Pope Leo has chosen to confront one of the most pressing issues of our time by placing lethal autonomous weapons and the militarisation of artificial intelligence at the centre of his thinking.
For Europeans facing a more aggressive Russia and a less reliable US, Munich’s booming defence startups show how quickly war is reshaping industry.
The best way forward for Belarus is an often misunderstood but ultimately promising strategy known as “Finlandization” – a policy of strict neutrality.
Internal conflicts in the Latvian coalition government came to a boil, after Ukrainian drones crashed into the country without interception. The formation of a new government is now in the hands of the rightwing opposition.
Moscow was hit by 600 Ukrainian drones over the weekend, a few days after a 9 May Victory Day parade on Red Square that was noticeably scaled back. Is Russia starting to lose momentum in its war against Ukraine?
The casual cancellation last week of the long-planned nine-month rotation of a brigade combat team to Poland exemplified everything that European allies find baffling and repellent about the Trump administration. ‘Irrational incompetence’ seems best to sum up Trump’s Europe policy, writes Edward Lucas.
In one Ukrainian model, the drone flies to the front line and when its pilot gives the order, it locks onto the target, pursues it, and destroys it, even if Russian jamming cuts off contact.
Slovak defence minister Robert Kaliňák announced Bratislava wants to join the Baltic Air Policing mission with its new F-16 fighter jets — mixing up the confusing cocktail of Robert Fico’s government foreign-policy messaging.
As the US pivots away, Europe faces a critical defence gap against Russia. While leaders debate a 100,000-strong common army or increased GDP spending, the path forward remains blocked by concerns over national sovereignty and the risk of undermining Nato.
Emmanuel Macron says France is an ‘ethical partner’ for African countries as he seeks to increase Paris’s diplomatic and economic influence on the continent. However, diplomatic immunity for French troops, no-shows from Brussels, and an angry Macron hushing a crowd nearly overshadowed the event.
Europe’s answer to the ‘Who speaks for Europe?’ question – allegedly posed by Henry Kissinger – should be that Europe’s diversity of voices and actions are its strategic strength.
In a world of fluid coalitions, transactional alliances and overlapping networks of influence, Europe’s middle powers can often act more decisively than a cumbersome EU bureaucracy.
Estonia is one of Nato’s smallest members, but its experience of Russian occupation has contributed to high spending on defence and preparedness for attack.
Global military expenditure hit a record high last year, after rising for more than a decade. Poland leads the way in the eastern flank of Nato, despite a steep budget deficit.
Germany, Greece, Romania, the Czechs, and Finland also licensed millions of euros of Israel arms exports in 2024, according to the latest EU data.
After 40 days in a trench, soldiers no longer care whether they survive, says Ukrainian ombudswoman (Ukraine Battlefield update, Day 1,524)While reporting often focuses on drones and front-line shifts, the dire living conditions and malnutrition facing Ukrainian soldiers have recently gained renewed attention.
The current European debate – led by the UK, France, and Germany – suggests a timeframe of several months for maintaining a naval presence once a stable agreement is in place. This appears unrealistic for three reasons. While any projection remains speculative, the coalition’s naval presence is likely to remain in place for at least two to five years.
Europe’s far-right has mastered the language of war but abandoned the reality of defence. While populists preach sovereignty, their voters refuse to serve. This ‘peace through weakness’ is a dangerous delusion that leaves the continent vulnerable. It is time to call their bluff.
Responsibility for Europe reads differently from Bratislava than from Brussels. The new German defence strategy is worth reading carefully, particularly from the capitals whose security still depends on German territory. Responsibility for Europe will be defined in the next decade by what Berlin does if Washington no longer underwrites European defence at previous levels. Germany has now stated, in writing, that this is the planning horizon.
The European Arctic is, above all, European — and it is time Brussels treated it that way. The European Arctic produces a disproportionate share of Europe’s food security, energy supply and strategic raw materials. The gap between what this region contributes and what it receives in political attention is not a detail. It is a strategic failure.
German analyst Carlo Masala looks at whether Europe is behaving wisely towards Trump and if the world will actually allow it to arm itself.