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India sends 65 troops to Russian–Belarusian ‘Zapad-2025’ drills as tariffs row with Washington reshapes regional alignments
India has deployed a 65-strong contingent to Russia’s Mulino training ground for the multilateral military exercise “Zapad-2025”, marking New Delhi’s first participation in the Russian–Belarusian war games and signalling continued defence ties with Moscow amid heightened trade tensions with the…
Chinese and Philippine vessels collide near Scarborough Shoal as Beijing cites ‘control measures’
China and the Philippines have reported a collision between their vessels near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, with Beijing accusing a Philippine ship of “deliberately” ramming a China Coast Guard craft and Manila flatly denying the claim. China…
Trump’s Belarus overture risks confusing NATO at a fraught moment
U.S. military officers’ surprise appearance at Zapad-2025 in Belarus has jarred allies already managing drone incursions and a large Russian–Belarusian drill on NATO’s doorstep. The visit may have been designed as observation under OSCE rules, but its timing and optics…
China Spy Case Collapse Casts Questions Over UK’s Ability To Safeguard National Interests
The intelligence community is reeling after British authorities abandoned charges against two men suspected of spying for China, raising troubling questions about the United Kingdom’s resolve and effectiveness in addressing foreign espionage threats. Christopher Cash, a former researcher for Conservative MP…
Soldier F: This is not justice — it is scapegoating
More than half a century after Bloody Sunday, the British state has chosen its scapegoat. Soldier F, a former Paratrooper now in his seventies, stands accused of murdering two men and attempting to murder five others during the 1972 shootings…
Eastern Sentry Looks Reactive as Russian Drones Test NATO’s Eastern Flank
Repeated air alerts in Poland and Romania this week, coupled with NATO’s launch of the Eastern Sentry mission, underscore an alliance still reacting to events rather than shaping them. On 9–10 September, Poland became the first NATO member state to…
Project Bromo: can Europe’s satellite champions escape gravity of Brussels bureaucracy?
If Europe needed a symbol of its belated awakening to the new age of great-power competition, it could do worse than the news that Airbus, Thales and Leonardo — the continent’s aerospace titans — are preparing to fuse their satellite…
Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth charts an ambitious path — but the turbulence ahead is real
When Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth rose to address the DSEI conference in London on Thursday, his tone was not triumphant, but taut. His central motif — putting more “AIR” into Air: Agile, Integrated, Ready — offered a confident slogan,…
Russian drone probes in Poland: mapping NATO’s seams and logistics risk
Russian-origin unmanned aircraft entering Polish airspace on 10 September were not random strays but a structured probe aimed at Polish air defences and NATO decision-making. The pattern of debris south of Lublin and assessed routing towards Rzeszów–Jasionka—the principal trans-Atlantic logistics…
“Enough Is Enough”: The West Must Hit Russia Where It Hurts, Urges Sir Iain Duncan Smith
Sir Iain Duncan Smith is rarely, if ever, accused of understatement, and his contribution to Wednesday’s Commons debate on Russian drones straying into Polish airspace was characteristically blunt. Fresh from a visit to Ukraine, he cut through the platitudes and…