USS Lexington discovered by billionaire Paul Allen’s crew 76 years after WWII sinking
March 6, 2018 by admin
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An aircraft from the USS Lexington rests on the bottom of the Coral Sea near Australia. The expedition crew of billionaire Paul Allen found the ship below 76 years after sinking.
(Vulcan Photo)
Billionaire Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder and Seattle Seahawks owner, has made another huge nautical find: the USS Lexington, which was lost at the Battle of Coral Sea 76 years ago.
The fleet aircraft carrier, the first to be sunk by opposing carrier aircraft in World War II, was found near Australia below Coral Sea in a remarkably well-preserved condition, news.com.au reported.
The expedition crew of Allen’s personal research ship R/V Petrel found the missing Lexington two miles below and about 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia, according to USNI News.
A five-inch gun on the USS Lexington is seen at the bottom of the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia.
(Vulcan Photo)
“To pay tribute to the USS Lexington and the brave men that served on her is an honor,” Paul Allen said on his website. “As Americans, all of us owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who served and who continue to serve our country for their courage, persistence and sacrifice.”
As the Lexington was struck by multiple Japanese torpedoes and bombs on May 8, 1942, more than 200 Lexington sailors were killed in the fight, and nearby U.S. ships rescued 2,770 of the carrier’s remaining sailors, according to the Navy Times.
Once evacuated, the ship, affectionately known as “Lady Lex,” was torpedoed by the USS Phelps to prevent her capture, according to the Navy Times.
Commander of U.S. Pacific Command Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. told Fox News about his gratitude of the find: “We honor the valor and sacrifice of the ‘Lady Lex’s’ sailors — all, all those Americans who fought in World War II — by continuing to secure the freedoms they won for all of us.”
Harris’ father was one of the sailors evacuated.
The nameplate of the USS Lexington, which was struck by multiple Japanese torpedoes and bombs on May 8, 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea.
(Vulcan Photo)
“Our Navy’s strength comes from those who have gone before. This is our heritage. Our Navy’s strength comes from those who serve now. This is who we are. No one should doubt that today’s warriors are ready to fight tonight and win,” he told Fox News Monday.
Harris, who oversees 375,000 military personnel and is responsible for threats to the U.S. across 100 million square miles — half of the earth’s surface — is currently in Australia “to meet with my counterparts and reinforce our amazing alliance.”
The expedition crew of Paul Allen’s personal research ship found the missing USS Lexington.
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
He added: “Alongside our allies, friends and partners, bound together by shared values, the United States is committed to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, which has brought security and economic prosperity to all who live in this critical region.”
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
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Trump’s Hopes of Being the ‘Neutral Guy’ in the Mideast Seem Long Gone
March 6, 2018 by admin
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“I can’t see him actually proposing anything,” Oded Revivi, chief foreign affairs envoy for the Yesha Council, which represents West Bank settlers, said of Mr. Trump. The president seems unlikely to come up with a plan more acceptable than those that have been rejected in the past, Mr. Revivi said, and “he doesn’t want to fail where others have failed.”
The meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu, their fifth since the president’s inauguration 13 months ago, demonstrated just how close the two have become while the Palestinians remain off at a distance. The two celebrated Mr. Trump’s decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the American Embassy there from Tel Aviv in defiance of much of the rest of the world.
Mr. Netanyahu extolled Mr. Trump for the decision, comparing him to three of the most important figures in the history of the Jewish people: King Cyrus of Persia, who 2,500 years ago freed the Jews from exile in Babylon and permitted them to return to Jerusalem; Lord Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary whose declaration in 1917 first paved the way for a Jewish homeland in Palestine; and President Harry S. Truman, who recognized Israel’s existence 11 minutes after it declared independence in 1948.
Just as Israelis remember those historical figures, Mr. Netanyahu said, “we remember how a few weeks ago President Donald J. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
“Mr. President,” he continued, “this will be remembered by our people through the ages. As you just said, others talked about it. You did it.”
