Free Republic

If there's one sure way to infuriate the North Koreans, it's to talk of "regime collapse" and "contingency planning". As far as Pyongyang is concerned, such speculation is proof positive of United States-led plotting of a "pre-emptive strike". Against this background, one should not be surprised if the North Koreans see a study conducted by Rand Corporation analyst Bruce Bennett and Dartmouth College scholar Jennifer Lind as the most conclusive evidence to date that the planning is in an advanced stage. Considering Rand's contracts with the U.S. defense establishment, one has to perceive the study as a scenario for an...

(Japan and its role on the international stage grow increasingly important by the day. As North Korea accelerates its nuclear and missile threats and China builds its military at a frantic pace. the role of Japan as one of American’s premier allies in the Pacific becomes even more critical and the byzantine internal politics of Japan are gaining more attention. On Sunday, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost the latest in a string of municipal elections to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, this one in the capital city of Tokyo. Almost immediately, Prime Minister Taro Aso called a national...

Defense: As we prepare to celebrate our independence, North Korea wants to remind us of Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, we can make use of assets dreamed of by Reagan and deployed by Bush to defend our 50th state. Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea would launch a long-range Taepodong-2 missile at Hawaii on or about July 4. This would be the anniversary of the first Taepodong-2 test on July 4, 2006. It would also mark the 15th anniversary of North Korean President Kim Il Sung's death.Those who know have stopped laughing at North Korea's increasingly credible nuclear and global...

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian Foreign Ministry source said there were signs Tuesday that North Korea was preparing to launch new missiles, Interfax news agency reported. "Information is coming to us that there are signs of preparations for the launch of missiles," the unnamed source was quoted as saying.