A Japan Coast Guard alert indicates the US Navy is to commence the recovery of its lost F-35C
The US Navy appears to be launching an operation to recover an F-35C fighter jet which botched a landing on the USS Carl Vinson earlier this month and went overboard into the South China Sea. The effort was hinted at by a maritime navigation alert issued by Japan last weekend, US defense news sites reported.
The alert by the Japanese Coast Guard on Saturday identified an area in the northern part of the sea as the location of a salvage operation. It was issued until further notice.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet last week said it was making arrangements to salvage the jet, but it would not immediately confirm that the operation was already underway when asked about the Japanese alert.
The F-35C suffered a “mishap” when landing on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier on January 24. It crashed on the deck and fell into the water. The pilot was ejected and later rescued by helicopters, according to the Navy.
Six sailors were injured in the incident, three of whom were airlifted to the capital of the Philippines, Manila, for medical treatment. They have since been released from hospital, a spokesperson for the Navy said last week.
The Japanese Coast Guard’s Hydrological and Oceanographic Department, which issued the salvage alert, told Defense News that the South China Sea in that area goes as deep as 11,800 feet (3.6km).
The US Navy has previously conducted salvage operations from even more impressive depths. Its current record stands at over 19,000 feet (5.8km), set during the January 2020 recovery of an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the bottom of the Philippine Sea.
After the latest F-35 crash, some Western media speculated that the US may be racing against China to recover the lost jet. Beijing, experts suggested, would be highly interested in reverse-engineering the classified technologies that went into the creation of the $100 million-a-piece aircraft – presumably to compare the real deal against the blueprints that China allegedly obtained through hacking.
BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 01 (IPS) – One year since a democracy-suspending coup, press freedom is dying in Myanmar. A military campaign of intimidation, censorship, arrests, and detentions of journalists has more recently graduated to outright killing, an escalation of repression that aims ultimately to stop independent media reporting on the junta’s crimes and abuses.
At Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting, the U.S. hoped to get an explanation from Russia of exactly what it was doing regarding Ukraine. But instead, the meeting was full of tense exchanges.
The Holocaust was “not about race,” according to Whoopi Goldberg
‘The View’ co-host Whoopi Goldberg has been accused of being historically illiterate and insensitive after she declared during Monday’s show that the Holocaust was “not about race.”
Golberg’s comments came during a discussion about racial topics being taught in schools. At one point, Goldberg said the Holocaust was not racially motivated and involved “two white groups of people.”
“Well, they considered Jews a different race,” co-host Joy Behar offered before Goldberg doubled down.
According to the ‘Sister Act’ star, the Holocaust is actually about “man’s inhumanity to man.”
“But it’s about a white supremacist going after Jews and Gypsies,” said co-host Ana Navarro, which Goldberg also dismissed.
“You’re missing the point,” the Oscar-winning actress said. “The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. It’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re black, or white, cause black, white, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other.”
Sparks fly as The View panel confronts Whoopi after she says “the Holocaust isn’t about race. No. It’s not about race.” “Well, the considered Jews a different race,” Joy Behar says.
“But it’s about white supremacy. It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies,” Ana Navarro adds. pic.twitter.com/GZwZSi2qXi
Before the show cut to a commercial break, all agreed the Holocaust should be taught, but Goldberg once again insisted the Holocaust was simply “man’s inhumanity to man.”
The conversation was sparked by the recent news that a Tennessee school board had dropped the Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘Maus’ by Art Spiegelman, over questionable content. The graphic novel portrays the Holocaust using animals. The Tennessee school board’s decision has shot the book towards the top of Amazon’s best selling books list.
Goldberg’s summation of a global atrocity that led to the death of estimated six million Jews, and carried out by a dictator promoting a master ‘race’, has not gone over well on social media, where her words have caused an uproar and even some calls for her dismissal from ‘The View’.
“This is insane. The extermination of 6 million Jews wasn’t about race???” Piers Morgan tweeted in reaction. “Will any rock stars or renegade royals now boycott Whoopi Goldberg and/or ABC for this dangerous misinformation?”
“These are two white groups of people” hooooo boy that’s some stuff. Some Holocaust education would do Whoopi a world of good. https://t.co/Or5wysipyV
Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, who is Jewish, referred to Goldberg’s comments as “insidious,” arguing they “downplay the minority status of Jews.”
“The attempt to abstract the causes of the Holocaust from Jew-hatred to ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ is actually a way of obscuring and covering for anti-Semitism,” he tweeted.
The attempt to abstract the causes of the Holocaust from Jew-hatred to “man’s inhumanity to man” is actually a way of obscuring and covering for anti-Semitism.
