welcome to Foreign policeis SitRep! Happy 02-12-2021, a palindrome daytime! It’s a big day in another sense too: Jack’s grandfather turns 100 today, so give Grandpa Claude a toast.

Alright, here’s what’s on the cards for the day: Blinken and Lavrov go head-to-head afterwards. Russia expels US diplomats, the best dog in the Pentagon goes to South Korea, and why Congress can’t get enough Taiwan.

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welcome to Foreign policeis SitRep! Happy 02-12-2021, a palindrome daytime! It’s a big day in another sense too: Jack’s grandfather turns 100 today, so give Grandpa Claude a toast.

Alright, here’s what’s on the cards for the day: Blinken and Lavrov go head-to-head afterwards. Russia expels US diplomats, the best dog in the Pentagon goes to South Korea, and why Congress can’t get enough Taiwan.

If you would like to receive the Situation Report in your inbox every Thursday, please sign up here.

The slow stranglehold of US diplomacy in Russia continues. The Russian government has ordered all US diplomats who have been in the country for more than three years to leave by the end of January, dealing another blow to US-Russian relations when things were already lousy.

The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin had already forced the United States to accompaniement the number of American diplomats in the country this year, then to cease hiring local staff to help staff the mission. These measures forced the closure of two Russian consulates and undermined routine US diplomacy, leaving only a small crew in place to keep the embassy afloat.

Bad timing. The news, first reported by the the Wall Street newspaper, erupted just before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of a major diplomatic confab in Stockholm. The latest move cast a shadow over the meeting between the two diplomats and was a major setback for the Biden administration’s efforts to ease tensions with Moscow.

Face / Off. What was the agenda for the big Blinken-Lavrov meeting? Well, apart from the dismal state of US-Russian relations, Ukraine was and still is at the top of the list. Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, fueling fears that a new Russian invasion threatens its eastern neighbor. (Blinken is also meeting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Stockholm.)

“If Moscow chooses the path of military escalation, the secretary has made it clear that the United States and our allies are prepared to impose significant costs,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement after the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov.

Blinken also brought up the cases of Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed in Lavrov during the meeting, according to Price. Whelan and Reed are two Americans imprisoned without just cause in Russia.

A game of posture. As of yet, it is still unclear whether Russia will implement its plans to invade Ukraine. But NATO is trying to warn Moscow against its plans and show solidarity with Kiev (or as much as possible with a country that is not actually part of the alliance). Blinken arrived in Stockholm from Latvia, where NATO foreign ministers met this week. At the NATO meeting, Blinken said the Western alliance plans to “strengthen its defenses on the eastern flank” in response to Russian aggression.

President Joe Biden is nomination former Chief of Air Force Acquisitions Bill LaPlante as the Pentagon’s first arms buyer.

Biden’s first choice for the post, director of the defense innovation unit Michael brown, dropped out of the race to be Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment as Inspector General of the Ministry of Defense dug in its past personnel and procurement decisions.

The post n ° 2 of the army will remain vacant, for the moment. The Senate hearing scheduled for Thursday Adm. Christopher grady being vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been postponed as Congress attempts to negotiate the Pentagon’s annual defense clearance bill.

Biden should exploit Brig. General Maria Barrett at the head of the Cyber ​​Command of the army, the Save reported Wednesday. If selected, Barrett would be the first woman to become the Army’s cyber-honcho.

Senior NATO Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, Stefano Pontecorvo, is stepping down from his role, as the alliance’s tenure ended on Tuesday, he announcement in a tweet. Pontecorvo was previously Italian Ambassador to Afghanistan.

Senior Advisor and Senior Spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris Symone sanders leaves the administration at the end of the year, Politics reported Wednesday night, the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the veep’s office, which has been plagued by rumbles of mess and friction.

The Washington post reported as Harris’ Deputy Director of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, Vincent evans, and its director of press operations, Pierre Velz, also leave.

Which should be at the top of your radar, if it isn’t already.

New plan, who say? United States and South Korea are about to start drafting a new war plan to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat, according to Defense 1‘s Tara Copp, who travels with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in the region.

The plan will respond to North Korea’s progress in delivering nuclear missiles, including through a series of tests since September of cruise missiles, rail and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and complaints to test hypersonic gliding vehicles. The move comes as General Mark Milley, the senior US military officer, is in Seoul to discuss future joint military exercises.

Just say nyet. Russia is stone wall the appointment of a British official veteran to the United Nations to become the new envoy to Libya, report Colum Lynch and Robbie of FP exclusively. The move comes at a bad time, just days after UN Secretary-General António Guterres sacked Slovak diplomat Jan Kubis, as the international community rushes to prepare Libya for elections scheduled for late December.

Lowering the boom (uh). We expect the Oklahoma Sooners to have a harder time when they advance to Southeastern College Football’s first conference next season, but another group of Oklahoma’s favorite sons (and daughters), the Guard national government, is already struggling with the Pentagon’s mandate on the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a note sent Tuesday, Austin said all National Guard troops and reservists must be vaccinated, in accordance with the agency’s mandates, under penalty of loss of salary or other penalties. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has called on the Pentagon to cancel vaccine requirements for the State National Guard and appointed a new commander who has issued guidelines insisting that troops do not should not be vaccinated.

Saturday 4 December: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin delivers remarks at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

Monday December 6: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are meeting in New Delhi as part of a first 2 + 2 dialogue between their defense and foreign ministers.

“I am more than disappointed that the current administration violates my First Amendment constitutional rights. And it is with regret that legal recourse is the only avenue open to me now to tell my whole story to the American people. “

–Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper Sunday become the first former Pentagon chief to sue the Defense Department, claiming the agency unfairly blocks the publication of much of his upcoming briefs on classification issues.

The British Bulldog. Legendary former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill would have turned 146 this week, and given his love of whiskey and brandy, he would have toasted it in style. Jack documented Churchill’s average day drinking habits during WWII, which started with a glass of wine and included healthy servings of Johnnie Walker Red Label, 19th century British brandy, and champagne.

“I’m not showing any excitement.” If you think you’re having a rough day, you should check out the daily schedule for disgraced Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes, which started with a 4 a.m. wake-up call. his notepad is now part of the public domain while she faces fraud charges.

Holmes, whose company was once backed by foreign policy bigwigs like former Defense Secretary James Mattis and former Secretary of State George Shultz, jotted down self-motivated notes of a single phrase, like Donald Rumsfeld’s famous “snowflake” memos, but Silicon Valley style. “I know the outcome of every game” and “I’m constantly making decisions + changing them as needed,” she wrote.