I - On Defense Podcast

For review: 1. US Official: Ukraine Agrees with Revised 19-Point Peace Deal; President Trump Dispatches Steve Witkoff to Meet With Russian President. 2. European Union lawmakers voted on Tuesday to deepen integration of the bloc’s defense industry with Ukraine. European Parliament legislators voted 457-148, with 33 abstentions, to approve a 1.5-billion euro ($1.7 billion) program, with 300 million...

For review: 1. Europe Preparing Counterproposal to President Trump's 28 Point Russia - Ukraine Peace Plan; Talks Occurring in Switzerland & Angola. 2. Estonia still wants to buy six additional M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the US, and possibly more, according to Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur. Estonia Minister of Defense statement: “This is why we are looking...

For review: 1. President Trump 28 Point Peace Plan for Russia & Ukraine Released. 2. Initial Reaction

For review: 1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that there will not be a Palestinian state, even at the cost of normalization with Saudi Arabia. 2. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio guaranteed him that Israel’s “qualitative military edge” will remain intact in a phone call following US President Donald Trump’s announcement this week...

For review: 1.  UN Security Council Passes US-Sponsored Gaza Resolution.  (Russia & China Abstain) 2. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Tuesday during his White House meeting with US President Donald Trump that Riyadh wants to join the Abraham Accords, but calls for the need to secure a path towards a two-state solution. 3. Saudi Arabia to Procure F-35 Fighters & M1 Tanks from US...

For review: 1. US Defense Secretary Hegseth announced a new military and surveillance campaign in the Western Hemisphere on Thursday, dubbed “Operation Southern Spear,” to pummel “narco-terrorists.” 2. US SOUTHCOM Release: On Nov. 15, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist O...

For review: 1. The body of slain hostage Israeli Meny Godard was returned to Israel by Hamas on Thursday night, officials confirmed. The bodies of three slain hostages now remain held in the Strip — two Israelis and one Thai national. 2.  US Secretary of State Optimistic About Gaza International Stabilization Force. 3. Indonesia has trained up to 20,000 troops to take on health and construction-re...

For review: 1. US Envoys Visit Israel to Discuss Hamas Fighters Trapped in Rafah Tunnels. 2. France hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris for a meeting on Tuesday, during which French President Emmanuel Macron committed to helping the PA draft a constitution for a future state. 3. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa threw cold water on the prospect of his country joining the A...

For review: 1. Pakistan said Sunday it was committed to “dialogue” with Afghanistan despite peace talks ending after deadly violence, with Islamabad stressing its security concerns persist. 2. IDF Officer's Body Returned After More Than 11 Years in Hamas Captivity; 4 Hostages Remain. 3. Israel has warned Lebanon’s army that it is not satisfied with the actions taken so far against the Hezboll...

For review: 1. Secretary of War Hegseth Speech to Defense Industry Leaders. 2. Ukrainian forces continue to stubbornly defend the pocket around Pokrovsk despite relentless Russian assaults, leading to an ever-increasing threat of encirclement. 3.  US to Establish Presence at Airbase in Syria. 4. The US has added the entire text of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war t...

For review: 1. Hamas & PA Agree on Temporary Committee to Manage Gaza. 2. Saudi Arabia Requests Purchase of F-35 Fighters from US.  The Trump administration is considering a Saudi Arabian request to buy as many as 48 F-35 fighter jets. 3. US President Donald Trump will host Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa for talks on November 10, the White House announced Tuesday. 4. Ukraine General Staff: No E...

For review: 1. US Draft UNSC Resolution to Establish Gaza International Stabilization Force. International Stabilization Force will be in charge of securing the borders with Israel and Egypt, ensuring the safety of civilians and humanitarian zones, and training new Palestinian police officers who it will partner with. The force’s mandate will apparently include disarming Hamas. 2.  Gaza’s future m...

For review: 1. President Trump said Friday he is not considering strikes on Venezuela, which fears that a major US military buildup in the region is aimed at regime change in Caracas. 2. President Trump Directs Department of War to Prepare for Action in Nigeria.  President Trump on Saturday announced the US will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria if its government continues to allo...

