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Iran’s top military commander is vowing revenge for an Israeli strike that killed another Iranian general in Syria, while a separate Israeli strike that reportedly used U.S.-made small diameter bombs killed dozens at a U.N.-run school in Gaza.
… President Biden on Thursday joined other world leaders and a dwindling number of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who participated in D-Day on the beaches of Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the largest amphibious operation in history.
… Vladimir Putin is defending North Korea’s nuclear program and vowing to expand ties with Pyongyang.
… Newt Gingrich says former President Trump’s seemingly tough public stance on U.S. troops in South Korea is part of a negotiating strategy and does not mean he would pull American forces from the Korean peninsula if reelected in November.
…The expanding use of artificial intelligence is driving up electricity demand by massive data centers around the country.
More than 150,000 U.S. and Allied troops were huddled inside rain-soaked camps scattered throughout southeast England on June 6, 1944, when Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s voice suddenly crackled over the radio: “You are about to embark on the Great Crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.”
Mr. Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and a slew of other world leaders — along with a dwindling number of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who listened to Eisenhower’s address on D-Day — assembled Thursday on the beaches of Normandy to commemorate what remains the largest amphibious operation in history. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is among the dignitaries as Mr. Macron’s guest. Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country’s military helped bring down Hitler’s forces, was not invited.
Pentagon Correspondent Mike Glenn offers a look at the commemoration ceremonies, noting that the number of veterans who landed on the beaches or parachuted behind the lines shrinks daily. Even the youngest D-Day soldiers are now well into their 90s. Mr. Macron, who is hosting Mr. Biden for a state visit following the Normandy events, said the French people will never forget their sacrifices.
The expanding use of artificial intelligence is driving up the electricity demand from the nation’s massive data centers, which house the computer servers needed to process, store and share information, according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“Electricity consumption in the United States grew by about 0.5% per year in the last decade; however, estimates show annual growth of 5 to 6% through the end of the decade, a tenfold increase from current levels,” the committee stated in a recent memo. “Much of this growth is expected to come from data centers and the increasing use of AI.”
In search of more power, AI makers are already looking abroad for the best deal to build infrastructure to power their programs. OpenAI executive Sam Altman has reportedly talked with investors in the United Arab Emirates for an AI project costing as much as $7 trillion.
U.S. and allied intelligence services warned current and former military personnel this week that China’s People’s Liberation Army is covertly recruiting fighter pilots to train flyers for Beijing’s aircraft carriers and air force.
The warning came in a bulletin from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and four other members of the English-speaking “Five Eyes” spy alliance. “The PLA wants the skills and expertise of these individuals to make its own military air operations more capable, while gaining insight into Western air tactics, techniques and procedures,” the counterintelligence report said.
The Chinese military’s recruitment program involves the use of companies in South Africa and China that have been hiring former fighter pilots from Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Australia, the United States and other Western nations to train both China’s navy and air force. Commercial restrictions have been imposed on several companies linked to the Chinese army’s recruitment effort.
China is working to copy Elon Musk’s Starlink system of small satellites that enable easy access to the internet from remote locations.
In late 2023, Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Technology, known as Genesat, unveiled its version of a flat-panel satellite as part of a space race with Starlink, the online newsletter The Wire China reported this week. The satellite is the size of a motorcycle and a key element of China’s space race to build its own version of Starlink’s thousands of small orbiting satellites.
“It used to take two to three months to design and customize a satellite,” Cao Jin, the general manager of Genesat, told the publication. “Now the factory can churn out a satellite every one and a half days and produce up to 300 a year.”
China views Starlink as a threat to its ability to control information for its domestic audience. The internet in China is tightly monitored and controlled by what analysts say is the world’s most sophisticated censorship technology. A Starlink connection would give Chinese netizens free access to the internet and circumvent what critics call the government’s “Great Firewall.”
Eighty years ago today, on D-Day, the United States and its allies assembled one of the greatest armadas in history to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation. But now, as global tensions rise, America’s naval power is woefully unprepared to confront the threats of our time, most notably a rising, ambitious and aggressive China, writes Dave McCormick, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.
“The combined navies of the United States and its NATO and Pacific allies are but a fraction of the ships assembled in 1944,” writes Mr. McCormick. “Meanwhile, China’s navy has the most ships in the world and is growing rapidly, with one of China’s 13 shipyards having more capacity than all U.S. shipyards combined. We need a new ‘Ships Act’ to rebuild our domestic shipbuilding industry, deter our adversaries and secure our economic future.”
Is Mr. Biden seeking the expulsion of Russian troops from Russian-speaking Ukraine and even from historically Russian Crimea, or is it the expulsion of Russian President Vladimir Putin from office?
Columnist Andrew P. Napolitano asks that question in a commentary, asserting that “the White House can’t or won’t be precise about this, because none of these goals is militarily attainable, moral or constitutional.”
“Congress cannot fund a war involving Americans that it has not declared, as the constitutional language is clear,” argues Mr. Napolitano. “Moreover, Russian ground forces are overwhelming the Ukrainian forces and their American instructors, no matter what equipment the U.S. provides and operates.”
• June 12 — The New Iron Triangle: Achieving Adaptability and Scale in Defense Acquisition, Hudson Institute.
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