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The United States has informed Turkey that two of its warships will pass through Turkish straits to be deployed in the Black Sea until May 4, Ankara said on Friday, as Russia has bulked up its military forces on Ukraine’s eastern border. Violence has recently flared between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbass region. Germany has asked Russia to pull back its troops, while Moscow has accused Kyiv of provocations. “A notice was sent to us 15 days ago via diplomatic channels that two U.S. warships would pass to the Black Sea in line with the Montreux Convention....

China Is Playing 'Chicken' With US Warships In The South China Sea GlobalPost Benjamin Carlson, GlobalPost Jan. 30, 2014, 7:51 AM HONG KONG — As anyone who has seen “Rebel Without a Cause” knows, playing chicken is dangerous for California teenagers in hot-rods. But playing chicken with warships, cruisers, and fighter jets — well, that’s just another level of crazy. Unfortunately, vessels from the US military and from other countries increasingly find themselves in such high-stakes confrontations on the East Asian seas, where China has adopted a strategy of making rivals flinch or risk collision. Just this week, Chinese sailors...

Two US warships would be entering Egypt's Suez Canal on Wednesday morning as the threat of military intervention in Libya looms large, an Egyptian official says. Earlier on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious ship capable of carrying up to 2,000 Marines, and the USS Ponce assault ship will be passing through the Mediterranean shortly, Reuters reported Tuesday. According to top US military officials, the Kearsarge warship will be carrying 400 Marines from the United States and will be joining the USS Enterprise, which is in the Red Sea en route to the Suez...