• What Are Russia’s Strategic Aims and How Effectively Are They Achieving Them?

    In his “declaration of war” speech to the nation on February 24, Putin made clear that his overarching strategic goal is to blur, if not eradicate, the distinction between Russia and Ukraine. He aims to achieve that goal by decapitating the Ukrainian political leadership, defeating of the Ukrainian armed forces, and destroying Ukraine as a functioning independent state. How will the Russian high command achieve these goals?

  • How Are Western Arms Supplies for Ukraine Getting There?

    In an unprecedented move, the EU is financing the purchase and delivery of arms and weapons to Ukraine. Other Western countries are committing to arms deliveries, too. But how will they get there and how quickly?

  • Number of Wildfires to Rise by 50% by 2100 and Governments Are Not Prepared

    Even the Arctic, previously all but immune, faces rising wildfire risk, experts say. Wildfires and climate change are “mutually exacerbating.” Governments are called to radically shift their investments in wildfires to focus on prevention and preparedness.

  • Heavy Shelling in Kharkiv on 6th Day of War

    Tuesday saw an increased shelling of Kharkiv by Russian forces, while a column of Russian forces stretched out along a road north of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on the sixth day of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

  • Hacker Underground | Belarus to Join the Fight | Western Arms, and more

    Vladimir Putin accused of war crimes, while Belarus’s military is ready to join the war on Russia’s side. Ukraine hackers vow to stop Russia, as fears grow the Russia’s likely cyber attack on Ukraine will spill over into other countries.

  • Five Comments on the Evolving Situation in Ukraine

    Russia’s initial tactical approach was flawed, but it appears that corrections are being made. This is not good news for Ukraine and the Ukrainians, because Russia is reverting to fighting as Russia typically fights, and the civilians on the other side are those who typically pay the price.

  • Ukraine-Russia War Drives Major German Policy Changes

    The Russian invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point in German politics. Many longstanding principles have been thrown overboard.

  • How the Russian Military Remade Itself into a Modern, Efficient and Deadly Fighting Machine

    The war in Ukraine is the first chance the world has had to see the full force of Russia’s new-look military machine – a modernized, professional fighting force that has been completely revamped since Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia. So, what did Russia learn from that conflict militarily, and how are we seeing it play out on the battlefield in Ukraine?

  • Why Putin’s War with Ukraine Is a Miscalculation

    Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a geopolitical earthquake that will cause repercussions far beyond Europe. But the Russian president might be planting the seeds for the demise of his regime by overreaching.

  • How Much Damage Could a Russian Cyberattack Do in the U.S.?

    U.S. intelligence analysts have determined that Moscow would consider a cyberattack against the U.S. as the Ukraine crisis grows. As a scholar of Russian cyber operations, I know the Kremlin has the capacity to damage critical U.S. infrastructure systems.

  • Wide Range of Possible Targets for Russian Cyberstrikes, from Infrastructure to Smartphones

    For years prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s government waged cyberwar aimed at destabilizing the country’s infrastructure, government, and financial systems, including several distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in the run-up to this week’s assault. What are Russia’s cyberwarfare capabilities, and what would a cyberattack against the U.S. look like?

  • Which is the Bigger Threat: Offline or Online Radicalization?

    The Global Network on Extremism Technology (GNET) has just released a report which seeks answers to these questions: Are those radicalized offline or online more of a threat? Which group is harder to detect, more successful in completing attacks, and more lethal when they do so? Is the pattern different for youth versus older perpetrators and for men versus women?

  • What to Expect with Cyber Surprise

    The cyber domain has three critical characteristics which differentiate it from the kinetic domain: it is connected across the globe; it is pervasive in the economic life-blood of the world; and it is asymmetric in its ability to enable power projection. What, then, can we expect from a strategic surprise which we expect Russia to launch as part of its campaign in Ukraine? “We are about to see what war in the cyber era really looks like and, truthfully, nobody can tell you what will happen next,” Paul Rosenzweig writes.

  • There Is No Cyber “Shock and Awe”: Plausible Threats in the Ukraine Conflict

    People are talking about cyberwar again. Claims are made that any Russian military action in Ukraine will be preceded, accompanied by, and followed by devastating cyberattacks aimed at Ukraine and countries assisting Ukraine. Lennart Maschmeyer and Nadita Kostyuk write that “Cyber operations are not strategically irrelevant, nor are surprise cyber strikes of strategic relevance impossible. Rather, in assessing their threat we should distinguish what is possible in theory from what is feasible, and thus probable, in practice.”

  • Not a Suicide Pact: Urgent Strategic Recommendations for Reducing Domestic Terrorism in the United States

    America’s Bill of Rights protects U.S. citizens’ rights to free speech, to bear arms, and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, among other things. As the Supreme Court has consistently held, however, no right is absolute: All rights must be balanced against other societal needs, including and especially public safety. Barbara L. McQuade writes that as the threat of domestic terrorism metastasizes in the United States, Americans need to use the practical wisdom urged by Justice Robert L. Jackson – who, in 1949, advised that the Constitution is not “a suicide pact” — to ensure the survival of the republic.