The US Military’s Grave New Frontier: Training for Conflict—Theoretically—With Another Superpower

A Trump-Putin Lovefest • McCarthy Still on Notice • “Vibes-Based” Impeachment [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( The US Military’s Grave New Frontier: Training for Conflict—Theoretically—With Another Superpower Good Thursday morning! It’s still chaos at the Capitol, where Congress is now girding for months of partisan warfare thanks to Kevin McCarthy’s “vibes-based” impeachment push, as Molly Jong-Fast [opines]( in her latest column. While the Speaker appears to have narrowly escaped his impeachment quandary in one piece, Abigail Tracy [reports]( that his right flank is still out for blood. Zooming out from politics, it’s a new dawn for war, as Phil Klay writes in his [photo essay]( on how the US military is preparing for “peer-to-peer combat” with a nuclear-armed superpower like China or Russia. No longer training to be deployed for guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan, Klay explains, American soldiers can now expect “extended periods in the field, living out of a rucksack, dispersed and camouflaged in dug-in fighting positions before massing to attack.” Thanks for reading! [The US Military’s Grave New Frontier: Training for Conflict—Theoretically—With Another Superpower]( By [Phil Klay]( [Combat exercises have pivoted from anti-guerrilla tactics to preparations for full-scale war with a nuclear-armed opponent like Russia or China.]( [Read more button](   [Kevin McCarthy’s Vibes-Based Impeachment]( By [Molly Jong-Fast]( [Rather than try to prevent a government shutdown, says Representative Ritchie Torres, “House Republicans have chosen to launch kangaroo ‘impeachment inquiries’ and descend into a complete clown show.”]( [Read more button](   [Kevin McCarthy’s Impeachment Push Isn’t Going to Satisfy House Republicans]( By [Abigail Tracy]( [Even as the Speaker kicks off an evidence-free inquiry into Biden, his right flank is stepping up its demands and steering the government toward a shutdown. As one Democratic rep tells VF, “The McCarthy-MAGA brand is chaos and distraction.”]( [Read more button](   [In a Surprise to No One, Donald Trump Apparently Had a Big Hand in Biden Impeachment Inquiry]( By [Caleb Ecarma]( [The ex-president reportedly spoke in private with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elise Stefanik about Biden’s ouster, for which there is still—yes, still—no evidence.]( [Read more button](   [Donald Trump Gets a Sympathetic Shout-Out From His Favorite War Criminal: Vladimir Putin]( By [Bess Levin]( [According to the Russian president, Trump’s being held accountable for his many alleged crimes shows “the rottenness of the American political system.”]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2023 Condé Nast