OSPREY ALLIES IN ACTION: A USMC MV-22B Osprey and a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force V-22 Osprey conduct aerial maneuvers at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, July 9, 2019.

UP TO THEIR NECKS: U.S. Navy sailors conduct damage control training at the Basic Shipboard Damage Control Wet Trainer located at Naval Station Mayport, Florida. Wet –yes, and claustrophobic. But this is the type of training that saves damaged ships.

ANOTHER WAY TO COUNTER CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD IMPERIALISM: Jeff Goodson says we’re in a New Cold War that requires strategic thinking “analogous” to Cold War containment. The Belt and Road initiative requires pushback because it’s “debt-trap diplomacy.”

Smart thinking isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when most people contemplate Washington. But while China puts lipstick on its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, smart thinking on what to do about it is starting to settle in.

He cites Burma as an example of the kind of State Dept./USAID “SWAT team” pushback needs to employ:

…at the tactical level, one of the best ideas in years has been operationalized by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Under the leadership of Administrator Mark Green, USAID recently pulled together a high-octane team of interagency technical specialists to help the government of Burma review plans for a multibillion-dollar Chinese-funded deep water port and industrial zone. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the team included USAID and State Department economists, diplomats and lawyers working as a public investment planning SWAT team of sorts. UK and Australian expertise also worked on the effort.

Read the entire essay.

BEIJING’S DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST HONG KONG’S PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT: My latest Creators Syndicate column (bumped).

VERY RELATED: Michael Yon’s latest report — Hong Kong protests straight, no chaser.

WARTHOG ON THE HUNT: Fine photo of an Air National Guard A-10 Thunderbolt II getting in a little target practice at Idaho’s Orchard Combat Training Center.

A VIPER ON ITS WAY TO WORK: A USMC AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter takes off from the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. The ship is passing through the Strait of Hormuz– which means Iran is nearby. Note the Light Assault Vehicle (LAV) on the deck. That seems to be a standard procedure. Here’s a LAV on the deck of the USS Wasp. I put this photo up on Instapundit earlier in the month. At the earlier post you’ll find a link to a discussion about Iranian small boat “swarm” tactics.

WHAT HATH HONG KONG’S PROTESTS WROUGHT?: China is the Pentagon’s “number 1 priority” says Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Of course those fake islands filching territory in the South China Sea and Beijing’s pervasive spying and intellectual property theft (theft of American creativity) factor in America’s military and economic response to China’s aggressive expansionism.

My latest Creators Syndicate column examines the disinformation campaign Beijing is waging against Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

DEEP BACKGROUND: Chapter 3, Cocktails from Hell. The Dragon Revives. Beijing’s cocktail from hell of intimidation and lies isn’t working out as the ChiCom leaders thought it would.

NIGHT RICOCHETS, CAPE COD: Soldiers from the 1058th Transportation Company, Massachusetts National Guard, conduct a night base defense live-fire exercise under the illumination of a green flare. Photo taken August 1st, 2019.

HONG KONG CRISIS CONTINUES: Demonstrators confront Beijing’s disinformation campaign –including fake tweets. Remember, all the demonstrators ask is that Beijing honor the Sino-British Declaration of 1984 which guaranteed a distinct system of rule until 2047.

BREAKING NEWS: Check out Michael Yon’s website for his video updates. He posted his latest video today, a report on the civil unrest at Yuen Long train station.

RELATED: A recent StrategyPage.com podcast which analyzes the Hong Kong demonstrations and provides background on the crisis.

SNAPSHOT FROM 2008: The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk anchors in Victoria Harbor, preparing for a port call in Hong Kong. Good photo — it caught the city in in the background.

LIGHTNING IN NORTHERN LIGHTNING: An F-35A participating in exercise Northern Lightning takes off from an airbase in Wisconsin.

BUFF OVER THE PACIFIC: A USAF B-52 flies over the Pacific Ocean July 14, near the coast of Brisbane, Australia, after being refueled by a USAF KC-10 Extender in support of Exercise Talisman Sabre 19.

SWIMMER COMING UP: A Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crew conducts a search and rescue demonstration in San Diego August 10, 2019.

AT-4 LIVE FIRE IN KUWAIT: The lance corporal’s photo captures the moment — missile trail and back blast.

THE POWERLINE SPOTLIGHT STAYS ON ILHAN OMAR: And well it should, for the mainstream media would rather ignore her crimes. Scott Johnson aptly describes her technique for deflecting questions: “…her modus operandi has consisted of nonresponse responses combined with imputations of bigotry.” Why of course — she attempts to intimidate and silence legitimate questions and discussion.

