Babylon Buzzes The China Nuclear Horn (Daniel 7)

 
China accuses US of serious provocation by flying bombers

Associated Press By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN 3 minutes ago

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that the U.S. committed “a serious military provocation” by recently flying two Air Force B-52 bombers over a Chinese-controlled man-made island in the South China Sea, a mission that the U.S. appeared to indicate had strayed off course.

The Defense Ministry accused the U.S. of deliberately raising tensions in the disputed region, where China has been aggressively asserting its claims to virtually all islands, reefs and their surrounding seas. It also reiterated that it would do whatever is necessary to protect China’s sovereignty.
As is China’s usual practice, the Foreign Ministry took a more diplomatic tone, saying the situation was stable.

The U.S. takes no official stance on sovereignty claims in the strategically crucial South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in international trade passes each year. However, Washington insists on freedom of navigation and maintains that China’s seven newly created islands do not enjoy traditional rights, including a 12-nautical-mile (22-kilometer) territorial limit.

Responding to China’s protests, Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said that the Dec. 10 mission was not a “freedom of navigation” operation and that there was “no intention of flying within 12 nautical miles of any feature,” indicating the mission may have strayed off course.
The U.S. uses pre-planned freedom of navigation operations to assert its rights to “innocent passage” in other country’s territorial waters.

“The United States routinely conducts B-52 training missions throughout the region, including over the South China Sea,” Wright said in an email to The Associated Press. “These missions are designed to maintain readiness and demonstrate our commitment to fly, sail and operate anywhere allowed under international law.”

Wright said the U.S. was “looking into the matter.”

China’s Defense Ministry demanded that Washington immediately take measures to prevent such incidents and damage to relations between the two nations’ militaries.

“The actions by the U.S. side constitute a serious military provocation and are rendering more complex and even militarizing conditions in the South China Sea,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement said that Chinese military personnel on the island went on high alert during the overflights by the B-52 strategic bombers and that they issued warnings demanding the aircraft leave the area.

While the Foreign and Defense ministries said two B-52s were involved in the incident, there was no word from the U.S. on the number of planes involved.

“In the face of provocative acts from the U.S. side, the Chinese military will take all necessary means and measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security and resolutely safeguard regional peace and stability,” the Defense Ministry’s statement said.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to Berlin, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi drew a contrast between the situation in the South China Sea region and the chaos and turmoil in other parts of the world. “The situation in the South China Sea is essentially stable overall,” he said.

Wang also said that while China understands the concerns of nations from outside the region — a clear reference to the U.S. — they should “do more to benefit peace and stability and support efforts to find a resolution through talks, and not manufacture tensions or even fan the flames.”

“We don’t think this is a constructive approach and will not receive the support and welcome of relevant nations,” Wang said.

In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry said it had “lodged solemn representation with the United States” over the incident.

China’s latest protest comes amid a simmering dispute over Washington’s approval this past week of the first arms package in four years offered to Taiwan, Beijing’s self-governing rival. Beijing, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory, demanded the deal be scrapped to avoid harming relations across the Taiwan Strait and between China and the U.S.

Beijing filed a formal diplomatic complaint and its Foreign Ministry said it would take “necessary measures, including the imposition of sanctions against companies participating in the arms sale to Taiwan.”

The main contractor behind the weaponry is Raytheon. U.S. defense firms are forbidden to sell arms to China.
___
Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Berlin and Lolita Baldor in Bahrain contributed to this report.

Putin Taunts Obama: A Game Of One Upmanship (Dan 7:7)

  

Russian BOMBERS buzzed US airspace while Putin mocked Obama: ‘Happy Fourth’

Vladimir Putin’s Russia proves time and again it is not America’s ally. Too bad President Barack Obama can’t seem to figure that out.
 
Reports are emerging that the Russian president had some Fourth of July fun at Obama’s expense earlier this month.

While many Americans were enjoying barbecues and beaches, U.S. Air Force pilots were ordered to intercept Russian Bear bombers – planes capable of carrying nuclear weapons – flying too close for comfort along the California coast.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed to Fox News that U.S. pilots received a message from a Russian pilot during the interception:

“Good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence Day,” the message said.

As if that weren’t ominous enough, a nearly identical and simultaneous incident occurred in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, Fox reported.

Russian bombers never entered U.S. airspace, but were in areas where the U.S. military has said they would be intercepted.

To add insult to injury, Putin reportedly called Obama to wish him a happy Fourth of July while the incidents were occurring.

The Russians have been ramping up their taunts during Obama’s “progressive” presidency.

Fox News’ Leland Vittert reported, “In 2014, 10 times, U.S. fighter jets were scrambled to intercept Russian Bear bombers near Alaska. One hundred times they were scrambled in Europe.”

“That’s two to three times the number of incidents that happened in 2013,” he said.

Vittert added that these are “the largest and most aggressive actions by the Russians we have seen since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.”
Progress? Hardly.

Russian nuclear horn buzzes Babylon the great (Dan 7)

 

Nuclear-capable Russian bombers cruise California, Alaska coastlines on July 4

By Jeffrey Scott Shapiro – The Washington Times – Monday, July 6, 2015

While Americans celebrated the Fourth of July, four nuclear-capable Russian long-range strategic bomber aircraft cruised through the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), not far from the Alaskan and California coastlines.

News broke Monday that the Russian TU-95 “Bear” long-range bombers were intercepted by U.S. military fighter jets. Two of the bombers flew near Alaska and a separate pair flew off the west coast of California only 30 minutes later.

Officials at NORAD told news outlets the Russian bombers stayed within international airspace and at no time did they enter sovereign U.S. airspace.

In a statement released to ABC News on Monday, NORAD officials said the Alaskan incident occurred at about 10:30 a.m. EDT on July 4, when NORAD F-22 fighters visually identified and intercepted two of the Russian bombers flying off the coast of the Aleutian Islands within the ADIZ — a buffer zone of international waters that stretches 200 miles from U.S. coastline.

Thirty minutes later at 11 a.m. EDT, NORAD F-15 fighters from the Continental NORAD Region visually identified and intercepted two Bear bombers flying off the central California coast.

Officials at Northcom are reportedly not revealing exactly how far the California incident occurred from the American coastline, but one official said it was on the outer lines of the ADIZ.

U.S. airspace starts 12 miles from the coastline. The U.S. asks foreign military aircraft flying in that space to identify themselves and direct them to change course away from U.S. shorelines.

Last year, two long-range Russian bombers flew within 50 miles of northern California.

Since 2006, there have been at least 50 reported incidents of Russian long-range turbo-propped strategic bombers infiltrating the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone and being intercepted by U.S. Air Force jets.

There has been an average of about five Russian aerial incursions per year, but the number of incidents doubled last year after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its continued military involvement in the Ukraine.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/6/russian-nuclear-capable-bombers-cruise-california-/#ixzz3fL6adiey

Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter