US triggers China’s urgency to strengthen nuclear deterrent

On Monday, The New York Times quoted nuclear weapons experts from the Federation of American Scientists as saying that China has built a new silo for launching nuclear missiles in the Hami prefecture of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.  China now owns 110 silos, according to the US media. On June 30, the Washington Post published the findings of researchers from US think tank James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies, who identified around 120 new silos near the city of Yumen, Northwest China's Gansu Province.…

US military prepares for the next frontier: Space war

Washington : Since man first explored space, it has been a largely peaceful environment. But now US adversaries are deploying weapons beyond Earth's atmosphere, leading the US military to prepare for the frightening prospect of war in space. "As humans go out there, there has always been conflict. Conflict in the Wild West as we move in the West ... conflict twice in Europe for its horrible world wars," Gen. John Hyten, head of US Strategic Command"So, every time humans actually physically move into that, there'…

New US sanctions on China morally chaotic: Global Times

China: The US Commerce Department on Monday added another 11 Chinese companies to its Entity List, accusing them of participating in "human rights violations and abuses" in China's "forced labor and "involuntary collection of biometric data" targeting Muslim minority groups in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.  This is the third batch of Chinese companies targeted by the US Commerce Department to interfere in the Xinjiang-related affairs. It is believed that in addition to causing diffi…

DefenseNews: Look at the military firepower the US is providing to Israel

DefenseNews : Within hours of the horrific attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the region to be ready to provide Israel with whatever it needs to respond. A second U.S. carrier strike group departs from Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday. Scores of aircraft are heading to U.S. military bases around the Middle East. Special operations forces are now assisting Israel’s military in planning and intelligence. The first shipment of additional munitions has already arrived. For now, the buildup reflects U.S. concern that the de…

Let’s talk transfer of technology , India tells US

It is good that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley have made it clear to the U.S. Defence Minister, Chuck Hagel, who was in India earlier this month, that the pure sale of defence hardware by the U.S. to India is far from enough. The way we should go with the Americans has to be on the lines of the co-development and co-production of the state-of-the-art Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) with the Russians. However, India, which agreed to buy 39 AH-64…

US Forces Intercept Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in Atlantic: A Bold Move With Global Geopolitical Consequences

DefenseNews : In a dramatic escalation of naval and sanctions enforcement operations, U.S. forces have seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic after a prolonged, weeks-long pursuit , marking one of the most significant high-seas interdictions in recent history.  Tanker shipping Russian oil. Photo: STEFAN SAUER/dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP The operation conducted under a federal court warrant and coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and allied partners spotlighted Washington’s res…

US Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma has recently stated that the US-Pakistan relationship is “complex”, while US relations with India are more broad-based. In saying so, Verma will be acutely aware that the US - Pakistan relationship is already on the trajectory towards becoming far more complex with Pakistan being inexorably subsumed by China, the CIA-ISI relationship notwithstanding. With China gearing up to establish an oceanic front in the Gwadar-Omari-Karachi region, a future US - China Cold War-like situation may be ine…

Seven months on, India-US logistics pact suffering from bottlenecks

NEW DELHI: The much-ballyhooed logistics pact between India and the US , which will allow reciprocal access to each other's military bases for refuelling, repair and maintenance of warships and aircraft, is yet to enter into force despite being inked seven months ago. Slow decision-making, bureaucratic bottlenecks and complex accounting procedures, much more from the Indian side than the US one, have held up the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) from becoming operational till now. Sources, however, say the I…

Trump-Xi Taiwan Talks Put U.S. Allies on Alert

U.S. allies in Asia are watching Trump-Xi Taiwan talks closely as questions grow over arms sales, deterrence and Washington's policy toward Taipei. Could the Taiwan issue become one of the most consequential subjects in the upcoming Trump-Xi summit? As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington on September 24, Taiwan and Japan are closely watching Washington's position on the island, particularly after Trump described U.S. arms sales to Taiwan as a potential negotiating tool. Trump-Xi Taiwa…

Before US pullout, watchdog warned of Afghan air force collapse

KABUL, Afghanistan — Months before President Joe Biden announced the U.S .’s complete withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, Washington’s watchdog warned that the Afghan air force would collapse without critical American aid, training and maintenance. The report was declassified Tuesday. Joe Biden The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko, submitted to the Department of Defense in January 2021, underscores that American authorities had been alerted that Afghanistan’s air force did not have the capab…

8 Indian,US warships conduct maritime drills in Indian Ocean

The drills also came at a time when tensions have mounted over China’s activities in the South China Sea, where the US Navy has just conducted a major exercise that involved two carrier strike groups. A US Navy carrier strike group, led by USS Nimitz, on Monday conducted maritime drills with Indian warships in the Indian Ocean region (IOR), against the backdrop of the India-China border standoff in Ladakh, people familiar with the development said on Monday. The passage exercise involved a total of eight Indian and US warships, said an …

US Ban On Imports From Xinjiang Disrupts China's Supply Chain

Washington:   The United States is rallying its allies against forced labour as it begins implementing an import ban on goods from China's Xinjiang region, where it says Beijing is committing genocide of the Uyghur population. US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) on 21 June began enforcing the Uighur Forced Labour Prevention Act, which US President Joe Biden signed into law in December. As per new rules all goods from Xinjiang, where Chinese authorities established detention camps for Uighurs and other Muslim groups, are made with forced…

US to boost military presence in Europe for Russia threat

MADRID (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. will significantly increase its military presence in Europe for the long haul, including by establishing its first permanent presence in Poland, to bolster regional security after Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine . Meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the opening of the alliance’s annual leaders’ summit in Madrid, Biden said “NATO is strong and united” and that steps to be taken during the gathering will “further augment our collective strength.” Biden opened his p…