The Canadian Armed Forces has decided not to proceed with the court martial of Army Major Stephen Chledowski, who urged military and police personnel to protest the federal government’s pandemic regulations. However, the lawyer for Reserve Warrant Office James Top, who was subjected to a court-martial in November, says the latest decision highlights a rank-sensitive double standard in the military justice system ..read more

Dutch clear F-35 parts for Israel Hague District Court in the Netherlands today dismissed an alliance of human rights and aid organizations’ request that warehoused parts for Lockheed Martin F-35 should not be transferred to Israel because it would make their country complicit in possible war crimes committed during Israel’s fight with Hamas forces in Gaza. The government argued that a judicial ban would be meaningless because the parts could be sourced elsewhere ..read more

Some of Israel’s closest European allies have renewed calls for a ceasefire in Gaza after a series of shootings, including the killing of three Hamas hostages by Israeli Defence Forces. The three men, who had been taken hostage October 7 and had either escaped or been released, were shot even though they were waving a white flag, and the IDF has begun a high-level investigation ..read more

After 126 days at sea, including visits to seven foreign ports and a couple of Indo-Pacific exercises, two Royal Canadian Navy frigates and their supply ship are back in their B.C. homeport ..read more

The U.S. State Department has approved, subject to congressional approval, a $300-million sale of 80 RTX light-weight torpedoes and associated equipment to Germany for its Boeing P-8A ASW fleet. “The sale will improve Germany’s capability to meet current and future threats by upgrading Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities,” the department said December 7, adding that it also supports U.S. foreign policy and national security “by improving the security of a NATO ally that is an important force for political and economic stability in Europe ..read more

The U.S. today vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Britain abstained from voting but the 13 other members voted in favour of it. Robert Wood, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN, said that while the U.S. “strongly supports a durable peace”, an unsustainable ceasefire “will only plant the seeds for the next war ..read more

Russian President Vladimir Putin, 71, confirmed today that he will seek re-election next March, moving him a step closer to a fifth term in office. He has won previous votes by landslides and while independent monitors cited widespread ballot fraud, a Putin official has said that he “will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote ..read more

RCAF has a fix on Poseidon The federal government confirmed today that it has arranged to procure at least 14 Boeing P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft through an arrangement with the U.S. government ..read more

U.S. and China dominate arms market Five U.S. defence companies continued to lead global sales of arms and military services last year but despite an overall dip from 2021, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute expects revenues to rebound in 2023 and beyond ..read more

A Statistics Canada report in collaboration with the Department of National Defence has found that the percentage of uniformed personnel who reported sexual assault by another member surged last year and that assaults against women were more than three times as high as among men ..read more