Geopolitics & international affairs
Russian soldiers keep fighting not because they are paid well, but because they believe what they are told. A study of 1,060 Russian prisoners of war, conducted by the LingvaLexa research group and Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, found that 68 percent of captured Russian troops view the war as “legitimate” and “justified.” Nearly half showed signs […]
Two countries on opposite sides of Eurasia are building a defense industry partnership driven by a shared threat: China. Taiwan and Poland have been quietly converging on drone technology. The partnership, documented in a July 2026 interview with Dorota Maczuga of the Taiwan-EU platform Polylocal, represents a significant shift in how middle-tier powers are responding […]
When Iran struck US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait this week, the missiles were aimed at American forces. But the damage will be felt across the entire Gulf region. The renewed escalation began after President Donald Trump declared the US-Iran ceasefire “over” during the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8. “To me, I […]
More than a million mourners packed the streets of Najaf, Iraq, on July 8 for the funeral procession of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The crowds were so dense that the six-kilometer route through the holy city took hours to complete. The numbers from Iraqi authorities were staggering. Hashd al-Shaabi, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, […]
More than half a million Russians filed for personal bankruptcy in 2025, according to a European intelligence report reviewed by Reuters. The figure represents a jump of nearly one-third from the previous year. Over 97 percent of cases were initiated by debtors themselves, people who could no longer pay what they owed. The numbers are […]
The numbers are significant. NATO allies pledged €70 billion in military aid for Ukraine at their summit in Ankara on July 8. Spread across two years, that is €140 billion, around $160 billion. European leaders called it a historic show of unity. A closer look reveals a different story. At least 40 percent of the […]
The United States is preparing for cyber conflict with a military structure that treats cyberspace as a secondary function. That is not a criticism. It is a structural fact, documented in a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The US has soldiers for land, […]
ANKARA – President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran “over” on Wednesday, launching an angry broadside from the NATO summit stage in which he called Iranian leaders “scum” and accused them of destroying any chance of a negotiated end to hostilities. The declaration, reported by multiple outlets including The Guardian and Al Jazeera, follows […]
ANKARA. Twelve NATO allies, led by Britain, have announced a £37 billion ($50 billion) project to develop a new long-range missile system called Deep Precision Strike, capable of hitting targets up to 2,012 km (1,250 miles) away with pinpoint accuracy. The announcement, made at the NATO summit in Ankara, is being billed as one of […]
DHARAMSHALA, The 14th Dalai Lama turned 91 on July 6. The birthday was celebrated quietly in the Himalayan exile town of Dharamshala, where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959. But the question of what comes after him is the subject of an increasingly open battle between India and China, a contest not just […]
