Tag: war

Russia and China hold large-scale joint military drills

Ricky Scaparo – August 10, 2021

(ETH) – Russia and China are holding a large-scale joint military exercise in north-central China involving more than 10,000 troops, Russia’s defense ministry said on Tuesday. According to Reuters, The Sibu/Cooperation-2021 drills in China’s Ningxia region are being watched for signs that China and Russia are expanding military cooperation as they spar with the West.

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper said the drills taking place until Friday marked the first time Russian soldiers would use Chinese weapons. Russia and China have conducted drills since 2005. Moscow sent Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter aircraft, motorized rifle units, and air defense systems to the exercise that was focused on counter-terrorism, the defense ministry said in a statement.

The drills come as the Taliban has gained ground in Afghanistan where security has deteriorated as the United States withdraws its troops after two decades of war, creating a security headache for Moscow. Separately, Russia on Tuesday completed joint drills in Tajikistan with Uzbek and Tajik forces near the Afghan border.

According to Al Jazeera, The exercises aim to “deepen … joint anti-terrorism operations” and “demonstrate the firm determination and strength of the two countries to jointly safeguard international and regional security and stability”, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Chinese and Russian officials.

“It reflects the new height of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and of the strategic mutual trust, pragmatic exchanges and coordination between the two countries,” Xinhua said.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

WAR DRUMS: Israel warns they are now ‘ready to strike Iran’ after new report reveals 10 weeks from nuclear weapon

ETH – August 5, 2021

(ETH) – Israel’s defense minister Benny Gantz has said that his country is ready to attack Iran and that there must be a global response to the threat that the Islamic republic poses.

According to MSN News, His comments come amid growing tensions following a deadly drone strike on an Israeli-operated tanker off the coast of Oman. Israel, along with the U.S. and the U.K. has blamed Tehran for the attack on Mercer Street last week that killed two people. Iran has denied involvement. “Israel is ready to attack Iran, yes,” Gantz told Ynet on Thursday.

“We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran. The world needs to take action against Iran now,” he added according to a translation of his comments tweeted by Ynet journalist Attila Somfalvi.

This also follows the report from the Jerusalem Post, revealing that Tehran will be able to break out to a nuclear weapon within 10 weeks, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told diplomats from UN Security Council member states on Wednesday as tensions ratcheted up between Iran and the international community over its maritime attacks.

“Iran has violated all of the guidelines set in the JCPOA [nuclear agreement] and is only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon,” Gantz warned. “Therefore,” he added, “it is time to act. The world must apply economic sanctions and take operative action against the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps,” which has targeted shipping vessels.

Lapid, Gantz, and other Israeli officials have addressed the Iranian nuclear issue with their American counterparts recently, delivering an “unusual warning,” according to a report from the Times of Israel. “Something has to happen with the negotiations with Iran,” a senior diplomat told Kan. “This ‘limbo’ cannot be a time when Iran is quickly advancing toward becoming a nuclear threshold state.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

First Iranian kamikaze drone against Israeli tanker. As tension rises, Gantz vows “appropriate response”

Debkafiles – July 30, 2021

Iran for the first time launched a suicide drone on Friday, July 30, against an Israeli-operated merchant vessel, the Mercer Street, north of the Omani island of Masirah in the Indian Ocean. Two crewmen, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed as the ship caught fire. The US Navy rushed to the burning ship’s aid and escorted it to harbor in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE. It was attacked while on its way from Dar es Salaam to Fujairah with no cargo aboard.

The Israeli owners had transferred the vessel to Japanese ownership after previous less serious incidents against their ships in the same region, while continuing to operate it from their London-based Zodiac Maritime Office.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz called an urgent conference on Friday night with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and other senior commanders, following which Gantz announced that Israel would make an “appropriate response” to the attack.

