WORLD ROUNDUPBritain Considers Israel-Style ‘Iron Dome’ for Missile Defense | North Korea’s Military Might Means Tough Choices for South Korea | Congress Helps Steer Taiwan Toward the ‘Porcupine Strategy’, and more
· Britain Considers Israel-Style ‘Iron Dome’ for Missile Defense
Chief of the defense staff reveals ‘live conversations’ on how Britain can shield itself from growing threats
· China’s Spy Satellites Pose Threat to Taiwan, warn Space Chiefs
World’s second-largest economy has pumped billions of dollars into its space program to catch up with the US and Russia
· U.S. Fixation on Nuclear Deal Let Iran Loose on the Middle East
Washington’s shortsighted policies enabled Tehran and its proxies to destabilize the region
· Congress Helps Steer Taiwan Toward the ‘Porcupine Strategy’
The national security bill gives Biden more leverage to tell Taiwan what weapons to buy
· Stronger Alliance or Nuclear Weapons? North Korea’s Military Might Means Tough Choices for South Korea
North Korea’s recent escalation in rhetoric, declaring South Korea as its “principal enemy,” may not signal an imminent military threat. Still, it does indicate a strategic shift with significant implications for regional stability
Britain Considers Israel-Style ‘Iron Dome’ for Missile Defense (Larisa Brown, The Times)
British defense chiefs are having “live conversations” about developing an “Iron Dome” missile defense system, the head of the armed forces has said.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defense staff, revealed that discussions were taking place about how best to protect the country from attack.
Israel’s short-range Iron Dome system is the world’s best-known interceptor system and has proved vital against incoming rockets, saving thousands of lives.
China’s Spy Satellites Pose Threat to Taiwan, warn Space Chiefs (Larisa Brown, The Times)
Beijing has tripled the number of its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites in orbit to 350 in six years as it develops military capabilities in space at a “breathtaking” speed, the head of the US Space Command has said.
Describing China as the US’s top “pacing challenge”, General Stephen Whiting said that Beijing had used “space capabilities to improve the lethality, the precision and the range of [its] terrestrial forces”.
He added: “Frankly, China is moving at breathtaking speed in space and they are rapidly developing a range of counter-space weapons to hold at risk our space capabilities.”
U.S. Fixation on Nuclear Deal Let Iran Loose on the Middle East (Lina Khatib, Foreign Affairs)
As the Obama administration was negotiating its deals,Iran was also developing its ballistic missile program. But none of these developments shifted Washington’s focus away from the objective of the nuclear deal. Once again, U.S. and Iranian perceptions varied greatly.
Washington’s logic was that nuclear enrichment was the greatest threat that Iran was posing in the Middle East—and the U.S. side theorized that cooperation on this issue, in return for lifting sanctions, would build trust. This trust, according to Washington, would then be the basis upon which Iran could be engaged on other issues such as its missile program and its interventions in the Middle East. This misplaced hope not only failed to account for Iranian political realities, but it was also shortsighted in allowing Iran to expand both its missile program and regional interventions.
This myopic fixation of the Obama years is today repeated by the Biden administration, which has been similarly focused on the nuclear deal while largely ignoring Iran’s other destabilizing activities. (Cont.)
