[link removed]

In this mailing:
* Gordon G. Chang: Risk of War with China Highest Ever as U.S. Pulls Missiles from Japan
* Amir Taheri: Ukraine: The Peace Mirage


** Risk of War with China Highest Ever as U.S. Pulls Missiles from Japan ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Gordon G. Chang • November 23, 2025 at 5:00 am
* The Pentagon should not have withdrawn the [Typhon missile system from Japan]. Worse, it chose the worst possible time to do so.
* Now, in the middle of a confrontation that China has picked with Japan, the Chinese propaganda machine is pushing the narrative that the withdrawal of the Typhon battery shows that Washington is abandoning Tokyo.
* [T]he U.S. Department of War should have foreseen that China would try to score points by making it look as if the U.S. had just caved in the face of Beijing's pressure.
* More important, the U.S. and Japan might actually need the firepower now.
* The Chinese reaction was swift — and unhinged. On November 8, Xue Jian, China's consul general in Osaka, posted on X that "the dirty head that sticks itself in must be cut off," widely interpreted as a threat to assassinate Takaichi.
* First, Takaichi has unnerved China's leadership because, unlike most of her predecessors, she has not wilted in the face of Chinese pressure. Takaichi, who continues to refuse to retract her comment, has shown the rest of the world what defiance looks like and can encourage others to stand up to the grand celestial court.
* Second, Xi Jinping thinks he can isolate Taiwan, and Takaichi's statement showed that instead he will be facing a coalition of free societies. No wonder he is not happy.
* Xi needs a confrontation not so much to distract the Chinese people — the last thing a deeply unhappy populace wants now is war — but to prevent other senior Communist Party leaders from further challenging him.

The U.S. should not have withdrawn the Typhon missile system from Japan. Worse, it chose the worst possible time to do so. Now, in the middle of a confrontation that China has picked with Japan, the Chinese propaganda machine is pushing the narrative that the withdrawal of the Typhon shows that Washington is abandoning Tokyo. Pictured: A Typhon missile system launches a Standard Missile-6 during Exercise Talisman Sabre 25 on July 16, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Perla Alfaro)

On November 17, Japan's Ministry of Defense notified the Iwakuni city government that the Pentagon had withdrawn its Typhon missile battery from the U.S. Marine Corps air station there.

The battery had been deployed in September for the Japan-U.S. "Resolute Dragon 2025" exercise. This was the first time that the U.S. had installed a mid-range missile in Japan.

China had bitterly complained about the deployment, claiming that the missile system "seriously threatens regional security."

It is not hard to see why Beijing was so upset: The Typhon system, mounted on trucks, launches Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles and vastly complicates the plans of China's People's Liberation Army in the region. Tomahawks from Japan can reach Beijing and Shanghai in eastern China, all of North Korea, and Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])


** Ukraine: The Peace Mirage ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Amir Taheri • November 23, 2025 at 4:00 am
* The current phase started in February 2022, with what looked like a full Russian invasion. But that was only a sequel to the invasion and occupation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. That episode was itself a sequel to another politico-military operation two years earlier...
* According to some usually reliable sources, the US, having rejected the idea of a meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Putin in Budapest, is working on a framework for talks aimed at halting the war. What that phrase might mean isn't quite clear.

Pictured: A Ukrainian soldier checks the sky for Russian drones in the frontline town of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region, on November 12, 2025. (Photo by Iryna Rybakova/93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade/AFP via Getty Images)

How long might the war in Ukraine last?

This was a question discussed and debated at a recent conclave in Paris of historians and strategic experts from different backgrounds. The real answer not given at the meeting was another question: how long is a piece of string?

The current phase started in February 2022, with what looked like a full Russian invasion. But that was only a sequel to the invasion and occupation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. That episode was itself a sequel to another politico-military operation two years earlier to impose a Russian stooge as president of Ukraine while pouring in Russian troops into Sevastopol to force Kiev to sign a long lease for a Russian aero-naval base.

And all that is just recent history.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** RSS ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved.

You are subscribed to this list as [email protected]

You can change how you receive these emails:
** Update your subscription preferences ([link removed])
or ** Unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

** Gatestone Institute ([link removed])

14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022