The Philippines and Vietnam already have Air Defense Identification Zones in the South China Sea. So why can't China have one? It is legal under international law to unilaterally declare an ADIZ and it is a face-saving way too for Beijing to keep an internationally recognized China presence in the South China Sea if the Hague tribunal rules against its jurisdictional claims. Judging by the experience in the East China Sea, China has tried to use ADIZ as an instrument of engagement, not aggression.

There are already at least two Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZs) in the South China Sea ... and none of them are Chinese. One is a Philippine Air Defense Identification Zone (PADIZ) and the other is a Vietnam Air Defense Identification Zone (VADIZ). Then would a PRC ADIZ (People's Republic of China Air Defense Identification Zone) in the South China Sea (SCS) really be so bad?

There has been an epidemic of digital handwringing concerning the possibility that the People's Republic of China (PRC) will declare an ADIZ in the South China Sea in retaliation for an unfavorable outcome in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) arbitration.

Maybe, maybe not. I'm not clutching my pearls in any case. It should be, but perhaps won't be, understood that an ADIZ is not a declaration of sovereignty or restricted air space. It means that aircraft, civilian or military, that enter the ADIZ are expected to identify themselves and declare their intentions.

It's hardly a secret that the hardships of common people are getting worse by the year. Due to continuous attempts by Washington to redraw the map of the world, in many countries, American intelligence agencies have been particularly active in launching so-called "color revolutions" and staging military conflicts, bringing bitter hunger and poverty upon the heads of millions of people in the Middle East and other regions of the world. Consequently those events have triggered a massive and uncontrolled wave of migration to Europe.

The "War on Terror" that the White House declared has in fact resulted in the US military establishment, American intelligence agencies and a number of other states obtaining huge financial support in return for a brutal assault on the fundamental human rights as embodied in the adoption of the so-called USA PATRIOT Act and similar laws in a number of states.

In the constant pursuit of huge profits, political and military circles in the US are coming up with new "military threats" in a bid to push their allies into greater spending on NATO, the purchases of additional weapons, which in turn undermines the living conditions of the common people in the United States and its satellite states.

However, despite the so-called strengthening of these global security measures the actual security situation has not improved. There's an ever increasing number of terrorist attacks carried out every year, while terrorist threats persist. Moreover, various terrorist organizations across the globe are receiving direct support from the White House itself, which drives a wedge between the US and its allies, especially in Europe.

It must be emphasized that the fate of US allies, who are constantly demanded to pay for Washington's ambitions, is becoming grimmer by the day. If we take a look at the governments who agreed to host US military bases, those governments are usually the first to suffer for for their hospitality.

The constant desire of the White House to dictate its rules to each and every nation resulted in the so-called Brexit, while a number of other European countries have been examining the benefits of leaving the EU as well. Moreover, certain American states are facing a sharp increase in separatist sentiments.

Moreover, Washington's allies are paying a high price in the blood of their soldiers for countless military adventures as they are recruited to fight alongside the US in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other regions of the world.

For instance, the newly assembled new Syrian army was defeated on the battlefield by ISIS militants, when US Air Force aircraft abandoned them at the most crucial moment, reports the Washington Post. Certain sources in the US government argue that this was not a complete defeat, since small detachments of the new Syrian army allegedly continued the fighting, although they don't deny the withdrawal of air support at the most difficult moment of the whole operation, which sealed the fate of the rebels.

One day after the Justice Department followed the FBI's recommendation to not prosecute former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the State Department now says it is reopening an internal investigation of possible mishandling of classified information by Clinton and top aides.

State Department spokesman John Kirby set no deadline for the investigation's completion, but did say the probe is restarting now that the Justice Department has decided against pursuing criminal charges. "We will aim to be as expeditious as possible, but we will not put artificial deadlines on the process," Kirby said, according to the Associated Press. "Our goal will be to be as transparent as possible about our results, while complying with our various legal obligations."

