Russia
No neutrality in espionage: Why is Malaysia tangled up in a spying case in Norway?
News reports emerged last week that the Norwegian authorities had recently detained a man identified as a Malaysian citizen in Oslo for alleged espionage. It was confirmed that…
North Korea undeterred – to Putin’s pleasure
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin pledged to stand together against “imperialism” after meeting on Wednesday, their first face-to-face summit in four years…
Ukraine has Moscow in its crosshairs but that shouldn’t make us squeamish
Kyiv is quiet at night. Unlike other European capitals, where the chatter of cars and party-goers continues into the morning, Ukraine’s curfew means there’s scarcely a sound after…
Danger Will Robinson: Warfighting robots fast approaching
Ernest Hemingway famously wrote bankruptcies happen “gradually, then suddenly”. Given two events last week, this might also succinctly describe the rise of robot warfighting. A…
Can North Korea play off Russia against China?
Flanking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the podium in Pyongyang several weeks ago, top Russian and Chinese officials watched a show of the country’s assembled missile forces…
Russia: The mafia as the state
What was astounding about the demise of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late chief of the Wagner Group, was not so much the fact of his death but the spectacular fashion in which he met…
Europe’s last war
Sometimes, watching the latest news, Europe’s last war comes to mind. At this time 30 years ago, the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the deadliest chapter in the violent break-up…
With Prigozhin gone, what next for the Wagner Group?
Along with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the 10 dead from the 23 August plane crash included two other key figures of the Wagner Group hierarchy: Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov. Prigozhin…
Prigozhin is dead, but Putin is still weakened
The reported death of Wagner Group chief Yevgenyi Prigozhin in a plane crash, along with the group’s co-founder Dmitry Utkin, comes as little surprise. If anything, it’s more…
The Baltic response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been some of the most significant supporters of Ukraine following the invasion by Russia in February 2022, contributing the…