27,966 events tracked
social demographic · sports
“Economic statecraft is not as simple or easy as Chinese decisionmakers think or as U.S. policymakers and external observers might fear,” argues Audrye Wong, author of a new book on the topic.
geopolitical · geopolitical
Chinese workers have reportedly resumed construction on a critical highway along the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border where two such workers were killed in November 2025.
geopolitical · geopolitical
Scientists warn of a regional disaster If pollution from rare earth and gold mining in Myanmar continues to spread toxins further along the Mekong River.
social demographic · sports
The Nakamal Agreement between Australia and Vanuatu may be weaker than Canberra’s other regional pacts, but it remains significant in checking China’s influence.
geopolitical · geopolitical
China’s attack on Taiwan has already started – with the Ethnic Unity Law as a weapon.
social demographic · sports
A football tournament is China’s latest propaganda campaign to whitewash its abuses of Uyghur people – and deconstruct Uyghur identity in favor of Chinese “unity.”
social demographic · culture
The annual bung bang fai festival calls on the god Phaya Thaen to bring rain at the start of the agricultural season.
geopolitical · geopolitical
Japan has earned rising acclaim from U.S. observers as a middle power that complements, rather than threatens, the United States. Yet Japan is not deepening its ties with Washington out of charity.
geopolitical
Ukraine has reshaped the battlefield with cheap, expendable drones. South Korea reads the signals and wants to match the scale. North Korea has been reading the same signals through a more direct channel. Since late 2024, North Korea has rotated thousands of troops through Russia’s war in Ukraine, alongside what is currently the world’s most combat tested drone force — tied with Ukraine’s, of course. Ukrainian defense intelligence reports that some of those troops have begun returning home and moving into instructor roles within the North Korean military.What exactly they are bringing back is harder to pin down from the The post South Korea’s 500,000 Drone Warriors Will Be a Hollow Force appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
What if fielding more nuclear weapons makes the United States less secure, not more? That question is now at the center of a growing debate as the United States confronts a nuclear landscape shaped by two major nuclear rivals.China is rapidly expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal, while the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the last remaining nuclear arms control deal between the United States and Russia, has expired. In what appears as the beginning of a new, more dangerous nuclear age, some analysts believe the United States should increase the size of its deployed nuclear arsenal. Others believe The post Restrain and Hedge: A New U.S. Nuclear Strategy for a Two-Peer World appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
Western airpower debates are increasingly driven by grim math. Analysts tally missile inventories, strike ranges, and sortie-generation capacity against a small number of critical runways, fuel systems, and aerial refueling aircraft. The prevailing conclusion is that U.S. and allied airpower could be severely disrupted early in a conflict with China. While China’s anti-access/area-denial capabilities place U.S. and allied air operations in the Indo-Pacific under sustained, lethal, and consequential threat, the belief that this numbers game guarantees victory is a fallacy — something Russia is learning the hard way in Ukraine. The 2026 Iran War showed why: Real combat is interactive, The post Missiles Aren’t Strategy: Lessons From Iran for a Pacific Air War appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
In 2006, the U.S. Army’s 25th Combat Aviation Brigade deployed to Iraq, where it paired Task Force ODIN (Observe, Detect, Identify, and Neutralize) with an Apache battalion from the 82nd Airborne Division — a first-of-its-kind teaming of attack helicopters with drones. These units combined manned and unmanned sensors to identify and destroy improvised explosive devices and high-value targets, leveraging drones to fill gaps in traditional rotary wing aviation. Col. Jamie LaValley, at the time a captain with the 82nd, told me he felt he was witnessing “the future of warfare.” “Man, Army Aviation is on to something,” he recalls thinking. The post Army Aviation’s Wasted Decade: Lessons for the Next Generation of Drone Integration appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
For nearly a century, America’s defense industrial strength yielded a subtle benefit: influence as the world’s security guarantor of choice. But the system that once anchored partner access to U.S. weaponry is now an obstacle. Modern statecraft — the interplay of industry, diplomacy, and defense — requires a fresh approach to regulating defense trade.While the American arsenal accounts for more than 40 percent of global arms transfers, that share largely comprises exquisite systems for which the United States is unable to meet its own demand, let alone the needs of other nations. Arab partners expended hundreds of high-end interceptors to The post Regulatory Friendly Fire: How ITAR Undermines the Alliance It Was Built to Protect appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war. The perspectives gathered here are varied, candid, and often surprising, together forming a more complete picture of Ukraine as it really is.Frontline and StrategyВисокий Замок The post Ukrainian Agriculture as Strategy, Diplomacy, and Legacy appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
