Analysis

A series of high-level meetings between leaders and visits by prominent politicians from the United States, China, and Taiwan has roiled chronically fraught issues of Taiwan policy and cross-Strait relations. The May summit between President Donald Trump and Xi...

At the Fourth China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing on June 22, 2026, South Africa’s deputy president Paul Mashatile signaled a renewed partnership with China amid a complex geopolitical global environment.  Speaking at the event, he emphasized that...

At last week’s NATO Summit in Ankara, President Trump was hosted warmly by Turkish President Recep Erdogan. Trump, who generally attends NATO summits with a petulant attitude, reportedly said that he would not have attended this year’s summit had...

In mid-May, Belarus and Russia announced that they would conduct military exercises involving the delivery of nuclear weapons to units in the field. Over the next three days, imagery emerged of Russian and Belarusian forces practicing for the employment...

Back in February 2025, when US Vice President JD Vance announced at the Munich Security Conference that US assistance would be scaled back and called on Europe to take greater responsibility for its own security, many European leaders reacted...

This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense. The United Kingdom’s Defence Investment Plan (DIP) has now finally been published after substantial delay and controversy, aiming to...

“We’ve hooked up some machinery,” said Tommy, “that amounts to a mechanical translator… When you’re ready to talk to the skipper of the other ship, sir, I think we’re ready.” In First Contact, Murray Leinster described science fiction’s very...

This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense. The president asked Congress to approve a Pentagon funding request of $1.5 trillion for next year’s defense budget. This...

The following analysis was originally published on Two Marines, a newsletter on Russia’s war in Ukraine, defense technology, and modern warfare, on June 5, 2026.  One of the Russian military’s most important developments in 2024-2025 was the establishment of the...

The United States enters the second half of the 2020s facing a fundamental question in Africa: Is Washington still seen as a strategic partner of choice, or is it becoming a transactional power whose engagement is seen as narrow,...