U.S., Other Countries Warn Citizens About Thai Martial Law
At least 11 governments updated advisories for their citizens traveling to or living in Thailand after the military declared martial law.
By Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol
BANGKOK—At least 11 governments on Tuesday updated advisories for their citizens traveling to or living in Thailand after the Royal Thai Army declared martial law.
The U.S. government asked its citizens to “stay alert, exercise caution and monitor media coverage,” and to “avoid areas where there are protest events, large gatherings, or security operations.”
The Australian government urged Australians in Thailand to “exercise a high degree of caution while traveling throughout Thailand due to the possibility of civil unrest.”
Pornthip Hirunkate, vice president of industry trade group the Tourism Council of Thailand, said the updated advisories were expected after the army declared martial law, which would hurt tourism.
The Tourism Council held a meeting Tuesday and forecast that martial law would likely cause tourist arrivals in the second quarter of this year to decline 9.5% on year, said Ms. Pornthip. A decline was anticipated anyway because of the prolonged unrest, but martial law will make it worse, she added.
The Thai tourism industry has been undermined by nearly seven months of anti-government protests that have left at least 28 people dead. Fifty governments have issued travel advisories warning their citizens about Thailand’s political turmoil since November.
The Bank of Thailand reported Monday that due to political unrest, income from tourism during the first quarter of this year fell 4% from the same period a year earlier. The Tourism Council said tourist arrivals declined 6% on-year in the first quarter due to political unrest. Tourism accounts for around 10% of Thailand’s GDP.
The tourism industry had hoped business would return more or less to normal when, less than two months ago, the Thai government lifted emergency rule for Bangkok and nearby areas. That emergency rule had been blamed for scaring away tourists during the high travel season, which ended in March.
Thailand’s flag-carrier Thai Airways and leading low-cost carrier AirAsia issued statements Tuesday saying they are operating as usual.
Other countries that updated advisories included the U.K., which said it was “looking into the implications” of the invocation of martial law.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said during a news conference that Japan is watching the situation in Thailand with concern, while strongly encouraging all parties there to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.
SHANGHAI, May 20. ITAR-TASS.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met on Tuesday at a naval port in Shanghai to officially open joint Russia-China naval drills.
Six warships from Russia’s Pacific Fleet, led by a missile cruiser, the Varyag, entered Shanghai’s port of Wusong on Sunday for the joint naval drills with China code-named Joint Sea 2014 and running on May 20-26 in the northern waters of the East China Sea.
President Putin, who is on an official visit to China on May 20-21, was greeted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he had arrived at the port.
The Russian delegation to China, led by Putin, includes Deputy Prime Ministers Arkady Dvorkovich and Dmitry Rogozin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Chief of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Alexander Fomin and Navy chief Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov.
The Chinese delegation represented at the port of Wusong includes Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and other high-ranking officials.
Besides the Varyag, a Slava-class missile cruiser with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine striking capabilities, the grouping of Russian warships includes the destroyer Bystry, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, the large amphibious ship Admiral Nevelskoy, the tanker Ilim and the sea-going tugboat Kalar.
The Russian side also brought two Su-30MK2 fighter jets, combat helicopters and special task marine forces as the Chinese Navy added six of its warships for the drills, which enter the active phase on May 23-24.
China’s CCTV.com cited on Sunday Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Navy Tian Zhong as saying that the exercise would be “different from previous China-Russia joint sea drills.”
“The two sides will mix all the warships together for the first time, and the ships will carry out battle exercises beyond visibility for the first time,” Tian Zhong was quoted as saying.
Chinese Defense Ministry earlier reported that the Joint Sea 2014 drills are regular exercises held by the Chinese and Russian navies, and are aimed to enhance practical cooperation between the two militaries and to strengthen their capabilities to jointly deal with maritime security threats.
The two nations held naval drills off Russia’s Far East coast in the Sea of Japan last July. Exercises assembling some 20 warships from Russia’s Pacific Fleet and China’s North and South Sea Fleets were described by China as the largest the country had undertaken with a foreign force.
May 20th, 2014, 14:20
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
US Navy ‘Shaping Events’ in South China Sea
. http://gdb.voanews.com/DC499318-0318..._w640_r1_s.jpg
The nuclear-powered aircraft supercarrier USS George Washington is escorted into a navy port in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 4, 2013
Victor Beattie
May 20, 2014
WASHINGTON — The United States’ top naval officer said the Navy’s growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region is beginning to show results and shape events, but acknowledges it will be ‘a long-term effort.’ AdmiralJonathanGreenert, the Chief of Naval Operations, said he hopes the U.S. Navy will be able to expand cooperation with India once its new government takes its place.Speaking Monday at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),Greenert said the growing military-to-military dialogue with China is beginning to show results, especially in the South China Sea, where maritime tensions between China and its neighbors are on the rise.He said China was among the Asia-Pacific powers that joined the United States last month in adopting a Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) during a meeting in Qingdao.
“They have had situations where they (China’s navy) have intervened on our behalf, where one of our ships was being approached by a non-navy Chinese ship and being kind of harassed, and the commander of the [Chinese]warship said, ‘I’ve spoken with this guy (U.S. ship commander), he’s on constant course and speed, getout of the way, and actually positioned himself [between the ships]. And, there are a few examples of this. We are starting to shape events. We have got to manage our way through this, in my opinion, through this East China Sea and South China Sea [tensions]. We’re not leaving. They know that. They would be the leadership of the Chinese navy. We believe that we have to manage our way through this,” saidGreenert. http://1-ps.googleusercontent.com/h/...jEDF51SslQ.jpg
USS Howard, an Arleigh Burke-class, guided missile destroyer from the US Pacific Fleet, arrives in Manila on a routine port call. BULLIT MARQUEZ/AP
The Philippines and Vietnam are among the nations that have territorial disputes with China. During President Obama’s Asia trip last month, the United States signed a 10-year security agreement with Manila.
