11 July 2026

The Strategic Importance Of The Northeastern Indian State Of Assam

Eurasia Review  |  P. K. Balachandran

Assam is emerging as a critical geopolitical buffer for India as New Delhi partners with Japan to counter China's expanding economic and military footprint across neighboring Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar. This strategic collaboration aims to secure the vulnerable Siliguri Corridor, a narrow land strip connecting India to its northeastern states that remains highly susceptible to external disruptions.

As the Dalai Lama Turns 91, India and China Are Fighting for the Future of Buddhism

The Diplomat  |  Kritee Chopra

The 14th Dalai Lama celebrated his 91st birthday on July 6, 2026, intensifying a geopolitical struggle between India and China over who controls the succession of the next Tibetan spiritual leader and the broader custodianship of global Buddhism. This milestone accelerates a critical transition as both nuclear-armed neighbors vie for religious legitimacy across Asia.

Syria’s Jihadist Crackdown Could Lead to Islamic State Defections

The Jamestown Foundation | Uran Botobekov

Syria’s new government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa is executing a pragmatic crackdown on foreign jihadist factions, forcing Central Asian and North Caucasus militants to integrate into the military or face severe repression. This security sweep has triggered armed standoffs in Idlib and prompted the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) to actively recruit these disgruntled, displaced fighters.

Can the Private Sector Save Vietnam?

Foreign Affairs  |  Edmund J. Malesky, Viktoria Zlomanova

The Communist Party of Vietnam has signaled a major shift in its national governance strategy by releasing two critical policy documents during its January party congress. These foundational texts, consisting of a political report and a socioeconomic development plan, officially establish the state's governing agenda for the upcoming five-year political cycle.

Taiwan Can Be Defended Against China. The Price Is the Real Problem

19FortyFive  |  Andrew Latham

Taiwan can be defended against a Chinese amphibious invasion, but the operational and strategic costs for the United States and its regional allies would be exceptionally high. While Admiral Samuel Paparo’s “hellscape” idea leverages cheap drones, loitering munitions, and unmanned surface vessels to disrupt Beijing's forces, these technologies also empower the adversary.

Financing the end of the digital divide

Atlantic Council  |  Kenton Thibaut, Jochai Ben-Avie

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has strategically positioned digital infrastructure investment at the core of its global strategy. Through state-directed financing, bundled technology offerings, and sustained engagement, China has become the dominant provider of telecommunications infrastructure in large swathes of the Global South, advancing its commercial interests, surveillance capabilities, and technological strategic advantage.

Europe’s “Wake-Up Call”

Asia Society | Philippe Le Corre

The European Union's relationship with China is undergoing a significant transformation, with the EU increasingly prioritizing economic security, industrial resilience, and technological sovereignty over unrestricted market access. In June 2026, the European Council endorsed a tougher trade policy toward China, reflecting mounting concerns over widening trade imbalances and growing dependence on Chinese critical minerals and green technologies.

Why is a Chinese-made portable AC selling out across heat-stricken Europe?

South China Morning Post  |  Mia Nurmamat

Midea’s PortaSplit, a specialized Chinese-made portable air conditioner, has completely sold out across heat-stricken Europe within just a few weeks during intense summer heatwaves. This sudden supply deficit has triggered significant resale price mark-ups on secondary markets and driven unprecedented consumer demand for expedited shipping options across the continent's major urban centers.

Reassessing the US Alliance System

American Enterprise Institute | Colin Dueck

The US alliance system requires reassessment to effectively counterbalance Chinese power and mitigate allied free riding, shifting focus from liberal rules-based world order conceptions. The second Trump administration successfully reduced allied free riding, but its trade wars with US allies have inadvertently prompted key partners to hedge towards China.

Capital Wars: The Installed Class: How the Muslim World Is Managed, Not Governed

Frame the Globe News

The Financial Industrial Complex maintains an "installed class" of political managers across the Muslim world to prevent sovereign governments from redirecting resource wealth away from global capital markets. This transnational architecture deliberately suppresses democratic self-governance to secure critical maritime chokepoints and safeguard the recycling of petrodollar surpluses into Western treasury bonds.

Turkey, NATO, and the New Middle East Balance

National Interest  |  Mohammed Ayoob

President Donald Trump announced on July 6, 2026, that he intends to lift United States sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system. This decision, coinciding with the July 7–8 NATO Summit in Ankara, signals a major shift in Washington's approach to its highly strategic ally.

The Bourbon trap: military prowess is not a grand strategy

Engelsberg Ideas | Joshua Rovner

The United States risks repeating the catastrophic collapse of eighteenth-century Bourbon France by prioritizing short-term military victories over a coherent, long-term grand strategy. During the American War of Independence, French forces secured a brilliant joint victory at the 1781 Battle of Yorktown, yet this tactical success ultimately bankrupted the monarchy.