Unlike Mr. Trump, however, Mr. Netanyahu mentioned the goal of peace with the Palestinians only in passing and focused instead on the topic he always makes his top priority when he visits Washington, namely Iran.
He hoped to use the visit to encourage Mr. Trump to tear up President Barack Obama’s agreement with Tehran limiting its nuclear program or renegotiate it to toughen its provisions, particularly with respect to ballistic missiles. He also sought consensus on how to counter Iran’s presence in Syria.
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“Iran must be stopped,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “That is our common challenge.”
He voiced deep skepticism about the prospect of a Palestinian state, recalling how Gaza fell under the control of Hamas after Israel withdrew. “You can bring models, theoretical models, say it will be good if we give them a state,” he told the reporters. “Empirically, it doesn’t work with what we see. When we leave land, terror organizations take it up. Immediately.”
Mr. Trump, by contrast, was still more interested in seeking what he has called “the ultimate deal” between Israel and the Palestinians. “We’re working on it very hard,” he said with Mr. Netanyahu at his side in the Oval Office. “Look, it would be a great achievement even from a humanitarian standpoint. What better if we could make peace between Israel and the Palestinians? And I can tell you, we’re working very hard on doing that and I think we have a good chance.”
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Palestinian leaders, who also claim Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, have given no public indication that they would return to discussions any time soon. In response to the president’s Jerusalem move, they declared that they no longer saw the United States as a neutral broker with the Israelis. Mr. Trump then withheld $65 million in aid for Palestinian refugees.
But Mr. Kushner went to the United Nations recently to hear Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, speak in an effort to show respect shortly after the president publicly pressed Israel on settlement construction in the West Bank.
The Monday meeting came at a time when both Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu are under increasing domestic pressure from investigations bearing down on them and their families. Shortly before their get-together, Mr. Trump was lashing out at the investigation into whether his team cooperated with Russia during the 2016 election, while reports from Israel indicated that a former confidant of Mr. Netanyahu’s had made a deal with the police in a corruption investigation of the prime minister.
“They have an awful lot in common and they both may be desperately in need of a friend and someone who understands what they’re going through,” said Mara Rudman, a former deputy special envoy for Middle East peace under Mr. Obama. “And they happen to be showing it for the world to see.”
Mr. Netanyahu later said their mutual woes — they both use the phrase “witch hunt” to describe the inquiries into their activities — never came up during their meeting. Instead, they relished the chance to showcase their partnership during the part of their session when cameras were on.
“The relationship has never been better,” Mr. Trump declared.
“It’s never been stronger,” Mr. Netanyahu agreed.
Mr. Trump has made his decision to move the embassy a selling point among his supporters, lauding it during a recent speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference as one of his major achievements. His administration announced that it would formally open the Jerusalem embassy in May to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s independence by redesignating an existing consular facility.
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The president said on Monday that he may attend. “We’re looking at coming,” Mr. Trump said. “If I can, I will.”
As he has before, Mr. Trump argued that his decision to recognize Jerusalem resolved a tough issue dividing Israel and the Palestinians. “We’ve taken it off the table,” he said. “So this gives us a real opportunity for peace.”
Hardly any veterans of Middle East peacemaking, including some who support moving the embassy, share this view. Mr. Trump’s unilateral declaration does not mean that the Palestinians have given up on Jerusalem; instead, they have dug in. Many former negotiators have envisioned a peace deal in which both sides operate their capitals out of Jerusalem, the Israelis in the west and the Palestinians in the east.
As he often does, Mr. Trump boasted that he had already cut the cost of building a new embassy, but he seemed to be conflating two different expenses. “They put an order in front of my desk last week for a billion dollars,” he said. “I said a billion? What’s that for? They said, ‘We’re going to build an embassy.’ I said we’re not going to spend a billion dollars. We’re actually doing it for about $250,000.”
The State Department has estimated that construction of a new embassy will cost about $500 million. Mr. Trump’s reference to $250,000 presumably is the cost of making minor adjustments to the existing consular facility so that it can house an office for the American ambassador and be formally redesignated an embassy while a new facility is constructed.
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