Russia Reform Monitor No. 2551
An olive branch to Moscow;
More signs of domestic discontent;
What Russian elites think about the war now;
Legalizing war crimes
An olive branch to Moscow;
More signs of domestic discontent;
What Russian elites think about the war now;
Legalizing war crimes
Return of citizens, reconstruction and reparations.
Russia's war on Ukrainian education;
Another Kremlin critic jailed;
Russia's far right eyes future targets
Taking the fight to Wagner;
A helping hand from Capetown?;
Viktor Bouts' second act
Silencing soldiers' families;
A waning appetite for war;
Russia rails against international accountability;
Putin: No need for another draft - for now;
A skewed prisoner swap
Troubles for TV Rain...;
...and a new start for Ekho;
Russia spreads its propaganda in Africa;
Information and the Chinese way of war
The Prigozhin method of military recruitment;
Moscow is running out of missiles;
Moscow leans on Minsk;
Ukraine strikes back
Suspects charged with supplying China with DOD info;
China sells radar system that can detect U.S. satellites;
Locals in Guangzhou protest COVID curbs;
Hong Kong protest song played before rugby match in Korea;
China's elite seeking to emigrate
Uncertainty clouds U.S. airpower in Asia;
Australia agrees to U.S. strategic bomber presence;
China trains Pakistani counterterrorism agents as attacks mount;
Rethinking China's Pacific Islands influence;
Tokyo plans SDF restructuring
Even as it grapples with its own domestic unrest generated by an unsustainable "zero-COVID" strategy, Beijing is playing a major role in helping Iran's ruling ayatollahs repress that country's captive population.
Iran's quid pro quo to the Kremlin;
Russia's mounting war costs;
...Spur something of a fire sale;
Putin faces mounting discontent at home;
Evolving American perceptions of Russia threat, aid to Ukraine
The United States Space Force, the sixth branch of the armed forces, will soon play a leading role in American foreign policy and will be necessary to protect its economic, political, and social interests at home and abroad.
With his “zero COVID” policy spurring China’s largest anti-government protests in more than three decades, Xi Jinping now faces the challenge of maintaining his legitimacy not just at home but abroad.
How costly has the war in Ukraine been for Russia?
Sino-Pakistani ties warm further;
Islamabad, back in the FATF's good graces;
Myanmar's military... and the network that sustains it;
A helping hand for the Taliban;
The troubled Afghanistan-Pakistan border
Xi: "Nuclear weapons must not be used";
Germany blocks two Chinese foreign investment deals;
China cancels EU chief's speech in Shanghai;
Island nations want China, India to help pay for climate damage;
Chinese women lose gains: World Economic Forum
Prigozhin comes clean;
How Russians consume information;
A new tool in the fight against Russian censorship;
Bishkek: back to the future?
Afghans contemplate fighting for the enemy;
Pentagon: Russia an "acute" threat to the homeland;
Moscow's subversion imperils Moldova;
The Russian ASAT threat
These developments provide a timely reminder (after a nearly two-decade-long decline of freedom and democracy around the world) that people who live under, or are threatened by, authoritarian rule will take great risks for freedom — and that those who live in free societies may treasure their freedom more than we realized.
China and the Vatican extend secret deal;
Chinese fishing boats try to ram a U.S. Coast Guard vessel;
Samsung employees indicted for passing chip tech to China;
China and Russia advance their partnership "at all levels";
China, Russia deepen satellite navigation cooperation
A framework for rebuilding Ukraine;
Teaching Russian students the world according to Moscow;
The ultimate penalty for Russian deserters
Tiktok used to monitor locations of American citizens;
Xi finishes off the Youth League Faction;
The Netherlands uncovers China's illegal "police stations";
China's operatives repatriating people from the U.S. and Canada;
Ireland closes China's police station in Dublin
Turkey flirts with the Taliban;
...As the U.S. quietly provides aid;
ISIS eyes crypto;
...And threatens African energy;
Potential consolidation in the Palestinian arena
When it comes to regional position, a few short months can make a big difference. It's a lesson that Russia is learning the hard way.
Former British and Aussie pilots train the PLA air force;
China dumps bad chips on Russia: Moscow;
China blocks Polish defense minister's flight to Korea;
Rare protest banners in Beijing attack Xi;
"Russia is the storm, China is climate change": German spy chief
Ignoring wiser counsel as well as his people, Germany’s chancellor is allowing Chinese control of key industries.
