Free Republic

APRIL 7, 2011. A Businessman's Guide to China's Collapse It might not happen soon, but when it does it will pay to be prepared.. By JOSEPH STERNBERG Months of turmoil in the Middle East have focused attention on two points. First, authoritarian regimes are inherently unstable. Second, this poses some significant problems for businesses. Consider managers trying to evacuate staff, safeguard physical property or keep supply chains operating as smoothly as possible. Think it couldn't happen in China? Four months ago, no one would have predicted imminent mass unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen or Libya, either. While signs...

U.S. denies reports on discussions with China over N. Korean contingency By Hwang Doo-hyong WASHINGTON, March 18 (Yonhap) -- The United States Thursday denied reports that it will soon have closed-door discussions with South Korea and China on plans for upheaval in North Korea. "I have not been told we are going to have this type of meeting at this particular point," a senior State Department official said, asking not to be named. "If we are working on that in sort of an early stage, that could be possible." Reports said that representatives of the U.S. Pacific Command and state-run...

The White House has taken on a wider role in forming a backup government in case a crisis forces officials to leave Washington. Government officials familiar with the plans tell The New York Times that the initiative began during the final months of the Bush administration, and the Obama administration decided to leave it in place. The White House Military Office will now lead the way in installing a “shadow government” should officials have to leave the capital because of a terrorist strike or some other catastrophe. The contingency plans include moving those officials to Mount Weather, Va. and running...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are making preparations for a massive assault on U.S. naval forces and international shipping in the Persian Gulf, according to a former Iranian intelligence officer who defected to the West in 2001. The plans, which include the use of bottom-tethered mines potentially capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers, were designed to counter a U.S. land invasion and to close the Strait of Hormuz. Revolutionary Guards missile units have identified "more than 100 targets, including Saudi oil production and oil export centers," the defector said...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush directed the Pentagon to develop plans to confront Iraq if it tried to exploit the U.S. military's engagement with Afghanistan in fall 2001, a White House official said Wednesday. But spokesman Scott McClellan insisted the "contingency" plan was not a blueprint for a full-scale invasion of Iraq, as Bush's former counterterrorism chief contends in a new book. "Obviously, it was important to have contingencies in place in case Iraq tried to take advantage of the president's military action in Afghanistan," McClellan said. Moreover, Iraq had been firing for years at American pilots patroling the no-fly...

In the months following the September 11th terrorist attacks, questions arose about whether Congress could continue to function if many of its members were killed or injured in a future terrorist attack. These concerns resulted in the creation of a commission that advocated a first in American history, namely the appointment of individuals to the U.S. House. A constitutional amendment has been proposed that would provide the method for such appointments following a catastrophe that killed or disabled a majority of the people in Congress. I strongly oppose this constitutional amendment, because I believe an appointed Congress would become an...

Will the Victory of the Ali Quaeda and Taliban be the Radiation of America's Finest? In a macbre since, will the victory of the Ali Quaeda and Taliban be the radiation of America's finest? Has anyone thought about the American, British and Canadian troops stationed throughout Southwest Asia? If Pakistan and India unleash the 50 - 75 warheads they are threatening to deploy from their nuclear arsenals, it will cover the region our troops and our allies are stationed in.

May 16, Senate Plans Disaster Drill Convening Outside D.C. Considered By Mark Preston Senate officials are scouting locations 1,000 miles outside of Washington, D.C., in an effort to identify facilities that could house the body if a catastrophic event forced lawmakers to flee the nation's capital. Trying to find a secure area outside of Washington for the Senate to conduct business is part of an effort by the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Secretary of the Senate to ensure the chamber's continuity of operations during a national crisis. "We are not prepared to say at this time [that] we have a location...