Tag: Diplomacy

China gathers naval leaders worldwide to discuss maritime security while US conducts drills to ‘destabilize S. China Sea’

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US and Philippines launch Balikatan joint military drills in South China Sea

This year’s staging of Balikatan, the allies’ largest annual military drill, will include a joint sail in the disputed South China Sea outside the Philippines’ territorial waters. The French navy, a first-time Balikatan participant, and the Australian navy will also join the manoeuvres.

While the US and the Philippines resumed joint naval patrols in the area last year, and the US has in the past sailed there with other allies and partners, it will be the first time that the Balikatan drills have extended beyond 12 nautical miles off the Philippine coast and into waters claimed by China.

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Six Philippine coast guard vessels will also participate in the drill, the first time the service — which has been at the forefront of frequent clashes with China over the past year — has been included in a military exercise.

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Another closely watched component of the drills will be the Strategic Mid-Range Fires missile system, known as Typhon, which has a range of up to 2,500km. The US Army airlifted the system to the Philippines this month, the first such deployment in the Indo-Pacific. Intermediate-range ground-launched missiles had been banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, but the pact collapsed in 2019 after both the US and Russia left it.

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Troops will also practise tracking and targeting air and missile threats, retaking enemy-occupied islands in the Philippines’ far north, just south of Taiwan, and sinking a ship off the coast facing the South China Sea, expanding on drills last year.

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The exercise coincides with an annual conference by China’s Navy, which will be attended by senior military officers including from the US. It also comes as US secretary of state Antony Blinken is heading to China on Wednesday in the two countries’ latest effort to manage tense relations.

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China gathers naval leaders worldwide to discuss maritime security while US conducts drills to ‘destabilize S. China Sea

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Defying Niger exit order leaves U.S. troops vulnerable, whistleblower says

Ms. Cat

Defying Niger exit order leaves U.S. troops vulnerable, whistleblower says

“We have Army soldiers right now in Niger who aren’t getting their troop rotations, who aren’t getting their medicine, who aren’t getting their supplies, who aren’t getting their mail and the two senior people in the United States Army are sitting before me and it’s like ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,’” said Gaetz.

Previously:

BBC: Niger’s Junta Revokes Military Agreement With US

He [Col Amadou Abdramane] also alleged that the US delegation had accused Niger of making a secret deal to supply uranium to Iran. Col Abdramane described the accusation as “cynical” and “reminiscent of the second Iraq war”.

NATO has failed to weaken Russia

Ms. Cat
Full video

US General Says Russia’s Military Is Bigger Than Before Ukraine Invasion

“In sum, Russia is on track to command the largest military on the continent,” he said. “Regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia will be larger, more lethal, and angrier with the West than when it invaded.”

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Back in April 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin declared one goal of the proxy war was to “weaken” Russia. More recently, hawks in Congress have been claiming that the damage being done to the Russian military is a good enough reason to continue fueling the conflict.

Related:

Ukraine’s Top General Says Situation on the Battlefield Has ‘Significantly Worsened’

Foreign Policy of Russian Tsardom

Ms. Cat

This is worth a read if you’re interested in U.S. foreign policy. Note the similarities between the foreign policy of the Russian Empire and the United States.

Foreign Policy of Russian Tsardom

It is true, that whoever reads Russian newspapers, might suppose that all Russia enthusiastically applauds the Tsar’s policy of conquest; in them there is nothing but Jingoism, Panslavism, the deliverance of Christians from the Turkish, of Slavs from the German and Magyar, yoke. But, firstly, every one knows in what chains the Russian press lies bound; secondly, the Government itself has for years fostered this Jingoism and Panslavism in all schools; and thirdly, these newspapers express — so far as they express any sort of independent opinion, only the opinion of the town population, i.e. of the newly-created Bourgeoisie, naturally interested in new conquests as extensions of the Russian home market.

Venezuelan Position on the Essequibo Presented Before the ICJ

Ms. Cat
X/Twitter

Venezuelan Position on the Essequibo Presented Before the ICJ

*The confessions made by Raphael Trotman, Guyana’s Minister of Governance and Natural Resources during the period 2015-2020, in his book entitled “From Destiny to Prosperity”, make Exxon Mobil’s sponsorship and financing of Guyana’s unilateral action before the ICJ to validate the spurious 1899 award incontrovertible.

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*Guyana, under a false victimhood, is accompanied by its colonial chief, the U.K, and the bloodiest war machine humanity has ever known, the United States. Currently, Guyana, the Southern Command and the CIA, along with their partners in the global north, are preparing an aggression against Venezuela which poses a real threat to peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Related:

2020 Guyanese Election & Venezuela-Guyana Border Dispute

China exposes Philippines’ reneging on South China Sea commitment

Ms. Cat
Source

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China exposes Philippines’ reneging on South China Sea commitment

Wang pointed out that the Philippines has made a solemn promise to tow away the military vessel illegally grounded at Ren’ai Jiao, noting that 25 years have passed, and the Philippines has still not towed away the warship.

Noting that the Philippines has violated the understanding reached between the two sides on the proper management of the situation on Ren’ai jiao, the spokesperson said despite the Philippines’ commitment not to reinforce the grounded warship and to notify China in advance of any plans to resupply it, China, out of humanitarian considerations, has made temporary special arrangements for Philippine vessels transporting necessary supplies to the warship multiple times.

“However, the Philippines continues to send government vessels and warships to forcibly enter Ren’ai Jiao, attempting to transport construction materials for large-scale repairs and reinforcement of the warship in order to achieve permanent occupation of Ren’ai Jiao,” Wang said.

PH did promise to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin

Philippines Budgets for a Permanent Base at Second Thomas Shoal

It’s Time to Build Combined Forward Operating Base Sierra Madre