French President Macron did his best to show through body language that his bromance with Donald Trump was still alive. But the US leader, who came to Paris after calling Macron’s EU army plan “insulting” didn’t seem interested. Emmanuel Macron smiled, winkled and hugged Trump as the two met at the Elysee Palace in the French capital on Saturday. [...]

The Arctic is becoming an arena for a fierce competition to control transportation routes & natural resources of global importance. The upcoming Trident Juncture exercise is NATO’s attempt to demonstrate dominance in the region. NATO says that Russia has nothing to worry about, because the exercise – which will be held in Norway and Iceland between October 25 and November 23 – “doesn� [...]

The USS Harry Truman, a 104,000 ton Nimitz-class aircraft carrier capable of deploying some 90 combat and support aircraft, has entered the North Sea in preparation for Trident Juncture, a series of drills which are expected to become the largest alliance exercises in the region since the Cold War. [...]

Although many people in Serbia hold “poor” memories of NATO’s 1999 bombing of their country, it was, in fact, done precisely to protect them from their own government, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said in Belgrade. He was answering questions about the bombing and about the NATO campaign against the government of the former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, during a meeting [...]

The US NATO envoy’s accusation that Russia is developing missiles in violation of the INF treaty is almost a theological argument to convince NATO to boost its defense spending, says international affairs expert Jonathan Steele. [...]

The US is looking to establish a permanent US military base in Poland. This is what President Donald Trump said on Tuesday following a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House. Sputnik discussed the potential establishment of a military base in Poland with Rick Rozoff - manager of the Stop NATO website. [...]

Turkey is the latest target for US trade barriers, faces sanctions against top ministers and is even having its purchasing of advanced US weapons reconsidered. The Anatolian country’s leaders have indicated they are beginning to look elsewhere, feeling like the US is trying “to make Turkey surrender in all areas, from finance to politics.” On Friday, US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs [...]

US NATO ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison has accused Moscow of trying to "flip Turkey" and other US allies and "destabilize" the alliance amid Ankara's plans to purchase the S-400 air defense system. Speaking to Sputnik, Turkish military and political observers said that although the US envoy's logic may be convoluted, it's not entirely incorrect. [...]

NATO has nothing to do with European defense, it is just a tool of intimidation and a money-making machine for the US' bloated and corrupt military-industrial complex, geopolitical analyst Jon Hellevig told Sputnik, arguing that the latest summit has not indicated any real rift among NATO members – they just don't want to fork out. [...]

Donald Trump’s policy of pressuring European countries on issues like defense spending, Russia cooperation or trade will ultimately end NATO, Willy Wimmer, Germany’s former State Secretary for Defense, told RT. Commenting on the outcome of this week’s NATO summit in Brussels, during which the US president criticized European members of the alliance of spending too little on defense and berat [...]

Ahead of July’s NATO summit, the US President fueled the buzz about the row within the bloc over agreed-upon military spending targets, as he sent his letters of discontent to several European leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel. In response, Germany’s military chief lectured Trump on what alliance means and played down his rebuke. [...]

Members of the military bloc are anxious about the purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems by Turkey. Here is why. NATO fears "Moscow's eyes" on the territory of its member states, as the maintenance —400 anti-aircraft missile systems purchased by Turkey will require Russia's assistance, German Spiegel magazine wrote. [...]

In 1990, Western politicians repeatedly assured Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO wouldn’t expand east of Germany’s borders, but broke that promise less than a decade later, say insider archives from both sides of negotiations following the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. [...]

US President Donald Trump has accused Germany of not contributing enough to the NATO budget – but will German Chancellor Angela Merkel dance to Washington’s tune? Politicians on both sides of Germany’s political spectrum shared their views with RT. [...]

The Turkish government has clashed with the US and other NATO members on a number of occasions in the past few years, raising questions over the country's membership of the military bloc and its future relations with the West. [...]

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has lashed out at Russia, saying that the country is “becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive,” and insisted that the alliance must improve its defensive capabilities in the face of Russia’s nuclear threat. [...]

Ankara’s decision to purchase Russian S-400 air-defense systems was prompted by the reluctance of its NATO allies, primarily the US, to sell advanced weaponry to Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said. [...]

Commenting on President Putin recently touting advanced Russian weapons and lawmaker Alexander Sherin signaling Moscow's readiness to stand up for its partners, including Ankara, Turkish military expert Beyazit Karatas told Sputnik that these statements indicate that Ankara does not need NATO's deterrence systems. [...]

While Washington ostensibly supports the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine-Donbass conflict, new revelations - if true - do not add to these claims and on the contrary seem to be in sync with the approval of US weapons to Kiev. The Swiss newspaper Le Temps has reported about scores of US and Canadian instructors training Ukrainian servicemen at the former Soviet firing range Yavorov in wester [...]

The Defense and Security Council of Montenegro has sent at least 40 members of its Armed Forces of Montenegro to Kosovo and Afghanistan as part of NATO ‘peacekeeping’ missions, participating with the possibility of rotation. The Montenegrin Army first sent a contingent to Afghanistan in March 2010, with the country becoming the 44th non-NATO state to contribute to the International Security As [...]

The Serbian breakaway of Kosovo is in the midst of two days of celebrations to mark the tenth anniversary of its declaration of independence. Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Marko Gasic, a London-based international affairs commentator and Balkans expert, explained why he felt there was really very little to celebrate. [...]

NATO’s rapid expansion has not necessarily strengthened the alliance and the US should rethink its hostility towards Russia, former US Secretary of Defense William Perry said on RT’s SophieCo program. [...]