The U.S. is shipping more to Ukraine and Taiwan, Russia shifts them from Syria, Pyongyang wants some and the Pentagon is running short

(Originally published Aug. 30 in “What in the World“) As Ukraine launches its long-promised counteroffensive against Russian invaders in the country’s south, the United States is ramping up production of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that enabled Ukraine to halt the Russian advance. To thwart the Ukrainians, Russia is sending new battalions to Ukraine, shifting artillery there from Syria, and importing combat drones from Iran.

Recent skirmishes in Syria between Iran-backed militia and U.S. forces there appear to be a remote flare-up of the global proxy war between the U.S. and its allies against Russia, China, and Iran. The U.S. conducted a retaliatory air strike after militias attacked three U.S. outposts, including a drone attack on an outpost near the border along the road leading from Damascus to Iraq and another on an outpost defending a Conoco gas plant along the Euphrates. A new and more convoluted theory is that the militia attacks are retaliation against Israeli attacks on Iranian positions in Syria, designed to convince Washington to pressure Israel to lay off.

That U.S. also reportedly fired high-explosive, 155mm shells at militia positions from a howitzer. But the Pentagon has supplied Ukraine with so much ammunition from its own stockpile that it is running low on those 155mm shells as well as other ordnance, threatening U.S. military preparedness. So even though the latest $3 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine allows Kyiv to purchase directly from defense contractors, the Pentagon will now need to step up its own purchases to replenish U.S. armories.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden also plans to ask the U.S. Congress to approve $1.1 billion in new arms sales to Taiwan to help it build defenses against China. The sale would include Harpoon long-range, anti-ship missiles as well as Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.

The growing threat posed by the budding Russia-China axis will be on display this week in Asia, where the two nations are is holding joint military exercises that include forces from several former Soviet satellites, as well as Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Syria, and disturbingly, India.

North Korea is meanwhile trying to capitalize on the growing split between Russia and the West to improve ties with Moscow and use them to obtain new weapons and circumvent sanctions to generate offshore revenue.