Contradicting official accounts of Thursday’s final moments of EgyptAir Flight 804, a French news outlet reports the pilot of the doomed jetliner spoke with Egyptian air traffic control for several minutes before the plane plunged into the Mediterranean.
Since the crash, authorities have said the plane lurched left, then right, spun all the way around and plummeted 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) into the sea — never issuing a distress call. The crash resulted in the death of all 66 people aboard.
A report on French TV’s Station M6 is now disputing that account. According to the report, pilot Mohamed Said Shoukair had a conversation lasting several minutes with Egyptian authorities, and was reportedly trying to deal with smoke inside the plane.
Flight data automatically sent by sensors on the Airbus 320 has confirmed there was smoke in the cabin and lavatories at the time of the crash.
French TV reported that after Shoukair finished speaking with authorities, the pilot made an “emergency descent.”
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said finding the exact cause of the crash “will take time.” Terrorism has been widely reported as a likely cause of the crash.
“This is not one scenario that we can exclusively subscribe to … all scenarios are possible,” the president said Sunday on Egyptian television.
Egypt has deployed a robot sub to recover cockpit voice and data recorders.
Greek officials say as of 2:48 a.m. local time the pilot was talking to Greek authorities and appeared to be in good spirits. By 3:27 a.m., the sensors detected a fire and a fault in two of the plane’s cockpit windows, according to data published by The Aviation Herald. By that time, there was no response to calls to the plane from the ground. (For more from the author of “New Report Disputes Official Account of Communication with Downed Plane” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Egyptair.a330-200.su-gci.arp_.jpg18082935Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-25 23:30:282016-05-26 01:58:24New Report Disputes Official Account of Communication with Downed Plane
The Obama administration has not designated a single Iranian as a human rights abuser since finalizing last summer’s comprehensive nuclear agreement, despite rising abuse in the Islamic Republic, including state-sanctioned killings and the imprisonment of opposition figures.
The administration’s hesitance to use sanctions as a tool to confront Iranian human rights abuses, despite past promises made to Congress, has prompted outrage on Capitol Hill among lawmakers who were given assurances the administration would act.
A senior administration official admitted during questioning on Capitol Hill Wednesday that the U.S. has not sanctioned a single Iranian human rights abuser since the deal was finalized. The disclosure calls into question further administration promises to continue using sanctions as a tool to pressure Iran . . .
Republicans and Democrats alike are now accusing the administration of misleading Congress about its commitment to sanctions and saying that it has avoided such designations in order to prevent the Iranian regime from walking away from the deal.
“We were told during this process that getting the nuclear issue off the table was so critical and we could actually expect Iran to engage in additional destabilizing activity,” Rep. David Cicilline (D., R.I.) said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee examining the administration’s promises regarding Iran. (Read more from “Obama Admin: U.S. Stopped Sanctioning Iranian Human Rights Abusers After Nuke Deal” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Obama_signs_FDA_Food_Safety_Modernization_Act_cropped.jpg25133528Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-25 22:51:312016-05-26 00:58:06Obama Admin: U.S. Stopped Sanctioning Iranian Human Rights Abusers After Nuke Deal
A top Iranian commander has claimed that the Islamic Republic had the ability to destroy Israel “in less than eight minutes,” according to comments offered on the same day that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that Iran would continue to build its ballistic missile arsenal in defiance of U.S. demands.
“If the Supreme Leader’s orders [are] to be executed, with the abilities and the equipment at our disposal, we will raze the Zionist regime in less than eight minutes,” Ahmad Karimpour, a senior adviser to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp’s al-Quds Force, was quoted as stating, according to regional reports.
The threat comes as Khamenei declared in a speech Monday that U.S. “cries” over Iran’s ballistic missile program will not alter the regime’s behavior.
“They [the U.S.] have engaged in a lot of hue and cry over Iran’s missile capabilities, but they should know that this ballyhoo does not have any influence and they cannot do a damn thing,” Khamenei was quoted as saying during a speech Monday in Tehran, according to Iran’s state-controlled media.
