Just one month after North Korea finally came to an agreement with the west about resuming the dismantlement of its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, tensions with the reclusive state are once again worsening. While last month's tensions focused around naval operations...
Gates Hits Out at Russian Missile Deployment
After a NATO meeting in Estonia, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates condemned Russian President Dmitry Medvedev over a plan announced last week to deploy missiles to Kaliningrad to counter an American missile defense base being constructed in Poland. Secretary Gates...
CIA Warns of Growing al-Qaeda Influence
In a speech today in Washington, CIA Director Michael Hayden warned that over seven years after the beginning of America's war on terror al-Qaeda remains the single gravest threat to the United States. While touting the deaths of al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan's tribal...
Obama in Indirect Contact With Gates About Staying
In a follow-up on reports earlier this week that President-elect Barack Obama was considering approaching current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about staying in his position after the handover of power in January, McClatchy is reporting that this has gone beyond...
At Least 21 Killed in Afghan Suicide Bombing
A suicide bomber in a Toyota Corolla attacked a US military convoy near a crowded market just outside of Jalalabad, Afghanistan today, killing at least 21 people, including one US soldier. The explosion wounded another 74 people near the heavily trafficked livestock...
Report: Afghan Govt in Secret Talks With Former Mujahedin Leader
The Independent is reporting tonight that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in Britain on a brief visit for Prince Charles' 60th birthday party, will hold a secret meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. During the meeting, Karzai is expected to brief Brown on...
US Troops To Shift Out of Iraqi Cities by June
In early 2007 the United States began a military surge into Iraq, adding some 38,000 troops to the force and increasing their focus on major Iraqi cities. Nearly two years later, with the troop level still not back to pre-surge levels they are preparing a reverse in...
Barzani Warns of Civil War as Cabinet Vote on Pact Looms
Iraqi Finance Minister Baqer Jabr Solagh says that the Iraqi Cabinet will vote on the controversial Status of Forces Agreement with the United States sometime this weekend. The current draft appears to be the final one, with only a month left to ratify the SOFA and...
Military Experts Say ‘New’ Iranian Missile Is Just an Old One With a Different Name
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar announced today that his government had successfully test-fired the next generation of their long range surface-to-surface missiles, dubbed the Sajjil. Minister Najjar touted the missile as having "extraordinary high...
Iraqi-US Soldiers’ Argument Leads to Deadly Shoot-Out
This afternoon, a US military patrol stopped to inspect an Iraqi military checkpoint in a Sunni neighborhood in western Mosul. According to Iraqi personnel and witnesses, an argument broke out during which one of the American soldiers cursed Iraqi soldier Barzan...