Mahanology: Recent Episodes
Mahanology
In early 2021, the United States and South Korea have agreed Seoul will pay 13.9 percent more this year for hosting American troops. The deal ended a long stalemate that had strained relations between allies after the Trump administration demanded a five-fold increase in Seoul’s payment. Then, how much does Seoul pay for the US soldiers in Korea?
A senior official from Turkey’s ruling AKP government has said Turkish forces will be in Athens in five hours in the event of a missile attack amid increased tension between the two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. The controversial remarks from AKP Central Executive Board member Metin Kulunk, also a close confidant of President Erdogan, came during a conference in Turkey. He threatened Greece and declared a struggle against this country.
The navies of Israel, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain launched a joint exercise in the Red Sea in response to their shared adversary Iran’s presence in the waters of the Middle East. In recent years, Israel is acting to gather Arab countries to unite against Iran.
In October 2021, Iran’s military launched a large military drill near the country’s border with Azerbaijan, in a show of force amid tensions with its neighboring country partly linked to Azerbaijan’s close ties with Israel. On the other side, Armenia is sharing concerns about the growing relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan. We can ask this question: “Why is Azerbaijan important for Israel?”
Belarus requested Nuclear Weapons from Russia against Europe. The longtime president of Belarus said that his country would be ready to host Russian nuclear weapons if NATO moves U.S. atomic bombs from Germany to Eastern Europe. He also said for the first time that he recognizes the Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia and plans to visit it soon.
American President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States is prepared to launch strong economic measures should Russia invade Ukraine -- signaling that these new measures would pack a bigger punch than the sanctions issued in 2014 that failed to stop Russia from occupying Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned NATO against crossing a "red line" in Ukraine, underscoring that Moscow would have no choice but to respond while boasting about Russia's hypersonic missile development.
In a recent document published by the People's Assembly, Syria claimed Turkey’s Hatay province. Syrian President Bashar Assad made his intentions clear as he once more set his sights on the border province, with the bulletin claiming that Hatay province is Syrian territory. Turkey strongly criticized this statement.