“Jihad still exists,” Khamenei added “Great Jihad means not abiding by the enemy whom we are fighting; not abiding by enemy in economy, politics, culture and art is the great Jihad.” (Read more from “Iran Threatens to Destroy Israel in ‘Less Than Eight Minutes'” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Ayatollah_Ali_Khamenei-1.jpg6821024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-23 23:39:272016-05-23 23:39:27Iran Threatens to Destroy Israel in ‘Less Than Eight Minutes’
U.S. officials say they are confident that a drone strike carried out in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province on Saturday killed top Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.
The strike is a bold move by the U.S. that represents a long overdue shift in strategy toward the Taliban.
Over the last year the U.S. has focused its diplomatic attention on pursuing peace talks with the Taliban. Hopes were raised last summer when Pakistan played host to face-to-face talks between the Afghan government and Taliban officials in early July.
However, weeks later just before a second round of talks was scheduled to be held, reports surfaced that Taliban Supreme leader Mullah Omar had died two years previously, causing disarray within the Taliban movement.
Pakistan helped install Akhtar Mansour as Mullah Omar’s successor, although Mansour initially had trouble consolidating his control over the group. Pakistan also helped engineer the placement of Sirajuddin Haqqani as Mansour’s deputy, thus cementing ties between the Taliban and the deadly Haqqani network, responsible for some of the fiercest attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.
Over the last eighteen months, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has gone out of his way to try to reach out to Pakistan to encourage it to use its influence to bring the Taliban to the peace table.
However, escalating Taliban violence in the country, which culminated in a major truck bombing that killed nearly 65 people in Kabul on April 19th, prompted Ghani to shift his strategy.
Ghani told a joint session of the Afghan parliament on April 25th that pursuing peace through negotiations with the Taliban was no longer a priority, and that Afghan security forces would destroy the “terrorists” through relentless air and ground operations.
The killing of Akhtar Mansour on Pakistani territory shows the U.S. also is making welcome changes to its Afghan strategy. It is unlikely the U.S. coordinated the drone strike with Pakistani officials, given Pakistan’s close links with Mansour. Pakistan has not yet officially responded to the strike, which almost certainly came as a major surprise.
The U.S. has sought to take advantage of possible openings for a Taliban reconciliation process but the wildcard has always been whether Pakistan would be willing to pressure Taliban leaders that shelter on its territory.
Without Pakistani willingness to crack down on Taliban elements on its side of the border, there is little reason to believe a reconciliation process is possible.
Only when the Taliban are under military pressure in both Afghanistan and Pakistan will there be any realistic hope for a peace settlement.
U.S.-Pakistan relations have recently soured over U.S. Congressional moves to block U.S. funding for additional F-16 aircraft for Pakistan and to enforce conditions on other U.S. military aid because of Pakistan’s failure to crack down on the Haqqani network.
The killing of the Taliban Supremo on Pakistani territory is likely to deepen those tensions. (For more from the author of “Killing of Taliban Leader in Pakistan Demonstrates Shift in US Strategy” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/SF_Sgt_Mario_Vigil_with_SF_and_NA_forces_west_of_Konduz_in_November_2001.jpg7681024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-23 23:07:042016-05-23 23:07:04Killing of Taliban Leader in Pakistan Demonstrates Shift in US Strategy
The following essay by Matthew Bracken was prompted by a cell-phone video from Germany of a culture-enricher assaulting a German teenaged boy. I won’t embed the video; I find it almost too unbearable to watch. To see a young man so unable to defend himself, so unwilling to stand up and be a man, is disheartening and dismaying.
This is heartbreaking to see, but very important.
This is how a dhimmi is created in a gun-free country, where armed self-defense is an alien concept. This is prison yard rules, and the young German is just fresh meat. This German kid will probably convert to Islam just to stop the pain and “gain the respect” of his new masters.
Note how the bully threatens to beat him every day just to harden him up and make him a man. A similar psychological process occurs in military boot camp with new recruits. He doesn’t know it yet, but his mother and sisters are now Moslem chattel property. He won’t lift a finger to defend German women; he is a dhimmi at best. Most likely he will just convert as a matter of bare survival, but he will always be a “second-class Muslim”, even if he submits. These IslamoNazi bullies will have him reciting the Shahada in less than a month, and after that, his sister is toast. Just fresh meat for the hijra jihadis.
This is how Islam has spread for 1,400 years: brute force, threats, intimidation, and using terror as an example of how far they are willing to go to force the spread.
