The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the mid-20th century amidst the greater Arab–Israeli conflict. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. Most Recently by Donald J Trump resulting in the historic Abraham Accords.
Tag: NATO

Russia Developing New Hypersonic Weapons
The Russian army is working on the antidote for the electronic warfare systems. According to the Russian defense experts, the technology is one of a kind and thus far only Russia has it. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian army lost the completive edge with the US.

Russia — ‘NATO Threat to Whole World’
The Russian Gosduma made a statement pertaining the NATO actions, which pose political and military threats not only to Russia, but also to the whole world. Moscow naturally wants to weaken the alliance. The statement was made by the First Deputy Head of the State Duma Committee on the International Affairs Dmitry Novikov.
Will There Be New War in Libya in 2021?
On December 27, The Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar stated that Turkey is ready for the military actions against the Libyan National Army. The leader of the Libyan Army is Khalifa Haftar, who is supported by Russia. “Haftar and those who support him should know that they will be considered a legitimate target in any attempt to attack the Turkish military,” said Akar.

Russia is Ready to Test Sarmat Missile
Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Krivoruchko announced that the intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat will be released for the flight tests. The Sarmat ICBM is one of the new Russian strategic weapons. It can carry up to 15 nuclear blocks. Sarmat is meant to replace the R-36M2 (NATO classification SS-18).

China and Russia in the Defense Field
China admitted that Russia is superior in the defense aerospace. The revelation came during the joint patrolling exercise, which utilized the Russian Tu-95 MS strategic bombers and the Chinese Hong-6S. China is having difficulty with production of the technology.

Erdogan Contemplates New Turk Block
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been contemplating the idea to create the “Turk” military political block. The strategic decision has been made, after interference in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which resulted in the gain for the Azerbaijan.

Trump Withdraws US Troops From Somalia
President Trump has decided to withdraw his troops from Somalia. He had previously ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. According to a Pentagon statement, most of the troops stationed in Somalia are scheduled to leave the country by the beginning of 2021.

Russia Targets DFLR Labs
A large cluster of Russian social media accounts have been purged on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram social media platforms. The purge started in October, and continued into the November. Additionally, there is a large number of Russian groups on the same platforms that have been deactivated.

US Formally Withdraws from Treaty on Open Skies
The United States officially withdrew from the Treaty on Open Skies on Sunday, six months after notifying parties to the treaty that it would do so. The treaty allows signatories to scout each other’s military installations, which is seen as an important measure to build mutual trust after the end of the Cold War.

The Status Quo in Nagorno-Karabakh
A Russian peacekeeping contingent has been stationed in the “Armenian” part of Nagorno-Karabakh after a ceasefire agreement was signed by Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The agreement came into force on the November 10th. Currently, the Russian peacekeeping units carry out a number of duties.

Is Turkey Becoming a Problem for the NATO?
Turkey made an official statement pertaining the refusal of the contract termination with Russia. The S-400 anti aircraft systems will be supplied to Turkey. It has been in service with the Russian Armed Forces since 2007. The announcement came directly from the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Attacks in Afghanistan Continue, Many Killed Despite Peace Talks
While the Taliban and government officials talk about peace, the conflict in Afghanistan continues. Nine civilians died in a bomb explosion in the east of the country and elsewhere, a suicide bomber killed several students in Kabul. Almost 30 people were killed and numerous others injured in attacks in Afghanistan.

Could Russia and France Create Their Own Security Structure?
The Chairman of the French Senate Commission on International Affairs and Defense, Christian Cambon, believes that Russia and France could establish a new European security structure that would differ from NATO. He said this in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, published on Tuesday.

Ukraine Defense Agreement with US
Recently, the American strategic bombers were observed over Ukraine skies near the capital and the Black Sea. Kiev and Odessa residents reported seeing them in the sky, during the active phase of the joint efforts exercise. Hence, the US bombers seen did not enter the Ukraine air space by accident.

