UPDATE II: Lockheed Martin commemorated the 4,500th F-16 Fighting Falcon delivery on 3 April 2012 with a ceremony in Fort Worth for employees, customers, former executives, and elected officials. 4500 F-16 delivery ceremony Photo: Courtesy Lockheed Martin’s “Code One Magazine” UPDATE I: A very nice video on the F-16 below. Original Post: I have written plenty about the sad demise of the Lockheed...

Has the threat posed by North Korea become so great, that Beijing will fully join the rest of the world in bringing the maximum pressure to bear against Pyongyang? Expressing friendly skepticism about geopolitical naivete on the part of President Obama and issuing a plea to China to get off the stick, this editorial from Japan’s Nishi Nippon Shimbun laments that the signs aren’t promising for preventing...

Entire forests have been denuded in recent weeks as pundits speculate whether Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been bluffing about launching air strikes against Iran’s nascent nuclear program. If ever an important issue needed a time out this is it, and talks between Iran and the U.S. and five other major powers scheduled to begin next week could provide just that opportunity. Let’s...

Is ‘universal suffrage’ as it is practiced today a sham? For France’s Le Monde, philosopher Jean Salem asserts that the popular vote, rather than being a kind of panacea for rule by the people, gives the dynastic transfer of power a patina of legitimacy in the world’s old and new democracies. For Le Monde, philosopher at the University of Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne Jean Salem starts...

New info is coming out about the late terrorist maven Osama bin Laden’s life on the run after 9/11. And much of it is fascinating. Here are FIVE NEW REVELATIONS.

Other than providing the usual entertainment (Isn’t that nice?) and accusing President Obama essentially of treason (“Not only is [Obama] supporting our enemies and dissing our friends…”), Michael Reagan, in a piece at TMV, praises his father, Ronald Reagan, for his accomplishments in the national security arena during the Cold War — as he should. But while lauding his father’s achievements,...

I cringed somewhat when I heard President Obama tell Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it’s important for him [Vladimir Putin] to give me space … This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.” I thought Obama’s remarks were puzzling, perhaps not very well chosen and, yes, open to criticism...

This may annoy free speech fundamentalists By Jack Lewis Attorneys for Rick Strandlof, who claimed to be a decorated combat veteran, had argued that the act was an unconstitutional violation of free speech. A federal district court judge agreed, dismissing the charges against Strandlof. In an opinion (PDF) issued this morning, two of the three judges on a 10th Circuit panel upheld the act, saying lies are not...

Is Putin’s Kremlin focused on the wrong adversary-competitor? For Russia’s Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, columnist Alexandr Golz writes that given Russia’s incredibly long border with China and Beijing’s growing wealth and skyrocketing military budget, Russia would be well-advised to keep a closer eye on China than on the United States or NATO. For Russia’s Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, Alexandr...

After several depressing stories coming out of Afghanistan, this one certainly deserves telling and should make us feel proud. It is about Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr., 29, a Providence, Rhode Island guardsman, who recently deployed to Afghanistan and who was serving with the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 56th Troop Command, in Laghman Province, in northeast Afghanistan. While the official Pentagon news...

Are reports that Iranian influence in Iraq is growing by the day, true? According to columnist Abdullah al-Etabi of Iraq’s Sotal Iraq, the Iraqi people find the assertions of Iranian President Ahmadinejad that the two countries have a ‘common enemy’ offensive, and he painstakingly outlines why Iran and Iraq do not share a common enemy, and the many ways in which the interests and values of...

The murky story about the American kidnapped by an Iraqi militia loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtad al-Sadr has yet to breath its last breath. Is Washington too embarrassed to admit that the man taken captive last year and released last week by The Promised Day Brigade, Randy Michael Hultz, is an American soldier? According to this news item from Iraq’s Sotal Iraq, the Brigade, an armed wing of the Sadrist...

UPDATE: I will let Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is one of the staunchest supporters for rightfully awarding the Medal of Honor to Sgt. Peralta, provide an update on this story: The fact that Paralta was denied the Medal of Honor in the first place is as much of an injustice as it is a disservice to the men and women of the Marine Corps. Now that the Navy...

Could it be that global concern over North Korea’s upcoming launch of a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead is just a great big misunderstanding? According to this surprisingly conciliatory news item from the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry insists that the launch, which it maintains is for peaceful purposes, was not part of the deal it signed with Washington...

Is the Nuclear Security Summit about to begin in Seoul a way for those who profit from nuclear power to sweep the concerns of the world’s people under the rug? This editorial from South Korea’s The Hankyoreh warns that the summit – the first nuclear summit to be held since Fukushima – is in danger of being hijacked by a ‘nuclear power mafia’ comprised of the major nuclear...

The U.S. has paid some restitution to victims of the Afghanistan massacre. Newsy.com has this good summary:

Friday was the 150th anniversary of the Medal of Honor and tomorrow, Sunday, is National Medal of Honor Day. On Friday, at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, several Medal of Honor recipients honored three civilians with “Citizen Service Before Self Honors.” Heroes who Medal of Honor recipient Patrick Brady said “are the kind of people we fought for.” Please read here who those civilian heroes...

It took the front and back of a military “Charge Sheet,” DD Form 458, and three additional sheets to list the 17 specifications of Charge I, “Violation of the UCMJ, Article 118– each one specifying the murder of an Afghan man, woman or child — and the following two additional charges: Charge II: “Violation of the UCMJ, Article 80,” I.E. the attempt to murder one Afghan man, one woman...

Guest post by Ali Ezzatyar The Arab Awakening has a common denominator: the people want the downfall of the regime. It is a pretty good one, too. While it ensures nothing, it is the first, and perhaps the most difficult, of many steps before democracy. It goes without saying that each Arab country, with all of its distinctions, will see its individual route meet special hurdles and circumstances. An unfortunate...

UPDATE II: Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will be charged on Friday with 17 counts of murder and various other charges, including attempted murder, in connection with the March 11 shooting deaths of Afghan civilians, a senior United States official said on Thursday. Sergeant Bales, who is 38 years old and had been serving his fourth combat tour overseas, is expected to be charged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,...