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by Thomas WATKINS Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Patrick Shanahan, who on Tuesday becomes the acting US secretary of defense, takes the helm of America’s massive military machine at a critical time. Shanahan is moving up from his position as deputy defense secretary to the top spot following the resignation of Jim Mattis, who quit over long-running — and ultimately irreconcilable — disagreements with President Donald Trump. Little known outside business and […]
by Maggy DONALDSON Brett McGurk, the US special envoy to the anti-Islamic State group coalition, has resigned, a State Department official said Saturday, capping a chaotic week that saw the departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Donald Trump’s stunning decision to pull troops from Syria. McGurk’s resignation, effective December 31, comes on the heels of Mattis’s decision to quit the Trump administration over key disagreements with the US president, notably the Syria withdrawal. Just […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump shocked the US establishment by pulling out of Syria. In a letter to Trump, Mattis suggested his world view, which favors traditional alliances and standing up to “malign actors,” stands at odds with the president’s. “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other […]
(Eagle News)—-In these pictures released by the US Embassy in Manila, the two Balangiga bells housed in Wyoming are being readied for transport to the Philippines. The preparations took place after a ceremony at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base led by US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It was President Rodrigo Duterte who called out the Americans for taking the bells from Samar, artifacts he said were part of national patrimony. Another Balangiga bell sits […]
by Thomas WATKINS Agence France Presse HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AFP) — The toxic legacy of the Vietnam War will come under the spotlight again Wednesday when US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visits a former storage site for Agent Orange, which is blamed for birth defects and cancers among a million Vietnamese. US forces used what is now the Bien Hoa airport outside Ho Chi Minh City as one of the main staging grounds […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The United States will return to the Philippines church bells seized by American forces in a bloody campaign more than a century ago, its embassy said on Sunday, following a demand by President Rodrigo Duterte. American forces took three bells from the Catholic church of Balangiga town on the eastern island of Samar in 1901 as war booty in what historians said was a particularly brutal military operation in the […]
by Paul Handley © Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — US Defense Secretary James Mattis told South Korea Thursday that their alliance remained “ironclad”, as he sought to reassure key East Asian allies following Donald Trump’s unilateral suspension of military exercises with Seoul. Concern has mounted in the region over the stance of the US president, who has lauded North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “talented guy” as he seeks to persuade […]
by Sylvie Lanteaume © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)–From housing undocumented migrants to scrapping joint exercises with South Korea or setting up a new Space Force — US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, one-time favorite of Donald Trump, now finds himself reduced to carrying out presidential orders despite his disapproval. US media say that the retired Marine general has been demoted in Washington’s power circles by the arrival of former CIA chief Mike Pompeo as […]
by Paul HANDLEY Agence France-Presse EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, United States (AFP)–US Secretary of Defense James Mattis will make his first visit to China this week amid rising tensions between the two countries but also a deep need for Beijing’s support in nuclear talks with North Korea. Mattis told reporters Sunday he wants to “take measure” of China’s strategic ambitions after it positioned weaponry on disputed islets in the South China Sea and is seeking […]
ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Undefined (AFP) — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis vowed Tuesday that the US would keep confronting China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing has established a significant military presence on contested islands. Mattis’s remarks came after Beijing voiced “strong dissatisfaction” Sunday after two US warships sailed by an island in the disputed Paracel Island chain. “You’ll notice there’s only one country that seems to take active […]
UNITED STATES (AFP) — A quick series of US, French and British air strikes in Syria were designed to send a “clear message” to President Bashar al-Assad and stop his chemical weapons program, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday. The Pentagon chief stressed the strikes were carefully calibrated to provide a strong response to a suspected chemical attack, but avoid pulling the West into Syria’s civil war. “The targets tonight again were specifically […]
by Thomas Watkins Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military wants to overhaul its atomic arsenal and develop a new type of low-yield weapon that experts worry could lead to greater proliferation and heighten the risk of nuclear war. The proposed changes to the nuclear weapons program, outlined in a draft version of the Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review, mark a significant break from the vision for America’s nuclear future under Barack Obama, who during a famous […]