Greenert said navy-to-navy “interoperability” with the Philippines today is “reasonably good,” but how the two countries build on that, he said, is a matter of discussion and could involve a status of forces-type agreement (SOFA). The U.S. Navy has also requested more port calls in Vietnam. Greenert also said he would like to see more cooperation with Hanoi “in a deliberate manner.” https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/...64512340_n.jpg
USS Tortuga during a port visit to Subic Bay, the Philippines
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the admiral also expressed the hope the United States could renew a strategic partnership with India, a relationship he said the two navies once enjoyed.
“Stable mil-to-mil relations are there, they’ve been there with India. We need to improve our communications and our interoperability. Currently, we do exercise with the Indian navy. It’s a lot of humanitarian assistance, search-and-rescue, [and] medical. But, my goal would be to get back to where we were in the mid-2000s. We were doing very comprehensive events in an exercise called Malabar, which is an annual exercise we have with the Indian navy. We were doing carrier operations together, very, very complex, integrating air wings, and I think it would be great if we could get back to that level,” said Greenert.
Greenert said with the new Indian leadership coming to power, perhaps they would be willing to have a greater presence in the western Pacific. He said it will depend on what the political ramifications are and where they are willing to go.
The chief of naval operations said the Navy is fully committed to the Asia rebalance. Today, 51 of the Navy’s 289 ships are deployed in the Asia-Pacific region, and that presence will grow to 58 ships next year and 67 by 2020.
Greenert says 23 nations are to take part in Rim of Pacific war game exercises off Hawaii, running June 26 to August 1, involving hundreds of aircraft, 40 warships and 25,000 military personnel, including army and navy forces from China for the first time. https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/...13128920_n.jpg
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China Warns Of Retaliation After US Hacking Charges
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has warned the United States that it would retaliate if Washington presses on with charges against five Chinese military officers accused of hacking into American companies to steal trade secrets, state media said on Tuesday. http://static2.businessinsider.com/i...edom-naive.jpg
The warning from an unnamed State Internet Information Office spokesman came hours after the United States charged the five Chinese, accusing them of hacking into American nuclear, metal and solar companies to steal trade secrets.
It was the first criminal hacking charge that the United States has filed against specific foreign officials, and follows a steady increase in public criticism and private confrontation, including at a summit last year between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The indictment is likely to further roil relations between China and the United States. Besides cyber hacking, Washington and Beijing have grappled over a range of issues, including human rights, trade disputes and China’s growing military assertiveness over seas contested with its neighbors.
“If the United States continues to insist on going its own way, China will take measures to resolutely fight back,” the spokesman told state news agency Xinhua and the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
He did not elaborate on the measures that China will take. It is unclear if China could use its financial clout to retaliate against the United States. China is the United States’ biggest foreign creditor. As of February, China held $1.27 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds, according to Treasury Department data.
China’s Foreign Ministry immediately denied the charges on Monday, saying in a strongly worded statement the U.S. indictment was “made up” and would damage trust between the two nations.
The ministry said it would suspend the activities of a Sino-U.S. working group on cyber issues, which American officials believe refers to a joint effort established in April 2013 involving State Department expert Chris Painter and China Foreign Ministry official Dai Bing. CHINA’S COUNTER-ACCUSATION
The spokesman from the State Internet Information Office was quoted by Xinhua as saying that the United States “attacks, infiltrates and taps Chinese networks belonging to governments, institutions, enterprises, universities and major communication backbone networks”.
“Those activities target Chinese leaders, ordinary citizens and anyone with a mobile phone,” Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying.
“China has repeatedly asked the U.S. to stop, but it never makes any statement on its wiretaps, nor does it desist, not to mention apologize to the Chinese people.”
Xinhua cited data from China’s top Internet security agency, the National Computer network Emergency Response technical Team Coordination Center (CNCERT), which said a total of 2,077 Trojan horse networks or botnet servers in the United States directly controlled 1.18 million host computers in China during the period from March 19 to May 18.
The CNCERT found 135 host computers in the United States carrying 563 phishing pages targeting Chinese websites that led to 14,000 phishing operations. The centre also found 2,016 IP addresses in the United States had implanted backdoors in 1,754 Chinese websites, involving 57,000 backdoor attacks, during the same period.
China has long singled out the United States as the top source of intrusion on its computers and says it is a victim of cyber attacks. UNIT 61398
U.S. Federal prosecutors said on Monday that the suspects targeted companies including Alcoa Inc, Allegheny Technologies Inc, United States Steel Corp, Toshiba Corp unit Westinghouse Electric Co, the U.S. subsidiaries of SolarWorld AG, and a steel workers’ union.
In an indictment filed in the Western District of Pennsylvania, prosecutors said the suspects hacked into computers starting in 2006, often by infecting machines with tainted “spear phishing” emails to employees that purport to be from colleagues.
Prosecutors alleged that one hacker, for example, stole cost and pricing information in 2012 from an Oregon-based solar panel production unit of SolarWorld. The company was losing market share at the time to Chinese competitors who were systematically pricing exports below production costs, according to the indictment.
Another suspect is accused of stealing technical and design specifications about pipes for nuclear plants from Westinghouse Electric as the company was negotiating with a Chinese company to build four power plants in China, prosecutors said.
Officials declined to estimate the size of the losses to the companies, but said they were “significant.” The victims had all filed unfair trade claims against their Chinese rivals, helping Washington draw a link between the alleged hacking activity and its impact on international business.
