"A civilization is not destroyed by wicked men; it is destroyed by weak men who cannot defend what is good.” —G. K. Chesterton
More than a dozen Iranian military and law enforcement personnel have been killed or wounded in the past 24 hours in a series of attacks in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, a Baloch rights group reported on 9 October.
Haalvsh, which monitors human rights violations in Sistan and Baluchestan, reported that seven Iranian security personnel were killed and four were wounded in four separate armed attacks from Wednesday to Thursday evenings.
The Mecca pact is purely defensive, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan affirmed on 8 October, amid reports that Ankara planned to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban on Thursday, Fidan said Turkiye was considering defense assistance to Saudi Arabia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has conveyed Tehran's position to Washington on a possible resolution to the war between the US and Iran, Russia's Interfax news agency reported on 10 October.
Putin discussed the US-Iran conflict with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a meeting in Turkmenistan ahead of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit.
The Pentagon inked a five-year contract with Raytheon for the steady production of ballistic missile interceptors that use force to destroy targets, rather than explosives.
The $6.3 billion contract, which provides two additional option years, will see Raytheon provide the Defense Department with a continuous supply of Standard Missile-3 Block IB interceptors manufactured primarily in Tucson, Arizona and Huntsville, Alabama.
“The reputation of one’s arms in war is everything, and equivalent to real forces.” — Napoleon
Russian President Putin’s neglect of Napoleon’s 14 words explains why Gideon Rachman has endorsed the conclusion by me and Gilbert Doctorow that “no one takes Putin’s nuclear threats seriously any more.”
In September 2026, Ansar Allah, derisively labeled as the Houthis in Western foreign policy circles, redrew the map of western Yemen in a matter of days.
Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) completed its Precision Approach Landing Systems (PALS) certification, the US Navy (USN) confirmed in an 8 October statement.
Nimitz completed the PALS certification between 5 October and 8 October during its underway since completing a homeport shift to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, the USN said.
In his recent “State of the Force” address, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a 20% reduction to the number of general and flag officers, affecting an estimated 800 positions scheduled for January 1, 2027.
His sharpest critics see this as ranging from sycophantic revenge on the general officer class to simply misguided personnel policy. Hegseth defined it in his speech as “accountability and long overdue.”
When Ansar Allah—commonly referred to as the Houthis—seized Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandab Strait on September 10, 2026, they appeared to gain the upper hand in Yemen’s long-running conflict.