Understanding Russia’s Role in Latin America

Rand | Elina Treyger, Samantha Perez Davila

Russia maintains active engagement across Latin America and the Caribbean despite facing sweeping international isolation and stretched resources following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Deepening diplomatic and strategic ties with key regional partners help Moscow marshal Global South support for its anti-Western vision and unlawful territorial claims.

This regional activism demonstrates that ongoing military commitments do not preclude Moscow from projecting influence far from home. Opportunistic diplomatic maneuvers across the Western Hemisphere concurrently challenge U.S. security interests. Washington must consequently evaluate these regional activities holistically alongside concurrent Chinese and Iranian influence. Comprehensive threat assessments must also account for direct connections between hemispheric developments and domestic U.S. security. Policymakers face compounding strategic friction as Moscow leverages bilateral partnerships to counter Western pressure.

Why Is Russia Not Bombing Kiev Into Oblivion?

Zlatti 71

Russian military forces deployed in Ukraine field over 600,000 troops, thousands of tanks, and advanced missile stockpiles while launching up to 144 strike drones per day. Moscow's strategic adaptation centers on industrial-scale drone production, deep artillery superiority firing up to 20,000 shells daily, and modernized precision systems designed to defeat Western air defenses.

This massive conventional capacity raises strategic questions regarding why Russian forces have not leveled the Ukrainian capital. Instead of total urban destruction, Russian high-command operations leverage weapons like the Iskander-M, hypersonic Kinzhal, and Mach 10 Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile as tactical instruments and strategic signaling mechanisms against European NATO allies. Russian tactics favor long-term attrition over rapid total destruction. Meanwhile, domestic factories like Uralvagonzavod produce 300 T-90M Proryv tanks annually, outstripping European industrial output. Consequently, Western air defenses struggle against retuned Iskander guidance software, while Russian forces continue leveraging economic resilience and weaponized mass to wear down Ukrainian positions.

Military Review, September-October 2026, v. 106, no. 5

  Military Review, September-October 2026, v. 106, no. 5 

• The Benning Revolution 2.0: Upgrading Army PME to Close the Adaptation Gap
• Command Without Control: Mission Command in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
• The Army’s Work-Life Balance Problem: Research with Senior Leaders
• Thinking Differently About Army Suicide: A Social Diagnosis
• When Delivery Success Fails: Why Time Must Define Authority in Military Networks
• The Shape of the Fight: Using LiDAR and Fractal Geometry to Quantify Urban Complexity
• The Assurance War: How Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United States Are Facing Digital Insurgency
• Artificial Intelligence and Professional Authorship: Ownership of Thought When the Machine Is Off
• Understanding Death Is the Best Way to Prevent It: Postmortem Data Is a Strategic Enabler for the Joint Force
• The Hidden Casualty Load: Integrating Dental Emergencies into Large-Scale Combat Operations Planning
• Operational Art in LSCO: Forging Deterrence by Denial on the Amazon Frontier
• Tradition and Transformation: Forging Strategically Minded, Globally Competent Officers
• Intellectually Nurturing the Warfighters the Nation Needs
• Remembering 9/11

Economic War via the Destruction of Energy Infrastucture

Delwinstrategy

Russia is executing a multidimensional strategy to collapse Ukraine's economy by systematically targeting critical energy infrastructure, including 750kV substations and nuclear output capacity. This economic warfare aims to overcome stubborn domestic political resistance and force a favorable regime change through population exodus, enterprise shutdowns, and unbearable reconstruction costs.

European financial and military assistance currently amounts to 46 percent of the Ukrainian state budget, yet a massive uncovered financing gap of $25 to $40 billion per annum looms for 2026 as grid damage erodes tax revenues. Ukraine faces a severe generational deficit and lacks the deep-strike capacity to inflict reciprocal damage on the Russian economy. Moscow calculates that protracted financial exhaustion, combined with potential political fatigue across key European partner countries ahead of 2027 elections, will compel Kyiv to accept unfavorable terms regarding security guarantees and foreign troop presences.

