Defense & Security Archive

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR’s newsletter and engagement editor, Benjamin Wilhelm, curates the top news and analysis from China written by the experts who follow it. President Xi Jinping’s opening speech to the first-ever China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Monday was loaded with promises and reassurances. Seeking to convince the world of China’s openness to foreign goods and services, Xi portrayed himself as a staunch advocate for globalization. The address was delivered to an audience that included political and business leaders from 172 countries, but it was just as notable for who was missing in Shanghai and what […]

2018 has been the year of diplomacy for North Korea’s totalitarian government, with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un meeting with the leaders of South Korea, China and the United States, in addition to reportedly planning a visit to Russia. But behind this charm offensive, the regime in Pyongyang is continuing to develop its cyber warfare capabilities and conduct espionage campaigns against a wide range of targets. In an interview with WPR, Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, explains the motives and methods behind North Korea’s malign cyber activities and how the private sector is adapting […]

A new type of rap music famous for its bleak, violent lyrics has frequently been cited as a factor contributing to a resurgent London crime wave. Yet amid all this concern about the music, known as “drill,” little attention is being paid to the harsh socioeconomic realities facing the men and boys creating it. LONDON—In late August, this city achieved a grim milestone: The Metropolitan Police announced they were investigating the 100th “violent death” recorded since the start of the year. Well before that case was recorded, a spate of violent crime in London had already sparked a lot of […]

The Arab countries of the Persian Gulf are in a period of unusual turbulence. It’s not their declared enemy, Iran, that is causing the trouble, but the secondary effects of overly ambitious and high-risk policy choices by a new generation of leaders from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi. Their major security partners, including the United States, are worried that regional coordination and cooperation have become harder, with each Gulf state distracted by local crises, while Russia and Iran are benefiting from the disarray. It raises longer-term concerns about the future of their regional bloc, the Gulf Cooperation Council, which has never […]

Sri Lanka’s government was thrown into chaos last week when President Maithripala Sirisena abruptly fired his prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe. In his place, Sirisena appointed his once-bitter rival, Mahinda Rajapaksa, a controversial former president who narrowly lost his re-election bid to Sirisena in 2015. Wickremesinghe refused to yield, however, claiming majority support from his fellow lawmakers, prompting Sirisena to suspend the 225-member Parliament. The tense standoff appeared headed toward a denouement on Thursday, when Rajapaksa said Parliament would reconvene next week. But the president’s office has remained noncommittal, prompting a majority of lawmakers to submit a joint petition to the […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Senior Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. “I came only to confirm to people that I am for peace. The past is gone. We have opened a new chapter for peace and unity.” That was Riek Machar, South Sudan’s opposition leader and former vice president, who returned to the war-torn country Wednesday after more than two years away. His upbeat tone was matched by President Salva Kiir, who similarly described the event as a turning point in a civil war that’s nearly five years old and, […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, discuss why Asia’s two main economic rivals, China and Japan, are now trying to improve their ties. For the Report, Obi Anyadike talks with WPR’s senior editor, Robbie Corey-Boulet, about his reporting from Nigeria, where in the past six months, an estimated 600 Nigerian soldiers have been killed in the fight against Boko Haram. Soldiers are poorly equipped and overstretched, and their morale is dangerously low. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign […]

A resurgent form of populism is attempting to divide the world between an ethnically or racially defined class of non-elites, framed as ethically superior, and a decadent, globalizing elite. The result could be conflicts between countries or even within borders. A powerful wave of populism is sweeping the world, enveloping not only places like Latin America, where it has long held sway, but also Europe, North America and parts of Asia. Few experts saw this coming, and no one knows what its ultimate repercussions will be. But if historical patterns hold, this kind of populism, fueled by strident nationalism, may […]

The threat of new water wars grows across the globe. Can we resolve the causes of water conflicts before it’s too late? Although alarmist headlines often announce imminent water wars over scarce resources, the truth is that cooperation over shared waterways, particularly rivers, is historically more common than conflict. In fact, even among bitter enemies, the historical record shows that water conflicts around the world do get resolved, even to the point that international cooperation often increases during droughts. However, common causes of water conflicts remain a concern. Unilateral actions to construct a dam or river diversion in the absence […]

The U.S. Treasury Department recently designated a network of 22 Iranian businesses as supporters of terrorism, including several banks and major commodities companies, imposing sanctions on them for their alleged financial ties to a powerful Iranian militia. The goal was to expose and discredit the paramilitary group they are said to finance, known as the Basij, which is linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and, according to the Treasury Department, has recruited child soldiers sent to fight in Syria to support the Assad regime. Yet like other forms of financial pressure from the Trump administration, these sanctions likely won’t […]

Last Friday, the people of Sri Lanka got shocking news. President Maithripala Sirisena had abruptly fired the country’s prime minister—a move explicitly banned by the constitution. Confusing matters even more, Sirisena named his most bitter rival as the new prime minister, to step in for the man who had been his key ally in winning the presidency. Sri Lankans watched as the sacked prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was replaced by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who appeared on television being sworn in as the head of the new government. But Wickremesinghe refused to accept Sirisena’s move amid cries that a constitutional […]