Southeast Asia is becoming a hotspot for energy competition with projections suggesting that its demand for power will triple by 2050. As countries across the region race to meet their growing needs, one source of power is generating both hope and controversy: nuclear energy. Amid a renewed global competition forContinue Reading
The hijacking of the Jaffar Express in Balochistan has once again drawn attention to the region’s long-running insurgency. For decades, the Baloch people have resisted Pakistan’s military control, demanding self-determination, an end to enforced disappearances, and a stop to resource exploitation, yet their pleas have been ignored. The state’s continualContinue Reading
The Trump administration’s decision to freeze foreign aid fostered doubts about U.S. commitment to its Philippine ally, but Washington decided to allow more than $300 million in foreign military financing to Manila to move forward. Other positive developments in alliance management – especially early high-level engagements — should help maintainContinue Reading
After nearly two days of battling militants who had hijacked an express train in Balochistan province, the Pakistani military announced on Wednesday night that all terrorists had been killed and the hostages have been freed. On March 11, militants of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) stopped a train carrying nearlyContinue Reading
Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai on February 13 raised the idea of building a wall along parts of its border with Cambodia as part of an effort to stop human trafficking. On March 3, the Thai Cabinet apparently discussed the subject, with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra requesting a feasibility study.Continue Reading
Service in South Korea, whether in the military or government, is regrettably not the time-honored tradition it once was. But declining interest in military service is not just an issue of recruitment numbers or personnel management. It is a symptom of a far deeper fracture – one that has erodedContinue Reading
As the world faces the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II, Japan now has a new joint operations commander who has the authority to unify the three branches of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) from peacetime to times of emergency – especially withContinue Reading
In 1938, a year before Nazi Germany invaded Poland, France, and the United Kingdom allocated roughly 25–30 percent of their government expenditures to defense in preparation for war. Once the conflict erupted and France fell, the U.K. escalated its spending dramatically, dedicating around 50 percent of public funds to theContinue Reading
North Korea fired several ballistic missiles toward its western waters around 1:50 p.m. KST on Monday, according to the South Korean military. It marked the North’s fifth missile launch this year and came on the same day the United States and South Korea kicked off their “Freedom Shield” annual jointContinue Reading
In an important instance of counterterrorism cooperation, Pakistan and the United States last month conducted a military operation to arrest a commander of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. The development has drawn considerable attention from the U.S., with President Donald Trump thanking the PakistaniContinue Reading
