post this past Wednesday. “These TVs combine our content-forward Fire TV experience with everything you know and love about Alexa, turning your TV into the smart hub in your living room. Available in a variety of sizes and loaded with features, there’s a lot to love about these new smart TVs,” the company said on its Amazon Fire TV blog. 

“Accessing your favorite movies, shows, video games, live TV, music and more has never been easier. Fire TV allows you to stream over 1 million movies and TV episodes across your favorite streaming apps, and you can access over 20,000 free movies and TV shows from apps like IMDb TV, Tubi, Pluto TV, and more,” Amazon stated. 

The company also highlighted specific features that the new TVs offer, including HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Digital sound, and Dolby Vision on the larger models. In addition to AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, the TVs also offer integration with Amazon’s own Alexa, allowing users to ask for specific programs just as they would ask for a song on an Alexa-controlled speaker. 

Users can also easily connect the new TVs to their home theater by pairing it to an existing Echo Studio. 

“We’ve reimagined what a TV can do by building it with two of our most popular experiences at the core—the intelligent always-available power of far-field Alexa, and Fire TV’s content-forward approach to entertainment,”   said Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services. “Our new Fire TV Omni Series smart TVs, with hands-free access to Alexa, make controlling your TV faster, simpler, and more natural.”

The Omni Series comes in sizes of 43”, 50”, 55”, 65”, and 75”, while the Fire TV 4-Series is available in 43”, 50”, and 55” models.

 Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

Stephen Silver

Child Tax Credit,

A White House fact sheet lays out more about how the Credit will work starting in 2022.

Following weeks of negotiations, the Biden administration has reached a “framework” of what will be in the version of the president’s “Build Back Better” plan that will likely go before Congress for a vote soon.

The deal is not final, but in an email to supporters, the Biden-Harris political operation described the Framework as “a plan for my agenda I believe can pass the House and Senate.”

There have been various reports in recent weeks about what was in or out of the bill, but President Joe Biden’s announcement says that the expanded Child Tax Credit will indeed remain. However, while the administration had originally hoped to extend it by five years, the framework only extends it for one.

A White House fact sheet laid out more about how the credit will work starting in 2022.

“The Build Back Better framework will provide monthly payments to the parents of nearly 90 percent of American children for 2022—$300 per month per child under six and $250 per month per child ages 6 to 17,” the White House said. “This historic tax cut will help cover the cost of food, housing, health care, and transportation and will continue the largest one-year reduction in child poverty in history. And critically, the framework includes permanent refundability for the Child Tax Credit, meaning that the neediest families will continue to receive the full Child Tax Credit over the long-run.”

Brought into being by the American Rescue Plan Act in March of 2021, the monthly payments from the Child Tax Credit began in July, and have continued every month through December, while most will get additional credits when they file their taxes next year.

The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University has been issuing reports in recent months about how the Child Tax Credit has made a difference in reducing poverty, even after the first month.

“Using our innovative approach to tracking monthly poverty rates, we project that ongoing COVID relief efforts continue to have a sizable effect on reducing child poverty keeping 6 million children from poverty in July 2021 alone (a reduction of more than 40 percent). This impact also resulted in a notable drop in child poverty between June and July 2021, due primarily to the rollout of the expanded Child Tax Credit. On its own, this new payment kept 3 million children from poverty in its first month,” the Center said in late August.

Others, such as Bruce Meyer and co-authors, at the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago, have been argued that the Child Tax Credit discourages work.

The Build Back Better framework is only a framework and has not passed Congress yet.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

This week in FP’s international news quiz: summits galore, a princess in flight, and a real “Great Pumpkin.”

Acting unanimously on Friday, the Security Council adopted a unique resolution strongly condemning attacks against schools, children and teachers and urging conflict parties to immediately safeguard the right to education.

Stephen Silver

Kim Jong-Un, Asia

Kim has a long track record of going into seclusion. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been known to disappear from public view for long stretches. During one period in 2020, Kim’s disappearance even led to widespread rumors around the world that he was ill or even dead. Earlier this year, Kim emerged from an extended absence appearing to have lost a great deal of weight, leading to another round of speculation about his personal health and his hold on power. 

Kim, who will mark a decade in power this December, has now been absent from public appearances for close to two weeks, NK News reported, marking his eighth absence of more than two weeks just this year. Kim last appeared in public on October 11, when he posed in front of weapons that were unveiled shortly before North Korea’s latest missile launch. 

The report stated that “satellite images have shown renewed activity off the coast of his family palace in Wonsan,” suggesting that Kim has been spending time at the estate believed to be his childhood home. 

“The activity suggests the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) leader… may be spending yet more time at his childhood home on the east coast this month, while his subordinates oversee cabinet meetings and missile tests and make economic inspections around the country,” NK News said. 

The site also published a chart detailing Kim’s absences from public view since he took power in late 2011. 

“Boats that may be his multimillion-dollar yachts appeared cruising at Kim’s private Wonsan beach on Oct. 24 and away from one of his large leisure crafts anchored at a nearby island on Oct. 25,” according to Planet Labs satellite imagery. However, the quality of the images “makes it difficult to determine the precise type of boats being used,” NK News said. 

While state media has reported on Kim’s actions, including letters he sent to foreign leaders and an appearance at a cemetery, state media has not released photographs of Kim. Kim was not present for the recent missile test.

Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported this week that Kim has built luxury villas over the old home of Kim Il-Sung, his grandfather and the first leader of North Korea. The home is known as “Mansion No. 5,” and was the home of the current leader’s grandfather between 1950 and 1970. 

“Terraced houses are being built on the banks of the Potong River, and they are being touted as an example of modern development in the Kim Jong Un era,” a Pyongyang resident told RFA. 

 Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

Caleb Larson

Japan, Asia

Japan is taking defense more seriously than at any time since World War II. And the U.S. Navy is right there to help.

A recent exercise involving the U.S. and Japanese Navy underlines the two country’s increasing military ties.

The  U.S. Navy detailed the activities of a Surface Action Group formed between a Japanese Murasame-class destroyer and a U.S. Navy Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship.

The pair of ships practiced a variety of “surface warfare tactics to include flight operations, communications drills and coordinated tactical maneuvering, all designed to enhance interoperability and enabling the ships to practice bilateral tactics in close proximity to one another.”

“Meeting our JMSDF (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) allies in the South China Sea allowed both of our teams to build readiness as we sail in the Indo-Pacific,” explained Cmdr. Michael Root, commanding officer of the USS Jackson’s Gold Crew. “The complex maneuvering and operations we accomplished without meeting face-to-face reflects the strong friendship and maritime professionalism that our nations and navies share.”

The Russia-China Connection

The joint U.S.-Japanese cooperation comes on the heels of significant Chinese and Russian activity in the western Pacific. Chinese and Russian warships conducted their first-ever joint patrol that included tactical maneuvers and other military drills from October 17 to October 23. 

Although closer military integration between Russia and China is worrisome for the United States, the recent exercises were particularly concerning for Japan. During the exercise, the Sino-Russian flotilla passed through the Tsugaru Strait, a body of water separating Japan’s northern Hokkaido island from the Honshu mainland and connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean.

During a press conference, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian emphatically stated that “China and Russia are united like a mountain, and our friendship is unbreakable. Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Putin, bilateral relations have withstood the test of the changing international landscape, setting an example of a new type of major-country relationship.”

Power Projection

The United States Marine Corps has recently paired with the Japanese Navy when a pair of USMC F-35Bs conducted operations off one of Japan’s Izumo-class helicopter destroyers, validating their new decks, modified to support F-35B operations. Though dubbed helicopter destroyers, the Izumo-class ships are, in effect, light aircraft carriers, able to host the forty-two F-35Bs Japan has on order from the United States.

Although the Japan Self-Defense Forces are constitutionally constrained to be a defensive force only, increasing tension in Japan’s near-abroad has prompted increased Japanese military investment and an increased power projection capability.