Smug Americans who own firearms might laugh at the current plight of the Europeans, but they should not. The Europeans have been brainwashed by the “multi-kulti-uber-alles” Left to simply submit when the planned hijra invasion happened, which is happening now. The ordinary Euros were betrayed by Quisling traitors in high offices. From the Muslim point of view, the hijra invasion is moving from the dawah (preaching) phase to the jihad phase, using violence and threats of even greater violence to force a complete Muslim takeover. That German boy now understands who are the alpha males, and who are not: The Moslems are, and he isn’t.
But there is the long-term danger in this process even to America. If Islam wins in Europe, a well-known social/genetic dynamic will kick in. All of the German girls and women (even the man-hating radical feminists and lesbians) will be raped, enslaved, or “married” by force, but one way or the other, there will be a rising generation of Muslims in Europe who are half-German.
People should understand a genetic process called “hybrid vigor.” There is a reason the Ottoman Turks collected European boys to be raised as Janissaries. The Arab desert Muslims have terrible DNA after 1,400 years of first-cousin inbreeding, but when they impregnate their German conquest victims they will create generations of 100% full Muslims who are half German. Of course, this will happen in every European country, not only Germany.
Americans should not be smug about the collapse and Muslim conquest of Europe. Half-German “Super Muslims” will be a tough adversary. Remember the Ottoman Janissaries from history. They were fearsome fanatics, but also big, strong and smart.
Another crop of “Super Muslims” were the Berbers of Morocco, who provided most of the brains and muscle used for the invasion of Spain in 711 AD. The “desert Arabs” were a scrawny and pitiful bunch. Man for man, they were weaklings compared to the hearty Berber mountain folk. But the Berbers were divided, tribe against tribe, from one Atlas Mountains valley to another. The invading Arab armies picked off one tribe at a time, and forced them all to convert. These newly united Berber Super Muslims were imbued with ”convert zeal,” and ready to invade new worlds to spread the banner of Islam.
United for the first time in history, the Muslim Berbers of Morocco (under mostly Arab leadership) turned their natural war-lust against the Christians of Spain. Like the pre-Muslim Berber tribes had been before them, each Spanish Christian principality was divided from the others across the mountains of Spain. The united and newly converted Muslim Berber armies swept over the separate Spanish fiefdoms one after the other.
The point is that Muslim invasions have often succeeded against divided foes who were, man for man, much stronger and even smarter. A generation later, this invigorated hybrid population can be very dangerous, because after the consolidation phase where the invaded region is brought under united Islamic control, they will be straining to burst their borders and conquer new worlds, like the Super Muslim Berbers did in Spain. Think also of Iran in this context. United Arab Muslim armies conquered Persia, creating another brand of hybridized “Super Muslims.”
I shudder to think of what German Super Muslims will be capable of in thirty years, if Islam is triumphant in Europe. They would make the Earth shake.
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Matthew Bracken was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957, and attended the University of Virginia, where he received a BA in Russian Studies and was commissioned as a naval officer in 1979. Later in that year he graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, and in 1983 he led a Naval Special Warfare detachment to Beirut, Lebanon. Since then he’s been a welder, boat builder, charter captain, ocean sailor, essayist and novelist. He lives in Florida. Links to his short stories and essays may be found at EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com. For his previous essays, see the Matthew Bracken Archives. (For more from the author of “The Coming European Islamic Super-State” please click HERE)
Article 27 of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact could be the beginnings of a Pacific Union — a governing body for implementing the trade agreement styled after the European Commission.
Entitled, “Administrative and Institutional Provisions,” it establishes the Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission that will have the power to promulgate rules pursuant to the agreement, implement those rules, and interpret those rules.
That is, legislative, executive, and judicial powers all wrapped into one unaccountable, multinational commission — with no separation of powers whatsoever.
Think that’s insane?
The commission will be implementing the largest trade agreement in world history regulating about 40 percent of the global economy.
When it comes to amending the agreement or allowing other countries such as China to opt into the agreement, it is not very clear whether that will require votes of Congress.
As noted by Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning in a statement last November, “While the U.S. Trade Representative provided a chapter summary on its final provisions that it would take votes of Congress to amend the agreement and to allow other countries to dock into the agreement, the text of the agreement is not nearly so explicit, leaving significant concerns about how the trade agreement will function and whether U.S. representative democracy will be meaningful in its wake.”
