US, ALLIES CALL FOR NUKE PLANT TO BE DEMILITARIZED: The United States expressed growing concern about the safety of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky hosted a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Lviv, far from the front lines of the war.
“We discussed in detail the nuclear blackmail of Russia around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” said Zelensky after the meeting. “Russia must immediately and without any conditions withdraw its troops from the territory of the ZNPP, stop all provocations, all shelling. It is unacceptable that Russia is deliberately putting all of us on the brink of a global radiation disaster.”
“Military equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the plant. Further deployment of forces or equipment to the site must be avoided,” said Guterres. “The area needs to be demilitarized. We must tell it as it is, any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide.”
Erdogan said that Turkey is willing to act as a “mediator and facilitator,” and said he would share the concerns with Moscow. “We do not want to experience the new Chernobyl.”
POSSIBLE FALSE FLAG: Ukraine has accused Russia of planning to stage what would look like a “large-scale terrorist attack” on the nuclear plant and falsely blame Ukraine for endangering Europe.
Russia in turn accuses Ukraine of shelling the plant and attacking it with drones, and has rejected the call to establish a DMZ around the plant. “Any proposals to create a demilitarized zone around the plant are unacceptable,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechayev at a briefing in Moscow. “That would only make the nuclear power plant more vulnerable.”
The U.S. says the reports of a possible Russian “false flag” operation are a “cause for concern.”
“They fit squarely within the Russian playbook: accuse others of what it is you have done or what it is you intend to do,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price. “Russia has engaged in a number of false flag operations … So again, it’s something we’re watching very closely when it comes to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”
SEE IT: RUSSIAN FORCES SHIELD MILITARY VEHICLES INSIDE UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR PLANT
PLANT WORKERS TERRORIZED: “The United States is aware of reports that Russian personnel have abused and coerced members of the ZNPP staff,” Price said at yesterday’s briefing. “We applaud the Ukrainian authorities and operators for their commitment to nuclear safety and security under the most trying of circumstances.”
“The United States remains deeply concerned about Russia’s military takeover and continued control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” he said. “The International Atomic Energy Agency must be given access to ZNPP as soon as possible and in a manner that respects Ukraine’s full sovereignty, to help ensure the safety and security of the plant and monitoring of its nuclear material.”
In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nechayev blamed the U.N. for “sabotaging” a planned visit by IAEA inspectors in June, but said the international experts would be visiting the plant “very soon.”
FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN UKRAINE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOOTING AND ABUSES: REPORT
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HAPPENING TODAY: Gilbert Cisneros, the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, delivers remarks at tonight’s opening ceremony of the 2022 Department of Defense Warrior Games, being held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Livestream at 6:30 p.m. at https://www.dodwarriorgames.com
NORTH KOREA REBUFFS SOUTH’S ‘AUDACIOUS INITIATIVE’: Earlier this week, South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk Yeol, unveiled what he called an “audacious initiative,” under which the South would provide a package of economic incentives if the North made progress toward denuclearization.
Yesterday, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected the offer as “an absurd dream,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
“All can not be bartered,” said Kim Yo Jong, according to an English translation at KCNAWatch. “To think that the plan to barter ‘economic cooperation’ for our honor, nukes, is the great dream, hope and plan of Yoon, we came to realize that he is really simple and still childish.”
“It would have been more favorable for his image to shut his mouth, rather than talking nonsense as he had nothing better to say,” Kim said of Yoon’s Aug. 15 speech. “His ‘bold plan’ is the height of absurdity as it is an impracticable one to create mulberry fields in the dark blue ocean.”
NORTH KOREAN DICTATOR’S SISTER TELLS SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT TO ‘SHUT HIS MOUTH’
SMITH: THE FBI ‘HAD NO CHOICE’: The Democrat who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says former President Donald Trump’s retention of official White House documents left the FBI little choice but to retrieve them by force.
“I am mindful of the fact that you don’t want to create a high level of conflict. And this does … it is unprecedented,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said on CNN. “But it is also unprecedented for President Trump to conduct his presidency the way he did … Do you simply let the norms and rules and institutions of our society that are crucial to our well-being be destroyed? And if that’s the choice, I don’t think there is a choice.”
“The FBI had no choice but to do what they did here. No sensible human being can look at this and say they did anything wrong,” Smith said. “For 18 months, they tried to get Donald Trump to give the information back. The law is clear, even if it is not classified, the archives law makes it clear that a president can’t take these documents out of the White House.”
TRUMP DISPLAYED A NOVEL APPROACH TO MAKING SENSITIVE DOCUMENTS PUBLIC
TURNER: GARLAND MUST SHOW RAID WASN’T PERSONAL: In a separate interview on CNN, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) argued that Attorney General Merrick Garland has an obligation to show that the unprecedented search of a former president’s home wasn’t motivated by personal animus.
