News of the Force: Sunday, August 27, 2017 - Page 1

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Sunday, August 27, 2017 - Today is Lyndon B. Johnson Day in Texas

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Maduro vows to 'punish' opponents

    

    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to prosecute for treason opponents he accused of being behind the sweeping new U.S. sanctions.

    Maduro has summoned the holders of Venezuelan bonds to a meeting with Economy Minister Ramon Lobo this week to discuss the effects of the sanctions.

    And Venezuela held nationwide armed forces exercises yesterday, calling on civilians to join reserve units to defend against "a U.S. invasion."

 

Hash and high explosives

    Jihadis in Europe appear to now be linked up with well-organized criminal networks - a nightmare scenario for future carnage.

 

Tal Afar about to fall, Iraq's military says

    

    The Iraqi army and Shi'ite Popular Mobilization forces fought the Islamic State yesterday in Tal Afar.

    France will help reconstruction and reconciliation efforts in Iraq as it emerges from a war against Islamic State, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday after talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad.

 

Man shot after stabbing Belgian soldier

    A man has been shot dead after attacking soldiers with a machete in Brussels, Belgium, in what prosecutors are treating as a terror attack.

 

Spain's king joins protest march

    Hundreds of thousands of people in Barcelona have marched against the militant Islamists who left 15 people dead in and around the city last week.

Peace marchers flooded the heart of Barcelona yesterday shouting "I'm not afraid."

    The Barcelona police say about 500,000 people have joined an anti-violence march under tight security protesting last week's deadly attacks.

 

London's police arrest man with 4-foot sword

    

    The London Metropolitan Police interrogated a man yesterday who had been detained near Buckingham Palace while driving with a four-foot sword in his car and shouting “Allahu Akbar."

 

China promotes army general

    China's military has promoted an army general who led the fight against Vietnam in their 1979 border war.

 

Tropical storm hits Hong Kong and Macau

    Tropical Storm Pakhar brought strong winds and heavy rain to Hong Kong and Macau today, just four days after one of the strongest typhoons on record, Hato, caused serious flooding and damage in the territories.

    The glitzy exterior of Macau crumbled after a super typhoon steamrolled through the gambling center, exposing critical infrastructure flaws and overwhelming emergency services.

 

Blind Israeli bowler wins world championship

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    The 60 year old bowling champion was blinded in a mine explosion in the Golan Heights during army reserve duty in 1986, when he was a 28-year-old newlywed.

    Palestinians are threatening to "blow up" the peace process after U.S. President Donald Trump with of American foreign policy by refusing to commit to a "two-state" solution.

    "Project Common Sounds" is using music to foster coexistence by bringing together Arab and Jewish youth choirs.

 

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    Couzin Gym's Thought for the Day: Have you ever wondered why they don't treat pyromaniacs with anti-inflammatory drugs?

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U.S. Army

    

    Secretary of Defense James Mattis gave an off-the-cuff speech to a group of deployed soldiers giving them some advice and thanking them for their service while on his trip abroad.

    An American service member remains missing after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Yemen on Friday in what U.S. military officials are calling a training accident.

    Soldiers from Company B, 2nd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, have test-fired their helicopters' guns at the Cincu Training Area in Romania.

    Early County High School, in Dothan, Ala., has honored United States Army 1st Lt and Blufton, Ga.., resident Weston C. Lee, who died in April defending our country.

    The ribbon was cut last week for a $12 million upgrade to a U.S. Army Reserve building at Fort Totten, in Bronx, N.Y.

    The U.S. Army Materiel Command has announced the recipients of the Louis Dellamonica Award for outstanding AMC Personnel of the Year for 2016.

    An American journalist has been killed in civil war-torn South Sudan, the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Army said yesterday.

    In the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey, the Arizona Army National Guard has sent four helicopters and their crews to Texas. And At the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott more than 1,300 members of the Texas Army National Guard have been deployed to the Coastal Bend area.

    Oregon Army National Guard helicopters have dropped nearly 700,000 gallons of water on the Chetco Bar Fire.

    Soldiers with the Montana Army National Guard were recently activated to assist with firefighting operations at the Meyers Fire in southwest Montana.

    South Carolina Army National Guard soldiers deployed for Afghanistan yesterday following a rousing deployment send-off.

    And Exercise Resolute Castle particularly focuses on engineer skill sets, deploying active Navy, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard engineer units.

 

Homeland insecurity

    

    The arrest of 30 Chinese and Mexican nationals who had entered the country without authorization has led U.S. Border Patrol agents to uncover a clandestine tunnel spanning the U.S. border.

    Almost a month after John Kelly left his post atop the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to become the White House chief of staff, President Trump delayed picking a new DHS chief.

    Department of Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan has denied reports that the department had made any recommendations on the DACA to the president.

    And President Trump has signed an order directing the Pentagon to reverse its transgender policy. The order also affects the Department of Homeland Security, which contains the Coast Guard.

 

JCS chief attends Scottish Tattoo

     

    U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford used his invite to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland to visit British bases in the area and speak with senior United Kingdom defense leaders on a wide range of defense topics.The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was invited months ago by his U.K. counterpart, British Chief of the Defense Staff Air Chief Marshal Stuart Peach, to visit the tattoo and take the salute from the British units participating in the event.

    "I didn't realize how big the tattoo was when I accepted," Dunford said during an interview on a flight back to Washington, D.C. "I learned."

    The tattoo ceremony is held at the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the month of August, and more than 210,000 attend the event with about 100 million viewing the event on TV, according to news reports.

