Author: M Barbu

Iran, Russian and China Begin Naval Drill ‘To Strengthen Security in the Region’

The third trilateral drill, held in the Indian Ocean, is launched as Iran seeks to boost military cooperation, stronger ties with Beijing and Moscow amid tensions with Washington

Iran, Russia and China on Friday began a joint naval drill in the Indian Ocean aimed at boosting marine security, state media reported.

Iran’s state TV said 11 of its vessels were joined by three Russian ships including a destroyer, and two Chinese vessels. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard will also participate with smaller ships and helicopters.

Still Reeling From Last War With Russia, Ukrainian Jews Are Staying in Place for Now

Jewish community leaders in eastern Ukraine say there is no sense of panic, despite the deteriorating security situation with Russia, and that previous experiences are helping them now

Sitting in his synagogue office in central Kyiv, Rabbi Pinchas Vishedski is keeping watch on Ukraine’s rapidly deteriorating security situation, as 100,000 Russian forces mass on the border and U.S. President Joe Biden predicts an imminent invasion.

How China’s PLA exploits information disruption

The PLA has carefully studied the use of network-centric militaries such as the US Army and observed the reliance of those organisations upon information as a key element of their technological superiority. A theoretical representation of the centrality of information to western methods of warfare is provided by the Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA) loop as described by John Boyd.

Give a dog a gun: arming quadrupedal military robots

Semi-autonomous and remotely controlled weapons systems are established military tools, and several armed forces are experimenting with quadrupedal robots to carry equipment. But should we be concerned about efforts to arm doglike robots with lethal weapons? Norbert Neumann explores the current state of quadrupedal systems and their capabilities.

Who’s Willing to Fight Over Ukraine?

Defence researchers have been experimenting with quantum technologies for decades, with some results and capabilities proving more promising than others. The question is not whether quantum will proliferate the defence world, but when and to what extent. Norbert Neumann investigates what quantum computing and sensing mean for militaries.

Russia, Climate Change and the Global Energy Transformation

Over the next few decades, a reduction in the use of fossil fuels worldwide presents a bigger problem for Russia than climate change itself.

As Russia masses military forces on the borders of Ukraine, Western governments are consumed with trying to decipher President Vladimir Putin’s intentions and predict his next moves. While this heightened focus is fully justified, we should remain attentive to longer-term processes that might exacerbate the threat that Russia poses, both to its neighbours and to the West. One such process is climate change.

What Do UK Weapons Deliveries Add to Ukraine’s Armed Forces?

Sending anti-tank weapons to Ukraine will not alter the military balance or moderate Russia’s behaviour. It is time for a serious approach to supporting Ukraine, one that accounts for the Russian way of war.

The UK and US have been the most prominent military supporters of Ukraine since the conflict with Russia started in 2014. Past military deliveries have included Saxon armoured vehicles from the UK and HMMWVs from the US, as well as the widely reported delivery of the Javelin anti-tank guided missile system and now the Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon from the UK.

Climate Change and the French Armed Forces

With climate security gaining ground as a topic of global discussion, the French armed forces are developing their own approach to climate change at the national level.

As shown by the recent failure of the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution on the security implications of climate change and on the need to develop conflict-prevention strategies, with one veto (Russia), one vote against (India) and one abstention (China), climate security appears to be a somewhat controversial topic in international relations. Indeed, this vote reveals an existing political divide between countries that clearly recognise climate security as a legitimate issue and those that tend to contest its relevance. It also comes as a setback considering the strong and regular acknowledgements of the security implications of climate change made during UN Security Council debates since 2007, as well as by the most prominent defence officials from the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. For its part, France is clearly among the proponents of the issue, having championed the idea of a UN climate security envoy at the beginning of 2021.

The Pandemic Has Done Little to Check China’s Geostrategic Ambitions

Given the lack of joined up thinking by China’s geopolitical adversaries, the biggest threat to China’s growing economic and geopolitical dominance may actually be itself.

For a country considered by many to have been the source of a global health pandemic resulting in over 5.3 million deaths globally, it is noteworthy that COVID-19 appears to have done little to check China’s geostrategic standing. If anything, it can be argued that China’s geostrategic reach may actually have increased. This is particularly the case as Western governments have presided over a series of geostrategic errors allowing Beijing to extend its sphere of influence almost unchallenged.

Protecting the European Security Order

The US and Europe will need to work together to prevent Russian attempts to fundamentally redefine the European security order by force.

In late 2021, European Council President Charles Michel declared 2022 the ‘year of European defence’. He was referring to a burst of planned activity from the EU: a European Defence Summit, an EU defence strategy in the form of the EU ‘Strategic Compass’, a joint EU–NATO declaration, and the articulation and hopeful agreement of what ‘European strategic autonomy’ means in practice, all within the first six months of the year under the French EU Council presidency.