Free Republic

As unpredictable as United States President Donald Trump may sometimes be, the decision to strike Venezuela and seize its leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday (Jan 3) was not taken on a whim. It was clearly calculated to send a message about America’s power and interests – and its ability and willingness to mobilise one to advance the other. The question is whether it was the only message that everyone else received. The writing was on the wall for Maduro: In his first term, Mr Trump had refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Maduro presidency. Since his return to the...

Given all that’s at stake, how would Japan respond in a scenario that could lead to the world’s first great power war since 1945?Imagine this scenario: it’s finally happening. China is moving to take Taiwan by force. Chinese warships are blockading the island of Taiwan and the surrounding area, while missiles and UAVs rain down destruction on the Taiwanese people from above. In this hypothetical scenario, what is Japan doing? This is a question of some urgency for Tokyo these days. For one thing, Japan’s westernmost island is only about 110 kilometers away from Taiwan – much closer than...

Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, has delivered one of the clearest rejections of mass immigration seen from a major industrial nation in decades. In remarks now circulating globally, Takaichi stated she would rather allow Japan’s population to decline than rely on large-scale, low-skilled foreign labor. She called for a full pause and reassessment of immigration policy, arguing that economic convenience cannot override cultural cohesion, social order, and national identity. Takaichi emphasized that Japan must rethink immigration “from zero,” warning that year after year of importing people with vastly different cultures has created unsustainable tensions. She rejected the automatic merging...

Driving around Tokyo blaring slogans on the 84th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, ultra-nationalist outfit Taikosha only has around 100 mostly male, middle-aged members. But the recent rightwards lurch of mainstream politics under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi means that suddenly some parts of their patriotic messaging no longer seem quite so fringe. Since being elected in October, the conservative Takaichi has picked a fight with China, is preparing tough new rules on foreigners, and wants to outlaw desecration of the Japanese flag.

Finland's prime minister apologised on Wednesday to citizens of Japan, China and South Korea after MPs sparked outrage by posting pictures of themselves making derogatory squinting gestures. The parliamentarians from the populist Finns Party, which is part of the right-wing coalition government, posted images on social media where they pulled back the corners of their eyes -- widely seen as a racist gesture targeting East Asian people. They claimed to have shared the pictures in support of the 2025 Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, who was stripped of her title last week for posting a similar picture on social media in...

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the sanctions entail freezing the companies’ assets in China and banning individuals and organisations from accessing them. China has imposed sanctions against 20 US defense-related companies and 10 executives, a week after Washington announced large-scale arms sales to Taiwan. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the sanctions entail freezing the companies’ assets in China and banning individuals and organisations from dealing with them. “We stress once again that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China－US relations,” the...

More than four years ago, the military ousted Myanmar’s freely elected government at gunpoint. The upcoming polls will be a total sham.On December 28, Myanmar’s military will hold the first phase of a long-promised election. But don’t be fooled: The voting is set to be a total sham. Military chief Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup, has urged his enemies to put down their weapons and take part in the election. He has also promised that the military administration will transfer power to whatever government is formed after the vote. But few observers are putting much stock...

10,980 views Dec 25, 2025 North Korea makes progress on its first nuclear-powered submarine A nuclear-powered submarine was one item on a wish list of sophisticated weaponry that Kim Jong-un announced during a political conference in 2021. Other arms included solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multi-warhead missiles. READ MORE : https://www.youtube.com/c/euronews?sub_confirmation=1

Legends and bits of evidence tell a story of Asians arriving here long, long ago. Part one of two. "Even pale ink is better than memory." -- Chinese proverbAs the tide creeps over the sand flats of Pachena Bay south of Bamfield, it brings ashore the flotsam of the Pacific that -- on occasion -- hints at extraordinary travels and a mystery of historic proportions. Amid the kelp, in decades past, hundreds of green-glass fishing floats would arrive intact on the Vancouver Island coast, having ridden the powerful Japanese Current in year-long transits from Asia. But on rare occasions, entire...

Three people were killed and at least five more were injured in a knife attack in Taipei on Friday. A 27-year-old suspect ignited smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails at Taipei's main metro station, then ran to a nearby shopping district station, stabbing multiple people, according to Premier Cho Jung-tai. Cho stated that the suspect fell from a building and later died. The motive is still unknown. The attack took place during Taipei's evening rush hour, in the station that linked to a crowded underground shopping area. Taiwanese President William Lai pledged a rapid investigation. Such attacks are uncommon in Taiwan,...

