Special to WorldTribune.com A prominent Saudi cleric who is on Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL’s) hit list was shot and wounded in the Philippines on March 1. Sheikh Aaidh al-Qarni and Saudi diplomat Sheikh Turki Assaegh were both wounded in an assassination attempt as they left a university auditorium in the southern port […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com Listen to people talking about the panacea of “dialogue” and “a peace treaty” with North Korea. They make it seem so simple. We need to talk, they say. We’ll never come to terms with North Korea if we don’t talk. One advocate of dialogue put it this way […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Asian Pacific nations are spending big on “long overdue” military upgrades to counter the threat posed by China, according to a IHS Jane’s report. In 2015, nine of the 20 fastest-growing defense budgets were in the Asian Pacific, the report said. By 2020, total military spending in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region is […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Beijing’s Ministry of Industry and Technology has written new rules that could in effect ban all foreign-invested companies from publishing online in China. The new rules, slated to go into effect on March 10, could shut down China as a market for foreign news outlets, publishers, gaming companies, information providers, and entertainment […]
Special to WorldTribune.com In a show of force aimed squarely at North Korea, four U.S. F-22 stealth fighters flew low over South Korea on Feb. 17. The F-22 Raptors flew alongside Korea’s F-15K Slam Eagle aircraft and U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets in a joint exercise out of Osan Air Base. “The F-22 Raptor […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com Comparisons between North Korea and Burma (also known as Myanmar) over the years have suggested that the two nations share some of the same problems. However, even in the worst periods of military dictatorship, Burma never bore any similarity to North Korea. The contrast extends from urban market […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Satellite images show China has deployed the advanced HQ-9 surface-to-air missile system to a disputed island in the South China Sea. Taiwanese and U.S. officials confirmed that batteries of the HQ-9 surface-to-air missile launchers were set up on Woody Island in the Paracels chain, according to a report by Reuters. China, Taiwan […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Chinese President Xi Jinping was on hand for the Feb. 16 launch ceremony for China’s largest investment project in Saudi Arabia, the Yasref oil refinery. Xi told reporters the refinery, which covers more than 5 million square meters in the city of Yanbu on Saudi’s west coast, conforms to the Saudi national […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com North Korean rocket launches and nuclear tests risk getting boring. The pattern is familiar: expressions of outrage, loud condemnation ― then nothing. Has the latest one-two punch of nuclear test and rocket launch changed a thing? The easy answer is not really ― but think again. The lines […]
Special to WorldTribune.com North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un continued his series of purges as army chief of staff Ri Yong-Gil was executed, according to a report on Feb. 10. Ri, who was chief of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff, was executed earlier this month “for corruption and factional conspiracy,” Yonhap and other South […]
