President Trump pulled the plug on the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises with South Korea this week, directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the annual drills — and the foreign policy establishment is screaming. It shouldn’t. Trump is connecting dots that Washington has refused to connect for years.
Start with what Seoul just did to its own president.

How do you get Army fit?

This past May, a senior economist at the Russian state-run economic development institution, Vnesheconombank (VEB), told a gathering of prestigious academic and business figures that Russia will not be able to win the competition in the “war of attrition” with the West. VEB is a major institution within the Russian governmental structure that finances national projects.

His remarks to this closed forum were finally made public this past Friday. Within two days, he was removed from this position he had held for 12 years.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed on 15 August that his armed forces had successfully struck Russia’s Savasleyka military airbase and a key Roscosmos production facility in Samara Oblast. The attack was carried out with Ukraine’s own domestically produced FP-5 Flamingo missiles.

The Flamingo cruise missile is produced in Ukraine and was developed by the defense manufacturer Fire Point. It carries a 1,150 kg warhead and has a range of up to 3,000 kilometers.

In 1958, Fidel Castro was near the end of a yearslong battle to overthrow Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. Confident of soon seizing power, Castro was already looking ahead.
What he saw was a clash with a much larger foe.
“Once this war is over, I will start what for me is a much longer and bigger war, the war I am going to wage against the Americans,” Castro confided to a friend. “I realize this will be my true destiny.”
Also Read: Why the CIA once bought up the world’s supply of LSD during the Cold War
While Castro detested the U.S.

Global Defense News
The United States is expanding SM-3 interceptor production as the Pentagon works to strengthen Navy missile-defense readiness

Brad Cooper, The Wall Street Journal
On Saturday I addressed the crew, congratulated them on a magnificent job, and sent them home.

Derek Lacey, Axios
A Huntsville, Alabama defense company gave an up-close demonstration this week of a powerful new anti-drone laser system

Mongilio, USNI N.

Scott N.

This video describes the military situation in

Emerging from the chaos of supplying the U.S. Army during the War of 1812, the War Department sought to foster domestic production of standardized muskets. Out of this industrial project arose an invention that laid the foundation for automation and mass production. Thomas Blanchard’s copying lathe was a product of a fluid interchange between public and private interests, expertise, and capital. Born into the mechanical milieu of the nineteenth-century Connecticut River Valley, Blanchard embodied the period’s spirit of ingenuity.

Editor’s Note: The following article draws on themes from the author’s forthcoming book titled US Counterterrorism Operations in Afghanistan: Jackpots, Dry Holes, and Collateral Damage.Over the next month, the United States will pass two major historical milestones: the five-year anniversary of its withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 25-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. While the latter is likely to receive at least a modicum of respectful remembrance from U.S. leaders and the American public, the former is likely to be ignored by the U.S.

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Administrative Exile and the Fight for Restoration

Public Domain

The Department of War has already shown that administrative outcomes once treated as final can be revisited when justice, policy, and leadership align. Service members separated under the COVID-19 vaccine mandate are now being offered pathways to reinstatement, record correction, restored service credit, and reconsideration of retirement impacts.
That decision established an important principle: finality is not absolute when fairness remains in doubt.

The Russian Navy has begun factory sea trials of the Khabarovsk, a nuclear-powered submarine designed specifically to carry the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone. The vessel entered the water on August 17, marking its first time underway since construction began in 2014. The submarine is being built by Sevmash in Severodvinsk and is expected to join Russia’s Pacific Fleet after completing trials.

The U.S. Air Force is procuring Chinese-made DJI drones for use at one of the three U.S. bases operating Minuteman III intercontinental range ballistic missiles, namely F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. The drones will be used by the 90th Missile Security Operations Squadron to train personnel and test counter-unmanned aircraft systems against the specific types of commercial drones they are most likely to encounter in a real-world threat environment. While there has been a significant trend towards the U.S.

Ukraine launched one of its biggest attacks of the war against Russia overnight into Sunday, sending hundreds of drones toward Moscow and other regions as Russian forces also struck Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with missiles and unmanned aircraft.

The scale of the attacks from both sides shows how far the long-range element of the war has come, with forces once focused heavily on battlefield warfare now increasingly working to defend major infrastructure hundreds of miles from the front lines.

President Donald Trump’s strategy of “low-keying it” with Iran, a term he used to describe his decision to refrain from continued military strikes that would force him to expend a dwindling supply of precision-guided missiles, is a long shot.

At least, for now.

President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at a FIFA reception at Trump Tower in New York City, Friday, July 17, 2026, ahead of the World Cup Final on Sunday. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

President Donald J.

