Ideas

In Norway, young people compete to serve in the military

Other countries mulling wider national service plans should learn about the Norwegian model.

Ideas

Nord Stream Leaks Underline Gray-Zone Risks

Damaging a neighbor’s environment can be easy, cheap, and deniable.

Ideas

Putin’s War, and His Rule, Are In Trouble

Russia’s mobilization is an epic disaster. Can it become a movement against the regime?

Ideas

The Danube Won’t Solve Ukraine’s Grain Problems

Europe’s second-longest river isn’t deep enough to carry ocean-going grain vessels.

Ideas

What Turkey Got for Letting Sweden, Finland Join NATO

And the prospective alliance members got a lesson in the politics of collective defense.

Ideas

Sweden’s NATO Bid Is in Trouble

Domestic politics have elevated a Kurdish parliamentarian, and that worsens Stockholm’s Turkey woes.

Ideas

Stop Making a Big Deal of NATO’s Next Members

Moscow wants to pretend that admitting Sweden and Finland would represent a far larger military change than it actually is.

Ideas

Sweden, Finland Gave Up Neutrality a Long Time Ago

Their collective-defense rights as EU members suggest a way forward for Ukraine.

Ideas

Russia Is Choking Off Air Travel to Ukraine

Moscow doesn’t need troops and roadblocks to isolate a target country.

Ideas

Italy Is a Quiet Pillar of NATO’s Aerial Policing

Rome seems happy to contribute more than their share of ground troops and jets to NATO missions—as long as they can do it sotto voce.

Threats

In an Information War, Be Careful What You Amplify

An announcement about an annual Russian reserve-forces exercise has some people speculating unhelpfully.

Ideas

How Irish Fishermen Took on the Russian Fleet and Won

The action illustrates how the private sector can help governments respond to Russian gray-zone aggression.

Ideas

What If Moscow Cancels Airline Overflight Rights?

The interconnected world gives Russia tools that the Soviet Union never had.

Ideas

Biden’s Gray-Zone Gaffe Highlights a Real Dilemma

It’s high time for NATO and its member governments to define what kinds of aggression short of war require a unified response.

Ideas

‘War Is Coming’: Mysterious TikTok Videos Are Scaring Sweden’s Children

The campaign offers an early test for the country’s new anti-disinformation agency.

Ideas

Belarus Is Laying Tinder for a War. How Will NATO Respond?

The weaponization of migrants shows how gray-zone tactics flummox an alliance set up to deal with conventional or nuclear attacks.

Ideas

Belarus’s Weaponized Migrants Offer a Primer on Gray-Zone Warfare

Western governments would do well to study Minsk’s actions—and prepare their populations to be on guard.

Ideas

Why France Is Getting No Sympathy for Its Lost Sub Deal

Its European neighbors have long bristled at Paris’ self-dealing and aggressive sales tactics.

Ideas

Italy’s Carabinieri Were the Perfect Force for the Kabul Evacuation

The soldier-policemen of this hybrid outfit went outside the wire to bring thousands to safety.