In January, the State Department began its review after declaring that 22 emails from Clinton's private server held "top secret" classified information. The department suspended its review in April, while the FBI conducted its inquiry. The emails at the center of the inquiry were upgraded to one of the nation's highest classification levels. One aspect of the investigation is whether any of those emails were classified at the time of transmission.

"There could be repercussions," Kirby told reporters Wednesday, even for many of Clinton's aides who have left the agency. The punishments could range from counseling or warnings to revocation of security clearance. That last punishment could affect the hiring possibilities for many of Clinton's confidants at the White House, should she win the presidential election.

Beyond the Democratic front-runner, the revisited probe is most likely targeting Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan and Huma Abedin, who wrote many of the emails to their boss that are now once again under investigation.

President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a controversial Russian anti-terrorist bill in the face of objections from internet companies and the business community, but has ordered measures to be taken so that the financial risks of the law will be minimal. The anti-terrorist package of bills was drafted in April 2016 by a group of lower house lawmakers, who described it as a response to the bombing of an A-231 jet liner in Egypt in October 2015 and the terrorist attacks in Paris in November of that year.

The document contains a separate criminal article that orders up to 10 years in prison for anyone engaging in international terrorism, and up to 15 years behind bars for anyone found guilty of financing terrorist groups. Attracting new recruits to a terrorist organization was also criminalized, and will be punished with prison terms of between five and 10 years.

The new bill also lowers the age threshold for terrorist crimes, such as terrorist attacks and hostage taking, to 14 years from the current 16. Presently the age of minors in Russia is 16, with exceptions made for such crimes as murder, rape, kidnapping and several others. For these, criminals are deemed to be responsible from the age of 14.

Another provision stipulates fines of between 300,000 and 1 million rubles ($4,600 - $15,400) or prison terms ranging from five to seven years for public calls to terrorism or justifying terrorist crimes, including via the internet.

Many aspects of the document sparked broad public discussion, and some of its initial provisions were removed during hearings in the State Duma. However, the most controversial part of the bill remained - the obligation for communication companies, including internet providers, to keep information about their clients' data traffic for three years (one year for messengers and social networks) and also to keep actual records of phone calls, messages and transferred files for six months. The bill also requires communications companies to hand over encryption keys to state security agencies on demand, allowing them to read encrypted data. Non-compliance could cost companies between 800,000 and 1 million rubles ($12,300 - $15,400) in fines.

The US will deploy a high-tech antiballistic-missile system to South Korea "as soon as possible" now that the allies have reached an agreement. The advanced air defense shield will beef up Seoul's arsenal amid growing nuclear and missile threats from the North.

"South Korea and the US have made the joint decision to deploy the THAAD system with US Forces Korea as part of a defensive action to guarantee the security of the Republic of Korea and our people from North Korea's nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile threats," the Ministry of National Defense said on Friday.


THAAD stands for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced system that is designed to intercept short, medium, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their terminal phase of flight. Equipped with a long-range radar, THAAD is believed to be capable of intercepting Pyongyang's intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

"South Korea and the US are working closely together to deploy the THAAD system as soon as possible," the ministry said. The two countries are in the final stages of selecting the site to station the system. According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, the system is expected to be in operation by the end of 2017 at the latest.

Mr. X and his Mysterious Benefactors

As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports, a money-laundering alarm was triggered at AmBank in Malaysia, a bank part-owned by one of Australia's "big four" banks, ANZ. What had triggered the alarm? Money had poured into the personal account of one of the bank's customers, a certain Mr. X, in truly staggering amounts.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid into the account of Mr. X by a Saudi prince described as "mysterious", and two British Virgin Island companies characterized as "shadowy".

Overall, more than $1.05 billion landed in Mr. X's private account in a little over two years. This was bound to raise eyebrows, considering Mr. X's official salary only amounts to approx. $100,000 per year. Not a bad salary to be sure, but even if he were to save half of it every year, it would take him 210,000 years to save up $1.05 billion, not just two.

