A year ago, it would have been tempting to write off President Trump’s “bull in a china shop” diplomacy as the product of inexperience and impulsiveness. However, after eighteen months in the White House tenure, Trump is looking like a man with a method, a leader acting according to a consistent ideology — if not… Keep reading →

Russia is threatening the confidence of the young democracies in the Balkan region, where countries have been flocking to NATO and the European Union and leaving Moscow behind.

ZAGREB, CROATIA: Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO on Thursday, just hours after President Donald Trump upended the annual NATO summit by again demanding allies increase their defense budgets. After a tense morning in Brussels which saw the 29 member nations call an emergency session and cancel planned meetings on Ukraine… Keep reading →

Presidents Putin and Trump will meet soon in Helsinki.  At a time of uncertainty in the US-Russia relationship, the meeting is an important step forward in clarifying that relationship, one that should be not reduced to a Trump tweet or a Putin chess move. Where it is being held is significant. Helsinki was part of the… Keep reading →

Canada, Germany say they’re doing plenty to provide security and strengthen the alliance without spending two percent of their GDP on defense, pushing back against Trump’s criticisms.

Allies from Norway to Romania are buying big-ticket weapons systems produced by the American defense industry, and more NATO countries are inching toward agreed-upon defense spending goals. But is it enough?

With its eyes firmly on Russia, the US Army is racing to field 8×8 Strykers with an array of weapons that can down enemy aircraft — from drones to helicopters to jets — and incidentally make enemy tanks think twice. The first prototypes will be delivered next year, with up to 144 (four battalions) by… Keep reading →

So are Chinese ambitions racing ahead of Arctic realities? “It seems the chickens are being counted before the eggs are hatched,” Sun admitted, “but the Chinese position is, ‘if the eggs are going to hatch, we want to make sure we’re there to collect the chickens.'”

As the president prepares to head to Europe to meet both NATO and Putin, his administration is taking pains to keep expectations low, and portray a ‘steady as she goes’ attitude to both summits.

Vladimir Putin has clearly focused on expanding Russian influence in the areas of strategic interest to Russia such as the region that stretches from the Baltics to the Nordics. Proof? They have generated major military exercises designed to influence behavior, such as last year’s Zapad 2018. They have issued nuclear threats against the Danes and the… Keep reading →