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While many Americans are wondering how a Chinese spy balloon could have been allowed to cross over the entire length of the United States, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is heaping praise on President Biden for waiting until it's spy mission was accomplished before shooting it down. "As a sitting Senator, I had the privilege of being briefed by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman," Romney boasted. "It was pointed out to me that by allowing China to complete its spy mission we accomplished some important things. First, letting China listen in on our military communications shows them that they have...

The North Korean authorities have reportedly ordered the expansion of political prison camps in the country. A source told Daily NK that North Korea, having declared war on the so-called “anti-socialist and non-socialist phenomenon” during the recent Eighth Party Congress, intends to overhaul its incarceration facilities ahead of a major crackdown. In a phone conversation with Daily NK on Feb. 12, the source, who is based in North Korea, said “the authorities ordered the labor camps to increase capacity at the end of last month,” adding that “this order was handed to the headquarters of all camps managed by the...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has arrived in Moscow to discuss a possible plan to stop a Turkish attack as well as the future of the east of the Euphrates, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday. The SOHR cited sources which said the SDF delegation and Russian authorities were expected to meet in Moscow “in the coming hours” to discuss the future of east Euphrates. According to the monitor, the Russians offered to deploy border guards from the Syrian army in the border area from the east of Euphrates...

Deng Yuwen says Kim has rightly calculated that he needed to make some concessions to ease international pressure on his regime, but he will never totally give up the nuclear programme that North Korea has invested so much in.The historic summit between North and South Korean leaders ended as they signed the “Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula”. Denuclearisation on the peninsula is the top concern of the international community, but the issue is mentioned only in the fourth point of the third article in the declaration. According to this third article, the two...

Ex-President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev compared the meeting between Russian and US leaders Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Hamburg to his meeting with ex-President of the United States Ronald Reagan. The politician made such a statement in an interview with Italian publicist Giulietto Chiesa posted on Globalist portal on Saturday. "I recall when we started the disarmament dialog with Ronald Reagan, I was told in several days after first contacts that US naval vessels entered the Black Sea and approached territorial waters of the Soviet Union. I was asked, "What shall we do?"...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed to meet "in the near future" to try to improve poor relations between Moscow and London, the Kremlin said in a statement. Both leaders are due to attend a G20 summit in China early next month, giving them an opportunity to meet for the first time since May became prime minister in July. Relations between Russia and Britain are strained by differences over Ukraine and Syria as well as by what London says is a sharp increase in flights by long-range Russian bombers...

HAVANA (AP) — Pope Francis hailed detente between the United States and Cuba as a model of reconciliation for the world, urging Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro to persevere in building normal ties as the pontiff launched a 10-day tour of the former Cold War foes Saturday. Francis' surprisingly direct call for progress toward normalization came after weeks of Vatican assurances that he would not explicitly address politics during his pastoral trip to Cuba and the U.S. Francis served as mediator and guarantor of 18 months of secret negotiations that led to the resumption of diplomatic relations between the...

Just days after President Obama announced a historic thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba, one of Russia’s most hawkish emissaries was set to arrive in Havana on Friday to meet with Cuba’s leadership. The emissary, Dmitri O. Rogozin, the outspoken deputy prime minister whose portfolio includes Russia’s weapons and space programs, had already panned the United States’ supposed change of heart toward Cuba as just a calculated change in tactics. […] Discounting avowed hawks like Mr. Rogozin, analysts and diplomats in Moscow met Mr. Obama’s decision with an approval that is rare in the current political climate,...

Cuban President Raúl Castro sent a blunt message to Washington Saturday as the White House works to reverse a half-century of hostility between the U.S. and Cuba: Don't expect détente to do away with the communist system. Castro’s speech to Cuba’s National Assembly was a sharp counterpoint to the message U.S. President Barack Obama gave in his year-end news conference the day before. Obama reiterated that by engaging directly with the Cuban people, Americans are more likely to encourage reform in Cuba’s one-party system and centrally planned economy. “We must not expect that in order for relations with the United...

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING Strategy site to Obama: End alliance with Israel WASHINGTON — A newsletter-publisher said to have ties with the Obama administration has called on Washington to end its strategic alliance with Israel. George Friedman, publisher of Stratfor, has published a book that called on the Obama administration to reorder U.S. foreign policy. Friedman has argued that the key element of the proposal required the end of U.S. strategic ties with Israel and bolstering of cooperation with the Islamic world, particularly Iran and Pakistan. "The United States must quietly distance itself from Israel," Friedman says in...

Forty-five years ago, American cargo ships filled this vast harbor, unloading supplies day after day for U.S. troops fighting the Viet Cong. Today, the bay’s azure waters are largely empty, except for local fishing boats. The once-bustling U.S. airbase here, formerly home to fighter squadrons and a combat hospital, is abandoned, a reminder of the U.S. military’s exit from most of Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War. But the Pentagon is plotting a return. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta flew in to Cam Ranh Bay, the first Pentagon chief to come to this deep-water port 200 miles north...

Ted Kennedy's KGB Correspondence By Kevin Mooney on 6.22.10 @ 6:08AM Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's self-serving, secret correspondence with Soviet agents during the height of the Cold War included proposals for collaborative efforts designed to undermine official U.S. policy set by Democratic and Republican administrations, KGB documents show. With the media now reporting on the late senator's just released Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file, now is an opportune time for a more expansive investigation into Kennedy's KGB contacts. The agency took a keen interest in a 1961 "fact-finding" trip the Massachusetts Democrat took to Mexico and other parts of...

Just happened a few hours ago in brutal communist North Korea's capital, Pyongyang.The New York Philharmonic. CLICK HERE, THEN UNDER THE SINGER'S PHOTO, HIT PLAYBe patient as it loads. May not be viewable on all PCs.

TOKYO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - North Korea may slow the pace of disablement of its nuclear facilities, blaming a delay in the delivery of energy aid promised under a disarmament deal, Kyodo news agency reported, quoting a Pyongyang official. "There is a delay in the implementation of economic compensation obligations to be undertaken by the other countries in the six-party talks," Hyun Hak Bong, deputy director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's American affairs bureau, was quoted as saying late on Wednesday. "We have no choice but to take measures to adjust" he added, referring to the pace of disablement...

Is Bush Beginning to Resemble Clinton? When he was first sworn in on Jan. 20, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush would never have imagined that he would eventually resemble his predecessor, former President Bill Clinton. The press suggested that soon after his inauguration, Bush did everything according to an ABC policy -- "Anything But Clinton." But with about a year remaining before his term ends, Bush is now implementing policies that don't follow the ABC plan. On the contrary, he is beginning to seem reminiscent of Clinton. A good example is the Middle East peace conference at the U.S....

Double blow to nuclear detente By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website A US military response to North Korea's move remains unlikely On the same day, the crises over the nuclear policies of North Korea and Iran have taken a turn for the worse. North Korea's announcement that it intends to carry out a nuclear weapons test is another grave twist in a crisis that appears to be without end or solution. And a senior British official has said it is now clear that Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment and that therefore moves to impose sanctions will...

/begin my translationThe Earth Without N. Korea Should Be Blown Up The dialogue between senior Kim and junior Kim The anatomy of Kim Jong-il regime Indoctrination materials for all N. Korean residents, including military, party, and civilians mainly about the 'greatness' of Kim Jong-il. Some examples are as follows: "The sheer courage of our general(Kim Jong-il) cannot be matched by anybody in the world." "Former American president Jimmy Carter confessed, 'the leadership and greatness of our general surpass those of all presidents in American history put together.'" "Without our general, there would be no fatherland." "One exhortation of our general...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

A VERY long read, skip ahead if you want to get past the Cold War history Introduction America's longest war was in a sense, not a traditional war. The United States did not engage in any direct conflict or battle with its enemy, nor were any direct shots fired. Yet this, war, which lasted for over forty years, put people in such a state of fear that was unprecedented with any previous American conflicts. Known as the Cold War, it describes the "era of doubtfulness and distrust between the Western and Eastern powers" in the post World War II world....

George W. Bush: Man of the year Posted: December 31, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. As Person of the Year, 2003, Time has chosen the American Soldier, a decision with which no patriot will quarrel. Whatever one believed about the necessity, wisdom or justice of the Iraq war, the American soldier did his duty and did it admirably well. But if the old standards had prevailed at Time – What man had the greatest impact on world affairs, for good or ill, in 2003? – the Man of the Year would have to have been George...