Manning added, “A chapter summary is not the agreement itself. The danger of a runaway commission is too great for this to be ignored.”
President Barack Obama has not yet signed the TPP, even though Congress approved consideration of it under Trade Act of 2015. The law requires that Obama notify Congress at least 90 days prior to signing it, which he has indicated he will.
Meaning, Obama could be signing the agreement any day now.
After Obama signs the agreement, then he has 60 days to provide Congress with a list of required changes to U.S. law to implement the agreement. And, then Congress must consider the agreement on and up or down basis.
But the fact that it has not been signed yet, this late into Obama’s last year of office, could mean that Obama does not want the 60-day window to begin until we’re well into September — meaning Congress would not get to vote on the trade agreement until after the election.
The largest trade deal in world history may end up being approved by a lame duck Congress, composed of defeated and retiring members who are no longer accountable to voters.
In the meantime, both presumptive nominees of the major political parties, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, say they’re against TPP. Opposition to big trade deals that outsource Americans jobs and fail to address currency manipulation overseas has been a major theme in this election campaign.
A poll by Pat Caddell commissioned by Americans for Limited Government found that after being told what was in the agreement, Republicans opposed it 66 percent to 15 percent, Democrats oppose it 44 percent to 30 percent and Independents oppose it 52 percent to 19 percent.
In a cynical sense, then, it makes sense that Obama would seek to insulate members of Congress from the political fallout of an unpopular trade deal by scheduling the vote after the election.
But Obama also must consider the political consequences of signing the TPP on the eve of the election. If both candidates remain opposed, what is the political basis for proceeding? Especially a trade agreement that will create an unelected, transnational commission regulating the world economy without any votes in Congress.
Democrats including Clinton might pay a heavy price in November if Obama tries to sneak TPP across the finish line in a lame duck session of Congress — all to the benefit of Trump. Something to consider as we inch closer to the election. (For more from the author of “Pacific Union Threat to Sovereignty in 12-Nation Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/16534118120_0d18452074_b.jpg7521024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-23 01:20:322016-05-23 01:20:32Pacific Union Threat to Sovereignty in 12-Nation Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal
Chinese and Russian warplanes have been increasingly aggressive intercepting U.S. military aircraft and patrolling near America’s West Coast, prompting the Air Force’s top combat officer to label their provocations one of his top worries.
Air Force Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, who leads Air Combat Command, said in an interview with USA TODAY that meeting the challenge from the Russian and Chinese to flights in international airspace is essential but dangerous . . .
Both countries are intent on expanding their spheres of influence — Russia in eastern Europe and the Pacific with China focusing much of its effort over the disputed South China Sea.
“Their intent is to get us not to be there,” Carlisle said. “So that the influence in those international spaces is controlled only by them. My belief is that we cannot allow that to happen. We have to continue to operate legally in international airspace and international waterways. We have to continue to call them out when they are being aggressive and unsafe.”
The stakes are high. Aggressive intercepts of U.S. patrol planes run the risk of mid-air collisions that would escalate tensions among nuclear powers. (Read more from “Threat From Russian and Chinese Warplanes Mounts” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Planes_in_Russian_Parad_2010_p9.jpg25923888Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-23 01:15:072016-05-23 01:15:07Threat From Russian and Chinese Warplanes Mounts
The full-blown economic collapse that is happening in Venezuela right now is a preview of what Americans will be experiencing in the not too distant future. Just a few years ago, most Venezuelans could never have imagined that food shortages would become so severe that people would literally hunt dogs and cats for food. But as you will see below, this is now taking place. Sadly, this is what the endgame of socialism looks like. When an all-powerful government is elevated far above all other institutions in society and radical leftists are given the keys to the kingdom, this is the result. Food shortages, looting and rampant violent crime have all become part of daily life in Venezuela, and we all need to watch as this unfolds very carefully, because similar scenarios will soon be playing out all over the planet.
The funny thing is that Venezuela actually has more “wealth” than most countries in the world. According to the CIA, Venezuela actually has more proven oil reserves than anyone else on the globe – including Saudi Arabia.
