Free Republic

Host Bill Hamblet speaks with Admiral Harry Harris on how a war with Iran could reshape global strategy across two theaters. The discussion explores impacts on U.S. commitments, Indo-Pacific stability, China’s role, and regional security dynamics, highlighting how crises in the Middle East reverberate across East Asia’s strategic and economic landscape.

Chery Automobile, a Chinese automaker, recently released a prototype solid-state battery that offers double the energy density of current EV batteries. Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story. * Solid-state batteries are the next quantum leap for EVs, unlocking more range, performance, and longevity. * Chery Automobile’s prototype battery module boasts a 600 Wh/Kg energy density—double the energy density of most current EV batteries. * Chery’s new battery is also puncture-resistant, significantly reducing the risk of fire should any of the cells be damaged. ============================================== Energy density is the latest hot pursuit for unlocking more range and performance...

While Chinese manufacturers have burst out in front of the pack with semi-solid-state battery achievements, other manufacturers around the world are working hard to get their own cells developed and validated. Based in Massachusetts, Factorial Energy has been working on its lithium-metal quasi-solid-state technology for over a decade, attracting backing and collaboration from major automakers like Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai. It's aiming for a long-range, energy-dense battery that costs the equivalent of lithium-ion units and rolls off the same production lines. This month, it sent out its first round of B-samples to Mercedes-Benz for further testing and development. Factorial first...

Schematic diagram of the first room temperature all-solid-state hydride ion battery. Credit: DICP ============================================================ Scientists have built the first rechargeable hydride ion battery. Hydride ions (H⁻) have drawn interest as potential charge carriers for future electrochemical devices because of their extremely low mass and high redox potential. Yet, progress has been limited since no electrolyte has been able to provide the combination of rapid ion movement, thermal stability, and compatibility with electrodes that such systems require. A recent study in Nature reports a breakthrough from Prof. Ping Chen and his team at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), part...

Beijing Betavolt New Energy Technology Co Ltd has announced the development of a miniature nuclear battery, the BV100, which they claim can generate power for 50 years. Utilizing nickel-63 isotope decay technology and diamond semiconductors, this battery offers significant advancements in miniaturizing and modularizing atomic energy batteries. The company said the batteries have entered the pilot stage and will be put into mass production on the market. Beijing Betavolt New Energy Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese company, recently announced they have made a significant breakthrough in battery technology by developing a new type of nuclear battery. Named the BV100, this...

The first battery-grade lithium hydroxide refining facility in North America is now operational in Texas. In May 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott, Tesla founder Elon Musk and other officials broke ground at what would become Tesla North America’s new lithium refinery in Robstown. By January 2026, it was fully operational. The facility is the first of its kind to ever be built in North America, The Center Square reported. The facility is part of Abbott’s goal for Texas to lead in reducing reliance on China for critical minerals and technology. Under Abbott, Texas is leading in semiconductor manufacturing and development, state-led...

THE approaching net zero ban on petrol and diesel vehicles could put Europe’s car firms at disadvantage compared with China. Speaking to the Financial Times ahead of the annual IAA Mobility conference in Munich, Oliver Zipse, BMW’s chief executive, warned that European electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers could not compete with China over prices. European Union plans to eliminate combustion engine vehicles are not welcomed by the car industry, which provides direct and indirect work for almost 14 million people. Misgivings extend from inconsistent access to the raw materials necessary for making car batteries to concerns that charging infrastructure was still...

When a group of engineers and researchers gathered in a warehouse in Mukilteo, Wash., 10 years ago, they knew they were onto something big. They scrounged up tables and chairs, cleared out space in the parking lot for experiments and got to work. They were building a battery — a vanadium redox flow battery — based on a design created by two dozen U.S. scientists at a government lab. The batteries were about the size of a refrigerator, held enough energy to power a house, and could be used for decades. The engineers pictured people plunking them down next to...

JPPI says Beijing’s escalating rivalry with the US, alignment with Muslim nations, and adoption of anti-Western narratives is changing its previously positive attitude to JewsAntisemitism is rising in China, a country previously considered almost free of anti-Jewish hatred, according to a new research report by the Jewish People Policy Institute. Anti-Jewish tropes have moved from marginal online spaces into official media, academia, and state-sanctioned discourse, often through a deliberate and complete blurring of distinctions between Israel, Jews, and Judaism, the study found. Update: After publication of this article, the Chinese Embassy in Israel firmly rejected the findings in the study,...

24 APRIL 2026 According to a US EIA release, China had the largest strategic oil reserves in the world as of as of December 2025, before the coordinated emergency release agreed following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz (US EIA press release, 20/04/2026). According to analysis, China added large volumes to its commercial inventory during 2025 (average of 1.1 mbl/d) reaching almost 1.4 Gbl of crude oil at the end of the year. Since government-held inventories are not reported by China, the EIA estimated that they held approximately 360 mbl. After China, the US held the second largest inventory....