Germany- Reinstates National Warning System, Why Now?
During the Cold War era, Germany tested its nationwide warning systems twice a year. In the early 1950s, West Germany created a system for notifying the country’s population of emergency situations. These could, at that time, be natural and man-made disasters that threaten the lives of the population.

Turkish Military Exercises Off Cyprus Begins
Ankara begins military exercises off the coast of northern Cyprus, which is under its control, in a move that may add more fuel to the fire of tension in the eastern Mediterranean. The two countries have been fighting for influence on the island of Cyprus for decade and the valuable natural resources in the region.

Stoltenberg Announces Mediation Between Turkey, Greece
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Thursday that the leaders of Turkey and Greece had agreed to continue their NATO-led talks and meetings after meeting with him. Turkey and Greece claim ownership of the oil and gas resources of the Eastern Mediterranean and have escalated into a military conflict in recent days.

Belarus Protest- Will Proposed Sanctions Collapse Lithuanian Economy?
The Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has made a statement pertaining imposing sanctions against Lithuania. Lithuania has been on the forefront of the Belarusian tumultuous situation. The leader of the opposition Svetlana Tichanovskaya has fled Belarus shortly after the election. At present, she continues to reside in Lithuania.

France Demands Sanctions Against Turkey
France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said that Turkey wants action against itself . It does not want to understand the way of negotiations. France is also a member of NATO. Recently, France has opposed Turkey over Turkey’s role in NATO and Libya and its ambition for a gas reserve in the Mediterranean.

US Announces Troop Withdrawal from Germany
The United States has announced that it will withdraw 6,400 troops from Germany and relocate 5,400 to other European countries, reducing the number of US troops in Germany by about a third. The move is the largest troop transfer in Germany since the end of the Cold War and could begin next week.

Russia Testing New Poseidon System
This week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the testing of the first nuclear powered Poseidon carrier submarine. The new technology is able to destroy a whole city. However, if ever Poseidon testing goes wrong and it explodes, it would cause a much worse nuclear disaster than Fukushima.

Russia Testing New Super Weapons
Russia announced that it started testing a super weapon that can deliver a global strike on any country in the world. The statement may be over ambitious, but given the released image and description, this is a very scary and dangerous technology. The Ministry of Defense described the weapons’ capabilities.

Sizing Up Georgia’s Defense Capabilities
Last week, Georgian soldiers arrived for the NATO peace keeping mission in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, within a week of arrival in Afghanistan, 28 Georgian soldiers were infected with the Coronavirus. The source of the virus appears to be from the Afghan personnel. The infected soldiers were sent home.

Will Russia Finally Destroy Turkey?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a statement in 2019 that the status of the Hagia Sophia could be changed from a museum in to a mosque. According to him, this would be in response to the United States’ recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan heights.

D-Day for Ukraine in Normandy Talks?
Russia participated in the “Normandy format” talks that were hosted by Germany on Friday. The negotiations lasted the whole day. Representatives from France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine participated at the summit, which was held in Berlin. The Normandy Format Talks were created in 2014, after Crimea’s annexation by Russia.

Russia Waits as Turkey to Resume Operations in Idlib
According to Russian news outlet avia.pro, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that it is time for Turkey to actively continue its military operations in Syria’s Idlib province. The publication quoted him as saying that the Turkish military will continue to fight all “terrorist organizations” that pose a threat to Turkey’s security, whether inside its borders or outside them.

Is Trump Pushing Germany Away from NATO?
On Wednesday, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, spoke at a joint press conference with President of Poland, Andrzej Duda. During a press conference, President Trump said that the United States plans to reduce American military personnel stationed in Germany.

Russia Opposes Changes to Vienna Document
On June 26, the head of the Russian delegation in Vienna stated that there are no prerequisites for the modernization of the Vienna Document, which was initiated by 34 states. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held its annual conference in Vienna from June 23-25. The statement came post-OSCE Conference.

Trump to Transfer Troops from Germany to Poland
The United States will transfer troops from Germany to Poland, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday at the White House, during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda. The announcement comes four days before presidential elections in Poland, and was criticized by Democrats.

