Geopolitics

Ukraine has turned the Sea of Azov into a shooting gallery. Over the past four days, its naval drones have hit at least 25 Russian ships near occupied Crimea, targeting the fuel tankers that keep the Russian war machine supplied. Ukraine’s drone force commander, Robert Brovdi, call sign “Magyar”, put the number at 25 ships […]

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran lasted 22 days. What killed it was a disagreement over who controls the Strait of Hormuz, a dispute written into the June 17 memorandum of understanding in language so vague that both sides could claim it meant whatever they wanted. The MoU, signed after weeks of shuttle […]

The United Kingdom used this week’s NATO summit in Ankara to unveil a $50 billion, decade-long push to build European deep-precision strike capabilities. It is the most ambitious European missile program since the Cold War, and a direct response to the war in Ukraine. The figure is not a single contract. It is a financing […]

The Supreme Court ruled on June 25 that the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status for roughly 330,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. The work authorizations for Haitians expire on July 10. Deportations can begin immediately after. The ruling was a win for the administration’s immigration policy. It also creates a problem that lawmakers from […]

The US military struck targets across five Iranian provinces on July 8 and 9, including a location near the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Iran’s atomic energy organization confirmed that “a projectile hit inside the enclosure” of the plant at 21:08 local time. The plant itself was not damaged, according to Iranian officials. No casualties were […]

The Pentagon has the most ambitious artificial intelligence strategy in its history. It just cannot pay for it. The January 2026 Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the Department of War calls for transforming the military into an “AI-first warfighting force” through seven flagship projects, swarm drones, AI-powered planning tools, autonomous platforms and a generative AI platform […]

Ukraine has a theory of victory. It does not involve recapturing all occupied territory in a single decisive battle. It involves making Russia unable to continue the war. The strategy, developed by former Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk and laid out in a 2025 Carnegie Endowment paper, is built on three axes: sever supply lines to […]

President Donald Trump flew from the NATO summit in Ankara back to England on July 8 aboard the older VC-25A Air Force One, not the new Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 he arrived in. The switch was unexpected. Trump had unveiled the Qatari jet, a 14-year-old Boeing 747-8 formerly operated by Qatar’s royal family, with great fanfare […]

The ceasefire lasted less than a month. President Donald Trump declared the US-Iran agreement “over” on July 8 during the NATO summit in Ankara. Hours later, the US military carried out a second wave of strikes against Iranian positions, larger than the first. “I believe the 60-day ceasefire with Iran is ‘over,'” Trump told reporters. […]

President Donald Trump announced on July 8 that the United States will grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors domestically. “We’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots,” Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a bilateral meeting at the NATO summit in Ankara. “That’s pretty cool. This way, you […]