“President Trump was the man who derailed the attorney general’s path to sit on the Supreme Court,” Turner said. “There better be a very high standard …no former president’s home has ever been raided.”
“I mean, Garland certainly knows that he’s not on the Supreme Court because of Donald Trump. That’s fairly personal.”
When CNN’s Jake Tapper began to ask if he was insinuating a conflict of interest, Turner interrupted him to say, “I’m not insinuating. I’m straight up saying it.”
NEW DETAILS ON ESPIONAGE ACT INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP REVEALED
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: SEE IT: Russian forces shield military vehicles inside Ukrainian nuclear plant
Washington Examiner: Foreign fighters in Ukraine responsible for looting and abuses: Report
Washington Examiner: Trump displayed a novel approach to making sensitive documents public
Washington Examiner: Former White House officials deny Trump’s declassification ‘standing order’ claim
Washington Examiner: New details on Espionage Act investigation into Trump revealed
Washington Examiner: Pelosi threat withheld by Secret Service until after rioters stormed Capitol: Report
Washington Examiner: Afghan families separated by US bureaucracy fear Taliban reprisal
Washington Examiner: Ex-DOE staffer exposes how Chinese spies are trying to steal US intelligence and technology
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Why is Michael Hayden trying to validate Trump’s ‘deep state’ conspiracy theory?
Washington Post: Zelensky faces outpouring of criticism over failure to warn of war
Reuters: Biden Administration Readies About $800 Mln In Additional Security Aid For Ukraine – Sources
Washington Post: U.S. allies most vulnerable to Russia press for more troops, weapons
New York Times: Sleepy Greek Port Turns Into Pivotal Transit Point For American Military
AP: Doctors stay in Ukraine’s war-hit towns: ‘People need us’
Japan Times: U.S. Warns It Will Deploy ‘Strategic Assets’ To South Korea If Pyongyang Conducts Nuke Test
AP: Iran deal tantalizingly close but US faces new hurdles
AP: China’s response to Pelosi visit a sign of future intentions
Navy Times: U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Sees Increase In ‘Unsafe’ Intercepts By China
USNI News: China’s Navy Could Have 5 Aircraft Carriers, 10 Ballistic Missile Subs By 2030 Says CSBA Report
Bloomberg: Xi And Putin To Attend G-20 Summit In Indonesia, Jokowi Says
Defense News: Surface Navy Looks For Ways To More Quickly Field Ships, Weapons
Breaking Defense: Key Senators Renew Push To Undo FCC’s Ligado Spectrum Ruling
USNI News: Navy, Marine Corps Will Continue to Fly MV-22s Ospreys After Air Force Grounds Fleet
Air Force Magazine: Report: Air Force, Other Services Need to Clarify Tattoo Policies, Waiver Process
Air Force Magazine: B-52s Land at RAF Fairford for Bomber Task Force Mission
Marine Corps Times: Marine Astronaut To Lead NASA Mission To International Space Station
19fortyfive.com: A Hard Choice for the U.S. Air Force: Stealth F-22s or NGAD?
19fortyfive.com: China’s Taiwan Strategy After the Nancy Pelosi Visit: Forever Crisis?
19fortyfive.com: Russia’s Su-35 Fighter: No Longer Among the Elite in the Sky?
19fortyfive.com: China’s J-20 Stealth Fighter: A True Game-Changer?
19fortyfive.com: Yes, the B-52 Bomber Could Fly for Nearly 100 Years
Calendar
MONDAY | AUGUST 22
4 p.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — American Enterprise Institute in-person book forum event: “A New Approach to US-China Relations,” with Aaron Friedberg, nonresident senior fellow, AEI and author of Getting China Wrong; and Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies, AEI https://www.aei.org/events/a-new-approach-to-us-china
TUESDAY | AUGUST 23
7:50 a.m. — Second Summit of the Crimea Platform, with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg https://crimea-platform.org/en
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army “Noon Report” webinar: “Army Counter-Drone Efforts,” with Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, director, Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office and director of fires in the office of the deputy Army chief of staff for operations. Register at https://info.ausa.org/e/784783/USA-Noon-Report
WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 24
10 a.m. — The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace virtual Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense Forum, with Rear Adm. Scott Pappano, program executive officer, strategic submarines https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
1:00 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual and in-person event: “The Future of Army Vertical Lift,” with Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director, Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team, U.S. Army Futures Command; and Cynthia Cook, director, Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and senior fellow, International Security Program https://www.csis.org/events/future-army-vertical-lift
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It would have been more favorable for his image to shut his mouth, rather than talking nonsense as he had nothing better to say.”
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rejecting an offer of economic aid from South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in return for progress on denuclearization.
