Original insights and analysis.
Something unsettling is happening in Russia, and it’s not just the obvious stuff—the battlefield losses or the sanctions. It’s the quiet desperation seeping into everyday life, the kind that makes…
The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, is less a symbol of naval might than a floating monument to dysfunction. Born in the waning days of the Soviet Union, this…
The Trump administration’s reported suspension of military aid to Ukraine has sparked a messy information war that reveals as much about Washington’s internal dysfunction as it does about America’s foreign…
In early 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shattered any illusion of a peaceful Europe, unleashing chaos on a scale most thought consigned to history books. Cities crumbled, thousands perished, and…
By now, it should be clear that the standoff between the United States and China isn’t just about economics. To call it a “trade war” is to undersell what’s fast…
By all outward appearances, China still projects an image of might: gleaming skyscrapers, an army of exporters, and a rising global presence. But beneath that polished surface lies a deeper…
By any measure, modern China is a marvel of transformation. In the lifetime of anyone over 40, the country has gone from mass famine and ideological terror to glimmering megacities…
By all appearances, the BRICS summit earlier this July was a show of global unity. Lofty declarations about reshaping world governance, ambitious investment pledges, and talk of an emerging financial…
It doesn’t look like much. A few cell phones. Some microphones. Maybe a half-meter-wide dish, the kind you’d expect to see in a college science lab. But make no mistake:…
By all appearances, the ceasefire was holding—at least in the way ceasefires often do in this region: tentatively, informally, and riddled with caveats. But yesterday, the uneasy calm shattered when…