In a dramatic shift for the US military, the army is considering the use of bullets that can expand and break up when striking a target to make new pistols more lethal, raising concern that doing so would violate international law. According to the Army Times, the Pentagon recently reviewed the use of “special purpose ammunition” and determined the army could look into enabling its next-gen [...]

European leaders know that the US wants to get them to spend money on military equipment which will be purchased from the US, says Brian Becker of the anti-war Answer Coalition. But Europe knows the dangers from the experience of two world wars, he added. Several senior American officials say Russia is the greatest threat to their country's national security. [...]

The OSCE has warned that a growing presence of heavy weaponry on the government controlled side of Donbass territory has put Ukrainian security forces in violation of the terms of the demarcation line, according to OSCE Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug. “We can highlight that the security situation has gotten worse in the Donbass over the past few weeks,” Hug said at a briefing in Mariupo [...]

We all remember how, in early June, President Putin announced that Russia would deploy more than 40 new ICBMs "able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems." Oh dear; the Pentagon and their European minions have been freaking out on overdrive ever since. [...]

Washington plans to station hardware, including tanks and armored vehicles, in a number of European countries, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Tuesday. Nukes withdrawn in the 1980s will not return to Europe. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania will be hosting the new hardware, and it will be possible to move it around for exercises, Carter said as he stood with h [...]

The Ukrainian crisis is about Ukraine, but not about Central or Western Europe, says Jonathan Steele, Guardian international affairs columnist. But NATO needs to justify its existence and sell arms, that's why a demonetization of Russia is taking place. On Monday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter claimed America will provide more aircraft, weapons and soldiers to NATO’s rapid reaction force [...]

Western leaders seem not to have a clue about conflict resolution and confidence building and their mentality will sooner or later lead to war, says Jan Oberg director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research. Poland is on its way to hosting NATO heavy weapons. Warsaw has confirmed it expects ongoing talks to come to an agreement. [...]

Russia has no binding obligations limiting its armed forces in its western region, which means if the US deploys heavy weapons in Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, there will be an equivalent response from Moscow, Russia's top general said. “If America’s heavy arms, be it tanks, artillery systems or other heavy military hardware are deployed to Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, it w [...]

Germany allegedly sent arms to Saudi Arabia in return for the Arab nation giving its support to Germany's successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup. The claims made by the Die Zeit newspaper are the latest revelations to rock scandal-ridden FIFA. The newspaper claims that the German government under then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder arranged for the lifting of an embargo of arms sales to Saudi A [...]

As Yemen sinks further into the pyre of war, Saudi Arabia has used its billions to whitewash intolerable war crimes and human rights abuses against civilian populations. From cluster bombs to chemical attacks, is there an end to Al Saud's spiral? As Saudi Arabia continues to make the headlines, might it be the kingdom's alleged ambition to preside over the UN Human Rights Council coming in Janu [...]

The US 6th Fleet has made public a video which is described as showing the Russian jet interaction with the USS Ross warship in the Black Sea on May 30. The video was shot aboard the sea vessel. “[USS] Ross continued on her mission after observing the aircraft return to base. [...]

Let's consider for a moment what the response would be from Washington if Russia announced the start of international war games near American borders. Impossible you say? Yet that is almost exactly what the Pentagon has announced near Russia. “The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that over 350 Russian soldiers and 80 armored vehicles with Air Force cover will begin a 300-mile march a [...]

Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev has revoked a decree that allowed delivery of NATO military equipment to Afghanistan through Russian territory. According to the official document, signed by Medvedev and published on Monday, all previous decisions on NATO cargo transit to Afghanistan have now been revoked. This includes an act allowing delivery of military hardware and equipment via rail, motor vehic [...]

The US has bought the Kiev government, trained its troops and has been sending equipment to Ukraine, said Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute.It would be naïve to assume that the US has backed off on the situation. At least one civilian has been killed in the shelling of Donetsk which is an apparent violation of the ceasefire reached under the Minsk agreement. [...]

At least one civilian has been killed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk after an army shell hit an apartment building amid intense fire on rebel positions. An RT correspondent says the city has seen one of its worst shellings in months. “There was fire, shelling for about two hours and it was almost non-stop…blast after blast, you could feel the vibrations from the explosions, kilome [...]

You really couldn't make it up, could you? Serial warmonger and unsuccessful US Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has been offered a post as an adviser to Ukraine's "Chocolate King" President Petro Poroshenko. He was supposed to join other neocon rejects such as Georgia’s fugitive ex-President (and famous tie-eater) Mikhail Saakashvili and the ex-Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt. [...]

Ukraine as a new nation has to create a useable past, Arch Getty, Professor of Russian and Soviet history at UCLA told RT's In the Now show. War criminals like Bandera, who killed a lot of civilians, are being praised by Kiev government now, he added. Mikhail Gorbachev said that snubbing the Victory parade is disrespect for the people who suffered enormous losses fighting Nazism. [...]

A top commander warned that Iran is ready for an all-out war with US, alleging that aggression against Tehran "will mobilize the Muslim world" against it. The remarks follow Secretary of State John Kerry's claims that military force was still an option. [...]

The question many people ask: How come hundreds of West Europeans came to fight for the self-proclaimed republics in Eastern Ukraine? In fact, the defense of Donbass became the first major volunteer war in Europe since the Spanish Civil War. Then the internationalist brigades (briogadistas) composed of the British, French and Polish leftists, coupled with military professionals from the Soviet [...]

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition is using US-supplied cluster munitions in its airstrikes on Houthi forces in Yemen, Human Rights Watch reported. Targets include those close to villages, posing a threat from undetonated sub munitions to civilians. In recent weeks the coalition has used cluster bombs in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate, a region bordering Saudi Ararbia, which is historically c [...]

Russia is to renew production of the Tu-160 "Blackjack" supersonic strategic bomber and missile carrier, according to defense minister, Sergey Shoigu. “Today it is already necessary to solve the task of not only maintaining and modernizing long-range aviation, we must also produce the Tu-160 missile carrier,” Shoigu said during a visit to the Kazan Aviation Plant, as cited by Sputnik news a [...]

The Russian and Chinese Navies are to hold a joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea in mid-May, a first in that part of the world. A total of nine warships from the two countries are to participate, Beijing said. "The aim is to deepen both countries' friendly and practical cooperation, and increase our navies' ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats," [...]