Category Added in a WPeMatico Campaign
In its efforts to isolate Iran, including the Operation Economic Outcast effort that was announced last month, the Trump Administration has sought to punish countries that continue to do business with Iran.
One of the biggest challenges of that approach is that Iran gets more help than many believe from a powerful country: China.
A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to the 345th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron is photographed after landing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, Aug. 22, 2025.
To state the obvious, it’s in the world’s interest for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine to end.
Yet the war shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
Tu-22M Bomber from Russian Air Force. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Tu-22M Bomber from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Moscow and Kyiv are so far apart that any concessions will be too major for either party to consider.
A lack of consensus among Western allies has done little to help the situation.
A Deal for Donetsk Will Not End Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine – In just one year, one month, and one week’s time, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine will have surpassed a duration longer than the Second World War in Europe.
World War Two, effectively encapsulating the rise and fall of fascism on the continent, saw geopolitical shifts not seen since Napoleon’s permanent exile more than 100 years earlier. By late 1942, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany directly controlled 1.5 million square miles of the European continent. Three years later, Hitler and fascism in Europe were dead.
A new rendering of Boeing’s F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter provides the clearest view yet of the U.S. Navy’s planned future carrier-based combat aircraft, following Boeing’s selection for the program over rivals Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The newly released rendering shows the aircraft taxiing toward a carrier catapult, providing an unusually detailed view of its configuration. The aircraft has a very broad fuselage and large wing area, with the overall design appearing to place a strong emphasis on internal volume.
A woman with a flawless complexion named Chase visits her friend Tyler West, a young enlisted Air Force member in emotional distress. She’s surprised to see his car outside and decides to stop by unannounced at his dorm room.
She invites him to play volleyball and eat out with friends as a soulless smile crosses her face. But she also sees the pizza boxes littering the room behind her.
After she leaves, West describes what Chase failed to notice.
“I stopped answering calls, stopped cleaning up. I don’t sleep. I’m either jittery or numb,” West says in a confused tone.
Delta Force is a collection of the U.S. Army’s most elite soldiers. Officially known as the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, it’s the United States military’s premier tier-one counterterrorism and hostage rescue unit. When aspiring operators are being screened for selection into Delta Force, they have to pass a series of rigorous and challenging tests—among those tests is the “Long Walk.”
The Long Walk is a ruck march they begin with no announced distance, no announced end time, and no encouragement.
As it considers the U.S. counterproposal, Iran has written a letter to America: Last week, Iran, speaking through Qatari mediators, offered a seven-day ceasefire that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. unfreezing access, dropping sanctions, and lifting its blockade.
President Donald Trump had publicly rejected the overture over the weekend. But now, a new report says that Iran claims it has received official feedback from the U.S. side through the mediation process.
Boeing F/A-XX concept render. Image: Boeing via CDR Salamander / Substack
I won’t lie, I really wanted the successor to the Grumman Iron Works, Northrop Grumman, to get the award…just to have that legacy back on the flight deck…but…I am not emperor.
Northrop Grumman notional F/A-XX design concept. Image: The Aviationist via CDR Salamander / Substack
Boeing it is,
…the Department of War announces a contract awarded by the U.S. Navy to Boeing for the Sixth-Generation F/A-XX Strike Fighter under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.
North Korea is preparing to send thousands more of its troops to Russia for combat in Ukraine, according to Kyiv. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined the scope of Russia’s expanding axis to foreign countries — and the Kremlin’s recruitment of their soldiers — in stark terms. But he affirmed that his administration would “inform every relevant government” about how their citizens are involved in fighting on Russia’s behalf against Ukraine. One of the largest, and perhaps most concerning, sources of manpower for the Kremlin? North Korea.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has dictated another swelling of the Kremlin’s war machine ranks, expanding the number of men-at-arms as the conflict in Ukraine approaches its fifth year. In a decree from the Russian presidential office published yesterday, the details of the force expansion were made clear: the Russian armed forces will grow to 2,441,630, though not all will be considered active. Active service members will number 1,550,500 — an increase of 15,500. This is the fourth time this year the Russian military has expanded.