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Moscow and Tehran: Alleged Verba Missile Agreement Adds New Pressure on Washington
A reported secret Russian-Iranian air defence deal has added a new layer of risk to an already volatile stand-off between Washington and Tehran, while raising wider questions about the strategic alignment linking Russia, Iran and, indirectly, China. According to a…
France-Germany rift over FCAS fighter jet raises new doubts over Europe’s flagship air combat project
A public dispute between France and Germany over the next generation of European fighter aircraft has renewed uncertainty around the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), one of the continent’s most expensive and politically significant defence programmes. The disagreement centres on…
Zaluzhnyi breaks silence on 2023 counteroffensive as rift with Zelenskyy resurfaces
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief and now ambassador to the United Kingdom, has given an interview to the Associated Press that sets out, in unusual detail, his disagreements with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over both military decision-making and civil–military relations inside…
The 48-Hour Problem: NATO’s Response Under Pressure in a Baltic Drill
In the days leading up to the Munich Security Conference on 13–15 February 2026, European media carried a run of scenario-based reporting on how a future security shock might unfold on NATO’s eastern flank. Several of the most widely circulated…
Europeans sense danger — yet still hesitate to act
Europeans have begun to feel something unfamiliar: vulnerability. For three generations the continent lived inside a strategic paradox. It possessed advanced economies, stable democracies and generous welfare systems, yet relied on a power across an ocean for its ultimate security.…
Does Keir Starmer Not Understand Who Britain’s Enemies Are?
I watched Keir Starmer’s visit to China with a mixture of disbelief and weary recognition. Disbelief, because it is astonishing that a British Prime Minister in 2026 can still wander into Beijing wearing the benign expression of a man who…
If Russia Wins: A Scenario and the Logic of the West’s Managed Defeat
When Carlo Masala set out his hypothetical “Russian victory” in Ukraine, he defined it narrowly: not a march to Kyiv, but Moscow retaining the territories it already occupies. That premise matters because it aligns with the kind of “freeze” or…
Chagos Archipelago: Britain’s Self-Inflicted Strategic Retreat in the Indian Ocean
There are bad ideas in politics, and then there are ideas so recklessly self-defeating that one wonders whether national interest has been deliberately left out of the room. The UK’s current Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s proposed handover of the Chagos…
China-linked machine tools and chips: claims of a supply chain behind Russia’s Oreshnik missile
European governments have often treated dialogue with Beijing as a practical channel in foreign policy, including in managing risks linked to Russia’s war against Ukraine. A recent investigation by The Telegraph has prompted a different focus: whether Chinese-origin industrial equipment…
Reclaiming Port of Darwin From China: Australia Sends a Signal of Resolve
In an increasingly volatile world, where strategic certainty is at a premium, Australia’s recent decision to reclaim control of the Port of Darwin represents more than a policy adjustment — it is a confident assertion of national interest that other…