The Architecture of Multi-Polar Authoritarianism: How We Got Here and What It Means

04/01/2026
My previous article, “From Post-Cold War Settlement to Contested Global Order”, brought together the arguments of two books, my recently published books on the global war in Ukraine along with my forthcoming book with Kenneth Maxwel examining the Australian, Brazilian, and Chinese dynamic within the broader framework of Global China…

Looking Back at Iran’s Military Modernization: How China and Russia Transformed Tehran into a Precision-Strike Power

03/31/2026
By Robbin Laird Iran's military modernization is no longer primarily a story of indigenous ingenuity and sanctions evasion. It is a story of a deepening trilateral alignment in which China supplies the industrial, navigational, and chemical backbone; Russia contributes combat-tested operational doctrine and high-end sensor architecture; and Iran manufactures, deploys,…

What the Past Tells Us About Iran: Arms Transfers, Technology Flows, and the Architecture of a Threat

03/30/2026
By Robbin Laird The campaign against Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure did not emerge from a vacuum. It was the culmination of a strategic trajectory that, if one had been paying close enough attention, was legible for decades. I have been paying that attention through fieldwork, through analytical commissions, and…

Brazil Between Hegemons: Anti Imperialism, Sovereignty, and the New Asymmetries of Its Foreign Policy

03/25/2026
By Kenneth Maxwell Brazilian foreign policy has long prided itself on a distinct grammar: sovereignty, non‑intervention, dialogue with adversaries, and strategic autonomy rather than bloc alignment. Layered on top of that diplomatic tradition, especially within the Brazilian left, sits a powerful anti‑imperialist political culture that reads world politics primarily through…