RUSI – Despite some common interests, Russia and China have different goals in the Arctic.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that the United States’ standing in the world hinges on alliances and fellowships of all types—chiefly in the rimlands and marginal seas ringing the Eurasian supercontinent. America has no strategic position in the rimlands without them.

War on the Rocks – A bottom-up approach to securitywould help the West engage effectively with West African countries whilst also pushing back against misinformation from Russia and economic competition from China.

CIMSEC – 11 articles on the Red Sed, which has become arguably the most hotly contested maritime region in the world. A vital maritime chokepoint is being fought over by a coalition of naval powers and a heavily armed Iranian proxy group, the Houthis. These events offer useful lessons on the exercise of naval power, as well as the crisis decision-making of militaries, commercial firms, and nation-states.

War on the Rocks – The Arctic Ocean may be the world’s smallest but it looms large in the imagination. Remote and unique, the Arctic is, for some at least, the most romanticized ocean in the world. It has been fueling legends and ambitions for centuries, and continues to fuel new geopolitical myths today.

War on the Rocks – Comparing Indian and Chinese military capabilities in isolation from the broader transregional context can lead to inaccurate assessments. China faces security challenges at a much larger scale than India. Moreover, India currently also benefits from strategic partnerships with countries such as the United States, Japan, and France that give it greater latitude in the Indian Ocean, which is its principal area of interest. Growing power disparity will certainly keep Indian strategic thinkers worried for some time to come, but they should not lose sight of the strategic advantages India currently enjoys. These reflect India’s fewer supply-chain vulnerabilities in its own backyard, the nature of other security threats the two countries face, and, most important, the enormous geographical advantage India has over China in the Indian Ocean. Any Chinese naval flotilla sent to engage the Indian navy would be without reliable air cover and, due to logistical constraints, would only be able to sustain combat operations for a few weeks.

War on the Rocks – One Sea, Two Seas, Far Seas, Near Seas? For all the attention they receive as contested Indo-Pacific maritime regions, the strategic differences between East and South China Seas do not always get their due. Each of these bodies of water contains land features claimed by the People’s Republic of China and at least one ally or partner of the United States. To Beijing, the East and South China Seas are all part of its “near seas,” and China continues to take steps to assert control over this space as one unified maritime periphery — which we refer to colloquially as China’s “One Sea.” The disputed land features in these seas are small — islands, reefs, and rocks — but the economic, maritime, and security stakes associated with them are large. Countries around the East and South China Seas, however, are not taking China’s actions passively. In their own unique ways that reject the notion of a single “One China Sea,” these countries are adapting and exploring new methods to assert their own maritime rights.

US Naval War College Review – China’s rise augurs a power transition that challenges the preeminent security position of the United States in East Asia and has led to an incoherent retrenchment that both undermines that position and complicates efforts to recapitalize the Navy to face that challenge effectively.

Barents Observer – The treaty, which is a key pillar to regulate international cooperation in the sea, is seen by the Russian authorities as “detrimental”.

ET – Thomas P. M. Barnett says we think of grand strategy as superpowers fighting over the world’s continents, like who can dominate Eurasia. But what if, in our hyper-connected world, that struggle is best pursued on a subnational scale: first splitting, then transmuting, and finally capturing the core identities of individual citizens?

AP – U.S. officials stressed Tuesday that newly-approved legislation providing billions of dollars in funding for three strategically important Pacific island nations is an important sign of American commitment, which comes amid warnings China is actively trying to pry them away from Washington’s sphere of influence.

Time – In a contested maritime century, we should start thinking about navies as the ultimate national security insurance policy. Like any insurance, they demand regular investments against risks that are unlikely but potentially grave. Navies work best to deter would-be aggression, but the industrial base to generate their capabilities underwrites military credibility. Crucially, when all else fails, that credibility stands to make certain that in the hour of need, the hardest challenges will be met and overcome.

CIMSEC – In 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğa called the Black Sea a “Russian Lake” and encouraged NATO to do more to counter Russia’s efforts to exert control over it. Never was that control shown to be more complete than last August, when the Russian Federation Navy stopped and boarded Palau-flagged freighter Şükrü Okan in the southwest portion of the Black Sea, about as far from the Russian coast as you can get, delaying its journey and menacing its crew at gunpoint before determining that it was not carrying contraband and allowing it to proceed. This incident may be seen as the canary in the coalmine indicating imminent suffocation of freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.

War on the Rocks – You can’t choke a dead horse. Anyone who has studied geopolitics, particularly in the context of energy, has learned that control over waterways — most notably the Suez Canal — translates into influence, as actors can threaten to disrupt energy supplies. But they also know that leverage is limited: Commerce invariably adjusts to disruptions and markets stabilize around a new normal. The crisis in the Red Sea demonstrates this effect, though in an unexpected way. Months of Houthi attacks on shipping, followed by a significant U.S. and British military response, has done little to move oil prices, while the impact on supply has been negligible. Markets, in effect, shrugged off the Red Sea disruption.

Foreign Affairs – What America—and the World—Would Lose If China Took the Island

Barents Observer – After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent halt in cooperation with the other Arctic states, Russia has turned east and south for new partners. At the same time, Russia is messaging actively that the Arctic Council without Russia is illegitimate. What is Russia’s posture in Arctic affairs in the new era of growing instability and geopolitical tensions? And how does China – Russia’s primary choice among potential new partners – react to Russia’s invitations?

Wavell Room – The UK is the Arctic’s nearest neighbour, and developments in the Arctic significantly impact the UK’s environment, security, and energy supply.

BBC – A pro-China candidate has won presidential elections in the Maldives, defeating an incumbent who had strengthened relations with India.

USNI News – India revised its position on the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration last week in a meeting between Indian and Filipino diplomats that supports Manila’s territorial claims over China.

War on the Rocks – To tackle maritime security comprehensively, however, China should not be the sole focus of U.S. policy in the region. The United States should recognize that nontraditional maritime security threats remain significant barriers to a free, safe, and prosperous maritime domain in the Indo-Pacific. As maritime piracy has declined globally, there has been an increased focus on the role illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing plays in marine ecosystem destruction as well as a gateway to other maritime criminal activity. Illegal foreign fishing has been long believed to drive sea piracy. This narrative is clear when it comes to Somali piracy in the greater Gulf of Aden. While foreign industrial trawlers can sometimes push local anglers into maritime crime, the relationship is more nuanced and localized than previously thought. 

Defense News – A Coast Guard spokeswoman noted that being turned away from the Solomons “allowed for increased partnership with Papua New Guinea, supporting strategic objectives and strengthening regional relationships.”

The Guardian – Deal signed last month gives US ‘exclusive use’ of parts of bases, as Palau PM says he has asked US to step up patrols after Chinese incursions into its waters

The Guardian – European navies should patrol the disputed Taiwan Strait, the EU foreign policy chief has said, echoing earlier comments stressing how crucial Taiwan is to Europe.

CIMSEC – This article attempts to explain why the US is behaving as it does in the Arctic. It then argues that paradoxically falling behind in this regional competition may actually improve America’s overall security and international influence when compared to Russia and China.

CIMSEC – This article is part of a series that will explore the use and legal issues surrounding military zones employed during peace and war to control the entry, exit, and activities of forces operating in these zones.