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China planning military base in Pakistan, Indian report says
China is planning a military base in Pakistan, India Today reported, citing “a secret report prepared by the government’s joint intelligence committee.”
According to the report:
China is keen to build military bases in FATA, or the Northern areas, while Pakistan wants to counterbalance Indian naval forces by having a naval base in Gwadar. But it does not spell out the exact location of these bases.
At a time when Pakistan-US relations are strained — chiefly over drone missile attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas and the covert Navy SEAL operation attack that took out Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil — China has made no secret of its interest in strengthening its own ties with the nuclear-armed nation.
Last Thursday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao hosted Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Beijing and vowed to Read more…
China warns US to be ‘careful’ in military refocus on Asia
US Military Bases Pacific Ocean
BEIJING — China’s Ministry of defense warned the United States on Monday to be “careful in its words and actions” after announcing a defense rethink that stresses responding to China’s rise by shoring up U.S. alliances and bases across Asia.
The statement from the ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng was Beijing’s fullest reaction so far to the new U.S. strategy unveiled last week. It echoed the mix of wariness and outward restraint that has marked China’s response to the Obama
administration’s “pivot” to Asia since late last year.
“We have noted that the United States issued this guide to its defense strategy, and we will closely observe the impact that U.S. military strategic adjustment has on the Asia-Pacific region and on global security developments,” Geng said in a statement issued on the ministry’s website.
“The accusations leveled at China by the U.S. side in this document are totally baseless,” said Geng.
“We hope that the United States will flow with the tide of the era, and deal with China and the Chinese military in an objective and rational way, will be careful in its words and Read more…
Iran To Hold Largest-Ever Naval Drills Near Strait Of Hormuz
The newly announced Iraninan drills, codenamed The Great Prophet, may coincide with major naval exercises that Israel and the United States are planning to hold in the Persian Gulf in the near future. AP quoted on Thursday a senior Israeli military official as saying the drills would be held in the next few weeks.
The exercises, called Austere Challenge 12, which both Israeli and U.S. officials have described as the largest-ever joint drills by the two countries…
Moscow: Iran is planning to hold new “massive” naval exercises near the strategic Strait of Hormuz within the next few weeks, the country’s Fars news agency has said, as Tehran’s tensions with the West continue to escalate following threats of new sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its controversial nuclear program.
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted in the Fars report as saying the Read more…
Israel, US to hold largest ever missile defense exercise. Thousands of US soldiers will be deployed in Israel.
Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.
Last week [11-18 December], Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.
The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East.
The US will also bring its Read more…
Dangerously Unstable: The World in the Age of US Decline
Not so long ago, a high-ranking Chinese official, who obviously had concluded that America’s decline and China’s rise were both inevitable, noted in a burst of candor to a senior U.S. official: “But, please, let America not decline too quickly.” Although the inevitability of the Chinese leader’s expectation is still far from certain, he was right to be cautious when looking forward to America’s demise.
For if America falters, the world is unlikely to be dominated by a single preeminent successor — not even China. International uncertainty, increased tension among global competitors, and even outright chaos would be far more likely outcomes.
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… But those dreaming today of America’s collapse would probably come to regret it. … Read more…
War Imminent In Straits Of Hormuz? $200 A Barrel Oil?
Submitted by John C.K. Daly of OilPrice.com
The pieces and policies for potential conflict in the Persian Gulf are seemingly drawing inexorably together.
Since 24 December the Iranian Navy has been holding its ten-day Velayat 90 naval exercises, covering an area in the Arabian Sea stretching from east of the Strait of Hormuz entrance to the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden. The day the maneuvers opened Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told a press conference that the exercises were intended to show “Iran’s military prowess and defense capabilities in international waters, convey a message of peace and friendship to regional countries, and test the newest military equipment.” The exercise is Iran’s first naval training drill since May 2010, when the country held Read more…
American geopolitical expert sees South China Sea conflict
Wikipedia
In his September-October 2011 Foreign Policy article (“The South China Sea is the future of conflict”) Robert D. Kaplan clearly outlined the importance of the South China Sea, which will make it the convergent point of conflict between the US and China.
A national security and geopolitics expert, Kaplan is the author of many books on these topics and is a member of the Defense Policy Board of the US Defense Department. The US Army’s Special Forces, the United States Marines, and the United States Air Force have tapped Kaplan as their consultant. Per Wikipedia, he also “lectured at the military war colleges, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, major universities, the CIA, and business forums, and has appeared on PBS, NPR, C-Span, and Fox News. He is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Kaplan explains: “Europe is a landscape; East Asia a Read more…
Is The US Monetary System On The Verge Of Collapse?
Tune into CNBC or click onto any of the dozens of mainstream financial news sites, and you’ll find an endless array of opinions on the latest wiggle in equity, bond and commodities markets. As often as not, you’ll find those opinions nestled side by side with authoritative analysis on the outlook for the economy, complete with the author’s carefully studied judgment on the best way forward.
Lost in all the noise, however, is any recognition that the US monetary system – and by extension, that of much of the developed world – may very well be on the verge of collapse. Falling back on metaphor, while the world’s many financial experts and economists sit around arguing about the direction of the ship of state, most are missing the point that the ship has already hit an iceberg and is taking on water fast.
Yet if you were to raise your hand to ask 99% of the Read more…
Report: US Building Secret Drone Bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula
The United States is reported to be expanding a secret drone program in east Africa and the Arabian peninsula in order to gather intelligence and strike al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia and Yemen.
Citing U.S. defense officials, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. is building a new military installation to host the unmanned aircraft in Ethiopia, where drones can more easily attack members of the militant group al-Shabab that is fighting for control of neighboring Somalia.
The report also said the U.S. has re-opened a drone base in the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, where a small Read more…
Group urges U.S. to adopt electronic ID cards for citizens
Source: NextGov
As the Obama administration works on a set of voluntary online credentials for American Web surfers, some technologists say the government should examine Estonia’s mandatory electronic identification cards as a model.
In the United States, opposition to national ID cards has long prevented the government from assigning citizens electronic credentials for online authentication purposes. But, certain aspects of e-credentials may protect personal information better than the passwords and PIN numbers people currently use for Read more…
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