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What could possibly go wrong here? I believe Japan has only ever used aircraft capable of taking off from a ship to attack the USA or American troops in the south Pacific. Now, we are supplying them with a fleet of new state of the art such aircraft. Astonishing!
Marine Corps F-35Bs are first aircraft to launch from
Japanese warship since WWII
By Sommer Brokaw
on the Japanese Ship Izumo off the coast of Japan. Photo by Lance Corporal Tyler Harmon/U.S. Marine Corps
Oct. 5 (UPI) -- The Marine Corps has launched two F-35B fighter jets from the Japanese warship Izumo, the first time since World War II that any aircraft has taken off from a Japanese vessel.
The fighter jets landed on the Japanese Ship Izumo on Sunday as part of a trial test of the capability of the warship to support the fighter jets in collaboration with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The test was conducted after a series of modifications to enable short take-off and vertical landing, or STOVL, operations, a specialty of the "B" variant of the F-35.
"This trial has proved that the JS Izumo has the capability to support takeoffs and landings of STOVL aircraft at sea, which will allow us to provide an additional option for air defense in the Pacific Ocean in the near future," JMSDF Rear Admiral Shukaku Komuta, commander of Escort Flotilla One, said in a statement.
The trial also marked the first time since World War II Japan has had a warship from which fixed-wing aircraft can operate, The Japan Times reported.
Weapons exceeding "the minimum required force" for self-defense have been interpreted as being banned under Japan's pacifist constitution, but Japanese officials have said the Izumo falls within the constitutional scope, according to Japan's English-language daily newspaper.
A senior ministry official told The Japan Times in 2019 that China's growing military presence in the Western Pacific was a main reason for the upgrade of the warship to an aircraft carrier.
The last time Japan operated an aircraft carrier was over 75 years ago.
Japan announced in August 2019 it would purchase 42 F-35B aircraft from the United States.
"We still have work to do until the day the JSDF can regularly employ STOVL aircraft at sea, but I am confident that the strong partnership and mutual trust between our two countries will result in its realization," Komuta said in a statement.
Not to mention the kazillions of dollars badly needed by Boeing.
Thanks, Joe! Taliban Gives Tajik Jihadis U.S.-Made
Weaponry and Vehicles
OCT 6, 2021 9:00 PM
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Jihad Watch
My latest in PJ Media:
They warned us this would happen. As the Taliban moved into Kabul in August, Taliban commander Muhammed Arif Mustafa told CNN: “It’s our belief that one day, mujahedin will have victory, and Islamic law will come not to just Afghanistan, but all over the world. We are not in a hurry. We believe it will come one day. Jihad will not end until the last day.” Then in early September, another Taliban commander declared: “We are happy that we are victorious. We fought for 20 years. We want Islamic law, and not just in Afghanistan.” Old Joe Biden’s handlers boosted these aspirations by allowing the Taliban to take control of billions of dollars worth of American weaponry and military vehicles, and now the Taliban have begun to share this largesse with other jihadis. They’ve now fitted out Tajik jihadis with the best in American equipment.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Monday that “the Taliban has provided Tajik militants based along the border with Tajikistan with new military vehicles, weaponry, and other equipment over the past two weeks, security sources in Tajikistan and northeastern Afghanistan say, amid an ongoing military buildup on both sides of the frontier.”
Tajik jihadis “based in Afghanistan’s northern province of Badakhshan have been seen with U.S.-made weaponry and vehicles, including Humvees, with some of them wearing American combat gear, according to an official with Tajikistan’s state border services.”
This is a recent development: “The militants, who were previously seen carrying Kalashnikov rifles and driving old pickup trucks, received the new supplies during the past two weeks, according to the Tajik official, who spoke under condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.”
The recipients of this American bounty are “known in Afghanistan as the Tajik Taliban.” They are members of a jihad group known as Jamaat Ansarullah (Assembly of the Helpers of Allah). This group was “established by Tajik nationals a decade ago with the goal of overthrowing the secular government in Dushanbe.”
The Taliban work closely with these Tajik rebels: “In June, Tajik officials raised concern that one of the banned group’s commanders — Muhammad Sharifov (aka Mahdi Arsalon) had been put in charge of security in five border districts in Badakhshan after they were seized by the Taliban. Last month, Tajik security officials said they were reviewing reports that the militants were planning to infiltrate into Tajikistan, an allegation rejected by the Taliban.”
