Germany has recently come to the forefront of European countries causing escalations with Russia when it began pressuring Washington and NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine last month. Being well aware of its precarious position with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Germany is now in a race to drastically increase its defense spending and arm itself against possible Russian attacks, including spending $18 billion on a nationwide missile defense shied.

It should be noted that less than a year ago, Germany’s military was struggling to meet its commitment to NATO and had an entire battalion of Puma tanks fail drills and be deemed unfit for action in the NATO Rapid Reaction Force (NRF). The German military is also known to be underfunded and lacking resources. Now, it’s giving away the handful of operational tanks it does have to Ukraine. The German military should be helping itself before it helps Kyiv.

As part of Germany’s recent about-face regarding its defense spending, the country is now in talks with multiple defense manufacturers to have a multi-layered, anti-missile shield built that could cost as much as €17 billion ($18.5 billion).

Specifically, the government is negotiating a contract with Bavarian-based manufacturer Diehl Defence to purchase up to 8 IRS-T anti-missile systems for a cost of €2 billion to €3 billion. The 8 IRS-T anti-missile systems are expected to be just the first layer of a more complex multi-layered system. One IRS-T battery is capable of intercepting fighter jets, inbound cruise missiles, and drones and can fire missiles that travel over 40 km.

Read more at: creativedestructionmedia.com

The North Korean government on Thursday hinted that it might resort to nuclear options if U.S. military forces in South Korea continue conducting martial exercises there.

“The military and political situation in the Korean peninsula and the region has reached an extremely dangerous phase due to the reckless military confrontations and hostile acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces,” the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Thursday statement.

“The U.S. is now working hard to ‘demonize’ the DPRK, spreading again all sorts of rumors,” the ministry claimed. “Meanwhile, it, together with its vassal forces, is intensifying the full-scale offensive for putting pressure on the DPRK in all aspects including ‘human rights’, sanctions and military affairs.”

Read more at: justthenews.com

The UN secretary-general said that nuclear war is “back within the realm of possibility” following Russia’s warning earlier this year it was putting its nuclear forces on alert amid its war in Ukraine, which threatens to draw NATO into direct combat with Russia. Since then, nuclear threats have continued to raise concerns a nuclear weapon could be used in a conflict for the first time in decades.

Much of the focus as of late has been on the risk of Russian President Vladimir Putin using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine in a desperate move to change his army’s forturnes on the battlefield, but the Russian leader has also directed warnings at the US and NATO.

In December, Putin also suggested that Russia may abandon its “no first use” military doctrine, which says Russia would only use nuclear weapons as a last resort.

“They [the US] have it in their strategy, in the documents it is spelled out – a preventive blow,” Putin said at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan. “We don’t. We, on the other hand, have formulated a retaliatory strike in our strategy.”

Read more at: www.businessinsider.com

Exercise, dubbed Juniper Oak 2023, involves over 140 aircraft, 12 naval vessels, and artillery systems from both nations drilling in Israel and Eastern Mediterranean

The Israel Defense Forces and United States Central Command on Monday kicked off a large-scale joint exercise in Israel and over the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the two militaries announced.

The drill, dubbed Juniper Oak 2023, will involve over 140 aircraft, 12 naval vessels, and artillery systems from both nations and last until Friday, CENTCOM said in a statement.

A senior US defense official told NBC News that the drill was aimed at showing adversaries, such as Iran, that Washington is not too distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and threats from China to mobilize a large military force.

Read more at: www.timesofisrael.com

The fear that Russia may end up deploying nuclear weapons as the war continues is something that has raised concerns with decision-makers and analysts throughout the world.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine may come to a terrifying end in 2023, with Russian President Vladimir Putin likely to turn to nuclear weapons rather than have his armies be completely routed on the battlefield, retired US Army Brig.-Gen. Kevin Ryan said in a Tuesday interview with Insider.

This possibility could occur, Ryan, who also was the former US military attache to Russia, told Insider, with the goal of not only taking out Ukrainian troops but also forcing Kyiv into surrendering to avoid a nuclear holocaust scenario. Moscow could make this move if one of two things happened:

1. Ukraine’s forces are about to utterly defeat the Russian military in the field

2. Ukraine’s forces are about to finally retake the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014

Read more at: m.jpost.com

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a “fatal mistake” in visiting the United States this week, Russia warned on Thursday.

Dmitry Belik, a member of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee, made the remarks in response to the Ukrainian president’s stop in Washington on Wednesday, Zelensky’s first known trip outside his country since Russia launched a full-scale invasion on February 24.

Zelensky gave a historic address to U.S. lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol and met President Joe Biden at the White House for a bilateral meeting. Earlier, Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled a $1.85 billion military package for Kyiv that included a Patriot missile system.

