Robert Farley

Via ID, the Russians may have arrived at an innovative solution for two twitchy problems. It is now stated policy that Russia will seek to build half a dozen or so aircraft carriers, in order to create carrier battle groups capable of operating in the Mediterranean, the North Sea, and the Pacific. Russia currently possesses […]

As of now, the US Navy has surrounded a Ukrainian ship supposedly delivering T-72 tanks to Kenya. Pirates seized the vessel several days ago, buying themselves a heap of trouble. The pirates aren’t the only ones in trouble, however; questions are now being asked about where the tanks were headed. Kenya insists that it purchased […]

I took up the challenge over at Frontpage. My bit: I found it impossible to engage with this work as serious scholarship, and impossible to take it seriously as polemic. Horowitz’ bit: Robert Farley is incapable of understanding our argument, let alone answering it. To-may-to, To-mah-to. –Robert Farley

The Russians have decided to do something useful with their Navy: Russia will soon join international efforts to fight piracy off the Somalia coast, but will conduct its operations independently, the Navy commander said on Tuesday. Pirates are increasingly active in the waters off Somalia, which has no effective government and no navy to police […]

Obviously, this is bad news: North Korea has barred international inspectors from a nuclear reprocessing plant that produces weapons-grade plutonium and intends to restart activity there in a week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday. The decision by North Korea came as the Vienna-based nuclear agency also announced it had completed the removal of […]

Ingrid Robeyns has a summary of progress (or lack thereof) on the formation of a Belgian governing coalition, as well as some background on the issues of dispute. Long story short, conflict between the Flemish and French-speaking portions of the Belgian body-politic have come to a head, with the result that forming a federal government […]

RFS Pyotr Velikiy and its entourage set sail for Venezuela yesterday. The ship has broken down during exercises before, and I suspect that part of the point of the voyage is to demonstrate that major Russian naval units can operate distant from Russian bases. In related news, Russia is apparently stepping up aid offers to […]

Troubling: North Korea said on Friday it was working on restarting its nuclear plant and dismissed the prospect of being removed from a U.S. terrorism blacklist in return for a disarmament deal. The North said it had begun work to rebuild the Soviet-era nuclear Yongbyon plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium that was being taken apart […]

Mr. Trend provides background on the round of ambassadorial expulsions between the US, Venezuela, and Bolivia in the last week. The crisis stems from a threat by Bolivian lowland regions to secede unless they receive greater autonomy. Martial law has been declared in these regions, and violence has ensued. Brazil and other South American countries […]

Thanks for firing this psycho, who apparently thinks going to war with Russia over Georgia would have been a good idea: How might have we responded and what can we do now? We could have flown Global Hawks or U2s on the Russian-Georgian border to signal our watchfulness to the Russians. We could have escorted […]