China sends 71 warplanes, 7 ships toward Taiwan in 24 hours
CHNA - China’s military sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the self-ruled island, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Monday, after China expressed anger at Taiwan-related provisions in a US annual defense spending bill. China’s military harassment of Taiwan, which it claims is its own territory, has intensified in recent years, and the Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army has sent planes or ships toward the island on a near-daily basis.
Among the planes China sent towards Taiwan were 18 J-16 fighter jets, 11 J-1 fighters, 6 Su-30 fighters and drones. Taiwan said it monitored the Chinese moves through its land-based missile systems, as well as on its own navy vessels. “This is a firm response to the current US-Taiwan escalation and provocation,” said Shi Yi, the spokesman for the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command, in a statement on Sunday night. It announced that the PLA was holding joint combat patrols and joint strike drills in the waters around Taiwan.
In Washington, an official of the White House National Security Council said China’s military activity near Taiwan was “destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability.”
Taiwan describes scale of Beijing’s ‘strike drills’
TAIWAN - Beijing has launched large-scale naval and aerial maneuvers around Taiwan, involving dozens of aircraft, days after Washington’s pledge to provide additional military aid to Taipei. Taipei scrambled its own jets and Navy vessels, and also used land-based missile batteries, to monitor the movement of Beijing’s forces.
Beijing announced the launch of “joint fire strike exercises” around Taiwan on Sunday. A colonel called the drills “a resolute response to the escalating collusion and provocation by the United States and Taiwan,” adding that the People’s Liberation Army would take “all necessary measures” to defend China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
On Friday, President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2023, a spending bill that allows up to $2 billion worth of military loans to Taiwan over the next five years. Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesman for Beijing’s Defense Ministry, stated that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will, as always, be ready to resolutely safeguard national reunification and the territorial integrity of the country.”
One of UK's ‘most powerful warships’
UK - The British Royal Navy’s largest ship, the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, has spent more time docked for repairs than on duty since it was commissioned in 2019, The Times reported on Monday. The vessel is currently sitting in a Scottish dockyard with a broken propeller shaft. The £3.2 billion ($3.8 billion) warship has spent only 267 days at sea since entering active duty in December 2019, the newspaper reported, citing Ministry of Defense figures. Christmas Eve marked the 268th day it has spent undergoing repairs.
In a lecture earlier this month, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the Defence Staff, admitted that the carrier has been a source of “deeply frustrating” problems. Such megaships “are massive capital projects where sometimes things will go wrong,” Radakin added.
The Royal Navy describes the Prince of Wales as “one of the most powerful surface warships ever constructed in the UK.” Capable of launching NATO’s latest F-35B multirole combat aircraft, its flight deck is 70 meters wide and 280 meters long, and with aircraft onboard it takes a crew of around 1,400 to operate. A Royal Navy spokesman told The Times that repairing the damaged shaft will take until Spring 2023, after which time the Prince of Wales will return to Portsmouth to undergo more “pre-planned maintenance.”
Israel Grounds 11 F-35 Fighter Jets
ISRAEL - Israel has grounded 11 F-35 fighter jets due to the crash of a similar plane in the United States two weeks ago, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday. The planes were grounded at the recommendation of the American production administration. The IDF said it has received the findings of the American investigation into the crash, and they “require thorough review to rule out the possibility of the problem recurring” in Israel’s air force.
The grounded planes constitute about a third of Israel’s F-35 complement. The plane that crashed in America was an F-35B, and the crash occurred when it tried to land at an airbase in Texas. The pilot managed to eject before it crashed. The grounded planes constitute about a third of Israel’s F-35 complement.
India to deploy ballistic missiles near China and Pakistan
INDIA - New Delhi plans to station some 120 missiles along the Indian border, ANI news agency reports. India intends to field more than a hundred ballistic missiles along its border with China and Pakistan, according to local news agency ANI. The report follows New Delhi’s claims of clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in a contested area of the Himalayas earlier this month.