The Stalemate With Iran Is Not Sustainable

Foreign Affairs | Richard Haass, Carolyn Kissane

Iran and the United States have engaged in a six-month war that has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, blocking twenty percent of global liquefied natural gas transit and a higher share of oil trade. While this conflict has triggered global energy shortages and price increases, both nations have avoided devastating attacks on critical Gulf energy infrastructure.

This precarious operational equilibrium has allowed international markets to temporarily stabilize despite severe supply disruptions. The current stalemate is highly unstable. Although Washington and Tehran have restricted their targeting to prevent total economic collapse, the underlying geopolitical tensions remain unresolved. A comprehensive diplomatic strategy is urgently required to end the hostilities before an accidental miscalculation triggers catastrophic infrastructure damage. Ultimately, the prolonged closure of this vital maritime chokepoint threatens to exhaust global energy buffers, disrupt international supply chains, and trigger a direct, highly destructive military confrontation between the primary combatants.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says basic math skills ‘don’t matter’ in AI era

The American Bazaar | Nileena Sunil

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang defended the decline of basic mathematical skills in the artificial intelligence era during a recent interview on the Ezra Klein Show. Addressing a Chinese study of 26,000 students that linked early AI adoption to deteriorating cognitive performance, Huang argued that losing traditional skills like long division and multiplication tables does not matter.

Basic math is being forgotten. This perspective reflects a broader industry shift toward systems thinking, where automated tools manage routine calculations to free human cognitive capacity for higher-level problem-solving. However, critics warn that relying on AI companions and automated systems degrades essential intellectual dexterity and social skills among younger demographics. Despite these concerns, the rapid advancement of large language models continues to accelerate automation. Huang recently declared the arrival of artificial general intelligence following OpenAI's launch of GPT-6 Astra. This technological milestone intensifies the global debate over cognitive offloading and long-term educational standards.

Can AI Be Regulated?

Foreign Policy | Cameron Abadi, Adam Tooze

The U.S. federal government faces intensifying public pressure to regulate artificial intelligence, exposing a deep rift within Silicon Valley over the technology's catastrophic risks. While closed-model developers OpenAI and Anthropic advocate for federal oversight to pace the frontier, open-source proponents like Meta and Nvidia reject new strictures. This division reflects divergent commercial strategies, where closed-system advocates seek to mitigate liability and secure national champion status, while hardware providers aim to maximize compute demand.

Currently, AI spending by hyper-scalers runs between $150 billion and $200 billion per quarter, driving 36 percent of all U.S. business investment. A market reset remains a distinct possibility. Retrospective financial compensation under standard negligence law cannot address extinction-level events or systemic financial instability. Pockets of technical proficiency exist within DARPA and the National Security Agency, but keeping pace with rapid machine learning developments remains a daunting challenge for federal regulators.

Our Generals Are Not Even Good at Tactics: A Hard-Hitting Reply to Gary Anderson

Donvandergriff | Donald Vandergriff

United States military general and flag officers suffer from deep systemic failures rooted in careerism and risk aversion rather than true tactical excellence. American military leadership exhibits institutional deficiencies that stem from the rigid 'up-or-out' promotion model. This legacy system rewards conformity, PowerPoint presentations, and upward management over actual tactical, operational, and strategic adaptability under stress.

Restructuring the officer corps requires dividing personnel into distinct command, staff, and technical tracks evaluated through rigorous wargames and tactical decision games. Replacing the conveyor belt of promotion with performance-based retention and downsizing headquarters by 25 to 40 percent would restore mission command and moral character. Military institutions must cultivate true strength of character, termed Charakterstärke, to prioritize operational reality over careerist compliance and ensure combat effectiveness across future warfare environments.

Military-Backed Militias Reemerge in Myanmar's Civil War

The Jamestown Foundation | Khandakar Tahmid Rejwan

The Myanmar military’s decision to revive the Pyusawhti militia to counter pro-democracy resistance forces following the 2021 military coup has remained an understudied aspect of Myanmar’s civil war, as the overstretched military relies on these locally armed groups in Bamar-dominated regions. These armed militias function as vigilantes and intelligence gatherers, deliberately using tactics such as arson, extortion, forced conscription, and targeted killings against non-combatants to spread fear and sever insurgent supply lines.

Reconstituted across Mandalay and various townships in regions such as Sagaing, Magway, and Mandalay, the militia draws its ranks from military veterans, retired civil servants, Ma Ba Tha monks, and supporters of the Union Solidarity and Development Party. Operating as auxiliaries to the Tatmadaw, these groups support the Four Cuts strategy by maintaining constant surveillance, manning village cordons, and enforcing conscription. As long as the military continues to rely on proxy violence rather than negotiated solutions, the cycle of displacement, fear, and retribution is likely to persist across Myanmar’s rural heartland.

When Technology Rewrites the Army: Russia, Ukraine and the New Art of War

Chandragupta | KAUTILYA THE CONTEMPLATOR

Weapon systems in the Ukraine conflict are changing faster than the battlefield, forcing both Russia and Ukraine to transition from tactical improvisation to institutional military reorganization. Ukraine created its Unmanned Systems Forces in 2024, followed by Russia establishing its Unmanned Systems Troops in 2025, turning drones from distributed capabilities into permanent military institutions.

Persistent UAV surveillance and electronic warfare have created extreme battlefield transparency, rendering large armor concentrations vulnerable and making operational breakthroughs elusive through attrition alone. This modern structural adaptation mirrors the 1950s Soviet creation of the Strategic Rocket Forces under Marshal Kirill Moskalenko, when intercontinental ballistic missiles demanded a dedicated institutional framework rather than integration into existing aviation or artillery branches. While technological advantage remains finite as adversaries develop rapid countermeasures, establishing dedicated training schools, specialist officer corps, and procurement systems provides a cumulative organizational advantage designed to systematically generate continuous military adaptations.

Command Failure, Not Combat Defeat: How Bab al-Mandab Fell to the Houthis, and Iran Gained a Second Strait

The Horizon Brief | Ibrahim Jalal

On September 9, 2026, Houthi forces captured Al-Mocha and surrounding coastal territory along Yemen's Western Axis, effectively securing control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The strategic collapse resulted from intelligence infiltration, decapitating strike operations at Jabal al-Nar, and a forged withdrawal command broadcast via radio, SMS, and cloned voice audio across fragmented Yemeni government forces.

Rather than superior combat power, structural command-and-control breakdown enabled a rapid pullout, allowing a modest Houthi detachment to occupy Al-Mocha without resistance. Consequently, Tehran secured a second maritime leverage point alongside the Strait of Hormuz. Houthi forces expanded their sea-denial footprint across Mayyun, Zuqar, and Huniash islands using direct fire, explosive uncrewed vessels, and naval mines. Command failure enabled this disastrous collapse. This control alters Red Sea shipping security while granting the Houthis immense political and economic leverage in Yemen's stalled conflict. Moving forward, Houthi commanders are likely to leverage these gains for further operational expansion towards Marib and Shabwa before September 21.

Drones are Overrated

Operational Art of War

Unmanned aerial vehicles do not represent a revolutionary military affairs shift in modern conflict, despite widespread claims regarding their battlefield impact. The historical evolution of military technology demonstrates that true revolutions require systems to be simultaneously cheap, lethal, and robust. Civilian off-the-shelf quadcopters deployed in Ukraine deliver surveillance and improvised munitions capability at low cost, yet their operational utility remains constrained by vulnerability to countermeasures.

Comprehensive military analysis reveals that incremental weapons improvements consistently integrate into broader all-arms packages rather than single-handedly altering warfare. Previous historical precedents, such as the introduction of the Halberd or HMS Dreadnought, fundamentally restructured battlefield dynamics by rendering entire weapon classes entirely obsolete. Modern COTS drones function as supplementary tactical tools rather than transforming foundational military architecture. Continued technological adaptation on contemporary battlefields will likely force these systems to evolve within existing defensive frameworks.

Sri Lanka: Constitutional Fault Lines Reopened

Eurasia Review | Deepak Kumar Nayak

Sri Lanka is debating the controversial Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution to raise the retirement age of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judges. The Anura Kumara Dissanayake Government defends the measure as a judicial-efficiency reform to clear case backlogs, while critics argue it threatens judicial independence. Sixty-seven petitions have challenged the Bill before a five-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena.

Opponents, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa, contend that altering incumbent tenure requires a national referendum under the 2022 Inland Revenue ruling. This legislative test follows a cycle of 17th through 21st constitutional amendments that have repeatedly reshaped institutional checks on executive power. Civil society groups and Buddhist prelates have also voiced strong objections to the timing and implications of the proposed judicial restructuring.

‘Modern Day Slavery:’ Myanmar’s Military Swells Ranks Through Corruption And Deceit

Eurasia Review

Myanmar’s military junta has filled severe post-coup manpower shortages by reviving a 2010 conscription law in February 2024 through state-backed human trafficking networks that capture and sell young men into active-duty service. Grassroots trafficking rings involving low-level administrative officials, immigration officers, and police officers systematically abduct civilians or lure them with false jobs, issuing new national identity cards to fulfill neighboring townships' population quotas.

Substitutes fetch between 10 million and 30 million kyat, or approximately $2,500 to $7,500, placing the heaviest burden on impoverished families who cannot afford ransom payments or financial buyouts. The Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security estimates that more than 130,000 recruits have been funneled into active duty since the law's implementation. Meanwhile, the United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar is examining these enforced disappearances as potential crimes against humanity amidst widespread impunity.

Stepping On Legos: The All Too Familiar Pain of Being Behind the Curve in the Information Environment

Small Wars Journal | Jayson Warren

Operation Epic Fury has exposed critical shortfalls in U.S. military preparedness within the information environment as Iranian information warfare campaigns flood social media with high-quality, low-cost AI-generated propaganda. Tehran’s prolific output, featuring viral Lego-style videos and targeted persona-level harassment, has severely strained U.S. Joint Force defensive mechanisms. This breakdown highlights structural deficiencies in integrating information as a core line of effort alongside kinetic operations.

Operational planners still treat information as a supporting function rather than a primary operational pillar. U.S. capabilities are lagging. If current military processes buckle under Iranian pressure, they will prove entirely untenable during a high-intensity conflict against China in 2030 or beyond. Beijing already possesses vastly superior online disinformation infrastructure, including network-synchronised troll campaigns and massive stolen intelligence databases from events like the 2015 Office of Personnel Management hack. Consequently, the Joint Force must immediately re-evaluate its operational information procedures and command structures.

China is building an AI system for tailoring its foreign propaganda

The Strategist | Fergus Ryan

China is developing advanced artificial intelligence systems to model foreign audiences, simulate their responses to events, and refine state messaging. Sun Yat-sen University unveiled Huanyu Zhiying 1.0 in April 2026, a platform built from over 10,000 simulated user profiles spanning 18 countries. Real-world survey data, including responses from Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada, India, Malaysia, France, and South Africa, combined with the World Values Survey and social-media inputs, underpin these synthetic populations.

Operating as an experimental pipeline, the platform fine-tunes Alibaba Qwen models to generate fabricated foreign coverage and predict sentiment shifts before messages reach real-world publics. This initiative implements Xi Jinping's 2021 call for precision communication methods tailored to diverse regional audiences. While developers concede the system remains an interim research result lacking published error rates, its creation marks a strategic shift from high-volume automated messaging toward computational testing and optimization of influence operations.

What the Iran War Is Teaching China About US Power

National Interest | Gedaliah Afterman, Caroline Dibble

Six months of conflict under Operation Epic Fury have tested American global commitments by stretching US military resources across both the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. While US forces degraded Iranian capabilities, sustained attacks using Shahed drones and ballistic missiles caused an estimated $400 million in damage to Naval Support Activity Bahrain and left critical interceptor stockpiles depleted.

This dual-theater strain forced the redeployment of carrier strike groups and delayed a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan, creating political uncertainty among key Asian allies including Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. Meanwhile, Beijing is closely studying American staying power, noting how Iran leveraged maritime disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and managed energy supply shocks. Consequently, China now gains diplomatic leverage from Washington's military burden, signaling that future Indo-Pacific deterrence depends heavily on the unyielding reliability of American security commitments.

AI’s Threat to China’s Control

Wall Street Journal | Walter Russell Mead

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng discussed establishing an artificial-intelligence communication channel in New York after meeting on Sept. 21, 2026. Both global superpowers seek military and economic advantages while fearing potential economic turmoil, job losses, and technological catastrophes. However, Beijing faces a unique existential challenge because unfiltered artificial intelligence threatens absolute communist party rule and ideological control.

Unlike Washington, Chinese officials worry deeply that generative models trained on real-world data will undermine state propaganda narratives. Deep bilateral cooperation remains difficult to build because the two governments view identical technological risks through fundamentally divergent political lenses. Establishing reliable communication channels will require navigating these deep ideological fault lines regarding information access and domestic political stability. Meanwhile, both nations continue pressing forward with technological development to secure strategic supremacy in the emerging digital landscape.

America Is Blundering Toward War With China

New York Times | Robert D. Kaplan

President Trump must strike the correct balance in his upcoming summit with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to avoid repeating historical miscalculations regarding Beijing. Historical missteps began during World War II when Washington backed Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and remained oblivious to the impending Communist victory under Mao Zedong. The subsequent 'who lost China?'

debate during the Red Scare purged knowledgeable State Department specialists, creating a direct link to the disastrous Vietnam War intervention. The diplomatic opening by President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in 1972 eventually normalized relations, which lasted until the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and the collapse of the Soviet Union transformed Beijing's strategic standing. Current policymakers must navigate these complex historical currents carefully to prevent catastrophic escalation. Washington faces immense diplomatic stakes as modern geopolitical competition intensifies across the Indo-Pacific.

The Israeli Card

Real Clear Defense | R. Jordan Prescott

America and Israel face an impending diplomatic and strategic rupture driven by shifting political dynamics, generational divides, and intense partisan polarization within the United States. Following the October 2023 Hamas attacks and subsequent conflicts involving Iran, American public and congressional support for Israel has plummeted, threatening future military aid packages and qualitative edge guarantees.

Amid this fraying alliance, China is poised to leverage its decisive influence over Iran and prioritize regional energy security by playing the Israeli card. Beijing could condition reconstruction aid to Tehran on a permanent cessation of hostilities while offering Israel an alternative technological and strategic partnership. This geopolitical realignment would stabilize the Middle East, protect Chinese export markets from energy shocks, and displace Washington from a vital region just as triangular diplomacy once reshaped Cold War dynamics.

With Time on His Side, Xi Seeks to Extend Truce With Trump

The New York Times | David Pierson

Chinese leader Xi Jinping enters this week's Washington meetings with President Trump holding a distinct political advantage stemming from opposing domestic timelines. While the American president faces constraints from upcoming midterm elections and an ongoing war, Xi prepares for a norm-shattering fourth term securing five more years in power.

This disparity enables Xi to sustain the bilateral truce reached last year, shielding his fragile domestic economy from renewed trade conflict while he answers to no electorate. Avoiding escalation allows Beijing to address profound economic weakness driven by a property crisis, high youth unemployment, and excess production capacity. Furthermore, the détente provides necessary breathing room to reconstitute military leadership purged during anti-corruption campaigns and to expand industrial and technological capabilities. Xi is ultimately wagering that leveraging personal diplomacy with Trump can successfully insulate the broader geopolitical relationship from flash points like Taiwan and artificial intelligence dominance.

Why Trump is leaving Saudi Arabia alone to fight the Houthis — even as they threaten global oil supplies

New York Post | Ronny Reyes

Saudi Arabia faces renewed Houthi ballistic missile and drone attacks without military backing from President Trump or regional allies who fear Iranian retaliation. President Trump declined to intervene against the Yemen-based group after receiving assurances that US interests would be spared. Turkey and Pakistan also declined to step up under the Mecca Agreement, arguing the conflict stems from pre-existing Yemeni civil wars rather than new mutual defense triggers.

Riyadh is currently running low on missile interceptors as Houthi forces control the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and disrupt flow along the Saudi East-West Pipeline. These disruptions pushed crude oil prices near $100 per barrel before dipping below the triple-digit threshold. Analysts warn that Iran may leverage the ongoing Houthi escalation to extract broader regional concessions, complicating diplomatic efforts to stabilize energy markets and secure vital maritime chokepoints across the Middle East.

Trump cites military need for arch. He could be putting armed services in a bad spot.

The Christian Science Monitor | Anna Mulrine Grobe

President Donald Trump claimed on September 20, 2026, that his proposed 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery is required by the U.S. armed forces to store ammunition, snipers, and drones for national security. Defense analysts and military legal experts immediately dismissed this operational rationale, warning that stashing explosive munitions near the Pentagon and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport creates severe safety risks and high-profile target vulnerabilities for the capital region.

Civil-military relations face unprecedented friction. Retired Major General Steven Lepper warned that claiming uniformed leadership requested the facility places military leaders in an untenable position, as institutional duty prevents top officers from publicly contradicting executive statements. Meanwhile, Representative Mike Simpson signaled strong congressional pushback against diverting constrained defense appropriations toward the urban monument, while the Former JAGs Working Group highlighted emergency legal filings by veterans seeking to block construction at Memorial Circle.

America’s Attrition Trap

Foreign Affairs | Nadia Schadlow

Attritional warfare has become the defining feature of modern conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, driven by structural mismatches between nominal military power and usable capability, rapid technological adaptation that prevents decisive breakthroughs, and a profound disconnection between military means and political ends. Nadia Schadlow examines how states from Russia to Iran exploit these vulnerabilities by outlasting adversaries, leveraging inexpensive systems, and weaponizing political pressure.

For the United States, this dynamic presents an acute strategic dilemma because current defense planning continues to prioritize short, decisive campaigns rather than enduring endurance contests. Without rebuilding industrial depth and aligning military means with attainable political goals, Washington risks remaining vulnerable to adversaries that systematically exploit attrition to erode American resolve.

Old Military Networks, New Cyber Shield: General Dynamics Unveils ‘Everest’

NextGen Defense | Akhsan Erido Elezhar

General Dynamics Information Technology introduced the Everest Zero Trust portfolio to secure legacy military IT networks without replacing existing infrastructure. The suite comprises Clarity for assessing infrastructure, Flex for modular security integration, and Unified for full-stack protection in new environments. Everest recently completed a government red-team cyber assessment on an upgraded IT system.

The portfolio is designed to counter sophisticated AI-fueled threats targeting US defense networks. This capability allows defense agencies to meet the Department of War zero trust mandates cost-effectively.

Hegseth announces new Pentagon battlefield test for promotions to general

The Hill | Ellen Mitchell, Filip Timotija

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a new battlefield-style assessment, titled the Joint Warfighter Evaluation, required for colonels and Navy captains seeking promotion to general or admiral. The initiative alters the senior officer promotion process by evaluating operational decision-making under stress rather than relying solely on traditional administrative performance reviews.

Conceptualized alongside former military officer Stuart Scheller and Defense Department personnel official Anthony Tata, the framework draws historical inspiration from the 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers. Service branches will deploy customized assessment models. The Army plans written tests alongside digital wargames, whereas Navy candidates will complete evaluations at the Naval War College in Newport. Furthermore, the Marine Corps will utilize AI-enabled situational judgment tests, while Joint Forces Staff College students will undergo assessments in Norfolk, Virginia. Hegseth previously blocked select flag officer promotions over concerns regarding non-merit criteria, advocating for standardized operational competence across all military services.

