US sends another 3,000 troops to Eastern Europe

The United States announced Wednesday it is deploying another 3,000 troops to two East European NATO member states, further escalating the prospect of an all-out war on the continent. The nearly 2,000 paratroopers being sent to Poland will join a 4,000-man NATO force already there, while those dispatched to Romania will more than double the size of military personnel currently stationed in that Black Sea nation. Washington reiterated that it has another 8,500 soldiers on standby. In late January, it emerged that war planners had considered putting 50,000 boots on the ground in Eastern Europe.

The Houthis: Who are they and what do they want?

The Houthis – also known as Ansar Allah, who now control most of Yemen’s north, have launched repeated missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the course of Yemen’s civil war.

Houthi rebels in Yemen on Monday launched a ballistic missile at the United Arab Emirates. The missile was intercepted by the UAE military and no casualties were reported. It was the third Houthi attack on the UAE, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government, in less than two weeks, and follows a series of territorial defeats for the Houthis in its years-long battle to control the country. UAE’s Defense Ministry said Emirati forces responded by destroying the missile launch site in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf region.

In Ukraine, Erdogan emphasizes agreements with Moscow

Striking a different tone from many of his Western counterparts, the Turkish president’s remarks in Kyiv reflect a position that factors in Moscow’s demands on the Ukraine standoff.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan underscored the role of existing agreements for a “peaceful and diplomatic solution” in the Ukraine standoff during his visit to Kyiv, in a move that appears to be upholding demands by Moscow.

Turkish inflation hits two-decade high, inches toward 50%

With annual producer inflation reaching 93.5%, further price increases appear in store for Turkish consumers in February and March after consumer inflation sets a two-decade record in January.

Turkey’s consumer prices rose 11.1% in January, bringing annual inflation to 48.7%, the highest rate in two decades, data released Thursday by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) show.

ISIS Leader al-Qurayshi killed in US Special Forces Operation in Syria

US President Joe Biden confirms that US Special Operations forces under US Central Command have killed ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, during a counterterrorism mission in Idlib, northwest Syria. The terrorist, also known as Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, took over the terrorist organization in 2019 after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in an operation conducted by the US Army’s Delta Force in Syria. He was said to have killed himself with a bomb when the US Forces were closing in on his house.

The Al-Qurayshi Raid In Syria, What We Know So Far

The planning for this raid would have begun months ago, most likely involving signal intelligence, a fancy word for tracking the target’s use of cell phones by him or known associates. From there the noose would tighten in terms of his exact location. Once that was worked out to a reasonable approximation, assets on the ground would then do the leg work of surveilling the location to assure the target was really present there.

Erdogan visits Ukraine hoping to play mediator with Russia

President Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine on Thursday after pitching Turkey as a mediator to ease tensions with Russia, and an official said he was not picking any sides in the crisis.

The Turkish official told Reuters that Ankara expects tensions to ease after the meeting in Kyiv. On Wednesday, Ankara and Kyiv said they would sign a free trade agreement and other deals.

A simple guide to the Ukraine-Russia crisis: 5 things to know

Why are Ukraine’s NATO ambitions so controversial? And could an all-out war break out? We answer the critical questions.

NATO allies, fearful of a potential ground invasion by Russia, have stepped up support for Kyiv by sending additional troops and military equipment to Ukraine.

The alliance says its move is in response to Russia’s continued military buildup along the Ukraine border.

Amnesty International Wants to End the Jewish State

Unfortunately for the inveterate peace-processors and their followers, the Arab world has moved on from their own opposition to Israel. They see the country for what it is: a source of stability and prosperity in the region. They understand the dangers of continuing Palestinian intransigence and animosity and have denied them a veto on progress — a veto that Amnesty and its fellow Israel rejectionists want to see reinstated.

Putin warns US seeks to “drag” Russia “into an armed conflict”

Speaking at a press conference with Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the written response by the US to Russia’s key demands from December indicated that “the fundamental concerns of Russia have been ignored.”

The main demands from the December 17 document, which the Kremlin made public, were the non-extension of NATO, including a guarantee that Ukraine would not be admitted as a member; a return to its borders as agreed upon in the 1997 NATO-Russia agreement; and a guarantee that it would not station missiles in Eastern Europe and withdraw those that already exist.