BATTLES IN THE INFORMATION AGE: Communist China confronts Hong Kong’s protests.

Tiananmen’s “tiger” continues to stalk the regime.

THE NAVY’S MKVI PATROL BOAT: A MKVI patrol boat from Riverine Squadron 3 trains in San Diego. This Surface Forces update has background on why the USN needs coastal patrol boats in the fleet.

SUDANESE DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS SAY U.S. PRESSURE WAS KEY TO REACHING A TRANSITION DEAL WITH THE RULING MILITARY JUNTA:

From the Associated Press:

The power-sharing agreement reached between Sudan’s military and pro-democracy protesters last week came after the United States and its Arab allies applied intense pressure on both sides amid fears a prolonged crisis could tip the country into civil war, activists and officials said.

The agreement, which raised hopes of a democratic transition following the military overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April, was announced days after the protesters held mass marches through Khartoum and other areas.

But those familiar with the negotiations say the main breakthrough happened at a secret meeting the day before the protests, when diplomats from the U.S., Britain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pressed the two sides to accept proposals from the African Union and Ethiopia.

More:

Two leading activists, a Sudanese military official and two Egyptian officials described intense U.S. efforts to force a deal after veteran diplomat Donald Booth was appointed special envoy in mid-June. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks.

State Department officials declined to comment on U.S. efforts to broker the deal, saying only that Washington welcomes the agreement and commends the AU and Ethiopia for their mediation efforts.

Sounds like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his State Department deserve some kudos.

This new power transition agreement is a positive, but the situation in Sudan is extremely complicated and dangerous. For good reason many Sudanese are very suspicious of the Sudanese military.

Here’s StrategyPage’s latest Sudan update which provides context and useful background information.

DELTA BREAKOUT: The Navy’s Blue Angels perform their Delta Breakout maneuver over the Lincoln Memorial on July 4th.

STAYING ON THE CURIOUS CASE: Scott Johnson of Powerline stays on the curious, nefarious and possibly deviously criminal case of Rep. Ihlan Omar (D-MN). This is Scott’s eighth post in his Loose Threads In the Curious Case series. In this post Scott chastises the Washington Post for covering for Omar — which is what the Minneapolis Star Tribune has been doing for years. Scott has another Omar series, From the Mixed Up Files of Rep. Ilhan Omar. Here’s a post where he questions a Strib editor. This June 12 post is an example of Scott’s own sleuthing. He is starting to get traction from other critical other media. So stay tuned.

RELATED: Turkish media want Turks to support Rep. Ilhan Omar’s campaign. Scan the article and you’ll see the original story appeared in a pro-government media outlet. The JNS article includes a photo of Omar with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

RELATED TO RELATED: About ten days or so ago Erdogan was threatening to go to war in Libya. My Creators Syndicate column from last week tells you what I think of Erdogan, the Ego Sultan.

CROSSING A BRIDGE IN ROMANIA: Four 1st Infantry Division M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles participate in exercise Saber Guardian 19 (Bordusani Romania, June 20, 2019). Meanwhile back in England: A USAF F-15C takes off during exercise Point Blank 19-2 (Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, June 17, 2019).

ABRAMS TANK PHOTOS FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY: Yes, these fine vehicles are suddenly controversial among certain political fashionistas and obnoxious leftist media operatives. The first photo is appropriate to the holiday. A U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams celebrates with some 120 mm fireworks at Ft. Irwin, California. Yes, it’s dug in. I’ll find a few photos with the entire tank. Ah: a 4th Infantry Division M1A2 photographed in the wild. This tank has encountered a wild camel, “somewhere” in CENTCOM’s area of responsibility. Here’s a 1st Infantry Division Abrams tank company (with a couple of other vehicles) moving along a tank trail in Hohenfels, Germany. (I did this at Hohenfels a time or two…or three.) Photo snapped in June 2018. To think those pitiful DC protesters went goosey over a handful of armored vehicles. Tsk. And from Tsk to TUSK. This Abrams tank photo is an educational composite: an M1A2 encircled by its TUSK equipment — Tank Urban Survival Kit. The TUSK is for encountering far more ferocious and competent enemies than idiot leftist demonstrators and CNN reporters on the sidewalks of DC. The real wild: a photo of a 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment tank commander (TC) in his M1A1 Abrams (earlier version) as it patrols Tal Afar, Iraq in 2006. Nice shot in many respects. Note the sergeant’s eyes. I’ll guess he’s glancing back to check on the position of a overwatch tank or infantry fighting vehicle to his rear. There are many possibilities. The photo shows how the fabulous .50 caliber machine gun (Ma Deuce) mounts on an Abrams. One last beau geste. May 2018: A USMC M1A1 Abrams drives into a Finnish sunset.

