SUPERB BOMBER PIC: A B-2 banks over Scott AFB. A majestic photo.

IRAN THREATENS U.S. TROOPS NEAR ITS BORDERS:

The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned the U.S. that it better move its forces away from his country if Washington imposes new sanctions on his paramilitary group.

The Trump Administration just certified Iran as compliant with the Obama-Ayatollah Nuclear Collusion Arrangement and this is the thanks we get.

U.S. ARMORED VEHICLES SEEN POURING INTO SYRIA:

Over the last week videos and pictures posted by Kurdish activists on social media show flatbed trucks delivering U.S.-made MRAP, M-ATVs, and up-armored bulldozers into Syria.

Military officials say these vehicles are not part of the U-S.-led coalition’s aid to Kurdish allies on the ground who are currently engaged in a tense street-by-street urban battle in Raqqa — ISIS’s self-proclaimed capital.

Stay tuned for more on this.

EXPERTS WARY THAT U.S. COULD TRADE CHINESE SOUTH CHINA SEA CONTROL FOR NORTH KOREA DENUCLEARIZATION: I say this cynical trade and sell-out won’t happen but somebody sure needs to write about that. (HINT: It’s Option 3.)

BRITAIN’S EXCLUSIVE CLUB FOR ROUGH MEN: Great title, good read.

THE NAME GAME: Indonesia responds to China’s absurd claims in the South China Sea by referring to a sea area northwest of Borneo as the North Natuna Sea.

The renamed tract is near the Natuna Islands, an Indonesian chain of 272 maritime features, and overlaps the southernmost part of China’s so-called “nine-dash line” claim extending from its south coast.

This is diplomatic push back but push is on the way to becoming shove. The article notes that Chinese fishermen routinely violate Indonesian waters and claim they are fishing in a “traditional fishing ground.”

MOSUL AND CONTEMPORARY URBAN WARFARE: My latest Creators Syndicate column.

RELATED: Some more details on the continuing combat in and around Mosul. Like I say in the column, it’s not surprising.

USMC LCAC: A Landing Craft Air Cushion participates in an exercise off Hawaii. These things are beasts.

UPDATE: OK, USMC using a USN LCAC, courtesy of American taxpayers. These big air cushion craft are so impressive. I’ve been in the well deck of an LHD and watched them exit and enter. The well deck was dry, too — sort of. Quite a show.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S NEW IRAN SANCTIONS: We need to add a few more.

The U.S. Treasury Department designated 16 entities and individuals for supporting “illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity,” according to a statement.

Some of those targeted had supported the Iranian military or Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by developing drones, fast attack boats and other military equipment. Others stole U.S. and western software programs, which were sold to the Iranian government, according to the statement.

For the record, the Obama-Ayatollah “nuclear agreement” is a bad joke.

WHERE ARE THE BODIES BURIED?: Mapping North Korea’s crimes against humanity.

The link leads to a pdf published by South Korea’s Transitional Justice Working Group.

This report presents the initial findings of our project, “Mapping Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea” (the Mapping Project), which identifies locations of suspected mass burial sites, killing sites and possible sites containing documentary evidence linked to crimes against humanity in North Korea.

The report is based on two years of interviews with 375 “former residents” (defectors) of North Korea. The entire document is 60 pages long.

A-10 FLIP SIDE: The A-10 in the photo was participating in Operation Inherent Resolve. You can’t see the pilot but you can see the ordnance.

IMPROVING THE GROUND-BASED INTERCEPTOR: The next U.S. ICBM intercept will test new command and control technology.

Given the North Korea threat, missile defense upgrades are progressing at a crucial time for the Pentagon’s Ground-Based midcourse defense. Following the completion of current Pentagon review of nuclear weapons, policy and defenses, there is a distinct possibility that funding for missile defense technology will continue to climb.

Yes, the North Korean threat’s for real.

RELATED: A GBI being placed in a silo at Fort Greely, Alaska.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Swampland’s Ten Commandments.

Just read it.

USA TODAY: U.S. missile defense plans for zapping North Korean missiles.

“Missile defense buys you time and opens windows,” said Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Security and International Studies. “The way you protect yourself from a missile attack is through deterrence. You show your adversary that you can hold them off and strike back at them.”

Demonstrating anti-missile capabilities is one component of Trump’s Option 4. Strike back is Option 6.