Slap bang in the middle of Iran’s capital city, there is a bizarre sight to be seen.  Close to Tehran’s Enghelab Square, a huge poster displays an image of President Donald Trump being strangled by multiple hands. The words “Revenge is inevitable” are written below it.

Trump Shown in Coffin

Iran’s Drones That Russia Is Using. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

According to NBC News, this is really nothing new.

A fortnight ago, the same billboard space was occupied by artwork of Trump in a casket.

Air Force cargo planes began flying supplies into Colombia over the weekend, after a massive earthquake devastated large parts of the country and killed at least 285 people.
U.S. airmen are helping to move resources into the country, as the State Department, which is leading the response, announced a humanitarian assistance program. The first plane, an Air Force C-17 Globemaster, arrived in Bogota overnight on Aug. 14. Another C-17 landed in Medellín on Sunday, with airmen unloading pallets of supplies, according to U.S. Southern Command.

As the U.S. military works to develop tactics to defend against small and cheap one-way attack drones, one of the top commanders for U.S. Northern Command says that domestic bases are “ill-equipped” to deal with drone swarms.
The military is actively building out tactics and procedures to deal with the threat, but the U.S. is “not there yet” when it comes to dealing with attacks on bases, according to Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard. Jarrard, who serves as the deputy commander of U.S.

The Ukrainain Armed Forces have begun using British-made long-range drones to conduct strikes deep inside Russian territory, marking a significant expansion of the United Kingdom’s military technology being employed in campaign against targets far beyond the front lines. Multiple British media outlets reported British-built systems have already been involved in attacks against Russian oil refineries and other military and industrial infrastructure. Among the systems identified is the Nyan, a jet-powered unmanned aircraft developed by British firm Callen-Lenz, which is part of BAE Systems.

Deputy commander of U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) Lieutenant General Rick Zellman said the United States needs to fundamentally change how it detects, tracks and defeats advanced missile threats. He argued that due to advances in adversary missile capabilities, American missile warning and missile defence can no longer operate as separate missions. Historically, the two functions were organised around different requirements.

The U.S. Navy supercarrier USS George Washington, which had been operating in the Pacific, is being sent toward the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose deployment has been extended far beyond normal limits by the war against Iran. The move will temporarily leave the western Pacific without a U.S. aircraft carrier, despite over 15 years of U.S. efforts to prioritise the region for deployments of advanced military assets.

This video describes the military situation in

Credit: Wikimedia Commons (CC)

Eight years after the United States military first warned that commercial fitness app data could expose troop movements and endanger personnel, the problem remains unsolved. A new investigation by Sky News found that more than 1,300 Strava users have shared workout data from sensitive U.S. military installations across the Middle East — revealing patrol routes, daily routines, troop movements, and activity at bases that do not appear on any public map.
Many of those users posted under their real names.
The data is not hidden.

This video describes the military situation in

This video describes the military situation in

“A ship that’s been at sea that long will

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President Donald Trump is asking Americans to accept higher gasoline prices as part of the cost of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon – a significant change in tone from his administration as he struggles to end a war that is now impacting the U.S. and global economies.

Regular gasoline prices now average around $4.09 per gallon nationwide, up roughly 29% from a year ago, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains extremely disrupted. President Trump acknowledged the price increase during a speech on Friday, in which he also argued that Americans should tolerate it.

President Donald Trump has long said that his goal in Iran is to ensure that the country never develops a nuclear weapon, but Vice President JD Vance this week seemed to suggest that the administration’s goals have now changed. 

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, August 13, the vice president said that keeping energy affordable for Americans is now “goal No. 1,” putting the issue ahead of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and potentially preparing to soften the blow in the event that the president announces he is withdrawing U.S.

After months of war, years of sanctions, and decades of mismanagement, the Iranian economy is facing a major squeeze.

IMF Predicts Major Inflation

Iran Army Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) currently forecasts that Iran’s consumer-price inflation will average 68.9% this year.

Meanwhile, real GDP is set to shrink by 5.4%. The IMF also puts the country’s population at just short of 88 million. For these millions of ordinary people outside the regime’s corrupt networks, the price of food, in particular, is causing concern.

US President Donald J. Trump has said the Strait of Hormuz will be made a U.S. territory.

Speaking at a Long Island police training facility on Friday, Trump claimed Iran was getting “very badly defeated,” implying that Washington already had the ability to control the crucial waterway.

President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the General Motors Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan, Monday, July 27, 2026.

Key rocket and space facilities have been attacked in Russia, Kyiv said on Saturday.

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian forces successfully targeted the Progress Rocket and Space Center in Russia’s Samara region, some 900 kilometers away from their shared border.

M109 Artillery Creative Commons Photo.

