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 servicemen stands in a trench at the contact line near the village of Svitlodarsk, in Ukraine's Donestsk region on February 13, 2022. (Photo by Manu Brabo/Getty Images)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a ceremony to present the highest state decorations at Moscow's Kremlin. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin\TASS via Getty Images)
A B-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing flies at a high altitude during a mission over the Baltic Sea, Oct. 23, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by SSgt. Trevor T. McBride)
U.S. troops deploy for Europe from Pope Army Airfield at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on February 3, 2022. (Photo by ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Chinese Leader Xi Jinping during their bilateral meeting on November 13, 2019 in Brasilia, Brazil. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Servicemen take part in combat patrol and anti-sabotage drills involving RS-24 Yars road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile systems. (Photo by Vladimir Smirnov\TASS via Getty Images)