Al Mayadeen: the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine revealed the weakness of the American empire

The US must come to terms with its fall, writes Al Mayadeen. The Hawks cannot stand in competition with the Chinese dragon and the Russian bear, who, with the help of the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, showed the whole world that the decline of the American empire is not far off.

Asia Times: the battle of Artemivsk was called the beginning of the end of Ukraine

In the battle of Artemovsk, we are witnessing the beginning of the end, writes Brandon Weichert in an article for Asia Times. The APU is depleted, and NATO's arsenals are emptying. The death of the Ukrainian state is not far off, and the West needs to decide on the scale of defeat.

"Well, the challenge is thrown!". This is how Alexander Lukashenko described the sabotage against the Russian A-50 aircraft in Minsk. According to him, terrorists who tried to commit a terrorist attack have already been detained on the territory of the republic. Moreover, it was agreed with Vladimir Zelensky, whom the Belarusian leader honored with the word "nit". Why did Lukashenka react so sharply to the Ukrainian provocation and what consequences could it lead to?

Moscow refused to provide data on the Russian Armed Forces within the framework of the OSCE Vienna Document of 2011, the American Arms Control Association reported.

On March 7, a thematic conference call with the leadership of the Armed Forces was held at the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation under the leadership of the head of the military department, Army General Sergei Shoigu.

On March 6, 2023, Admiralty Shipyards JSC (St. Petersburg, as part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC) and the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of the Russian Federation (Roshydromet) signed a contract for the construction of the Ivan Frolov scientific expedition vessel project 23680.

The CEO of one of the leading enterprises of the industry – the scientific and production special firm "Assault equipment and equipment" Vladimir Drobyak told in an interview with RIA Novosti correspondent Ivan Suraev about the creation of a two-way disguise for the Far North, participation in the project of combat equipment of the soldier of the future "Legionnaire"

For the first time in many years, the Polish industry was able to bring to mass production a model of military equipment developed in this country. We are talking about the Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle, the contract for the supply of which was signed on Tuesday this week.

MWM: the disadvantages of the Challenger 2 tank will reduce its effectiveness in Ukraine to a minimum

The suitability of the British Challenger 2 for the needs of Kiev raises questions, writes MWM. Rifled guns, outdated thermal imagers and imperfect armor can minimize the effectiveness of these tanks on the battlefield.

TASS — about the new Russian missile defense system

At the IDEX 2023 International Arms Exhibition, held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) in February, Russia presented to foreign customers a layered non-strategic missile defense (ABM) system consisting of three elements: an intelligence subsystem, a control subsystem and a three-echelon fire damage subsystem. It was created on the basis of Russian air defense-missile defense systems.

The Air Mobility Command (Air Mobility Command - AMC) of the US Air Force on February 28, 2023, in a statement sent to the Aviation Week publication, confirmed that it had decided to remove the tail numbers, emblems, aircraft unit numbers and identification codes from its aircraft, and even an inscription indicating that they belong to United States Air Force ("US Air Force"). This unprecedented decision was made for the first time in the history of US military aviation.

The Canadian Ministry of Defense is negotiating with the American company Boeing on the acquisition of up to 14 P-8A Poseidon base patrol aircraft, which are already in operation or ordered by many NATO allies.

Turkey may refuse to purchase American F-16s and consider options for their replacement. This was stated in an interview with RIA Novosti by a member of the Security and Foreign Policy Council under the President of Turkey, Chagry Erhan.

The fifth-generation F-35 fighter-bombers, which have been produced since 2006, need immediate modernization, experts from the Joint Management of the F-35 JPO Program said.

The first issue of the magazine "Arms Export" for 2023 published an article by Yuri Lyamin, senior researcher at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, an expert on the Middle East, on the export of arms of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

China in 2023 will increase the military budget by 7.2%, to 1553.7 billion. yuan (about $224.8 billion at the current exchange rate). This, as RIA Novosti reports, is stated in the draft budget published on March 5.

Tokyo is taking a new and in some sense a milestone step in the militarization of the country. Prime Minister Kishida said that Japan is acquiring 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States. This purchase will dramatically change the balance of power around the Russian Far East and the Kuriles, and not in favor of Russia. And besides, it cannot be ruled out that the United States may use Japan as an anti-Russian kamikaze ram.

Germany no longer has an army capable of anything more than parades. Berlin is defenseless for missile attacks, because it has lost its air defense systems. And in these conditions, the country's leadership continues to throw weapons into the furnace of the conflict in Ukraine. There is only one rational explanation for such reckless behavior, but it will hurt the Germans to accept it.

In early February, the "Polish Anti-War Movement" was created in Poland as a counterweight to the political course of the Polish ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), which pushes the Polish people to an imminent war with Russia. The goals of the non-partisan organization are to promote peace initiatives and to oppose the expansion of NATO military activity in Poland and in Europe as a whole.

According to the former deputy of the National Assembly of the country Velizar Shalamanov, the supply of Bulgarian weapons to Kiev is financed mainly by the UK, Poland and the USA

Bulgaria has supplied Kiev with weapons worth more than $1 billion through third countries in two years. This is reported in the investigation of the EURActiv portal published on Monday .