‘The collapse of the Soviet Union was the worst geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century’ (Putin, 2005); arguably an overused quote which many see as evidence of Russia’s misguided Great Power disposition. It would be amiss, however, to ignore the enormous ramifications the dissolution of the Soviet Union had for…

New Ideas, Old Realities

NATO has already done much of the theoretical work around the future character of warfare that will form part of its new Strategic Concept in 2022, the long overdue replacement for the 2010 Strategic Concept that was an immediate casualty of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. …

Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world. The rise of China has been a central issue to policymakers in the United States. Its growing role on the world stage politically and economically signalled that a regional hegemon is challenging the unipolar order of the US…

Introduction

In recent years, the partnership between Serbia and China has been elevated to a historically unprecedented level. The initial foundation was set during 2008 when two watershed moments for Serbia happened: the independence of Kosovo and the global financial crisis. …

President Trump’s last National Security Strategy told us that we are heading into an era of sustained big competition “for which the West collectively is unprepared.” One reason it’s unprepared is that the United States has been so strategically inept for the past thirty years. It told itself a compelling…

The COVID-19 outbreak has proved to be a critical turning point for China. Facing increasing global criticism over claims that it intentionally misled the world by covering up the true extent of the coronavirus, China has now sought to actively pushback against such criticism. This pushback, termed ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomacy…

In February, Joe Biden delivered his first speech to an international forum as US president. His message reaffirmed a longstanding commitment to multilateralism, diplomacy, and dignity. While Biden’s rhetoric may have been predictable — a first step towards rebuilding America’s global reputation — his audience was less so. Rather than…

Introduction

On March 18th, 2021, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage fired its four RS-25 engines for more than 8 minutes, burning through enough Hydrolox to create its own rain clouds, and marking a key milestone on the way to bringing American astronauts back to the moon. Just months before…