The past week has marked a watershed moment in Russia’s relations with the West — and the US in particular. In two dramatic, televised moments, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have changed the dynamics between their countries perhaps irrevocably. Most commentators in the West have focused on Putin’s “trolling” of Biden…
NATO foreign ministers have vowed that the Western alliance will continue to adapt in the face of “rising threats and systemic competition,” and underlined that “Russia’s aggressive actions constitute a threat to Euro-Atlantic security.””Assertive and authoritarian powers, and non-state actors, challenge the rules-based international order, including through hybrid and cyber threats, the malicious use of new technologies,…
Following the Yom Kippur War, West Germany decided to upgrade their Leopard I to a new standard—the Leopard II. Here’s What You Need to Remember: The Leopard II is slated to serve the German Bundeswehr around 2030. Regardless of what replaces it, the Leopard II has served with distinction. In the 1970s, it became apparent that anti-tank warfare had…
Juicy targets include artificial islands in the South China Sea. U.S. Marines participate in an amphibious assault exercise in Chonburi, Thailand, in February 2020: the Marines will be sea-based and able to sail into the waters of the South China Sea. © Sipa/AP Admiral James Stavridis was 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and 12th…
Why is Germany tolerating the presence on its soil of elements of Vladimir Putin’s chemical weapons program? The question arises in light of new sanctions introduced against Russia on Tuesday, in response to its August 2020 chemical weapons attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Those sanctioned include three German companies, now added to the U.S. government’s so-called…
The figure marks more than a 3% increase from the previous year. However, it still does not meet the target set by NATO of spending 2% of GDP on defense. Germany is hoping that an increase in spending would improve trans-Atlantic ties Germany reported a record high in NATO defense spending for 2021, submitting a…
Unlike his predecessors, the US president has not called Middle East leaders in his first days, likely indicating what his administration will focus on: Neighbors and NATO. US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House on January 25, 2021. (JIM WATSON / AFP) In his first week in office, US President…
Moscow and Jerusalem have substantially stepped up their military cooperation in recent years. Here’s What You Need to Remember: The Russian military industry requires consistent infusions of technology in order to complete the transition from the post-Cold War doldrums. Notwithstanding the longstanding strains between the two countries (Iran, the future of the Assad regime) the Moscow-Jerusalem…
US Navy photo “For the first time, we’re not chasing anyone,” Russian strongman Vladimir Putin declared in a section of his 2020 State of the Nation address focused on Russia’s military. “We’re not catching up with anyone. On the contrary, other states will have to create weapons that Russia already has.” On this issue, it appears…
Most German tanks and planes simply do not work. Key point: It is as if Berlin has given up any serious commitment to its own security. The military is small and underfunded to a shocking degree. The modern German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, were created just ten years after the end of World War II….