Commentary

Since 2020, a number of African governments have distanced themselves from the United States and its allies while deepening ties with Russia and its Wagner Group mercenaries. Moscow has ramped up its security, diplomatic, economic, and…

For major wars like the one being fought between Russia and Ukraine, the military, the people, and the state interact with one another to constitute a collective national will to fight. In most wars, one side loses its will to fight and is…

It is the early 1960s and America stands at a crossroads in Southeast Asia. President Lyndon B. Johnson is in the midst of a re-election campaign while attempting to grapple with an escalating situation in Vietnam. The South Vietnamese…

Editor’s Note: Benjamin Jensen, one of the authors of this article, is the host of the new War on the Rocks members-only show, Not the AI You’re Looking For. If you are a member, you can access the show directly. If you are not yet a…

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has just completed his first 100 days in office, giving observers a taste of what the next 1,360 days will bring. Many of the political dynamics playing out in his first months in office were foreseen, have…

Despite Washington’s efforts to alleviate South Korea’s security concerns, culminating in the April 2023 Washington Declaration, calls for nuclear armament in South Korea have not subsided. Recent polls show public support for nuclear…

What if the next war goes nuclear because one side mistakes a conventional missile for a nuclear one, and responds accordingly? This issue of “entanglement,” or the risks of confusing conventional weapons with nuclear ones, and vice versa,…

As the third anniversary of the sudden and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has come and gone, the tragedy continues to play out. Hundreds of men and women who fought alongside American troops are stuck in legal limbo, living in…

A war that begins with a cyber attack on an American company on Earth to disrupt a foreign military’s satellite-based communications, hectic scenes aboard the International Space Station after a satellite is shot down, and a billionaire who…

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops and military advisors abroad to fight in foreign wars. Today, Russia recruits thousands of foreigners to fight in its war in Ukraine. For Russia, a nation with a reputation for…