On the night of December 29, 2023, Russia conducted a series of massive missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. This operation was meant to add weight to President Vladimir Putin’s confident and unwavering words in a series of public events that concluded the year. It produced... MORE

The Politburo held a “democratic life meeting (民主生活会)” on December 21–22, 2023, in which President Xi Jinping gave an internal, unpublished speech. According to accounts provided to the author by three officials at the rank of department head or above, Xi admitted that he had... MORE

Executive Summary Putin has tried to convey the “success” of his war by maintaining the façade that there are no serious problems on the home front and that the Russian people remain resolute in their support of the Kremlin leader. Moscow’s messaging has become less... MORE

On November 24, 2023, DAMO Academy (達摩院; literally “Dharma”), Alibaba’s research division, unveiled three ground-breaking processors rooted in the open-source RISC-V architecture. The Xuantie (玄铁) C920, Xuantie C907, and Xuantie R910 processors promise to accelerate application of RISC-V technology into diverse sectors, from autonomous vehicles... MORE

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and leader of the opposition-in-exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaya spent the previous week abroad trying to improve their standing with influential global powers, with Lukashenka visiting China and Tikhanovskaya traveling to the United States. A triangular model has emerged that characterizes the current... MORE

On November 28, Iranian state media reported that Tehran had finalized a long-awaited deal with Russia to procure Sukhoi Su-35 fighters jets, attack helicopters, and military trainer aircraft. Although some sources dubbed the announcement as another round of government speculation, Iranian Deputy Defense Minister General... MORE

Over the past five years, Moscow has made progress in gaining international recognition for its expansive claims to large portions of the Arctic. As some Russian media outlets reported in early December, this has come in part because the United States has not ratified the... MORE

On November 27, President Vladimir Putin signed into law the Russian federal budget for 2024–26 and planning period for 2025–26. As part of the budget, national defense spending for 2024 will be close to 10.8 trillion rubles ($119.6 billion, according to the expected exchange rate)... MORE

On December 1, Belta, Belarus’s official press agency, admitted that President Alyaksandr Lukashenka seemingly went off script during his speech at the UN Climate Summit and “added sharpness to his presentation” (Belta, December 1). Lukashenka declared that repeatedly expressing concerns about climate change at a... MORE

At the Grain From Ukraine forum in Kyiv on November 25, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine has arranged to receive additional air defense systems from Western partners to ensure the safety of vessels traveling along the grain corridor in the Black Sea. According to... MORE