"Retired army general, Petr Pavel, has been elected the next president of Czechia. Mr. Pavel won the runoff against former prime minister Andrej Babiš, by the biggest margin ever in the history of Czech presidential elections. With  all votes counted, Petr Pavel got over 58.3 percent of the vote, his…

By Robbin Laird Of the four Nordic countries, Sweden faces the longest journey towards a new regional defense approach — but also has an opportunity to undergo significant, smart transformation for a modern era that sees it finally join the NATO alliance. It has the longest journey due to its…

In our 2013 book on Pacific defense., we argued that Japan would expand its defense perimeter in response to Chinese and Russian evolving defense and foreign policies. We argued that they would take advantage of U.S. defense modernization programs, notably the Osprey and the F-35 programs, to do so. We…

By Robert Czulda Looking back before the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, few had assumed that the Kremlin would make such a lunatic move. Then when Russian tanks and aircraft openly violated Ukraine's sovereignty, few believed that the Ukrainians would be able to repel the attack. But they did and…

By Robbin Laird When it comes to crisis management and war termination, the United States faces a fundamental challenge: what are our strategic objectives and how do we achieve them in a world where so much is changing? I recently discussed this challenge with my colleague Dr. Paul Bracken of…

By Robbin Laird The coming of Finland and Sweden into NATO changes how the defense of Northern Europe is worked. As Admiral (Retired) Nils Wang has put it: "Now one needs to think in terms of defence of the North of Europe from Iceland to the Finnish and Norwegian borders.…

By Robbin Laird In any reimagining of what Nordic defense looks like, Norway — a founding NATO state that served as the alliance’s de facto lead in the high north — fits as a central piece. Certainly, the template they have shaped in their restructuring of defense since 2014 provides…

According to a story published by the Japanese Ministry of Defence, the Finnish Defence Minister visited Japan and met the Japanese Defence Minister on 26 October 2022. On October 26, 2022, Defense Minister Hamada and Defence Minister Kaikkonen held a Defense Ministerial Meeting from 10:15 for 45 minutes at the…