🛢 🇺🇸 🇨🇺 Trump administration weighs naval blockade to halt Cuban oil imports

That escalation has been sought by some critics of the Cuban government in the administration and backed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two of the three people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions. No decision has been made on whether to approve that move, but it could be among the suite of possible actions presented to President Donald Trump to force the end of Cuba’s communist government, these people added.

Preventing shipments of crude oil to the island would be a step-up from Trump’s statement last week that the U.S. would halt Cuba’s imports of oil from Venezuela, which had been its main crude supplier.

The loss of Venezuelan oil shipments — and the resale of some of those cargoes that Havana used to obtain foreign currency — has already throttled Cuba’s laggard economy. A total blockade of oil imports into Cuba could then spark a humanitarian crisis, a possibility that has led some in the administration to push back against it.

⚡️ “Energy is the chokehold to kill the regime,” said one person familiar with the plan who was granted anonymity to describe the private discussions. Deposing the country’s communist government – in power since the Cuban revolution in 1959 – is “100 percent a 2026 event” in the administration’s eyes, this person added.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/23/trump-administration-weighs-naval-blockade-to-halt-cuban-oil-imports-00744708

🇺🇸⚡- The Pentagon releases its new National Defense Strategy, NDS:

"Defend the US homeland: We will secure America’s borders and maritime approaches, and we will defend our nation’s skies through Golden Dome. We will actively and fearlessly defend America’s interests throughout the Western Hemisphere. We will guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain, especially the Panama Canal, Gulf of America, and Greenland. This is the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and America’s military stands ready to enforce it with speed, power, and precision, as the world saw in Operation ABSOLUTE RESOLVE.

China: President Trump seeks a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China, and he has shown that he is willing to engage President Xi Jinping directly to achieve those goals. Our goal is simple: To prevent anyone, including China, from being able to dominate us or our allies. We will erect a strong denial defense along the First Island Chain.

Increase burden sharing with US allies: In the Indo-Pacific, where our allies share our desire for a free and open regional order, allies and partners’ contributions will be vital to deterring and balancing China. In Europe and other theaters, allies will take the lead against threats that are less severe for us but more so for them, with critical but more limited support from the United
States.

Russia: Russia will remain a persistent but manageable threat to NATO’s eastern members for the foreseeable future. Indeed, although Russia suffers from a variety of demographic and economic difficulties, its ongoing war in Ukraine shows that it still retains deep reservoirs of military and industrial power. European NATO dwarfs Russia in economic scale, population, and, thus, latent military power. Fortunately, our NATO allies are substantially more powerful than Russia—it is not even close. Germany’s economy alone dwarfs that of Russia.

Iran: President Trump has consistently made clear that Iran will not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” is similarly devastated. Israeli operations have left Hezbollah and Hamas severely degraded. Although Iran has suffered severe setbacks over recent months, it appears intent on reconstituting its conventional military forces. Iran’s leaders have also left open the possibility that they will try again to obtain a nuclear weapon, including by refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations. Nor can we ignore the facts that the Iranian regime has the blood of Americans on its hands, and that it remains intent on destroying our close ally, Israel.

North Korea: The DPRK poses a direct military threat to South Korea as well as to Japan, both of which are U.S. treaty allies. Although many of North Korea’s large conventional forces
are aged or poorly maintained, South Korea must stay vigilant against the threat of a North
Korean invasion. North Korea’s missile forces are also capable of striking targets in the ROK
and Japan with conventional and nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, the DPRK’s nuclear forces are increasingly capable of threatening the U.S. Homeland."

🇺🇸 Pentagon shifts focus away from China in new defense strategy

The previous National Defense Strategy, published in 2022, identified China as the most significant strategic competitor to the U.S.

The Defense Department said in an influential strategy document published Friday that the U.S. military’s top focus is no longer on China but instead the homeland and Western Hemisphere.

The priorities laid out in the 2026 National Defense Strategy, a quadrennial report last published in 2022, diverge significantly from those of the Biden administration, with efforts geared more inward such as securing the border and countering narcotics.

“We will ensure that the Monroe Doctrine is upheld in our time,” it adds, referring to the 19th-century foreign policy doctrine that asserts the U.S. sphere of influence extends throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The No. 2 priority for the Pentagon is now China, which was characterized in the 2022 report as the most significant strategic competitor to the U.S., due in part to Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and its aggressive behavior toward U.S. allies.

The new report says the U.S. does not seek to “strangle or humiliate” China, but rather should deter the country “through strength, not confrontation.” It says the Pentagon will “provide the military strength for President Trump’s visionary and realistic diplomacy, thereby setting conditions for a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific that allows all of us — the United States, China, and others in the region — to enjoy a decent peace.”

The Pentagon’s third priority is to increase allies’ burden sharing, including Canada and Mexico in the Western Hemisphere and Europeans on their continent. The fourth priority is rebuilding the defense industrial base.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/pentagon-shifts-focus-away-china-new-defense-strategy-rcna255701

🇺🇸 2026 U.S. National Defense Strategy

https://media.defense.gov/2026/Jan/23/2003864773/-1/-1/0/2026-NATIONAL-DEFENSE-STRATEGY.PDF

🇨🇳 🇹🇼 🇺🇸 Yun Sun, Director of the China Program at Stimson Center, writes it is increasingly convincing that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan will happen and could even be imminent in 2026.

So far, a fundamental reason Xi has not used force against Taiwan is that it is uncertain such an operation can succeed. This question of success has always depended on how the United States would respond to a Chinese attack. China is now convinced that it is unlikely to see a U.S. president more indifferent toward Taiwan and more unlikely to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait than Donald Trump. The recently released U.S. National Security Strategy, which prioritizes the Western Hemisphere and proclaims a “predisposition to non-interventionism,” supports this perception since it forgoes any designation of China as a threat or a challenge to the United States. The Trump administration’s mostly muted response to China’s December 2025 military exercise encircling Taiwan was also encouraging. Then, in early January, Trump’s decision to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro confirmed the United States’ Western Hemisphere priorities.

Yet this shift in U.S. strategic priorities—and its approach to China—may be present only for the next three years. The shift could even fade after the U.S. midterm elections in November this year if the Democrats take control of Congress and Trump’s base loses enough steam. The window of opportunity is therefore limited: China may never again have a moment when Washington is so reluctant to intervene on Taiwan’s behalf.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/perfect-storm-taiwan-2026#

https://archive.ph/8LFWC

📖 🇨🇳 🇹🇼 Xi’s great purge is pre-war mobilisation strategy: Zhao Lanjian | Oct 26, 2025

In real conflicts—such as the China–India border clashes—this essence is revealed: rigid command, paralyzed decision-making, fear-driven passivity.

To prepare for a Taiwan conflict, Xi is turning China into a wartime society — where soldiers, intellectuals, businessmen, and civilians operate under one command structure.

https://sundayguardianlive.com/world/xis-great-purge-is-pre-war-mobilisation-strategy-zhao-lanjian-158136/