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Exclusive: Donald Trump Urged to Nationalize America’s Only Rare Earth Mine


Reported by John Carney | 30 Aug 2017

STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

President Donald Trump met with an executive from an American advanced materials manufacturer who urged the president to prevent China from cornering the market in rare earth materials by nationalizing the only rare earth mine in the United States.

An investor group that allegedly has ties to the Chinese government in June purchased the rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California that was one of the final remaining assets of the now bankrupt Molycorp Inc. The mine is one of the very few not already controlled by China, which accounts for 97 percent of the global rare-earth mineral production.

“By buying up Mountain Pass, the Chinese have locked up the only operating rare earth mining operation outside of China,” said Michael Silver, chief executive of American Elements Corp., in an interview with Breitbart News about his White House meetings.

China’s control of rare earth mining has implications for the U.S. military. According to a 2016 Government Accountability Office study, certain rare earth materials are “essential to the production, sustainment, and operation of U.S. military equipment.” Critical military uses include rare earths employed in antimissile defense systems, precision-guided weapons, lasers, communications systems, night vision equipment, satellites and military aircraft.

“Reliable access to the necessary material…is a bedrock requirement for the [Department of Defense],” the GAO wrote.

The GAO found that the Defense Department lacked any comprehensive plan for how to deal with “potential supply disruptions.”

The Decline and Fall of America’s Rare Earth Capacity

The U.S. was once the world’s largest producer of such metals but in recent decades has lost out to China, where the rare earth minerals are plentiful and companies are not burdened by environmental and labor regulation.  By 1999, more than 90 percent of the rare earth materials used by U.S. industry came from deposits in China. Today, China produces 97 percent of rare earth elements used globally.

Last year, there were no rare earth materials mined in the U.S., according to the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey.  The U.S. imports between $120 million and $160 million worth of rare earths a year, around 9 percent of total global demand for the minerals.

The 2015 bankruptcy of Molycorp, which owned the Mountain Pass rare earth mine, was responsible for shutting down U.S. production. That followed from a sharp decline in prices of rare earth as China kept up its massive production, flooding the market. This global excess supply pushed the price of some rare earths below their cost of production, making the mining and processing uneconomical outside of China.

A buyout group led by U.S. investors and backed by China’s Shenghe Resources Holding Co. won approval in June by a bankruptcy court to buy the mine. Rival bidder Tom Clarke has called for the U.S. government to review the acquisition with an eye to Shenghe’s alleged ties to the Chinese government. 

Silver met with Trump twice in July to discuss nationalizing the Mollycorp mine. He also held meetings with Trump’s senior staff, including then chief strategist Stephen Bannon  and then deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka. He urged the Trump administration to use the power of eminent domain to acquire the mine for use as a new national laboratory dedicated to preserving America’s rare-earth mining capacity.

Rare-earth minerals were first used commercially to produce color televisions. Today they are used in the manufacture of high-tech items that are central to the modern economy, including laptop computers, iPhones, wind turbines, camera lenses, aircraft engines and hybrid electric cars.  According to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey, rare earth elements are “vital to modern technologies and lifestyles.”

China’s ramped up production was a reversal of a 2010 that had capped its rare earth exports. The U.S. viewed this cap as an attempt to force manufacturers to locate in China and put pressure on China to reverse its stance. That happened in 2015 following a ruling by the World Trade Organization that China’s practices were unfair. The lifting of the caps sent rare earth prices crashing.

Silver, the American Elements executive, says this was the result of China dumping the minerals on the market at rock-bottom prices in an effort to drive out competitors. Any attempt to make the Molycorp mine commercially viable will fail, according to silver, because China can hold prices lower for longer than any competitor can stay solvent.

Now China is using its control of the market to cajole companies to manufacture in China, according to Silver. That puts any efforts to restore manufacturing in America at risk, he said.

A Plan to Prevent China’s Sole Control

“We need to assure high-tech manufacturers that it is safe to locate plants in the U.S. At this point, the only place you can site a plant is China because of their control over the minerals,” Silver said.

Under Silver’s plan, the mine would become one of the U.S. government’s national labs. The best-known of these research facilities run by the Department of Energy is the famous Los Alamos National Laboratory. Nationalizing the mine would guarantee that manufacturers wouldn’t lose access to the rare-earth minerals if China decided to restrict their import.

“One you guarantee access to the minerals, where’s the best place to site your plant? The U.S. because of quality labor, our academics, our know how,” Silver said.

Nationalizing the mine would not stop China’s ability to set price globally. But government ownership would allow the mine to continue operating even if it were unprofitable. That, in turn, would allow the U.S. to continue to employ rare earth scientists domestically and develop new rare earth technologies. Under the U.S. Constitution, the government is allowed to take ownership of the property through the power of eminent domain so long as property owners receive appropriate compensation. 

American Elements is a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of metals and chemicals with a catalog of more than 15,000 products, according to Silver. He was one of the first Americans to set up a distribution supply chain from China to North America, he said in an interview.

“I probably stand to lose money by arguing for nationalizing the mine. But I feel like this is my duty as a patriot,” Silver said.

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International Politics

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Developing: Putin Issues Alarming Orders at NK Border… Things Just Escalated


eported By Martin Lioll | on August 30, 2017 at 7:37am

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/developing-putin-issues-border/

The biggest sign from a world leader that trouble may be afoot on the Korean Peninsula after Kim Jong Un’s latest missile launch comes not from the crazy fat kid himself. Instead, Vladimir Putin made headlines when his Russian government quietly ordered 1,500 people out of a city close to the North Korean border.

The U.K. Express reported that Russian media outlets announced the alarming evacuation shortly after the latest missile test by North Korea, which flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

A verbal order was given to relocate 1,500 people to safe areas, Russian social media outlet Mash reported Tuesday afternoon. “The order came from the regional department of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies.”

The movement was later described as a “training exercise” — activated by North Korea’s missile launch — by another Russian media outlet, FedPress.ru.

“A relocation scheme is being exercised as part of the training,” a source said.

Vladivostok, a city of just over 600,000 people, is Russia’s largest port on the Pacific Ocean. A city of significant military importance, it’s the closest major Russian urban area to the country’s 24-mile land border with North Korea.

Vladivostok is also set to be the site of a summit between Moscow and the Japanese government in the coming weeks, as a sideline to the Eastern Economic Forum. According to the Japan Times, tensions over North Korea are expected to be one of the topics. Nikolai Patrushev, an aide to Vladimir Putin, will reportedly travel to Japan in the coming days to help set the agenda for the meeting.

An evacuation from a border city in the days following a North Korean missile launch and in the weeks preceding a major economic forum and summit aren’t pleasant auguries for those who want peace and stability. Granted, 1,500 people being moved isn’t exactly going to make a dent in a city where that represents 1/400th of the permanent population. However, one also assumes those 1,500 individuals also played some sort of role in Russia’s civil or defense infrastructure, particularly given the fact that the Russian Ministry of Emergencies was involved and that it was part of a “training exercise.”

Several weeks ago, Kim Jong Un sensibly declared a moratorium on his latest spate of missile tests. Now, the crazy fat kid we all knew and loathed is back, and he’s upped the ante by launching the latest missile right over Japan. Given all that, it’s not just that Vladimir Putin’s government is evacuating its citizens to safety. It’s that we can see this as being the first of many such evacuations. Things look like they’re about to escalate in a major way.

H/T U.K. Daily Star

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International Politics

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Red Alert: KJU Launches Missile Aimed at New Target… War Is Coming


Reported By Ben Marquis | on August 28, 2017 at 4:08pm

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/kju-missile-new-target-war/

Reports began breaking Monday afternoon that the rogue regime in North Korea had fired off yet another ballistic missile in a provocative manner, this time sending one on a trajectory toward the nearby island nation of Japan. According to Reuters, the missile was fired in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Japan time, crossed over the northern Hokkaido section of Japan and broke apart into three pieces, crashing harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean.

Nevertheless, the Japanese government issued an alert to citizens to take any precautions necessary and prepare for the worst. The missile flying over Japan was the first time North Korea has made such an aggressive move since 2009 and marks a “sharp escalation in tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Reuters reported.

Japan reportedly did not make any effort to shoot down the missile tracking through their sky, despite currently practicing to do just such a thing with anti-missile batteries deployed at U.S. bases in Japan, according to the Los Angeles Times.

According to Agence France-Presse, the “unidentified ballistic missile” was fired from the Sunan region near the capital of Pyongyang, overflying Japanese territory to crash in the East Sea, part of the Sea of Japan.

“South Korea and the US are jointly analysing for details,” stated a media release from the South Korean military’s Joint Chief of Staff’s office.

A spokesman for the Japanese government said the launch was viewed as a “serious, grave security threat” to the Asian nation, and that “full steps” were being taken to ensure the continued safety of Japanese citizens.

It is thought that the most recent launch — which came just days after three smaller short-range missiles were launched to minimal effect — was in response to the start of a new round of military exercises in the region conducted jointly by U.S. forces and their South Korean counterparts.

The launch also comes at a time when virtually the entire world — including China and Russia, at least publicly — are urging North Korea to refrain from such provocative actions.

Obviously, it remains to be seen if there will be any sort of response to this latest missile launch, as President Donald Trump has promised to unleash “fire and fury” on the communist nation if it attacked any United States territory. South Korean President Moon Jae-in suggested his nation “immediately switch to offensive operations” if the North crossed an unspecified line with its provocations, according to Business Insider.

Of course, we will be sure to update you with any further information as this story continues to develop.

War might not be the inevitable result of North Korean provocations, but it’s coming closer with every step Kim takes.

Please share this on Facebook and Twitter to let everyone know that Kim Jong Un just fired off another missile, this time toward Japan.

What do you think of North Korea firing a missile that flew over top of Japan? Scroll down to comment below!

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International Politics

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Olympic Committee Buckles to LGBT Pressure With Rule Change


Reported By Benjamin Arie | August 28, 2017 at 3:01pm

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/olympic-committee-trans-athletes/

The liberal obsession with “equality” has just taken a very bizarre turn… and it could ironically make the next Olympics very unfair. The International Olympic Committee has announced that the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea will not have any sex or gender standards for athletes, according to The Daily Caller.

That means that athletes can compete in any gender category they wish — which includes stronger and faster biological men  taking on women for Olympic medals.

“[T]here will be no regulations in place at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 as we are still awaiting the resolution of the Dutee Chand case,” the committee stated in an email provided to The Daily Caller.

Dutee Chand is an Indian sprinter who was previously suspended from competitions due to her hyperandrogenism, a condition that gives her a testosterone advantage compared to other female competitors. Another athlete who reportedly has the same condition is Caster Semenya, a middle distance runner from South Africa. She took gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics, but her very high testosterone levels made other female athletes question her eligibility.

“These kind of people should not run with us,” stated Italian runner Elisa Cusma, according to The New York Times. “For me, she is not a woman. She is a man.”

Science confirms what common sense already knows: Men have dramatically higher testosterone levels than women, and that gives them an advantage in many fast-paced athletic events.

“Testosterone, found in both men and women has been linked with increased muscle, bone mass, and competitive drive. The average male produces much more of it than the average female, roughly 35 nmol/L. Women usually produce less than 3 nmol/L,” explained The Daily Caller, citing U.S. National Library of Medicine studies.

Experts from the International Association of Athletics Federations have stated that although some women do have higher testosterone levels than others, a healthy female still has nowhere near the average male levels.

“Sweden-based Professor Martin Ritzén, a specialist in pediatric endocrinology, testified on behalf of the IAAF and said the probability of a healthy woman reaching 10 nmol/L of testosterone was ‘zero,’” continued The Daily Caller.

In other words, the separation between male and female competitors in games like the Olympics is based on science, and allows women to be recognized for their athletic achievements while acknowledging the physical differences that exist. However, intersex and transgender competitors may have testosterone levels that are much closer to normal male levels.

It isn’t that far-fetched to envision male athletes who are mediocre in their performance declare themselves “transgender” in order to enter and win women’s events.

That has already happened at the high school level. A runner named Andraya Yearwood was born a male, but recently competed and won as a girl at the Connecticut state track finals. TheBlaze reported that the “trans identifying” Yearwood has left his… er, her… female competitors behind, and in tears.

In the name of “fairness,” the left seems intent on trampling over everyone who doesn’t participate in their social justice experiments. The basis of sport is a level playing field — but performance-enhancing testosterone being allowed in the name of “equality” tilts the competition in one direction.

Will even more women now be left behind by men who choose to identify as the opposite gender in order to win medals? If the next Olympics is any indication, the answer is yes.

H/T Breitbart News

Please press “Share on Facebook” if you’re fed up with sports being ruined by this insanity.

What do you think of the Olympic committee’s decision? Scroll down to comment below!

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International Politics, Sports

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North Korea Caught Trying To Aid Syria’s Chemical Weapons Program


Reported By Jack Davis | August 22, 2017 at 10:36am

URL of the original posting site: http://www.westernjournalism.com/north-korea-caught-trying-aid-syrias-chemical-weapons-program/

North Korea has been caught twice in recent months trying to send Syria the materials needed to make chemical weapons, according to a United Nations report.

“The panel is investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation between Syria and the DPRK (North Korea),” the United Nations committee reported.

“Two member states interdicted shipments destined for Syria. Another member state informed the panel that it had reasons to believe that the goods were part of a KOMID contract with Syria,” the report stated, using the acronym for the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, which has been blacklisted by the Security Council for arms dealing.

The report did not say when the weapons were intercepted. The intercepted shipments were bound for Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, which has overseen Syria’s chemical weapons program.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former head of the British military’s chemical, biological and radiological weapons program, said North Korea has been selling its chemical stockpile.

“Syria’s chemical weapons program was basically built up by Iran and Russia,” he said. “But the North Koreans have been desperate for currency and have been happy to sell technology to anyone. It has always been a real concern that they would sell their chemical and nuclear expertise.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t speak to a wider involvement in the (chemical weapons) sphere, especially by the jihadis,” he said.

An organization called the Nuclear Threat Initiative said North Korea “may possess between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of (chemical warfare) agents.

“The South Korean government assesses that North Korea is able to produce most types of chemical weapons indigenously, although it must import some precursors to produce nerve agents, which it has done in the past,” the site said.

“At maximum capacity, North Korea is estimated to be capable of producing up to 12,000 tons of CW. Nerve agents such as Sarin and VX are thought to be the focus of North Korean production,” it said.

In April, Syria used chemical weapons to attack a rebel-held village, prompting an armed response form the United States.

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Policewoman Shoots Down 4 Jihadis by Herself — Video Footage Revealed


Posted by GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com | on August 18, 2017

One policewoman took on 5 drugged-up jihadis whom were wearing suicide vests; she came out the victor, killing 4 of the 5 and saved an injured colleague in the mean time.

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The vests were fake, it turns out, and constructed of ‘Coke cans’. They were armed with knives and an axe, however, when the ran out of their Audi A3 that they used to mow down crowds of people on the ‘seafront in Cambrils on the Costa Dorada at 1am today, killing a woman, 61, from Zaragoza, and injuring six others,’ reports the Daily Mail.

Spain seems to be the target for ISIS right now.

The incident started when two police officers were on their foot patrol and one was hit by the Audi A3. Within seconds her partner pulled out her service weapon and killed 4 of the 5 as they came charging at her.

The fifth terrorist ran into a park and was gunned down minutes later by a policeman – but clambered to his feet with a smile on his face and ran at armed officers who eventually needed 15 bullets to kill him.

Today Catalan police chief Josep Luis Trapero confirmed the story saying: ‘To kill four people, even if you are a professional, is not easy to digest’, adding the officer getting psychological support now.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Eight hours earlier a ‘linked’ ISIS van assault on the packed Los Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona killed 13 including a three-year-old girl and injured at least 100 victims from 34 different countries.

Fitzroy Davies, from Wolverhampton, described how officers gunned down one of the Cambrils jihadis and filmed the moment he rose to his feet in a scene he compared to a ‘horror film’.

–Daily Mail

He said: ‘He must have been on drugs. He took the first round of shots he fell on the floor, and then within two seconds, I thought I was watching a film, one of them horror films, the guy just stood up. He was taunting, smiling, laughing and he carried on walking to the police, and then they gave it to him again, a couple more shots and then he fell to the ground’.

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He said that his suicide belt ‘looked fake’, adding: ‘It looked like he was wearing Coke cans on him’.

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Reportedly, ISIS has been feeding its fighters a drug called Captagon which is a cheap super-amphetamine pill. It is used to induce euphoria and increase adrenaline to ‘aide’ the terrorists during their murderous rampage.

