Defense

LUTEPÄÄ, Estonia — Across the snowy and muddy forests of eastern Estonia, NATO and Russia are locked in a staring match. It’s here, the frontier between a country with a population smaller than Vienna’s and the largest nuclear power in the world, that many analysts fear Russian President Vladimir Putin may one day be inclined to conduct a limited invasion into NATO. The mood at the border…

ROME — A British government minister has vowed to put an end to the “saga” of dangerous vibrations in the U.K.’s new Ajax armored vehicles, as opposition politicians call for the program to be fixed or scrapped. Three enquiries are now underway into the noisy vibrations in the General Dynamics vehicles during an exercise held just after they were given initial operating capability…

BEIRUT — One year after Lebanon and Israel signed a ceasefire agreement to end hostilities that had spilled over from Gaza, the Lebanese government is walking a tightrope between disarming Hezbollah and containing local resentment over continued Israeli strikes aimed at increasing pressure on the group, according to officials and analysts. “The agreement is vague and open to interpretation,”…

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Once reliant on aging, second-hand vessels from the United States, a steady drumbeat of new warships is beginning to enter Philippine Navy service. The new capabilities are part of a rapid modernization program there, prompted by aggressive Chinese tactics and territorial claims in the adjacent South China Sea. The world’s largest shipbuilder, South Korea’s HD…