The Ukraine Lesson Taiwan Keeps Missing

Foreign Affairs  |  David Petraeus, Clara Kaluderovic

Taiwan risks misinterpreting the conflict in Ukraine by focusing excessively on the procurement of unmanned systems rather than the critical operational ecosystems required to sustain them. The ongoing war demonstrates that while cheap, remotely piloted platforms are transformative, their battlefield utility depends entirely on integrated networks and supporting infrastructure.

If Europe Wants to Save NATO, It’s Doing All the Wrong Things

The New York Times  |  Massimo Calabresi

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is attempting to preserve the transatlantic alliance by placating President Trump while simultaneously pressuring European member states to rapidly rebuild their atrophied militaries. This dual-track strategy faces a critical test at the upcoming summit of NATO's 32 countries in Ankara, Turkey, where leaders must address deep-seated European defense integration failures.

The Real Threat to NATO

Project Syndicate  |  Ahmet DavutoฤŸlu

NATO leaders preparing to gather in Ankara on July 7-8 face a critical internal crisis as member states no longer share a coherent understanding of the alliance's foundational values, economic order, geopolitical vision, and legal principles. This internal divergence poses a far greater threat to the organization's long-term cohesion and survival than external adversaries like Russia or China.

The Geography of Coercion: Russian Missile and Drone Campaigns in Ukraine

Center for Strategic and International Studies | Marcus Welsch , Yasir Atalan, Benjamin Jensen, and Erik Tiersten-Nyman

Russia escalated its long-range firepower campaign in Ukraine from 2023 through early 2026, increasing annual oblast-level damage reports from 358 to 1,553 to systematically degrade logistics, critical infrastructure, and civilian morale. This coercive punishment strategy deploys massed salvos of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and Shahed-type drones to overwhelm air defenses.

The Next Russia Threat

Foreign Affairs  |  Michael Kofman

The war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, has reached another inflection point as Russian forces visibly struggle on the battlefield against Kyiv’s strategy of making the conflict futile. Even if defeated, Russia will remain the primary threat to European security for years to come, driven by its persistent ambition to upend the continent's security architecture.

Is Ukraine Winning the War?

The Free Press  |  Aaron MacLean

Ukrainian long-range strike campaigns targeting Russian refineries and infrastructure have triggered a severe energy and political crisis within Crimea and the Russian heartland, directly threatening President Vladimir Putin's domestic stability. These successful operations, reaching over 500 miles to St. Petersburg, have caused severe fuel shortages and soaring gas prices for Russian citizens.

The Ukraine Lesson Taiwan Keeps Missing

Foreign Affairs  |  David Petraeus, Clara Kaluderovic

The conflict in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, has provided extraordinary lessons about the future of war, demonstrating the enormous impact of cheap, remotely piloted unmanned systems on the ground, in the air, and at sea. While these technological advancements are undeniable, there is a distinct danger that military strategists will look at the battlefield and see little more than a catalog of weapons to buy.

The US-Israel relationship: where it stands today and the road ahead

Rahm Emanuel  |  Rahm Emanuel

Israel faces a critical crossroads in its historic alliance with the United States as current policies under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lead to strategic isolation and regional instability. The United States must shift from a policy of unconditional support to one that demands accountability, including potential sanctions against those fueling violence in the West Bank.

Winning the AI Race

Chronicles Magazine | Colin Redemer

The People’s Liberation Army of China is integrating frontier artificial intelligence into military targeting and logistics to prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan by 2027. This rapid mobilization, driven by Beijing's military-civil fusion doctrine, threatens to compromise United States infrastructure through advanced cyberespionage campaigns like Volt Typhoon.

People Used to Control Machines. They Don’t Anymore

Wired  |  Ian Bogost

The global transition to electric vehicles and automated systems is rapidly eliminating manual transmissions and physical interfaces, disconnecting humanity from direct sensory engagement with the physical world. This ongoing technological shift has reduced the market share of stick-shift cars in the United States from over 15 percent in 2000 to just 2.4 percent by 2020.

This Former DeepMind Exec Thinks the AI Arms Race Could End in Disaster

Wired  |  Joel Khalili

Former Google DeepMind public policy chief Verity Harding warned that framing artificial intelligence development as a geopolitical arms race between the United States and China risks causing a worst-case scenario of excessive government control and centralized power. This competitive framing, exacerbated by nationalist rhetoric and strict export controls, closes the door to vital international safety collaboration.

Redundancy and Resilience: Measures of Network Robustness

Interpopulum  |  Sean Everton, Seth Gray, Chad Machiela

Military leaders and staff require a methodology to assess network robustness before and after interventions to measure the effectiveness of their operations and campaigns, particularly for non-lethal activities and irregular warfare. Traditional performance metrics, like missiles fired or leaders engaged, often fail to indicate true mission success or reductions in adversary capabilities.

