Delimitation After Defeat: India’s Unfinished Debate Over Representation

Carnegie Endowment | Louise Tillin, Milan Vaishnav, Andy Robaina

India's government recently failed to pass three bills aimed at addressing the country's long-standing delimitation issue, intensifying the debate over parliamentary representation. Since the last reapportionment in 1971, India's population has surged by nearly 1 billion, leading to significant malapportionment where northern states are underrepresented and southern states are overrepresented.

India’s GDP revisions explained: what changed and why it matters

360info  |  Pranav Trigunayat

India has revised its economic growth measurement methodology after a decade, updating the GDP computation base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23. This revision, delayed by GST rollout in 2017 and COVID-19, follows a previous controversial update in 2015.

Marco Rubio Goes to India in Repair Mode

Council on Foreign Relations  |  Sadanand Dhume

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits India from May 23–26 to repair relations that have significantly deteriorated over the past year, despite earlier optimism in April 2025.

GHQ’s Moment

FrameTheGlobeNews 

Bangladesh's GDP per capita surpassed Pakistan's around 2020, a significant economic milestone that occurred without public announcement or diplomatic incident, as indicated by an IMF chart. This quiet shift highlights a stark contrast with the perception of Pakistan's military, referred to as GHQ, which the article implies maintains a strong international standing and operational success abroad.

Hellscape Taiwan: Drones, Deterrence, and the Future of Asymmetric Defense

Irregular Warfare Podcast

Taiwan could deter or potentially defeat a Chinese invasion by transforming the Taiwan Strait into an "unmanned hellscape" through advanced asymmetric defense strategies. This approach, anchored in the recent CNAS report "Hellscape for Taiwan: Rethinking Asymmetric Defense," explores the critical role of drones and autonomous systems.

Opinion – The Need for a More Assertive Diplomatic Stance from China on Iran

E-International Relations  |  Sergio Villarroel

Iran's conflict with the United States and Israel has devolved into a stalemate, with both the U.S. and Israel facing significant challenges and diplomatic isolation. China, despite extensive economic ties with Iran, including 80% of its oil exports, maintains a passive diplomatic stance.

Opinion | Why the world needs China to save more, not less

South China Morning Post | Jeffrey D. Sachs

The G7 economists and IMF's April report incorrectly prescribe that China's current account surplus is excessive and should be cut by boosting consumption. The world economy, particularly emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), benefits from China's high saving, which is exported as net capital outflows, increasing China's financial claims globally.

A U.S. Campaign to Exploit Beijing’s Weaknesses

Center for Strategic and International Studies  |  Nicholas Harrington

The United States must pursue an invigorated hybrid warfare campaign to exploit the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) enduring vulnerabilities, aiming to keep China too weak, distracted, or insecure to dominate East Asia. This offensive strategy capitalizes on the CCP's prioritization of narratives over facts, endemic corruption, excessive strongman rule under Xi Jinping, paranoia about U.S. intentions, and limited international allies.

Pegged and Burning

FrameTheGlobeNews

Washington and Tel Aviv dedicated three years to war-gaming potential military action against Iran, meticulously planning strike sequences and identifying critical targets like Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan for bunker-busting operations. This extensive strategic preparation, however, constituted a fundamental miscalculation by Washington concerning Iran, exacerbated by the 'Dollar Chain' and its profound economic implications.

The War Against Iran Has Weakened the US in the Great Power Competition

E-International Relations  |  Bülent Gökay

The US-Israeli war against Iran, initiated by President Donald Trump on February 28, has caused significant global economic disruptions by closing the Straits of Hormuz, impacting 20% of worldwide oil and natural gas transport, leading to surging fuel prices, increased electricity costs, and disruptions to critical supplies like fertilizers and semiconductors, severely affecting Asia-Pacific and African nations. The conflict accelerates US hegemony's decline by draining resources, creating a power vacuum for China to expand influence via diplomacy.

Beyond AI: What the Pentagon is missing with its trimmed ‘critical technologies’ list

The Bulletin | Julie George

The Defense Department recently announced it was paring down its list of "critical technology areas" from 14 to six, focusing on applied artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, contested logistics, quantum and battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy, and scaled hypersonics. While this streamlining aims to concentrate funding, the Pentagon's approach risks creating significant blind spots by disproportionately investing in AI, which already attracts substantial private capital, while neglecting other vital technologies.

The Gift That Keeps Taking

Frame The Globe

Barack Obama’s Presidential Center is reportedly causing significant community displacement in Chicago, particularly within the area surrounding Jackson Park. This development, characterized by the article as "The Gift That Keeps Taking," is allegedly financed by a network of "oligarch donors." The project's impact is centered on Jackson Park, a substantial 550-acre lakefront green expanse situated at Chicago's southeastern edge.

Opinion – It’s Time to Restore Back-Channel Diplomacy

E-International Relations  |  Jiachen Shi

Donald Trump's approach to U.S. foreign policy, characterized by "maximum publicity" and brinkmanship, has reduced diplomacy to a "geopolitical meme war," prioritizing spectacle over careful, discreet negotiations. This has led to a call for the United States to restore back-channel diplomacy, minimizing officials, operating away from public pressure, and delaying publicity until outcomes are secured.

