Filipino forces and villagers struggle to live in China's shadow in disputed waters
'This is just so beautiful,' Philippines military spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said of West York Island, one of nine islands, reefs and atolls occupied by Filipino forces in the long-contested waters. 'This solidifies our resolve to fight for this place whatever happens.'
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Newsweek
28 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Map Shows Alaska's Natural Resources That Trump Could Offer Putin
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Newsweek has mapped the coastal areas around Alaska that could be part of an incentive deal President Donald Trump offers Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war with Ukraine. Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that access to Alaska's natural resources—oil and gas—could be up for discussion when the leaders meet in Anchorage on Friday, as well as rare earth minerals in Ukraine and lifting some sanctions on Russia's aviation sector. A White House official told the Daily Telegraph that it would not comment on deliberative conversations that may or may not be happening. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit in Danang, Vietnam, on November 17, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit in Danang, Vietnam, on November 17, 2017. Why It Matters The Bering Strait separates Alaska from Russia where they are less than 3 miles apart. As well as being strategically important because of melting Arctic sea ice and expanding shipping routes, it could also be a gateway to considerable undiscovered oil reserves. Alaska's oil and gas exploration leases are concentrated on its North Slope facing the Arctic Ocean and in the Pacific-facing Cook Inlet connecting the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage. In the 1980s, U.S. energy companies drilled into the Bering Sea looking for untapped reserves, but all of those wells have been abandoned and the area is strictly regulated because of environmental concerns. There has been angry online reaction to the unconfirmed report that Alaska's resources could be part of a deal with Putin. What To Know Trump will meet with Putin on Friday in Anchorage, where discussions are expected to focus on ending the war in Ukraine which has been raging for 3 1/2 years. The Telegraph said that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior administration officials are working with Trump to finalize economic proposals aimed at incentivizing the Kremlin to agree to a ceasefire. Among them are offering Russia opportunities to tap into the valuable natural resources in the Bering Strait that would bolster its interests in the Arctic region, which accounted for 80 percent of Russia's gas production in 2022. Discussions between the U.S. and Russia over cooperation in the Arctic started at the beginning of Trump's second term, with Bloomberg reporting in February that officials from both countries discussed economic cooperation in the region. Andreas Østhagen, research director of Arctic and ocean politics at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told Newsweek that the proximity of Alaska's location to Russia for Friday's summit sent a strong signal about the Arctic's importance for both countries. He said some of the motivation from the Trump administration to work with Russia stemmed from the idea that U.S.-Russia cooperation could then drive a wedge between the strengthening alliance between Moscow and China in the Arctic. He said there are known quantities of oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait where there was potential to initiate exploration for strategic oil fields, which would require Russian and American companies to collaborate in some fashion, Østhagen added. Berlin-based energy industry expert Thomas O'Donnell told Newsweek that a potential Trump offer for Putin to exploit Alaskan resources was consistent with his Plan A, which offered the Russian president a chance to end the war with oil, gas, and mineral deals. The idea was to induce Putin not only to make a peace deal but to move away from China and back toward the West, but the plan has not worked, he said. Trump's newly approved arms for Ukraine and oil tariffs on India are Plan B, "but, if Putin makes a deal, I'm sure Trump will lavish Putin with investments and trade deals," O'Donnell added. The Telegraph also reported that the U.S. might offer the rare earth minerals in the Ukrainian territories Moscow partially occupied and lift export bans on parts and equipment needed to service Russian planes, many of which have fallen into disrepair. What People Are Saying Republicans Against Trump, on X: "The Telegraph reports that Trump plans to offer Putin access to Alaska's natural resources and sanctions relief if he agrees to a ceasefire Why reward an aggressor who has no interest in a real and lasting ceasefire? Outrageous!" Andreas Østhagen, research director of Arctic and ocean politics at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told Newsweek: "if you want to push this idea of collaboration with Russia, in the Chukchi Sea there's potential to initiate exploration." Berlin-based energy industry expert Thomas O'Donnell told Newsweek: "Trump's whole premise is to entice Putin to stop the war in a way that draws him away from China and towards the West." What Happens Next The Kremlin said that the Russian delegation accompanying Putin will include Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev. The Kremlin said that the main topic on Friday will be a settlement of the war in Ukraine, but economic cooperation and global security will also be discussed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Poland awards $3.8 billion F-16 modernization deal to US
