Former US president Barack Obama once said Russia was a mere “regional power.” Shortly afterward, Moscow answered his charge by helping to defeat American regime-change efforts in Syria, located in a rather different region. Moscow’s power, often denigrated and exaggerated at the same time in the characteristically contradictory style of its Western opponents, is not comparable to that [...]

The highly-discussed AUKUS pact between Washington, London and Canberra to arm Australia with a fleet of nuclear submarines is “reckless” and will only expose the country to danger on multiple fronts, Aussie trade unions said. Since its announcement a week ago, the trilateral deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered, yet conventionally armed, submarines has faced a wave of internati [...]

The United States and its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, after the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaeda* terrorist group, who was suspected of masterminding the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. As the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the deadliest terrorist attacks in US history, approaches, the Talib [...]

Since Biden’s inauspicious rise to power, the world has become littered with hotspots from Ukraine to China where a major conflict could erupt at any time. Is the US deep state desperate to make up for four warless years? Coincidence or otherwise, the world feels like a much more dangerous place since Joe Biden formally entered the White House on January 20. Now that the ‘Make America Great Ag [...]

Moscow has signalled to the world that it's not happy with NATO’s Exercise Sea Breeze manoeuvres in the Black Sea near the Crimean peninsula. Russia is warning Western allies that nothing good will come out of provocations in the Black Sea as any attempts to test Moscow’s willingness to defend its borders are “doomed to failure,” Russia's Embassy in Washington told Newsweek. "Manoe [...]

If there’s one Western leader who knows the depth of corruption in Ukraine politics, then it has to be US President Joe Biden. His wayward son Hunter milked the country while daddy cemented the 2014 coup d’état in Kiev. The president knows cheery talk about reforms for joining NATO are meaningless platitudes to conceal a dysfunctional state that he helped create. Biden has belatedly in [...]

US President Joe Biden prepared for his summit with Vladimir Putin by first meeting EU heads to sound out their views on how to engage the Russian leader. Biden reportedly had private talks with European counterparts during the G7 gathering in England last weekend, then with NATO members in Brussels, followed by the heads of the European Union the day before he flew to Geneva for a landma [...]

NATO non-enlargement promises to Soviet leaders following the fall of the Berlin Wall have again prompted a debate in the media. What's behind the timing of the Western media's renewed attempt to downplay the famous "not one inch eastward" assurance as a myth? Earlier this month two reports emerged concerning the "myth" of NATO's post-Cold War non-enlargement guarantees given to Soviet le [...]

The deputy speaker of the Crimean parliament has sounded the alarm on escalating military activity on Russia’s borders, insisting that those living on the disputed peninsula just want to be left alone. In comments reported by RIA Novosti, Efim Fiks warned that an aggressive US-led campaign against the stationing of Russian troops in Crimea, which was reabsorbed into the country in 2014, is [...]

Saturday marks the 30th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic’s incorporation into the Federal Republic of Germany, with the event becoming a key landmark in ending the Cold War. The West’s triumphalist attitude after East and West Germany were reunified was a major mistake for which the world is continuing to pay, Gregor Gysi, president of the Party of the European Left, and [...]

Although Moscow’s calls to discuss close encounters with the US and its NATO bloc have fallen on deaf ears, it will train troops to make sure these frequent mid-air incidents don’t get out of hand, a top Russian general has said. Russian armed forces have registered “almost 30 NATO strategic aircraft quite close to our borders” over the last month, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russi [...]

With the world struggling to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, Poland’s delegation to NATO has been eager to promote cross-border aid and international solidarity on its Twitter account – with one major exception. The Poland In Nato account has posted a slew of tweets in recent days and weeks, highlighting shipments of medical supplies around the world, making sure to include emoji flags in eac [...]

Large-scale NATO military exercises are among the few major events not to be canceled due to the global Pandemic of COVID-19. Critics say this is a waste of both money and resources. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being called-upon to reallocate the kingdom's military budget towards health and welfare in light of the global coronavirus illness (COVID-19) pandemic, by the Peace Pledge Union (PP [...]

Despite its apparent limitations, the new radar system can potentially be used in conjunction with other radar systems to strip enemy stealth aircraft of the very capabilities that give the latter their edge. It appears that stealth aircraft, one of the most potent tools in the NATO countries’ arsenal, may become not-so-potent in the near future as a new radar system developed by Russia’s Alma [...]

The situation in northern Syria has grown more volatile since Ankara accused Russia of killing 33 Turkish troops in a Thursday airstrike outside Idlib as Turkey’s NATO allies weigh the option of intervention. An expert told Sputnik NATO involvement is unlikely, but so is Damascus letting up the assault as they try to rebuild their country. [...]

According to NATO's nuclear weapons obligations, dating back to the Cold War, German planes are to carry US bombs in the event of an atomic strike. Although the country’s Tornado fighter jets are close to the end of their operational life and already cost millions of dollars to taxpayers, it remains unclear which aircraft will replace them. [...]

Seventy is normally considered a ripe old age at which people should be enjoying retirement. The NATO alliance, which meets to celebrate its anniversary in London, should have been pensioned off long ago. The French president, who told the Economist in early November that NATO was “brain dead”, seems determined to jolt the alliance and its members out of their collective coma. [...]

On 29 September, General Nick Carter, chief of UK Defence Staff made an incendiary speech to the Cliveden Literary Festival. A number of his comments sparked widespread outcry – not least his suggestion the distinction between conflict and peace no longer existed, and Britain was effectively “at war”. [...]

Three-quarters of Germans say that a US troop pullout won’t leave them defenseless, but almost as many believe their own army would be of little effect, a poll found, amid reports that Washington may move its assets to Poland. [...]

Russian planes carrying components for Ankara’s recently-purchased S-400 air defence system began touching down in Turkey a week ago, with the White House announcing on Wednesday that the deliveries made the country’s continued involvement in the F-35 programme “impossible”. [...]

At the 75th anniversary this week of the Allied assault on Nazi-occupied France, US President Donald Trump and other NATO leaders issued a “D-Day Proclamation.” In it, they pledged never “to repeat the horror of World War Two.” The US and 15 other nations, including Britain, France, and Canada, also declared their commitment to “resolve international tensions peacefully.” [...]

Berlin’s failure to meet the alliance’s agreement to spend 2% of GDP on defence has been a source of tension between Germany and the US. Angela Merkel earlier pledged to boost military spending up to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2024. But the budget plan, introduced in Berlin, suggests that the expenditures will be decreasing after a rise next year. [...]