Radioactive Cesium-137 From Fukushima Found In California Wine

 

Following the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan – which left Japanese residents contending with toxic water and radioactive wild boars, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said that particles of radioactive fallout which made its way to the Western United States and elsewhere was no biggie and didn’t pose a health risk.

California wine lovers will get to test that theory, after researchers at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) discovered cesium-137 in several golden-state vintages. The researchers tested 18 bottles of California rosé and cabernet sauvignon from 2009 onward – finding increased levels of the radioactive isotope in bottles produced after the Fukushima disaster. The cabernets had double the radiation of the other wine, according to the study.

China’s first domestically-built aircraft carrier begins sea trials

China’s new unnamed home-built aircraft carrier leaves Dalian for sea trials on May 13. / Xinhua via AP

 

The first domestically-built aircraft carrier in China’s naval fleet began sea trials on May 13, Chinese state media said.

The 65,000-tonne Type 001A aircraft carrier, which has yet to be named, left the shipyard in northeastern Dalian at 6.45 a.m., Xinhua reported.

North Korea SURROUNDED: US warships, bombers, missiles and 80,000 soldiers READY

The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier leads a formation of ships (UIG Via Getty Images)

 

NORTH Korea is nearly totally surrounded by a wall of US warships, bombers and missiles with more than 80,000 soldiers on alert as Donald Trump heads for Asia.

The US President is jetting into the Pacific this week for a whistle-stop tour of the nations surrounding North Korea.

Trump will be popping in for one-on-one meetings with the leaders of China, South Korea and Japan – with Kim Jong-un’s nukes right at the top of the agenda.

If We Can Track U.S. Ships Online So Can China

A Twitter user believed he had discovered the location of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier due to new orders that require it to transmit its automatic identification system when in heavy traffic.

 

 

Now that U.S. naval vessels have been required to turn on their navigational beacons in crowded waters, online Navy enthusiasts believe they are tracking those ships’ movements.

Sources: 3rd US Naval Strike Force Deployed to Deter North Korea

FILE – Ships assigned to the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group participate in a strait transit exercise in the Pacific Ocean in this April 3, 2017 photo.

 

The USS Nimitz, one of the world’s largest warships, will join two other supercarriers, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan, in the western Pacific, the sources told VOA’s Steve Herman.

The U.S. military has rarely simultaneously deployed three aircraft carriers to the same region.

Has China been Practicing Preemptive Missile Strikes against U.S. Bases?

What a great time to have most of the U.S. carrier strike groups docked on the mainland… for China, that is.

Please see the source for more eerie satellite pictures, etc…

 

Fig. 10: Possible moored ship and naval facility targets, imagery dated August 2013. Compared for scale with actual U.S. destroyer.

You’ve probably heard that China’s military has developed a “carrier-killer” ballistic missile to threaten one of America’s premier power-projection tools, its unmatched fleet of aircraft carriers. Or perhaps you’ve read about China’s deployment of its own aircraft carrier to the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. But heavily defended moving targets like aircraft carriers would be a challenge to hit in open ocean, and were China’s own aircraft carrier (or even two or three like it) to venture into open water in anger, the U.S. submarine force would make short work of it. In reality, the greatest military threat to U.S. vital interests in Asia may be one that has received somewhat less attention: the growing capability of China’s missile forces to strike U.S. bases. This is a time of increasing tension, with China’s news organizations openly threatening war. U.S. leaders and policymakers should understand that a preemptive Chinese missile strike against the forward bases that underpin U.S. military power in the Western Pacific is a very real possibility, particularly if China believes its claimed core strategic interests are threatened in the course of a crisis and perceives that its attempts at deterrence have failed. Such a preemptive strike appears consistent with available information about China’s missile force doctrine, and the satellite imagery shown below points to what may be real-world efforts to practice its execution.

Six Aircraft Carriers Underway Marks Milestone for Navy: Top Officer

As the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the Mediterranean Sea this week, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told lawmakers on Capitol Hill the deployment has historic import [sic] for the Navy.

…

American warships are operating in the South China Sea, where intensifying territorial counterclaims and aggressive actions by China are responsible for heightening tension, and the Middle East, where two carriers — the Harry S. Truman and the Eisenhower — now are positioned to carry out airstrikes against targets of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

As of last week, Richardson said, the Navy had six carriers underway — a development he called “a milestone.”

China’s New ‘Carrier-Killer’ Missile Goes Nuclear

File image.

 

The DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missile was unveiled in September and has the capability to arm a nuclear warhead against an aircraft carrier, according to findings by researcher Andrew Erickson in the Chinese-language China Youth Daily newspaper.

Unlike its predecessor, the shorter-range DF-21D, the new missile allows for nuclear warheads to be mounted on it, which lets China use its limited nuclear potential against both strategic and tactical targets. The missile aims to change the power balance in the South China Sea, according to the newspaper. “That ‘change the warhead, not the missile’ feature provides a rapid switch between nuclear and conventional,” the Chinese article said.

