The West is seriously concerned about the “Christmas present” from Russia – the shipment of a large batch of renowned S-300 missile complexes to Iran. The systems are capable of defending the nation against a possible air strike from the West. However, the European Union and the United States need first to look into other issues instead of blaming Russia in the first place. They particularly need to solve the problem of a country, which is about to become a NATO member

The commander of Russia’s strategic missile troops, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, said that Russian specialists were working on a new heavy strategic missile, which would be similar to the RS-20 Voevoda missile (Satan according to NATO’s classification). Russia will decline the modernization of strategic arms only if the United States gives up its missile defense plans. It was the RS-20 missile that the USSR developed in response to the American Strategic Defense Initiative Program

Russia offered ten MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon to find out whether the US influence in the region was considerable or not, the US media believe. It will be a box in the ear for America, whereas Lebanon’s Air Force will have an opportunity to seriously renew its Air Force, The New York Times wrote. Many in the United states are certain that Moscow prepares to test the determination of new President Barack Obama, who has been recently named Person of the Year 2008 according to Time magazine

Russia intends to purchase Israeli arms, particularly unmanned aircraft. The decision is based on Russia’s recent experience in South Ossetia, when the Russian army was left without reconnaissance planes. Nevertheless, the Russian defense industry has very good spy planes at its disposal, and they are not worse than those of Israel. The purchase of Israeli planes may lead to the fact that the countries of the East will refuse to purchase the products of the Russian defense industry

The House of Representatives of the US Congress assigned extra funds to George Bush’s administration to conduct military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The USA will thus spend the extra $162 billion on the military contingent. The total amount assigned by the Congress to fund the campaign in Iraq will exceed $600 billion and $200 billion in Afghanistan

A series of armed conflicts has taken place in the world during the recent several years. Israel wages war in Gaza. Turkey conducted an operation against Kurdistan’s gunmen in Iraq. Columbia attacked a FARC camp on the border territory, which aggravated the nation’s ties with Ecuador and Venezuela. Abkhazia and Georgia concentrated their troops on their borders at the end of last week. The conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa still continue

The situation might result in a conclusion about the world’s strongest economies e.g. the U.S. having to spend millions on defense because they have nothing else to spend the money on, as though all social problems have been already solved. However, the facts prove the opposite. The so-called war on terror can hardly justify such a level of military expenditure. The huge military budgets have to do with fighting the consequences, the cause is left out

For years, the U.S. military has wanted a plane that could loiter just outside enemy territory for more than a dozen hours and, on command, hurtle toward a target faster than the speed of sound. And then level it. But aircraft that excel at subsonic flight are inefficient at Mach speeds, and vice versa. The answer is Switchblade, an unmanned, shape-changing plane concept under development by Northrop Grumman.

In the Cold War arms race, scientists rushed to build thousands of warheads to counter the Soviet Union. Today, those scientists are racing once again, but this time to rebuild an aging nuclear stockpile. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are locked in an intense competition with rivals at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the Bay Area to design the nation's first new nuclear bomb in two decades.

Russia has become world's largest exporter of weapons during 2000-2004. Russia has considerably increased the sales of its weaponry abroad and even managed to leave the USA behind