Author: Michael

Alliances are an important part of grand strategy, and Vladimir Putin has forged new relationships among malign actors that have formed an axis of evil that will be a factor into the 2030s and beyond.

These aggressive anti-Western countries are flexing their muscles. Look no further than North Korea. Kim Jong Un knows that he has friends in Moscow. Putin loves that Pyongyang has sent more than 13,000 North Korean troops to fight against Ukraine in Kursk.

North Korea Artillery. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

North Korea Frigate from KCNA. Image Credit: North Korean State Media.

What do we know about the new Defence Secretary

The Pentagon has spent more than six decades pl

The United States carried out its tenth consecutive night of airstrikes against Iran overnight into Tuesday, July 21, while Tehran responded with fresh attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis dramatically expanded the conflict by announcing a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia. It’s an escalation that doesn’t seem likely to end any time soon, with Iranian forces apparently hell-bent on targeting any U.S.-linked infrastructure or military sites within reach.

The threat has also broadened, with Iran now leaning on its proxies to support its resistance.

Ukraine’s expanding use of drones at all ranges has changed the war’s momentum. This episode examines how Kyiv is reaching deeper into Russian territory, disrupting operations and logistics as well as energy infrastructure. How is Russia adapting (or not)? Can these strikes produce lasting advantages on the battlefield? Will this force Russia to escalate? Mike Kofman and Dara Massicot join Ryan to discuss.This episode is brought to you by Booz Allen. Learn more at warontherocks.com/boozallen.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said this week that a pair of “deviant” oil tankers exploded on Sunday after passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the state-run Fars News Agency, the IRGC “announced in a statement that two deviant ships, instigated and forced by the United States, exploded on Sunday night after trying to enter and exit via the unsafe route of the Strait of Hormuz.”

PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct.

Deep within the massive, modular bays of General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, CT, an extraordinary reawakening of the nation’s submarine-building efforts is underway to secure the world’s deep blue oceans.
For decades, the United States has held undisputed command below the waves, leveraging a sophisticated nuclear-powered submarine force that remains the most technologically advanced and acoustically silent weapon system on Earth. During its peak in the 1980s, Electric Boat’s roughly 25,000 workers were producing three Los Angeles-class submarines a year.

The Russian man on the street is perplexed and afraid. The citizens were always told that the “special military operation” would be short and sweet.

The invasion against the “Nazis” was sure to be decisive with a clear victory.

A soldier from the Idaho Army National Guard, Charlie Company, 2-116th Combined Arms Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team makes Idaho National Guard history with the first firing of a Javelin anti-tank missile.

An attack on the western Russian city of Lipetsk has raised the curtain again on a major steel plant that is not only vital to Moscow’s missile industry but has also been linked to top Russian oligarchs.

The plant is also reported to be Russia’s only producer of electrical steel and had been supplying steel to European customers during the first three years of the Ukraine-Russia war, as its products were not under sanctions.

Tu-160 Bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Russian Air Force Bomber Tu-160. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

“I’m just hoping we can turn up and perfo