Joe Varner Security, Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Defence Blog

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Joe Varner has appeared on Canadian TV and Radio and has written extensively in Canadian publications such as CP24, CTV, 1310 News, 580 CFRA, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Canadian Naval Review among others.

Advisor and subject matter expert in strategic intelligence, military operations, counter-terrorism, emergency disaster management, risk and diplomacy.

Provider of advice, research, media commentary on intelligence, military operations, counter-terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, defence and foreign policy, U.S., NATO, Asia, and Persian Gulf.

GLOBAL SECURITY NEWS ROUND UP OF STORIES YOU MIGHT MISS

GLOBAL SECURITY NEWS ROUND UP OF STORIES YOU MIGHT MISS There are several regional security related stories that you may want to follow in the coming days. In the Americas, there are news reports that the Russians may have reopened an old intelligence compound in Nicaragua to spy on the US embassy there as Russian President, Vladimir Putin, continues in his attempts to rebuild the Soviet empire. On the Asia front, Senator John McCain, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Commit

US TEST-FIRES MINUTEMAN III ICBM INTO SOUTH PACIFIC TARGET RANGE

US TEST-FIRES MINUTEMAN III ICBM INTO SOUTH PACIFIC TARGET RANGE There are reports today of further activity at the mouth of the main tunnel at North Korea’s nuclear test site likely meaning we still have time before a test. China has warned North Korea not to cross a line from where it cannot return in terms of conducting its sixth nuclear test. In military developments, the US started deploying elements of its Terminal High Altitude Air Defense System (THAAD) geared to defe

SENATE BRIEFING LIKELY TO COME IN AFTERMATH OF NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST AND AS PRELUDE TO USE OF FO

SENATE BRIEFING LIKELY TO COME IN AFTERMATH OF NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST AND AS PRELUDE TO USE OF FORCE BY US In a phone call Sunday, US President, Donald Trump, warned Chinese President, Xi Jinping, about North Korea's "continued belligerence" and said its actions were destabilizing. For his part, Chinese President, Xi Jinping, asked President Trump to show restraint with North Korea. In a very worrying sign that a North Korean nuclear test may be imminent, the entire US Sen

NORTH KOREA READY TO CARRY OUT NUCLEAR TEST TUESDAY

NORTH KOREA READY TO CARRY OUT NUCLEAR TEST TUESDAY As three US Carrier Strike Groups, the USS Carl Vinson, USS Ronald Reagan, and USS Nimitz approach the Sea of Japan, North Korea is threatening to destroy the USS Carl Vinson, and to obliterate Australia. Recent satellite photos suggest that work has restarted at the North Korea nuclear test facility at Punggye-ri. Images from last Wednesday reportedly show trailers near the test portal of the tunnel where North Korea is bel

Security SITREP- What's happened on the continents and a review of terrorism this week that you

Asia The US has reportedly lost an F-18 Super Hornet attempting to land on the USS Carl Vinson now heading to the Sea of Japan to join two other Carrier Strike Groups built around the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz. Japan has announced that it is sending warships to join the American Carrier Strike Groups. China’s strategic bomber force remains on high alert and they have 150,000 troops poised on the North Korean frontier. Russia has reinforced its 11-mile border with N

NORTH KOREA MAY SHOW RUSSIA’S STRATEGIC IRRELEVANCE TO PACIFIC GREAT AND REGIONAL POWER POLITICS

The stand-off between North Korea and the US continues on the rhetorical plain, with the North poised to set off its sixth nuclear explosion, potentially a thermonuclear one, and the US directing three Carrier Strike Groups, the USS Carl Vinson, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Nimitz into the Sea of Japan next week. The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party warned the US yesterday, "In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike be

WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP AS FORCES GATHER OFF KOREA’S COAST

WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP AS FORCES GATHER OFF KOREA’S COAST The war of words is continuing to heat up as naval forces are steaming towards the Sea of Japan and the Korean coast. The North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister, Han Song-Ryol, warned the US today that the North would continue to test ballistic missiles “on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis” and he further threatened that Pyongyang would lash-out with a “nuclear pre-emptive strike by our own style and method” should the

NORTH KOREA: TIME FOR CHINESE-LED REGIME CHANGE OR MILITARY FORCE

For a relatively small country, a poor one, and ruled over by a reportedly spoiled psychotic, I spend a great deal of time writing about North Korea. It is North Korea’s geostrategic position sitting next to neighboring China, Russia, South Korea and close to Japan and nuclear weapons that make it a topic of concern. Very little can be done about geography so we left with nuclear weapons in the hands of someone who seems to be divorced from reality. Now to be clear, North Ko

Day of the Sun- North Korea Must Be Stopped

So April 15th, 2017, the Day of the Sun, celebrating North Korea’s founding father Kim Il Sung seems to have come and gone without the long-awaited nuclear test. The day was not without surprises though. South Korean and Japanese warships joined the USS Carl Vinson Strike Group in exercises in the Sea of Japan. The US 18th Air Wing in Japan staged a surprise air power exercise to further threaten the North Koreans. Japan warned of possible North Korean missile attacks includi

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT NORTH KOREAS NUCLEAR TEST

Within the next 24 hours we should see a North Korean nuclear test, to celebrate the Birthday of the North’s ruling dynasty’s founder, Kim Il-sung. Satellite imagery has shown that the test facility at Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site on Mount Mantap to be ready for a test or tests. North Korea has in the past conducted five nuclear tests with the first coming in October of 2006, and all are believed to be based on nuclear implosion devices that are basic atomic bombs. Tests Test

NORTH KOREA READY TO CARRY OUT NUCLEAR TEST TUESDAY

Deterrence under Trump strengthened not weakened

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GLOBAL SECURITY NEWS ROUND UP OF STORIES YOU MIGHT MISS

US TEST-FIRES MINUTEMAN III ICBM INTO SOUTH PACIFIC TARGET RANGE

SENATE BRIEFING LIKELY TO COME IN AFTERMATH OF NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST AND AS PRELUDE TO USE OF FO

NORTH KOREA READY TO CARRY OUT NUCLEAR TEST TUESDAY

Security SITREP- What's happened on the continents and a review of terrorism this week that you

NORTH KOREA MAY SHOW RUSSIA’S STRATEGIC IRRELEVANCE TO PACIFIC GREAT AND REGIONAL POWER POLITICS

WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP AS FORCES GATHER OFF KOREA’S COAST

NORTH KOREA: TIME FOR CHINESE-LED REGIME CHANGE OR MILITARY FORCE

Day of the Sun- North Korea Must Be Stopped

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT NORTH KOREAS NUCLEAR TEST

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NORTH KOREA READY TO CARRY OUT NUCLEAR TEST TUESDAY

Deterrence under Trump strengthened not weakened

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