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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.

The Defense Innovation Unit has a new, specialized team that’s hustling to clear major constraints associated with transitioning proven commercial technologies directly into the military services.
“Within one year, we will open co-use classified facilities nationwide, slash cyber authorization timelines by half, and enable agile, end-to-end testing capabilities for young companies desperate to demonstrate,” DIU’s Director Owen West wrote in a memorandum unveiling the Bridge Program this week.

The war with Iran has been underway for almost half a year, and its impact on global energy is obvious. Still, the focus is no longer only on crude oil prices, but also on how fuel is refined, transported, and traded worldwide.

On Thursday, Brent crude soared to $93.81 a barrel, the highest level in more than three weeks.

Generic Oil Tanker Image. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Oil Platform. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Refined fuels, however, are facing even bigger problems. European diesel prices have surged by upwards of 70% since the U.S.

President Donald Trump is promising what he calls an “Economic D-Day” against Iran, but the details of Washington’s next move are still to come.

“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump told a White House press conference on Thursday.

The Iran War Could Start Again Next Week 

President Donald Trump addresses members of the media in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, Tuesday, January 20, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

He also suggested that if a deal was not reached by 8 p.m.

The Department of War’s decision to suspend Phase 2 of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program creates an opportunity to strengthen — not weaken — how we protect the defense industrial base (DIB). Many small and mid-sized defense contractors struggle to absorb the cost, complexity, and administrative burden of the current compliance model, while defense programs that depend on a supplier base are already under significant pressure to maintain readiness.   
Before this announcement, I was a CMMC skeptic.

Ukraine announced another successful long-term attack on Russian infrastructure on Wednesday, hitting the Taneco oil refinery in Russia’s Tatarstan region, Bloomberg News reported.

The facility is 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of Moscow, according to a map posted to Telegram by the General Staff in Kyiv.

M109 Artillery Creative Commons Photo.

In another strike the same night closer to home, Ukraine struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal on the Russian side of the Black Sea.

That terminal, per Bloomberg, has a loading capacity of 20 million tons a year.