Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Ukrainian soil on February 25, 2025, in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. (Kostiantyn Liberov via Getty Images)
The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald fires the first Naval Strike Missile from a US destroyer on July 18, 2024, in the Pacific Ocean. (US Navy photo)
Fast-attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) enters Dry Dock 1 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Hawaii, on September 4, 2024. (US Navy photo by Justice Vannatta)
A South Korean Army K1E1 tank crosses a pontoon bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river- crossing exercise as part of the Freedom Shield military drills with US and ROK forces in the border town of Yeoncheon, South Korea, on March 20, 2025. (Getty Images)
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivers remarks on challenges to the global economy at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC, on October 6, 2022. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin on March 21, 2023. (Photo by Pavel Byrkin / SPUTNIK / AFP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 19, 2023. (Leah Millis/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The Guard of Honor of the Chinese People's Liberation Army escorts the national flag during a flag-raising ceremony at the Tiananmen Square to celebrate New Year's Day on January 1,2023, in Beijing, China. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Visitors walk past China's second nuclear missile on display as they visit the Military Museum in Beijing, on July 23, 2007. (Teh Eng Koon/AFP via Getty Images)