    Earlier yesterday, Dunford met with British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon and Peach to discuss a full range of issues from the South Asia strategy to the situation in East Asia - specifically North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. "Both from my trip and the positive rhetoric that is coming out of Beijing is that the economic and political pressure is having an effect," Dunford said. "It remains to be seen if the campaign will be successful, but there are indications that things are heading in the right direction."

    Chinese officials told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that if he launched a missile toward Guam, he was on his own. China surprised the world by voting for sanctions against North Korea in the U.N. Security Council and now appears to be enforcing those sanctions, Dunford said. Still, it is "much too early," he said. "You can't measure enforcement sanctions in weeks, but again the rhetoric has been positive from Beijing."

    Dunford also discussed opportunities for continued military-to-military engagement between the United States and the U.K. "We obviously have a very strong relationship with the U.K., and they are with us in Iraq and Afghanistan," Dunford said.

    The chairman visited the future HMS Prince of Wales - a Royal Navy aircraft carrier being built in Rosyth, Scotland. The British ship will field American-built F-35B Lightning II aircraft. "Any future fight is going to require a coalition, and interoperability is a critical and fundamental element of alliance and coalition warfare," Dunford said. "This reflects the close nature of the alliance and bodes well for the interoperability."

    The chairman received positive feedback from the British leaders on the new strategy for South Asia announced earlier this week. "It is fair to say that all of the nations that are currently contributing to the Resolute Support Mission, and certainly all of the nations who have been there since the very beginning like the U.K., have received the strategy well," Dunford said. Coalition allies tell Dunford they believe the conditions-based approach is the right approach, "and that it will allow us all to have a longer-term horizon to assure our Afghan partners of our continuing support," he said. The strategy helps Afghan President Ashraf Ghani with his four-year plan to deal with corruption issues and economic development. "Instead of a one-year-at-a-time campaign, we can start to take a longer term approach and have confidence that the resources necessary to implement this longer term approach will be there," the chairman said.

    In addition to the British allies, Dunford spoke with other NATO allies, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Czech Gen. Petr Pavel, and other close partners. He noted that U.S. Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, Eucom's commander and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, has also spoken to allies, as has U.S. Army Gen. Joe Votel, the U.S. Central Command's chief.

    "We’ve touched a lot of people this week and there has been universal support for the approach we are taking," the chairman said.

 

U.S. Air Force

    

    The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has clinched two awards during its participation in the United States Air Force-hosted air combat exercise.

    Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Khaled bin Salman has met with Saudi fighter pilots at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

    An Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) commander has used every part of his body to pull a 190-ton U.S. Air Force plane five meters by himself at the "Thunder Over Dover" air show in Connecticut.

    A month after thousands of citizens died on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. Air Force Major Andrew Becker decided to enlist. Now, after Becker was killed in a crash, he's being honored in his hometown on Novi, Mich.

    U.S. Air Force planes monitored the skies over the Gulf of Mexico on Friday as Hurricane Harvey approached the Texas coastline. Members of the Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron have been tracking Hurricane Harvey for more than a week.

    Personnel, aircraft and watercraft from the Suffolk County-based 106th Rescue Wing of the New York Air National Guard deployed to Texas yesterday. The state is deploying 104 New York Air National Guard members, airplanes and boats to aid the hurricane victims in Texas and Louisiana.

    Fifty-one Nebraska Air National Guard airmen from the Lincoln-based 155th Air Refueling Wing were welcomed home form their overseas deployment yesterday.

    The Massachusetts Air National Guard's 101st Intelligence Squadron has celebrated its 100 years of service at Joint Base Cape Cod.

    And officials with the Civil Air Patrol provided eclipse resource support last week for the Idaho Office of Emergency Management.

 

Ten-day march to begin tomorrow

    

    Activists are set to start a 10-day march from Charlottesville, Va., to Washington, D.C., tomorrow to confront white supremacy and demand President Trump's removal from office.

    President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are courting an economic catastrophe with a standoff over how to raise the debt limit.

    Sebastian Gorka has been ousted from his job as a White House aide. "Questions remain," an aide said, about whether Gorka's wife, Katie Gorka, an official at the Department of Homeland Security, would stay at her job.

    The President and "Team Trump" are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of our brave sailors who were injured and lost after a tragic collision at sea, as well as to those conducting the search and recovery efforts after USS John S. McCain collided with a merchant ship.

    Last weekend, the President signed the Global War on Terrorism War Memorial Act while at Camp David, Md. This bill begins the process of establishing a memorial honoring those who have fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 and those still fighting for us today. We must never forget those who pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.

    In an address to the nation last Monday, President Trump made it clear he has no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people. Since the very first day of his administration he has taken decisive action to protect our citizens, our country, and our very way of life. The President announced a new strategy for South Asia to ensure that terrorists will never use Afghanistan again as a sanctuary to enable attacks against the United States. The President said it best in his historic speech: "From now on, victory will have a clear definition: attacking our enemies, obliterating ISIS, crushing al-Qaida, preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against America before they emerge."

    The main base of operations for the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Ariz., received a visit from President Trump last week. He's following through on his promise to the American people to build a wall to secure the southern border and the Yuma Sector is a clear example of how effective that wall will be. Illegal border crossings in the Yuma Sector have declined by 70 percent since they first built more than 50 miles of border wall in 2006. The President evaluated personnel and the state-of-the-art equipment used to secure our border, as well as the morale of U.S. Border Patrol, with whom he has a very special bond.

    And last week, President Trump was thrilled to be back in Phoenix, Ariz., with thousands of hard-working American patriots that helped put him in office! The President delivered a powerful speech, reminding his Arizona supporters that he is fully committed to fight for them until the job is done. Now more than ever, the President believes that we can do anything, build anything, and dream anything.

 

 

 

 

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