Executive Summary: The Russian private military company (PMC) Española grew out of a subculture of soccer hooliganism in Russia. Española’s connection to soccer has important implications for using sports to recruit private soldiers for Russia’s war against Ukraine—a trend that has shown signs of spreading... MORE

Executive Summary: The United States is looking to Latin America to send Soviet-era and Russian weapons to Ukraine in exchange for modern American-made analogs. Many Latin American countries are hesitant to agree to this request because they do not want to break their treaties with... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia’s advances in Africa are moving to a new political-strategic level by establishing further military and economic ties across the continent. Moscow has long worked to gain influence across the Sahel and is now aiming to establish footholds throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and the... MORE

Executive Summary: Majority ownership by state-owned Cosco Shipping, and involvement of companies like ZPMC which is closely linked to China's Military-Civil Fusion strategy, raises concerns about the dual-use nature of infrastructure projects and potential military implications. The PRC has become Peru's main trading partner and... MORE

Executive Summary: As the result of the ongoing military reform, the military’s guiding and leadership role over civilian bureaucracies seems to be strengthened. Meanwhile, the responsibilities of the State Council and local governments on NDM have been substantiated, and the administrative work which the PLA... MORE

Executive Summary: Conceptual framings from the military may be influencing how the CCP approaches its management of the economy. The phrase “New Quality Combat Forces” predates the phrase “New Quality Productive Forces” by several years. Now they are being linked as mutually self-reinforcing constructs. Both... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia has proposed a pause of the fighting in Ukraine in exchange for strategic arms and space negotiations with the West.  The Russian armed forces have been taking Soviet-era arms out of storage as a solution to its dwindling supply of weapons despite... MORE

Executive Summary: Belarus plays an essential geostrategic role in the logistical transport networks between Asia and Europe through the “Northern Corridor,” which passes through Russia and Belarus. Although Western sanctions due to the war in Ukraine have negatively affected the volume of transport through the... MORE

Executive Summary: Moscow fears that Armenia may demand that Russia pull its border guards from Yerevan’s international airport and close its military base at Gyumri, following Armenia’s suspension of its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Kremlin worries about losing influence in Armenia.... MORE

Executive Summary Salaheddin Faroughi (alias Abdolrahim Mollahzadeh) is the emir of Jaish-al-Adl (JAA), a militant group seeking autonomy or an independent state for the Baloch people of Iran and Pakistan. JAA was the proximate cause of the most recent series of cross-border fights between the... MORE