Russia announced an overhaul of its strategic nuclear forces and army yesterday, in the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be preparing for a possible full-scale military confrontation with the US and Nato.

Dmitry Medvedev, the president, said Russia would build a space defence system and a fleet of nuclear submarines by 2020. He said Russia needed a "guaranteed nuclear deterrent system" in place by 2020.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based defence analyst, told the Guardian. "This is the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that the Russian military is actually preparing for an all-out nuclear war with America...Russia wants to divide the world into spheres of influence. If not, we will prepare for nuclear war."

General Nikolai Solovtsov, a senior Russian general, said that Russia may destroy strategic US targets which are part of the US missile shield in central Europe.

Moscow "is obliged to take corresponding measures that prevent under any circumstances the devaluing of Russia's nuclear deterrent. We should be sure that the current and future strategic missile forces...are guaranteed to fulfil the task of strategic deterrence," he said.

According to an article in the Jerusalem Post, "The Dutch intelligence service, the AIVD, has called off an operation aimed at infiltrating and sabotaging Iran's weapons industry due to an assessment that a US attack on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program is imminent."

The US, UK, and France are sending the largest Naval armada to the Persian Gulf since the First and Second Gulf wars to create a Naval Blockade against Iran, which is an act of war under international law. The armada reportedly includes: the USS Abraham Lincoln nuclear powered supercarrier and Destroyer Squadron, the Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group, the USS Theodore Roosevelt nuclear powered supercarrier and Destroyer Squadron, the USS Springfield nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine, the USS Hartfore nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine, the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, the USS Ronald Reagan nuclear powered supercarrier and Destroyer Squadron, the UK Royal Navy HMS Ark Royal Carrier Strike Group with guided missile destroyers and nuclear hunter-killer submarines, and French Navy nuclear powered hunter-killer submarines.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told reporters it was time for Russia to rebuild links with former Cold War ally Cuba. News reports suggest Russia might use Cuba as a refueling stop for nuclear-capable bombers. Could this lead to another Cuban missile crisis-like incident?

Shortly after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement with the Czech Republic on hosting a radar system for a US missile defense system in Europe, the Russian Foreign Ministry said “We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods,” in a statement.

A British newspaper is reporting that the US administration is secretly negotiating a deal in Baghdad which would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely by establishing more than 50 long-term US military bases in Iraq. The deal would also purportedly allow US troops to conduct military operations and arrest Iraqis with complete immunity from Iraqi law.

Newt Gingrich explains the dangers we face from Muslim extremism at the National Press Club.

China has built an enormous underground nuclear submarine base and harbor for aircraft carriers. China has been investing huge sums of money in their armed forces, preparing for what??

If you've ever wondered why Osama bin Laden hates the US, a CIA analyst who has studied the writings of bin Laden says: "He and his followers hate us because of specific aspects of U.S. foreign policy. Bin Laden lays them out for anyone to read. Six elements: our unqualified support for Israel; our presence on the Arabian peninsula, which is land they deem holy; our military presence in other Islamic countries; our support of foreign states that oppress Muslims, especially Russia, China and India; our long-term policy of keeping oil prices artificially low to the benefit of Western consumers but the detriment of the Arab people; and our support for Arab tyrannies who will do that."

Fox News is reporting that the Bush administration is now participating in a broad discussion about the costs and benefits of military action against Iran, with the likely timeframe for any such course of action being over the next eight to 10 months, after the presidential primaries have probably been decided, but well before the November 2008 elections.

A Russian newspaper quoting a high-ranking source in the Russian Military Intelligence Service says "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran" and that "the U.S. Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003."

This short article has some interesting information on new weapons being developed by the Israeli army. Among them are a bionic glove for soldiers and a "a robot no bigger than a hornet that would be able to chase, photograph and kill its targets."

A Chinese submarine secretly stalking the USS Kittyhawk aircraft carrier battle group was not detected until it surfaced within torpedo firing rang.

There has been a lot of news in the last few years about China's recent military build-up. This article states that China has built 14 new submarines between 2002-2005. It further states that China is currently introducing 40-50 new modern submarines (including nuclear submarines) into their navy.

The Sunday Times (UK) is reporting that the US is involved with at "least 13 nations [who] are quietly co-operating in a “secret war” against Pyongyang and Tehran" that began in 2003. This is very interesting to read about what has been going on before all of the recent rhetoric in the media with the North Korean missle launch.