News Story: No Safe Place In Next War - The Army’s Expanded Battlefield

Bradley M2A3 IFVs are unloaded at Busan port RoK (File Photo)

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.

What if the next war starts, not with a gunshot, but with a tweet? As tensions rise, US troops discover their families’ names, faces, and home addresses have been posted on social media as they prepare to deploy, along with exhortations to kill the fascists/imperialists/infidels (pick one). Trolls call them late at night with death threats, a mentally ill lone wolf runs over a soldier’s children, fake news claims the military is covering up more deaths, and official social media accounts are hacked to post falsehoods. The whole force is distracted and demoralized.

Meanwhile, defense contractors discover the networks they use to deliver supplies to the military have been penetrated. Vital spare parts go missing without ever leaving the warehouse because the serial number saying which crate they’re in has been scrambled in the database. As railways and seaports prepare to transport heavy equipment, they discover key railroad switches, loading cranes, and other equipment – civilian-owned but vital to the military operation – now malfunction unpredictably, forcing prolonged safety inspections.

US forces finally cut through this cyber thicket and begin to deploy abroad by air and sea – but now the shooting starts. A thousand miles from enemy territory, submarines sink transport ships with torpedoes, cruise missiles and covertly laid mines. A few hundred miles out, long-range anti-aircraft missiles blunt the US air offensive. While stealth fighters can penetrate the defenses, the lumbering fuel tankers that let them cover long distances cannot. Transport planes must unload the troops at airfields well outside the danger zone, while transport ships must unload at distant ports.

US forces face a long road march just to reach the ally they’re supposed to be defending. The whole way, they must fight through attacks by everything from surface-to-surface missiles to local malcontents stirred up by social media. By the time the Americans arrive, their ally’s territory is not only occupied but thoroughly defended by dug-in enemies.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Story: S. Korea urges DPRK to positively respond to peace initiative proposal & S.Korea may stop propaganda broadcasts in border areas according to DPRK's response - military

S. Korea urges DPRK to positively respond to peace initiative proposal

SEOUL, July 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's unification ministry urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to positively respond to President Moon Jae-in's peace initiative on the Korean Peninsula, which was proposed in Berlin, Germany.

Lee Yoo-jin, deputy spokesperson of the Unification Ministry, told a regular press briefing Friday that inter-Korean cooperation would be mandatory to draw up a breakthrough for peace on the peninsula, expressing an anticipation of the DPRK's positive response to South Korea's proposal for the peninsula's peace.

The proposal referred to the so-called "Korean Peninsula Peace Initiative" suggested Thursday by President Moon who was visiting Germany to attend a summit of Group of 20 (G20) leading economies.

Moon, who took office on May 10, explained his government's policy direction to establish a permanent peace on the peninsula, saying he will make the peninsula free from threats of nuclear weapons and war by acknowledging and respecting each other between the two Koreas.

The new South Korean leader proposed to implement the agreements reached by his two predecessors, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moon-hyun, when they met with late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007.

Read the full story at Xinhua

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S.Korea may stop propaganda broadcasts in border areas according to DPRK's response: military

SEOUL, July 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's military on Friday indicated the stop of propaganda broadcasts in border areas according to the response from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun told a regular press briefing that though predictably speaking it was not possible at the current stage, it would need to watch what response the DPRK would make.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed a so-called "Korean Peninsula Peace Initiative" in Berlin, Germany as he was visiting the European country to attend a summit of Group of 20.

As part of the initiative, Moon offered to stop any hostile acts near the military demarcation line (MDL), which has divided the Korean Peninsula for seven decades, from July 27, a date marking the 64th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: DPRK urges South Koreans to dump conservative forces in election

PYONGYANG, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday urged South Koreans to dump the conservative forces in the upcoming presidential election.

"The South Korean conservative group's pro-U.S. traitorous behavior brought detrimental consequences to the inter-Korean relations and the cause of national reunification," said the official Rodong Sinmun daily.

"It is most horrible to think these conservatives come back to power," said the paper in a commentary.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: North Korea Implores South Koreans to Join ‘Anti-War’ Campaign Against US

On Friday, North Korea appealed to the people, organizations and political parties of South Korea to join them in their “anti-war” effort against the US.

