Ideas

The Middle East’s Indifference to Ukraine Is a Warning

What looks like international solidarity against a lawless invasion is something far more transactional and fragile.

Ideas

How to Gauge the Risk of a Nuclear Escalation with Russia

Escalation theories can help NATO policymakers avoid nuclear war—but it is ultimately up to Putin.

Ideas

Ukraine Endgame: Putin’s Bad Options

No matter which one he chooses, the Western response should be the same.

Ideas

The Pentagon Must ‘Campaign’ Against China, Not Hope for a Goal-Line Stand

To dissuade aggression, the U.S. military must continuously persuade its adversaries to doubt their chances of success.

Ideas

What Is China Learning from the Ukraine War?

From battlefield concepts to geopolitics, Beijing is sure to be watching with avid interest—and some chagrin.

Ideas

The DOD Needs a Joint Wargaming Center

The recent explosion of wargames obscures several flaws in the current system.

Ideas

Establish a Zone of Peace in Western Ukraine

Sending foreign troops to defend so-far-uncontested territory is the only way to preserve a free Ukraine and prevent Putin’s next attack.

Ideas

Ukraine, Fight Your Fight—Not Their Fight

The Ukrainian military needs the weapons and tactics of an irregular conflict, not a conventional war.

Policy

Should Killing a Satellite Provoke War on Earth?

A Space Force official says the service is considering how to respond to attacks in orbit.

Ideas

Don’t Assume the US Will Fight China and Russia One at a Time

Beijing and Moscow are boosting their strategic coordination along with their militaries.

Threats

Taiwan Emerges as a ‘Pre-eminent Issue’ For CIA’s New China Directorate

A takeover might look like Russia’s takeover of Crimea and might be coordinated with the Kremlin.

Ideas

It’s Not About Submarines. It’s about Software

Important as AUKUS submarines are in the military balance, the new way of deterrence will be about the strength, speed, and resilience of software.

Ideas

How China Is Planning For a Tech Decoupling

PLA strategists are already working on counters to anticipated U.S. moves.

Ideas

AUKUS Is the Death Knell of Australia's Strategic Ambiguity

At what cost is Australia attempting to strengthen its deterrence of China?

Ideas

How Chinese Strategists Think AI Will Power a Military Leap Ahead

The U.S. military should ready itself for a warfighting environment in which the PLA’s realizes its vision of "intelligenization."

Ideas

The Defense Budget Process Is Broken

What the U.S. needs isn’t more money for the Pentagon, but an honest and tough debate about strategy.

Ideas

Calculating the Costs of the Afghanistan War

The war in Afghanistan, like many other wars before it, began with optimistic assessments of a quick victory and the promise to rebuild at war’s end.

Ideas

The Curious Omission in Russia’s New Security Strategy

It doesn’t mention “cyber”—and that tells us a few things.

Ideas

What Comes Next? A Lesson from Saigon

Rather than marking the eclipse of American power, withdrawal from Vietnam coincided with its spectacular increase.