LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Valur Ingimundarson — While Russia has offered a mixture of rationalisations for its invasion of Ukraine — including ‘denazification’, ‘demilitarisation’ and the ‘gathering of Russian lands’ — it has clung to its core justification for engaging in military interventions and border changes in post-Soviet states. It refers to the ‘Kosovo precedent’ — NATO’s…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Björn Alexander Düben — Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, China has strenuously tried to distance itself from the war and to project an image of benevolent neutrality. Behind the scenes, however, Beijing’s role has been exceedingly important from the very outset of the conflict. For…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid — Don’t Ruffle Feathers…the ASEAN Way When Vietnam invaded Cambodia on Christmas Day 1978 to topple the brutal Pol Pot regime, ASEAN was united and steadfast in condemning the violation of Cambodia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, whatever the atrocities of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. ASEAN has not taken a similar united…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Jonny Hall and Hugh Sandeman — The determined resistance by Ukraine’s armed forces and civil society against the Russian invasion that began in February 2022 is a vivid demonstration of the central importance of military and societal resilience in the face of external shocks. Civil and military preparedness may help save Ukraine as an independent country…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Xin Sun — Introduction President Xi Jinping’s most recent call for “common prosperity” made a huge splash in the business world. The term has risen in prominence amid an intense regulatory crackdown on China’s leading tech companies, wiping hundreds of billions off their market value and sending shockwaves across the global capital market. Immediately…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Aaron McKeil — Introduction International orders break down and fail when avoidable and unjust wars break out. The analysis of the causes and consequences of these wars always involves questions of blame, as well as the consideration of what alternative policies could have avoided the war. The outcome of the war in Ukraine is…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid — Background The running sore in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), is the situation in Myanmar, one of its member states. It is embroiled in an internal conflict, with the military overthrowing the legitimately elected government in February 2021 in a violent move. No negotiations, no compromise and no respite for…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Henrik Larsen — To move on to other challenges to transatlantic security with a sense of integrity, the United States and its NATO allies must come to grips with their failed regime change agenda over the past 20 years that ended with the farcical retreat from Afghanistan. Afghanistan was the first of their…

LSE IDEAS Strategic Update by Björn Alexander Düben — With tensions running high in Eastern Europe, analysts the world over are trying to gauge what strategy the Russian government is pursuing towards Ukraine. Having deployed military units from all over Russia amassing close to 120,000 battle-ready troops, around 40% of Russia’s deployable army, near the border, the decision on…