Since its proclamation of independence from Somalia in May 1991, Somaliland has sought international recognition for the territories under its control. Despite functioning as a de facto independent state for years, it lacked any formal recognition on the international stage until recently, when Israel became the first state to officially recognize Somaliland as an independent state. On Dec. 26, 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel and Somaliland had signed a joint declaration establishing full diplomatic relations, describing it as being in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.Despite the enthusiastic reception in Somaliland, Israel’s move did not receive The post The Recognition Question: Somaliland, Israeli Security Geometry, and the Red Sea Power Struggle appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
When the U.S. military launched its war against Iran in Feb. 2026, it did not just dismantle Iranian military capabilities. It shattered the illusion that the United States would consult with its closest allies and that an ally’s refusal to grant base access can stop an American war in motion. Rather than the much discussed “outward flows” of military assets from the Korean Peninsula to the Middle East, it is the anticipated “inward flows” of U.S. military assets that could be more consequential in times of crisis.Focusing on the early days of the fallout of this intervention, I argue that The post When Refusal Doesn’t Matter: Operation Epic Fury and the Erosion of Host Nation Consent appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
From May 14 to 15, U.S. President Donald Trump held a summit in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In addition to pageantry, the summit featured discussions about Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Taiwan, and bilateral trade. Both Washington and Beijing emphasized a relationship based on “constructive strategic stability.”Many countries, particularly those in Asia, were watching closely to see how the two leaders got along, what they agreed on, and what divided them. We asked four experts to tell us about the reactions in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines.Read more below.William Chou Senior Fellow and Deputy Director The post Asian Reactions to Trump’s Summit with Xi appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
What if the next decisive intelligence advantage isn’t a recruited insider but a nation’s ability to model entire societies from its digital exhaust? Salt Typhoon’s multi-year cyber campaigns against U.S. telecommunications networks and critical infrastructure demonstrate China’s unparalleled focus on data-centric espionage: collect widely, analyze fast, and operationalize at scale — alongside continued investments in traditional intelligence disciplines. This approach reshapes how the United States has conventionally thought about intelligence advantage. From Exquisite to ExhaustFor decades, the U.S. intelligence community has prized what analysts call “exquisite” intelligence: narrowly sourced, high-confidence insight into adversary intent. That model depends on scarcity — secrets The post Machine Overmatch: What Salt Typhoon Reveals About China’s Data-Centric Intelligence Strategy appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
In 2025, Choong-Koo Lee wrote, “Putting the Screws on the Partnership Between North Korea and Russia,” where he argued that the United States and South Korea should work together to weaken Pyongyang and Moscow’s military relationship. A year later, we asked him to revisit his arguments.Image: The Kremlin via Wikimedia CommonsIn your 2025 article, you argued that the United States and South Korea should work together to limit the deepening military relationship between Russia and North Korea. How has the U.S.-South Korean relationship evolved over the past year, and what does that mean for the prospects of any joint effort? Separately, The post A Check-In On North Korea and Russia’s Wartime Partnership appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
Every time reports emerge about a potential reduction of U.S. forces or capabilities in Europe, the old continent falls into the same cycle of anxiety and panic. The same applies to announcements about delayed or suspended deployments, planned rotations, or broader force posture reviews.A brief historical reminder here is necessary. The 2014 Wales Defense Investment Pledge is still often misunderstood in Europe as little more than an American demand for higher defense spending. In reality, it reflected something broader already taking shape in Washington: the expectation that Europe would gradually assume far greater responsibility for conventional defense on its own continent. The post Europe’s Dangerous Hunger Games for American Troops appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
Gaza did not have to look the way it looks. That is not a moral claim. It is an operational one.Claims of necessity are invoked to explain the scale of civilian harm, but they founder in the face of operational logic. Supporters of Israeli methods argue that Gaza’s urban battlefield — tunnels, rocket fire, extreme population density, hostages held underground — left no viable alternative to large-scale destruction. That argument rests on a false assumption: that large-scale fires were inevitable rather than chosen, and that the only tradeoff was between more fires and mission failure. That is a false choice, The post The Operational Case Against Israel’s Gaza Campaign appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
China’s diplomats are on an “AI governance” offensive. At a May 5 United Nations meeting, China’s vice minister of science and technology championed China’s role in shaping U.N.-led frameworks that determine how the technology should be built and used. Just a week earlier, two top Chinese AI experts actively involved in Beijing’s governance efforts appeared by video on a Capitol Hill panel discussion hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders, touting China’s contributions to AI safety and cooperation.Norms and standards on AI development and applications are still being defined. Being a standards-setter rather than a standards-follower can simultaneously solidify a country’s technological The post China’s AI Governance Offensive Threatens U.S. Tech Leadership appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