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International Politics, Islamic News

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China Announces It Will Implement Tough Sanctions Against North Korea


Reported By Jack Davis | August 14, 2017 at 7:09am

URL of the original posting site: http://www.westernjournalism.com/china-announces-will-implement-tough-sanctions-north-korea/

For the second time in recent days, China took a major step to put pressure on North Korea to resolve its standoff with the United States over North Korea’s missile development efforts. The Chinese government announced Monday it will implement the sanctions that were imposed against North Korea by the United Nations on Aug. 5.

The Security Council sanctions block nations from accepting North Korea’s primary exports, including coal, iron, iron ore, lead and seafood. The sanctions also target other revenue streams, such as banks and joint ventures with foreign companies. The sanctions could cost North Korea a third of its $3 billion annual export revenue.

Although China did not block the sanctions at the U.N., it was unclear until the announcement whether China, which is North Korea’s largest trading partner, would implement them. China also faces possible action from President Donald Trump, who has said he may order an investigation into allegations of unfair Chinese trade practices.

“It is obviously improper to use one thing as a tool to imposing pressure on another thing,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday. “There will be no winner from a trade war, it will be lose-lose.”

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China’s action to implement the sanctions came days after a state-run newspaper said that if North Korea attacks the United States, it will fight any war that results on its own.

“China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten U.S. soil first and the U.S. retaliates, China will stay neutral,” the Global Times editorial said.

Throughout the escalation of tensions between the United States and North Korea, China has called for restraint.

“The current situation on the Korean Peninsula is complicated and sensitive,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement Friday.

“China hopes that all relevant parties will be cautious in their words and actions, and do things that help to alleviate tensions and enhance mutual trust, rather than walk on the old pathway of taking turns in shows of strength, and upgrading the tensions,” he said.

Writing in The Washington Post, David Von Drehle said China needs to emerge from the North Korean-American showdown with a win.

” … the audience of greatest concern to China — namely, the other leading countries in the region, including Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam — faces the urgent question of whether they can trust a rising China to share in safeguarding their sphere. If the problem of Kim isn’t defused, those nations are sure to seek even deeper alliances with the United States while building their own military capacity. China’s regional influence will shrink rather than grow,” he wrote.

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International Politics

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What the Crisis Means: North Korea, Nukes and Islamists


Reported By Ryan Mauro Wednesday, August 9, 2017

A North Korean military parade

A North Korean military parade (Photo: Stefan Krasowski/Flickr)

North Korea is officially a communist, Stalinist dictatorship, but that hasn’t stopped it from crossing the ideological divide to embrace Islamist regimes and, reportedly, even jihadist groups. The latest crisis between North Korea and the U.S. appears separate from the war with Islamism, but there are 10 ways it overlaps.

The U.S. and allied intelligence services now believe North Korea has miniaturized its nuclear warheads to fit onto its intercontinental ballistic missiles and has the potentially up to 60 nuclear weapons.

This was seen as an undeclared “red line” and prompted President Trump to threaten to bring “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if North Korea’s verbal threats continue; a benchmark North Korea immediately crossed by announcing it was considering a nuclear strike on the U.S. territory of Guam, where 6,000 U.S. troops are stationed. Another 28,000 U.S. troops are in South Korea and 49,000 in Japan.

North Korea threatened to attack Guam in 2013 and its bombastic rhetoric is practically a daily occurrence, but North Korea’s aggressive attacks have increased in recent years including sinking a South Korean ship in 2010, an artillery barrage on a South Korean island that same year, a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014 and a bold assassination of a political rival in a Malaysian airport using the VX biological weapon earlier this year.

  1. The Iranian and North Korean WMD programs should be seen as a single entity. We must now assume that Iran likewise has the ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads onto ICBMs.

    Iran and North Korea have shared virtually everything when it comes to ballistic missile and nuclear technology. One Iranian opposition group claimed that Iran continued its nuclear program in spite of the nuclear deal by simply outsourcing it to North Korea. The nuclear and missile tests are widely seen as being on done on behalf of Iran with Iranian scientists on the scene for their occurrences.

    Both North Korea and Iran helped the Syrian regime pursue nuclear weapons, resulting in the Israeli airstrike on Bashar Assad’s nuclear reactor in 2007. Various reports indicate that Syria’s nuclear program continued thereafter, albeit on a smaller scale.

  2. North Korea’s Links to Hamas, Hezbollah and reportedly Al-Qaeda-tied terrorists in the Philippines. In 2003, the government of the Philippines said that it captured documents showing that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an Islamist group that has had a relationship with Al-Qaeda in the past, paid $2 million to North Korea for guns, ammunition and grenades and was looking to buy mini-submarines. Another sale was reported in 2005 of 10,000 rifles.

    In 2006, a federal judge ruled that North Korea is liable for damages caused to American-Israeli citizens due to its material support for Hezbollah. Iran sponsored North Korean assistance to help the terrorist group by providing rockets and missiles and guidance on building its sophisticated network of tunnels and bunkers. It said that Hezbollah terrorists have been traveling to North Korea for advanced training since the late 1980s.

    In 2009, the UAE intercepted over 2,000 detonators for Hamas’ 122mm Grad rockets and associated equipment. Later that year, Israel intercepted 35 tons of rockets, RPGs, shoulder-fired missiles and equipment for surface-to-air missiles from North Korea to Iran for delivery to the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups in Thailand.

    In 2014, it was reported that Hamas was negotiating an arms deal with North Korea worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for missiles and communications equipment and a down payment had already been made. It is strongly suspected that North Korea helped Hamas build its sophisticated tunnel system that was used to attack Israeli civilians and wage war in 2014 against the Israeli military.

    The Hamas terrorist group openly thanked North Korea for its political support against Israel this year. The North Korean regime (DPRK) pledged to “mercilessly punish” Israel for its leaders’ accurate description of the ruling leader as a “crazy.” The DPRK said it “fully supports” the Palestinian jihad to have an independent country and to seize Jerusalem, a vague statement that seems to imply material support.

    We should expect such sales to increase as sanctions force the North Korean regime to look for more revenue, as well as ways to retaliate against the U.S. and its allies. The North Korean regime has no problem selling arms to Islamists and is not a target of the jihadists, so we shouldn’t be surprised if North Korea goes so far as to directly sell weapons and expertise to groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

  3. North Korea has threatened to sell nuclear weapons to other countries and even international terrorist groups. It now has up to 60 nuclear weapons, a number that could grow to 100 by 2020.In 2005, North Korea threatened to sell its nuclear weapons to terrorist groups “if driven into a corner.”

    North Korea has a surplus of nuclear weapons. It can afford to sell off a few if it feels confident that U.S. intelligence will be unable to identify and intercept the shipment; a fair assumption given our recent underestimations of their capabilities.

    Past customers for Iranian missiles and arms include Iran and its puppet Assad regime in Syria; Yemen, which is now working with Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood; Pakistan; Eritrea, which has supported Al-Qaeda’s branch in Somalia; the Somali government; Cuba and possibly Venezuela.  There are suspicions that Turkey is looking to build nuclear weapons, as an imam close to President Erdogan is encouraging this.

  4. Joint cyber warfare programs with Iran. Both Iran and North Korea have launched cyber attacks on the U.S. and its allies with minimal consequences. There is strong evidence that the two rogue states’ programs are interconnected and they are even launching joint cyber attacks together.
  5. Radical Islam will seep into an unstable North Korea. As soon as a closed society begins opening up, the promoters of Islamism get to work. A relevant example is how Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are in a mad dash to lead the Muslim community in Cuba.In 2010, Pew estimated there are 3,000 Muslims in North Korea, a 300% increase from 1990. It projects that number will stay about the same until at least 2030, but that is doubtful as globalization inevitably penetrates North Korea and exposes more citizens to Islam.

    The most jihad-prone forms of Islam in North Korea are already leading the way. In 2013, North Korea allowed Iran to build the country’s first mosque, located at the Iranian embassy.

    The extreme anti-Americanism and anti-democracy thought that is instilled in the population means this Muslim population will probably be inclined towards radicalism.

  6. Regime instability will be a gold mine for terrorists, criminals and rogue states. The regime is bound to become more unstable over time and that could increase as international tension rises and the U.S. potentially tries to undermine Kim Jong-Un. North Korea is armed to the teeth with deadly expertise, conventional weapons and WMDs, all of which will be sold off by their hungry protectors or abandoned in the event of extreme upheaval.

    All kinds of black market criminals, terrorists and governments will be trying to snatch up whatever they can. For Islamists, they will look to the Muslim population for logistical support. Iranian operatives are already in the country, as may be Hezbollah terrorists.

    ISIS is on the rise in the Philippines, the Islamic terror threat is increasing in South Korea and it’s only a matter of time before China’s Muslim-majority Xinjiang Province becomes a jihadist front. North Korea is isolated now, but don’t assume that Islamists won’t be able to enter the country and make contact with its black market as the regime becomes unstable.

  7. Reported plans for a two-front war by Iran, Syria and North Korea. There have been intelligence reports since the early 1990s indicating that Iran, Syria and North Korea had a deal to force the U.S. into a two-front war if any one of them came into military conflict with America. Since then, these countries have only grown stronger, we have grown weaker, and their friendships have grown tighter.Of course, we do not know if such an agreement exists today and we also do not know if they are loyal enough to honor it if it exists. However, the reported historical precedent must be taken into account and it is certain that Iran, Syria and North Korea will at least take limited measures to assist each other in the event of military conflict. And if Iran and North Korea have aspirations to commit aggression, there’s no better time to act than when the U.S. is preoccupied on another front.
  8. Bogging down the U.S. If the situation escalates, then the U.S. military—already suffering from the sequestration—will be hard pressed for resources to maintain its operations against ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, not to mention more limited efforts in places like Yemen, Libya and the Philippines.
  9. North Korean Terrorists Could Target U.S. Soil It is not out of the realm of possibility that North Korea will try to launch saboteur/terrorist attacks on American soil, particularly against those seeking to undermine Kim Jong-Un.Earlier this year, Kim Jong-Un used two assassins to murder a political rival using the VX biological weapon in a Malaysian airport. Think about how much of an escalation that is: A biological terrorist attack inside an airport in a foreign country. That means North Korea has loyal operatives who can sneak such deadly substances into other countries and are willing to risk their lives to commit murder on Kim Jong-Un’s behalf.

    And the target was another North Korean from the top of society. Such operatives would have even less qualms about targeting Americans.

    North Korea could collaborate with Islamist terrorists or criminal elements for an attack in America. After all, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps hoped to hide behind Mexican drug cartel members in its plan to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington D.C. by blowing up a diner.

  10. The Worst of All Scenarios: EMP Watch this Clarion Project short film from 2012 about the threat posed by a potential Electro-Magnetic Pulse attack by Iran. North Korea has the same capability. A top expert on nuclear weapons and EMPs, Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, has been sounding the alarm that he believes North Korea is actually practicing carrying out such an attack on the U.S.Should that happen and the attack succeed, North Korea will cripple the U.S. and perhaps win its war against America. And even if the U.S. destroyed North Korea in response, the jihadists will have won their war against America as the country struggles to survive as Islamists rampage across the planet.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ryan Mauro

Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org’s Shillman Fellow and national security analyst and an adjunct professor of counter-terrorism. He is frequently interviewed on top-tier television and radio.

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‘Violent Violation’: North Korea Issues New Threats Against US


Posted by GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com | August 7, 2017

Looks like Kimberly Jon-un woke up in an extra pissed off mood on Monday.

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The United Nations imposed new sanctions on the communist nation after the country’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile launch. In response, North Korea vowed to hit the U.S. with a ‘thousands-fold’ revenge. As if it was our fault…

The rogue nation’s official propaganda news agency — KCNA —  described the newest sanctions as “crimes” that were a “violent violation of our sovereignty” and a “heinous plot to isolate and stifle” the communist country.

The statements came after President Trump tweeted Sunday that he spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-In. The tweet read: Just completed call with President Moon of South Korea. Very happy and impressed with 15-0 United Nations vote on North Korea sanctions.

The White House added both world leaders are “committed to fully implement all relevant resolutions and to urge the international community to do so as well.”

Nikki Haley — whom is U.S. Ambassador to the UN — called the resolution “the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime” and “the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.”

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Haley told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures “What we basically did was kicked them in the stomach, told them to stop and told them they are not going to put up with it anymore and the ball is now in North Korea’s court. They have a big decision to make. They can either respond by pulling back and said that they’re not going to be part of this reckless activity anymore, or they can see where it goes and we’ll continue to keep up the strength and keep up the activity to make sure that we stop them.”

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The sharp new U.N. sanctions also received a welcome boost on Sunday from China, North Korea’s economic lifeline, as Beijing called on its neighbor to halt its missile and nuclear tests.

For the U.S., it was a long-awaited sign of progress for Trump’s strategy of trying to enlist Beijing’s help to squeeze North Korea diplomatically and economically. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea’s top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, urged the North to “maintain calm” despite the U.N. vote.

“Do not violate the U.N.’s decision or provoke international society’s goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests,” Wang said. 

The North’s statement issued Monday on state media came two days after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions, saying they were caused by a “heinous U.S. plot to isolate and stifle” North Korea.

It says the U.N. sanctions will never force the country to negotiate over its nuclear program or to give up its nuclear drive and that will take “action of justice” but didn’t elaborate.

–Fox News

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Sub Activity Days After ICBM Test Is Frightening


Reported By Benjamin Arie | August 1, 2017 at 8:59am

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/north-korea-sub-exercises/

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North Korea seems intent on provoking the United States… and their latest exercise has definitely gained our attention. Just days after another long-range missile test, the communist nation has conducted what the Pentagon is calling “highly unusual and unprecedented levels” of submarine activity.

According to CNN, that activity goes beyond routine sea maneuvers, and likely involves an “ejection test.” As the name implies, the test is related to launching missiles from submarines hidden underwater, and suggests that the rogue country could be closer to having ICBM submarines than observers previously believed.

While North Korea’s missile capabilities have been largely mocked by the West, the reclusive nation seems to have made significant advances in the past year — and its military abilities are no longer a laughing matter.

“Coupled with reports of increased submarine activity, news of another ejection test comes amid concerns over North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears to have the range to hit major US cities on Friday,” CNN explained.

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“Experts believe if Friday’s test had been fired on a flatter, standard trajectory, it could have threatened cities like Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago,” continued the report.

The combination of submarine launch testing and long-range ICBM demonstrations means that North Korea may be able to strike key Western targets in the near future.

While the small nation’s submarines are nowhere near as advanced as the United States’ vessels, even a basic diesel-electric submarine can be difficult to detect. This means that a lone sub could possibly move closer to a target and leave precious little reaction time available in the event of a missile launch.

President Donald Trump assured reporters that the U.S. is taking the North Korean threat seriously, but didn’t reveal the specifics of a strategy.

“We will handle North Korea. We are gonna be able to handle them,” the president stated.

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders clarified that “all options are on the table” in terms of an American response.

Underestimating an enemy is never wise. Trump and the United States as a whole needs to address North Korea soon, before saber rattling turns to saber swinging.

H/T Washington Examiner

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NATO ‘Ally’ Turkey Is NOT Our Friend … Reveals US Troop Positions


Published by ClashDaily.com | July 22, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2017/07/nato-ally-turkey-not-friend-reveals-us-troop-positions/

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

(To be fair, most Turks assume — rightly or wrongly — that Obama’s administration backed the failed coup attempt in Turkey last year, so any ‘friendship’ we have with them is somewhat strained.)

Things have been changing in Turkey in the last year or so since the coup attempt. They’ve become less secular and more Islamist since then.

Our supposed ‘NATO Ally’ isn’t quite the friend we thought they were.

Turkey’s state-owned media outlet has published the locations of U.S. military bases inside Syria, showing a stunningly betrayal to the national security of a supposed ally.

The report contained the locations of 10 American bases and outposts in Kurdish-held northern Syria, which is under the control of the YPG (Kurdish) militia. Turkish security sources confirmed the details of the story, which even included specific troop numbers and details of the capacity of some of the bases, according to Al-Monitor.

The report also revealed the locations of some French forces in the region.

Turkey has for some time been angry with America for its support of the Kurdish YPG forces. The YPG is the militia of the Kurdish regions of Syria and is a partner with the United States in the battle against the Islamic State terrorist group. However, they are also affiliated with the PKK, a Kurdish separatist militia and political party which fights for self-rule in the Kurdish areas of Turkey. Therefore Turkey regards the YPG as a terrorist group and as a national security threat.

