Commentary

Can the United States stop a Chinese invasion of Taiwan by turning the island’s approaches into an “unmanned hellscape”? Can the “attritable” unmanned capabilities being acquired through the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative close an…

Vietnam has been busy. In recent months, it has exponentially expanded the size of several features it controls in the Spratly Islands, including Barque Canada Reef, Namyit Island, Pearson Reef, and Discovery Great Reef. China appears to…

Iran’s “election circus” — as it is known in Farsi — is in full swing with a total of six candidates being approved by the supreme leader-controlled vetting body, the Guardian Council. These six have not held back in backstabbing each…

If one word has come to characterize the army that the Duke of Wellington led in the campaign that culminated in the Battle of Waterloo, that word is “infamous.” The description comes from the mouth of the Duke himself, and entered the…

Napoleon Bonaparte’s Waterloo army was the last he would ever lead into combat. Returning from exile in March 1815 to a country riven by factionalism and exhausted by two decades of almost unremitting warfare, the French emperor managed in…

Editor’s Note: This is the final part of a short series examining maritime geography and strategic challenges in specific bodies of water, ranging from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Guinea and the South China Sea. The Mediterranean’s…

Did the views Iraqi President Saddam Hussein espoused regarding the United States in private meetings with subordinates align with his public statements? A new book has the answer. The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the…

While Washington continues to debate its Ukraine policy, everyone can be relieved that no side has employed any nuclear weapons yet. When the United States and its partners intervened after Russia’s full-scale invasion, there were serious…

Early June 1864 was a bleak time for Washington and the Union cause. What began that spring as a determined Federalist push to crush the Confederacy was moving at a grinding, bloody pace. In Virginia, Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the…

Following decades of fretting over “who lost Turkey,” Washington finally seems to have overcome its grief. Having passed through the stages of shock, denial, and anger, the mood is now approaching one of acceptance. Instead of berating…