“A high-level meeting of the Defense Ministry cleared the acquisition of around 120 missiles for the Armed Forces and their deployment along the borders,” a senior defense source told the outlet. According to ANI, the arms in question are domestically developed Pralay missiles. The tactical short-range quasi-ballistic devices were successfully tested by the Indian military a year ago.
They are said to have the capability of hitting targets at a range of between 150 and 500 km, and being hard for air defenses to intercept, due to directional changes during flight. India’s neighbors and geopolitical rivals China and Pakistan, who are also nuclear powers, both have ballistic missiles in their arsenals. India also borders on Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
What Is Happening To Our Wealthiest Cities?
USA - The largest cities in the United States are becoming cesspools of crime, drugs, violence and homelessness, and no matter what “solutions” our politicians come up with the problems just continue to get even worse. Sadly, this is even happening in the wealthiest cities in the whole country. New York City is the financial capital of the entire globe, and over the past two decades San Francisco has been swimming in giant mountains of tech industry money. But today the streets of both cities look like something out of a post-apocalyptic horror movie.
New York City has seen some pretty rough times in the past, but the Big Apple has never had as many homeless people sleeping in shelters than it does right now…Meanwhile, the downward spiral that we are witnessing in San Francisco is incredibly alarming. I recently watched footage of what downtown San Francisco currently looks like, and afterwards I was truly at a loss for words.
Have things really gotten this bad? Part of the problem is that the office buildings downtown are much less occupied these days thanks to the “work at home revolution” that began during the early stages of the pandemic… Another major factor is drug addiction. Right now we are witnessing the worst drug crisis in the history of the United States, and it just keeps intensifying every year.
Once upon a time, the United States was such a lovely place to be. But now our communities are degenerating into rapidly decaying hellholes and our streets are filled with violent predators. This is what our country has become. We are rapidly evolving into a “Mad Max society”, and that is because we have rejected the values that this nation was founded upon. Social decay is systematically eating away at the foundations of our civilization, and at this point America’s decline is really starting to accelerate.
America Is Being Invaded By Military Aged Males
USA - What a way to end the year! Our country and our sovereignty are being attacked by millions of illegals through our southern border compliments of a federal government that refuses to do its duty.
Our economic sovereignty is under attack by Marxist politicians who are spending our future into oblivion.
Our constitutional sovereignty is under attack by the FBI, the very branch of government who employees swear an oath to protect our rights.
And, our privacy is under attack by radical politicians who are weaponizing the IRS to harm their political opponents.
Hungary wants European Parliament dissolved
HUNGARY - The arrest of an EP vice president shows that the institution lacks safeguards, PM Viktor Orban says. The recent corruption scandal in the European Parliament (EP) is a sign that the EU institution should be abolished in its current form, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday. He added that the EP already had an abysmal reputation.
Orban’s remarks came after Eva Kaili, a Greek politician who served as one of the European Parliament’s vice presidents, was arrested and charged this month with corruption for receiving bribes from Qatar. “The Hungarians would like for the European Parliament to be dissolved in its current form,” he said at a press conference in Budapest.
Orban argued that the scandal “draws attention to the fact that national parliaments have a stronger control system in place,” adding that legislators from the parliaments of member states should be delegated to the European Parliament, as opposed to being elected separately. “And they obviously know our political position: the swamp must be drained,” the prime minister said.
Communist China Using TikTok To Ruin Country
USA - Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and author of “The Great US-China Tech War,” said during an interview this week that communist China is using TikTok to promote social disruption in the US in an attempt to weaken America’s system of government.
“President Trump banned TikTok along with WeChat,” Chang said. “President Biden, one of the first things he did was he reversed that ban. We know that over a course of years, about three or four of them, TikTok has been making representations to the US about how it doesn’t allow data to be sent to China. And it’s violated every single assurance it’s given to the US. But it’s not just stealing data.”