The U.S. government is understandably angry about the leaks. — Clarion Project

There are other changes as well…

Turkey has been heading in a more radical direction for some time. Since March they have prevented humanitarian aid from being transported into Kurdish areas across the Turkish border. They accuse humanitarian organizations of secretly supplying the YPG.

Turkey has also made alarming changes domestically. The new school curriculum for the 2017-2018 school year will no longer teach evolution, but teaching the concept of jihad has been added to the curriculum. Clarion Project

Evolution and Jihad? Culture can have whatever origin story they want, and still get along with the world just fine. (See Hindus or native religions for example.) But teaching Jihad? That’s a big deal. 

Add to that, overtures from Russia (who still want a warm-water port) and a possible relationship with Iran, and you’ll see the regional balance of power tipping in a new direction.

What should we make of that? What about the political instability 10,000 immigrants a day are causing in Italy? Ranging in discussions of Austria’s army lining up on Italy’s border, to Czech calls for attacking Libya, the source of the immigrant influx and we have a destabilization of Europe.

There’s a discussion about why partnership with Iran is a big deal here.

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Three Killed, Over 200 Wounded As Muslim Rioters Rage Over Temple Mount


Reported by Aaron Klein | 21 Jul 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/07/21/three-killed-200-wounded-muslim-rioters-rage-temple-mount/

jerusalem old city

AP/Mahmoud Illean

JERUSALEM — Three Palestinians were reported killed and over 200 were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem and the West Bank as Palestinian leaders urged a day of protest purportedly against Israel’s decision to put metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount.

Protest leaders, including top Palestinian officials, claim the metal detectors are part of an Israeli conspiracy to hamper Muslim worship at the Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and a site considered holy in Islam. The activists and Palestinian officials seemingly fail to note that Israel’s new security measures were put into place in direct response to the murderous Palestinian terrorist attack at the Mount last Friday in which three assailants somehow smuggled weapons onto the site.  The metal detectors will protect all visitors to the Mount, including Muslim worshipers.  

The activists protesting at the Temple Mount ignore that metal detectors have been in place for years for Jewish and Christian worshipers accessing the Western Wall. And Muslims on the Hajj pilgrimage pass through metal detectors at airports and border crossings.

temple mount

A Palestinian uses a slingshot against Israeli soldiers during violent clashes in the West Bank city of Bethlehem (AP/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

On Friday, Israeli Police cited information that “extremist elements” where planning to “to cause violent disruptions to the public order, and thereby to threaten the public peace, including the [safety] of those coming to pray at the holy sites and other residents of the area.” 

As a result, Israeli security forces erected checkpoints at main entrances to Jerusalem and are blocking several roads leading to the Temple Mount area. Some 3,000 police forces were deployed to Jerusalem’s Old City in addition to five Israel Defense Forces battalions that have been put on standby.

The Times of Israel reported on Friday’s ensuing deadly clashes: 

The Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency said a 17-year-old was killed in Ras al-Amud outside the Old City after being shot by a “settler,” though no shooter was identified; the term is often used by Palestinians to refer to any Israeli out of uniform. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the teen as Muhammad Mahmoud Sharaf from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

A second person was reportedly shot in the A-Tur area of east Jerusalem and died of his wounds at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. The third death reportedly occurred in Abu Dis in the West Bank, near Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Over 200 people were reported injured in the clashes across Jerusalem and the West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, adding that the injuries were incurred from live bullets, rubber-coated bullets, burning and tear gas inhalation.

There were reports of other clashes between Israeli forces and rioters across eastern sections of Jerusalem and in several West Bank locations, including checkpoints.

temple mount

Palestinian youths hurl stones towards Israeli police officers during clashes in Jerusalem. (AP/Mahmoud Illean)

Some of those arrested included officials from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.

The Jerusalem Post further reported: 

According to Palestinian reports, 10 residents were arrested in east Jerusalem, among them were Fatah officials. 

Some 400 Muslims attended the prayer next to the Gate of the Tribes (Bab al-Asbat), the place that sparked the violence earlier this week. Before the prayer, the leader called on the attendees to be patient, and said that “the Jews, that are occupying Palestine, are on their way to hell.”

Ynet posted an update on the number of injured: 

The Palestinian Red Crescent says 41 Palestinians were taken to hospitals or clinics with injures from live fire, rubber bullets and beatings. About 150 Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation.

 Four Israeli police officers have been reportedly injured in the clashes after being struck with stones and flares.

The Palestinian charge that Israel is hampering Muslim access to the Temple Mount is contradicted by facts on the ground. Israel allows the Jordanian-controlled Waqf to serve as custodians of the Mount and grants Muslim worshipers access to the site 24 hours per day, seven days a week with the exception of rare instances of security threats.

Jewish and Christian visitors, however, are restricted by the Waqf from visiting the Mount except on small tours for about two hours per day. The Waqf does not allow non-Muslims to pray on the Mount or bring holy objects to the site; whereas Muslim prayer is unrestricted. Waqf representatives closely monitor non-Muslim visitors to the site and are known to boot those engaging in prayer.

west bank riot temple mount

Palestinians throw stones against Israeli soldiers during clashes in the West Bank city of Bethlehem (AP/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Israel on Thursday partially blamed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for helping to fuel anti-Israel incitement regarding false threats to the Temple Mount.

“UNESCO is a full partner to the false incitement by Palestinians and radical Islam who claim that Al-Aksa [Temple Mount mosque] is in danger,” Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO in Paris Carmel Shama HaCohen said. 

Last Friday’s Mount terrorist attack occurred less than two weeks after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed an anti-Israel resolution declaring Jerusalem’s Old City and its ancient walls to be “occupied” sites and listed the areas as Palestinian heritage sites in “danger.” 

The Temple Mount is located in Jerusalem’s Old City, and last Friday’s attack occurred near the Lions Gate, part of Jerusalem’s ancient walls singled out by UNESCO.

And the terrorist attack took place one week after UNESCO passed another anti-Israel resolution regarding the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron – considered the second holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount – claiming the tomb is a “Palestinian” world heritage site in danger. 

 Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.

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North Korea Threatens America With Nuclear War


Reported By Martin Lioll | July 10, 2017 at 5:59am

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/nk-issues-chilling-threat/

An article published in a North Korean state newspaper raised the chilling threat of nuclear war over recent bombing drills in South Korea by U.S. forces, it was reported Sunday. According to Fox News, the commentary, titled “U.S. Military Provocation under Fire,” was originally published in the ruling party’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday and was republished by the state-run Korea Central News Agency.

The threat came one day after American B-1B supersonic bombers dropped inert bombs over South Korea in a joint exercise. Fox News described the drill as “a show of force” to counter North Korea’s firing of an ICBM.

“The U.S. warmongers sent a formation of B-1B strategic bombers to south Korea to stage a nuclear bombing drill aiming at strategic targets in the DPRK on Saturday,” the article read. “Unlike the past drills they openly took pictures of bombing flight and opened it to media.

“Timed to coincide with that, the U.S. imperialists infiltrated Aegis destroyer USS Mustin into Korea’s East Sea from its mother port in Yokosuka, Japan. It sailed more than 120 miles past the economic waters of the DPRK to conduct a spy mission.”

According to UPI, this isn’t the first time the North Koreans have accused the Mustin of violating its waters on a spy mission. Last month, KCNA claimed that the Mustin “trespassed more than (120 miles) into our economic zone and wandered around while conducting espionage and taking decisive action to create a serious military provocation.”

Proof of this charge, to the best of our knowledge, has not been forthcoming — hardly a surprise when you consider the evidentiary standards of the Juche regime or their sub-Pravda press organs.

This time, however, the North Koreans unsubtly threatened to turn the Korean Peninsula into a glow-stick for a few hundred years over what they called “reckless military provocations.”

“The U.S. openly said it would regularize sortie of the strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula. This is nothing but a frantic move declaring the will to play with fire on a powder house,” KCNA said. “The danger of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula is reaching an extreme pitch owing to the reckless military provocations of the U.S. imperialists.”

They also said that Donald Trump and his administration, “suffering a serious ruling crisis is going to seek a way out in escalating tension on the Korean peninsula and in the region and provoking a war,” a statement that feels eerily like it could have been uttered on MSNBC to this reporter.

Look, I read plenty of KCNA/Rodong Sinmun propaganda for my job here at Conservative Tribune, and I can vouchsafe that the only threatened attack in those pages that has been perpetrated thus far are the daily crimes against proper use of the English language that both publications seem to revel in.

However, even when you consider that most of the Juche regime’s nuclear saber-rattling is about positioning, it’s still a persistent threat. The difference is that they now have ICBM technology that could theoretically reach Alaska — and even if those weapons cannot carry atomic warheads now, that means North Korea is coming ever closer to being able to hit the United States with a nuclear weapon.

Yes, these may be threats in fish-wrapper propaganda newspapers coming from a country where there aren’t even fish to wrap. That doesn’t mean the Trump administration shouldn’t respond as strongly as possible.

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US And South Korea Fire Missiles Into Sea As A ‘Show Of Force’ To North Korea


Reported By Andrew Kerr | July 5, 2017 at 12:20pm

URL of the original posting site: http://www.westernjournalism.com/u-s-south-korea-fire-missiles-sea-show-force-north-korea/

The U.S. Army and South Korean military fired at least two surface-to-surface precision missiles into South Korean waters Wednesday, local time, as a joint demonstration of their attack capabilities in response to North Korea’s latest missile test.

North Korea announced Tuesday it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, which state media claims reached an altitude of 1,741 miles, supposedly giving the regime the capability to strike Alaska with a nuclear warhead.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un celebrated the launch, calling it a “package of gifts” for “American bastards.”

The U.S. Army said its joint exercise with the South Korean military was a direct response to “North Korea’s destabilizing and unlawful actions on July 4.”

Officials released footage Tuesday evening of the simultaneous launches of Army’s Tactical Missile System and South Korea’s Hyunmoo Missile II system. The ATACMS is a mobile launch system capable of firing land-based missiles up to 185 miles away.

“The [South Korea]-U.S. alliance remains committed to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Asia-Pacific. The U.S. commitment to the defense of [South Korea] in the face of threats is ironclad,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said the U.S. is prepared to defend itself and its allies.

“We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies and to use the full range of capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat from North Korea,” White said in a statement. “The United States seeks only the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson strongly condemned North Korea’s ICBM launch, calling it “a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world.”

“Global action is required to stop a global threat,” Tillerson said Tuesday. “Any country that hosts North Korean guest workers, provides any economic or military benefits, or fails to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime.”

“The United States seeks only the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the end of threatening actions by North Korea. As we, along with others, have made clear, we will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea,” Tillerson said.

President Donald Trump called on China to put pressure on North Korea to “end this nonsense once and for all” in a series of tweets Monday evening.

“North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?” Trump tweeted in reference to Kim Jong-un. “Hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!”

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Trump Cuts Budget for Major U.N. Project!


Posted by GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com | June 29, 2017

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley had some great news for the country today. She defended the Trump administration’s plan to drastically cut America’s spending on the UN. She spoke to a House subcommittee, telling them the proposed cuts had sent “shockwaves” through the body, putting the UN “on notice.”

“My job was to go the UN and find value. We want to make sure the U.S. voice is strong, use it for negotiations in every way possible, to push foreign policy… but at the same time the UN has fat around the edges,” she said.

Democrats and some members in the Republican party expressed their concerns over the drastic cuts and how that would affect the UN. The U.S. is more often than not, the top funder of most budgets, even those with a distinctly anti-American bias.

It’s not too hard to believe that some people were upset. Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey from New York called them “far-reaching and catastrophic.”

“Frankly I cannot understand how this administration intends to influence the UN agenda, help those most in need, and advance UN reform if it disengages and severely cuts our contributions.” 

She noted the proposed cuts included a 37 percent cut for international peacekeeping, a 27 percent hit to contributions like the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization. Other Democrats pointed to cuts to UNICEF, the World Food Program and the UN Populations Fund (UNFPA).

Haley later noted that $70 million was pulled away from the UNFPA as it was associated with a Chinese company that performed forced sterilization. She said that money was redirected to make sure it accomplished the same goals without those aspects that were against U.S. interests.

Haley also warned that some organizations had become complacent with their budgets, something that was not translating to value for money.

“There are many good organizations that do good work for the U.N. and help people around the world,” she said, before noting that some agencies assume the money will always be there. “Are we giving American taxpayers value for their dollar?”

–Breitbart

Democrats we understand. But there were Republicans who were upset as well. Most were concerned over the impact the cuts would have in the U.S.’ role at the UN.

Rep. Kay Granger of Texas said the cuts were a “shockwave”, asking Haley, “Is the U.S. stepping back?”

“Some of these cuts are massive and they are just devastating. I would beg you to stand firm in that, of course we need to use our American dollars well but our leadership is irreplaceable,” Granger said.

Haley responded, saying American leadership could be shown by forcing the UN to reform its big budgets. She agreed with Granger that, yes, the cuts did send a shockwave, but that was a good thing.

President Trump conveyed his message loud and clear, putting the UN “on notice.”

“The cuts the president and the administration proposed did send shockwaves through the United Nations and it did put everyone on notice, but I do think that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think that if he was intending to send a message he did,” she said.

Now the UN knows the U.S. will not be a rubber stamp for the body, and that we will be watching it “very closely,” according to Haley.

“What we saw in return is they all understand that we won’t be taken for granted any more. They all understand that we expect to find value in the UN. they all and that reforms are needed because it’s been archaic for a while and that they realize they have to support us in that. They do realize we’re now watching the UN very closely so all those things are actually really good.”

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NK Drone Found in SK Woods


Reported By Kimberly J Smith | June 21, 2017 at 10:04am

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/nk-drone-found-woods/

A North Korean drone was recently discovered on a mountain near the demilitarized zone in South Korea, pointing to the ever increasing tension on the peninsula. The South Korean military said the drone found earlier this month was confirmed to have been from North Korea and described it as a “grave provocation” that violated the Korean War truce, Reuters reported.

The drone apparently crashed as it  was returning to the North. It was equipped with a camera that contained at least 10 aerial photographs of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system located in the southern region of South Korea, South Korean officials said in a briefing, the U.K. Express reported.

A South Korean official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff office, Jeon Dong-jin, said, “The intrusion of our airspace by the North Korean drone and photographing of a military base is a violation of the Armistice and an agreement on non-aggression and is an act of grave provocation.”

“We strongly condemn the North’s continued attempts at penetrating the South with drones and once again, demand all acts of provocation are halted,” he added.

He also said if the authoritarian state continues to provoke South Korea, the military would “forcefully retaliate.”

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This is not the first time North Korea has sent drones over the demilitarized zone.

In January, South Korea fired shots at a drone that ventured over the border. Before that, North Korean drones were discovered in South Korea in 2014.

Pyongyang is said to have 300 to 400 drones in its arsenal and has recently claimed that drones carrying biological, chemical weapons could strike Seoul within one hour.

From missile launches to drones, North Korea’s continued provocations are a threat to the entire globe and must be stopped.

H/T U.K. Daily Express

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Trump Admin Slaps Russians With Sanctions


Reported by Photo of Alex Pfeiffer Alex Pfeiffer | White House Correspondent | 11:16 AM 06/20/2017

URL of the original posting site: http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/20/trump-admin-slaps-russians-with-sanctions/

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a reception dedicated to the celebration of the New Year at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 28, 2016. (PHOTO: MICHAEL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images)

The Department of Treasury announced sanctions against 38 individuals and organizations for their involvement in the annexation of the Ukrainian regions Crimea and Donetsk.

“These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution,” Secretary of Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. “This administration is committed to a diplomatic process that guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty, and there should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreements.”

The move from the Trump administration comes amid a slew of claims from opponents that President Trump is too cozy with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Treasury Department said in a statement that sanctions on Russia related to the Ukrainian crisis will remain until Russia honors the Minsk Agreements that call for a ceasefire. The statement also stated that sanctions related to Crimea will remain until Russia “ends its occupation of the peninsula.”

The 38 sanctioned individuals and entities will not be allowed to own property in the U.S., nor will Americans be allowed to do transactions with them. Some of those sanctioned are key Russian officials such as Petr Jarosh, who is the head of the Russian Federal Migration Service in the separatist “Republic of Crimea.” A Russian bank, TSMRBANK, was also sanctioned as it allegedly services clients in the Russian-backed rebel states Donetsk and Crimea.

This announcement comes the same day as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is stopping by the White House.

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Putin Goes to Brink of WW3 With New “Red Line” Against US


Reported By Kimberly J Smith | June 19, 2017 at 9:46am

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/putin-brink-red-line-against-us/

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In the wake of the United States shooting down a Syrian regime fighter jet, the Kremlin seemed to be teetering on the brink of war, drawing a “red line” against America.

