The fall of Mariupol
Mariupol has fallen after nearly three months of relentless assault. More than 200 Ukrainian fighters who had been holding out have now been taken to territory controlled by the Russians. The southern port city has been a key target of Russian attack and now gives Russia control of most of Ukraine’s coastline on the Black […]
Turkey’s role as an international mediator
Turkey is working to create effective dispute resolution tools for a variety of issues. The country is squarely in the middle of all of the neighboring regions’ political disputes, and it is impacted directly or indirectly, historically and culturally, by the crises that are occurring across the region. In addition to the worldwide pandemic crisis, […]
Putin’s mercenaries in Ukraine: The Wagner Group
Legally, it doesn’t exist, yet the Wagner Group, a quasi-private, Russian military contractor, has carried out assassinations, tempered with Western democracies and processes, and taken over strategic territories during its involvement in conflicts around the world. It has been reported that the group is now active in Ukraine, with orders to track down and assassinate […]
Will Sweden and Finland join NATO?
Putin’s ruthless drive to keep Ukraine out of NATO has, inadvertently, increased the military alliance’s popularity among other potential members. According to up-to-date opinion polls, Finland and Sweden are reconsidering their long-held neutrality, with a majority of voters now preferring membership in the 30-member alliance. The conflict in Ukraine has fundamentally reshuffled the deck. In terms […]
War in Ukraine: Security, trade and oil
While the US was seeking to generate international support for Ukraine and contain a jump in oil prices, the White House tried unsuccessfully to organize calls between US President Biden and the de facto presidents of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The monarchies of the Persian Gulf have so far refused to raise […]
Why did Putin invade Ukraine?
There are many questions that may be asked about Putin’s invasion of its sovereign neighbour, Ukraine, not least why? In the following list, TACTICS provides the possible rationales behind the invasion, looking at Putin’s rambling addresses, those to his security council, and his stage-managed addresses designed for the Russian media, particularly state Television. Protection, […]
What role could Britain play in deterring a Russian invasion of Ukraine?
At the time of writing, Conservative MPs are tying themselves in knots as to when, or if, to ditch Boris Johnson. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin, the autocratic President of Russia, rattles his proverbial sabre at his next-door neighbour. While the exact number is uncertain, Ukraine alleges Russia has amassed 127.000 troops on its border. This includes […]
Will China invade Taiwan?
As tensions continue to escalate between China and Taiwan, the question of war is brought ever closer. At the beginning of last month, China sent a record number of military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence zone, marking the largest ever incursion. While such incursions do frequently happen, the scale and volume of the latest military […]
Who is ISIS-K?
During a frantic troop withdrawal, an attack on Kabul airport in August that killed at least 190 Afghan civilians and 13 US service personnel – the deadliest day for the US military in a decade, was claimed by the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K). Western governments had issued repeated warnings beforehand that an attack by the […]
What impact does the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan have on the west?
The return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan followed the withdrawal of the remaining US and British troops operating under the NATO banner. The US started their recent withdrawal in May and left the Bagram Airfield on 6th of July. A month later, by the 8th of August the provincial capitals of Taloqan, Are-e-Pul […]