Free Republic

In the decades immediately following World War II, American public opinion generally supported President Truman's historic decision to unleash nuclear weapons on Japan. Everyone accepted that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an unfortunate necessity brought on by the unwillingness of Japan to surrender. Those two bombs, which killed over 140,000 civilians, were viewed as a way to avoid the obscene costs in men and materiel associated with invading the Japanese homeland. Nowadays, many question whether those bombs were necessary. Given that they killed almost exclusively civilians and that the second of the two was dropped only two days...

President Trump asks Pentagon to look at options for withdrawing troops from South Korea: reportPresident Trump has asked the Pentagon to look at options for reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as he prepares to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, The New York Times reports. The U.S. currently has roughly 28,000 soldiers stationed on the Korean peninsula. It’s unclear if the plans will call for a full or partial withdrawal of troops. Some at the Pentagon are concerned that bringing troops home from South Korea ahead of Trump’s meeting with Kim could create...

Senior North Korean espionage official 'may have fled to Britain after defecting' By Julian Ryall, tokyo 3 MAY 2018 • 4:51AM North Korea has launched an international manhunt for one of its most senior counter-espionage officers, who disappeared in late February and is believed to have defected, possibly to Britain, according to a media report in South Korea. The official has been identified as a Mr Kang, a colonel in his 50s with the Ministry of State Security and responsible for monitoring dissident and espionage efforts in Russia, China and south-east Asia. He disappeared from the Zhongpu International Hotel in...

Leakers and lawbreakers rewarded with Clinton-administration jobs — and the American public none the wiser about deep-state corruption T here are lots of possible counterfactuals to think about had Hillary Clinton won the presidency as all the experts had predicted. The U.S. embassy would have stayed in Tel Aviv. “Strategic patience” would likely still govern the North Korea dilemma. Fracking would be curtailed. The — rather than “our” — miners really would be put out of work. Coal certainly would not have been “beautiful.” The economy probably would be slogging along at below 2 percent GDP growth. China would be...

Donald Trump on Monday tweeted a suggestion that his planned meeting with Kim Jong-un could take place at the Peace House on the border between North and South Korea, the same site as Kim’s historic meeting last week with South Korean president Moon Jae-in. Moon, meanwhile, suggested that Trump should win the Nobel peace prize for his efforts to end the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang. “Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING,” Trump wrote on Twitter, “but would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a...

With the unthinkable now cautiously possible, peace between North and South Korea, speculation about President Donald Trump becoming a Nobel Peace Prize winner has begun. If peace in the Korean Peninsula truly happens, the Nobel committee could be left with a difficult choice regarding Trump’s candidacy. Recognizing those who helped bring peace to the region would seem like an easy choice, but a decision to give Trump the award could force the Nobel Prize committee into a fierce political debate on whether a man who has openly mocked foreign leaders, launched multiple airstrikes and has threatened war, deserves an award...

According to sources familiar with the matter, South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has convinced North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is the best site for President Trump and Kim Jong Un's summit.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday suggested his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take place at the Peace House on the border between North and South Korea, the same site as Kim’s historic meeting last week with South Korea’s president. “Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING, but would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a third party country? Just asking!” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.

We are in a good place when it comes to North Korea, historically speaking, and the table is set for President Trump in the much-anticipated summit between our countries in the coming weeks. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in resolved during their meeting to achieve “a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete de­nuclearization.” Additionally, both Koreas agreed to advance the official end of the Korean War. On July 27, 1953, an armistice, or cease-fire, was signed but no other formality was put in place to permanently prevent the hostilities from resuming.

Dr. Thos. Sowell interviewed by Ben Shapiro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FQUUGt9JhA shows how the policies of the private establishments that regulate so many populations, like minorities, are purely self-interested. What is there about welfare that requires that it destroy the Black family by shutting out fathers? Because it helps ensure the self-perpetuation of the social welfare establishment since LBJ's Great Society. As Sowell in research & writing shines a light on the Emperor's nakedness, Trump is cutting out the old Anglo-American foreign policy establishment. (Anglo American Establishment Carroll Quigley http://www.carrollquigley.net/pdf/the_anglo-american_establishment.pdf ). The old African mineral wealth, S. African gold & diamonds, Cecil Rhodes...