“It is actually more serious that it is using the TikTok algorithm to disseminate Chinese propaganda, glorifying drug use, promoting violence on American streets, and this year, disseminating Russian narratives about the Ukraine war,” he continued. “So this really is an attempt to undermine and actually even overthrow the US government. And why we permit it? I don’t know. India banned TikTok, we should do the same thing.”
The Strange New and Mostly Annoying Words of 2022
USA - After the lame attempt of the “big brains” at the Oxford Dictionary who “searched high and low — mostly low — to determine the [2022] word of the year” only to come up with the phrase “goblin mode,” thank goodness author and language expert Adam Jacot de Boinod set out to compile a list of 2022’s bizarre new words. While de Boinod’s list won’t leave you feeling any smarter, it may actually help you understand your Millennial and GenZ holiday guests since it’s heavy on social media speak — because of course, it is.
- Meatspace — The physical world, in contrast to cyberspace; FUNFACT: The human body is also known as a ‘meat tractor.’
- Sponcon — Content posted on social media that appears as a typical post but which is actually a paid-for advertisement; [Sponsored Content]
- Fexting — The act of fighting with someone by text messages rather than speaking on the phone or face-to-face; [Fight Texting]
- Copypasta — Data that’s been copied and spread online; BONUS: It’s fun to say.
- Quiet Quitting — Doing no more work than one is contractually obliged to do; Otherwise known as what every dissatisfied worker has done forever and ever, amen.
- Fluffernutter — A sandwich of marshmallow spread and peanut butter on white bread; I have to call baloney on this “new” word. My college roommate ate these monstrosities almost daily and that was, you know, back in the day.
- Vibe Shift — A significant change in the prevailing culture; As opposed to say, a fundamental transformation? Some things never change.
- Splooting — The act of usually a dog lying flat on its stomach with its legs stretched out to counter unusually high temperatures; Let’s hope they mean dogs do this.
- Manicule — A typographic mark depicting a hand with a pointing forefinger; [mani- + ridicule emoji]
- Sharenting — The act of sharing news, images or videos of one’s children on social media; Facebook guilty, so sue me or follow me on Twitter where I don’t sharent often.
- Scream Pot — A clay vessel used to scream into to release anger and frustration; Sounds as productive as feminists doing this. No thanks.
- Soysage — A vegetarian sausage fake meat monstrosity made with soy protein in the shape of a delicious, yummy sausage; I soytanly wouldn’t order one. Hard pass.
- Wearapy — The choosing of clothes to make the wearer feel comforted; Unless we’re talking comfy leggings, it’s time to take off the pajama bottoms, guys and put on your Big Boy pants. You’re not fooling anyone.
US Space Force practices for war in Europe
USA - The US Space Force has conducted joint drills with UK, Canada and Australia – the largest such exercises in its history – to hone its readiness for a hypothetical war in Europe, according to a statement by the Space Training and Readiness Command (STAR). Three so-called Space Flag 23-1 drills, each lasting two days, were conducted earlier this month at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado. The exercises enabled participants to practice “orbital warfare techniques, our electronic warfare techniques, our space-domain-awareness techniques and intelligence command,” Space Force Lieutenant Colonel Albert Harris said.
“This Space Flag focused on a US European Command scenario, so we wanted to present the problem in that theater and exercise our ability to win it based off of various problems that we presented to the team,” Harris added.
The US launched its Space Force as a separate military branch in 2019, more than 50 years after joining with the Soviet Union and the UK in signing a treaty that pledged to set aside space for “peaceful purposes.” The Pentagon has claimed that it must treat space as a “war-fighting domain” because of alleged threats from Russia and China.
