Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shakes hands with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on May 4, 2026. (Getty Images)
A Philippine Air Force Black Hawk helicopter lands on June 29, 2023, on Mavulis Island, which is the Philippines’ northernmost island and is roughly 88 miles from Taiwan. (Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
A production line of the Glide, a high-altitude glider that delivers munitions across thousands of miles, is seen at the defense tech startup Mach Industries in Huntington Beach, California, on September 11, 2025. (Getty Images)
Trailers with launchers for guided missiles of a German Patriot air defense system stand on a snow-covered field in southeastern Poland on April 3, 2023. (Getty Images)
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui during a meeting in Moscow on July 19, 2026. (Getty Images)
Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to mark Navy Day at the Main Admiralty in Saint Petersburg on July 26, 2026, in front of a large photo of a submarine. (Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Donald Trump at the White House during his visit to Washington, DC, on July 28, 2026. (Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with US senators before a closed-door meeting at the US Capitol on July 28, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
The Russian flag hangs outside the Russian Embassy in London on February 2, 2026, after the UK revoked a Russian diplomat’s accreditation in a tit-for-tat move. (Getty Images)
A China-Europe train prepares to depart from the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Cooperation Base in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, on January 16, 2026. (Getty Images)