Fighting a land war in the digital age: How armies must reinvent themselves—or be destroyed by those that do

Atlantic Council  |  Yavuz Tรผrkgenci

Digital-age warfare, exemplified by the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, sees drones and AI-supported targeting systems rapidly detect and destroy industrial-era forces. Many global land forces, however, persist with 1991-era doctrines, failing to adapt to this algorithmic battlefield. This transformation necessitates a new "7+1 Warfighting Functions" framework, expanding traditional categories to include electromagnetic spectrum control and cybersecurity, with digitalization, AI, and big data as a cross-cutting variable.

10 July 2026

The Legal Machinery Behind India’s Campaign Against Maoist Insurgents

The Jamestown Foundation  |  Tristan Eng

India's central and state governments are utilizing robust legal frameworks, primarily the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967 (UAPA), to systematically dismantle Maoist insurgent networks across the Red Corridor. By criminalizing association, disrupting terrorist financing, and targeting support networks, these legal measures have severely degraded the Communist Party of India (CPI) insurgency.

Are U.S.-India Ties Really Thawing?

Foreign Policy  |  Sumit Ganguly

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met in New Delhi in late June to finalize a bilateral trade agreement. This high-stakes diplomatic effort aims to resolve remaining commercial sticking points, which U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor recently declared is in its final steps and ninety-nine percent complete.

Twice Stateless: The Double Erasure of Bhutanese Refugees

The Diplomat  |  Nishchal Aawaz

Dozens of Bhutanese refugees who previously survived ethnic cleansing in Bhutan and spent decades in Nepalese camps are facing double statelessness after being deported from the United States. Upon their forced return, the Bhutanese government expelled these individuals over the border into India, leaving them entirely without legal status or documentation.

China’s Nuclear Challenge To Pacific Security

Eurasia Review  |  Simon Hutagalung

In July 2026, China conducted a nuclear-capable missile test using a dummy warhead launched from a nuclear-powered submarine in the South Pacific, drawing sharp condemnation from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States. This controversial operation directly challenged regional nuclear-free norms and signaled Beijing's rapidly expanding strategic nuclear arsenal.

Not Just Rare Earths – Is This China’s Next Economic Weapon?

The Diplomat  |  Lydia Tze

China’s dominance in the global fluorine value chain provides Beijing with an overlooked source of geopolitical leverage that could surpass traditional critical minerals. While international attention remains focused on rare earths, graphite, and lithium, the Chinese state has quietly secured control over the industrial ecosystems transforming fluorite into indispensable high-tech components.

The Evolution Of Asymmetrical Warfare: Proliferation And Operational Impacts Of Drone Tactics In Middle Eastern And African Conflicts

Eurasia Review  |  Ramzi Bendebka

Commercial-off-the-shelf drones have undermined the state monopoly on aerial power by enabling non-state armed groups to execute precision strikes and complex intelligence missions. This rapid democratization of aerial warfare allows mobile insurgents to inflict severe asymmetric costs on sovereign militaries, forcing them to expend multimillion-dollar interceptors against cheap, modified systems.

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader?

BBC News  |  Grace Tsoi, Mark Shea

Mojtaba Khamenei has been selected as Iran’s new supreme leader following the deaths of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his family in US-Israeli military strikes. The 56-year-old successor, who has historically maintained a low profile without holding formal government office, now faces the critical task of preserving the Islamic Republic amid severe political and economic devastation.

How the Iran War Weighs on the U.S.-Saudi Partnership and Prospects for Normalization with Israel

Center for Strategic and International Studies  |  Michael Ratney, Abdullah Alhenaki

The 2026 Iran war severely tested the U.S.-Saudi security partnership, exposing deep strategic friction over unilateral American military actions and insufficient protection assurances. Although Riyadh secured major non-NATO ally status and F-35 access when the crown prince visited Washington in November 2025, Washington's subsequent unconsulted military campaign against Tehran left the kingdom highly vulnerable to retaliatory strikes.

America Needs Another Look at ‘Competitive Strategies’

The National Interest  |  James Holmes

The United States military is deploying expensive munitions against cheap adversary missiles and drones, creating an unsustainable cost ratio that threatens its long-term defense capabilities. To counter this imbalance, the Pentagon must revive the Cold War-era competitive strategies initiative to exploit adversary weaknesses and steer geopolitical competition on its own terms.

Fighting Without Friends

Council on Foreign Relations  |  Erin Dumbacher

The United States faces severe hard power strain and operational friction due to a decline in its global soft power, eroding its ability to shape regional security agendas and deter rivals like China and Russia. This geopolitical shift has prompted allies to hedge their bets, as new security partnerships are already forming without Washington.