Relations between the Russian Federation and Montenegro are at low ebb with the former Yugoslav republic now finding itself in the most non-constructive segment of the North Atlantic alliance, together with Poland and the Baltic countries. The two countries disagree on various things, but the main points of contention are non-recognition of Crimea, the status of Kosovo, Montenegro's support for anti-Russian sanctions and the expulsion of Russian diplomats in connection with the Skripal affair.

The precedence of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union naturally allows other European organizations and individual countries to contemplate the previously inconceivable exit option. While at the EU level there are no indications of any other member states planning to follow in London’s footsteps any time soon, in the Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which since the 1990s has been touted as a “window of international peacekeeping,” might by weighing a similar option.​

While pushing its NATO allies in Europe to increase their spending on joint defense, the United States is simultaneously moving its own troops to Europe. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, there are a record number of US troops, not seen there since the start of this century, currently stationed on the continent. Moreover, an additional 20,000 GIs are expected to arrive shortly to take part in several exercises.​

The leaders of Serbia and the Bosnian Republika Srpska have signaled their intention to maintain military neutrality and refrain from joining NATO. A statement to this effect was made amid the aggravation of the political crisis in Montenegro following the coming into force of the law on the freedom of religion, which provides for the possibility of reinstating the state ownership of church facilities which belonged to the state until 1918 (currently de facto administered by the Serbian Orthodox Church).

In late November, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a number of rather controversial statements. On November 26, Germany, together with France, issued a brief “road map” for EU reform. Within the next two ears this plan is to be discussed by the “Conference on the Future of Europe,” tasked with working out proposals and drawing up a strategy for “structural reforms” aimed at making the European Union “more united and sovereign.”

The European Union is planning to hold an important summit on Kosovo in October this year with a view to get Belgrade and Pristina to normalize bilateral relations. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pose as guarantors of the deal. Reports say a senior US official may take part in the Paris summit as well. The participation of the American side was strongly advocated by the authorities in Kosovo, headed by President Hashim Thachi.​

In a Twitter post released in June 2019, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the North Atlantic Alliance planned to develop its own “space strategy.” According to Deutsche Welle, NATO experts are certain that future military conflicts will inevitably affect near-Earth space, “for example, through an attack on satellites of strategic importance or through the use of a weapon in space.” NATO explains the need to “declare space a separate territory for military operations” by the emergence of new threats posed by technological progress.

In a series of recent comments in US and British media, their authors appear increasingly alarmed by the prospects of maintaining the unity of NATO and, on a broader scale, of the West as a whole. Not as a result of US President Donald Trump’s “subversive” actions many Western media outlets and experts like to talk about but, rather, due to Germany’s changing policy. Let’s take a closer look at what has been going on. The imbalance of geopolitical forces in Europe has for many centuries been a major trigger of continental and global conflicts.

Turkey’s planned purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia threatens NATO security and is putting Ankara at risk of losing its status of “a critical partner in the most successful military alliance in history,” US Vice President Mike Pence has warned. Experts from the Turkish Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) participating in a panel discussion, organized by the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, spoke about the problems currently existing between Turkey and the United States as well as their country’s cooperation with Russia.