An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III ICBM launches during an operation test on February 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (US Space Force)
A protester flashes victory signs as traffic slows during demonstrations in Hamedan, Iran, on January 1, 2026. The demonstrations erupted after shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar shut their businesses to protest the sharp fall of Iran’s currency and worsening economic conditions. (Getty Images)
An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III ICBM launches during an operation test on February 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (US Space Force)
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Apple CEO Tim Cook during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on August 6, 2025. (Win McNamee via Getty Images)
Palestinian Hamas militants gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. (Eyad Baba via Getty Images)
A Chinese flag flutters in the wind at a beach on Pingtan Island, the closest point in China to Taiwan’s main island, in Fujian Province, China, on October 15, 2024. (Adek Berry via Getty Images)
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
The scientific ice-going Kronprins Haakon sails through the sea ice in eastern Spitzbergen in the Svalbard archipelago on April 10, 2025. (Olivier Morin via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attend a welcoming ceremony prior to their talks at the Ak Orda Presidential Palace, on November 27, 2024, in Astana, Kazakhstan. (Getty Images)