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Israel has asked the United States for assistance estimated at $700 million in order to produce more Iron Dome and Magic Wand missile and rocket defense batteries, sources told Ynet on Wednesday. The Iron Dome is designed to intercept rockets fired from a relatively short range, while the Magic Wand intercepts missiles fired from a range of at least 70km, including cruise missiles and missiles with ballistic warheads such as the Squd, Shihab and Sejil. According to sources privy to the deal, Jerusalem and Washington are currently discussing the aid package, which if approved will allow Israel to equip its...

The first batch of the Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missile launchers that Taiwan previously sent to the United States for upgrade has been secretly sent back to the country after being upgraded to the more advanced PAC-3 configuration, according to the United Evening News (UEN) report yesterday. The upgraded surface-to-air guided missile defense system is currently being deployed in Taipei's Nangang District (南港區) to meet the air defense need in the capital city, according to the report. The PAC-3 unit will be ready to use when necessary in response the scheduled North Korean rocket launch later this month, a issue...

Team Obama has revealed its election campaign strategy to cover up the president's momentous whisper gaffe with the Russians last week: Attack Mitt Romney as naive and still living in an era when the Russians couldn't be trusted. According to Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, the democratic backsliding in Russia is nothing to worry about. The Russians under returning President Vladimir Putin are our friends. And Joe even revealed Sunday that if Iran closes or disrupts the Straits of Hormuz, shutting off 20% of the world's daily oil flow, Russia has agreed to consider selling Europe more of its oil....

Functional laser weapons are just five years away. Advocates hope that won’t always be the case. The Air Force has been working on airborne laser weapons for more than 40 years, but a fielded system remains elusive. Experts also warn that the US does not enjoy a commanding lead in laser research. And the Air Force’s flagship laser weapon program, the Airborne Laser (later called the Airborne Laser Testbed) was terminated late last year and is now being dismantled. Still, service and industry experts predict there is plenty of reason for realistic optimism. Operational laser systems that can perform a...

A military spokesman yesterday refused to comment on media reports alleging that two advanced anti-missile systems — the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and Tien Kung-III “Sky Bow” (TK-III) air defense systems — had been deployed in eastern Taiwan to deal with the possible launch of a North Korean rocket later this month. Ministry of National Defense spokesperson David Lo (羅紹和) said the military was collecting information about Pyongyang’s anticipated rocket launch and added that the military had requested its anti-missile units monitor and respond to the situation as appropriate. However, Lo refused to comment on whether PAC-3 missiles and TK-III...

President Obama’s recent open mic comments to President Medvedev of Russia are troubling, which explains why Obama and the White House have decided to make light of them. It seems that every time a microphone captures the President in unscripted remarks, he’s saying something that goes against his own public pronouncements. There was the famous incident in November, 2011, when French President Nicolas Sarkozy, not knowing his microphone was hot, expressed his contempt for Prime Minister Netanyahu, calling him a liar, with President Obama jumping in to commiserate, lamenting the fact that he has to deal with Netanyahu even more...

China Nervous About U.S.-Led Missile Defense System China is growing nervous after U.S. calls for an Asia-wide missile-defense system against the threat of North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles. In a lengthy article on Thursday, the official Global Times said, "North Korea and Iran are named by Washington as the targets of the missile defense system, though it is clear the real targets are China and Russia." It added China "should firmly oppose it." The paper also said China should learn from what Russia has done to oppose the deployment of a U.S.-led missile defense shield in Europe. In a separate...

The conservative super-PAC American Crossroads mocks President Obama as "President Flexible" in a spoof of Hollywood spy movies released Friday. The Karl Rove-linked outside spending group takes Obama to task in the video, titled "Operation Hot Mic," for telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday that he will have “more flexibility” to deal with missile defense after the presidential election. The private conversation was caught by live microphones. "Your mission is simple, Mr. Obama: Win one last election to gain unchecked flexibility, weaken our defenses and fundamentally transform. Dmitry will transmit the information," says a female narrator in the video....

When President Obama blurted out to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he couldn't do serious business during an election year, the New York Times characterized it as a "moment of political candor." It seems to me, actually, to be a moment of political contempt—for the issues at hand as well as for the demos itself. Mr. Medvedev meanwhile was in familiar territory: Dissembling is the routine of the elected Russian dictatorship. We are the big boys, Mr. Obama seemed to be telling Mr. Medvedev— or rather Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and I are, and you, Medvedev, are the messenger, to...

President Obama has done the country a favor: He has given a hint of what his second term would consist of. Unshackled by the need to be re-elected, Mr. Obama would unleash an all-out radical assault. His plan is to bring Trotskyism to America, thereby imposing a socialist revolution from above. America’s military will be gutted. Its private economy subordinated to a centralized, bureaucratic state. The nation transformed into a Third World basket case. And all of this will come with the Kremlin’s blessing. At a security summit in South Korea, Mr. Obama was overheard speaking with Russian President Dmitry...

So what did this mean? Obviously what is being referred to is something that the American people might not want, otherwise it could be mentioned in public before the election. And why does Obama have to ask the Russians for any cooperation on this issue at all? That doesn’t sound like a strong negotiation approach to me, assuming it is a real negotiation and not just a big giveaway.

Turns out he’s not Kenyan after all. He’s KGB. All this time, people were worried that President Obama was born in Africa and that his radical agenda had been crafted by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Saul Alinsky on the streets of Chicago’s South Side. Now we know his real radical hidden agenda is in service of the Kremlin.

In the Pacific, saber rattling is done with missiles. North Korea has announced that it will launch a Taepodong ballistic missile to celebrate the birthday of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, on April 15. The country claims this will be a satellite launch, but most observers agree the test is meant to demonstrate a weapon delivery system. Either way, it violates a fresh agreement that North Korea signed just one month ago pledging not to test long-range missiles. In a notice to the International Maritime Organization, North Korea says the missile stages will splash down near the west coast...

Security: The president insists he wasn't trying to "hide the ball" until after the election, but the man who as candidate pledged to "end misguided defense policies" such as missile defense is fulfilling that campaign promise. Despite the administration's rap-dancing with the help of the usual suspects in the mainstream media, it's clear that the recent meeting between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul, South Korea, couldn't be more different in tone and meaning from the one President Ronald Reagan had with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986. President Obama has tried to...

President Barack Obama would like to do some things for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and President-elect Vladimir Putin that he does not want American voters to know about before they decide whether to re-elect him in November. That was the intended-to-be-secret message Obama gave Medvedev in South Korea on Monday. But Obama was caught delivering the message on tape -- and, no matter how the liberal media try to spin it, the moment is destined to become emblematic of Obama as a man and as a president. "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved. But...

As President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ended a public conference in South Korea (a nation demonstrably threatened by North Korean ballistic missiles), a still-open microphone inadvertently recorded a stunning tete-a-tete. The brief but jaw-dropping act of personal diplomacy yoked U.S. and Russian arguments over missile defense systems, a serious international security issue of long-term geo-strategic consequence, to Obama's short-term domestic political plan to secure his own re-election come November. The whispered exchange: Obama: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it's important for him (Putin) to give me space." Medvedev:...

Wouldn’t you like to have been in the White House Situation Room when the president decided to take out Osama bin Laden? Thrilling, right? You’d have been part of history and have stories to tell your grandchildren. Well, you can’t. Not even if you donate a million dollars to the Obama re-election campaign. Sorry, Bill Mocker, you’ll have to wait for the movie. It’s Top Secret. Nor can you listen in when the President is at one of his G-8 Summits (or is it G-20 by now?) It would doubtless be interesting to learn what the Big Wigs are deciding...

Ronald Reagan, together with Margaret Thatcher, stood up to Moscow, and brought the Soviet Empire to its knees. In contrast, Barack Obama has gone on his knees to grovel before the Russians. The exchange between President Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul was a display of supplication before a major strategic adversary on an issue of great importance for US national security – missile defence. -excerpt- Barack Obama’s comments are disturbing on several levels. First, they display a willingness to placate America’s enemies, and cede ground over issues of national interest. Second, Obama is linking foreign policy...

Ah, yes, get ready for the post-election Barack Obama. And we thought it was all going to be about the economy and his redistributionist agenda. Far from it. In fact, it’s the Obama free to be himself on foreign policy that really poses a threat. -excerpt- Back in September 2009, Obama basically scrapped a system of land-based interceptor missiles that were to be placed in Poland and the Czech Republic and aimed to protect Europe from a possible rogue missile threat from Iran — deals negotiated by the Bush administration. -excerpt- Well, apart from Putin, the only person who will...

Reporting from Seoul— U.S. politics combined with diplomacy as Russian President Dmitri Medvedev took a swipe at Mitt Romney and President Obama, pointing to an uncooperative Congress and a toxic political environment at home to explain why he was delaying negotiations with Russian leaders over missile defense. Romney, in a CNN interview Monday, had referred to Russia as "our No. 1 geopolitical foe," prompting Medvedev to tell reporters here that the Republican front-runner's language seemed out of date and "smelled of Hollywood" stereotypes. "Regarding ideological cliches, every time this or that side uses phrases like 'enemy No. 1', this always...