Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs the golden book as he meets Norway’s king on October 20, 2026, at the Royal Palace in Oslo. (Getty Images)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sign a trilateral joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on August 7, 2026. (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. (Getty Images)
A truck drives through the Alataw Pass Comprehensive Bonded Zone in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Located in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bortala in Xinjiang, the Alataw Pass borders Kazakhstan. (Getty Images)
A Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-35A Lightning II flies alongside two F-35A Lightning IIs and an F-16 Fighting Falcon of the US Air Force over the Pacific Ocean near Misawa Air Base in Japan on September 30, 2025. (US Air Force)
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
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)
A Xuanji A3 chip is pictured at the BYD booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai on July 18, 2026. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP via Getty Images)