In a letter of plea, the Central Committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party wrote, "All the parties and people from all walks of life in South Korea should rise up in the anti-US, anti-war struggle for peace, clearly seeing through the nature of the US, the chieftain of aggression and disturber of peace." 

The already strained relationship between the northern and southern parts of the Korean peninsula has grown more tense lately as Seoul engages in its annual joint military exercises with the US, which has prompted many threats from Pyongyang and its supreme leader, Kim Jong-un.

Pyongyang isn’t alone in its aggressive posturing, however. US President Donald Trump has accused the communist nation of "acting very badly," as his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heavily implied that Washington is willing to take military action against provocation from North Korea, signaling the end of what he called the “strategic patience” used by former President Barack Obama. 

News Story: Russia the Mediator - Can Moscow Help Organize Talks for US, N Korea Leaders?

North Korea could ask Russia to help organize a one-on-one meeting between its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, Washington-based Radio Free Asia reported, citing US experts.

The report was later confirmed by other media outlets.

Donald Trump earlier said he would like to sit down with Kim over a hamburger and decide the future of North Korea’s nuclear program.

The Trump Administration has since toughened its stance on Pyongyang though, and now talks about the possibility of preventive nuclear strikes on North Korea and the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea and Japan.

It is apparently with this change of tack by Washington in mind that Kim Jong-un is now looking for ways to mend fences with the United States, RFA said.

Sputnik asked several leading Russian political analysts to comment on the RFA’s report.

News Story: China's military launches education campaign on upholding Xi's core status

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Military Commission (CMC) has issued a guideline on launching an education campaign themed on upholding the core and following commands.

The guideline said it is a fundamental issue to establish and uphold Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, as the core of the CPC Central Committee as well as the whole Party.

Deepening national defense and military reforms also requires further consolidation of consensus, it said, noting that the military must staunchly uphold the authority of the CPC Central Committee and Xi, who is also chairman of the CMC, under all circumstances.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: "Taiwan independence" can never be allowed - Chinese mainland spokesman

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, and "Taiwan independence" can never be allowed, according to a Chinese mainland spokesman Wednesday.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference.

"We will continue to uphold the 1992 Consensus, which reflects the 'One China' principle," Ma said.

"We will strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest efforts and utmost sincerity but will never allow any Taiwan independence supporters to separate Taiwan from China in any name or in any form," he added.

Ma said that Taiwan independence was against the fundamental interests of Taiwan compatriots and the Chinese nation, had no future and was doomed to no support from Taiwan's public.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Thousands of Pyongyang Propaganda Leaflets Found Near Seoul

The divide between South and North Korea may be more porous than originally thought, as thousands of printed sheets of pro-Pyongyang propaganda have been seized in the western port city of Incheon in South Korea.

Some 6,000 leaflets, carefully printed with lettering that glorifies the person and policies of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, were confiscated on Tuesday, according to Yonhap News.

In a similar discovery, about 150 leaflets decrying the recently ended Key Resolve joint military drills between South Korea and the United States were found in the same region. No other details about the seizure were made available.

Seoul-based military experts were given the materials by local police for further examination.

The annual Key Resolve drills, in cooperation with the concurrent and ongoing Foal Eagle military exercises, have been lambasted by Pyongyang as preparations for invading North Korea and incipient acts of war.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: DPRK army warns U.S., South Korea against "special operation" against leadership

PYONGYANG, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The military of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) warned on Sunday the United States and South Korea against any attempt to stage a "special operation" to hit its leadership and military installations, including the nuclear arms base.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Beijing pushes 'China solution' for governing web

Beijing said Thursday it will push a "China solution" to global cyber governance after releasing its first strategy paper outlining a vision of the web where individual countries control the information that flows across their borders.

The roll out is part of an effort by Beijing to play a more active role in shaping the management of the internet, advocating what some critics have called a more atomised, less connected web.

Beijing wants "to put forward a 'China scheme' or a 'China solution' for the tough issue of cyber governance," Long Zhou, the coordinator of cyber affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters at a briefing on the document, which was released late Wednesday.

While China is home to the world's largest number of internet users, a 2015 report by US think tank Freedom House found that the country had the most restrictive online use policies of 65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.

But China has maintained that its various forms of web censorship -- collectively known as "The Great Firewall" -- are necessary for protecting its national security.

Sites blocked due to their content or sensitivity, among them Facebook and Twitter, cannot be accessed in China without special software that allows users to bypass the strict controls.

