As I listened to world leaders announce the signing of the Ukraine Compact on the sidelines of NATO’s 75th anniversary summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, my mind drifted back to September 13, 2022. On that cold, rainy day, Anders Fogh Rasmussen and I first unveiled the Kyiv Security Compact concept. President Zelenskyy’s
Original Source On July 18, IPSI nonresident senior fellow Sungmin Cho was quoted in the Diplomat regarding heightened geopolitical tensions in East Asia and the implications for South Korea. He emphasized the increased risk of unconventional action by an emboldened Kim Jong Un, such as terrorist attacks on South Korean infrastructure and civilians. Fellow Sungmin
As perhaps the most pro-Kremlin and anti-Western leader of any EU or NATO member state, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban makes for an unlikely mediator in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. This did not prevent the Hungarian leader from embarking on an ambitious series of international visits in early July that he dubbed
In December 2023, Ukraine’s largest telecom operator, Kyivstar, experienced a massive outage. Mobile and internet services went down for approximately twenty four million subscribers across the country. Company president Alexander Komarov called it “the largest hacker attack on telecom infrastructure in the world.” The Russian hacker group Solntsepyok claimed responsibility for the attack. This and
ORIGINAL SOURCE On June 17, IPSI nonresident fellow Brian Kerg’s recent New Atlanticist piece, “Think China can already take Taiwan easily? Think again,” was referenced by Taipei Times regarding the impact of a potential China-Taiwan conflict on countries close to Taiwan. Fellow Brian Kerg Nonresident Fellow Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
The letter of support Iranian President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian sent to the secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on July 8 was seen by Israelis as a reinforcement of their already strong conviction that the reformist president’s election will not result in any change in the Islamic Republic. Responding to Nasrallah’s congratulatory message, Pezeshkian pledged continued
This week marked another milestone in the Battle of the Black Sea as the Russian Navy reportedly withdrew its last remaining patrol ship from occupied Crimea. The news was announced by Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk, who signaled the historic nature of the Russian retreat with the words: “Remember this day.” The withdrawal of Russian
At the beginning of July, I was one of twenty internationally-based Belarusian academics, analysts, and journalists to be sentenced in absentia by a court in Minsk on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government and taking part in an extremist group. News of my ten-year sentence provoked very conflicting emotions. While many colleagues congratulated me
ORIGINAL SOURCE On June 15, IPSI nonresident fellow Brian Kerg’s New Atlanticist piece, “There will be no ‘short, sharp’ war. A fight between the US and China would likely go on for years,” was referenced by the Australian Independent Media Network regarding the likelihood of a prolonged conflict with China over Taiwan. Fellow Brian Kerg
On May 20, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan announced his request for arrest warrants against senior Hamas leaders and Israeli officials, including Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during and since Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 7,
