Ben Wolfgang
Articles by Ben Wolfgang
Null and void, but still causing headaches: Pentagon’s legal woes over COVID vaccine mandate persist
At the height of the global pandemic, the Pentagon in August 2021 decreed that all U.S. troops must get the COVID-19 vaccine, then launched a logistical push to get the shot to every service member stationed anywhere in the world. Published March 17, 2023
Russia races to recover U.S. drone wreckage as questions swirl over sensitive data
Russian crews are scouring the Black Sea for remnants of the American MQ-9 Reaper that crashed there earlier this week, Pentagon officials said, while the U.S. military made public on Thursday raw video footage that seems to show a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on the drone and clipping its propeller just before it went down. Published March 16, 2023
Declassified video shows Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on, colliding with U.S. drone
The Pentagon early Thursday released a declassified video that officials say shows the Tuesday collision between a Russian Su-27 fighter jet and a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea. Published March 16, 2023
‘That’s U.S. property’: Pentagon races to find drone wreckage as Russia launches recovery mission
The U.S. and Russian militaries scrambled Wednesday to locate the wreckage of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone that crashed into the Black Sea after being hit by a tailing Russian fighter jet a day earlier. Published March 15, 2023
Escalation? Dramatic collision of Russian jet, U.S. drone fuels fear of direct conflict
A Russian fighter jet collided with a U.S. military surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday, forcing U.S. operators to bring down the unmanned craft in international waters and prompting Pentagon officials to blast the Russian pilots' behavior as "unsafe and unprofessional." Published March 14, 2023
Biden admin guarantees Silicon Valley Bank deposits, shutters N.Y. bank in bid to head off crisis
The Biden administration said it would guarantee all deposits at the now-shuttered Silicon Valley Bank but insisted the move was not a taxpayer-funded bailout, while regulators closed a second institution, New York City's Signature Bank, amid fears of an unfolding economic crisis. Published March 12, 2023
Finnish president says disputes with Turkey still holding up NATO membership
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said Sunday he is optimistic his country will eventually join NATO, but he conceded that Turkey has a "different opinion" over a key security-related dispute between the two sides that is holding up the process. Published March 12, 2023
Rich Russians spared as Putin sends poor, ethnic minorities to front lines in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin is insulating wealthy urban families from the carnage in Ukraine, Western intelligence analysts said Sunday, with the Kremlin instead sending poor Russians and ethnic minorities to the front lines of an increasingly bloody war. Published March 12, 2023
Not dead yet: World still needs fossil fuels, Egyptian minister says
The world may be on an irreversible march toward clean energy, but the past year has brought with it a sobering reminder that 21st-century economies cannot function for the foreseeable future without oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels, said Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla. Published March 10, 2023
Airport chaos during Afghan pullout created escape route for suicide bomber
U.S. troops at the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021, believed they identified the Islamic State suicide bomber who ultimately killed 13 Americans and nearly 200 Afghans at the height of America's frantic military exit. Published March 8, 2023
As Iran’s nuclear program accelerates, U.N. tries to ease fears, but U.S. and Israel remain wary
Iran's commitments to allow tighter oversight at its nuclear facilities represent a key step forward, United Nations officials said Monday as they sought to tamp down growing fears about Tehran's nuclear program after reports that the Islamic republic can now produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb in as little as 12 days. Published March 6, 2023
Putin weakens positions of rivals to secure his own power
Russia seemed to lack an effective battle plan in the early weeks of the Ukraine war last year as a succession of military commanders struggled to adjust to changing circumstances on the ground. Published March 5, 2023
Islamic terrorism creates a toxic powder keg in Syria, poses quandary for U.S. in wake of earthquake
The carnage, political dysfunction and rising tide of Islamic terrorism gripping Syria have created a toxic powder keg unlike anything else on the planet -- and that was before last month's massive earthquake killed thousands and reduced even more of the divided and volatile country to rubble. Published March 2, 2023
Lawmakers question Pentagon brass on why troops who refused COVID vaccine still face penalties
The military's COVID-19 vaccination mandate is off the books, but the fallout from the controversial order is far from over. Published February 28, 2023
Threat Status: Inside the cut-throat internal political dynamics that may be Putin’s undoing
The unthinkable -- a multi-year shooting war with tanks, trenches, drones and vast waves of refugees -- is playing out in the heart of Europe, amid mounting fears the raging war in Ukraine will pit Russia and its allies against the U.S. and Western-aligned democracies around the world for decades to come. Published February 26, 2023
F-16 is latest red line for Biden to cross in pressure campaign to help Ukraine
It's a familiar pattern that has played out throughout the year-old Russia-Ukraine war. Published February 22, 2023
Part Three: Russia-Ukraine war resets world order
The year-old Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the foundations of a post-Cold War order that has held sway for three decades, sparking new global unease over the prospect of nuclear war, rocking long-established diplomatic and political norms, and aligning the world's top autocracies in unsettling new ways. Published February 22, 2023
Flashback: Russian bloggers emerge as vicious critics of Putin’s floundering war leadership
Prominent right-wing Russian nationalists have seen their influence and public profiles rise over the past year to a point where they appear poised to shape the country's future. Published February 21, 2023
4 U.S. troops injured, ISIS leader killed during helicopter raid in Syria
Four U.S. troops were wounded and a senior Islamic State leader was killed during a Thursday night helicopter raid in northeastern Syria, the Pentagon said Friday, marking the American military's latest counterterrorism operation in the war-torn country. Published February 17, 2023
Aliens in the clear, all others suspect in string of U.S. shootdowns
The Biden administration on Monday seemingly ruled out an alien invasion as the explanation for three shoot-downs of unidentified objects over North America this weekend. Published February 13, 2023
