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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon on June 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnik via Getty Images)
Europe
Europe
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Vladimir Putin with Ibrahim Traore and Dennis Fassou Nguesso during the annual Navy Day Parade on July 30, 2023, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (via Getty Images)
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Joe Biden at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12, 2023. (Dominika Zarzycka via Getty Images)
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(Screenshot via CBS News)
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Two US made Black Hawk helicopters fly during the military Han Guang drill at the Taoyuan International Airport on July 26, 2023. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)
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A Ukrainian soldier from a mechanized brigade trains using live ammunition at a training ground near the front lines in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on July 31, 2023. (Wojciech Grzedzinski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Victor Orban, Petr Fiala, Eduard Heger, and Mateusz Moraviecki ahead of the Visegrad Group (V4) summit at Hotel Bankov in Kosice, Slovakia, on November 24, 2022. (Robert Nemeti via Getty Images)
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China's foreign minister Qin Gang attends a press conference during the First Session of the 14th National People's Congress at Media Center on March 7, 2023, in Beijing, China. (Lintao Zhang via Getty Images)
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Ukrainians salvage barley and peas three days after five Russian missiles struck a grain storage facility in the village of Pavlivka, Ukraine, on July 24, 2023. (Scott Peterson via Getty Images)
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A Ukrainian soldier of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade fires a 40mm grenade launcher at the front line near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on June 17, 2023. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)
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(What Really Matters logo)
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A M142 HIMARS launches a rocket on the Bakhmut direction on May 18, 2023, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Experts
Can Kasapoğlu
Senior Fellow (Nonresident)
Daniel Kochis
Senior Fellow, Center on Europe and Eurasia
Liselotte Odgaard
Senior Fellow (Nonresident)
James J. Przystup
Senior Fellow, Japan Chair
Peter Rough
Senior Fellow and Director, Center on Europe and Eurasia
Nate Sibley
Fellow and Director, Kleptocracy Initiative
Kenneth R. Weinstein
Japan Chair
Richard Weitz
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Political-Military Analysis
