Free Republic

The vote to DEFUND Planned Parenthood FAILS in the Senate!

Iran has ended its large scale Great Prophet 9 exercise in the Persian Gulf, test firing a “new strategic weapon,” which it says will play an important role in the future battle against the US. The test was performed on the final day of the exercise, staged by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil passes. "The new weapon will have a very decisive role in adding our naval power in confronting threats, particular by the Great Satan, the US," Admiral Ali Fadavi, Iran’s navy chief, told the Revolutionary...

The U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of waging nuclear war, will hold large-scale bomber exercises this week—days after Russia held what Moscow called “massive” war games simulating a U.S. and NATO nuclear attack. Ten U.S. B-52 bombers and up to six B-2 strategic bombers will take part in the war games called “Global Lightning 14” from Monday through May 16, the command said in a statement late Sunday. The purpose is to “demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness in training scenarios throughout the continental U.S.,” the command said in a statement from its Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska headquarters. “This...

The Associated Press reported Monday that Gen. Herbert Carlisle, Commander of United States Air Forces in the Pacific, acknowledged a significant increase in the activities by Russian long-range strategic aircraft flying along the California coast. There was no comment about whether the aircraft were nuclear capable, but it has not been since the Cold War ended in the early 1990s that Russian patrols have skirted the West Coast and California. Gen. Herbert J. "Hawk" Carlisle is the Commander of Pacific Air Forces; Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command; and Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff, Joint Base Pearl...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged Congress Tuesday to "vote no" on a military strike against Syria and instead begin debate on what he described as even bigger strategic challenges for the United States and the world. "The most powerful nation in the world does not need a three- or four-week debate about a limited, symbolic, tactical use of power," the Georgia Republican wrote Tuesday in an opinion piece for CNN, as he urged Congress to "vote no on a meaningless public relations use of military force against [Syrian President Bashar Assad]. "What we do need are three debates about...

The recommendations in the Department of Defense’s latest strategic review would produce both a hollow and aging military unable to engage in simultaneous conflicts involving U.S. interests, defense budget experts said Tuesday. The experts spoke at the Brookings Institution about the Pentagon’s efforts to prepare for $500 billion in spending cuts during the next decade due to budget sequestration. Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, noted that the sequestration cuts come on the heels of about $1 trillion in military spending reductions already enacted under President Barack Obama’s administration. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel discussed the...

The weakening of the Defense Department’s readiness continued today as President Obama’s FY 2014 budget proposed whacking billions more from a military force already reeling from $500 billion in sequestration cuts. Undersecretary of Defense Bob Hale, comptroller, told reporters at the Pentagon today that the changes already in effect for this year since mandatory cuts went into effect “are going to have significant and adverse effects, particularly on military readiness.” “Some programs are exempt or protected. The military personnel funding exempt by law, embarrassingly so, are Senate-confirmed political appointees,” Hale said. “By policy, we’ll exempt Afghan wartime operations, our wounded...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is edging toward decisions that would further shrink the U.S. nuclear arsenal, possibly to between 1,000 and 1,100 warheads, reflecting new thinking on the role of nuclear weapons in an age of terror, say current and former officials. The reductions that are under consideration align with President Barack Obama's vision of trimming the nation's nuclear arsenal without harming national security in the short term, and in the longer term, eliminating nuclear weapons. The White House has yet to announce any plan for reducing the number of nuclear weapons, beyond commitments made in the recently completed...

To give up the 5,000-square-kilometre “West Bank” - roughly 50 kilometres wide and 100 kilometres in length - would be to put Israel in a totally indefensible position by giving up military advantages in four critical areas. Yitzhar is probably the most hated, headlined and demonized “settlement” in Samaria. Only passionately convinced people would visit this Jewish town. But anyone visiting it would also understand what would happen to Tel Aviv and Herzliya if, instead of Jews, the PLO-Hamas regime would be controlling Yitzhar. From Yitzhar, located high up in the hills near Nablus, the Biblical city of Shechem, you...

