Rising Security Threats in West Africa and Regional Responses
West Africa’s security environment has deteriorated sharply, driven by violent extremism, political coups, transnational crime, and maritime piracy. Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria and jihadist expansions in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have displaced millions and blurred national borders. Organized crime now intertwines drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and human trafficking, while Gulf of Guinea piracy threatens oil shipments and global trade. Regional bodies such as ECOWAS are stepping up joint military and intelligence initiatives to curb the crises.
Iran’s Missile-Drone Campaign and Its Implications for the United States’ Deterrence
Iran’s missile‑drone campaign has demonstrated that low‑cost, high‑volume weapons can strain even the most advanced U.S. air‑defense systems. By saturating Patriot, THAAD and Iron Dome with cheap drones and short‑range missiles, Tehran forces the United States to expend interceptors worth...
Beyond New START: Prospects for U.S.–Russian Nuclear Arms Control
The New START treaty, the last major U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control pact, expired in 2026 after Russia suspended participation in 2023, leaving a legal vacuum. The article traces the historical arc from SALT I to New START, examines rationalist, domestic‑politics,...
Can the Balkans Fight Corruption Without Weakening Due Process?
Judicial reforms across the Western Balkans, driven by EU accession pressure, have spawned powerful anti‑corruption bodies such as Albania’s Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK). While SPAK was lauded for boosting investigative capacity, its sweeping powers have led...
Beyond a Pacific Defense Pact 4: Blueprint for an Indo-Pacific Nuclear Alliance
The article proposes an Indo‑Pacific nuclear alliance that would give Australia, Japan and South Korea sovereign nuclear forces, mirroring the UK and France within NATO. Distributed deterrence, forward‑deployed submarines, aircraft and land‑based missiles would create a resilient, multi‑layered deterrent against...
From Shaheds to Strait Control: Why Iran Can Still Influence Global Trade
President Donald Trump claimed the United States had eliminated Iran’s military capability, but analysts argue the regime still possesses a sizable Shahed‑136 drone stockpile and the capacity to expand production rapidly. Russia’s wartime scaling of Shahed‑type drones demonstrates how Iran...
Beyond a Pacific Defense Pact 2: Gray Zone Campaigns and Activities Conducted by China, North Korea, and Russia in the...
Strategic competition in the Indo‑Pacific is increasingly fought in the gray zone, where China, North Korea and Russia employ hybrid tactics that fall short of open warfare. Beijing blends maritime militia, cyber espionage, economic coercion and legal “lawfare” to incrementally...
Reciprocity in Deterrence, Not Just Trade
The Pentagon’s 2025 China Military Power Report warns that China’s nuclear stockpile will exceed 1,000 warheads by 2030, while Russia continues to field tactical nuclear weapons. U.S. deterrence planning still relies on a “strategic sufficiency” model designed for a single...
Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems: A New Battlefield Reality
Technological advances and rising defense spending have accelerated development of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), which can select and engage targets without human intervention. The global autonomous weapons market, valued at $14.2 billion in 2024, is projected to more than double...
Deterrence on Layaway: A Shutdown’s Quiet Assault on American Security
The article warns that U.S. federal budget shutdowns erode national security by crippling frontline agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. More than 460 TSA officers have quit and absenteeism has risen...
Beyond a Pacific Defense Pact 3: A Nuclear Alliance as the Ultimate Backstop to Grey Zone Coercion
The article proposes a nuclear alliance between the United States and Indo‑Pacific partners as the ultimate backstop against grey‑zone coercion by China, North Korea, Russia and Iran. Grey‑zone tactics—cyber attacks, maritime harassment and limited military provocations—stay below the war threshold,...
Redefining Espionage: The Unseen War for Technological Dominance
The article argues that the resurgence of great‑power competition and the rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence have transformed espionage, forcing U.S. counterintelligence to expand beyond traditional military secrets to protect intellectual property, critical infrastructure, and the information domain. State and...
State-Sponsored Trolls as An Emerging Threat
Russian state‑sponsored troll farms, notably the Internet Research Agency, are intensifying their influence by flooding social‑media comment sections with coordinated inauthentic accounts. These bots create a manufactured consensus that triggers false consensus bias, making fringe viewpoints appear mainstream. The article...
Why Ideology Matters in Irregular Warfare
The article argues that ideology is the driving force behind modern irregular warfare, shaping the tactics of adversaries such as China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. It criticizes U.S. policymakers for treating ideology as peripheral and calls for...
Why Washington Has Turned to Pakistan—And What It Means for India
In 2025 Washington pivoted toward Pakistan, valuing its ability to deliver immediate security, economic, and diplomatic results over traditional strategic considerations. The Trump administration’s transactional style emphasizes rapid, measurable outcomes, positioning Islamabad as a "deliverable" partner through counter‑terrorism cooperation, mineral...