James Stavridis

With a surprise announcement in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin this week laid down the path allowing him to wield power well past his nominal term limit of 2024. This led quickly to the resignations of the long-suffering prime minister, Dmitri Medvedev, and the entire cabinet. Now an…

Having spent four years as supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, I have a fairly clear-eyed view of the alliance’s vast capabilities, and also a realistic sense of what it is willing to do. When President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for “NATO to become much more…

With the recent passage of this year’s big defense bill, Congress authorized the creation of a sixth branch of the armed forces — the United States Space Force. The move reflects the growing militarization of space, as the other branches have grown increasingly reliant on operations there. Despite…

Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does geopolitics. So it was predictable that, following the snap decision by President Donald Trump to pull US forces out of Syria, the void in the north of the country was immediately filled by Russian troops supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The…

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been increasing signs that the Trump administration – and particularly the president himself – is moderating its position on North Korea’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. Gone are the adamant statements that the US will only accept complete, immediate and…

The Trump administration’s initial decision to strike Iran in retaliation for the destruction of a $130 million drone was understandable yet dangerous. The decision to abort the mission, after telegraphing it to the world, creates a big problem. Above all, it smacks of indecision and division…