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Some experts believe the deal signifies an easing of tensions between Tehran and Washington. Five American prisoners held in Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday officials said, as part of a deal that saw nearly $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen. Despite the deal, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the US and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. The planned exchange has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf,...

Beijing believes U.S. could turn to nuclear weapons in a war; Ukraine invasion underscores the value of a robust arsenalChina has accelerated an expansion of its nuclear arsenal because of a change in its assessment of the threat posed by the U.S., people with knowledge of the Chinese leadership’s thinking say, shedding new light on a buildup that is raising tension between the two countries.The Chinese nuclear effort long predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the U.S.’s wariness about getting directly involved in the war there has likely reinforced Beijing’s decision to put greater emphasis on developing nuclear weapons as...

is pledging to provide Ukraine with $60 million in military aid ahead of his first face-to-face meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. President Biden made the announcement official in a notification sent to Congress, saying the military assistance package is needed to help Ukraine to defend itself from increasing Russian aggression, for “critical border security and self-defense needs.” “Russia’s buildup along the Ukrainian border has highlighted capability shortfalls in the Ukrainian military’s ability to defend against a Russian incursion,” the notification reads.

Russia is planning a possible military offensive against Ukraine involving an estimated 175,000 troops that could begin as soon as early 2022, according to a report on Friday. An unclassified intelligence document, obtained by The Washington Post, showed satellite images of troop and equipment build up around the border with Ukraine. Photos taken in June around Yelnya, near the northern border between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, showed empty land. By November 9, five Battalion Tactical Groups (BTGs) were in place, the photos showed. In 2014, similar scenes were replicated along the Russian-Ukrainian border near Crimea before Russia seized the strategic...

The Ukrainian president called on Vladimir Putin to publicly deny that he was preparing an invasion yesterday, saying Russia was sending “very dangerous signals”. President Zelensky, 43, also made the extraordinary claim that he believed a coup attempt was being planned for December 1 in Ukraine, with the involvement of Russian citizens and the country’s richest man. The remarks came amid continuing concerns in the West over the alleged build-up of almost 100,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders. Moscow warned that suggestions of an invasion plan were “a provocation”. President Zelensky told journalists in Kiev: “We believe that very dangerous...

Thirty-three minutes. That’s all the time we’d have to respond to an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile from anywhere in the world. Roughly half an hour to avert disaster – if we’re lucky. Sure, that isn’t the most cheerful thought to entertain, especially at Christmas time. But with all the saber-rattling coming from North Korea these days, not to mention other global hotspots, we don’t have the luxury to pretend this threat doesn’t exist. A successful nuclear strike would carry an unthinkable toll. The bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 had an explosive yield of 15 kilotons of...

According to earlier reports, U.S. Pacific Command spokesman and Cmdr. David Benham suggested two North Korean missiles "failed in flight" while the third one had "blown up almost immediately." The U.S. Pacific Command has since revised its evaluation of the missile launch, now reporting no missile failures -- in line with the South Korean military assessment.

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Satellite photographs taken in late July show China appears to have built reinforced aircraft hangars on its holdings in disputed South China Sea islands, a Washington-based research group said.

Something is happening in Iran. Forces are in motion. But what is happening? And who are the forces that are on the move? Since this week's bombing in Isfahan, the world media is rife with speculation that the war with Iran over its nuclear weapons program has begun. But if the war has begun, who is fighting it? What are their aims? And what are their methods and means of attack? Wednesday the Times of London published a much cited article about this week's blast in Isfahan. The article referred to the bombed installation as a "uranium enrichment facility." But...

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2010 – The push to build Afghanistan’s security forces to 305,000 members is ahead of schedule, but there are still some obstacles to overcome, a senior officer involved in the effort said yesterday. Army Col. John Ferrari, deputy commander for programs for NATO Training Mission Afghanistan and Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, discussed the effort’s progress and challenges in a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. Ferrari is responsible for dedicating resources to the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army to fight the counterinsurgency and to aid in building the Afghan economy. The training commands work with regional...