ABC News reported that the Russian Defense Ministry warned Monday that it would now treat U.S.-led coalition jets flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as targets after a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian fighter jet that had dropped bombs on Syrian rebel forces Sunday. “(I)t it stopped short of saying it would shoot any down,” Reuters reported.

According to Sputnik News, the ministry warned that Russian missile defense “would intercept any aircraft in the area of operations of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria.”

“In areas where Russian aviation is conducting combat missions in the Syrian skies, any flying objects, including jets and unmanned aerial vehicles of the international coalition discovered west of the Euphrates River will be followed by Russian air and ground defenses as air targets,” the ministry announced.

Additionally, Russia claimed the U.S. did not use the de-confliction hotline to warn them before the downing of the jet. In the statement, the ministry said it would no longer participate in the de-confliction hotline.

Reuters reported that U.S. military officials confirmed that a US F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet had shot down a Syrian SU-22 aircraft after the Syrian jet reportedly dropped bombs near fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the U.S. The SDF is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab soldiers fighting Islamic State group terrorists in Raqqa.

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Russia is backing the Syrian government in its civil war against rebel forces, and it criticized the U.S. Navy fighter jet’s action as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

This is the first incident between U.S. warplanes and Syria’s air force since the country’s civil war began six years ago.

If Putin decides to follow through on these threats, he may learn the hard way that the Trump administration’s red lines are less flexible than those of former President Barack Obama.

H/T Breitbart

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BOOM! Rome’s Female Mayor Just TICKED Off A Lot Of Muslims!


Published by ClashDaily.com | June 13, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2017/06/boom-romes-female-mayor-just-ticked-off-lot-muslims/

Somebody forward this to the Ninth Circuit. Send some smelling salts, too. Rome is calling for a … wait for it… Temporary ban. 

Cue the leftist outrage now.

She gives her reasons:

Image result for Virginia Raggi

The mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, has asked the Italian government to temporarily halt immigration to the city.

In a letter reportedly sent to Paola Basilone, the prefect of Rome, Raggi (pictured) called for a “moratorium” on new arrivals and said: “I find it impossible, as well as risky, to think up further accommodation structures.”

…Figures released by the National Institute for Statistics in Italy (Istat) today state that more than five million people living in the country are foreign-born – equivalent to about 8.3 percent of the national population. -Read More

Sounds a lot like a problem WE have closer to home, especially when you factor the financial burden of caring for the ‘new arrivals’.

Looks like Trump was right about yet another thing, doesn’t it? If only he could convince the 9th Circuit.

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Puerto Rico has Voted to Become the 51st State


Posted by    Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 6:00pm | 6/11/2017 – 6:00pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwLRhhKbQcI

Puerto Ricans went to the polls today to vote on possible statehood with America. The majority of people voted yes, but only 23% of the people voted, which could call into question the validity “of the nonbinding referendum.”

From The Wall Street Journal:

According to early results on a government website, statehood drew 97% of support with more than 90% of votes counted Sunday afternoon, but a turnout of about 23% reflected the success of a boycott effort led by opponents.

If the turnout is too low, political foes to statehood will say the vote isn’t credible, which could further hurt Puerto Rico’s already daunting chances of getting Congress to grant the island full admission to the U.S., said Christina Duffy Ponsa, an expert on constitutional law and Puerto Rican statehood at Columbia Law School.

The Popular Democratic Party, the major opposition party, asked people to boycott the vote. The party wants “to keep the island’s current status, though with more autonomy.” It also claimed that “the referendum is rigged in support of statehood, in part because the governing party had initially sought to exclude the territorial option from the ballot.”

Two other parties boycotted the vote.

This is the fifth time Puerto Rico has voted for statehood. In 2012, the results came out in favor statehood, “but the results were questioned and Puerto Rico’s status remained the same.”

If the referendum stands, the Congress needs to approve it.

Would Congress Approve?

Congress would probably deny the petition since Puerto Rico remains in a financial crisis. I blogged in May that the island has sought “bankruptcy” protection since it faces $123 billion in bond and pension debts.

The Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board invoked the Puerto Rico Debt Relief Bill, which Congress passed in 2016. As a territory, the island cannot receive the same Chapter 9 protections like the states.

With that law invoked, the island’s “standoff with creditors” will now go “before a federal judge in San Juan in a restructuring process known as Title III.” Supreme Court Justice John Roberts will select a judge to hear the case. He may choose any federal judge he wishes.

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London Mayor Reveals Where His Priorities DON’T Lie!


Posted by GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com | June 7, 2017

On “Good Morning Britain,” Piers Morgan was relentless. He had London Mayor Sadiq Khan on and found out just where the leader’s priorities are.  What the Mayor said should not put his city at ease. In fact, it should do the opposite.

He admitted the police department is not following the 400 people who fought with terror groups in the Middle East. Worst news yet, “just over half” have returned to London.

After the horror that city has gone through, this is the last thing they want to hear. 

Time to get a new mayor!

REID: How many of those 400 have come back to London?

KHAN: The estimate is just over half. So when —

MORGAN: Where are they? No Seriously where are they?

REID: How are we letting people back into the UK who haven’t just been trained, they’ve actually fought, potentially against our troops, how are we letting them back in without knowing exactly where they are and what they’re up to? Because out of all the thousands of people that we’re concerned about, surely those who’ve actually gone to fight are the biggest risk.

KHAN: That’s one of the reasons why it doesn’t make sense for the government to be cutting resources from those—

REID: But where are they? You’re the mayor of this capital city. Where are they?”

KHAN: With respect, hold on. I can’t follow 400 people, what I can do is make sure –

MORGAN: Why can’t you?

KHAN: What we can do is make sure the resources —

MORGAN: Why can’t you? Why can’t you instruct police — why can’t you call Cressida Dick right now and say every one of those people who’ve come back from a war zone who’s in London, I want them followed?

KHAN: I’ll tell you why. Let me tell you why. Because the Met police budget roughly speaking 15% to 20% is funded by me the mayor the rest comes from central government. If the Met police budget is being shrunk and reduced, they’ve got to prioritize and use their resources in a sensible, savvy way.

MORGAN: What could be a bigger priority than people coming back from a Syrian battlefield with intent to harm British citizens? Why is it not the number one priority? Why are these people just allowed to come back in the first place and then, the London mayor doesn’t seem to have any clue where they are. No disrespect to you but where are they?

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PATRIOTS: Should The U.S. WITHDRAW From UN Human Rights Council Because Of THIS?!


Published by ClashDaily.com | June 6, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2017/06/patriots-u-s-withdraw-un-human-rights-council/

Is the UN ‘Human Rights Council’ a big joke? Read on and find out…

Our new UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, has made it pretty clear that she’s disgusted with the bias against Israel and the failure of the alleged ‘Human Rights Council’ to battle actual human rights abuses.

After the sham of the last meeting, the United States is now considering withdrawing from the anti-Israel Human Rights Council.

Highlighting what it deemed a ‘biased’ stance on Israel, UN ambassador Nikki Haley said the US was ‘looking carefully’ at its role on the Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

‘The United States is looking carefully at this Council and our participation in it,’ Haley told the Geneva forum in her first address. ‘We see some areas for significant strengthening.’

She said it was ‘hard to accept’ five resolutions had been passed against Israel, a US ally, while none were considered against Venezuela, which is in the grips of bloody protests over the rule of its president Nicolas Maduro.

She called on the Council to address serious human rights violations in Venezuela and for President Maduro’s government to give up its seat in the 47-member UN body unless it gets its ‘house in order’.

It came as the UN’s top human rights official Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called on Israel to pull out of Palestinian territories captured in 1967.

This is par for the course at the UNHRC.

(Aside: Is it just me, or should you just simply not trust anything with the initials ‘HRC’… Amirite?)

The UNHRC continually attacks Israel for existing, siding with terrorists, and completely ignoring human rights abuses by socialists.

She called on the Council to adopt ‘the strongest possible resolutions on the critical human rights situations in Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Belarus and Ukraine’.

Haley went on to say it should ‘follow up’ to prevent further human rights violations and abuses in those countries.

Haley described the UNHCR as ‘so corrupt’ weeks after becoming Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Read more: Daily Mail

This thing is a joke. As demonstrated by Saudi Arabia — a country with tons of human rights abuses and funders of terror — was re-elected to the council last year. Saudi Arabia, with their atrocious record of women’s rights, was also elected to the United Nations Women’s Rights Commission. This just shows you that the United Nations is a joke.

This is asinine. Why the hell are we still a part of this thing?

I agree with Krauthammer.

Don’t even hold these sham meetings on American soil. Especially not in Manhattan. Turn the damned thing into Condos and make them meet in Bhubaneswar, or Caracas, or Mogadishu, or some other God-forsaken hellhole with no international airport — like Ottawa, Candanistan.

President Trump had denounced the UN as a ‘club for people to have a good time’, so take away the good time and the ones serious about these issues will stay to make a difference. Otherwise, it’s just a lot of noise that’s costing us a whole lot of money. And some pretty prime real estate.

You know what I think.

What do YOU think?

Do we need to withdraw from the UNHRC because of their anti-Semitism?

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London Terrorist ‘Brainwashed’ British Children In The Park


Reported by Jacob Bojesson | Foreign Correspondent | 8:53 PM 06/04/2017

Armed police officers walk outside Borough Market after an attack left 6 people dead and dozens injured in London, Britain, June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Armed police officers walk outside Borough Market after an attack left 6 people dead and dozens injured in London, Britain, June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls   

 

 

One of the three jihadis behind Saturday’s terror attack in London had been reported to anti-terror police on at least two occasions, British media reported Sunday.

The suspect developed deep extremist views over the past two years, according to one of his former friends. The friend said he contacted police about comments the suspect made about previous attacks, but authorities did not move forward with an investigation.

“We spoke about a particular attack that happened and like most radicals he had a justification for anything and everything and that day I 
realized I needed to contact the authorities,” the unnamed friend told BBC. “I did my bit. I know a lot of other people did their bit, but the authorities did not do their bit.”

The man got increasingly radicalized by watching YouTube videos of American hate preacher Ahmad Musa Jibril.

“He used to listen to a lot of Musa Jibril,” the friend told BBC. “I have heard some of this stuff, and it’s very radical. I am surprised this stuff is still on YouTube and is easily accessible. I phoned the anti-terror hotline. I spoke to the gentleman. I told him about our conversation and why I think he was radicalized.”

Erica Gasparri, a neighbor of the suspect, claims she reported him to authorities two years ago after he began “brainwashing” her children. She confronted him when her children came home and told her they wanted “to become a Muslim.”

“He was trying to radicalize the children, he would go down to the park and talk to them about Islam,” Gasparri said, according to The Telegraph. “He also came to the houses and gave the kids money and sweets during Ramadan.”

Police have not released the identities of the suspects. The attacks killed seven people and injured 48.

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London’s Mayor To Trump: ‘Let Muslims In Or Risk Attacks!’ – What Do YOU Say To THAT?


Reported by ClashDaily.com | Published on June 5, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2017/06/londons-mayor-trump-let-muslims-risk-attacks-say/

London’s Mayor — is he the ‘Voice of Reason’, or is he complicit in the UK’s slow descent to cultural suicide? The same guy who told us…

…that living with terror attacks – like the one that hit New York at the weekend – is ‘part and parcel of living in a big city’.
[…] ‘It is a reality I’m afraid that London, New York, other major cities around the world have got to be prepared for these sorts of things.
‘That means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities, it means the security services being ready, but also it means exchanging ideas and best practice.’ (Source)

Also…

… denounced [Trump’s] views on Islam as “ignorant,” suggesting Trump’s policies would increase the terrorist threat in both the U.S. and U.K.

Trump’s response?

Trump is the American President. Kahn is the mayor of London. Remind me, which has faced more attacks that involving words that rhyme with Aloha snack bar since, say, January 20th? Was it the UK, or the USA?

(Maybe this graphic will help answer that question.)

What does Kahn think accounts for that difference?

Kahn is hiding behind the fact that London is a large city.

Fact check says?

Oops.

Maybe there’s a different explanation. Hey Poland, what’s accounting for YOUR lack of attacks? (‘Welcome Refugee’ types won’t want you to ask that question. Or worse yet, get the answer.)

Some ‘hard’ conversations are long overdue. Here’s one of them.

Are they ready to start facing facts? Or will MORE bodies have to hit the floor first?

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VENEZUELA: An Example Of How The Media Doesn’t Want The TRUTH Exposed About Socialism…


Written by William Pauwels on May 16, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2017/05/venezuela-example-media-doesnt-want-truth-exposed-socialism/

It’s reported that Venezuela is on the verge of revolution. The people have had it with authoritarian, de facto Communism. They are seriously impoverished – the eventual outcome of all Communistic/Socialistic nations. It’s always simply a question of time before they collapse on themselves.

Today hybrid nations are in vogue, i.e., mixtures of Socialism and Communism versus Competitive, Free-Market Capitalism. That’s even happening in China and Russia. They have moved away from Communism/Socialism into a hybrid system that they hope will provide the benefits of both systems. It’s Competitive, Free Enterprise to the rescue!

This hybrid approach is also being tested in the United States, where Democrat Party leaders like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, etc. have endeavored to take control of the US economy and culture into the national government. And the Leftist media has joined their effort.

America’s prosperity was clearly hindered under the eight years of Obama’s Socialistic administration. Clearly, America’s flirtation with Democrat Party Socialism failed miserably – as it has in other countries where it has been tried. Venezuela is only the most current example.

In a Socialistically oriented economy, which the Democrats advocate, government in Washington calls the major shots. They try to regulate the economy, which worldwide experience has demonstrated doesn’t work! So once again, the economy is rescued via competitive, Free-Enterprise – a proven system based on supply and demand and competitive, Free-Market Capitalism.

Now, America has a chance to reinstate it’s competitive, Free-Enterprise, Constitutional System – which for 350 years made America the greatest country in the history of the world. Hopefully, under Donald Trump, we have an opportunity to restore The American-Way* – The American Prosperity Machine*: Competitive, Free-Market, Constitutional Capitalism. Based on the past four months, we appear to be moving in the right direction

The smear-everything-Trump Democratic Party and the power-hungry Leftist media have discredited themselves by their hostile behavior and desire to bring down President Donald Trump. Trump is an outsider – not part of the political establishment – not subject to the traditional Washington rules – and they can’t stand it. The Leftist Dems and media are deploying the same smear tactics they used against Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. They started the day after his election to not only discredit his victory – but to drive him out of the White House.

The fact that the majority of America’s 3141 counties voted to give Trump’s “America First” Agenda a try seems to have little effect on the Dems and the Leftist media. Clearly voters wanted change. America’s decline under Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Clinton/Schumer/Warren/etc. and their Leftist/Progressive/Socialistic agenda was being soundly rejected.

 

Already, the Economy is responding to the Trump Agenda with improvements: jobs, wages, national wealth, industrial investment, international relations, etc. And more is yet to come.

*The American-Way ― *The American Prosperity Machine: Traditional Judeo/Christian principles and values . . . the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . . . freedom of speech, action, religion and family governance . . . an educated and informed society . . . freedom from gender and racial discrimination . . . affordable healthcare . . . the rule of Constitutional Law . . . the peaceful settlement of disputes . . . honest elections and presidential leadership . . . patriotic, truthful, checked-&-balanced, limited government . . . a strong military . . . cost-effective national defense . . . secure borders . . . the right of citizens to own and bear arms . . . free, competitive markets and institutions . . . properly-regulated, free-enterprise . . . balanced trade . . . private property rights . . . low cost, domestically supplied energy and natural resources . . . controlled immigration . . . individual responsibility and ingenuity . . . entrepreneurialism . . . businesses and enterprises that exist to meet the needs, wants and expectations of customers . . . a strong work ethic . . . full employment . . . fair pay . . . appropriate safety nets . . . low taxes . . . a strong, reliable currency . . . financial availability, mobility, and responsibility (balanced budget, minimal debt) . . . Competitive, Free-Market, Free-Enterprise, Constitutionally Limited Government . . . and American Exceptionalism.

photo credit: Eneas El pueblo y sus próceres via photopin (license)

About the author: William Pauwels

William A. Pauwels, Sr. was born in Jackson Michigan to a Belgian, immigrant, entrepreneurial family. Bill is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and served in executive and/or leadership positions at Thomson Industries, Inc., Dow Corning, Loctite and Sherwin-Williams. He is currently CIO of Pauwels Private Investment Practice. He’s been commenting on matters political/economic/philosophical since 1980.

