Section: The Daily Signal (USA)
What’s Wrong in Our Arms Treaty With Russia
Some media outlets reported last week that President Donald Trump called the Obama administration’s New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, or New START, a “bad deal.” Well, Trump is right: New START is advantageous to the Russians and does not advance U.S. national security interests. Because of the way the treaty limits were...
On the Front Lines of the War in Ukraine, Soldiers Dig In
VOLNOVAKHA, Ukraine—On Tuesday in this embattled front-line town in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian army’s 30th Brigade came under 120 mm mortar fire from its enemy—a combined force of pro-Russian separatists and Russian regulars entrenched across no man’s land about 2 kilometers away. The indirect fire skirmishes in Volnovakha...
A ‘Humanitarian Disaster’: Thousands of Civilians Caught in the Crossfire as the War in Ukraine Escalates
KYIV, Ukraine—Artillery and rockets have been raining down on the front-line town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine since Sunday, leaving 16,000 civilians, including 2,000 children, without heat, electricity, or clean water as temperatures dipped to 20 degrees below zero Celsius, or about minus 4 Fahrenheit. “[The] recent intensification of...
‘This Is Barbarism’: Ukrainian Troops on High Alert as War Intensifies
KYIV, Ukraine—Using artillery, tanks, and rockets, combined Russian-separatist forces attacked Ukrainian forces along the front lines in eastern Ukraine on Sunday and early Monday morning, highlighting, once again, that the February 2015 cease-fire has failed. “This is barbarism,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Monday in response to...
Are NATO Members Carrying Their Weight? Only 5 of 28 Countries Pay ‘Fair Share’
President Donald Trump alarmed European allies during the campaign when he suggested he might not defend NATO nations if they don’t fulfill their financial obligations, but he is not the first U.S. leader to express concerns that member countries don’t spend enough on their militaries. Currently, only five of NATO’s 28 members —...
Biden Visits Ukraine: A Farewell Pep Talk
KYIV, Ukraine—Making his last visit to Ukraine as U.S. vice president, Joe Biden, true to form, had a blunt farewell message—hang tough in the war against Russia and its proxies in the east, but don’t let up on the nationwide corruption crackdown. “Ukraine, like every country in Europe, has a right to determine its own path, yet Russia...
Ukraine’s Former Top Spy Goes After a New Enemy: Corruption
KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s former top security official has gone from tracking down Russian spies to fighting what he perceives to be the country’s greatest threat—corruption. “The question is, are we going to survive or not?” Valentyn Nalyvaichenko told The Daily Signal from his offices in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Nalyvaichenko,...
9 Takeaways From Rex Tillerson’s Confirmation Hearing to Be Trump’s Secretary of State
At his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state pick Rex Tillerson took harsh questioning from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about his business dealings in Russia during his career as CEO of Exxon Mobil. In a moment where Russia is under fire for interfering in the U.S. election, and the...
Ukraine’s Plan to Manufacture US M16 Combat Rifles Hits a Snag Over Ammunition
KYIV, Ukraine—Kalashnikov assault rifles are among the most iconic symbols of the Soviet military. Weapons such as the AK-47, the AKM, the AK-74, and the AK-103 are ubiquitous reminders of the Red Army’s legacy among the modern militaries of former Warsaw Pact countries and Soviet client states. Also, the contemporary, worldwide use of...
Reporting From the War Zone: Why Conflict Journalism Matters
KYIV, Ukraine—In June of 2015, I spent eight days embedded with the Ukrainian army in the front line town of Pisky in eastern Ukraine. I’ve been back and forth to the front lines in eastern Ukraine many times in the more than two years I’ve covered this conflict, but those eight days in Pisky stand out from the rest. It was an active...
