As the fighting in Ukraine intensifies in its largest cities, fears are rising that a war of attrition will mean an escalation of violence and the use of ever more deadly weapons.
On Saturday, a CNN correspondent captured footage of what appeared to be a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower system being transported to the Ukrainian border near the Russian city of Belgorod.
The head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has suggested that the International Space Station (ISS) could fall out of orbit and crash into the United States or Europe as a result of sanctions on Russia.
The comments came following US president Joe Biden’s announcement of new sanctions that “will degrade their [Russia’s] aerospace industry, including their space programme”.
They’re mysterious, they’re disruptive, and they’ve picked their side in the war pitting Russia against Ukraine.
The hacker collective Anonymous has claimed credit for several cyberattacks that took down Russian government websites and state-backed news outlets in recent days.
Currently, Russia provides Germany with 55 percent of the natural gas, 50 percent of the coal, and 35 percent of the oil consumed by its inhabitants.
On Thursday, Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck stated that he is not in favor of banning energy imports from Russia as they are necessary to prevent prices from “rising further” and guarantee “social peace” in Germany.
The Kremlin signaled that it is willing to negotiate surrender terms with Ukraine in the midst of ongoing attacks on the country by Russian Forces in a statement by Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov at about 2 pm today. According to Peskov, President Putin is now willing to speak to Ukrainian President Zelinsky about the country disarming, de-coupling from the West, and cleansing itself of “pro-Nazi” people.
Conditions in Iraq have improved to the point that, in December 2021, the United States ended its combat support operations in the country. A residual force of about 2,500 U.S. military personnel remains to advise and train Iraq’s security forces. Operation Inherent Resolve—the U.S.-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State—has moved into “normalized operations.” At a glance, Iraq looks unsettled but relatively stable compared to the chaos of previous years. But we have been here before.
When President Donald Trump lost the 2020 US presidential election to democratic candidate Joe Biden, many leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an ominous warning that democracy may again take center stage in US foreign policy, with autocrats trying to consolidate power in their hands.
On January 31, US President Biden told the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, that the United States would nominate Qatar as a “Major Non-NATO Ally” (MNNA). This status recognizes the bilateral security cooperation between the United States and Qatar has matured to the level beyond the already deep defense partnership rooted in the foundational 1992 Defense Cooperation Agreement, which enables US military access to Qatari military facilities, allows prepositioning of US armor and other military materiel, and supports US training of Qatar’s military forces. The status as a MNNA recognizes Qatar’s growing responsibility as a strong and enduring US partner in countering violent extremism, combating terrorism, and deterring external aggressors.
As Russia ramps up its invasion of Ukraine, it’s increasingly obvious that Europe and the United States need to build resiliency against further hostile actions from the Kremlin such as the weaponization of energy. Western states have been left scrambling for nonmilitary interventions—but the problem for NATO is that European allies are far more sensitive to economic sanctions against Russia due to their greater fiscal and trade exposure to Russia. And worryingly, they still lean on Moscow as a major energy supplier—particularly of natural gas. Washington needs to break this dependency and more broadly help soften the economic blow to Europe.
The bottom line
During the first week of the war, Russian ground forces have become bogged down outside of the northern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Kyiv due to their failure to establish air superiority (which has resulted in significant aircraft and helicopter losses), too few troops to execute three simultaneous thrusts (toward Kyiv and Kharkiv, and north from Crimea), poor coordination of fires and maneuver, significant logistical issues, and stronger than expected Ukrainian resistance. Russia’s naval superiority in the Black Sea has contributed to success in its southern area of operations, with Russian forces breaking out from the Crimean Peninsula and taking territory in southern Ukraine. Although Ukraine has fought well and disrupted plans for a quick and decisive Russian victory, the situation is still perilous. Russia is moving to encircle Kyiv and Kharkiv and appears to have switched to indiscriminate long-range fires—resulting in significant collateral damage in residential areas—and is making significant progress in the south.