2 January 2026

The Audit 2025 - Part 2 Lawrence looks at what he got right and wrong

Lawrence Freedman

I follow Sam’s end of year audit with one of my own. For those interested here are my previous ones from 2022, 2023, and 2024. One purpose is to see what I have got right and wrong but I also find it useful to look at how themes developed during the year and what this might suggest for the coming year.

While on occasion I post on positive developments by and large my posts deal with war. I have written about several this year, including the DRC and Rwanda as well as India and Pakistan. One of my regrets is that I did not get round to the war in Sudan. Nor have I looked at what is going on between the Trump administration and Venezuela, or for that matter Cambodia and Thailand. I turned to Gaza a few times, although neglected it during the spring. I also spent time on the short fight between Israel and Iran in June, in which the US briefly joined in. I have said hardly anything about China, other than in connection with tariffs, although it could be seen as the geopolitical winner for 2025. My focus has been Euro-centric, with the majority of my posts concerned with the Russo-Ukrainian War and the efforts by the Trump administration to bring it to a close.

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