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REPORT: Young Rape Victim SILENCED by Authorities Because Attackers were Migrants


Posted by GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com on May 14, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/report-young-rape-victim-silenced-authorities-attackers-migrants/

A survivor of a Muslim grooming gang in Rotherham said she had reported her rape to the authorities when she was 13 years old, but police did nothing for her and told her to not talk about the ethnicity of her attackers.

In an interview, the survivor, Emma, said:

“I actually reported my abuse 14 years ago. I went to the authorities, my parents did. I sat and gave video interviews with the police, I was willing to work with them.

“But as soon as I said the names, I was made to feel as though I was racist and I was the one who had the problem.

“I was specifically told not to comment on the ethnicity of the perpetrators.”

She stated that she was told “numerous times” by the police and social workers not to mention anything about race.

“I knew I wasn’t racist, but I felt like that was used as a way to silence me.”

Asked by Ms. Hopkins how that made her feel at the time, Emma said: “My perpetrators made me feel like I was in the wrong and they [police and social workers] fed into that. And I felt like: ‘Maybe my perpetrators are right. Maybe it’s not them that’s got the problem, maybe it’s me’.”

Groomed from 12, Emma told LBC listeners she was a virgin when she was raped at age 13. Detailing that the rapes happened regularly, she described one occasion where she was locked in a property and sexually assaulted by multiple men.

–Breitbart

The Muslim gang then began blackmailing the now teenaged Emma, threatening to gang rape her mother if she told her parents.

“That was my life,” she said.

After reporting the incident to the police, the rapes continued because police said it was “[her] word against his”. Police also lost the clothes she had been raped in, leaving no physical evidence of the crime.

She found herself abused and raped by other gangs. She went back to the police at age 14 but they told her there wasn’t enough evidence. She was only saved when her parents decided to move out of the country.

“Nobody wanted to stop it, and that was the only way they could stop it,” Emma said.

Ms. Hopkins told Emma that other parents of victims of Muslim grooming gangs had moved their daughters abroad, saying moving girls to different parts of the country was ineffective as the rape gangs are “networked between cities”.

The Rotherham child sex abuse scandal is the biggest child protection scandal in Britain’s history, where, since the late 1980s, police and social services failed to protect girls from predatory grooming gangs made up of Muslim men for fear of being labelled racist, leading to institutional cover-ups.

Other Muslim grooming networks, such as those in Sheffield and Rochdale, were also exposed since Rotherham.

But, even after all of this came to light, people are still trying to cover up the race/religion of the gang members. A new BBC drama Three Girls is coming out. It tells the story of three children from Rochdale targeted by a gang of Pakistani and Afghani origin Muslims.

Guess what was not mentioned in the trailer or any press releases…

If you said Islam, you would be correct.

Emma, along with all the other children who suffered at the hands of these pigs, deserve justice. This is not justice. Not even close.

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North Korea: Test Proved Missile Could Carry Nuclear Warhead to US


Posted by NEWSMAX.COM | Sunday, 14 May 2017 08:17 PM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/North-Korea-missile-test-nuclear/2017/05/14/id/790057/

Image: NKorea: Test Proved Missile Could Carry Nuclear Warhead to US

North Korea said on Monday it had successfully conducted a newly developed mid-to-long range missile test on Sunday, supervised by leader Kim Jong Un and aimed at verifying the capability to carry a “large scale heavy nuclear warhead.”

Kim accused the United States of “browbeating” countries that “have no nukes” and warned Washington not to misjudge the reality that its mainland is in the North’s “sighting range for strike,” the North’s official KCNA news agency reported.

The North fired a ballistic missile that landed in the sea near Russia on Sunday in a launch that Washington called a message to South Korea, days after its new president took office pledging to engage Pyongyang in dialogue.

The missile was launched at the highest angle so as not to affect the security of neighbouring countries and flew 490 miles reaching an altitude of 1,312 miles, KCNA said.

Experts said the altitude reached by the missile tested on Sunday meant it was launched at a high trajectory, which would limit the lateral distance it travelled. But if it was fired at a standard trajectory, it would have a range of at least 2,500 miles, experts said.

“The test-fire aimed at verifying the tactical and technological specifications of the newly developed ballistic rocket capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead,” KCNA said.

“If the U.S. awkwardly attempts to provoke the DPRK, it will not escape from the biggest disaster in the history, Kim said, strongly warning the U.S. should not to disregard or misjudge the reality that its mainland and Pacific operation region are in the DPRK’s sighting range for strike and that it has all powerful means for retaliatory strike,” KCNA said.

DPRK is short for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea is believed to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the mainland United States. The U.S. military’s Pacific Command said the type of missile that was fired was “not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile“. 

The United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss North Korea’s latest missile launch, diplomats said on Sunday, which was requested by the United States and allies South Korea and Japan.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called the launch a message by Pyongyang to South Korea after the election of President Moon Jae-in, who took office on Wednesday.

“You first have to get into Kim Jong Un’s head — which is, he’s in a state of paranoia, he’s incredibly concerned about anything and everything around him,” Haley told ABC’s “This Week” program, referring to North Korea’s leader.

The report on the missile’s flight was largely consistent with South Korean and Japanese assessments on Sunday that it flew 700 km (435 miles)and reached an altitude of more than 2,000 km (1,243 miles), which is further and higher than an intermediate-range missile tested in February from the same region, northwest of Pyongyang.

“North Korea’s latest successful missile test represents a level of performance never before seen from a North Korean missile,” Washington-based monitoring project, 38 North, said in an analysis issued on Sunday.

“It appears to have not only demonstrated an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that might enable them to reliably strike the U.S. base at Guam, but more importantly, may represent a substantial advance to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),” it said. 

© 2017 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.

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BRUTAL Truth Bomb By Denmark Teacher EVISCERATES Liberals’ Call For “Free Stuff”


Written by Doug Giles on May 10, 2016

URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2016/05/brutal-truth-bomb-denmark-teacher-eviscerates-liberals-call-free-stuff/

This teacher from Denmark puts every single Bernie Sanders supporter to shame with this epic truth bomb about the reality of socialism. Make sure you read this all the way to the bottom!

Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 7.31.17 PMScreen Shot 2016-05-10 at 7.31.24 PMScreen Shot 2016-05-10 at 7.31.35 PMScreen Shot 2016-05-10 at 7.31.44 PM

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North Korea Claims ‘INVINCIBLE ARMY’ Will Destroy Bluffing US Imperialist


Posted by http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com | May 8, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/north-korea-claims-invincible-army-will-destroy-bluffing-us-imperialist/

North Korea claims it has an invincible army and is just waiting for the right time to wage the “final sacred war”.

We are also eagerly awaiting the cure for Aids, Cancer, and Ebola the country claimed to have almost two years ago…

But enough about that, back to this great war.

The country claims the strike will turn into a sea of fire and destroy “bluffing US imperialists”.

The comments were made in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper. A very reliable source led by the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

The article, translated by KNCA Watch, told its North Korean readers the country’s army was an ‘invincible army equipped with powerful strike means and ever-victorious tactics.

It held a special mention for Donald Trump’s administration, saying, ‘the US imperialists are trying hard to attain its purpose through military threat and blackmail while brandishing all sorts of strategic and tactical weapons of demonstrative and threatening nature’.

‘But it is nothing but a bluffing of the mentally weak and a last-ditch effort of those with miserable end at hand,’ it added.

‘The army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), full of the spirit of annihilating the enemies, is waiting for an order to wage a final sacred war, with their guns leveled at the detestable targets.

‘Our strike will all at once turn into sea of fire, completely destroying enemies and winning a final victory.’

–The Daily Mail

The article insisted these were not empty threats, and called the DPRK’s stance on defense was an “everlasting treasure”. They claimed the military must develop nuclear weapons (wait, what happened to all their heavy equipment they showed off earlier?) because of the “hostile” policy of the U.S., which retains 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Kim’s Korea has provoked the periodic military clashes that break out with South Korea, and has ramped up its nuclear programme recently with a number of missile tests.

In March 2010, a North Korean torpedo allegedly sank a South Korean naval vessel, killing 46 sailors.

Months later, North Korea fired artillery at a South Korean island, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians.

South Korea returned fire, but it’s unclear if North Korea suffered casualties.

North Korea is the only country to have carried out nuclear explosions in the 21st century. Between 1994 and 2008, there were 16 ballistic missile tests and one nuclear test carried out.

Since 2009, 72 missile tests and 4 nuclear ones.

Even China is opposed to these tests. Experts say North Korea may have the power to hit South Korea or Japan with a nuclear weapon but it still has years of development to go before it could hit the U.S. mainland.

Given that their most recent tests have been failures, we think North Korea has a long way to go before they even become a semi-decent army.

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Israel’s Prime Minister calls CNN and the New York Times “Fake News”


Reported By Onan Coca | May 8, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://constitution.com/israels-prime-minister-calls-cnn-new-york-times-fake-news/

CNN

Oh. Boy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to stand with president Donald Trump in the battle against “fake news” by calling out the members of the mainstream media who continue to publish the foul lies spewed by Hamas, and refusing to report the truth of the ongoing struggle for peace in the Middle East.

While the rationale for the fake news may be different from that used to battle President Trump, the methodology is the same. The main stream media chooses to publish biased commentary pretending that what they’ve printed is “news” (when in truth it’s nothing more than gussied up op-ed), and then acting injured when they’re called out for their media malpractice. Thankfully, more and more people are waking up to the slanted and immoral “reporting” from the mainstream media and they’ve just stopped listening to the lies.

I bet more people turn from the media after they hear what Prime Minister Netanyahu recently said about the disturbing stories being published by CNN and the New York Times:

Ever wonder what fake news is? Last week, headlines in CNN, Al-Jazeera and The Guardian said that Hamas now accepts a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines.

The New York Times headline called this “moderation”.

The intimation is that Hamas now accepts the State of Israel.

Great news, right?

 

Well, except for one small detail: this is a complete distortion of the truth. The new Hamas document says Israel has no right to exist. It says every inch of our land belongs to the Palestinians. It says there is no acceptable solution other than to remove Israel.

So why does Hamas say there is a consensus for a smaller Palestinian state now? In order to destroy Israel later. They want to use their state to destroy our state.

Is moving from calling for genocide of all Jews to calling just for the annihilation of Israel – is that progress, or moderation? Only if you have no standards whatsoever!

It’s bad enough Hamas lies to the world.  We don’t also have to lie to ourselves.

Hamas murders women and children. Its launched thousands of missile attacks at our homes. It brainwashes Palestinian kids in suicide kindergarten camps.

So, where does this hate-filled document belong?

AUTHORED BY Onan Coca

Onan is the Editor-in-Chief at Liberty Alliance media group. He’s also the managing editor at Eaglerising.com, Constitution.com and the managing partner at iPatriot.com. Onan is a graduate of Liberty University (2003) and earned his M.Ed. at Western Governors University in 2012. Onan lives in Atlanta with his wife and their three wonderful children. You can find his writing all over the web.

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Jailed Teacher Claims Americans Held in ‘North Korean Gulag’


Reported By David A. Patten   |   Wednesday, 03 May 2017 09:03 PM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/north-korea-jails-americans-gulag/2017/05/03/id/787994/

Image: Jailed Teacher Claims Americans Held in ‘North Korean Gulag’ / Businessman James Leigh

 

A Canadian security consultant who was interrogated for two and a half days in North Korea says he spoke at length with a prisoner in a neighboring cell who identified himself as 58-year-old Tony Kim, the American professor recently imprisoned by the rogue regime of dictator Kim Jong Un.

James Leigh, a businessman said to have global contacts in the intelligence community, tells Newsmax that he traveled to North Korea at the invitation of one of North Korea’s military leaders to attend its Military Foundation Day on April 25. But when Leigh arrived at the airport in Pyongyang on April 22, he was searched, detained, and interrogated for several days, before finally being allowed to continue his journey.

While imprisoned, Leigh says he spoke through paper-thin walls to another detainee who was being beaten and interrogated in an adjoining room. That prisoner identified himself as Prof. Tony Kim.

The North Korean government confirmed on Wednesday that Prof. Kim has been arrested and charged with “acts of hostility” and trying to undermine Kim Jong Un’s Hermit Kingdom. He was a visiting professor of accounting at North Korea’s University of Science and Technology. According to Leigh, Prof. Kim told him that many other foreign nationals have been secretly arrested and imprisoned in North Korea.

Prof. Kim told Leigh an associate had visited the facility where the prisoners are housed. According to Prof. Kim’s account as related by Leigh, locals refer to that prison as “the house of people with no name” or “the place without a name” — Leigh was uncertain of the precise phrase due to language difficulties.

“He was pretty specific about that,” says Leigh. “He knew about that. That was something he really wanted me to know. … There were Americans and Europeans. … He was pretty specific because that was probably where he was going.”

During his interrogation, Leigh says, he saw large filing cabinets stuffed with thick files bearing Western-sounding names. One name he specifically recalls seeing was “Brian.” Another name was French or Italian. But he says he cannot be certain whether those files represented Westerners secretly consigned to the North Korean equivalent of a Soviet-era “gulag archipelago.”

According to Leigh, Prof. Kim said he wanted to leave North Korea because he was suffering undue criticism from his boss. The teacher was reportedly arrested at the airport along with his wife, although she was later released and has returned to the United States.

Two other Americans are currently known to be imprisoned in North Korea. In March, the North Koreans sentenced a 21-year-old University of Virginia student, Otto F. Warmbier, to 15 years of hard labor for taking a propaganda poster down off the wall of a hotel. Another prisoner, businessman Kim Dong Chul, a former Virginia resident, was arrested in October 2015 and is being held on suspicion of espionage.

The account Leigh received from Prof. Kim, if substantiated, would indicate that North Korea has pursued a more widespread, systematic practice of imprisoning Westerners.

“He says there a lot more Americans than we know about being held,” says Leigh, who adds that given the thousands of U.S. ex-pats living in Asia and the limited resources available to track their whereabouts when they go missing, he does not find Prof. Kim’s claim farfetched or improbable.

In response to Prof. Kim’s arrest, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton told Fox News on Wednesday: “For far too long, North Korea has taken Americans hostage to use as bargaining chips. The Trump Administration is the right time to put a stop to this once and for all.”

Leigh says Prof. Kim’s interrogation reflected an odd fixation on U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

“They were saying to him ‘Who sent you, did Donald Trump’s team sent you? Did the pig Donald Trump [send you].’

“They were calling Donald Trump ‘the pig Donald Trump’ and ‘the war-crazy Donald Trump’ and ‘the killer-of-innocent-people Donald Trump.’ They didn’t say America. They kept saying Donald Trump. Which I thought was odd. I thought they’d go, ‘Well, the Americans … but they kept saying, ‘Were you sent by the pig Donald Trump?'”

In his account to Newsmax, Leigh described hour upon hour of prisoner abuse occurring in the room next door.

“One time, I heard a piece of wood break,” he recounts. “Whether it was a piece of wood or a cane they were using, I heard it break. And I heard thuds that sounded like a body falling on the floor. So he was being beat up, lightly, I don’t think hard, but he was being slapped around and hit. You’ve got to imagine, this was going on for a day, 24 hours at least.” 

In between the beatings, the two prisoners spoke. He said Prof. Kim, a South Korean, told him he had agreed to teach in the North against his family’s wishes because he hoped the exchange of ideas would help contribute to mutual understanding.

“He took it because it’s a job,” Leigh said, “but also he felt he could do something special and make a difference.”

Leigh says after he was released officials took him to his hotel, where he continued to be under rather obvious surveillance for the remainder of his trip. He did attend the military parade, and was seated among other foreign nationals in a section about 50 yards from dictator Kim Jong Un.

One observer seated next to him, a Russian, told Leigh that foreigners are always seated near the strongman, to protect him from a surprise missile or drone attack due to the risk of collateral casualties.

“He was stocky,” Leigh says of Kim, “and he also wasn’t free and relaxed. He was very stiff, almost marching, very tense. He was just in and out, like he didn’t want to be there.”

He says during the parade he saw “some interesting looking missiles.”

“They would have been medium range missiles most likely, judging from the length of them,” he says. “I’m not an expert on missiles, but they would have been intermediate range, the type they would use on Japan or South Korea, but not the type that would be American bound.”

Leigh reports seeing several indications that North Korea is now in a state of high military alert: Soldiers toting rifles, military vehicles rushing through the streets, and men walking about carrying what he understood to be military equipment contained in government-issue duffel bags.

“Their people are aware now that there’s a chance of war. You can see it in their faces… There’s a lot of military movement, it’s like an ant hill going on.”