POLAND FINDS ANOTHER WAY TO ANNOY RUSSIA: The Poles will be acquiring the latest version of the U.S. Army’s Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile missile. The Trump Administration made that deal with Poland this month. (Poland announced it July 6.) As the article notes, in 2015 the Obama Administration agreed to sell Poland eight Patriot batteries but armed with a less-capable PAC-3.

DEROY MURDOCK: The vote fraud Democrats refuse to see.

Read the whole thing.

READY TO SUPPORT SOUTH KOREA: Two B-1B Lancers fly with U.S. and South Korean fighter jets. The photo was taken July 7 during an exercise over the Korean peninsula. The B-1 would play a major in Trump’s Option 6.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN VENEZUELA: The opposition is holding an unofficial referendum today. The referendum is designed to “increase pressure on President Nicolas Maduro as he seeks to create a legislative superbody that his adversaries call the consolidation of a dictatorship.”

MORE:

The opposition has cast the vote, which begins at 7 a.m. local time at some 2,000 centers around the country, as an act of civil disobedience to be followed by “zero hour,” a possible reference to a national strike or other escalated actions against Maduro.

But the vote does not appear to augur a short-term change of government or a solution to the country’s political stalemate.

Maduro, 54, says Sunday’s plebiscite is illegal and meaningless. Instead, the leftist leader is campaigning for an official July 30 vote for the new assembly, which will be able to rewrite the constitution and dissolve state institutions.

Stay tuned.

FIREWORKS OVER A HERC: It’s a spectacular picture of a fireworks display at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Fine photo work. This overhead explosion is peaceful entertainment. The upcoming American and Japanese test of missile defenses deployed in Japan –which will involve Yokota — will be a peaceful firepower display for North Korea’s fat boy. The exercise is serious business. I suppose the fat boy’s reaction might be entertaining, after a fashion.

TRUMP’S SIX POLICY OPTIONS FOR DEALING WITH NORTH KOREA: My latest NY Observer essay. (bumped)

VERY MUCH RELATED BECAUSE THE OPERATION’S INTEGRAL TO OPTIONS 4 AND 6: Asahi Shibun reports that the U.S. and Japan will test missile defenses deployed in Japan.

The exercise, which could be held as early as August, would continue a series of moves designed to placate a Japanese population worried about increasing military provocations by North Korea in the form of ballistic missile launches.

The Japanese people are fed up with the fat boy.

GET READY FOR BAD NEWS: North Korea may have more reprocessed plutonium on hand than previous estimates. That means Kim Jong Un can make more nuclear bombs.

38 North produced the detailed analysis on which the Reuters report is based.

DEFINITELY RELATED: My NY Observer essay sketching six policy options for stopping Pyongyang.

ALSO RELATED: U.S. House moves to bar Pentagon contracts with telecommunications firms knowingly supporting North Korean cyber-attacks.

The DNI will provide a list of these firms. You have to wonder why this list isn’t already available.

CHINESE BOMBERS PROBE JAPANESE RESPONSES:

China urged calm after Japan scrambled fighter jets in response to the flight of six Chinese strategic bombers over the area between Okinawa and the Miyako Islands.

The flight of the twin-engine Xian H-6 bomber, built for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, took place on Thursday.

The Chinese government called it a “regular” exercise. Japan said six Chinese bombers were involved. Japan also reported the Chinese aircraft did not violate Japanese airspace.

RELATED: Japanese F-15J Eagle fighters training with USN EA-18G Growlers. I don’t know that F-15Js scrambled to meet the Chinese bombers but the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) deploys the F-15J as an all-weather air superiority fighter.

MY LATEST NY OBSERVER ESSAY: Options for dealing with North Korea’s ballistic missile threat.

VOA: For France, Trump’s visit on Bastille Day was deeply symbolic.

President Trump was the guest of honor at the Bastille Day parade in Paris.

The American flag flew along with the French flag on Paris’ famed Champs Elysees, where U.S. troops marched in a parade with thousands of French soldiers, tanks, missile launchers, and armored personnel carriers.

More than 3,500 police took positions along the parade route to guard against potential terrorist attacks.

“We have also found sure allies, friends, who came to help us,” Macron said.”The United States of America are among them. This is why nothing will separate us, never.The presence today of the U.S. president, Donald Trump, and his wife is the sign of a friendship that lasts through time.”

The article’s a good read.

THUNDERBIRDS OVER LOCH NESS: The USAF air demonstration team flies over some beautiful Scottish countryside.