Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar phoned U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on June 12 to register a "strong protest" regarding the killing of three Indian seafarers. These individuals died during U.S. strikes in the Gulf of Oman on June 9, while they were aboard the Palau-flagged tanker _Settebello_.
Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, the Taliban's acting defense minister, signed a military-technical cooperation agreement with Russia on May 27 near Moscow, aiming to repair and maintain Russian-made weapons systems in Afghanistan. This deal, described as pragmatic and interest-based, seeks to boost the Taliban's military capabilities and deter Pakistan amidst heightened cross-border tensions.
Five years after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country faces a worsening humanitarian crisis, restrictive policies, and conflict with Pakistan. The current U.S. policy of isolation has failed to temper Taliban governance or advance U.S. objectives, allowing China, Russia, and Iran to expand regional influence through strategic investments.
The U.S. Defense Department recently announced that Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) will revert to its original name, Pacific Command (PACOM), signaling a broader strategic shift. This Hawaii-based headquarters, responsible for U.S. armed forces across the Pacific and eastern Indian oceans, cited honoring historical roots for the change. However, this move also aligns with U.S.
President Donald Trump announced a US deal with Iran on Sunday, declaring the "opening" of the Strait of Hormuz and urging ships to resume oil flow. However, BBC Verify analysis of MarineTraffic data shows only seven vessels have passed through the waterway since the announcement, with approximately 580 ships waiting in the Gulf.
The United States is currently re-evaluating its global leadership role, facing a period described as "after hegemony" where it seeks to manage the international system with reduced burdens. Historically, U.S. foreign policy balanced material interests like security and prosperity with ideological commitments to liberty, evolving from an aloof grand strategy to active global engagement.
A Senate committee has adopted an amendment from Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, aimed at requiring "ultimate human responsibility" in the use of force within AI-powered kill chains. This measure codifies the 2023 Defense Department policy, Directive 3000.09, which mandates human oversight for autonomous weapons systems. The amendment directly challenges President Donald Trump's June 5 memorandum, which sought to "eliminate unnecessary barriers to rapid deployment" of AI and update Directive 3000.09
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Operation Epic Fury against Iran, launched on February 28, achieved no strategic gains, despite his declared victory. The U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlines negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, a 60-day oil export waiver for Iran, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
George Kennan, in a September 2002 interview, cautioned against the U.S. intervention in Iraq, emphasizing war's unpredictable momentum and criticizing the Bush administration's rationale. Kennan, a steadfast realist, urged against U.S. overreach, disputing claims of Iraqi WMD proliferation to terrorists as "pathetically unsupportive," and noting Israel's nuclear capability as a deterrent.
U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to launch a campaign against Iran has resulted in a strategic calamity for Washington, which the author argues is far greater than the U.S. defeat in the Vietnam War. This "Gulf war," a war of choice, has led to a reversal that, despite its speed and remoteness, marks a significant strategic disaster.
The US ceasefire agreement with Iran has created a significant political crisis for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, undermining the three core tenets of his career. The deal has sidelined him from his key US ally, left Iran in a stronger position, and demands Israel cease attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon months before an Israeli general election.
The US-Iran memorandum, signed Monday, establishes a 60-day framework, not a peace deal, with a significant flaw: Israel's national security minister declared the nation is not bound by it, posing a risk that Israel or Hezbollah could restart the war. Pakistan mediated this agreement, which includes an immediate and permanent cessation of military operations, functioning as a ceasefire.
Israel is reportedly developing a strategic plan aimed at countering a potential peace deal between the United States, under a future Trump administration, and Iran. This initiative underscores Israel's determination to preserve its operational independence and maintain control over its national security decisions, particularly concerning regional threats. The proposed plan seeks to ensure that Israel retains the ability to act unilaterally, or in alignment with its own strategic interests, rather than being constrained by external diplomatic frameworks or agreements that it perceives as detrimental to its security.
The Russian war against Ukraine has dramatically evolved into positional warfare, with drones dominating tactical, deep, and rear battlespace realms. The United States is closely monitoring this evolution to learn and prepare for future conflicts, recognizing a revolution in military affairs and scaling its drone capabilities. Ukrainian forces, facing numerical inferiority, rapidly innovated their defense industry, employing small strike First Person View (FPV) drones for precise tactical attacks against armor and artillery.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) report, ‘Mapping Risk and Resilience in the Global Illicit Gold Economy’, assesses security, governance, and economic risks associated with illicit gold production and trafficking. It benchmarks vulnerabilities and preparedness in ten gold-producing countries across the Amazon basin, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, including Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mali, Myanmar, Peru, the Philippines, and Sudan.
Management thought has experienced a quiet stagnation since the turn of the millennium, contrasting sharply with the post-war to 1990s 'golden age' that produced influential thinkers like Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, and Edgar Schein. This decline stems from hyper-specialization in academia, favoring incremental research over bold conceptual work, and the dominance of shareholder value maximization which reduced strategy to financial engineering.
The First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, convened by Colombia and the Netherlands in Santa Marta, marked a significant shift in climate governance, bringing together 57 countries and diverse stakeholders. This initiative signals growing impatience with multilateral climate negotiations, which have been hampered by geopolitical tensions and fossil fuel interests, leading to a “multilateral zombie” COP process.
