Pyongyang carried out large-scale military exercises as Washington and Seoul conducted record-setting aerial war games, unleashing 23 missiles and over 100 artillery rounds before launching additional munitions on Thursday.
America’s top military officer General Mark Milley praised SpaceX CEO Elon Musk by name at an event hosted by the Space Force. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs lauded the “Chief Twit” as symbolizing ”the civil and military cooperation and teamwork that makes the US the most powerful country in space.”
Washington insists on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and will never accept Pyongyang as a nuclear weapons state, the State Department said. The US also repeated warnings that North Korea would soon test a nuclear weapon.
A high-ranking Kremlin official has warned that commercial satellites assisting Ukrainian forces could be viewed as legitimate military targets by Moscow. Since Russia destroyed Ukraine’s communications infrastructure early in the war, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has provided Kiev with internet services through its Starlink network.
Officials in Washington say the United States has not abandoned its effort to find a country to lead a United Nations rapid response force to quell unrest in Haiti. The White House has proposed a multilateral security deployment to the Caribbean nation, with the State Department saying it expects to have a country prepared to lead the mission by early November.
The Joe Biden administration is resisting pressure from Congress and humanitarian orgs to blacklist African leaders, Robbie Gramer reported in Foreign Policy. Lawmakers and several NGOs have argued the sanctions are needed to punish human rights abuses across the continent.
Western reliance on nuclear energy technology from Moscow is interfering with US sanctions on Russia, driving Washington to seek alternatives as the United States and its European allies aim to decouple from Russia’s energy sector.
The United States and its NATO allies are accelerating transfers of arms, warm clothing and anti-drone technology to Ukraine in preparation for months of bitter combat through the winter. Washington believes shoring up frontline forces before mud and ice set in will help Kiev to hold ground over the coming season.