This January, Beijing launched a campaign to crack down on such tools, known as virtual private networks (VPNs).

The campaign came after the passing of a controversial cybersecurity bill last November, tightening restrictions on online freedom of speech and imposing new rules on service providers.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Russia military acknowledges new branch - info warfare troops

MOSCOW (AP) -- Along with a steady flow of new missiles, planes and tanks, Russia's defense minister said Wednesday his nation also has built up its muscle by forming a new branch of the military -- information warfare troops.

Sergei Shoigu's statement -- which came amid Western allegations of Russian hacking -- marked the first official acknowledgement of the existence of such forces.

Speaking to parliament, Shoigu said that the military received a sweeping array of new weapons last year, including 41 intercontinental ballistic missiles.

He added that the wide-ranging military modernization will continue this year, with the air force set to receive 170 new aircraft. The army will receive 905 tanks and other armored vehicles, and the navy will receive 17 new ships.

Also this year, three regiments of Russia's strategic nuclear forces will receive new intercontinental ballistic missiles, Shoigu said. Each regiment has up to 10 launchers.

The rising number of new weapons has raised demands for new personnel. Shoigu said the military currently needs 1,300 more pilots and will recruit them by 2018.

Declaring the formation of the dedicated information warfare troops, Shoigu noted that "propaganda needs to be clever, smart and efficient." He wouldn't describe the troops' mission.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Story: Iran defense chief denies test-firing new missile

Iran Ballistic Missile TEL

TEHRAN, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran's defense minister on Thursday denied as "fabricated" media reports that the Islamic republic has test-fired another missile recently.

"Such fabricated claims are propagated by the Zionist regime (of Israel) and are aimed at Iranophobia," Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan said.

The allegations are "provocative and lies" seeking to create enmity with Iran, Dehqan added.

He advised the Persian Gulf Arab states "not to be deceived by such propaganda.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Rocket Force - China Tests Its New Super-Accurate Missile During War Games

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force has begun practicing the deployment of medium-range Dongfeng (DF) missiles capable of reaching strategic US and Japanese bases near China, the latest iteration of Beijing’s war game-preparations for an armed conflict in the South and East China Seas.

While the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday celebrations carried on, Beijing focused on defense preparations. DF-16 missiles, first unveiled to the public in late 2015, were tested in the deep forest during missile-launch exercises in recent weeks, according to video footage of the war games published by the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.

The DF-16 missile touts a level of accuracy comparable to a cruise missile, Shi Hong, executive editor of Shipborne Weapons, told China Daily. To quantify this precision, the missiles can travel some 625 miles, carry up to three nuclear warheads at a combined weight of one ton, and strike within five feet of a programmed target. 

News Story: British think tank involved in Japan-funded anti-China propaganda "keen to attack," says sinologist

by Gui Tao, Larry Neild

LONDON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A British think tank involved in Japan-funded propaganda against China was "notoriously partisan" and "extremely keen to attack," a leading British expert on Chinese affairs said late Tuesday.

The comment came after the Sunday Times newspaper released a detailed report on Jan. 29, accusing the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) of being paid by the Japanese Embassy in London to hype up the China threat in Britain and spread propaganda that might damage China-Britain relations.

The society was "notoriously partisan, very right wing, and extremely keen to attack," said Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London.

"It is not really very reassuring that any government would be giving funds in this way. But for Japan to be spending money on an organization like this which has such a clear, antagonistic posture, is very surprising. I suspect the only people who will be reached by this are those who are already decided in their minds," he said.

The Sunday Times reported that the Japanese Embassy in London had paid the think tank 10,000 pounds (12,570 U.S. dollars) per month to spread anti-Chinese propaganda, including through public figures like former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, a former Conservative MP in the British House of Commons who also served as chairman of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Japan pays British think tank to propagate against China - media

LONDON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Japan has been paying 10,000 pounds per month to a British think tank to hype up "China threat" among British high-level politicians, local media reported Sunday.

A detailed report carried out by The Sunday Times said that the Japanese Embassy in London reached a deal with the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a registered charity, to wage a propaganda campaign against China.

It said that the deal was reached in response to growing cooperation between China and Britain.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: China makes war with Japan six years longer

China has ordered all schools to teach pupils that its 20th-century war with Japan lasted 14 years rather than eight, the education ministry said Wednesday, to "strengthen patriotic education".

