Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Who is in charge of China’s macro-level financial and economic policy? Most observers will say President Xi Jinping, who is head of the two highest-level decision-making bodies: the Central Leading Group on Finance and Economics (CLGFE) and the newly set up Central Leading Group on Comprehensively Deepening Reforms […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct Iran has begun receiving one of Russia’s most advanced and capable air defense system, the S-300 after years-long delays due to international pressures. At present it is assessed by NATO to be able to attack aircraft flying as high as 90,000 feet or at ranges of about […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Geostrategy-Direct Israel’s precision strike and intelligence capabilities will enable quicker victories on the battlefield in future conflicts, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said. [Ya’alon resigned on May 19 after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to replace him with Avigdor Lieberman.] Speaking at the 4th International Fire Conference in Zichron Ya’acov on […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Geostrategy-Direct Iran’s Assembly of Experts which is responsible for electing and overseeing the work of Iran’s supreme leader has chosen hard-liner Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati as its leader. The 88-member Assembly of Experts elected Jannati with 51 votes on May 24, according to media reports. Jannati is a critic of President Hassan […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By EastAsiaIntel.com On April 29, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi issued a joint statement objecting to the contemplated deployment in South Korea of the U.S. Theater High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] missile interceptor system. But what is unusual is that the joint Russian-Chinese objection to THAAD […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, EastAsiaIntel.com On the heels of the Party Congress in which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un presented a five-year economic plan, North Korea has kicked off tougher “work-harder campaigns.” North Koreans, already struggling with hunger and the stresses of survival in the repressive society, are being mobilized for new construction […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct, May 16, 2016 Edition After years of neglect and decay that saw its ranks shrink from five to one million personnel, Russia signaled with its mission in Syria that it has returned as a major military force. Millions of Russians saw on nightly news casts how Russia’s modernized force dominated on […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Inside China, EastAsiaIntel.com While China’s 700 million netizens are blocked from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) English-language propaganda machine is harvesting social media fans around the world. Following top-down orders from president Xi Jinping to “tell China’s story” to the world, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are now rife […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, EastAsiaIntel.com SEOUL — North Korea has prioritized increasing the rage of its submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to 2,000 kilometers, a military source here said. The North is also said to be building 3,000-ton submarines that can carry multiple SLBMs, the source said. “North Korea is believed to have made […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Despite reports about challenges to his power, President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has quietly — and relentlessly — built up his personal faction centered upon cadres associated with the prosperous coastal province of Zhejiang. Members of the so-called Zhejiang Clique are tipped for large-scale promotions […]