Good morning. Here’s your Early Warning for Thursday, 28 September.
SECDEF Mattis spends his last day in India today, where he’s been holding talks with the Indian prime minister and defense minister. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress has been keen to build better relations with India as part of a geostrategic policy to contain China and bring stability to southwest Asia. In 2012, the U.S. and India signed the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) to foster better relations between the two countries’ defense and technology industries. Areas of focus for the DTTI include aircraft technology; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); protection from chemical and biological weapons; and air defense systems. In June, the Trump administration approved the sale of two dozen drones to India to monitor Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Turkish President Erdogan in Anakara, Russian troops have been deployed to the border with North Korea and China. One recent report said that the Russian troops were armed and had military working dogs with them. In recent months, Chinese troops have also been deployed to the border with North Korea, and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is creating a special border unit; indicators that China is committed to blocking refugees from pouring across the border in the event of a decapitation of the North Korean regime and ensuing war. Earlier this year, soldiers from the PLA mapped out likely border crossing areas for North Korea refugees, so it could very well be that Russia is now doing the same thing, if it hasn’t already.
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