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Kremlin’s Baltic Sea sabotage ship was reportedly loaded with spy gear

December 30, 2024
A Russian-linked tanker called the Eagle S, which is suspected of intentionally cutting Baltic Sea power and data cables, was also loaded with “spy equipment.” That’s what a source close to Finnish authorities, who seized the ship, told The Telegraph on Saturday, Dec. 28.

The Finnish coast guard crew that inspected the Cook Islands-registered vessel reportedly found evidence of equipment used to monitor NATO’s naval ships and aircraft.

According to the anonymous source, the ship was full of “huge portable suitcases” and “many laptops,” revealing the Eagle S dropped “sensor type devices” in the English Channel, and would unload the recording equipment once it reached Russia.

However, the anonymous source could not confirm if the recording equipment was still onboard when the Finnish coast guard seized the vessel.

The source did say that the Eagle S crew members would have been aware of Russian spying, but most likely kept quiet because of threats to their lives from Moscow. After the ship’s seizure, the Helsinki Police Department moved the Eagle S from the Gulf of Finland to a better location for a more thorough investigation.

NATO also announced it is increasing its presence in the region in response to the suspected Russian sabotage of Estlink-2 and other undersea cables recently.

Finland reportedly believes the Eagle S is part of a “shadow fleet” of old tankers being used to escape sanctions on Russian oil and now potentially spying.

The Kremlin denied it had anything to do with damage to any of the telecommunication lines in the Baltic Sea, and said Finland’s capture of the Eagle S is of little concern to Russia.
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Chinese ship dragged anchor for over 100 miles cutting comm lines: Report

November 27, 2024
Officials have released new details in the probe into a Chinese ship detained by Danish authorities earlier this month. The ship is believed to be responsible for severing critical communication lines in the Baltic Sea.

Investigators told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Nov. 27, they suspect the crew of the Chinese-owned bulk carrier vessel filled with Russian fertilizer purposely let the ship’s anchor drag for more than 100 miles to cut the cable lines between European allies.

Now, the investigation is reportedly focusing on whether the ship, which left a Russian port, worked with Moscow intelligence to commit the alleged sabotage.

A senior European investigator told The Wall Street Journal that it’s “extremely unlikely” that the captain of the ship failed to notice his vessel had dropped and dragged its anchor. Investigators noted the ship lost “speed for hours” as a result.

The ship’s owner is reportedly cooperating with the investigation, but the company declined to comment on the ongoing probe.

The severing of the undersea cables happened in the Baltic Sea between Nov. 17 and Nov. 18.

Investigators revealed they found data that showed the vessel dropped its anchor in Swedish territory and kept dragging the anchor as it cut the first cable lines between Sweden and Lithuania.

Authorities say around 3 a.m. the following day, the ship cut a second communication line between Germany and Finland after more than 100 miles of travel.

Shortly after the incident, investigators note, the ship raised its anchor and continued until the Danish navy intercepted the vessel and detained it.

A review of the ship’s anchor reportedly revealed damage officials say is consistent with dragging.

The crew is captained by a Chinese national and it includes a Russian sailor. However, they’ve yet to be questioned as part of the investigation.

Western intelligence officials acknowledged they don’t think China is behind the incident but suspect Russian intelligence agencies may be behind the sabotage of the communication lines between NATO allies.

The Kremlin called the accusations “absurd” and “unsubstantiated.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told The Wall Street Journal, “I would like to reiterate China’s consistent support working with all countries to maintain the security of international submarine cables and other infrastructure in accordance with international law.”
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Germany suggests ‘sabotage’ and ‘hybrid warfare’ in DHL plane crash

November 26, 2024
The search for answers into what caused a DHL cargo plane to crash is underway with investigators making a notable find. Lithuanian officials revealed on Tuesday, Nov. 26, that they recovered the black box from the wreckage, which may provide information on what led up to the fiery crash. Germany, where the jet departed from, raised concerns about potential “sabotage” or “hybrid warfare.”

The German chancellor is pushing for the cause of the crash to be “investigated closely” but refusing to “make an accusation until we can prove it.”

Meanwhile, Lithuanian officials say terrorism is being considered and acknowledged “an increasingly aggressive Russia” but cautioned against pointing fingers.

Officials also have stopped short of lumping the crash in with a separate investigation into incendiary devices that detonated in July at DHL logistics hubs in Germany and Britain.

The jet went down on the morning of Monday, Nov. 25, less than a mile from a runway at a Lithuanian international airport as it skidded into a residential area, killing one crew member.

Surveillance video from a nearby security camera captured the explosion as the plane was preparing to land.

Investigators note that the inspection of the crash site should be completed in about three days.