The United States’ Prosecution Of Nicolás Maduro Moros: United States Vs. Maduro

Eurasia Review | Karen Sokol

United States armed forces seized Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3, 2026, prompting the unsealing of a superseding indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charging him and five co-defendants with narco-terrorism conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 960a, cocaine-import conspiracy, and weapons offenses.

Maduro pleaded not guilty on January 5. The legal proceedings parallel the 1990s prosecution of Panama's Manuel Noriega, raising complex questions regarding head-of-state and official-act immunities alongside executive extraterritorial enforcement authority. Maduro filed motions to dismiss based on immunity and due process grounds, challenging both his status and the extraterritorial application of the narco-terrorism statute. Courts historically defer to the executive branch on status-based immunity while distinguishing between private and official conduct. The Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel maintained that Article II grants the President inherent authority to conduct extraterritorial operations regardless of international law constraints.

India And Russia Are Rewriting Their Defense Partnership

Eurasia Review | Nikola Mikovic

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed defense cooperation during the September 12–13 BRICS summit in New Delhi, preceding Army Chief General Dhiraj Seth’s official visit to Russia. These diplomatic exchanges signal a structural shift away from traditional buyer-seller transactions toward technology sharing and licensed domestic production.

Moscow’s reliance on traditional arms sales faces headwinds as New Delhi expands domestic manufacturing, which now accounts for approximately 65 percent of its military hardware. Concurrently, India diversifies its defense imports through partnerships with the U.S., France, and Italy while negotiating potential joint initiatives such as Rosoboronexport’s T-90MS tank co-production offer. Furthermore, the February 2025 Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics agreement permits mutual troop and asset deployments that could aid Russian naval maintenance constrained by Ukraine war losses. These dynamics afford New Delhi greater leverage to dictate the terms of its longstanding bilateral defense relationship.

The Ukraine Laboratory: How a Full-Spectrum War Is Rewriting Modern Warfighting

Small Wars Journal | Tahir Azad

Russian operations in Ukraine have transformed the European battlefield into a dense, transparent learning environment where cheap uncrewed aerial systems, commercial space imagery, and electronic warfare compress the sensor-to-shooter loop. Satellite constellations operated by Maxar Technologies alongside SpaceX’s Starlink terminals grant tactical commanders persistent intelligence and resilient battlefield connectivity.

Concealment is now nearly impossible. As a result, heavy force concentrations face rapid precision strikes, forcing formations into dispersed, dug-in infantry positions. Low-cost first-person-view quadcopters and loitering munitions radically invert traditional cost-exchange dynamics by destroying multi-million-dollar armored vehicles. Meanwhile, high-intensity missile engagements between Russian Kinzhal hypersonic weapons and Western Patriot batteries demonstrate that magazine depth and interceptor economics govern modern air defense viability. Software platforms like Palantir Technologies further accelerate targeting cycles. Concurrently, external actors like North Korea, Iran, and NATO members absorb battlefield data to adapt weapon designs, industrial production, and force doctrine.

Can A UN In Crisis Deliver With The Gulf, Gaza And Sudan In Need Of Action?

Eurasia Review | Ephrem Kossaify

World leaders are gathering for the 81st UN General Assembly as overlapping crises in the Gulf, Gaza, and Sudan compete for limited diplomatic attention. António Guterres urges action on conflict, climate, technology, and inequality while facing an open-ended institutional crisis and a successor race ahead of his December 31 departure.

Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group notes that high-level week is funded by raiding other budgets, reflecting severe financial strain despite restored US humanitarian funding. The assembly agenda notably lacks a dedicated high-level meeting on the Gulf or Iran standoff. Gaza diplomacy features narrower follow-up events, including a French-Saudi two-state session without Israel, while Sudan faces persistent inattention despite a proposed nation-wide arms embargo. Meanwhile, UNIFIL faces mandate uncertainty past December 31, 2026, and eight declared secretary-general candidates remain vague on reform.