Free Republic

Are you a betting man? As we look at the next six to nine months, as Americans, we know the many possibilities surrounding the coming election. President Trump could be returned to office, or Joe Biden could remain in place, or one or both could somehow be replaced on their respective party’s tickets. Anything is possible. We see the polls, which say President Trump is ahead. We also know our history, the history of the American electorate often voting against their own interest, and we know of the corrupt political machines famous for fabricating votes and stealing elections. All the...

The Philippines accused the China Coast Guard of blocking a Filipino supply vessel and damaging it with water cannon on Saturday morning (Mar 23) off a remote and contested South China Sea reef. The Philippine military said the nearly hour-long attack occurred off Second Thomas Shoal, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannon and collided with Filipino vessels in similar stand-offs in recent months. The military released video clips that showed a white ship repeatedly dousing another vessel sailing alongside it with a water cannon. One clip showed two white ships simultaneously firing water at the same vessel.

The South China Sea has once again become a focal point of international attention following sudden clashes between coast guard vessels of the Philippines and China. As tensions rise, the involvement of global powers like the US and Japan adds further complexity to the situation, potentially pushing more nations to align against Beijing. Amid these escalating tensions, it becomes imperative for China to reconsider its assertive stance and respect the existing global order to avoid further international backlash The South China Sea (SCS) has once again come into focus following sudden skirmishes between the coast guard vessels of the Philippines...

Australia has offered the Malaysian government support for a renewed search for the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, on the 10-year anniversary of the aircraft’s disappearance. On Friday, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, and transport minister, Catherine King, said the government’s “sincere sympathies” remained with the loved ones of those who were onboard. “Despite coordinated efforts to locate the missing plane over the last decade, those who lost loved ones have not had the answers they seek. We recognise their ongoing heartache and grief,” the ministers said in a statement. “Australia coordinated what was one of the biggest search...

The PRC has adopted a sustained coercive campaign against the Philippines to seize its sovereign territory. The world is witnessing this aggression today in the South China Sea. Awarning from the 20th century is that dictatorships tend to use aggression not first against great powers but against smaller states. Hitler pressured Austria and seized the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia before seizing the rest of the Czech Republic, turning Slovakia into a protectorate, and seizing Memel (Klaipeda) from Lithuania. After checking Japan in 1938 and 1939 in the Far East, Stalin aggressed against Poland with his ally Nazi Germany before turning to...

South China Sea Collision This image released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, shows a Chinese militia vessel, top, and Philippine coast guard vessel BRP Cabra as they approach Second Thomas Shoal, locally called Ayungin Shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on Sunday Oct. 22, 2023. (Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States renewed a warning Monday that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack under a 1951 treaty, after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested shoal in the South...

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once (nearly) said: “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single dash line”. Recent Chinese activities in the South China Sea and Beijing’s claims of “indisputable sovereignty” inside the nine-dash line of China’s unilateral making show every sign of them taking this mantra seriously. The latest Chinese stunt was to place a buoyed net around the Scarborough shoal to prevent Filipino fishing there. Almost immediately the Philippine coast guard dismantled it but the minute their fishing boats returned they were aggressively intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard. In terms of violating internationally recognised...

Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The Philippines said Monday it would take "all appropriate actions" to remove a floating barrier it accuses China of erecting in a disputed area of the South China Sea, a move that threatens to further fray fraught relations between the Asian neighbors.

NEW DELHI/HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden visits Vietnam's capital city Sunday, where the two countries are expected to declare themselves strategic partners, as the United States seeks to push supply chains from China and both countries to try to counter Beijing's military and diplomatic influence in Asia. Biden will arrive at the Presidential Palace Sunday afternoon for a formal welcome from Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's most powerful leader, then journey to the Party headquarters where the two will meet and then give public remarks. The visit comes as trade and investment ties between the...

On the morning of June 3, 1969, 74 American sailors died when the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans was cut in two by an Australian aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. By Phil Smith and Mal Lancaster Niobrara is a very small town in Nebraska--so small it doesn't have a cinema, and the locals could not have flocked to see Saving Private Ryan. But Niobrara has a memorial outside its library dedicated to the three Sage brothers, who were the first family group allowed to serve together on a U.S. warship after World War II. Radarman 3rd Class Gregory...

