The cold shower that Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed on the United States at the international security conference in Munich last weekend should not have come as a surprise. After all, Putin himself and a host of other senior spokesmen, including Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov (one of the “official” heirs-apparent) and military Chief of Staff [...]

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As everyone knows, the level of technical equipment determines the army’s combat readiness. Until now, Russia’s limited resources prevented it from overhauling military equipment, most of which was developed over 20 years ago. However, the situation has been gradually improving, and increased defense spending has largely facilitated Moscow’s efforts to supply its Armed Forces with [...]

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Iran will be able to develop enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb and there is little that can be done to prevent it, an internal European Union document has concluded.
In an admission of the international community’s failure to hold back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the document – compiled by the staff of Javier Solana, EU [...]

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An all-out war or armed conflict between the great powers no longer seems possible. However, the five official nuclear powers are in no hurry to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in their policy, a fact attested to by the US’s new nuclear doctrine, loose rules of engagement for using nuclear weapons in the event [...]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sharp criticism of the US and Europe on global security issues at a high-profile weekend conference in Munich showed Russia’s true face, Poland’s new Defence Minister Aleksander Szczyglo said Monday.
“For Poland this is nothing new,” Szczyglo told Polish Radio. “The return to Cold-War rhetoric by President Putin, creating a climate [...]

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BEIJING - International negotiators reached a tentative agreement on initial steps toward North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, the first concrete progress after more than three years of talks, the U.S. envoy said early Tuesday.
The draft agreement, worked out at the latest round of six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear program, contained commitments on disarmament [...]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has embarked on a diplomatic blitz aimed at maintaining Russia’s relationships with the Shi’ite world, while at the same time recruiting Sunni governments for a Russo-Arab alliance, according to Israeli experts.
Such a relationship with both Muslim camps is an asset that the Americans do not have, and would put the [...]

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RIYADH — Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Monday to help Saudi Arabia develop atomic energy and pledged to develop ties with the Islamic world during his first visit to Riyadh, a key US ally.
Putin listed the “development of atomic energy” as one of the potential areas of cooperation between Moscow and Riyadh, according [...]

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The world is likely to be plunged into a nuclear hell, if we don’t fully understand the implications of Iran going nuclear and do something about it, displaying more wisdom and will than we have to date.
This column is designed to demonstrate that a nuclear Iran has the potential to be many times more catastrophic [...]

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MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (UPI) — In late February-early March, generals from six member-countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will meet for a regular, third round of consultations in the training center and shooting grounds of the 34th motor rifle division in the Volga-Urals Military District near the Ural town of Chebarkul. They will discuss [...]

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LONDON — Anyone with an Internet connection can watch videos of bombings and sniper attacks against U.S. forces — shot and edited by Islamic militants and broadcast on YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing Web site.
With the global spread of high-speed Internet connections and the relative anonymity afforded by the world’s biggest and busiest sites, [...]

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Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told Munich security conference Sunday that Russia is prepared to cooperate with the West in creating a European anti-missile defense system, RIA Novosti news agency reports.
The Russian defense minister said Russia has no military and political enemies today, but noticed that the global system of stability is disintegrating.
“There are more [...]

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The Russian military embarks on an ambitious procurement plan to beef up conventional forces on the continent and maintain a nuclear force capable of overwhelming the US National Missile Defense.
The Russian military will spend a total of some 5 trillion rubles (US$189 billion) between 2007-2015 to replace 45 percent of its current arsenal with new [...]

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MOSCOW — At a major security conference this past weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the U.S. for its militaristic approach to foreign policy, saying its actions were “nourishing an arms race.”
But little noticed amid the sharp U.S. and European response to Putin’s comments is Russia’s burgeoning military-industrial complex, generally thought to have collapsed with [...]

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A sizable group of American commentators, concentrated in the arms-control community, in effect blamed the Bush administration for China’s anti-satellite missile test last month. Critics depicted the test as an attempt to goad Washington into negotiations towards a treaty banning the deployment of weaponry in space. The administration has long resisted a ban, deeming it [...]

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TEHRAN, Feb. 11 (UPI) — The Iranian defense minister said Sunday the country has developed new missiles with a 1,240-mile range.
“We have new 2,000-kilometer surface-to-surface missiles and new warheads to place on them,” Defense Minister Mohammad-Najjar said in remarks cited by the Islamic Republic News Agency, YNet News reported.
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Israel has carried out a successful test of its Arrow missile, the defence ministry has said.
One of the missiles was fired at night and destroyed what Israeli media said was a target similar to Iran’s long-range Shahab-3 missile.
The test took place as Iran celebrated the 28th anniversary of its Islamic revolution.
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