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As part of South Korea’s response to the latest escalations out of its northern neighbor, the country's defense minister on Monday said it was "worth reviewing the redeployment of American tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula" to guard against the North, a step that analysts warn would sharply increase the risk of an accidental conflict. On Monday, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo said that he asked his American counterpart, Jim Mattis, during talks at the Pentagon last week that strategic assets such as  U.S.

Authored by Alex Gorka via The Stratgeic Culture Foundation,

Much has been said about NATO reinforcements in the Baltic States and Poland perceived in Moscow as provocative actions undermining security in Europe, while very little has been said about gradual but steady militarization of Scandinavia. The theme does not hit headlines and it is not in focus of public discourse but one step is taken after another to turn the region into a springboard for staging offensive actions against Russia.

Tensions continue to escalate between the US and Russia. As a reminder, Russia conducted several close encounter fly-bys when first a Russian Su-24 "buzzed" the US missile destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, and just days later flew within 50 feet of a US recon plane also flying over the Baltic Sea. The U.S. quickly responded and complained vocally to Russia, followed quickly by the first deployment of US F-22 stealth fighter to Romania, in close proximity to both the Black Sea and 400 km from the Russian military stronghold of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula.

Last week a Russian Air Force MiG-31 jet intercepted a US surveillance plane near Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, flying within 15 meters of the aircraft. Kamchatka is Russia’s main military hub in the Pacific with several military bases located there, along with a major naval base. Washington downplayed the incident and said the maneuver was carried out in a “safe and professional” manner. Russia Today reports: The MiG-31 (NATO code name Foxhound) is a Soviet-design supersonic interceptor, the world’s fastest aircraft in service today.

Just days after the US destroyer Donald Cook had a close "buzzing" with two Russian Su-24 fighters which performed several low passes as close as 30 feet away in the Baltic Sea, the US Air Force complained about another close encounter which took place on Thursday.

According to US European Command, during a routine flight by a US EC-135U reconnaissance plane which was flying over international waters (again in the Baltic Sea) a Russian Flanker barrel rolled from the left side of the U.S. RC-135 and went over the top of it to end on the right side of the aircraft.