Chinese textbooks currently date the "Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" to July 7, 1937 and the Marco Polo Bridge Incident which heralded Japan's full-scale invasion.

But new guidelines call for all curriculum materials at schools and universities across the country to push back the start to the Mukden Incident of September 18, 1931, after which Tokyo's forces occupied Manchuria in northeastern China.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: WW II On Speed - Joint Staff Fears Long War

Image: Wiki Commons

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.

ARLINGTON: Military officers and analysts are increasingly worried that if a war breaks out with a major power — meaning China, Russia or both — the conflict would escalate faster, spread more broadly, and drag on longer than anything in recent history. Think World War II on speed, with no front lines or clear demarcations between the European and Pacific theaters.

“The history of short-war predictions is one of repeated disappointment, and it would be profoundly unwise to risk our security by preparing only for wars of limited duration,” warned Vice Adm. Frank Pandolfe, assistant to Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Pandolfe represents the chairman on interagency bodies and particularly to the State Department). Dunford has pushed for a new trans-regional planning staff that transcends the current geographic combatant commands, arguing that new threats — like the Islamic State — sprawl too broadly in space for the current structure. Pandolfe is arguing threats may extend too long in time as well.

Since 9/11, policymakers and the American people have learned to endure a long war against global terrorism, Pandolfe said, but a long war against well-armed great powers would be very different. Sophisticated cyber and electronic warfare attacks would precede large salvos of smart weapons, “an unprecedented blending of mass and precision,” he said. Instead of the steady movement of front lines that gave America time to mobilize in World War II, fighting would leap like a wildfire over a firebreak, from one theater into another. Instead of World War II-era censorship or even Vietnam-era nightly newscasts, he said, leaks, propaganda, and fake news would pour over the Internet, “a torrent of real and false information transmitted in near real-time,” to attack the American people’s will to fight.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Story: Senior official urges Taiwan social organizations to oppose "Taiwan Independence"

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng on Monday urged Taiwan's social organizations to oppose Taiwan independence and help integrate the two sides across Taiwan Strait.

Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the remarks when meeting with delegates to a forum attended by social organizations of Taiwan compatriots.

Yu said cross-Strait ties are facing a serious challenge as the Taiwan authority refuses to recognize the 1992 Consensus.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Trump agrees Russia responsible for election hacking - transition team

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has accepted U.S. intelligence community's findings that Russia was behind the cyber attacks targeting the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Trump's team said on Sunday.

"He's not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular campaign," said incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in an interview with FOX News. "He accepts the fact that this particular case was entities in Russia. So, that's not the issue."

Priebus did not clarify whether Trump agreed that the Russian hacking was intended to help him win.

It is the first time for any senior official from Trump's transition team to acknowledge that after months of denial and sometimes even disparagement of the U.S. intelligence community, Trump had agreed that Russians were responsible for the hacking that led to the leaking of damaging material which dogged Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton till the Election Day.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Trump told of Putin link to election meddling

US President-Elect Donald Trump

WASHINGTON: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a hidden campaign to influence America's presidential election in favour of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, US intelligence agencies declared on Friday in the government's first formal allegation supporting sensational claims that Trump and his supporters have staunchly resisted.

The intelligence report, an unclassified version of a more detailed classified account given earlier to Trump, the White House and congressional leaders, withheld the government's evidence to back up its assertions.

Trump, in a brief interview with The Associated Press, said he "learned a lot" from his discussions with intelligence officials, but declined to say whether he accepted their assertion that Russia had meddled in the election on his behalf.

The meeting followed a week of rising tensions during which the billionaire took to his favourite platform, Twitter, to insult US intelligence officials and even accuse them of stalling while they came up with a better story to back their claims of Russian hacking.

"It was a really great meeting, I really like those people a lot," Trump said after the meeting. "I learned a lot and I think they did also."

Trump would not detail what evidence he was presented with, saying only that he learned "a lot of confidential things". Because Trump is not yet president, he is legally constrained from revealing classified information.

Trump issued a written statement that appeared to concede some Russian involvement. But Trump said nothing about the conclusion that Putin had sought to aid his candidacy, other than insisting that he still believes the Russian attacks had no effect on the outcome.

Read the full story at BangkokPost