Adieu, Turkey? Ankara Angers France Over Libya
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that Turkey’s actions in Libya by the hands of militants transferred to the region threaten the European Union. Furthermore, France will not allow anyone to annex the Mediterranean Sea. The Head of the French Foreign Ministry said this in an interview with the French newspaper, La Croix.

Russia Conducts Naval Exercise Amid BALTOPS 2020
The Russian military conducted exercises against the backdrop of NATO’s Baltic Operations (BALTOPS 2020) exercise in the Baltic Sea. Russia conducted a training session on conventional missile strikes with Iskander complexes. The NATO BALTOPS naval exercise will wrap up this week.

Russia, Turkey, and Libya – What is their Strategy?
On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu flew to Turkey, and are holding meetings pertaining the situation in Libya. Since the overthrow and killing of the Libyan leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi, in 2011, Libya became a divided state.

NATO, Russia and the Nuclear Threat
A NATO review on June 8 provided important information about the nuclear threat from Russia. The author is the Director, Nuclear Policy Directorate, NATO International Staff Jessica Cox. According to her bio, Cox provides policy support to the Secretary General and others at NATO HQ on matters related to NATO nuclear deterrence and also chairs the Nuclear Planning Group Staff Group.

Russian Mercenaries in Libya – Lists Are Here
Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi was murdered in 2011. There after, Libya became a divided state. Gaddafi, commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a Libyan revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. Shortly after his death, it was announced that the war in Libya was over. In reality, the war mutated with a new trajectory.

Russian President Putin Signs Nuclear Decree
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Nuclear Weapons decree on June 2. The decree titled “On The Basis Of The State Policy Of The Russian Federation In The Field of Nuclear Deterrence” is a document regulating the conditions under which Russia has the right to launch a nuclear strike against an aggressor (or a pack of aggressors). The main goal is to legalize the use of nuclear weapons in limited local conflicts.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Proposes Budapest Style Negotiations Without Russia – Is It Viable?
Consultations on the settlement of the situation in the Donbas area should begin with the participation of Ukraine, the US and the UK according to the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olexii Reznikov. On March 4 the Ukrainian Parliament approved the country’s new Cabinet of Ministers. Due to his appointment as Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, Reznikov has ceased his partnership in Asters law firm.

Russia is Testing New Electronic Warfare Weapons on NATO Ships – Is it Testing Murmansk-bn and Rychag-AV?
NATO ships approaching Russia’s Maritime borders, specifically the Black Sea region, are unable to conduct reconnaissance due to the counteraction of coastal electronic warfare (EW) Russia is currently testing.
There are three areas of the Electronic warfare:
1) Radio-electronic defeat is a set of measures and actions for functional defeat, radio-electronic suppression and defeat of radio-electronic objects of the enemy by homing weapons for radiation.

EU and NATO Welcome Start of MH17 Trial
The European Union and NATO have welcomed the start of the criminal trial for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. MH17 was shot down over the Donbas region of Ukraine in July 2014. Russia has been called upon to cooperate in the investigation of this tragedy, which killed all 298 people aboard the airliner.

Proxy Russia-Turkey War in Syria – What’s Next?
Russia and Turkey have been at war for awhile. However, it is a proxy war. Pro Turkish Syrian fighters supported by the Turkish military are fighting Pro-Russian Syrian fighters, who are supported by the Russian Army and the Kremlin. It is a war fought by using others to reach their objectives. Nevertheless, the war will turn into full blown conflict; at this time Turkey can’t afford blatant war with Russia.

NATO Council Meeting Wrapped Up – What Are the Options in Syria for Turkey and Russia?
At the request of Turkey, NATO held an emergency council meeting. The Turkish Newspaper Yeni Safak published an article titled “The NATO crisis meeting has ended. Stoltenberg: we will protect Turkey from the air-air attacks from Syria will stop.” Yeni Şafak is a conservative Turkish daily newspaper that always supports Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AK Party. Overall, it has close ties to the Turkish government and could be considered a Turkish pro-government propaganda paper.