For review: 1. President Trump Meets Chinese President in S. Korea; Discusses Ukraine. 2. President Trump Directs Renewed Nuclear Testing. 3. Qatari Prime Minister al-Thani indicated on Wednesday that Hamas violated the US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday when it attacked IDF soldiers- but did not specifically blame Hamas, referring instead to “the Palestinian party.”  4. Hamas on Thursday re...

For review: 1. President Trump Meets Japan's Prime Minister; On to S. Korea for Meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 2. Russian President Vladimir Putin received North Korea's top diplomat at the Kremlin on October 27. North Korean media said Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui discussed "many future projects to constantly strengthen and develop" the bilateral relationship whil...

For review: 1. While in Malaysia - President Trump Oversees Peace Agreement Between Thailand & Cambodia; Next Stop Japan. 2. Israel Allows Egyptian & Hamas Search Teams Access Beyond the Yellow Line. 3. Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said Friday that Russia, US, & Ukraine are “quite close” to reaching a diploma...

For review: 1. US Secretary of State Visits Israel. 2. IDF Strikes Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon. 3.  Russia Exercises Nuclear Triad. 4. Latest in US Army Self-Propelled Howitzer Modernization.  

For review: 1. US Secretary of State Travels to Israel; Far East this week. 2. United States Vice President JD Vance projected confidence on Tuesday that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was going to last as he paid a visit to a new US-Israel ceasefire coordination center in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel. 3. There will be no Turkish troops in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office i...

For review: 1. Vice President Vance Travels to Israel to Shore Ceasefire Agreement. 2. Ceasefire Status Returns After Two IDF Soldiers Killed in Rafah Leads to Israeli Retaliation. 3. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday told US President Donald Trump to “keep dreaming” if he thinks US airstrikes in June destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities. 4. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney...

For review: 1. Pakistan & Afghanistan Agree to Ceasefire. Security issues are at the heart of the tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harboring militant groups led by the Pakistani Taliban on its soil- a claim Kabul denies. 2. Hamas terror group transferred to Israel two caskets Saturday night which it said contained the remains of two dead hostages held in Gaza. If the bodies are...

For review: 1. The military commander of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Muhammad al-Ghamari, has died, the Iran-backed group announced Thursday afternoon.  The Israel Defense Forces later confirmed that al-Ghamari had been killed during a 28 Aug airstrike in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. 2.  US-Led Gaza Coordination Center Operational in Days. The command center will be led by a US three-star general, at l...

For review: 1. Israel To Keep Rafah Crossing Closed & Limit Aid Until Hamas Returns Remaining Hostages. 2. Post Gaza Ceasefire: Hamas gunmen tightened their grip in Gaza on Monday and Tuesday, sources in the Strip said, including carrying out public executions. Hamas has killed at least 33 people since a ceasefire took effect on Friday in a crackdown on groups that have tested its grip, source...

For review: 1. 20 Living Hostages Returned to Israel After Two Plus Years of Captivity; 4 of 28 Hostages Bodies Also Returned. 2. President Trump Addresses Knesset. 3. President Trump and Leaders of Egypt, Qatar, & Turkey Sign Peace Declaration. 4. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s success in brokering a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas ha...

For review: 1.  Pakistan & Afghanistan Trade Fire on Border Regions.  2. All of Israel Prepares for the Return of the Hostages (Monday AM). 3. President Trump to Arrive in Israel to address Knesset; Then to Egypt for Summit.  Egypt will host an international summit in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to finalize an agreement aimed at ending the war in Gaza, an Egyptian pres...

For review: 1. IDF Withdraws to Yellow Line in Gaza; 72-Hour Clock to Release Hostages Begins. Noon Monday (13 Oct) is the deadline for Hostage Release. 2. US President Donald Trump is set to arrive in Israel on Monday morning and address the Knesset (in Jerusalem) before departing that same day. 3. Opposition activist María Corina Machado of Venezuela won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, dashing...