Free Republic

In recent years, a movement among sections of Chinese nationalists has emerged, asking that Russia return Vladivostok to China. These claims have been intensified by Putin's interview, in which he contrasted the alleged historical foundation of the Russian state, which he said dated back to the 9th century, with the "invention" of Ukraine in the 20th century. "According to history, Russia should return us Vladivostok and vast territory stolen 100-something years ago," Robert Wu, a social media user from China, said on X, formerly Twitter... Another Chinese nationalist on Weibo pointed out that Russia has territories that imperial Chinese dynasties...

Russia and China Vie for Najin Port Russia is trying to strengthen ties with North Korea, citing a "China threat" in Korea and the Far East. The Gudok, the daily newspaper of Russian Railways, said in an article Tuesday, "If China takes control of Najin port in North Korea, Russia may suffer huge losses in the project to link the TKR (Trans-Korea Railway) and the TSR (Trans-Siberian Railway)." Gudok is published by Vladimir Yakunin, the president and CEO of Russian Railways and one of the closest allies of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Sources say the report can be viewed as...

The group of Sakhalin fishermen did not expect to find the Lovecraftian monster in their nets as they took to the sea for smaller fry on Saturday. The enormous fish, considered a delicacy in some cultures, proved to be a dead weight as it didn't make it to the shore fresh. Russian fishermen pulled a 1,100 kg ocean sunfish which got stuck in their net in the waters near Iturup island, according to Sakhalin info. Also known as moonfish and mola, the bizarre-looking creature is the heaviest bony fish on Earth.“There has been no such specimen that I can remember;...

Call it the Muscovite version of "manifest destiny." On Monday, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill that offers every Russian citizen a tract of land in their country's remote Far East. "All citizens will be entitled to apply for up to hectare of land in the Kamchatka, Primorye, Khabarovsk, Amur, Magadan and Sakhalin regions, the republic of Sakha, or the Jewish and Chukotka autonomous districts," the Moscow Times reports. This is a vast stretch of territory spanning the upper Arctic reaches near Alaska, down to islands off the coast of Japan and deep into the Siberian hinterland. Those...

By virtue of our unique geography”, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a 2011 Foreign Policy article, “the United States is both an Atlantic and a Pacific power.” Russia, meanwhile, has seen itself as a Euro-Asian country, as Vladimir Putin has argued from the start of his first term in the Kremlin. The American attitude, which in Secretary Clinton’s locution is about as uncontroversial a statement as an American Secretary of State can make, reflects the country’s historic “maritime” vocation. The Russian one reflects the longstanding fascination with the country’s continental scale and reflects its traditional terrestrial focus....

(Reuters) - With warships and missiles, Russia is flexing its muscles in the Far East in a bid to defend its position as an Asian power against China's growing might. China's rise has forced Russia's leaders to turn their gaze eastward and reassess decades of Soviet-era planning for a land war on the European plain or the nightmare of a nuclear conflict with the United States. The match between the world's largest energy producer, Russia, and its largest energy consumer, China, might seem ideal. But the speed at which China's military is growing presses the question: how can Moscow feed...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -Renewed fighting between Cambodian and Thai troops along the countries' disputed border killed a Thai soldier Saturday and sent thousands of people fleeing before military commanders agreed on the second cease-fire in two days. The fiercest border clashes in years also damaged a landmark 11th century temple near a strip of disputed land that Thai nationalists have seized on as a domestic political issue. At least five people have died in two days — one civilian and one soldier from Thailand and one civilian and two soldiers from Cambodia, according to officials from the two countries. Each...

Hospitals in Russia's far-eastern city of Vladivostok have seen an influx of patients with a rare form of fish poisoning. Several people have died. The culprit is the fugu fish – a traditional and popular Japanese delicacy. The catch is you have to cook it very carefully because just one fish contains a poison capable of killing over 30 people. In Japan, only very experienced, specially trained cooks are allowed to dress fugu. Fugu fish are not usually found off Vladivostok, but the warm summer saw their numbers grow. Hungry anglers took it upon themselves to make what they thought...

Recently, Roger McDermott, a regular contributor to this publication, offered an excellent overview of the operational-strategic exercise being conducted in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East by the Russian armed forces (EDM, July 6). McDermott correctly pointed to the role of the exercise in testing concepts associated with the “new look” reforms and called attention to the exercise’s testing the speed of deployment of brigades, their combat readiness, and capacity to engage in combined-arms combat in an air/land battle, and their logistical support to sustain combat actions. He also noted that while the scenario dealt with a wide range...

US intelligence services and other countries in the Far East are closely monitoring the grand naval drills being conducted by the Russian Navy. “The naval phase of Russia's Vostok-2010 (Orient-2010) military exercises has drawn increased attention from the intelligence services of the United States and Asia-Pacific countries,” a senior Russian Navy source was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. On June 29, Russia launched the biggest ever post-Soviet war games in the eastern part of the country involving 20,000 troops, up to 70 combat aircraft and 30 warships, including North Fleet's nuclear powered guided missile cruiser ‘Pyotr Veliky’ (Peter-the-Great), world's...

