Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama has cancelled the Keystone XL, ending a seven year saga in which the pipeline from Alberta, Canada would have provided 800,000 barrels of oil to the USA on a daily basis. By scuttling the controversial deal which has been part of an […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com The ostensible motive for the historic handshake last Saturday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan counterpart Ma Ying-jeou is to anchor cross-Strait relations on the “one China” principle. Yet there are more urgent – and politically significant – considerations as well. Presidential elections are coming up in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct A new survey by California’s Chapman University has identified cyberterrorism as one of the American public’s greatest fears, a national security threat that hits home at all levels. Cyberterrorism occupied a high place on the list of fears, in part, because participants in the survey viewed cyberterrorism […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Sol W. Sanders The Obama Administration’s utter strategic confusion, particularly in foreign affairs, was nowhere more exhibited than in Sec. of Defense Ashton B. Carter’s recent statements at the Reagan Defense Forum. Irony was added to insult when Carter equated the Obama policies with those of President Ronald Reagan. How quickly […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com The trilateral summit last weekend was long on promises but short on hard-and-fast commitments and planning. Yes, the fact that leaders of Korea, China and Japan could meet at all was remarkable considering Japan’s ongoing occupation of the Senkaku Islands, Diaoyu to the Chinese, in the East China […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Ongoing disputes in the South China Sea forced defense ministers of the 10 Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to scrap a joint declaration during a two-day forum in Malaysia. The United States and its allies wanted the disputes, which include China’s continuing military buildup and construction on artificial islands, mentioned in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The United States is planning more “freedom of navigation” missions in the South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said. “We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law permits,” Carter told a congressional hearing earlier this week. The USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed near one of China’s artificial islands […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com It’s the season for summits with heavy overtones for Northeast Asia. After President Park Geun-Hye met President Barack Obama in Washington and President Xi Jinping in Beijing, after Xi met Obama in Washington, after President Putin saw Obama at the United Nations and Xi in Beijing, after Prime […]
Special to WorldTribune.com China said the United States engaged in a “deliberate provocation” when it sent a guided missile destroyer close to one of Beijing’s artificial islands in the South China Sea. The USS Lassen on Oct. 26 sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands chain. China’s Ministry of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The South China Sea is “international waters” and the United States will treat it as such, the new U.S. chief of naval operations (CNO) said. “That is everybody’s sea. You know 30 percent of the world’s trade goes through the South China Sea. Nobody owns that. It’s open. It’s international waters,” Richardson […]