Free Republic

As Japan, the United States, and France are conducting joint military exercises, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held a high-level meeting on May 12 to discuss how to tackle the threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).The senior management of the LDP, representing both the national defense and the security ministry, discussed various situations at the Senkaku Islands (also known as Diaoyu), the South China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait.The topics of the meeting were revealed by Takao Toshikawa, a well-known Japanese political and economic commentator, in an Japanese article entitled “Europe Joins Japan, U.S., Australia, and India in ‘Deterrence...

Saudi Arabia has commenced a massive military drill in which 20 nations are participating. The move comes amid ongoing deadly conflicts in the Middle East. More than 2,500 warplanes, 20,000 tanks and 450 helicopters will be part of the exercise. Riyadh has billed the manoeuvre as "the largest and most important" drill ever staged in the region. Up to 350,000 troops from various Gulf nations, and other allies such as Pakistan, Jordan, Chad and Sudan will take part in the drill, the Saudi Press Agency said. The exercises would involve ground, naval and air forces personnel.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The sisters of a Connecticut woman fatally shot by police in Washington after she tried to ram her car through a White House barrier said Monday she wasn't delusional and suggest she may have been fleeing danger. The two sisters of Miriam Carey, who was killed Thursday with her 13-month-old child in her car, disputed the accounts of officials and their sister's one-time boyfriend that she was under the delusion that President Barack Obama was communicating with her.

North Korea on Sunday warned the top U.S. military commander stationed in South Korea that his forces would "meet a miserable destruction" if they go ahead with scheduled military drills with South Korean troops, North Korean state media said. Pak Rim-su, chief delegate of the North Korean military mission to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, gave the message by phone to Gen. James Thurman, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, KCNA news agency said.

Israeli defense officials tell Channel 2 that Washington wants to avoid causing further tensions in region after various foreign reports of U.S. and Israeli preparations for strike on Iran.Israel and the United States have postponed a massive joint defense exercise, which was expected to be carried out in the coming weeks, in order to avoid an escalation with Iran, Channel 2 reported on Sunday. According to an Israeli defense official, Washington wants to avoid causing further tensions in the region, especially in light of the sensitive situation that has been generated after various reports in the international media that the...

Russia's envoy to NATO calls Georgian drills "insanity" 19:31 | 18/ 04/ 2009 VORONEZH, April 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's envoy to NATO has dubbed the alliance's exercises due in Georgia in early May "insanity." The Cooperative Longbow 09/Cooperative Lancer 09 command-and-staff exercise, led by the Western military bloc, will be held from May 6 through June 1 in Georgia, and will not feature light or heavy weaponry. "On Monday I addressed NATO [incoming] Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen with a letter asking [him] to cancel the drills in Georgia, due to start in early May. I believe this is...