Ideas
NATO Should End its Open-Door Policy
Enlarging the alliance has caused more problems than it has solved.
Ideas
Russia’s Military Is Writing an Armed-Robot Playbook
The new tactics and operating concepts will draw on three years of Syrian operations.
Ideas
Russia’s AI Quest is State-Driven — Even More than China’s. Can It Work?
Handicaps: weak private sector, Soviet-style bureaucracy. Helps: Great STEM education — and history.
Ideas
'Some of You on this Committee Appear to Believe' That Russia Didn't Meddle in 2016
In testimony, a former senior director for European and Russian affairs on Trump's National Security Council tells lawmakers to stop spreading Moscow's lies.
Ideas
Ukraine Is Taking a Beating in the Impeachment Hearings
Each new revelation about U.S. attempts to manipulate Kyiv weakens Zelensky ahead of his December meeting with Putin.
Ideas
Ep. 59: The future of European security
Here's a look at some of the ways Europe is changing amid various pressures from Russia, China and the NATO alliance.
Policy
'That’s When I Became A Sniper': Ukraine’s Women Vets Describe Their War
As the war in Ukraine smolders on, we sat down with women veterans who recount their experiences fighting to defend their country, and each other.
Policy
SecDef: Expect ‘Trimming, Reducing, Some Eliminations’ in 2021 Budget
Esper touts "good progress" in high-level review intended to cut fat and find funds for projects to counter China and Russia.
Ideas
The Cold War Ended 30 Years Ago. Why Are Things With Russia So Bad?
Critics said NATO expansion would start a new Cold War. They were right.
Threats
The Mad Scramble for Syria
After weeks of chaos in the northeast, great powers redrew a small chunk of the map. And a bigger story is just beginning.
Science & Tech
Russia Says It Used Autonomous Armed Strike Drones in a Wargame
But some observers have questions about the claim.
Ideas
It’s Not All Trump’s Fault: Syria Shows the Danger of War on the Cheap
America’s surprise withdrawal is deeply destabilizing, but so is the proxy war that Western countries have fought for five years.
Policy
Pentagon Vows to Guard the Syrian Oil That Trump Wants to Seize
That includes warding off Syrian and Russian forces, SecDef Esper says, with murky justification under domestic and international law.
Ideas
What Was the Point of the Syria ‘Withdrawal’?
Donald Trump, who vowed to get troops out of Syria altogether, incurred all the strategic costs without getting any of the political benefit.
Threats
US Troops, Armor Will ‘Secure’ Oil Fields in Syria, Says SecDef in New Reversal
The U.S. might also maintain “one of our two airfields that are there,” said America’s envoy to Syria to lawmakers.
Science & Tech
Russia Will Test Its Ability to Disconnect from the Internet
The nascent RuNet is meant to allow the country to survive an attack — and Putin to monitor and control the population.
Threats
Trump’s STRATCOM Pick Declines to Endorse Open-Skies Withdrawal
The Trump administration is weighing pulling out of the 1992 surveillance agreement amid complaints that Russia is out of compliance.
Ideas
How Climate Change Will Help China And Russia Wage Hybrid War
Increased refugee flows, weather threats, and declining food security will deepen tensions already being exploited to divide and weaken the U.S. and its allies.
Threats