Geopolitics & Strategy
Alliance dynamics, power competition, sanctions, and strategic posture.
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Video
Assad Loyalists Are Plotting a Comeback in Syria — and It's Falling Apart
Exiled Assad loyalists in Russia and Lebanon are competing to revive the old Syrian regime, but money, rivalry, and a stabilizing Syria are sinking the plot.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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The Biggest Losers of the Iran War So Far: How the Conflict Spilled Past Iran's Borders
A region-by-region map of the Iran War's global fallout, from the Gulf's desalination crisis to India's fuel shock, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Asia's energy triage.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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What If BRICS Became a Military Alliance?
A defense analysis of whether the BRICS bloc could become a NATO-style military alliance, its combined firepower, and why collective defense remains unlikely.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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Can Japan Stop China? Tokyo's Remilitarization and the Race for Asia
As Washington's commitment to Asia wavers, Japan under PM Takaichi is rearming and building a regional coalition to check Chinese dominance. Can it work?
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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Could Canada Become Europe's Arsenal? The Case for a New Trans-Atlantic Defense Pact
Europe needs weapons it can't build fast enough, and Canada has idle industrial capacity. Inside the case for Canada becoming Europe's defense arsenal.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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China's Invisible Navy: How a Fishing Fleet Became a Strategic Weapon in the East China Sea
Thousands of Chinese maritime militia vessels are massing in geometric formations off Shanghai, testing a force that could decide a Taiwan invasion while Washington looks elsewhere.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 WarFronts Weekly
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Video
The Situation Room: China, Japan, Syria, Sudan, and the Logic of the Trump Doctrine
A wide-angle analysis of a China-Japan war, Syria after Assad, the El-Fasher massacre, the Trump Doctrine, Mexico's cartels, and nuclear landmines.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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Germany's Rearmament, the Gaza Endgame, and the Red Sea's New Shadow War
Germany rebuilds a high-tech military, Europe and the Arab world corner Israel over Gaza, and a Houthi-al-Shabaab pact reshapes Red Sea security.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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South Korea: The Disruptor Reshaping the Global Balance of Power
How South Korea's arms-export boom, deepening US and Japan ties, and surging defense industry are turning a peninsula state into a global power broker.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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Starting the Iran War Was Easy. Stopping It Will Be Hard
Why Washington, the Gulf states, and Israel cannot agree on an off-ramp from the Iran war, and why Tehran may end up deciding when the fighting stops.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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The Porcupine Strategy: How Taiwan Plans to Survive a Chinese Invasion
Inside Taiwan's deterrence doctrine, the Overall Defense Concept, and the war games that reveal what survival against a Chinese invasion would actually cost.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026 
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The US Has Cut Off Venezuelan Oil: How Trump's Reversal Could Devastate Caracas
How Trump's withdrawal of Biden-era oil licences, the green transition, and a looming glut threaten Venezuela's petrostate economy and its dirtiest crude.
Simon Whistler · June 2, 2026