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)
Leadership from Camp Lemonnier and Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa attend a graduation ceremony and skills demonstration for the Somalian Police Force at the Djibouti Police Academy on April 9, 2019. (Joe Rullo via DVIDS)
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland wave the Niger national flag and flag bearing the logo of private military Company Wagner as they gather to protest ouside the Niger and French airbase to demand the departure of the French army from Niger in Niamey on September 16, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Nigerian soldier on the back of a gun boat surveys a creek for illegal oil refineries during a patrole on April 19, 2017, in the Niger Delta region near the city of Warri. (Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images)
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland display a French national flag with a x-mark on during a protest outside Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 1, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
A vehicle with Somali National Army soldiers on patrol on October 17, 2022, near Doolow in the Gedo region of South West, Somalia. (Photo by Giles Clarke/UNOCHA via Getty Images)
A soldier of Somalia's breakaway territory of Somaliland stands guard during a parade in Hargeisa on May 18, 2016. (Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP via Getty Images)
People stand on the debris of the house which was razed to ground during the gunfight between militants and Indian security forces in Drangbal area of Pampore in south Kashmir on October 16, 2021. (Faisal Khan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)