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Taipei and Beijing Test Boundaries Again at Pratas as South China Sea Tensions Deepen
A fresh confrontation between Taiwanese and Chinese coast guard vessels near the Pratas Islands has underscored how the South China Sea is becoming an increasingly important theatre in the broader contest between Taipei and Beijing. What might once have been dismissed…
Zelenskyy’s Direct Letter to Putin Tests Whether Diplomacy Can Move Without Washington
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a direct public appeal to Vladimir Putin for face-to-face talks, proposing a neutral venue, a ceasefire during negotiations and an all-for-all prisoner exchange as initial steps towards ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. The Ukrainian president’s open…
EU’s €100m Lebanon Army Package Places Brussels Inside Hezbollah Disarmament Dispute
The European Union has adopted a €100 million support package for the Lebanese Armed Forces, placing Brussels more directly inside one of the most sensitive security questions in the Middle East: whether the Lebanese state can assert control over weapons…
Russia’s Assault Arithmetic Points to a Growing Manpower Problem
Russia increased the number of assault actions along the Ukrainian front in May, but the additional effort produced little territorial gain. The figures point to a widening imbalance between the resources Moscow is committing and the results it is achieving.…
The Mathematics of War: Why Ukraine’s Air Defence Battle Is Becoming an Industrial Equation
Russia’s large-scale overnight attack on Ukraine on 1–2 June illustrated a central feature of modern war: battlefield outcomes are increasingly determined not only by tactics, but by arithmetic. The number of missiles produced, the number of interceptors available, the rate…
US Nuclear Talks Put Europe’s Deterrence Problem Back on NATO Agenda
The United States is discussing whether to expand the deployment of nuclear weapons to additional NATO countries in Europe, in a development that would raise major questions about deterrence, alliance burden-sharing and the security of NATO’s eastern flank. According to…
AUKUS undersea drone project exposes Europe’s gap in autonomous maritime warfare
The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have announced the first signature project under the second pillar of AUKUS, moving the alliance’s advanced technology agenda from broad ambition towards a delivery timetable. For Europe, the significance lies less in…
China’s desert missile build-up raises new questions for Europe’s Indo-Pacific posture
China’s rapid expansion of military infrastructure around its nuclear missile fields is no longer only a question for Washington. It is becoming part of the wider strategic calculation for Europe, whose security now depends on how far the United States…
Europe’s Army Dream Faces a Reality Check
Strategic autonomy sounds compelling. However, building a European army would be far harder than Brussels admits. For decades, the notion of a European army has hovered over Brussels like a political mirage. It reappears whenever the transatlantic relationship comes under…
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant claim shows information-war risk around Europe’s largest nuclear site
Russia says a Ukrainian drone struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Kyiv denies the claim. The incident underlines how dangerous unverified military accusations have become around a Russian-controlled nuclear facility close to the frontline. Russia’s claim that a Ukrainian drone…