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Dylan Malyasov, Defence Blog
Saildrone launched two Lockheed Martin JAGM missiles from a Surveyor USV during RIMPAC

Two rocks surrounded by coral, with a total land size of less than 10 square meters (approximately 108 square feet) at high tide, are the entire basis on which Japan claims a 150,000-square-mile exclusive economic zone, an area nearly the size of Japan itself. The uninhabited feature, located more than 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, is called Okinotori.In late July, Japan protested Sino-Russian live-fire drills held within the exclusive economic zone it claims around Okinotori.

“You cannot be at mental peace always. You will be worried. So even my family — they are scared all the time, and they were anxiously praying [for] the vessel [to] come out of this area safely.

The first U.S. Air Force F-15EX Eagle II long range fighter intended for permanent basing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, has been unveiled, marking a significant milestone in the Air Force’s efforts to significantly strength its presence on one of its most strategically important facilities worldwide. The aircraft, serial 22-0022, has now appeared in the markings of the 18th Wing, providing the first visible indication that the long-delayed transition from obsolete Cold War era F-15C/D fighters, to the much more capable F-15EX, is making progress.

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The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, 1914. Photo: Achille Beltrame / Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed in Sarajevo, the world did not immediately understand that it was standing on the edge of a war that would become a kind of pestilence. The assassination did not create World War I by itself. It exposed a system already loaded with alliance commitments, imperial insecurity, military timetables, elite arrogance, and leaders who believed escalation could be managed. That is the part of history worth remembering now.

The United States appears to have found a way to move millions of barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iran’s best efforts to control the strategic waterway.

But the latest shipping data shows just how far Washington is from actually restoring normal commercial traffic and saving the global economy.

A U.S. Sailor inspects an aircraft catapult launch track on the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), while underway in the Caribbean Sea, Nov. 25, 2025. U.S. military forces are deployed to the U.S.

Russia launched one of its heaviest attacks on Kyiv in months on Thursday, killing at least 17 people as waves of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones struck the Ukrainian capital.

Ukraine’s neighbors were also affected, with drones entering Romanian and Moldovan territory and Romania scrambling fighter jets against an explosives-laden unmanned vessel close to a major Black Sea gas project.

Lancet Drone. Image Credit: Russian State Media.

Lancet Drone from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Ukraine’s military recruitment system is a critical part of its defensive efforts, but recent reports have shown that it is generating a substantial number of allegations of abuse and corruption. There are even reports of violent resistance from civilians.

More than four years since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv is still fighting to recruit sufficient numbers of soldiers required to defend a front that stretches hundreds of miles.

SCALP Missile Ukraine Military Photo

FP-5 Flamingo Cruise Missile.

Sochi has long been Vladimir Putin’s favorite resort on the Black Sea. In 2014, it hosted the Winter Olympics, largely seen around the world as a crowning moment for Putin’s Russian premiership.

But now, over a decade later, Sochi has been regularly bombarded by Ukraine.

Putin in 2018 Russian Federation Photo

Putin Back in 2016 Image Credit Russian Federation

The Financial Times wrote about this this week, noting that a Moscow hairdresser recently posted an Instagram video from the resort town before an air raid siren interrupted it.