Free Republic

Following now completed joint war games held by the US, Japan, France and Australia in the East China Sea off the southwest coast of Japan earlier this month, China has lashed out particularly at its large regional neighbor Australia, calling its military “weak” and “insignificant” at a moment the two are locked in a severe trade and diplomatic tit-for-tat dispute. Beijing voiced specific threats and warnings via its state-run English language mouthpiece Global Times, which recently wrote, “Australia’s military is too weak to be a worthy opponent of China, and if it dares to interfere in a military conflict for...

“The latest round of U.S. sanctions was a mostly symbolic exercise,” Agathe Demarais, global forecasting director at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC on Friday. “Sanctions on Russian individuals and companies are irrelevant, as these people and firms have no ties to the US and probably no intention to ever use the U.S. dollar or to have bank accounts in the U.S.” Demarais added that the sanctions on sovereign debt are less stringent than the initial market reaction would suggest, since they only target the primary debt market and can therefore “easily be circumvented via the secondary market.”

Red China constantly rethinks how it will become the world's leading superpower, and plans accordingly. The Epoch Times has just published a detailed plan delivered in a speech in July, 2016, laying out how the People's Republic can overtake the United States as the world's leading nation. Professor Jin Canrong, from the School of International Studies in Beijing, explained how the PRC, following Xi Jinping's call for a national rejuvenation, could accomplish it. The speech, kept secret until now, combined four elements: 1) weakening the United States by becoming increasingly involved in American affairs, and 2) infiltrating Chinese agents into...

Russia is thought to have massed 80,000 troops along Ukraine's eastern border Clashes broke out in recent weeks, undermining a ceasefire brokered last year Ukraine's country's President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting area near Mariupol Zelensky said a Russian invasion is a real possibility that Ukraine is bracing............

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said "it would be serious mistake" for China to strike at Taiwan and expressed "real concerns" about Russia's massing of forces on the border with Ukraine. In addressing concerns about America's two great Cold War rivals, Blinken stopped short of promising U.S. military intervention — "I'm not going to get into hypotheticals" — but did vow there would be "consequences." Speaking to host Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet the Press," Blinken said of Chinese belligerence toward Taiwan, "We have a commitment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, a bipartisan commitment that's existed...

Russia is planning to flight test its new intercontinental ballistic missile which it claims is capable of destroying an area the size of France. The RS-18 Sarmat will be capable of unleashing ten large thermonuclear warheads or 16 smaller ones, or a combination of both, to overwhelm enemy missile defences, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. The 100-ton strategic missile is said to be able to travel around 6,200 miles and has the capacity to wipe out areas the size of Texas or France. Each of the warheads are allegedly capable of being aimed at a different target. The...

President Trump kicked off his rally Tuesday night at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., announcing he was formally running for re-election in 2020 and touching on a number of subjects including trade deals and the tariffs imposed on China. ..." The president told supporters the U.S. helped rebuild China and “they took us for suckers, and that includes (former President Barack) Obama and (former Vice President Joe) Biden.” Trump said he was fighting for them and would continue to do so. “I have news for Democrats who want to return us to the bitter failures and betrayals of the...

Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Saturday accused Russia of endangering world order, citing its incursions in Ukraine and loose talk about nuclear weapons, and said the U.S. defense establishment is searching for creative ways to deter Russian aggressive and protect U.S. allies. [...] Carter said Russia is undertaking "challenging activities" at sea, in the air, in space and in cyberspace. "Most disturbing, Moscow's nuclear saber-rattling raises questions about Russian leaders' commitment to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons, and whether they respect the profound caution nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to the brandishing of...

On Friday, we reported the latest provocation in what has truly become a very dangerous, if largely pointless, staring contest between Beijing and Washington over China’s reclamation of land in The South China Sea. Responding to suggestions that the US was set to sail warships around the islands Beijing has constructed atop reefs in the Spratlys, China served noticed that it would “never allow any country to violate China's territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight.” This was simply a formalized version of the more concise phrasing the PLA...

Chinese Fund Buys 9.9% Stake in $27 Billion Russian LNG ProjectSince the implementation of U.S. sanctions against Russia for its actions in Crimea, one of the major challenges facing the Russian oil and gas industry is gaining access to long-term project financing. Under the current sanctions regime, loans to Russia can be no longer than 30 days if they come from the U.S., and 90 days if the loans are from European lenders. Cutting off access to longer-term loans has made financing capital-intensive projects like liquefied natural gas (LNG) much more difficult.Earlier this month, Russia’s largest independent gas company, Novatek...

If the U.S. intelligence community believes that Russia poses a greater cyber spying threat than China, what will it make of this? Russia and China signed a cyber-security deal on Friday, which experts say could firm up Russia’s ties with the east and may become a foundation for binding cyber security ties in the future. According to the text of the agreement posted on the Russian government’s website on Wednesday, Russia and China agree to not conduct cyber-attacks against each other, as well as jointly counteract technology that may “destabilize the internal political and socio-economic atmosphere,” ”disturb public order” or...

January 9, 2014, 8:03 AM China’s newest military helicopter made its first flight on December 23 at a location in “northeastern China,” a site presumed to be the Harbin facility. The aircraft, believed to be designated Z-20, is in the “10-tonne” class, and is thought to be a collaborative effort among Harbin, Changhe and the 602 Institute. It closely resembles the Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk that has been in Chinese army service for nearly three decades. The first public glimpse of the Z-20 came in August 2013, when the heavily wrapped fuselage was photographed being transported by road. China acquired...

Moscow: Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers on Wednesday took off from their base in Engels in Volga region on a record 23-hour patrol during which they will cover a distance of 18,000 kilometres without touching the ground. "We are expecting this mission to set a record because its duration will exceed the previous achievement by two hours and it would be of total of 23 hours, and its range will reach 18,000 kilometres," Air Force spokesman Lt Col Vladimir Drik was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. A similar mission last year had lasted 21 hours. The Tu-160...

DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report that the Obama administration is on the threshold of a major rapprochement with Tehran, a reversal of US policy dramatic enough to block out international sanctions. Iran will be allowed to keep its nuclear program, including military elements and enriched uranium stocks, up to the point of actually assembling a weapon. [..] The US president is willing to ditch Israel as a friend. This will be brought home to Jerusalem when he makes his big speech on April 7 appealing for a grand US-Muslim global reconciliation. The US president is preparing to tie a Palestinian-Israeli settlement...

The Manhattan district attorney's office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned. Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran.