WORLD ROUNDUPThe Road to Critical Mineral Security | Chinese Spies Are Targeting Access, Not Race | Rift With Canada Puts Spotlight on India’s Security Services, and more
· The Road to Critical Mineral Security Leads through Australia
Washington and Canberra can partner to ensure safer and more reliable critical and rare earth mineral supply chains
· Where the Wargames Weren’t: Assessing 10 Years of U.S.-Chinese Military Assessments
Two major schools of prescriptive thought have evolved on how to respond in case of Chinese aggression in the Western Pacific
· Will the Russia-Ukraine War lead to World War III?
So far, the conflict has remained within manageable bounds for the international community, but the prospect of further conflagration is not far off
· Taiwan Is Using Generative AI to Fight Chinese Disinfo
But LLM models will enable new adversaries as well as allies, top intelligence official warns
· US Denies ‘Wedge’ in Canada Ties After Refusing to Condemn Terrorist’s Killing
Canada and its Five Eyes partners do not agree on who was behind Sikh killing in Canada
· Rift With Canada Puts Spotlight on India’s Security Services
Trudeau’s accusations suggest New Delhi’s intelligence operatives could lead it down a dark path
· How Germany’s Extreme Right Seized on the Martial Arts Scene
Festivals or tournament organizers market their events in a way that makes them hard to distinguish from normal combat sports tournaments
· Chinese Spies Are Targeting Access, Not Race
Implying China mostly uses ethnically Chinese assets is both wrong and dangerous
The Road to Critical Mineral Security Leads through Australia (John Coyne and Henry Campbell, National Interest)
t is commonplace to observe that Beijing enjoys control over much of the globe’s rare earth and critical mineral extraction and processing industries. China built this dominance over two decades and is unwilling to give it up. On the other hand, America’s critical minerals supply chains feature extensive vulnerabilities that private enterprise cannot resolve independently. The U.S. government faces a daunting challenge in establishing resilient, competitive, and alternative critical mineral supply chains immune to disruptions and economic coercion.
The United States must cooperate with its allies on critical minerals for two reasons. First, its industries have expansive demands that cannot be met by increased domestic production alone. Second, it does not possess enough mines and accessible deposits of all the critical minerals industry needs.
The U.S. economy’s already extensive critical minerals demand will grow almost exponentially in the coming decades. Demand for lithium, a crucial input in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, is projected to increase by 4,000 percent in the coming decades.
Where the Wargames Weren’t: Assessing 10 Years of U.S.-Chinese Military Assessments (Matthew Tetreau, War on the Rocks)
Over the past 10 years, the U.S. defense community has produced a tremendous volume of analytical work on the military balance between the United States and China. Think tanks, scholars, and military institutions have weighed in, contributing valuable insights. Unsurprisingly, though, there remain noteworthy disagreements, gaps, and unquestioned assumptions within this vast body of research. Highlighting and addressing these points will help the United States better meet the challenge it faces in the Indo-Pacific.
Two major schools of prescriptive thought have evolved on how to respond in case of Chinese aggression in the Western Pacific. Those in the “direct approach” camp favor penetration of anti-access/area denial systems to enable U.S. forces to contribute directly to the conflict. Adherents of the “indirect approach” favor a variety of peripheral strategies to frustrate Chinese aims, hold assets at risk, or apply pressure through various means outside of the main theater of operations. Recognizing these schools can help sharpen the debate between them. This will benefit U.S. policymakers seeking to craft the optimal strategy while possibly creating further ambiguity for those seeking to craft a response in Beijing. (Cont.)