During Congressional testimony from Department of Defense leadership last week, Representative George Whitesides asked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, “How does canceling a command-initiated review support a culture of accountability?” But before the secretary could answer, Whitesides instead decided to direct the question to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine. Clearly uncomfortable with the question, Caine replied, “What you are alluding to … is a partisan question.” The exchange occupied only a few minutes amid days of acrimonious testimony focused primarily on the war with Iran, but reflected how partisan considerations have now extended to The post The Kid Rock Flyby Controversy and the Erosion of Military Professionalism appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
The Department of Defense does not primarily have a cyber recruiting problem — it has a cyber talent management problem. The military already possesses serious qualification frameworks, scholarship programs, credentialing systems, and selection tools. What it still lacks is a system tying assessment, training, assignment, performance, and retention together across an entire cyber career.In March 2026, the department announced at its Cyber Workforce Summit 2.0 an effort to reinvent the cyber workforce. Called Cyber Command 2.0, this effort’s principal goal is improvement in talent management by focusing on identifying, recruiting, hiring, and retaining the right people. The effort also emphasizes The post The Pentagon Still Cannot Manage Cyber Talent at Scale. Here’s the Fix. appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
This exclusive Cogs of War interview is with Catarina Buchatskiy, the co-founder and director of analytics at the Snake Island Institute, a Kyiv-based defense analytics center, and Viktoriia Honcharuk, the institute’s director of defense technologies. We asked them to share their views on how Ukraine’s military and defense firms turn battlefield feedback into rapid innovation, what Western investors and defense tech companies can learn from Ukraine, and what a future Ukraine-West defense industrial partnership might look like. Sign Up for Our Newsletter American and allied defense companies often speak about testing their products in Ukraine, but few have consistently done so. Why The post Inside Ukraine’s Battlefield Innovation Loop appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
On this Memorial Day, American servicemembers remain deployed across the world. Many are in harm’s way. This simple fact makes the day less abstract, more real. Memorial Day is not only about wars filed away in history, but also about lives lost in service to the nation and the obligations those losses place on the living.For those who served in combat, the day is intensely personal. It is a day of names, missions, and memories that never fade away entirely. Three of the fallen return to me every year: Cpl. Andrew J. Kemple, 2nd Lt. Tracy Lynn Alger, and Sgt. The post The Lessons of Sacrifice appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
Editor’s note: This is the ninth article in an 11-part series examining how the United States should organize, lead, and integrate economic statecraft into strategy, defense practice, and the broader national security ecosystem. The special series is brought to you by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and War on the Rocks. Prior installments can be found at the War by Other Ledgers page.In September 2010, after a Chinese fishing trawler captain was detained near the Senkaku Islands, Beijing halted rare-earth exports to Japan. The embargo lasted weeks. China showed, on a U.S. treaty ally, how a supply chain could be The post Rebuilding American Manufacturing: A Keystone for Economic Statecraft appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
In 2004, I was a boot (translation: brand new) first lieutenant in 1st Battalion, 7th Marines at a retransmission site in the middle of nowhere, al-Qa’im, Iraq. I heard a sudden explosion and small-arms fire two kilometers away. The battalion radio net burst with chatter, with someone saying there were three casualties: two urgent surgicals (send help quickly!) and one routine (no rush to provide aid). Someone in the operating center asked about the status of the routine casualty, and the radio crackled with the kind of transmission that changes everything. “It’s Whiskey Six, he’s KIA [killed in action].” I The post The U.S. Military Lacks an Ethics Doctrine. Combat Effectiveness Suffers appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
In 2019, the Missouri River flooded at historically high levels and damaged 137 facilities, destroyed 1.2 million square feet of workspace, and flooded 3,000 feet of runway at Offutt Air Force Base. Repairing the installation cost $1.2 billion. The Trump administration and Department of Defense justified $1.2 billion in budget reductions to the U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Defense Department climate programs as cuts to “woke” climate or environmental initiatives, but a singular event caused sufficient damage to erase those savings.The lethality of American presence in the Pacific depends upon the resilience of bases, ports, and The post An Inconvenient Reality: Climate-Preparedness Cuts Are Lethality Cuts appeared first on War on the Rocks .
geopolitical
Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war. The perspectives gathered here are varied, candid, and often surprising, together forming a more complete picture of Ukraine as it really is.Frontline and StrategyЦензор.НЕТ — The post Understanding the Value of Ukrainian Railways appeared first on War on the Rocks .