Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com The sweeping parliamentary victory last weekend has made Shinzo Abe one of the most powerful post-war Japanese prime ministers. Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) controls both chambers of the Japanese parliament known as the Diet. The resounding win has also given him a clear mandate to review the nation’s defense […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com ANKARA — Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, alarmed by the military coup in Egypt, was said to fear a similar scenario in Turkey. Diplomatic sources said Erdogan was the only NATO or Middle East leader to have openly sided with the Muslim Brotherhood against Egypt’s military. They said the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct.com TEL AVIV — The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been torn over a power struggle regarding responsibility for Israel’s strategic affairs. Israeli sources said the struggle has pitted the National Security Council against the Strategic Affairs Ministry amid U.S. pressure on the Jewish state. They said Netanyahu has veered […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com It’s a case of plus ça change with President ’s nine-month old campaign to rectify the “work style” of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through means including cracking down on big-time corruption. Earlier this week the protagonist of the one of worst scandals in PRC history – former minister […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com In a case reminiscent of the Cold War era, a German court near Stuttgart on July 2 sentenced two Russian agents, planted in West Germany during the 1980s and active until their arrest in October 2011. Andreas Anschlag, 54, and his wife Heidrun, 48, were planted by the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korean leaders have been living in fear of coming under Chinese control but had no option but to rely on the economic giant for much-needed hard currency, documents and sources said. According to the 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript disclosed by South Korea’s spy agency, then North Korean […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping marked his 60th birthday last weekend by launching a Mao-style “mass line political education” campaign in an apparent effort to raise the moral standards of the 83 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Compiled by Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com On June 16, the U.S. Army and Russia’s state-owned defense company Rosoboronexport signed a contract in Paris to buy 30 Mi-17V5 helicopters. The 30 Mi-17V5 helicopters will be used primarily for the U.S.-trained Afghan Army. They will remain in the country after U.S. forces are scheduled to […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com Given the apparent ease with which President Xi Jinping has consolidated his hold on power, it is perhaps not surprising that the princeling (a reference to the offspring of party elders) is actively nurturing the careers of younger members of the “red aristocracy.” In the past year, several […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com The usually deferential official Chinese media has characterized Premier Li Keqiang performance during his just-completed four-nation visit as “Li-style diplomacy.” The last leg of Li’s first overseas trip as head of government – a mere two-day stopover in Berlin – has demonstrated the hard edge of enhanced hard-power […]
