Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of a parade commemorating the eightieth anniversary of victory in World War II in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Pedro Pardo via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
US Commerce Secretary Howard William Lutnick and Japanese Minister for Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa shake hands on on September 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) sails in formation during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise on July 28, 2022. (DVIDS)
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
A microchip and Taiwanese flag displayed on a phone screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo on April 10, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images)
A Ukrainian soldier fires artillery as Russia-Ukraine War continues on May 25, 2024, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A man holds up a sign demanding that soldiers from the United States Army leave Niger without negotiation during a demonstration in Niamey, Niger, on April 13, 2024. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Vehicles drive under a massive billboard that is displays an illustrated image of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps missiles in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The first of two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors is launched during a successful intercept test on September 10, 2013. (Missile Defense Agency photo)
Houthi militants carry weapons at a rally against the US-led aerial attacks on Yemen on March 9, 2024, in Sana'a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud via Getty Images)
A Ukrainian soldier looks at the sky after hearing the sound of a nearby drone at the Bakhmut front line in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on January 13, 2024. (Photo by Ignacio Marin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A sign depicting a cutout of the Bahamas-flagged cargo vessel Galaxy Leader is raised by a protester behind a man carrying a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher during a pro-Palestinian rally in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on February 7, 2024. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images)
A school director inspects a classroom damaged as a result of a Russian missile attack in Lviv, Ukraine, on February 15, 2024. (Yuriy Dyachyn/AFP via Getty Images)
A Ukrainian soldier throws a grenade from a trench during a training in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on February 7, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo via Getty Images)