The United States recently attempted the test launch of a hypersonic missile from a base in Alaska. Four seconds after the launch, the missile had to be destroyed (Reuters, August 25, 2014).  Hypersonic missiles can travel at about ten times the speed of sound and are designed to reach any target on earth within an hour (ibid.).

Since the Arab Spring, civil unrest has continued in Libya. This past weekend, “air strikes on militia positions around Tripoli’s international airport were reportedly carried out by Emirati fighter jets using bases in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities have denied involvement, and there has been no direct comment from the UAE” (BBC, August 26, 2014). “The BBC’s Rana Jawad in Tripoli says the Misrata alliance is now effectively in control of the capital because their rivals have withdrawn from the city.

At the eastern European summit in Minsk, Belarus this week, Russian President Putin and Ukraine President Poroshenko traded handshakes and words, but no progress was made on a cease-fire in the Ukraine (EU Observer, August 27, 2014). And with increasing allegations that Russia is illegally crossing into the Ukraine, NATO also drafted a new plan stating that the “alliance is planning to set up permanent new bases in eastern Europe” (ibid.).