Estimating the Effects on the UK of State Information, Influence, and Interference Threats Using Digital Disinformation, Distortion, and Deception

CREST Research | Martin Innes, Isabella Orpen, James Ashford

The UK lacks an adequate methodology for estimating foreign state information, influence, and interference (III) threats, a gap this research addresses by focusing on Russian digital disinformation operations. These include the Internet Research Agency's post-2017 terror attack amplification and the Social Design Agency's Doppelganger campaign.

Military Strategy Magazine, Spring 2026, v. 11, no. 1

 Military Strategy Magazine, Spring 2026, v. 11, no. 1 

On Defense and Offense: Revisiting Clausewitz, Mao Zedong and Thucydides

Beyond Random Acts of Touching: Six Core Pillars on How to Think About Security Cooperation

Can Clausewitz’s “Center of Gravity” Survive the Digital Age?

The Trafalgar Imperative: Why the USAF Must Innovate or Stagnate

Extended Nuclear Deterrence Strategy

Military Leadership In the 18th Century: Lessons for Strategic Leadership, Strategy, and Statesmanship Today

Once Trump’s Co-Pilot Against Iran, Netanyahu Is Now a Mere Passenger

The New York Times  |  David M. Halbfinger, Ronen Bergman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a key partner with President Trump in the lead-up to the February 28 attack on Iran, has been significantly sidelined from subsequent U.S.-Iran truce talks, a humbling setback with significant risks for Israel. Weeks after Netanyahu predicted a joint U.S.-Israeli strike could lead to the Islamic Republic's demise, Israeli leaders were cut almost entirely out of the loop by the Trump administration, forcing them to gather intelligence through regional contacts and their own surveillance from inside the Iranian regime.

Among Democrats, support for Israel is crumbling – with major implications

The Christian Science Monitor | Simon Montlake

Democratic support for Israel is dramatically crumbling, a significant shift evident in primary campaigns nationwide and potentially leading to major U.S.-Israel policy changes if the party gains congressional control. A New York Times-Siena poll found only 24% of Democrats support additional aid to Israel, with 68% opposing, and 57% sympathizing more with Palestinians.

How Ukraine Found the Cards To Win, Without Help From the U.S.

Time |Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, William B. Taylor, Cedric Leighton and Steven Tian

Ukraine has demonstrated significant strategic gains against Russia, primarily through its ingenuity in drone technology and exploiting Russia's faltering economy, despite reduced U.S. assistance. Ukrainian-designed drones are systematically striking high-value military and industrial targets over 1,000 kilometers inside Russia, including aviation bases, electronic component plants, and critical energy infrastructure like Lukoil platforms and refineries in Saratov and Tuapse, bypassing restrictions on Western missiles.

Timeline of Ukraine Invasion: War In The Black Sea

H I Sutton

The Russo-Ukraine War in the Black Sea has seen significant naval engagements and strategic shifts since January 2022. Russia initially built up forces in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, deploying warships and bombers, and capturing Snake Island on February 24, 2022, while declaring a navigation prohibition.

Salt and Consequence

FrameTheGlobeNews

The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently convened an emergency session in Paris, announcing the largest coordinated oil release in its fifty-year history, totaling 400 million barrels.

‘Disposable’ operatives for hire are a new menace for western countries

The Guardian | Jason Burke

Mohammed Saad Baqer al-Saadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi commander of Iran-linked Kataib Hezbollah, was charged in New York with planning attacks on Jewish community sites in the US, revealing a new, alarming trend of "terrorism as a service." His detention in Turkey exposed Iran's efforts to use "disposable" operatives for hire, linked to 18 attacks in Europe and the UK, including firebombings of synagogues and community centers, and a stabbing in Golders Green. Hostile secret services, notably Iran and Russia, are now recruiting individuals via social media and encrypted platforms for minimal payments, often using cryptocurrency, to commit acts of terror without requiring ideological commitment.

A Cold Shower for the AI Mania

Project Syndicate  |  Raghuram G. Rajan

Generative AI tools, despite their rapid improvements and demonstrated ability to outperform humans across numerous tasks, may not warrant the market's current euphoria, particularly as AI firms increasingly resort to debt financing. This financial trend necessitates a careful consideration of potential risks and what could go wrong.

With viral ‘Lego’ videos, Iran stakes claim as a propaganda power player

Christian Science Monitor  |  Scott Peterson, Caitlin Babcock

Iran is leveraging viral Lego-style videos to disseminate polished propaganda globally, particularly targeting U.S. social media feeds with anti-war, pro-Iran messages. These videos portray President Donald Trump as a war criminal involved in a conflict on Israel's behalf, following the joint U.S.-Israeli military attack on Iran that commenced on Feb. 28.

Hellscape Defense in Taiwan: Would It Work?

Modern War Institute | Wes Hutto

Admiral Samuel Paparo's proposed "hellscape" strategy for Taiwan's defense, involving mass adoption of low-cost uninhabited systems, aims to deter a Chinese invasion by creating a multi-layered robotic defense across the Taiwan Strait. This strategy outlines four operational tiers to attrit invading forces from eighty kilometers out to the beaches.

The Nuclear Brink Revisited: Assessing Coercive Diplomacy in Iran

E-International Relations | Martina Sprague

Iran's nuclear program significantly accelerated in the months leading up to the 12-Day War in June 2025, with its uranium stockpile reaching 408.6 kilograms of 60 percent purity by May 17, 2025, despite ongoing diplomatic efforts. This surge, coupled with expanded operations and advanced centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow, drastically reduced breakout time, culminating in U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.