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Defense

Coverage of military posture, weapons systems, defense industrial base, and the evolution of modern warfare and force structure.

The Alliance That Cannot Win

The Alliance That Cannot Win

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have formed a mutual defense pact, expelled Western forces, and invited Russian contractors. The result is not victory over jihadists but accelerating state failure—and that may be precisely the point.

The Venezuela Deployment: Why America's Mismatch Is the Message

The Venezuela Deployment: Why America's Mismatch Is the Message

The USS Gerald R. Ford sits off Venezuela with enough firepower to destroy but not enough forces to occupy. This gap between capability and intent reveals Washington's true objectives—and their limits.

When the Network Goes Dark: Starlink's Vulnerability and the Future of Western Military Power

When the Network Goes Dark: Starlink's Vulnerability and the Future of Western Military Power

Russia's growing ability to jam SpaceX's satellite constellation threatens not just Ukraine's battlefield communications but the entire architecture of American and NATO military operations from Eastern Europe to the Pacific.

The Sahel's Sovereignty Mirage: Russia, Juntas, and the Limits of Liberation

The Sahel's Sovereignty Mirage: Russia, Juntas, and the Limits of Liberation

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have expelled French forces, quit ECOWAS, and embraced Russian mercenaries in the name of sovereignty. But their Alliance of Sahel States has outsourced enforcement to a partner with no interest in their success—only their perpetual dependence.

China's Silo Fields and the End of Nuclear Primacy

China's Silo Fields and the End of Nuclear Primacy

Beijing's 250 new missile silos near Mongolia have accomplished their strategic purpose before a single warhead launches: demonstrating that China cannot be disarmed. The era of American nuclear primacy has ended, and no treaty framework exists to manage what comes next.

The Window That Won't Close: Russia's Shadow Fleet and NATO's Undersea Vulnerability

The Window That Won't Close: Russia's Shadow Fleet and NATO's Undersea Vulnerability

Russia's shadow fleet has spent years mapping NATO's undersea cables and pipelines in the Baltic and North Sea. The intelligence is collected. The targets are known. In a crisis, the vulnerability window—measured in weeks of degraded communications and months of repairs—favors the attacker. NATO...

The Sahel's Hollow Alliance: Why Russian Backing Cannot Save Africa's Juntas

The Sahel's Hollow Alliance: Why Russian Backing Cannot Save Africa's Juntas

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger expelled Western forces and embraced Moscow's Africa Corps. Eighteen months later, jihadist violence has surged 190% since 2021. The juntas may survive. Their states may not.

The Decibel Countdown: China's Submarine Weakness and the Taiwan Window

The Decibel Countdown: China's Submarine Weakness and the Taiwan Window

Chinese submarines remain dangerously loud—detectable by sensors designed to exploit their acoustic signatures. As allied underwater surveillance networks mature faster than Chinese quieting technology improves, Beijing faces a narrowing window where undersea weakness constrains Taiwan options....

The Deterrent That Became a Target

The Deterrent That Became a Target

China's missile arsenal can now threaten every American base in the Western Pacific. The forces meant to prevent war may instead invite the opening salvo of one. Washington faces choices it has spent decades avoiding.

What Breaks First as the Sahel's Security Collapse Spreads to Coastal West Africa?

What Breaks First as the Sahel's Security Collapse Spreads to Coastal West Africa?

The crisis spreading from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger will not arrive at the coast as an invasion. It will come as school absences, shifting market inventories, and the quiet death of institutional legitimacy. Understanding the sequence reveals which interventions might still work—and which...

The Wires Beneath the Waves: How Submarine Cables Became the Pacific's Contested Terrain

The Wires Beneath the Waves: How Submarine Cables Became the Pacific's Contested Terrain

Taiwan experiences seven to eight cable breaks annually, most linked to China. The pattern reveals how submarine cables have transformed from neutral infrastructure into strategic terrain where great powers contest the physical substrate of the digital world.

The Fragile Thread: Australia's Pacific Communications in a Taiwan Crisis

The Fragile Thread: Australia's Pacific Communications in a Taiwan Crisis

Ninety-seven percent of Pacific data flows through cables China could sever in hours. Australia's island partnerships depend on infrastructure designed for peacetime efficiency, not wartime resilience. The window to build redundancy is closing faster than procurement timelines assume.