The global rush towards green hydrogen, championed as a climate solution, faces a critical paradox: its production demands significant water, creating severe regional water crises. Producing a single kilogram of green hydrogen requires 20-30 liters of raw water, yet optimal renewable energy regions like North Africa and the Middle East are severely water-stressed.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a peace deal on Truth Social, stating it would “fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade” after Iran shut the strait in early March. This declaration, following numerous contradictory announcements, creates significant uncertainty for ships trapped in the Persian Gulf.
The recent disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has shifted the understanding of energy security, moving beyond merely restoring maritime traffic to recognizing the lasting impact on how governments, businesses, and markets assess risk around critical global routes. This prolonged disruption revealed that a determined regional actor can generate global economic and strategic consequences without fully closing the waterway, challenging the previous assumption that any disruption would be temporary.
NATO recently conducted a three-day exercise in Bydgoszcz, Poland, simulating a multi-domain crisis combining cyberattacks on critical infrastructure with AI-generated disinformation campaigns. Hosted by the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC), the exercise exposed significant weaknesses in NATO's preparedness for AI-enabled hybrid warfare, despite teams successfully defending critical infrastructure in two of three scenarios.
President Donald Trump announced a US deal with Iran on Sunday, declaring the "opening" of the Strait of Hormuz and urging global shipping to resume. Despite this, BBC Verify analysis shows only seven vessels have passed through the critical waterway since the announcement, with as many as 580 ships waiting in the Gulf.
The U.S. conduct of the war on Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, lacks strategic coherence and attention to lessons from other conflicts, despite a 2015 accord and last year's Operation Midnight Hammer having already severely damaged Iran’s nuclear facilities and potentially entombed highly enriched uranium. The article argues that if the goal was further nuclear setback, it was unnecessary, and if regime change, it was beyond reach, as Iran's hardliners remain in power, bolstered by the militant Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The UN "Informal Exchanges on AI in the Military Domain" will convene in Geneva from June 15 to June 17, 2026, stemming from a resolution supported by 167 countries at the 80th UN General Assembly. Tabled by the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea, this marks the most formal UN process on military AI governance, despite its "informal" designation precluding public recordings or deliverables beyond a factual summary.
A 60-day ceasefire agreement between Iran and the United States has been reached, but it does not end the ongoing war, instead setting the stage for negotiations on major issues. These talks will be profoundly shaped by internal political divisions within the United States, Israel, and Iran. In the U.S., President Donald Trump faces substantial disagreement over the war's economic cost and justification, with public pressure mounting.
The U.S. Marine Corps faces critical challenges in adapting to 21st-century warfare and sustaining its Stand-in Force (SIF) in the Indo-Pacific against China's anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) network. The Corps' Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations concept positions forward-postured Marines within the First Island Chain (FIC) across Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines for reconnaissance and land-based sea denial, utilizing systems like NMESIS to interdict the PLA Navy.
Japan is adapting its layered air- and missile-defense architecture to address an increasingly complex threat environment, including plans to protect remote areas and bolster its ability to counter hypersonic glide vehicles. At the March 2026 summit, United States President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae agreed to strengthen missile-defense cooperation, aiming to rapidly increase SM-3 Block IIA missile production in Japan fourfold.
The officer's dilemma centers on balancing the obligation to obey orders with the responsibility to judge their legality, legitimacy, and integrity. In November 2025, Senator Mark Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers issued a video reminding military personnel they can refuse illegal orders, generating controversy over its timing and vagueness, which critics feared could undermine discipline.
A proposal for a U.S. Cyber Force to operate without enlisted personnel is generating debate among experts and lawmakers, despite a recent Senate Armed Services Committee vote against creating such a service. The Commission on Cyber Force Generation, led by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, recommends a 20,000 Active-Duty, 3,000-5,000 National Guard, and 6,000 civilian Cyber Force composed solely of commissioned and warrant officers.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, announced on June 14, 2026, that the US and Iran had agreed on a deal to end their war, to be signed on June 19 in Switzerland. US President Donald Trump declared it a triumph, noting the Strait of Hormuz is open and the blockade lifted, but omitted Iran's nuclear program and enriched uranium stockpile.
India faces a critical decision regarding its Chabahar Port project in Iran after the US revoked a sanctions waiver on April 26, 2026, compelling India to wind down operations. Despite recent warming US-India ties, including a critical minerals framework and an invitation for PM Narendra Modi to the White House, New Delhi must advocate for Chabahar's exemption.
The May 2025 meeting between President Donald Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping in Beijing highlighted a critical minerals chokepoint, following global tariffs and China's rare earth export controls that severely impacted US, Japanese, and European automakers. China dominates 30 of 44 critical minerals, holding over 70% market share and 93% of magnet manufacturing, leveraging this control through measures like the foreign direct product rule.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently reverted the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) to U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) on June 16, 2024, despite unchanged command boundaries. This change follows the 2018 renaming by Jim Mattis, which aimed to reflect Indo-Pacific interconnectivity and signal U.S. intent to contest China's Belt and Road Initiative.
The Trump administration considered imposing export controls on Anthropic weeks before compelling the company to take its latest and most advanced artificial intelligence model offline. This action followed a dispute over Anthropic's sharing of its technology with a firm suspected of having ties to China, shattering the White House’s trust.
The Trump administration's approach to AI has been erratic, despite President Trump's stated goal to accelerate the AI industry and beat China. Last week, Anthropic released Fable 5, an advanced AI system, which is an updated public version of Claude Mythos Preview. Mythos Preview was initially restricted to cybersecurity partners due to its hacking capabilities, but Anthropic developed guardrails and conducted third-party testing, including with the U.S.