By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Three of al Qaeda's major websites for recruiting terrorists and communicating propaganda were shut down recently in an apparent case of counterterrorism hacking or possibly as a result of internal disputes among terrorists.
On March 14, China completed the transition of its new leader, Xi Jinping, with his assumption of the presidency. His main power comes as the leader of the Communist Party and as chairman of its Central Military Commission.
The issue of crony capitalism is slowly emerging as a political issue that could provide Republicans with an opening to leapfrog Democrats on the question of job creation, economic growth and the widening income gap.
China confirmed this week it will sell a new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor to Pakistan that the United States says would violate Beijing's obligations under a nuclear supplier control group.
China's military is expanding its unmanned aerial vehicle forces with a new Predator-like armed drone and a new unmanned combat aircraft amid growing tensions with neighbors in Asia, according to United States intelligence officials.
China has grown its weapons sales by 162 percent over the last five years, allowing it to crack the top five list of arms exporters for the first time and fueling concerns of an arms race in Asia, a new report shows.
The U.S. government this week lifted the lid slightly on its mostly secret policies on cybersecurity and cyberthreats, as the Obama administration grapples with the growing problem of cyberwarfare attacks and computer-based spying.
National security officials in the military and at the Pentagon are voicing growing worries that the second Obama administration is preparing to jettison the new policy focus on Asia known as the "pivot" or rebalancing.
Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a wide-ranging defense Monday of the Federal Reserve's bold policies to stimulate the still-weak economy.
China celebrated the commissioning this week of its first aircraft carrier with blustering statements and warnings to neighbors in Asia that the warship will help China settle its numerous maritime disputes.
A Chinese warship recently ran aground in the South China Sea, an embarrassing incident that has highlighted international tensions over Beijing's increasing military power and disputes among China's neighbors.
Fearing a financial rupture in Europe, investors around the world fled from risk Wednesday. They punished stocks and the euro, and the yield on a benchmark U.S. bond hit its lowest point since World War II.
The enormous, 16-wheel truck that North Korea used to carry a missile during a recent parade likely came from China in a possible violation of UN sanctions meant to rein in Pyongyang's missile program, experts say.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Thursday will put the official Pentagon stamp on a new U.S. strategy toward Asia — to solidify efforts to refocus on countering China's growing arsenal of missiles, submarines, cyberweapons and other forces designed to push U.S. forces out of the region.
China is expanding its nuclear forces with a new multiwarhead mobile missile and keeps its strategic stockpiles in deep underground bunkers, the Pentagon disclosed in its annual report to Congress on the Chinese military.
"This UCAV demonstrates an understanding of current concepts for proportioning and shaping to confer range and low observability, or stealth," he said. "The [Chinese army] likely is very pleased that these images of China's UCAV appear at about the same time that the X-47B is about to commence carrier testing."
The Chinese drone is "a stark example of China's broad investment in advanced military technologies," Mr. Fisher told Inside the Ring.
