James Stavridis

The US Navy is currently conducting one of the largest maritime exercises in recent history, with more than 60 nations taking part. Running through Feb. 17, the drills will cover waters off the Middle East, Southwest Asia and East Africa. Known as both Cutlass Express 2022 and International…

If Russia invades Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin will face an immediate and difficult choice: how far to go. Most analysts believe he will probably move forward with an invasion, but is likely to have his military stop within the pro-Russian enclaves of southeastern Ukraine. This would allow him…

Ukrainians breathed a collective sigh of relief last month when Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would withdraw the majority of more than 100,000 troops that had been shifted to the Russian-Ukrainian border. So did the US, NATO and the rest of Europe. But nobody should be breathing easy:…

Throughout my US Navy career, I loved to operate at sea with the British Royal Navy. UK warships were unfailingly well-handled, manned by crisp communicators, and — when they needed to be — quite operationally lethal. And when you visited them at sea, you could actually get a beer in the wardroom…

In the mid-1970s, I set sail as a young ensign, my first deployment after graduating from the US Naval Academy. We sailed west from San Diego on a brand-new Spruance-class destroyer. As a Cold War sailor, I was deeply disappointed that the ship was not headed into northern Atlantic waters to…

Russia is massing troops ¬— reportedly as many as 20,000 — along its border with Ukraine. Is President Vladimir Putin simply testing Washington, seeking leverage to push back on sanctions that are about to be announced for the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexey Navalny and the…

I first met Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, when he was in his previous job as prime minister of Norway and I was NATO’s supreme allied commander. A tall, engaging man who becomes very animated when he speaks informally, he sails directly at you on…

You could be forgiven if you are confused about what’s going on with rare-earth elements. On the one hand, news reports indicate that China may increase production quotas of the minerals this quarter as a goodwill gesture to the Joe Biden administration. But other sources say that China may…

On Thursday, US strike-fighters launched a cluster of precision-guided bombs against a crossroads infrastructure complex in eastern Syria used by Iranian-backed militias. The strike reportedly killed at least one militia member and possibly more than 20, wounded others, and included the use of…