Canada celebrated the beginning of construction for three River-class destroyers in June 2024 in Halifax. The new ships mark the start of a major overhaul for the Royal Canadian Navy. IRVING SHIPBUILDING INC. (Artist Rendering) THE WATCH STAFF Canada’s top naval and defense officials gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June 2024 to mark the beginning of construction of three new Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) warships. The three Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) ships will be the first of what will be known as River-class destroyers and will be named His Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Fraser, Saint-Laurent and Mackenzie. The ships…
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Ray Donovan, chief of operations of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), stands in front of “The Faces of Fentanyl” wall, which displays photos of U.S. citizens who died of a fentanyl overdose, at the DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. AFP/GETTY IMAGES CELINA B. REALUYO/WILLIAM J. PERRY CENTER An opioid epidemic in the United States led to over 107,000 overdose deaths in 2022, with 70% of those due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. This lethal drug has become the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl and…
Denmark and Norway signed a letter of intent in May 2024 to collaborate on long-range maritime drones to patrol their Arctic territories. U.S. MARINE CORPS THE WATCH STAFF Norway and Denmark have agreed to collaborate on long-range maritime drone programs to improve domain awareness in the Arctic, a key path to the U.S. homeland. The two Nordic countries signed a letter of intent in late May 2024 formalizing the collaboration. Both Denmark and Norway announced major investments in maritime drones earlier this year. “Long-range drones are one of the investments in the Norwegian Defense Pledge to strengthen the ability to…
Relatives of crew members wave Danish flags as the frigate HDMS Iver Huitfeldt of the Royal Danish Navy arrives at the naval base in Korsoer, Denmark, on April 4, 2024. Denmark is increasing its defense spending to better meet its NATO obligations. AFP/GETTY IMAGES MAYA JOHNSON Denmark has committed to increase its defense spending from 2024 to 2028 by 35.2 billion DKK ($5.1 billion). This decision followed the Danish government’s proposal to boost defense spending in March 2024. Subsequently, in May 2024, the Parliament approved the proposed initiatives with a majority vote. This decision follows closely on the heels of…
Mexican troops guard the border at the banks of the Bravo River to prevent migrants from entering the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, on June 4, 2024. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF The Mexican Armed Forces had a busy two-week stretch in June 2024 with nearly 420,000 Soldiers, Sailors and National Guardsmen deployed across the country to stem the flow of illegal drugs, migrants and other criminal activity at the U.S. southern border, said the country’s Secretary of National Defense during a news conference at the presidential palace in Mexico City on June 25, 2024. The update…
A CF-18 Hornet flies over the Labrador region of Canada during a North American Aerospace Defense Command operation. The binational command stands as a testament to the strong bond between the Canadian and U.S. militaries. Master Cpl. Krista Blizzard/NORAD REAR ADM. SCOTT F. ROBERTSON AND COL. MICHAEL JONES/U.S. NORTHERN COMMAND The global security environment is changing at a scale not seen since World War II and at an unprecedented pace. With the change comes a renewed urgency to form deeper alliances and partnerships to counter common threats and collaborate on mutual interests, all built on a foundation of trust.…
Members of the U.S. 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) observe Royal Bahamas Defence Force members as they display their marksmanship skills on a range in Nassau, Bahamas. U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND NORTH THE WATCH STAFF Commodore Raymond E. King became the commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) in May 2020. As a critical U.S. partner in the Caribbean, the force protects its own homeland while helping guard critical approaches to the U.S. King agreed to discuss his goals for the force in areas ranging from workforce development and gender optimization to international peacekeeping missions. THE WATCH: As the…
A participant in the International Youth Festival in Sochi, Russia, walks by an anti-Western propaganda exhibition in March 2024 that decried NATO as having a “history of deception.” The U.S. Global Engagement Center fights anti-Western propaganda efforts by the People’s Republic of China and Russia. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF The Watch recently discussed with James P. Rubin, special envoy and coordinator of the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center, issues of importance to our readers. The Watch featured the Global Engagement Center in a February 2021 article, “Fighting for Truth,” but many things have changed since then. THE…
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador shakes hands with Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping in November 2023 at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco. The People’s Republic of China has been expanding commercial and political ties with Mexico. Reuters DR. R. EVAN ELLIS/U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “AMLO” publicly reached out to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in March 2023, asking for help to manage the flow of fentanyl from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) into Mexico. The appeal officially, if indirectly, acknowledged the PRC’s role in the flow of narcotics…
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, left, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend a news conference after their meeting in Moscow in April 2021. Mexico agreed at the meeting to begin bottling and packaging the Russian vaccine. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF DEFENCE Russia is deliberately targeting Mexico with information operations (IO) since the Ukraine invasion with the goal of sowing distrust toward NATO states and influencing Mexicans to support Russia’s actions. The campaign cannot generally be considered successful so far. Most Mexicans blame Russia, and Mexico usually supports Ukraine in the United Nations. However, Russia is becoming…