High-level lobbying by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has failed to persuade the Chinese leadership to do anything substantial regarding Pyongyang's sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in late March. Diplomatic sources in the Chinese capital said State Councillor Dai Bingguo privately told the American delegation — which just ended the second bilateral Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED) in Beijing — that Chinese diplomats would privately urge the Kim Jong-Il regime to refrain from further provocative acts against South Korea. But there would be no public statements from Beijing condemning Kim’s latest act of brinksmanship. At the end of...

James Tsai is the sort of MBA corporate recruiters covet. He went to a good prep school, earned a degree with honors from Middlebury College, and made vice-president in Bank of America's (BAC) international wealth management group at the age of 26. Today, Tsai is about to graduate, straight A's in hand, from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, a top-rated program in America. And he's hustling to land his first post-MBA job—in China. Executive Class strivers like Tsai used to have just one post-grad career destination, the U.S. Not anymore. "I am doing everything I think I can to get...

It was dubbed by some defence analysts as a ‘game-changer.’ Earlier this year, Russia’s newest fighter aircraft rolled down a runway in the country’s Far East for its 47-minute debut flight. The 72-foot-long, twin-engine T-50 fighter bears a striking resemblance to the US Air Force’s F-22 Raptor, widely considered the most lethal air-to-air fighter aircraft ever produced—so lethal that US law prohibits its export. Yet the United States is buying just 187 F-22s, in order to husband resources for buying larger numbers of the smaller and less powerful F-35 fighters. The problem, according to two Australian defence analysts, is that...

The close relationship that once existed between Moscow and Pyongyang is a relic of the Cold War. In fact, there is reason to believe that the two neighbors now share little in common. Yet decades ago, the Soviets exercised tremendous influence over the North Korean regime, anecdotally evidenced by Kim Il-sung's fateful request to Josef Stalin asking to invade the South in 1950. Stalin, after much consternation, finally gave his approval.1 By deferring to Stalin, Kim Il-sung sought continued Soviet support, which he received for roughly 40 years until the breakup of the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, however,...

Special Navy forces discovered weapons and ammunition on a cargo ship overnight Tuesday, after boarding the Francop some 100 nautical miles west of Israel flying an Antiguan flag. Defense officials said the 140-meter long Francop, captured near Cyprus, was carrying arms sent by Iran and destined for Syria and Hizbullah. More than 60 tons of weaponry were on board, in dozens of containers. The Francop carried hundreds of containers. A significant amount of 122 mm. Katyusha rockets, likely made in Iran, assault rifles, mortar shells and grenades were found on board. Israel Radio reported that advanced anti-aircraft platforms not before...

In the news today we are witnessing the outworking of a very old problem in a very old place. SUCH A HISTORY: It is the Cradle of Civilization, the place of the Tower of Babel, the land of Nimrod, Shinar, Babylon, Assyria, modern day Iraq. It is the place of Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, blessings and cursings, struggle and strife. From such a setting comes God s great and gracious promises and predictions.

The results of the 2007 edition of IMD’s World Competitiveness Yearbook highlight a big shake-up in economic and business power. Emerging nations are quickly catching up in competitiveness. New companies and new brands are appearing all over the world. They now contest the long-standing competitive supremacy of industrialized nations. “This could lead to an increase in protectionist measures in Europe and the US”, says Professor Stéphane Garelli, Director of IMD’s World Competitiveness Center. Of the 55 economies ranked by IMD, the US still ranks No. 1 in 2007, closely followed by Singapore and Hong Kong. However, 40 economies are now...

MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - A total of four sailors have now been found dead, and 11 have been found alive from the 18-man crew of a Russian cargo ship that sunk in the West Pacific three days ago, after rescuers found another three dead on Thursday. The Russian ship Yury Orlenko, which had sailed from the country's Far East port of Vladivostok to join the rescue effort, pulled a body out of the water in the Sea of Japan at 5:30 a.m. GMT on Thursday, according to Russia's Transportation Ministry.

Swedish equipment to test North Korea nuclear claim South Korean officials said on Tuesday they believe North Korea's claim of a nuclear test is genuine, but they plan to borrow hi-tech equipment from Sweden to test the atmosphere for radioactive particles. "The government believes North Korea actually conducted a nuclear test," Unification Minister Lee Jong-Seok told a special parliamentary hearing. Lee, who is in charge of North Korean affairs, said the government would not yet recognize Pyongyang as a nuclear power until it was known whether the test was successful. North Korea said Monday it had successfully tested a nuclear...

Bildt: North Korea nuclear test 'extremely serious' Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has described North Korean claims that it has carried out an underground nuclear weapons test as "an extremely serious development." The test would have consequences both for stability in East Asia and for international efforts to stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Bildt said in a statement on Monday morning. "While it has been assumed for a long time that North Korea has a few nuclear charges, a test of this kind is a conscious and serious provocation directed at the entire international community," he said, adding that...