Event: South Korea

South Korea said on Wednesday it had scrambled fighter jets in response to Russian military aircraft entering its air defence zone, the second such incursion in weeks.The relationship between the countries has worsened since South Korea joined Western sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and since Moscow built stronger ties with North Korea.Seoul’s defence ministry said multiple Russian aircraft had entered and then left its air defence identification zone over the East Sea, also called the Sea of Japan.“South Korea’s military detected the Russian aircraft before they entered the zone and deployed Air Force fighter jets to prepare for any contingency,” it said, without giving details.The Russian aircraft did not violate South Korean airspace, it said.F-15K fighter jets from South Korea’s air force fly above the Osan Air Base during the Invincible Shield exercise in Pyeongtaek on November 8, 2016. Photo: EPA-EFEAn air defence identification zone is not sovereign airspace but a buffer area where countries require foreign aircraft to identify themselves for security purposes.

On August 19, the Ukrainian parliament voted overwhelmingly to confirm Ukraine’s new defense minister, ending weeks of uncertainty at a crucial phase of the war. For more than a month, Ukrainians had taken to the streets of Kyiv and other cities to protest President Volodymyr Zelensky’s firing of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. His successor, Yevhenii Khmara, is a special operations officer, best known for leading Operation Spider’s Web, the successful attack on Russian strategic bombers deep inside Russia.But the political fallout from this summer’s upheaval is not over. The removal of Fedorov, whom many Ukrainians considered highly effective, set off a series of decisions by Zelensky to reshuffle the cabinet, and more consequentially, the heads of military and law enforcement agencies. Shortly after dismissing his defense minister, Zelensky sought to quell the public backlash by also firing Oleksandr Syrsky, the unpopular commander of the armed forces. As a result, the president was simultaneously replacing the two figures—the defense minister and the head of the military—officially responsible for Ukraine’s defense against Russia. That this was happening at the very moment Ukraine was gaining the advantage on the battlefield has made the changes all the more fraught.For one thing, the large-scale protests themselves mark a new stage in Zelensky’s relationship to the electorate. Unlike any previous protests since the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians directly challenged the president’s handling of the war, introducing a dynamic that is unlikely to go away. Perhaps even more consequential, on the eve of the parliament’s vote on Fedorov’s successor, Fedorov released a controversial video address in which he declared that Ukraine needed a “system reboot” and called for wartime elections—the first time that not merely a prominent Ukrainian figure but a member of Zelensky’s inner circle and one of his former closest allies had done so. Until now,…

How many nuclear weapons is enough? The question has haunted policymakers and scholars for 80 years. Early in the Cold War, the United States expanded its nuclear arsenal rapidly in response to the Soviet threat. But beginning in the 1980s, as the two nuclear powers sought ways to reduce nuclear risks, arms treaties helped cut the size of those arsenals significantly, and stockpiles decreased by 80 percent. Now, circumstances are pushing the United States to consider the size of its nuclear arsenal once again. Over the past six years, China has nearly tripled the number of nuclear weapons it has, and according to the U.S. Defense Department, the country is on track to have over 1,000 by 2030. China is not yet a nuclear peer to Russia and the United States, which each deploy roughly 1,550 nuclear weapons in keeping with the limit set by the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, but parity may be Beijing’s goal. Meanwhile, the last formal barrier to a U.S.-Russian arms race fell away when New START expired earlier this year.Faced with these rising dangers, the Trump administration announced in March that it would conduct what it called a “nuclear strategy review.” Some strategists recommend that the review include a call for a larger and more diverse nuclear arsenal. A larger arsenal, proponents of expansion argue, would provide the United States with a wider array of choices, especially for an in-kind response to low-yield theater nuclear attacks. Although Russia and the United States have nearly the same number of weapons, Russia possesses a greater number of theater nuclear weapons, which, unlike strategic nuclear forces, are designed for tactical use on the battlefield. China may also be developing more of these types of weapons. Advocates of expansion propose that if Washington can match any nuclear…