RELATED: Paul Mirengoff of Power Line destroys “a lefty critic for the Washington Post” who objected to…well, it appears this virtue signaler objects to the U.S. military as well as its vehicles. Here’s a Power Line dagger: “A military display doesn’t politicize the Mall unless you dislike the U.S. military. It’s the left that has politicized the event by using it as yet another means of bashing Trump.” Read the entire post.

TURKISH NEO-SULTAN ERDOGAN THREATENS TO GO TO WAR IN LIBYA: The Turkish president’s threat to intervene in Libya’s anarchic civil war received scant coverage in U.S. media swooning over the Democrats’ gaggle of synthetic candidates. Not so in Europe and the Middle East — for many reasons.

Last week, though his military forces are deeply engaged in next-door Syria’s ruinous civil war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a military campaign in another former Turkish Ottoman Empire colonial possession: Libya.

Don’t dismiss the Ottoman link as a quaint historical reference. Ottoman rule influences contemporary Libyan politics in odd but evident ways. Empire connections have some resonance in 21st-century Turkey. Imperial glory may well have psychological import for the authoritarian Erdogan. His nickname is Sultan Recep.

Ottoman Turkey divided its Libyan colony as two provinces, Tripolitania (west) and Cyrenaica (east). In July 2019 an “eastern” army is attacking Tripoli. Indeed, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica are Roman Empire-era names. Italy, a rising power with visions of neo-Roman glory, invaded Libya in 1911, igniting the Turco-Italian War of 1911-1912. The Ottoman Turks –a declining Great Power– withdrew in 1912.

The obscure Turco-Italian War “was the first in an explosive chain of three little wars involving the Ottoman Empire, a declining great power. The First Balkan War (1912-13) and Second Balkan War (1913) followed. In 1914, World War I erupted, with the Balkan “powder keg” supplying the spark.”

Quaint history?

TRANSITING SUEZ: The amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge passes through the Suez Canal. The transit took place June 23. The ship is heading toward the Indian Ocean and perhaps the Persian Gulf.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN IRAQ:

Reuters reports:

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi issued a decree on Monday heavily curbing the powers of mostly Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias and forcing them to integrate more closely into the formal armed forces.

The militias, which helped Iraqi and U.S.-led international coalition forces to drive out occupying Islamic State militants under an umbrella grouping known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), have broad influence in Iraqi politics.

An electoral alliance made up of militia leaders and fighters came second in a 2018 parliamentary election.

It appears the Iraqi national government finally feels strong enough to confront Iran’s proxies.

StrategyPage.com’s latest Iraq update (published June 26) has useful background on the Iraqi government and Iranian-backed militias.

Sample:

Iran and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) are, in effect, working together to keep Iraq chaotic and mired in violence and corruption. While Iran and ISIL seem like separate problems, they are, in practice, intertwined.

Read the update’s first section, from the June 26 dateline to the June 25 entry.

WASP VISITS SYDNEY: The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp arrives in Sydney for a port visit. Photo taken June 18.

A double feature: A U.S. Army soldier fires a Javelin antitank missile during a field exercise near Varpalota, Hungary. A rather dramatic photo.

PROTECTING F-35 TECHNOLOGY: Voters in Istanbul do their job on Erdogan as the Pentagon begins to “unwind” the Ego-Sultan’s participation in the F-35 program.

PHOTO CATCH-UP FROM MAY: Marines fire a FIM-92 Stinger surface to air missile from a North Carolina beach. The Marine Stinger teams are assigned to the 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion. Photo taken May 21.

