RUSI Newsbrief

While European countries have pledged to boost defence spending, they remain strategically reliant on the United States, an increasingly unreliable ally. As the US threatens disengagement, political leaders still refuse to ask the only question that matters: Can Europe ensure its security on its own?

One of the best ways for the European Union to bolster its military might and economic competitiveness is to become a world leader in quantum technologies. That will require the bloc to focus its research and design efforts, establish protective safeguards for sensitive research, and embrace a culture of deliberate risk-taking.

Ukraine has shown that high-tech capabilities alone don’t win wars. Victory also depends on low-tech solutions – and on rapidly and cheaply integrating the two.

Taiwan may need to craft a new foreign policy framework for a fast-evolving geopolitical environment, as the Trump administration policy trajectory toward China is far from certain.

The complex mosaic of resistance networks and paramilitary groups within Ukraine's ground forces – all with their own political ambitions – presents a haunting challenge for any version of post-war Ukraine that may follow.

As the US-China rivalry intensifies, both powers are courting mineral-rich African countries in an effort to secure critical raw materials. Translating Africa's vast natural-resource wealth into lasting development requires an infrastructure-led strategy that delivers long-term value for local communities.

Since the Myanmar military’s overthrow of a civilian government in 2021, the US has taken a punitive approach to the country, emphasising broad-based sanctions and aid to rebel groups. But far from promoting a democratic transition, this approach has perpetuated violence and suffering, while strengthening China's strategic foothold.

With Donald Trump effectively abandoning America's 80-year-old commitment to the transatlantic relationship and the broader international order, the future of European peace and prosperity is now wholly in Europeans’ hands. The task now is to unlock the continent's full technological, economic, and military potential.

The current US administration has lost its spirit of international cooperation, but this could be a mixed blessing for the other members of the United Nations.

After the Ukraine war caused natural gas prices to rise sharply, Norway collected windfall profits totalling an estimated $113 billion. Refusing to use these gains to support Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction is not only morally wrong; it also reflects a myopic perspective that Norway’s government should abandon.