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2010 – The massive amount of equipment and supplies being sent to support troops in Afghanistan is a historic logistical effort critical to mission success there, the Defense Department’s undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics said today. “I think it’s fair to say that there’s never been, like in these months that we’re witnessing right now, as dramatic a logistics effort as we see in Afghanistan,” Ashton B. Carter said during a conference on defense logistics modernization at The Center for Strategic and International Studies here. From the ramp up of airlifts, sealifts and ground supply lines,...

Vladimir Putin calls for more weapons to stop America doing 'whatever it wants' A Topol-M missile in Red Square. Vladimir Putin called for more Russian offensive weapons to punch through America's new missile defence shield Will Stewart in Moscow Russia needs more weapons to punch through America’s new missile defence shield, Vladimir Putin said yesterday in blunt remarks that will complicate efforts to cut the nuclear arsenals of the former Cold War rivals. The Russian Prime Minister, reasserting himself as the country’s real ruler, said that Moscow should press ahead with a new generation of weapons to stop the Americans...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan over six months, an accelerated timetable — with an endgame built in — that would have the first Marines there as early as Christmas, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. With the full complement of new troops expected to be in Afghanistan by next summer, the heightened pace of Obama's military deployment in the 8-year-old war appears to mimic the 2007 troop surge in Iraq, a 20,000-strong force addition under former President George W. Bush. Similar in strategy to that mission, Obama's Afghan surge aims...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is expected to present the Pentagon’s proposal for a U.S. troop increase in Afghanistan to President Barack Obama in the near future, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today. “I think everybody’s committed to doing this as quickly and responsibly as possible,” Morrell told Pentagon reporters. “In the coming days, the secretary hopes to present the president with his recommendation.” Army Gen. David D. McKiernan, who commands U.S. forces in Afghanistan as well as NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, has asked his bosses for a 30,000-troop increase, which effectively would...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2008 – If Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates approves a proposal to send 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan, it could have a significant impact on operations in the country, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answers a question from local media during a Pentagon news briefing Jan. 11, 2008. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen said during a Pentagon news conference that the proposal is...

BAGHDAD - The top U.S. general and diplomat in Iraq warned on Thursday against cutting short the American troop buildup and suggested they would urge Congress in September to give President Bush's strategy more time. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, in separate Associated Press interviews at their offices in the U.S. Embassy on the banks of the Tigris, were careful not to define a timeframe for continuing the counterinsurgency strategy — and the higher U.S. troop levels — that began six months ago. Still, Petraeus' comments signaled that he would like to see a substantial U.S. combat force...

SINGAPORE (AFP) - China's military build-up is purely defensive, the deputy chief of the world's biggest standing army said Saturday, amid US concerns over Beijing's intentions. "Strategically, we adhere to self-defence and would win only by striking after the enemy has struck," Lieutenant General Zhang Qinsheng, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), told an international defence forum in Singapore. "China shall never fire the first shot. Such an approach is consistent with the ancient Chinese thought to use caution before getting into a war, use force only for a just cause, put people first...

We can't fight The Long War with the forces we have.In wartime Washington there is but one point of bipartisan agreement: The land forces of the United States are too small. Hillary Clinton may be trying to make her fellow Democrats forget her vote to go to war in Iraq, but she insists that "it is past time to increase the end-strength of the Army and Marines." Sen. Barack Obama agrees, and even the New York Times has editorialized that "larger ground forces are an absolute necessity for the sort of battles that America is likely to fight during the...

ONE ANOTHER DEVOTIONAL CHRISTIAN CAUCUS: Knitting a Conundrum: We are coming together in love, and to share the love of Christ, and therefore, even if we disagree, we need to remember to avoid things that are not said kindly and in love. Each of us holds our beliefs because we do it for the love of Christ, and even if you don’t accept the conclusion of a person, honor it by not saying harsh or hurtful things because it’s done to honor Christ. Kind and respectful discourse. Avoid words that you know will cause a kneejerk reaction. If a...

Thomas Christensen, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said China has made multibillion-dollar increases in defense spending each year for the past decade but has not explained to the United States where the arms buildup is headed. “These are increases in real terms, and what we would like to know [. . . ] where are these trend lines leading?” Mr. Christensen said. China’s defense spending has tripled since 1999 and “we would like to know more about where China is heading; what the purposes of this modernization are,” he said. U.S. defense officials have...