Macron Courts Poland, Criticizes Poland’s Courts
Emmanuel Macron wants to find a new friend in Poland, but he is not going to abandon his ties with Russia. The French President tried to accomplish this difficult task during his two-day visit to Warsaw, where he showed caution and did not criticize the country’s government for a rollback from democracy. Macron also tried to recruit Poland as a military ally, but emphasized the need to maintain relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

NATO: Maneuvers in Eastern Europe Not Targeting Russia
The NATO Defender 2020 maneuvers, due to begin in February, will become the alliance’s largest exercises in 25 years. Their goal is to work out the prompt deployment of American troops to Poland and the Baltic countries. As part of the exercises, up to 20,000 US soldiers and officers, as well as 13,000 units of military equipment, will be delivered to Europe by sea and air.

Russia Always Failed with Aircraft Carriers – Will the Future Be Different Under Putin?
Historically, Russia was not strong pertaining to sea battles. Taking the example of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. It is also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of the Sea of Japan (in Japan) and was a major naval battle fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. It was an embarrassing loss for Russia.

Risk Alert! Yandex Russian Search Engine to Be Offered for Android Devices – Additional Security Risk to West and NATO from Kremlin?
It has been announced that starting on March 1, 2020, new Android smartphones in the European Economic Zone will have a choice of using the Russian Yandex search engine. Yandex Search is a web search engine owned by a Russian corporation. It is the core product of Yandex. In January 2015, Yandex Search generated 51.2% of all search traffic in Russia according to LiveInternet. The search engine will be offered in Estonia, Finland Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Libyan Conflict – What is the Turkish and Russian Agenda?
Russia will host Fayez al-Serraj and Khalifa Haftar in Moscow in an attempt to achieve peace in Libya. According to Russian news, Haftar is already in Russia. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who is a Turkish politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey since 24 November 2015, is expected to join them. Hakan Fidan is a retired Turkish army sergeant, teacher, diplomat and the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization. he is expected to attend as well. Hulusi Akar is the current Turkish Minister of Defense and a former four-star Turkish Armed Forces general who served as the 29th Chief of the General Staff. He will be arriving with al Serraj for the talks. Observers from Egypt and United Arab Emirates will be in attendance. The latest development is that Haftar left without signing any type peace resolution.

Putin’s Post Soviet Russia – A New Level of Propaganda – Fictional Movie Portrays Putin as Czar – What’s Next?
Recently, a fictional movie about Putin has been completed. The budget for the film was 800 million Rubles ($13.1 million) The movie has a historic theme and Vladimir Putin is portrayed as Czar Nikolas I and the whole plot is about how the emperor is always right. The epoch is early 1800s. It is not a surprise, with the movie budget alone, to believe the film is social engineering propaganda in the post Russian space. Of course, along the golden Russian tradition, the film has already been leaked on purpose. That way it will reach a wider audience everywhere versus people having to go to a Russian movie theater to see it. It is a prelude.

New Russian Town 30km from EU Border – Could it Be Another Strategic Location By the Water?
Russia is building a new town named Ust-Luga. It is located 30km from the European Union’s (EU) border. The exact location is in the Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, situated on the Luga River near its entry into the Luga Bay of the Gulf of Finland. This location is about 110km west of St. Petersburg. Ust-Luga has a 60,000 resident capacity. So far, it is 50% finished and they are already moving people into the town. The final phase will be completed by 2030.

What Will Happen to the START Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty? If Russia and US Do Not Find Compromise, Will the Cold War Return with a Vengeance?
On February 5, 2021, the treaty between the US and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms will expire. The agreement was last updated in 2010. The formal name of the treaty is START and it is a nuclear arms reduction treaty. According to the terms of the START treaty, each side will reduce its strategic offensive arms while the total quantities do not exceed 700 units deployed.