Putin wants Biden to finally face up to an unpleasant dilemma. The message is simple: Washington needs to brace itself for its partner Ukraine to be soundly defeated militarily in what would be an especially humiliating re-run of recent events in Afghanistan. Or it can back down and reach a compromise with Moscow over Ukraine.

MOSCOW — Russia’s defense chief on Tuesday signed a roadmap for closer military ties with China, pointing to increasingly frequent U.S. strategic bomber flights near both countries’ borders.

In recent statements, Moscow seems much more realistic about the consequences of actual conflict with Kiev and Western powers.

The White House is said to be considering the deployment of military advisers and new weaponry to Ukraine in a move that would probably cross President Putin’s “red lines”.

There is something of the theater of absurd in American and European posturing. But it’s far from funny. It’s menacingly deranged.

President Putin says West no longer heeding ‘our warnings about red lines’ ahead of expected US-Russia summit later this year

News that Russia has tested an anti-satellite missile has sparked concern for spacecraft and, more worryingly, highlighted the lack of international treaties regulating space weapons, meaning the cosmos is becoming a battleground.

Political relations between Moscow and Beijing appear closer than ever. The Chinese and Russian militaries are cooperating. Although the two authoritarian giants aren’t likely to embark upon a campaign of world conquest, Washington has done much to bring together unlikely partners in opposition to US policy.

The U.S. Air Force’s 40-year-old B-1 bombers don’t have much time left. Worn out by the air campaigns over Iraq and Afghanistan, the B-1s are in line for replacement as the USAF’s new B-21 stealth bombers enter service over the next decade.

This spring the U.S. Air Force staged a small number of F-22 stealth fighters to an outlying airfield in Alaska. Now the service has sent F-16 fighters even farther afield, to a dangerous little base right next to Russia.