Julian McBride

The 21st century’s urban warfare, marked by brutal, close-quarters combat in cities like Aleppo, Mosul, Mariupol, Bakhmut, and Gaza, has drastically evolved, challenging traditional military doctrines and underscoring the devastating impact of such conflicts on civilian populations and urban landscapes.

Vladimir Putin’s strategic alliance with Ramzan Kadyrov hinges on financial incentives and military support, maintaining a precarious balance of power in Chechnya that faces uncertainty in the event of leadership changes in Moscow or Grozny.

In a world where the simmering tensions of frozen conflicts threaten to reignite at any moment, the delicate balance of geopolitics requires constant vigilance and strategic diplomacy to prevent a cascade into renewed hostilities.

In Europe’s most prominent war since WWII, black market weapons originating from third parties become more valuable by the day. Facing a military that was considered to be the second best on Earth, Ukraine, and its partners have used unorthodox methods to even the playing field against a formidable foe.

Paratroopers, trained for rapid deployment and decisive action, can be left vulnerable and ineffective when intelligence fails and support falters, turning potential triumphs into costly defeats.

Overall, being a capable military with a global force projection power is essential. Still, if your contingency plans aren’t executed properly, your country can find itself in a geopolitical quagmire.

Amidst heightened geopolitical tensions today, some military alliances, including NATO, have found themselves intertwined with bureaucracy, which has wasted valuable time and resources when they are most needed.

With the specter of a colossal Chinese invasion looming, the dance of military might and geopolitical chess continues, as America and its Pacific allies sharpen their strategies, ensuring that the dragon’s ambitious reach towards Taiwan would falter, giving pause to Xi Jinping’s dreams of a unified dynasty under his authoritarian grip.

The 1958 Lebanese civil war, ignited amidst the Cold War and Arab nationalism, mirrored a clash of ideologies, where President Camille Chamoun’s pro-Western stance collided with pan-Arabists and leftist factions, marking a precursor to the nation’s tumultuous future and the larger civil war of the mid-70s and 80s.

Turkey now finds itself at a disadvantage—once holding Sweden through blackmail over harboring a terrorist organization, Ankara has done the same with Hamas. No longer holding the moral high ground over combating terrorism, the Turkish Republic will continue to lose favor amongst NATO allies and Stockholm with their regional disputes with Israel.

The ongoing tensions in the Middle East have repercussions for tens of millions of people in the region, and the war will also reach global proportions regarding spillovers and fallout. Now, are the world governments prepared for such a scenario?

A nightmare scenario has now put the Middle East on edge. Israel and IRGC-backed groups are now at a point of no return, and for the foreseeable future, neither will be able to coexist unless one side is destroyed entirely.