An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III ICBM launches during an operation test on February 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (US Space Force)
A protester flashes victory signs as traffic slows during demonstrations in Hamedan, Iran, on January 1, 2026. The demonstrations erupted after shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar shut their businesses to protest the sharp fall of Iran’s currency and worsening economic conditions. (Getty Images)
An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III ICBM launches during an operation test on February 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (US Space Force)
An F/A-18E Super Hornet takes off from the flight deck the USS George Washington while underway in the Timor Sea on July 15, 2025, during Talisman Sabre, the largest bilateral military exercise between Australia and the United States. (US Navy photo)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting in the Oval Office on August 18, 2025. (Mandel Ngan via Getty Images)
A US Marine Corps VXE30 Stalker unmanned aerial system is staged during a maritime domain awareness training exercise in southern Finland on July 31, 2025. (DVIDS)
Ukrainian military personnel control the unmanned ground vehicle platform Rys Pro equipped with a remote-controlled machine-gun turret during training on April 18, 2025, in an unspecified area of Ukraine. (Serhii Mykhalchuk via Getty Images)
A service member working with Command Task Force 66 unloads a Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft into the Port of Uskta during exercise Baltic Operations 2025 (BALTOPS 25) on June 8, 2025. (US Navy photo)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, President Vladimir Putin meets with Moscow-installed head of the Donetsk region in Russian-controlled Ukraine, Denis Pushilin (not pictured), at the Kremlin in Moscow on August 4, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel via Getty Images)
Leaders of nine nations applaud the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords at the Elysee Palace in Paris on December 14, 1995. (Peter Turnley via Getty Images)
A formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (Xia Yifang via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute