Geopolitics

Four years of Western sanctions, a weakened ruble, and international isolation did not change Russia’s calculus on the war. Ukraine’s drone offensive against Russia’s oil industry just might. “The picture has changed, and it changed this spring,” said Sergei Aleksashenko, former deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank, now at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre. […]

Tehran has warned the United States to keep out of the Strait of Hormuz, telling all commercial vessels they must follow routes set by Iran or face military action. The warning, issued by Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, is the latest escalation in a standoff over who controls the waterway that carries a fifth of […]

Ukraine and nine European countries have formally established the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, a joint effort to develop shared missile defense capacity for Europe, the Elysee Palace announced Monday. Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom join Ukraine in the coalition, which will support Kyiv’s Freya air defense project, […]

On July 6, China fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the South China Sea. It flew roughly 7,200 km (4,500 miles) over open water and splashed down near the Solomon Islands. Australian analysts called it “provocative.” The US State Department criticized China’s lack of transparency. Some even claimed the test was a direct response to […]

The United States has dramatically escalated its military campaign against Iran, striking around 140 targets across the country early Sunday after an Iranian attack set a Cyprus-flagged container ship ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz. The scale of the assault has sparked fears that the already-buckling ceasefire is about to collapse into full-scale war. US […]

Israeli settlers assaulted 79-year-old Ibrahim al-Jabour and his family in the village of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, the latest in an escalating wave of settler violence that has surged since the war in Gaza began. Al-Jabour described how a group of armed settlers attacked him, his children, and his grandchildren while they […]

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran that was signed with much ceremony on June 14 is collapsing. US warplanes are striking Iranian cities. Iran is attacking American bases in the Gulf. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed again. And neither side seems willing to stop. The June 14 memorandum of understanding was […]

The Trump administration has stacked the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) with industry-aligned appointees who have a range of financial conflicts of interest and stand to profit from deregulation, according to a Guardian investigation. The CSB is a small, independent federal agency created by the Clean Air Act of 1990 to investigate […]

Russian drones and missiles killed four people in Ukraine overnight, while Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine killed five, bringing the total death toll to nine in the latest round of mutual attacks. The exchange underscores a grim reality more than four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion: neither side can protect […]

Donald Trump threatened Iran with “1000 Missiles” on Saturday after the funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saw mourners openly calling for the US president’s assassination. “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on […]