So how did such a wealthy nation find itself plunged into full-blown economic collapse so rapidly, and could a similar thing happen to us?
The president of Venezuela has declared a 60 day state of emergency in a desperate attempt to restore order, but most people don’t anticipate that it will do much good. Social order continues to unravel as the economy systematically implodes. The Venezuelan economy shrunk by 5.7 percent last year, and it is being projected that it will contract by another 8 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, inflation is raging wildly out of control. According to the IMF, the official inflation rate in Venezuela will be somewhere around 720 percent this year and 2,200 percent next year.
If people are able to get their hands on some money, they immediately rush out to the stores to use it before the prices go up again. This has created devastating shortages of food, basic supplies and medicine.
Electricity is also in short supply, and a two day workweek has been imposed on many government employees in a desperate attempt to save power. Violent crime is seemingly everywhere, and most law-abiding Venezuelans lock themselves in their homes at night as a result.
Much of the crime is being perpetrated by the mafia and the gangs, but sometimes it is just normal people looking for food. Desperate people do desperate things, and according to the Guardian there have been “107 episodes of looting or attempted looting in the first quarter of 2016″…
Crowds of people in Venezuela have stolen flour, chicken and even underwear this week as looting increases across the country in the wake of shortages of many basic products. Many people have adopted the habit of getting up in the dead of night to spend hours in long lines in front of supermarkets. But as more end up empty-handed and black market prices soar, plundering is rising in Venezuela, an Opec nation that was already one of the world’s most violent countries.
There is no official data, but the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict, a rights group, have reported 107 episodes of looting or attempted looting in the first quarter of 2016. Videos of crowds breaking into shops, swarming on to trucks or fighting over products frequently make the rounds on social media, though footage is often hard to confirm.
One example of this looting took place on May 11th. Thousands of hungry people stormed Maracay Wholesale Market in central Venezuela, and the police seemed powerless to stop them…
“They took milk, pasta, flour, oil, and milk powder. There were 5,000 people,”one witness told Venezuela outlet El Estímulo.
People from across the entire state came to the supermarket because there were rumors that some products not found anywhere else would be sold there.
“There were 250 people for each National Guard officer… lots of people and few soldiers. At least one officer was beat up because he tried to stop the crowd,” another source told El Estímulo.
You can see some rough footage of this incident right here…
It is important to remember that this was not an isolated incident. As people have become hungrier and hungrier, there have been reports of looting at “pharmacies, shopping malls, supermarkets, and food delivery trucks“. During some of these episodes there have actually been people chanting “we are hungry”.
Other Venezuelans have resorted to digging in dumpsters and trash cans for food. This many seem detestable to many Americans, but when you are desperately hungry you may be surprised at what you are willing to do.
And as I mentioned above, some Venezuelans and now actually hunting dogs and cats for food…
Ramón Muchacho, Mayor of Chacao in Caracas, said the streets of the capital of Venezuela are filled with people killing animals for food.
Through Twitter, Muchacho reported that in Venezuela, it is a “painful reality” that people “hunt cats, dogs and pigeons” to ease their hunger.
You may be tempted to dismiss these people as “barbarians”, but someday Americans will be doing the exact same thing.
There has been a breakdown of basic social services in Venezuela as well. Acute shortages of drugs and medical supplies are having absolutely tragic results. When I read the following from the New York Times, this crisis in Venezuela become much more real to me…
By morning, three newborns were already dead.
The day had begun with the usual hazards: chronic shortages of antibiotics, intravenous solutions, even food. Then a blackout swept over the city, shutting down the respirators in the maternity ward.
Doctors kept ailing infants alive by pumping air into their lungs by hand for hours. By nightfall, four more newborns had died.
So once again I ask – how did such a thing happen to such a wealthy nation?
Here is Business Insider’s explanation…
The real culprit is chavismo, the ruling philosophy named for Chavez and carried forward by Maduro, and its truly breathtaking propensity for mismanagement (the government plowed state money arbitrarily into foolish investments); institutional destruction (as Chavez and then Maduro became more authoritarian and crippled the country’s democratic institutions); nonsense policy-making (like price and currency controls); and plain thievery (as corruption has proliferated among unaccountable officials and their friends and families).
Are not the same things happening here?