DEBKAfile adds: The event broke new ground as indicated by the following:

    1. It marked Iran’s first direct armed drone attack on an Israeli merchant vessel.
    2. The drone was identified by a US official as a “one way” drone – although the Americans stayed clear of former incidents of this kind. He added that “other drones took part” indicating a concerted assault. This confirmed an earlier report from the private maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global of a drone sighting around the vessel prior to the attack.
    3. Iranian sources, including the Al Alam Arabic language TV channel, reported that the Israeli vessel was attacked in reprisal for Israel’s air strike of July 22 against Revolutionary Guards bases at Qusayr, 25km from Aleppo in western Syria. They revealed that a number of Iranians were killed in that strike.
      (Russian officials claimed that all the missiles fired by Israeli jets in that attack had been intercepted by Russian-made air defense systems.)
    4. This was the first time that Tehran had cited Israeli military action in Syria as justification for attacking an Israeli commercial vessel
    5. Saudi sources disclosed that on that same Friday night, one of their ships was also attacked with armed drones wielded by Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

https://www.debka.com

China threatens to begin World War III

Bob Unruh – July 19, 2021

“When we liberate Taiwan, if Japan dares to intervene by force, even if it only deploys one soldier, one plane and one ship, we will not only return reciprocal fire but also start a full-scale war against Japan,” the statement threatens.

“We will use nuclear bombs continuously until Japan declares unconditional surrender for the second time. What we want to target is Japan’s ability to endure a war. As long as Japan realizes that it cannot afford to pay the price of war, it will not dare to rashly send troops to the Taiwan Strait.

“In 1964, when our first atomic bomb was successfully detonated, we promised the world that we would not use atomic bombs against non-nuclear countries and that we would not be the first to use them. Nearly 60 years have passed. Although the strength of our nuclear deterrent has been somewhat affected this decision has been a success, and has safeguarded our peace when we built our country.”

But it warned the international “situation” now is changing and “our country is in the midst of a major change that has not been seen in a century and all political policies, tactics and strategies must be adjusted and changed in the midst of such a major change.”

The video threatens, “In order to protect the peaceful rise of our country, it is necessary to make limited adjustments to our nuclear policy. We solemnly put forward the ‘Japan exception theory.’ In modern history Japan has taken the initiative to harm the Chinese people many times, including the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894-1895, when it took over Taiwan and made us pay more than 230 million taels of silver in reparations. And the world invasion of China of 1931-1945, when more than 35 million Chinese were killed and wounded.”

https://www.wnd.com

Is Israel preparing for the inevitable civil war in the West Bank?

Eric R. Mandel – July 10, 2021

As President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken ponder how to entice the Palestinian Authority (PA) to negotiate with Israel, a far more significant problem is being ignored. The Biden team marched along, facilitating a transfer of money to the PA and reopening the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem, another Palestinian demand, without tangible reciprocity. But this will not reveal the elephant in the room: an inevitable, coming uprising by Hamas in the West Bank.

Hamas instigated the Gaza war in May as part of a strategy to weaken Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party and increase Hamas’s popularity among Palestinian Arabs living in the West Bank. As Amos Harel writes in Haaretz, the rule of Abbas “is less stable. … The succession battles among his subordinates are being waged openly and, above all, Hamas is continuing to gain popularity against the backdrop of what is perceived as its success in standing up to Israel during the fighting in May.”

The U.S. evidently thinks it can strengthen the PA’s standing with the Palestinian people by insisting any rebuilding of Gaza be coordinated through the PA and not Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror organization. But covering over the rot of the PA with increased foreign aid is a Band-Aid at best. Hamas may allow some money to flow through the PA to Gaza, but Abbas won’t control it for long.

Are Israel, America and their Middle Eastern allies planning a strategy for the likely possibility of a civil war in the West Bank? Do they believe that funneling humanitarian aid to Gaza through the PA will lead to a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas or inhibit Hamas from setting the West Bank on fire once sufficient arms, material and money get into their hands?