Is Europe finally waking up to the true nature of the Iranian regime?
Chinese microchips are failing Moscow;
New tactics belie a different hand at the wheel of war;
Yet another German official compromised by the Kremlin;
In Russia, an underground ethnic protest movement emerges;
Israel recalibrates its Ukraine war policy
Bolsonaro is the first incumbent president in Brazil’s 34-year modern democracy to lose re-election, and he previously alleged fraud in its voting system. Nevertheless, Lula’s victory will nourish a growing challenge for the United States.
Cracks in the Kremlin consensus;
Western tech still fuels Putin's war machine;
Iran and the Russian war effort;
Putin consolidates power over Moscow-claimed territories
India's media sphere tightens;
How Russian disinformation is changing;
Manipulating media in Africa;
Turkey's new - and authoritarian - disinformation bill
Changes are visible at the top of China's power structure—and these are likely to dictate the shape of Chinese politics and foreign policy in the years to come.
Special Issue: Iran's Anti-hijab protests
The basis for the crackdown;
Official conspiracy theories abound;
Iran's clerics contemplate cutting their losses;
The ethnic dimension of the protests;
Iranian officials eye the exits
The meetings by heads of state in Issyk-Kul and Tashkent earlier this summer showed clearly that America’s abrupt departure from Afghanistan last year and its long-term neglect of Central Asia did not mark the end of history. Quite the contrary.
Defending commercial satellites;
Chinese solar drone takes flight;
British quantum submarine detection;
A new missile system for the army;
Target practice in space
Rumblings in the military ranks;
...As ethnic minorities protest conscription;
Exploiting Africa to fund the Ukraine campaign;
Nationalizing Eastern energy;
Putin's newest conscripts
Assessing the Non-Kinetic Battlespace
Space as a Factor in Future Conflicts
Biotechnology and Today’s Warfighter
The Future of Wargaming
The Future of Defense Learning and Development
Drought, famine face Somalia;
China's drought drives the great power competition conversation;
On coal, Beijing sticks to the status quo;
Another casualty of Russia's war in Ukraine; fertilizer;
The fallout from the Nord Stream explosions
If the Cuban Missile Crisis was the most perilous moment of the Cold War, Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats may mark the most perilous moment to date of the post-Cold War period.
A virtual lie detector;
China invests in transmedia vessels...;
...while the U.S. raises planes from the dead;
U.S. space combat training begins...;
...as China tests reusable space plane
Delhi reconsiders the Ukraine war;
Pakistani floods, international ramifications;
India, China choose to deescalate;
A helping hand for the Taliban;
New Bangladesh-Myanmar frictions
U.S. controls will take China's chip industry "back to the stone age";
Taiwan vows to safeguard chip tech from China;
China's fishing fleet threatens the U.S. and Latin America;
China spreads propaganda in the Solomon Islands;
UN rejects bid to debate on abuses in Xinjiang
Nord Stream explosions revive European energy debate;
Old Russian armor rolls onto the battlefield;
Conscripts as cannon fodder;
Stealing Ukraine's grain
Facebook closes dozens of Beijing-controlled fake accounts;
Former Justice Minister jailed for life for corruption;
European firms cutting China operations over ideology;
China's space footprint in South America fuels security concerns;
Shanghai unveils $257B in infrastructure projects
Kenya turns the page;
Tensions between Mali, Ivory Coast on the rise;
Movement towards compromise in Ethiopia's civil war?;
Landlocked nations eye Nigeria's new port;
What African publics really think about China
The penalties for failing to fight;
Putin's unwilling recruits;
Helsinki turns a cold shoulder;
A post-mobilization exodus;
...Prompts the Kremlin to shore up Russia's creative class
In his efforts to solve one problem—boosting morale and manpower for his Ukraine campaign—Vladimir Putin has managed to create another.
Putin plans "Partial Mobilization";
...Fake referendums...;
...And threatens nuclear war...;
...As other officials follow suit;
A warning from Washington
Taiwan creating a backup internet system in case of invasion;
Former Texas A&M professor pleads guilty;
PLA and Russian naval ships spotted near Alaska;
China's new oil platform in the East China Sea angers Japan;
As COVID lockdowns continue, so do Macau's losses
China's influence on the ascent in the South Pacific;
Manila weighs future steps in the shadow of Taiwan;
Suffocating debt imperils Laos' political future;
Canberra, Port Moresby respond to Beijing's encroachment