(Photo Source: NATO) The ongoing war in Ukraine has not only shattered decades of peace in Europe but has also challenged the assumption that defense budgets can continually be reduced. With the potential re-election of Donald Trump, known for his skepticism towards NATO and his isolationist foreign policy, concerns about
The rapid escalation of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure highlights an urgent need for a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity, reminiscent of the civil defense strategies developed during and after World War II. In response to the growing threats in cyberspace, the concept of Cyber Civil Defense has emerged, advocating a
Even though political and economic sanctions following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine have led to a recent decline in the Russian arms trade, in recent years the African market continues to thrive. Arms sales and military cooperation with many African countries remain Moscow’s strategic priorities. For instance, Russia has forged
The advent of hypersonic technology may well redefine the limits of military power, and Russia’s recent deployment of a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile (HCM; a model also known as an HSM) over Ukraine may have opened a new chapter in the annals of modern combat. On Feb. 7, during its
On December 10th, firebrand populist libertarian Javier Milei was inaugurated as president of Argentina. President Milei promised to take Argentina away from the bloc of left-wing nationalist governments that have dominated Latin American politics for the last two decades and are close to China. Milei wants his country to get
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched “Al-Aqsa Flood,” an operation within Israeli territory. Subsequent developments heightened the risk of escalating the military conflict between Israel and Hamas into a regional conflict that could engulf the entire Middle East. Thereupon, the United States as a global power dispatched two aircraft carrier
Since the start of the Hamas-Israeli war last October, the Houthis – the Zaydi Shia armed group belonging that controls northern Yemen – has emerged as a crucial and threatening regional actor. Ironically, this has happened three years after their removal from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. First,
After two coups in both Burkina Faso and Mali in the past three years and another coup in Guinea in 2021, Niger became the latest West African country to succumb to a coup in July. Like the other coups, the one in Niger was relatively bloodless and involved military generals
In the summer of 2023, it looked for a moment that West Africa was at risk of a regional inter-state war of the sorts it had not seen since the 1990s. After a group of military officers overthrew the democratically elected president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, in late July, the
The meeting between President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in San Francisco has been the diplomatic event of the year. Xi and Biden didn’t come out of their conversation empty-handed, and while it seems that after San Francisco, the relationship between Beijing
Al-Shabaab’s resurgence in the past year is evidenced by the group’s continued attacks on targets ranging from tourists and government officials at beachside hotels, to African Union (AU) soldiers at military bases, to ambushes and assassinations of Somali soldiers and politicians. At the same time, al-Shabaab is no longer actively
In this Orion Talks conversation, Dr. Colin Clarke discusses the implications of the killing of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the Wagner Group, for the group’s future and its relationship with the Russian regime. He explains how the turmoil surrounding the Wagner may influence the group’s operations and
