The F-35, a fifth-generation fighter, was developed in partnership with eight countries, making it a model of international cooperation. When President Trump introduced its successor, the F-47, he praised its strengths — and said the version sold to allies would be deliberately downgraded. That made sense, Mr. Trump said last week, “because someday, maybe they’re … Read more
Amid raucous questioning by opposition members in Italy’s Parliament this month, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni noted that she had been asked repeatedly: “Are you with Europe or with the United States?” The prime minister responded that she was always with Italy and by extension, Europe. “I don’t blindly follow Europe or the United States,” she … Read more
The war in Ukraine is at an inflection point, with President Trump seeking rapprochement with the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin, and pressing for an end to the fighting. But for nearly three years before Mr. Trump’s return to power, the United States and Ukraine were joined in an extraordinary partnership of intelligence, strategy, planning … Read more
If progress in ending the war in Ukraine requires cohesion between allies, there seems to be little or none for now. A flurry of diplomatic talks this week did less to advance a truce, let alone a peace, than to illustrate the uneasy discord growing between Europe and the United States. As they huddled in … Read more
President Trump has been less than subtle in his insistence that the United States will “get” Greenland one way or another, reiterating on Friday that the United States cannot “live without it.” By the time he uttered those words in Oval Office, the highest-level American political expeditionary force ever to step foot on the vast … Read more
The president of Lithuania on Friday visited swampland near his country’s border with Belarus, saying he was “hoping for a miracle” as military and civilian rescue crews worked frantically to extract a heavy United States Army vehicle carrying four American soldiers that disappeared in the waterlogged forest area on Tuesday. The American vehicle, an M88 … Read more
Four U.S. Army soldiers went missing while on a training mission in Lithuania, prompting a search for their vehicle, military officials said on Wednesday. The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, had been conducting scheduled tactical training in a training area near Pabrade, a city in eastern Lithuania, near the border with Belarus, … Read more
European leaders have gotten the message from Washington about doing more for their own defense and for Ukraine, too. They are talking tough when it comes to supporting Ukraine and about protecting their own borders, and they are standing up to a demanding and even hostile Trump administration. But there is an inevitable gap between … Read more
Even before he disclosed secret battle plans for Yemen in a group chat, information that could have endangered American fighter pilots, it had been a rocky two months for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Mr. Hegseth, a former National Guard infantryman and Fox News weekend host, started his job at the Pentagon determined to out-Trump President … Read more
With a staccato burst, a horn sounded in the control room of the H.M.S. Vanguard, sending the crew of the nuclear-armed Royal Navy submarine to battle stations. The voice of the commanding officer crackled over the intercom. “Set condition 1SQ,” he said, ordering its battery of ballistic missiles to be readied for launch. It was … Read more