The U.S. government is mismanaging our money too. During Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House, the U.S. national debt has risen by more than eight trillion dollars. We waste money in some of the most bizarre ways imaginable, and at this point our national debt is nearly the double the size it was just prior to the last major financial crisis.
Institutional destruction is also a legacy of the Obama regime. With each passing day, our society resembles the Republic that our founders originally intended less and less, and it resembles socialist dictatorships more and more. We may as well not even have a Constitution anymore, because at this point nobody really follows it.
The third thing that Business Insider mentioned, “nonsense policy-making”, is a perfect description of what has been going on in Washington D.C. these days. Perhaps that is why Congress only has a 12.8 percent approval rating right now.
Lastly, thievery and corruption are also out of control in our nation too. The elite and special interest groups spend massive amounts of money to get their favorites into office, and in turn those politicians shower their good friends with money and favors. It is a very sick relationship, but that is how our system now works.
We are sitting on the largest mountain of debt in the history of the planet, and our debt-fueled prosperity is completely dependent on the rest of the world lending us gigantic amounts of money at ridiculously low interest rates and continuing to use our increasingly shaky currency which we are debasing at a staggering pace.
We consume far more than we produce, and unlike Venezuela we aren’t sitting on hundreds of billions of barrels of oil. The amount of “real wealth” that we actually have does not justify our current standard of living. The only way that we are able to live the way that we do is by stealing consumption from the future. One study has found that our debt level is the highest that it has been since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and yet we continue to race down this road to economic oblivion without even thinking twice about it.
What you sow is what you will reap.
And just like Venezuela, America will ultimately reap a very bitter harvest. (For more from the author of “Food Shortages, Looting and Economic Collapse Are Coming to America Just Like Venezuela” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/town-sign-96612_960_720.jpg720960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-21 22:55:362016-05-21 23:24:54Food Shortages, Looting and Economic Collapse Are Coming to America Just Like Venezuela
The Islamic State (Isis) has executed 25 alleged spies by lowering them into a huge tub of nitric acid, until their ‘organs dissolved’, Iocal news source Iraqi News has claimed. The report could not be independently verified.
The alleged spies were captured in the IS (Daesh) stronghold of Mosul, in northern Iraq, accused of working for the Iraqi government’s security forces.
Mosul is the largest city in Iraq still under IS control, but is facing increasing pressure from the north, south and east by the Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga forces and US-led Western air strikes. A number of shocking and brutal killings have taken place at the hands of IS as they try to assert their domination over the the city, which Barack Obama had predicted would fall be the end of this year.
According to witnesses of the killings, the 25 alleged ‘spies’ were tied together with a huge rope and lowered in a basin containing the highly corrosive acid. Nitric acid is generally used for manufacturing ammonium nitrate that can be used to make fertiliser and explosives but it can also be used for photoengraving, etching steel, and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. (Read more from “ISIS Executes 25 Iraqi ‘Spies’ by Lowering Them Into Nitric Acid Until Their ‘Organs Dissolve'” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Isis-flag.jpg15362048Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-21 02:02:052016-05-21 02:02:05ISIS Executes 25 Iraqi ‘Spies’ by Lowering Them Into Nitric Acid Until Their ‘Organs Dissolve’
To say the bilateral relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China is ‘complex’ might just be the ultimate of understatements.
Consider the facts: Beijing and Washington enjoy rich historic and cultural ties that date back generations. Over 300,000 Chinese students today attend American universities, only adding to the richness and cultural diversity of these important institutions. And most important of all, the U.S.-China bilateral trade relationship is worth over $591 Billion and rising.
Bearing in mind how much both sides gain from a productive and strong partnership, many in Washington—and certainly many around the world—hoped that strong ties would serve as a springboard towards Beijing’s “peaceful rise.”
Indeed, China’s economy is now the second largest by measure of gross domestic product (ranked number one if you consider purchasing power parity) and has only fueled hopes of Beijing becoming what is popularly termed a “responsible stakeholder”—that China, with a ‘stake’ in the stability of the international system thanks to strong global economic ties, would follow widely accepted international relations norms and practices.
Cooperation on areas of shared and mutual interest would be emphasized with a clear hope any areas of competition—with a clear understanding that there would be competition in multiple domains—would not derail or weaken what had been accomplished.
