Europe

Rock my Gucci, Louis, Prada, Suzuki, new Impala . . .

The US State Department has issued a travel alert for Europe, cautioning Americans that the influx of summer tourists and a series of high-profile events “will present greater targets for terrorists planning attacks in public locations”. “[W]e are alerting US citizens to the risk of potential terrorist attacks throughout Europe, targeting major events, tourist sites, restaurants, commercial centers […]

A flotilla of ships saved 668 people from boats in the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday, authorities in Italy said, bringing the week’s total of refugees plucked from the sea to 13,000 people. The rescues by the Italian coast guard and navy ships, aided by Irish and German vessels and humanitarian groups, are the latest by a multinational […]

United States Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson considered sharing the atomic bomb; in his plan to President Harry Truman. Secretary Stimson expressed a prophetic understanding of the global dynamics of what would soon become an international arms race for dominance of atomic and nuclear armament: The Cold War.  Secretary Stimson’s plan addressed the fundamental […]

What is the Strong Europe Tank Challenge? U.S. Army Europe and the German Bundeswehr co-hosted the Strong Europe Tank Challenge at Grafenwoehr Training Area, May 10-12, 2016, with an awards ceremony held on May 13. Six NATO nations took part in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge — each sending tank platoons to vie for first […]

President Vladimir Putin on Friday described the development of NATO’s U.S.-led missile defense program as a threat to global security and vowed that Russia will take the necessary steps to maintain a strategic parity. Putin, speaking at a meeting with military officials, scoffed at U.S. claims that the shield isn’t aimed against Russia but instead […]

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work helped to inaugurate the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense site here today, citing threats from Iran as a reason why NATO needs the protection. “As long as Iran continues to develop and deploy ballistic missiles, the United States will work with our allies and partners to defend NATO and its […]

United States and Russian senior defense officials agreed to a continuation of adherence to the U.S.-Russia memorandum of understanding regarding flight safety over Syrian airspace, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement released yesterday. The topic was discussed yesterday during a video conference involving Acting Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Elissa Slotkin, […]

The Bari-Palese CARA Refugee Reception Center in Italy’s southern province of Puglia was built to host 850 refugees. These days, it’s overflowing with 1,389—mostly men from Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh who wait behind high walls and spirals of barbed wire for their political-asylum applications to be heard. The center is a hotbed of discontent, and most […]

V-E Day Marked End of Long Road for World War II Troops When President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin simultaneously announced that Nazi Germany had surrendered on May 8, 1945, the joy Americans felt was tempered by where they were. The war that began with Germany […]

From the outside, with its high minarets and bulbous Mughal-style dome, the Wilmersdorf mosque, located on Brienner Street in southwest Berlin, looks much the same as it did when it was built in the 1920s. But the institution, just like the city around it, has changed. Today, the mosque is a quiet place. It mainly […]

Reddit recently asked an interesting question, and I decided to expand on it here, at SOFREP. You’re in the CIA and you suspect a fellow agent to be a spy. They’re 25-35 and speak perfect English. What question do you ask to determine whether they grew up in the U.S.? Isaac Asimov once answered this questions […]