Tag - military

 
 

MILITARY

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in Cairo on August 15, 2023
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2024
U.S. and Iraq to begin talks on end of U.S.-led military coalition
The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group
American President Joe Biden hugs Brittany Alkonis after giving a State of the Union in February. The wife of jailed U.S. sailor Lt. Ridge Alkonis ran a successful pressure campaign to get her husband released from a Japanese prison into American custody. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2024
Japan owes no apology for U.S. Navy officer’s treatment
The case of Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis is a divisive one, which both the U.S. and Japanese governments have tried to keep quiet about.
People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 24, 2024
North Korea fires multiple cruise missiles off western coast
Leader Kim Jong Un has signaled that his regime no longer recognizes the two Koreas de facto maritime border, staging days of artillery drills in the area earlier this month.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara says Washington has promised to consult with Tokyo before it resumes Osprey flights in Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2024
U.S. promises to consult with Japan before resuming Osprey flights
Washington and Tokyo suspended flights after an Osprey crashed into the sea near Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture in late November, killing all eight on board.
Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner walks past an honor guard during the arrival ceremony at Western Command, in Puerto Princesa, on the Philippine island of Palawan last August.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 21, 2024
Manila gets tough in the South China Sea as a showdown looms
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has taken a tough stance on territorial disputes with China — and he is backing this up with bold moves.
Military cadets salute during a military funeral procession for Houthi fighters killed in recent U.S.-led strikes on Houthi targets, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2024
U.S. now pursuing ‘least bad’ option in confronting Houthis
Analysts and the Houthis themselves have said that the airstrikes won’t stop them — especially if the U.S. refuses to target the group’s main backer, Iran.
Houthi supporters rally to denounce the U.S. labeling of them as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" group, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2024
U.S. weighs stepping up fight against Houthis as chaos drags on
The U.S. and the U.K. are exploring ways to expand their campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen without provoking a broader war.
A person walks amid the snowy wreckage of collapsed homes and power lines in earthquake-hit Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2024
U.S. military to join relief effort in earthquake-hit Noto area
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said that the U.S. military and the SDF would be working “side by side” in the operations.
A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez toward the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal east of Cairo. Vessels have been pausing or diverting from the Red Sea amid the escalating conflict in the region.
WORLD
Jan 16, 2024
Yemen's Houthis threaten to hit U.S. ships as more tankers steer clear
The Iran-allied militant group said British and American vessels had become "legitimate targets" following last week's strikes on its sites by both countries.
The Defense Ministry in Tokyo is one of the places newly added to the list of locations where the acquisition and use of land in nearby areas is subject to tighter regulations.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 15, 2024
Japan tightens land use rules near six U.S. military facilities
The law encourages scrutiny of land use near designated facilities and the regulation of activities there that could prevent interference of operations in the area.
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te and his running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim, attend a rally outside the headquarters of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei on Saturday night after winning the presidential election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 14, 2024
Taiwan chooses continuity in pivotal presidential election
Lai's Democratic Progressive Party party won more than 40% of the roughly 14 million votes cast, but lost its majority in Taiwan’s parliament.
Construction work is underway on Wednesday in Oura Bay in Okinawa Prefecture, the site of the coastal airfield that will replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2024
Futenma moves forward, but local concerns must be addressed
Originally planned to have been finished by now, the base project is now anticipated to take over nine years to complete.
U.S. military officers prepare on Dec. 1 for a search for the CV-22 Osprey that went down off Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Nov. 29.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2024
U.S. military ends recovery operation for Osprey crash off Japan
Most of the aircraft was recovered but the body of one of the eight airmen killed in the accident could not be retrieved.
U.S. President Joe Biden gives a thumbs-up as he walks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Filoli estate on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, in Woodside, California, on Nov. 15. Their meeting attempted to calm the waters and tried to convey a sense that the U.S. and China could effectively manage their differences.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 11, 2024
In 2024, U.S.-China ties likely to get worse before they get better
The trajectory of Washington and Beijing's relationship this year will have profound effects on Japan's own policies going forward.
Heavy machinery is used to pour in stone material from a work boat into the sea off the coast of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 10, 2024
U.S. base transfer work in Okinawa begins after state OKs by proxy
In an an unprecedented move, the national government overrode the local government's objection and approved a modified landfill plan.
In Washington on Monday and Tuesday, Pentagon and Chinese military officials held their first in-person defense policy talks since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 10, 2024
China's military vows no compromise on Taiwan after rare talks with U.S.
The meeting came as China warned Tokyo over remarks by former Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso that Japan would join the fight in a war over the democratic island.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is being treated for prostate cancer, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2024
Biden unaware of Pentagon chief's prostate cancer until Jan. 9
Lloyd Austin, who is 70, has been hospitalized since Jan. 1 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Self-Defense Force personnel taking part in the earthquake-relief efforts help residents in an isolated village in Ishikawa Prefecture on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 9, 2024
The U.S. role in Japan's domestic disaster relief
The U.S. pledge for support offers another example of how the U.S.-Japan alliance contributes to Japan's domestic disaster relief.
(From left) The Democratic Progressive Party's Lai Ching-te, who is also Taiwan's vice president, faces off against the main opposition Kuomintang's Hou Yu-ih and the Taiwan People's Party's Ko Wen-je on Saturday's presidential election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 9, 2024
Close race emerges as Taiwan election enters final stretch
Expectations that front-runner Lai Ching-te would simply stroll to victory on Saturday have been dashed, with his polling lead having narrowed significantly.
Taiwanese flags at the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei in December 2022
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 8, 2024
U.S. policy unlikely to shift after Taiwan poll, ex-de facto envoy says
Any differences in Washington's reaction would be "nuanced," and rather involve "adjustments in degree than in type,” said former AIT chief Douglas H. Paal.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals