Summary and analysis of significant geopolitical activities over the past week involving the enemies of the liberal international order: Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
Major events included:
- Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed hardliners to seven top positions in the Iranian military and security apparatus on August 10, 2026, a move that institutionalizes an offensive shift in Iranian foreign policy and prepares the regime to crush future civil unrest.
- Russia launched multiple waves of attacks on Ukrainian cities involving hundreds of drones and missiles amid depleted stocks of Ukrainian air defense interceptors. Attacks on August 9, 2026, singled out Odesa as part of a distant blockade of the port to stymie Ukrainian grain exports.
- Frigates of the Chinese and Indonesian navies conducted a joint exercise in the waters east of Taiwan on August 12, 2026, a move that marked an escalation in an ongoing Chinese campaign to normalize its control over waters claimed by Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the disputed Kuril Islands in the western Pacific for the first time on August 13, 2026, as part of a tour of the Russian Far East, a move which triggered protests from Japan.
Posted by Adept_Grand_6523