DEEP BACKGROUND FOR DEALING WITH AUTHORITARIAN CROOKS: For two weeks I’ve meant to link to this essay by Scott, titled “No Apology for Raymond Sebond.” It’s a very well-informed essay on free speech and the threat of leftist thought control.

ARMORED VEHICLE FIRING FROM THE SHIP DECK: Marines assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) fire a Light Armored Vehicle’s M242 Bushmaster 25mm chain gun from the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. They are participating in a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force drill. The armored vehicle’s 25mm chain gun can be an effective weapon when defending against small boat attacks (like those favored by Iran in the Persian Gulf).

RELATED: A post from 2017 discussing Iranian small boat “swarm” tactics. The post focuses on the USAF A-10 as an anti-swarm weapon, but mentions the Navy is putting more 25mm autocannons and .50 caliber machine guns aboard its ships.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE ARCTIC: Diplomatically countering Russian and Chinese threats to Arctic real estate. Hey, Communist China now claims to be a “near-Arctic state.” I kid you not. From my column: “…(China) dubbing itself “near Arctic” sounds like diplomatic preparation for taking that (South China Sea fake island) scheme to the North Pole.”

CHINA CONTINUES TO THREATEN HONG KONG: People’s Liberation Army armored personnel carriers move to the border. That’s a mechanized infantry message.

UPDATE: Business Insider publishes a photo of Peoples’ Armed Police armor on the border. Appears the photo came from a propaganda video clip. The site also has some imagery taken by civilian observers. So it’s PAP armor, not PLA. What’s the PAP? Here’s a StrategyPage post from 2012 discussing the outfit’s operations in Xinjiang province.

From that “old” post:

In China, the line between the armed forces and the police is sometimes blurred. A perfect example of this is the 660,000 personnel of the People’s Armed Police (PAP). Technically, the Armed Police is an armed force that undertakes social security duties as well as the enforcement of law and order within the country. It’s not that simple. While there are about 1.4 million local police, for emergencies (a frequent event in Xinjiang) you call the PAP. This paramilitary force will quickly smother the unrest but it won’t solve the underlying problems.

This post from 2017 updates the 2012 post and discusses PAP’s special operations forces, to include the elite Snow Leopards.

RELATED: Strategypage’s latest podcast on the Hong Kong’s crisis provides background and context. If you like it please subscribe. (bumped)

ALSO RELATED: Hong Kong challenges Xi’s authoritarianism. (bumped)

1ST INFANTRY DIVISION TANKS MANEUVER IN GEORGIA: The country, not the state. This photo shows three tanks preparing for a platoon live fire exercise at a Georgian military training area. Note the rolling, open plains. Nice wild flowers, too.

RELATED: Per a query about the Pentagon’s photo caption, The End of the American Tank Battalion.

TOO MUCH DEMOCRACY CAN BE FATAL: Strategypage’s latest podcast on Hong Kong’s crisis. If you like it please subscribe.

VERY RELATED: Hong Kong challenges Xi’s authoritarianism.

According to the latest Jamestown Foundation China brief, China’s moribund economy presents Xi and the entire CCP with “immense difficulties.” The report cites two telling examples. Chinese information technology companies “are having trouble obtaining core components” from the U.S. and Western countries. Consumer spending is listless due to “unprecedented levels of household debt, which is estimated at 52 percent of GDP.”

Read the whole thing.

CHINA: Debts coming due.

…major protests began in 2014 when China imposed restrictions on who could get elected to the Hong Kong government. China was seen as trying to ensure than only pro-China people were running Hong Kong and that was not popular with the locals.

The government is currently waiting out the protestors and refusing to meet any of their demands. Even the extradition law is still waiting to be revived, rather than completely withdrawn as protestors demanded. The current cycle of protests began on June 4th when Hong Kong was the only place in China were large groups could gather to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Hong Kong is the only place in China where you can do a lot of things.

Read the entire assessment.

RELATED: China’s Great Oppressor reality subverts its great power aspirations.

HARD LEFT TURN IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC: The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its escorts turn in formation.

CHINA’S GREAT OPPRESSOR REALITY SUBVERTS ITS GREAT POWER ASPIRATIONS

LIGHTNING IN ARIZONA: Well, five F-35A Lightnings at Luke AFB, Arizona.

RAPTOR ABOVE A WALL OF FIRE: An F-22 makes a high speed pass over a 1,000 foot-long wall of fire. The explosion simulates live ordnance.

BLACK SEA COMBAT CRAFT: A U.S. Navy Combat Craft, Medium (aka Combatant Craft, Medium) assigned to Special Operations Command participates in exercise Trojan Footprint on the Black Sea. Photo taken June 13, 2019. Trojan Footprint is an annual special operations forces exercise sponsored by SOCOM.