Author: Defenceline Webdesk

The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Dr. Xiaobing Li – professor of history and the Don Betz Endowed Chair of International Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma and author of  “China’s Mahan: Admiral Liu Huaqing and the Rise of the Modern Chinese Navy” (Naval Institute Press 2026) – is the 508th in “The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series.”   Describe the influence of the 19th century U.S. Navy strategist Alfred Mahan on Admiral Liu Huaqing, the commander of China’s…

A senior Lashkar‑e‑Taiba terrorist, Mir Shukr Khan Raisani, has been found dead under mysterious circumstances in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.Sources confirmed on Tuesday that Raisani, long regarded as a key operative in Lashkar’s recruitment and radicalisation machinery, was targeted and killed by unidentified assailants.Pakistani authorities have yet to issue an official statement clarifying the circumstances of his death, leaving speculation rife about whether this was the result of internal rivalries, separatist violence, or a covert strike against the group’s leadership.Raisani’s role within Lashkar was significant. He was considered one of the principal architects of cadre‑building operations in…

Wellisz and Gilder, Chronicles Far from the “

WASHINGTON — The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday cleared three bills that would speed up the process for countries seeking to buy US weaponry, but voted down one measure that would have loosened restrictions on Foreign Military Financing (FMF) dollars. That bill — which would have allowed any country to use FMF to buy US weaponry through direct commercial sales — was taken down in a 23-23 vote after two Republicans, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry and Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, sided with the Democrats. FMF funding are dollars which are given out as grants to foreign countries, with the…

Although Americans generally trust AI less than, say, Chinese people, they are often willing to accept a chatbot’s wrong answers. As Pentagon leaders push broader use of such tools, a new paper offers some reassuring news: West Point cadets can be trained to be more appropriately skeptical of AI’s output—while remaining broadly optimistic about its potential.  Researchers from Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Military Academy published a paper last week comparing 236 West Point cadets to a demographically similar sample of 702 members of the public. The paper explores automation bias—humans’ tendency to over-rely on automation—and algorithm…

Xi Jinping’s 2023 pledge to invite 50,000 young Americans to China over five years should be read against a China-U.S. educational exchange landscape that has become increasingly uneven and more politically visible. According to Open Doors, 265,919 Chinese students studied in the United States in 2024-25. By contrast, the latest available figure for American study abroad in China was 1,749 students in 2023-24, down from more than 11,600 in both 2017-18 and 2018-19.  The two figures are not perfect mirrors of one another because Chinese enrollment in the United States and American study abroad in China measure different kinds of…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described Russia–India relations as a deep, trust-based and long-standing strategic partnership, emphasising that the bond extends far beyond oil and defence cooperation.In a wide-ranging interview with RT India, Lavrov traced the origins of bilateral ties back to India’s independence, noting that decades of Soviet-era engagement laid the foundation for today’s privileged strategic partnership.He rejected suggestions that the relationship is primarily driven by energy and military trade, stressing that it encompasses nuclear energy, industrial production, education, and cultural exchange.Lavrov highlighted the evolution of defence cooperation from a simple buyer–seller arrangement into joint production models. He…

Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven Pentagon planners are doubling down on sixth-generation dominance Source link

WASHINGTON — The Air Force now expects an updated vision system for the troubled KC-46 Pegasus air refueler to be ready in “early 2028” amid a broader deal with manufacturer Boeing to boost the tanker’s readiness. According to an Air Force press release published Tuesday, the service and Boeing are pursuing a three-pronged plan to revamp the Pegasus fleet. One effort is focused on “repurposing” five earlier aircraft into “dedicated test assets,” which in turn will free up “high-value spare parts” for operational jets. Secondly, the service will implement a “temporary, performance-based logistics agreement” for the tanker’s “aerial-refueling subsystem and…

Taiwan is everything Donald Trump says he wants in an ally. It is investing unprecedented sums in its own defense, including billions spent on American-made weapons. It manufactures the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips, which power U.S. commercial products and cutting-edge weapons, such as the F-35 stealth fighter.As Trump heads to Beijing this week for a summit with Xi Jinping, the question is whether the U.S. president recognizes that Taiwan is a “model ally”—a term his administration has applied to Israel, South Korea, and other countries—and will resist the temptation to trade its security for Xi’s hollow promises to import more…