Sadly, such hopes have not transcended into reality.
Unfortunately for the United States and its allies in Asia, it seems Beijing has decided to undertake a very different direction in its foreign policy and security goals over the last several years—one that very well undermines the very peace and security Asia has known for decades, the very bedrock of the region’s awe inspiring economic transformation.
In what can only be described as an arch of instability stretching North from the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands all the way to the very southern edges of the South China Sea and now moving west to what is commonly referred to the Second Island Chain, Beijing has decided that an aggressive policy of slowly but surely weakening the status quo serves its interests.
And Chinese actions clearly demonstrate the above approach. In just the last several years (and far from a comprehensive list), Beijing has sought to enforce lines drawn over vast expanses of the South China Sea along with building islands in this hotly contested area, declared an Air-Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea without any prior warning along with booting regional allies like the Philippines out of disputed reefs far closer to the Philippines than China.
The goal, many would argue, is to dominate Asia, but more importantly, displace the United States as the preeminent power in the region.
In fact, it now seems America, along with its allies and partners, are slowly moving towards a much more intense security competition with China in the months and years to come, the consequences of which cannot be simply swept aside—especially considering Washington and Beijing both have nuclear weapons.
Sadly, recent headlines only prove Beijing’s aggressive actions throughout the region could spark a superpower clash that has not been seen in decades.
On Tuesday, a U.S. EP-3 Orion aircraft flying in international airspace over the South China Sea was approached by two Chinese advanced J-11 fighter jets.
While close monitoring of a military aircraft or naval vessel in international space is certainly a standard practice this interaction was anything but normal. Chinese aviators came within 50 feet of the U.S. plane, prompting the pilot to descend several thousand feet out of safety considerations.
Sound familiar? It should, as China has utilized this playbook before.
In 2014, a Chinese fighter jet came dangerously close to a P-8 U.S. surveillance plane and preformed a barrel roll over it. According to reports, “the Chinese J-11 fighter passed the P-8 Poseidon at 90 degrees, with its belly toward the U.S. aircraft to show off its weapons.”
Thankfully, recent incidents like the ones described above have not led to any injuries or deaths—but that has not always been the case.
Back in 2001, an American EP-3 aircraft collided with a Chinese J-8 fighter jet. The pilot of the J-8 was killed while the U.S. aircraft was forced to undertake an emergency landing in China on Hainan Island. A tense standoff ensued. Thankfully the U.S. crew was released weeks later.
When one considers carefully incidents like the above combined with Beijing’s clear attempts to alter the status quo, it is vital that Washington respond accordingly to not only reinforce America’s commitment to the region but demonstrate clear American leadership.
There are two clear ways to ensure China understands American resolve despite its constant testing of the international order in Asia.
First, Washington must ensure and forge deeper relations with other nations in East Asia—especially important allies. As explained in The Heritage Foundation’s recent Solutions 2016 report:
The U.S. has five treaty allies in the Asia–Pacific region (Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and Thailand). The U.S. should be unequivocal in its commitment to mutual defense under these treaties. The U.S. should engage these and other, non-ally nations in the region so that they do not perceive China as the sole game in town.
Also, considering that China is using military instruments of power to push back against America’s place in the region, maintaining a strong U.S. military presence is vital—in fact, it should be strengthened:
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard shipbuilding and modernization programs should be fully funded. The U.S. should also invest in long-range power projection systems (such as unmanned aerial vehicles, bombers, and nuclear attack submarines) and other systems that would counter efforts to deny U.S. forces access to the region or interfere with the freedom of the seas. In addition, the U.S. should maintain robust bases in the region to support U.S. forces.
Clearly the above only serves as a down payment in what can only be part of a comprehensive strategy to ensure China’s rise does not become Asia’s nightmare.
It is clear that only Washington has the power to balance Beijing and keep its increasing assertiveness in check. While America will certainly work with China in areas of cooperation which are certainly vast, Beijing must know Washington will resist any attempts to alter the status-quo while preserving the peace, security and freedom of the Asia-Pacific region. (For more from the author of “Tensions Rising With China After Near Collision” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/8139631138_7884b07df7_o.jpg19993000Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-20 23:00:182016-05-20 23:00:18Tensions Rising With China After Near Collision
