TURKEY GOES TO WAR WITH ITSELF: Blame Erdogan.

THE RUSSIAN THREAT TO UNDERSEA CABLES:

The Trump administration’s new sanctions on Russia are casting light on the threat posed to the undersea cables that carry the world’s electronic communications between continents.

The Treasury Department sanctioned five Russian firms and three Russian nationals this week for aiding the Kremlin’s domestic security service, the FSB. One of the companies is alleged to have provided support for Moscow’s “underwater capabilities” – including producing diving systems and a submersible craft for the FSB.

The Treasury Department alleged that Russia has been “active” in tracking underwater fiber optic cables that transmit communications across continents.

Hacking the old fashioned way:

“It is much more likely that sabotage would be something that could potentially damage or exploit these cables, than espionage,” said Robert Anderson, a former national security executive at the FBI and now a security expert with the Chertoff Group.

“It is a lot harder to have the ability to tap into these [cables] without anybody finding out about it and then gleaning off intelligence over time,” added Anderson. He said the threat lingers in areas where the cables are in shallower waters or make landfall.

RELATED HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: Hacking undersea cables in World War One.

IF IT LOOKS LIKE AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER…: Add F-35B jump jets and it is an aircraft carrier. South Korea and Japan just might modify the flight decks of their amphibious assault ships and helicopter carrier so F-35Bs can use them. Long post but informative.

ROUTINE INTRA-THEATER DEPLOYMENT: A Global Hawk based on Guam lands at Misawa Air Base, Japan.

LOST TRANE SET FOR RELEASE:

Missing for more than 50 years, recordings by jazz legend John Coltrane leading the quartet behind his masterpiece “A Love Supreme” are coming out as a posthumous album.

Impulse! Records announced Friday that it will release “Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album,” recorded in 1963 and never heard before publicly, on June 29.

Coltrane recorded the seven tracks with his classic quartet — Jimmy Garrison on bass, Elvin Jones on drums and McCoy Tyner on piano — at the New Jersey studio of jazz enthusiast Rudy Van Gelder, an initially makeshift space in a living room that became a go-to spot for artists.

I’m looking forward to listening to it.

MORE: Downbeat reports on a Both Directions at Once listening session in the New Jersey studio where the music was recorded.

FOUR THUNDERBOLTS OFF THE WING: Four A-10s pace a KC-135 during Exercise Saber Strike. Photo snapped June 8.

ATTACKING ISIS AT NIGHT: U.S. Army artillerymen shell an ISIS “pocket” near the Iraq-Syria border.

THE DEEP HISTORY BEHIND THE TRUMP-KIM SINGAPORE SUMMIT. (bumped)

37TH AIRLIFT SQUADRON OVER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL: USAF C-130Js make a D-Day commemoration flight.

CITIES WITH HIGH NUMBERS OF UNIMMUNIZED CHILDREN: A list of potential disease outbreak hotspots.

The new study is a “good contribution” to the field, said Saad B. Omer, a professor of global health and epidemiology & pediatrics at Emory University.

Omer, who was not involved in the research, said one strength of the work is that the researchers conducted an in-depth analysis of individual states with nonmedical exemptions, which had never been done.

Omer’s own research has shown that states with philosophical exemptions had both higher rates of refusal and higher rates of disease; his study focused on rates of whooping cough. “Clusters of refusal overlap clusters of outbreaks,” he said.

An article worth reading. (Link fixed.)

THE DEEP HISTORY BEHIND THE TRUMP-KIM SINGAPORE SUMMIT.

HIGH EXPLOSIVE ANTI-TANK ROUND ON THE WAY: A Montana Army National Guard soldier fires an AT4-CS light anti-armor weapon in an exercise held May 15 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

MEANWHILE, IN OTHER DIPLOMATIC BREAKTHROUGHS: Greece and Macedonia end The Name War. Macedonia is now Northern Macedonia.

The name will be used both internally by the government and externally when conducting foreign affairs.

Macedonia was previously only recognized by organizations such as the United Nations by the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The diplomatic dispute has been going on 27 years.

This column from February has the background.

SOUTH KOREAN FIREPOWER IN PLACE: A South Korean artillery battery fires a volley during an exercise held in September 2017. That was the month the Trump Administration increased economic sanctions on North Korea and the U.S., South Korean and Japanese militaries conducted daily “show of force” operations. A U.S. Army PFC took the South Korean arty picture during a major South Korean-U.S. joint exercise.

BACKGROUND TO SINGAPORE: The Trump Administration’s maximum pressure effort, March 2017 to March 2018 — with a nod to 1999. (Old column with context.)

THE PHILIPPINES RECONSIDERS CHINESE DOMINATION: Long post, but the first three paragraphs summarize the headline.

LIGHTNING CHAINED: An F-35B Lightning II ascends on an aircraft elevator aboard the USS Essex. Photo snapped June 2 during an exercise in the Pacific Ocean.

26TH MEU MAKES A SPLASH IN THE BALTIC

THE FRENCH GENERAL’S NIECE: A review of The General’s Niece: The Little-Known de Gaulle Who Fought to Free Occupied France, by Paige Bowers. Geneviève de Gaulle, Charles DeGaulle’s niece, was an active member of the French resistance. She was eventually arrested and spent time in several concentration camps. She was the first woman to be awarded the Grand-Croix de la Légion d’honneur. Dr. Al Nofi wrote the review.

LEAVING LAKENHEATH: An HH-60G Pave Hawk departs the RAF base at Lakenheath, England, for Aviano, Italy.

ISRAELI FEMALE TANKERS: Israeli women tankers line up in front of a Merkava.

OSPREYS OVER NEW MEXICO: Two CV-22 Ospreys conduct a rescue exercise during an air show at Cannon Air Force Base.

HOW MUCH CAFFEINE DO YOU NEED AND WHEN DO YOU NEED IT? ASK THE U.S. ARMY: The Army has a new algorithm that supposedly “determines ideal caffeine dosage and timing for alertness.”

Compared to the original dosing strategies used in the studies, the U.S. Army’s algorithm identified strategies that enhanced neurobehavioral performance by up to 64 percent, or reduced caffeine consumption by up to 65 percent. According to the authors, these results suggest that the algorithm can tailor the timing and amount of caffeine to the particular sleep/wake schedule of each study condition to maximize its benefits.

I link, you read and decide. Meanwhile, I’ll have another cup.

D-DAY MEMORY: Rangers lead the way at Pointe du Hoc.

THREE SCENARIOS FOR TURKEY’S ELECTION.