Thirty-nine dead in America's big freeze
USA - Thirty-nine dead in America's big freeze: New York is like a 'war zone' and storm that dumped six feet of snow 'was one of the worst ever' - as temperatures hit minus 50F in Montana and 55 million people are under winter weather warning. The devastating storm impacting the US continues to rage as 39 have now been killed nationwide and 17 have died in New York, alone. On Christmas day, New York Governor Kathy Hochul held a press conference where she described the blizzard as 'the most devastating storm in Buffalo's long, storied history' of horrific storms.
In the Buffalo area, some of those who died were found in cars and others were found on the street in snowbanks, according to Mark Poloncarz, the executive of Erie County. Poloncarz said in a separate press conference Sunday that they may see even more fatalities as the area prepares for upwards of 30 inches through Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service revealed a total of 92.7 inches of snow had fallen in the Buffalo area over the course of the blizzard - almost equivalent to the 99 inches seen across the whole of an average winter in the area. Thousands of Americans were snowed in on Christmas Day and will continue to see
winter conditions continue into the middle of the week.MEP warns of ‘huge challenge’ to EU
EUROPE - The EU must take decisive steps to stop illegal migration and consider putting up fences at the bloc’s external borders, Manfred Weber, the president of the European People’s Party (EPP), has stated. Speaking on Sunday to Funke media group newspapers, Weber pointed to an increase in the number of illegal border crossings into the EU. He warned that the bloc’s members could “sleepwalk into a new migration crisis if they don’t act now.”
“This huge challenge must finally be taken seriously,” the president of the largest party in the European parliament said. Weber suggested that “if necessary, fences must also be built, for example in the south-east of the EU” in order to control the migrant influx, urging the bloc to support funding for the constructions, and calling for efforts to boost patrol activities at the external borders.
German media stirs up militancy in society
GERMANY - Last week, the University of Mainz published a study of German news coverage of events in Ukraine, and Berlin’s official response to the crisis. The conclusions confirm that since February 24, the media has played a major role in keeping the conflict going, and making a negotiated settlement less likely, due to almost universally biased, pro-war, anti-Russia content being published at all stages. Researchers at the university analyzed German-language reporting on the Ukraine conflict between February 24 and May 31, assessing the content of around 4,300 separate articles published by the country’s eight leading newspapers and TV stations: FAZ, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Bild, Spiegel, Zeit, ARD Tagesschau, ZDF Today, and RTL Aktuell.
During this time, Ukraine was portrayed positively in 64% of all coverage, and President Vladimir Zelensky in 67%. By contrast, Russia was portrayed “almost exclusively negatively” 88% of the time, and President Vladimir Putin in 96% of cases. Almost all reports – 93% in total – attributed sole blame for the war to Putin and/or Russia. The West was named as “jointly responsible” in only 4% of instances, Ukraine even less so at 2%. “Der Spiegel was the only media examined to rate diplomatic negotiations more positively than the delivery of heavy weapons,” the academics conclude.
Germany and Japan are rebuilding their military power
GERMANY - War in Ukraine, a rising China and North Korean missiles have changed the game in two famously pacifist nations. We’re now about as far removed, in years, from the end of the Second World War as people then were from the American Civil War. And yet there are days when it feels like World War II is still being fought. Russian President Vladimir Putin is battling phantom Nazis in Ukraine. Western leaders constantly invoke World War II — President Joe Biden did so four times in one day — to convey the importance of standing up to Putin.
But nowhere has the legacy of the war and its aftermath continued to influence political debate as much as it has in Germany and Japan — particularly when it comes to military matters. ...But nearly eight decades after the war, that may now be changing. Last Friday, Japan unveiled a new five-year defense plan that will double military spending and make the country the third-biggest military spender in the world after the United States and China.
Prompted by concerns over North Korea and China as well as the aftershocks of the invasion of Ukraine, the plan is a remarkable pivot for a country that is still, technically, banned by law from maintaining “land, air or sea forces.” Unveiling the plan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described it as a “turning point of our national security policy.” Intentionally or not, Kishida’s remark echoed a now-famous speech given by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on February 27, three days after the war in Ukraine began.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.