According to the indictment, Chinese state-owned companies “hired” Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army “to provide information technology services” including assembling a database of corporate intelligence. The Chinese companies were not named.
The Shanghai-based Unit 61398 was identified last year by cybersecurity firm Mandiant as the source of a large number of espionage operations. All five defendants worked with 61398, according to the indictment.
Unit 61398 has hundreds of active spies and is just one of dozens of such bodies in China, said Jen Weedon, an analyst at Mandiant, now owned by global network security company FireEye Inc.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) More from Reuters:
‘Jack Sun’ (Top), a Chinese Army captain, ‘was observed both sending malicious emails and controlling victim computers,’ while ‘KandyGoo’ (Bottom) tested malicious email messages and managed domain accounts used by the Chinese
‘WinXYHappy’ may sound like an unoriginal Twitter handle, but it was the alias of an alleged Chinese army hacker (Top) who controlled Americans’ computer accounts while computer programmer ‘hzy_lhx’ (Bottom) and others managed online domains after the People’s Liberation Army got control of them
The Government of the People’s Republic of China, is making declaration public of their dissatisfaction with the recent conduct of the US Justice Department prosecution regarding officials of the PRC having been indicted by a US Federal Grand Jury. A warning of retaliation has been made, and it would behoove the Obama Crime Syndicate to consider what may possibly happen if the PRC decides to engage not in overt warfare, but an economic divesting and severing of foreign diplomatic ties between the PRC and US.
STUTTGART, Germany: As part of an effort to shore up defenses on its eastern flank, NATO is conducting large-scale war games in Estonia involving some 6,000 troops from nine alliance nations.
Steadfast Javelin 1, which commenced on Friday and will continue through the week, is based on a fictitious scenario in which Allied forces repel an attack on Estonia, according to NATO.
Participating units include infantry and reconnaissance forces, engineers, fighter jets as well as anti-aircraft teams and a cybersecurity team. The exercise comes during widespread unrest in Ukraine and renewed concerns over a more militarily assertive Russia, which the West has accused of fomenting tensions in the region.
“It is my great privilege to assume command of the forces participating in Exercise Steadfast Javelin 1 today,” General Hans-Lothar Domröse, commander of Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, said in a news release. “There is no doubt the Alliance is strong and NATO’s resolve to assure its members of the ongoing utility of the Washington Treaty remains central to our actions.”
Troops in the exercise come from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Britain and the United States. Germany was not listed as a participating nation. Some critics in eastern Europe have expressed frustration with Germany and accused NATO’s second-largest nation of not doing enough to reassure allies in the East.
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, NATO has reinforced its presence in eastern Europe. In April, the alliance announced a package of extra military measures, including expanded air patrols over the Baltics, deployment of ground forces for training events in the East and increased patrols by war ships in the region.
May 22nd, 2014, 01:41
Avvakum
Re: World War Three Thread....
White House hosts senators for ‘bizarre’ secret foreign policy meeting
U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) talks to reporters after the weekly Republican caucus luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington April 29, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and National Security Adviser Susan Rice met with a bipartisan delegation of senators late Tuesday for secret talks focused on foreign policy, several sources with knowledge of the discussion told Yahoo News.
Sen. Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, alluded to the meeting on Wednesday, as the panel held a hearing on whether and how to overhaul the signature law of the global war on terrorism.
“I know we both attended sort of a discussion last night that I found to be one of the most bizarre I've attended on Foreign Relations on foreign policy in our country,” Corker said at one point, referring to himself and Sen. Bob Menendez (D.-New Jersey), the committee’s chairman.
“I know several of us were involved in a very bizarre discussion last night. This continues a very bizarre discussion,” Corker said at another point.
The Tennessee Republican did not say where or with whom the meeting took place (or why it was bizarre).
The White House later confirmed the meeting. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said McDonough hosted "an informal discussion on national security issues," and that Rice and Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken attended.
"This session was part of our ongoing efforts to consult with the Congress on issues important to the president," she said.
In addition to Corker and Menendez, Senators Susan Collins (R.-Maine), Carl Levin (D-Michigan), Jon Tester (D.-Montana) and John Walsh (D.-Montana) also attended the meeting, according to the sources, who requested anonymity.
Aides to those senators declined to discuss the meeting on the record (though Tester’s public schedule included a reference to a 7 p.m. meeting with McDonough).
The White House had not announced the meeting before it happened.
The secret meeting came at a time of increasing bipartisan frustration with the White House over the 2001 law that authorized the war in Afghanistan and underpins policies like indefinite detention without charge and drone strikes.
In a speech almost exactly one year ago, President Obama declared that it was time to overhaul the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), and “determine how we can continue to fight terrorism without keeping America on a perpetual wartime footing.”
“I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further,” Obama said at the time. “Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.”
But one year later, the administration has yet to provide Congress with suggested specific changes to the law, much less with legislative language for rewriting it.
Senators including Corker let their frustration bubble over at Wednesday’s hearing.
“Has the administration proposed any refinement or any redefinition of the AUMF? I mean, have they provided us language in terms of what they think they need to handle the current situation?” Senator Ron Johnson (R.-Wisconsin) asked the State Department’s principal deputy legal adviser, Mary McLeod.
“No, senator, we have not, “ she repl
May 22nd, 2014, 13:49
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
North and South Korean warships exchanged artillery fire
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korean warships exchanged artillery fire Thursday in disputed waters off the western coast, South Korean military officials said, in the latest sign of rising animosity between the bitter rivals in recent weeks.
