un-Stoppable?: North Korea Goes Nuclear

Kim Jong–un’s North Korea officially has nuclear weapons. As with any child with new toys to play with, the state government is boastful of its arsenal threatening the United States’ island of Guam in the Western Pacific.

 

Canada’s Mission in Latvia: Deterring Russian Aggression or Act of Provocation

Canada is expected to lead a NATO force in Latvia, a former part of the Soviet Union, deployed to prevent Russian aggression. Canada’s open-ended involvement includes contributing 450 soldiers by early 2017 in addition to renewing CF-18 aerial reconnaissance over the Baltic.

Meanwhile, Russian state-news agency Sputnik international has clarified reports from the Latvian Ministry of Defence for their readers that the thousand-strong force Canada will be commanding will not entirely be from Canada but from other countries participating in the exercise as well.

Ultimately, the notion of a group of countries gathering military forces on defunct Russian territory for the chief purpose of being a deterrent against Russian aggression, sounds at best a bit ominous and at worst a public shaming of Russia’s present direction in foreign policy matters of state. Is it justified? Probably. Will the NATO banner, the tag of it being an exercise, and the involvement of a country historically known for peacekeeping during the Suez Crisis ease tensions? Probably not. Russia has maintained an interest in the Arctic and while it may not have seen Canada as an enemy in this regard it certainly sees it as a rival. I believe Canada is on the right side of history by leading this act of peacekeeping, but it is just as easy to make the argument that on the other side, Russians may be thinking Canada has cast its lot against them.

With that said, should Russia make another play in the region even if done by a rogue faction giving the government deniability, a framework will be in place to orchestrate a coordinated resistance.

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Missile Command: Satellite imagery reveals missile defence system in South China Sea

US-China relations tense as Beijing 'deploys missile launchers' in South China Sea https://t.co/lcNeF4B8Sj pic.twitter.com/F2OBJxLO8M

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) February 17, 2016

On Woody Island within the South China Sea, satellite imagery has revealed that China is bolstering its military presence with the installation of “HQ-9 missile batteries“.

 

Cold War Politics: Will Britain stop playing?

As Britain comes under increasing pressure from the United States to renew Trident – its costly nuclear submarine program to keep face amidst Cold War-style deterrence tactics, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has accused its allies in NATO of kindling a new Cold War.

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Gaza Strip, Israel: Shutting the floodgates

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are trying to stop Hamas militants from tunnelling to Gaza.

#IDF is working to confront the threat ensuing from #Hamas resuming the tunnels construction under #Gaza @BenCaspithttps://t.co/BOdwKcWX6K

— Al-Monitor (@AlMonitor) February 4, 2016

 

North Korea’s observation satellite now in orbit

A month after their hydrogen bomb test registered seismic activity, North Korea’s self-proclaimed Kwangmyongsong-4 communications satellite is now in orbit after reports it had flown over the Super Bowl stadium an hour after Super Bowl 50 ended.

 

USS Sioux City launched

The USS Sioux City‘s January 30th launch may not seem like a big deal, but it comes at a time when the US has sent a Navy Destroyer, the USS Wilbur Curtis, to the South China Sea stirring diplomatic waters.