Author: Michael

Gen. Xavier T. Brunson is a busy man. As the senior U.S. military leader on the Korean Peninsula, he has three jobs, commanding U.N. Command, South Korean-U.S. Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea. What all this boils down to is, if the balloon goes up with North Korea, or another adversary in the region, the forces under his command are expected to be ready to “fight tonight.” During a visit to Washington, Gen. Brunson popped into WOTR HQ to discuss the security environment, his vision of command, and a host of other issues. This episode was supported by Legion.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 17 announced at a meeting of the Defence Ministry board that the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic system will be placed on combat duty by the end of 2025. Developed as Russia’s first post-Soviet intermediate range ballistic missile type, the Oreshnik was confirmed in June to have entered serial production, and is estimated to have a 4000 kilometre range while carrying multiple independently re-targetable warheads mounted on hypersonic reentry vehicles.

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Growing questions have been raised regarding how the Republic of China (RoC) Ministry of National Defence will define a “first strike” in the Taiwan Strait, as tensions between the two rival Chinese governments, including the RoC based in Taipei, and the People’s Republic of China based in Beijing, remain high. TheRepublic of China Legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on December 17 invited the Defence Ministry and the National Security Bureau to report on and answer questions regarding the possibility of “first strikes” being launched in the Taiwan Strait.

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