Officials from the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Ministry said a South Korean navy ship was engaged in a routine patrol near the countries’ disputed maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea when a North Korean navy ship fired two artillery shells. The shells did not hit the South Korean ship and fell in waters near it, they said.
The South Korean ship then fired several artillery rounds in waters near the North Korean ship, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules.
South Korea was trying to determine if the North Korean ship had attempted to hit the South Korean vessel but missed, or if the shells were not meant to hit the ship.
Officials said that residents on the frontline Yeonpyeong Island were evacuated to shelters, and fishing ships in the area were ordered to return to ports. In 2010, North Korea fired artillery at the island, killing two civilians and two marines.
Kang Myeong-sung, a Yeonpyeong resident, said in a phone interview that hundreds of residents were in underground shelters after loudspeakers ordered them there. He heard the sound of artillery fire and said many people felt uneasy at first but later began to stop worrying.
Both Koreas regularly conduct artillery drills in the disputed waters. The sea boundary is not clearly marked, and the area has been the scene of three bloody naval skirmishes between the rival Koreas since 1999.
North Korea has in recent weeks conducted a string of artillery drills and missile tests and has unleashed a torrent of racist and sexist rhetoric at the leaders of the U.S. and South Korea.
On Tuesday, South Korean navy ships fired warning shots to repel three North Korean warships that briefly violated the disputed sea boundary. On Wednesday, North Korea’s military vowed to retaliate.
North Korean military ships and fishing boats have routinely intruded into South Korean-controlled waters that the North doesn’t recognize. The Yellow Sea boundary was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led U.N. Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
May 22nd, 2014, 13:51
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
North Korea artillery fires at South Korean navy ship, and misses
By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park
SEOUL Thu May 22, 2014 9:46am EDT
http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources...=CBREA4L128R00 Residents watch a television report on North Korean artillery fired near a South Korean navy patrol ship as they take shelter on Yeonpyeong island near the West Sea border with North Korea May 22, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Ongjin County/Yonhap
(Reuters) - North Korean artillery fired at least one shot which landed near a South Korean navy patrol ship south of the two sides' disputed maritime border on Thursday, but it did not hit the vessel, a military official in Seoul said.
The official added that South Korean artillery fired at a North Korean naval vessel in response.
Residents of the Yeonpyeong island, which lies just south of the disputed sea border, were evacuated to bomb shelters, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Shelling by North Korean artillery killed four people on the island in 2010.
There was no further firing from the North following the incident soon after 6 p.m. local time (0900 GMT), the official said.
North Korea has refused to recognize the so-called Northern Limit Line that was drawn up at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and has frequently challenged it with intrusions of ships or more recently by firing artillery near or across the line.
Earlier on Thursday, North Korea had issued its latest threat to "blow up" any South Korean warships, in an angry response to an incident earlier in the week when the South fired warning shots at the North's patrol boats that breached the line.
The North accused South of "a grave provocation" at the time and said its vessels were merely trying to contain Chinese fishing boats that were in the area illegally.
Also, earlier on Thursday, the South's Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said North Korea had no business interfering in operations of South Korean naval vessels south of the Northern Limit Line.
In March, the North fired more than 500 rounds of artillery in an exercise, but 100 rounds landed south of the border, prompting the South to fire more than 300 shots back.
The Northern Limit Line, a maritime border that wraps itself around a part of the North's coastline, has been the scene of frequent clashes.
Earlier in 2010, a South Korean naval vessel was sunk close to the line by what an international commission said was a North Korean torpedo, although the North denies involvement.
The two sides are still technically at war as the conflict ended in a mere truce, not a treaty.
North Korea has fired shells into disputed waters near a South Korean warship, South Korean military officials told media.
This happened near Yeonpyeong island, on the disputed western maritime border, Yonhap news agency said.
On Tuesday, South Korea fired warning shots at three North Korean ships that crossed the maritime border. The North had said it would retaliate.
In 2010, North Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong killed four people.
The latest incident happened after 18:00 local time (09:00GMT) on Thursday, reports citing South Korean officials said.
"The shells fell near our ship which has been on regular patrol in our territory, but it did not cause any damage to our ship," a spokesman from South Korea's defence ministry told the Agence-France Presse news agency.
According to local news reports, South Korean forces fired several shells into northern waters in response.
Local television network YTN reported that residents on Yeonpyeong were being evacuated to bomb shelters.
Tensions have been rising again between the two neighbours recently, with Pyongyang directing shrill insults at the leaders in Seoul and Washington, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul.
The North and South regularly conduct drills near the western sea border, which has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas.
The UN drew the border after the Korean War, but North Korea has never recognised it.
Since the war ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two sides remain technically at war.
In March, the two countries traded artillery fire across the border.
North Korea killed two civilians and two marines in the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong island, which it said was in response to South Korean military exercises.
Earlier that year, a South Korean warship sank near Baengnyeong island, leaving 46 people dead. Seoul says Pyongyang torpedoed the vessel, but North Korea denies any role in the incident.
May 22nd, 2014, 13:57
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Japan military exercise simulates retaking island — China is watching
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Japan self defense force ship Shimokita
By Ruairidh Villar
ENIYABANAREJIMA, Japan (Reuters) – Japanese land, sea and air forces combined to simulate the recapture of a remote island on Thursday, a small drill that nonetheless underscores the country’s concerns about far-flung territory claimed by China.
Bobbing silently into a cove on rubber boats and wielding plastic training rifles, about 50 troops training for a new marine force landed on the uninhabited outcropping, the size of 30 soccer fields, 600 km (370 miles) northeast of a string of islands held by Japan but claimed by China.
“Our amphibious warfare skills still have a way to go and our training is in its early days,” said Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki, chief of the military’s Joint Staff, Japan’s top uniformed officer.
