In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Vladimir Putin enters a hall to meet with graduates of higher military educational institutions at the Kremlin on June 23, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov via Getty Images)
A formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (Xia Yifang via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pose for a picture with European leaders following a meeting at the White House on August 18, 2025. (Win McNamee via Getty Images)
A US Marine Corps VXE30 Stalker unmanned aerial system is staged during a maritime domain awareness training exercise in southern Finland on July 31, 2025. (DVIDS)
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects troops during a parade commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing on September 3, 2015. (Huang Xiaobang via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump speaks to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a North Atlantic Council plenary meeting during the NATO summit on June 25, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. (Kin Cheung via Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 11, 2025. (Mandel Ngan via Getty Images)
Construction of roads and railways that will pass through the Zangezur Corridor continues in Zangilan, Azerbaijan, on October 9, 2023. (Resul Rehimov via Getty Images)
President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with President Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of State in Qingdao, China, on June 10, 2018. (Sergei Guneyev via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump looks on as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025. (Jim Watson via Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves during a meeting with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam at the Office of the Party Central Committee in Hanoi on April 14, 2025. (Nhac Nguyen via Getty Images)