Vietnam is building military and maritime infrastructure at 27 sites across at least 18 reefs in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, satellite images analyzed by Radio Free Asia have revealed.The improvements include ports, runways, military installations and communications networks that will improve Hanoi’s awareness of maritime and airspace, experts told RFA.“Hanoi likely hopes that this development will deter Chinese action against Vietnamese economic activity at sea, including fishing and offshore oil and gas,” Harrison Prétat, deputy director of the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, or AMTI, told RFA.The Spratlys are a strategically critical and highly contested…
Author: Frank M. Everett
When a Democrat can go on Fox News and effectively fight a network that has become the unofficial television channel of the Trump administration, those appearances have value, especially since at least 14 to 25 percent of Fox News viewers, whether casual or regular viewers, are Democrats. At least 24% of independents say they get their news from Fox News.There is a significant audience that listens to Fox News that is not Republican and may be open to the Democratic message. PoliticusUSA is not news or opinion BS. Support us by becoming a subscriber.It’s also important that Democrats who use…
Many reports indicate that Trump is even more isolated and living in an even more delusional bubble in his second administration than in his first. Trump has filled his second administration with sycophants who support the president’s apparent detachment from reality. For example, Marco Rubio lied to Congress and denied that Trump was asleep while speaking to the president in meetings. Even when presented with several videos of Trump sleeping at public events, the secretary of state denied it. Trump’s media interviews are given to conservative outlets and podcasts. The president rarely does anything close to traditional appearances. Meet The…
The White House will not admit what becomes more and more obvious with each public appearance by Trump. The president’s health does not appear to be good. On Friday, Trump traveled to Wisconsin to participate in a roundtable discussion that allowed him to avoid standing. Trump could deliver his remarks sitting down. PoliticusUSA provides 100% independent, unique and relevant news and opinions. Support us by becoming a subscriber.Trump rarely travels to the United States. Trips like this to Wisconsin are rare during his second administration. Trump’s trips are increasingly to his clubs or to the White House from one of…
Trump learned from Disney’s payment for his bogus defamation lawsuit that the mainstream media could be shaken down for money, and that the threat of a costly lawsuit could be used as a way to dictate media coverage and control the media. After Disney, Trump responded by launching an ongoing campaign to get late nights. host Jimmy Kimmel was fired from the network. PoliticusUSA provides 100% independent news and opinions. Support us by becoming a subscriber.Trump also got paid off through an even more bogus defamation lawsuit he filed against 60 Minutes, but that payoff was more about greasing the…
Trump better get used to it. The process of rewriting and adding Donald Trump to history took its first step when the Kennedy Center began removing Trump’s name and references to the current president from the living monument to former President John F. Kennedy.PoliticusUSA news and opinions are 100% independent. Support our work by becoming a subscriber.For those who don’t remember how we got here. Shortly after returning to the presidency, Donald Trump hijacked the Kennedy Center board and put himself in charge.Trump then had his board vote to rename the center in his name and that of President Kennedy.…
Since he will never face voters again, Donald Trump’s second term has been defined by his open disregard and, in some cases, complete disregard for the needs and concerns of the American people. Trump’s comments that he doesn’t think about or care about the financial concerns of the American people have been defining moments of the midterm elections so far. Given the importance of what the President said and the consequences his remarks have caused, it is not surprising that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked about it while testifying before the House about Treasury Department oversight.Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)…
While political attention was focused on a major defense gathering elsewhere in Southeast Asia, many missed a major announcement from Manila on May 30 that negotiations on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) were finally over. DEFA is the world’s first regional digital economy agreement, establishing common rules for cross-border data transfers, e-commerce, cybersecurity, AI and talent mobility, among other areas. With Southeast Asia’s digital economy expected to reach $1 trillion by 2030, DEFA is ASEAN’s attempt to write the rules for its digital future. In recent years, the regional organization has also engaged in increasingly ambitious sustainable development…
It’s official. Senate Democrats scored two huge victories in the Republican reconciliation bill to defund ICE and the Border Patrol. Republicans have put themselves in the position of having to fund ICE and the Border Patrol themselves because Trump refused to negotiate reforms to ICE and the Border Patrol.PoliticusUSA provides 100% independent news and opinions. Support us by becoming a subscriber.However, the president also tried to use a simple reconciliation bill to plunder the public treasury and give himself more gifts. Trump wanted $1 billion to build his White House ballroom and $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to pay his…
Read the original version from this story on RFA Mandarin.Hong Kong’s Victoria Park is now much quieter on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and residents told Radio Free Asia they found it shocking.The park was once the epicenter of peaceful democratic resistance, as hundreds of thousands of people turned out each year for candlelight vigils to commemorate the victims of the Chinese government’s June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing.Today, on this day, pro-Chinese protests are taking place in the park and local media no longer make any mention of the massacre.”It’s not that the Hong…