•Strategic Rocket Forces: 334 missiles with 1092 warheads 55 R-36M2 (SS-18) with 550 warheads 35 UR-100NUTTH (SS-19) with 210 warheads 150 Topol (SS-25) with 150 warheads 56 Topol-M silo (SS-27) with 56 warheads 18 Topol-M mobile (SS-27) with 18 warheads 18 RS-24 mobile with 108 warheads •Strategic Fleet: 96 missiles with 336 warheads 3 Delta III with 48 R-29R with 144 warheads 3 Delta IV with 48 R-29RM with 192 warheads •Strategic Aviation: 66 bombers with ~200 cruise missiles 55 Tu-95MS (Bear H) with up to 16 Kh-55 (AS-15A) 11 Tu-160 (Blackjack) with up to 12 Kh-55SM (AS-15B)

Commentary on President Trojan Horse's energy policy & destruction of America from within.

<p>The Obama administration is launching a new space arms-control initiative that critics say will lead to restrictions on U.S. military activities in space, a key U.S. strategic war-fighting advantage.</p> <p>Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to announce the initiative as early as Tuesday. The plan will be built on work contained in a European Union draft code of conduct for space that the Pentagon and State Department have criticized as too restrictive.</p>

... Taking out the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, he says, is impressive, but it is not the finish line. “As a general proposition, the administration has lacked a strategic design, or a discernible strategic design,” Kissinger says. “It has operated more on the tactical than on the strategic level. But with its standing having been improved by the operation against bin Laden, they may have an opportunity to rectify this, to some extent.”... Kissinger would like to see Obama continue in this vein, reasserting U.S. aims and sidestepping minor political scuffles. “Relations of the United States with the...

President Barack Obama should make the most of his "Daily Show" appearance on Wednesday night - charming the pants off Jon Stewart and the crowd, as he did when he showed up there two years ago. It's a terrific show, Stewart is a great interviewer and Obama makes good television. Then, the President should cancel all future trivial media appearances. While they may have kept him personally popular, in broad terms they've degraded the Obama brand. Obama's handlers were supposed to be smarter than this. They were supposed to use his celebrity strategically to advance his agenda. Instead, they've been...

"When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a “vital national security interest of the United States,” he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests. [..] "Mr. Obama said conflicts like the one in the Middle East ended up “costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure” — drawing an explicit link between the Israeli-Palestinian strife and the safety of American soldiers as they battle Islamic extremism and terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere."...

Strategic considerations for the post-reform environmentMarch 27th, 2010 Milliman today identified a number of strategic considerations for the post-reform environment: - - The health insurance industry will face intense regulatory scrutiny at both the state and federal level. While new regulation does not necessarily go into effect immediately, it is clear that health insurers now face increased scrutiny and a new layer of regulatory complexity. Health plans will have to focus on minimum loss ratios and administrative efficiency and will have to balance challenging cost dynamics against the need for affordable policies. - State exchanges will change competition. The creation...

Israel remains a strategic ally of the United States, the US State Department reaffirmed Monday amid a dispute over Israeli plans to build settler homes in east Jerusalem.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Oct. 21, 2009 – U.S. and Afghan officials joined local residents in the Anaba district of Afghanistan’s Panjshir province Oct. 8 to officially open a spur connecting the historic Daraband pass to the main road in the Panjshir River valley. James DeHart, director of the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, speaks at the grand opening of Khermensan Road in Panjshir’s Anaba district, Oct. 8, 2009. U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. John T. Stamm  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Daraband pass is the strategic connection between the Shomali Plain and the Panjshir Valley,...

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2009 – U.S. military strategic focus is shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at a news conference today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen also said he is very concerned about Taliban advances in Pakistan, and that officials in Pakistan and the rest of the region must be patient and persistent. “We stand ready, and we have stood ready, to assist the Pakistanis in their fight against this common enemy of ours,” Mullen said. The chairman, who returned from a trip to the region last week, said the U.S. strategic focus...

TBILISI, Georgia, March 31, 2009 – The United States and Georgia will continue to work on a strategic partnership over the coming years, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here yesterday. Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright is visiting the former Soviet republic to meet with senior military and civilian officials, traveling to both Tbilisi and Gori. During his visit to Gori, Cartwright toured an old tank battalion base and a field artillery base. At both locations, he was able to see first-hand destroyed buildings and military equipment from the Russia-Georgia war in August over...