A world without America is a dangerous world. The BBC reports that China has declared an ADIZ over the Senkaku islands that are disputed with Japan.
China has demarcated an “air-defence identification zone” over an area of the East China Sea, covering islands that are also claimed by Japan. China’s Defence Ministry said aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules or face “emergency defensive measures”. The zone came into effect from 10:00 local time (02:00GMT) on Saturday.
The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the countries.
Steve Harman, Voice of America correspondent, tweets “many eyes in #Japan will be on Washington’s reaction today to #China’s declaration of ADIZ…Hoping for clear push back.”
Washington may surprise us, but it has been unable to push back anywhere lately, a situation so obvious it provoked Hillary Clinton to warn that if the US didn’t get it act together the world would “de-Americanize”. The Chinese challenge seems a case in point.
She laid the blame for America’s decline on those who opposed raising the debt limit saying: “all the business leaders wanted to talk to me about was, ‘was the United States going to default on its debt?’ And I kept saying, ‘Oh, of course not. We would never do that.’ And just hoping and praying that I was right.” As for praying, Obama beat her to it.
Obama seeking guidance from the spirit of JFK
She ought to keep on praying and maybe she’ll eventually get something right. Her sole skill set appears to be blaming anyone but herself for failure. The apprehension that America has fallen from its former hegemonic state is being echoed with increasing frequency. Caroline Glick at the Jerusalem Post describes how the Kurds, Arab, Turks and Israelis are all realigining, driving the peregrinations of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Although Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s meeting Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin did not bring about a realignment of Russian interests with the Franco- Sunni-Israeli anti-Iran consortium, the very fact that Netanyahu went to Moscow sent a clear message to the world community that in its dealings with outside powers, Israel no longer feels itself constrained by its alliance with the US.
And that was really the main purpose of the visit. Netanyahu didn’t care that Putin rejected his position on Iran. Israel didn’t need Russia to block Jarrett’s deal. Iran is no longer interested in even feigning interest in a nuclear deal. It was able to neutralize US power in the region, and cast the US’s regional allies into strategic disarray just by convincing Obama and Jarrett that a deal was in the offing. This is why Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei again threatened to annihilate Israel this week. He doesn’t think he needs to sugar coat his intentions any longer.
And as with the Middle East, so with Asia. The president’s unbroken record of failure has weakened America to the point where overt challenges are not only possible, but actually occurring. The Chinese and Japanese now have overlapping ADIZ’s.
What could go wrong? The Chinese have announced the following rules:
First, aircraft flying in the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone must abide by these rules.
Second, aircraft flying in the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone must provide the following means of identification:
1. Flight plan identification. Aircraft flying in the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone should report the flight plans to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China or the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
2. Radio identification. Aircraft flying in the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone must maintain the two-way radio communications, and respond in a timely and accurate manner to the identification inquiries from the administrative organ of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone or the unit authorized by the organ.
3. Transponder identification. Aircraft flying in the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, if equipped with the secondary radar transponder, should keep the transponder working throughout the entire course.
4. Logo identification. Aircraft flying in the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone must clearly mark their nationalities and the logo of their registration identification in accordance with related international treaties.
Third, aircraft flying in the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone should follow the instructions of the administrative organ of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone or the unit authorized by the organ. China’s armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not cooperate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions.
Fourth, the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China is the administrative organ of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone.
Fifth, the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China is responsible for the explanation of these rules.
Sixth, these rules will come into force at 10 a.m. November 23, 2013.
This may of course be a tempest in a teapot. But the air is rife with challenge. North Korea has kidnapped an elderly American veteran to use as a bargaining chip to extort more money from the US taxpayer.
(CNN) — It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime for Merrill Newman, a Korean War veteran who had long wanted to go to North Korea.
It ended, according to his family, with the detention of Newman, 85, when he was pulled off a plane at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport five minutes before it was to depart.
Newman, of Palo Alto, California, has not been seen nor heard from since October 26, the day he and a traveling companion wrapped up a 10-day organized tour of North Korea, his son, Jeff Newman, told CNN.
The U.S. State Department declined Thursday to confirm Newman’s identity or whether he had been detained, citing privacy issues. North Korea has not publicly acknowledged that it is holding Newman….
The timing raises questions about whether North Korea plans to use Newman as a bargaining chip in the negotiations, a move the West has previously accused it of doing to try to gain concessions.
Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative to North Korea, declined to link the two, but said the detention of American citizens “is an indication that North Korea seems not to be seeking a better relationship with the United States.”
North Korea has seen the obvious. Mr. Shakedown can be shook down. The only people the president can overawe are those who are law-abiding; who follow the signage, abide by the rules. He can only bully those who decency is greater than his. But in the lawless world without nobody seems to care about his lightworking edicts. The president may “reach out” to North Korea — and “reach in” to the taxpayer’s wallet to acquire the coin with which to redeem poor Mr. Newman.
The fundamental problem is that nobody — except the tame media and toadies on the progressive Left — believe in Barack Obama any more, aka President Error 404. Foreign enemies have taken his measure and found nothing but a hollow man. Hillary Clinton may choose to blame anyone but herself and the administration for the debacles that are unreeling, not just domestically, but overseas. While her explanations might be swallowed hook, line and sinker by the compliant media they will cut no ice where it really counts: in the power centers and capitals of the world.
The administration is losing America’s pants to save its face. That’s not going to change until it rediscovers competence. Where it has mislaid this article, only they can say. What happens if China challenges a JSDF flight? Should we worry? We have it on good authority that it’s no big deal. “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
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