South Korea says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is willing to discuss normalizing relations with Japan. President Moon Jae-in’s office says Moon has briefed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday’s summit with Kim. Moon told Abe that he conveyed Japan’s desire to normalize ties with North Korea after resolving issues of “past history.” Moon’s office says Kim replied that he’s willing to negotiate with Japan.

Ford's plan to reduce its passenger car lineup to just two models, and GM's difficulty selling passenger cars in the U.S. show how much tastes are drifting toward trucks, SUVs and crossovers. Ford will only update the Focus Active crossover and Mustang for the U.S. market, while GM called out a challenging passenger car environment. ====================================================================================================== So is it really the end of the American car on its home turf? From the way Detroit's major executives are talking, it would seem so. Ford said Wednesday it will only offer two new cars in North America over the coming years —...

The Guinness Book of World Records recently identified Masazo Nonakaas of Japan as the oldest living man. He is over 112 years old. Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world, and some contribute this longevity to a Japanese concept known as "Ikigai," roughly translated from two words: "iki" which means "life," and "gai" which means "worth." While it's difficult to translate precisely, it refers to those activities and pursuits that give us a "reason to live" or "make life worth living". In one recent article, Ikigai was described as the intersection between "what you love, what you care...

The decision on whether to release parts of the highly classified aircraft designs and software to help Japan stay ahead of Chinese advances will test President Donald Trump’s promise to overhaul his country’s arms export policy. The proposed aircraft “would combine the F-22 and F-35 and could be superior to both of them,” said one of the sources. Japan, which is already buying the radar-evading F-35 to modernize its inventory, also wants to introduce a separate air superiority fighter in the decade starting 2030 to deter intrusions into its airspace by Chinese and Russian jets. The country’s air force currently...

The European Union and Mexico reached an agreement on Saturday on a new free trade deal, a coup for both parties in the face of increased protectionism from the United States under President Donald Trump. Since its plans for a trade alliance with the United States were frozen after Trump’s election victory, the EU has focused instead on trying to champion open markets and seal accords with other like-minded countries. The agreement in principle with Mexico follows a deal struck last year with Japan and comes ahead of talks next week with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and...

On this day in 1934, Washington Senator's backup catcher Morris "Moe" Berg's streak of 117 games in a row without committing an error comes to an end, setting an American League record. Berg wasn't your typical athlete: before signing with the Brooklyn Robins (they wouldn't become the Dodgers until 1932), he graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. magna cum laude in modern languages. Ted Lyons, Berg's teammate with the White Sox, would say that "he can speak seven languages but can't hit in any of them." Berg didn't have a great bat, but when every one of manager Ray...

The discovery of vast reserves of rare-earth elements on a tiny Japanese island, that can be used in everything from iPhones to missile systems to electric vehicles, has been described as a "game changer." "This REY-rich mud has great potential as a rare-earth metal resource because of the enormous amount available and its advantageous mineralogical features," the study reads. The study shows that more than 16 million tons of rare-earth elements could be "exploited in the near future." Including ytrrium (Y), which is used in products like camera lenses and mobile phone screens, the rare-earth elements found are: Europium (EU),...

Michigan Concealed Pistol License holders have an extremely low murder rate. Japan has a very low murder rate. Japan is also a very law-abiding culture. The United States, as a whole, has a much higher murder rate than Japan. Within the United States, there is a law abiding culture that has a murder rate as low as Japan's. That culture consists of gun owners who carry guns legally.The FBI generally includes legally defined murder, which may be in the first or second degree, and non-negligent manslaughter, in the definition of murder for their statistics. A more precise definition might...

The North Korean state media made a historic announcement Friday evening that Kim Jong-un and the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea would be suspending its nuclear missile and long range missile testing. In addition they will also be closing down their nuclear test site. The announcement comes ahead of President Trump's meeting with Kim Jong-un, a potbellied dictator he once nicknamed "Rocketman," in May. By all accounts, President Trump has been the driving force behind North Korea's sudden change in their willingness to stop their nuclear weapon program. Now, Rep. Luke Messer (R-IL) is calling for President Trump...

Reuters has published a report that came as little surprise to us at The War Zone regarding Tokyo's interest in having Japanese industry work with Lockheed Martin to develop a semi-indigenous fighter that combines the best attributes of the F-35 Lightning and F-22 Raptor. The Reuters report states in part: "Lockheed has discussed the idea with Japanese defense ministry officials and will make a formal proposal in response to a Japanese request for information (RFI) after it receives permission from the U.S. government to offer the sensitive military technology, said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the proposal. The...