Rumors Of War (Increasing):

Pentagon Reportedly Mulling Cold War-Style Permanent Navy Task Force in Pacific ‘to Counter China’US Navy

 Ilya Tsukanov

The Biden administration dramatically ramped up the US’s military footprint in the Asia-Pacific region in recent months, deploying carrier strike groups to the South and East China Seas at four times for ‘freedom of navigation’ missions, and doubling reconnaissance flights over Chinese-claimed waters.

The United States military is mulling the creation of a permanent naval task force in the Pacific “to counter China” and “add muscle” to President Joe Biden’s tough talk about Beijing, Politico reports, citing two persons said to be familiar with the discussions.

The outlet’s sources say the task force would be modelled after a NATO-based permanent naval deployment created in the Atlantic in 1968 to ‘counter the Soviet Union’ known as the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic. That force currently has between four and six destroyers, frigates, and auxiliary ships deployed at any one time, and is designed to provide the Western bloc with an immediate response capability.

In addition, the US has been sailing ‘freedom of navigation’ operations in contested waters, ostensibly to support “the free flow of commerce” and a “rules based international order.” China says these missions are illegal and aimed at pressuring Beijing.

A carrier strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan entered the South China Sea on Tuesday. The sail is at least the fourth such deployment since Joe Biden became president in January, and has been accompanied by an “unprecedented” increase in US reconnaissance flights over the sea in recent months. According to one estimate, the US more than doubledits spy flights in the region in the month of May alone between 2020 and 2021.

U.S. PROVOKING PUTIN INTO STARTING WW III BY SENDING 3 DESTROYERS INTO THE BLACK SEA IN SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

Dave Hodges

I have a breaking story on the intent of Biden to start a war with Russia, to be timed with the Biden-Putin Summit as the three destroyers sent into the inescapable waters of the Black Sea. One is US, one European, one British (the last two members of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carriernstrike group). These are sacrificial lambs to inflame the Western World if and when Russia sinks them. A few hours ago, I conducted an interview with Pastor Sam Honnold about this critical situation. The interview can be accessed by clicking this link.   

For the 3 ships, this isa suicide mission. 

 In the map below, please note the proximity to the Black Sea and UrkainUkraine. This is an antagonist move which coincides with Biden sending another $125 million in military aid to Ukraine.   How much will Putin take as the Russian Bear is being poked.

USS Regan Strike Group Enters Heavily Disputed South China Sea

 TYLER DURDEN

The great power competition between China and the U.S. continued Tuesday as the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group sailed into the South China Sea for the first time this year, according to a U.S. Navy press release. 

The strike group's aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh and the guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey. The group of vessels entered the heavily disrupted South China Sea waters on Tuesday to conduct a maritime security operation. 

The Navy said, "upholding freedom of the seas in the South China Sea is vitally important where nearly a third of global maritime trade, roughly 3.5 trillion dollars, a third of global crude oil, and half of the global liquefied natural gas passes through the sea each year." 

Earlier this year, the USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was "expelled" by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from the Paracel Islands in the heavily disrupted waters. PLA alleged, at the time, around February, the destroyer "trespassed" into China's territorial waters.

Over the past year, the U.S. has increased aerial patrols, and U.S. Navy warship sails through the disrupted region and near and through the Taiwan Strait, an exercise aimed at angering Beijing. Such "close encounters" and U.S. flyovers and sail through in the South China Sea and near Taiwan become more frequent during the tail-end of the Trump presidency.

It's only a matter of time before PLA officials or Chinese state-run media denounces the latest U.S. sailing. So should we expect the PLA to try to expel the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group from the heavily disputed waters?

China Sends Long-Range Bomber toward U.S. ADIZ Hawaii! U.S. Scrambles two F-22 Raptors - FULLY ARMED

Hal Turner

On Sunday, the People's Republic of China sent at least one long-range, nuclear-capable, strategic bomber, from mainland China toward the U.S. islands at Hawaii.   The U.S. scrambled two F-22 Raptors, fully armed with external fuel tanks as that aircraft approached the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The pair of F-22 Raptors were launched on an alert scramble out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Sunday at around 4:00 PM local time.

A third F-22 joined the mission about an hour after pair's departure.

A KC-135 was also launched to support the fighters. The scramble, described as an "irregular patrol," was initiated at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration, which reported an 'incident,' although nobody is providing clear information as to what caused the prolonged scramble mission. 

When asked by various media outlets as to the reason for the jets being scrambled, both the FAA and the military clammed-up, declining to say why.

Hawaii's F-22s are tasked with intercepting unknown or potentially threatening aircraft approaching the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) that surrounds the islands as shown in the graphic below:

What's odd here is that usually there is fairly straightforward messaging regarding these events. Even when Russian bombers, fighters, and surveillance aircraft approach U.S. shores, the U.S. military is usually open about the encounters.

As to why this intercept is not being addressed clearly is somewhat puzzling, but there could be national security issues involved that make issuing an immediate and detailed response problematic. This is likely the case based on a cryptic statement that The Star Advisor obtained:

The Hickam-based Air Force command added that the FAA requested that U.S. Indo-Pacific Command “conduct an irregular air patrol and the situation resolved, prompting the fighters and a KC-135 Stratotanker (a refueling plane) to return to base. We cannot discuss further specifics of the situation.”