Russian Bombers Again Circle Guam

Moscow’s latest nuclear saber rattling follows buzzing of USS Reagan

Russian bombers circled the U.S. military hub on the Pacific island of Guam last week in the latest case of Moscow’s nuclear saber rattling.

“On Nov. 25th, two Russian bomber aircraft circumvented Guam, transiting international airspace,” said Army Maj. Dave Eastburn, a Pacific Command spokesman.

The latest bomber flights around the island were the fourth time in the past three years that Russian bombers circumnavigated Guam.

Chinese Submarine Stalked U.S. Aircraft Carrier

More on the USS Kitty Hawk incident can be found here:

The uninvited guest: Chinese sub pops up in middle of U.S. Navy exercise, leaving military chiefs red-faced

 

 

Attack submarine sailed near USS Reagan south of Japan

A Chinese attack submarine stalked the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan near Japan last month in the closest encounter between a carrier and a People’s Liberation Army Navy submarine since 2006, according to American defense officials.

The Chinese submarine sailed very close to the Reagan during the weekend of Oct. 24, said defense officials familiar with reports of the incident.

The incident occurred as the Reagan sailed from its home port to the Sea of Japan around the southern end of Japan.

Expect the Russians to Keep Buzzing American Navy Ships

Cold War-era tactics resurface at sea, but this time, Moscow’s ultimate intentions are unknown.

In the opening dogfight of “Top Gun,” a sailor stares at a radar screen, nervously calling out the distance of fictitious MiG-28 fighter jets challenging Tom Cruise in his F-14 Tomcat. His commander watches the foreign aircraft edge closer to his carrier, and finally barks, “250 miles — get ’em outta here.”

A similar scene likely unfolded Tuesday as two Russian Tupolev Tu-142s approached the USS Ronald Reagan in international waters near the Korean peninsula. The carrier launched four armed F/A-18 Super Hornets to intercept and escort the maritime patrol aircraft, variants of the venerable Bear bomber. Still, the Russian planes pressed on, eventually passing within one mile of the U.S. carrier.

Russian aircraft approach USS Ronald Reagan, prompting US fighter jet scramble

Another day, another Russian provocation. At least this time they were polite enough not to shut off the carrier like they did the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea — which you do not hear about in this article.

 

The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and South Korean navy ships steam in formation during an exercise Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in international waters to the east of the Korean Peninsula. Two Russian aircraft flew within one nautical mile at a height of 500 feet, prompting the carrier to launch four fighter jets in response. The Russian aircraft left without further incident. Nathan Burke/U.S. Navy

 

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The USS Ronald Reagan scrambled its fighter jets earlier this week after two Russian naval reconnaissance aircraft flew within one nautical mile of the U.S. aircraft carrier as it sailed in international waters east of the Korean Peninsula, according to 7th Fleet officials.

In the latest in a series of incidents involving Russian aircraft, two Tupolev Tu-142 Bear aircraft flew as low as 500 feet Tuesday morning near the Reagan, which has been conducting scheduled maneuvers with South Korean navy ships. Four F/A-18 Super Hornets took off from the Reagan’s flight deck in response to the Russian advance, 7th Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Lauren Cole said Thursday.

US Navy’s Challenge in South China Sea? Sheer Number of Chinese Ships

Not only do they have coast guard ships, they are now able to mobilize commercial ships, bringing the total to 172,000 vessels during a national emergency.

 

Hong Kong:  When a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed near one of Beijing’s artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea this week, it was operating in a maritime domain bristling with Chinese ships.

While the U.S. Navy is expected to keep its technological edge in Asia for decades, China’s potential trump card is sheer weight of numbers, with dozens of naval and coastguard vessels routinely deployed in the South China Sea.

US to relocate 30,000 marines to counter China in S. China Sea: report

A signalman directs a US Marines Landing Craft Air Cushion hovercraft during an amphibious landing operation on Sept. 5, 2015. (Photo/CFP)

 

In the face of China’s growing presence in the South China Sea, the United States Marine Corps is moving ahead with plans to eventually place nearly 15% of the service’s personnel in Hawaii and beyond, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.

Third US Navy sailor dies after being exposed to Fukushima radiation

(NaturalNews) At least three of the U.S. Navy sailors exposed to radiation from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan have now died from mysterious illnesses, according to Charles Bonner, an attorney representing approximately 250 of the sailors in a class action lawsuit against companies involved in running the Fukushima plant.

Bonner said in a July 21 update on the case that more than 250 sailors have come down with illnesses and three have died. “We had one of the sailors who came home and impregnated his wife. They gave birth to a little baby born with brain cancer and cancer down the spine, lived for two years, and just died in March of this year.”