DefenceTalkEU leaders will have a hard discussion on Europe’s place in the world on Tuesday as they seek unity on how to approach ties with superpowers China and the US. The 27 heads of state and government are set to converge on Brdo Castle in the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, the country that currently […]

DefenceTalkThe United States on Friday warned Turkey of further risks to bilateral ties if it buys more weapons from Russia, after US countermeasures over its purchase of the S-400 air defense system. The statement came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin earlier this week and discussed greater military […]

DefenceTalkTurkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed deepening defence industry cooperation with Russia during talks with his counterpart Vladimir Putin this week, the Turkish leader was quoted as saying Thursday. Erdogan and Putin held their first face-to-face talks in 18 months in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday, with the Syrian conflict high on […]

DefenceTalkFrance on Friday recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in a ferocious row over the scrapping of a submarine contract, an unprecedented step that revealed the extent of French anger against its allies. President Emmanuel Macron recalled the envoys after Canberra ditched a deal to buy French submarines in favour of US […]

DefenceTalkA quick barrage of missile tests and bumper defence deals in the Pacific have highlighted a regional arms race that is intensifying as the China-US rivalry grows. “There’s a little frenzy in the Indo-Pacific of arming up,” said Yonsei University professor John Delury. “There’s a sense of everyone’s doing it.” Within 24 hours this week, […]

DefenceTalkDushanbe, Tajikistan: Members of the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Friday endorsed Iran’s future membership of the bloc that already includes South Asian rivals India and Pakistan. The move comes as Moscow and Beijing have moved to assert themselves as key players in the region, after the United States’ hasty retreat from Afghanistan […]

DefenceTalkNorth Korea put tractor-towed artillery, fire engines and health personnel in orange hazmat suits on show at a parade in Pyongyang early Thursday, rather than the more usual tanks and ballistic missiles. Pyongyang has continued to pursue its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs — for which it is internationally sanctioned — during the diplomatic […]

DefenceTalkWASHINGTON: “America is back,” goes US President Joe Biden’s catchphrase, but his unapologetic exit from Afghanistan shows America won’t be back to business as usual. Beyond the trauma of the Kabul evacuation, Biden is pitching a much broader retreat: a halt to using vast military resources to impose order and US values around the planet. […]

DefenceTalkJapan’s defence ministry on Tuesday unveiled a $50 billion budget request as the country keeps military spending at record levels in the face of growing threats from China and North Korea. The military budget has been rising steadily for about a decade, and the defence ministry’s latest request warns that “the security environment surrounding our […]

DefenceTalkUS Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief William Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials. The Monday meeting, which if confirmed will have been the highest-level encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the group’s return to […]