“But these capabilities are absolutely vital to protecting our land, sea and skies,” he told reporters gathered on Eniyabanarejima, part of an island chain between the southern main island of Kyushu and Okinawa. “We intend to build on this drill today to boost our skills in the future.”
JSDF soldiers approach Eniyabanare Island from JSDF transport vessel Shimokita during a military drill, off Setouchi town on the southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima
JSDF soldiers approach Eniyabanare Island from JSDF transport vessel Shimokita during a military drill, off Setouchi town on the southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima (reuters tickers)
The joint exercise of the Self-Defense Forces was not aimed at any specific country, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. But Tokyo identifies its giant neighbor as a key source of concern and defending remote islands as a policy priority.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei criticized the drill, saying that “moves taken by Japan in the military and security field have always been of high concern to its Asian neighbors”.
“We require the Japanese side to make clear its true intention of the relevant deployment,” Hong told a daily news briefing in Beijing. “We also call on the Japanese side to do more conducive things to safeguard regional peace and stability.”
The dispute over the Japanese-held islets, which Tokyo calls the Senkaku and China claims as the Diaoyu, has raised fears of a clash between Asia’s biggest powers that could even drag in the United States.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, chafing at the constraints of Japan’s pacifist post-war constitution, has made a priority of a more robust military posture and a less-apologetic diplomacy. Abe has reversed a decade of defense-spending cuts with small increases and is calling for a review of legal limits on the ability of Japan’s armed forces to fight overseas.
The military last month began its first expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years, breaking ground on a radar station on a tropical island near Taiwan.
In Thursday’s exercise, troops scanned the beach for enemies, then marched single-file into the jungle. They later returned to the beach to collect huge backpacks from the boats and pushed once more into the interior of the 30 ha (75 acre) island.
The first combined-services drill in Japan on retaking an island was a modest undertaking involving 1,300 personnel, two destroyers, two F-2 fighter jets, a carrier for troops and amphibious vehicles, a minesweeper and a handful of helicopters.
AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT FORCE
But in addition to signaling Tokyo’s keenness to protect its thousands of small islands, it is the latest step in forging a unified amphibious assault force capable of fighting without support from its U.S. ally.
“Amphibious operations that combine naval, ground and air forces are one the most difficult military operations,” said Grant Newsham, a former U.S. Marine liaison officer to Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force.
“Japan is showing that it will do what is necessary to defend itself, ideally alongside the Americans, but alone if necessary,” said Newsham, a research fellow at Japan Forum for Strategic Studies.
Despite controlling vast ocean territories, Japan had no significant amphibious units until it began training the marine force in 2012.
A legacy of inter-service rivalry – stretching back to the Imperial Army and Navy before and during World War Two – has also made combined operations difficult to stage, analysts say.
Concern over China, and Abe’s push for a more assertive military, are spurring the top brass to put their differences aside.
Japan “has gone from a standing start to having a serviceable amphibious capability in an astonishingly short time,” said Newsham. U.S. military planners, he added, were impressed by the Japanese marine force during their participation alongside U.S. forces in landing drills in California last year during operation Dawn Blitz.
New equipment on Abe’s military shopping list are set to add to that capability, including amphibious assault vehicles able to drive troops from the sea inland and tilt-rotor aircraft such as the U.S. Osprey.
(Additional reporting by Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing,; Editing by William Mallard and Ron Popeski)
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Ground Self-Defense Force members board a transport vessel at the Japanese base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on May 16. (Yusuke Fukui)
Ground Self-Defense Force members board a transport vessel at the Japanese base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on May 16. (Yusuke Fukui)
SASEBO, Nagasaki Prefecture–The three branches of the Self-Defense Forces have begun their first joint drill in Japan to simulate recapturing a remote island, as tensions with China remain high over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
About 1,300 SDF members are taking part in the exercise on the 0.31-square-kilometer islet of Eniyabanarejima, located between the main island of Kyushu and Okinawa. The islet is part of Kagoshima Prefecture and situated just south of Amami-Oshima Island.
The joint exercise involves the full deployment of naval vessels and fighter jets. It is the first time the three branches of the SDF have worked together in a drill in such a scenario in Japan.
About 100 members of a special unit of the Ground Self-Defense Force who are known for their swimming and other skills left for the site aboard a transport vessel from the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Sasebo base in Nagasaki Prefecture on May 16.
The unit belongs to the GSDF’s Western Army Infantry Regiment, which will form the core component of the amphibious force the SDF is preparing to establish to retake remote islands should they be captured by a foreign entity.
Tensions between Japan and China are high due to competing claims of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, a group of small, uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. They are currently administered by Japan as part of Okinawa Prefecture.
June 12th, 2014, 13:15
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Tanks, troops, jets: NATO countries launch full-scale war games in Baltic
Published time: June 09, 2014 13:36
Edited time: June 10, 2014 13:53
A major military exercise kicked off in Latvia, with 10 NATO member countries participating. The war games involve 4,700 troops and 800 military vehicles. Russia sees NATO's military build-up as a sign of aggression.
The Saber Strike ground forces exercise is being conducted for the fourth time this year and coincides with Baltic Host 2014 and Baltops 2014 naval drills.
Troops from the US, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway and the UK are taking part.
The two-week exercise is hosted by the three Baltic States, although some parts will be conducted in Germany.
For Latvia, where the opening ceremony was held, it's the biggest NATO military drill since its accession to the alliance in 2004, the country's defense ministry said Monday in a statement. The ceremony was crowned with a US strategic bomber B-52 flyover.