Not only is Japan putting serious investment in its naval capabilities, with an emphasis on interoperability with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, but the country is also taking defense more seriously than perhaps any time since World War II.

Caleb Larson is a multimedia journalist and Defense Writer with the National Interest. He lives in Berlin and covers the intersection of conflict, security, and technology, focusing on American foreign policy, European security, and German society.

Image: Reuters

Belarusian strongman Aleksandr Lukashenko seems to have learned that neutering U.S. diplomacy is cost-free.

Regional cooperation didn’t lead to peace at the 1991 Madrid Conference—and it won’t today.

Ethen Kim Lieser

Social Security,

There are simple ways to maximize your Social Security checks. 

For tens of millions of American seniors who hope to have a comfortable retirement, every single dollar is precious.

That’s why it is incredibly important to make the right decisions at the right time regarding one’s Social Security benefits. A simple mistake could cost a senior tens of thousands of dollars. 

However, according to the financial site The Motley Fool, the bad news is that the monthly Social Security retirement benefit currently only comes in at a measly $1,559, amounting to roughly $18,700 annually.

“Chances are, that’s not looking like a perfectly sufficient annual income on which to live in retirement,” the site writes. “The good news is that you can, and should, supplement that with other income streams, such as retirement accounts, annuities, dividend-paying stocks, and perhaps even a pension, among other things.”

For those who are aiming to get their hands on more than just the average Social Security check, here are three helpful tips.

Delay Filing

It appears that the biggest decision one can make to net a higher monthly payout is to wait until turning seventy to file for Social Security benefits. “Workers planning for their retirement should be aware that retirement benefits depend on age at retirement. If a worker begins receiving benefits before his/her normal (or full) retirement age, the worker will receive a reduced benefit. A worker can choose to retire as early as age sixty-two, but doing so may result in a reduction of as much as thirty percent. Starting to receive benefits after normal retirement age may result in larger benefits. With delayed retirement credits, a person can receive his or her largest benefit by retiring at age seventy,” the Social Security Administration (SSA) notes.

Earn More While Working

Do keep in mind that Social Security benefits are primarily based on lifetime earnings. So, it’s best to always try to beef up one’s annual income. “If you’re not earning that much more than you have in the past, you can … juice your earnings for a few years or a lot of years by taking on a side gig or two. Think about ways you could generate more income that seem at least a little appealing. Maybe drive for a ride-sharing service on the weekends? Rent out your home or apartment now and then? Make and sell things online—like jewelry, crocheted items, candles, photographs, etc.? Do some freelance or contractor work? There are many possibilities,” the financial site writes.

Have a High-Earning Spouse

Spouses can have a huge impact on how much a senior will receive in their Social Security checks. This is true “when you're both receiving benefits, they will be more sizable due to your spouse’s bigger checks. If your partner dies before you, your household will go from two Social Security checks to just one—but you won’t be stuck with your smaller one. You’re allowed to start receiving the larger of the two from that point on,” writes The Motley Fool. 

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters

With mass civil protests against this week’s military coup planned for Saturday in Sudan, the UN Secretary-General has a simple message: “I urge the military to show restraint, and not to create any more victims.” 

Stephen Silver

North Korea, Asia

North Korea, facing potential economic devastation, is considering at least partially reopening its border with China. 

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea has taken extraordinary efforts to keep its border with China closed. While North Korea has claimed throughout the pandemic that it has zero cases of the coronavirus, its regime appears to have long been fearful that the virus could cross the border from China. 

Now, a new report says that North Korea, facing potential economic devastation, is considering at least partially reopening its border with China. 

According to Yonhap News Agency, the North Korean regime “appears to be making earnest preparations to reopen its train routes with China after a period of COVID-19-induced border controls.” 

This would follow the reopening of sea routes for the receipt of medical supplies. 

A spokesperson for South Korea’s unification ministry told Yonhap that the South Korean government “has detected signs indicating preparations for a trade resumption in the regions bordering China, such as the construction of a quarantine facility.” South Korea’s assessment is based on intelligence from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), which also reported that the North Koreans are talking with China and Russia to continue train operations.

“It’s hard to predict the exact date of their resumption. We will continue closely monitoring related movements,” the South Korea spokesperson told Yonhap. 

The report also said that, as Kim Jong-un’s tenth anniversary in power approaches, the regime has “removed portraits of Kim’s father and grandfather, former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, respectively, from the backdrop of official meetings in an apparent move to depart from the shadow of his predecessors.”

The regime has also begun using the term “Kimjongunism,” as a successor to Kimilsungism and Kimjongilism, as South Korean intelligence has determined, per Yonhap. 

Also, this week, a UN General Assembly committee approved three separate resolutions related to North Korea, including one demanding the “complete, verifiable and irreversible” abandonment of its nuclear program. 

“Other provisions would have the Assembly reaffirm its commitment to the complete, verifiable, and irreversible abandonment of all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), in accordance with relevant Security Council resolutions,” a summary quoted by Yonhap said. 

“The Assembly would reiterate its condemnation of the six nuclear tests conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions and urge that country’s full compliance… it would welcome all efforts and dialogue to that end, including inter‑Korean summits and summits between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the summary continued.

The resolution was rebuked by a North Korean delegate, the report said. The resolutions come as a push is underway for an end of the Korean war declaration.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters

A rash of robbings, kidnappings, and even killings is aggravating Afghanistan’s dire situation.

The United States and its allies need to do more than talk about democracy; they must act to defend it.

Ethen Kim Lieser

Coronavirus,

It could be caused by overconfidence and America’s poor vaccination numbers. 

Recent data indicate that new coronavirus infections in the United States have plunged nearly sixty percent since the September spike that was brought on by the highly contagious Delta variant.

However, there are still several states that are struggling to handle rising cases, especially as colder weather brings more people indoors and may make viral transmission much easier. The complacency that comes with improved data combined with the still high numbers of unvaccinated Americans could, in fact, help start a deadly fifth wave of the virus, according to Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

“Just remember that sixty-five million Americans who could be vaccinated right now are not. That is more than enough human wood for this coronavirus forest fire to burn. So, we’ll see when the case numbers come down with this surge, just as we have with the previous surges,” Osterholm noted in a recent interview on Minnesota Public Radio.

“And you may recall last spring that I thought the darkest days of the pandemic were ahead of us. And we were facing that June period when everybody said, ‘Oh, it’s done.’ We’ve got vaccines, hardly any cases—and then look what happened. Well, that's going to happen again because you have places like New York City, L.A., and other large metropolitan areas with lots of people. … I can’t say this enough times: If you are not vaccinated, this virus will find you. And you will know a COVID-19-related outcome. We could see again major activity. (It could be this) winter, next spring, I don’t know when but it’s not done. It is not done. The one thing that will help us get it done is to get vaccinated,” he continued.

Osterholm is also a strong proponent of booster shots, saying that they “are absolutely a part of the future. When you think about what we’ve done with these vaccines over the course of the last eighteen to twenty months … these vaccines are really incredible, but they’re not perfect.”

COVID Becoming Endemic?

As to whether COVID-19 will eventually become endemic like the seasonal flu, Osterholm stated that he believes “that will happen … [but] I don’t know when.”

“Every morning I get up I scrape those five inches of crusted mud off my crystal ball. And every day, it seems cloudier and cloudier. If we see a major change and variant, and they do something different than they’re doing now, that could surely cloud the picture of: When does it just become like flu? Like every year, we have some cases, we may have some moderate increase in cases,” Osterholm added.

“But that is not what it’s doing now. I think we forget about the fact of just what damage this virus has done with over the seven hundred thousand deaths that have occurred—one out of every five hundred Americans has died from this virus. That’s amazing when we look at the fact that there are now over a hundred forty thousand kids in this country who have been orphaned, or whose sole caregiver has died, because of COVID-19,” he concluded.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.