COMMAND AND CONTROL IN THE BALTIC SEA: USS Mount Whitney participates in BALTOPS 2019. Good photo of the special purpose ship and its “domes and nests” (antennas) of electronic communication and surveillance equipment.

FATAL FLAW IN ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE PLAN?: Jeff Goodson is a developmental aid advocate with decades of experience in the field.

The Trump administration has just rolled out the economic part of its new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. It will facilitate some $50 billion in socioeconomic development, with over $27 billion going to Gaza and the West Bank. The balance will go to Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.

The plan is nation-building on steroids. It would fund everything from roads, power, water, ICT and border infrastructure, to governance, to health and education, to regional economic integration. It’s big, it’s bold and it’s comprehensive. There’s just one problem. As we’ve learned repeatedly since World War II, development doesn’t buy peace in ethnic and religious wars.

Well worth reading.

READY TO BREACH: 116th Brigade combat engineers position their M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle during a live-fire training exercise at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California.

GOOD NEWS FOR NATO AND FOR THAT MATTER, TURKEY: Turkish voters reject Erdogan’s Ego-Sultan regime.

ATTENTION MEDIA HYSTERICS: Iran’s dictatorship declared war on America 40 years ago.

…Honest commentary on the Trump administration’s 2019 diplomatic, economic and military clash with Iran’s vicious dictatorship requires historical context.

Here’s critical historical Fact One: Since 1979, the year the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his initially broad coalition toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime Khomeini established has been at war with the United States.

It’s my latest Creators Syndicate column.

RELATED: Chapter 5, Cocktails from Hell.

ELUSIVE VIRTUES: Read the whole damn thing.

Why do some parts of the world seem to defy efforts to achieve any degree of unity and peace? Not just for years or decades but for generations and as long as anyone can remember. The worst of these nations (like Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia) seem to actively avoid peace, prosperity and unity and finding solutions for their problems seems futile. But when you step back and take a closer look you find that all these countries have lots in common, aside from being “failed states.”

The answer? It’s KO, not a TKO.

POWERLINE SHINES THE LIGHT ON ONE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES’ SLEAZIEST POLITICAL FRAUDSTERS: I am referring to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Powerline’s Scott Johnson has stayed on several tawdry Omar stories that the mainstream media ignores — actually covers with a pillow, to employ that brilliant quip. The link leads to Scott’s sixth post in a series looking into Omar’s campaign finance shenanigans (crimes) and likely bigamy. Check out the entire series of posts. You’ll see he’s also fencing with his local Democratic Party propaganda organ, the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Once again powerlineblog is breaking news biased media won’t break.

BUFF WITH ITALIAN FRIENDS: The link headline is literally accurate. Check out the photo: A USAF B-52 flies in formation with other U.S. and Italian aircraft in an exercise over the Adriatic Sea. If you expected something else, then shame on you.

It’s actually a fine photo snapped on a beautiful day. Adriatic islands, magnificent aircraft, blue water with a boat wake. Congrats to the USAF staff sergeant who took it.

By the way, happy Flag Day.

TRADE WAR 2019:

…the Trump administration is conducting two calculated national security operations in which America’s vast, varied and flexible Economic resources serve as the administration’s primary big stick.

Talk softly while wielding a big stick — that was Theodore Roosevelt’s sound bite dictum. In 2019 we have the Trump administration, and soft-spoken it is not. But that warrants a historical reminder: TR could get loud and large, a bit like DT.

I suggest you read the entire essay. And did I mention I have a new book? Well, reasonably new. Trade War 2019 is a wicked cocktail — especially for China.

AUSTERE LANDING: No kidding. An A-10 lands on a dirt strip at Fort Irwin, California. This photo helps explain why American ground soldiers love A-10s– firepower that can handle the dust and grit. The A-10 in the photo belongs to the Idaho Air National Guard. It’s flying support missions for the Idaho Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team which is training at Fort Irwin.

SO FAR TRADE WAR 2019 RISKS RED INK, NOT BLOOD: But it’s still a wicked cocktail from Hell.

D-DAY OUTRIGGER ESCORT: Members of Members of the Outrigger Canoe Club escort the Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Hawaii as it arrives in Pearl Harbor, June 6, 2019. Cool photo.