Leigh says loudspeakers in North Korea continually spout messages like: “Prepare to honor your country and your leader, and never be afraid if you’re right.”

He said during his two-and-a-half day imprisonment, Prof. Kim told him, “There’s a lot more Americans locked up here than anyone knows.

“I said, ‘Are you serious?'”

“He said, ‘Yeah, Canadians, Americans, Europeans. There’s a whole place to hold them.'”

Leigh credits Prof. Kim’s whispered advice from the other side of the paper-thin wall for his eventual release. His fellow prisoner told him that under no circumstances could he respond with anger toward his interrogators, but to never agree to any accusations of espionage no matter how exhausted he might become.

Leigh says Prof. Kim speculated the foreign nationals would be used as leverage in case the regime comes under attack, but that the instructor didn’t know whether the victims had been arrested or kidnapped.

Leigh, who was permitted to leave the country on the 27th, calls his captivity “a near-death experience” that has scarred him for life. The hardest part, he says, was knowing that he had to leave Prof. Kim behind.

“You know, there was nothing I could do,” he said, growing emotional. “I knew there was nothing I could do. Had I tried to interfere, it probably would have changed the direction I was going. I thought to myself, ‘the most valuable thing I can do is get out of here and tell this story.'”

He says Prof. Kim’s last words to him were “Stay quiet, keep your head down, and get the hell out of here.”

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NK Threatens “Final Doom” for Trump and America After US Deploys Strategic Bombers


Reported By Martin Lioll | May 3, 2017 at 6:05am

URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/kju-final-threat-trump-big-guns/

North Korea’s state news agency has threatened the United States with “final doom” after the Trump administration flew B-1B bombers near the Korean Peninsula. According to the U.K. Independent, the two supersonic bombers flew drills Monday with South Korean and Japanese forces.

Reuters reported this was construed by North Korean state media as “a nuclear bomb dropping drill against major objects” in the North as President Trump and “other U.S. warmongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike.”

“The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war,” North Korea’s KCNA said.

“Any military provocation against the DPRK will precisely mean a total war which will lead to the final doom of the U.S.,” it said, using the acronym for the country’s formal name of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun, meanwhile, said the drills were merely readiness training conducted as a deterrent to further missile or nuclear tests by the North.

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The supersonic B-1B is one of America’s most potent bombers. The planes used Monday flew in from Guam to conduct the training drills.

North Korea’s latest threat came just days after the regime threatened the nuclear sub USS Michigan with sinking.

“The moment the USS Michigan tries to budge even a little, it will be doomed to face the miserable fate of becoming a underwater (sic) ghost without being able to come to the surface,” a state media website said. “The urgent fielding of the nuclear submarine in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, timed to coincide with the deployment of the super aircraft carrier strike group, is intended to further intensify military threats toward our republic.”

It’s clear that Kim Jong Un has lost his moorings, which is grave news for the world. One only hopes that Trump’s deployment of these strategic assets sends North Korea a message that years of privation and isolation haven’t.

H/T RedFlag News

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THAAD Missile Set Up in North Korea Is Officially Ready to Use


Reported By Martin Lioll | May 2, 2017 at 5:44am

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URL of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/us-officials-news-border-advantage/

A missile defense system that the United States has begun installing in South Korea has “reached an initial operating capability to defend against North Korean missiles,” according to news reports. U.S. officials confirmed Monday that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which was deployed to the Korean peninsula in order to counter the threat of missile strikes from Kim Jong Un’s regime, had successfully come online, according to Reuters. However, they cautioned that full operability would not be reached for several months.

The system’s installation has been a point of contention with China, which has argued that THAAD’s radar could be used to spy on Beijing and would weaken the deterrent effect of China’s own ballistic missiles.

“It helps in no way to achieve the denuclearization of the peninsula and regional peace and stability,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said last week, according to Agence France-Presse.

He added Beijing would “take necessary measures to safeguard its own interests.”

On Tuesday, North Korean officials said that the introduction of the THAAD system, in addition to American bomber drills with Japan and South Korea, had pushed the peninsula to “the brink of nuclear war.” 

According to Reuters, North Korea state news agency KCNA reported that the bomber flights were “a nuclear bomb-dropping drill against major objects” in North Korea.

It also said that President Donald Trump and “other U.S. warmongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike.”

Yes, apparently we’re the warmongers, even as North Korea conducts illegal missile tests and broadcasts concerts with video of San Francisco being blown up by a nuclear weapon.

It’s obvious that Kim Jong In is not tethered to reality. Dictators living in la-la land are hardly anything new, but most of them don’t have nuclear weapons at their disposal.

Thankfully, we have the THAAD to intercept any missiles from Kim Jong Un’s regime, meaning whatever advantage he had is not what it used to be.

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Breaking: China Issues New Orders at NK Border, They Know We’re Coming


Reported By Ben Marquis | on May 1, 2017 at 3:38pm

of the original posting site: http://conservativetribune.com/china-issues-new-orders-nk-border/

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As tensions continue to mount on the Korean peninsula and in the surrounding east-Asian region, China appeared to make further preparations for what increasingly looked like an impending humanitarian crisis. According to The Korea Times, a Chinese government document was recently spotted in the border town of Dandong ordering the “urgent” recruitment of individuals fluent in both Chinese and Korean.

Though the document didn’t specify the number of Chinese-Korean interpreters to be recruited, it did mention 10 separate departments for which the interpreters could conceivably work, including departments dealing with border security, public safety, customs, trade and medical quarantine.

Radio Free Asia reported on the document as well, and while it noted that a Chinese foreign affairs spokesperson dismissed the urgent request for interpreters as “normal working requirements,” they couldn’t help but point out that the order came at a time of drastically increased tension and fear that military action against North Koreacould result in a flood of refugees surging across the border into China.

“Security and stability are very fragile at the moment, and the danger is great of a new conflict breaking out at any time,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a recent news conference. “We can’t risk even a 1 percent possibility of war.”

Such a conflict would have “unimaginable consequences,” he said. “Therefore, we call on all sides to be prudent and refrain from any actions or words that could lead to new provocations.”

A journalist for The Toronto Globe and Mail who has been at the Chinese-North Korean border for a time also noted the document in an in-depth report on the tension that has settled over the entire region.

“People living here have a deep sense of fatigue,” explained Jin Qiangyi, director of the Centre for North and South Korea Studies at Yanbian University in China’s northeastern city of Yanji.

The people “are growing tired of it all,” the professor explained. “The current state of things is more tense than it has ever been in the past.”

The reporter also noted other cities and towns placing themselves on “high alert” status and an abundance of military vehicles and troops staged throughout the area.

He further noted that a failed nuclear test or similar catastrophe would likely send a cloud of radioactive contamination across the border into China, and that any sort of military strike or subsequent political unrest could prompt waves of refugees in the hundreds of thousands to try and flee the communist prison regime.

While the urgent request for Chinese-Korean interpreters could very well be nothing more than normal procedure as Chinese officials claimed, odds are great that they are actually in preparation for a military strike that may be forthcoming in the near future, particularly if rogue dictator Kim Jong Un insists on testing a nuclear device in spite of United Nations resolutions prohibiting him from doing so and a near-unanimous international alliance warning him explicitly not to.

 

 

 

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After Trump Administration Intervenes, China Frees American Held Since 2015


Reported By Jack Davis | on April 29, 2017 at 12:23pm

URL of the original posting site: http://www.westernjournalism.com/trump-administration-intervenes-china-frees-american-held-since-2015/

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A Houston woman detained by China in 2015 arrived back in the United States on Friday after the Trump administration negotiated for her release.

Phan Phan-Gillis, also knows as Sandy Phan-Gillis, had been charged as a spy, a claim she and her family denied. Although the Obama administration protested that charge in 2015, she was held until this week.

On Tuesday, the 57-year-old woman was tried and pronounced guilty, then deported to the United States on Friday without having to serve the three-year term to which she was sentenced.

The Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights organization, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had added his influence to the effort to free her.

“Negotiations to secure the release of Ms. Phan-Gillis intensified during Secretary Tillerson’s visit to Beijing in March,” the group said in a statement, adding that the Trump White House helped the State Department “in bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion.”

Jeff Kamm, who founded Dui Hua, said the overtures President Donald Trump has made to Chinese leaders to improve relations between the two nations were a contributing factor in the release of Phan-Gillis.

“If U.S.-China relations were not going as well as they are right now, I think this outcome would have been different,” she said.

Her release was welcomed in her native Texas.

“I’m relieved that Sandy Phan-Gillis has been released and will soon be reunited with her loved ones in Houston,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “The unlawful detention of an American citizen for more than two years with little to no explanation by Chinese authorities is shameful and unacceptable.”

“I applaud the State Department and thank President Trump for his leadership in securing Sandy’s release,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who also criticized China for detaining her in the first place.

“It should be noted that Sandy’s purpose in visiting China two years ago was to strengthen commercial and cultural exchanges on behalf of the city of Houston. The Chinese government — cynically and to the astonishment of many — perceived this cultural bridge-builder as a threat. Sandy was unjustly deprived of her liberty for two years, time during which she was denied basic legal protections and her loved ones lacked accurate information about her condition,” Cruz said.

Jeff Gillis said his wife arrived in Los Angeles on Friday.

“Many of Sandy’s friends and family members have been crying tears of joy throughout the day,” he said in an email.

“Sandy was not allowed to speak with her lawyers for well over a year,” Gillis said, adding, “China State Security used torture to force Sandy to make a false confession.”

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North Korea: War is ‘Imminent’


Posted by GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com | on April 29, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/north-korea-war-imminent/

Tensions between North Korea and the U.S. are not going down anytime soon. The communist country test-fired a ballistic missile, reports South Korea.

nk2

It was launched from a region north of the capital, Pyongyang, and appears to have been a failed test according to the Yonhap news agency.

They reported that the missile blew up a few seconds into flight. U.S. officials are saying it did not leave North Korean territory and was most likely a medium-range missile known as a KN-17.

This is now the second failed test of a ballistic missile in the last month.

 

North Korea is desperately trying to make its military might stronger, warning of “imminent” war against the US.

military

“North Korea fired an unidentified missile from a site in the vicinity of Bukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province) early this morning,” Yonhap reported, quoting a statement issued by South Korea’s military. “It is estimated to have failed.”

Donald Trump, the US president, said that North Korea “disrespected the wishes of China” with the missile test.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that failure to curb North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile projects would lead to “catastrophic consequences”.

He is calling for greater enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea and has requested the rest of the world put the pressure on North Korea to step down.

nk1

China stated that is was not only up to Beijing to solve the problem of North Korea.

“The key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side,” Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister said.

North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador responded by stating US efforts to get rid of his country’s nuclear weapons through military threats and sanctions were “a wild dream”.

nk4

Trump told Reuters that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistics program.

Time to shut the country down before they get any further.

Is Trump the man to do it?

Maybe, he’s a better shot than Obama was.

nk3

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Levin: This BOMBSHELL report on the Iran deal is infuriating


Posted April 24, 2017 07:23 PM by Chris Pandolfo

 

URL of the original posting site: https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/levin-this-bombshell-report-on-the-iran-deal-is-infuriating

Anton Watman | Shutterstock

Anton Watman | Shutterstock

There was a “blockbuster” story in Politico Monday that Conservative Review Editor-in-Chief Mark Levin wants you to know about.

In “Obama’s hidden Iran deal giveaway,” Josh Meyer reports that when President Obama released Iranian-born prisoners to secure Iranian support for his administration’s infamous nuclear deal, he portrayed the released prisoners as simple “civilians.” “In reality,” Meyer writes, “some of them were accused by Obama’s own Justice Department of posing threats to national security.”

Listen:

The bottom line is that President Obama lied to get support for the Iran Nuclear deal. “And his surrogates lied, and therefore the media lied,” Levin said. “And [Obama] surrendered America’s national security to do it!”

There is Democrat and mainstream media hysteria over possible, unproven, connections between President Trump and Russia, and meanwhile, President Obama released dangerous Iranian fugitives to pass a deal that enabled the nuclear proliferation of the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism. 

And President Trump is somehow undermining American national security? Levin set the record straight:

“Barrack Obama did more damage to our national security, to the United States military, to our border security, to our internal security with our police, than any foreign enemy or opponent could possibly achieve!”

“This is a stunning story! And it gags me to say to Politico, I tip my hat. For once.”

Don’t miss an episode of LevinTV. Sign up now!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chris Pandolfo is a staff writer and type-shouter for Conservative Review. He holds a B.A. in Politics and Economics from Hillsdale College. His interests are Conservative Political Philosophy, the American Founding, and Progressive Rock. Follow him on Twitter for doom-saying and great album recommendations @ChrisCPandolfo.

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Trump Readies Surprise Trade Action Against Canada. President may pause on border-adjustment tax but preps tariffs to fight lumber, dairy cheating


Reported by Jim Stinson | Updated 25 Apr 2017 at 6:55 AM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/trump-readies-surprise-trade-action-against-canada/

President Donald Trump is fed up with cheap Canadian softwood-lumber imports, subsidized by provincial governments, and he is ready to slap the northern neighbor with a 20 percent tariff. It’s part of Trump’s latest efforts to force a more “reciprocal” relationship with trade partners.

But does that approach include the border-adjustment tax? Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Trump won’t include a border-adjustment tax — a duty on imports, a version of which most other nations have — in a proposed tax reform package expected to be unveiled Wednesday. Trump, in response to a question from LifeZette during a meeting with reporters in the Roosevelt Room, said he is still open to the border-adjustment tax, but suggested he will examine the policy as part of trade deals, not an initial round of tax reform.

Trump’s ambiguity was not a surprise. Earlier in the day, in his regular briefing with reporters, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the White House is waiting until Wednesday to share tax-reform details. It’s likely a sign that Trump won’t want to entangle large-scale tax reform with the border-adjustment tax, which deeply divides Republican lawmakers.

But the delay of a border-adjustment tax push does not mean Trump will not take swift action to encourage more trade equity with regional economic partners. As for Canada, Trump is fed up and ready to act. Trump surprised a gathering of journalists from conservative-leaning outlets at the White House on Monday when he said he would place a 20 percent tariff on softwood-lumber imports from Canada.

Canada’s softwood-lumber has long been a thorn in the side of U.S. trade officials. It was a major point of contention in the original negotiations for a U.S.-Canada free-trade treaty in 1989. That treaty was expanded to Mexico in 1993 with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In March 2002, President George W. Bush slapped Canada with 29 percent tariffs on Canadian lumber for unfairly subsidizing the lumber exports.

The tariffs won’t be automatic. Wilbur Ross, secretary of the Commerce Department, said a dispute-resolution panel, mandated by NAFTA, will decide if U.S. law is being properly applied. Ross, who walked into the Roosevelt Room with Trump and Spicer, noted three of the five panelists are Canadians.

“Canada has treated us very unfairly,” said Trump, threatening to also punish Canadian dairy producers for unfairly undercutting Wisconsin farmers. Trump said the changes mean U.S. lumber producers will have a better deal.

“We can do our own lumber,” said Trump.

Trump was less specific about the border-adjustment tax proposal floated by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. But he did say the border-adjustment tax has been misunderstood, mostly because of its name.

“The word I like is reciprocal,” said Trump.

The tax would raise more than $100 billion a year and would be placed on imports. Proponents of the tax say it would help cut the deficit. The tax would also benefit U.S. exporters, because most nations have versions of it that get slapped on U.S. products.

The tax would allow cuts in other areas, meaning it is “revenue-neutral.” It would also accomplish some of what Trump promised to do in the 2016 campaign — to reform trade policies.

“Generally speaking, I am in favor of it,” said Kevin L. Kearns, president of  the U.S. Business and Industry Council. “We need to do something to level the playing field, since 150 of our trading partners have value-added taxes.”

Kearns said American exports get the tax added when they arrive in other nations.

Using Germany as an example, such taxes are used in most European nations. The value-added taxes are extracted from German manufacturers. But if the German manufacturers export the goods, the manufacturers get refunds, Kearns said. That gives Germans incentive to manufacture within Germany.

But the border-adjustment tax is vilified by retailers, who sell many imported goods. On Monday morning, the Koch-backed Freedom Partners held a teleconference to denounce the tax. A border-adjustment tax will hurt retailers such as Best Buy and Target, said Freedom Partners officials. Some Republicans are also afraid of border-adjustment taxes because they claim they are hidden taxes, and can be adjusted at will, said Kearns, who dismissed those claims.

Kearns told LifeZette he is worried about Trump tying trade to foreign policy “deal-making” with nations such as China.