In total, Saber Strike will involve about 2,600 troops coming mainly from Denmark (1,100), Lithuania (900), about 200 soldiers from the US, 100 from Britain, 50 from Poland and several dozen each from Estonia and Finland. The exercise will include about 800 military vehicle units.
The UK’s HMS Montrose, a Type 23 frigate, will take part in the two-week long security exercise, the BBC reports.
The exercise comes amid high tension between NATO and Russia over the Ukrainian political crisis. The alliance ramped up its presence in Russia's neighborhood, claiming that it is a response toward Moscow's aggressive stance.
Russia says NATO's actions are provocative and is taking measures to balance the shift in military power.
“We can't take this military buildup by the alliance next to Russia's borders as anything but a demonstration of hostile intention. The deployment of extra NATO troops in Central and Eastern Europe, even on a rotational basis” is a violation of Russia's agreements with the alliance, Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said Monday.
“Of course we won't stand idly and watch the militarization of the countries in our neighborhood and will take all necessary political and military measures to ensure our security,” the diplomat told Interfax.
On Thursday, eight US Minnesota National Guard F-16 fighter jets arrived in Amari airbase, that are going to make battle flights over the Adazi polygon. Also KC-135 refueling tankers are located in Amari, as well as transport planes and naval aircraft P-8. Among Estonian Air Force units participating in the exercise, in addition to the support team, L-39 jets and air fire commanders participate.
June 12th, 2014, 13:16
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Russia sends 24 warships, bombers to Baltic drills as NATO stages war games
Published time: June 12, 2014 03:57
Edited time: June 12, 2014 12:47
Russia has deployed 24 Baltic Fleet warships and vessels, along with heavy fighter jets and bombers, as reinforcement for military drills in the westernmost Kaliningrad region while NATO stages its own war games across the border.
On Wednesday, Moscow deployed a grouping of 24 Baltic Fleet warships and vessels for military drills in its exclave on the Baltic Sea coast. The drills were launched on Tuesday in response to NATO’s international drills – Saber Strike 2014 and BALTOPS 2014 –near Russia’s border.
"The squadrons of warships are performing the tasks of ensuring the protection of the state border of the Russian Federation, protecting marine communications, providing for shipping safety, organizing air defense, and searching for and detecting surface ships and submarines of the imaginary enemy," said Russia's Defense Ministry.
The ministry added that the newest Su-34 Fullback fighter bombers and Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft have also taken off from their air base in Voronezh region to join the war games in Kalinigrad.
"Tu-22M3 long-range bombers are in the state of readiness to patrol the area of the exercises. An A-50 long-range airborne warning and control system aircraft is involved in the drills for reconnaissance purposes."
The presence of Russia’s military force in the war games is “equitable” with the number of NATO troops concentrated in the three nearby Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia – which are hosting the drills from June 9-21, the Defense Ministry noted.
The drills come amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukrainian crisis. Troops from the US, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, and the UK taking part in the war games beefed up their presence near the Russian border, accusing Moscow of having an aggressive stance in the Ukrainian conflict.
1 of 2. Russian military aircraft are on display during the event titled the 'Innovations Day' organized by Russia's Western military command at Levashovo airbase outside St. Petersburg, June 6, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Alexander Demianchuk
(Reuters) - Russia has begun military exercises in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad in what the Defence Ministry said was a response to drills by NATO allies in parts of eastern Europe, which were launched after Moscow's intervention in Ukraine.
Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and a pro-Russian separatist revolt in the country's east after its Moscow-backed president was ousted by protesters have led to the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.
In a statement on its website, the Defence ministry did not reveal the scale of the Russian exercises but said the equipment and number of troops involved "corresponds" to the size of the NATO maneuvers.
"The training of the army's group in the Kaliningrad operational (theater) is being held simultaneously with the international (NATO) exercises of Saber Strike-2014 and Baltops-2014 launched in Europe,' the statement said.
It added that 24 ships from Moscow's Baltic Sea Fleet were patrolling Russian territorial waters there while its regional air force had been beefed up with extra Su-27 fighter jets.
Kaliningrad is a sliver of territory that is unconnected to the rest of Russia and sandwiched between NATO member states Lithuania and Poland.
NATO countries responded to the Crimea annexation by sending fighter planes and ships to eastern Europe to reassure allies alarmed by Russia's action. The U.S.-led alliance and its member states have also stepped up military exercises in eastern Europe, including former Soviet republics in the Baltics.
A U.S.-led exercise, named "Saber Strike", involving around 4,700 soldiers from 10 countries, is now under way in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Another large NATO-led exercise was held in Estonia in May.
Drills also began last month in Poland, Slovakia and the three Baltic states involving several hundred U.S. special forces personnel, the U.S. European Command said.
Asked earlier this week about reports of Russian exercises in Kaliningrad, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he understood Russia considered its exercises to be a response to the measures NATO had taken to step up its security.
But NATO's actions were "purely defensive measures that do not justify any offensive action," he told a Brussels conference.
Welcome to NATO headquarters. It’s very good to see you here.
Now more than ever, it’s important that we listen to one another and talk to another. We have just had a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on the security situation in and around Ukraine. And we welcome the holding of this meeting.
All NATO Allies made clear that we condemn the illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea and Allies will not recognize it.
We commend the people of Ukraine for holding free and fair elections largely in line with international standards. They clearly voted for a united Ukraine. Their choice must be respected and we urge Russia to engage constructively with the newly elected President.
We call on Russia to withdraw its troops fully and verifiably from Ukraine’s border, with additional international inspections. To stop the flow of arms and fighters into Ukraine. To condemn armed separatists and use its influence for the freeing of OSCE monitors taken hostage.
