War

With a Russian ship sailing in very close proximity to the primary east coast submarine base, and tensions between the US - and perhaps the Trump administration - and Russia, once again rising it seems like an odd moment to organize a meeting between the top US military general and his Russian counterpart on Thursday in Azerbaijan, the first such meeting between the two since military cooperation between the two nations was suspended in 2014 following the hostilities in Ukraine.

Five hundred US troops and tanks have arrived in Romania in preparation for a showdown with Russia.  The troops arrived in a Romanian Black Sea port on Tuesday as part of a move to help support NATO deal with so-called “Russian aggression.” Presstv.com reports: US Ambassador Hans G. Klemm said the troops would be stationed in an airbase in the country’s east on a rotating basis.

Submitted by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“Our current and past strategies can no longer hold. We are facing environments that the masters of war never foresaw. We are facing a threat that requires us to redefine doctrine and the force in radically new and different ways. The future army will confront a highly sophisticated urban-centric threat that will require that urban operations become the core requirement for the future land-force. The threat is clear. Our direction remains to be defined. The future is urban.”

 

First a spy ship off the US East Coast, now a banned missile.

According to the NYT, Russia has (not so) "secretly" deployed a new ground-launched intermediate-range cruise missile in violation of a 1987 treaty with the US which helped end the Cold War, despite complaints from American officials.

More than 50 NATO ships escorted the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov to Syria and back during its mission to end the Syrian conflict. Russian military commentator Viktor Baranets says this was by no means “an easy walk” for them. He says NATO was conducting a “serious military mission” while “escorting” the Admiral Kuznetsov.