Free Republic

U.S. naval vessels sailing through international waters in the South China Sea, including areas claimed by China, cannot be considered provocative, the U.S. Navy's most senior uniformed officer said on Thursday, while a Chinese newspaper called for a firm response to any "unscrupulous" U.S. behavior. China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Beijing has warned it will not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation. The United States says international law prohibits claiming...

Over the past two decades, the People’s Republic of China has made great advances in its military capabilities. However, it still lags woefully behind in developing nuclear-powered submarines. The problem for the Chinese is that they lack the necessary quieting and propulsion technologies to build anything remotely comparable to an American or Russian nuclear submarine. Even the newest Chinese Jin-class ballistic nuclear missile submarines and improved Shang-class nuclear attack submarines are louder than 1970s-era Soviet-built Victor III-class attack submarine or the Delta III-class boomer, according to the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Intelligence. In fact, even China’s forthcoming Type 95...

As the weeks go by it is becoming increasingly apparent that a profound disconnect exists amid a very large portion of the current year electorate regarding the goals and objectives of the apparatus we call the GOPe. ADVERTISEMENT The group within the Republican party apparatus affectionately known as the “establishment”, or GOPe, does not now – nor do they ever – consider the progressive side of the political continuum, Democrats, as their enemy. The enemy of the GOPe is the conservative base within the republican party. If the GOPe lose a presidential election to a progressive democrat nothing amid their...

President Obama's plan to "internationalize" the Internet may be unconstitutional, key members of Congress are claiming. The group of lawmakers sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office last week, saying the plan to relinquish oversight of Internet domain name functions to a global, multi-stakeholder body raised questions about the administration's "authority to transfer possession and control of critical components of the Internet's infrastructure to a third party." The letter was signed by the chairmen of both congressional judiciary committees, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va; presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif....

Visit https://www.donaldjtrump.com/position... to see the full plan September 28, 2015: At Trump Tower in New York City

This week five Chinese navy ships have been spotted in the Bering Sea. In a bold and ambitious move, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) sent five ships in a show of force off the waters of Alaska during Barack Hussein Obama’s visit. The Pentagon confirmed the PLA Navy presence in the narrow passage between Russia and Alaska. The sighting marks the first time the Chinese military was in the arctic region. (1) (2) The PLAN is the naval warfare branch of the People’s Liberation Army, the national armed forces of the People’s Republic of China. Established in 1950, it...

An enemy surface ship, almost surely part of a U.S. carrier strike group, comes under Chinese attack in a newly released military propaganda film. (“Battle to Capture an Island: a Full View of Chinese Military Strength,” Tencent and Visions Media, September 3, 2015) Alongside the military spectacle that passed through Tiananmen Square in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Chinese media conglomerate Tecent also released a new computer-generated video, “Battle to Capture an Island: a Full View of Chinese Military Strength.” Available via the social media platform QQ, the five-minute video appears to...

There is a solid argument to be made that forcing Donald Trump to sign the Republican Pledge was step one in this RNC/GOPe strategy. He’s now locked in the Thunderdome! When you fully understand the scope of how the Republican National Committee organized the entire road map to elect Jeb Bush, you begin to understand why Reince Priebus needed to lock the door behind Trump before unleashing the thugs upon him. Hundreds of millions will be spent on this RNC/GOPe effort to destroy Trump. It will be unlike any scorched earth campaign ever witnessed. The brutality of the intended targeting...

TAIPEI: China is building two aircraft carriers that will be the same size as its sole carrier, a 60,000-tonne refurbished Soviet-era ship, according to a new Taiwanese Defence Ministry report on the capabilities of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Little is known about China's aircraft carrier programme, which is a state secret, although Chinese state media have hinted new vessels are being built. The Pentagon, in a report earlier this year, said Beijing could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years. One of the new vessels is being built in Shanghai and the other in the northeastern city...

Lindsey Graham excoriated Republican presidential rival Donald Trump on Tuesday morning for his immigration plan, calling it both “stupid” and “illegal.” In an interview with “Fox & Friends,” Graham addressed Trump’s immigration proposal, which would call for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, revoke birthright citizenship from the children of immigrants who came to the United States illegally and call for the construction of a wall along the United States’ 1,900-mile long border with Mexico. “Well, Donald Trump’s plan on immigration is stupid,” the South Carolina senator said. “It’s illegal.” If you try to deport American-born children of immigrants who...