So it was not an easy meeting, but it was a necessary one. We have long agreed that the NATO-Russia Council is an all-weather forum. And frankly, the climate at the moment is not good – not because NATO wants it that way, but because of Russia’s illegal aggression against Ukraine.
This meeting and the meeting of NATO defence ministers come just a few days after Ukraine’s successful presidential elections. Despite criminal violence, intimidation and provocation by pro-Russian armed gangs, the Ukrainian people have made their voice heard. And their choice must be respected. So we look forward to working with the new president of Ukraine.
We stand firm in our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. We do not and will not recognize Russia’s armed annexation of Crimea. And we strongly support Ukraine’s right to choose its own path for the future.
This is a fundamental principle of international law and Euro-Atlantic security. Russia has subscribed to that principle.
For many years NATO has used every opportunity to improve and further develop our relations with Russia. We have consistently worked for cooperation, not confrontation.
In fact, we have offered Russia a more privileged partnership than to anybody else around the world. We have made unprecedented pledges imposing restraint on our military posture, and we have kept them.
However, our partnership with Russia has been based on commitments - and Russia has not kept its pledges. Russia has threatened its neighbours, and used force against them. It has not respected the territorial integrity or political independence of other countries.
Let me be clear. All the measures that NATO is taking are defensive, moderate, proportionate, transparent, and fully compliant with our international commitments, including the Founding Act. They are not a threat to Russia - and NATO is not a threat to Russia. We want to improve the climate, but to do that Russia must show that it is prepared to play by the same rules as everybody else.
June 12th, 2014, 13:23
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
NATO starts war games on Russia's borders
Monday, 09 June 2014
A major military exercise kicked off in Latvia, with 10 NATO member countries participating. The war games involve 4,700 troops and 800 military vehicles. Russia sees NATO's military build-up as a sign of aggression.
The Saber Strike ground forces exercise is being conducted for the fourth time this year and coincides with Baltic Host 2014 and Baltops 2014 naval drills.
Troops from the US, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway and the UK are taking part.
The two-week exercise is hosted by the three Baltic States, although some parts will be conducted in Germany.
For Latvia, where the opening ceremony was held, it's the biggest NATO military drill since its accession to the alliance in 2004, the country's defense ministry said Monday in a statement. The ceremony was crowned with a US strategic bomber B-52 flyover.
The exercise comes amid high tension between NATO and Russia over the Ukrainian political crisis. The alliance ramped up its presence in Russia's neighborhood, claiming that it is a response toward Moscow's aggressive stance.
Russia says NATO's actions are provocative and is taking measures to balance the shift in military power.
“We can't take this military buildup by the alliance next to Russia's borders as anything but a demonstration of hostile intention. The deployment of extra NATO troops in Central and Eastern Europe, even on a rotational basis” is a violation of Russia's agreements with the alliance, Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said Monday.
“Of course we won't stand idly and watch the militarization of the countries in our neighborhood and will take all necessary political and military measures to ensure our security,” the diplomat told Interfax.
June 12th, 2014, 13:40
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
You know, I find it absolutely appalling that the major search engines aren't covering or showing ANYTHING about Russia, Ukraine, Jets coming close to the US, the NATO/Russian Opposing War Games in the same area, or any of this stuff.
I'm having to do specific searches to find ANYTHING on Russian Bear Bombers coasting the US.
50 Miles....
There are three important numbers when it comes to coastline.... dictated by International Law.
3 mile limit - 1 league or 3 NM
12 mile limit - Territorial Limit
200 mile limit - Exclusive Zone
In the first one, the 3 nm limit was basically a gentleman's agreement from most countries in the 19th century. That limit still exists in US law for things like dump garbage or sewage overboard (you have to be outside that limit to empty your holding tanks for example).
The 12 mile limit is the Territorial limit of the US border - AS LONG AS THOSE TRAVERSING are doing so for PEACEFUL PURPOSES.
The 200 mile limit is an economic exclusive zone, meaning that other countries can't drill there legally, they can't fish there without permission of the host country and the fish and food in the sea belong to the country in it's borders.
Quote:
A coastal nation has control of all economic resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those resources. However, it cannot prohibit passage or loitering above, on, or under the surface of the sea that is in compliance with the laws and regulations adopted by the coastal State in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention, within that portion of its exclusive economic zone beyond its territorial sea.
When you fly inside of a 200 mile limit with nuclear armed weapons systems, you're poking at the country you're flying near.
If you're inside of a 50 mile range, there's nothing to stop you from hitting your target.
If they came with 12 miles, we can LEGALLY shoot them down (and they know it, we know it, etc)
Basically.... we will see them (radar, satellite, other means) and scramble jets. I find it incomprehensible the Jets didn't catch them until the Aleutians.
June 12th, 2014, 13:43
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Highway to the danger zone: Russian bombers buzz coast of California, Alaska
Practice runs are latest Cold War-like provocation from Putin
FILE PHOTO: Col. John York pilots an F-15 Eagle ahead of Lt. Col. Sean Navin, who flies an F-16 Falcon on its final mission for the 144th Fighter Wing, California Air National Guard. The F-16s have been transferred to the 162nd Fighter Wing in Tucson, Ariz., as a result of the 144th Fighter Wing receiving the F-15 Eagle as their new airframe. York is the 144th Operations Group commander. Navin is the commander of the 194th Fighter Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. David J. Loeffler)
By Bill Gertz — The Washington Free Beacon
“The last time we saw anything similar was two years ago on the Fourth of July,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a NORAD spokesman, told the Free Beacon. PHOTOS: Top 10 U.S. fighter jets Capt. Davis said the latest Bear H incursions began Monday around 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, when radar detected the four turboprop-powered bombers approaching the U.S. air defense zone near the far western Aleutian Islands.
