News, Articles and Comment

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a book examining the contemporary Indian and Chinese navies and their development in the context of the evolving Indo-Pacific strategic environment.

Ed. The author reviews the defence and foreign policy background of Operation FORTIS, HMS Queen Elizabeth’s 2021 Indo-Pacific deployment, considering the operation a watershed in post-Cold War British foreign policy. A 10 minute read.

Ed. The author assess the impact of recent geopolitical developments on NATO’s Arctic strategy and nuclear deterrence. A 10 minute read.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. Professor Andrew Lambert considers the proceedings of a 2022 conference on the navies of the Baltic Sea region during the interwar period.

Ed. A warm welcome to 2026! What a year, already, which may bring a new world order. The Chairman has outlined the current global challenges, but the current pace of events is such that with a turnaround time of three weeks for the hardcopy there may well be more. As we stand away from the map as far as it is possible, one can see and feel the paradigm shift of global reality underway, probably the biggest and most significant movement in over 100 years.

Ed. The author, former Conservative MP and Shadow Defence Minister, outlines Russian and Chinese activities in the Arctic as part of his forthcoming book on the subject, The Arctic: Land of the Great Bear. A 15 minute read.

Ed. The author investigates the crisis planning and political justifications for the US invasion of the island nation of Grenada on 25^th October 1983. A 15 minute read.

Ed. The RNSSC author provides an appreciation of the strategic situation in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), and endorses an organic ‘multiplex’ as against a hegemonic ‘multipolar’ order for the region. A 35 minute read.

Ed. Churchill’s final volume of his war memoirs is titled Triumph and Tragedy: the theme of the volume is “how the great democracies triumphed and so were able to resume the follies which had so nearly cost them their life.” What did Churchill mean by tragedy? Was he referring to the incredible loss of life caused by the firestorms of Dresden and Tokyo or by the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Or was he lamenting the tragedy that, for most of Eastern Europe, he foresaw that one jackboot was to be replaced by another. As it wasn’t just the democracies that triumphed, the most successful victor of the Second World War was indeed Stalin claiming territories and spoils both in Europe and in Asia. Once again, we risk another tragedy as it looks increasingly likely the jackboots are on the rise.