Maxime Marquette
MadMax is an independent bilingual news outlet based in Québec, publishing analysis on geopolitics, technology, democracy, and culture.
Our mission: rigorous, source-cited analysis carried out with full editorial independence — no sponsorship, no party line.
Our editorial standards: sources are cited inline, corrections are fixed and logged publicly, and any use of artificial intelligence is disclosed.
“Burn rather than rot. Write rather than stay silent.”
Fire first. Sentences after. No lukewarm takes.
Always answer the strongest version of the opposing point. No strawmen.
No commissioned pieces. No editorial masters. No compromise.
Columns by Maxime Marquette
4,540 columns published
COLUMN: seven nations, what Western observers take away
Seventeen thousand troops. Seven nations. A message that needs no translation. Exercise Balikatan 2026 brought together these considerable forces, according to Asialink, in an…
EDITORIAL: Xi Jinping shifts tactics on Taiwan, a strategic reading
Fewer jets, more calculated silence. The daily average of Chinese air incursions into the Taiwan Strait has fallen by half compared to 2025, according…
INVESTIGATION: two Type 055 destroyers for the Chinese navy, a status check
Two names, two ships, a naval modernization that shows no sign of slowing. The destroyers Dongguan and Anqing, of the Type 055 class, were…
REPORT: starved of silicon, China one month later, a cold read
A month is sometimes exactly the time it takes to tell apart a communications move from a genuine strategic break. On June 22, 2026,…
DECODING: why the American MATCH Act targets Chinese chipmaking machines
An acronym can sometimes carry more geopolitical weight than ten official statements. The MATCH Act, proposed in Washington, seeks to restrict exports of semiconductor…
ANALYSIS: Balikatan 2026 in five numbers
Some military exercises pass unnoticed, and then there is Balikatan. In 2026, this joint maneuver between the Philippines and the United States took on…
NOTE: Field notes on Scarborough
Ten years after the 2016 arbitral ruling, Philippine fishermen are still telling Reuters the same story: they keep getting pushed off Scarborough Shoal.
FACT CHECK: Manila sanctioned — the questions few outlets are asking
On June 11, 2026, China barred the Philippine defense minister, Gilberto Teodoro, from entering its territory, according to Al Jazeera.
PORTRAIT: China's coast guard east of Taiwan and the balance of power now in motion
Some institutions have names that sound unremarkable, yet their deployment can shift the strategic balance of an entire region.