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Indonesian defense chief Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin leave following their meeting in Jakarta in May. | REUTERS The defense chiefs of Japan, Australia and Indonesia held their first-ever trilateral talks Wednesday, just weeks after an agreement by Jakarta and Beijing to boost military ties following joint naval drills east of Taiwan.In the phone talks between Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Indonesian defense chief Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, the three agreed to promote both bilateral and trilateral defense cooperation, according to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo.“The three ministers exchanged views on the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region and, taking a broad view of the entire Indo-Pacific, agreed to work together to contribute to regional and global peace and stability through trilateral cooperation,” the ministry said in a readout of the meeting. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. SUBSCRIBE NOW

North Korea has stepped up its verbal attacks on Japan, issuing more than a dozen denunciations through state media since early July and hardening its rhetoric in recent days by accusing Tokyo of whipping up a “neo-militarist frenzy” and preparing for a “war of aggression”.Analysts said the latest broadsides from Kim Jong-un’s regime reflected both renewed confidence in Pyongyang as ties with Moscow deepen, and a desire to frame Asia-Pacific geopolitics as a contest between rival blocs – mirroring the Nato-Warsaw Pact stand-off at the height of the Cold War.The attacks come amid rising tensions across the region: North Korea is forging deeper security and economic ties with Russia, Beijing is increasingly at odds with Tokyo, and Japan is moving to strengthen its defence posture in response to perceived threats from the other three.North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un (centre) watches performance tests of a weapons system on the destroyer Kang Kon at an undisclosed location last month. Photo: KCNA / KNS / AFP“Both Russia and China have problems in their relationships with Japan at the moment and North Korea is keen to participate in the criticisms of Tokyo,” said Andrei Lankov, a Russian-born professor of history and international relations at Seoul’s Kookmin University.“It is important for the regime to have an ‘evil enemy’ that they can complain about and Japan meets that need,” he said. “Pyongyang is very keen to side with Russia and China, as it helps to promote the narrative that they are part of a mighty military bloc.”Such a bloc is unlikely to materialise any time soon, but analysts say that will not stop Pyongyang from launching further provocations to unsettle Tokyo.(From left) Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attend a military parade in Beijing last year. Photo: KCNA…

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov speaks during an interview in Kyiv on Monday. | REUTERS KYIV – Ukraine appears to be slowly losing the war against Russia, ousted Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said, warning that Kyiv has a window of several months to make key decisions needed to turn the tide in its favor.Fedorov, a young reformer whose dismissal last month sparked weeks of protests, said Ukraine lacked any overall vision for how to win the four-year-old conflict, and was hobbled by its failure to innovate.Ingrained corruption and patronage networks, as well as a lack of political independence in government institutions were also holding the country back, he said in an interview. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing, you can help us get the story right. SUBSCRIBE NOW

NSA Ajit Doval in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on August 25, 2026. | Photo Credit: Ananth Krishnan National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday (August 25, 2026) met with Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of China, for the 25th Round of the Special Representatives (SR) talks in Beijing.Mr. Doval and Mr. Wang are the designated SRs for the boundary talks mechanism, which was established in 2003 to comprehensively address the dispute of the India-China border spanning 3,488 km.Ahead of the talks, Mr. Doval called on Han Zheng, Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China, during which they discussed “ways to strengthen peace and tranquility in the border areas”.Mr. Han was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying: “China and India should view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and work together to implement the important consensus reached by their leaders.”“The two sides should enhance strategic mutual trust, tap the potential for cooperation, maintain close multilateral coordination, properly manage differences, and promote the sustained and stable development of China-India relations,” he said.Mr. Doval said that as the world’s two most populous and fastest-growing major economies, India and China have a “historic opportunity” for cooperation, adding that India stands ready to work with China to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, properly address the boundary question and make new progress in bilateral relations.In a post on X, the Indian Embassy in Beijing said that the “NSA and VP Han discussed ways to strengthen peace & tranquility in the border areas and further improve bilateral relations across economic, political and multilateral fora, in accordance with the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries.”Mr. Doval’s visit comes ahead of next month’s expected trip to India by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the September 12 BRICS Summit,…