Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the democratic world largely passively observed that China was the main enabler of Moscow’s war effort. Even though Russia is aware of its dependence on China, the world’s inaction boils down to collective dependence on China’s control and dominance over global trade and technology supply chains. While democracies are reluctant to take economic risks, China’s support for Russia continues, as does the war. Initial hopes that China could convince its junior authoritarian partner to scale back the war quickly faded when it became clear that there were truly no limits to…
Author: Frank M. Everett
Don’t all presidents talk endlessly about ballrooms in between fall asleep in public? This is what Donald Trump wants the American people to believe. A president who has never released his full medical records or even revealed the reason for many of his visits to doctors, posted on his social media platform:I just completed my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything went PERFECTLY. Thank you to the amazing doctors and staff! Return to the White House.The media assumed, because the White House allowed them, that Trump was going for his annual physical, but according to Trump,…
China’s next-generation frigate, the Type 054B, has been confirmed for the first time as part of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) Liaoning aircraft carrier strike group in the Western Pacific, marking another step in accelerating Beijing’s blue-water naval ambitions. Japan’s Defense Ministry announced on May 26 that the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) monitored the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and four accompanying warships sailing about 880 kilometers southwest of Okinotorishima, Japan’s southernmost island, on May 25. The next day, Japanese forces also confirmed repeated takeoffs and landings of carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters from Liaoning. The deployment itself was not…
In line with the recently signed India-EU Free Trade Agreement as well as the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) signed with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visit in Gothenburg and its subsequent participation in an Indo-Nordic summit in Oslo focused, on the surface, on familiar themes: innovation, the green transition, AI and advanced manufacturing. However, the journey could also catalyze the emergence of a more consequential story. The industrial and technological areas discussed in Gothenburg do not constitute simple business opportunities; they are also precisely the skills that any serious player in…
North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean on May 26, South Korea’s chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. This is North Korea’s eighth ballistic missile test this year, and the first since testing multiple ballistic missiles. short-range ballistic missiles over a month ago. According to South Korea’s JCS, the missiles were launched around 1 p.m. KST from Chongju in North Pyongan province, northwest of Pyongyang, and traveled about 80 kilometers before falling into the sea west of the Korean Peninsula. Short-range ballistic missiles are generally classified as having a range of 300 kilometers or…
Europe’s China policy is stuck in a strategic impasse. Instruments aimed at reducing asymmetric dependencies, strengthening competitiveness and strengthening economic resilience already exist or are being developed. But the impression is emerging that these political measures are too limited and too late. At the same time, the European Commission lacks sustained strategic engagement with China at the highest political level. Instead, the European approach to Beijing is increasingly defined by ad hoc reactions. A fragmented and sporadic policy that fails to focus on the big picture is ill-suited to the strategic challenge posed by China – particularly when China represents…
One of the most interesting democratic movements in recent years has been that of Australia. Community Independents Project. The movement is a grassroots initiative, based on an intimate understanding of local concerns and the sharing of political organizing tactics. Although its origins In a rural electorate, the movement enjoyed its greatest success in the country’s wealthiest and most educated seats, where suspicion of the Liberal Party in its once safest seats grew. Yet the movement now finds itself at a crossroads on how to proceed, with several independents elected via the model considering training a political party. If they did,…
In the span of four weeks, two planes told the story of Taiwan’s presence and absence in the world. One flew U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping had every opportunity to make his case over Taiwan. The other was almost prevented from reaching its destination: Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te attempted to travel to Eswatini, Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa, only to see three countries revoke his plane’s overflight authorization. Lai had to postpone his trip. China puts pressure on Taiwan by controlling access to and the language used about it – including pressuring foreign…
As Taiwan hopes for rapid delivery of a $14 billion arms deal approved by the U.S. Congress in January, a U.S. official told a Senate hearing last week that foreign military sales were being suspended to protect munitions stockpiles as the conflict in Iran continues. US arms sales have been an integral part of Taiwan’s security since Washington ended diplomatic recognition of Taipei in favor of Beijing in 1979.Despite losing recognition due to arms sales and other deals, Washington remains a de facto military protector of the democratic island, an arrangement that remains one of the most unusual in international…
Every country commemorates its wars in its own way and Cambodia is no exception. And as gunshots continue to ring out across the disputed Thai border, authorities are preparing Cambodians to mark May 28 as a day of national remembrance, marking the start of last year’s armed conflict with Thailand. At the Win-Win Memorial, built to commemorate the 30 years of civil war that transformed Cambodia into a failed state, murals emphasizing the suffering, courage and solidarity of the Khmer people and their army during the undeclared border war of 2025 are now carved in stone. The hero is Sgt.…