The attention of the international community is focused on Gaza, but Hamas apparently is one step ahead, strategizing with its Islamist patrons to find opportunities to move closer to taking over the West Bank. Then it could impose Muslim Brotherhood control on the rest of the Palestinian State. Funding from Iran, Qatar and Turkey is in place to help make this happen.

Israel’s next war with Hamas may be not just in Gaza but also in the West Bank, centered in Judea and Samaria, as happened during the Second Intifada of the early 2000s. This time, Israel may be fighting on three fronts simultaneously. Add to that Iranian-controlled militia embedded in Syria and Iraq, ready to transfer arms and troops to tip the balance in favor of Hamas.

https://thehill.com

Pentagon Report Outlines ‘Increased Potential’ of Nuclear War

Eric Mack -July 8, 2021

A recently released Pentagon report warns of “increased potential” for nuclear war as the chief enemies of the U.S. are stockpiling nuclear weapons.

“No potential adversary has reduced either the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy or the number of nuclear weapons it fields,” according to the 2020 Pentagon report.

“Rather, they have moved decidedly in the opposite direction. As a result, there is an increased potential for regional conflicts involving nuclear-armed adversaries in several parts of the world and the potential for adversary nuclear escalation in crisis or conflict.”

The report, delivering “fundamental principles and guidance to plan, execute, and assess nuclear operations,” was finished in April 2020, but released publicly Tuesday, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are highlighted as the chief threats to nuclear war.

The report pointed out that the U.S. nuclear weapons program is designed as a deterrent, noting the goal will be “effectively assuring allies regarding the credibility of U.S. nuclear deterrence enables most to eschew possession of nuclear weapons, thereby contributing to U.S. nonproliferation goals.”

Failing deterrence of an attack on the U.S. or its allies, U.S. nuclear weapons will be reserved for “extreme circumstances,” according to the report.

https://www.newsmax.com

As Americans Party, Our Enemies On The Other Side Of The Globe Are Preparing For Military Confrontation

– July 1, 2021

Here in the middle of 2021, Americans are generally feeling pretty good about things.  The COVID pandemic appears to be subsiding, our sports stadiums are full of fans again, the stock market has been soaring, and all over the country people are in the mood to party.  In fact, July 4th celebrations across the nation are likely to be quite boisterous this year.  But in China the mood is quite different, and the same thing is true in Russia.  In both cases, politicians are talking tough about the United States, and in both cases the military is being prepared for a potential future conflict.  Right now, our relations with China are the worst that they have been in decades, and our relations with Russia have never been this bad in our entire history.  But the vast majority of Americans are completely and utterly clueless about all of this, because most Americans couldn’t care less about what happens on the other side of the globe.

This week, China commemorated the 100th anniversary of the CCP, and Xi Jinping used that as an opportunity to warn that any nation that tries to bully China “will have their heads bashed bloody”…

“Only socialism can save China, and only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China,” he said.

“We will never allow anyone to bully, oppress or subjugate China.

“Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”

So exactly who do you think that Xi Jinping was referring to when he made that statement?

Do you think that it was Denmark?

Perhaps Iceland?

No, of course he was referring to the United States.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com

Taiwan’s foreign minister says ‘we need to prepare’ for military conflict with China

Eric Cheung and Will Ripley – June 24, 2021

Taipei, Taiwan (CNN)China’s escalating military intimidation of Taiwan shows the self-governed island “needs to prepare” for a possible military conflict, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in an exclusive interview with CNN.

His warning came one week after the island reported the largest daily incursion by Chinese military planes into Taiwan’s self-declared Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The incursion — by 28 Chinese warplanes including fighter jets and bombers — did not violate Taiwanese sovereign airspace or international law, but it was seen as show of strength by China’s People’s Liberation Army.

“As Taiwan decision makers, we cannot take any chances, we have to be prepared,” Wu told CNN in Taipei on Wednesday. “When the Chinese government is saying they would not renounce the use of force, and they conduct military exercises around Taiwan, we would rather believe that it is real.”

