A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force mid-range multi-purpose missile is fired during a live-fire exercise at the East Fuji Maneuver Area on June 7, 2026, in Gotemba, Japan. (Getty Images)
The flag used by the Taliban's interim government is seen over Afghanistan’s embassy in Moscow on July 4, 2025, after Russia officially recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan. (Getty Images)
The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain transit the South China Sea on November 4, 2021. (US Navy photo by Tyler R. Fraser)
Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China Li Zhanshu at the Eastern Economic Forum in Primorye, Russia, on September 7, 2022, on the heels of the Vostok 2022 joint military exercises between Russia and China. (TASS)
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Mississippi moors at Stirling Naval Base in Western Australia on November 28, 2022. (US Marine Corps photo by John Hall)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to China's President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leaders' summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16, 2022. (Photo by Sergei Bobylov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
Honor guards take part in a welcome ceremony for Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benitez and Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, Taiwan, on February 16, 2023. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)