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The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s Fab 20, which specializes in the production of 2-nanometer advanced chips, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on March 28, 2026. (Getty Images)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow on May 9, 2015 (RIA Novosti via Getty Images)
Soon after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, experts began using the term “hybrid warfare” to describe the threat posed by the Kremlin to neighboring countries. But there is now widespread recognition that Vladimir Putin is pursuing broader ambitions to build a network of anti-Western states, destroy NATO, and ultimately marginalize the United States and the West in order to achieve regional hegemony and global power.
In Weaponizing Kleptocracy: Putin’s Hybrid Warfare, Marius Laurinavicius explores the roots of the kleptocratic dimension of Russia’s hybrid warfare, how kleptocracy fits into Putin’s global strategy, and the ways in which it increases the risk of a conventional war between Russia and the West.
On June 14, Hudson Institute hosted a discussion of these issues with Charles Davidson, Executive Director of the Kleptocracy Initiative; Jeffrey Gedmin, Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow; Marius Laurinavicius, BAFF Security Research Fellow; Hannah Thoburn, Hudson Institute Research Fellow; and Michael Weiss, CNN Investigative Reporter for International Affairs.
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Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat between Hudson Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Base Growth and Director of the Office of Small Business Programs James Mismash.
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Please join Hudson Institute Senior Fellows Bryan Clark and Dan Patt for a conversation with Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael about the Department of War’s efforts to bring AI to the battlefield and implement an innovation strategy that makes the most of America’s commercial and government research sectors.
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Three U.S Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft fly in formation in the US Central Command area of responsibility, May 9, 2026. (US Air Force)
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(Screenshot via Fox News)
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A Long March-8A carrier rocket carrying a new group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site on August 26, 2025, in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China. (Getty Images)