Wu, who has served as minister of foreign affairs since 2018, was accused by Beijing in May of being a “diehard separatist” after remarks he made during a news conference that Taiwan would fight “to the very last day” if attacked by China.

“Stopping ‘Taiwan independence’ is the necessary condition for maintaining peaceful cross-strait relations,” said Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office. “Joseph Wu has repeatedly and arrogantly provoked ‘Taiwan independence’ … we will take all necessary measures to severely punish such ‘Taiwan independence’ diehards for life in accordance with the law.”

In response, Wu told CNN he is “honored” to be targeted by Communist authorities in Beijing. “Authoritarianism cannot tolerate truth. If they continue to say that they want to pursue me for the rest of my life, I’m not really concerned about that,” he said.

https://www.cnn.com

Anticipating War With China, The U.S. Air Force Is Fanning Out Across The Pacific

David Axe – June 7, 2021

For years, the U.S. Air Force concentrated its warplanes at just two bases in the western Pacific: for fighters, Kadena Air Force Base in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture; and for bombers and big support planes, Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base.

Beijing eyed these mega-bases and devised a simple strategy for suppressing U.S. air power in the region. Build a couple thousand non-nuclear ballistic missiles and, in wartime, lob them at the bases until their runways, aprons, hangars, fuel tanks and warehouses are nothing but craters.

After years of build-up, the Chinese rocket force possesses around 1,300 ground-launched missiles with sufficient range to hit Kadena and Andersen from mainland China.

The USAF is keenly aware of the threat. It has its own plan for dodging the missile barrages. The idea is to spread out hundreds of warplanes across potentially dozens of smaller bases—thus diluting the striking power of China’s rocket force.

The Air Force won’t say exactly which bases are part of its plan, but it’s possible to make educated guesses. American territories and small island countries offer the most dependable facilities. Arguably the most important bases—in the Philippines—are accessible only at the whim of that country’s mercurial president.

The emerging map of the USAF’s expanding base network also reveals where the service has potential airfield gaps, most glaringly in the Philippine Sea east of Taiwan. In that gap, the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet might lend its sister service a helping hand—and deploy some of its 10 aircraft carriers and big-deck assault ships.

The Air Force maintains a master list of what Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the head of Pacific Air Forces, described as “every single piece of concrete” in the Pacific region.

https://www.forbes.com

Chinese State Media Urges Preparing for Nuclear War With US

Eric Mack – June 1, 2021

Chinese state media is calling on a nuclear buildup as a “strategic deterrence” against the United States, Newsweek reported Tuesday.

“We must be prepared for an intense showdown between China and the U.S.,” Hu Xijin, the editor of the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times, wrote in an editorial Thursday. “The number of China’s nuclear warheads must reach the quantity that makes U.S. elites shiver should they entertain the idea of engaging in a military confrontation with China.”

President Joe Biden has kept up the tough public stance on China after former President Donald Trump pressed toward a trade deal that sought to call out China’s human rights abuses, intellectual property theft, forced-technology transfer, and trade imbalances.

Also, Biden announced last week a 90-day review from the U.S. intelligence community to issue a report on the COVID-19 origins, which the Trump administration has long maintained was likely released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“As the U.S. strategic containment of China has increasingly intensified, I would like to remind again that we have plenty of urgent tasks, but among the most important ones is to rapidly increase the number of commissioned nuclear warheads, and the DF-41s, the strategic missiles that are capable to strike long-range and have high-survivability, in the Chinese arsenal,” Hu brief missive began. “This is the cornerstone of China’s strategic deterrence against the U.S.”

Hu called for “a large number of Dongfeng-41, and JL-2 and JL-3 (both intercontinental-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles)” to “form the pillar of our strategic will.”

He admitted the buildup should be meant to deter war, not strike it, but he noted “U.S. hostility toward China is burning.”

https://www.newsmax.com