On Monday, September 26, European media reported a significant loss of pressure in the Nord Stream Two pipeline. Shortly thereafter, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson reported that a number of explosions had been recorded. Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden confirmed that they had registered the... MORE

Only a short time ago, the question of whether the People's Republic of China (PRC) aspires to global leadership was generally considered farfetched. However, President Xi Jinping’s recent announcements of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) at the UN General Assembly in 2021 and the Global... MORE

Introduction As the Russia-Ukrainian War rages on, a “crisis” of a similar vein unexpectedly erupted in the Taiwan Strait this summer. Some observers attributed the escalation of tension to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taipei, which subsequently ignited a war of words... MORE

Set against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, school shootings in Russia—such as the one that took place in Izhevsk and claimed the lives of 15 people (11 children and four adults) on September 26—seem like background noise deflecting from the main issue (Mk.ru,... MORE

The Muscovite Tsardom portrayed its relentless territorial expansion as “gathering Russian lands.” In many cases, the lands in question were not even Russian, but once conquered, they were subjected to Russification in due course. The tsars and Russian emperors added the informal but glowing title... MORE

At the end of September 2022, four separate leaks were reported on the Nord Stream One and Nord Stream Two pipelines (Svd.se, September 29). Based on preliminary evidence, the damage was deemed to be caused by deliberate acts of sabotage and not resulting from natural... MORE

On July 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new maritime doctrine, replacing the country’s previous Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation, instituted in June 2015 (Kremlin.ru, July 31). The highly ambitious new 106-section policy states throughout that the main security threats to Russia are... MORE

The first week of the “partial mobilization” in Russia, which started on September 21, has demonstrated rampant bureaucratic chaos, a lack of planning and a deficit of training facilities and even basic equipment (72.ru, September 26; Kommersant, September 27; Sekret Firmy, September 28; Ura.ru, September... MORE

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his partial mobilization program on September 21, officials across Russia have sought to carry out his order. This has sparked protests in more than 50 cities and fire bombings of official buildings in more than 20. Outside the two... MORE

On September 14, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed parliament in the wake of clashes at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Pashinyan announced that he would sign a document stipulating that “Armenia will have lasting peace and security in an area of 29,800 square kilometers,” in reference... MORE