NATO
Thursday, July 7, 2016 - 06:34
Ex-Soviet Georgia could start a gradual drift back into the orbit of its former overlord Russia if it does not see tangible signs soon that it will be invited to join NATO.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 06:52
NATO has a $100 billion problem. That’s the gap between what NATO countries have committed to spend on defense and what they actually spent in 2015. With global threats on the rise, $100 billion per year would mark a major increase in NATO’s ability to defend itself and maintain the peace in Europe. It seems that NATO members are spending $105 billion less per year on defense than they have committed, with non-U.S. NATO defense spending is 30 percent short of where it should be.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 06:47
Secretary of State John Kerry told ex-Soviet Georgia the United States would help it bolster its army as he reassured a close U.S. ally days before a NATO summit expected to focus on the threat a resurgent Russia poses.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 06:43
When unidentified aircraft were speeding toward northern Estonia one recent day, British fighter jets stationed nearby scrambled to intercept them. Screaming across the country, they quickly identified the targets: two Russian fighters and a spy plane. It was just the latest confrontation between the West and Russia in a region that has fast become a tripwire for conflict between nuclear superpowers.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 06:40
The U.S. has spent more than $8 billion with little effect over 15 years to counter the flourishing poppy trade that has made Afghanistan the No. 1 supplier of heroin to the world. The Defense Department no longer includes a section on counter-narcotics in its semi-annual report to Congress on Afghanistan. It was absent from the report on “Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan” submitted last month and also omitted in the previous submission.
Friday, July 1, 2016 - 06:29
The upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw has the potential to become one of the most important international events of the year. The July event will occur against the backdrop of the most serious confrontation with Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. As a result, NATO Summit participants will make important decisions that will determine the European security agenda for years to come.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - 06:37
By invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has transformed the security situation in the Black Sea. Upon capturing those territories, Moscow lost no time in seizing Ukrainian energy facilities in the Black Sea and accelerating its ongoing military modernization there. As a result, Moscow has built a combined arms force of land, sea, air, and electronic forces that NATO leaders admit is fully capable of denying access to NATO forces seeking to enter the Black Sea during a conflict. It has also deployed nuclear-capable weapons to the Black Sea area and is apparently building a similar network of anti-access area denial (A2/AD) capabilities against NATO in both the eastern Mediterranean around Syria and in the Caucasus.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - 06:40
Stationing more U.S. and NATO troops in Southern and Eastern Europe and upping its naval presence in the Baltic and Black seas are important, but a new Atlantic Council report on the alliance’s purpose sees continued sanctions against Russia as an equally important tool of deterrence.
Friday, June 24, 2016 - 06:38
Azerbaijan and NATO have explored ways of developing military cooperation as Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov met with commandant of the NATO Defense College (NDC) Janusz Bojarski, Azertac reported.
Hasanov provided an insight into the military and political situation in the region, Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its results.
Thursday, June 23, 2016 - 06:44
NATO would currently be unable to protect the Baltics against a Russian attack, the commander of US ground forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, said in a news report Wednesday.