Analyst: Why Trump was right on ‘out of control’ F-35 costs

Analyst: Why Trump was right on ‘out of control’ F-35 costs

by WorldTribune Staff, December 23, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump “can recognize when he is being scammed” and the Pentagon was doing just that by telling him the U.S. could get F-35s “for two to four times what they originally advertised,” security analyst Winslow T. Wheeler said on Dec. 22. Trump had tweeted on Dec. 12 […]

Iran-backed Hizbullah forces in Syria using U.S. military vehicles, Israel says

Iran-backed Hizbullah forces in Syria using U.S. military vehicles, Israel says

by WorldTribune Staff, December 22, 2016 Hizbullah fighters in Syria are using American armored personnel carriers originally supplied by the U.S. to the Lebanese army, a senior Israeli military officer said. In an intelligence briefing to foreign reporters in Tel Aviv on Dec. 21, the senior officer showed a photograph of Iran-backed Hizbullah military vehicles, […]

China announces it will return U.S. underwater drone shortly after Trump statement

China announces it will return U.S. underwater drone shortly after Trump statement

by WorldTribune Staff, December 18, 2016 China has said it will return a U.S. underwater drone it seized in the South China Sea. Not long after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s statement criticizing the incident, China’s Defense Ministry said it would return the drone to the U.S. Navy. The drone, launched by the USNS Bowditch, a […]

Chinese warship seizes ‘sovereign’ U.S. underwater drone In South China Sea

Chinese warship seizes ‘sovereign’ U.S. underwater drone In South China Sea

Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The Pentagon says a Chinese warship has seized an unmanned U.S. Navy underwater glider that was collecting unclassified scientific data in the South China Sea. Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis says the United States has issued a formal diplomatic complaint about the incident and is asking for […]

Trump crisis in Beijing: Five ‘knowns and unknowns’ have Xi Jinping in the panic mode

Trump crisis in Beijing: Five ‘knowns and unknowns’ have Xi Jinping in the panic mode

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, ‘Inside China’, Geostrategy-Direct.com “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t […]

U.S. forces bow to Russian response after ISIL seizes anti-aircraft weapons in Palmyra

U.S. forces bow to Russian response after ISIL seizes anti-aircraft weapons in Palmyra

by WorldTribune Staff, December 15, 2016 The U.S.-led coalition will defer to Russia in retaking Palmyra after Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) regained control of the ancient Syrian city on Dec. 11. “If they don’t, we will do what we need to do to defend ourselves and we’ll de-conflict those actions with the […]

Growing political crisis in South Korea could impact critical security ties with U.S.

Growing political crisis in South Korea could impact critical security ties with U.S.

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk The populist revolt against President Park Geun-Hye has grave implications for governance amid economic unease and high youth unemployment. In this uncertain transition period, Korea’s relationship with the United States is sure to undergo strains if not change while foes of her conservative pro-American policies line up in search […]

Strategic surprise: With Dec. 2 Taiwan call, Trump challenges China’s breakout from containment

Strategic surprise: With Dec. 2 Taiwan call, Trump challenges China’s breakout from containment

Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs The Dec. 2, telephone conversation between Republic of China (ROC: Taiwan) President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump very deliberately ushered in a new era in U.S. engagement in Asia, one designed to stop the rapid decline in U.S. credibility and […]

U.S. Congress passes ‘Global Magnitsky Rights’ defense bill in jab at Putin

U.S. Congress passes ‘Global Magnitsky Rights’ defense bill in jab at Putin

Special to WorldTribune.com By Mike Eckel, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The U.S. Congress has backed legislation giving the president new, broader authority to impose sanctions on human rights abusers worldwide, building on an earlier law that has infuriated the Kremlin. The measure, formally known as the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, passed […]

Seventy-five years after the ‘day of infamy,’ a new challenge from the Far East

Seventy-five years after the ‘day of infamy,’ a new challenge from the Far East

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — On December 7, 1941, the United States was shocked and stunned from its nervous neutrality and thrust into the crucible of the Second World War. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor instantly changed the narrative for American involvement in WWII which had already been raging […]