Emerging Risks

Crisis is brewing yet again in the intrinsically antagonistic relations between Russia and Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin seeks to harvest richer political dividends from it than he did half a year ago. The apparent buildup of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border follows much the same pattern; Moscow’s denials of easily detectable parks of military hardware are as categorical …

Russian President Vladimir Putin is an expert at bluffing and keeping the West on its toes, pushing relations to the edge before pivoting without warning. However, hemmed in and fuming, he is deadly serious about being heard on Ukraine. Those close to the Kremlin said that the Russian president does not want to start another war in Ukraine. Still, he must show he is ready to fight if necessary in order to stop what he sees as an existential security threat: the creeping expansion of the NATO in a country that for centuries had been part of Russia. After years of disillusionment

A resolute policy of confrontation now is the United States’ best hope of eventually convincing Beijing to change course and put us on a path toward a genuinely competitive and cooperative future.

Nov 27, 2021 // In their rhetoric as well as in their military investment, training, and deployment decisions, China and Russia have both clearly signaled their aggressive strategic intentions. The task now is to ensure that their misguided militarism does not upend longstanding security arrangements in East Asia and Europe, writes Carl Bildt.

MANILA – In The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, the historian Paul Kennedy argued that “there is [often] a noticeable ‘lag time’ between the trajectory of a state’s relative economic stren…

The boss of the world's largest fertiliser producer says gas prices are responsible for higher food prices.

Iranians couldn’t buy gas. Israelis found their intimate dating details posted online. The Iran-Israel shadow war is now hitting ordinary citizens.

Russia's defence minister on Tuesday accused U.S. bombers of rehearsing a nuclear strike on Russia from two different directions earlier this month and complained that the planes had come within 20 km (12.4 miles) of the Russian border.

Kit Knightly Audio Version New Feature! Yesterday the WHO labelled the sars-cov-2 variant B.1.1.529 as a “variant of concern” and officially named it “Omicron”. This was as …

News Analysis Kiribati is dumping a 158,000-square-mile World Heritage marine reserve, the Pacific Islands Forum, and its friendship ...

Three new laws may be planting the seed for ‘hot’ territorial conflicts in the future.

As hospitals, universities and tech companies struggle to fill highly-skilled positions, Iranian smugglers say business is booming

Smaller menaces are throwing their weight around more brazenly than ever before

Russia is probing the entire “grey zone” between NATO’s eastern border and Russia’s western border: not just Ukraine and Belarus, but also Moldova and the Caucasus republics.

The nuclear situation in East Asia is more nuanced than the actions of a single nation.

As winter approaches, Putin has inordinate leverage over Europe’s energy market

From Waukesha to New York, lax bail assures homicides.

Haunted by the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian president is using the pandemic, the climate crisis, migration and looming conflict to turn chaos into power.

Threats from Russia and China, a weaker US security alliance and internal discord expose fundamental strategic weaknesses

The Russian president may not want to start a war, but he must show he’s ready to fight to stop what he sees as an existential security threat.

Carl Bildt thinks Chinese and Russian saber-rattling should be viewed as part of a broader strategic threat.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy says there is evidence of ‘coup d’état’ being planned for early December

The Russian buildup of troops near Ukraine has triggered the worst fears of a major Russian military incursion since 2014.

Washington is on edge as Russia's military buildup threatens a confrontation, with fears escalating following reports that U.S. intelligence shows Russian forces preparing to push into Ukraine.

Millions of citizens long ago concluded that professional sports, academia, and entertainment were no longer disinterested institutions, but far Left and...

In The Australian newspaper on Monday, Hugh White gave us a picture of democratic defeat in the face of overwhelming Chinese dominance should war break out over Taiwan. ‘Going to war with China,’ he says, ...

The fact that war can be fought in so many ways in the 21st century might reduce the need for actual military conflict.

Part one of Sky News Australia’s documentary – China Rising – delves into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s mission to topple the United States and become the w...

As Iran's nuclear programme forges ahead, some see Israel running out of options to thwart it.

NATO countries say Russia’s military movements threaten Kyiv, though Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans remain unclear.