News

Foreign and defense ministers in the European Union recently released a draft plan that details the development of a joint military force capable of rapid deployment (Reuters, November 16, 2022). The draft documents call for a force of up to 5,000 troops to be ready by 2025, composed of land, sea, and air components.

India is one of the few nations in the world that did not criticize Russia’s military actions in the Ukraine (Deutsche Welle, November 8, 2022). In their fifth meeting together this year, the foreign ministers from India and Russia discussed closer trade ties and cooperation in the areas of space travel and nuclear energy.

Recently, U.S. Navy Admiral and head of U.S. Strategic Command Charles Richard made a sobering observation: “This Ukraine crisis that we’re in right now, this is just the warmup. The big one is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we are going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested [in] a long time” (Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2022).

In late October, Deutsche Welle reported on interesting new methods of dating the past. Archaeologists use historical documents, pottery, and other cultural items to establish timelines for ancient civilizations. Still, these methods are prone to error. For example, when pottery is used to establish a date, the deeper the pottery is buried, the older it is believed to be. But this assumption is simplistic and often yields an imprecise measure.