Peter Apps

In a newly built drydock on China's Changxing Island Shipbuilding Base outside Shanghai, the world's largest amphibious assault ship has sprung from nothing to an imposing hull that experts say might launch as soon as 2025.

At this week's "Army 2024" defence fair on the outskirts of Moscow, dozens of Russian arms firms showcased their latest military equipment, telling visitors from across Asia, Africa and beyond that Russia’s combat experience during the invasion of Ukraine now makes their products amongst the most battle-tested in the world.

According to a bipartisan committee set up by Congress to study the risk of a looming global war, whoever wins the U.S. presidential election in November will face the most challenging strategic situation since 1945.

As two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups patrolled the Indian Ocean this week in an explicit effort to deter Iran from striking Israel and sparking a major regional conflict, a very different military messaging effort was underway in a luxury conference centre in Manila.

At the end of January in the Thai capital Bangkok, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese foreign policy supremo Wang Yi held two six-hour negotiating sessions - described by Thailand’s Foreign Ministry as an effort “to try and iron out their differences”.

As the largest vessel in the Philippines Coast Guard returned to port last week after five months blockaded by Chinese patrol vessels and fishing craft at the disputed Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea, ambulances waited on the quayside to receive several crew members, two carried off by stretcher.

As campaigning for Moldova’s presidential election and referendum on European Union relations entered its final month in late September, violent splashes of red and yellow paint appeared across government buildings in the capital Chisinau.

Russia’s aims, officials and analysts say, likely include undermining European trust in governments, deterring further European military support for Ukraine.

Since August, Ukrainian civilians have been evacuating the eastern city of Pokrovsk, taking everything of value from hospital beds to library books as Russian forces have pushed ever closer to the strategic rail junction and settlement.

Within two weeks of Donald Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was touring Australia and Asia with a simple message: the U.S. was not leaving, America’s regional allies were doubling down on relationships with both Washington and between each other – and the presidential transition would be a bad time for China to attack Taiwan.