He said that Ukrainian-manufactured FP-5 “Flamingo” missiles were used in the attack.   Roscosmos, Russia’s state-run space firm, owns the site, which works on critical rocket technology.

The Black Sea has become a growing battleground in the war between Russia and Ukraine, with Ukraine earlier this week launching an attack on grain export terminals in the Russian port city of Novorossiysk, damaging grain facilities. The attacks, Ukraine proclaimed, utilized a swarm of missiles, aerial drones, and naval drones.

It marked the latest of a series of attacks, in which Ukraine has struck more than 200 ships in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in the last two months. Russia, in turn, has been striking Ukraine’s southern Black Sea ports.

U.S. Air Force Maj.

The Department of Defense is doing something that would have been unremarkable a generation ago: teaching America’s children the truth about where Western civilization came from. Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction, the Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA) is rolling out a new ‘Western Civilization to 1500’ course this fall across the roughly 160 schools it operates for military families worldwide.

The top officer for U.S. Central Command visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday, as families of sailors onboard continue to report poor conditions and low morale. 
Adm. Brad Cooper’s visit to the Lincoln was part of a 10-day tour in the region, meeting with troops and commanders, as well as allies in the Middle East. He spent several hours on the ship, according to a CENTCOM spokesperson, the one ship he visited during the tour.

Eight years after public location data on fitness apps such as Strava revealed U.S. troop locations and maps of bases, hundreds of service members in the Middle East are still sharing their information on them despite efforts by the military to prohibit that.
This week, Sky News published the results of an investigation showing that more than 1,300 separate users of the fitness tracker app Strava logged workouts at military sites in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, across multiple countries.

This video describes the military situation in

The Republic of China Army is increasingly building its defence strategy around a simple slowing and disrupting hostile advances using underground fortifications, as highlighted at the latest Han Kuang exercises. At the Hsuehshan Tunnel, a critical transportation link connecting Yilan on Taiwan Island’s east coast with the Taipei region, the Army military simulated blocking the tunnel to prevent a hostile force from using the route to advance toward Taipei.

The airman who died during a physical fitness test last year died as a result of sudden cardiac arrest and had no pre-existing conditions, the Air Force said in a new report.
The report from Air Education and Training Command, released Aug. 12, found that Airman First Class Syamukonka Moonga collapsed shortly after finishing the 1.5-mile run segment of a practice physical fitness assessment on Aug. 4, 2025.  He was unconscious and without a pulse. Other trainees and the leader overseeing the training began attempting to resuscitate him.

J-10C lightweight single engine fighters deployed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force have taken centre stage in the latest Falcon Strike joint air exercise in Thailand, with the fighter type’s advanced capabilities having gained growing attention internationally after its first combat test in May 2025. The Chinese contingent includes J-10C fighters, J-10S fighter trainers, Y-20 strategic transport aircraft, early-warning aircraft, aerial refuelling tankers and ground-based air defence systems.

China has significantly increased the missile capacity of its latest Type 054B guided-missile frigates, with satellite imagery indicating that a vessel under construction has received a 50 percent greater number of vertical launch cells for cruise and surface-to-air missiles. The development was identified in satellite imagery captured by U.S. intelligence company Vantor, showing a Type 054B under construction at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai. The first two Type 054Bs, Luohe and Qinzhou, are understood to feature four eight-cell launch modules, providing 32 vertical launch cells.

New footage of China’s first sixth generation fighter has provided a new demonstration of the type’s high manoeuvrability, highlighting its ability to conduct previously unseen new manoeuvres. As the first sixth generation fighter type developed worldwide, which is expected to enter active service around 2030, around a decade before rival programs abroad, the new aircraft developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation is currently at the forefront of pioneering new combat aviation capabilities.

China and Belarus have conducted joint airborne counter-terrorism training with the launch of the fourth iteration of the Swift Eagle exercise. The exercise is focused on joint counter-terrorism operations in urban terrain, with participating forces training in surveillance and counter-surveillance, seizure and control of objectives, protection operations, and the elimination and defence of positions. The programme will also include seminars and cultural exchanges.

According to one recent report, a Russian pilot is said to have shot down two Ukrainian fighters during what is, if true, one of the war in Ukraine’s increasingly rare fighter-on-fighter aerial engagements.

“One of the most striking examples was the feat of a young pilot who, flying a Su-35S, was conducting a combat patrol to provide cover for an advancing group of troops.

Su-27 Flanker from U.S. Air Force Museum. Image Credit: National Security Journal.

Su-27 Flanker Fighter from Russia. Image Credit: National Security Journal.

MWI
But while the world watched the skies over Ukraine, another transformation in warfare was taking place beneath the ground.

Sam LaGrone, et al., USNI News
President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to consider foreign-built warships and auxiliary vessels for the U.S.