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)
TOS-1 multiple rocket launchers move during the seventy-sixth anniversary of the Victory Day in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, on May 9, 2021. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A US Air Force pilot looking down at the Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the Central Continental United States on February 3, 2023. (Photo via Department of Defense)
Russian President Boris Yeltsin and American President Bill Clinton sign the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe agreement in Budapest, Hungary, on December 5, 1994. (David Brauchli/Sygma via Getty Images)
A US Navy boatswain’s mate launches a US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft off the amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli in the Pacific Ocean on June 13, 2022. (US Marine Corps photo by Jackson Ricker)
US and Ukraine flags fly at the Joint Force Headquarters in Sacramento, California, on February 22, 2023. (US Army National Guard photo by Amanda H. Johnson)
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on February 5, 2023. (Tyler Thompson via DVIDS)