Lithuanian police and prosecutors have reportedly launched a “pre-trial’ investigation into the air disaster with the help of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The agency says they will release the findings to the public once the investigators are done with their work.
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Bill aims to award Congressional Gold Medals to ‘Miracle on Ice’ team

October 9, 2024
A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, Oct. 8, aims to award U.S. Congressional Gold Medals to the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” USA Hockey Team. The squad defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union team in Lake Placid, New York, in the 1980 Winter Olympics, against the backdrop of the Cold War. The team would eventually go on to win the gold medal against Finland days later.

The bipartisan legislation would create and place the medals at three locations. One would be put on display at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota. Another medal would be showcased at the Lake Placid Olympic Center and a third medal would be at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The push to get the team recognized comes as members of the iconic hockey squad have died in recent years.

The NHL commissioner threw his weight behind the effort, calling the team’s run “perhaps the most memorable and impactful achievement in the history of athletics.”

USA Hockey Executive Director Pat Kelleher also urged fans to get behind the proposal.

Rep. Pete Stauber, R, Minn., introduced the bill, and said that he wants the legislation pass in time for the 45th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice” on Feb. 22, 2025.
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China fires off rare ICBM test amid growing tensions in Indo-Pacific

September 25, 2024
China announced on Wednesday, Sept. 25, that it test-fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean. The country is reportedly bulking up its nuclear arsenal, and the rare public test is sparking international concerns.

The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLAARF) announced that the ICBM with a dummy warhead landed accurately in a “predetermined” area, but no specifics on the location were given.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry maintains the test is a routine part of the PLAARF’s annual training and “in line with international law and international practice.” However, nuclear experts noted it’s anything but a regular occurrence, saying that it is the first time China has launched an ICBM into international waters since the early 80s, and one expert said it was “odd” for China to describe the test as routine and annual.

A former Pentagon official, Drew Thompson, who is a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, believes that it is a veiled threat. He wrote on X, “Timing is everything,” and added, “This launch is a powerful signal intended to intimidate everyone.”

China’s state-run media reported Beijing notified “relevant countries” ahead of the launch.

The entirety of the Indo-Pacific region is on high alert, bracing for potential conflict, while watching China ramp up its nuclear arsenal. China’s nuclear weapons inventory is reportedly expected to at least triple by 2035 from 500 nuclear warheads currently to 1,500 in just about a decade.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry reported it detected 23 Chinese military aircraft around the Island on Wednesday, and all but one crossed the island’s “air-defense identification zone.”

All of these events happened the same week that Russia and China each sent four warships through a strait separating Russian and Japanese territory, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry on Monday, Sept. 23.

It’s not just China and Russia causing concerns in the Asia-Pacific region, it’s also North Korea. The country fired several short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea last week for the second time in September as Pyongyang has ramped up its weapons testing since 2022.

North Korea claims that its weapon tests are in response to growing joint military exercises between the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and others in what it calls a rehearsal for invasion.

The South China Sea is also vitally important route for shipping that China claims to be theirs. There have been several confrontations between Beijing and other countries with which it has territorial disputes with, particularly, the Philippines.

In response, the U.S. has deployed an advanced missile system to the Philippines earlier this year as it sees China as a threat to the island country.
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Elite US Seal Team 6 preparing to defend Taiwan: Report

September 13, 2024
The U.S. Navy unit that took out 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden is preparing for its next covert mission as reported by the Financial Times on Wednesday, Sept. 11. The commandos of Seal Team 6 are training for the potential invasion of Taiwan by Chinese forces, according to sources familiar with the team’s operations.

U.S. officials maintain that an invasion by China is “neither imminent nor inevitable.” However, the United States apparently isn’t taking any chances as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army rapidly ramps up its military technology, and the U.S Indo-Pacific Commander says that China may be capable of taking over Taiwan by 2027.

Seal Team 6 is one of the most elite forces in the United States military alongside the U.S. Army’s Delta Force.

The U.S. has sent other special forces to Taiwan to provide training to Taiwanese forces in recent years. However, Seal Team 6’s operations are highly classified, and people familiar with the unit’s training did not provide further details on possible operations in Taiwan.

The United States is legally obligated to pro t ect Taiwan militarily and President Joe Biden has vowed U.S. forces would defend the island in the face of a Chinese attack.

Meanwhile, Beijing warned the U.S. to “stop enhancing military contact with the Taiwan region or arming it,” and accused Washington of heightening tensions along the Taiwan Strait, despite holding military drills of its own earlier this year in the region as a show of force.

China claims it’s committed to a peaceful reunification with Taiwan but has not ruled out the use of force. Beijing has long claimed that Taiwan is part of China while Taiwanese officials maintain that the island is independent from Beijing.
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South Korea says North Korea launched more trash-filled balloons

September 4, 2024
South Korean officials said that they detected suspected trash-filled balloons targeting Seoul launched on Wednesday, Sept. 4, by North Korea. In response, Seoul issued text alerts and warned people to stay inside as a precaution.