Journalists from a Chinese naval magazine were able to spent some time aboard People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN or Chinese Navy) Type 052C Destroyer Changchun (hull numer 150). They published an interesting photo report with one picture every hour during an entire day (24 hours) showing the life of the crew on board a PLAN destroyer. Pictures were taken in July 2015 while the vessel was deployed in the western Pacific ocean. Type 052C (Luyang II class) Destroyer Changchun (hull number 150) is the third vessel of the class The Type 052C destroyer (NATO designation Luyang II class) is a...

Excerpts: In Trump's 2011 bestseller, Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again, he explained in great detail the bills and reforms he says will revitalize the American economy, generate jobs, and strengthen and restore America’s standing on the international stage. Five of Donald Trump’s solutions for turning the nation around. 1. Foreign Interventions Must Require Cost-Sharing Plans to Reduce U.S. Costs and Guarantee Veterans and Their Families Are Protected 2. Pass NOPEC Legislation to Break OPEC’s Grip on Energy Prices 3. Crack Down on China’s Currency Manipulation by Calculating Taxes on Imports Based on How Much a Manufacturing Country’s...

President Barack Obama’s plan targeting coal-burning power plants will cost a quarter of a million jobs and shrink the coal industry by nearly half, according to a new report by the American Action Forum (AAF). The president released final regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday, which require every state to meet strict emission standards for coal-burning power plants in the next 15 years. The so-called “Clean Power Plan” will cost the industry $8.4 billion, nearly 10 times more expensive than the most burdensome regulation released this year, according to AAF, a center-right think tank led by Douglas...

Australians have been delivered a timely warning they may be entering an era of significant strategic shifts and they should not take for granted three crucial relationships. One is with our closest military ally, the US, which we presume will always be there to help defend us. Another is with the world’s most populous Muslim nation, ­Indonesia, which is growing and changing fast on our doorstep. The third leg of what has been in recent history a sturdy triumvirate of friendships is China, but a new report suggests the possibility of an uncertain future with the unthinkable catastrophe of a...

A European Union plan to disperse 40,000 migrants from Italy and Greece to other member countries met with resistance on Wednesday, with Britain saying it would not participate and some eastern states calling for a voluntary scheme.

Much more of China's military procurements are taking place entirely within the nation A new report by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) sheds further light on China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)). According to the authors, China’s naval ambitions extend towards a global presence—thereby seeking to place it alongside the U.S. Navy as the only other nation with a worldwide seaborne military reach: Since our last publication in 2009, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)) has made significant strides in operationalizing as well as modernizing its force. Although the PLA(N)‘s primary focus remains in the East Asia region, where...

China's recent deployment of a nuclear submarine for an antipiracy mission in the Gulf of Aden may have caused unease among its neighbours, but naval experts say the Type 091 vessel is unlikely to pose any real threat because of the noise it generates. The experts say the international community should instead keep an eye on China's quieter, more advanced diesel-driven submarines. CCTV's military channel last Sunday reported that a nuclear submarine from the People's Liberation Army Navy had completed a two-month escort mission in the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden, and returned to its base in Qingdao...

Hanoi is the first Southeast Asian nation arming its submarines with land attack cruise missiles. Vietnam is in the process of acquiring 50 anti-ship and land attack 3M-14E Klub supersonic cruise missiles for its burgeoning fleet of SSK Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines, Der Spiegel Online reports. According to the article, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently updated data on its website, based on information obtained from the United Nations’ register of conventional arms, indicating that Russia has already delivered 28 missiles over the last two years to Hanoi, although the precise number remains unknown. The Klub is a Russian-made...

HONG KONG: Vietnam is arming its expanding submarine fleet with land attack missiles that could be capable of reaching Chinese coastal cities, a choice of weapon likely to be seen as provocative by China in the ongoing South China Sea dispute. The independent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently updated data on its website to show Vietnam's acquisition of the Russian-made land attack variant of the Klub missile for its state-of-the-art Kilo attack submarines. SIPRI arms researcher Siemon Wezeman said the entry was based on an earlier but little-noticed filing Vietnam made last year to the United Nations' register...

A new paper by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues that India and the United States should collaborate on building New Delhi’s next Vikrant-class aircraft carrier, the 65,000 tons nuclear-powered INS Vishal, expected to enter service in the 2020s. “Working in concert to develop this vessel would not only substantially bolster India’s naval combat capabilities but would also cement the evolving strategic bond between the United States and India in a truly spectacular fashion for many decades to come,” Ashley J. Tellis, the author of the Carnegie study, underlines. In January 2015, both countries announced a joint working group...