There has been a strategic battle taking place in the South China Sea this year between China and the Philippines. As you probably know, China has laid claim to most of the South China Sea and over the past decade has been using a strategy called the cabbage strategy to gradually claim individual islands.The cabbage strategy involves surrounding islands with Chinese boats like the leaves of a cabbage. China starts with fishing vessels, dozens of which anchor around an island or shoal making it difficult for any other vessels to approach. Once that’s done, Chinese Coast Guard vessels move in...

China urged U.S. to fire Pacific Command chief Harris in return for pressure on North Korea BEIJING – China urged the United States to sack the head of the U.S. Pacific Command in return for exerting more pressure on North Korea amid concerns over its growing nuclear and missile threats, a source close to U.S.-China ties said Saturday. The Chinese leadership headed by President Xi Jinping made the request, through its ambassador in the United States, to dismiss Adm. Harry Harris, known as a hard-liner on China, including with respect to the South China Sea issue, the source said. China’s...

Vietnam has banned Warner Bros.’ highly anticipated film “Barbie” from domestic distribution over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday. (Warner Bros’, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.) The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions. “Barbie” is the latest movie to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated...

Russia's state-controlled oil company Zarubezhneft and gas giant Gazprom, working with a subsidiary of PetroVietnam, the country's state-owned fossil fuel company, operate a gas field in Vietnam's South China Sea exclusive economic zone (EEZ), according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank in Washington. Chinese coast guard ships have sailed into the areas operated by Russian firms in Vietnam’s EEZ about 40 times since January 2022, according to vessel-tracking data from Vietnamese research organization South China Sea Chronicle Initiative (SCSCI), an independent nonprofit, according to Reuters. The most recent incident was on March 27, days...

Thursday the guided missile destroyer USS Milius sailed near some islands in the South China Sea that China claims as its own. Actually three different countries claim the Paracel Islands but China currently occupies them. Here’s a map showing the locations of some of the disputed islands in the South China Sea.Disputed islands in south china sea👉🏻The Paracel Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.👉🏻The Spratly Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Philippines.👉🏻The Scarborough Shoal is claimed by Philippines, China and Taiwan#UPSCPrelims2023pic.twitter.com/Cv9UKS6uGT— Geography & Current Affair Page (@GeographyCrux) March 23, 2023So when the USS Milius sailed...

With Eastern Europe in turmoil over Putin's land grab in the Crimea and Iraq voting to legalize rape within marriage, one news story has been trumpeted nonstop. Ever since the plane disappeared, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has dominated the news coverage and has sent the media into a frenzy. Speculation has run rampant over the fate of the plane and the 239 people on board, and conspiracy theories have abounded. Whether you believe one scenario or the other, it is most likely that the passengers are deceased. With all the chaos going on in the world, why the media frenzy...

Crew on a Greek flagged oil tanker are responding to radio reports of suit cases found floating in the Straits of Malacca, between Malaysia and Indonesia, Greek media reported. The Oil and chemical tanker, the Elka Athina, reported to media that it was steaming toward a zone identified as a field of debris, including what appeared to be aircraft passenger's luggage. The crew was responding to a report from an Indonesian source, according to the translation of the report.

BEIJING (AP) — China's official Xinhua News Agency says a government website has images of suspected debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. The report says the satellite images from the morning of March 9 appear to show "three suspected floating objects" of varying sizes. The report includes coordinates of a location in the sea off the southern tip of Vietnam and east of Malaysia.

Crews searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet are investigating an oil slick found not far from the area where underwater “pings” that may be linked to the aircraft’s black box were detected. “A sample of about two liters has been collected and we are a number of days before it can be landed ashore and conclusively tested,” said retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the painstaking search off Australia’s west coast. “I stress the source of the oil is yet to be determined.” The slick is approximately 18,000 feet down-wind and down-sea...