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interests can be best served through strategic engagement with its allies, on this issue as elsewhere. In particular, part of the military challenge posed by China might be answered by turning to its longtime ally Japan and firming up one of the most intrinsic aspects of the United States-Japan alliance: warfighting.

SolarWinds Cyber Attack Reveals Risks of Accidental Nuclear War (Rachel Traczyk, National Interest)

·  “Experts are now claiming that the recently discovered cyberattack on the software manufacturing company SolarWinds has potentially become one of the greatest surveillance attacks against the United States in history.”

·  “One of the many victims of this attack is Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico, a government facility famous for the production of nuclear weapons, and a terrifying example of the type of target that could result in an accidental nuclear war.”

·  “It’s hard to tell how often and how long hackers were openly browsing governmental agencies and websites. It’s even harder to tell how much information they were able to access and what will be done with that information. In the case of Los Alamos Laboratories, Russian hackers had open access to a governmental entity that is actively producing nuclear weapons. Luckily, there wasn’t a threat of the hack directly leading to a launch. However, … [t]here is always a possibility of a fake ‘under attack’ alert that could lead to a dangerous escalation. … Top personnel would have to make a momentary decision to either retaliate and launch a nuclear weapon or take the time to consider that the threat might be false. This decision would be most likely made before a nuclear weapon is even detonated on their territory.”

·  “[E]ven if nuclear command and control operations remain secure from cyberattacks … this lack of checks and balances creates other cyber vulnerabilities.”

·  “Nuclear weapons are not just an issue of the 1950s… The security measures that govern them are outdated and risky. Improving our cybersecurity is key, but safer policies are what is truly crucial. The new Biden administration and incoming Congress could pass a No First Use Policy… That would mitigate the threat of a false first strike that hacks make eerily possible.”

You Can’t Blame Russia for Trump  (Natalia Antonova, Foreign Policy)

·  “Realistically, the Russian government is always going to want to take advantage of turmoil on American soil. The country has a long history of exploiting violent U.S. racism. Putin made use of Trump and is bound to keep taking advantage of the divisions Trump has encouraged. The Capitol assault was grist for Russian propagandists’ mill, even if they didn’t actually incite it. The Biden presidency is a fresh start but isn’t going to make this kind of Russian hostility simply go away. That’s why a sensible wariness about Russian efforts can’t hurt.”

·  “At the same time, the United States can’t heal from the Trump years while heaping blame on Russia every time something goes wrong, and certainly not if Americans keep comparing our internal woes to Russia’s own history of instability.”

·  “Instead, it’s more helpful to think of elite convergence—Trump started resembling a post-Soviet dictator because corrupt, wealthy nihilists tend to have similar values and outlooks on life. They value power for the sake of it, and see the nation state as simply a vast collection of financial resources for them and their families to plunder.”

·  “By electing Biden, the United States committed itself, at least in the short term, to a different path. It’s an option that other countries haven’t been lucky enough to enjoy. But the almost-peaceful transition of power turned out to be far more fragile a tradition than Americans thought. Seeking foreign scapegoats instead of tackling domestic enemies won’t fix that problem.”

The Case for a Third Reconstruction(Manisha Sinha, New York Review of Books)
The enduring lesson of American history is that the republic is always in danger when white supremacist sedition and violence escape justice.