Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below. *** Russia There is intense focus on whether the United States will allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory, in particular through the use of advanced...

TNSR Production Editor Kerry Anderson talks with historian Daniel Chardell about his article The Origins of the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait Reconsidered, published in Volume 6, Issue 3 of TNSR. Daniel and Kerry discuss Saddam Hussein’s understanding of the shifts in power that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse, how U.S. and Iraqi leaders perceived each...

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has just completed his first 100 days in office, giving observers a taste of what the next 1,360 days will bring. Many of the political dynamics playing out in his first months in office were foreseen, have precedent in the past, and will continue into the future. The power split between the president and the opposition-controlled...

Three sharp directors on the National Security Council staff invited Ryan over to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to chat about the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, which is a trilateral partnership between the United States, Canada, and Finland that’s aimed at delivering the icebreakers America needs while also jump-starting U.S....

In 2020, Joshua Meservey wrote “China’s Palace Diplomacy in Africa,”where he argued that China maintains a competitive advantage in Africa and will continue its aggressive financial investment in African government infrastructure and cultivation of African leaders. In the wake of China’s announcement this month of additional multi-billion dollar investments,...

Despite Washington’s efforts to alleviate South Korea’s security concerns, culminating in the April 2023 Washington Declaration, calls for nuclear armament in South Korea have not subsided. Recent polls show public support for nuclear armament consistently hovering above 70 percent. However, unlike the general public, the majority of South Korean elites...