... belligerent voices are being heard precisely from Europe, as has been the case for centuries, and it is there that preparations for armed conflict are most demonstrative.
This rhetoric and practice are primarily aimed at Europe’s immediate neighbour, Russia, but it also affects China, with which Europe, at first glance, has no objective conflicts. This suggests that the source of our neighbours’ explosive behaviour in the West lies in processes occurring within their societies and government systems,...
... begun to play a significant role in international relations
Autumn is usually a busy season in the nuclear sphere, and 2025 was no exception. In October, NATO held its Steadfast Noon nuclear exercises, followed by the U.S. Global Thunder drills and Russia’s strategic nuclear forces exercises. Developments did not end there: against the backdrop of these exercises, Russia
announced
tests of the
Burevestnik
nuclear-powered cruise missile and the
Poseidon
nuclear-powered torpedo, as well as the ...
The world is entering a critical phase where the legitimacy of sanctions, the integrity of international law, and the resilience of global energy systems are under scrutiny
The recent imposition of sanctions by the United States on two of Russia’s major oil companies has once again highlighted the counterproductive nature of unilateral economic restrictions. The targeted firms—Rosneft and Lukoil—are cornerstones of the Russian energy sector, not only underpinning the country’s ...
Ukraine will have to pay the price for the hawks’ triumph
A new wave of sanctions against Russia has captured global attention, with the European Union’s 19
th
package taking centre stage. Brussels had been working on it for a long time; Slovakia blocked its adoption back in late September, and Hungary also voiced objections. However, a ...
... intrigues and power struggles, with never-ending conflicts between monarchies, families, religions, states, and great powers. For thousands of years, wars have been occurring continuously and without interruption. The formation of a unified Europe has changed ... ... unilateralism expanded unchecked. Viewing the outcome of the Cold War as a victory, the United States regarded itself as the winner and Russia as the defeated party—embracing the notion that “the winner takes all.” The imperialistic thinking of the United ...
... those published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists—China possesses roughly six hundred nuclear warheads. Even taking into account its ongoing buildup and the Pentagon’s alarmist projections, which suggest that China could field around one thousand warheads by 2030, this figure still falls well short of the arsenals maintained by the United States and Russia. Claims that China is on the verge of achieving nuclear parity with these powers are therefore exaggerated and will remain so in the short- and medium-term. At the same time, there remains a high degree of uncertainty in estimating China’s nuclear ...
No single power rules the world anymore – and that may be a good thing
With the deterrent of guaranteed mutual destruction between Russia and the United States still intact, global politics is entering a new phase of
“normality.”
For the first time in decades, there is no single center setting rules for all. Something older, more pluralistic, and less predictable is emerging ...
... be most beneficial for the U.S.
Paradoxically, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev seemed to be the most optimistic of all.
Unlike the Europeans, the Kremlin saw no reason to seriously fear Germany reassuming its great-power status, and it was precisely Russia’s stance that contributed most to Germany’s rapid and generally quite smooth unification. Nowadays, Gorbachev’s position is considered naïve, to say the least. Of course, it is easy to see the ramifications of the decisions hastily made ...
... dangerous. We should state that the U.S.’s imposition of 500 percent tariffs on customers of Russian oil would be treated as an act of war, prompting nuclear escalation and (
inter alia
, military) attacks on overseas U.S. assets, which outnumber Russia’s more than one thousand to one.
Now for the most unpleasant but substantively necessary part. After all warnings have been given – nuclear warheads are deployed in the European theater on medium and shorter-range carriers, including airplanes; the strategic forces conduct ...
... indirect control over other countries. We do not yet know how convincing China's global political initiatives will be. But they have already become a reality, and are not based on the previously dominant idea of governance through forceful domination.
Russia, as a country with enormous military capabilities, but less weight in the global economy, also contributes to the democratisation of world politics by the very fact of its existence. The military-political challenge that Russia has thrown down ...