“Let’s take a poll of Trump supporters and see who wants to lose their job to China because of North Korea,” said Kearns.

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China Sentences Phan Phan-Gillis, U.S. Businesswoman, in Spying Case


Reported By CHRIS BUCKLEYAPRIL 25, 2017

URL of the original posting site: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/world/asia/sandy-phan-gillis-china-houston-espionage.html

BEIJING — An American businesswoman from Houston was sentenced to three and half years in prison in China on spying charges on Tuesday, over two years after Chinese security officers spirited her away and 20 or more years after the alleged espionage was said to have taken place, her lawyer said.

But the businesswoman, Phan Phan-Gillis, often called Sandy, may soon be deported to the United States, allowing her to reunite with her husband, Jeff Gillis, who has adamantly rejected the accusations and fought for her freedom, said her lawyer, Shang Baojun.

After a secret trial in the morning in Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi region in southern China, a judge declared Ms. Phan-Gillis guilty, sentenced her and ordered her expelled from China — but left unclear whether she had to serve out her prison sentence before being deported, Mr. Shang said by telephone.

“A court can order expulsion from the country for foreign nationals either after serving a sentence or concurrent with a sentence starting, but the judge wasn’t clear on which applied here, so I also have to wait to read the verdict,” Mr. Shang said. “Of course, I hope that they’ll deport her as soon as possible, but we have to wait until we see the written verdict to be sure.”

It could be days before he receives the written judgment, he said.

The uncertainty about the sentence has added an agonizing twist to a case that turned Ms. Phan-Gillis’s husband into an amateur detective and lobbyist, seeking to clear his wife of the accusation that she had worked as a spy for the American authorities. Mr. Gillis said by email that he did not want to comment on the trial.

The United States Consulate in Guangzhou, in southern China, has handled Ms. Phan-Gillis’s consular needs while she has been held in Nanning, 315 miles to the west. The consulate confirmed that she had stood trial but gave no details.

“We continue to follow Ms. Phan-Gillis’s case closely,” the consulate’s press office said by email. “We have regularly raised Ms. Phan-Gillis’s case with Chinese officials, including at the most senior levels.”

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has redoubled the government’s longstanding warnings that it faces dire threats from foreign spies and subversion, and state security officers have appeared increasingly active. Other foreigners have also been tried on spying charges, including a Canadian man released last year soon after his trial ended with a guilty verdict. But ethnic Chinese people appear especially vulnerable, because officials have fewer scruples about detaining them.

Calls to the Nanning Intermediate People’s Court, where Ms. Phan-Gillis was tried, went unanswered, and there was no word of the trial in Chinese news media. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to faxed questions about the case.

Ms. Phan-Gillis, 57, was seized near a border crossing by Chinese security officers in March 2015, when she was accompanying a delegation of officials and businesspeople from Houston, including the mayor pro tem at the time, Ed Gonzalez.

PhanPhan-Gillis, an American businesswoman, in an undated photograph. After a secret trial in southern China, Ms. Phan-Gillis, also known as Sandy, was found guilty on Tuesday of spying. Credit Jeff Gillis

 

Ms. Phan-Gillis was born in Vietnam into an ethnic Chinese family, and she fled in her teens by boat, eventually settling in the United States. She worked as a consultant for Houston businesses interested in Chinese customers and investment, as well as for Chinese businesses interested in Texas, and she traveled often to southern China.

At first, Mr. Gillis said, he kept quiet about Ms. Phan-Gillis’s detention and hoped that Chinese investigators would release her after realizing the charges were groundless.

But as the months wore on, Mr. Gillis concluded that the Chinese authorities would not back down, and he turned to public appeals to seek her freedom.

He was told that she had been formally arrested in September 2015, days before Mr. Xi arrived in the United States for a visit.

“I really don’t want to be disruptive. I don’t want to ruin anybody’s party,” Mr. Gillis said at the time. “I just want to get my wife back.”

Ms. Phan-Gillis was indicted last July, setting in motion preparations for the trial. Mr. Gillis said then that the claims in the indictment crumbled under closer scrutiny. The prosecutors claimed that Ms. Phan-Gillis had spied in China for a time in 1996 when she was not even in the country, he said.

In the indictment, the prosecutors also claimed that Ms. Phan-Gillis had tried to recruit Chinese people living in the United States to work for a “foreign spy organization.” Mr. Gillis said that claim was also false. “The charges are beyond ridiculous,” he said.

The lawyer, Mr. Shang, said he could not discuss what specific accusations prosecutors made at the trial, because lawyers are forbidden to publicly disclose national security cases without approval. But their broad accusation was that Ms. Phan-Gillis “engaged in activities harmful to Chinese national security” in both China and the United States between 1995 and 1998, he said. At the trial, Ms. Phan-Gillis pleaded guilty to the spying charge, he said.

“After the verdict was read out, the chief judge didn’t ask her whether she’d appeal,” Mr. Shang said. “But when I met her yesterday and previously and asked her, she said she wouldn’t appeal, as long as she could leave China as soon as possible.”

Ms. Phan-Gillis previously said that she was innocent, but she may have changed her position in the hope of early release and a return home. A United Nations human rights panel last year demanded her release after finding that she had suffered arbitrary detention and deprivation of access to lawyers.

“They put words in my mouth,” Ms. Phan-Gillis told a visiting American consular officer, according to an earlier account given by Mr. Gillis.

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Today’s Two Politically INCORRECT Cartoons


French Election 2017 Translated

URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2017/04/24/french-election-2017-translated/#v6lOJVXzHUdAB0PZ.99

The French Presidential candidates look a very similar to some candidates here in the United States.

Great American Target

URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2017/04/25/great-american-target/#ZMTZ2rzdDl5QhVIV.99

Now that the left has been successful in removing top media personality Bill O’Reilly, they now appear to have their sights on Sean Hannity.

Sean Hannity TargetCartoon by A.F Branco ©2017.

More A.F. Branco Cartoons at Net Right Daily.

A.F.Branco Coffee Table Book <—- Order Here!

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North Korea Detains Another American Citizen


Posted by    Sunday, April 23, 2017 at 8:00pm | 4/23/2017 – 8:00pm

URL of the original posting site: http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/04/north-korea-detains-another-american-citizen/

The hermit country now holds three Americans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Mgdz27sgE
 

Officials in North Korea have detained an American citizen this weekend. The communist kingdom now has three Americans behind bars. Reuters reported:

Korean-American Tony Kim had spent a month teaching an accounting course at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), the university’s chancellor, Chan-Mo Park, told Reuters on Sunday.

Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk and is in his fifties, was detained by North Korean officials at Pyongyang International Airport as he attempted to leave the country, Park said.

“The cause of his arrest is not known but some officials at PUST told me his arrest was not related to his work at PUST. He had been involved with some other activities outside PUST such as helping an orphanage,” Park said.

“I sincerely hope and pray that he will be released soon”.

 

 

Martina Aberg, the deputy chief of mission at the Swedish Embassy in North Korea, confirmed the news. She told CNN that authorities stopped Kim “from getting on the flight out of Pyonyang.” She could not “comment further than this.”

The State Department told the media that officials “are aware of reports that a US citizen was detained in North Korea.” Officials promised to work on the case with the Swedish Embassy. America works with this embassy since we do not have one in the country.

Other Two American Citizens

North Korea sentenced Otto Warmbier, 22, to 15 years of hard labor last January. Authorities arrested him on January 2, 2016, before he boarded his plan and charged him with “committing a hostile act against the state” when he tried to steal a propaganda sign. In March 2016, after a one hour trial, the court sentenced Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor.

A month later, North Korea sentenced Kim Dong Chul, 63, who was born in South Korea and a naturalized American citizen, to 10 years of hard labor for alleging spying and trying to steal state secrets.

The country arrested Chul in October 2015, but the U.S. did not know about him until North Korean authorities showed him off to a CNN crew in Pyongyang.

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One Christian Is Killed Virtually Every Hour. Some 90,000 Christians were murdered last year alone — and thousands still put their lives at risk for their beliefs


Reported by Leah Jessen | Updated 24 Apr 2017 at 7:17 AM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.lifezette.com/faithzette/one-christian-killed-virtually-every-hour/

The killing of Christians has taken place ever since the slaying of Stephen — the first Christian martyr recorded in New Testament biblical times.

“Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among people” (Acts 6:8).

Religious leaders persecuted Stephen, a leader in the early Christian church in Jerusalem, for his faith. “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,’” Acts 7:59 says.

To this day, Christians face opposition and strife for their belief that Jesus Christ came to this Earth as Savior.

“Christians continue to be the most persecuted believers in the world, with over 90,000 followers of Christ being killed in the last year, according to prominent Italian sociologist and author Massimo Introvigne,” The Christian Post reported in December 2016. The statistic came from the Center for Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, whose main campus is in Hamilton, Massachusetts.

On April 20, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Catholic Archbishop of Washington, D.C., spoke at an event in the nation’s capital and addressed the response to Christian persecution.

“Reports suggest that about 200 million Christians around the world are at risk of physical violence, arrest, torture, even death simply because they live and practice a faith that is not acceptable to the rulers in that part of the world,” Wuerl said.

The event last Thursday featured the release of a report called “In Response to Persecution” by the University of Notre Dame’s Under Caesar’s Sword global research initiative.

“Christian communities under persecution adopt survival strategies including fleeing, going underground, or accommodating and supporting repressive regimes,” Fox News noted about the report. “For each year between 2007 and 2014, Christians have been targeted for harassment in more countries than any other religious group.”

While estimates for the number of Christian martyrs worldwide vary, as a testament to their faith thousands of Christians put their lives at risk each year.

“Even the low-end estimate for the number of Christians killed for religious reasons each year puts the count of new martyrs at roughly one every hour, 365 days a year,” wrote John Allen, editor of Cruxnow.com.

Christianity is the world’s largest religion, and Christians make up approximately 2.2 billion of the world’s 7.7 billion population.

“The place where persecution of Christians is being most severely experienced is the very place where Christianity all began,” Cardinal Wuerl said, according to Breitbart News. “In that region of the world is the birthplace of the Christian faith.”

On Palm Sunday this year,  the radical extremist group ISIS bombed Christians at two different churches in Egypt.

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International Politics

North Korea Warns of ‘Super-Mighty Preemptive Strike’ as US Plans Next Move


Posted by NEWSMAX.COM | Thursday, 20 Apr 2017 10:34 AM

North Korean state media warned the United States of a “super-mighty preemptive strike” after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States was looking at ways to bring pressure to bear on North Korea over its nuclear program.

U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a hard line with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has rebuffed admonitions from sole major ally China and proceeded with nuclear and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, did not mince its words.

“In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike being launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only U.S. imperialists’ invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the U.S. mainland and reduce them to ashes,” it said.

Reclusive North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States and has shown no let-up in its belligerence after a failed missile test on Sunday, a day after putting on a huge display of missiles at a parade in Pyongyang.

“We’re reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang to re-engage with us, but re-engage with us on a different footing than past talks have been held,” Tillerson told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, on a tour of Asian allies, has said repeatedly an “era of strategic patience” with North Korea is over.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said during a visit to London the military option must be part of the pressure brought to bear.

“Allowing this dictator to have that kind of power is not something that civilized nations can allow to happen,” he said in reference to Kim.

Ryan said he was encouraged by the results of efforts to work with China to reduce tension, but that it was unacceptable North Korea might be able to strike allies with nuclear weapons.

North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

‘MAX THUNDER’

South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, at a meeting with top officials on Thursday, repeatedly called for the military and security ministries to maintain vigilance.

The defense ministry said U.S. and South Korean air forces were conducting an annual training exercise, codenamed Max Thunder, until April 28. North Korea routinely labels such exercises preparations for invasion.

“We are conducting a practical and more intensive exercise than ever,” South Korean pilot Colonel Lee Bum-chul told reporters. “Through this exercise, I am sure we can deter war and remove our enemy’s intention to provoke us.”

South Korean presidential candidates clashed on Wednesday night in a debate over the planned deployment in South Korea of a U.S.-supplied Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, which has angered China. Frontrunner Moon Jae-in was criticized for leaving his options open before the May 9 election.

On Monday, Hwang and Pence reaffirmed their plans to go ahead with the THAAD, but the decision will be up to the next South Korean president. For its part, China says the system’s powerful radar is a threat to its security. 

The North has said it has developed a missile that can strike the mainland United States, but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering the necessary technology, including miniaturizing a nuclear warhead.

RUSSIA, US AT ODDS

The United States and Russia clashed at the United Nations on Wednesday over a U.S.-drafted Security Council statement to condemn North Korea’s latest failed ballistic missile test. Diplomats said China had agreed to the statement. Such statements by the 15-member council have to be agreed by consensus. Previous statements denouncing missile launches “welcomed efforts by council members, as well as other states, to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive solution through dialogue“. The latest draft statement dropped “through dialogue” and Russia requested it be included again.

“When we requested to restore the agreed language that was of political importance and expressed commitment to continue to work on the draft … the U.S. delegation without providing any explanations canceled the work on the draft,” the Russian U.N. mission said in a statement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China believed in the Security Council maintaining unity.

“Speaking with one voice is extremely important to the Security Council appropriately responding to the relevant issue on the peninsula,” he told reporters.

There has been some confusion over the whereabouts of a U.S. aircraft carrier group after Trump said last week he had sent an “armada” as a warning to North Korea, even as the ships were still far from Korean waters. The U.S. military’s Pacific Command explained that the USS Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-planned period of training with Australia. It was now heading for the Western Pacific as ordered, it said.

China’s influential Global Times newspaper, which is published by the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official paper, wondered whether the misdirection was deliberate.

“The truth seems to be that the U.S. military and president jointly created fake news and it is without doubt a rare scandal in U.S. history, which will be bound to cripple Trump’s and U.S. dignity,” it said. 

© 2017 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.

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China and Russia Caught Tailing U.S. Navy Near North Korea as Tensions Mount


waving flagdisclaimerReported By Andrew West |  April 17, 2017

North Korea

The intensity of the North Korean situation has once again found a way to reinvent itself now that the USS Carl Vinson is making strategic moves in the area.

The nuclear powered aircraft carrier was first dispatched to the area over a week ago in an effort to keep tabs on North Korean leader and international maniac Kim Jong Un, given his latest threats toward the west and her allies.  Japan was quick to respond with Naval vessels of their own, working in support of the USS Carl Vinson and her accompanying ships.

Now, two more nations have decided to dispatch pieces of their armadas to the area, but these are not necessarily there to keep an eye on North Korea.  Rather, they are poised to gather intelligence about what exactly the USS Carl Vinson is up to.

“China and Russia have dispatched intelligence-gathering vessels from their navies to chase the USS Carl Vinson nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is heading toward waters near the Korean Peninsula, multiple sources of the Japanese government revealed to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

“It appears that both countries aim to probe the movements of the United States, which is showing a stance of not excluding military action against North Korea. The Self-Defense Forces are strengthening warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace around the area, according to the sources.

“The aircraft carrier strike group, composed of the Carl Vinson at its core with guided-missile destroyers and other vessels, is understood to be around the East China Sea and heading north toward waters near the Korean Peninsula.

“China and Russia, which prioritize stability in the Korean Peninsula, showed concern over the tough U.S. stance, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying the issue should be resolved peacefully through political and diplomatic efforts.”

These vessels suddenly being dispatched to the vicinity of the Carl Vinson and her fellow ships appears to be a not-so-subtle warning to President Donald Trump, who has yet to completely rule out the use of military force should North Korea ramp up their aggressive behavior.  China has previously attempted to coerce Kim Jong Un and company to discontinue their poking and prodding ways through the use of tough international sanctions on North Korean coal – one of the secretive nation’s only sources of international income.

Russia, meanwhile, has been attempting to keep a tight leash on the United States after an airstrike against Bashar al-Assad in Syria irked the Russian military.  The response from the Kremlin was swift and stern, stating that any further provocation in Syria could lead to military action against the U.S.trump unlocks military

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andrew West

Andrew West is a Georgia-based political enthusiast and lover of liberty. When not writing, you can find Mr. West home brewing his own craft beer, perfecting his home-made hot sauce recipes, or playing guitar.

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Syrians Have A New Nickname For Trump


waving flagdisclaimerReported by Photo of Rachel Stoltzfoos Rachel Stoltzfoos | Reporter | 9:50 AM 04/11/2017

URL of the original posting site:  http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/11/syrians-have-a-new-nickname-for-trump/#ixzz4e4M6PDIf

Syrians have a new nickname for President Donald Trump following his punishing strike against the Assad regime. People across the Arab world are referring to Trump as “Abu Ivanka al-Amriki,” or “Father of Ivanka, the American,” on social media, reports The Telegraph. The nickname is a term of admiration and respect for the president, following his decisive action in response to the chemical weapons U.S. officials believe President Bashar al-Assad ordered.

