Author: Amman Augustin

Global military spending has reached a record high of $2.24 trillion, growing 3.7% in real terms in 2022, largely due to Europe’s spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Europe saw a 13% increase in military spending last year, the highest in the region since the end of the Cold War, as Russia’s military spending increased by 9.2%. NATO’s latest annual budget, approved in 2022, represents a 25.8% annual increase in armed forces budgets, with twelve of the 27 countries that increased military spending from 2021 to 2022 being NATO members. European Military Spending Surges The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute…

China is set to build a fifth research station in Antarctica, nearing the end of its decade-long site establishment process. The new station, set to be built on Inexpressible Island in the Ross Ocean area, 320 kilometers from the US McMurdo base will have significant research value due to its unique natural conditions. China has set up four research bases in Antarctica over the last 30 years. The Great Wall station was the very first to open in 1985. The Zhongshan station, based in the Prydz Bay region opened shortly after in 1989. The interior Kunlun station, completed in 2008,…

EU Ambassador to Sudan, Aidan O’Hara, was robbed and threatened at gunpoint in his residence by members of the RSF paramilitary group, reflecting the deteriorating security situation in Sudan. Meanwhile, in response to an attack on a US diplomatic convoy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Sudan’s military leaders that any threat to American diplomats is unacceptable, urging them to agree to a ceasefire. EU Ambassador to Sudan, Aidan O’Hara, was assaulted in his residence by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group on Monday afternoon. O’Hara was threatened at gunpoint, robbed, and left unharmed. The assault…

The US Navy conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit while China deployed 18 warplanes and four warships around Taiwan in a week-long routine. USS Milius, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims as its territory On Sunday, the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet announced that the USS Milius had conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit” through waters that allow “high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight” according to international law. The US statement emphasized its commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, adding that the US military will operate anywhere international law allows.…