BEIJING: China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday (Apr 24) it was banning exports of dual-use items to seven European entities over arms sales to Taiwan, placing them immediately on its export control list, in a rare case of Europe-targeted, Taiwan-related sanctions. The entities, including German defence electronics firm Hensoldt and Belgian-based defence and sporting arms manufacturer FN Browning, have participated in arms sales to Taiwan or "colluded with Taiwan", a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

Food for thought. Iran Is Not Winning. It Is Unraveling. The prevailing narrative on Iran has it almost perfectly reversed. We are told that Tehran is winning a war of wills in the Gulf and that Donald Trump is gambling recklessly with the world’s most sensitive chokepoint. In reality, Iran is not consolidating strength; it is managing decline. And Trump’s play on the Strait of Hormuz has quietly forced energy markets to reprice security—tilting the balance decisively toward the Americas, and away from Europe, Asia and China. The Islamic Republic no longer resembles a confident revolutionary project. With the old...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is vowing to crack down on foreign tech companies’ exploitation of U.S. artificial intelligence models, singling out China at a time that country is narrowing the gap with the U.S. in the AI race.In a Thursday memo, Michael Kratsios, the president’s chief science and technology adviser, accused foreign entities “principally based in China” of engaging in deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to “distill,” or extract capabilities from, leading AI systems made in the U.S. and “exploiting American expertise and innovation.”The administration, Kratsios wrote, will work with American AI companies to identify such activities, build defenses and...

Global power generation from fossil fuels fell in the first month since the start of the Hormuz closure, with the fall in gas-fired generation offset by large increases in solar and wind power, rather than coal. The power generation dataset prepared for this analysis covers countries that disclose near-real-time data. The dataset covers 87% of global coal power generation and over 60% of gas-fired power generation. Total power generation from fossil fuels in countries with near-real-time data fell 1% year-on-year, with coal-fired generation flat and gas-fired generation falling 4%. The dataset covers the world’s largest power markets: China, the U.S.,...

At the beginning of last year, the mother’s only child died in a traffic accident. His family hoped to conceal the news from his mother, who is in her 80s and has heart disease. The man’s son contacted Zhang, asking him to create a digital twin of his father by providing numerous pictures, videos and audio recordings of him speaking in his dialect. The creation looks exactly like the dead man and even mimics his habit of leaning forward while speaking, the report said. The virtual son talks to the mother every day via a video call at a chat...

Back to Flashpoints Building Navies Fast By James R. Holmes January 24, 2011 Underestimating the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is a matter of course for many Asia specialists in the West, as senior US military officials concede. Some reasons given for overlooking China’s naval potential are specific to China. Also commonplace, however, is the claim that a great Chinese fleet won’t take to the sea anytime soon simply because it takes so long to build one. Typical of the genre: writing last year, George Friedman of the private intelligence firm Stratfor maintained that China possessed only: ‘a weak navy...

Mahan, Malabar and China By Rahul K Bhonsle China's quest for great nationhood passes through the waters of the Indian Ocean. Chinese strategists have perhaps concluded that the rise of great nations is determined by the size of their navies. As China seeks to rise to greater glories, a Navy is assuming increasing importance for Beijing. Moreover, an economy, which is dependent on inward flow of raw materials including oil and gas and the outward transportation of goods by sea, cannot neglect the oceans. China's wealth is concentrated on the Western coast, thus it has to ensure that this is...

Japan for the first time has deployed ground troops to the Balikatan exercise, a series of multidomain drills staged across the Philippine archipelago. Participation by about 1,000 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Soldiers augments the annual training that began decades ago as a Philippines-United States exercise and now involves about 20 nations. Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) personnel previously attended Balikatan as observers and in noncombat roles focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR). They participated in a maritime drill in 2025. A reciprocal access agreement between Manila and Tokyo, which took effect in September 2025, allows JSDF and Armed...

As media hype falters and globalists posture, Trump’s campaign to secure the world’s chokepoints reshapes power—and leaves Iran and its allies with little leverage left. Possibly the most amusing fake news item Saturday morning came from The New York Times. Under the rubric “Iran War Live Updates,” a headline screamed, “Iran’s Military Says It Has Reimposed ‘Strict Control’ of Strait of Hormuz.” To which an inquiring mind wants to know, “What Iran military?” It’s gone, Kemo Sabe. The floating bits are at the bottom of the sea. The terrestrial bits have been crushed, blasted, pulverized, or incinerated. Ditto most of...

They’re holed up in a bank demanding three large pizzas, a helicopter, and a personal phone call from Sydney Sweeney. . . ."— Greg Gutfeld on Iran’s negotiating position. The Russians have a phrase for it: negotiation-incapable (ne peregovorosposobny). That is what the Iran delegation demonstrated during a long day of talks with the US team over the weekend in Islamabad. What part of “no nukes” didn’t they understand? All of it, apparently. The corollary question on the table — arguably more pressing for Iran — was: how much more punishment are you willing to suffer to sustain your dream...