Analysis

Japan’s hands have been tied militarily since it embraced a pacifist constitution in 1947, and the national debate to reassess its defense capabilities is intensifying amid the sweeping shifts in the global security landscape. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took...

Some argue that the goals of the attacks on Iran are ambitious: to eliminate the Iranian threat, delegate Middle Eastern security to regional partners, and redirect strategic bandwidth to the Indo-Pacific. At the same time, the demonstration of sheer...

This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense. In late 2020, drones burst onto the national security scene in a new way. During the Nagorno-Karabakh war between...

The following analysis was originally published on Two Marines, a newsletter on Russia’s war in Ukraine, defense technology, and modern warfare, on April 3, 2026.  During 2025, the Russian military continued to experiment with improving its employment of uncrewed...

After a month of combat operations, the United States and Israel have made it clear that they will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power. Based on Iran’s history of domestic repression and foreign terrorism, this is a...

An estimated 1,800 African men (17 South African, 272 Ghanaian, and over 1,000 Kenyan) have reportedly signed contracts to work in Russia as drivers, security guards, and other civilian jobs only to find themselves shipped off to the frontlines...

Each month, Dr. Indra Ekmanis writes a monthly roundup highlighting major political, cultural, and economic events in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Her commentary on the Baltic response to war in Iran is featured below, originally published in the March...

This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense. The Royal Navy is set to take a leading role in a multinational “Hormuz Coalition” to reopen the Strait...

In a March 16, 2026 article, The New York Times reported that it had obtained the draft of a memo indicating that the State Department is considering “withholding lifesaving assistance to people with HIV in Zambia as a negotiating...

Introduction Amid the escalating Iran-US-Israel war, Iraq is increasingly becoming one of its central fronts, bringing back into sharp focus a chronic structural dilemma: the role of militias embedded within the state and the consequences of their conduct for...