The Ukrainian leader for months had requested the U.S. for stronger weapons to shoot down Russian missiles.

Read more at: share.newsbreak.com

A leaked video has shown President Joe Biden making a stunning admission about the Iran nuclear deal. Not only did he claim the deal was “dead” but he appeared to say that Iran has a nuclear weapon.

“Biden was meeting with supporters and Iranian activists during a campaign rally with Democratic Rep. Mike Levin in Oceanside, California on November 4,” The Daily Mail reported.

“President Biden, can you please announce that JCPOA is dead? Can you just announce that?” one woman asked the president before he answered that he could not and she asked, “why?”

“A lot of reasons. It is dead, but we’re not gonna announce it,” he said.

“We just don’t want any deals with the Mullahs. They don’t represent us,” the woman said to the president.

“I know they don’t represent you. But they have a nuclear weapon they’ll represent,” the president said, apparently confirming that the Iranians have a nuclear weapon.

Read more at: conservativebrief.com

Russia expert counters Putin suggestion that he will change Moscow’s nuclear doctrine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday once again drew international attention when he warned that if even one missile enters Russian territory, “hundreds” of warheads will respond.

“I assure you, after the early warning system receives a signal of a missile attack, hundreds of our missiles are in the air,” Putin said from a summit in Kyrgyzstan, Russian news outlet RIA reported. “It is impossible to stop them.”

“There will be nothing left of the enemy, because it is impossible to intercept a hundred missiles. This, of course, is a deterrent — a serious deterrent,” he added.

Putin made headlines after he appeared to suggest that he may make changes to Russia’s nuclear deterrence doctrine by employing a first-strike policy, which he referred to as a “disarming strike” — a strategy he said is motivated by the current U.S. deterrence policy.

Russia already has this strategy embedded in its nuclear doctrine.

Washington does have a policy that allows it to use a nuclear weapon, not only in retaliation to a nuclear attack but also in response to non-nuclear threats — and so does Moscow, explained Rebekah Koffler, a Russia expert and former Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer for Russian Doctrine & Strategy.

“What this was, from the intelligence standpoint, is ‘strategic messaging,'” she said, adding that Putin’s comments signaled that “Russia may use nuclear weapons in Ukraine if the US/NATO continue to provide weapons to Ukraine — especially those that Ukraine can use to strike deep into Russia proper.”

Read more at: www.foxnews.com

CNN’s chief Pentagon correspondent is reporting the breaking news based on multiple anonymous US defense officials – including a senor Biden administration official – that the White House is currently finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine.

“The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine that could be announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official,” CNN writes. “The three officials told CNN that approval is expected.”

If approved, this could be a tipping point in the conflict leading to direct confrontation between nuclear-armed powers given transfer of Patriots would mark the longest-range missiles sent to Ukraine thus far.

Washington has so far been reluctant, despite Kiev officials since nearly the start of the invasion making repeat pleas for the US to help “close the sky” – as President Zelensky many months ago urged Congress.

As The Guardian reviewed of the dangers involved in sending the Patriot:

“Long sought by the Ukrainians, the missiles have a range of up to 300km, but so far the US and its allies, including the UK, have declined to supply them because they could be used to hit targets inside Russia. Supplying them would help “bring the war to an end as soon as possible”, Johnson said.

Read more at: www.zerohedge.com

Only a handful of countries supported Israel’s right to nuclear self-defense in a recent U.N. vote.

The U.N. General Assembly considered a resolution Wednesday calling for Israel not to develop, produce, test, or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons.

Additionally, the resolution called for the Jewish nation to “renounce possession of nuclear weapons” and to assent to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons treaty, thereby placing “all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive International Atomic Energy safeguards.”

149 nations voted in favor of the resolution. Only six voted against it.

What are the details?

The U.N. general assembly demanded that Israel agree to “accede to the [Middle Eastern nuclear non-proliferation] Treaty without further delay, and not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce their possession and to place all its unsafeguarded nuclear facilities under full-scope International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.”

Israel, India, Pakistan, and South Sudan have not signed the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons treaty.

Israel has never formally acknowledged possessing nukes. However, former President Jimmy Carter told MSNBC in 2014 that Israel has “300 or more” nuclear warheads, and leaked emails from former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell indicated the nation had at least 200 nukes in its arsenal.

The resolution calling for Israel’s disarmament was advanced by Palestine and various other countries including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the six nations that opposed the resolution were Canada, Israel, Micronesia, Palau, the U.S., and Liberia.

Ukraine, which voted with the Palestinians against Israel on another resolution in November, was among the 26 nations that abstained from the resolution.