Two U.S. Air Force F-22 jets were scrambled and intercepted the bombers over the Aleutians.
After tracking the bombers as they flew eastward, two of the four Bears turned around and headed west toward the Russian Far East. The bombers are believed to be based at the Russian strategic base near Anadyr, Russia.
A Russian Tu-95 Bear H flies over International waters off the coast ... more >
The remaining two nuclear-capable bombers then flew southeast and around 9:30 p.m. entered the U.S. northern air defense zone off the coast of Northern California.
Two U.S. F-15 jets were deployed and intercepted the bombers as they eventually flew within 50 miles of the coast before turning around and heading west.
A defense official said the four bombers also were supported by two IL-78 aerial refueling tankers that were used for midair refueling during the operation this week.
PHOTOS: See the Navy's 10 mightiest aircraft carriers The Tu-95 is a long-range strike aircraft capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles. Other versions are equipped with intelligence-gathering sensors and electronic warfare gear. It has a range of around 9,400 miles without refueling.
Capt. Davis said the aircraft “acted professionally,” and the bombers appeared to be conducting a training mission.
“They typically do long-range aviation training in the summer, and it is not unusual for them to be more active during this time,” he said. “We assess this was part of training. And they did not enter territorial airspace.”
The bomber incursion is the latest Russian nuclear saber-rattling amid stepped-up tensions over Moscow’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.
Rep. K. Michael Conaway, Texas Republican and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, called the Russian flights “intentional provocations.”
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is doing this specifically to try to taunt the U.S. and exercise, at least in the reported world, some sort of saber-rattling, muscle-flexing kind of nonsense,” Mr. Conaway said in an interview. “Truth of the matter is we would have squashed either one of those [bombers] like baby seals.
“It’s a provocation, and it’s unnecessary. But it fits in with [Mr. Putin’s] macho kind of saber-rattling,” he said, adding that he expects Russia will carry out more of these kinds of incidents in the future.
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a former Alaska commander for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said he does not remember a case of Russian strategic bombers coming that close to the U.S. coast.
“Again we see the Obama administration through their covert — but overt to Mr. Putin — unilateral disarmament inviting adventurism by the Russians,” Gen. McInerney said in an email.
“At the height of the Cold War, I do not remember them getting this close. Mr. Putin had to approve this mission, and he is just showing his personal contempt for President Obama right after meeting him in Normandy less than a week ago,” Gen. McInerney said.
Gen. McInerney said no American president has been treated with such disrespect in U.S. history.
“A sad day indeed, and at the same time Mosul and Tikrit [Iraq] fall to radical Islamists after the Obama administration’s failed Iraq policy,” he added. “He snatched defeat from the jaws of victory yet again.”
The Alaska-California bombers’ flight also came a month after a Russian Su-27 interceptor jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan.
In that incident on April 23, the Su-27 jet flew close to the RC-135, turned to reveal its air-to-air missiles to the crew, and then flew dangerously close to within 100 feet of the cockpit in a maneuver that military officials called reckless.
Capt. Davis said in the past 10 years, 50 Bear H bombers were intercepted near the U.S. air defense zone, although he acknowledged that Monday’s flight near California was unusual.
In April, a telephone conversation between two Russian ambassadors was posted on YouTube and appeared to show the diplomats joking about the Ukraine crisis and discussing the possible incursions in the United States and Eastern Europe.
The leaked conversation between Igor Nikolaevich Chubarov and Sergey Viktorovich Bakharev, Russian ambassadors to the African nations Eritrea, and Zimbabwe and Malawi, respectively, includes references to post-Crimea Russian imperialism to include Eastern Europe and “Californialand” and “Miamiland.”
Russian Bear H flights elsewhere have increased in recent years.
In February 2013, two of the bombers were intercepted as they circled the U.S. Pacific island of Guam in a rare long-range incursion.
Two Bear H craft also were intercepted near Alaska on April 28, 2013.
A Russian Bear H incursion in Asia took place in July 2013, when two Tu-95s were intercepted by Japanese and South Korean jets near the Korean Peninsula and Japan’s northern Hokkaido island.
The July 4, 2012, bomber flights near the West Coast were the first time since the Cold War that Russian jets have traveled so close to the U.S. coastline.
That action followed an intrusion by Tu-95s near Alaska that were part of large-scale strategic nuclear exercises by the Russians aimed at practicing strikes on enemy air defenses.
Russia has stepped up provocative nuclear war games in recent years as part of propaganda efforts to display Moscow’s dislike of U.S. missile defenses in Europe.
June 12th, 2014, 13:50
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
ok, misread several things I guess.
They actually contacted them first off the Aleutians. Two bombers turned back. Two went on and then were contacted AGAIN at Northern California.
June 12th, 2014, 13:58
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Air Force jets scrambled this week as Russian bombers fly within 50 miles of U.S. coast
Russian bombers flew within 50 miles of the California coast this week, triggering U.S. Air defense systems and scrambling jets, the North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed.
A total of four Russian strategic bombers were apparently conducting practice bombing runs near Alaska, NORAD said. Two of the planes, both Tu-95 Bear H aircraft, came within 50 miles of the California coast.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told the Free Beacon the incursion began Monday around 4:30 p.m. Pacific time. The planes were picked up on radar as they approached the U.S. air defense zone near the western Aleutian islands. Two U.S. Air Force F-22 jets were scrambled and interception the bombers over the Aleutians.
Two the planes turned around while the remaining pair flew southeast into the U.S. northern air defense zone off the coast of northern California. Two U.S. F-15 jets were then deployed and intercepted the bombers. The Russian planes then turned around and headed west.