Taiwan’s ‘new normal’ of volatility and deterrence
Volatility is perhaps the best word to describe Taiwan’s 2022. Though initial economic forecasts expected Taiwan to continue its strong growth from 2021, Taiwan’s actual annual GDP growth rate — 2.43% — was nearly half of 2022’s projected 4.42%. Actual growth in the fourth quarter contracted 0.86%, a rare 5% departure from the original forecast of...
Tucker Carlson, Joe Biden and whale beachings
We aren’t whaleologists — actually, the term is cetologist; we...
Chinese spy balloons under Trump not discovered until after Biden took office
The transiting of three suspected Chinese spy balloons over the continental US during the Trump administration was only discovered after President Joe Biden took office, a senior administration official told CNN...
Israeli troops kill 5 Palestinian gunmen in a raid in the West Bank, officials say
AQABAT JABR, West Bank — Israeli forces killed five Palestinian gunmen in a raid on a West Bank refugee camp Monday, Israeli security officials said, in a response to a botched attack on Israelis that was likely to exacerbate tensions in the region. The Palestinian Health Ministry did not immediately confirm the deaths, saying only that...
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French parliament to debate Macron’s pension reform bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for President Joe Biden, despite his insistence that he plans to seek reelection in 2024. That's according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that shows just 37% of Democrats say they want him to seek a second term, down from 52% in...
Taylor Swift’s Reaction to Jill Biden’s Grammy Appearance Goes Viral
Social-media users think they...
Putin Pursuing ‘Silent Mobilization’ As War Proves Unpopular in Russia-ISW
Russian troops fighting in...
Putin promised he wouldn't kill Zelensky, Israeli mediator claims: Kyiv dismisses Vladimir's 'vow' and warns ...
Israel's former prime minister who served briefly as a mediator at the start of Russia's war with Ukraine has claimed Vladimir Putin promised he would not kill his Ukrainian counterpart. Naftali Bennett emerged as an unlikely intermediary in the first weeks of the conflict, becoming one of the few leaders allied to the West to meet the Russian...
Iran singer who faces prison wins Grammy for protest anthem
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian singer who faces possible prison time for his song that's become an anthem to the ongoing protests shaking the Islamic Republic wept early Monday after seeing he'd won a Grammy. Shervin Hajipour appeared stunned after hearing Jill Biden, the wife of President Joe Biden, announce he'd won the Grammy's...
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Japan's new security policy: normalizing or remilitarizing?
By Kim Won-soo The Japanese government has announced a new security policy aimed at acquiring counter-strike capabilities and doubling its defense expenditure over the next five years. This is a significant departure from Japan's long-held policy of limiting its security posture strictly to self-defense. It is also the second step taken by the...
Possible nuclear armament for South Korea
By Park Jung-won President Yoon Suk Yeol said recently that if North Korea's nuclear threats continued to worsen, South Korea would need to consider redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea and possibly establish its own nuclear armament. He pointed out that South Korea has the scientific and technological capability to develop such...
Biden’s State of the Union to tout policy wins on economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his second State of the Union address on Tuesday to remind Americans of how their lives have been improved over his first two years in office, as he tries to confront pessimism in the country and navigate the tricky politics of a newly divided Washington. Rather than laying out major new policy...
US officials offer Congress briefing on Trump, Biden papers
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials have offered to brief congressional leaders on their investigation into the classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence as well as President Joe Biden’s Delaware home and former private office, people familiar with the matter said Sunday. A briefing could come as soon...
Powerful quake kills at least 560 people in Turkey, Syria
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, toppling buildings and killing at least 568 people. With hundreds injured, the toll was expected to rise as rescue workers searched the rubble in cities and towns across the area. On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep...
Ukraine to Replace Defence Minister After Corruption Scandals
Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov will be replaced by the chief of the military intelligence ahead of an expected Russian offensive and following corruption scandals, a senior lawmaker said Sunday. "We are preparing decisions and negotiations that should strengthen our soldiers, give Ukraine more international support and more weapons,"...
For Biden, a chance for a fresh start in a new era of divided government
By Peter Baker NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON – President Biden probably will not put it quite this way when he gets up before Congress to address the nation this week, but the state of America's union is disunion. To see that, he will need only turn around to find a Republican House speaker seated behind him, determined to block his every move. So...
Top Bush Lawyer Admits Guantánamo Military Commissions ‘Doomed From the Start’
> Ted Olson – the former US solicitor-general in the George W. Bush administration who argued against basic legal rights for Guantánamo Bay prisoners and defended their indefinite detention and torture – made a stunning admission Thursday: The Gitmo military commissions don't work and should be shut down, and the government should...
Zelenskyy: Situation Getting Tougher in Eastern Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday the situation is getting tougher in Eastern Ukraine, with a fresh wave of Russian shelling in Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk and Mykolaiv regions. In his nightly video address, the Ukrainian leader said Russia was "throwing more and more of its forces at...
Turkey’s two-faced ‘sultan’ is no friend of the west. It’s time to play hardball
That Turkey is a “vital strategic ally” of the west is the sort of truism on which people such as Joe Biden and Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, are raised. Yet what if the old saw no longer holds true? What if Turkey’s leader, exploiting this notion, betrays western interests in a pretence of partnership? Should not that leader be...