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Fenella McGerty, Senior Defence Budgets Analyst, IHS Aerospace, Defence & Security – IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly Key points: France’s announcement goes even further than Germany’s plan to increase spending by EUR1.9 billion over 2015-2016. While many countries in Eastern Europe have already increased spending, we may finally be …

Zachary Keck The Buzz China has conducted the first test flight of a new, upgraded version of its J-11 fighter jet. According to Russian media outlets, which cited unnamed Chinese reports, on Wednesday the People’s Liberation Army Air Force conducted the first flight tests of its J-11D fighter …

Kyle Mizokami The Russian Army is back. Like a bear awakening from hibernation, the Russian Ground Forces are shrugging off decades of neglect with a rearmament program designed to make it once again the most powerful army in Eurasia. Russia’s ten-year armament program, scheduled to run through 2020 …

Peter Harris China has been “weaponized” in U.S. domestic politics. This is evident in the current debate over the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  For even though China is not a prospective member of the TPP, an incipient trade agreement among twelve Asia-Pacific nations, this has not stopped proponents …

Saudi Arabia is burning through foreign reserves at an unprecedented pace as the new king’s generosity toward state workers and conflict in the region further strain public finances already damaged by the slump in oil prices. The kingdom spent $36 billion of the central bank’s net foreign assets – …

By ERIC EDELMAN and TZVI KAHN n a major speech on Thursday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued what amounted to a warning of things to come. He called the U.S. account of Iranian obligations under the nuclear framework agreement “faulty, incorrect and contrary to the substance …

By Michael Deacon The Telegraph According to a preliminary estimate, GDP growth in the UK slowed to 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, with output in the construction sector falling for the second consecutive quarter. My question to the panel is: what do you think …

Exclusive: Jim Sillars, who was Alex Salmond’s number two, says party members will insist another referendum is ‘first line’ of 2016 Holyrood manifesto By Ben Riley-Smith The Telegraph The SNP will propose another independence referendum in its Scottish election manifesto, the former deputy leader has said amid fears …

The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it. By Graeme Wood The Atlantic Where …