Eurofighter

Another military jet, this time an F-18 fighter belonging to 12th Wing of the Spanish Air Force, crashed near the Torrejon military base outside Madrid on Tuesday, according to the Spanish Defense Ministry, killing the pilot in the second fatal accident involving a Spanish military jet in the past week. Five days ago, a Eurofighter jet suffered an unknown malfunction on its way back from participating in a military parade in honor of Spain’s Oct. 12 National Day. The jet crashed south of Madrid, killing pilot Borja Aybar, local press reported.

Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

There are times when you have to talk about things when it appears most inopportune to do so, because they’re the only times people might listen. Times when people will argue that ‘this is not the right moment’, while in reality it’s the only moment.

Russia have accused NATO of military provocation after NATO fighter jets followed Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s plane over the Baltic Sea this week.  Shoigu was heading towards Kaliningrad over neutral waters when his plane was shadowed by a group of NATO fighters from 2 kilometers behind. RT.com reports: The NATO jets did not approach the defense minister’s plane, which was escorted by several Su-27 fighter jets, according to pool correspondents of RIA Novosti, TASS and Interfax, who were on the same plane as the defense minister.

Saudi Arabia have violated the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty by acquiring nuclear weapons from Pakistan.  According to Saudi political analyst and spokesman for Riyadh, Daham al-Anzi, the Saudi regime have obtained atomic bombs in order to confront the “Iranian threat”. al-Anzi told Russia Today on February 19th that “We [Saudi Arabia] have nuclear bombs,” before repeating the same on another Arab channel.

The British Prime Minister has praised his government over their efforts in selling fighter jets, manufactured by BAE Systems, to Saudi Arabia. Speaking at a BAE Systems factory in Preston, David Cameron boasted about how the UK had pushed the sale of Eurofighter Typhoons to countries in the Middle East, including Oman and Saudi Arabia. His comments came as the European parliament voted in favour of a resolution calling for an EU-wide arms embargo against the Kingdom. Press TV reports: “I can see the planes being built right behind me here. We’ve got more work to do in Saudi Arabia.