“One Syrian tells me the new nom de guerre for President Trump on the ground in Northern Syria is Abu Ivanka al-Amriki,” a CNN international correspondent tweeted.

nickname

Syrians in the U.S., too, praised Trump for the punishing strike, expressing relief that the U.S. finally acted against Assad, who has been brutally slaughtering civilians for years in an attempt to suppress the uprising against him. Many have expressed frustration over former President Barack Obama’s policy of avoiding direct action against the regime, despite repeated words of compassion and statements of condemnation for Assad’s brutal actions.end of obama legacy

“When I saw President Trump and the United States taking action for the first time after six years of calling for help, we felt happy and grateful,” Kassen Eid, a Syrian refugee who survived a 2013 chemical weapons attack told Fox News following the strike. He, like many other Syrian refugees, hopes Trump’s policy change will eventually result in a safer Syria that will allow them to return home.

 

Some restaurant owners in Syria have gone so far as to change the name of their shop in honor of Trump, reports The Telegraph. One Syrian man who opposes Assad told the outlet he wants to name his first son after Trump.

“Maybe you in the West hate Trump, but he has already done far more for us than Obama,” Najim Hassan, a Syrian who lives in a city occupied by rebels against Assad, told The Telegraph. “We love him because he does more than he says, he’s a man of action and at least he gives us something to hope for.”

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NKorea State Media Warns of Nuclear Strike If Provoked as US Warships Approach


waving flagdisclaimer

Posted by NEWSMAX.COM | Tuesday, 11 Apr 2017 06:00 AM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.newsmax.com/World/Asia/AS-Koreas-Tensions/2017/04/11/id/783681/

Image: NKorea State Media Warns of Nuclear Strike If Provoked as US Warships Approach
(AP)

North Korean state media on Tuesday warned of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of a U.S. pre-emptive strike as a U.S. Navy strike group led by a nuclear-powered aircraft steamed towards the western Pacific. Tension has escalated sharply on the Korean peninsula with talk of military action by the United States gaining traction following its strikes last week against Syria and amid concerns the reclusive North may soon conduct a sixth nuclear test.

North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the country was prepared to respond to any aggression by the United States.

“Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theatre but also in the U.S. mainland,” it said.

South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn warned of “greater provocations” by North Korea and ordered the military to intensify monitoring and to ensure close communication with the United States.

“It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People’s Assembly,” said Hwang, acting leader since former president Park Geun-hye was removed amid a graft scandal.marxist propagandist

The North convened a Supreme People’s Assembly session on Tuesday, one of its twice-yearly sessions in which major appointments are announced and national policy goals are formally approved. But South Korean officials took pains to quell talk in social media of an impending security crisis or outbreak of war.

“We’d like to ask precaution so as not to get blinded by exaggerated assessment about the security situation on the Korean peninsula,” Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said.marxist propagandist

Saturday is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country’s founding father and grandfather of current ruler, Kim Jong Un. A military parade is expected in the North’s capital, Pyongyang, to mark the day. North Korea often also marks important anniversaries with tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities in breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a message of congratulations to mark the event, lambasting “big powers” for their “expansionist” policy.

“The friendly two countries are celebrating this anniversary and, at the same time, conducting a war against big powers’ wild ambition to subject all countries to their expansionist and dominationist policy and deprive them of their rights to self-determination,” Russian news agency Tass quote the message as saying.

The North’s foreign ministry, in a statement carried by its KCNA news agency, said the U.S. navy strike group’s approach showed America’s “reckless moves for invading had reached a serious phase”.

“We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves,” an unidentified ministry spokesman said.marxist propagandist

North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States. 

SANCTIONS WARNING

Delegates from around the North have been arriving in Pyongyang ahead of the babysitterassembly session. They visited statues of previous leaders Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, state media reported. North Korea is emerging as one of the most pressing foreign policy problems facing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. It has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States.

The Trump administration is reviewing its policy towards North Korea and has said all options are on the table, including military strikes, but U.S. officials said non-military action appears to be at the top of the list if any action were to be taken.

The U.S. Navy strike group Carl Vinson was diverted from planned port calls to Australiaderanged and would move toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters over the weekend. U.S. officials said it would still take the strike group more than a week to arrive near the Korean peninsula.

Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, met in Florida last week and Trump pressed Xi to do more to curb North Korea’s nuclear programme. China and South Korea agreed on Monday to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carried out nuclear or long-range missile tests, a senior official in Seoul said.puppet master

On Tuesday, a fleet of North Korean cargo ships was heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated state to curb coal traffic, sources with direct knowledge said.

The order was given on April 7, just as the U.S. and Chinese leaders were set for the summit where the two agreed the North Korean nuclear advances had reached a “very serious stage”, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off the country’s most important export product.

As well as the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, there are several other North Korean anniversaries in April that could be opportunities for weapon tests, South Korean officials have said. The North is seen ready to conduct its sixth nuclear test at any time, with movements detected by satellites at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.  practice makes perfect

 

© 2017 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.

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Official: Russia Knew in Advance of Syrian Chemical Attack


Posted by NEWSMAX.COM | Monday, 10 Apr 2017 07:45 PM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/syria-russia-chemical-attacks/2017/04/10/id/783607/

Image: Official: Russia Knew in Advance of Syrian Chemical Attack

The United States has concluded Russia knew in advance of Syria’s chemical weapons attack last week, a senior U.S. official said Monday. The official said a drone operated by Russians was flying over a hospital as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment. Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.

The senior official said the U.S. has no proof of Russian involvement in the actual chemical attack in northern Syria. But the official said the presence of the surveillance drone over the hospital couldn’t have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment.

The official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on intelligence matters and demanded anonymity, didn’t give precise timing for when the drone was in the area, where more than 80 people were killed. The official also didn’t provide details for the military and intelligence information that form the basis of what the Pentagon now believes.

Another U.S. official cautioned that no final American determination has been made that Russia knew ahead of time that chemical weapons would be used. That official wasn’t authorized to speak about internal administration deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The allegation of Russian foreknowledge is grave, even by the standards of the currently dismal U.S.-Russian relations. Although Russia has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, and they’ve coordinated military attacks together, Washington has never previously accused Moscow of complicity in any attack that involved the gassing of innocent civilians, including children. The former Cold War foes even worked together in 2013 to remove and destroy more than 1,300 tons of Syrian chemical weapons and agents.

Until Monday, U.S. officials had said they weren’t sure whether Russia or Syria operated the drone. The official said the U.S. is now convinced Russia controlled the drone. The official said it still isn’t clear who was flying the jet that bombed the hospital, because the Syrians also fly Russian-made aircraft. 

U.S. officials previously have said Russians routinely work with Syrians at the Shayrat air base where the attack is supposed to have originated. U.S. officials say the chemical weapons were stored there and that those elements add to the conclusion that Russia was complicit in the attack.

Last Thursday 59 Tomahawk missiles were fired on the government-controlled base in the United States’ first direct military action against Assad’s forces. The U.S. has been focusing its military action in Syria on defeating the Islamic State group.

On Monday, Col. John J. Thomas, a U.S. military spokesman, said the U.S. has taken extra defensive precautions in Syria in case of possible retaliation against American forces for the cruise missile attack. Thomas told reporters at the Pentagon that the increased emphasis on defensive measures to protect U.S. troops on the ground in Syria led to a slight and temporary decline in offensive U.S. airstrikes against IS in Syria.

There has been no Syrian retaliation so far for the cruise missile attack, which destroyed or rendered inoperable more than 20 Syria air force planes, he said.

Thomas said the U.S. intends to return to full offensive air operations against IS as soon as possible. 

© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Three Major Atrocities U.S. Declined to Stop. Assad chemical attack spurs President Trump to choose intervention, launch military strike


Reported by Jim Stinson | Updated 07 Apr 2017 at 6:33 AM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/three-major-atrocities-u-s-declined-to-stop/

On Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson surprised the world by saying “steps are underway” to consider removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. Later Thursday night, President Donald Trump authorized a U.S. missile strike against a Syrian government target.

Assad is blamed for launching a Tuesday chemical attack on Syrian civilians in the city of Idlib in northwest Syria, near the Turkish border. Trump condemned the attack without hesitation as he spoke in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, with Jordanian King Abdullah II by his side.

“Yesterday’s chemical attack, a chemical attack that was so horrific in Syria against innocent people, including women, small children and even beautiful little babies, their deaths were an affront to humanity,” said Trump.

Trump said Assad’s chemical attack crossed many lines. In saying that, Trump used a metaphor similar to former President Barack Obama’s “red line” warning to Syria in 2013. It demonstrated Trump wasn’t afraid of being seen of drawing a line, but failing to act later.

But in acting, Trump has re-engaged the United States in a region where he has promised to prevent the nation from being drawn into another bloody quagmire. Trump has many long-term options, of course. He can lead a coalition of bombing attacks like the one that toppled Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. That brief series of coalition attacks required no U.S. ground troops and did achieve regime change. Or a coalition can more aggressively invade Syria, as the United States and partners did to Iraq in 2003.

That latter option is already roiling the political waters, as it did in 2013. Trump supporters are waging an aggressive campaign online to talk the president out of any kind of war with Assad, even as missiles started flying. The argument that critics of intervention could make is that the United States is under no obligation to be the world’s policeman. While the United States often regrets standing completely idle during atrocities, it has done so — quite often.

Rwanda 1994

In 1994, demoralized by a failure to change things after intervention in Somalia in late 1992, the United States stood down while genocide raged in Rwanda, in southeast Africa. In just 100 days, ethnic Hutu extremists slaughtered about 800,000 people in Rwanda, according to BBC. Canada and a few other nations wanted action. But nothing seemed to stir the U.N. or the U.S.

Part of the reason was U.S. politics and the hot 1994 elections, which gave the GOP the House for the first time since 1954. President Bill Clinton was worried about the Somali experience in 1993, in which U.S. soldiers were killed trying to intervene in that troubled African nation’s problems.

Clinton’s advisers also hesitated at calling the killings “genocide.” According to State Department officials, a young Clinton aide named Susan Rice expressed fear in a private meeting that “if we use the word ‘genocide’ and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [congressional] election?”

Rice has said she cannot recall the remark. She would later become President Obama’s national security adviser. Preventing the 100-day genocide is one of Clinton’s biggest regrets.

The Congo 1998 – ?

The Rwanda genocide resulted in massive problems for its western neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the nation formerly known as Zaire.

Beginning during the war of 1998-2002, conflict has taken more than 5.4 million lives since 1998. Most perished from disease and malnutrition, according to the International Rescue Committee. Despite the severe death toll, which far exceeds that of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, Clinton and former President George W. Bush never moved to substantially get involved.

The D.R. of Congo still has massive problems, according to the committee.

Cambodia 1975 – 1979

After reaching a peace agreement with North Vietnam and then abandoning South Vietnam in 1975 (by cutting off aid), the United States had no motivation to engage further against the bad guys in Southeast Asia. And as usual, the timing of genocidal maniacs was perfect. In this case, the dictator was Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, which ran Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

During the Khmer Rouge reign, at least 1.5 million Cambodians died of starvation, execution, disease, or overwork, according to The History Channel. The U.S. and the U.N. stood back during the reign of terror.

In a twist, it was a then-recent U.S. enemy, Vietnam, which ended Pol Pot’s tenure by invading in 1979 and sending Pol Pot into the jungle, where he died in 1998.

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Five Biggest Issues Looming Over Xi Visit. The likely — and likely uncomfortable — topics of conversation for Sunshine Summit


Reported by Edmund Kozak | Updated 06 Apr 2017 at 8:03 AM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/five-biggest-issues-looming-over-xi-visit/

From China’s alleged cheating in the global marketplace, to expansion of its military presence in the South China Sea, to President Donald Trump’s threats of giving nuclear weapons to Japan, the American president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will have no shortage of touchy topics to broach.

Indeed, the meeting “will be a very difficult one,” Trump tweeted last week. Here are the five most important issues the two leaders could confront when they meet in Florida this week at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

North Korea

North Korea is certain to be a topic of conversation between Trump and Xi. The rogue Communist dictatorship has been a frequent target of Trump’s ire — both before and after the election.

“North Korea is behaving very badly,” Trump tweeted in March. “They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help!”

According to various reports, White House sources have claimed that Trump intends to use the U.S.-China trade relationship — which greatly benefits China — as leverage in order to pressure the Chinese into using their own relationship with North Korea to rein in the isolated dictatorship’s nuclear aggression.

It is obvious that the Trump Administration has absolutely no patience for North Korea’s antics. Rex Tillerson’s statement issued Wednesday, following North Korea’s launching of a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, made that clear.

“The U.S. has spoken enough about North Korea,” Tillerson said, “We have no further comment.”

Currency Manipulation

“Well they, I think [the Chinese are] grand champions at manipulation of currency. So I haven’t held back,” Trump said in February. “We’ll see what happens.” Indeed, Trump campaigned in part on the promise to “get tough” with China, and specifically said he would designate them as currency manipulators.

Given the timing of the meeting, however, if the subject does come up, it is likely to do so only in passing and will remain unsettled. When asked in February if the Treasury was planning on designating China as a currency manipulator, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that he would follow the department’s standard methods when it came to analyzing trading partners’ currency practices.

Those standard methods are reports on said practices which the department must publish twice a year — on April 15 and October 15. If the Trump administration does intend to designate China a currency manipulator, the world will know when the first report is published — just over a week from the Trump-Xi summit.

Trade Deficits

Another issue sure to come up is the United States’ massive trade deficits with China, another topic Trump brought up frequently while campaigning, and one which he has taken a marked interest in addressing.

“We can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses,” Trump tweeted last Thursday.

And indeed, on Friday Trump issued two executive orders that will begin a three-month investigation into the causes of the country’s trade deficits on a country-by-country basis. China, along with Japan and Canada, was named in the orders specifically.

South China Sea

Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea is another area of contention between the two nations that is sure to crop up during the Sunshine Summit. Emboldened by the perceived weakness of the Obama administration, the Chinese began an aggressive campaign of artificial-island building in the South China Sea, a region they believe to be rightfully their territory.

“We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that first, the island-building stops, and second, your access to those islands is also not going to be allowed,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his confirmation hearing in January.

So far seven islands have been built in the region’s Spratly island chain. In April of last year, the Chinese landed a military plane on one of these islands, Fiery Cross Reef, in what was widely seen as a not-so-subtle assertion of power.

While the Chinese government maintains the islands are not aggressive in purpose, nor designed for military use, Fiery Cross Reef has a 10,000 foot-long runway — more than large enough to support long-range bombers. Needless to say, American allies in the region are getting nervous.

East China Sea

Unfortunately the South China Sea isn’t the only powder-keg in the region. The East China Sea is equally prone to become a region of open conflict, if not more so, due to a long-running dispute between China and Japan.

Trump Must Avoid a North Korean Trap at China SummitPresident cannot waste America’s economic leverage on toothless promises to rein in Pyongyang

The Senkaku Islands, an uninhabited island chain that lies just 90 miles north of the Japanese island of Ishigaki, is currently Japanese territory but has long been claimed by China. China has been steadily escalating its aggression in the region for some time. The number of Japanese intercepts of Chinese aircraft has increased each year since 2008 — there were over 640 such intercepts between April and December of last year. Given the United States’ treaty obligations to Japan, a conflict between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands stands a very real chance of escalating into a significant war.

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US Military Confirms N. Korea Fired Missile into Sea of Japan


Posted by NEWSMAX.COM | Tuesday, 04 Apr 2017 07:40 PM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/NKorea-military-missile-US/2017/04/04/id/782545/

Image: US Military Confirms N. Korea Fired Missile into Sea of Japan / North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (AFP/Getty)

The U.S. military confirmed Tuesday that nuclear-armed North Korea had fired a ballistic missile, finding it posed no threat to North America and vowing to work closely with its regional allies. The move came after the reclusive state warned it will retaliate if the global community ramps up sanctions over its latest round of weapons tests.

“The clock has now run out, and all options are on the table,” a senior White House official told CNN, following the news.

“North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a written statement. “The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.”

Ahead of a key visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump had said the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.

“U.S. Pacific Command is fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security,” the military command in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region said.

“The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.”

PACOM said it determined the launch of the KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile took place at 11:42 am (2142 GMT), landing in the Sea of Japan at 11:51 am, in line with findings by the South Korean defense ministry. Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.

© AFP 2017

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