WARSAW, Poland — In a bid to modernize the country's combat aircraft fleet, the Polish Ministry of National Defense has signed a deal with the United States to upgrade its 48 F-16 C/D Block 52+ fighter jets to the F-16V standard. The contract, which is to be performed by Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor in cooperation with Poland's defense industry, has a net value of around $3.8 billion. The aircraft's midlife upgrade is to be predominantly implemented at Military Aviation Works No. 2, a plant operated by Poland's state-run defense group PGZ. Under the plan, the overhauled fighter jets are to return to service in the years 2030 to 2038, the ministry said in a statement. 'More than 20 years ago, our predecessor selected an aircraft to replace the post-Soviet gear that we had in the Polish Air Force. We chose the F-16,' Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland's deputy prime minister and national defense minister, said at the official signing ceremony on Aug. 13. 'For the next 20 years, F-16s protected Poland's skies, participated in foreign missions, including in air policing over the Baltic States, and were deployed wherever our allies needed them.' At the same time, the current capabilities of the Polish F-16 fleet are 'insufficient to address the threats' that the country is facing, Kosiniak-Kamysz said in reference to the ongoing Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine. 'We need to enhance [the aircraft's] reconnaissance capabilities, communications, integration with the F-35s, Abrams and Apaches, as well as their ability to operate in any domain,' according to the minister. Since Russia's February 2022 attack against Ukraine, Poland has placed a number of major military gear orders with U.S. companies, including last August's purchase of 96 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters under a deal worth around $10 billion, and the April 2022 contract to acquire 250 M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks for some $4.75 billion, among others. With the country's defense spending expected to reach an estimated 4.7 percent of its gross domestic product this year, Warsaw has allocated a record-high budget of PLN 186.6 billion (USD $51.3 billion) to the military in 2025. Tomasz Smura, the program director and management board member at the Warsaw-based Casimir Pulaski Foundation, told Defense News that, for more than three decades, maintaining close relations with the United States was a permanent trait of Poland's foreign policy under all governments. At the same time, alongside the development of the Polish defense industry's capacities, local officials are increasingly interested in transfers of technology and know-how to the country's plants, he said. Based in Bydgoszcz, in Poland's western region, Military Aviation Works No. 2 services various aircraft operated by the Polish Air Force. These include the F-16s, Hercules C-130s and also some of the nation's remaining Soviet-designed military aircraft and helicopters. The company will also accommodate a servicing center for the FA-50 light attack aircraft Poland purchased from South Korea's Korea Aerospace Industries. As part of the program to modernize Poland's F-16 fleet, each fighter jet will be fitted with a new AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) scalable agile beam radars (SABR), an advanced mission computer and an AN/APX-126/127 advanced identification friend or foe (AIFF) system, among others, according to the Armament Agency, the ministry's procurement arm. Poland is to also secure AGM-158 joint air-to-surface standoff missile (JASSM) flight test vehicles and other equipment supporting the aircraft's enhanced combat capacities, as per the October 2024 announcement of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). The latest development comes as the Polish ministry is mulling plans to further expand the Air Force's modern combat aircraft capacities, which are currently ensured by F-16s and FA-50s, and will be bolstered by the 32 F-35A Lightning II fighters the country ordered in 2020. The first F-35s are expected to be delivered to Poland in 2026, making the country the fighter's first user in Eastern Europe, with the Czech Republic and Romania slated to follow suit. Meanwhile, Warsaw is currently analyzing whether to order an additional two squadrons of fighter jets for the nation's armed forces. The available options include buying 32 more F-35s, or alternatively opting for one of the two air superiority aircraft: the Eurofighter Typhoon, a jet manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, and Boeing's F-15EX fighter, as indicated by Polish military officials. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Deploying the military for homelessness is a shameful overreach
If I visit a foreign capital and see homeless people on the street, it's never a pretty sight. But if I see military personnel on the street, I start to worry, because the homeless can't arrest me at gunpoint, but the military can. A military response in Washington, D.C., to what is a social problem is heavy-handed and just plain wrong. It smacks of King George's approach back in the late 1700s when he tried to show the colonies, "might makes right." More: President Trump's plan to remove homeless encampments sparks fear in major cities It's not like Washington, D.C., is the only place in the U.S. that has a homeless problem. Most major metro areas are in the same boat, including Cincinnati. Does deploying soldiers help in any way to make things better? And we're hearing the usual trash talk instead of learning that the current administration is having serious discussions with the Washington metro government to address this issue. More: Trump's order on homelessness is more humane than failed liberal policies | Opinion On the other hand, it's probably just another distraction du jour in the hopes that people will eventually quit questioning Trump's past bromance with Jeffrey Epstein. Robert Sharkey, West Chester Township This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: A military response to homelessness is an admission of failure |Letter
