Visiting Italy’s International Flight Training School: Initial Thoughts

10/19/2025
By Robbin Laird After learning about the International Flight Training School during my visit to Rome in November 2024, I was eager to understand more about Italy's innovative approach to shaping air power training. The opportunity came in October 2025, when I returned to Italy to meet with Italian Air…

Fight Tonight: The Major Answers to Readiness at the Speed of Relevance

10/09/2025
By Robbin Laird The Sir Richard Williams Foundation's September 18, 2025 seminar posed a fundamental question that cuts to the heart of modern defense planning: How does a nation achieve "readiness at the speed of relevance" when the luxury of time may no longer exist? The presentations provided sobering but…

Australia’s Air Power Strategy: Chief of Air Force Outlines Vision for Deterrence and Defence

10/07/2025
By Robbin Laird In a discussion at the Sir Richard Williams Foundation seminar on September 18, 2025, Air Marshal Stephen Chappell, Chief of Air Force, provided comprehensive insights into the Royal Australian Air Force's strategic direction and operational philosophy. Speaking to Air Marshal (Retired) Brown and an audience of defence…

Charting a Course for A Way Ahead for the U.S. Navy: Key Recommendations from the 2025 Notes to the New CNO Series

10/06/2025
In August 2025, Admiral Daryl Caudle assumed the role of the 34th Chief of Naval Operations, inheriting a U.S. Navy facing extraordinary pressures. From shipyard backlogs and workforce challenges to evolving threats in the Indo-Pacific, the service confronts demands that will test every aspect of its institutional capacity. To mark…

Navigating the New Normal: A Paradigm Shift in Australian Defence Policy

10/05/2025
By Robbin Laird The contemporary Indo-Pacific security environment presents a fundamental challenge to traditional alliance structures: how can middle powers maintain strategic autonomy while deepening military cooperation with major power partners? This dilemma is particularly acute for Australia, which faces the competing imperatives of economic integration with China, security dependence…

Australia’s Strategic Dynamic: Redefining Alliance Partnership in the Indo-Pacific

09/17/2025
By Robbin Laird The comfortable certainties of the post-Cold War era are dissolving. For Australia, this transformation presents both unprecedented challenges and opportunities to reshape its role as a strategic actor in the Indo-Pacific. Australia is moving from alliance dependence toward more strategic independence while deepening operational integration with trusted…

Brazil at the Crossroads: Why Resource Sovereignty Requires Democratic Partnership

09/17/2025
Brazil stands at a critical juncture that will determine whether it emerges as a strategic power or remains trapped as a raw material supplier in China's sphere of influence. While President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration pursues deeper integration with Beijing through initiatives like BRICS expansion and transcontinental infrastructure…

Echoes of the 1930s: Comparing International Coalitions in the Spanish Civil War and Ukraine Conflict

09/12/2025
History rarely repeats itself exactly, but it often rhymes with haunting resonance. The international coalitions that formed around the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine since 2022 reveal striking parallels in how major powers align themselves during ideological and geopolitical crises. Both conflicts transformed from…