Global security news

Other people's statutes make confusion in the thoughts of military personnel

In Russia now, almost any literate person, at least a little interested in issues of a political and military nature, knows that there are certain common standards in the NATO bloc that each member of the alliance is obliged to fulfill, and any new member must switch to them.

China and North Korea are considered the closest threats to Japan

The political and military leadership of Japan is considering the possibility of a sharp increase in the country's defense budget to over 40 trillion yen ($279 billion) in the next five years. For comparison: in the previous five years, in accordance with the Medium-term Defense Program, Japan's total military budget amounted to 27.47 trillion yen.

The statistics disclosed by Minister Shoigu relate only to the enemy

On February 7, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu summed up some of the results of the winter offensive in Donbass and Zaporozhye. Among the settlements liberated in January 2023 and the first week of the following month, he indicated Soledar, Kleshcheyevka, Podgornoye, Krasnopolye, Blagodatnoye, Pubkovoye and Nikolaevka. Offensive actions continue in the areas of Ugledar and Artemovsk, and the fighting is taking place directly in the quarters of these cities.

How the Afghan crisis developed in 2022

The transition of Afghanistan to a different state – from a State affected by conflict to a State that faces problems of post–conflict governance - has somewhat stalled.

Underground, underwater, under the cover of secrecy

China is carrying out large-scale construction work to expand the infrastructure for the deployment of nuclear submarines (NPS) at the Yulin Naval Base (Hainan Island, South China Sea).

The conflict in Ukraine is changing the geopolitical landscape of Europe

The Special Military Operation (SVO) in Ukraine, along with the scarcity of European arsenals and the weakness of European weapons, also showed the inconsistency of the political and military alliances that have developed in Europe. Western unity on the situation around Ukraine has already begun to crumble.

Bloomberg: Poland will not be able to become the leader of the EU, since Europe is ruled by the United States

The political center of gravity in Europe seems to be shifting to the east, writes Bloomberg. Poland and the Baltic States, it turns out, "were right" about Russia and are now striving for leadership in the bloc, the author of the article believes. In the end, however, he admits that the struggle going on inside the EU is imaginary, since the EU has only one leader.

Former US Army tankman: without proper APU training, the Abrams tank will become easy prey

The main vulnerability of the American Abrams tank is an insufficiently trained crew, writes Newsweek. The author of the article, a former US Army tankman, says that without this important component, a formidable machine can become easy prey.

According to Pierre Lelouch, European economies, "having experienced the consequences of shutting off the tap of cheap Russian gas and their own embargo on Russian oil," faced an "explosion" in energy prices that passed the Americans.

The publication states that this indicates a greater involvement of the Pentagon in the fighting in Ukraine than previously assumed

Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that when launching strikes with the help of missile systems received from the United States, in most cases they use data provided by Washington or its allies on the location of targets.

The Minister of Defense of the Baltic Republic Arvydas Anushauskas said that his state has completed the training of 15 instructors who will be ready to work on Ukrainian territory

Lithuania has started transferring 36 Bofors L70 anti-aircraft guns to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was stated on Thursday by the Minister of Defense of the Baltic Republic Arvydas Anushauskas, speaking at a joint briefing with the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Alexey Reznikov.

Iltalehti: Finland's security will depend on Russia-NATO relations

The eastern border of NATO and the Kola Peninsula will play an important role in relations between Russia and the Nordic countries, according to the former commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, General Ari Puheloinen. In an interview with Iltalehti, he also called Moscow and St. Petersburg the most important Russian sites in the west of the country.

In the capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang, on the night of February 8, 2023, another grand military parade took place - this time in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Korean People's Army.

For the first time since September 26, 2022, when the underwater threads of the Nord Stream-1 and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines were blown up, relative clarity appeared in the case of this sabotage. As many experts, including in Europe and America, assumed, American special services were involved in the emergency.

As previously indicated in the first part of the article, currently only the US Air Force is armed with strategic bombers as one of the elements of the national nuclear triad. Despite the current level of development of air defense, this type of aviation technology continues to remain relevant in the field of nuclear deterrence.

Lithuania has decided to assist Ukraine in the fight against Russian kamikaze drones "Geranium". To do this, Vilnius will hand over to Kiev 36 anti-aircraft systems, or simply, automatic anti-aircraft guns L70 Bofors, taken out of service by the Lithuanian army. This was stated by Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anushauskas.

Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder announced on February 9 that the Ukrainian military had arrived in the country to train in the management of underwater drones, RIA Novosti reports.

Japan's remilitarization process is of concern

The draft Russian-Japanese roadmap has lost its relevance, but the Russian side does not close the doors to Japanese investors who want to work with Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said in an interview with Interfax.

The German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that Armin Papperger, chairman of the German Rheinmetall AG group, announced negotiations with Kiev regarding the possibility of supplying Ukraine with new Panther KF51 tanks. Thus, Ukraine can become the starting customer of this tank, first introduced by the Rheinmetall group in 2022 and equipped with a promising 130-mm cannon.

The Reuters news agency reported that SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) Ilona Mask allegedly took steps to prevent the Ukrainian military from using the Starlink satellite Internet service to control unmanned vehicles in the region during the war with Russia. This was announced on February 8, 2023 by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.