While all this has been happening, the Taliban have also been cozying up to the People’s Republic of China: The jihadis reportedly “‘removed’ ethnic Uyghur fighters from Badakhshan — which also shares a 76-kilometer border with China. The militants from the Turkestan Islamic Movement were relocated to other provinces, including Nangarhar in Afghanistan’s east, the former Afghan military official said. The Al-Qaeda-linked Turkestan Islamic Movement is designated as a terrorist organization by Beijing and the United Nations. Beijing blames the group for unrest in its northwestern Xinjiang region.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
Israel claims ‘right’ to strike Iran ‘at any moment’ to prevent it
from obtaining nukes, FM Lapid says after meeting with Blinken
14 Oct, 2021 02:01
Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyanin, speaks at a press conference in Washington, October 13, 2021.
© Reuters / Andrew Harnik
Israel reserves the right to attack Iran at any time of its choosing, under the pretext of stopping it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Tel Aviv’s FM Yair Lapid said after meeting with his American and Emirati counterparts.
Addressing reporters after a sit-down with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in Washington on Wednesday, Lapid insisted that Tehran must not be allowed to obtain the bomb, saying the issue was at the “center” of his visit. Though Iran has long maintained it has no interest in developing nukes, Lapid vowed that Israel would stop its supposed “race to the bomb” by any means necessary.
“Israel reserves the right to act at any given moment and in any way. That is not only our right, it is also our responsibility,” he said. “Iran has publicly stated it wants to wipe us out. We have no intention of letting this happen.”
We know there are moments when nations must use force to protect the world from evil. If a terror regime is going to acquire a nuclear weapon, we must act, we must make clear that the civilized world won't allow it. If the Iranians don’t believe the world is serious about stopping them, they’ll race to the bomb.
While the FM also spoke of improved ties with Arab neighbors through a series of normalization deals struck last year and noted that Israel had “turned the cold peace with Egypt and Jordan into a warm peace,” much of his prepared remarks focused on Iran. His prime reason for meeting with Blinken and bin Zayed, he said, was “the concern about Iran’s race to a nuclear capability.”
“Iran is becoming a nuclear threshold country. Every day that passes, every delay in the negotiations brings Iran closer to a nuclear bomb,” he continued. “The Iranians are clearly dragging their heels, trying to cheat the world to continue to enrich uranium, to develop their ballistic missile program.”
Though a major agreement struck between Iran and world powers in 2015 put hard limits on Tehran’s civilian nuclear energy program and created a strict safeguards system under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ex-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, reimposing all American sanctions (and then some) in direct defiance of its terms.
In response, Iran has boosted its enrichment of uranium beyond caps set out under the agreement, arguing that it would return to those limits only when Washington held up its own commitments. It has also cited provisions of the deal which explicitly state that Iran would treat the reimposition of sanctions as “grounds to cease performing its commitments” under the agreement “in whole or in part,” saying its enhanced uranium enrichment is a legitimate reaction.
Talks to revive the nuclear pact began not long after President Joe Biden took office in January, though negotiations in Vienna have dragged on for months and appear to have made little progress. US officials have repeatedly suggested they would like a “longer and stronger” deal that covers non-nuclear issues, such as Iran’s ballistic missile program. Tehran sees that as a non-starter, however, and has demanded Washington return to the agreement already reached in 2015.
Lapid’s comments on Wednesday echoed remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett before the United Nations General Assembly late last month, where he said Iran’s weapons program is at “a critical point” and is now “one step short of weapons-grade material.” The PM reiterated warnings made by his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted Tehran is on the cusp of obtaining a bomb since the 1990s. Those predictions have so far not been borne out, with numerous IAEA inspections turning up no weapons program.
In his own appearance before the General Assembly last month, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi denied those charges, saying that nuclear weapons “have no place in our defense doctrine” and are forbidden under religious decree from Iran’s supreme leader. He urged the United States to “stay true” to the 2015 nuclear deal, vowing to do the same should Washington drop its “illegal” sanctions and return to the agreement.
Nuclear weapons from Iran would not be used for defence but for offence.
“Fifteen reports released by the IAEA have attested to the adherence of Iran to its commitments. However, the United States has not yet discharged its obligations, which is lifting sanctions,” he said.
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