LexNextThe Lexington
Policy Blog
- Seven Reasons Leaving The UPU Won’t Impact Overseas Voting
A handful of special interests who benefit from our trade deficit with China have joined with some progressive advocates to stoke fears that overseas troops and other Americans may not be able to vote this year if the U.S. leaves an international postal organization. The charges are flat out wrong and classic fearmongering. Let’s start with the postal situation. The [ Read More…]
- Daniel Gouré, Ph.D.
- Electronic Warfare Is Becoming The Most Lethal Counter Drone Technology (From RealClearDefense)
There is a new urgency to the search for cost-effective counters to the growing threat posed by unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or drones. Large, high-flying UASs can be countered by anti-aircraft systems, although this is an expensive solution. But new answers are needed for medium and small drones, those that fly slowly and close to the ground. There has been [ Read More…]
- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
- What Weapons Will The Air Force Kill In Its 2021 Budget? (From Forbes)
The Air Force has reviewed all of its programs — over a thousand projects — with an eye to determining whether they fit with the Trump national defense strategy. The items that don’t fit will become bill-payers for new projects that do. The Air Force hasn’t said much about what efforts it intends to kill, but if you have been [ Read More…]
- Stay Strong To Win On Trade (From InsideSources)
The Trump Administration has established the foundation for a significant trade win over China by mid-October, with or without China’s cooperation. At issue is the shipment of international packages. This will either be fixed within the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the group that sets international postal rates, or through bilateral agreements after the U.S. leaves the UPU. While special interests are fearmongering, their charges are baseless. Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler has written a commentary for InsideSources here.
- On The Subject of Global Shipping, Peter Navarro Has A Winning Hand (From RealClearMarkets)
For decades the U.S. has tolerated an international postal system that helps Chinese manufacturers, retailers and e-commerce companies at the expense of their U.S. counterparts. Chinese shippers pay 50 percent or less to send small packages to the U.S., than U.S. shippers do to send the same package domestically. This problem will be either addressed at an upcoming meeting of the Universal Postal Union, or shortly thereafter. The U.S. simply wants the Chinese to pay the U.S. Postal Service the [ Read More…]
- Lockheed Martin Offers To Shoulder Risks On F-35 Maintenance With Fixed-Price, Performance-Based Contract (From Forbes)
Lockheed Martin is proposing to assume most of the risk for sustaining the tri-service F-35 fighter. Under an offer presented to the Pentagon in August, the company would reach and exceed fleet readiness of 80% by 2025 for a fixed price, implementing best practices under a performance-based logistics concept. The company says it can save the Pentagon a billion dollars annually compared with the way F-35 sustainment is conducted today, and it is willing to invest its own money up [ Read More…]
- The Universal Postal Union: Why Its Upcoming Extraordinary Congress Is A Big Deal
The Universal Postal Union sets the rates and regulatory requirements governing the shipment of packages internationally. The Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler spoke with postal expert Jim Campbell about the organization’s September 24-26 Extraordinary Congress at which the U.S. is pushing for major reforms and threatening to leave the organization if these reforms are not enacted. Mr. Campbell has been an observer at Universal Postal Union meetings for decades. The U.S. delegation to the upcoming Extraordinary Congress will be led by [ Read More…]
- Secret Pentagon Space Plan Driven By Fear Of China (From Forbes)
The U.S. military has become alarmed by threats to its space systems, and most of the danger originates in China. The Pentagon doesn’t disclose intelligence about the vulnerability of America’s orbital assets or what “counterspace” initiatives it believes Beijing is pursuing. However, it is clear the Air Force is organizing and equipping for a much more robust, resilient posture in space — one that includes both offensive and defensive capabilities. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.
- South Korea And Japan Are Weaponizing History (From RealClearDefense)
By poking at historical wounds to consolidate domestic support, South Korea and Japan risk more than just diplomacy. The escalation of tensions between Seoul and Tokyo is couched in terms of contested historical memory, but its effects have more direct economic consequences. The collapse of the GSOMIA intelligence pact and a cycle of retaliatory trade restrictions are among the casualties of their diplomatic fallout. Given the growing anger among the electorate in both countries, stoked by incendiary rhetoric and historical [ Read More…]
- Backing NASA’s Human Spaceflight Program Could Help Democrats Win Back The White House (From Forbes)
The Trump Administration has a plan for returning U.S. astronauts to the Moon, and there’s no evidence that Democratic presidential candidates are going to support it. President Obama gutted his predecessor’s effort to do something similar. However, failing to back NASA’s human spaceflight program could sink Democratic prospects in the 2020 election, because U.S. astronauts fly out of Florida, which has has more electoral-college votes than any state other than California and Texas. Sunshine State elections are often decided by [ Read More…]
- A Stopgap For Congress’s Reluctance To Tackle Postal Reform
The U.S. Congress is weary of the heavy lift of postal reform even though a smooth functioning Postal Service is vital to American commerce. Fixing the debt-ridden and chronically troubled government agency with unfunded liabilities of more than $140 billion requires an unpleasant mix of higher prices and reduced service. Nearly nine months after a Presidential task force made sweeping and comprehensive reform recommendations, neither chamber has given birth to a reform bill, or begun the subsequent arduous process to [ Read More…]
- Poland Is Becoming the Keystone of NATO’s Evolving Security Architecture (From RealClearDefense)
The Republic of Poland is rapidly becoming the critical member of the NATO Alliance in its increasing efforts to deter Russian military threats and counter Moscow’s attempts to subvert European democracy. Poland is no free rider when it comes to European security. It is spending more money in terms of a percentage of GDP than most NATO countries. The Polish military has a modernization program underway that over time promises to make it a serious counterweight to the Russian Army. [ Read More…]
- Japan Seeks Record Military Budget (From RealClearDefense)
Japan’s Ministry of Defense has proposed a 1.2% military spending increase in 2020, taking the annual budget to a record 5.32 trillion yen (about $50 billion). If approved, the budget would mark the eighth consecutive hike in military spending since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in 2012, a clear signal that Japan is slowly abandoning the pacifism of its postwar years. The budget announcement comes amidst a period of fracture in Indo-Pacific diplomacy. Japan is engaged with hostile territory disputes [ Read More…]