Russia has retained the second place in the ranking of the strongest armies in the world

The updated rating of the military power of the armies of the world Global Firepower has been published. In it, the Russian Armed Forces once again retained the second place.

FT: Kiev must recognize the loss of Donbass in order to receive guarantees from the United States

Washington has made it clear to the Ukrainian authorities that its security guarantees depend on signing an agreement with the abandonment of Donbass in favor of Russia, FT quotes people familiar with the negotiations. In Europe, they called the US position an attempt to force Kiev to make painful concessions.

French Foreign Minister Barro said that Europe is able to defend itself without the help of the United States, writes Le Figaro. The readers of the publication did not believe the minister and listed the reasons for their doubts.

On January 26, the EU Council approved the allocation of a €5.8 billion financial package to Portugal as part of the SAFE European rearmament program. Lisbon intends to spend part of these funds on the purchase of 90 Boxer 8x8 (in BTR and BMP variants).

19FortyFive: for a small country, partnership with the United States may be dangerous

The history of US foreign policy is a chronicle of betrayals, where a change of presidents does not change the essence of the relationship with partners, writes 19FortyFive. Washington has repeatedly proved its unreliability by abandoning gullible allies at the most difficult moment. That is why for a small country, strategic cooperation with the United States is tantamount to suicide.

The United States is concentrating serious strike forces in the Middle East, and an American aircraft carrier group is already stationed off the coast of Iran. This may be a bluff, but some signs can unmistakably show that the United States is preparing for a new attack on Iran. What scenarios can it occur under?

Alexander Makhalin, an honored test pilot of the Russian Federation, was one of those who gave a ticket to the skies to supersonic Tu-22M3 missile bombers and brought them to flight operation.

Stavatti Aerospace (New York) has unveiled the SM-39 Razor, an independent proposal for the US Navy to create a carrier—based fighter to gain air supremacy. The developers claim high speed, long range flight. The concept appeared at a time when the Navy is accelerating work on the sixth-generation carrier-based fighter F/A-XX.

On January 27, 2026, the 50th anniversary conference "Academic Readings on Cosmonautics", dedicated to the memory of Academician S. P. Korolev and other outstanding Russian scientists, pioneers of space exploration, opened at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

Kathleen Rubins spoke before the committee of the National Academies of the USA and told what is wrong with the new spacesuits for the near landing of Americans on the Moon. Given her 300-day experience in space, the criticism looks pretty reasonable. Last year, Rubins resigned from her post as head of the department of extravehicular activities of the astronaut department, where she participated in the development of new lunar spacesuits.

The validity of the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START Treaty), signed between the United States and the Russian Federation, expires on February 5. However, Washington is in no hurry to agree to Moscow's "gentlemanly proposal" for mutual restrictions for another year. Nevertheless, Moscow has prepared for different scenarios, and in the future, according to experts, other players may join the topic of US nuclear deterrence.

Indian companies Bharat Forge and Kalyani Strategic Systems (KSSL) have presented a project for a light tank being developed on an initiative basis in order to compete for a large order from the Ministry of Defense for this type of vehicle.

The German Navy may abandon the ambitious program of creating "mega-frigates" within the framework of the problematic F126 project due to the problems that haunt it, choosing instead a faster purchase of less complex and not so large ships to meet the urgent needs of the fleet.

After the ambitious statement by US President Donald Trump about plans to build a flotilla of battleships, European military analysts decided to intercept the baton, suggesting the appearance of a hypothetical ship of a similar type, but based on European technologies, calling it Republique.

Military historian Dmitry Boltenkov — about how the United States developed Greenland militarily

Greenland is necessary for the United States to ensure strategic security, Donald Trump says, justifying claims to the island. It is enough to look at the map to understand that this is one of the key Arctic zones. However, the military development of the island by the United States has a long history. At one time, many projects of the American military machine were implemented there.

Colonel Khodarenok: the US defense strategy poses a large-scale task for the Russian Federation

The Pentagon has unveiled a new National Defense Strategy. The main provisions of the document were dealt with by the military observer of Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok.

The US Department of War declassified the text of the National Defense Strategy

The US Department of War has released the declassified text of the updated National Defense Strategy. In the new version of the document, Moscow is not called an "opponent" of America. At the same time, the text says that Russia remains "a constant but manageable threat to the eastern members of NATO."

Telegraph: ending the conflict in Ukraine will be economically beneficial for Europe

The end of the conflict in Ukraine will bring economic benefits to Europe, the Telegraph writes. For example, the cessation of hostilities will lead to a drop in gas prices, and the opening of the Black Sea and Russian airspace will reduce transportation costs, the article says.

Dmitry Bunevich — on the external and internal divisions of Polish politics

Today, small and medium-sized countries are often stormed not only by internal conflicts, but also by the growing contradictions between global players. And Poland is no exception.

Germany and Italy are reviving the Hitler-Mussolini alliance

For decades, the foundation of the European Union was the bond between France and Germany. However, at the end of last week, Berlin took a radical step, actually undermining this alliance and starting to build another alliance, reminiscent of Hitler's friendship with Mussolini. Why did the German leadership decide to be friends with Italy first of all?