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Russia threatened a 'nuclear response' over Kaliningrad, its exclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania, after Britain offered to extend nuclear protection to Finland.
The United States cannot build enough ships and weapons on its own, so it is asking allies South Korea and Australia to help manufacture military equipment instead of simply purchasing it from American companies.
European governments warned this week that Russia is waging a 'hybrid war' — using sabotage, disinformation and other below-the-radar attacks instead of open combat.
For months, officials described suspicious fires, drones and outages as vaguely "hybrid" without saying who was responsible.
This week French officials, European spy chiefs and other reports warned that Russia is preparing more direct action against NATO countries.
NATO jets shot down a drone over Lithuania this week, the first time the alliance has downed an aircraft over a member country's territory.
In the same week, Turkey and Brazil signed a defense cooperation deal, Pakistan ordered drones from a US company, US regulators moved to favor weapons manufacturers in small-business rules, and an Indian bank said defense-company stocks could rise sharply, tied to a large government weapons-spending plan.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a new mutual-defense pact, but each country sees itself as the senior partner, and none has enough leverage to settle the ranking.
This week, several efforts to punish or deter rivals ran into the same problem.
Leaders of the BRICS group of major emerging economies met in New Delhi and agreed to let members settle more trade using their own currencies instead of the US dollar, though no timeline was set.
The United States placed sanctions on 27 Iranian airlines and 36 companies that help them get aircraft, parts and fuel, an attempt to cut off Iran's air industry.
This week four countries made public claims about military deterrence without fully backing them up.