North Korea has flown thousands of refuse-filled balloons toward South Korea in recent months. The balloons have reportedly been filled with garbage like waste papers, cloth scraps and cigarette butts, as well as excrement. Pyongyang said the balloon attacks are retaliation for South Korean activists flying anti-North Korean propaganda over the border between the two countries.

In July, trash balloons fell inside the South Korean presidential compound, prompting security concerns over the vulnerability of sensitive facilities. Following the breach, South Korea security service dispatches its “chemical, biological and radiological team” to pick up the balloons. However, the team discovered the balloons did not contain any dangerous material.

In a common response to the balloon attacks, South Korea once again blasted K-Pop songs and propaganda messages along the border.

Tensions have continued to rise between the two adversaries as North Korea’s nuclear testing ramps up and South Korea expands joint military exercises with the United States.
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China sinks largest US Navy vessel and carrier group in war game simulations

May 24, 2023
According to war game simulations run by a team of Chinese military planners, hypersonic weapons would destroy the largest and most expensive vessel in the U.S. Navy with “certainty.” In a series of more than 20 digitally simulated battles, Chinese forces sank the USS Gerald R. Ford and its accompanying carrier battle group using a three-wave attack of 24 hypersonic anti-ship missiles.

Over the course of the simulation, out of the six American vessels in the fleet, the Chinese military had an average destruction rate of 5.6 ships.

The war game also demonstrated that one of the Chinese hypersonic missile models had a range of over 2,000 miles. The missile could sink a carrier or large warship with just two hits, and it holds a success rate of 90%.

According to a Chinese report on the results of this test, they aimed to provide a realistic assessment of a potential battle by being “lenient with the enemy and strict with oneself.”

“Anyone who discusses publicly the outcome of a war game or simulation has a political objective, especially if they frame the result as a win or a loss,” said Drew Thompson, a former senior U.S. defense official who is now based at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

The USS Gerald Ford is currently in the midst of its maiden combat mission and second deployment after departing from Norfolk, Virginia, earlier in May. The vessel came with a more than $13 billion price tag, as it boasts a number of next-generation technologies including electromagnetic catapults and advanced weapons elevators.

Exercises on this deployment of the ship will be aimed at helping the Navy “truly understand the new capabilities that this first-in-class carrier brings with it.”

While the USS Gerald Ford was the target of this latest set of simulations, the Chinese military has run a number of similar war games on American targets in the past, such as a possible confrontation with U.S. forces during a hypothetical invasion of Taiwan.
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Who would win? Security expert wargames China’s invasion of Taiwan

January 24, 2023

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is planning to visit Taiwan later this year as concerns grow regarding the tension between Taiwan and China. Last year, President Biden committed to defending Taiwan if China were to invade the island.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies ran the scenarios in a wargame to see what could happen. Mark Cancian, a senior advisor for the International Security Program, was one of three experts who worked on the project. Cancian joined Straight Arrow News to discuss the results.

According to Cancian’s work, in the majority of the scenarios he explored, the U.S., Taiwan and Japan won. However, his report explains that such a win would come with a cost. Taiwan’s economy would be debilitated and the U.S. military would suffer significant losses. Additionally, other countries could take advantage of the U.S. being distracted and the conflict could escalate or drag on.
China can’t take Taiwan in new war game simulations

January 9, 2023
New war game simulations show that if China invades Taiwan and a full-fledged war breaks out, China would likely lose. However, the cost of such a war would also leave the U.S., Japan and Taiwan militarily and economically devastated.

The war gaming was conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). CSIS said a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would require a massive amphibious assault of the island, and sustained access to reinforcements and resupply. Taiwan is located roughly 100 miles off the coast of China. The self-governing island is home to 24 million people.

According to the 24 simulations that ran during the war gaming, victory for Taiwan depends on four key things:
- Taiwan’s ground forces must contain Chinese beachheads.
- The U.S. needs to use its military bases in Japan for combat operations.
- The U.S. will need a massive stockpile of anti-ship cruise missiles in the region.
- Taiwan will need to be fully armed before the shooting starts.
The war games estimate China would suffer mightily if it tried to invade Taiwan. The report estimates the Chinese would lose 10,000 troops, and most of its navy’s ships and military aircraft would be destroyed.

In defense of Taiwan, the U.S. and Japan would likely lose dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft and thousands of people. Even if China is defeated, the CSIS report said it could be a pyrrhic victory for the U.S. and Taiwan, meaning it came at too great a cost.

The CSIS report is unique since most war game results involving the U.S. and China aren’t made public. However, the CSIS cautioned that just because it war gamed a conflict in the Indo-Pacific region doesn’t mean there will be one.

On the contrary, the CSIS said the purpose of war gaming is to learn about possible outcomes, so the public is aware of them, and governments can prevent them from happening.

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