Then the head of a government-owned Malaysian company put millions of ringgit into Mr. X's credit card accounts, which had been a tad overdrawn (by slightly over $ 1m.), due to Mr. X's wife splurging a bit on jewelry in 2014.

Apparently Mr. X was not shy about spending some of his new-found wealth either. Apart from his wife's predilection for expensive jewelry and other luxury items, he himself occasionally displayed a yen for fancy cars and reportedly also favored swanky accommodation. Friends and partners of Mr. X also enjoyed a windfall.

The boosting of US missile defense potential in Asia and the Pacific undermines the existing global security balance, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after it was announced that Washington intends to place missile defense systems in South Korea.

"From the very beginning of the discussion of this issue we have consistently and invariably pointed at the most dangerous consequences of such a decision and called for our partners not to make this wrong choice. Unfortunately, our calls have remained unheard," reads a Foreign Ministry statement released Friday.

Russian diplomats noted that the increase in the Asia-Pacific segment of the global missile defense system by the United States and its allies would undermine the existing strategic balance both in the region and beyond.

"Such actions, regardless of the arguments they are backed with, have the most negative effect on global strategic stability, the adherence to which is such a favored topic of discussions in Washington," the statement reads.

On July 5 a premium congress hall in Kiev, Ukrainian House - Centre of National Idea, hosted a massive "installation", dedicated to 75th anniversary of proclamation of the "Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State". The event, designed by the Organization of the Ukrainian Nationalists, was attended by a number of politicians, autocephalous "Ukrainian church" clerics, media, Maidan activists and "war veterans". The "installation" was titled "The will of Ukrainian people - against Hitler and Stalin" in full accord with the "politically correct" new European reading of the modern history. It was broadcast live in the Internet, but the video is currently restricted for watching.

A brainwashed TV-viewer would of course be impressed or even moved to tears by revelations of an old Nazi collaborator about "sufferings of the Ukrainian people under despotic Stalin's boot" and the overall performance. But those who are still in their right mind, would easily recall some contradicting historical facts.

The Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State was adopted in Lvov (Lviv) on June 30, 1941, days after the city was occupied by the Nazi troops rapidly advancing into the Soviet territory in accordance with the Barbarossa operational plan. It was announced by Yaroslav Stetsko, then a leader of the Ukrainian nationalists (OUN) on the payroll of Abwehr, and soon published by Nazi propaganda leaflets in occupied Ukraine:
The full text of the Act is as follows:

China told the US not to take sides or infringe upon the "sovereignty and security" of Beijing on the eve of The Hague court's ruling on the disputed islands in the South China Sea.

A phone conversation on maritime issues took place between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, Chines Xinhua agency reported.

The conversation comes less than a week ahead of the ruling by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines. The ruling is due to be announced on July 12.

The arbitration is tainted "with illogical and flawed application of procedures, laws and evidence," Wang said.

Wang once again repeated that China won't accept the upcoming ruling, adding that "the arbitration tribunal farce should come to an end."

I guess a Nuremburg trial might have been a better place to sort out the minutiae of the Blair-Bush crimes we committed to go to war in the Middle East. We brought about the deaths of up to half a million people, most of them Muslims who were as innocent as Blair was guilty. A Nuremburg-style court might thus have concentrated more on the mass Arab victims of our criminal expedition than the heinous guilt and "profound regret" - his words, of course - of Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara.

Sure, Blair lied about the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction before going to war, then lied about the Foreign Office warnings of the chaos that would overwhelm Iraq and now - today - pretends that the Chilcot report has proclaimed him innocent when in fact it says he is quite the opposite.

But a prolonged study of the report, rather than the necessarily swift precis we have been fed these past few hours, may produce lines of enquiry far more distressing than the conclusions in the easy-to-regurgitate, simplified and shorter version handed out to the media. Besides, our concentration on the iniquitous Blair and his lies, while itself an understandable response to Chilcot, has provided a worrying diversion from the mendacity that still today afflicts our political class, our prime ministers and party leaders, and their insulting attitude towards those they claim to represent.