Free Republic

MOSCOW, Aug 10, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov raised the possibility on Saturday of creating a multinational defense force in the resource-rich Caspian Sea, a Russian news agency reported. "I can't exclude the creation in the Caspian of a military group which would include Russia, Kazakhstan and other Caspian Sea countries," Ivanov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. Ivanov is currently in the Caspian Sea city of Kaspiisk in Russia's Dagestan region to observe large-scale naval maneuvers in the disputed Caspian waters. The former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are also...

Statements by Adm Paparo, head of the of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command - warns about Beijing’s plans. "Two months ago Beijing practiced sealing off the First Island Chain, which runs from Japan south to Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia. The goal is to cut off Western support for Taiwan in a blockade or invasion. A military exercise in October 2024 was practice for a blockade. " "Adm. Paparo said this week that China’s “aggressive maneuvers around Taiwan right now are not exercises, as they call them. They are rehearsals” for “the forced unification of Taiwan to the mainland.” "Taiwan has to...

MOSCOW - The Russian and Egyptian Navy are preparing to conduct maneuvers, the first of their kind in the Black Sea. According to the press office of the Russian Southern Military District, representatives of the two armies held a three-day conference in Novorossiysk on the preparation of the joint exercises "Friendship Bridge - 2020", which will be held for the first time in the Black Sea. The Black Sea is an inland sea located between the southeastern part of Europe and Asia Minor. It connects with the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosphorus Strait and the Sea of ​​Marmara, and it...

Indo-US Joint Naval exercises concludes off Kochi coast Press Trust of IndiaKochi, October 8 The three-day biggest ever Indo-US bilateral naval exercises off the ala coast, in which a nuclear submarine from the US Navy's seventh fleet participated for the first time, concluded on Wednesday evening.A variety of exercises of Anti-submarine warfare, Anti-air and Anti-surface warfare was held during the exercises, which began on October 6.Besides the Los Angeles class nuclear submarine USS Pasadena, two guided missile cruisers-- USS Chosin and USS Fitzgerald, an auxilary ship SS Chesapeake and P-3C Patrol and Reconnaissance aircraft of the US navy participated in...

North Korea has warned it will take what it calls "merciless retaliatory measures" if the United States and its allies proceed with plans to intercept suspicious ships in international waters. Australia, the United States, Japan and France practised stopping and searching a ship suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction. At this stage, there are no specific plans to put the drills into action, but North Korea is furious, warning it will take "merciless retaliatory measures by mobilising all of its military potentials" if a naval blockade is imposed. In its latest commentary, the Korean Central News Agency described the...