For more than seven decades, the family behind electronics giant Samsung amassed one of Asia’s largest private art collections....The Lee Kun-hee collection, which was started by its namesake’s father, Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, is unprecedented in its scope and scale. Almost all the 23,000 donated items went to the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art...."Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared” is showing at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC through February 1, 2026.

The Trump administration announced on Wednesday $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, the largest ever U.S. weapons package for the island which is under increasing military pressure from China. The Taiwan arms sale announcement is the second under U.S. President Donald Trump's current administration, and comes as Beijing ramps up its military and diplomatic pressure against Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. The proposed arms sales cover eight items, including HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Altius loitering munition drones and parts for other equipment, Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement. "The United States continues to...

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he asked Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to free Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy Hong Kong media mogul who is awaiting sentencing after he was found guilty of “colluding with foreign forces” on Monday. “I feel so badly. I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump commented to reporters about Lai’s sentencing. “He’s an older man, and he’s not well. So I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens,” he said. Trump did not specify when he made this request to Xi. Their last high-profile telephone...

Yasir Qadhi has identified Japan as his next ideological frontier, using a polished da’wah tour to embed foreign-trained leadership, expand Islamic institutions, and quietly build a long-term foothold in a nation with no scrutiny, no resistance, and no understanding of the movement he represents. In a move that should alarm every security analyst and every government paying attention to the global spread of political Islam, the notorious Texas-based imam Yasir Qadhi — long identified by critics, researchers, and former intelligence officials as aligned with Muslim Brotherhood-influenced networks, has now arrived in Japan to launch what is, unmistakably, a coordinated, multi-city...

Military strategists have long compared warfare to chess, where grand masters plot moves and countermoves across a global board. But what happens when you discover you’ve been studying chess while your opponent has been perfecting an entirely different game? For decades, America’s military might has stood unchallenged, our aircraft carriers projecting power across every ocean, our technology the envy of the world. Yet behind the Pentagon’s classified doors, a disturbing pattern has emerged in recent years. The rise of China as a military power has transformed from a distant concern to an immediate challenge. While American forces remain spread across...

Playwright and producer Jeremy O. Harris is currently jailed in Japan, per a report from Reuters. The Slave Play writer was reportedly detained at Okinawa's Naha Airport November 16 after a customs officer found MDMA in one of Harris' bags. Harris was arrested on suspicion of violating the country's Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act, and a formal criminal accusation was filed this week. Japan's drug laws are among the world's strictest. If found guilty, Harris could face up to seven years in prison. Similar situations involving celebrities in the past ended in defendants like Paul McCartney barred from visiting the...

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Southeast Asia is being pummeled by unusually severe floods this year, as late-arriving storms and relentless rains wreak havoc that has caught many places off guard. Malaysia is still reeling from one its worst floods, which killed three and displaced thousands. Meanwhile, Vietnam and the Philippines have faced a year of punishing storms and floods that have left hundreds dead. What feels unprecedented is exactly what climate scientists expect: A new normal of punishing storms, floods and devastation. Atmospheric levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the most on record in 2024. That “turbocharged” the climate,...

CHICAGO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Tyson Foods (TSN.N) will close a major beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska, with about 3,200 employees in January after U.S. cattle supplies dropped to their lowest level in nearly 75 years, the meatpacker said on Friday. The closure in the heart of cattle-feeding country signaled that supplies will remain tight, forcing meatpackers to pay steep prices for cattle to process into steaks and hamburgers. Beef prices have set records due to low supplies and strong demand, raising costs for consumers. President Donald Trump said last month that he was working to bring down prices. Tyson...

China’s strategic stranglehold on rare earth minerals threatens America’s national security and economic independence, leaving our defense and technology sectors dangerously vulnerable to Beijing’s whims. OVERVIEW • China controls 85-95% of global rare earth processing through decades of state-directed monopolization • Beijing weaponized export restrictions in April 2025, targeting seven critical rare earth elements in response to U.S. tariffs • America’s defense, electronics, and renewable energy sectors face severe supply chain vulnerabilities • Western efforts to break China’s chokehold require years of investment and face massive technical barriers CHINA'S CALCULATED ECONOMIC WARFARE STRATEGY China’s dominance over rare earth elements represents...

The police have warned of a new method that scammers are deploying to fraudulently open accounts with payment service providers (PSPs) — using digitally modified copies of Singapore identity cards (IC). Scammers would use a softcopy of a IC and use digital tools to replace the original facial image on that copy with another facial image. They would then submit the doctored copy online to PSPs to set up payment service account. When PSPs conduct mandatory facial liveness checks, the scammers would then instruct an accomplice who resembles the doctored image to undergo the checks. -Advertisement- The police said some...