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)
US President Barack Obama (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G8 summit at the Lough Erne resort near Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, on June 17, 2013. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L),Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller (2nd L) and former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (3rd L) at the gas compressor station 'Portovaya' outside Vyborg, September 6, 2011. (ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images)
Edward Snowden (L) during an interview in December 2013 in Moscow, Russia and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (L) at Milk Studios on April 5, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Barton Gellman/Michael Buckner/Getty Images)